One week behind us...

Cailin and Belle eating at the manger I made this week.

         As of tomorrow we have had our two wonderful goats for a full week.  They might be the best goats ever.  Well we have nothing to compare them to but, the original owners felt the same way and they have had goats for many years.  They are very affectionate and playful.  Jamey has spent many hours hanging out with them this week.  They both seem to cry whenever we walk away.  They would love for you to come meet them soon!

        We are currently able to milk Cailin twice a day and we are getting about 4-4 1/2 cups of milk per day. That is fine for us because we are all still getting used to goat's milk.  It is much healthier than cow's milk and is the closet to human milk.  Four cups (2.5 lbs) is on the low end for goats but, this was her first pregnancy.  We are planning on breading her in December so we will have another kid in April.  Then it will be Bell's turn.   

Kent finishing up the double doors on the goat shed. 

The "goat pasture" in our side yard. 

             Special thanks to our parents who came through last week with a lot of needed help.  The goat shed is about 90% complete with only the goat access door, part of the fence and painting to go.  We will then work on getting an area set up for the rabbits in side for winter.

Another Show Under Her Belt

 This summer Emma was in a wonderful production of Titanic.  Since this year marked the 100th anniversary of the ships fatal voyage the production company went all out.  This was Emma's first full musical with a mainly adult cast.  She played several roles and had 4 costume changes (and we didn't even have to make them).  The cast and the music were amazing.  We were very proud of her.  She is already preparing for roles she hopes to get during next year's shows

1st Class Server (4th from right)

1st Class Passenger during the ball. 

3rd Class Passenger as the boat sinks.

Here come the goats...

This fall we have decided to add a pair of Nubian dairy goats to our small homestead.  One is already producing milk and the younger doe is ready to be bred this winter. We purchased them from a local retired couple who share the same passion for self sufficiency and small family farming.  We will be blessed with two does, Belle and her baby Cailin.  We look forward to bringing them home later this month.



Calilin (Belle's mom) (Born: March 2011)



Belle (Born: March 2012)



Goat Barn

Gravel for Pad

Pad completed (10/10)

End walls raised (10/12)



Back wall raised (10/12)



Sheeting completed (10/13)



Roof completed (10/18)



Last week we began to construct our new shed/barn to house the goats and the rabbits in the winter months.  We have gotten a lot accomplished in only a week.  We hope to have the bulk of the building completed this weekend and then we can start on the pens and the fenced in yard. 

Congratulations

Congrats to Hannah for being selected as the principle 2nd violin for the Toledo Youth Symphony Orchestra.  This is Hannah's second year with the TYSO and we can't wait to see them perform again.  We would encourage you to come out an see them play.  It is amazing to see how talented the High Schoolers are in the Toledo Area. 
Also congrats to Emma who was casted in 3B Productions, Titanic, this fall at the Maumee Indoor Theater.  They will be performing the first weekend in October.  Don't miss this amazing show with an incredible cast.

Once on this Island Jr.



This summer Emma was casted in another musical at the Toledo Rep.  She had a lot of fun playing Mama Euralie, one of the few lead roles.  The show includes elements of the Romeo and Juliet story; as well as the fairytale of "The Little Mermaid". The story concerns a peasant girl on a tropical island, who uses the power of love to bring together people of different social classes.  Emma played the lead character's adapted mother.  She was challenged both vocally and emotionally with the character.  She worked hard all summer and was so excited to spend time with her, "theater" friends. 



The cast of Once on This Island Jr. at the Toledo Rep (2012)





Emma and Jonathan take the stage.

Poor Honey Locust

Damage to the chicken coop

One of my favorite features of our property was the large honey locust tree in the center of the back yard.  This spring Jamey and an I enjoyed learning all about this species of tree.  There are so many uses for both the seeds, seed pods, etc...  From making coffee with the beans to the many medicinal uses of the pulp we were excited to harvest and experiment.  Even when deciding whether to get a pool or pond the largest factor was that we did not want to loose this tree. 

Landed just short of our pool.

Last week we had some strong straight line winds that may have put an end to all of that.  We came home to find roughly a 1/3 of the tree sprawled out across the yard.  The large section graised the chicken coop roof, sheared off the a door and smashed a portion of the chicken run.  Our new pool narrowly survived the wrath of its many branches.   There is a large crack in the remaining trunk.  We will hopefully get a hold of an arborist from the Maumee Forrest to come out and give us their advise about keeping the rest of the tree or cutting it down.  We spent the better part of the last 3 days cleaning up the mess.  Luckily honey locust is a very hard wood and we will be able to harvest it for firewood next year. 

Hopefully it will live

Gardening




Tomatoes



This year we had high expectations for a grand garden.  We spent a long time trying to decide the best place where to plant but, with all our other plans up in the air we could not settle on the perfect area.  Despite our indecision, we did manage to get several varieties of seeds in the ground.  The warm weather in the spring gave us a great start but, a HOT dry summer has challenged even a veteran farmer.  All this being said, we have been harvesting quite a bit over the last several weeks. 

Corn

Summer Squash

We planted several varieties of squash, tomatoes and peppers.  We are also growing corn (far less than desired), carrots, collard greens, onions, potatoes, cucumbers, garlic, and broccoli.  We have had zero luck with our lettus, peas and beans.  I guess the soil is too sandy or too hot.  I am thinking about starting a planting journal so we can be better prepared for next year.  We also want to work on green  house or something similar to start our garden early next spring. 



Broccoli