November ~ NaNoWriMo

I really need to get a writing schedule going.  I participated in this last November, and my kids asked to read my story.  The novel has been under lock and key since then.


I've been random writing daily, in between chores and baking, to get a routine going.  I think I write more on my blog than anything - ha ha ha!


I best get back to work.  As soon as this rain and wet weather dry out, it's back to splitting wood, barn repairs, and finishing the goat shed.  Oh....and the chicken coop .....and..........


.........some long days ahead.  Winter will be here before I'm ready for it.

Motherly Chicken ~ Goat's Milk

We have one hen that refuses to leave her eggs.  My 14 year-old daughter wanted to let her sit on some.  It's colder now, so it's probably not going to work out too well, but we do have heat lamps.  We marked the eggs and it takes about 22 days to hatch, according to my husband.  We don't even know if these are fertilized, but will soon find out.  This hen is so motherly, she picks up straw with her beak and puts it in her nest underneath her.  My daughter and I saw her lay this egg right in front of us.  After my daughter marked it, the hen went back in the roost, and pushed them around with her beak, and sat back down on them.


We are getting about 2 quarts of milk a day from Peanut.  My daughter is enjoying it very much.  In fact, the goat does not even kick when she milks her, and she doesn't even use the hobble. 


We re-purposed an old wooden coffee table that was stored in the garage.  We butted it up against the side of one barn, and next to an old extended cattle feeder.  It's working out perfect for us.


With the goat's milk, we are saving $5.00-$6.00/gallon for organic milk.  We use about a gallon a day with our large family, so this is another step towards self-sufficiency.

Sunflower Power

I used pieces of cheese cloth to cover the head of my sun flowers, and tied it on with string saved from feed bags.  Hopefully the birds won't get to them anymore.

I'm now on the hunt for recipes using sun flower seeds.  I mentioned, to the family, that foxtail grass seeds, and the other red flower we found, is edible.  My  husband looked at the kids and said, "you guys can all take the first bite." He's just a big chicken when it comes to foraging. Although, he is up for mushroom hunting.  We may be taking a mushroom hunting class to familiarize ourselves with what is edible and what is not.

Road Trip ~ Newest Addition To The Farm

We are heading out today, to bring home a new member to the farm.  Stay tuned for updates.  It's about a 1 hour and 15 minute drive one way.  This should be a fun day around here.

We are finally back.  We originally called about a mini-lamancha goat, and when I got to talking to the woman, she also had a full sized purebred lamancha she wanted to sell, which was what we really needed.

When we got there, we were talking about our billy goat, and she mentioned her purebred Nigerian wether.  She tried to sell him, but could not, and was thinking he would be going to the butcher.  She asked if we would like to take him, free of charge, for a buddy for our billy.  

Meet Peanut (left) and Rue (short for Rudy on the right).

Then, as we were getting ready to leave, we found out a nearby neighbor had about 50 guinea hens.  We drove over, but the younger ones, in the roost, were already asked for.  There was no way we'd catch the bigger ones.  Some day we'll have 2 of those too.  We almost did today.

I have to say, that little Rue sure is loud.  I'm so glad we brought him home though.  The two newbies stick together, and follow me around in the pen.  Misty, is testing them both, and getting put in her place.  Hopefully, they will all get along.

We are excited, because Peanut is in milk, and we now have fresh goat milk.  YAY! 

Homemade Pumpkin Butter Results ~ Sun Flower Seeds

My 5 pumpkins resulted in 9 pints of pumpkin butter.  After researching canning recipes, I decided to heat my lids, after sterilizing jars, and simply attach the lids.  I allowed them to cool, and then moved them to the refrigerator.  They will last up to 6 months this way.  

Canning is not recommended.  In fact, I plan to take the last of the pumpkins, and make pumpkin puree to freeze.  Then I can simply take it out to make pumpkin waffles, pumpkin bread, muffins, or pumpkin pie.  There are tons of pumpkin recipes to try it with.  

Having always purchased sunflower seeds from a store, my husband was actually "giddy" when I shared these with him.


"We grew those?" he squealed like a little kid getting candy (ha ha ha!)

I will have to start covering some of them with cheese cloth.  The birds are starting to get into them, and they are not all ready to harvest.

And once again, I am shocked at the fresh taste these little guys had.  So much better than what you buy in the stores.  Hubby wants a whole field of these now - ha ha ha ha!

Homemade Pumpkin Butter Making

This was the first year for us to grow our own pie pumpkins (baking pumpkins).  Last year we grew the type the kids could carve out for fall.

The weird weather this year, caused our pumpkin production to be less than what we thought.  We even had less of our spaghetti squash this year.  It was simply too wet.

We were blessed to have enough baking pumpkins to make pumpkin butter and possible bake a few pies.

There is something so gratifying to grow the pumpkins and make pumpkin butter myself.  Nothing is wasted.  The pumpkin seeds are saved and roasted, and the the goats will get treated to some pumpkin skins (and a few seeds), and any remaining will be composted.  I have to double check with my daughter, to make sure the goats can eat it first.  It sure feels good to not throw something in my trash, or have to recycle plastic, metal or glass.

Poisonous to Horses

I am so glad we are boarding Blondie at a stable right now, so that we can research the plants on the property (and get the fencing in place).

I am finding plants that can hurt horses, and we need to remove them.  Here are some of the poisonous plants that we found here (I have milkweed growing along the creek and isn't near where the horse will go, or the goats):

and Dogbane (no photo yet).  I guess we have some work to do.