Growing like crazy

For the past week or so, mornings have had a hint of autumn chill. But most days have had at least some sun, with just enough days of coastal fog to remind us to appreciate the bright days.
All the plants and animals are working hard to put on as much growth as possible before the season ends!



The goats have had a couple of trial runs in the electric net fence, away from their usual yard. Matt built them a little lean-to for hanging out under or on top of. They seem to like it out there at first, but then start screaming for us to come pet or feed them.

They have names now - Redwood, Madrone, and Oak - and are really showing their different personalities. One characteristic they share is being very unhappy about the process of being weaned! It's going to continue to be loud around here for a little while...

These are more of the Early Girl tomatoes, which I must admit I am impressed by. It's pretty surprising to get large fruits from a tomato plant grown outdoors - only a mile inland.



The peppers, however, have been coddled and grown in the greenhouse.

And the flower garden continues to delight us with bursts of color.

Fun times

A couple of weeks ago, Vanessa and Bill came for a visit. It was such a wonderful break to get our minds completely off of work! We put them to work bottle feeding the goats, so somebody else could get their fingers bitten, too!






This last picture is for Vanessa - the overabundant zucchini we dehydrated (for adding to soup, etc). Shocking how a million pounds of zucchini can all fit into a canning jar!

Naughty, or charismatic?

Or maybe a little of both...

Introductions

How do I manage to fall so far behind?

It's hard to believe that it has been almost 3 weeks since the goats and chickens were introduced, and started coexisting in the barnyard. The first few days, until the goats' own indooor area was ready, we left the big cardboard "brooder" in the chicken coop with them all - with "doors" cut into the sides. The chicks had a slightly safe haven, although the goats immediately started trampling down one corner.

Now, they are housed separately - and during our workday are not together since the goats apparently love chicken feed. But, many evenings and weekends they get to hang out together in a common grazing/scratching area.

New crop of potatoes

After the last harvest (and trying to clean off potatoes since, to eat) - and because of the fact that the ground is rock-hard and a pain to dig - I decided to try growing them above-ground in straw. I amended the soil underneath, embedded the seed potatoes in it, laid out soaker hose and covered with straw (and will continue to add straw as the plants grow). It'll be interesting to see how the yield compares. I know for sure they'll be easier to scrub!

This time we have five different varieties than before: Bison, Bintje, All Red, Purple Majesty, and Sangre.

Harvesting

So far we've picked a lot of chamomile for drying, and a lot of zucchini mostly destined to be grilled or stir-fried. The two "big" harvests were garlic and potatoes. Thirty pounds of potatoes for the 4 varieties harvested so far. The Inca gold plants are still green, even though all the potatoes were planted at the same time.

Not still chicks...

...But not quite chickens. They are pretty much fully feathered now, and are easily able to perch on the edges of the brooder and anything else nearby if we don't put deer fencing on top. But they're still peeping, not clucking. And they seem so small to consider putting outside! Besides that, until we finish the goat pen, their future home is occupied. We thought about keeping them together in the coop, but it seems like the chickens would mess up the goats' hay, kick up a bunch of dust, and otherwise make a big mess...

The setup

We had lots to do to get ready for the goats, although they are currently in the chicken coop (the chicks have moved out of the living room into the garage, in their brooder). Matt's working on the goat enclosure inside the barn. Giving recreation its due, he's already finished their jungle gym, above. :)

We expanded and then cross-fenced the enclosed area around the barn (ugh! I'm so sick of pounding posts!). But I'd also been eyeballing electric net fencing (you can see some in the background above) - primarily to keep predators away from the chickens. So we went for it and bought some fencing and solar-charged battery energizer.

So far we don't leave them alone with it - their heads are small enough to clear the net in some areas and there's more risk of them getting tangled up - but all of them have gotten the message once or twice to stay away from that stuff. Matt was more courageous than me at first - I would only test it with the voltmeter! - but finally I grabbed it, too. At 2,000 volts, it feels like a strong static shock (like when you drag your feet on the carpet then touch your sibling!) Closer to the energizer, at 4,000 volts, Matt said it was stronger and he wouldn't touch it on purpose again. It's not dangerous (relatively speaking), but enough to make you (and the goats) avoid it.

New family members

In our enthusiasm to do everything at once, we suddenly found ourselves in the perfect situation for getting goats - except that we weren't set up yet. An email meant just to "feel out" local goat breeders turned into our acquiring three Nigerian Dwarf goat kids about ten days later. They are adorable, friendly, sweet little time-consuming babies that are still at the bottle-feeding age. We have about four more weeks of this.

I had wanted sheep for the cynical reason that they are less wily and easier to keep fenced in, but Matt definitely favored goats more. I'm glad. These guys are so fun and intelligent, and promise to be great companions and lawn-mowers for years to come.

Since what we want at this point is "free" weed/brush/lawn service, we decided some time ago to first own wethers (castrated males), to see how we like it. If we decide to get more, they will probably be (female) dairy goats.

Flock pics

They're a little over 2 weeks old now, more feathered out and growing so fast that each day we see differences!

So far the weather has only been good enough once - on a day we weren't working - to get them outside. This was last Monday (the 6th). It's funny how their chicken instincts kicked in so early; after a bit of coaxing to get them out of the carrier, they were happily scratching and pecking away.