Boy am I behind on blogging. Oh where to start……
Well, to make a long story short- we purchased a new farm in Flournoy, CA (population: 70) 13 miles West of I-5, an hour South of Redding. Although we are now further from family, we enjoy our new farm and new place so much more. This area definitely fits us and our needs better. Our farm is 13 acres and butts up to Thomes Creek which is one of the wildest (changes course most frequently) in California. We have many old oak trees, a large variety of fruit trees/bushes (persimmon, pomegranate, apple, pear, almond, fig, blueberry, and blackberries), plenty of forage for the animals and facilities which fit out needs much more. A half mile down the road is a store, small diner and the post office and just across the street is the Elementary school. It also seems like the stars are much brighter out here. Must be from the lack of light pollution. Driving out here, we enjoy vast cattle ranches, TONS of meat goats and rolling hills (which are green for now).
I am also excited to report that our garden will be quite a bit larger this year. The chickens have been busy grooming it until the ground is warm and dry enough to till and plant. Speaking of our chickens….In addition to the barn, we now also have a rather large chicken coop with plenty of nesting boxes. The first day we moved the chickens to the new place, they talked and cackled for hours about their new “chicken palace”.
In other news- we are WWOOF (wwoofusa.org) hosts again this year and are currently hosting 2 WWOOFers from Ohio. They’ve been here for about a month now and are a huge help, especially with Shane being in the academy until May. Seeing him once a week (if I’m lucky) has been a challenge but it helps to have some company and extra hands to help around the farm.
We have also began (and have almost finished) kidding this week. Starting Sunday afternoon, and 2 does left to kid. Right now we are sitting at 18 kids (10 bucks and 8 does). This year has been a fairly easy and laid back kidding year. Our does will be on 305 day again this year. Our 2009 DHIA testing was a success with every one of our does on test receiving their AR stars. BRB SS Dust in the Wind needs one more daughter to receive her AR to receive his star since he has never made it into the show ring. I don’t like to freshen more than 12 does every year, so we are also offering a couple milking does for sale. Depending on how the weather cooperates, having a “farm warming” visiting day may be on the calendar this year. Still debating. I am excited to see everything here bloom and begin to grow after being dormant all winter.
The livestock guardians have done a great job out here. Although we now have neighbors and they used to bark all night, every night when we first moved her- they have now settled in and have only been barking when there is a threat. Still have coyote issues and wild hogs out back by the creek but with the two LGDs and the llama, we haven’t had any losses as of yet (knock on wood).
With the help of our WWOOFers, we have also trained Chip to drive. So glad I held onto my cart and harness! Driving was supposed to be the pony’s job, but she still has a lot of growing up to do before we get to that point. He seems to enjoy it quite a bit (since he is the laziest horse I’ve ever had). I think it took an hour for us to go to the store and back with me pushing him the entire way. Its definitely easier to speed him up than to attempt to slow a hot horse down.
We will be going to the Valentine’s dinner and barn dance down at Paskenta hall this weekend. I will most likely also be volunteering at some point to be a 4-H leader for the dairy goat project out in this area since we are no longer stretching ourselves so thin.We will also once again be showing this year and will be helping out with the local dairy goat club and their show since we are not putting on a show here (for now).
More later…. off to milk.
