Preparing for 4H Fair...

Hello,  thought you might want an update on my goats and Journey.  I'm staying really busy this summer working on all my 4-H projects.  I will be showing my photography, sewing, weaving, jams & jellies, knitting, mini horse, chickens, rabbits, and goats.  Whew, that's a lot of books I'll need to do.  You see, for every 4-H project you show, you must complete book work.  For animals, I have to complete a record book which tells about expenses, income, and a project story about my animals.  (and boy do I have some project stories this year!)  In my other projects like weaving, I have to tell about what I've learned, how much it cost me, and a few other details. 

I have to admit, I don't really enjoy doing the books, but I get them done, and right now, I have most of them finished and fair is still a few weeks away!  How about that?  

My goats are doing really well.  They are growing quite a bit.  Whenever I go outside, they call me.  The one little stinker, Esther Ella, is able to sneak out of the pen when I go out.  Of course, that starts the others crying.  Funny thing is, when I go back into the house, if it's not feeding time, she will run back into the pen!  I had to request a special pen for her at 4-H fair so that she can't get out while we're there.  They just love people and think that whenever people are around, they are supposed to be played with and loved.  My mom and I have been making lots of cheese including Chev-re, Munster, Farmers, Ricotta, Cheddar, and of course Mozzarella!  (my favorite)  

Stretching the cheese!

Waxed cheese!

Stretching Again!

Peek-A-Boo!  I just love her!

Esther-Ella on an adventure! (not in the pen, again!)

Aurora in all her beautifullness!

During all this time, I've also been spending a LOT of time working my mini horse Journey.  I've wanted to drive him for years and I've finally gotten to do that this year!  It took a lot of hard work, but we're finally doing it!
 

Look no hands!

Happy 4-th of July from Journey!

Almost there....

Well, after lots and lots of planning and hard work, our mill is all but ready!  You know it, you've heard it, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.  Boy did we plan and now the fun is starting.  All the electric is finished, the equipment is hooked up, and we've been playing with some of the fleece we've hoarded all this time!  Let me just tell you, the equipment makes some good stuff!  

On Sunday, we worked to finish hooking up a lot of the finishing touches, belts, grease, protective cages, and a few other things.  My mom was really nervous about turning on the big carder, but we held our breath, flipped the switch, hit the button, and we were off an running, well, almost.  We struggled a bit with figuring out how to bring the carded fiber through the roving deck.  Once we got that under control, we had roving, lots and lots of roving, beautiful roving, garbage cans full of roving!  Did I mention we have roving?

Later today, we're going to give the pin drafter a try and then onto the spinning machine.  We'll keep you posted on that, but boy is it fast, and lots of fun!

One can of roving

Getting it ready for the carder

Me helping get the picker ready!

One Slippery Goat...

Hello Everyone!

I have really been busy lately with everything going on.  I am very excited to have received a great gift from someone. I received three amazing Angora goats from a friend of this family, Eric. He also brought a rabbit to help with my breeding program.  I am excited to get started with a new line of Angora goats and rabbits.   

I wanted to tell you all about an adventure I had with them on Sunday. I have been working really hard to gain their trust, I've groomed them a bit, and I trimmed their hooves. They are eating much better now, but we had a bit of a scare on Sunday. So - here's the story. I wanted to take them on a walk and the doe, Shadow-Cat, slipped out from my hands and took off! We put the bucks, Saul and soon to be announced, back and went after her, but she disappeared into the woods, with the halter on! My mom and I went around to all the neighbors and told them about her so they'd all be on the lookout for her. (we met some really nice neighbors who we didn't know before)

Anyway, my mom and Ashley continued to look around the house while my Nana and Papa took me a little further down the road to search for her. We had an all points bulletin put out for her. About an hour and a half later, one of the neighbors called, Ashley answered the phone, and they said, "There's a goat on our front porch." They tried to catch her, but she ran into their field. Right away Ashley, my mom, and my uncle all drove down to their field. She was there, but she didn't just stand there for them to catch her. They tried to surround her, but she ran to the woods. Mom thought she went deeper into the thick, but then she looked to her right, and there she was, looking at my mom like, "what's up?" They were then able to get her, loaded her into the back of Ashley's car, brought her home and fed her apples. (which she loved)

She's a slippery little sucker! I promise to do a better job holding on a bit tighter to her when I take them in and out. I'm just trying to get her, and the bucks, used to walking with me to go in and out during the day.

Even with all of this excitement, we are making hay, building buildings, and I have been working hard with my Miniature horse, Journey.  I am excited for the fiber mill to be up and running. I will keep you all up to date.



Shadow-Cat says, " Hi Willow!"

 

Shadow-Cat...

The bucks are checking things out...

Busy Beautiful Day!

Well, I had another exciting day today.  I got bees!  Yes, I got bees!  My mom and I spent the morning cleaning up the hive boxes, adding foundation to the frames, and setting up a nice level spot 18" off the ground.  Ok, so I guess I have a little bit more explaining to do here.  I have two hives that we set today.  First, since we live in an area with a lot of other wildlife, I have to take some extra precautions.  I put the hives over 18" off the ground to protect them from the skunks - they like to eat the bees like candy.  I also placed them near our electric fence to possibly help keep away the bear!  At least that's my plan.  

Setting the foundation & hive boxes

 After I had a nice level spot, we placed the first box with the entrance facing the south.  Then I put in the frames.  To help the bees get a head start, we put a sheet of bees wax foundation in each frame.  I then placed 5 frames in each box.  Once we picked up our two hives from the "bee man", we needed to "bee" careful so we wouldn't get stung... (hehe, I couldn't help it).  When we got home, we had to pop the lid off the box because inside is a special cage with the queen bee.  I checked her out and made sure she looked good.  She has a longer abdomen.  She looked great, then I pulled the cork out of her cage.  There is candy inside that the other bees will eat away to get to her.  I then place the box of bees inside too.  With my bee suit on, we pulled the lid off, placed a divider over them, and set-up candy solution for them in a second box on top.  I covered this whole set-up with a telescoping lid, sealed it up for the night, and will go back tomorrow to remove the box and open up the hive so the bees can begin their work.  By keeping them in for twenty-four hours, they will get used to their new home.

setting the queen

We did this and didn't get stung one time.  Hopefully tomorrow will go as well!  I'll keep you posted on that.

We did it and didn't get stung!

The whole time I was working with the bees, my mom and I also had a batch of farmstead cheese going on the stove.  This type of cheese takes quite a bit of time to get the curds just right, so it was a perfect day to give it a try.

Cutting the curds.

I'll post pictures tomorrow of us opening the hives and taking out the cheese after it has been pressed!  Until tomorrow...

Busy, busy, busy...

Hope you're all enjoying the beautiful spring weather.  I know I am.  All my goat kids are healthy and growing, Peek-A-Boo is settled in, and now we even added a few more Dexters to my brothers herd.  Dexters are a miniature breed of beef cattle.  They are a recovering species on the North America Livestock Conservancy.  On Monday, my mom, Tyler, and I traveled to Claysville, Pennsylvania where we picked up a cow and a little heifer calf.  The cow happens to be the mom of the cow we already have.  So now we have Rosalind and Dream.  Tyler named the little calf Daisy.  She's adorable.  Of course we also have the bull named Macbeth.  

So, the first day they were here, Tyler took out Rosalind, brushed her, groomed her, cleaned her udder, and actually milked her.  She seemed like she enjoyed it!  The whole time he was doing that, Dream was just watching.  We've tried to milk Dream in the past, but she never stood for it, but she watched as Rosalind was getting all this attention.  When Tyler was finished, Dream actually put her nose in the halter as if to say, "Hey, my turn."  Tyler took her out and thought he'd give it a try, and guess what?  She stood for him!  Now, we get to make even more cheese from not only the yummy milk from my goats, but now from A2/A2 milk from the cows too!  We made our first batch last night.  You should see the amount of cream we get from this milk...  Ok, I just have to say it... Holy Cow!  hehe...

So our dinner was homemade lasagna with my mom's pasta, ricotta from my goats, mozzarella, homemade spaghetti sauce, homemade bread, and fried cheese.  Just delicious!

Our Yummy Dinner!

Tyler and Daisy bonding time!

Weeds... I Think NOT!

It's SPRING and for me, that means time to pick flowers, lots, and lots of flowers!  No, not daffodils or other spring surprises, I like to pick dandelions and violets.  While most people see these beautiful purple and yellow flowers as weeds, I see the yummy goodness that we can't wait for.  For several years now, my mom and I have been making special jams and jellies with all the wonderful things nature has to offer.  We find ourselves scanning neighboring yards and fields for anything that can be used for different flavors.  Of course we always do our homework to make sure that whatever we us is safe, but let me just tell you, our jelly only contains juice from whatever treasure we pick, sugar, lemon juice, and sometimes pectin.  There, that's it, nothing that is trouble to pronounce and the best part, all natural.  (did you know you can make your own pectin?)  I can post about that later.  

So while others are looking at those yellow and purple flowers as weeds, spraying them with nasty pesticides that are helping to kill off our honey bees, know that I look forward to those flowers.  They are one more of natures many gifts to us.  What's that saying?  When life throws you lemons, make lemonade.  When life throws you lots of violets or dandelions, learn from me, give it a try, make some jelly!  It's delicious!

Lots of violets

Picking Violets

Picking dandelions

 

Isn't it beautiful?

Well, gotta go have some jelly bread to eat now!

Wahoo....

Yay - I can't believe it!  Another school year in the books!  Since I home school, every year I have to put together a portfolio of all that I finish in school.  In the spring, my evaluator from PA Homeschoolers comes from Kittanning, PA to review what I have done.  Believe it or not, we actually like when she comes.  I look forward to sharing all my hard work with her and this year wasn't any different.  I think she was really happy with what we accomplished this year.  In fact, I passed the school year and will be headed to 8th grade next year.  Whew!

To complete the year, I also did testing today.  I enjoyed the testing this year because a friend of mine from 4-H also signed up for testing in her grade too.  The best part was that after all our hard work, my mom, my friend Maddie (What a popular name!), her mom, and I all went out to lunch and even had a pit stop at Sweet Frog!  It was a great day!

So, I officially have to complete 10 more days and then, let the summer begin! 

Madi and Maddie enjoying Sweet Frog and the fact that testing was over!