Obvious disagreement

I honestly can't tell you what was going on when Dan snapped this picture.  But it's pretty obvious by my and Samuel's scowling that we were having some sort of disagreement.  Definitely not the first, and surely not the last!



I love how Evie is lying between us.  If she weren't fast asleep, you might think she was acting as a referee.

Big brother kisses

Samuel's a kisser now.  He give us kisses freely.  I've even caught him giving our cat, Buddy, a kiss.  But most of all, he loves to kiss Evie!  If she's laying on the floor chances are he's down there giving her kisses.  He'll even stop her swing so he can give kisses.  It may be the cutest thing I've ever seen.

He spotted Evie laying on the floor and is contemplating his next move...




He decided it was best to come up from behind and plant a kiss on the top of her head...

Of course, he wouldn't be a big brother if he didn't terrorize her a little too.  He thought it'd be fun to yank on her ear...

Baby goat

Most of our female goats are pregnant and are starting to have their kids.  Here's the first baby goat that was born on our farm and is just minutes old in this picture...




The orange and yellow goop you see on the kid is the amniotic sac.  Mama goat is licking the baby clean and trying to get the sac off.  We watched for a while, but Mama was having a hard time, so Dan had to step in to help...




Mama kept on cleaning the baby and after about 10 minutes the kid was already up on it's feet...




After Mama and baby spent a little more time together, we had one last task before we could leave them alone to bond.  Dan put a little plastic clip over the umbilical cord to help it to dry up and heal quickly to avoid infection...

Happy Easter

Evie in her Easter dress and bonnet as we're heading out to church...

Homemade mayo

Do you make your own homemade mayonnaise?  Have you ever tried?

  

"No"?

Well, you should!  It's super easy, way tastier than store bought and it doesn't contain things like high fructose corn syrup or calcium disodium EDTA. (It's full chemical name is calcium disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid.  Sounds appetizing, right?  Click the following link to find out more about this food preservative: Think twice before consuming calcium disodium EDTA)

Ingredients

• 1 egg yolk*
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 2 pinches sugar
• 2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 1 cup oil, safflower or corn

Directions

In a glass bowl, whisk together egg yolk and dry ingredients. Combine lemon juice and vinegar in a separate bowl then thoroughly whisk half into the yolk mixture. Start whisking briskly, then start adding the oil a few drops at a time until the liquid seems to thicken and lighten a bit, (which means you've got an emulsion on your hands). Once you reach that point you can relax your arm a little (but just a little) and increase the oil flow to a constant (albeit thin) stream. Once half of the oil is in add the rest of the lemon juice mixture.

Continue whisking until all of the oil is incorporated. Leave at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours then refrigerate for up to 1 week.  Makes about 1 ¼ cups.

Note: If you have a food processor, use it.  You’ll have mayo in about 30 seconds and save your arm from whisking.

Variations: Try adding the following: curry, dill or other herbs, chipotle peppers, ketchup and relish (thousand island), etc. Experiment and have fun!

*RAW EGG WARNING
Use caution when consuming raw and lightly cooked eggs due to the slight risk of salmonella or other food-borne illness. To reduce this risk, use only fresh, properly refrigerated, clean grade A or AA eggs with intact shells, and avoid contact between the yolks or whites and the shell.

What!?

Don't you sleep sideways across your bed with your feet hanging out?  Seems logical to Samuel.

Goats

Our newest addition to the farm are goats.  We traded 3 of our ram lambs that were born last spring that were ready to process for 7 goats; several of which are pregnant.  Here are a few...



Our sheep do a pretty good job of keeping pasture grasses down, but there are a lot of things they won't eat, such as blackberry bushes, cedar trees, and other goodies that they would have to reach up high for.  Fortunately, goats do eat all of those things.  We'll eventually need about 20-25 goats for the amount of land we have.  Since we have several that are pregnant, hopefully we'll have some kids (baby goats) very soon.

The goats are very friendly.  They'll come right up to us and like to nibble on our clothes.  This one wants to say "Hi"...






I'll get some pictures of the kids posted as soon as they're born!

Garden is in!

Last year our garden was pathetic.  It wasn't for lack of trying though.  Last April, May and June were so wet that most crops didn't get in the ground until almost July.  Although it was nice having tomatoes in November.

Since we've had such gorgeous weather this year, Dan got started on it early.  First he put fencing around the whole garden - no small feat since our garden is 50' x 100'.  Then he tilled up the whole garden prepping it...




The first thing Dan planted was wheat.  You can see it coming up below (looks like grass) and you can see the 7 foot high deer fencing and stronger chicken wire at the bottom...



We also have a boat-load of other things planted...  kale, swiss chard, collard greens, spinach and peas.  I'll be sure to give you updates as our goodies start coming in.

Spring chicks are in!

Our first batch of chicks have arrived!  Actually our first two batches... 150 chicks then 160 arrived 2-weeks later.  We're hoping to double our production this year.   The chicks below are about 4 days old and are mostly meat chicks, although there are a few egg layers in there too.



Here's a close up of the cuties...




The black one that you see above is a hen.  We're adding about 25 hens this year for ourselves, plus we're raising about 16 for two friends in St. Louis that have decided they want to raise hens for eggs also.  Once the chicks are about a month old, we'll transport them up to their new home.