Update on Life... from the Farm

Wow! What a Wild and Crazy ride life is! I haven’t updated the blog in a while, so I’ll try to get it all in tonight!

First on the farm…

We have dried off Shemayim for her calving in February. We had a bout with mastitis, but she is doing fine now. Winter brings low milk production because of the lack of fresh, rich green grass, so 31 is givin’ all she’s got except on Sabbath when her calf, Jaffa, gets all she wants. We are getting 1 1/2 - 2 gallons a day. She is still not bred back yet, and hope to catch her in heat soon! An interesting thought - if we eat according to the season of production, it is much healthier… this is cold season and milk increases mucus production, there is less milk available during the cold season!

The Boys are all doing pretty well! Roast will go to the butcher in February to be put in the freezer. Spot of Beef needs to be cut, will probably be done in January or February, before it gets hot and flies become prolific. Big Boy is still not big enough to take care of the girls, so we still pay for Artificial Insemination.

We slaughtered 6 chickens and put them in the freezer last Sunday. They were from our hatching last spring and were roosters needing to leave the hens alone! Before the butchering we were getting 2-4 eggs daily, now we are getting 7-8! Those ladies were just being harassed!

I finally sorted out the sheep and goats to know who is who and hope to get pics and names up soon (can’t post them on the blog, will put them in the gallery). But at any rate, they are all doing fine. The sheep are due to lamb in February, and since it will be too cold to shear them, they will get a crotch cut in January and then will be sheared in March.  We plan to butcher the lambs at a year old for the freezer. The plan for the goats is to get a boer billy to use for breeding for meat. Of course, the fiber from the sheep and goats will be turned into yarn and used to make socks, sweaters, hats, gloves and anything else we may need to stay warm (and feed my knitting habit.)

As for Hicks and Sasha, what can I say? Spoiled and useless! They are being spoiled and have not worked since the weather has turned cold. They are becoming fat and lazy horses. Spring will come too soon for the both of them!

The back porch has been closed in and is ready for use as a green house to grow our seeds for the upcoming year. The planting boxes haven’t been built, but I hope to get some done soon as the weather permits.

We have spent the past several weeks working on the fencing to keep the dogs in … well, Sumi gets out anyway, I think she is just walking over the fence! Anyway, it is a plague! Still working on fences (an ongoing process).

The bees are being fed and they are staying warm and happy. Next spring we will split the hive and buy 2 more splits. We hope to have 8 - 10 gallons of honey this summer from the 4 hives.

Next installment: Shelly