Missing Willow Farm

Milos  sheds like crazy this time every year.  It’s like pluchking a chicken. He makes me realize why this NOT an indoor breed!  Can you imagine him on your couch?  He drools a lot, too.

Hermione and Mina are the two goats I’m milking this year.  Mina is better than Hermione about being round up in the afternoon, it’s usually a struggle getting Hermione to come in.  Brian figured out a way to make it easy on us… we hook a lead to both of their collars and Mina leads her to the gate.   I love lazy farming!

Jack was a little apprehensive of the Mule at first, but once he got the hang of it he loads right up.  We see lots of bunnies and squirrels along our driveway, which causes great excitement!  We’ve taken him to visit a friend’s farm in our truck and he has a hard time staying in the back seat.

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We got him home late Thursday night and he seems to have settled right in.  We’re keeping him on a lead until he figures out we’re his peeps and this is his home.  I took him to our vet this morning to have a microchip installed just in case.  Our cow Jessica is fascinated with him and our goats are terrified.  The sheep just seem pissed off that he’s here.  We haven’t taken him into the big pasture yet to meet the guardian dogs and wrangle our sheep.  Baby steps.  🙂

We’re heading to NC today to meet a young, fully trained herding dog.  It took over a week after Jenna’s passing for me to be able to contact the folks we received her from.  They told us they have a young trained dog available if we’re ready to welcome another dog into our home.   As it turns out, that was the same day one of our sheep got loose and we had spent the good part of an hour chasing her up and down our driveway.  If we didn’t have a farm and animals to move, I’m sure we would have waited.  But we do and it’s been difficult for the past few months.  We need a farming partner.  No photo today, but I’m planning on lots of photos over the next few days!

Every morning when we go out to the pasture to feed our critters we’re greeted with this sight.  Since my two milking goats have spent the night across the driveway, their babies are anxiously awaiting their reunion.  Jessica waits patiently for her bucket of sweet feed.  Bella, who didn’t have a kid this year, looks longingly at the milking stand where Mina and Hermione will get an extra share of grain.  Our guardian dog wants his butt scratched before and after his breakfast.  The sheep ignore everyone.

About 20 feet off our back deck, the hawk rests on top of our wisteria and grapevine garden structure.  Unseen in this photo is the blue jay that was fussing at it.  I’m guessing the hawk got a little too close to a nest.

Hermione fights Mina to be first to the milking stand every morning.  They butt heads and jostle for position at the gate.  Since they haven’t figured out yet how to open the gate by themselves yet I always let Hermione out first because if I don’t, she leans against the fence by the milkstand and has actually started distorting it.  Brat.  It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that a goat could open a pasture gate…. 0ur first buck  Jerry Lee could open it with his lips and that’s no small feat.  When we have new visitors to the farm I always tell them the gate is an I.Q. test because it’s kind of tricky to figure out.   Jerry Lee was too smart for us, we sold him pretty quickly.

I get almost a quart a day from each of my girls from the morning milking.  I’m on a once a week cheesemaking schedule, it’s nice to have spinach and warm chevre salads again.  If anyone has a favorite recipe using goat cheese to share, I’d love to see it!

Garlic scapes are in abundance this time of year.  They are the flower stalks of garlic plants and they’re delicious grilled with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.  We’ve been grilling them with asparagus from our garden.  They’re also yummy in stir fry.  If you run across some at your local farmer’s market, give them a try!

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The hawk who lives in the woods behind our greenhouse is getting bolder.  We found him sitting on one of our invisible fence posts in the garden this morning.  He can sit there all day as far as I’m concerned, he keeps the bunnies away.