Home Roasted Sunflower Seeds
Sunflower seeds. Chomping away at a handful brings me back to the days of softball in elementary school. I couldn't shell them very well with my teeth, so I'd just pop a bunch in my mouth and chew the...
View ArticleLawns Look Much Better as Gardens
A few of the squash plants. Lookin' good When we first moved to Tennessee in March one of our top priorities was to get a little garden going. The quickest and easiest way at that time was to set up a...
View ArticleFeeding, or Not Feeding, the House Birds
Winona, the Wyandotte, and Sassafras (aka Sassy), the Silkie, trying to get broody on the same clutch of eggs We keep three hens, one rooster and five guineas in a chicken coop near our home. We had a...
View ArticlePostcards from Little Seed - 9.20.12
Always many treasures to be found in the "red barn" (aka dilapidated shack).Yesterday was sunny with a high of 70F - the goats loved it! Cooler temps mean happy goats out in the sun chomping on pasture...
View ArticleHeadbutting, Lesson 1
There comes a time in every goat's life when this essential skill is learned... HEADBUTTING! Willow's lessons have begun at the hands of the four 7-month-old Nubians. Here is one of her first attempts...
View ArticleGuineas vs. Silkies - A Nest Comparison
Lady Guinea's newest clutch, this time better hidden For the past three weeks two of our yard birds have been "gettin' broody". They're both extremely dedicated. The silkie, named Sassafras, or Sassy...
View ArticleRust Dye - Farm Art Project(!)
When we moved in, one of the first things we did was clean up what is now the goat stall and holding area (where the herd hangs while the four big girls are being milked). We found pile after pile of...
View ArticleElectro-Netting vs. Polywire for Rotational Goat Fencing
Goat's-eye view Fencing is what I spend the most time doing (and thinking about) on the farm. That's probably why I bore our readers with posts about fencing so frequently. My time is split between so...
View ArticleLady Guinea Beats Octo-Mom By Ten
Lady Guinea with her tribe Last week Lady Guinea and Sassafras were due to hatch their eggs. I wrote about their dueling nests here. And an eventful week it was. I'll start with the good news first....
View ArticleSheba Gets Shot
Izzy and Sheba in the sunrise Most of you know Sheba, she's one of our Livestock Guardian Dogs (LGD, for short). In fact, she's the head honcho when it comes to LGDs around here. As the Alpha dog, she...
View ArticlePostcards from Little Seed - 10.13.12
We've been building a hoop house for hay storage this winter. It's almost finished - we'll be starting on the end walls today! We were excited to break into one of our 2 week ashed bloomy rind cheeses...
View ArticleFull-time Farming
Our plan when we moved to the farm was to start construction on a licensed creamery for making cheese. We postponed those plans as we settled in. It was clear that we needed a full season to focus on...
View ArticleBucks Get a Grazing Paddock
The two buddies, grazing together in the forest, makes me happy Today was a big day for the bucks (and us too). They got a paddock outside of their pen so they could browse and graze in the forest....
View ArticleCows and Electric Polywire
This isn't a happy post. Nor a post about how to fence cows with polywire. Corrina, the day we got herWe had our first big loss on the farm today. Corrina, our 10 month old heifer cow died. More...
View ArticlePig Pen Expansion
Pig Maze? While we're on the topic of letting wild animals loose, I might as well write about what the pigs have been up to. They aren't yet roaming in electrically fenced areas like the bucks (and the...
View ArticleCome Walk With Me - Mushroom Foraging
Through the woods I went this week, hunting for Lion's Mane. It's a delicious edible mushroom that looks like something from Dr. Seuss' imagination. Please please do not eat mushrooms that you find...
View ArticleThe Heat Is On - Our First Breeding Season Begins
Gozer, putting the moves on TijerasA few months ago, Scrapple and I had a little kitchen table meeting to strategize our first breeding season. We decided that we would aim to kid at the beginning of...
View ArticleLevon, The Yard Tiger Special, and An Outdoor Cat is Born
Levon, exhaustedThe other day I asked on our Facebook page what people wanted us to write about. I like to ramble about electric fencing, guinea fowl, and so forth, but I have to imagine our readers...
View ArticleWill Goats Eat Anything?
Willow, happily munching on the rose bushes around the house. She's quite spoiled that Willow This was a question posed by one of our readers a few weeks ago. It's a subject I've often thought about...
View ArticleFirst Breeding Season - Triumphs and Travails
We are just wrapping up our first attempt at breeding the dairy goats naturally. We are not using AI (artificial insemination) this season. But I won’t bore you with the specifics of all that. This is...
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