November update

Well, the barn and run are finished, complete with a new shelter in the run (thanks to the help of Jeff's brother, Bill), where we're hoping to be able to make big round hay bales available for the goats. Our first experiment with that didn't go so well. We did not secure the bale in any way, and the goats just had a big party in it, wasting a ton of it.

We are now down to 4 goats. In October, the 4 kids we had pastured at another farm were killed by a couple of big dogs. Sniff! All of our remaining doelings were killed, so now we will only have 2 milkers for next year, Lily and Zella, who were hopefully bred by Pete again before he went to the slaughterhouse a couple of weeks ago. We still have Remus and Romulus, the Nubian bucklings, one of whom will be our next breeder. Radar, the young blind cow that was here for about 6 weeks, went to the slaughterhouse with Pete. Radar was a rescue animal given to us by another farmer, but we are not really equipped to house a full-grown cow. We're hoping that the young meat will be really good.

Bill visited in mid-November to help us out with farm and house chores, since Paul and Terra are still on honeymoon and I was having pregnancy complications. Jeff has been working really hard, and Bill was a huge help. My mom, Bert, and Jeff's parents came for Thanksgiving, since Jeff and I couldn't travel. We got a heritage turkey (New Jersey Buff) from a local farmer, and Jeff prepared an incredible feast utilizing homegrown sweet potatoes, beets, mushrooms, and mustard greens (with a little help from my mom and I). Maybe next year we will raise our own turkey! Our friends Lauren and Josh joined us for the big meal. It was a lovely family visit. Jeff and I got to show off our sonogram photos, and we talked about the new family member on the way. Jeff and I are very grateful for the wonderful love and support of our family and friends (particularly during the rough first trimester) and that I have made it to the second trimester with the complications apparently resolving. We are very excited about the little one on the way! ETA May 2011.

-Annie

Farm Wedding

Paul and Terra got married on 10/10/10. They had their wedding ceremony and reception on their land, and Jeff and I hosted Terra's parents during their stay at The Haven. It was a beautiful sunny day for the wedding festivities. The ceremony was lovely, and the reception was lively, filled with yummy homemade dishes and musical contributions from the guests. Additionally, two young male goats were slaughtered (prepped and wrapped in bacon, gifted by Tommy Searcy) and smoked overnight in a pit for the big event. Delicious! In many ways, this is the outdoor wedding that Jeff and I had planned for our own big day. Although the weather did not cooperate with those plans, the gathering we had indoors, so closely surrounded by our loved ones, turned out to be very intimate and special.

Paul and Terra are currently on their 2-month long honeymoon in Guatemala, performing service work.

Theater on Cedar's Fall Production

This year I performed in Theater on Cedar's fall production: The Girl Who Cried Turnip and Other Folk Tales. We ended up having a smallish cast, so I had parts in 3 of the 4 short plays that comprised Turnip. I was part of the chorus in The Girl Who Cried Turnip, the Emperor in The Emperor's New clothes, and a person/villager in Why The Sky Is Far Away. It was fun and the show had a very successful run. I particularly enjoyed playing the emperor; what a delicious role! The naked fat suit was hilarious!

The emperor had an extensive wardrobe. "Clothes mean more than anything else in the world!"

The emperor processes through the streets, showing off his "new clothes," while the chamberlains (Lauren and Sebastian - who also played the rogue weavers AND were the co-directors for Emperor) hold the emperor's "train."

Lauren, Sebastian, and I as the Turnip Chorus (on left) and the Turnip Townspeople making "turnip a la sapien soup" - ha! (on right). Luckily, for the cute little turnip girl, that part was just a dream.

-Annie

DragonCon 2010

Dragon*Con bills itself as the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the universe. It takes place annually on Labor Day weekend in Atlanta. This year, Jeff and I attended our fourth con as Simon and River Tam from Firefly (Joss Whedon's short but well-lived scifi western tv show, which also had an adventure on the big screen as well). I delayed posting about this until photos taken by a photographer at the con were made available on the internet. He took a bunch of photos of Jeff and I, but unfortunately, only the photo from the Whedonverse costume contest was included (No, we didn't win - boo!). Anyhoo, some photos were taken on my camera, and Jeff's brother Bill took a picture of Jeff and I as we all played the Battlestar Galactica game in the gaming area. The BSG game was cool, but it took a long time to figure out how to play it, so we never finished. I can't even remember who turned out to be a cylon - was it the stranger who joined us...or maybe Dawn (Bill's wife). For some reason, I like thinking that it was Dawn.

The next photo is one of Jeff and I with some other con attendees in Firefly character costumes. I am striking the pose of my character from the movie promo posters. I am dressed as River from the final battle scene of the movie, in which she kicks a lot of Reever ass. I made my swords from paper, which turned out to be a really long and time intensive process that I wish I'd started much sooner than I did. They still turned out pretty decently. Jeff got his hair cut and styled just before the con to match that of Simon, who is a medical doctor on the show. We bought his medical bag on ebay.

I am pictured here with another River at the annual Whedonverse party, The Shindig. The party is named after an episode of Firefly, and a nice little folksy band performs some music from the show in addition to other offerings. BTW, the Rivers are being attacked from the left by one of those nasty Reevers.

I wonder who we'll go as next year...?

-Annie/River

Barn Nearly Completed

The Barn is almost done! We are grateful to everyone who has helped pitch in. Below are some pics of our progress since the last posting.

We still need to complete the front doors and build the run that will attach the barn to the two pastures, that we have fenced out so far. We also plan to wire the barn in order to put in some lights and perhaps run a small refrigerator.

In other news, an Australorp hen hatched out a couple of chicks. The hen started out with 8 eggs, but at least one got broken when she turned over the nesting box we made for her. She sat on the remaining eggs on the ground, and there were three under her on hatch day. Two eggs hatched, and the third had a fully formed chick inside, but it didn't hatch for some reason. The chicks are likely mixed breeds. The black one is definitely half Australorp. Jeff and I also finished making another raised bed where the second chicken tractor used to be. I planted beets, mustard, and lettuce in that bed, which are all starting to sprout now.

Hopefully, I'll be able to post DragonCon pics soon!

Annie

Barn Building

Although we are all very eager to have The Haven barn built, progress has been a bit slow in the relentless summer heat. Still, significant progress has been made thanks to the (sweaty) efforts of Jeff, Paul, and the wwoofers. They have been working on the roof lately. With just the roof struts (?) in place, the structure looked a little like a dinosaur for a minute. The barn will have a classic look with a gambrel roof, which allows for efficient use of space. The guys have just started putting tin on the lower part of the roof.

I have been making a lot of pickles lately. The cucumber crop at Full Life Farm has been very successful this summer. However, we have had mixed success with other crops, particularly at The Haven. The clay soil at The Haven needs LOTS of work. The herbs that were planted, where a chicken tractor used to be, are doing quite well, and veggies planted in the beds, which Paul spent more time developing, did far better than those planted in beds where fewer soil ammendments were used. The luffa vines are growing rather happily on the arbor that we constructed for them, but they are not producing much fruit. We need to continue working on building up our soil with compost and fertilizing materials from our animals.

We had the pleasure of meeting more of our neighbors recently. A retired couple came over to say hi last week, and they brought us a bunch of apples to feed to the goats in addition to some other gifts, including a chop saw, which is just what we've needed for building the barn. In return, we have given them some or our soap. We are excited to be forming good relationships with some of our neighbors, and we look forward to getting to know Pete and Dixie better.

Pete and Dixie raise chickens too, and they have had some trouble with foxes and weasels. Yikes! So far, we have not had any trouble with predators at The Haven. All of our chickens are pastured except for the mama hen and her 2 chicks, which are growing fast - especially the (probably) male New Hampshire Red chick (the lighter colored one).

Our brand new refrigerator arrived on Friday. We're hoping that it does a better job of keeping things cold in this heat than the previous two older refrigerators. The new a/c unit, which we installed in the office, is doing an excellent job, thankfully. Now we have one room in the house in which we can seek refuge from the summer heat. Good storage conditions for our soap supplies and products is important too. Jeff and I made a batch of shea butter bars with a cinnamon forest scent recently. These are now curing in the soap storage closet in the office. I hope to finally get around to making some lotion this week.

-Annie

Birthdays!!!

On Jeff's birthday last week, The Haven's first baby chicks were born. Two New Hampshire Red chicks hatched out that day, and one Partridge Rock hatched the next day. We started out with 7 NHR hatching eggs, but the first hen we put them under broke 4 of them on the second day. So, I fired her and put the eggs under the other hen who was acting broody. She sat on the eggs really well, but the third hen, in the tractor with them, kept laying eggs on top of the sitting hen. That's how some PR eggs were added to the nest, and I think that is how another NHR egg got broken. A few days before hatching, we moved another tractor to the second pasture, and the 2 NHR hens and rooster were placed in it with the other PR hens. We waited to move the PR rooster until we could put a door on the tractor, which would give the roosters more space to work out their pecking order issues. However, the big NHR rooster was dead by the next morning. (sniff!) We're not sure why he died, but perhaps the heat and the stress of the move got to him - ? Luckily, the NHR chick that hatched out at Full Life Farm is a male. He's 6 or so weeks old now, and he's growing big and fast. Yay! Unfortunately, one of the NHR Haven chicks didn't make it. It looked like the mama hen might have smothered it some time during the second night. The other 2 chicks are doing well, and we'll have to wait and see what sex they turn out to be.

We celebrated Jeff's 33rd birthday with a small gathering at The Haven. Our friend, Rebekah, who is a fabulous baker, made a delicious Big Bird cake that was reminiscent of Jeff's 3rd birthday cake. I aso busted out some balloons, poppers, and horns for the occasion in order to assist Jeff in bringing back fond memories of youth and reconnecting with his inner child, which we all enjoyed sharing in. :-) Jeff grilled some yummy marinated meats on the grill, which we finally moved out to The Haven earlier that day, and garlic mashed potatoes were also prepared for the meal. Oh, and did I mention that Rebekah brought ice cream too? (big grin) Good food and a good time were had by all.

-Annie

Haven House Warming

Yeah, we have been here a full five months already, but we Havenites decided that we had finally gotten things to a good enough place to host a house warming. So we invited our local friends to come check out our house and farming operations. The event was not well attended in numbers, since we did not advertise well and many people were out of town, but it was amazingly attended by those who were able to make it. With our eggs, produce, and preserves, we prepared potato salad and devilled eggs for the occasion - yum! I failed to take pictures of the event, but I'm posting pics I just took of the 3 rooms that have been painted and decorated thus far. Further painting has been put on hold until there is not so much to be done outdoors. Working with colors has been an interesting process. The colors never exactly match the sample chip, so you never quite know what you're going to get. The kitchen color was supposed to be a bluish gray, but a whole lot of lavender snuck into it, which makes for a nice lively color, but not really what I was going for. However, it definately beats the floral wallpaper that we covered up.

The living room and bedroom colors are more reflective of my tendency to favor earth tones. We went with a golden yellow color for the living room, and Jeff and I chose a smokey green color for our bedroom.

Our large dining room table was a lucky find at an estate sale. It's a great table for only $8. Behind the table, you can see the french doors to the master bedroom, which are now covered with curtains that Terra made to give Jeff and I more privacy (no peeking! :). The "Flying Ship" painting above our bed and the bird painting in the living room are the creations of a local artist named Seth Fitts, with whom we barter eggs for art. We love bartering!!

We have been busy outside too. In the space

where the first chicken tractor used to be, Jeff and I have started an herb garden. The chickens poop and scratch around in their bedding, creating great compost. After laying fallow for a few months, the ground is ready for planting. We have planted basil, oregano, and orange mint so far. Once the other half of the bed is prepared, we will plant chamomile and other herbs yet to be determined. Inbetween the back of the house and the parking lot, we have planted 3 rose bushes and a Japanese Maple tree. (BTW, the rose bush photo imported side ways for some reason.)

We just finished fencing out a second pasture for the goats. They now have more greens to eat, after gobbling them all up in the first pasture already. Currently, the goats at The Haven include all of the adult goats and Remus and Romulus, the Nubian bucklings. All of the other kids have been moved to a fresh pasture at a friend's farm, where they are happily eating the cover crop, while fertilizing their field. Later today we plan to move a second chicken tractor into the new pasture at The Haven so that the rest of our chickens can be pastured. The third tractor will be reserved for breeding purposes. Right now, a Partridge Rock hen is sitting on a collection of PR and New Hampshire Red eggs, and they are due to hatch out on Thursday. The hen will have private quarters to hatch out the chicks.

In front of the house, 4 garden beds have been made as well as 2 small luffa beds and an arbor for trellising the luffa. Paul just harvested potatoes from one bed, and he has beans growing in another bed and tomatoes in the other 2. The tomatoes are just starting to ripen, which is very exciting. Behind the arbor in the photo, you can see the new milking station that Paul built at The Haven. Inside the pasture, just behind the milking station, you can see the end of the first chicken tractor, which was moved to pasture 1 a month or so ago. We are still trying to figure out what to do with the rest of our yard, which is still just dirt. Right now, we are apparently growing lots of weeds.

Last, but not least, is our new barn-in-progress. We have most of the posts in place, and the floor joists are up too. We are eager to complete our barn so that we will have a more permanent situation for the goats in terms of feeding them hay and milking as well as for storage for all of the tools and animal-related items, which are now taking up space in the house.

So, there is much work still to do, but lots of progress has been made. Jeff and I were asked by someone at the house warming if we felt like we were living our dream. In short, we responded that on most days, yes, it feels like we are living the dream. :-)

-Annie

The Land

Jeff and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary this past weekend, and we spent part of the day on our land. We began making paths through the brush last month, and we continued to chop our way through on Sunday. We didn't make it all the way to the back property line, but when we got too hot and tired to continue, we took Lily for a walk along the path, who helped make the path wider while enjoying a nice snack. I took the photos last month, when the dogwoods and azaleas were in bloom. We were pleased to discover that there are a bunch of dogwood trees growing on various parts of the property as well as native azaleas, especially near one of the tiny little streams that drain into the larger creek on the back border. There are lots of nice ferns growing along the bank of the little stream too. It's quite a lovely spot. We are very pleased. Perhaps we will build our house on the nearby ridge. We are a ways away from that, though. The first type of structure we will likely build on this piece of land is fencing for more goat pasture. The goats penned at The Haven have gobbled up most of the greenery in that first pasture already. Soon we will fence out another section at The Haven. We will also be working on the new barn some more this week. Luckily, we have a few less mouths to feed around here, though. Over the past week, we have sold 5 of our goats. We sold Hoppy and her doeling, Alanis, as well as Cocoa, one of Lily's girls, and Vida, Paul and Terra's one year old doe, to a family from North Georgia. Although Hoppy wasn't a very good goat, I was still sad to see her go. I miss the kids too (sniff!). We sold Duya's daughter, Vannah, to a local family, who are also vendors at the farmers market. We plan to keep Lily and Zella and one of each of their daughters. Zella has turned out to be a super milk producer, while Lily's production has fallen off significantly. We wonder if the difference could be due to moving Zella to The Haven, where she had access to more greens. Hopefully, we will be able to provide more consistent green pastures to all of our goats in the future.

-Annie

Farmers Market

The Carrollton farmers market, Cotton Mill Farmers Market, began its 9th season a couple of weeks ago, and Jeff and I participated for the first time, selling eggs and soap. We are sharing a booth with Paul and Terra, who are selling eggs, produce, and crafts. Opening Day was rainy, so we set up under the awning in front of some shops near the usual site. Luckily, the rainy weather didn't keep folks away. Jeff and I sold all of the liquid soap we brought, and Paul and Terra sold all of their produce. We sold out of eggs too! Last weekend was not as successful, but we still did well. In the photo, Terra is holding one of the puppets she made using a gourd for the head. How creative! At the market tomorrow, Terra, Ellen, and Myra will be putting on a puppet show.

Jeff and I are planning to make some goat milk soaps soon as well as other natural body care products such as shampoo and lotion. Developing new products involves a bit of trial and error, though. We've been experimenting with ways of thickening liquid soaps, and we're trying to figure out how to make different liquid soaps. Our first attempt to make a liquid soap with softer oils was a bust. I'm also excited about making transparent soap containing luffa sponges. We still have some luffa left over from last season, and I just planted some luffa seedlings by an arbor that we constructed near Paul's garden at The Haven. Another dream I have is to produce our own natural colorants for the soap.

In other news, one of Paul and Terra's game hens hatched out 7 of our Partridge Rock eggs. We put 8 eggs underneath the hen when she went broody, but she seemed somewhat uncommitted to the task after she was moved to private quarters in a separate tractor. Every morning and periodically throughout the day, she was up and squawking before she resigned herself to setting on the clutch of eggs some more. She eventually added 5 of her own eggs to the nest, which is somewhat unusual. However, she set more consistently after that and managed to hatch out most of the PR eggs. Hooray! Our PRs don't lay very big eggs, but they lay pretty consistently. Right now we have 2 New Hampshire Red eggs under Wanda, another game hen, who prefers to wander around the farm instead of staying in the chicken coop. Our 2 NHR hens lay really consistently, and their eggs are bigger than the PRs' eggs.

It's been a rough past few days for our goats. We have separated the mommas from the babies, such that the milkers are at The Haven, while the babies are at Full Life Farm. Poor little Joanie has lost her voice, crying for Zella. However, the babies are old enough to be weaned, and now we can milk twice a day. With the extra milk we are making more yogurt and ice cream, and, hopefully, we'll make cheese again soon. We celebrated Paul's birthday last night with peppermint ice cream and a strawberry rhubarb pie, made with delicious fresh strawberries from the farm. Yum!!

Yesterday, more progress was made on the barn at The Haven. We put up 6 big posts and braced them. Unfortunately, the chain saw is having issues and needs some work done on it before we can put up more posts.

Rural life continues to be good. :-)

-Annie