Something very sudden, and very sad happened this week. Night Hawk, our little buck, became very, very ill suddenly and died. I believe he had Stargazing, or goat polio – not a contagious disease, but caused by a vitamin B1 deficiency. He was growing, in appearances in good health, although he seemed behind developmentally. He…
Category: Homesteading
Roots and Rabbits
Ethan uncovered this adorable little rabbit when he moved the chickens through a thick patch of Spanish needle in the garden. It tried to run away, but he caught it again easily, and it squeaked loudly. It had a litter mate that he unfortunately stepped on by accident, before he even realized there were rabbits…
A Christmas Eve Surprise
On Christmas eve we went out early to do the chores – not very early, after lunch-ish. There were a few surprises waiting for us – first of all, the pigs HAD gotten through the electric fence (I thought they were behaving themselves very nicely – too nicely), and were in the garden. Luckily we…
The Greediest Goat
We arrived at the farm the other day to see the goats wandering around at the end of the driveway. Someone had a bucket stuck on their head. This turned out to be May. It was quite a desperate drive to get to them, because they can easily reach my little garden starts that are…
Goats is Bad
Clothilde said the funniest thing to me the other day. She said it right after she had handed me the tiny cob of stunted dent corn that she found in the garden, so she could bear-hug our great pyrenees farm dog, Belle. Belle rolls in stinky stuff, loves frolicking in the rain, and usually…
Chestnut’s New Calf
We’ve been expecting Chestnut to have her baby any day for about a month at least. She had the “heavily pregnant lady waddle” and every day looked about to have her baby within the next few hours, but somehow managed to look even more pregnant and ready to calve the next day. On Friday when…
The Day Arrived….
For months now we had been planning a hoof-to-table pig processing class with our friend PJ. This weekend we put the last of Star’s first piglets in the freezer. They were huge, but we had been saving them for November, when we thought it would be cold. It wasn’t. It was downright hot (actually record…
Quote 1
Not much to say today, but I wanted to share a short quote from Louis Bromfield’s The Farm, which I think is especially poignant for these times. (Published in 1932, it is too bad that this is largely a forgotten book. Incidentally, Ethan picked up this book at a Starbucks while he was travelling for…
Better
I’ve been feeling better this week. The weather is slightly drier and cooler (whew!). This time of year down here is like February for everyone up north – you don’t go out much, and when you do the weather drives you back inside after a little while. At least I don’t also have to shovel…
Rain and Wild Pumpkins
This is one of our wild pumpkins the pigs planted. They are all different shapes, but this one looks like a pure Seminole pumpkin to me. Other ones have longer necks, and you can tell they are also something else…trombocino? Tahitian melon? It’s growing, loving all the rain we’re getting. The past week has been…
Passionfruit Farming
“We got here at the perfect time,” Ethan said when we arrived to do the chores. “We missed most of the rain.” It then proceeded to pour for hours. I’ve never seen the paths become ankle-deep creeks with tiny rapids before. It felt like we got four inches in an hour, but it was more…
Another Goodbye
We said goodbye to Stripey and Nougat this weekend. It was sad – Nougat was the first baby goat born on our farm, and Stripey was there from the beginning. We got Stripey right after we got Ellie, our first goat, because she was so lonely. Last year Nougat had a really bad case of…
Toadstools And Fairy Rings 