Comments on: If this is a Farm, Where are the Animals?

By: A new neighbor

A new neighbor — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 02:48:28 +0000

Goat’s milk is delicious! As long as your facilities and equipment are clean, and like you said, not housed with the buck/ram as well as grazed on appropriate pasture, you are good to go! We drink it raw, and my kids and I love it, not to mention the health benefits. We have been told that different breeds’ milk can taste different from each other, even different goats within the same breed, maybe due to the butterfat content, I’m not sure. Fiasco Farm is a great website for all kinds of info on getting started with goats.Our goat’s milk tastes like vanilla ice cream! Good luck at your new farm!

By: Celeste

Celeste — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 14:48:25 +0000

But have you and the kids actually tasted it? That’s what I’m curious about.

By: Gretchen

Gretchen — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 01:08:57 +0000

I have actually found raised beds inside fencing to be a pain. Unless there is a fence around the whole yard. (Pain as in scrapping my elbow, rump, what have you…)

I grew up with, and still garden with, (and my 89yo grandmother still gardens with), just a fence around a garden plot. I just dug up and out the turf, placed fencing around the outside and worked the soil and planted on the inside. Maybe not as productive as raised beds, but cheaper. You can always add the raised part later.

Good Luck, have fun sifting through the conflicting advise, and I know well that like all the rest of us – you’ll figure out by doing what works best for you!

Oh, I also live in deer & woodchuck country, unless you plan on sleeping in the garden and fence is a must! little thieving buggers, grrrr.

By: bogart

bogart — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 00:07:50 +0000

Makes sense — definitely not good to spend on a wheelbarrow if you’ve got something functional!

By: boxcarkids

boxcarkids — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 19:11:30 +0000

Thanks Grace! We don’t have good garden space – even for containers- where we are staying. And while we could put containers in at our other relative’s house (where the barn and our pasture area is) we won’t be able to protect them from deer or other pests. We hope to put in raised beds at that location and fence them to keep out the free-loaders! If we can we will get those in and fenced in time to put in some fall/winter crops. I was just reading up on the possibilities the other day and think we could try broccoli and leeks at least.

By: boxcarkids

boxcarkids — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 19:05:44 +0000

We cannot plant a garden right now. We don’t have garden space at present, and are in the middle of a drought and heatwave. It’s late for planting summer veggies and too early/hot for fall veggies. We do hope to have chickens before too long although we have more than enough eggs from our relative’s chickens right now. And naturally I’m applying for all sorts of jobs from those in my field (environmental project management) to cashier at the local grocery store.

By: boxcarkids

boxcarkids — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 19:01:50 +0000

Lynn – you may have tasted milk from goats that were pastured with rams or that had eaten particular plants that impart a strong taste. Goat milk is better for you than cow’s milk – both from a health standpoint and also from an enviromental standpoint (Cows use up a lot more resources than goats). Check out this article – http://www.mtcapra.com/benefits-of-goat-milk-vs-cow-milk/ And no worries – remember I’m a researcher at heart and have very carefully looked into all aspects of raising goats. One of the reasons we would raise meat goats over dairy is that you cannot sell the raw milk (but family members can drink it) but goat meat can be sold – you arrange the sale with the buyer and deliver the goat to the slaughter/processing facility and they pick up the meat.

By: boxcarkids

boxcarkids — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 18:57:10 +0000

Yes, there is a growing Hispanic population and in the neighboring college town various ethnic groups who regularly eat goat meat and there’s a high demand around religious holidays. There have been numerous studies and reports on the growing demand for goat meat – it’s so high that right now the US imports goat meat from other countries! See for instance http://www.agmrc.org/commodities__products/livestock/goats/meat_goats.cfm and http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/goat_meat_market_has_room_for_growth/ (you may have to cut and paste those links).

By: boxcarkids

boxcarkids — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 18:51:38 +0000

No splurging for us right now! We have use of our relative’s tools and they have a very standard wheelbarrow we can use.

By: Grace

Grace — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 15:48:56 +0000

Welcome to Indiana!! It’s not the heat that’s bad, it’s the humidity! Seriously, it takes some getting used to. I recognize the hardware store you mentioned. Nice little town. We have vacationed there and I try to go to the shops every few years.
You still have time to plant a garden. You can plant tomatoes in 5 gallon buckets. Container gardening is much less work and the plants do just as well. Raised bed gardening is great – no tilling or weeding and less water usage. The work is in building the beds and filling them with dirt. You will have to protect your vegetable plants from the deer.