A Day in the Life:

It's that time of year again, time for me to update this blog and talk about all that is new on the farm.  

Of course it's spring so some of what is new is baby ducks, chicks, and goslings.

We are agisting a friends llama here and she is due the beginning of June.  

We had two arrivals over the winter, unplanned breeding, but they are doing well.  Noel was born the end of December, a deep brown little girl.

 Janos, as his name suggests, was born in January.  He has had a rough start dealing with both a herniated umbilical as well as some defecation issues and weepy eyes.  He hung in there and we got him a special belt to help with the tummy and started him on antibiotics.  5 months later and he is keeping up with the best of them.  

It has been a cold and extremely wet winter.  Only now, more than half way through May, is it starting to dry out.  Our Fire Wise council is still cautioning us that the fire threat is high this year because while the ground is damp it also increases the grasses.  Last year over the 4th of July we were evacuated for the nearby fire.  This is the second time within 3 years of having a fire threaten our area.  A better way of viewing it though is that after living here for 17 years, we have only been evacuated twice.  That's not bad considering the way California doesn't manage it's forests.  It also means that with the fire and back fires and logging they have done to clear the burnt areas I am optimistic it will be another 17 years before I go through that again.  I can hope.

Last year, after doing my diligent research, my husband and I made the jump and invested in a dairy cow.  A Dexter/Jersey cross to be exact and her name is Zoey.  She is small as cows go and not without challenges. 

     I can say that the early efforts of working with her as a young cow have paid off immensely.  May 5th 2016 we were surprised by an extra set of eyes being unaware that she had been bred before she left her birth home.  We knew it was a possibility but we didn't know.  A little boy.  We don't name him, he will be going to freezer camp this fall.  It did speed up our original plans but in a good way!  It has been a learning curve to to figure out how to get milk from her when she wanted to hold it back for the calf.  And cream!  We had to learn that she could even withhold the cream.  Who knew!  Well, our mentor did and she gave us some helpful hints on how to get around it and get our share of the goodies.  All part of the plan was to leave the calf on her so that we were not required to milk daily should the need arise.  When we were ready to ween him we tried a couple different nose rings that black him from nursing but swing forward when his head is down so he can eat and drink without issue.  This cuts down on his stress (and less mooing for us) because he is still with his mom but has to eat like a grown up.  We get about 1/2 a gallon a day, give or take.  What do we do with it?  We drink it for sure but we also make yogurt and butter.  I also take the leftover butter milk and make a nice buttermilk sandwich bread.  

I am often asked how much money we save by raising and butchering our own meat and now with the addition of milk, butter and bread. (cheese will happen soon) The answer is: We don't.  Don't ever go into this thinking your budget will somehow be relieved by not needing to purchase these items.  What is relieved?  Your stress.  Daily I read articles about what they have added to industrially raised food, sprayed the crops with, injected the meat with....It's never ending and only serves the bottom line of the industry.  I know what my animals eat and I don't use chemicals.  My dairy is not pasteurized or homogenized.  My bread has 5 ingredients: sourdough starter, yeast, flour, buttermilk, and salt (sometimes, I indulge in some honey).  No HFCS.  That feels pretty good and I enjoy the routine of making it all.  

What about the alpacas?? Well they're fine.  We are looking forward to some new little additions this summer.  The 4-H boys are sheared and ready for county fair in June and state fair in July.  I am about half way through shearing all of them but it's been a late start, did I mention it's been a very wet winter?  Just two days ago it felt like a late fall day, rain and cold.  But I do have some very big plans this year concerning our alpaca business.

     Together with a neighboring ranch in Cool we will be making our own alpaca sock brand made with our fiber not a co-op.  Stay tuned as there will be a Kickstarter project to try and get this off the ground faster but by hook or by crook we are going to make it happen.  They will be machine washable as they will be blended with another natural fiber.  

You see, the socks I sell now are made in PA and sold out of La Jolla, CA.  They are great socks, I really like them but they are 45% micro fiber.  Several articles have come out now discussing the microscopic fibers washing from our laundry into the ocean and they are from all the polyesters, nylons, and polar fleece that so much of our clothing is produced with. It's starting to really accumulate and I don't want to be a part of that.  https://www.organicconsumers.org/news/will-clothes-companies-do-right-thing-reduce-microfiber-pollution  Yes, there will still have to be some nylon/spandex in our product to give it some stretch and the one size fits most aspect that people come to expect from socks but we will be pairing our alpaca with a natural fiber that will still give it strength, softness and wash-ability.  I don't know about you but I'm not a fan of clothes I have to remember to not throw in the washing machine.

So please stand by for our Kickstarter project and support our goal if you are so inclined!