We finally added goats to our farm. They are Nigerian Dwarfs which originated in west Africa. They are a small breed and excellent milkers both of which are making them an increasingly popular choice for a dairy goat. Approximately three Nigerians will eat as much as one full-sized goat yet produce an average of 1.5 quarts of milk compared to about three quarts for the larger goats. We are so excited to have them and start building our herd! We will have goat milk soap and whatever else at some point.
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We would like to welcome Elsa to our farm. Lanei will be retiring soon, and we have been looking for another female for a while now. We finally found a great dog with the desired confirmation and temperament to continue breeding exceptional livestock guardians. She is considerably larger than Lanei, so we should be getting a lot more size in our puppies going forward. She is a big lovebug and has accepted all our animals. She has a lot of room to run, some buddies to work with now, and she seems to be enjoying every minute of it. We are so happy to have this sweetie! Well, we had definite issues last year with vine borers and squash bugs. Our squash, cantaloupe and cucumber plants were done before their time. This year, on the advice of an extension agent, we are going to try trap cropping. The recommendation we received was to apply a systemic insecticide to Blue Hubbard squash plants. Blue Hubbard is well know to be preferred by cucurbit pests and will draw them away from the cash crop. The Blue Hubbard needs to be started two weeks or so before the main crop and treated with the systemic. Systemics render the entire plant poisonous, so care should be taken to not get this type of insecticide on plants which you intend to eat. In addition, the blossoms must be removed from treated plants prior to blooming in order to protect pollinators. We are going to start Blue Hubbard in trays and inject the insecticide prior to planting near vulnerable crops. We also intend to pull them up at the end of the season and incinerate as an additional precaution. And, well, because I don't wanna take any chances... http://ipm.missouri.edu/MEG/2017/3/Trap_cropping/ This is our first calf by our Wagyu bull, Ichiro, out of our Black Angus heifer, Baby. She was born on February 3rd. She's just too cute!
We have lots of tomatoes available.
Ok, so. After posting about my quail eggs and how we eat them, I had to go look and see what Google had to say... Well, these just look yummy, and I think I'll have to try this.
Here's a link to the recipe: http://panlasangpinoy.com/2009/09/07/pinoy-street-food-orange-egg-tokneneng-qwek-kwek-kwek-recipe/. These guys have tons of great looking recipes, so please check out their blog. Kwek-Kwek (courtesy of panlasangpinoy.com) Ingredients
While the chickens may be slackers, the quail have been going gangbusters! Our quail eggs are $6.00 per 15-pack. They are great hard-boiled in a salad, pickled or you can make the cutest little fried eggs. Well, that's what we do with them anyway. I'm sure Google would return a plethora of recipes. ;)
I just made an appointment with the butcher for November 3rd, so we will have pork available around the middle of November. These guys are a Duroc/Berkshire cross and are hands down the best pork we've ever had. They are raised on pasture along with scaps, corn and ADM Golden Hog feed. No antibiotics or hormones!
Hmm... Need to do some more weeding. The cucumbers are coming along nicely, and we should have some in a week or two. No sign of Squash Bugs yet so hoping to get away with no pesticides.
Just planted some Mesclun Salad Mix, Swiss Chard (Bright Lights and Fordhook Giant), Kale and Snow and Sugar Snap Peas. Nom...nom...nom... |
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