One of the new doelings from December. There's really nothing cuter.
Whats happening in 2010.....
January 2010.....We got snow the first of the month. I'd gotten used to mud, now I have to re-orient myself. I got a lot of advertising literature done during the bad weather. I re-designed the brochures and business cards for the farm and got them printed. I use Vista Print as they do such a great job. I'm still going to the Farm Enterprise classes put on by the University of Oregon and Washington. Great classes that cover a huge variety of subjects. By the middle of January we were back to mud, the snow still around but much less.
The kids are doing well. I took a picture of one of Charms girls, she
loves jumbing in the bucket at the door before dashing outside. She
is sure a cute little girl with those nice spots.
I had a phone conference meeting of the
Western Kiko Goat Association, and then got
busy and got a brief article about the chapter off
to the Goat Rancher Magazine.
I got an article published in the Dairy Goat
Journal on Kiko Goats (I know they aren't dairy
goats) The magazine did a great job and the
pictures turned out nice. I subscribed to the magazine after that....any one that had such
good taste as to publish that article deserved
my business! LOL
The Chicks arrived on the 22nd of January and were rushed off to the brooder. These are the chicks for the CSA. We also bought a pair of angus cross heiffers to help produce beef for the CSA. I have them at
David and Renee's for now but hope to get them over here
when we get our barn done.
Last of January and guess what !!! Our first Turkey
eggs arrived from our new heritage turkey hens!
Yahoo. I can hardly wait till we start having baby turkeys.
FEBRUARY 2010
We went out and weighed and tagged kids today. For the
first time in several years I've managed to get a cold. I totally
hate it so have decided to ignore it and just continue with what needs doing....however I am
kind of whiney. It snowed again yesterday ( 2/2/10) and I wasn't ready for that, even though
I'm still gripeing about the mud......guess I'm just hard to please. I did get busy and get my
taxes ready to go and the outline for the American Kiko Goat Association newsletter and the Western Kiko Goat Association newsletter going. Now if I can get the newsletter for the Guild done I should be in good shape for a while LOL.
Feb. 15........Our friends Jim and Fran gave us a pair of foster geese.
We named them Gunther and Hilda. I'm hoping they
decide to have a BIG family this year. We put them in
the fenced yard so they don't wander up the valley and
get eaten by a coyote. We aren't to familiar with
geese so looked them up online and decided they are
African geese. They're very noisy and really hate it if
they get seperated. They came with Maestro the polish
rooster who dashes around like a madman most of the
time. I'm not sure if he knows he's a chicken. We are
still very wet, although the snow has finally melted and
we're back to mud.
We got a call from Vicki Brookreason who
decided to buy Charcoal (her kids have
renamed him a much nicer "Snickers").
She has places in Ione and Castle Rock so
I'm not sure where he'll end up, but he better
be a good boy and make us proud!
Vicki sent me a picture of him out
grazing at her place, it looked very pastoral
and he has a few girls all to himself...........
...probably thinks he died and went to
heaven!
March 2010.....
Still very warm here. I'm back in the mud season. Our kids are going fast, We've had someone speak for Ronald Weasley, Reubeus Hagrid, Charms two girls, and the black and brown twins along with our late December twin girls........they're just flying out of here. I was out yesterday and noticed Licorice and Seven are bagging up. They'll probably kid any day.....or more likely they'll wait till I'm at work and kid while Dave and Wookie are here alone!
Just got the newsletters for AKGA and WKGA out....Yahoo!!! Now I only have the Guilds newsletter and I'm good for 3 more months. We noticed one of the turkey hens seems to be thinking about setting, so maybe we'll have turkeys in April.
Our second load of chickens arrived and is being brooded over at Renee and David's house. We got another load of Cornish Cross, and 25 white leghorns and 25 golden sex link for eggs. Our original fat and lazy hens are enjoying retirement so I only get about 6 eggs a day out of about 30 of them, but they still hang around and look cute.
We had the early vendors meeting of The Dalles Farmers market last week. It was so nice to see all the people we had been at the market with last year. I'm really looking forward to this years Farmers Market. Its held on Saturday mornings at the City Park on Union street, from 8am to 1pm. The meeting kind of woke up my "spring is coming spirit"! We also go to the Thursday market in Hood River (its 4-7pm at May Street School) so if any of you are around come and say hi!
Well, kidding has officially started! Licorice had triplets on the 20th, then Seven had triplets on the 21st. All are well, total of 4 doelings and 2 bucklings.
Licorice's doelings at 24 hours (born 3/20)
Seven's triplets born 3/21
Sweet Pea's triplets born Tuesday 3/23
It's raining triplets here!!! Three sets, total of 5 doelings and 4 boys. And color, we don't usually have much more than white so all these colors are great. Glenda Miles from Twilight Sky Ranch wrote that having kids is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you're going to get. Were calling it the "Forest Gump Factor"
Well, our Wookie Bear had another seizure. That makes 7 in 4 years, not a huge amount but enough so it would be unethical to breed her. We purchased her from Slomoshun kennels in Brush Prarie and so got hold of the breeder. She has no
knowledge of another in the line having seizures but just in case we'll go with another line when we get a second pup. Real bummer, for both us and The Wookie.
April.....well, we're back into snow and cold dangit. It got
down to 24 degree's last night and its snowed the last two
nites. It usually melts off during the day, but still yucky.
Gurnsey had a totally unexpected baby, very pretty little
buck (I'm going to have to build a 10 foot tall fence for that
darn Rock Star......sure wish someone would make me an
offer on that turkey! The three sets of triplets are all doing
great and a real joy to watch. My friend Renee and I went
to Dallesport and picked up a pair of heifers. Now I own two
White Park yearlings (almost yearlings). They were afraid
of the Yak's at Mikes place and their afraid of the goats here.
I think they'll get used to the goats a lot faster than
Wheeler's Yak's though!
Lots of kids this month. Brown Betty had an nice set of triplets. All bucklings, but I have to admit they are adorable. The Angora's had kids. One had a white and one a black, both doelings. The white doeling got caught in a cage wire and died during the night at about 24 hours old. It was a real blow to us as it was our first Angora kid, and a girl, and great little curls. We're much more careful with Elderberry (our little black Angora girl)
A very confused bottle baby...The Wookie is secretly laughing!
May.........We had to go over to Gene Tuthill's and pick up some more hay, cows are eating a lot! They are looking good though. I went to the vendors meeting for The Dalles Farmers market. Start is the first weekend of June. I finally got the web site launched for Little Farms. Its www.LittleFarms.org and it looks pretty good. I've sold several of the meat CSA's, and have great hopes I'll be able to sell more.
The chicks are feathering out and will be ready to go on pasture soon. I've fenced in the front pasture and put Daisy and Iris and the dairy goats in there. Then I'll pasture the chickens in there with them and hopefully that will keep the hawks from trying to snag one of them. The field fence should keep the coyote's out, and I'll give them a house for night.
Gardening season is coming up. David planted some of our rhubarb in the yard. Looks happy and healthy so far. I've great hope for it. There are so few things we can grow up here it would be nice to have something be really successful. Dave has been working on fencing for the back pasture as well. There's a lot of nice pasture back there but no fencing so
we can't use it yet, and fencing costs a ton!
June is here, and came in a lot colder than May went out! We have started the farmers market again, Saturdays in The Dalles and Thursdays in Hood River. Our CSA is going well. Were hoping to add another 10 people in July. Renee took a pig in to process and should be picking the last cow up soon. I have two wethers in and will hopefully get to pick them up before the Thursday market.
I go pick up our chicks from Suzy's on Wednesday.
She hatched us 30 Astrolorps and brooded them for
me. Now we'll put them on pasture. I'm hoping Dave
and I will be able to build a shelter for them tomorrow.
Dave brought in the first egg from the new layers.
Kind of funny looking but you have to start somewhere!
Getting ready to head out for a Farmers Market
meeting. The next batch of turkeys arrived today so
are brooding for a bit. Chickens are having a great time out in the pasture, they look happy and are ranging farther every day. We had a batch of goat sausage done up for the CSA and picked it up last week. Very tasty. I can't believe tomorrow will be July 1st! How on earth did that happen!!
Well, its already August! I can't believe how time fly's and how little we get accomplished! The birds are growing well. We've sold a lot in our CSA and our sign ups at the Farmers Markets, which makes us happy. The goats are doing well, slowly the registration papers are coming in. This was a very Albus year. Almost every kid we had was one of Albus's, which makes it a bit of a challenge when we're trying to get a good group of kids out to their new owners.
We're weaning kids now so its really noisy around here. The kids are all yelling and that gets every one else yelling. We're also getting ready for the Klickitat County fair. I'm bringing 6 goats to the fair this year, and the Columbia Basin Goat Guild is sponsoring a poster contest in the goat group as well.
I'm also looking forward to the Kiko WestFest in Auburn California this year. We've never had a Kiko
goat event in the west before so should be lots of fun and a chance to meet other breeders as well.
David said a black bear made a visit while I was at work. He didn't cause any problems, but it did make it uncomfortable to realize one was out there wandering around. I had shot at a coyote several times over the last few weeks as well. They unfortunatly have discovered that I'm the worst shot is seven counties. He'll catch pneumonia from the draft before I actually hit him.
Last of the month and were just back from a successful fair trip. All the Kiko's did great, and the Angoras did well also. Hope you enjoy some of the pictures!
left is Avalon showing Amelia (Angora) and our friend Bev Baehm showing her Angora. Above is Avalon giving Elderberry a bath before fair. Below is the finished product so to speak LOL
We took a load of 70 chickens in to process yesterday, Dave's off to pick up wheat from the Counts family in Goldendale. We already picked up Barley from the Eschelmans in Centervill. Need to pick up the rest of the hay and we'll be good. We are now in discussion about building a pole barn for hay storage for the winter and bigger housing for the goats. I feel like winter is sneaking up on us and I'm not ready yet!
Daelene and Joshua came from Idaho today and picked up Licorice's triplets and Raspberry, Emma and another doe. Sure seems strange to have them gone. All were really nice doe's and I think they'll be really happy with them. It was pretty cool all day today. We have had to build a fire for several days now and once it got down to 39 degree's.
Todays September 14th, it was cool this morning. David went to the Eshelmans for hay, we have a lot more trips to get it all moved. Then we have some from the Counts and that should do it for the winter. We also picked up barley and wheat from these farms, so all the animals should be set for winter. We're gearing up for Kiko WestFest in Auburn CA. This is the first big event for the Western Kiko Goat Association, and in fact, the first big Kiko event in the west period! I'm really looking forward to bringing some animals and seeing everyone else's as well.
We're gearing up to try and get a barn going before winter snowfall. We need something much bigger for the number of animals we have, so I'm hoping for a 36 x 48, with wings on the sides, we'll see how far we make it.
The picture on the right is the girl who won the poster contest sponsored by the Columbia Basin Goat Guild. She's recieving $100 check from the Vice President of the guild (the President is taking pictures) This was a great experience for the kids and some of them did amazing jobs on their posters. We'll be continuing it next year with better advertising so all the kids know what we're looking for.
Its october already! Just got back from the kiko WestFest in Auburn CA. It was lots of fun, visiting with other Kiko breeders, getting to know them and a bit about their farms, going to some great classes and looking at some wonderful animals. We sold 3 and bought 2. This means we will have some amazing bloodlines to add to our operation including Conan, from Heavens Gate Kiko Ranch in Briggs TX. We are really looking forward to our new kids.
Last load of hay is on the trailer, its nearly dark and David is stacking hay with the dogs as company...I assume they aren't helping him load.......its getting chilly and there's cool in the air.
I'm soooooo not looking forward to winter!
Today is Thanksgiving day. I have a turkey roasting on the wood stove and David is giving the goats warm water. We've had a pretty hard cold snap and its hard to keep the animals water thawed. It was minus 9.8 yesterday. The Bouvier's are having fun but the goats and chickens aren't very happy.
We took the turkeys in to be processed at Harringtons on Monday. It had started snowing and I was towing a two horse trailer full of turkeys. Customers were set up to pick up their turkeys in Hood River, The Dalles, Bingen, Lyle and Goldendale. By the time I pulled in to my friends house at Centerville we had 5 inches of snow. I left the trailer there and headed home. There was 9 inches in Bickleton, but sure was nice to get home. David made the cows a hay bale house, which keeps them warm and they really seem to like it. We have another small house for the young bucks and that gives all the boys more room. The girls are mostly pregnant and we're thinking we'll kid about
November through March. Well, guess i'd better check on my turkey......have a great Thanksgiving.
So 2010 ends and its been a great year for us. We've done a lot of new things, started another company to sell our meats, bought a wonderful new Bouvier to help The Wookie, got in a lot of new fencing, started building on the new barn, added a couple cows to our farm, and started adding dairy goats for a planned cheese business.
Keep up with us in 2011, and I'll try and keep this dialog going as well as i can. Hope you enjoy reading about our farm and taking this journey with us.
Mary and David, with The Wooke and Mr. Darcy and the crew at half Creek Farm
