The Cold is here!

The weather is very cold... I know because I have a pile of ice next to the water buckets from breaking the ice and scooping it onto the ground. (Actually the girls do this).  I grained the does this morning and checked to see how close we are to kidding.. maybe a week to go.  I sure hope so cause I am almost out of cheese and cheese makes money and pays the bills. 
I will package cheese tomorrow morning and then run to Longview (45 miles) and pick up my 2 year old granddaughter.  She will be here for 3 days.  I may have to run our adopted grandma to the Dr. on Thur. - Tacoma.  The girls will watch Samantha for the day.  Have two cheese deliveries to restuants in Olympia on Thur, David will deliver them.  Then Market on Friday at Pikes Place. 
Daniel, our visitor, got a job at the Pikes Place Market so he will be moving to Seattle.  We have our first foster daughter living here right now too.  So our house is full again.
Christmas is just going by the wayside I think.  Africa is taking presidence and so I have no extra energy.  I will make the Christmas Eve Soup and Rolls and the the sugar cookies to frost.  But gifts will be small if I get to it. 
We will be waiting to see about the tickets to Africa till the last minute.
Well enjoy the cool weather and stay warm but most of all remember that family is the best gift we can give each other.

Babies Soon

It was frozen out this morning.  The water buckets were frozen and so the hammer and warm water are in action.  Things are moving slow around here, but they are moving.  We have 9 pens ready with heat lamps for kids and we have been spreading the word that babies are for sale for $25 dollars for 3 day old kids. 
Farmers Markets are almost done for 2011 and that means drying up of money... oh well.
My trip to Africa is again at an iffy stage.... the one group only gave me $1300 and my round trip ticket is almost $1800.  So if God wants me to go he will have the rest of the money here for the ticket.  Waiting for the money transfere to be able to actually purchase the ticket.  So maybe God has another plan that I don't know about.  I am not worried cause if I am suppose to go I will go.
Though this could put a crimp in our Christmas Plans as we have told everyone that I would bring them something home for Christmas gifts from Africa.... But I guess if I don't go David and I are going shopping on the night before Christmas....ICK!
All our goats are looking really healthy and that makes me excited.  last year a month before they were due about 20 goats aborted and then died with in the week of kidding.  It was awful.  So far so good this year.

Rwanda here comes Rhonda?

Well I thought all was good to go for the trip to Africa, but alas no.  The one organization only sent $1300 for my airline ticket and the ticket is $1790.  There is no way we can come up with the extra money.... so we will watch and see what will God do.  December isn't a good time on the farm... money is always tight and there is little if any income.  When the babies are born that usually gives us alittle to help get by till April when markets start again.  David just called me and said non of our big restaurants ordered cheese for next week... they have no Christmas parties coming up.  So all we have are a few markets to do and that is that.  We thought since our money was pretty tight this year I would take some of the money from the sale of the kids to Africa and buy everyone gifts there... it would help the income of the people in Africa and our budget too.  So if I don't go we have to figure out how we will do Christmas.  Isn't this the way it always goes?  I am faithful God will do something great so that I can brag on Him about the trip.
We went to Longview 45 miles away to walk through the Journey of Bethlehem - it was great.  We were cold but the church did a great job.  Got home and I packaged the one order for David and he packed up the car for market.
Today we grained all the goats, and grandma and grandpa brought donuts for breakfast at 9am.  Now I have to go out and package cheese for the farmers market this weekend.  Sales for Nov. and Dec. are down quite a bit and so the aniticapated money we thought we would make and have is pretty nill.
On top our car insurance is almost $500 a month.... because they go off your credit score.  OUCH!   Being a farmer you feast or famine.... everyone who is a farmer knows that and you would think the insurance people would too.  Oh well such is life.
We have four adult children living here right now. Daniel lives in Seattle but wanted to watch kids being born and help around the farm.  Which he has done a great job helping David.  Then we have one of our first foster daughters staying here for  awhile, she is finishing highschool and helping with the farm work too.  Then there is Danyel and Ali here too.  Talk about a shocker feeding three people to 6 people.  Good thing we got that beef in the freezer and some goat too.
Well thats enough about that stuff.
Goats are looking ripe for kidding soon.  Some are much closer than others.  Hopefully in the next few weeks we have kids on the ground and maybe I can make some cheese before I head to Africa.
Have a great weekend....Jesus is the Reason for the Season
Merry Christmas

Rwanda I am almost there!

Well I got my hepitis shot and have a doctors appt on Tue to get my malaria tablets.  My passport is ready and the tickets are almost bought.  How exciting!  I have colored calenders to take to teach the ladies to make beads and then the soccor balls and shorts and socks for the kids.  I will try and get childrens clothes gathered and shoes to take too.  My two suitcases will be full of things to give away.  And we decided I would buy Christmas gifts in Africa for everyone.  Now I am really excited. 
Our goats are looking pretty ready to have babies in about 10 days or so.  Hopefully all the kids will be delivered before I leave on the 18th of January.  I am so excited  What  an opportunity of a lifetime.  Did I mention I am excited?  David went to Tacoma Farmers Market on Proctor today and froze.  I went to Olympia and froze.  We both did fairly well at market.  I had to package some more marinated feta and some more Grande' Rosa too.  Well I am ready for  a warm bath and then a good book.

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