Spring is in full force here and that means green grass, blue skies, and lots of outdoor work! I want to apologize for being absent for the past few weeks, but life has been quite busy. From family visits, to birthing livestock, to medical emergencies, we've had it all. I'm reminded of the meme that says, being an adult is telling yourself that "life will be better when everything calms down" over and over again until you die. But the truth is, life never really calms down, especially in farming. You just somehow make the best of the time you have. Like trying to write a blog right before heading out to do farm chores and then cooking for 12 of our friends. All that to say, we're glad to be back on the blog and bringing y'all along on our farm journey.
First off, the animals are all doing well with only a few minor mishaps. We found that Trexy had foot rot in one of her hooves, which is not uncommon during the muddy spring season. We treated her with antibiotics and she seems to be improving just fine. We nursed a sick chicken that we thought was egg bound, but honestly we aren't sure what was going on. Thankfully, after a spa treatment and some electrolytes she was back to her normal self. Amelia is doing much better after getting her leg stuck in a trailer. We have no idea how it happened, but thankfully we were home and able to rescue her within just a matter of seconds. If you have ever heard a goat screaming in pain, you know how terrified I felt running towards her not knowing what was causing the pain. I was relieved once we got her unstuck, and you better believe that the trailer was quickly removed. Oh and did I mention all of this happened in the same day. Never a dull moment here.
We started the weaning process for all the goat kids. The youngest goats, Squash and Bean, are 6 weeks old and Amelia is 8 weeks old. This also means we are swimming in goat's milk. Paris is giving us about a 1/2 gallon a day. Kissy hasn't quite hit peak production yet, but I suspect we will be getting close to that soon. With all that milk I foresee a lot of cheesemaking in our future. We made our first batch of Chèvre which turned out amazing. We chose to start with a simple cheese but are excited to advance our cheesemaking skills. Next up we will try mozzarella and then gouda!
Now that we finally have some decent weather, we started clearing the final areas in the front and side of our property. We plan to create one or two smaller paddocks to separate the bucks and to prevent any accidental breeding. This will give us much more flexibility and peace of mind while allowing us to use our property to is full potential.
Our garden is officially setup and planted. We transplanted our indoor starts this week and also direct sowed beans, lettuce, onions, and more. Creating this garden space was such a fun project. Maintaining the garden is going to be a huge learning curve for me, but I am up for the challenge. First task is keeping the chickens from digging up our vegetables.
The most exciting update is that we are only 16 days away from Madeline's due date! She is getting close and we are so ready to welcome her calf (hopefully a heifer) to the farm. We are keeping a close eye on her and as always praying for a safe and healthy delivery.
We are so thankful for our farm. We are grateful for the lessons, the chaos, the beauty, and the growth we get to see every single day. God is so good. Even on the hardest days when everything seems out of control. God is still good.
How can I pray for you?
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