Spring seems to be late to arrive this year, just when we think its come we get a cold spell. The chickens have moved back to their summer shed and although they haven't been outside yet they at least have windows and a screen door for sunlight and fresh air. We had them in the heated barn all winter with no windows or outside access. We used an automatic light timer and I loved it so much we bought one for their summer shed as well. We just program it to turn the lights on at 5am and turn them off at 7pm. Right now it is still light out at 7pm but the chickens can go to bed with the sun this way. We now have 51 laying hens and 2 roosters. The roosters get a long fine and have never seemed to have a problem with each other. When we accidentally got a rooster with our last batch of pullets, we were afraid one of them would end up the stew pot but since they're getting along we'll just let Glenn and O'Reilly share the girls. Of the 51 layers we're getting 30-40 eggs per day. I think I may have to look into joining the farmers market this summer to get rid of all my eggs unless I find some new customers soon. So far we've just been donating our extra eggs.
Last fall we lost our Boer Billy Bud right in the middle of breeding season so Sunny finished up breeding our the rest of our Boer herd. We're getting a lot of interesting kids this year as a Toggenburg/Boer cross. We're still looking for a new replacement for Bud. Sunny is as naughty as ever. We had to put a special latch on the outside of the barn door because he always flips the handle open. The other day Mike forgot to latch it and Sunny let the entire barn out for an excursion around the yard.
Hunny & Bunny had their purebred babies. Bunny had a male (yet to be named) and a female (Gertie) and Hunny had a male (Junior- b/c he's as naughty as his father). Gertie is such a sweetheart, I'd like to keep her but wouldn't want to breed her to Sunny again so we'll probably have to sell her.
I finally had success making goat cheese that tastes good. I just made regular soft goat cheese but this is the first time it has not had the slightest bit of goaty flavor. I'm so excited because I wasn't sure it was possible to make goat milk products without the off flavor. I stirred in some spices for a great all purpose dip and I even used it as a mayo substitute in egg salad. It is so rewarding to consume food you produced and created yourself, you know what is in it and the ingredient list is simple to pronounce. I spent the money on a pastuerizer and other equipment and I think it makes all the difference to have the necessary high quality tools. I also tried making yogurt for the first time and it tasted good but was a bit runny, I think the temp wasn't exactly right. I also made sourdough starter and will be trying my hand at sour dough bread from scratch soon.
I have everything ordered for my garden this year. We are expanding as much as we can in the limited sunny space that we have. Much of our yard is pretty shady. With all the canning I plan to do again we are going to need the extra space. I just hope we have a good summer for everything to grow. I'm trying grapes and blueberries this year. I don't know that I'll get much of a harvest for a couple years but hopefully I'll them off to a good start this year.
I'm hoping to keep this blog updated more throughout the summer. I welcome any comments and would like to know what your interested in reading more about.
