Hi friends! Things are rolling right along on the homestead! Roll call and updates:
Goats: Cute little Mushu isn’t quite so little anymore, but he’s still just as cute! He loves scratches, especially between his lil’ baby horns, and he’s becoming his own, independent billy self. We found a new family for him (he’s actually going to replace Jack, the dud stud from a few posts back) and he’ll head to his new home the week of September 8. We’ll miss him around here, but he’s going to live out every boy goat’s dream so he’ll be alright.
We’ve also saved up enough milk that we were able to try our hand at making some cheese! We ordered some Chèvre cultures from an online cheesemaking supplier, thawed a 1/2 gallon of creamy goat milk, and got to work. It was actually really easy:
- Heat the milk to 86 degrees.
- Turn off the heat and stir in cultures.
- Cover and let sit for 12-20 hours.
- Scoop curds into a lined colander and let it drain for another 6-12 hours.
- Voila! Cheese!
We made several small logs this time so we could play with some different flavors, and so we could share some samples with neighbors for feedback (and good karma). We ended with 2 logs each of plain, honey, and garlic + chive. And one log each of maple and salt + pepper. We took one of the garlic/chive, honey, and plain to our neighbors for a taste test and got some great feedback! Next up: mozzarella!
Rabbits: The buns are growing, but slower than we’d like so we still have all of them. AC is hoping in the next week or so the first litter will be 5 lbs and ready for dispatch. One of our does, Rex (the all white one), had another litter last week, but it was a smaller litter this time.
We also had our first meal fully from the farm a couple of weeks ago: (gluten free) fried rabbit, mashed potatoes, and green beans. All from our very own land! It was a special moment. And, we discover rabbit nuggets are delicious!
Chickens: The new hens have started laying! Today we got 6 eggs: 3 brown eggs from the OGs (the three older, reliable layers we’ve had since last year), 2 lighter brown eggs and 1 BLUE egg (eek!) from three of the new gang members. Before you know it, we’ll have days where we get a full dozen at once!
In the meantime, two of our chickens have discovered my garden…where they make a mess of low-hanging tomatoes and scratch up areas where I’ve planted fall seeds. So now I’m on a warpath to figure out how to keep the chooks separate from the crops or maybe we will be having a chicken dinner soon. 😉
Cats: I’m actually waging the garden battle on two fronts. The kittens, Sarabi and Ralph, like to use the garden as a litter box. Gross! So, on top of tossing chickens back over the fence, I’m also flinging tiny cats out of garden beds. Today, I ordered two different deterrents that will, hopefully, give me a leg up against the felines.
Bagheera is still around, but also still not loving the kittens so we don’t see her as much as we used to. For a few days, she was actually sleeping in AC’s boat, which is stored at our neighbor’s house. AC brought her back a couple of times so now she’s been sleeping in our garage during the day. The kittens spend most of their time in my garden or wrestling on top of the chicken coop so I guess B had decided they’re keeping a safe distance and she can have her peace.
Dogs: Bella is sweet and chill, as always. Meeko is still sweet and is finally learning some manners! We’ve had a couple sessions with a trainer so AC and I have a much better idea of how to communicate with him and how to bribe him into listening to us. He also got a new GPS collar that helps us keep him on our property…most of the time.
He just had his ‘nads chopped off on Friday so he’s currently struggling with cone life, but also getting spoiled with house time, lots of treats, and extra cuddles. He wants to go play with Bella so badly. Alas, he has a few more days of quarantine on the porch.
Bees: The bees are buzzin’. So much so that one hive collapsed! Turns out, I didn’t build my hive stand very well and the colony in the vertical hive collected so much honey that the stand couldn’t hold the weight. The front legs folded in and the hive tumbled top over bottom! AC saw it first and told me so I ran outside, threw on my bee jacket and gloves, and started a very stressful rescue. It took about 30 minutes to right the hive and get all the frames back in. I did get stung once; as I was hinging over, I think a bee got stuck in my bend so, obviously and appropriately, she stung me through my very thin pants.
Otherwise, I think there were only minimal bee casualties. So now I always make sure I’m wearing thick pants and the hive sits on two very sturdy pallets. Silver lining: those ladies are filling their boxes with lots of delicious honey! If we can make it through winter, I’m feeling good about a spring honey harvest. (Hope I didn’t just jinx myself.)
Other fun: Some of our best friends from Texas came to visit a few weeks ago and we had a wonderful time with them! We explored downtown Murphy, visited a new vineyard in neighboring Hayesville, and did some farm work. Our neighbor was finally able to hay our field so Sasha and Stacey, bless ’em, helped us load the bales onto our trailer and unload them into our goat barns. Thanks, ladies!
We spent a fun weekend in Gulf Shores, AL for my sister-in-law’s wedding. Avery, AC’s youngest sibling, had a super fun wedding weekend with both sides of the family in one giant house. I won’t lie, I had my doubts that so many folks – from two different families – in one house for 3 days would go well, but it was actually a blast! We had delicious homemade food (a Laotian meal from the groom’s family and yummy elk burgers from the Caraway side), a living room dance floor, a memorable karaoke night, and some large-group games – all in a lovely house right on the beach!
Congrats to Avery and Devin!
AC: She’s the best. She loves tractoring, she takes care of all our animals, and she’s building me a greenhouse! I got my hands on some old windows so she collected some pallets, used her tractor to to clear some lawn space near the garden shed, and started building. The rain has thwarted that progress many times in the past few weeks, but it’s coming along. The goal is to be able to extend our season a bit in the winter and to get a head start on seedlings in the spring.
She also built our farmstand – ain’t it cute! We’ve made about $13 so far 🙂 With all I’ve learned from the garden this year, plus our larger flock, we should have more to add to it next year.
So that’s us. Hope y’all are well, too!
Until next time,
Charli
Thanks for hosting and teaching us all about tractoring! I still love the photo of Sasha posing while we are working in the background.
Keep up the good work y’all! Farm is looking great.
Holy update! I need a spreadsheet to keep everyone straight! Also, love the farmstand, do you ship? 🙂
Gosh! What an extensive report on the Homestead! Y’all are really killing it out there. I’m so impressed. Y’all are really living the dream!
I love these updates! Enjoying seeing your progress. Tell your mom the Bailey girls need a weekend at the farm! We can take the bunk house. we could help you with a project that needs many hands!
She keeps talking about getting y’all out here. And I keep telling her that y’all need to come on! It would be so much fun!