Preparations for the Trip to Africa

Well I reserved my airline tickets to Rwanda today... It has been 4 years planning and working twords this event.  I will be helping a goat dairy start up and a processing plant start.  I will be teaching 150 women to care for goats and make cheese.  It is so exciting.  I have calanders to take over, soccor balls and clothes, and childrens shoes and clothes.  If you want to make any donations  you can contact me through my web page and we will figure out how to pick up your stuff. 
I am still not in the believing mode of this yet.  I have to go get my hepatis shot tomorrow, already have my pass port and I have to get the malaria perscription.  I need to get my phone worked out for international travel too.... so much to do.
We will start kidding in about two weeks and that should be done before I leave on January 18 thru Feb 10. 
Above all else please keep me in your prayers through this trip... its scary and fun at the same time.
I want to blog while I am gone so we will see what can be done about that too.  Well got to go mail a letter so I need to go.

Winter is Here

Well winter is here.  We turned our clocks back on Sat. night.  We are down to milking only four does and we are graining 2# of grain, 1 TBSP of my mixture (sea kelp, soy bean meal, alfalfa meal, copper, dolomite lime, linseed meal, yeast) and 1 TBSP apple cider vinegar. 
We are trimming hooves and checking for health. 
David has cleaned all four pens on top for kidding pens and we have  5 more to go.  We still have to buy heat lamp bulbs and get those all set up. 
We will be kidding in about 5 weeks.  This is the earliest we have kidded.  I am excited to see how this goes. 
We still havent turned Marus (our Anatolian Male pup) out with the goats as he still wants  to play - he is 2 1/2 years old.  Got to get that worked on.  Bernie is now 10 years old and showing his age.  Cloe is digging tunnels in the barn... so I am always filling in these huge tunnels.  She must think we are going to have a very cold winter.  I hope not.
I am working the winter market in Olympia - Sat. and Sun.  I love decorating the tables.  Danyel will be doing the markets on the days we need help through December.   David is doing Pikes Place on Fridays an Sundays.  We will do the Tacoma _ Proctor market until Dec 17th so David is doing that one too.
I think this week I can do one more batch of Chevre (20 gallons).
We had our big Thanksgiving Dinner Oct. 15.  I cooked 30# of Turkey, made 15# of mashed potatoes and about 5 boxes of dressing.  We had 22 different pies this  year.  And we had 33 people over for dinner.  It was great.  We also did birthdays.
Ali has been in Texas since June and is coming home soon.  That will make chores easier.  Cant wait.  Though chores right now are not so hard.  Haying probably is the hardest.  We have been turning off our waters facets off every night, so things don't freeze. 
We got our Nigerian Buck this last week.  His name is Sugar Daddy and his freind Buddy.  So we should have nigerian babies in April.
David has been working on housing facilites for all the goats in pens.  So everyone will be dry and warm during the winter.
I am planning on going to Africa the 18 of Jan. this next year.  I will go to Rwanda and help get the processing plant and milk parlor set up.  And teach 150 women how to take care of goats and milk them and make cheese and yogurt.  It will be a busy three weeks. 
I can't believe I am really going for sure this time.... we have been working on it for 4 years.  Wow!! I am going to Africa.
I have to make a picture book of what I am teaching these women... so I am hard at work gathering pictures and putting it together.
Have a Great day.

My thougts about farming

I find with the choices I make they are generally made around finances. Our goats always have access to a good grade of hay all year long. As we are a dairy. They can also go out and in to the barn and 13 acres all year long. We pay about 150 a week on hay and about 500+ on grain and alfalfa pellets a week. We have about 85 goats right now.  We try and keep the loose minerals available all year long but when money is tight they must fend for themselves. We put minerals around the farm... several spots in the barn and in the extra pens we have if there are goats in them they usually have minerals. Baking soda is also placed around our farm. We also have water buckets all around our barn - about 20. These are changed and filled twice a day. We spread manure during the summer. We try and clean our barn to the ground twice a year... though I have to admit a few times it only got done once a year. We use shavings to rebed our barn. We trim hooves all the time.... my hand doesn't last longer than three goats and so I try and stay on top of the hooves daily. We have never checked for CAE. We will never check for CAE. My goats seem to be thriving very well as they are. We also don't give shots _ not sure they have really helped anyway and they cost money. My goats don't have hard udders thought they do get cracky knees. We feed dolomite lime to help replace calcium and potassium back into thier systems. We use MSN on the girls that seem to have a harder time getting started in the morning. We are a grade A dairy and creamery. My goats are my livelyhood and thus to have product I must keep them healthy and do what I can afford and can handle to keep our farm running. We have had about 5 post-mortem done over 10 years.... and not one of them came back with a diagnosis of what was the problem. In fact after one of our big bucks died and the report came back with no results my husband looked at the vet and said," Then give me my goat back alive."

I know first hand doing a dairy is a hard life... no vacations and a lot of hard work. Our farm is paying our way through life... not so well but we survive. And we are always looking for ways to imporve and to cut back on costs so we can be sustainable. We loose goats sometimes often and other times not.... but I am always sympathetic with farmers and our life style. We try and do what is good and right for our farm and animals. Not because I am green, but because it works for us and seems to help our farm.

I think anyone that wants to start a dairy should go voluntieer at one with an open mind... Then go to the feed store and add up all the costs. You should talk to a local vet to see if he or she fits what your looking for. Then I think you should live one year on about $50 a week for the things you need to live on _ food, clothes, gas, vacations. Oh thats right there will never be a vacation as long as you own the dairy. Nor do you ever get to sleep in again. And if you hire people you will want to be able to keep them working cause they rely on you for thier $. I don't want to discourage anyone from doing a dairy but it wasnt as romantic as I thought it would be and our children havent been on a family vacation in 10 years. We have had college students come and voluntier here as I take time our of my schedual to teach them what I know. We have had neighbors help us with chores and birthing. Our friends have to come to the farm to see us as we can't be gone for more than a few hours each day. Granted I love our farm and our life.... and someday I'd like to relax....someday.

I am very passionate about our farm and encourge people to come out and see how we do things. I feel like since I have lived it - I am somewhat an expert on our farm operations. We have met so many people that have come and toured our farm, or that we have talked to at the farmers markets. I also teach cheese classes in our area, which people get to then tour our farm.

I think Farmers are a special breed of people. They hardly ever think of themselves and are very giving and generous people. They pride themselves in hard work and little complaining. They don't spend money on non essensals and seem to make farm work look easy. Farmers are Great People and if you have a chance to meet one.... Thank him or her for all the hard work they do......for you.

ok I am done with my soap box....

Rhonda

Canning and Car problems

Well I canned 18 quarts of tomatoe sauce.  My car died at Staples.  Possibly needs a new starter.  David went to Seattle to work Pikes Place Market and deliver cheese to the restuants today.  I milked the does this morning and then had to try and give the big dogs some antibiotics due to ear infection.  My daughter got fired from her job at the Credit Union where she has worked for 9 years.  So now she can be home with her kids and possibly draw unemployment and sue the crap out of the credit union.  They fired her with lies. 
So alls well here at the dairy today.  I have been planning the pie attack for our Thanksgiving dinner.  So far there are about 20 diffent pies I am making.  Well my daughter, Heather, is going to try and come up one day and help make pies.  And our adopted grandma is going to help make some too. 
We are doing the Steilcoom Apple Squeeze Festival this Sunday and I am praying we sell lots of cheese and make lots of money to pay to get my car fixed and to pay a few of our bills.  The markets havent been paying the bills very well. It would be nice to have a really good one.  Anyway it is all in Gods hands.
Got to go do chores will write more about our Thanksgiving Dinner and the preperation process to make it all come together - inbetween milking, cheese making, a cheese class, and packaging cheese.

Well its wet and wild at the dairy today.  I am canning beans, so far about 42 quarts.  I have one more box to can before this next weekend. 
I am going to make some chevre this evening.  And I will try and package some cheese for the farmers markets this week. 
The septic is working great.  My old stove is wonderful and Danyel will not be riding the train anytime soon to Seattle.  Alls well here.
David fixed a new gate to the meat goat pen... its easier to open and shut.  He also got the houses set up for the goats to have shelter. 
I also sent off some marinated feta to Florida this morning too.  Its pretty exciting when I get an order from our web page.
My nigerian dwarf that I am milking is dropping off fast, I am getting about 1 cup.  I am going to move her to everyother day milking for a bout a week then stop milking her.  I will be getting a buck here this month so I can get those 6 nigerian dwarf does bred.  Thier milk will be a very nice addition to my chevre.
Danyels pet rat died this weekend.  He was a good pet.  But I have one more to go -Ali's and then the basement will be ratless.... one less critter to clean up after.
Well have a great day and remember the rain brings green in Washington.

Trip to Mt. St. Helens and septic cleaned

Well so far so good today.  The septic tank will be drained to day around noon.  I ran over and got some milk from Rocky Run Farm.  I will make cheese this afternoon when I get home from a motorcycle ride up to Windy Ridge on Mt. St. Helens.  I feed the goats and watered this morning and Danyel milked.  I also checked on my feta draining and will work it this afternoon too. 
I am going to enjoy the rest of the sunshine and have a relaxing afternoon.  You all do the same thing.

Bad things come in Three's

Well yesterday was quite the day.  Danyel and I got up at 6am to do chores.  She milked and I did the watering and graining.  Danyel came up from the basement and said there was water in front of her bedroom door.  I asked is it coming from the bathroom and she said she didn't think so but it was to much water for the dogs to have made.  I told her to get some towels and put them over it and I would check later.  We left to go to the train station - Danyel was taking the train to Seattle to see Taylor her boyfriend for the day.  Alls good.  I ran to the farmstore to get some grain as we ran out and had to short the girls in the morning of thier grain.  Its 12:30 and I am home.  I looked at the peaches and pears and thought canning those today were in order.  But I figured I could do that while the milk was pasturizing to  make the Grande Rosa.  So I go out and get the pasturizer going then head back in to can the fruit.  Went downstairs to get some more jars and thought about the water...... Lordy!  I opened the bathroom door and there was standing water on the floor and in the shower.  So I thought that maybe the shower had dripped and the drain was plugged ... so I got the plunger and proceeded to  use it.... yikes water comes shooting up and over flowing more and now its going fast out the bathroom door.  So I put the plungger back onto the drain to try and slow that flow down.  Ran up stairs and grabbed all the towels to put down to block the flow from spreading all over the floor.  So I get that sort of under control and head back upstairs to wash jars and start canning.  Phone rings, its a good friend who had told me she was coming over for a visit on Sunday - I forgot.  I said great see you soon.  No big deal I can do all these things at one time ---- right*  Then the phone rings again and I have some local people that want to come for a tour at 1pm, I said sure.  So the friend shows up about 12:15 and visited while I cut up my peaches and got them into the jar.  I put the teapot on the stove to warm water up, but realizing the water in the canner wasn't to hot I just dumped the water from the teapot into the canner and put the teapot back onto the burner ( I didnt realize but I hadn't turned the burner off).  Then the tour came and we all went outside to do the tour.  I checked on the pastuizer to see where I was and then we went to the milk parlor to get my friend some milk for her dog that has arthritis and the milk seems to help.  Then she left and I went on with the tour.  I thought I should go check the canner but then decided it would be alright.  OK, I came back to the house to get spoons for sampling to find the teapot had cooked and the plastic had melted ontot he stove and there was black smoke everywhere.  I opened the window's and doors and turned the fans back on.  I played it off with the people for the tour as not a big deal.  The breaker had flipped so that was good.  After the people left I assessed the damage.... Good by stove I had fried something.  It wouldnt turn on.  Ok no big deal we have an old stove in the barn we will clean up and bring in.  Its about 3:35 now and David should be home in about 1/2 hour.  I didn't tell him anything until he came into the house.  He went down stairs and checked the basement and called our plumber.  Then came upstairs to check out the stove.  Yup I killed it.  So he started getting it pulled out from the wall and then he went and got the old stove out.  I started chores its 5pm.  I thought about Danyel and she should be getting ready to board the train for home and would be here to do the feeding and watering this evening about 7pm.  I was cleaning the parlor when David came out and said Danyel missed the train.  And it was the last one for the day to get back home.  She was going to stay with a friend down in Seattle.  But now I would  have to do all the chores.  Ya!  So I did.  I also had to take down the chevre I had hanging too.  During this time David and the Plumber guy are out trying to find the top to the septic tank... to no avail... now its dark and they decide to tackle it this afternoon.  David did some of the chores this morning and I milked and did the rest.  He is heading to Seattle for a special resturant order delivery and to pick up Danyel.
I cant use water or flush the toilet in the house.  We are going to have to have the septic pumped out.  Oh joy.  $$$$$ its always about Money.
I am going to start a batch of feta today and clean out the bulk tank.  Just to let you know the light at the end of the tunnel is a bike ride to Mt. St. Helens tomorrow on the motorcycle.