What can a Goat tell you? If you pay attention it can tell you to “Move On”. From a philosophical stand point and a literal one. One of our goats has taken to pushing me forward with it’s head squarely behind my knee. It’s a gentle push but she evidently is tired of listening to my farm tour blabber and seems to want to move ahead with the walk! The “Move On” message is what it is like her
e day to day. There is maintenance of course but it changes with the seasons. There are predators and mistakes. There is always someone with a suggestion of what to add to the farm (some of them are great ideas as long as the person suggesting it wants to do the work!).
In our 2 long years here we have built the basics and continue to improve our processes toward the perfect plan and it NEVER comes out that way, but it is close. Trying new ideas while keeping our core values in place i.e. Animal happiness first, then soil building, then humans and the rest we work hard on like trying to impress you with the bounty.
Moving on, improving practices is tricky. Sometimes what seems like a more efficient method thwarts the purpose of the original idea i.e. the meat chickens are in chicken tractors out on pasture but the hills in some areas of the farm make it difficult to move them each day so we are trying out a new idea today. Using a flexible fence to surround 5 of the tractors and allowing the meat chickens to graze outside of the tractors. It gives the older chickens, 5 to 10 weeks, free range opportunity and they are big enough to not get picked off by a hawk. I will let you know how that goes.
The fun part is that it is my farm and I get to try stuff. I like that. It is your farm too so feel free to come up with ideas and let me know. Like the front yard. The plan is to create a kid friendly garden. Lamb’s ear, pineapple sage, a brick path through it. If you have any ideas or want to work on it, let me know. Should be fun! Because I can!
Your Farmer,
Tara Smith
e day to day. There is maintenance of course but it changes with the seasons. There are predators and mistakes. There is always someone with a suggestion of what to add to the farm (some of them are great ideas as long as the person suggesting it wants to do the work!).
In our 2 long years here we have built the basics and continue to improve our processes toward the perfect plan and it NEVER comes out that way, but it is close. Trying new ideas while keeping our core values in place i.e. Animal happiness first, then soil building, then humans and the rest we work hard on like trying to impress you with the bounty.
Moving on, improving practices is tricky. Sometimes what seems like a more efficient method thwarts the purpose of the original idea i.e. the meat chickens are in chicken tractors out on pasture but the hills in some areas of the farm make it difficult to move them each day so we are trying out a new idea today. Using a flexible fence to surround 5 of the tractors and allowing the meat chickens to graze outside of the tractors. It gives the older chickens, 5 to 10 weeks, free range opportunity and they are big enough to not get picked off by a hawk. I will let you know how that goes.
The fun part is that it is my farm and I get to try stuff. I like that. It is your farm too so feel free to come up with ideas and let me know. Like the front yard. The plan is to create a kid friendly garden. Lamb’s ear, pineapple sage, a brick path through it. If you have any ideas or want to work on it, let me know. Should be fun! Because I can!
Your Farmer,
Tara Smith
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