The ENTIRE Fall, in many segments! Part 1

Hello again. I just reread my last post. Whew. Do I have a lot to update.
The fall got very busy. The garden languished. We did not sell our produce.
The festival at Spoutwood went well, in that we did NOT have to get a Pennsylvania tax ID, as we "became" an educational booth. Danielle took the two older babies. By that time they could be away from their mom for the day. They made it until the late afternoon, then they let Danielle know, in no uncertain terms, they wanted to GO HOME!

Hm, we got our ram lamb, "number twelve", the last week in October. He went right in with our "ladies" and started "taking care" of them. I refuse to get too involved with him, as he is there to do his "job" and then he will be our Passover Seder meal.

We went to the quarterly meeting of the Baltimore County Sheep Breeders Association meeting a few weeks ago. We met Emily, the sheep shearer. What a fortuitous occasion. Not only is she coming to shear the yearlings, but she also has a male goat to lend us! For FREE!!
He is beautiful, if you like handsome male goats. He is also a registered alpine, and it turns out, our "alpines" are not alpines after all. Still don't know for sure what they are, but their babies will be half registered alpine. Buck was with us for about a month. He took care of all four ladies, and I should tell you that the babies are all weaned by now. We also get no milk right now, but at least we should have babies all at the same time, in five months or so.

Hm... it is also possible that Magic was already pregnant by Stubby, but I don't know. I thought Prissy might have been, but then it seemed that she wasn't and Magic was. Well, we'll either get babies from one or both of them early, one or both of them in five months, or it's back to auction with whomever is not producing. Another reality of the farm is that you must be able to "earn your keep". Again, I'll let you know how things are progressing.

So another fortuitous thing that happened with Emily is that she was willing to trade shearing and travel expenses for a massage! As it happens that Danielle is a very talented Licensed Massage Therapist, we saved cash outlay on the service in exchange for the service!

Emily got her massage today, and then they both went out to the Farm and Emily picked up Buck (his real name is Lincoln, being as he's "registered and all") and took him home. He'd done his "job" and was ready to go find another temporary home to do more "work"! We'd had Magic and Prissy in his stall for pretty much the whole month, so they were glad to get out. The other animals were glad to get in to more stall space, too.

We also have purchased four new registered sheep. They were part of a new group that came up from Georgia a couple of weeks ago. Lisa found them, and did all the research, and offered us four of the group. They're beautiful. Then she gave us another sheep. This one is a Horned Ewe! It's a genetic trait. She does not want horned sheep, and we don't know if we do either, but her wool is nice, and her baby (babies) wool might be worth keeping before (if) we do decide not to keep her.

Speaking of wool, the day that Emily came to shear, we boxed up all the wool from the five sheep we had sheared and sent it off for processing. We had sent off the alpaca wool, and it came back about a month ago. Oh my goodness, it's so soft and fluffy!

Well, I did it. I finally purchased a spinning wheel. I got a wonderful deal, as this wheel is Lisa's old one, so I know it works perfectly. She sold it because she just got a distributorship with another company and wanted to work with that company's wheels. So I got the wheel, extra bobbins, a bobbin wrack, a knitty knotty, a pound of wool, and private lessons on how to spin. I learned in one sitting, and did such an even job that Lisa's husband thought that my spinning was Lisa's! However, I still have to learn to draft, which is taking the wool from a larger mass AS I am spinning. But the way I do it works, for now.

Okay, that's the end of Part One. I'll try to get to part two soon.

Horrible Disbudding Day

Yesterday was traumatic. We disbudded Rhianna and Frosting. It was horrible, but an "industry standard". This means the the vet came and made sure that the little goats would not grow horns. Most goat farms in this country disbud their goats for the safety of the people dealing with them, and the safety of the other goats, including the pregnant ones. If you want the gory details, look it up for yourself. Suffice it to say, goats scream. Danielle was not happy with me, since I insisted. We didn't get to Snowflake and Turtle in time, so they will have horns. They are both an alpine mix from their mom, with the pygmy borare of their father. Cocoa's girls are a nubian/pygmy borare mix.

Cocoa is not milkable. She must have had terrible mastitis from a past owner's time. She has plenty of milk for her babies, but she refuses to let us milk her. We'll try again when she is weaning them, but it is our feeling that she will never be a milker, so she'll be a breeder.

We have farm time down to a science. Each goat gets their own amount and blend of sweet feed and grain. The sheep know what to do, the goats go right to their spots, Turtle and Snowflake wait "im"patiently to be let out to Nana in the mornings after she is milked, and Rhianna and Frosting are just beginning to nibble things other than our hair and shirts!

The vegetables are getting the least attention, and the garden still needs weeding. Calling all volunteers....!!!

I finished the first shawl on the triangle loom and took it off this evening. I have been cutting fringe pieces for the last forty five minutes, but I'll probably need another hour or two, just to have enough pieces cut. Then it will take awhile to put the fringe on the shawl. We took pictures of it just off the loom, so look for them on Facebook and here on the site, soon. I hope to start another shawl next Tuesday.

We have to get a seller's license for Pennsylvania next week. Danielle is going to do the Sproutwood Fairy Festival October 4. We are working on soap felting kits, soap, and whatever else we can think of. If we can make enough spindles, she may sell those as well. We'll have Lisa Westra there, with her handspun wool.

We sent in all the alpaca wool, and it's being cleaned, carded and turned into roving for spinning. Lisa is going to hand spin it for us. I'm excited to use it! One day, I will learn how to use a spinning wheel.

Danielle mucked out the front of the barn this evening while I was on a conference call Board meeting. We'll get the three stalls done soon, and probably only do them one more time before winter. The "mess" in the straw actually heats up during the winter, keeping the animals warm! We're also going to have to improve the alpaca shelter so they can be out of the weather. They make a giant mess in the barn, so we want them to be comfortable in their own shelter.

I think that's all for now. Danielle is on her way home, and we will rise and start the day with a farm visit. Goodnight!

Tidbits from the last two weeks.

It's been two weeks since Cocoa gave birth to twin girls. One was "dropped" out in the field. Her name is Rhianna, and no, she's not named after some singer. She's got a beautiful Celtic name. The second baby was born in the barn, and her name is Frosting. She has a silver ring around her black nose and she look's like she dipped her nose into a can of frosting. Hence, her name.

These two kids are gymnasts. They run, jump, twist, and spring everywhere. They have two speeds...fast and stop!

Danielle spent quite some time putting small hole chicken wire completely around the entire back enclosure so that Cocoa could stay out with her babies and we wouldn't have to worry about them walking through the fence. So now the back pasture is the official "nursery"!

Prissy is not eating her sweet feed very well. She does better when it is mixed with some of the grain we give the sheep.

Danielle is busy making lots of soap. We got a much larger stainless steel bowl for making soap, and she made ten pounds in one go today. This soap is a vanilla oatmeal bar. We're having fun experimenting. Samples of some of the earlier batches have gone out and we hope to sell them soon. They're cured and ready.

Danielle will be doing the fall Fairy festival in Spotsville with Lisa, so we're busy creating stock for the show. Lots of soap sacks, to go with the soap, which will be ready by October.

We've had internet issues for almost a week now. So these blog posts haven't been as timely as we would have liked. Hope the internet will stay up and running so you can hear more soon.

The Maryland Renaissance Festival started this weekend. We are working on an idea to bring the goats to the Faire and do an educational piece about milk production in the 1500's. Also, maybe we'll bring lambs, and talk about wool, spinning, weaving, etc, as it pertained to that time period, also. It's an idea.

Cocoa's Babies!!

A quick post before Shabbat. Cocoa is finally giving birth as I type. We think. Anyway, she gave birth to a white girl out in the field, and to a black girl in the barn. Both have "nursed" and seem to be doing fine. I'm getting this from Danielle, who is there, and I'm here and it's almost Shabbat. But wanted to let everyone know. Just posted a shared picture of the second one on my facebook account. Will let you know more tomorrow night!

A Slow Week--no "problems"

Other than the sticker burrs, everything is doing well. The little goats keep wandering through the fence to eat the "good stuff" on the other side, but they keep coming back to be with the herd. They don't always come when "called", but "mom" doesn't come when they call her, either! They don't go far, and need to "touch base" frequently, so we don't worry.

The goats are going to get a bath today. We made shampoo soap bars for sale, and we're going to try them out today. "Should" be fun.

As for sticker burrs, we think we've gotten them all out of the pasture, but somehow the sheep keep finding more! It's getting to be a burden, catching them to pull out the burrs. I've been tempted to take a seam ripper out to the farm to cut the wool away from the burrs. But since this is our first year with sheep, we don't want to damage the wool for when we shear next spring.

Speaking of wool, the sheep seem to be so hot right now. It's still very hot, and will be, here in Maryland, for many more weeks to months. I know the sheep will be warm this winter, but we don't want to have them overheat before winter gets here! Our saga will continue.....

Sticker Burrs Galore

After such an early start to the day, you'd think we'd go to sleep early tonight. No such luck. We went out to the farm early this evening, thinking we'd situate everyone, and come home and weave. Unfortunately, when we looked at some of the sheep, they looked a little funny this evening. Thank goodness Susan came over to help. Three of the sheep, Moonlight and her baby Stormy, and Ebony (the orphan baby), were covered in sticker burrs, deep in their fur, especially around their necks. It was awful. We had to have Susan hold their heads, and Danielle and I went through their fur and picked out each and every sticker burr. Yucky.

I'm glad we did it. Tomorrow we go through the yards and cut down every sticker burr bush we can find.

So, it's a late night. But we're satisfied.

Danielle spent a great deal of time this afternoon weaving a towel on the table loom. I'm still working on the triangle loom, on a shawl. Both will be available on the Etsy page, which you can access from the website at www.mdkwi.com on the KareDan Farm page. Tomorrow we'll be making a batch of goats' milk soap. You can write for a sample of the soap we've already made. Let us know at info@mdkwi.com

Whew! All Is Well!

We got up REALLY early, got ready, and drove out to the farm this morning. As soon as we got there, by 7:10 a.m., we were already calling, "Turtle! Turtle!" But we decided to check the barn, just in case she had already come back by herself. The back pasture has a fence she can climb through, and it opens into the stall of Prissy, Magic, and Peaceful. Sure enough, she was asleep in that stall with them!! We were so relieved!
We called Susan right away, and woke her up. She hadn't slept well at all, so she got dressed and came right over. The relief in her voice just on the phone was enough to make us happy we'd gotten up so early. Never stand between a maternal woman and a baby...of any species.
So....that saga is finally over. And while the hours may have been just a few, it seemed a really long time.
We spent the rest of the morning cleaning out the yard around the chicken coop. The animals were all in there, and we even opened the gate from the sheep pasture and let the sheep in with the goats. The only ones who weren't in were the alpacas. We don't seem to have as much time for them as we used to. I wonder why?
The trampoline out Jacob's back kitchen door is now covered with all the trash we picked up. Rolled up hose, electrical wire, candlesticks, flowerpots, broken glass (!), boards that had been grown over, and lots of trash. We need to take out a large, heavy-duty trash bag to put most of it into.
We came home and got here about the same time we've been getting to the farm on most mornings. A good morning's work, and now we have the day to weave and garden.

Disaster Strikes!

I started this late last night, but was too tired to finish it. Please read it as a Sunday, August 2, 2009, post!
It poured this morning. So hard that we realized that none of the animals would be going out to pasture. We aren't milking anyone yet, so we decided not to head out. Susan checked on them later and around 2:30 in the afternoon she let the sheep and goats out into their respective pastures.
This evening we got out to the farm around 8-ish. Susan was already there by the gate, waiting for us. We'd called her on our way out to come meet us. Guess who also met us at the gate? Prissy, Magic and Peaceful. And coming up from the side of the back pasture, from the woods, came Cocoa, Nana, Snowflake, and.....and....and....wait, where was Turtle? Turtle, as you may remember, is the baby girl goat, just four weeks old last Friday.
We called. We ran. We looked. It got darker. We checked the front yard fields. We checked with the sheep. We found out that the goats had broken the ring that the front yard fence was hooked to and that they pushed their way out. One mystery solved. We fixed it. We got flashlights. Susan kept saying she felt responsible and we kept telling her she wasn't. That didn't help any of us from being teary.
In the end, we decided Turtle, being a goat baby, must have hunkered down and kept quiet. Nana didn't realize she didn't have her baby girl until we'd gotten her back in the barn. Everyone was quiet, not even asking (mah-ing) for sweet feed. We think they knew Turtle was missing. Nana kept smelling Snowflake and trying to figure out why there was only one kid, not two.
We finally came back and went to sleep. We'll get an early start back to the farm. I hope we find her this morning. I hope nothing else found her last night.

A Great Book

Have you ever come across a book that so thoroughly engrossed you that time passed and suddenly, the book was finished, but so was the day (or night)?! Today I was fortunate to have one of those times. I began, and finished, the book Goat Song, by Brad Kessler. The subtitle reads, "A Seasonal Life, A Short History of Herding, and the Art of Making Cheese". What a phenomenal book. This is a story of a couple who chose to move out of the city, live out in the country, and raise their own goats to be able to drink raw goats' milk. They learned about cheese-making, had a great time, learned a lot, and eventually made aged cheeses from their super fresh raw goat's milk that they were able to sell in some very fancy stores/restaurants in New York.

In this country, you will find it extremely difficult to find fresh raw milk cheese. America chose the fast route of pasteurization to kill bad things in bad milk, as opposed to the strict supervision of raw milk dairy farms found in Europe. This is one of the reasons that Europeans consider Americans to be lacking in "culture"! The real story will raise hair on the back of your head. I don't know if I can copy anything from the book, but the history is documented in it, and it's well worth the read.

Brad Kessler has written a wonderfully entertaining, informative, emotional "tome" (not to be confused with 'tomme'--an aging wheel of cheese). Although he does compare the 'tome' with the 'tomme' in his book. The story draws you in and keeps you there. He and his wife live in Vermont, and while that is too far north for me, and way too cold, the support the state of Vermont gives its small farms and farmers makes me very envious of them. Maryland is not supportive of raw milk and has done a lot to discourage us. Again, aged cheeses can be sold, but the delicious chevres and mozzarellas that we make must remain "in house" due to legalities.

I highly recommend reading this book if you have any interest in pastoral life, cheese making (a few recipes are included, as well as many other books for you to look into for recipes and tips), or an interest in goats and goat herding.

Our goats are doing well. We're still waiting on Cocoa to give birth, but we keep seeing signs that say she's getting close. What that means in terms of actual dates is beyond us, but the "signs" are there!

We opened up all the yard pastures, and the goats love the complete access. They are "mowing" the weeds and the high grasses, and we're thinking about renting them out!! (Not really, but it's an idea!) The babies are getting socialized with the herd, and tomorrow night may be the night that we separate them from their mama for the night, and milk her part way in the morning. In another four weeks they should be completely weaned and we'll have milk from Nana again. And then, it's back to fresh milk and great fresh cheese!

Stubby Goes To Auction

Today was the day. Stubby went to auction. As I said in my last post, we had to assess the economic picture of neutering and keeping a male goat as a pet. It wasn't right to do that to him, and we don't have the resources to take care of him as a pet. KareDan Farming Initiative is run as both a wellness initiative, and a business. So...."thank you, Stubby, for fathering whatever babies we will get, and good luck in your new home."

Jacobs' "peeps" (chicks growing into chickens) joined the flock today. They are finally big enough to be in the coop with the other adults. Those same adults are finally over their fright of being chased and eaten (at least, the seven we lost to a wild animal who broke down the coop). They're finally coming down and being on the ground again. We'll be getting more peeps from Lisa when they hatch. And we may put them here at the Maryland Kinesiology and Wellness Institute for fresh breakfast eggs. Of course, it takes almost a year for a peep to become a laying hen. So we'll have more success from the hens that survived the attack than we will from new ones for quite some time.

That's it for today. It will be different to go out to the farm tomorrow and not see Stubby. But it will be good for Nana. Now that Stubby is gone, she can go back in with the other adults, and socialize her two kids with the herd. That will be good for the herd, good for the kids, and good for us as we'll begin to milk her again, and have fresh milk to drink! It's been awhile and we've missed it.

Our WWOOF volunteer should be here soon. More on this later.

Catching Up After Conference

Well, we're home. The conference was wonderful, entertaining, enlightening, informative, and"just great to be with friends" fabulous. If you want to know more, please ask!
There was not great access to the internet at the hotel, and we got so busy that we didn't really keep up with the animals. However, on Friday night Susan called Danielle to let her know that Snowflake, the male baby goat, was choking, and Susan was very nervous and wanted Danielle to let her know what to do! Danielle called Lisa and got some reassurance, called Susan back, calmed her down, and now....Snowflake only gets sweet feed from our hands, not the feed bucket! He'd gorged and didn't have enough water, and choked. But he's fine and Susan is extremely relieved we're back.
Actually, Susan seems to have had quite the time of it, taking care of everyone while we were at the Conference. She was literally run over by the sheep one day while bringing them into the barn.
What an experience. She was definitely NOT amused. Again, she is extremely glad we're back.

Okay, on to the farm stuff...UPDATE!
The goats have found a way to get out of the new back pasture. It's a good thing they love sweet feed, because they know they can only get it from people, so when we arrive, they come from wherever they are. The babies are getting bigger, and we are holding them much more often to keep them used to humans. We didn't have a chance to de-bud their horns so we'll have another horned female. Snowflake will not stay on the farm forever, as he could impregnate his sister in too soon a time. So he'll be a wether, and eventually, well......pet? dinner? sold? We don't know, but you'll know when we know.
Alpacas: we had boarded the six alpacas at Lisa's. Her mom, Jan, has been wanting alpacas for a long time. She wanted to keep two of ours! Now, a goat situation interlude.....Stubby is the father of at least three of the females' babies. We know he is the father of Cocoa's pregnancy. We're sure he is the father of Prissy and Magic's pregnancies. We have no idea who the father of Nana's twins is. Stubby is the popular favorite in the betting pool, but since he didn't have access to Nana until two months ago, as far as we know, we just don't know. So....he can't be with the "ladies" since all his daughters will be there too. As a working farm, we had to make a decision. Do we wether Stubby and keep him as a pet, or do we sell him to another farm? We realized that we just don't have the resources to keep him as a pet, so selling it is. And this took a lot of discussion. Stubby is very sweet and cute, and we really like him. But...economic realities took hold, and the decision was made. So......back to the alpacas. We realized that the alpaca wool hasn't sold as fleece, even though many people told us they were interested before we sheared. Now the fleece has been sitting. So we are going to send it off to be made into roving for spinners. We've been told that also doesn't sell very well, but hand made, local yarn, in natural colors sells best. So we'll try that. In the meantime, Jan really wanted alpacas, we weren't making any profit, we don't have the resources to keep them all, so....we sold her three alpacas, not two. They came together, and alpacas don't separate from their herdmates well. As a matter of fact, some will commit suicide when left alone. So three alpacas came home with us, and three stayed with Jan.
Someone is offering us two Nigerian Dwarf goats. We can't really take them. They'll walk right through our fences. But my cousin Abby has a wonderful farm in Florida, and they might go to her. Abby lost her husband several years ago in a terrible accident. Their son, Dustin, was also hurt, as was Abby, but she and Dustin survived. Abby has since created a wonderful place called Tomorrow's Rainbow, a place where children who are grieving come for therapy. She uses many miniature animals in the therapy. Mostly there are miniature horses, but there are many other animals as well. You can read about her work at www.tomorrowsrainbow.org and I think you will like what you find! We'll let you know if the Nigerian Dwarf Goats become the new therapy animals!
Danielle, Susan and Jacob trimmed hooves all evening. Every sheep and goat got done, except for Peaceful, Turtle and Snowflake, who had all been done a few nights ago. The little ones have such soft hooves that we must do them more frequently. Turtle and Snowflake also got their first vaccines today, too.
That's about it. We're back, and back in the swing of things. We'll keep you posted on all the happenings as they happen. Tomorrow, look for news about the garden!

Soothing Stress

Just wanted to share an article that is very relevant to what MDKWI and KareDan Farms is all about - peace, harmony, and balance. Good basic information and several other articles linked on the site.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090722110901.htm

Stop And Smell The Flowers -- The Scent Really Can Soothe Stress

ScienceDaily (2009-07-23) -- Feeling stressed? Then try savoring the scent of lemon, mango, lavender or other fragrant plants. Scientists in Japan are reporting the first scientific evidence that inhaling certain fragrances alter gene activity and blood chemistry in ways that can reduce stress levels.

If you'd like to know more information regarding aromatherapy and using scents alone or with other stress releasing activities contact MDKWI and KareDan Farms by e-mail: info@mdkwi.com.

~Submitted by Nicole Beus, Marketing Director

First Day Of the Conference

We were supposed to leave Baltimore last night to come down to Northern Virginia. We're staying at Bill and Flo's to be close to the conference in the Hyatt Dulles. We'll stay at the hotel Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. But with the Alpaca adventure yesterday, we were way too tired to drive last night. So we got up at five this morning, packed a little, and left to drive to the hotel at seven in the morning. We got there in one and a half hours. Danielle dropped Karen at the hotel, and then drove back to Baltimore to really pack and bring everything down. Karen was in the Touch For Health Board meeting all day, and Danielle was packing and driving back to Northern Virginia.

The update is that we found out what's been bothering, and eating, our chickens. Seven chickens, including Herald, our rooster, were EATEN by something. We thought it was a fox. Something broke down the coop and got our birds. We were so upset. The remaining chickens were so traumatized that they refused to come down into the main floor of the indoor coop. Just when we thought it was safe, and the remaining birds were sort of relaxing, we found out what was going after them. This morning, Jacob was woken up at three in the morning. Ruby, our red hen, was making enough racket for all the hens. He came down to the coop, and found a Raccoon had gotten in and was chasing the red hen around and around. She did NOT appreciate it. Jacob chased it out, locked the coop, and went back to bed.

Susan took care of the sheep and goats this morning. We haven't heard anything so we assume that everything is fine. Tonight, we are here at Bill and Flo's, getting ready to eat dinner, and head to bed early to try to make up for the lack of sleep from yesterday.

The Alpacas Go To The Dentist

Whew! What a day. We took all six alpacas to the dentist! Well, the vet actually did the work, but it took almost a month to get an appointment, and even then, we had to take the alpacas to Feederbrook Farm to have the vet come. Our location seems to be too far for any of the area vets to travel to.

Danielle went out early and Karen worked on laundry, dropped packages by UPS, got cash for the Conference (see details of the Energy Kinesiology Conference at www.mdkwi.com), filled the minivan with gas, and finally showed up at the farm. Danielle had already gotten the sheep and Cocoa out to the sheep pasture, and fed and watered the rest of the goats. Nana was bleating very loudly to let us know she wanted out, but we couldn't let her out with the babies until we'd gotten the alpacas through the front barn yard.

We shook a bucket of sweet feed at the alpacas and got them into the barnyard. Then we did the same thing to get them into the barn. We had to catch each one, put on it's halter, and tie the lead ropes to the barn walls and posts. One by one, we led them out to the waiting truck and van.

Oh my goodness, what a trick it was to get them up into the truckbed. Lift the front feet, make them bend, lift their tush and push and hope they hop up. Those guys weigh a LOT.
We finally got three of them into the truck, which had been outfitted with fencing to keep them in like a cage. And then we got the other three into the minivan. Danielle drove the truck, which is a stick shift, and we thank Mordechai for loaning it to us. Karen drove the automatic minivan (thanks Mom and Dad).

We started out down the driveway, and down the main street, but pulled off and decided to put twine across the top of the truck. We also unhooked the alpacas lead ropes, as we were afraid that they would break their necks if they fell. Then we started for the beltway down Liberty Road. You can imagine the looks we got from people we passed. We stopped at a red light, and an young man sitting on a bench at the bus stop looked up and started to laugh. Someone came up to the truck window to ask questions. People were pointing. It was fun.

Then we drove on the interstate below the speed limit with our blinkers on both vehicles all the way up to Feederbrook Farm, which is not far from the Pennsylvania State Line. Have you ever seen an alpaca jump OUT of a truck?

The rest of the day went well. The alpacas got sedated, got their bottom front teeth dremeled down, got their fighting teeth sawed down, and got checked by the vet. All of this because "someone" took a bite out of Trademarks' neck. We're not sure who the "someone" is. By the way, the alpacas came to us already named, so don't laugh at us for their nomenclature. Besides Trademark, who actually belongs to Jacob, and is actually the only animal on his farm that is his, the other alpacas are Senator, Led Zepplin, White Knight, Enapay, and Lallapalooza, whom we call Lolly, or Lalapooey, or "bad name" when he is being naughty.

Karen came home from Feederbrook earlier than Danielle to continue getting ready for the Conference tomorrow. Danielle stayed to help Lisa with her animals, and to help move Lisa's llamas to visit her sheep, so as to allow our guest alpacas to have the run of the llama field. Lisa has two neutered male alpacas, and one female. All our alpacas are intact males. Llamas and alpacas can interbreed, so we have to keep them separate. We are very fortunate to have Lisa as a friend. She is extremely generous with her knowlege, her time, her farm and her resources. We send her gratitude and blessings for this incredible gift of hostessing our "boys" on her farm during the week we're away at the conference.

Speaking of which, we were supposed to leave tonight to go down, but neither of us had enough energy to drive. So we're going down VERY early Wednesday, and Danielle, who is not in a Board meeting during the day, will come back and pack everything and come back down tomorrow evening. We figure a safe trip is better than an accident waiting to happen!

Our gratitude to Jacob, and to our friend Susan, for taking care of the goats, sheep, and chickens during our absense. Have a wonderful week!

Our First Triangle Loom & More

We finished making our first triangle loom today. It's been quite a process, and much harder than we thought. Between the wrong math angles for cutting, which needed to be redone by a professional, and the mess with the staining, and the sanding which removed most of the waterproof coating, and the glue that got all over the deck and took off more coating, and the measuring, and the measuring, and the measuring, well......I didn't think we'd ever get to the nail stage. But yesterday and today we nailed in three boxes of headless nails, and now all we need to do is screw in eye hooks to hang the loom on the wall so we can use it. Oh yes, and we have to learn how to use it too!! Well, we're off to Lisa Westra's at Feederbrook Farm tomorrow with the alpacas, so we can ask for an up-close and personal demonstration of the loom from her.....we hope!

Susan picked up thirty tomato cages that went around thirty of the forty four tomato plants. Danielle also staked up the pole beans. She brought in a handful of just picked string beans. Delicious. We should have a great crop by the time the annual Kinesiology Conference is over. Keep in touch.

Volunteers

We went early today with three of the teen brigade volunteers. Today's crew was Miriam, Penina, and Shira. The goats love the tall grass and vines in their new enclosure, but with all the trees surrounding the enclosure, there are no shady places for them to rest. So Stubby, Magic and Prissy came in around one.

We had an adult helper today, too. Meaghan came out and took pictures and videos. Then she and Karen went to get grain, sweet feed, chicken feed and alpaca feed to stock up the farm for the week. They also picked up a machete for Danielle to help her cut back the weeds, which is a win-win situation for all. Danielle loves sharp pointy objects (!) and the goats love to eat the weeds she cuts!
Later this afternoon, we got a call from the neighbors again. The sheep had found another way out, or just kept using the one they had used Saturday night. So even though we had found one hole Sunday morning in the sheep yard, and fixed it, we had to fix another one today. Luckily, not all of them got out, and they don't go far when they do get out. Cocoa, the pregnant Nubian goat, was just standing in the middle of the long driveway, waiting for Sweet Feed to lure her back into the main barn yard.

It was a "great escape" day. Nana and the new babies snowflake and Turtle, got out of the main barn yard and into the alpaca pasture! Houdini would have be proud today, with all the escapees! But everyone is in the right place, safe and sound, and fed and watered and happy and healthy. Whew!
After all this, and some food, it's time to work in the garden. This evening's project is
building "cages" to hold up the tomatoes, and poles for the string beans. We had our first three and they're delicious! We sell our "natural and organic" heirloom vegetables, so if you want some, please call!