All of the cheese we make here at Olde Oak Farm gets sold at farmers markets in the area. Being a rather new (only 3 years old) business, we only sell at a few markets right now. We sell at Orono Market on Saturdays. This year we expanded to selling at the Brewer market also on Saturdays. These markets start up the first week of May. Two weeks ago we added on Bangor market which is an evening market on Thursdays in downtown Bangor. In two days we'll add on the Tuesday afternoon market in Orono. Four markets a week equals a lot of cheese and a lot of work making, preparing and packaging all that yummy cheese! So if I've been out of touch lately...this is more than likely the reason and it's about to get worse. I'll try to keep y'all updated as much as possible though. I know you can't live without the next installment of Life on the Goat Farm!
Unfortunately this week was also Nate's last week at the farm. Nate decided to take a turn on a new path and I hope he finds what he is looking for on his journey. Farming is a difficult lifestyle. Long exhausting days with little pay. People can burn out easily and it's not uncommon for people to leave. More notice and communication would have been appreciated, but we will not let the farm suffer. We just have to step it up for the goats and the cheese and for the community that believes in and supports us. With a clear understanding of just how much work I now have ahead of me as the only apprentice at the farm, I am excited to get to work and get us geared up for all these markets! But first I'm enjoying a nice, restful day off today.
So what else is new here? Bees! We picked up three boxes of bees last Saturday!! Scott wanted to get me a side project--something else I'm interested in learning. He has past work experience as a bee keeper so we got honey bees! They are up at the new house and Scott has been keeping an eye on them. It's been raining almost everyday this week but some sunny day I'll try to get some photos of them. We are going to get them into the hives and find the queen in each one. If the hives do really well this summer we may get some honey in August. But we have to make sure they have enough to get them through the winter. So far I have not been stung. *cross your fingers* :)
I thought I'd post some chicken photos.
The chickens are sort of neglected here at the farm. They need a little spotlight. I really didn't like the chickens much at first. They don't seem like very intelligent birds. But they are very useful around the farm. They eat lots of bugs and pests out of the gardens. They make little dirt baths for themselves to keep the mites away. While I was finishing up milking earlier this week I looked over and there was a chicken sitting on Gem's back.
I wish I had been able to grab a camera! It was so funny! Gem was so pleased with her chicken. The chicken was picking bugs out of her fur and at the same time walking around her back with it's talons and goats love a good scratching. What was more surprising was when Pretty (another goat) came up beside Gem and nuzzled the chicken with her face. The chicken hopped over on Pretty's back. A few minutes later Gem walked around the other side of Pretty and carefully stuck her face right into the chicken's feathers and coaxed the chicken back on to her back. Too cute! Goats sharing a chicken. The goats were so pleased with themselves. Gem's eyes were closed and she had the biggest smile on her face as the chicken walked around on her back.
Well that's all from the farm this week folks!
