Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays from Capra Lane Farm! It's that time of year again where we look back on 2017 and review our year-end accomplishments and crazy decisions. This fall we opened the new farm to family and friends and enjoyed home grown foods, drinks, tours and many many animal meet and greets. If there was any doubt, now they are all certain just how insane we really are...

Early spring generally brings the arrival of baby goats. Last years kids grew by leaps and bounds, and by February we made more!

   

We also had kittens. Twice! Oops....The kittens provided many hours of wasted time during chores and Rog could generally count on finding me sitting on a pile of hay playing with a piece of string when I was supposed to be doing something else. 

With summer came the constant flow of tomatoes from the garden. The unusually warm spring and fall gave us our earliest and latest harvest ever. We enjoy eating exclusively from the garden and barnyard as much as possible.

Yep, we made hay. Lots of it. Making hay has become Rog's greatest obsession. He checks the weather incessantly and meticulously maintains the equipment. Now that his hay was crowned "grand champion overall" at the fair this year, he's been a little difficult to live with. 😉

We appraised each of our adult does this year, our herd average went up since our last appraisal which is a definite positive. The process requires a lot of prep time but we always gain a lot of knowledge about our herd.

The ponies turned a year older, Sierra and Rain are still going strong at 24 and 23. We raised 550 lbs of pig as well as a flock of 10-12 lb freakishly large chickens. The freezers are chock full for winter. 

We added a few 'new' toys to the Capra Lane family, a 1962 Oliver 770 which Rog is currently restoring. And a 1982 Ford F-250 which is now my exciting second vehicle, after it gets a paint job, of course. I call it 'exciting' because it's a challenge keeping it between the lines on the road. We also tried something else new-vacationing! We were able to squeeze in a 3 day beach trip in June for our anniversary and it was pretty fantastic, a nice change from the daily grind. 

And lastly, the most exciting way to end 2017... we have another Weimaraner in our lives! Meet Ivy.

Ivy is 9 months old, she's a little different that your average Weimaraner, she's a blue instead of the traditional silver gray. She is also a long-haired weim- having one with a full tail that can clear a coffee table is a whole new experience for us!

Ivy was a rescue that we adopted through Great Lakes Weim Rescue and we spent many long months waiting for just the right dog to add to the family. So now, just in time for the holidays we are deeply entrenched in the joys of puppydom. She's pretty great so far though, we told her she has pretty big shoes to fill. 

So as 2017 comes to a close we here at Capra Lane wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a healthy and prosperous 2018!

Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another.  ---Anatole France

How do you do it?

We are asked a lot of questions on a daily basis. Some are easily answered- for example, Is that goat pregnant? How much milk do they make? Do they try to escape? What kind of chickens are those?

And those that are not as simple. How do you kill animals you raised? How do you keep the pastures healthy? How do you decide which goats to keep?

And the million dollar question, the one we are asked above all others- How do you do it? Meaning how do we find the energy to feed and water the hundred plus mouths here while working off farm jobs and attempting to maintain some semblance of order in the household. The answer is two-fold - We make time. And we don't.

Huh?

First off, when we bring in an animal, whether it be as a pet or a short lived guest being raised for the purpose of producing meat, we make a commitment to provide care, food and shelter for that animal for as long as necessary. Most days the animals eat before we do in the morning and they require all of the above in beautiful sunny weather, rain, snow, wind, monsoons, blizzards and so on. Its never optional. An animal who is ill, sick or born prematurely or weak will have even more frequent needs including feedings, walks, medications or other treatments. This is priority number one and is non-negotiable. Sure, there's an hour leeway here and there, noone's perfect but there is no such thing as sleeping until noon, staying away overnight without prior arrangements or taking a day off for no good reason.

Secondly, safety is a prime concern. Safe functioning fences, safe pastures without standing water or mud hazards, safe buildings and shelter from weather are all necessary every day to not only keep our animals where they belong but to keep them away from roads, neighbors and protected from predatory pests that call the nearby woods home. And so repairs and maintenance are quite high on the list.

Equipment maintenance is also a must. Higher on the priority list dependent on the time of year. Most notably being the milking machine, vacuum and hoses which gets an awful lot of use around here. Maintenance of the milking machine is also essential for a healthy marriage as I'm certain we would kill one another without it, or else have a lot fewer goats.

Speaking of equipment, making hay requires a lot of it. We still haven't won the lottery so much of that equipment is old. Old equipment + many hungry mouths relying on said hay equals many late, frustrating and challenging nights.

So back to the priority list. We have to keep the animals fed and housed and safe. As well as ourselves. One of us gets very 'hangry' if he is not fed on time and for good reason, he works his tail off. We do all these things to produce quality food and goods, so we do our best to enjoy the fruits of our labor as much as possible. Every hour of feeding, poop scooping, baling, weeding, etc instills a desire to waste as little as possible- there is immeasurable effort behind each gallon of milk, each tomato, each pound of cheese we create. Our garden is wild, weedy and inefficient but productive and offers accompaniments to many pretty fantastic meals. It provides enough to preserve hundreds of pounds for winter and to supplement the hogs and chickens well in to late fall. 

Confession: the kitchen is always full of dirty dishes. On this day, many of them are clean but we haven't quite found the time to put them away. The island is cluttered with the remnants of yesterdays canning session and last weeks mail. We have company frequently and thank goodness we do! It's a whirlwind of windex and murphys oil soap to ready the house when we are expecting friends or family, hopefully none realize we live like savages from Monday through Thursday. 

I killed a couple of epiphytes. That's a challenge you know. One hangs in the window above the sink at eye level, its not too much of a chore to water it every month or so. These, however, are across the room. Very, very low on the priority list. As soon as I can get my hands on some realistic looking plastic ones they'll head to the trash. 

And laundry? Sheesh. I know people (mom) who panic when there are two dirty towels in the laundry hamper. Laundry hampers are for sissies - we have a laundry tub! As in a bathtub. Its full. Always. Sometimes we make a big rush to catch up then bam, its another day and we are dirty and stinky again. And then all the clean piles of laundry build up in our closet and when we are out of empty baskets we fight over who gets to put it away. Yes, that's our sad reality. 

Another confession: sometimes we just give up. Nearly every Friday. Even the thought of boiling water sounds like too much of a chore and we call in the reserves. Namely our local dominos pizza guy. The crust isn't fresh, the tomatoes aren't organic, the cheese isn't goat and the veggies probably came from a sweat shop on the west coast but dang it, it arrives hot at our home after a few swipes of the iphone just like magic. And that's ok.

So we do it all. Yet we don't. We work hard, then we come home and work some more. That's the life we've chosen. . . for now. We have acres of fertile productive ground and scores of healthy, somewhat spoiled animals.  We don't sleep enough and we aren't getting any younger. One of us errs towards clumsy and aches and pains abound. One of us yearns for more 'fun' time yet cannot turn down just one more project. One of us thinks about expanding and in the next breath dreams of spending more time at the beach. One of us wants to do more, more, more and is disappointed by our limitations, namely time. Two of us decided it was a good idea to breed 14 goats in 7 days.

Yes, that does mean that they will all give birth within 7 days as well. Come March 1st-ish our inner pessimists will rule. The questions will become, like every year, "Why do we do this?" "We need to cut back." "This is crazy I need to get some sleep." "We need to re-evaluate things."

And like every year we'll keep going. And keep trying to do it all. Because we are a special kind of crazy. . . 

Autumn

" And all at once, summer collapsed into fall...".  Oscar Wilde

The cooler nights bring out the spunky in these guys - well, as spunky as a couple of senior horses get... We're wondering if the early appearance of winter fluff is a harbinger of winter weather to come? 

These rainbow rangers have a few weeks to go - our second attempt at raising some meat for the year after the first batch was lost. There are a lot of roosters in the bunch and they have a strange crow that they like to practice...often...and early. 

It's almost time for the great fig harvest of 2017. Ok, there's like 10. But 10 more than last year. This particular tree is growing like mad, considering we thought it was dead this spring it bounced back extremely well. I had already bought 2 more to replace it and now I'm not quite sure where to plant them. Having too many figs is never a bad thing.

The bacon seeds have grown incredibly fast. They've been dining on apples, beets, peppers, corn and milk. Lots of milk. They slam the trough down every chance they get to let us know when the milk is gone and just stare at us when we dare give them water instead.

The girls are coming in to heat, a little later than normal given the crazy unpredictable weather we've had. 4 bred, several to go. We did appraise the herd this fall and overall it was a positive experience, several of the girls raised their scores and our herd average was higher than anticipated. 

Yes, love is in the air. . . or is that urine? The boys are raring to go, fighting, stinking and difficult to handle. 

Even though the weather has been pretty fantastic this fall so far, all around us there are signs of the impending winter. Annie-cat is fattening up. Well, she has always been fat. She's also really fluffy but she does like to sample the milk before we feed the pigs every day. 

And we're stocking up on and stacking up wood to feed the fireplace. It's coming. . . 

So for the next few weeks we're going to focus on sunshine, sunsets and porch time. Soon the changing leaves will be gone and the drear will return for another long windy winter. 

A Case of the Mondays. . . Food Ignorance

This week's news gave me a case of the Mondays. My 'real' job requires me to be educated - to be self-directed in regards to continual learning. As does life, in general. So how do educated people make a conscious decision to stop learning? Or decide to learn only online? To be swayed by propaganda or photos, or by terms like 'free range' or 'cage free' without researching the true meaning? Ugh.

So what do food terms really mean?

Free Range - Regulated for meat poultry only - not eggs, beef or pork. Indicates that the birds are required to have 'access' to the outdoors with no regulation regarding time of use or space given.

Free range poultry

Cage Free- Term used for both meat poultry and eggs. Indicates the animal is free to move about an enclosed barn with constant access to food and water.

Cage free poultry

All Natural - Implies the product is free from artificial colors and flavors and is minimally processed. The term is, however, completely unregulated.

Organic - Produced without fertilizers, pesticides or GMO's, no use of antibiotics or hormones and are fed only organically produced feeds. Regulated by the USDA, requires extensive record keeping, inspections and testing.

Pasture Raised - similar to grass fed, completely unregulated. Term developed by farmers to differentiate their product from 'free range' products once the public realized these animals, too, are kept indoors.

Pastured poultry

Grass Fed - the ruminant animal (beef cattle, sheep, goats) are raised on fresh pasture and hay throughout the year. This indicates the majority of the diet is grass but does allow for supplementation with grain as most  livestock are grain finished for an undetermined time bfore slaughter. As of 2016, not a USDA standard, it is a voluntary claim made by producers.

Grass Finished - the animals in question have reached physical maturity, they will be fed exclusively grasses until slaughter rather than being grain finished, as are the majority.

Humane- Implies the animals were raised with compassion with space and ability to engage in natural behaviors with sufficient space, feed and shelter. The term 'humane' is otherwise unregulated although there are certifications available with variable standards.

Antibiotic Free / Hormone Free - Antibiotics are primarily used for disease prevention while hormones typically increase growth rate or milk production. These are USDA regulated, documentation is required though testing for hormones is not routinely performed.

Artisanal - Implies that products are made by hand in small batches. Completely unregulated and often used by large manufacturers to sway consumers.

Here are some recent news stories that highlight the epidemic of food ignorance and miseducation regarding animal husbandry.

1. http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/07/20/538062911/whats-it-really-like-to-work-in-a-prison-goat-milk-farm-we-asked-inmates

I don't plan to go to jail. But if I did, goats would make it better. As would milk and cheese.

2. http://prichardfarms.com/why-whole-foods-big-poultry-revolution-is-chicken-shit/

3. http://denver.cbslocal.com/2017/07/23/goats-yoga-workout/

If I had a dollar for every time I've been asked about goat yoga recently! No, we don't do it, no we aren't going to start. Yoga is like cilantro. Or black licorice. You either enjoy it or you don't. I don't. What I wonder is if suburbanites like being showered in goat berries or urine while they stretch? Come on. . . its got to happen!

4. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/animal-sanctuary-wants-pot-belly-pig-pet-trend-to-end-1.4217049

Pigs are smart and social. They need a lot of  stimulation to prevent boredom. And a lot of food that will inevitably come out their rear ends. I realize they can be housetrained and are quite clean but I guess I just don't get the appeal of having one INSIDE the home. There is odor, and lots of it. Having a dog pooping in your backyard just doesn't come close to having a pig poop in your backyard or even worse, in a litterbox inside your house. Not a fan.


5. http://www.grandhaventribune.com/Agriculture/2017/07/22/Michigan-salmonella-outbreaks-linked-to-backyard-chickens

Birds are terrifying enough outside. I'd need a bomb shelter if they were in my home. They are also involuntary copious poopers.  Why on earth do people feel the need to humanize chickens and let them sleep on the couch? Gross.

Looking forward to Tuesday 😃

Happy Birthday Luna!

Luna is 10 years old! A little shaggy, a little gimpy but still going strong. Luna was retired from breeding and milking a few years ago after a leg injury, she has bounced back well from a now fused knee, followed by founder and a year of casting and bracing. She manages to wander daily to the far ends of the pasture and she can really haul ass when she hears treats coming.

Her birthday celebration was pretty exciting. First we took a messy snotty hay nose photo.

Then she wore a farm-style party hat.

She stared lovingly at her favorite treat - peeps!

And she didn't have to share.

So happy birthday to goofball Luna- may she have more to come...

Spring...winter...spring...winter...

The Ohio weather is at it again. The lilacs budded, the daffodils are up, the horses shed out their winter coats weeks ago- and now it's snowing. The clover is peeking through the brown dried grasses and Ranger Roger has informed me that the redwing blackbirds are ahead of schedule. And it's that time of year- we're drowning in baby goats!

February 16 started the downward spiral when both Linden and Paloma delivered mixed twins each without difficulty. They had an easy time.  I, on the other hand was a little sluggish after helping them at 3am and 4am respectively. I guess of practice. Several hours later, Charlotte gave birth to triplet bucklings, darn it! I. I'm thankful they're healthy and thriving but she hasn't had a girl in 3 years! So, day one- we're off and running.

The following Wednesday, February 22nd, brought a shower of toggenburgs. 3 does, 3 more sets of triplets. Maribel had 2 does, 1 buck. Emilene had one doe, two bucks. And many hours later, Crazy Clingy Embry had two does, one buck as well.

Sofia, too had triplets- one doe, two bucks, one of which is a rabbit, I think. And to round out my striking out on Alpine doe kids, Chicory had twin bucklings as well. Over the next 24 hours a set of mixed saanen twins from Filomena and a set of twin bucklings from Elliot completed a long three days. Elliott, as you'all remember was the crazy kid who scaled walls, squeezed through 4 inch gaps and broke her leg last winter. Since she had boys, she is dam raising them and I was extremely impressed with her mothering ability and quick bond with the kids. The morning after, however, I found her standing in the middle of the barn, gate still latched, thankfully unharmed. I guess old habits die hard.

The next week was a bye week for the Capra Lane crowd and it's a good thing. It was one of those weeks when everything we touched turned to disaster. Including the milker, various water lines, the dogs had more escapades, we each had a cold, work was super hectic for both of us- you know, THOSE weeks where you eat a lot of hot dogs and eggs for dinner. Luci was the lone momma-to-be for the first of March and that huge belly was hiding three giant bucklings. No girls...again unfortunately but that's ok, it will help me control numbers for 2018! All the babies are doing great, some have already moved on to their new homes.

We're going to take a short breather, maybe even sleep in for an hour. Next week Iris, Sabine, Carolina, Charming and Massey (Masquerade) will kid. I'm thinking about a buy one get two free sale...😉 Meanwhile, Charlotte and Sofia are anxious to show off their trim bellies.