A Mud Free Makover (This time!)

Those that follow this blog semi-regularly (all two of you--thanks Mom!) might notice something is a little..... different.
Did I change the curtains? throw some paint on the cabinets? Well, if you can't quite put your finger on it (and you're the type that wonders what ever happened to the herd of mammoths that used to roam the neighborhood--) I'll put it in a nutshell. Everything is different.

You see, when we moved to the new homestead and off of the rental, we had intended to keep our old name; however while I was pouring over google maps I noticed a large farm about 3 miles away from our home with virtually the same name! Shenanigans!!
Not only does it exist-- the pretenders have the audacity to have a farm sign next to the school! THEY ADVERTISE DUCKLINGS!!

So, suffice it to say-- to avoid any confusion our little farm has undergone a re-branding.

Why the palm tree wallpaper you ask??

This might be strange to explain to non Arizonans, but I kid you not-- palm trees are a staple along the horizon of the west valley farm country. Hay farms and homesteads the valley over have the tall frondy things.

As for growing our little farm experiment?

We have made leaps and bounds. We have expanded from one cow to 4. (See my last post about Milking Martha.) A herd of 9 Nigerian Dwarf Dairy goats have been given to us and we anticipate a busy kidding season in February-- we have 6 pregnant does and the breed is known to not only give birth twins with regularity, they often drop triplets and even have been known to have quads!

Our flock of welsh harlequins currently stands at 15 breeders. We also had donated to us a flock of 5 Pekin ducks, and we have housed them with our mixed breed and cayugas for an exceptional meat duck breeder pen.

Our two wyandotte hens are grown-- we enjoyed them very much, but as we are focusing on the ducks for eggs we've listed them for sale hoping to share them with a chicken fancier. Candidly speaking, I should probably part with some of my more ornamental duck hens too!

Our thanksgiving turkeys are in the freezer waiting for the big day-- their two sisters are healthy and vigorous and will be staying on as breeders for the next generation of Dusky Acre turkey dinners. We also added 3 new young turkeys-- one baby red palm hen from bourbon red heritage stock, and two young Fall Fire toms that should do an excellent job fathering next year's holiday meals.

Our geese have stayed on-- Goliath and Ethel are still joined at the hip flirting with the idea of setting a fall nest. Brucie and Lucy are a little more aloof, but I am hopeful they have what it takes to raise their own family in the spring.

Since we came into the new place at the beginning of fall garden season we worked quickly to get something--- ANYTHING planted, so we have a large series of pots and dresser drawer boxes full of dirt and plantings.
We've got bell peppers, tomatoes (romas and heirlooms), tree onions, salad bowl lettuce, herbs, cucumbers, peas, zucchini and cantaloupe sprouting and looking incredible. A much better turnout than we had at the leased property. We have plans to put in more raised beds and get an extra large strawberry patch and a decent asparagus patch going within weeks-- beets and beans, chard, carrots, leeks and potatoes hopefully to follow as space permits.

Fixes and projects have been slow going but they are going!

We completed our first goat pen before the goaties arrived (thank goodness!), we have a lawn now where there was only dirt before. The demolition on the old deck wrapped up today and the space is clean and ready for new skirting and raised beds made out of the salvageable old deck wood to house the rest of those veggies in my list. Next the demo on the old white singlewide begins with that old deck to become the strawberry boxes.

We have a grape vine planted next to our covered porch to climb the lattice-- we have two vanilla plant starts that are doing well in their new pots. We have two shade trees (desert willows) to plant in front of the house that will be much appreciated when the heat kicks up again in a few months!

All in all, we are seeing progress every day-- I can hardly wait till we have more than eggs on "farming status"!

Secret Cow Level

Long story short. Most people I know, know how I adore Missy Moo, my precious little pocket cow. Missy cries for me when I leave the cow pen-- she nuzzles. It's no secret how I am anxiously awaiting her calf during the holidays.

Well-- a family member decided my cow was pretty neat. So he invested in 3 new dexters (that passed my basic muster for health and value.) Mama Martha is in milk and has a 3 month old baby (Monica). Betty Brown is a beautiful red dexter but hasn't seen a lot of hands on treatment, so to get the girls at their full potential, I've taken on training them.

We begin with milking Martha.

Now, Martha has been hand milked before. Once for sure. A year ago. Our first milking trial saw her pacing back and forth in the horse pen, bellowing for her baby all day. I am quite certain that the neighbors thought I was torturing the poor animal.

When the appointed hour came, first order of business was a swift kick in the bucket. (Side note: Jeffers sells VERY good quality stainless steel buckets.) Goodbye first few ounces of cream. Hello ringing in my hand.

With a flank rope in place, Martha couldn't bring herself to kick anymore. (HAH!!) So she took to spinning around the pole I tied her to... (...hah....) I persisted in trying to work what I could out of her when she stopped to catch a breath but she seemed determined not to let down her bounty, further what I did get was so full of dust and hair I think it probably could have won a sand castle competition with my milk bucket contents.
Dejected, dusk setting in, and finding it all of a sudden very hard to draw a deep breath I finally gave it up, put her back in with greedy baby Monica and the other cows.

7 hours later, I was in bed with pneumonia. So much for cow training.

A few days later, I was ready to try again. This time, I got wise to the spinning top maneuver and set up a milking stall across the fence from the peanut gallery (Monica, Missy and Betty) This time, we hit our stride! Martha munched her oats unnmoving for several minutes-- The soft calf lowes seemed to help with the letdown-- the milk bucket was screened, and my hands were learning the milking motion!! We had achieved Dairy!! When martha scooted too far away from the stool a tug on the flank rope brought her back. It was like milking a different cow, she was so mellow and compliant!
I didn't put much milk in the bucket since I was trying to leave a lot for the calf, but I pasteurized that 1/2 pint  with PRIDE!!

The next day I was so looking forward to getting another go at it, Martha was even getting better with being led. She didn't freak out so much when I put her in the horse pen. Yessir, everything was PEACHY!

Then at about 11 am I glance out the window and what do I see? A mama cow--- pacing around the cow pen. From the outside of it.

With a deep sigh I set down my coffee to go see what section of the fence she jumped over or tore out to escape.
It seems Martha was a bit of an engineer. How obvious that since she entered the pen by the gate--- she should leave that way.

Gate is now laying torn off of it's hinges. Horse is gone. Thankfully the hay pile is the most interesting place in the neighborhood and I was able to collect him quickly and re-hang the gate.

Obviously by now, I have realized I should not trust Ma'am Martha. When will I milk again? Glad you asked! I am working on yet another insidious plot to separate mother from (cow) child. Hopefully, a lot more fruitfully this time around.