Egg Recall

While sitting down to my eggful breakfast this morning, my ears perked up when I heard something about the wonderful food on the radio. They were talking about making sure your yolks are cooked COMPLETELY through and even about pasteurizing eggs. Pffft. I took a bit of my ooey gooey fried egg on toast (ciabatta from Texas French Bread!). But then the story went on and I realized this wasn't just a 'food safety expert' scaring everyone. There's an egg recall!!! (yes, I do typically live under a rock...remember I have a 4 month old!)

While some experts say that small-producer, free range eggs aren't any safer from salmonella contamination, I have to wonder. Perhaps statistically, the eggs from a small farmer are just as likely to be contaminated, but the fact is, there simply can't be a HUGE outbreak because of their size. Our centralized food system is what causes these devastating outbreaks that has people all over the country (or at least in 16 states this time), dumping food for fear it's going to make them sick!

The two farms that are indicated in the outbreak aren't selling their recently laid eggs in the carton. Instead, they are being shipped to a "breaking plant" where the eggs will be pasteurized and sold as liquid eggs. That's great that not all that food will go to waste, but it seems more like a band-aid than a true fix to the problem. How do we stop massive outbreaks in the first place?

Take that Monsanto!

I won't expound too much on my issues with Monsanto, but this piece speaks for itself.

Monsanto has developed plants that are resistant to one of their herbicides - Roundup. The vast majority of soybeans, corn and cotton grown in the US are these 'Roundup-Ready' varieties. Farmers can then douse the fields in the herbicide without fear of harming their drop. However, Mother Nature is fighting back. There are now weeds that have become immune to the herbicide and farmers are being forced into the fields with hoes. Monsanto is even paying farmers for the purchase of other herbicides!

Roundup Resistant Weeds Pose Environmental Threat

Here at Sand Holler, we never have to fear such an outcome. We don't use herbicides - we are already out there with hoes in hand! We strive towards a system that is as sustainable as possible. We improve the health of the soil and plant vegetable varieties appropriate for our conditions. If everyone took this approach, we could greatly reduce the amount of chemicals - organic or not - that are sprayed on crops and end up in other parts of our environment.

Ripening Tomatoes: grown without 'benefit' of concentrated chemicals

Bring on the peppers!

Our pepper plants are really taking off. It's great to see the summer veggies continue to roll in. Unfortunately our squash is still suffering. Now that we have finally gotten the squash bugs and borers under control, we have mosaic virus! I'm not sure we will get any at all...

No goat emergencies this week. In fact, everyone is doing much better. Shelli is completely over the infection and we finally think Savannah is on the road to recovery. Whew!

Full Baskets

Celebrity Tomatoes
Big Rainbow Tomatoes
Bell Peppers
Hungarian Wax Peppers
Slicing Cucumbers
Garlic
Red Norland Potatoes
Cantaloupe

Half Baskets

Yellow Pear Tomatoes
Big Rainbow Tomatoes
Ichiban Eggplant
Poblano Peppers
Hungarian Wax Peppers
Slicing Cucumbers
Cantaloupe
Clemson Spineless Okra

Caprine Calamaties

Our trouble with goats continues. Last year the worst problems we had were the girls knocking heads and getting cut on their scurs. This year the problems seem nearly endless.

Savannah has an infection in her udder - mastitis. We are currently treating it very aggressively. Many times we treat a goat that isn't feeling well with a more holistic and supportive approach and they are able to get back on their feet by the next day like nothing happened. But we are going full Western medicine on Savannah since she has been so sick. She has gotten shots of antibiotics and a different antibiotic infused in her udder. She has had a fever for almost a week but it looks like it might finally have broken...just in time for her twin Shelli to come down with similar symptoms. This time we aren't waiting the lengthy 4 days to get the lab results back and are treating it as if it's the same infection. Shelli's fever is already down. I think we caught it very early. But a sick goat is truly a sad thing to see - their normally perky ears hang limply on the side of their head, they mope around and their rumen becomes less active making them look like they've lost 20 pounds overnight.

(by the way, we never use the milk of a goat that appears to be sick or is on medication)

But that's not all. The two boys who were castrated last week still at like they are in terrible pain and won't come anywhere near me - though they frolic right up to Dale. Guess they recall exactly who put those rubber bands around their 'equipment' (and they've apparently been gossiping - the other two intact boys are also afraid of me now!). But they will get over it eventually.

And then on Saturday 3 of the kids got the runs. This can be very serious in goats. We quickly gave them the medication for the worst of the causes since we'd rather be safe than sorry. They do appear to be getting better now. But it was rough for awhile. And let me tell you, trying to squirt bad tasting medicine in the mouths of 9 kid goats that don't want it, can be quite difficult!

Little Lily was spared the intestinal upset.


Lastly there was a freak accident on Sunday. Dale was taking some people to see the kids when he noticed that Lark looked to be stuck in the hay manager. Thistle, arguably the stupidest goat in Texas, gets his head "stuck" regularly. It's not really stuck - there's plenty of room for him to get his head out. He just doesn't know that. We have to help guide his head back so he can be free. But Lark hadn't done this before. He suddenly pulled back and was free....but there was a wire sticking out of his eye!!! By the time Dale caught him, Pops had come to fetch me to help. The wire had fallen out on its own but it was obvious that it had gone through both his upper and lower eyelid. Somehow his eye completely avoided damage. And when I say "wire" I don't mean something thin like a coat hanger - think more like USB cable (hey, it's the only thing in my field of view that fits!). We cleaned the wound and gave him an anti-inflammatory and painkiller...and hoped. It did swell, but it was already reduced by the next day and he is acting perfectly fine. Whew.

But what's in store for us next week?!?! I can't even imagine...

It's truly summer!

Happy Summer everyone! In case the hot weather hadn't clued you in to the season change yet, the longest day of the year occurred yesterday, marking the official start of the summer. And with the new season comes new vegetables!

And for the start of the hottest time of the year, we now have the cheese kitchen AIR CONDITIONED!!! Yes, I have made all the cheeses in a small metal building with no AC or windows and the stove on full blast last summer and this year. Not fun. And as mentioned previously, air temperature can effect the cheese making process. So now we have one more variable under control - and it will allow me to make some cheeses that require longer incubation times at temperatures less than 100F (seriously, we have a thermometer in there and it regularly gets over 100F...). Yeah!


Full Baskets

Cardinal Basil
Roma Tomatoes
Purple Cherokee Tomatoes
Clemson Spineless Okra
Kirby cucumbers
Country Gentlemen Sweet Corn
Purple Beans
Ichicban Eggplants
Poblano Peppers

Half Baskets

Cardinal Basil
Roma Tomatoes
Purple Cherokee Tomato
Clemson Spineless Okra
Kirby cucumbers
Red Norland Potatoes
Butter Beans
Jalapeno Peppers
Garlic


Roasted Okra

This is a delicious way to cook okra that I only recently discovered. If you think you don't like the vegetable, try it this way!

Preheat the oven to 450F. Coat a baking sheet with olive oil and drizzle a little on the okra. Sprinkle with salt. Bake for 15 minutes, turning them every 5 minutes. They should be browned in a few places and slightly crisp. Excellent!

Goats are a handful

The past week has been full of goat "fun". First, Matilda, our unbred doe gave birth! I promised to post pictures and write up the whole story early but of course got busy with all sorts of other things. The short version - the breeder still swears that there is no way Matilda could have been bred at her place...but the little baby looks just like his daddy so we know somehow the deed was done!

That little buck was disbudded this weekend - a chore that is not pleasant, even if you aren't the one doing it. Our disbudder also taught me how to 'band' the older boy goats - the bloodless way of castration. It was easy enough and I was able to do it after being shown. But then the boy goats truly acted like they were dying. It was hard to watch. Another part of owning livestock though.

And finally, our much beloved Savannah (Nanna Goat) is sick. We still aren't sure what's wrong with her but she stopped eating on Saturday and spiked a 107 degree fever (normal for goats can be as high as 103.5). We've given her all the supportive care we can over the weekend until we could send samples to the lab and consult with a vet. She seems to be doing better but isn't out of the woods yet. It was a rough weekend.

Shelli peaking out of the barn wondering what kind of angst to give us next.


But farming goes on. Weeds in the garden don't take the day off when we spend that time working with the goats! Our second batch of squash is looking like it will make it. We've had a few casualties from the squash bugs but many of the plants are strong and vigorous. The cucumbers and melons (also tasty to squash bugs) seem to be holding their own too! So it looks like we may be winning!

Here's what's likely to be in your box this week:

Herb of the week: Sage

All baskets:

Detroit Dark Red Beets: I expect all our subscribers to have strong healthy blood after all these vitamin packed beets.

Cucumbers: The heat can make cucumber skins bitter. Peeling easily remedies this problem,

Tomatoes: The big ol' suckers are Brandywine heirloom tomatoes. These are delicate fruits and bruise easily. Any bruises can just be cut out - the rest of the flesh is fine. The tomatoes are on the top of your basket - be sure to rescue them quickly so they don't get crushed!

Italian Parsley: The parsley is getting strong in the heat - you might need to use less than usual to get the same flavor.

Poblanos: Most poblanos are pleasantly mild...but beware that an occasional pepper can really kick you in the pants. It's completely random and you never know what you are going to get!

Half baskets:

Ichiban Eggplant: Want to try a new eggplant dish? Give Baba ghanoush a try!

Full baskets:

Potato Medley: Yes, those are blue potatoes!


Fresh Garlic: Sand Holler Farm, helping keep vampires at bay since 2008.


Scarlet Nantes Carrots: An heirloom variety rich with typical carroty flavor.

Greek Cucumber Salad

1 1/2 lbs cucumbers
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
4 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tsp minced oregano
1 tbsp minced mint
2 oz feta

Peel cucumbers. Cut in half along the length and remove seeds if they are large. Slice into quarter inch half moons, put in a colander and sprinkle with salt. Drain for 1-3 hours. For an even crisper salad, weight the draining cucumbers with either a ziplock full of water or a plate and a large glass of water during draining.

Whisk together the dressing ingredients (without the cheese) and toss with the drained cucumbers. Sprinkle with feta and enjoy!

Farm Baskets

Our cheeses are truly artisan farmstead cheeses. They are nothing like the mass produced cheeses at the grocery store. They are also fairly dissimilar from cheeses purchased at a farmers market as most of these are still produced in large batches. Our cheeses are made in 4 gallon batches, one at a time. That means that each and every cheese we make will be unique in flavor and texture. Subtle things such as room temperature, the diet of the goat or even the age of the rennet will change the final results. We can control many factors but the cheese will always be different. And that's the way we love it!

Our best guess for what's in the boxes for this week:

All baskets:

Red Norland Potatoes: Still coming in! The potato season in Texas is short but plentiful. Enjoy it while it lasts!

Cucumbers: Many of the cucumbers in the boxes might not look like what you are used to - the usual long thin 'slicers' from the grocery store. These short stubby cukes are 'picklers' - which are called Kirbys when eaten fresh. A Kirby has a true and strong cucumber flavor.

Tomatoes: FINALLY! We have many many varieties planted this year and you will get a taste of them all!

Half baskets:

Fresh Garlic: Stinky hands from chopping all that delicious farm garlic? Try washing your hands under running water while rubbing a piece of stainless steel.

Wax Beans or Green Beans: This is likely to be the last of the first flush of green beans. We should have more in a few weeks!

Baby Carrots: The perfect sized snack for kids!

Full baskets:

Beets: The first beets, eaten by the Romans and Greeks, were black or white and not red.

Italian Parsley: When crushed and rubbed on the skin, parsley is said to reduce itching of mosquito bites.

Poblanos: This is the most commonly used pepper for chile rellenos.

Ichiban Eggplant: Still the only variety producing at the farm so far!

Herb of the week: Mint

Moroccan Beet Salad

6-8 medium beets
1 lemon
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp cumin
salt and black pepper
4 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped parsley

Add beets to boiling water in a large saucepan. Simmer until beets are tender when pierced with a fork, about 45 minutes.

Cool, peel, and cut beets into bite-size pieces. place in a serving bowl.

Mix lemon juice, garlic, cumin and salt and pepper to taste in a small bowl. Whisk in olive oil. Add to beets and toss.

Let sit a few hours and just before serving, sprinkle with parsley.

Fresh from the Farm this Week

Squash bugs. Horrid little creatures. It's time to admit that we lost our entire summer squash crop. We kept thinking that this plant or that plant was going to make it. This morning, the last of the plants finally looked so bad we had to admit defeat. Sigh. We tried everything except chemical pesticides...and let me tell you, we are starting to see why they are so widely used in farming!

But we do have another set of plants currently growing. So far we have managed to protect them from the bugs but they are young yet and haven't even started blooming. So it will be a few weeks before we have any more squash...if we have any at all. What an infestation!

All baskets:

Red Norland Potatoes: The average person eats 75 lbs of potatoes a year. We are happy to provide a small portion of your annual intake!

Cucumbers: In the late 1600s, the cucumber was thought only fit for consumption by cows...and it was actually spelled cowcumber!

Fresh Garlic: The sticky juice from the cloves is actually used to make adhesive for repairing glass and china.

Parsley: Italian in the full baskets and curly in the half baskets.

Poblanos: A delicious mild pepper from the state of Puebla, Mexico.

Half baskets:

Ichiban Eggplant: A Japanese variety, but the eggplant originates from India...and is botanically a berry!

Beets: Cherry red beets with light interiors are Chioggia beets. The deep dark red ones are Detroit Dark Reds.

Empress Green Beans: An excellent source of vitamin C and vitamin K.

Full baskets:

Wax Beans: Don't worry - these aren't sickly green beans, they are supposed to be yellow!

Carrots: One of the few vegetables that are more nutritious when cooked.

Cheese of the week: Feta
Herb of the week: Oregano

Recipe:

Carrot and Beet Salad (serves 6)

8 carrots shredded
3 beets, peeled and shredded
2 garlic cloves
1/3 cup chopped parsley
1/3 cup rice vinegar

Combine all the ingredients, refrigerate for at least an hour and enjoy!


Almost ready!

Experimental Vegetables

When I designed the new garden layout last year I had a small area marked "experimental". I got some funny looks from Mom but she let it slide. Well, we haven't actually planted right in that area, but we have been experimenting with some new crops. Nothing for resale this year but I think we have at least one winner for a full crop next year! So what have we been up to?

Rhubarb: I think I've mentioned this one before. Rhubarb is not the most popular southern product. It's a perennial plant loves a long cool spring and a reasonable summer to grow big and healthy. Well folks, let's face it, that's not Texas! But I recently read about growing rhubarb as an annual from seed. In the north, it dies back in the winter and takes the whole spring to grow to harvestable size. But here we can protect it from frost so that it grows all winter and really takes off for the few short weeks of cool spring we have before succumbing to the inferno of summer. Well we planted a few rows of it and while we certainly made some mistakes in its care (didn't realize just how frost sensitive it was!), we actually got enough of a crop for a few pies! So next year we are sure to plant a decent amount and actually have some available for our vegetable subscribers!

Artichokes: Now, these aren't such a weird vegetable. But none of us at the farm have ever (successfully) grown them before. Mom and I enjoyed our very first homegrown artichoke last weekend and it was delicious! We only have two plants and we could easily eat all the flower buds from them so I'm not sure if we will ever have enough for the whole CSA - maybe enough to reward people for coming out and volunteering during the spring! But we will be planting more from this next year.



Cardoon: I had only ever read about this vegetable in books but when I saw one for sale at the nursery I had to get it. We still haven't tried it yet but I plan on it this weekend. It's a close relative of the artichoke and while the buds are edible like its' cousins, it is grown for it's huge stalks. Apparently they taste like artichoke. I sure hope so - it's all that wonderful flavor but in a HUGE vegetable instead of a little fussy thing that takes as many calories to prepare and eat as it provides (well, until you dip it in butter!). I'll let you know how it really tastes though!

Fresh from the Farm

Open wide for good farm food!


Did you know that the US wastes 40-50% of the food we produce? Wow! At first, I figured it was mostly due to things people throw out at home and at restaurants. But it turns out a huge portion comes from the production end of food. Farmers toss plenty of perfectly edible vegetables for cosmetic reasons. Cucumber not straight enough? No one will eat that! Carrot has forked roots? Disgusting! Lettuce has a few bug holes in it? Throw it all away!

In our continuing effort to make Sand Holler a sustainable farm, we strive to reduce food waste. However, this requires a partnership with the people that consume our products. Many people are already aware that fresh local food grown to sell directly to the customers might not always be quite as pretty as the wholesale production items that can be purchased in the grocery store. But many of you might also know that these 'ugly' vegetables are just as good - or even better tasting!

So why am I going on about this now? Well, let's just say I hope you enjoy your holey chard this week...(don't worry, as the spring flush of bugs dies down the chard and other veggies will recover and be more hole-free in the future)!

We are right in the transition from cool season to warm season crops. You would think this would be an abundant time of year. However, it tends to be a lean time - the cool crops are petering out in the heat, the warm crops still haven't taken off as the season is early. But its a unique time of year for the diversity and it doesn't last long. In baskets this week:

All baskets:

Red Norland Potatoes: These beauties are packed in plastic clam shells to keep them all together but they prefer a little more air circulation so be sure to unpack them when you get them. They've been left dirty because washing them prevents the skins from 'healing' as fast (which makes them last longer). Their delicate new potato skins mean that they won't last like mature store bought potatoes even after fully dried though!

Little Finger and Purple Dragon Carrots: Don't forget that carrot greens are edible too! The Carrot Musuem lists several recipes and other ideas to try out.

Ruby Red or Lucullus Swiss Chard: Wonderful green that lasts well into the summer and originates from Sicily.

Empress Green Beans: I knew these were almost ready but didn't expect them this early!

Sunburst Squash: The UFOs of the vegetable world.

Parlsey: Italian in the half baskets and curly in the full baskets.

Half baskets:

Early Fortune Cucumbers: The Romans used this vegetable to treat scorpion stings!

Full baskets:

Ichiban Eggplant: A Japanese variety, but the eggplant originates from India...and is botanically a berry!

Baby Bull's Blood Beets: This beet variety is typically grown here more for it's leaves...but the bugs took over so these were harvested as itty bitty baby beets.

Herb of the week: Rosemary


Recipe:

Not an exact recipe, but just a serving idea. Roast potatoes with olive oil and rosemary. Sprinkle with chevre and salt and enjoy!


Soon to come:

It's amazing looking at the garden and seeing what we will be producing in a few weeks. Amazing...and making us all impatient! There's loads of green tomatoes, buds on the okra, and blooms on the melons. And some of the corn is even shoulder high now!

Five out of six...

We bred six goats this year (hopefully...our seventh goat is looking a bit pregnant but I swear she wasn't exposed to a buck!). Out of those six goats, FIVE of them had problems kidding. It's made us question all of our management practices. But each one has had a different issue so we are having a hard time pinning it on anything like nutrition, parasites or diseases. Hopefully it's just a fluke year and this is our last kidding problem for a long time.

Miranda is one of two does we kept from last year, along with her littermate Matilda. They were the only does out of the 7 kids. Matilda was rejected from the first day by her mother Savannah, so she never knew she was a goat. We HAD to keep Matilda since we were her family but she did also bond with her sister Miranda, so we HAD to keep her too! When they went off to get bred (the buck we have here, Val, is their father) Miranda was the only one to come into heat so Matilda came back unbred...supposedly.

This morning as Mom went out to milk, she saw Miranda was in labor. She quickly delivered a little girl! Miranda hadn't been very big so Mom was sure that was it (you'd think after all the surprises we've had, we would not be sure of anything anymore!). But another pair of hooves appeared. It looked like the baby was upside down - the bottom of the hooves were up. But Dale quickly realized that the next body part to come out was a butt and not a nose! Miranda was a champ and delivered the breach birth with no assistance. But things weren't right.

The little buck had severely contracted tendons - like Lilly but in all four legs and far worse. There was no way he could stand and the same cramped space he was in had also caused deformities of his head. His breathing was labored, his eyes were rolled in the back of his head, his tongue was lolling. Fortunately, Dale is made of sterner stuff than us wussy vegetarians and he did the only humane thing possible for the struggling buck. It was sad, but yet another part of farming life.

Miranda and the little girl, Dahlia, are doing just fine. Matilda never left Miranda's side during the birthing process and I'm sure she'll be a good auntie!

Farm cats

I can't really imagine the farm without the cats now.  They came to us from my brother Shea.  They had a bizarre back story that we really don't know the details of.  The momma cat and her two kittens showed up on Shea's doorstep one day and of course were given food.  A neighbor soon told them that he had brought them there - he didn't speak fluent English so it was a broken conversation.  But the gist was the neighbor had rescued them from an abusive household and he wanted Shea to take care of them (apparently, Shea has 'sucker' printed on his forehead since he raised another stray momma and her kittens the year before).  Alas, Shea was not actually thrilled to have yet more cats added to his household, so the trio was whisked off to the farm to become barn cats.

Well, barn cats they are not.  Momma Cinder and her now grown babes Momo and Barley, have never even set foot in the barn.  But this year they have finally proven their worth catching gophers!  The gophers made a mess of our garden last year and we hope that the cats actually prove a good deterrent because nothing else we did kept them at bay.  Here's the first gopher Momo caught - I'd never seen a gopher so up close and personal.  They are nasty things and could probably do some real damage with those claws!

And they are always a pleasure on a rainy day when we are all cooped up inside.  Nothing beats seeing some kitties snuggle!  Momo and Barley are champion snugglers.

Carrots

We've had a bumper crop of carrots on the farm this year.  In the desperate search for ways to use up the orange roots, I've learned quite a bit of trivia about what I thought was an ordinary vegetable.  I did know they come in a plethora of colors (we've grown them all!) and I just love this picture from the USDA:

The carrot is an ancient vegetable, most likely originating in present day Afghanistan.  Originally, the plant was grown for its medicinal properties but over the centuries has been developed into a sweet taproot that serves as a culinary vegetable today.

And then people went nuts and started growing bizarre carrots for county fairs.  You know those enormous pumpkins that are hauled on a trailer?  Well, carrots don't get that big, but I was still shocked at the world record holder...18.985 lbs.  And it's a horrible monstrosity.

There's carrot festivals and even a World Carrot Museum (though I think its just a 'virtual' museum, it's still kooky).

I'll be posting some of the carrot recipes that we will try in the next few weeks.  Stay tuned!

Nearly a month later!

It's a busy time of year for everyone.  I'm still making the hour drive to the farm with the new little one, but she keeps me occupied for much of the day and I haven't been as active in all the work.  But it doesn't mean anything has slowed down!

We started our vegetable subscriptions for the year and are now providing produce for 6 families.  We hope to add more customers as the summer veggies start to trickle in...speaking of which, I think we will get our first summer squash this weekend!  It's one of the eight ball squashes I've been dying to try.  Dale continues to dig new beds and get the entire garden under cultivation.  He's making amazing progress.  Also in the garden, the construction of a "shed" has been underway for a few weeks.  It's hardly a shed - I'll post pictures and a description soon.

And of course all the goat babies means that we have tons and tons of milk!  Mom and I have made two batches of cheese so far - feta and mozzarella - and I'm gearing up for more hard cheeses this year.  The dairy is a ton of work but I really love it.  I'm hoping to find an 'apprentice' this year to help out with the process.


Spring is fun on the farm - but boy, is it a lot of work!

Been a bit busy...

I just wanted to check in quickly to let everyone know why I haven't been updating the blog very frequently.  Shortly after the last post my water broke!  Willa made her appearance in the outer world almost 4 weeks before my due date, so I was taken a little by surprise.  Anyway, we are adjusting well and I'll be back to updating you on the goings on at the farm soon!

Just a quick note - both Elise and Savannah had their kids!  Elise had twin doelings and Savannah had twin bucklings, but one was still born.  We really had some odd issues with the goats this year and I don't know if it was luck of the draw or something we need to reassess in our management.  Don't worry, pictures and stories to come soon!

Sping Baby Update

With all the troubles on the farm this spring, I just wanted to update everyone on all the wonderful successes!

Chicory, the little premature goatling born to Rabbit whose triplet siblings were stillborn, is a complete toot. It took him over a week to assure us he was going to live. I guess that makes sense - that would have been his original due date, so his development must have finally caught up with the fact that he was outside instead of inside momma. He is a lean little scraper and loves to torment all the other goatlings. When feeding time comes, he is always willing to throw you for a loop. He either sprints right over and downs his milk without needing help...or he decides that a little game of chase is what's called for before having a civilized meal. You just never know with that guy.

Tiger Lily, our bow legged munchkin from Shelli, has made leaps and bounds of improvement. It was quite nerve wracking when her contracted tendons began to stretch, but her muscles weren't yet strong enough to hold her up. It appeared she was getting worse for a number of days. And then...she was just simply better. Woke up one morning and you could no longer pick her out of the crowd by her stance! She still has a funny little gait and tends to hop like a bunny when she wants to move somewhere quickly, but she is getting better and stronger every day. Whew.

Dandelion, the HUGE boy from Maxie who was passing blood on the second day of his life, is simply still a beast. He picked up on the bottle feedings faster than any of the other goats and has just not skipped a beat since his miraculous recovery. You really would never know anything had ever been wrong with him!

We are still brooding some 60 baby poultry. After the initial heavy losses, we have kept the others healthy and strong. We do have one chick that is a bit wobbly on the legs but I think she'll be fine, or perhaps we are just going to have a replacement yard chicken who spends her time around the house instead of foraging far and wide with the flock. I'm sure we won't mind that! And the ducklings are HUGE. I can't believe how fast they grow.

But the young poultry has once again suffered the consequences of tenacious raccoons. The ducks have a fully wire enclosed pen to spend the night, safe from predators...or so we thought. But apparently a raccoon was able to sneak up on them and grabbed one through the wire before she woke up and was able to run. But we quickly solved the problem by putting a layer of tiny mesh around the bottom 2 feet of the enclosure so no naughty hands can be thrust through the openings. I hate lessons like that. But the coons had the taste of a fresh meal so they have probably been back checking the defenses each night. All was safe for a few days. Then they discovered that they could dig under the chick brooder house - which we thought would be ok since the entire floor is wire mesh with several inches of dirt over it. But the coon kept digging until all the dirt from the floor fell through. And then must have just waited until a hapless chick or two wandered too close and pulled them through the wire. ARG! More security has been added and hopefully we've got the place locked down now!

And of course Ace and Mac, the spring lambs, are doing great. They have grown enormously but have unfortunately picked up more of their mother's traits than their uncle Linden's. They are skittish and we plan on working on that in the weeks to come. I still want to milk the sheep, so I will be giving the little boys a bottle every once in awhile. That's what made Linden the friendliest sheep on the block!

We still have more babies to come. Savannah and Elise are due this weekend. They are both absurdly huge and I fear they are going to have triplets! Hopefully they just have big twins, or at least all the triplets have had plenty of room to grow in there. And Miranda, our youngest bred doe, is due in May. And then the spring baby season will finally be over!

Got Goat Milk?

It's here, it's here! Our girls are finally producing more milk than the little babes can consume...which means WE get to drink the extra! Oh how I've missed that delicious creamy taste. It's just so different than processed store bought milk.

The first milk we were able to 'steal' this year was from Rabbit. She didn't settle last year (her breeding didn't take) so this was out first chance to see what she was made of! For some reason, I was completely apprehensive. Rabbit is a weird goat. Rabbit isn't even her real name - it's Evie, but I'm not sure anyone has called her that since the day we brought her home. She was a skittish clown last year and jumped about thus giving her the nickname. She is a bit funny shaped and has markings on her face that makes it look like she is always snarling at you! And I kept saying "Ok, I'm about to drink Rabbit Milk for the first time!" and it just sounded wrong. But since she was the first to kid, her milk had the best chance of being sweet. The colostrum, or first milk, leaves a bitter aftertaste and can be present in the milk for some weeks after kidding. Anyway, I finally downed some Rabbit Milk. And it was good!

When all of the does freshen, we will literally be swimming in milk. We expect about 40 gallons of milk a week during their peak production! 40 gallons. Has it sunk in yet? 40 gallons. We are going to be busy little cheese makers this year!

Last fost...?

Determining the average last frost date for an area must be like reading tea leaves. If it were simple science, everyone would agree on the date. But instead, you are left with a range of dates and no real explanation for how any of them are arrived at. Besides that, no one seems to bother with calculating the date for places like Dale with a booming population of 500. But we do the best we can.

Using the Spring Equinox is kind of nice. It's a little later than the average of the average last frost dates! I've seen dates all the way from the end of February to the beginning of April. Last year, we did have a freeze on April 4 that was so hard it wiped out most of the tomatoes and potatoes even under row cover. Hopefully that won't happen again!

So with the freezing weather safely behind us (we hope!), we are getting the spring crops in. Dale has done a marvelous job tilling the open portion of the garden and turning that weedy area into prepared rows. Soon, we will have squash, peppers, beans and more growing everywhere!

With great enthusiasm, Mom bought us some tomatoes to get the season jump started. Many of our seedlings are stunted from the cold weather (we still haven't finished our hoop house!). So Dale planted them out this last week and they looked just marvelous. And then the weather report came in for Sunday night. Oh, it didn't sound so bad with a prediction of 38F. But we know that things are always different here in the Holler! We can expect the temperature to be as far off as 10F from the prediction (in either direction, but usually colder!). So an hour before dark last night, there was a frantic push to cover seedlings and the newly planted tomatoes. But the usual evening chores still needed to be done! So it was a race against time. Fortunately, we had enough folks to split the chores up and everything got done...and it didn't even freeze! Only 34F, but I'm sure the tomatoes didn't mind being tucked in anyways.

Soon...but not soon enough!

RIP Riley

After all the madness we've suffered this year already with the loss of Miss Priss, two shipments of deceased chicks, two stillborn doelings and three more with ailments that we weren't sure they would survive, we've really needed a break from the 'cycle of life'. Spring is about new beginnings and of course you can't have meaningful beginnings without endings...but I feel we've had more than our fair share lately.

A stressful week on the farm seemed to be coming to a close with Lily being 'released' into the wild care of her siblings and cousins and Maxie's buckling miraculously overcoming his bloody expulsions. Wednesday morning, I was finally heading back home (I usually leave the farm Sunday night...) when I saw something on the road that made my stomach lurch. Riley hadn't shown up for breakfast that morning. That's not the most unusual occurrence, but it didn't happen terribly often. I somehow convinced myself to just keep driving, it couldn't be him. But by the time I got to my first turn my delusion faded away. I headed back...and confirmed my suspicions.

Riley was a wonderful cat - the best feral cat a family could possibly hope for! He made his presence known the very first day we brought the other three cats to the farm last June. We think he had been living under the house for sometime, but just hadn't seen the right sign from us to let him know we were cat people. Well, the full bowl of cat food brought him to his senses! We saw him on and off for months, sometimes going a week or more between sightings. He was very skittish and only came out at night to steal a bite to eat. But slowly, he became used to the rhythm of life as a pet (we thought of him as a pet long before he accepted his role!).

This year especially, we bonded with the rascal. We made all sorts of warm cozy beds for him during the absurdly cold nights...only to have him refuse to use them (proper cat behavior you know!). He went from only appearing at night, to hanging around during the day playing with the other cats in the yard. Mom and I both touched his tail as he slipped between the porch stairs to sleep off the afternoon. We felt that someday he would actually enjoy a belly rub. He even made a venture into the house once...and promptly sprayed the couch and was shooed back outside!

I feel that we gave him a wonderful way of life for the short time he was with us. He was a rangy scared critter when we first met him. He actually reached the point of being fat once (he did slim down after the lady cats in the neighborhood complained) and was obviously content with his life. He purred when he saw us and wallowed in the dusty soil in the yard with the other kitties. Many nights he waited for us by the gate to finish the goat chores and escorted us back to the house, meowing the whole way. He truly was a great cat.

We brought him home to a final resting place amongst the other sad losses of the year.

Maxie's turn...

Sunday evening, we noticed that Maxie, on day 155 of her gestation (normal goat gestation being 145 to 155 days!) was acting more of a twit than normal. She is herd queen and doesn't let anyone forget that. But that night, she was actually preventing the other goats from entering the barn at all. So after evening graining, we separated her into the kidding stall. Even if she wasn't going to give birth that night, we weren't sure if anyone would survive in the barn with her! In fact, the kidding stall gate didn't survive her behavior and had to be modified before we felt that she was truly secure in there! I set my alarm for every 2 hours and drifted off to bed. Mom had already crashed on the couch so I figured she was down for the count and I'd be the nightwatchman.

10:00 PM: (yes, I went to bed before 10...) Maxie looks annoyed in her 'prison'. Nothing seems to be happening and I think she might have given me the finger as I left the goat pen.

12:00 AM: Maxie looks more annoyed. She's facing me so I can't see if there's any action going on so I enter the stall. She proceeds to lick me ALL OVER. This is what moms do to the babies when they are first born. I realize that kidding must be close - and sure enough she is starting to have a bit of a discharge. I turn the heat lamp on, set my alarm for 1:00 AM and stumble back to the house. It could be hours still and I'm way too tired to camp out with her.

12:59 AM: "There's a baby, GET UP!" Huh? Mom apparently woke up and went to check on Maxie and saw a brand new baby, minutes after being born, in the stall. I'm not even dressed before my own alarm goes off!

It's below freezing out and the baby, like all baby goats, is soaking wet. I'm sure that Maxie can handle it herself, but I figure I'll help since I'm there. The two of us work to get the HUGE baby dried off. Turns out, he's almost 10 pounds - 50% larger than any other babies born yet! Mom can barely cram him into the grain scoop we used to weigh them! Since Maxie wasn't all that big, both Mom and I decide she is having a single one. Just around the time the boy is actually standing for more than a few seconds, Maxie's head suddenly jerks up and her eyes get a little glassy. She turns around and almost literally drops another baby with a single push into my lap. I take the hint and get the sac and the vast majority of the goo off before Maxie starts up her own cleaning routine. It's a little girl, "only" 6.5 lbs (normal sized that is!).



We went to bed happy knowing we finally had a normal kidding for the season. The first two were just flukes. All seemed well for an entire day. Well...Tuesday morning, the big boy had scours - runny poop. Not too abnormal, but his seemed pretty bad. And then it just got worse. I won't horrify you with the picture that I took, but I had to record the event somehow. His poop went from normal yellow baby goat poop colored (albeit runny) to probably 90% blood. And he passed a huge 'thing' which appeared to be a blood clot.

Ok, so now we have a baby dying from something and maybe it's contagious. Frantic searches online, rereading all our goat books, calls to the vet, posts on goat forums. All signs point to an unhappy outcome...but they are leading us in different directions to even get there! The vet says give this, the online goat experts say that will kill the kid for sure. The books say do that, the vet says that will kill the kid for sure. In hindsight, I'm actually somewhat glad for the rampant confusion we were faced with.

After the first horrible bowel movement, he had one other bloody one. And then...well, things just got better. One more runny poop - no blood, just runny. And then everything was normal. He's up and playing, nursing, acting completely fine. We went ahead and gave him a dose of grapeseed oil extract (big concentration of antioxidants and used for all sorts of stressful goat ailments) to be on the safe side. Next morning, you would never know anything had ever been wrong with him.

So I'm glad for the paralyzing confusion. Perhaps the antidiarrheal the vet suggested would have killed him. Pulling him from nursing on his mom like the books suggested may have done him in. And most certainly, 'culling' him for necropsy to see what was causing the bleeding like suggested by online goat experts would have been the end! We were at such a loss for what to do that the hours we spent agonizing over it just gave the little guy time to get better on his own. Whew.

Three kiddings down, all with 'incidents', and three more to go. Come on ladies, we need some easy days!

Happy Spring!

On Sunday we held a Spring Equinox party for our friends and family to come out and enjoy the beautiful weather at the farm. We weren't quite sure how many people would come but 32 adults and 11 kids later, we were exhausted! It was a blast having everyone out - especially folks that hadn't been here in a few months since so much has changed.

I managed to not get a single picture of the party, so hopefully someone else took a few and will send me some!

The morning was supposed to be spent working with volunteers. But visiting took precedence! It was a great time for the kids to play and for everyone to see the new babies. Lily the house goat was a huge hit of course.

Lunch was prepared using only produce from the farm. We had a pasta dish with sauteed kale, collards and broccoli with pesto made from last year's basil. The salad was entirely from the garden - lettuce, arugula, carrots, shredded turnips and beet greens. Oh, and of course a handful of edible pansies!

The afternoon was spent with more people showing up for the open house portion (the part when we didn't expect any work to be done!). People played horseshoes and on the brand new huge monkey swing in the East Pasture.

It was a fun and exhausting day. I hope we have good enough weather this summer to have another party when people can actually spend some time outside!

House Goat

If you have goats, it's bound to happen. Eventually, one of them will end up in the house. We've had ourselves a house goat for two nights now.

On Thursday, Mom headed out to the barn to check on Maxie and Shelli. Their due dates had passed and anticipation was high. Sure enough, there was Shelli in the barn with a fresh baby goat! A tiny little girl, practically the same size as Chicory when he was born. Shelli was as big as a house, so she knew more were coming. After a short wait, a second one, a boy, arrived on the scene. He was much bigger than the little girl but still didn't seem to account for Shelli's absurd proportions. While at work, I was trying to answer a few of Mom's questions with internet searches while she and Dale watched the birthing process. I read her the directions on how to "bounce" a goat to see if there were any more babies in there. Mom confirmed that all she could feel was soft squishy goat guts and no hard knobby baby bodies, so we decided that two just might be it.

About 5 minutes later, my office phone rang again. Another girl and a big one! Wow, last year we only had singles and twins and so far this year both have had triplets. What did we put in the feed?!?!

But after a few hours it was obvious that that first little girl was "off". Mom described it as her legs being bowed and she was weak. More research, more questions and more apprehension. I had a few ideas, but my suggestion was simply to call the vet. Well, the little one was whisked off to the vet before they closed and came home with the diagnosis of "contracted tendons". She was just a wee babe crammed into a tight space with two hogs and wasn't able to stretch her legs. So she just needs some time to get loosened up. Since she really couldn't walk and she wasn't able to nurse without someone holding Shelli, she came into the house.

We've been splinting her legs at night and letting her walk and stretch them during the day. She has improved tremendously in the two days since she arrived. She can stamp and clomp around the house and makes the most absurdly cute noises. The cats aren't so sure she should be allowed in the house and the dog doesn't know why she won't play. But all in all, it's been fun to have a house goat!

Meet Tiger Lily!

Antonelli's Cheese Shop

Yum! Chad and I just discovered a new gem in Austin. We ventured across the street from Mother's Cafe to have some dessert at La Dolce Vita when something more scrumptious caught our eye...cheese! Right next door, at 4220 Duval, sits Antonelli's Cheese Shop. They just opened last month, so don't feel like you've missed out on a long held secret!

The wonderful staff at the shop encouraged us to try ANYTHING we wanted. And we politely obliged. I was most focused on the sheep cheeses. I still haven't gotten around to milking Cat and Maggie, but I'm hoping to start that venture soon. I've had other sheep cheeses in the past, but why forgo an opportunity to try a few more? I settled on the wonderful Ossau-Iraty cheese from the Basque region of France. It's is superbly creamy with a little nutty flavor - supposedly a hallmark of sheep cheeses (I'm no connoisseur...yet!).

The store also carries some great local dairies including CKC Farms (goat cheeses) and Brazos Valley Cheese Co (the wonderful people who taught me to make cheese!). It really inspired me to get back into the art after being so down trodden because of the regulations. I'm now more excited than ever for the milking season to begin. Should be really really soon! Shelli was due yesterday and Maxie today. Come on girls!

Be sure to stop in a give this place a try. I'd love to have a local outlet like that if we ever do "go big". Support our local businesses!

Cheese Case at Antonelli's

From thrillist.com

Shearing Day!

Yesterday was quite an exciting day. Our spring lambs from last year were shorn for the first time. It was an adventure!

No more wooly coats for these guys!


Last summer, the sheep were quite easy to move from one temporary pasture to the next. I just grabbed a handful of grain and they followed me around like...well, like sheep! But over the winter, they stayed in the same pasture and got out of the habit. Now they would much prefer to explore the green pastures they are walking by instead of keeping their eye on the goal! So it's been a bit of a fiasco moving them. Yesterday, there were myself, Mom, Pops, Jascha, Chad, his brother and girlfriend, Dale (on his day off!) and Loretta. I didn't think it would take 9 of us to get 5 sheep into a new paddock, but I sure was glad everyone was there!

Once the sheep were securely in the smaller fenced area, the real fun began. A woman from down the road brought her clippers over and one by one the sheep were transformed. First up, Linden. He tolerated the process rather well. Dale and I held the sheep in position while the shearer and her husband got the wool off.



Afterward, Linden was hardly recognizable! He went from a huge fuzzy puff ball to a scrawny, rather absurd looking naked critter.



He was pretty unsure of the change at first, but soon forgot how silly he looked and went back to his regular nosy behavior. I trimmed hooves while the shearer worked...and Linden needed to inspect each and every subsequent sheep while they were being held down to make sure they were getting the same treatment he had!



Meanwhile, Mac and Ace lounged about and played while their elders were being "tortured". They had nothing to fear...but just wait until next year! Well, maybe Ace did get a little startled when Percy roamed a bit close, but other than that, it was just a fun adventure for the lambs!

A hard night at the farm

I haven't gotten the blog setup quite right to allow for multiple authors, so I'm posting on Mom's behalf:

Some days are best remembered instead of experienced. Yesterday was one of those - better in the telling than in the doing.

Rabbit, a first freshener and due to kid next week, showed signs of early labor around dinnertime so I put her in the birthing area of the barn and Dale, Loretta and I pulled up chairs to watch. Over the next two hours she progressed from mild agitation to straining but the process looked different from any other goat labor I had experienced. It was hard to qualify what was different and everything seemed to be okay so I ambled between house and barn with snacks and advice and even slight disinterest. Then at 8:30, as the temperature was dropping and the coyotes were tuning up Rabbit expelled a tiny stillborn doe. She looked normal and weighed in at 5 pounds, but she never took a breath. The birth had been odd with the baby presenting the crown of its head first instead of hooves, and the little body had been pushed out in one big whoosh of fluid. Rabbit nickered to it and cleaned it up but as soon as she turned her back to clean herself I wrapped the doeling in a towel and took her away. Rabbit got a handful of raisins and warm molasses water and went back to pushing. 20 minutes later another tiny form was suddenly spit out like a watermelon seed and flopped to the ground. This time I grabbed the lifeless form by its back legs and turned it upside down and shook it a few times until it sputtered. Dale and I helped clean the little buck up but Rabbit let us know that she was perfectly capable of taking care of that job. Dale and I sat back to wait for the expulsion of the afterbirth, the buckling to stand, and the first attempts to suckle. An hour later the kid still was not standing, no progress on the afterbirth and Rabbit was munching hay and wishing we would go away. We tried to get the kid up on his feet but he was too weak and getting cold. Warm towels, hot water in drink bottles and brisk rubbing didn’t seem to have much effect. So we waited. And waited. After 4 hours we felt things were getting critical so Dale tubed the kid and we got 2 oz of life-saving colostrum into his tummy. He warmed up and went to sleep. So we decided to call it a day and about midnight shuffled back to our houses.

At 12:45, just as sleep seemed to be within my grasp, the alarm clock starting flashing, beeps and buzzers went off and the washing machine came to a grinding halt. Then all was silent. Great - I would have to restart the wash in the morning and reset all the clocks. Then I looked outside and realized that the barn light we had left on was out and the ruby red glow of the heat lamps keeping all our baby poultry alive was gone - the world was completely dark. The computer that collects our weather station data had gone on battery backup so the light from the monitor allowed me to collect flashlights, get my dirty clothes back on and find a jacket since it was now below 40 degrees. I started over to Dale’s cottage only to be met by him on his way to get me. We came inside and started trying to groggily figure out what to do next. The phones were dead and we don’t have cell service at the farm. So we piled into my car and drove half a mile down the road to a little rise where we got a signal. The countryside was as dark as the inside of a cave - not a light twinkling anywhere except in the sky. So Dale and I, two worn out and disgusted “farmers” sitting huddled in a car on the side of a dark country road in the middle of the night were trying to find a phone number so we could complain about our plight. Thanks to my trusty iPhone I found a number for Bluebonnet Electric Coop and called it only to find that it had been disconnected. Doesn’t anybody update their websites??? Finally I found a number to report power outages only to give my name and address to a robot, who politely thanked me for my call and hung up. Click. GRRRRR.

Back home we started a fire and began filling metal buckets with ashes and hot embers. We were determined to keep our chicks, ducklings and keets alive. The cats were very amused that we were up so late and doing such interesting things. The thought of escaping to wild night adventures crossed their minds but they hadn’t gotten in their 20 hours of sleep for the day yet, so just went on thinking about it. Dale ferried the buckets to the various birds and I accompanied him out once to check the ducks. He looked over at the birthing area and exclaimed “another one was just born!” Sure enough, Rabbit had birthed another dead doeling, larger than the others, but she didn’t look right, and she was bright orange, even her little hooves. Dale and I just looked at each other thinking “what next”? That’s when the smoke alarms in the house went off. I had left the fire unattended and the spark screen open and all I could think was that if the house were on fire I would just fling myself inside and be done with it. The fire was quietly dancing in the grate but the alarms were screeching discordantly and the cats were all prick-eared and wide-eyed. Soon all was quiet again and Dale and I decided yet again that we had done everything we could and we deserved to go to bed. I sat down on the couch to collect my thoughts and fell fast asleep. Until 3:45 am when the electricity came back on causing lights to flash and beeps and clicks and alarms to sound. I awoke to the cats staring at me like I was purposely torturing them and would I please stop because they needed their beauty sleep - or else. I turned off lights, crawled into bed and actually got 3 hours of sleep before chores started this morning. Now why did I want to live on this farm???

Going outside and seeing the glorious sunrise, hearing an early morning chorus of coyotes in the distance and a stunning orchestra of bird calls, the sheep baahing in the back pasture, Percy crowing like he knew it was the best day of his life and watching the cats frolicking in the dewy grass I remembered - this is why I love the farm!

Rabbit is doing well but seems confused - just like always. The buckling is stronger but still not a normal frisky kid. The chicks, ducks and keets have recovered from our mothering. The cats have had their fun and are now are napping. All is well. Please let this day be terribly boring!!!

I just wanted to add that goat gestation is typically 150 days. Kids born 5 days early are surely going to survive. Kids born 10 days early surely won't. Rabbit went into labor 7 days early. But we are all rooting for little Chicory!

French Alpine Goats

One of the wonderful benefits of being a small producer is getting to choose a heritage breed animal or a rare heirloom vegetable and not having to worry about the "general public" wanting run of the mill products. Because of this, we weren't pressured into getting a cow in order to delve into dairy products. Instead, we could go with our family's much loved ruminant, the goat! After much research and even more time spent looking for good stock, we settled on a herd of French Alpine Goats.

Goats are one of the oldest domesticated animals, with archeological evidence that they have been tended by humans for 10,000 years. Goats quickly found their way to the New World as well. A 1630 census of Jamestown lists goats as their most valuable asset. It was during this time that Swiss breeds were brought to the US. So they are true pilgrims! It wasn't until the 1920s that the first official "French Alpines" were imported to the US and these form the core of the gene pool that was mixed with the existing Swiss breeds and has now created the pure bred herds we see today.

More people worldwide consume goat milk than the milk from any other animal. The milk is different from cow's milk but in subtle ways. Goat milk lacks beta carotene which means it is perfectly white. For instance, butter has the typical yellow color from beta carotene found in cow's milk - goat milk butter is pure white. Additionally, goat milk is naturally homogenized. This means that very little, if any, cream will rise to the top of the milk. The fat stays in solution. And probably the most pronounced difference is the presence of capric, caprylic and caproic acid. These acids are what gives "goaty" products their flavor. If handled delicately and properly, goat milk does not have any different flavor, but once it has been heated, stirred and aged into cheeses, the acids break up and the product acquires that flavor that people either love or hate!

We are quite happy with our ever-expanding herd of Alpines. They provide endless entertainment and wonderful dairy products. They truly are a precious asset to the farm!

Maxie takes a look around after being let out of the barn in the morning before anyone else steps outside. Herd Queen is a rough job you know!

New Milk Regulations

*grumble* Well, I was going to get my act together for the 2010 milking season and get a food manufacturers license so we could legally sell aged raw milk cheeses. Mom has been a good trooper tasting all of my experiments and even thought the last one tasted good! I've been practicing and trying new cheeses for months and really felt I was well on my way to adding a new aspect of the farm business.

That's until I spoke to the Texas Department of State Health Services again today. Sigh.

I just wanted to make sure we had all my ducks in a row for applying for the license. I knew we had to get our well water tested and just wanted to make sure we were using an approved lab. The very helpful man asked what I would be producing. When I told him about the cheese, he immediately warned me that things were about to get "a whole lot stricter!". Huh!??!

Turns out, the state is changing lots of milk rules. I knew this was coming but for some reason figured I would be exempt from any new hassle (yeah, right!). So I was transferred to the Milk Group. Again, the person on the phone was quite helpful. Unfortunately, he helpfully explained that my dreams of Sand Holler Farmstead Cheeses might be a little far fetched. Not entirely impossible, but probably not entirely practical right now. A simple food manufacturing license is $100 a year. The new dairy product manufacturing license will be $800 for 2 years, plus an annual fee based on production, plus inspection fees every 3 months. That's just for aged cheese. If I want to sell pasteurized soft cheeses, it's another license and ANOTHER $800. If I want to sell sour cream, it's ANOTHER $800. If I decide to go into the ice cream business, ANOTHER $800. And I'm told that I'd have to follow FDA guidelines on raw cheese recipes (pasteurized are exempt...but I need a license for that), which means no fun improvising on adding things like jalapenos, garlic, etc. Bah!

Sooo....looks like I will keep 'playing' with cheese making for some time to come. I don't want to start a money losing venture just to allow more people to try the cheeses we have made. We'll always still be happy to share with anyone that comes to that farm and wants a sample to taste...though I think even that is officially illegal!

I really understand why even in the state of Texas, which does allow legal raw milk sales, many dairies still use the herd share program. Seems almost like the government is legislating themselves out of job by sending everyone underground!

Enjoy farmstead cheeses everyone...hopefully this doesn't put a dent in anyone's established business!

Garden Update

We continue to work on the garden to get it in tiptop shape for the start of the vegetable season. Things are going wonderfully now that Dale is here working so hard! Much of the fenced garden has never been planted but we plan to remedy that in the near future.



Our vegetable garden is a 100 ft x 150 ft plot - that's about a 1/3 of an acre. We plant in "wide rows" - meaning it's not like many fields you see with just a single row of corn or cotton that runs the whole length. Instead, our beds are 3 ft wide and 20 ft long. The garden is divided into 6 sections, each one for a different type of plant - the tomato family, the squash family, legumes, roots, the cabbage family and finally corn and watermelon grow together. Every year the garden plots will rotate so the plant families are growing in new soil. This helps build up the health of the soil by not depleting nutrients that a particular plant uses as well as prevents the proliferation of diseases. Currently, we have 3 of these sections complete...but the other three are coming along quickly!

We strive to grow a wide range of vegetables as well as growing varieties that you might not see in every grocery store. We've been having fun growing all sorts of lettuces this winter and are hoping to be able to extend the lettuce season nearly year round with some tips we have picked up. I think it's unheard of to harvest lettuce in July, but apparently it's possible - and we would love to be able to provide our community with this beautiful vegetable throughout most of the year!



But of course, we also would like to provide some of the staples. While we will never be able to grow all the onions and potatoes that our community needs, we want to get some of these fresh to you. We have red, white and yellow onions planted and they have done marvelously in this cool weather. Now if it will only not get too hot too fast, we will have some nice sized bulbs!



As the gardening season progresses, I'd like to bring you up to speed on how various vegetables are grown to help everyone really connect with the food they eat. We sometimes really take for granted being able to just pick up carrots, tomatoes or celery at the grocery store. But we don't always realize what really goes into growing that food. Stay tuned for more in depth discussions of the exciting world of vegetable growing!

Move over Ace!

Ace is no longer the cutest thing on the block. Well, to be fair, they are both absurdly adorable but new babies always seem to win out!

Sunday seems to be lambing day at Sand Holler. Woke up this morning to do the chores as usual...and there was a new farm member! Cat decided she didn't like all the attention Maggie received during birthing, so she went for the middle of the night routine. I think the births fit Cat and Maggie's personality quite well - Maggie is loud and demanding, Cat is quiet and shy.

So no fun birthing story, we just know the little guy was born just a few hours before dawn and everybody made it through just fine. He still doesn't have a name as nothing has quite stuck yet. Any suggestions...remember that they all are named for trees!

Turnip Slaw

Last year we received a few requests from CSA members for turnip recipes. They aren't the most common Texas vegetable out there but I truly think they are delicious. I've even converted Chad to them and he's a hard customer to sell on "weird vegetables"! So I figured I would post another delicious turnip recipe I have come across - and the first recipe I have ever used raw turnips in!



Turnip Slaw (serves 4-6)

1/2 cup mayonnaise (homemade recipe follows!)
3 tbsp sour cream
2 tsp flavored vinegar (tarragon is good)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp sugar
1 dash salt
1/4 tsp celery seed
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp chopped fresh dill or 1/2 teaspoon dried dill
1 lb turnip, peeled (if tough) and shredded (about 4 cups)

In a large bowl, stir all the dressing ingredients together until well mixed. Add the shredded turnip and mix. Allow to chill for 6 hours to meld flavors...or just dig in immediately like we did!

Homemade Mayonnaise (makes about a cup)

Nothing beats homemade mayo with fresh eggs. You will never want to go back to the weird fake white stuff from the grocery store!

1 egg
1 tbsp whole grain mustard
3/4 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 cup oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar


NOTE: There are many different oils you can use and I recommend experimenting with them. I have learned that while I love extra virgin olive oil, its flavor is WAY too strong for mayo even though I frequently see it used in recipes. I can't even use the light olive oils. I've tried canola, soy and peanut as well. I think peanut is my favorite.

Combine egg, mustard, salt, and lemon juice in a blender. Run the blender at low speed and add the oil very slowly in a thin stream. Slow is the key!

I like to taste it at this point and add the vinegar to taste. I didn't have balsamic on hand last time and just dumped a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in the mix. WOW, that stuff took the enamel off my teeth!

Wee wittle baby birdies

Well, the spring babies are really rolling in. Last week we received several shipments of poultry. It's amazing that you can pick up a box of peeping babies at the post office having arrived from cross country. Unfortunately, things sometimes don't work out so well and the chicks don't make it for one reason or another. We've never seen as many casualties as we did this year, but we have plenty of babies to take care of and have found a local feed store to make up for our losses.

We have about 30 chicks of various breeds. These will be providing us with a good number of eggs come the latter part of summer. We've got breeds that lay all sorts of eggs - from blue to white to deep chocolate brown! Mixed in with the chicks right now are 6 keets - that's baby guineas. Have you ever seen a guinea? Let me tell you, they are not the prettiest critters around. But keets sure are cute - they have ugly duckling syndrome in reverse!

(one of the keets is the stripey headed baby on the left of the photo)


And a first for the farm...DUCKLINGS! Oh my gosh, they are seriously the cutest little mess makers I've seen. Dale convinced us to get Khaki Campbells - they are supposed to be superb egg layers. I have always been in love with Indian runners - they 'waddle' almost completely upright and always look like they are in an absurd hurry. So we got a few of those too.



And if you've never had a duck egg...well, you might actually be disappointed. Dale was kind enough to give us some eggs to try from the Campbells he's raised at his parent's house. With some trepidation, I tried my first duck egg - just fried with a little salt so that I could discern any "grossness". Well, turns out, they taste almost exactly like chicken eggs! Maybe a teensy bit richer and creamier. So be sure to look for them amongst the farm products late this summer - they certainly are bigger than chicken eggs which is just an excuse to have more for breakfast!

March came in like a lamb...

Er, is that supposed to be lion? Anyway, I'm glad it wasn't REALLY a lion. Ahem, let me explain.

Sunday started out just like any other day on the farm. Up in the cold morning to take care of the animals. Of course, it got much colder than expected (you'd think that in this day and age they could predict the weather to within 10 degrees!) and water lines were frozen. I didn't discover this until I had already dumped over the sheep trough to clean it and refill it. Doh! So I made the mental note to come back in a hour or so once things warmed up and the pipes got moving. Thank goodness it wasn't like the REALLY cold days of winter when I hauled buckets of hot water all over the farm!

It turns out that the frozen pipes were a bit serendipitous. They forced me to go back to the sheep pasture much earlier than I might have that day. When I got there, Maggie was pawing the ground. Sounds pretty innocuous huh? Ah, that's because you must not know that is one of the first signs of labor!!! We didn't have any due dates on the sheep (we let the ram run with them instead of doing planned breeding) and I thought I had at least 2 more weeks. Obviously, Maggie had other plans. I bustled around the farm collecting the strewn birthing supplies and set up camp in the Mootel (the sheep barn is a pre-fabricated hutch for calfs!) with Maggie and locked the 'peanut gallery' on the other side to give us some privacy.

Shortly after 10:00, Maggie began pushing in earnest. I was really excited. Maggie, probably not so much. I'm currently attended Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth classes. Dr. Bradley based his method on observations of farm animals growing up and was sure that women could also have peaceful, natural, non-distressful, unassisted births just like animals on the farm. If Dr. Bradley had witnessed Maggie laboring, it might be called the Bradley Method of Completely Medicated Childbirth. She was not a happy camper. Every bellow rattled me to the bones and made me cringe.

A full hour into hard pushing and Maggie had not made much progress. That doesn't sound so bad but one thing Dr. Bradley did get right was that livestock typically have much shorter labors. If sheep have not progressed in 30 minutes, it's wise to intervene. I was reluctant to jump in too quickly as she was making small progress, but I also noticed that her efforts were lessening. I knew that if I needed to help her, I also needed her to be able to help me. It needed to be teamwork.

On her next contraction, I grabbed hold of the tiny hooves that protruded and pulled gently. Wow, I was going to have to pull harder than I thought! It took me about 5 contractions to finally pull hard enough to make any progress. Together, we finally got the head out! It was nerve-wracking and I was so glad it was all over. I figured the head must have been the difficult part so I would let her finish the labor. Well, I was wrong. Turns out, it's typically the shoulders that are stuck. So after a few more contractions that got her no where, I jumped in again. A few more good pushes and pulls and out came the lamb! I'm not usually terribly sentimental, but I will admit to tearing up just a tad at that moment.

I cleared the lamb's mouth as Maggie was quite exhausted at this point. Made sure he was breathing and then this time I was able to step back and let Maggie take over with mothering. She did wonderfully! Got him all cleaned up and on his feet with in a short period of time. Boy, is he just the cutest thing you've ever seen! Here's the 13 pounder, Ace!

A Slice of Life - Winter 2010

So what happens around Sand Holler on a typical day? First, that depends on the season. But even then, each day is different from the next, except for the routine daily chores (mainly taking care of the animals). This weekend I spent a little time recording what everyone was up to so I could give an example of daily life at Sand Holler Farm.

7:00 AM - Rise and Shine! Mom and I are up to take care of the animals. The goats are let out of the barn and feed. The donkey and the boys (male goats) get their hay and water checked. We mix "mash" for the chickens - extra milk stirred into their laying rations - and dump any kitchen scraps in the run. The sheep get the goat "leftovers" (I have no idea where the stereotype of goats eating anything - even tin cans - comes from. They are the pickiest eaters! They nose through the alfalfa hay and take the choicest bits and then complain that they have nothing to eat until we put more out! Fortunately, the sheep are not so discerning.) Then it's back inside until things warm up a little!

These days we typically make a hearty breakfast. When Mom is on the farm, it usually starts off with a fruit smoothie as soon as we come in from the animal chores. Then it can be anything, but favorites are buttermilk pancakes and breakfast tacos.

We stick around inside, mainly working on the business side of things until it thaws out a bit outside. A fire is usually going in the farm house and sometimes we just laze around preparing for a hard day of work ahead.

50F - Garden Work. Yup, there usually isn't a time for me to get started in the garden - I like to wait until it's either 50F or sunny and a bit cooler. Some days that just doesn't happen, but usually it does warm up. In the garden, I spend time weeding, planting and harvesting vegetables. Right now, we are picking broccoli, turnips, greens and lettuce. The carrots are looking might tasty but still a bit small. Hopefully soon!

Mom and Pops have been working diligently on the caretaker's cabin. It's ALMOST done! I'll post pictures of the progress when all is said and done. They are painting, trimming out doors, laying the floor and all the other final jobs to get it ready for moving in soon.

1:00 - around this time we all take a break for lunch. We've been eating a lot of soups lately - turnip soup or winter squash soup being frequent rations - and homemade bread. We allow ourselves just a little relaxing before getting back to work!

Other chores for the remainder of the day include mucking barns, chipping dead fall, rotating sheep pastures, trimming animal hooves or more work in the garden. There's an endless list to be tackled!

Just before dark, we start the evening animal chores. The sheep are given grain and some additional hay to keep them happy through the night. The chickens are tucked soundly in their coop. The goats are all feed individually so we can check on them and make sure their pregnancies are progressing properly!

At night, we sit by the fire and try to keep our eyes open long enough to finish any business chores or an the rare occasion when we have enough time to watch a movie we settle in for that. By 9, everyone is dragging and by 10 there's usually not a soul awake!

NAIS Program Abandoned

This might be the first time you have even heard of this. I don't pretend to know all the ins and outs - especially since the proposed program went under revision after revision. But it appeared to mainly be an enormous pain in the rear for small producers like us.

The goal of the National Animal Identification System was to be able to track animals in the event of a large food borne illness outbreak. For instance, let's say Mad Cow shows up in hamburgers - well, where did the meat come from? In the past, it's taken months to track down where infected animals might have come from - if they ever can figure it out. NAIS would eliminate that and make the source of the meat transparent to the authorities and an outbreak could be stopped in it's tracks by only removing contaminated meat. Sounds like a pretty good idea on paper!

But the rules seemed pretty rough on the little guys (well, the big guys too, but they might have been able to absorb the costs better). The producer would be responsible for marking the animals and reporting all movement. It was a common fear among small farmers that we would need to purchase expensive identification systems (either tattoos or ear tags) and keep track of and report every single trip away from your farm - to the vet, to the breeder, etc. While this might not sound like a terrible burden, a lot of people wondered if stricter rules wouldn't be imposed on how or where you could take an animal.

Well, the people spoke and spoke loudly. The USDA has changed the entire plan to basically just track interstate commerce of animals. Since we don't deal over state lines, looks like we are out of the loop on this one!

Read more from the NY Times article

RIP Miss Priss

It was heartbreaking when we lost 8 chickens over the course of a few days to raccoons last summer. Many of them were named and one in particular was especially wrenching. Honey Pie was one of two turkens we inherited from the first farm caretakers. They are quite ugly creatures (I called them the Gruesome Twosome) and none of the other chickens accepted them into the flock. So they were outcasts, loved only by their human flock. Those two were our special birds, hanging around the front yard and begging for treats. It was a shock to lose Honey Pie. I wasn't sure the other half of the duo - Miss Priss was going to survive her companions departure.

But Miss Priss prevailed. She continued to be persecuted by the other feathered farm members. But she was let out of the coop early in the morning, hours before the others were freed. She spent her breakfast eating granola and drinking goat milk saved especially from the morning milking for her! At times, she had to chase the cats away from the bowl though! So Priss became the yard mascot, and found better company amongst the cats than she ever did amongst her own kind.

It was with a heavy heart that Mom found her in the coop one cold morning last week. No signs of distress, she simply passed away. Priss was probably about 4 years old. A ripe old age for a chicken (I've continually wondered about the life expectancy of chickens - I've found reports from 5 to 25 years but most people say "until they stop being useful!")

RIP Miss Priss. You will be missed.

Stray Kitty

We've had a true feral cat on the farm for almost 6 months now. I don't think he's ever been a pet - he is not neutered and will not let you get near him. We would love to catch him one day and get him fixed but even if we put food in a trap (and no where else), we can't get him. Doesn't like enclosed spaces at all. So we put up with Riley...especially because he's a good mouser!

I always read stories about true pets being dumped in the country or just let loose and abandoned. I figured maybe our part of the country was a little more civilized than that. Well, looks like I might be wrong. Mom was staring out the kitchen window in the pre-dawn light and asked if I thought that was an animal - nope, surely it was a plastic grocery bag stuck on the bush. Went about our business and noticed the bag was gone a few hours later...but it hadn't been windy. Mom mentioned she thought she saw a flash of white heading under the back porch a few days ago - Riley is partially white, so I wondered if it wasn't him. Well, finally in the afternoon we saw a very interesting looking white cat running down the driveway towards the street. I thought "good, we don't need yet another mouth to feed around here!". I even figured on taling the dog on an extra long romp in the front pasture to make sure she scared away the pesky critter.

Well...the pesky critter stuck around. That night, I saw her head pop up at the back porch door (where we feed Riley). I banged on the glass but it didn't scare her off. I grumbled a little...and then saw the collar. Ok, she's a pet...and she's in trouble. She had stepped through the collar with one leg and it was tight around her body. Oh boy, she knew the right place to come. It's one thing for me to try to shoo off a completely feral cat in the hopes they take up residence elsewhere. It's entirely another for me to see an animal that needs help due to human actions. That collar had to come off.

I sat on the door mat, slide the door open just a little and began sweet talking the little thing. Ha! No need for all that! She burst in the door and jumped into my lap before I could even blink! I was actually a little startled and thought she was coming to claw my eyes out! She was a whirling dervish in my lap, meowing and purring and rubbing on everything. We had 4 people in the living room that night - me, Mom, and my in-laws. The cat had to make sure she rubbed on every single person's leg and get a head scratch from them all. Meanwhile, I'm trying to get the collar off. She wouldn't stay still! So I figured I might as well cut it - finally got the scissors in place without danger of cutting the kitty and made the snip. She took off to explore the house...and the collar dragged behind her, stuck to the armpit.

Utter dismay on my part. I admit to watching way too many Animal Cops shows and have seen the gruesome aftermath of a tight collar that has become embedded in the neck of an animal as they grow. I finally got the little kitty under control locked with me in the bathroom. Took a deep breath. And peered at her arm. Yup, the collar had cut into her skin. BUT, it had not actually become embedded - the blood just made the collar stick to her fur. I got it loose - meanwhile, the kitty has not stopped purring and rubbing all over me.

So she has found a nice warm spot to spend some time while we see if she is a missing pet or a dumped stray. While I do hope she finds her home if there is one looking for her out there, I can't help but want to keep her - she is the friendliest little critter!

Mom said we can't give her a name since we don't know if we are going to keep her. Well, Mom is calling her Azure, Chad has picked Blue and Jana came up with Crystal Gayle! :)