Cat and Rabbit: BFF

Bun update! The bunny and Toulouse became friends this week! They're hanging out right now while I write this. Really the cat is more confused and concerned with the rabbit's presence. The bun could care less. 

It has been a pretty relaxing week here at the farm...definitely the calm before the storm. Friday morning Scott, Nate, Katie and I worked in the cheese plant packing cheese and making mozzarella for the market on Saturday. Jen and I went to market Saturday morning and had a great time! The sun was warm and lots of people bought cheese. I met a lot of customers. 

Right now, we're still in winter market mode. We only go once a month on the last Saturday of the month. So our next market will be the last Saturday in April. Full time market swings into action on the following Saturday, May 2nd. By then most of the goats will be producing milk and the cheese plant should be in full operation. 

I also spent more time getting to know the ladies this week. Elsa will freshen (kid) first this week on Thursday. Chips follows her on Saturday and Pleasure is scheduled for Sunday. I'm not sure if they will actually stick to the schedule or not, but I'm ready for some kids! We went over the lists of names this afternoon. Jen has a list of themes for each goat. Each generation gets its own theme. Elsa's kids will all be flowers. Their kids will be trees and so on. 

Time Flies

My goal is to update this blog on a weekly basis...but you'll have to hold me to it because the weeks go by so fast here! Most of this week I spent working up at the new house in Maxfield. Almost all the doors are hung (there are 19!) The cabinets in the kitchen are all installed. Jen and I have been working on oiling the doors. We're using Danish oil to seal and protect all the woodwork in the house and there's so much of it! But it looks amazing when it's done. Beautiful! 

The well was also finished this week, so hopefully we'll have running water up there soon also! Nate got the floor in the apprentice bathroom and mud room tiled on Friday and grouted on Saturday. When Scott gets back from his latest job I think he's going to start working on the floor boards downstairs. We're looking at moving us and the goats around the beginning of May, but who knows what could happen between now and then. Goats start kidding April 1. We have 5 goats scheduled to kid on Friday April 10! That's a lot of kids! We were hoping to be moved before they kid, but that's definitely not happening. 

Speaking of goats! Jen and I gave all the ladies shots last night of CD/T - Its a vaccine for Tetanus. We gave them the shots while they were eating and they didn't even flinch. I learned to give them a shot in the skin behind their front leg...kinda like the goat's armpit. We also gave them a de-wormer. I had to straddle the goat at the shoulders and pull their heads against my belly and get a little tube in their mouth and squirt just a bit of it into their mouth. Some were easy and liked the taste...others were not so excited. Goats are strong! I'm also trying hard to learn all their names. Hopefully I can learn their names before they kid and then there will be more names to learn. I'll try to get some photos of the ladies up here later today. 

This weekend we have a market on Saturday. Nate and I will make mozzarella on Friday. And I'm sure I'll be up at Maxfield oiling more doors this week also.  Okay, time for a much needed shower. Stay tuned! 

Down on the Farm

Wednesday:

Waiting for the rennet to do its thing, I'm in the cheese plant at Olde Oak Farm with Nate and we're working on a washed rind cheese. Yesterday we processed 25 gallons of fresh jersey cow milk from Clovercrest Dairy, and made it into 3 beautiful wheels of cheddar. They will age for a couple months until we need them for markets.

So here I am in the middle of Maine! I finally made it up here and so far it's been a long, full week. I'm getting settled and acustomed to life at the farm. In a few short weeks the ladies will start to freshen (kid) and we'll be going out of our minds with baby goats, milking, cheese and general mayhem! 

Sunday:

I started this post earlier in the week and didn't have time to finish. Now it's Sunday morning and team cheese is about to head out to the ladies barn to shovel out the poop. The pack of goat poop, hay and wood chips has been building up over the winter and we need to get it cleaned out before the goats start to kid. 

Yesterday I hung out with Jen all day. We went to the Orono farmer's market meeting to vote on which new vendors to allow into the market this year. It was very interesting to hear each farm introduce themselves and to hear the rest of the farms debate whether or not they had room for another baker or veggie farmer at the market. I think maybe the most valuable thing I learned is to know the market that you're applying to. There has to be a good balance of vendors and products available for the customer base. 

More to come ... later when you can smell me through the computer. Mmmmm! 

Bun update: Willow (buns) is doing okay. She's had a rough time, but is getting used to being in a house with 2 cats and a dog and a bunch of people that smell like goats. :) She's been nose to nose (through the cage) with the other critters in the house and she's been pretty cool about it. So no worries, buns is alive and kickin!