A Late Summer Morning on the Farm

 Sometimes but not often enough I get to escape outside to do the chores in the early morning.  Before children are running up and down the driveway... before the chickens have been let out...

 It's so peaceful...

 I'll load the baby in the stroller and we do the chores together in the cool yellow sunlight...

 Enjoying the last green views of the garden before fall sets in... I love this photo.

 My little trooper loaded up with feed.

 Two of our three rabbit breeding stock: Melissa and Lloyd

 Bonjour Valentino.

 Brother and sister.  Greedy for Grain.

 Like something out of Beatrix Potter a farm cat on the edge of the cistern spying on goldfish...

 Our other breeding doe:  Thelma

 Mornings are for scratching out cookbook ideas in my notebook that lives on the kitchen counter - ever ready...

 For delicious breakfasts you grew and raised yourself...

 For flower arranging to brighten the day...

 And for simple observations before the day kicks in.

_____

These photos are from about three weeks ago.  

All month long I have had Paris on the brain.  It happens every fall.  It's been over ten years.  

Sigh.

 I love mornings in Paris... the diesel smell of the green garbage trucks, the sound of café chairs being unstacked, the sea gulls on the river.

But right now I have this farm to enjoy.

The September morning sun is creeping through the trees.

I'd better get outside.

Angela,

Parisienne Farmgirl

This post is part of the Barn Hop!

 

My Sweet Goats

In memoriam...

My "herd" is finally complete.  I've been waiting to introduce you to my sweet goats but today is the day.

We now have four goats on Half-Way Farm, la ferme a mi-chemin.  They can now re-produce.  I'm calling that a herd.  Don't laugh.

It all began last spring when I was DEATHLY ill with the flu (and pregnant).  Nothing was working.  It was like I was dying.  I was in bed for about a week and so I started spending a LOT of time on the Mac-top.  I found myself watching YouTube videos about Nigerian Dwarf goats and my subtle interest became a full blown obsession.

I found the WONDERFUL breeder, Beth, of My Own Private Idaho and we set out to find just the right goats to suit our needs here on the farm.  I wanted a "fresh" goat and she considered selling me and older one of hers but then decided she wouldn't be a good fit for our milking needs.  (She'd never been on the stand).  She encouraged me to be patient and start with babies that we would grow to love and just wait a year or so for the milk.  The kids and I went out for a visit, held a couple and we were smitten.  She called when two were born that she thought would be perfect for us.  A brother and sister.  Darling.  All we had to do was wait 60 days and we could take them home.  

That was a long sixty days.

Last 4th of July we brought Coco and Valentino to Half-Way and I became a changed woman. 

I don't really like animals.

Or let's just say - I'm not a dog person.  That might cushion the blow for some of you.  Others may never read this blog again:).   But boy, oh boy I've become a goat woman!

Nigerian Dwarfs are sweet little, deer like goats.  Their milk has a high butterfat content, they throw multiples (meaning they can have two, three and four kids at a time) and they are perfect for a farm with small children.

Coco and Valentino... oh, let me stop there.  I learned while doing a ton of research before buying them that it is customary to pick a theme for your farm when naming your goats and since I am "Parisienne Farmgirl" I thought it appropo to name my goats after my favorite fashion designers.  Silly girl that I am.

Coco and Valentino came to love us all quickly.  The children singing them "Jesu m'aime" nightly in an effort to tame them was about the cutest thing EVER.  We loved on them.  Ran them thru the farmyard for giggles and made it thru the horrible winter of 2013/14.  

And then I got the fever again.

Not the flu.

The goat fever.

I needed another one.  No, scratch that.  I needed two more.  I needed another darling girl.  And I needed me a buck.  So I called the wonderful Beth and again, she assessed our needs.  Milk making Mommas and a gentle buck for my children to be comfortable around.

Carolina was born first and she came to Half-Way Farm this spring.  Carolina's momma (like Coco's) has a FABULOUS udder.  Thus meeting our need for milk which we should have sometime this winter.

 Carolina is SO precious.  We call her "Little Miss Half-Way" on account of that awesome "H" she has on her side for Half-Way Farm!

 Buddies.

Ralph was born next and he came to Half-Way Farm about four weeks ago.  Ralph's Momma has a HUGE udder.  He was one of FOUR kids this last time.  And Ralph's sire is kind and gentle and does not jump up on you.  Ralph is a sweet as cream.  With BLUE eyes to boot!  Did I mention boyfriend is HUNG???  Geesh!  Go make those baby goats!

We're hoping for blue eyed kids this winter.  Pure bred Nigerian Dwarfs bring a great price.   Ours weren't a cheap investment.  Sure, I could have bought any one of the mangy goats off Craigslist that people were trying to unload but we have a rule here on the farm:  the animals have to pay for themselves.  By the time my girls are milking and I'm selling two, three, four, five, six kids a year they will pay for themselves over and over again.

I'll talk more about goat care soon (like I'm some expert or something) but I've been dying to show off these sweeties.  Pardon some of my evening time photos.  Joel and I go out and love on 'em after we get the children to bed. 

This is my herd.  Someday I'd like about fifteen but this is our practice farm so I'll bide my time with these four cuties! 

 

I typed this up weeks ago trying to set aside time to get some better photographs than what were in my files.  Since then my sweet Ralph has died.  It was a horrible day for Half-Way Farm and for me in particular.  If you followed on Facebook then you know how hard I tried to save him.

I have my eye on a fresh doe with excellent milking bloodlines and another buck but alas, they are NOT in the farm budget right now.   She is going to be dried up for breeding in September.  No doubt before I can set $ aside for her purchase.  Grrrrrr... I want her!   I'm so sad, this puts such a kink in my home-dairy plans but if there is one thing you have to practice when trying to create a "homestead" - it's patience.  I miss Ralph though.  He was so sweet.
Sigh.

"Tails Up" (as my breeder says)
-Angela, Parisienne Farmgirl 

Foraging on the Farm (The Brambleberries with Custard Recipe)

It's been a discouraging thirty days here on Half-Way Farm.

First, I thought it was the crazy weather (as in some cases it was) but now it's apparent that something is really wrong with my gardens.  All 4,200 square feet of them... and all the thousands of pounds of food they were going to provide my friends and family with.

I'm sick.  Moody.  Teary.  Bitchy.  And utterly devestaed.

It's a fresh wood chip/nitrogen thing. 
I don't want to talk about it right now.
But I will.  Lest anyone else make the same mistake.

Ugh.

My little one, my little Blondielocks has provided me with a bit of farm joy at her insistence that I "Google" whether or not she could eat the berries growing here and there around our farm.
The other day I was out lamenting my thirteen hundred onions and their seemingly pitiful fate and she just kept pestering me.  It was clear I needed to walk away from the chaos and tend to her curiosities.  So, I broke off a branch of said berries, snapped a headless selfie and posted my question to my Facebook homies.  Who, BTW - rock.

Within the hour we had ten thousand mosquito bites and two pounds of wild blackberries.  I rather like calling them brambleberries.  It sounds so romantic.  So, "Victorian Farm"

Victorian Farm (and it's sequel Edwardian Farm) is the BEST series EVER!

  

Here is a link to check it out but be 

sure you select the right DVD region if you make it your own as it was produced in the UK.

There are hundreds more to pick and Mullberry trees full too... not to mention the guy down the road where bushels of apples will be ready to pick this fall.

So, all is not lost.  Really, it is but I am doing my best to be optimistic and grateful for free, organic fruit to feed my flock.
I am leaning on Jesus on wild berries.

Here's the hope filled dessert I fed my family the other night. 
Bon Appetit!

Parisienne Farmgirl's Brambleberries with Simple Custard


4 Cups of whole milk
4 somewhat heaping tablespoons of organic/non GMO corn starch 
3/4 cup of organic sugar 
One vanilla bean 
Four eggs, beaten

Beat eggs in a separate bowl.  Set aside.  Combine milk, sugar and cornstarch in your favorite saucepan and scald.  Do not boil.  Remove from heat and add 1/2 cup of milk mixture and the scraped out vanilla bean* to the eggs.  Whisking.  Slowly add egg/milk mixture back to the remaining milk mixture, reheat, whisking until it thickens.  Can be served hot, cold or room temp.

(*Cut vanilla bean lengthwise, open and scrap out with an upsides down spoon.  Heavenly.)

The items below may be difficult in some locations to find.  I order these items in.  Photos are links for you.