#104 - Farming Thoughts Less Foggy

Learning about farming is something we've been dedicated to doing this past year. Of course, I had always wanted chickens, then for years I began to feel the building drive to also own goats one day. But, I certainly didn't know one thing about chickens as of this past March, and today I know even less than nothing about goats.

Basically, I want goats so that I can mostly make goat products such as soaps, cheeses, lotions, etc., because the butterfat content on certain breeds are very high, the glycerin content is high, so this is the reason certain goat milk lotions feel so scrumptious to the skin. Since I go through gallons of lotion every year, it might actually be cost effective for me to learn to make my own body lotions from goat milk. And my daughters are hooked on a nearby farmer's home-made goat lotions, so it will definitely be something my family would enjoy. And soaps, oh yeah buddy...I'd love to be able to make soaps.

The farm portion of a goat class Deputy Dave and I took
this year in Houston. The 2nd portion of the class was a
field trip to this farmers two acre goat farm...I believe she had
around 30 goats and lots of chickens.

However, I'm beginning to realize that it might be great to ALSO have a few cattle. Initially, I'd been resistant to owning cattle because, frankly, I'm terrified of cattle. And yes, I am a Texan. Cattle are everywhere, even in downtown Houston on empty lots surrounded by business buildings because the cattle give the land an almighty agriculture tax exemption. I now realize that if we had our own milking cow, I'd know exactly where our milk came from and how long it had actually been sitting on a shelf before it goes on top of my Lucky Charms.

I got to milk this little beauty. My first time to ever milk
a farm animal and I must say that I felt very comfortable with the process.
Even though I was initially looking for the other two "missing" teats.

My oldest daughter is drinking unpasteurized milk from a reputable area farmer. Yes, this worries me...I can't help it. Unpasteurized dairy products can carry such danger, but she swears that her tummy issues are better since she's been drinking unpasteurized milk. I don't know enough about the subject to understand the value of unpasteurized milk, but I can't take a chance with drinking unpasteurized with my health condition. I'm glad Heather enjoys her milk. When she lived at home, she went through a gallon of milk by herself every three days, so she might need to get a cow one day for herself.

Anyway, Heather and her fiance go to this farm and they get their milk from the farmer's customer refrigerator and there is a jar full of money left sitting out for you to add your payment for the milk you are taking ---- all of it is based on the old-fashioned concept of "on your honor."

My daughter says that sometimes there is clearly about $200. in the jar and she thinks it is amazing that people are so honest in the country and that the owners have such faith in their local customers to allow them to fully trusting. I call that kind of honor system an example of pure country goodness.

The Houston area goat farmers new room to satisfy her
goat dairy inspections.

Again, since we have health concerns in our family, I don't believe we'll take any chances with drinking unpasteurized milk. Since I've been studying Farming 101 this past year, I've learned that there are several methods of pasteurizing, but one of the best and easiest methods I've learned about it to simply freeze the milk. Once the milk freezes, it kills any microbes and it doesn't affect the quality or taste of the milk once it is defrosted for drinking. Plus, it's easier to do than makes messes with pots and pans along with the time it takes to heat the milk...freezing also does not chance scalding the milk.

Our local farmer gal showing us a few products to help
with raising goats. However, we want to go for our organic
certification, so a lot of these products we will not be able to use.

Since my husband has raised cattle, he's more comfortable with the idea of them, but I will be gladly volunteer to milk the cow in order to enjoy the fresh ingredients we use so heavily in our cooking...milk, cheese, buttermilk, butter and such. We are a big dairy family.

As for goats, we will likely start with a few of them so that we can enlist their help in keeping the land clear. This forested area is difficult to keep clear of underbrush because of the terrain. Some areas are extremely difficult to get lawn equipment into, especially because we need a couple of bridges on the land. We have steep embankments, hills, creeks, thick forested areas, a ditch and impassable blackberry vines that have grown for who-knows-how-long without interruption. This will make having goats worthwhile. Once we get some proper fencing in place, goats will probably be one of the best investments into livestock that we can make right away. However, I am very nervous about being able to keep them fenced in and safe from predators.

As we go about our business on the land, it will be so very nice to be able to travel around on the acreage and to take a few goats with us for tying up in a zone for chowing down. I've seen several goats that are trained enough to be walked on a leash, like a dog, kind of strange, but it looks workable. I wonder how difficult this will be to accomplish????

Maybe we could work with our goats so that we could lead them by leash to the exact spot we want without too much herding difficulties. But, I'm positive that Howdy will be in full herding mode, no matter what.

So, I can imagine that each animal we raise will be suitable for a specific purpose. I'm also sure that each animal will make a gradual appearance on our little farm so that we have time to adequately prepare for each one that joins us.

I'm also sure that we will have no idea about what we are doing, until we are doing it.

Deputy Dave has also raised humongous swine, so I guess we'll raise more of these once we're on our land. Personally, I don't know how much space they require, but it seems as if they don't take much.
One thing is for sure...our family loves pork. Us Texans keep a side container of pork fat for cooking. Many foods are made more flavorful with a tad bit of pork fat added. We didn't need Emeril to clue us in to this fact. Texas understands the power of pork fat. But, I can't imagine what it must be like to eat farm-raised pork.

Of course, we'll have our chickens. We'll be raising enough chickens to also process for us to have fresh chicken on hand at all times. I dread processing chickens, but the determination in me to raise farm-fresh chicken meat is stronger than my fear. Besides, I can already smell Deputy Dave's home-made chicken and sausage gumbo...made with fresh ingredients from the farm.

We won't have to raise a ton of animals, just a few different varieties so that we can have a diverse food supply and so that we can be as self-sufficient as possible. It feels great to own enough land to raise farm animals and to have ample room to grow a good, large crop of veggies for our tummies to be happy. And, we will certainly be canning all kinds of veggies for year-round consumption. So, that's another entire area of learning that we must embrace.

A never ending job on the land...fallen branches everywhere
that need to be gathered and burned.

I must say that I am thoroughly looking forward to living on our land so that I during blackberry season I can pick berries every day and gather enough to can preserves for cobblers and jams to eat year round.

Years ago, we planted a couple of peach trees, a plum and a lemon tree on our land...they appeared to be dead for a couple of years, then, one day, we found the lower portions of the trees to have off-shoots growing nice and strong. Now, I don't know what this will mean for the trees health and production, but we left them there. Hopefully, we'll eventually enjoy their fruit...if they survived the drought. Of course, over this next year, we will be planting many more fruit trees throughout the land.

Our little chicks...so young, so sweet, so free from the burden
of laying eggs. Ouch!

Years and years ago, my husband also had planted a pecan tree on our land in the memory of his grandmother and this tree seems to be growing nicely, but slowly. Maybe we'll have pecans one day from this tree. I can imagine making sugared pecans, pecan pie and having a bowl of fresh pecans lying out ready to be cracked and savored.

Howdy introducing himself to the foliage.

All of these possibilities are open to us at our acreage. Here in the city, the possibilities for any kind of farming activities are severely limited, for good reason, the city is the land of conveniences and purchases so you don't have to farm.

Living on a farm means that my master bathroom garden tub won't
need to be a chick incubator any longer.

Here in the suburbs with our city amenities, square footage is a commodity and it is limited. People choose to live in the suburbs because they don't necessarily want any extra space to maintain. They want a little space to call their own, small enough to easily keep under control and manicured. For many people living in an organized neighborhood, an association helps keep things in order, but I am thoroughly sick and tired of this arrangement. It was our choice to buy this house with the knowledge that association fees are applicable, but those same fees would go a long way on our land toward maintenance or bonus items such as a new chain saw!

So, the animal list for the acreage would be as follows:

1. Dogs...hopefully we'll still have Howdy around and he'll be ready for a girlfriend and a bit of breeding. The world definitely needs more Howdys and Howdyettes.
2. Chickens...I'm not sure how long our backyard chickens will be around, but maybe they'll be able to enjoy the bug goodness of our acreage and not be eaten by a hawk. We'll be glad to raise chicks and to continue savoring fresh eggs and to start processing our own chickens.
3. Goats...I think I prefer the Nubian breed (spelling?) because of their naturally high butterfat content production.
4. Swine...oink, oink salty goodness and big snout piggy business will be delightful for rooting out challenging blackberry vines.
5. Cattle...not many, only 2-3 for ongoing calving and milking and more farm fresh meat.
6. Crops...more land equals more crops which equals more food in the kitchen WITHOUT a grocery store bar code attached.

My mental list is growing. But, we'll start off nice and easy, building our little farm one step at a time. And, a little bit of stumbling is to be expected.