The Freckled Farm Soap Company

Tag: Goats

What’s up Wednesday – 4/9

I’m sorry that I have been so bad with the farm updates lately. Things have been a little crazy around here. I am done edited in the pictures from Hillary’s labor, now comes the issue of finding time to write the blog post… But I promise it will be soon. The babies are doing wonderfully. They are about twice the size they were at birth. They are so much fun and the kids absolutely love spending time with them in the kid pasture. They all have such wonderful personalities and are going to make great additions to our herd.

We are so behind in our gardening this year. Anything that needed to be started inside has been done, but anything that could have been planted outside already (peas, green onions, and such) have been put off. None of our new beds have even been filled with dirt yet… schedules and weather has delayed the delivery, but it is set to come tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully the yard will be dry enough for them to drive across it!

The baby chicks are getting so big. One of the ones that we thought was a buff orpington, because it was identical to the other buff orpingtons the day they were delivered, turned out to be one of the easter eggers, and one of the ones that we thought was an easter egger we think might in fact be one of the marans. It does look like we may have gotten multiple maran roosters, but only time will tell on that one. It won’t be long and we will be moving the older chickens into the pasture so they can free range and the new chicks into the old coop. I can’t wait to see how the maran eggs turn out!

Just when you think we have enough going on…. We have some exciting news! We will soon be adding salt scrubs, sugar scrubs, and bath teas to our line!! We are currently in the research and development phase, but I expect to debut them in the next month, just as soon as our testers give our recipes a thumbs up. So keep an eye out for those!

The Wednesday market in Goochland Courthouse moved outside last week. It was so nice to be out in the sun and the children liked having the space to run, and playground to play on. We will be outside from now on so come and visit. We have some really great vendors! Today there should be a few veggies, eggs, sausage, brunswick stew, bread, goat cheese, mustard… and of course our soaps!

April 9, 2014
What’s up Wednesday – 3/12

The chicks came yesterday afternoon!! I don’t have any good pictures yet. Only a few taken with my phone and I’m not sure they are even in sharp focus. The chicks arrived happy and healthy! We did have one little problem… one of our chicks was wrong. We ordered 4 female easter eggers and 1 male and that is what we got (as far as we know… it is still possible the chicks were sexed wrong). We also ordered 3 male buff orpingtons as filler to make our order reach the required minimum. We received these chickens and they will be used as meat bird. The issue came with our black copper marans. We ordered 7 females and 1 male and we only got 7 total marans. In it’s place was an additional buff orpington. We are hoping that the missing maran was not our rooster. If he is missing we will not be able to breed more pure bred marans as we had planned. We don’t plan to do it as a business, just for ourselves and friends who might show interest in this rare breed. So, it won’t be a huge hit if we don’t end up with a rooster, just a disappointment. I called the hatchery and they refunded me for the mistake and were very helpful.

This doesn’t compare to the drama that was involved with our last chicken order almost two years ago. Breckin was two and a half and Bryce was about a month old. I went to pick them up from the post office and was told that there was problem with my birds… that the box really stunk. So I put the box in the back of the SUV, put the kids in their car seats, rolled all of the windows down, and drove home trying to figure out how to handle this situations. I knew I had at least one dead bird. The only thing that could account for that smell was death. When I got home I put the chick box on the porch, gave Breckin a snack and put him in front of the TV, and tried to get Bryce comfortable in her chair. I brought the box into the dinning room where I had the brooder set up and opened it up. At the bottom of the box was a poor dead chick that had been squished (I will spare you the details) and another that was injured. I started to pull the live birds out of the box, dipping their beaks in water to encourage them to drink, and then putting them into the brooder. That is when I encountered our next issue. I had made the brooder out of an old dog kennel. It seemed like a good size, would be easy to clean, and would protect the baby chicks… if it could keep them from escaping. Come to find out that the spaces between the bars were too wide. I would put the chicks in and they would just squeeze right out. So here I was with a dead chick, an injured chick, healthy chicks that I couldn’t leave in the box with the other two, a brooder that the chicks could easily escape, a 2.5 year old, and a one month old. What was I going to do? Well, I called my amazing friend Ginni who happened to be off that day and begged her to come help me. She was at the house within minutes. We wrapped the outside of the lower half of the kennel with chicken wire, got the healthy chicks comfortable, and then started to tend to the injured chick. It wouldn’t move it’s legs. Ginni wasn’t sure the chick was going to make it, but showed me what I could do to help her and answered dozens of questions over the next 24 hours as I tried to nurse it back to health. The injured chick past away after a day. Our other girls grew up to be healthy beautiful chickens, but it wasn’t the best way to start off. I will take getting a wrong chick over that mess any day!

Hillary is now 6 days away from her due date and Tina is exactly a week. Hillary has been close to labor for days now. Her ligaments are almost gone and she has spent the last two days moaning none stop. She seems so incredibly uncomfortable. We put the intercom up in the barn so I could constantly monitor her. I think she will go into labor in the next few days!

Hopefully next week’s “What’s up Wednesday” includes pictures and stories about our new goat kids! It’s all so exciting! I love this time of year!

March 12, 2014
What’s up Wednesday 2/25

Holly molly have we had a busy week. The amazing weather this weekend gave us the perfect opportunity to start getting projects done around the farm.

We started by constructing the chicken coop we ordered a few weeks back. It didn’t take very long to put together and we are both quite pleased with the design. I will do a post highlighting it soon. We sealed the wood once it was together in hopes that it will last longer. We put it together outside of the pasture because I didn’t want the goats getting ahold of the packaging or messing with us (incessantly) while we were working. I wanted to put it in the pasture on Sunday, but with the second coating of sealant going on that morning I decided that we should wait until next weekend and give the seal a chance to really dry as the goats will likely chew on it for a while when it first goes in.

Last year we built a kid pen out of pallets and spare wood. Ruth and Sonia lived in it last spring until they were big enough to move in with the big girls and llamas. It worked well for them, but the calk we used to seal the roof didn’t hold up and I was beginning to worry about the cracks between the slats and wind getting through, which would be a problem if we got another snow storm. So, we reinforced the sides with plywood and plan to use the roofing we are buying for the buck’s pen to seal the roof off once and for all. Finally we painted it kid barn red. The same red we plan to paint the buck pen.

This weekend we also put up the temporary birth pin in the barn. The walls and door are made out of pallets. It ain’t pretty… but it does the job. Good thing it’s not staying up. We may decide to do something more permanent next year, but for now this will do.

Finally, we got the intercom for the barn. We got this so we could hear what is going on inside the barn at night. We are hoping it will allow us to hear if the girls go into labor at night… so we don’t have to check on them every 10 minutes… although I am sure I still will. Unfortunately, we put it in Monday night and realized that it was messing with Bryce’s baby monitor. We need to do a little research, but at the moment it looks like we are going to have to return it for something that is on a different frequency.

It’s about 3 weeks until the girls’ due dates. They were so uncomfortable in the warm weather this weekend. While the other animals were laying the sun, enjoying the beautiful weather, they laid in the barn and moaned all weekend. I could have sworn that they were somehow going into labor early, but they were fine once it cooled off again. I am so glad they won’t be going through pregnancy in any sort of real heat.

The next few days should be as busy as the last week. We plan to put solar up in the barn (only one panel… enough to power a light and maybe a fan), put the chicken coop up in the pasture, and set up the brooder for the chickens coming in two weeks!

February 26, 2014
What’s up Wednesday – 2/19

The countdown is on! Spring is a little over a month away, the girls only have 4 more weeks until their due dates, and we only have 3 more weeks until the baby chicks arrive in the mail. It wont be long before we have precious baby goats and chicks hopping around. I can’t wait!!

We got around 10 inches of snow, sleet, and ice last week. There is still quite a bit of it on the ground, even after several days of mild temperatures. The bad weather has halted our construction projects, but I’m hoping to get the chicken coop started (and maybe finished… who knows) this weekend. The chicken coop is going in the pasture and I was hoping to have it done by this point in the girls’ pregnancies because I don’t want to cause them any sort of stress this close to their due dates… but there is only so much that you can do. We also apparently underestimated the amount of hay we needed when ordering last August and only have about a 2-3 week supply left. So, this weekend will also be spent searching out hay.

Overall it’s been a pretty uneventful week. That’s what happens when you are trapped in your house for most of it!

We will be at the My Courthouse Market today from 3-7pm! I am really looking forward to seeing everyone.

February 19, 2014
The Freckled Farm First Friday Book Club – The Year of the Goat

Our second book in the 2014 First Friday Book Club is The Year of the Goat: 40,000 Mile and the Quest for the Perfect Cheese by Margaret Hathaway and Karl Schatz.

This book is all about following your passion. In The Year of the Goat Margaret Hathaway writes about the year that her, and her then boyfriend, Karl Schatz dropped everything, leaving their big city lives in order to travel around the country visiting all things goat related. They toured dairy and meat goat farms, auctions, barbecue competitions, cheese tasting, and much more. This is one of those books that you want to live in. There were times while I was reading it that I was fiercely jealous that it wasn’t me going on these amazing travels. It’s amazing to see all the different ways people are using goats. This book truly is an homage to small agriculture and goat farmers.

Are you starting to see a pattern?… People leaving their city lives in search of greener pastures and a simpler life. This is what we did. Maybe that’s why I feel so connected to these books.

Have you read The Year of the Goat? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

February 7, 2014
What’s up Wednesday 1/5

We had wonderful mild weather this past weekend. It’s amazing what a slightly warm, sunny day can do to your mood! Although the last couple of days haven’t been as nice as the weather we experienced over the weekend, it looks like the weather is going to hold up, meaning no snow, so we are able to attend the My Courthouse Market inside the Goochland Courthouse YMCA this evening. We will be there from 3-7. We will have our coffee goat milk soap with us!!

We got quite a bit done in the last week. We ordered our newest chicken coop and it was shipped on Tuesday. It’s going to be nice to just assemble a coop this time rather than spending months building one from scratch. We are also putting together a huge lumber order for all of our other projects that will be happening over the next few months including a buck barn, buck pasture, building a few new mangers to accommodate the new animals, expanding our garden by adding 6 new beds, building a garden for Breckin, and fencing off a new pasture for the girls and llamas. We are also hoping to have the solar put up in the barn before too long as well. So much to do, so little time!

February 5, 2014
What’s up Wednesday – 1/8

It was a cold day on The Freckled Farm yesterday… as it was for most of the country. Monday and Tuesday night we closed the animals up in the barn and coop. Normally we leave the doors open to the pasture and run, but we wanted to prevent any wind from getting to the animals and to allow the deep bedding to do it’s job. The animals faired well through the cold weather, although there were points when I was working in the pasture that I could see the goats shivering. They ended up spending the entire day in the barn, only coming out when I was doing farm chores. We have one chicken though who decided that she wanted to molt late in the season and still hasn’t gotten all of her feathers back. I have worried about her quite a bit, but she seems to be doing fine.

On Tuesday Kevin went out to feed the animals around 5:30am and the temperatures were in the negatives with the wind chill. He closed everyone back up after they were done eating and I went and let everyone out once the sun came up. I had to go out several times during the day to remove the ice from the water buckets. This is my least favorite winter chore. We thought about getting heated buckets, but the breeder of Tina and Hillary told us to avoid them because they lower the goat’s resistance to cold, and if the bucket should break or the electricity go out the cold water could end up hurting the goats. So I trek out the barn and coop every couple of hours to remove the layer of ice that has formed on the water and add warm water. Last year there were only a few days that we really had to fight ice in the water buckets. If we lived in an area that is as cold as what we are dealing with right now all the time I might have consider investing in something else to combat the problem!

In other news, today is our first day at My Courthouse Market in Goochland, VA. This is an INDOOR farmers market located inside the YMCA in Goochland Courthouse. The market runs from 3pm-7pm. Come and visit us!

January 8, 2014
The Freckled Farm First Friday Book Club – Goat Song

I am starting the 2014 “The Freckled Farm First Friday Book Club” with my favorite farming memoir – Goat Song: A Seasonal Life, a Short History of Herding, and the Art of Making Cheese by Brad Kessler

You will learn over the next year that I am completely obsessed with farming memoirs. I find the process of starting a farm incredibly fascinating… any type of farm, not just goat farms. It’s likely because I am at that same point in my life as many of the authors, but even if you aren’t I can assure you that they are great reads. There is something very romantic about learning to live of the land.

This was the book that started my love of farm memoirs. This wonderful novel follows Brad Kessler’s journey as he leaves the big city, moves to a farm in southern Vermont, and learns to raise goats and make cheese. I found his process of learning to make cheese especially inspirational. I love when people go to great lengths to truly learn their craft. Throughout the book Mr. Kessler throws in interesting facts about goats and how they have been viewed and used through history. So not only is this book a lovely story it’s also a history lesson.

Goat song is beautifully written. It goes into great detail about what it is like to start a goat farm and if you haven’t witnessed a buck in rut or the whole breeding process I am here to attest that it really is as gross as he depicts. Brad loves his land, his goats, and good cheese. I sincerely love this book. It is the perfect book to start your love of farming memoirs!

Have you read Goat Song? Leave your thoughts in the comment section!

January 3, 2014
Around the Farm

A few weeks ago we did a little impromptu photo shoot because we needed photographs of us with the animals for several different things. We got some great images, so I thought I would take the time to share them here on the blog. Enjoy!

Breckin and Baby Ruth:

Breckin and Baby Sonia:

Me and my buddy Afton. We have a special relationship. Also, Kevin, Bryce, and Baby Sonia:

Tina had to be closed up in the barn during the photo shoot because she isn’t good with the children.

December 27, 2013
Getting to Know The Freckled Farm – Our Barn

Want to know more about the farmers, animals, and buildings on The Freckled Farm? Every Friday I introduce you to another part of The Freckled Farm. This week you have a chance to get to know our barn!

When we purchased this property it was just a house on some acreage. It wasn’t set up as a farm, but I had a vision of what it could be. We dreamed, planned, and saved for several years. We slowly moved towards becoming a real working farm and finally in August of 2012 we built our barn… or more accurately we had Thad from Louisa Barn and Buildings build our barn. It was an emotional process for me. I had dreamed of my farm for so long and the barn is really what makes a property a farm. Everyday when the builders left I would go stand out in the middle of the construction and marvel as I watched this thing that I had dreamed about for years and years piece together. It’s not a huge barn, but it fits us perfectly and we have lots of space to grow into it.

Many goat people have visited and were blown away by our barn. It’s beautiful and is far more than most people do for their goats. Although it’s not always the case, a lot of people simply have a lean-to or shed to house their goats and really this is fine for a small herd, but we hope to have 10-13 goats when the business is running full steam. My philosophy is do it once and do it right. You save money if you do it well the first time and if you aren’t trying to constantly keep up with your growth or mend a shelter that is not as solid as a barn might be. Also, Virginia weather can be unpredictable and I didn’t want to be left trying to figure out how to house the goats if we had a blizzard like a few years ago.

Our barn is the centerpiece of our farm and we are very proud of it.

The Freckled Farm Soap Company makes handmade goat milk soaps. Our body care products are all natural and made with love. For more information about our products please visit our website: www.thefreckledfarmsoapcompany.com

December 13, 2013