Enjoying the winter lull

The goats have been dried off for several weeks now and we are enjoying our break, especially since the weather has been strangely pleasant. We've used our free time to stock up on hay, clean and rearrange pens and build some hay feeders for the new batch of kids. Living with goats is an unending game of 'trial and error' as far as efficiency in feeding and milking and maximizing floor space in the barn.

We will soon be overun with hungry mouths, and although they are exceptionally cute, we are expecting at least 50 kids this year - we are anticipating 2-3 difficult, tiring months ahead of us. We are still accepting reservations on kids, they start arriving in a little over a month. Here is a link to our website and 'planned breedings / kidding schedule' page. It will be updated as kids arrive, photos will be uploaded to the blog as soon as possible. Also, 6-7 milkers will be for sale soon after kidding, email to inquire.

                                  http://www.capralane.com/planned-breedings

As far as the rest of our menagerie, Kaelyn is pouting because its been too muddy for her to go outside to the barns for chores. Rosie is helping me blog and soaking up heat from the back of my laptop. Tinder is following the sunbeam across the living room and glaring at me,  wondering when I'm going to force her to go outside in the snow again.

                    It's coming!!! At this rate we will have snow on the ground in May.

Happy Holidays from Capra Lane Farm!

At least it isn't snow...

The wettest year on record is nearly over. Our place feels a lot like March-April at the moment, resembling a stagnant waterlogged swamp. Luckily our 22 tons of stone came just in the nick of time to re-stone part of the barn floor and partially repair the driveway. Our "pond" in the middle of the driveway had whitecaps today thanks to the wind. Again, at least its not ice or snow, we just heard on the news that the past few days of rain would have equated to 45 inches of snow!

Enzo has moved on to his new home near Chardon, OH where he joined a new group of lovely Saanen girlfriends. He was a great buck to own- very gentle, an overgrown goofball most of the time, but it was time for him to move on since we brought a new junior herdsire onto the farm earlier this spring. We repeated the Enzo~Serafina breeding this  year as we are quite fond of Hilary, our 2011 spring kid from the same breeding.

Who said goats don't smile?? These girls look pretty happy as they soak up the sun during one of the last warm fall days in November. We've been busy winterizing the barns, installing wind shields, cleaning pens, installing heated buckets. It seems like we just took them down... depressing....

Kaelyn is already prepping for winter, this blanket will not leave her side until April.

Finally caught up on holiday soapmaking. We have about 200 bars ready, scents are: Mint & Ivy, Autumn,
Oatmeal & Honey, Lavender, Oak & Eucalyptus, and Earth. Fancied up the lip balms too, now available in regular or tinted, flavored with eucalyptus oil.

The best news of the week? The girls are finally dried off for the year! No more milking (for now), no more pasteurizing and cooling. Life is good for the time being. However, we have 19 goats bred this year (!) and they start freshening mid-February. That's when life gets tough again. We are now accepting reservations on kids and will be offering at least 6 milkers for sale this spring as well.

In local summer fair news, we here at Capra Lane bred the Reserve Grand Champion Dairy Market Wether at both the Ashland County Fair and the Huron County Fair. Congratulations on 1st and 2nd place showmanship placings as well!

Snake Scarves anyone?

So what do you do when a precocious 8 year old calls you to ask if your pet snakes need scarves to keep them warm throughout the winter?

Well, you find a way to get the scarf on the snake, of course.

Here's Arthur decked out in his Sunday best...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Robbing the bees. . .

The honey harvest is upon us. We estimate that our 400,000 or so bees produced 15 gallons, or 180 pounds of honey this year, not including the stacks that were left on the hives to provide winter stores. We still have a few trays of Ross Rounds (trays for comb honey) left to gather. The pissed off honeybees still haven't completely evacuated our garage, but no stings or injuries to report during this process!

Overall, the extraction process took 2 days, but I'm sure it will be about 2 weeks until we uncover every last sticky doorknob and droplet of honey that managed to escape the tarp. Here is Rog's mini-photo-journal of the process:

OK, no matter how many times I edit and re-save these photos, I cannot for the life of me get them to stay vertical. Tip your head to the right for the full effect. . .

These are the boxes of honey trays we collected. Special screens are placed under the honey boxes and above the living quarters of the hives to allow the bees to move down into the hive, but not back up into the trays of honey.

Rog has officially taken over my milk processing corner in the basement. Not one rogue bee managed to make it into the house. . . yet

Three similar weighted trays are selected first. A heated knife is used to un-cap the honeycomb before placing it into the extractor.

Hold on tight! The extractor spins at high speed and the honey is forced out of the combs on to the walls of the extractor, where it runs down the walls and into a collection vessel. The combs are then rotated and the process is repeated for the other side of the tray.

The spigot is opened and the honey flows into a food-grade plastic 5 gallon pail over which a very fine sieve is placed to filter out the flecks of beeswax. The filter is very fine and takes hours to drain, so a lid is placed and it is allowed to sit over night before bottling. The 5 gallon pails also have a spigot to make bottling significantly less sticky and very clean.

We do not pasteurize or process the honey in any way. We do store bottles and combs in the freezer to help delay the crystallization process, which is common with raw honey. Raw honey will last for years if properly stored. Crystallized honey can be gently heated and will be restored to its liquid state.

Raw honey has a few medicinal properties as well. It contains amylase, which occurs naturally in the pollen of many flowers, and helps the body to digest starchy carbohydrates. Raw honey is also gaining popularity as a homeopathic cure for seasonal allergies. It contains residual amounts of plant pollens and molds that, when ingested in small manageable doses, can boost the immune response and eliminate the histamine induced allergic responses to these plants. To get maximal benefits, you have to buy local- ideally within 5 miles of your home.

Info about available honey, ie, sizes, prices will post soon. . . 

"No bees, no honey, no work, no money..." Unknown

“You don't have to have a professor's dome Not to go for the honey when the bee's at home” Unknown


“The pedigree of honey Does not concern the bee; A clover, any time, to him Is aristocracy.”
Emily Dickinson 

“His labor is a chant, His idleness a tune; Oh, for a bee's experience Of clovers and of noon!”
Emily Dickinson 

“The careful insect 'midst his works I view, Now from the flowers exhaust the fragrant dew, With golden treasures load his little thighs, And steer his distant journey through the skies.” John Gay 

“Bees work for man, and yet they never bruise Their Master's flower, but leave it having done, As fair as ever and as fit to use; So both the flower doth stay and honey run.”  George Herbert 

Slithery September

We are the proud parents of baby corn snakes! The eggs started hatching about 3 weeks ago, and within 24 hours we had seven. Six were red-orange in color, one almost-albino cream and white, and one dark brown with lovely orange markings.

We’ve taken a liking to the brown one, very unique markings, the photos do not do it justice. I named it Arthur, though I don’t have a clue if its male or female, nor is the task of sexing corn snakes on my bucket list, so it will be a mystery for now. 

Five have already found new homes, there is one large red still for sale, any takers?

Summer is winding down. . .

Sadly, the days are already getting shorter and I'm in complete denial. We've worked hard this summer and haven't had enough time to truly relax on the porch. Soon enough the porch will be obscured by drifts of snow. Again, why have I lived here my whole life???

The goats are milking like champs, it's hard to believe breeding season is right around the corner again. Our first Linear Appraisal session went well, with several does scoring in the high 80's with Macy, Cammile, Elina and Emilene taking top honors. We learned a lot,  by the end of the day I thought my head would explode. The tough part will be applying this newfound knowledge to our future breeding program.

The garden is bursting! Goat and chicken poop have done wonders for our soil. Despite tomato blight and and scary looking red potato beetles, this year's harvest has been bountiful so far. We did realize recently, that our self-proclaimed, "self-sufficiency" goals rely on our freezers. Even with all the fresh produce, meats, etc,  I've neglected to learn the art of canning up until now, I'm strictly a blanch and freeze artist. Time to set a goal for 2012. . .

Happy to report that I have 10 less birds tormenting my mornings, evenings and sometimes the nightmares of my friends (you know who you are). The broilers went to "market" last week. What disgusting creatures they are. Fat legs, waddling 2-3 steps then plopping down in their own poop for most of the day. Boy are they tasty though. After eating farm raised chickens for a couple years now, you realize the grocery store brands really don't taste like chicken, in fact, they don't taste like much at all. From eggs to 63 pounds of meat in just 7.5 weeks on just 2 bags of feed. Round 2 coming soon, we have more feed to use up before winter.

Save me the comments. . . this isn't gross, they tasted great!!!!