Playing with the past

Digging through old photos, I found one of myself with some close childhood friends...our baby goats.  This picture was taken in 1983 by my neighbor, Eddie, an older fellow with a very warm heart who I thought of as a grandfather.  Many years later, when I could appreciate such things, he gave me this photo and it is still one of my favorites.  My daughter is only slightly younger than I was in the picture, so seeing her interact with our baby goats and generous neighbors is very much like stepping into the past to relive my childhood.

  

Until recently, I hadn't noticed the detailed shadow cast onto the wall behind me.  We don't own any good picture editing programs, but I fiddled with it enough in Paint to produce a draft logo for our little farm.

I have one more (completely different) idea for a logo, but it's going to take more playtime.  What do you think?  My husband says it's weird.

MORE kids!!

Cordial kidded very easily in the early afternoon on Friday with two bucks and a doe.  Hours old, the boys were pawing and blubbering like their daddy during breeding season and already had little horns.  We are calling them Cobalt and Carbon.  Their little sis', Cadmium, has the potential to be a great milker, but we've decided to make her available. 

Cordial's triplets

Constance's triplets

Constance gave us three large and flashy doelings yesterday, finishing up our Nigerian kidding season.  They are Neon, Argon, and Xenon.  Everyone is healthy and taking their bottle-feeds with enthusiasm.  Our doe goats really did a wonderful job this year.  With the wait and worry behind us, I'm excited for these little ones to meet the world.

Baby goat pictures

UPDATE - We have added a new page entitled 2012 Nigerian Dwarf Kids (see right) that has better pictures and is more organized.  That page will be frequently updated as we have new kids born. 

We have four kids that are just around 48 hrs old.  Ostara gave us these two beautiful does (pictured below) who take after their sire Bandito in the looks department.

doeling - Onyx

doeling - Olivia

Then Trillium delivered a tan buck and flashy b&w doe the very same day.  Both are blue-eyed and completely adorable.  Even when the kids are this young, it's hard to catch them standing still for the camera. 

doeling - Titanium

Trillium and buckling - Tungsten

Back to pregnant goat watch!

Brief Kidding Update

Ostara gave us two doelings yesterday morning right after her breakfast.  One is all black and the other is black with a white star, frosted ears and a few moon spots.  We kept vigil in the barn all day, with Cordial overdue and Trillium in early labor.  Just before bedtime with my human kids, Trillium gave us a doe and buck without any assistance.  The buck is all tan with blue eyes and her doe is black and white spotted with a white star, frosted ears and blue eyes.  They are all nursing, vigorous and completely adorable.  It was 8 degrees Fahrenheit this morning, but everyone was snuggled down and safe in our neighbor's cozy barn.

Now we are watching Cordial, who is quite late and Constance, who may be early.  "We" being mostly my dedicated, compassionate and intuitive goat farm co-owner and dear friend, EM.

We will continue to update as kids are born and be posting pictures SOON.  Thanks for checking in!  

Sugarin'

Last fall, we found a homemade hobby maple syrup evaporator for sale just down the street from us.  It was a great craigslist find and the seller even delivered it for us.  Excitement aside, there are a few issues with this setup.  First, the built in thermometer is at an improper height to be functional, which is not a big deal except that we don't have another that is long enough to reach into the sap with the dial out of the steam.  The steam that comes off a good boil is impossible to see through, so a temperature reading is very important to make sure the sap is not about to burn.  Then the welded baffles that serve to increase heating surface area do not meet up well with the curved pan, creating a space that is impossible to clean (old toothbrush and much cussing).  Finally, the flue pipe could use some added length.  I managed to melt the edge of my polycarbonate roofing on our first boil...whoops.

However, it is just the right size for 20-30 taps and was a very modest investment.  We don't have enough trees to justify several thousand dollars of start-up cost, especially if we decide that it's no longer enjoyable.  So far, it has been a big treat from the open-fire boil we employed last year with one of my cooking pots that is still blackened.

We had five gallons of sap to try out this evaporator on the second weekend of February.  Last year, we hadn't placed any taps until the end of the month.  The weather has been unpredictable to say the least.  Recently, the temps have either been too cold during the daytime or above freezing overnight.  Sap won't run without a good freeze a night and near 40 degrees during the day.  Collecting sap is a breeze without the usual three feet of snow, so we have placed more taps than we originally planned.   It's great exercise with a toddler on my back.  Maybe that will burn off the calories consumed in maple syrup covered pancakes every Saturday from now on.  

Milking room converted to sugar shed.

Potential Energy

I feel like I'm teetering on the top rung of a ladder, reaching for more fruit while risking a fall that could crush everything I've picked so far.  My hope is that this potential energy will remain unrealized with the added support of my husband, daughters and neighbors.  Someone is holding the ladder down below so that I can abandon two arms for the harvest.

The spring crazies are here without much winter reprieve.  I won't belabor talk of the winter that was not.  Instead, I'm making preparations for a very EARLY and busy spring.   We have a continuation of projects past and new endeavors to report, in brief. 

We'll be raising two Berkshire/Tamworth piglets this summer, in collaboration with our neighbors.  They will have whey from our small cheesemaking operation, homegrown organic vegetables, and acorns from our mature oaks.  They will be slaughtered on our farm and then butchered at a local farm.  We wanted to do the cut-up ourselves, but without a cold-room I fear the outside temperature in October would not permit a proper hang.  

Maple sap started to run a week ago, so we will try out our new/used hobby-sized evaporator this weekend.  We have placed about 26 taps and hope to produce enough maple syrup for ourselves (and one neighbor) so that we can avoid cane sugar altogether this year.
 
We've started leeks and onion seeds in the basement.  Brassica are next up, followed by tomatoes/peppers in March. 

Our 2012 goat kids are due in less than three weeks, so the girls have had their hooves trimmed, CD&T vaccinations, selenium-E supplement, and a copper bolus administered.  We added black oil sunflower seeds to their usual fixin's a week ago.  They also enjoy kelp, free-choice loose minerals, baking soda, an increasing grain ration, 1st and 2nd cut hay, AND we will be adding yeast extract next week.  I'm pretty sure they eat better than I do, at this point.  But then I'm not pregnant again, thankfully.

We're also expanding our usual poultry (layers and meaties) to include guinea hens because from what I've read, the ticks will be worse than ever this season.  Last year, I had to pick them off of my daughters with all too much regularity.

Our garden is expanding to the neighbor's as well, so we are adding many new crops, including some for our four-legged friends.  Storage crops are getting a real boost with the extra space.  I'm so excited and terrified at the prospect of it all.

Cheers, for a spectacular spring! 

2012 Kid Reservations

Our first priority is placing goat kids into loving situations.  In 2011, we quickly sold all eight of our available kids (mostly wethers) to pet homes.  They were bottle-fed and very literally jumping into visitor's arms.  It was a rewarding experience for me and I continue to assist our customers with knowledge gained from experience, which grows every season here at Capsand Creamery.  We began a verbal reservation list at about this time last year, which is solely intended to make kid placements occur more smoothly and free up time for me in the spring when we are busier.

 

We've seen some big changes on the farm, recently.  Midsummer, we were very fortunate to purchase a new buck named Dragonfly IH Bandito Burrito *S (thank you Niko H.).  He originated from Joanne Karohl's farm in Massachusetts through breeding ARMCH Twin Creeks MB Stellaluna *D 'E with PromisedLand Incredible Hunk *S.  These wonderful animals haven proven themselves in the show ring and pass on genetics for great milk capacity.  We've bred all of our does to Bandito this fall and intend to keep a few select doelings out of him just to see what they are capable of next year.

Our first fresheners turned out to be very productive milkers, owing in part to having ARMCH Rosasharn's Uni 3*D E as a granddam.  We couldn't ask for more from our girls.  Except when you begin making hard cheeses and selling milk shares, there's never enough milk.  So we also added a mature and minature horse-sized purebred American Oberhasli named Wynona.  Despite her incredible size she is very gentle and cooperative.  She will give us registerable mini-Oberhasli F1 generation kids in March, which ideally should be an intermediate size while giving twice as much milk as a Nigerian Dwarf and hopefully retaining the high butterfat and protein levels that they are renowned for.  This is a new venture in exploring a breeding program that favors feed efficiency and milk production in a gentle smaller sized animal.

Finally, the biggest change has been a MOVE into our neighbor's solar-powered post-and-beam horse barn.  For our use, we now have three large stalls, two beautiful pastures, copious woodlands, and an insulated milk room with hot water, a milking machine, and a refrigerator.  More importantly, we have our dear friend, milk customer and compatriot in goat-loving right next door.  It's been a big year!

So if you would like to visit the farm and see what kids will be available in March, we are taking verbal reservations in the order they are received for the breedings posted here.

Please email us at capsandcreamery@gmail.com to ask questions or add your name to the list.