acornhillfarmsteadcheeses.com

LIGHTNING DOE @ 3.95LB

gbw — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:06:20 +0000

Lightning had triplets yesterday morning and the first doe kid weighs in at just under four pounds. She is tiny and perfect… a little fairy baby

We weighed her in a tupperware on my cheese scale

KIDS OUTSIDE

gbw — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:16:02 +0000

Selena’s and Minnie’s babies moved out to the new kid shelter this afternoon. They are much too big to be in the house but I was hoping the wind would let up a bit before moving them out. Today was the best day to move them so they will have a couple of warmer days before the next snow comes blowing through. They are thrilled with the leaping room but a bit frightened of the sounds of the wind. Selena’s kids are about two weeks old and are very interested in eating hay and even tried the water in their bucket. Minnie’s babes are only one week old but are still enjoying the leg room and learning how to caper and leap.

Selena’s doe stops for a moment before trying another caper across the pen.

Minnie’s boys look handsome in burgundy coats to help them get used to the colder outdoor temps.

Selena’s doe did some impressive leaps in celebration of her new home.

QUAN YIN’S BABY

gbw — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:01:15 +0000

Quan yin had a single buck kid yesterday morning. He is tall and spotted.

Here he is attempting to stay standing at nearly an hour old

MINNIE’S BUCK KIDS

gbw — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:28:57 +0000

Minnie had triplet bucks yesterday morning. It was an interesting birth and the first for my intern Lili. One kid started off with his head and one leg turned back making it impossible for him to enter the world. This situation self corrected, thank goodness. The second kid was born without any unusual circumstances but the third had both front legs streached back. I had to help him into the world by pulling his head as Minnie had contractions. It is a good thing Minnie is a mature and large doe.

Minnie buck kid #1

Minnie buck kid #2

Minnie buck kid #3

Next week and the week after most of the does are due to kid. It will be very very busy:)

CUTE GOAT BABIES

gbw — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 21:40:23 +0000

Selena’s babies are three days old and very busy learning how to use their long legs and persuade us to give them more milk. We bottle feed all our baby goats so we have some milk for the cheesepot and they get what they need. We also practice CAE prevention although we keep a closed herd that has been CAE free.

It has been very windy outside so the kids will be staying in the house for a few more days before we move them to the kid housing.

Nap time…..

2009 KIDDING SEASON IS HERE!

gbw — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:31:38 +0000

Selena had a buck and a doe kid around 4:30 this morning after making us wait since Saturday. They are white and red like their sire and are doing well.

This is the little doe

Shanti and Calypso are due to kid the end of the week and by the end of the month we will have multiple does due on many days.

CRISP FALL WEATHER

gbw — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:26:27 +0000

It really feels like fall outside today. Cool and breezy and it smells crisp and ripe with a bright blue sky. All this is an appreciated change from three more inches of rain falling last week and that is when I stopped looking I am sure the the mist on Saturday added to that. This fall is fitting in with the patterns of weather for the summer… one extreme to another with it being very warm a week ago and it is in the low 50s today.

Preperation for winter is our fist thought now with fences to place and shelters to be repaired and weatherproofed. When the rain keeps us inside we make cheeses to carry over for the coming winter farmer’s market season ( I can’t wait to cut the goat milk gouda with smoked peppercorns). We just finished with the regular New Paltz farmer’s markets and will continue at Cold Spring and SUNY up to Thanksgiving followed by Winter Sun Farms monthly markets December -March. We learned this week in Cold Spring that they are working on pulling together a winter market on the grounds of a nearby state park that sounds beautiful. We will participate at the Cold Spring winter market in on rotation with our other winter venues.

Back to work… with the time change it gets dark very early.

WHERE DID THE TIME GO?

gbw — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:23:38 +0000

My goodness, it is nearly September!

July only dried out a little bit and we didn’t really see true summertime weather until a couple of weeks ago. This has been the summer that wasn’t. The rain and damp helped fuel a plague of late blight that ruined many a farmer’s tomato crop and also affected potatoes. My tomatoes seem to have not produced much of anything more because of the constant cool temperatures rather than disease. I have to check the potatos to see what is going on underground. This may not have been the best year to do NOFA-NY potato trails~lol.

The farmers markets have been affected by the damp weather only occassionally which is a blessing. We have only had a handful of rainy weekend days. The fall season is always so much fun with pumpkins and gourds and the cooler weather with a hint of the end of the season making everyone appreciate the market so much more. Hopefully we will continue to have dry sunny weekend days

We will begin breeding the does in a few weeks for February kidding but the three yearlings that never kidded may well kid in January since I left them with the bucks all summer. Morpheus and Neo are taking their job very seriously this year and have been fighting over whichever yearling doe is in season. I will need milk for winter markets so I need to experiment with staggered breedings to accommodate the demand for cheese year round. I’ll miss the two month hiatus from milking each winter though.

Well, I have a batch of washed curd goat milk cheese on my to do list so I better get to it.

SUMMERTIME?

gbw — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:39:12 +0000

What a strange summer so far. June brought us a new record for rainfall in this area at well over a foot which is making life quite a challenge for all farmers in the area. Vegetable crops are late or lost and mud rules most fields and barnyards. The goats are holding up under the strain of poor weather but lately have been making regular breaks out of the barn in the hopes of finding higher and drier ground. Zues, one of my daughter’s wethers, is particularly fond of jumping out of the barn and wandering over to the unopened pool and nibbling the weeds that have grown out of control. He is a funny fellow when we lead him back to the barn and doesn’t want to walk through the mud to go back in… afterall he had to walk through that mud to get outof the barn. This past weekend was sunny and breezy so the herd went down the hill to browse for the first time in quite a while. The unrelenting rain made it impossible to be outside much less walk around. Despite the dreadful June weather the girls are milking fairly well and all the kids are weaned so we have plenty of milk going into the cheesepot. We have a full schedule of markets and we are hoping July will bring some sunny dry weather so everyone can be in a sunnier mood.

THE RAIN POURED DOWN

gbw — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:59:34 +0000

It rained another 2.25 inches yesterday and we are up to our knees in mud. This month has been filled with rain and we have been unable to finish planting the garden and cleaning the barn. This type of weather is the worst for goats and we are doing everything we can to keep the girls healthy and happy in a bad situation.

The new Gardiner farmer’s market was scheduled to open yesterday but it rained so much it was cancelled. We hope for a better day next week so we can kick off this new market with a smile.