Annabelle the disappearing goat...

 
  My little,sweet,diaper wearing house goat is gone, and I just don't know what to do.She disappeared Saturday evening, just vanished with out a trace. I take her outside so she can play,nibble grass, and spend time around the other goats. She loves to help me garden, she and I had been weeding that afternoon, but she decided she'd rather play with the dogs. I watched her as she chased behind the dogs, and as the all took turns loving on her. We were always careful to keep a close eye on her, we had learned before how quickly she could run out and get lost. She was following the bigger goats,when she got left behind, but lucky for us the dogs quickly found her.

  When I finished up in the garden,  Annabelle was still right there nibbling grass, and playing with the dogs. She had found some really yummy weeds, and I decided I would quickly run in a wash my hands. I went into the house, as I was drying my hands my husband came home, and we talked for a few minutes when it hit me Annabelle was still outside. I went out side expecting her to be upset with me for leaving her, but she was gone. I walked around calling out to her, but she didn't answer. The more I looked the more I panicked. My husband said that he saw when he pulled up and that she was with the dogs. So I thought maybe she followed them and got left behind, but that just seemed odd.
  
I worried that she might have followed the dogs up towards the road where someone saw her and picked her up. I was so angry with myself. How could I have left her alone?!
I walked and walked until I was numb from the cold and the battery in my flashlight went dead.There were no signs of her anywhere. At one point I swore I could hear near our neighbors house but I couldn't see her. I guess sometimes we hear what we want to hear. Kylie and I stumbled and shivered our way back to the house with no Annabelle.

Needless to say I didn't sleep much that night. I kept thinking about her, and worrying about her. So as soon as I woke up, I started looking for her again, but still nothing. Not one sign of her anywhere! So we began asking the neighbors if anyone had seen her, and asking them to call us if she turned up. No one claims to have seen her.One of our neighbors has said some rather odd things, and to top it off when I thought I heard her that night it was right next to his house. We are pretty sure at this point that someone has taken her, and we will continue our efforts to find her.

For now we're left wondering though... Where? Oh, where could my sweet Annabelle be?!

Birds of a feather molt together!

    If you were to walk around the farm right now you would think one of two things has happened...
1) The world's largest pillow fight has happened right here on our farm... or 2) There was a HUGE chicken massacre, well with out all the blood and yucky stuff.

   But neither of these things are true, although the whole pillow fight thing sounds pretty fun. It's molting time, and all the chickens are molting. It's a sad sight indeed, chickens walking around looking like roadkill, and of course feathers EVERYWHERE!!!! There some over here,

 a few over there,

oh and don't forget over there...

                                          (Oh and we have Gunieas too..)
 and there..

and there...

Well you get the point I'm sure.

  For those of you who are not on the up and up of chickens, molting is when chickens shed more or less their old feathers to make way for new ones.Some may loose only a few here and there at a time, while others look like they were just mauled by some wild animal.

  Normally I tend to picture my hens as little, snooty, prim and proper Victorian Southern Belles, with their big puffy dresses and petticoats.Some of my girls even have hats! They strut around gracefully through the yard, stopping to gossip with one another. During molting time, they look more like bag ladies minus the shopping cart, still trying desperately to strut gracefully across the yard, while even the goats are laughing at them.

  One of the huge draw backs to molting, aside from the mess of feathers EVERYWHERE, believe me I can not stress everywhere enough, is that most chickens will stop laying entirely during their molt. Which means the only thing those hens are dropping,well besides you know what, is feathers!

  I seem to have been fortunate enough that not all my hens molt at the same time, so I don't go completely with out eggs, but it does mean that I have feathers coming out of the woo hooo for what seems like months.

  So what to do with all these feathers..... most of the time we would just rake them up and throw them away or into the compost pile, but after having several people ask for them we started gathering them up. Now I find myself walking around picking out the best feathers I can find and saving them for my crafty friends, or sometimes myself when I'm feeling pretty crafty. We have ducks too, so I have even begun to gather up their feathers as well. I have recently been asked for down feathers, so we walk around picking up all the fuzzy down feathers when can find. The kids call them hiney feathers, and that makes me laugh every time! Yea I know I'm easily entertained, you would be too if you spent your days with a 2 and four year old.

  For those of you chicken owners out there, I have been told there seems to be quite a market out there for feathers, especially fancy feathers. So while you're staring at all those feathers, why not gather a few up to do something crafty with, or give them to one of your crafty friends!  

  And remember ...Birds of a feather molt together!

Store bought eggs vs. Fresh farm eggs

   Most people know how crazy I am about chickens, there wonderful pets, provide great natural pest control, and of course give tasty eggs. How many of you out there can say that your pet made you breakfast?! There are so many wonderful reasons to keep chickens, I could go on and on, but for now I want to talk about eggs.
  
   I am often asked by people who have never had real fresh eggs, what's the difference in a store bought egg and a farm egg?  Farm eggs are usually the product of “free range” chickens which are free to roam the pasture or yard, eating a varied diet including grass, grains, greens, and an occasional grasshopper or bug. They aren’t fed antibiotics. They aren’t kept in cramped cages,or over crowed chicken houses.
   
Some say, the white eggs are commercial eggs and the brown are farm eggs. The color of the egg shell is determined by the breed of chicken, and can be beautiful shades of brown, white, green, and even blue.Any egg can be a product of factory produced eggs,no matter the color of it's shell.

So you buy cage-free, free range or organic eggs?... hmmm.. Well let's talk about what those terms really mean...
 
Terms that you may find on your egg carton include:
Cage free, free range, Organic, and vegetarian. These chickens often are not treated significantly different than the chickens that produce the cheaper eggs.

Cage free simply means that rather than 20,000 chickens being caged in a six foot by six foot room with their feet wired to the cage floor, they are free to roam about in that same six foot by six foot room.

 Free range may mean that there is a small door at one end of the room which leads to a small patch of dirt that the chickens may or may not find.

Organic simply refers to the type of feed that is fed to the chickens. The chickens may, or may not be treated ethically.

Vegetarian again refers to the feed that is fed, it means that the chickens are being given a vegetarian diet. It may sound healthy, but in reality chickens are omnivores. I have watched my own chickens snatch up bugs, mice, snakes, lizards,frogs and other creatures. Chickens are not naturally vegetarian, so what exactly is the point in feeding them a vegetarian diet?!

The chickens raised in factory farm situations are extremely stressed. They are routinely debeaked so they will not cannibalize one another. They get little fresh air, live in a putrid environment full of their own waste, with lights on round the clock to encourage more production. Because of these conditions salmonella and other diseases are a real threat.

  In short these terms are used to charge you the consumer more money, not necessarily providing you with a better egg.

When you can always buy fresh eggs from farmers with happy, healthy free ranging chickens.
 Another thing is that fresh eggs contain a protective layer called the "bloom", the "bloom" has been washed off the eggs you buy in a grocery store, leaving the egg vulnerable to bacteria and a shorter shelf life. Not to mention those so called "fresh" eggs you buy in the store are often on average at least several days to a week old,and in some cases older. How's that for fresh?!

   Now for those of you who have never seen a fresh egg and store bought egg side by side, let's take a look...

Now the egg on the left is a store bought egg, and the one on the right is a fresh egg from our free range hens. I'm sure the first thing you will notice is the color, the store bought egg has a pale yellow yolk. The fresh egg has a deep orange yolk, this picture just does not do it justice. The deep orange color comes from higher levels of beta carotene,free range eggs also contain higher levels of Omega 3, Vitamins A and E, and lower levels of total fat,saturated fat, and cholesterol.

You know that saying "Happy cows make healthy milk"? Well the same applies to chickens.. happy chickens make healthy eggs.

Last but not least, do they taste different? Yes!! I find store bought eggs to be bland, and runny. Fresh eggs have more texture and flavor,and are fantastic in baked goods.Free range chickens produce better tasting, and healthier eggs. Once you try them you'll never go back to store bought eggs again!

 

Chicken Bone Broth

  Okay, so I mentioned that everyone in our house is sick, and it is not allot of fun dealing with four sick kiddos. I love this time of the year but it also marks the dreaded cough and cold season. So I have been going through allot of recipes for homemade soups, and broths.. I LOVE broths, they are super easy to make and can add tons of flavor to dishes. When I first learned to make chicken broth I started with a raw chicken carcass, garlic, celery, onions and etc... it was boiled until the chicken was cooked and then I used the chicken for soups, casseroles, and so on..

  Then someone shared with me a recipe for chicken bone broth, not only is it super flavorful but it's really healthy. Bone marrow provides lots of nutrients and is very good for the digestive system. Now the broth is a rich golden brown, darker then regular broth, and has a more concentrated flavor. With cold and flu season creeping up it's a great way to help fight off colds. So I thought I would share it with you guys.

   I love to roast whole chickens, and when most of the meat has been removed I like to use the carcass to make bone broth. I also like to use my crock pot because as suggested to me I let my broth simmer for about 36-48 hrs. The goal is to let it simmer until the bones crumble. Now I have had some people tell me that you can break the bones prior to simmering and that it cuts down on the cooking time. However I have never tried that..

To make the broth you will need:

•  A whole cooked chicken with the meat removed (It doesn't have to be a whole chicken carcass, I also use the bones from grilled chicken, I just throw in the legs, breast, and etc.)
• Water
• a whole garlic bulb
• 1-2 med onions
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste (I like to use sea salt and fresh cracked pepper)
• Fine mesh strainer

Now you can add whatever else you would like but keep in mind that some vegetables and herbs can get bitter if cooked for long periods of time, so i wouldn't add them too early into the cooking process. 

Drizzle the olive oil in the bottom of the pot and then add the chicken bones. Rough chop the garlic and onions, you don't even have to remove the skins if you don't want to, and add them along with the vinegar, salt, and pepper. Add water until the chicken and vegetables are covered about 3/4 of the way. Now let it simmer on low for about 48 hrs, adding water when needed to keep the water level at the original height. Now like I stated you don't have to simmer for the 48 hrs, but I would stress that you should at least simmer it for about 24 hrs. Either way when it's done strain your soup with the strainer, and enjoy!

Now bone broth can be made with any kind of bones you wish to use, pork, beef, lamb so don't be afraid to try it with some thing other than chicken bones.

Farm Girl Blues

  I kept meaning to blog this week,I had some great fall recipes I thought I would share, but I've been in kind of a funk the last few days. It's cough and cold season, we have a house full of sick little ones, and then we lost a sweet little doe named Mocha.So it seems all of that brought on a serious case of the "Farm Girl Blues". I admit that losing animals is a very hard thing for me, and all that talk about it gets easier... well NOT for me. Each time I struggle to do everything I can right up until the last minute, even when I know deep down it's too late, but I just can't stop myself. My heart breaks each time, and it has never gotten easier for me.

   However, I love each and every moment with the animals, and cherish the joy they bring. It may not get easier,but the pros far out way the cons. It sometimes takes a little while for me to bounce back into the swing of things,but the animals always seem to know when I need a little extra love. So I mourn my loss, throw myself into the things I love to do, learn to appreciate life just a little bit more, and laugh as much as possible. Laughter is after all the best cure for the blues, and of course chocolate...Chocolate makes everything better! =)
                                                    

There's a goat in your house, and she's wearing a diaper!

     Yep! That's right, there's a goat in our house, again! So it seems that I pick back up much like where I started, with a goat in my house again. Annabelle is not the first goat to end up in the house, and I doubt she will be the last. Don't worry she's not sick, in fact she's a chubby healthy little thing, but she's a wee bit small for the rest of the herd. We tried putting her in with our new potbellied piggies, but let's say that a certain little horny pig would not leave her alone, so that idea didn't go over so well, and we didn't want to leave her all alone...SO in the house she came, and stayed.
     I know it sounds crazy, but for us it's really no different than having a dog in the house. She's super cute, the kids love her,and when we can keep a diaper on her clean up is pretty easy. So except for her wanting to eat the broom and the occasional bloodcurdling "Maaaahh!!" at 2am she's really no trouble at all.
    So while somethings around here have changed, much remains the same.. meaning you'll still find me cleaning broken egg out of my pocket, or cow poop off my iPhone. Ha! You'd think I would have learned by now, but that would be no fun at all!

A tough first year

      I am glad 2011 is over, it was a year filled with what seemed like more downs then ups, but we made the best of it.I wish I could go in to great detail, however, some of it is just too personal. So I'll just stick to life around the "Farm" and bring you up to speed. The children learned some very hard lessons this Summer about life and death. New life is always exciting, babies no matter what kind are always precious! We started the summer off with puppies, the boys always love puppies, but then we lost all but three. Being that I was home with the boys alone I had to get rid of the little bodies and comfort the boys alone. They took it pretty hard but nursing the three remaining puppies to health became their full time jobs.

    That same week we got a horrible shock we we opened up the chicken coop one morning. We had forgotten to close the chicken door and something got in and killed several of our girls. I'll never forget the look on Andruw's face as he stared at there poor headless bodies. So again I found myself alone cleaning up bodies pets we loved. It was a hard year for the boys as they learned that farm life is tough, there's always work to be done, and they learned life on the farm is precious.

       
     The boys learned allot of hard lessons about death over the year. Each one seemed harder then the lesson before, but it has taught us what a blessing good health is not only for us but for the animals we keep. 
For me each death I encountered was heartbreaking , and I felt that I failed them somehow.However I take what I can learn from each one hoping to prevent future deaths, and I never give up trying to save a life.      

     The boys also had to give away one of their dogs who decided that she really liked killing chickens.She took out about 7-8 chickens and 8 guineas in about a week before getting caught in the act, but after seeing her kill a hen in front of them they understood she had to go. Sophie now lives on a cattle farm, and where there are no chickens.lol She is happy at her new home and in the end that's all that matters.
      
     In some way I think the deaths they encountered on our farm helped them to understand the death of their Grandpa Curry. The boys and I were unable to go to NY for his funeral, but we talked about his life and why people and animals die. Our farm has grown and we have learned allot about the animals we keep, the boys are learning that not every animal we own is a "pet", and they are learning about the purpose each serves. They know that our chickens give us eggs, our new dairy goats will give us milk, and our cows will someday be turned in to meat. Now believe me their not real thrilled about having beef cows, they want each animal to be a pet not food, but they might change their minds if it meant they had to give up steak.

   

     So for now our animals are all doing well, we are enjoying the mild winter, and we have seeds started for our garden. So we have plenty to keep us busy.  Our troubles from 2011 are far from over but we are pushing forward determined not to let them hold us back. We hope that 2012 has lots of great things in store for our family and yours.