Getting Ready for Baby Goats. . . 09.19.2017

It's been a long time coming,  but we are anticipating the birth of baby goats within a month's time.  This road to breeding goats and successful kidding has been a struggle and it's not exactly the struggle I want to share as a blogger and homesteader, but maybe my experience will help another goat newbie.  I feel like it's worth sharing.

Two years ago I bought our Nubian, Luna, who was already in milk.  She was a two year old freshner, meaning that she had just given birth.  All went well that first year with milking and her health. But last year came and we spent the entire breeding season running her back and forth to the breeders home (thankfully, they were only 5 minutes down the road) trying to catch her cycle so that his buck would breed with her.  It was a very frustrating time. 

First, breeding animals is not as easy as just putting them into a pen together.  The doe needs to begin cycling, which for Nubians happens around August and lasts until January.  This doesn't give much of a window of time.  Each time we thought we had a successful breed, the next month she would show signs of heat again and the final time I actually administered a blood test thinking we had won victory, only to get a negative pregnancy test.  Second, I found out goats need to be up on their minerals to actually go into a full cycle.  I was at my wits end and didn't know where to turn.  

I needed answers and quickly.  So, I began researching websites of goat owners that had been raising goats longer than I.  Two sites kept coming up with lots of information; Fiasco Farms and Land of Havilah.  Plus, an excellent book to read is Pat Colby's Natural Goat Care.  The overall consensus of information I read lead me to realize that my goats were not only copper deficient but selenium deficient.

The only way to boost copper is to copper bolus - which is where you stick a gigantic pill down the goat's throat for them to swallow.  I bit the bullet, bought the bolus gun and tried the pill.  YouTube is a great resource for information, but even after watching the videos over and over again, I still didn't get the pill all the way past the back of the throat where goats have some serious molars.  Each of the goats had a nice tasty chomping of a copper capsule.  Uggh!  

Right after this first blousing, I also began administering 1 teaspoon of selenium powder every night.   I was in shock; within weeks this is what I saw.  Mocha went from a dull, dreary rust color to a vibrant chocolate brown, her coat was once coarse and fried feeling was beginning to have a smooth and shiny character to it and she went into a raging heat within two months (I knew this because Doug was going nuts trying to get into the pen with her).

Deborah Niemann of the Thrifty Homesteader top dresses her copper.  Most sites recommend copper blousing every 6 months, but I did find several recommendations that if the goats are in an area where there is much sulfur in the water to copper bolus every 3 months because sulfur inhibits copper intake.  This led me to try three months later top dressing the copper.  This worked well, but some of the copper remained at the bottom of the feed pan.  I think that I will continue to top dress the copper only because it was less stress on this owner and all goats participating.

Fast forward to August and I actually witnessed Luna go into her first heat.  It was a very quick one of only several hours, but it was a start.  I can now see that the health of my animals is on the right track.  Here's hoping she'll be pregnant by the end of the year.

Mocha was actually bred in May to our little Nigerian buck, Doug.  I was worried that she wouldn't be in top health for her pregnancy so I did a few things to help her put as much energy into growing healthy babies as she could.

• I dried her up from milking as soon as we got the pregnancy results.  Goats can actually be milked up to two months before kidding, according to Fiasco Farms, but like I said, I wanted her putting energy into growing healthy babies, not making milk for me.
• I began administering an herbal supplement that included nettle, spirulina, alfalfa, dandelion and marshmallow leaves.
• I began giving her Diamond V Yeast Culture - It improves digestion, muscle weight gain, litter weights, milk production, conditioning, and even survivability in all the various animals it's been tried on.

My girl, Mocha, is getting bigger everyday.  My birthing kit is almost ready.  All that's left is to clean out her stall about a week before her due date.

I've seen slight movements on her right side which I'm hoping is those precious babies getting closer to coming out to meet us.  The farm kids are so excited to hold some baby goats.

I realize this post went rather long, but if it's helped please let me know by leaving a comment.  I would also appreciate hearing any comments on anything else that I need to do to prepare for goat babies.

June Farm Update

Have you ever wished that during summer you could transport yourself back to the slower days of winter? My days seem to be longer and the list of things to get done seems to grow bigger. Our kid’s crazy schedule just keeps on getting crazier. Someone once told me years ago to cherish the years my children were young because one day life would be completely chaotic. Wow!  Were they ever right!  Having older children has added a new dimension to our schedule; running from this activity to the next, more so than when they were little, because then we could stay home. So, tired mommas with littles, my advice to you is to enjoy these days before chauffeuring, scheduling and activities consume your day.

Our garden was finally planted after what seemed like an eternity of waiting. It happened so quickly. It began as one day of planting and the next the sprouts were sprouting. It feels incredibly satisfactory to know that we are eating from the garden now, even if it is only strawberries, lettuce, chard, and radishes. I can almost imagine my ancestors biting into that first bite of fresh produce after a long winter of canned goods and dried meat. How good it must have tasted. How thrilled they must have been to have choices in what to eat. How satisfying to know they had grown it themselves? How did we get so far from the natural way of eating? But then I think, would I really want to remove the convenience of the grocery store, Azure drop or late-night Friday pizza night? Probably not, if I was to be truly honest. These things have a place in our life today for better or worse.

I love that the General Manager just posted on his Instagram about how he was enjoying the view of the colorful flowers off our front porch. He may or may not have been enjoying a cigar and a glass of scotch in the Adirondack chairs that my Dad built for us. Those chairs are supposed to go around our fire pit, but I just couldn’t bring myself to see them get weathered in the rain, so they found a new home on our covered porch. They just seem to fit there, like they’ve always been there. I tried sitting in them one day and I fell asleep with the sunshine streaming in on the porch. I was brought back into reality when one of the kids found me. 

In the early spring, I took some time to plant a variety of bulbs in and around a good majority of my perennials and herbs. Last year hubby had gently informed me that he really wanted to see more color in our front flower beds. I am so in awe of all my lavender blooms this year. Trimming lavender each season really is the ticket to better and bigger blooms the following year. My goal this year was to incorporate more edible plants in this landscape; mostly to just grow more food. I’m trying parsley, lovage and strawberries, in addition to our two blueberry bushes.

The children finished this year of schooling. Well it actually went down more like this, “momma just said put the books away.” I told myself and my best friend to remind me in future years to stop homeschooling in June. I’ve always been interested in following a more agrarian schedule because of the planting of our garden, weeding, barn chores, and milking schedule. These tend to be time consuming activities that need to be done during daylight/schooling hours. One of these days I hope to figure out how to get more schooling done during the rainy, dreary, wet winters we have here in Northern California. I like to give myself the month of June off and then begin planning for the next year in July and August. I hope to get schooling started again in September but our county fair is later this year and goes all the way until Labor Day. 

The highlight of June was the girl’s dance recital. The Ferndale Dance Academy put on a slightly twisted version of Cinderella. Abby and Hannah were fabulous and the show was a huge success.

How are the farm animals you ask? The goats are doing well. I have been spending months trying to figure out what deficiencies they are suffering from and I have narrowed it down to copper and selenium. We are on a strict mineral supplementation for each of them. In the last two weeks, I’ve noticed a big difference in both does’ coat colors. Now, I’m just waiting to see when each of them begins to show signs of heat. All last year I dealt with silent heats, which makes it impossible to bred a goat this way. My Nigerian buck is also over one year old now, so I’m really hoping he’s up for the task of breeding this year. 

Our chickens have been laying an enormous amount of eggs. One month they laid over 525 eggs – we do have 28 hens. That’s a lot of clucking! Did you know that chickens love to cluck (more like squawk) and let you know they laid an egg? Kevin, our LGD is working better with the chickens and goats – we’ve only had a few instances of chicken licking – yes, I said that correctly. He likes to lick the chickens until they are squeaky clean. Great if you are Kevin, not so great if you are the chicken being licked by a big white scary dog.

One Blessed Acre soaps and lotions were débuted at a new local craft fair this month – Humboldt Junkies. The kids have been adding their own products to our normal line-up of goat milk soaps and lotions. We now have lip balm by Abby, tub teas by George, bath bombs by Lindsay and sugar scrubs by Hannah. Did I mention that every one of these products has goat milk in them? Because goat milk is good for you and, never Bah-a-ha-a-ha-a-a-d. I added four new scented scrubby soaps and 3 new scented liquid soaps to our etsy shop. Who doesn’t love smelling like chocolate cake batter?  If local, you will still be able to find our products at the Golden Gait Mercantile in Ferndale.

We are off on vacation to Crater Lake, Oregon this week.  I cannot wait to see what adventures we get into while we are there.  How is your summer shaping up?  Leave me a comment.

Home For the Ducks

Almost a month ago we gained two Blue Swedish ducks to add to our farm.  They are growing up so quickly.  One of the first orders of business after having them stay in our chicken tractor for several weeks was to construct them a permanent home.  It was decided that they would stay in the side yard to help control the slugs and snails that  inhabit destroy the perennial plants I have growing there.

I spent time online trying to find a coop suitable for two ducks.  It had to be quick and easy to assemble, something this construction challenged momma could handle.  It had to fit the size restrictions for our small space.  It had to be predator proof.  It needed to be somewhat pretty too as it's next to the house.  And finally, it had to be somewhat inexpensive; I wasn't buying the Taj Mahal of duck houses.   Amazon had this Advantek coop to house 2 - 3 chickens.  Voila!  Perfect.  

I completely forgot to take some pictures while we were putting it together.  The  instructions were not awful, but they were not entirely helpful either.  At least the coop layout was straight forward enough to be able to figure out.  It took my friend, Heather and I about two hours to put it together.

The closing latch came cracked, which Amazon graciously credited $30 towards the purchase cost since I had already put it together and was NOT taking it apart to return.  I needed to attach another safety predator latch on the door anyway because anyone who has animals knows that little wooden latch would not keep out a raccoon or skunk looking for dinner.  We also had to line the bottom with hardwire cloth because the floor was simply wooden slats, which I felt either the ducks would fall through or a predator would push up into.

So, Do I love our new duck house?  Absolutely!  For the money and ease of putting together it's a sturdy coop.  Could I have built one for less?  Absolutely!  But, how long would it have taken me?  Maybe several months.  Do I think it will last the test of time, probably not.  But, it will allow us a few years to figure out whether we want to house them in the side yard, in the garden or in the big chicken coop.  That's the nice thing about smaller animals - they are very flexible and forgiving; allowing for their owners to make several mistakes along the way.  What do you think of our new duck house?

Ducks For Our Farm

I'm not sure who came first. . . the crazy momma who adds more animals to her farm without thinking, without having housing or even a little bit of knowledge on how to take care of them, or the animal loving, protecting child who pleaded to get ducks when her father wouldn't acquiesce to a new cat.  She's also the same child who once placed a note up on the refrigerator that said "This is a NO KILLING Chicken Zone," and made her parents sign thus said note.

Either way, we are now the proud owner of two Blue Swedish ducks and they are approximately 5 weeks old.  Meet Carl and Ellie, but alas, I don't even know at this point whether we have a drake (aka boy) or a hen (aka girl).  It will only make a difference if we end up with two boys because that means NO eggs.

Our children didn't come with a manual  (other than the Bible) to help the General Manager and I raise them, so, what was I expecting when these ducks arrived one morning.  What's a girl to do; how do I quickly leap over the vast learning curve of raising baby ducks.  Turn to my favorite author, Lisa Steele.  Her first book Fresh Eggs Daily helped me to learn about raising chickens and thank heavens she's published a similar book on raising ducks.

The book came in the mail and I absorbed it like a sponge in 3 days.  First things first, ducks need lots of protein when they are ducklings.  Be sure to get the highest protein chicken feed if you cannot find duck feed at your local feed store.  We went with

NATURES BEST ORGANIC FEED Chick Starter & Grower Crumbles.  Since I couldn't find higher than 18%, several websites recommended adding brewer's yeast top dress to the duck feed.  Water is the next essential element for successful duck raising.  Simple mason jar waterers don't work.  Ducklings need to get their entire beak into the water to help swallow their food and prevent choking.  They also need to keep their nostrils moist and clear of debris.

Ducklings are messy creatures.  There was only two of them, but they managed to drench their brooder box every day with spilled water.  This continued even though we went with a larger chicken waterer.  Lesson learned - next time use a ceramic bowl that they can't tip over.  They took great delight in emptying their feeders all over the bottom of the box and I could have sworn I heard them laughing at us.  Because, basically, if they can play in something, they will.

They quickly outgrew their brooder box, so outside they went into our chicken tractor.  As long as it wasn't raining too hard, they were very happy.  We bought a medium sized rubber feeder bowl that could be used as a swimming pool, but they have not stepped foot in it - perhaps they don't like the cold, wet Northern California weather like this momma.

These ducks are funny, smart and inquisitive, quirky, fascinating creatures.  I really am enjoying watching them.  I have witnessed the "head bobbing" which is a sign of dominance and also flirting.  My favorite though is "head tilting."  A duck can see two to three times farther than a human.  Because their eyes are on the side of their head and fitted into the socket, they have to tilt their heads to see in a different direction.  The cuteness factor was displayed when they were babies and the girls brought them inside one afternoon to play in the tub.  Hannah and Abby threw lettuce leaves into the tub and the gobbling began.

Stay tuned for our next adventure - building a duck coop!

Mother's Day Market

I just can't contain myself any longer.  I just have to share the fun we had at our first craft fair this year.  It was called the Mother's Day Market and it was held in Fortuna at the Rohner Grange.

But first I feel I need to back up because I'm not sure I've shared this new hobby/business with all of our readers.  Moving back closer to family seven years ago has enabled our children to be raised in the country with fresh air, animals and has provided them a slower paced lifestyle.  “One Blessed Acre” comes from our abundant family blessings by God throughout the years.   As well as, we are currently living on exactly one acre of land.  We took the plunge a couple of years ago and added goats to our farm with the intent of drinking the milk, wanting to be more self-sufficient with our homesteading lifestyle.  Out of that milking came lots of excess milk for soaps and lotions.  Once I began looking at the labels on beauty products I quickly realized the need to have more natural products for my family to use.   Through trial and error, gleaning information from those who had experience in soap making and reading countless websites, I found a passion for making soap and natural beauty products from ingredients that I could actually pronounce.   The goal of our business is to serve and give back to our community as a family, providing wholesome goat milk products that will bless local families and businesses that partner with us to promote and sell our products. 

One of the best questions I always receive is "Why Goat Milk."  So here's the answer to Goat Milk;  why you should drink it, make kefir, yogurt, and cheese and add it to handmade soap. .   Why?  Because goat milk is very good and never ba-ha-ha-ha-had.   Goat's milk has a pH level that's well balanced for healthy human hair and skin, while commercial soap can dry out the skin to the point at which it feels taut and itchy.   The alpha hydroxy acid of goat’s milk attack the “glue” that binds dead skin cells together.  With these bonds broken those dry, lifeless cells slough off to reveal that young, healthy skin that is hidden beneath. Goat milk is loaded with vitamins and minerals which rejuvenate and nourish your skin. 

Now that you've been taught why you should use goat milk, let me convince you why you should support One Blessed Acre Farm and buy our handcrafted soap.  You will absolutely love your skin and will thank us for replacing your dry, itchy, irritable skin with soft, smooth and supple skin that doesn't feel dry or cracking.

Our most popular line is our goat milk lotion.  We have such a variety of scents that I couldn't name them all.  I use fragrance oils and also have created an essential oil scent in geranium.  We also carry a unscented soap and lotion for those who are severely bothered by fragrance.

This year the kids and I have been busy creating new products which include a form of goat milk, whether it be fresh or dried.  First, is my new liquid soap line.  It is so soft and gentle on your skin and it cleans excellently while leaving your skin feeling supple.  I've even tested it on greasy pans in the kitchen and it works there too!  I'm also hearing great reviews about our luxury exfoliating line of soap.  Four different scents with four different exfoliates:  Coconut Island with loofah, Coffee House with ground coffee, Oatmeal Cookie with colloidal oatmeal and Herb Garden with ground walnut shells, pumice and poppy seeds.

Hannah has created the richest, most decadent goat milk fudge.  People were raving about her samples.  For the time being this will be a local craft fair item.

The day began beautifully, with the sun peaking through the clouds and the wind was just beginning to blow, while we were in line at Starbucks getting everyone a Frappuccino.   Set up went smoothly for us.  Our table was sandwiched right in the middle of the room.  This worked out perfectly for us to be able to sample our lotions on passers-by.   The kids are always a little shy when we first get started, but by the end of the show they are pros at squirting lotion and talking about the products.  Even George made sure to let everyone know about his Tub Teas.  Lindsay spent many months perfecting her bath bombs.  They smell heavenly.  She made Lavender Lush, Electric Lemonade and Cinnamon Stick.  So delicious!

One of my favorite places to shop is Amazon and we, One Blessed Acre is now available through Amazon.  Isn't that great?? All you have to do is click the link and order.   You can also find us on Etsy at One Blessed Acre.

I love that we are local too.  All of our soaps and lotions can be found in the Golden Gait Mercantile in  downtown Ferndale, California. 

The day went by too quickly and soon it was time for us to pack up and head home.  We are really looking forward to our next fair in June called Humboldt Junkies Vintage Market and Trailer Rally.

Raising Chickens with Lisa Steele for Inspiration

Chickens have been our life since 2010 when we moved to One Blessed Acre.  On my quest for self-sufficiency, I got a crazy notion in my brain that we could raise chickens .  Neither the General Manager nor I had ever had experience raising chickens.  We took on our backyard flock, with a box arriving at the post office at 1 AM one morning, in stride.  The kids were overly excited to participate and help raise these 25 little fluff balls that began our introduction into chickens.

Flash forward seven years and we are still raising chickens.  Some may call us crazy, but I believe we still have one of our precious firsts, her name is Daisy.  She is perfectly healthy, but doesn't lay one egg for us, but she brings us such joy.  Our chickens not only became our livelihood, but a part of our family.  It's been tough learning that farm animals do have their place in the order of life, but, while they are in our care, we make sure they have the best life possible.

One of my favorite authors is Lisa Steele, of Fresh Eggs Daily.  I have been re-reading her book, Fresh Eggs Daily: Raising Happy, Healthy Chickens Naturally.  Lisa has this ability to break down raising chickens into the simplest form ever.  I mean really, she basically tells us that if you can grow herbs and use essential oils, your flock will be happy, healthy and growing.  And if you haven't seen her new coop on her homestead in Maine, it's beautiful!


So, this last week, I've incorporated her Breakfast of Champion Layers Feed recipe into our normal rations.  I've added mint leaves to the coop to help repel rodents and insects.  Our overly abundant lemon balm this year is next to go into the coop.  This will look pretty, but also benefit the chickens with overcoming the chicken poo smell and as a laying stimulant.

Have you seen Lisa's new book; Gardening with Chickens?  It keeps staring at me when I pass by it at Tractor Supply.  Am I the only one who has books call out to her?  Please tell me NO!





My other favorite blog to follow is the Chicken Chick.  Have you checked out Kathy's site?   She has the most incredible story of how she overcame her neighborhood's discrimination in keeping a backyard flock of chickens.  This week I decided to make a batch of her Flock Block.  Our chickens are free-ranged for most of the day, but for several hours they are enclosed in our chicken run which is strictly dirt.  They needed and deserved an extra treat.  I had to substitute a few ingredients from Kathy's recipe, but for the most part I followed what she recommended. 

First the wet ingredients:

Then the dry ingredients, along with a jar of last year's canned apples.

Mix it altogether.  Spread out into several baking pans - mine made 3 large and 2 small cake pans.  Bake for two hours at 300, which was slightly too long.  Next time I will only bake for 1 1/2 hours.  They did come out a teeny bit burnt, but the birds didn't mind.  My daughter, Abby and I even put holes in the middle of each pan, but the chickens ate them too fast to even make that worth while. 

Will I notice greater egg production from this, probably not.  But, will I gain the satisfaction that I'm giving my birds healthy foods and supplements - ABSOLUTELY!  Those who stop by our farm stand and buy our eggs will be able to see by the health and vitality of our girls.  We cherish the fact that we have hand raised each bird, giving each one extra special attention and the best food possible.  And I always say if you stand in our yard long enough, one of the girls will probably come by and say "hello."

Raising chickens will be such a rewarding experience for you and your family.  I guarantee you'll fall in love with them as our family has.