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! :)

Single Digits!!!

Wow, my hope that we wouldn't see many more days of below 20F weather were completely shattered this week. Two nights ago it got down to 14.4F - the lowest we had yet to see. We protected as best we could and things went smoothly. Last night was even worse - our weather station reported 9.8F! Single digit temperature! This morning's chores were rough...



While the animals and the garden were tucked in nicely, we did forget one thing. Being city slicker Texans, we failed to remember that the well house needed a little protection! The line from the well was completely frozen solid and we had no water! It wasn't so bad, but I had planned on bringing all the animals buckets of warm water in the morning to help melt their troughs. So everyone had to wait on water until we got a heat lamp in the well house to thaw it out. And of course, the sheep didn't care - they just licked their ice block until warm water was delivered!

The garden doesn't look like it took a very hard hit - we might have lost a few lettuces but that's it. We'll have to see when everything warms up and we uncover the whole lot!

New Farmers!

This week the farm saw the addition of two new farmers. First, we signed up caretakers! Dale and his wife Loretta will be joining the Sand Holler team in early February (hopefully with a completed cottage to live in...). Dale has plenty of gardening experience and has been wanting to add animals to experience list for some time. He tried his hand at milking last night and all the girls approved of him! We put him to the test with back-breaking digging in the garden as well and we still didn't scare him off. Looks like we found a sucker...er, farmer!

And the other new farmer hasn't made an official appearance but we did catch of glimpse of him/her today!



It'll be a few more years before we get any work out of the little one but the farmer-in-training seems to be growing well and right on track for an early May arrival! Dale signed up just in time as the heavy lifting duties around the farm are becoming increasingly more difficult for me. It'll be nice to take a break from all of that!

In other news, we will most likely be seeing some of the coldest temperatures in years at the farm. We've learned that the animals don't seem to mind much as their shelters are more than adequate. However, the garden is another story. The temperature began plummeting at 7:30 this morning so we already covered the rows in preparation for the hard freeze. Unfortunately, it is also terribly windy and several of the covers have needed to be put back on the rows. I hope the wind dies down and everything stays covered overnight! It might be a sad weekend on the farm if we lose all the crops. Here's to staying warm - people, animals and plants alike!

Turnips

Due to our late planting in the fall and rather chilly winter, we are only now starting to harvest from the garden. We planted enough for the family and some extra for friends - but the main crop for the spring vegetable delivery will be in the ground soon!

Our first harvest (besides lettuce and greens) was Red Round Turnips. I had never grown them before, so can't help but think they are radishes!



But they certainly are turnips and I got to make one of my favorite turnip recipes - from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison, a book I received last Christmas from my mother in law.

Turnip Soup with Gruyere Croutons (serves 6)

SOUP:

4-6 medium turnips, 1 1/2 to 2 pounds (optional: including greens)
3 small potatoes, quartered (peeled if you like)
2 tablespoons butter
2 leeks, white part only, thinly sliced (I subbed 1 small yellow onion)
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup chopped parsley
4 thyme sprigs or 1/4 teaspoon dried
salt and pepper
6 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup cream or milk

NOTE: When using turnips not at their peak, thickly peel them and cut them into rounds and blanch for 1 minute in boiling salted water. Drain and rinse. This ensures their sweetness. I've done this with really large turnips (each weighing almost a pound) and the soup was still great. If the turnips are nice and young, you can just scrub them hard or thinly peel them. Cut the turnips into chunks (quarter small ones) before adding to the soup.

Melt the butter in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the turnips, potatoes, leeks or onion, garlic, parsley and thyme. I like this kind of recipe - just toss everything in a pot!



Cook for 5 minutes then add 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and the vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer partially covered about 25 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Puree all or part of the soup (I did all and it was great) and stir in the cream.

If you like the greens you can add them to the finished soup. I have not tried this as the first time I made the soup the greens were yellow and tough. It was so good without them that I haven't ventured to try out the greens! While the soup is cooking, chop the greens into small pieces - there should be about 2 cups. Simmer them in salt water until they're tender, then drain and add them to the finished soup.

CROUTONS:

1/2 cup Gruyere
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon soft butter
a pinch of pepper
12 toasted baguette slices

Mound a little of the topping on each baguette slice and broil until the cheese begins to bubble and melt. Place in the soup or on the side. These can also be made with all sorts of different cheeses. (I used some goat havarti that had just finished aging in the cheese cave...yum!)

Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

We rang in the new year at Sand Holler and spent the day, well...doing what we always do! Milking goats, toiling in the garden, freaking out about the way-too-cold nights. It's been beautiful during most days the last few weeks but the nights have really stunted the garden. Fortunately, the animals don't seem to mind at all!

The garden plan for 2010 is already well on its way to realization. We are rearranging rows to make them more uniform but to also add interest (they go in different directions). The soil here is so sandy that we are adding loads of compost to each new row in the hopes of really boosting our crops this year. Today, I placed our big seed order. I'm very excited about some of the varieties we are trying out! Here are a few of my favorites:

Touchstone Gold Beet:	Eight Ball Squash:
Redbor Kale:	Yellow Pear Tomatoes:

Hopefully, our nights of below 20F are numbered...

The animals seem to be doing just fine despite the weather. The Alpine goats sure don't seem to mind at all! We have all seven of the does bred this year...that's gonna be a lot of milk! The goats are being dried off now so they can concentrate their energy on growing babies. We expect kids to hit the ground in March and April. I've been working on aged cheese recipes all fall and hopefully I will be ready to actually sell some this year.

The sheep especially don't mind the chill. Our coldest night - 18F - was a scary one for us. We did our best to protect the garden (lost all the frost sensitive plants even under row cover) and provide shelter for the animals. The sheep just could have cared less...they slept OUTSIDE that night! In the morning, each one was covered with a fine crust of ice...



We are still struggling with one major obstacle at the farm - obtaining a caretaker. Mom and I have been taking care of the place for over a month and are ready for a little break. A few weeks ago we began construction of a cabin on the farm to house caretakers. It's a cute little 700 square foot cottage that should be completed by the end of January. Hopefully we will have people to move in by then!

Expect more frequent blog posts as we gear up this year. I'll post at least once a week but likely more often. There are so many projects going on that I can't wait to share with everyone!