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Some days I blog w/o checking for errors - you'll know it when you read it

April 30, 2009 
- KSAX-TV news.

Kaylin Karsin of KSAX-TV Eyewitness News finally arranged for us to get a digital copy of the Easter Farm sales news story that featured Carol, Madison and a few of the farm's animals.  Here it is.  This is the same piece that aired on Good Friday at 5PM & 10PM.

Enjoy!

April 29, 2009 
- We got wet soaked.

When I got home from buying some raw milk from the neighbor, Farmer Mike was down at the barn, talking with Carol.  He was here to help finish planting.  We had the 3 acres of pasture remaining and although we had light rain, Mike thought we could get it worked and planted before it got too bad.  I got the digger in the dirt and right behind me was Mike with his grain drill.  It continued to rain, but that didn't stop us - we wanted it done to take advantage of the rain.  When I finished digging, I jumped onto the back of the drill, making sure the wheat and pasture mix seed was flowing.  We had a bit more seed than we needed, so Mike made a few extra passes over the acreage.  By the time we finished planting, the field was getting pretty slimy, but with the extra seed planted, the less than idea soil condition shouldn't effect the seed germination too badly.  It was nice to have it planted.  Mike even skipped breakfast to get here early... what a trooper.  Thanks Mike.

- Our new manure spreader.

After bringing daughter Chastiti' to the clinic, Carol and I ran a few errands, including a quick stop to the farm store to pick up some chicks that just came in.  Once done in town, we made a run to Kandiyohi, MN to check out a small manure spreader that some friends had in their grove.  When I saw the spreader it looked like the perfect size - small.  It is an old Lorenz brand with a PTO.  It was in their woods so I will need a 4 wheel-drive pickup to get it out, but first I need to wait to get our truck back from the shop.  The spreader needs a little work on the PTO shaft, but other than that it should be good to go... I'm very excited to have found this small unit.  The cost of the spreader is some garden produce from the our gardens.  I suppose I should spread a little manure on the garden with the Lorenz so we can say that it had a small part in growing the food they will have received from us.  Because of their gift to us we will be able to return the gesture by giving food back to them.  Cool huh?

- Counting sheep.

The kids and I went to do chores tonight, while Carol stayed in the house with Chas.  After feeding the chickens, I decided to throw another bale of hay in the goat manger.  As I was taking the twine off of the bale, I looked across the feeder to discover to VERY young lambs struggling to stand amongst the pushing and shoving of the other animals.  "Madison, we have babies!"  I quick climbed out of the pen and let Carol know we had baby lambs (fyi: we have an intercom system we use).  Not knowing for sure if she heard my announcement, I headed to the house.  Before I got to the steps, Carol was coming out of the door.  She guessed that Babie was the one that lambed.

We then moved Babie and her new lambs into a separate pen.  It was the first lambs born on the farm and we don't want anything to happen to them.  We have one male and one female.  They look healthy and were nursing before we finished chores.

The sad news of the day is that we lost one of the triplet bucklings.  Carol thought we might loose him when she brought the 3 home - he just didn't look right.  This morning he didn't take the bottle, so Carol tube fed him... but it didn't help.  The good new is that his surviving brother and sister are doing fine.

April 28, 2009 
- 40 acres planted.

Farmer Mike and I got some farming done.  He got here about 10AM and it didn't take long to get the grain drill filled with seed.  It was nice to see the field get planted.  As Mike was seeding the 20 acres I dug yesterday, I set off to dig another 20 acres for wheat. 

It didn't take long for me to get done with my work.  I then decided to see how far Mike was on the oat field.  To my horror, his rows were crooked.  Well, they were straight, but at the wrong angle.  That means I measured them wrong and that all of the other fields will be a wee-bit off as well.  How the heck did this happen?  When I made the measurements, I actually measured twice.  Crap, crap, CRAP!  Mike reassured me that I had plenty of time to make them straight... next year.  This will bother me for the rest of the year.  I like things that I do to be nice and neat.

Of the land set aside for the wheat, I saved a small section of it for new pasture.  When Mike was done planting this area, he offered to plant this new pasture if I could get seed.  He suggested I quick call our local farm store for pasture mix.  When I got to the house I made the call.  Ron at the store said they sold the last bag this afternoon, but rest-assured, they would have more in... but not when I needed it.  Ron went to double check for more seed.  After a few minutes he was back on the phone with good news - the store had 2 bags.  Within the hour, I had the last 2 bags in the car, heading for home.  Tomorrow morning (if it's not raining), Mike and I will mix the pasture seed with the remaining wheat seed.  By Sept, we should have pasture we can use.

- Saanen triplets.

While I was in the fields, Carol got a call from a local goat dairy - the owner was in an situation and needed a little help.  One of his dairy does had triplets last night and she wasn't doing well.  Without intervention, the triplets wouldn't have chance.  In order to save the doe, he needed to get rid of her newborns.  He thought the babies were able to nurse at least once.  With that news, Carol took-off to the dairy to rescue the new babies.  After she got back, she reported that the doe was doing better and it appeared that 2 of the 3 kids had full bellies... hopefully from mama.

here are the newest additions to the farm.  3 Saanen-cross goat kids - 1 doeling, 2 bucklings

April 27, 2009 
- 20 down.

Am I a farmer yet?  Probably not, but I am more of a farmer than I was last year at this time.  Farmer Mike was back from his family weekend and wanted to get my fields planted ASAP.  He called in the morning wondering is the soil was too wet to work... my response was something like, "Um... probably?"  Hey, I've haven't been farming very long, how would I know, right?  Then he asked if I saw anybody else out in the fields...  That I did not.

After I finished running my errands, I checked to see if the fields were wet.  They were moist, but not wet.  I jumped on the tractor an quick dug the 20 acres, where oats will be planted.  When I finished, I gave Mike a call.  I told him the good news and he mentioned he'd be here in the morning to plant the oats... and if things went will, we'd get the wheat planted as well.  That sounded like a great plan.

April 26, 2009 
- Rain.

Rain was all the rage today.  It's been fairly dry, so on one hand it was welcomed.  On the other hand, it's planting season here in MN, so a few more days of sunshine would have been nice too.  My gut tells me the rain was more of a plus than a negative.  It's been drought-ish for the last two years and I think the folks around here are in too much of a hurry to get the seeds in the dirt anyway.

It was nice to see rain.

April 25, 2009 
- Clean up.

It was a good working day today, kind of cool, but not cold.  As I waited for a gentleman from the Pipestone, MN area to arrive to buy one of our LaMancha bucklings, I decided to do some clean-up.  South of the house, near our fire-pit area, was a large pile of brush - small branches mostly.  I was saving it for kindling, but thought better of it.   The unsightly statement that this pile of branches was making, was more than I could stand... it had to go.  Within minutes, I had a blazing fire.  As it burned, the sticks I fed into the fire disappeared nearly as fast as I threw them in.  They were past the point of being dry.  Some were like foam.  They were gone in no time.

About ⅓ of the way done, my Pipestone guy drove up to the place.  We looked at a few of the small goats before going out to the large outdoor pen.  I pointed out the large of the animals and handed him one of our large LaMancha buckling.  It was Grasshopper.  This goat was as tame as he was big, immediately nuzzling with this bearded goat lover.  It wasn't long before I heard, "I'll take this one."  We talked a few minutes more and found we had several things in common and upon leaving, I gave him a bar of our homemade lye soap to try at home.  Then it was back to the fire for me.

I worked on my little clean-up project for the next few hours.  As I did so, Carol and the kids planted potatoes in one of the gardens near the vineyard.  I think they mentioned they got all of the red tators in and one row of some sort of a white spud.  The whites were left over from last year.  The potatoes may not be all in, but it's a heck of a start.

April 24, 2009 
- Eating wild... in the city.

I'm not sure if many of you caught this news article on your MSNBC home page, but in summary, the article is about finding and eating "green" or wild food (fish, squirrel, fruit, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, leafy greens, etc...) in the urban areas of the US.  Check it out http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/RaiseKids/live-off-the-land-in-the-city.aspx .  It also gives a little advice about being careful of what you choose to eat - consuming the wrong thing and you may get sick.

April 23, 2009 
- It was hot, hot, hot.

What a nice day to work on farm equipment.   For the most part, the farm's disk repair is finished.  I ran for part after my dental check-up.  I found some disk blades half price at Steffen Implement, in Raymond, MN.  They had about 6- 18" blades and 4- 20" blades - I bought the bigger blades for $15/blade.  I also had to run to Arnold's of Willmar for a bearing set And 2 additional blades... the bill came to $130.  Once home, I head straight to the disk.  By chores time, I had the beast done and ready for field work, once Farmer Mike returns home.  This year, we agreed to help each other with field work... like an informal partnership.  Well not really... it's just one farmer helping another to get things done.  This was the hottest day of the year, topping out at 90ºF... yeah!  It was hot.

Carol gave another farm tour... it was a gal from Benson, MN, looking for a 4-H meat doe for her son.  She put some money down and said she would return sometime soon.  I guess she is interested in a bunny or two for 4-H as well.

April 22, 2009 
- Sheep shearing.

I starting working on the disk today.  Farmer Mike has some disking he needs done and is so busy that he has little time to fix his disk, so I thought I would fix ours and do some field work for him in exchange for him doing some planting on this farm.  Last year he did some planting for us exchange for me helping him put in pasture and paddocks at his place.  It worked well and it was fun working with Mike.  He's got a good attitude and I always seem to learn something new when with him.

After working for a time on the disk, we had our sheep shearer stop-in to give a hair-cut to some of our shaggy  sheep.  Our sheep shearer made quick work of the task.  Our 2 ewes still looked huge ... even w/o wool.  The shearer though the ewes would be birthing in the next week or so - Carol can barely wait for lambs.

Moments later, one of the neighbors (Farmer Mike's little bro) drove up with his son and daughter.  The little boy came to pick-out a bunny.  It didn't take long for him to choose a pet rabbit of his liking.  Madison then gave the kids a short tour while us adults discussed a little of this and that. 

It's always nice to have visitors here on the farm.  For us, it may be one of the best thing about living out here.

April 20, 2009 
- Another farm tours.

Not much happened today.  Our neighbor's wife showed-up - she's a census taker and had to get some basic info so we could get our 2010 census form (whenever is gets sent out or hand delivered).  While I was busy with this official government business, Carol was conducting another farm tour... ending in a bunny sale.

I had an appointment in Raymond.  Some folks from the Montevideo, MN area were in the market for house lots and wanted to look at some of ours.  Shortly after arriving back home, I got a call from one of the local house moving companies.  They had a house on blocks that they wanted to move and asked if I would be interested in it.  It was the same house Carol and I looked at last week.  We ruled it out after looking at it, due to the price AND the numerous minor repairs it needed.  I came up with a figure of approx. $55,000+ to get it livable (including the basement)... money we ain't got.  Well, the call went in a direction I didn't expect.  The gentleman on the other end of the line mentioned he may be interested in trading one or two of our 4 building lots for the house and moving.  OK... I'm interested.  He told me to talk it over with Carol and he would talk it over with his brother (and partner).  If I was still interested, I am suppose to call him back in a few days.  I'm excited about the prospect... Carol an the other hand, liked the character of the old farm house we looked at with Austin, a few days ago.  UGH!

April 19, 2009 
- 3 farm tours.

We were busy with guests today.  The morning brought a solo visitor, looking for Lion Head rabbits.  We have Loin Heads, but the only ones for sale won't be available for a few weeks.  They were born recently, so Carol mentioned to this fellow that if he can't find any of these bunnies... stop back in a 3 weeks.  By then, they should be ready for new homes.  Incase you don't know what a Lion Head bunny looks like, imagine a small rabbit with a mane, just like a lion.  They are quite unique.

Our next guests were a family here to buy some laying hens.  This was something Carol set-up.  Originally, they wanted to buy 10 hens, but then cut-back their numbers to 6.  They wanted younger laying hens that would produce for awhile.  The eggs where for their family use.  Carol believes they were trying to establish a hobby family.  I think Carol mentioned they took some brown egg-layers as well as a few green and brown.  Their only requirement was "No Bantams."  They should be very happy with what they purchased from our farm.  We love to see folks taking-on the responsibility of food production.  People need to know what they are eating and feel good about it.

While Carol was busy with the chicken sales, I had 2 couples stop-in from the Canby, MN area.  They were interested in the farm's Purebred LaMancha bucklings.  They also wanted to learn more about the meat goat market.  They asked some great questions and I answered the best I could.  The goats they have, they bought last Oct.-Nov. so they're newbies... but by the sound of it, they ad a great start.  One couple had half the herd, the other couple the other half - plus a few milking dairy does.  I gave them some of the info Carol and I had learned in the last couple of years, as well.  I also gave them a lead on how/where to sell their goat kids and what to expect to get for meat prices.  They seemed eager to hear what they were being told.  It was fun to meet and to get to know them.  I hope to hear from them again.

For some reason, Madison approached me, wanting to clean the upstairs of the garage.  What a project.  It is dirty and junky with years and years of dust and debris.  Madison and I found 2 stacks of plastic plates, which, if I had to guess, are from the State Hospital, that once was in operation in Willmar, MN.  I'm sure they will find themselves in the house.  Anyway...  we bagged-up 3 bags of trash, with at least 3 more to go.  Luckily, I had to leave the task of cleaning for helping the neighbors with evening chores.  I think Madison was a little disappointed I had to go.  

Yeah... it was a long day.

April 18, 2009 
- Rock picking 101.

Rain was in the forecast and I had 1 acre of pasture to seed.  It was a pasture mix, consisting of 5 bags of different seed varieties.  All I had to broadcast the seed was a small plastic hand seeder.  I must have walked up and down the field 25 times, before running out of seed.  Hopefully, the pasture will sprout and grow in a uniform manner.  When I was growing up, I remember when my grandfather planted seed he pulled a drag over it, to cover the seed with soil.  I do have a drag, but this new pasture ground seemed a little light.  I decided to use an old cast-iron packer/roller to push the seed into the dirt.  Since the packer/roller is so heavy, it also flattens the ground, smashing any dirt chunks and ridges smooth.  I hope I made the correct choice.  I'm sure as I was packing the soil, I must have appeared to be a 'throw-back' from the 1950's.  I was out there, wheeling around on an old Farmall H, pulling a VERY old field packer.  I wish I would have taken a photo of the set-up to show that one doesn't need shiny, new equipment.  I must admit, there is a certain pride working with some of this old machinery - most of which, was used by my grandfather, when it was new.

As I was bringing the tractor back up the the place, I noticed Carol talking with a guest.  It was a gentleman and his daughter.  He had been a fan of our website and wanted to check out what we were doing out here.  He and Carol talked poultry for most of the visit.  He seemed most interested in our Bourbon Red heritage turkeys, specifically, a tom for his farm.  He was here for quite some time, but mentioned he was interested in buying a tom... we are not to butcher them... he would be back.  It sounds like the only reason he didn't buy one and take it with him was that he had his dad's newer Caddy.  I guess I can see why he didn't want the turkey in the car.

The weather was cool in the afternoon... good working weather, I thought.  And with this farm always coughing up rocks, Madison and I set-out to do a little rock-picking.  Again, the H found a place in the fields.  With a rock boat in tow, we started picking at 3:30pm and ended at 6:00pm.  This was Madison's first experience with such a joyous task.  The first 1½-2 hrs, Madison had plenty of energy and did a great job... the last ½ hr, she was dragging butt. I wonder if she will be as enthusiastic next time.  Nonetheless, I was happy to have the help and when it was all said and done, I figure we completed ⅓ the acreage cleared.  When I say "cleared" I mean we picked most of the rock that was the size of my fist, or larger.

April 17, 2009 
- That 70's show.

WOW!  What a warm day we had today.  The highs reached the mid 70's.  Let me be the first Minnesotan out there to complain about it.  LOL  It was almost too warm... dare I say, unseasonably so.  Hey, who are we fooling here?  It was down-right uncomfortable.  NOTE:  For you non-Minnesotans out there - we love to complain about the weather - we want it warm when it's cool, and cool when it's warm.  If it's a dry day, it needs to rain.  Need I go on?  Nah, you get the point.

One of the things on my list for today was to fix/replace the fence post that the cattle broke off, last December.  The cattle by themselves are lacks-a-daisy, but when chase by a llama they are a force to be reckoned with.  Since most of the frost is gone, this was a project that had been on my mind for quite some time.  I was able to dig about 3½ ft before hitting ice crystals - good enough.  With the post installed, I moved the barbed wire and the 'hot' wire to their new home.  It looked good.  I installed the new post about about 18" from the gate post, leaving me a passage-way, too small for cattle to get through, but just right for a human.  With this, we don't need to open the gate every time we want to get into the pen.

Yesterday, I ran the 8' digger through the garden, to help break up the soil after it's winter slumber.  Today, I attached the 6' horse drawn disc behind the little Allis-Chalmers C and ran that across the garden.  After going over it once, it looked ready for planting.  Carol mentioned that she wanted to start planting some of the cool weather vegetables - it's ready for her.  Before bring the digger back to my grandparent's farm, I dug the garden by the house, here as well as dug my sister's garden at the other place.

As you know, I have been readying the corn planter for the season.  Today, I put on the hydraulic cylinder.  When I gave the implement a test lift, oil sprayed all over the place - I blew a hose.  I guess I wasn't too surprise, but, man, what a mess.  I replaced the hose and all was good.  The 2nd test lift did not have a hose rupture associated with it.  Officially, I think I'm ready to plant corn... minus the seed.  That should be here soon.

I noticed, when I was walking up from the barn, that the tire on the 'H' was flat.  That sucks.  I don't know what a tractor tire costs, but I'm thinking I don't have the extra $$$ to find out.  I tried pumping the tire with air just to find out it was leaving just as fast    Always looking for a way to get by on a dime, I scouted the junk tractors out back for tires.  I was looking for a 12.4-38 and that's what I found.  It still had air in it.  Saw----weet!  I did a little switch-a-roo and now the 'H' has a new old tire that holds air.

Tomorrow, I want to get the tilled acre of pasture seeded.  It it isn't too windy, I'll get that task done.  And with the 'H' back in working order, I'll use it to pull the packer over the field.  I want to get this done before we get rain.

April 16, 2009 
- 1st in the fields... again.

I set out to prepare some ground for pasture seeding.  It was only an acre or so, so I thought I would take the farm's little Farmall H out with the packer to flatten last year's weeds.  After doing so, it didn't look much different.  I then got the bigger tractor with the disc and tilled the soil.  It did a great job cutting the weeds into small pieces and turning the soil black.  It looks as though I was the first one out in the field this year.  Unlike last year, the ground was dry enough to be worked this year.  I nowhere came close to getting stuck.  The next step is to broadcast the pasture mix then drag it... then hope for more warm weather and rain.

Shortly after noon, Carol, Austin and I went to look at a neighbors house than may be available for moving.  Carol and Austin were encouraged by the house, I had my reservations.  For the age, the house isn't in too bad of shape, but it does have some major faults.  There is some water damage in some of the rooms (upstairs and down), the sill plates on the newer part of the house is rotted, as is the north side of the house.  There are dozens of minor things, but they can be over looked fairly easily... like in some of the rooms, the only outlets are located in the light fixture.  The floors on the main level are a little warped... I think that adds to the charm.  As I mentioned in an earlier blog, the size of the house is the best feature.  It is also one of it's worst.  Carol and I will have to discuss the pros & cons of the house.  We also need to speak with the neighbor who owns the property to hear more about his plans for the house.

April 15, 2009 
- Getting ready to start farming.

Not too much happened, but I did do some real-life farming stuff.  I contacted Falk Seeds to order my seed corn, wheat & oats.  It was kind of exciting... this being my first year farming.  Farmer Mike had come over earlier to help identify the the planter plates that came with the used planter.  Mike looked at the plates, read the planter manual and the hand written notes.  In just a few minutes, Mike had things figured out.  With that information, I emailed the plate numbers to Jim Falk.  With Mike's recommendation, we are shooting for 26k-27k seeds/acre of corn.  The planter should be able to be set-up to do that.

I then adjusted the planter spacing.  It was presently set for 38" rows, but I need 36" spacing, in order to match Mike's combine and/or corn picker.

April 14, 2009 
- 4-H:  Not just for kids.

We had a beautiful day here in west-central Minnesota, which meant to continue to get the farm in order.  When you sells products off of the farm you talk to quite a few people... one gal who was looking for pigs for her 4-H'er mentioned that where she was (MN/SD boarder) they we in the fields - not just digging, but actually planting.  Hearing this, prompted me to go out and check-out the farm's finishing digger.  For the most part, it's ready to go.  I need to grease it and pump up some of the tires and it it'll be ready for the tractor.  It is spring here... finally!

It was 4-H night and aside from the kids getting together, it's a great place for parents to networks as well.  When I showed-up, I had a mission.  I needed to talk with the guys.  I want to buy cheap runt/small pigs.  Carol and I have always had the mind-set that if we can buy something cheap, we will sell it cheap.  Our thoughts also include the philosophy of, "If it will work for us, it should work for others."  Last year we raised a "runt" pig for our family.  It was a runt when it came to us, but it sure wasn't a runt when it left... unless 300+lbs pastured hog is still considered a runt.  Anyway, we wanted to make this same type of animal available to other area homesteaders.  And since we have some folks who raise hogs that have kids in 4-H, I wanted to make some deals.  I think I did that.  Hopefully, in the next day or two, I'll get 3 pigs from Bill and a couple of dozen from Eggman.  I told them what price range I was looking for and Eggman said, "How many do you want?"  OK... I'm assuming he has more than I can get rid of.

I also talked with Farmer Mike's brother about a house he has.  I asked if he had any plans for the old farm house that's sitting on a vacant farm site that he owns.  His responded by asking when we were going to move it out.  I was a little shocked, but without too much fumbling over my words, I voiced a few of my concerns and why the house had a less than ideal layout, but better than what we now have. With a handicapped adult child, living at home, an old farm house isn't really planned for anything other than practical function.  The plus (and negative) of the house is it's size.  It's big.

The plus is that we may be able to set-up a room downstairs for our special needs child.  The negative is that this structure is going to be a bear to heat it... and the bigger the house, the bigger the cost for putting a foundation/basement under it.  We need to look at the house some more - we haven't even seen if it's structurally sound or not.  I guess a workable floor plan for Chastiti was the priority... perhaps it's time to take the next step in the process.  Mike's brother was going to get back to us in the next couple of weeks.  If anyone out there is wondering what shape the house is in... rest assure - the interior is not in livable condition right now.  I think Mike's brother implied that the farm site that house is sitting on would be worth more if the house wasn't there.

The bottom line is this.  The farm doesn't make much money - it's too small.  And if we ball-park the numbers (with the house costing little or nothing), having a house this year may still be out of our reach.  This is how we broke the costs down - $10k for the movers, $12k-15k for the foundation, $2k-3k for a furnace, $1k for the power line guys and $20k-25k for repairs.  That comes to $45,000-54,000.  I know, I know... those of you on the west cost are viewing anything under $400k as cheap fixer-upper.  But that's not the case here.

April 13, 2009 
- Our hogs are gone.

I did a little more cleaning around the place today.  While moving snow over the winter, some of the driveway gravel got dug-up and deposited elsewhere.  Until this day, I was kind of hoping the gravel would walk its way back from which it came.  I gave up hope and did it myself.  I think there must have been about 500 lbs of stones.  It was a relief to have it off of the yard.

Since it was so warm out, I decided to remove the rear drive shaft from the farm pick-up.  The U-joint was thrashed... no big deal.  I'll just get a new one and the truck will be fine.  While under the truck I checked the rear-end over.  Oh crap!  We have a major problem.  I gave Carol's brother a call and asked how much it would cost to fix the axle bearing.  He thought the parts would run about $100.  OK.  That's doable.  I told him I would bring the truck to his house tomorrow.  I'm hoping to have it back by this weekend.

The last of the pigs that we got on the 10th are sold.  We sold them for $20 each, with no guarantees.  The guy said he didn't care - for $40 he'd take the chance.  We also sold a bag of feed to go with them.  Shortly after the pigs left the farm, I got another call.  The gal I talked to said that 40# runts in her area were selling for $40 and the regular feeder pigs we selling for $60-70.  She wanted to be notified if/when we get more pigs in.

As some of you know, the farm was featured on KSAX TV.  Here are a couple of screen shots of the webcast.

we like this one, with Madison's title of "Future Veterinarian."

We think Kaylin Karsin of KSAX did a great job on the feature.  We want to thank her for doing such wonderful work.

I think this is worth mentioning.  Carol & Madison hatched their first Coturnix Quail chick.  I was outside when Madison came out to tell me the good news.  She was beaming from ear to ear... it was a very proud moment.  Let's hope we see a few more emerge from their shells, before the week is over with.

April 12, 2009 
- Weird animals.

This morning, Carol came into the house after chores, saying Lamb Chop, our little lamb, was nursing from Annie, our dairy goat.  Ummm, OK.  Maybe, we can get a photo of the lamb nursing on the goat.  Tonight, I was able to snap a pic.  Enjoy.

Lamb Chop is nursing on his adopted mom, Annie.

These two act like mama and son.  When Lamb Chop gets too far from Annie, Annie has a fit.  Once the lamb is back in her sight, the world is once again good.

The new LaMancha goats are doing well and learning to nurse from the bottle without too much trouble.  In fact, we started to advertise them.  They sure are cute and should make for some excellent future herd bucks.  These goats are truly top of the line and should improve nearly any herd they are put into.

Carol cooked a very nice basic Easter meal - ham, scalloped potatoes, corn, etc.  For desert, she made miniature strawberry cheese cake thingies.  They were so good, I had two of them.  Happy Easter to you all!

Opps!  I just about forgot.  Carol posted all of the photos of the bee guy and his assistants setting up the new hives out buy the farm's duck pond.  Check them out here.  Oh yeah... more news - The duck eggs Carol sold to a hatcher a few weeks ago finally hatched.  We saw the gal's ad online.  We're very excited to be able to provide a quality farm product to another individual.  It will be fun to hear from others who have purchased eggs from our farm.

April 11, 2009 
- KSAX News last night.

We have been getting some positive feedback from friends (see yesterday's blog comment) and viewers of KSAX alike.  We even had visitors interested in a short farm tour.  They were a lovely family from the Wheaton, MN area.  The wife (Carrie) commented on our site and said she loved the page banner with me sitting on the toilet.  I LIKE THESE PEOPLE!  LOL.  Her and I both agreed that folks shouldn't always take things so serious.  And that is what I try to convey though our website try to have a little fun and never take yourself too seriously.

I answered a few of their questions, but Carol talked with them more than I could.  Madison and I had to get ready for our trip to the Metro to get some purebred & pedigreed LaMancha bucklings.  Before we left, our farm guests purchased some basic farm animals (chickens, ducks and a pig).  They were also interested in a buckling when we get them in.  Their son is a first year 4-H'er and they wanted to get him involved with some small livestock.  The dad was an old school kind of guy... he seemed very practical - he said if you're in 4-H you should have an animal.  I agree.  The oldest of their boys (the 4-H'er) seemed a bit overwhelmed with all of the animals running around.  The other little ones in the family just seemed to be having a blast.  They were running, chasing and petting nearly everything they could.  Just before Madison and I left, they bought some feed for their new critters, I bagged up 50 lbs of feed for them and then we hit the road.

Madison & I arrived at the airport on time, to meet the nice folks who sold us the 11 LaMancha bucklings.  We didn't have much time to chat, as they had a couple of goat kids coming in on a flight.  They were fun to talk with and like most conservative farm folk, we discussed a few issues we can never change and condemned those who can, but refuse to do so.  Then back home we headed, with 11 earless goats in the back of the van.  By the time we got back to the farm, the van was a little stinky and we found that both of our jackets got pee'd on.  Oh well.

After I parked the van, we changed clothes and got the goats situated in the barn, then fed.  Today was a long day.  Man, I'm tired!

April 10, 2009 
- Buy in bulk, & save $$$.

Shortly after lunch. I decided to do a little house cleaning, but not in the house.  It was time to do some work in the Highlander pen, near where the old hog barn was.  Last fall, I started some clean-up in that area, but didn't get much further than making piles - wood here... steel and tin there.  I thought it was a good beginning... until all the leaves dropped from the trees. It was then when one could notice, from the road, that the organized clutter actually looked worse.  Before that, much of the view was obstructed by the honeysuckle foliage.

The first step in the "house cleaning" was to do what I could with the chainsaw.  I thought I would be able to do all the cutting I needed to do with just one fill of the tank.  After I ran the chainsaw out of fuel, I realized that I may have figured incorrectly.  Nonetheless, I set the saw down and threw all the freshly cut logs into the trailer that I had ready for the task.  I filled the trailer!  I had just piled all the wood into the trailer when my phone rang.

We got a call from 'The Egg Man' as Carol refers to him.  He wanted to let us know that our chicken/swine feed was ready.  Yesterday, when we were at his place to sell him eggs, we asked him to grind us some feed the next time he grinds some for his chickens.  Today, it was done and waiting for us.  It doesn't look like the wood will stay in the trailer for long.  We need it to get the feed.

When Madison & I arrived at his place, Egg Man said he wasn't able to get a ton of feed to fit into a poly-tank, that he put the feed into.  I told him that that was OK as I only wanted a 1,000 lbs.  LOL.  No biggy.  He loaded the feed on the trailer with a skid-loader and I paid for it.  By buying it bulk from a fellow farmer, I saved the farm nearly $100.  To make a good deal even better, he sent us home with 3 pigs.  Egg Man tried to convince us to get more, but at this time of the year we don't have a whole lot of room... that, and we like to pasture the hogs on this farm.  Until we have grass growing, that deed gets a little difficult to do.  Last year we pastured a Hampshire gilt.  She did VERY well.  Even in the winter months she liked her hay - not corn only.  These new pigs are Yorkshires.  We hope they do as well as our Ham did.  I wonder if Egg Man gave us the pigs so we would use more feed... so he could sell us more.  Hmmmm!  lol.  They say there is no such thing as a free/cheap puppy - I wonder if that holds true for pigs as well.

Madison & I arrived home to find Carol taking with someone.  I thought it might be a rabbit customer.  Madison thought it to be an hatching egg buyer.  She was right.  It was a gentleman from the Olivia, MN, here to buy viable turkey eggs.  It's egg-citing to see so many people trying to hatch their own eggs.

Shortly after the egg buyer left the place, we set-off to run some farm related errands.  Our first stop was the local farm store to sell them more rabbits.  The store called while Madison and I were at the Egg Man's place, asking Carol to bring in all the bunnies she had ready.  It seems many, MANY people are asking for rabbits,  The farm store sells pet rabbits nearly as fast as growers bring them in.

Our 2nd stop was the nearby town of Kandiyohi, where we arranged a Humane Society farm animal pick-up.  One of the board members had a duck name Aflac & a rooster named Red waiting for us.  With these two, came some feed, a feed pan, an antique wooded small animal transport and a small bag of oyster shells for egg layers - all unneeded extras from the local Humane Society.

Red and Aflac - our newest Humane Society rescue farm animals

The last bird we retrieved from this particular board member was a hen who seemed to think she was a goat.  The newest birds - Red and Aflac are just as peculiar.  When I let them go in our barn... Aflac followed Red.  Then one of the farm's drakes headed towards Aflac.  All of a sudden, Red spied what was going on and intercepted the drake's advances and stood between the new duck and the old duck.  Then, after the incident resolved itself, Red walked off, through the open barn door... with Alfac following him.   It was one of the oddest things I have seen on the farm.

Time for chores... then good night.

April 09, 2009 
- More Highlander folks.

Carol and I went over to a neighbor's to sell them some of our extra eggs... we had 12 doz. in all.  When we arrived, he and some other folks we processing horseradish.  WOW!  Was that an intense aroma.  If you got too close to the grinder, your eyes and nose would begin to burn.  One of the guys (Martin) helping, lived just a few miles east of us.  They had processed about 10 quarts of horseradish.  In addition to eating this stuff, and using it for a pork rub, Martin raises 30 or so Scottish Highlander cattle and has been doing so for years.  We had a short chat, then said he would stop over to look at our cattle on his way home.  Cool!

While watching the horseradish processing, we asked our neighbor if he would be interested in grinding us some bulk chicken feed.  They raise chickens for egg production so I we knew he would know what kind of feed we needed.  He said he required more feed anyway and said he could easily grind an extra ½ ton.  He would unload the feed in a used 275 gal. poly tank for me.  He would give me the tank, but if I wanted another, I would have to buy it.  Well... that sounds fair enough.  He then told Carol and I that if we wanted some of his pigs that we talked about, we could pick them up at the same time we pick up the feed.

Martin eventually stopped by the farm to look at the cattle, more specifically, our bull Sampson.  In a nut shell, he told us that the bull was a little young to be breeding and that was the reason we didn't have calves on the ground this spring.  He did say that we better be prepared for calves next spring though, as the bull will be coming of age this fall.  The thing is... we were hoping for a few bull calves this spring, since we have a waiting-list of folks who want to buy our farm's grass-fed Scottish Highlander beef.

Martin also had lots of information about producing the type of beef we wanted.  He said that the meat from the Highland bulls is a lot like buffalo meat... it's super lean and makes for the bead ground beef you've ever tasted, but does not make for good meat for the grill.  There isn't enough fat.  For the grill, he said a person needs to raise a steer.  One that is castrated at a very young age.  The steers produce enough fat for cooking on the grill.  Martin also said that when raising Highlanders, you need to be very careful when feeding them grain.  Most folks find that the steers produce too much fat when fed grain... so don't give them much if we have customers who desire the cattle to be finished that way.  Do it just before butchering - not for weight gain.

April 08, 2009 
- Look Mom, we're on TV.

We all woke up early, hoping to get a little more cleaning done, before Kaylin Karsin arrived to do her news story.  We were expecting her to show-up sometime around 11:00AM.  After a phone call from her, saying she may be lost, we got her back on track.  The KSAX vehicle arrived onto the property at noon.

Carol & Madison took Kaylin on a short farm tour so that she may get a feel for what the farm has to offers her news piece.  In no time at all, Miss Karsin had her camera set-up and Carol in a spot for the interview.  She asked some general questions about farm sales and the holiday season, but was able to keep things light and relaxed for Carol.  The subject of her piece was live animals as Easter presents.  I think Carol did quite good and Kaylin made it very casual & comfortable.

Carol talking about Lucky being our first rescue animal.  We found her alongside the road during a snow storm.

She then took some video of various animals, including rabbits, chickens, chicks, turkeys... lots of the babies.  She then asked about rabbit care, since rabbits are the most popular live Easter gift.  She also shot video of Madison feeding our new little lamb.  She fell in love with our ducks, the sheep & llama.  It turns out Kaylin had ducks when she was growing up.

Madison feeding Lamb Chop. our Icelandic-cross sheep

Kaylin Karsin talking with Madison

I think Kaylin wanted to interview George, but he's too much of a diva-dude to do an exclusive
with anyone other than Ryan Seacrest... sorry Kaylin.

Madison & Carol doing a little camera work for Kaylin while she held Bugsy the Mini-rex bunny.
Look at Kaylin's feet.  She's wearing bedroom slippers.  It was fun having her here.

Kaylin Karsin was very nice and seemed to thoroughly enjoy her time on the farm, interacting with us and meeting our critters.  She told us today's news story should air Friday, April 10 at 5PM & 10PM.  Unfortunately for us, we don't get that channel.  We're hoping she'll email us a copy of the edited segment.

April 07, 2009 
- Eyewitness news.

This morning, started our day with a little excitement. We received an email from Kaylin Karsin, of KSAX - ABC Eyewitness News.  She was interested in doing a story about the giving of live animals (chicks, bunnies & goats) as Easter presents.  She asked us if we would be interested in being interviewed.  Without too much thought, I emailed her back, saying yes.  Then reality set in.  "OH CRAP!"  What did we just agree to?  The farm is a mess - it's spring and it's muddy.

After calling Farmer Mike and nearly begging him to tell me that everything would turn out OK.  I then tried contacting Neighbor Nick, who once lived here.  I called his mom to ask if Nick was still in the area.  She said he was and that he would give me a call when she saw him later in the day.  About 2 hours later, Nick drove up with his work clothes on.  He was here to help us straighten the place up, for the KSAX interview.  We burned a bunch of brush, I cleaned a couple barn pens, then Nick and I removed 2 large stumps from the goat pen.  Carol, Madison, Nick and I continued to clean the best we could, until about 7:00PM. 

At 7:30, Carol & I went over to Farmer Mike's house to help celebrate his wife Karen's birthday.  It was a surprise get-together to celebrate her _0th birthday.  There were about 4-5 other couples there and the food was excellent.  Other than being super people, this group of friends is known for fantastic comfort food.  Out here, we're very much a meat-n-potatoes type of people.  For some of you city dwellers, this may sound a little boring, but than again, you haven't tried the food we get to eat when we all get together... it is far from boring.

After being at the party for about an hour or so, I got a phone call from our son Austin.  He called to let me know that the Sheriff's Deputy stop to investigate the brush fire.  It turned out to be nothing... so that was a relief.  Then, a half hour later, he called again.  Madison was in the house crying.  Our little piglet, Zoey, was dead.  Madison heard Zoey squealing but before she could get into the pig-pen, the piglet was dead.  She got stepped on by one of her parents.  It was very sad.  Zoey was the first piglet of the farm, since we started farming.  She was kind of special to all of us.

Well, with these 2 phone calls, it was time to go home.  Before leaving the party, I talked with a fellow party-go'er who raises bees.  He said he would stop by tomorrow to scout-out the farm to see if it would be well suited for his bees.  My dad had bees on the farm for many years.  Honey is something we always had plenty of.  It will be exciting to have bees on the place once again.  Carol is probably more excited than I am about the prospect.  She was actually contemplating getting some bees of her own, but then thought better of it, thinking it would be too much work for a novice.

When we arrive back home, the small brush fire was still burning and Nick was still working.  I quick changed clothes and helped for a while.  It was just too dark to continue on... perhaps it was time for a couple of cool ones.  It was then that he caught me up to speed to what happened with the sheriff's visit and what he got tidied-up, while we were at Mike & Karen's.

April 06, 2009 
- More goats.

Today, we added to our dairy 4 more does.  The 2 milking does we have, are all but dry.  Together they produce approx. 8 cups/day.  These new does are said to be bred for June freshening, but with all things in nature, there are no guarantees.

To get these new girls, we traveled to the New Ulm, MN area.  It was quite a drive but well worth it.  We learned how yet another homesteading family does things and how they set up their small farm.  It seemed well set-up.  As we drove onto the place, Michelle came out to meet us.  Without haste, we were brought to the animals... to give them a good once over.  Carol was please with the animals she picked out to buy, but we were impressed with all the animals on the farm.  They were well fed and quite friendly.  As Carol talked with Michelle, I spoke with her husband.  We discussed his approach to hay harvest compare to mine.  It turns out, his endeavor turned into a small sideline business... I was impressed... but won't go into any detail... I don't want to ruin his good thing.

Towards evening, we went to Farmer Mike's to get some milk and to drop off some eggs.  Carol headed to the house to chit-chat with Karen... I think she wanted Karen's delicious Chicken and Wild Rice Soup.  I did not feel the need to discuss cooking techniques, so I talked with Mike.  I wanted to get his opinion on my opening of our spring pasture.  Much to my delight, he thought it was a great idea, especially for the type of cattle we have on the farm.  Being a new farmer, I often  wonder if I some of the things I do is correct or if it only seems correct, but is actually counterproductive or even destructive.

April 05, 2009 
- April snow showers bring what in May?

We woke up to snow this morning, not much... maybe an inch.  Thankfully, it reached the above freezing mark on the thermometer. By late afternoon, the snow was gone.

Later, we had 2 first-time farm visitors.  The first family wanted to buy a 4-H, show quality Mini Lop bunny.  Unfortunately, we are sold out of that breed of rabbit.  Carol let them know that another litter is on the way.  These folks also expressed some interest in our pot-bellied pigs... we'll see.

Another visitor, who stopped by around dusk, remembers this place as it looked 25 years ago.  He said after all these years he was going to stop by and see what was going on.  He said when he pulled into the driveway, he noticed things were not as her remembered... all the junk was gone and there weren't any old cars sitting around.  He mentioned how different it looked, then mentioned how disappointed he was.  He wanted to purchase an old car, but there were none to buy.  It was a little chilly outside and he wanted to learn more about what we are trying to do here... but not today.  I told him to stop in when the weather was warmer.  He said he would.  We shuck hands and agreed to talk more... someday.

April 04, 2009 
- Not much happening.

As far as the cattle are concerned, they didn't come up to the place again last night.  I'm beginning to think I should have given these critters a curfew.  After lunch, the cattle were still not home.  So after feeding our bottle baby goats, Madison and I took off for the spring pasture to make sure the cattle were still on the property.  We had a nice father-daughter stroll along the creek.  I did sort of play a little prank on Madison.  At the opening of a lane, I pretended to hop over an electric fence where a wire once was.  Madison was walking behind me and when she came to the spot where I went over the "fence", she stopped and looked.  She looked and looked, then finally told me that she couldn't see the fence.  It wasn't until I started laughing that she knew for sure that there was, in fact, no fence there.

When we finally got out to the pasture, we saw the cattle - some of them grazing, while others were laying down, sunning themselves.  Madison & I walked the fence line, chewing on blades grass and throwing stones into the creek water.  It was a nice time.

Carol's turkey egg customer showed up later in the afternoon.  He had ordered 6 hatching eggs, but decide to buy the 8 we had.  After paying for the eggs, he asked if he could order a dozen more.  Carol let him know that there was a waiting list - yep, he understood and was willing to wait until his name came up to the top of the list.

Speaking of hatching eggs, Madison has been leaving some eggs uncollected in a duck nest, hoping our little Mallard would become broody.  Well, today Madison said the duck nipped at her when she reached into the nest to check the eggs.  We're hoping she will set.

Oh yeah... here's some news for you goat people... more specifically, you LaMancha lovers.  We just got news that we be getting a minimum of 10 purebred, registerable LaMancha bucklings from one of Wisconsin's top breeders.  The average price set by the breeder for these little guys was $400-450.  The bloodlines of the bucklings are incredible. 

If you know us, it's safe to assume we didn't pay that much for them.  We will be making these bucklings available for budget minded folks.  The ages of these kids range from 4 weeks to 4 days.  Right now, we would like to hear from young 4-H families who are interested in raising a top-quality buckling for possible future breeding stock.  I can guarantee you all that a finer set of bucklings will not come this way for a long, long time.  We will provide photos and fact-sheets as soon as we have the goats in MN.  Also, we have an overwhelming need for doelings.  If you have non-registered or crossbred dairy doelings to sell and are in need of a top-rated LaMancha buckling - we should talk.

April 03, 2009 
- Where are the Highlanders?

The cattle didn't come home last night and they weren't in the cow yard this morning either.  Was I worried?  Nope.  I figured that if I didn't get a call from a neighbor, we were in good shape.  But just incase, after chores, I decide to hike to the spring pasture, which I also call the brown pasture.  As I was nearing the end of the lane, I could see our fold heading my way.  Two-four-six head... hmmmm.  I wonder where seven & eight are.  After waiting a few minutes I could see Sampson and LaVerne making their way towards the lane.

A short time later, after getting a little water, they all headed back to the spring pasture.  I went out to check on them.  I found them sunning themselves in the old gravel pit. 

The photo below shows 6 head, shortly after leaving the gravel pit... the other 2 (Caitlin & LaVerne) were still resting and chewing their cud in the pit.

this photo shows 6 of our 8 cattle coming out of the new spring/brown pasture

April 02, 2009 
- The cattle are out

With all of the snow gone, and the cattle finishing another round bale of hay, I thought it might be nice to for the cattle to get out of the cow yard, for a change.  So, after breakfast, I opened up the lane and turned them loose... a few hours later, I found them still standing by the round bale feeder.  So I grabbed a square of hay to help coax them down the lane.

The cattle followed, with LaVerne leading the fold.  Half way down the lane, she stopped - meaning they all stopped.  I circled around them to help push them down the lane.  As I did, Duncan, our Corgi thought he'd help me.  He helped for the first minute, then got so excited he started chasing the cattle... and then chased them right through the lane fencing.  Some of the cows must have gotten their feet tangled in the fencing.  Every half second or so, I could see them twitch/jump.  In fact, Caitlin, our mini-Highlander couldn't figure it out right away.  She just let out a loud 'moo' every half second.  Before I could run up to the barn to unplug the fencer, they figured it out and were back in the lane.  Most folks who have Highlanders will tell you they are one of the more intelligent of the cattle breeds.  If that is true, heaven help the rest of the breeds.  Because the Highlanders didn't seem overly smart today.

Before Duncan could chase the cattle through the fence again, I heard a loud 'yipe, yipe, yipe" from him.  He touched the electric fence.  That was the last I saw of him for hours.  I finally got the cattle to the brown spring pasture.  Here's where the intelligence of the Scottish Highlander breed shows through.  Once in the tall grass, the walked the perimeter of the fenced area.  They always seem to walk counter-clockwise... not sure why, but that's what they do.  Once they scouted out where the fence was, they settled.  The heifers were jumping and running as the older cattle just grazed.  That's the last I seen of them.  At chores time this evening, they were still out.  I didn't get a call fro the neighbors, so I'm assuming they're still on the farm.

A little goat news.  We have been exchanging emails with some goat breeder from Wisconsin and we think we have worked out a deal with one of the farms.  It looks like we will be acquiring their excess buckling stock... more precisely, their March babies.  These bucklings are purebred LaManchas from a prize winning herd and can be registered.  Once we have them settled-in and eating well, the will be offered for sale.  If you are interested in learning more, we urge you to contact us ASAP.  We have seen their pedigrees and they are VERY impressive, with Nat'l show winners in their lineage.  We would prefer these buckling to go to 4-H'ers who are interested in having above average LaMancha bloodlines, for an extremely affordable price.  These bucklings retail, in the show/breeder's market, for $400-450 each.  Once the 10-12 bucklings are in our possession, we will release more detailed information.  You WILL be impressed.

Carol sold more hatching eggs today.  The folks who bought eggs a few weeks ago were back.  I think they got turkey, duck and chicken hatching eggs - approx. 4 dozen eggs in all.  Carol will now be filling egg orders for others on her waiting list.  She's hoping our birds will lay as much or more as usual, so she can start saving eggs for us to hatch here.  She's been selling so many hatching eggs, we've been going without.  Hopefully in the next couple of weeks, we'll have enough turkey and duck eggs to put in the incubator.  In the incubator now is a few duck eggs, mostly chicken eggs and a few Japanese Quail eggs.  We're excited to see how well the quail hatch.

Later in the afternoon, Carol had a family come out to learn about rabbits and rabbit care.  They are new to raising rabbits and had lots of questions.  When they get a hutch built, they want to come back  and pick out their rabbits. 

April 01, 2009 
- April Fool's Day

Hopefully, none of you got pranked too badly.