Happenings on the Ranch

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and rang in the New Year in style.  Things are hopping around here already and I am so ready for the blahs of winter to be gone.  I really enjoy spring and seeing everything come up green and looking out at the farm when there are no crops growing and all the grasses are yellow is a bit depressing.  We’ve had some strange weather that’s given us some very warm days when we can go outside and spend time enjoying the property, but it’s just not enough!  So, for the time being, I’m stuck inside by the wood burning stove planning for the upcoming season.

 One reason for me to go outside frequently and brave the cold is the birth of our two new goat kids.  They are beautiful babies.  Their mom for some reason didn’t bond well with them and won’t allow them to nurse, so they are being bottle fed.  That means heading outside every two to three hours.  It’s a lot of work, but it’s so satisfying to walk out toward their shelter and have them come running toward you yelling “ma!”  They are both doing well and have been accepted by the herd; it’s just unfortunate that mom didn’t accept them.

We’ve started taking sign ups for our 2009 CSA program and have already received a great response.  Seems that more and more people are interested in buying local, organically and sustainably grown produce and meats grown in a humane manner.  It makes me happy to have many of last year’s customers coming back this year and we’ve got all kinds of plans in the works to be able to provide many more types of fresh fruits and vegetables than last year.  We’ll be focusing a lot this year on heirloom veggies.  These are classic varieties that are not hybrids and most of them will come from certified organic seeds.  I am also going to make an attempt at the elusive eggplant again this year … keep your fingers crossed!

So, while sitting inside by the fire, I am planning out what seeds to buy, how many to plant, and designing our crop layout and rotations.  All the while I am dreaming of warmer and greener days!

Karin

… but I’m finally making another entry.  It’s been over two months since I’ve had the chance to sit down and write – which tells you how busy we’ve been!

 As I sit here eating a big salad of mixed lettuce, spinach, diced green onions, chopped hard-boiled duck eggs, and bacon I can’t help but smile.  I’m smiling because everything in this satsifying spring meal came straight from our farm.  Not only is it fresh, but I know where it came from and how it was grown.  Yum!

Planting, weeding and now our first week of harvest have taken much of our days over the last weeks.  Managing our flocks have become a little tedious because of the continuous assault from the pair of fox in the area – obviously feeding pups.  Our chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys have all relegated themselves to staying in their yards for fear of being picked off.  The few that do venture out inevitably don’t come back.  Unfortunately, they’ve worn down their yards so we’re rotating yards to allow the greenery to grow back for them.  Thankfully they don’t seem to be unhappy but I hate that they don’t have the wide open freedom they usually do.  I’m hoping after Spring things will ease up a bit and they’ll be able to venture further again.

On a sad note, our goat herd queen Snow White (aka ‘Momma’) passed away last week.  She was our son Devon’s Nubian doe that gave birth to the two bucklings earlier this year.  She was battling a resperatory infection and then bloated.  Everything that could be done for her was done, but it just wasn’t enough.  Devon was devastated but comfortable knowing he had given her plenty of love and care.  It still sucks, though.  She was a real favorite around here. 

Other than that, everyone is well.  The cattle all seem to be pregnant and growing (out) by the day, the horses are itching to be ridden now that it’s warm, the pigs are getting fatter, the puppies are cute as ever (and need homes!) and the flocks are growing well.  Now all we need is the hens to be consistently laying and all will be well!

This week is the first harvest for CSA members.  Our first deliveries to our Grandview customers was tonight.  It was really nice getting to meet everyone finally after months of exchanging emails.  Everyone seemed very excited to get their first share and anticipate more to come.  Everything is growing well and each week the harvest will get heavier and more substantial.  Any and all additional harvest will be sold at each Farmer’s Market.  It’s starting out to be a good season (knock on wood).

Guess that’s all for now.  I’ll try to post more often (as time allows) and encourage you all to post a comment or shoot me an email – I’d love to hear from you!

Happy Spring,

Karin

Things have been very busy around here, despite the cold weather, so I’ve not been writing as frequently.  Even now, this post will be short.

I want to thank everyone that has signed up for our 2008 CSA Programs and let you know that we are officially sold out of our egg shares for this season.  We do hope to have some eggs available for purchase at each Farmer’s Market location and we are starting a waiting list for those of you still interested in signing up.  We do still have very limited shares available for our produce and meat programs (but probably not for long).

While we are still awaiting the birth of two sets of Boer goats, we did have a birth on Sunday – six births, actually.  Patch, our Heeler/Corgi mix gave birth to six beautiful puppies.  They are 3/4 Heeler and 1/4 Corgi and are all doing very well.  This was Patch’s first litter and she has turned out to be a fantastic mother.  She is almost too protective; our Rat Terrier, Semper, is not allowed anywhere near the pups or Patch will go into attack mode.  Here is a picture of mom and pups.

 Patch and pups

She’s one tired girl!

Hopefully I’ll have more of a chance soon to update you all and to send/post another newsletter.  Until then, think of Spring!

- Karin