What I have been up to lately

Well, spring and summer are in full swing. The goats are kidding, I have tons of milk to do something with and the garden needs constant attention. I am rebuilding my compost piles since I used every single bit in the garden and the goat pasture. I vow to build them bigger this year! To help with that vow, I am collecting grass clippings from town each week. This week I gathered 4 large bags (all I could fit into my car). Add the grass, leaves, barn cleanings, garden scraps and weeds and they are growing quite well. The garden is doing as well as can be expected. It has been a really dry spring so things are growing slowly. Last year we had plenty of spring rain and it seemed as if the seedlings were popping up as soon as they were put in the ground almost. This year, I plant and water for days. Then just when I am thinking that those seeds were not very good ones and I need to replant...shy little plants start to make their way out of the soil. So things are slow, but so far everything is looking good. Despite the heat our romaine and red leaf lettuce are doing great. No sign of the heat starting to bother them at all. The swiss chard is doing well also. With those three things we are having some delicious salads. I think I am going to use some swiss chard in the manicotti for dinner(lunch) today since my spinach burned up before it even did anything. Kind of a mock manicotti florentine. Speaking of manicotti...Since we have an abundance of milk these days I have started making cheese. My first cheese was ricotta and then I made buttermilk cheese. I am going to start making hard cheeses soon. Soooooo, our little goat herd is definitely earning their keep. We get milk, butter, ice cream, yogurt, meat and now cheese from them. It sure does cost less to feed the whole herd of goats than to buy those things in the amounts that we use them. I will get to posting some of the cheese recipes and other dairy recipes that we have found that we liked. Well, I suppose I had better get to work around here. With the days getting hotter, my mornings start earlier so that I don't have to do much in the heat of the day. We still have not turned on our AC this year and are still planning to try and hold off until July 1. We will see how the weather goes. Blessings from the farm, Kat