The photos, drawings, and original poetry used on this website are owned by
Valerie Parker and cannot be used without express permission.
Valerie Parker and cannot be used without express permission.
August Farm News
Can anyone say jam? :-) We have made a bunch of different kinds of jams this summer from the various fruits we have harvested from our farm, and also some from local, organic farms too. We made a wonderful chutney from our currents and gooseberries, ginger peach, cranberry, blueberry and others. I made so much jam, I don't know how we will ever eat it all, so I have been giving it away to friends. :-) There is no sugar or pectin, but only raw, unfiltered local honey! :-)
August 26th: Beautiful Faith...growing up so fast and SO much like her mama Capella!! Check out a couple new videos of the young ladies Faith, Pie, Dixie and Clementine on our FB page!
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July Farm News
July 6th: Well, it's been a HOT and humid summer so far! I feel like we're in the south!! :-o Crazy heat! We've been really busy wrapping up kidding season and working on the gardens and plantings as well! Our goat kids are all approaching eight weeks of age, and are so big now! We have slowly been downsizing our herd again after reaching a high of 31! I still can't believe we had that many goats here at one time! We have one more set to leave in a couple weeks, and after that we will be back to nine. And nine is FINE. LOL. At least for now. We have had a crazy past few weeks with an umbilical cord issue in baby Gwen (one of Adele's triplets). She developed an abscess under her umbilical cord, and after antibiotics and nothing else worked, she had surgery at our vet's home yesterday morning. So far, so good! We have had a lot of prayers for her, so thanks to everyone for their love and support for her. She is a strong little girl and quite the fighter!! :-) I went out yesterday afternoon and took a ton of photos of our farm. Our hugelkultur mounds are bursting with fruits and herbs, and we have so much food grown right in our backyard! It's really neat! Check out three new goat kid videos on our FB page! They are so stinking' cute!!
June Farm News
Well, June is finally here! Now, if the weather would just cooperate and be sunny that would be great! LOL. :-)) We've had some goats leave, and a few more leaving next week, so things are getting a bit easier around the farm! Just moving from all the separate spaces and water buckets and down to one living space with a big pasture again is wonderful. :-) Everyone that we are selling at this point has been reserved, and a big thanks so much to the wonderful families on our reservations list who have been so patient and flexible as we figured everything out. We really appreciate it!! :-) The kids, count at 12 now, are really enjoying running around and doing laps in the pasture, and are loving life. Here are some photos from the past couple of days.
May Farm News
Scarlet's big boy Blue pretty much sums it all up! LOL.
May 24th: Well, we had a couple groups of goats go to their new, loving homes and amazing families today! Our count went from 30 total goats down to 23 - we still have a ways to go to get back to sanity though! LOL. :-) A few more are leaving next week, and we are busy with paperwork and preparations at the moment. It is really important that the new owners are prepared and feel good about their new friends, so we take a lot of time putting together health information, supply lists, and talking a lot with our new families as they navigate through what they need to do to prepare for their new arrivals. :-) We are so blessed to have found such great families this year, and love to see the excitement on their faces when it is pickup day!
On another note, we are done with vet visits (we hope) at this point as we wrapped up with final disbudding this afternoon. Moving forward, we have decided that we will no longer disbud goat kids. We will sell either horned or polled kids when we breed again (may be taking next year off though as I need a break! LOL).
On another note, we are done with vet visits (we hope) at this point as we wrapped up with final disbudding this afternoon. Moving forward, we have decided that we will no longer disbud goat kids. We will sell either horned or polled kids when we breed again (may be taking next year off though as I need a break! LOL).
May 21st: Finally coming up for air after an exhausting past few weeks! We are finished with kidding, and everyone is doing well. Final count is 14 kids - 9 does and 5 bucks! Big doe year (must be that ACV we put in the water buckets! LOL.) We have Panda's bottle kids Liberty "Libby" and Legend in the house, and they are going to go to their new amazing home in Charlotte next week! We are very excited for them! Right now, they are pretty spoiled. They have a playpen in our kitchen bathroom, and today they got a bigger play area in my office with two playpens joined together via zip ties (gotta love those zip ties!!). They have been running back and forth in there ALL day. So much energy and SO cute! Families on our reservations list are visiting this week and almost everyone is now reserved. We are so thankful to have such wonderful homes for our kids this year! Man, do I need some serious rest, but how do you say no to such excessive cuteness?! LOL.
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Legend says "All we want to do is play, play, play!!!"
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May 12th: Happy Mother's Day!! And oh, what a day it was here!! :-o The crazy started last night actually. Our vet came and disbudded our two bucklings last night around 7pm. After the boys woke up, Capella immediately accepted Spirit back in and he nursed right away. Unfortunately, not so with Panda. Panda not only rejected Legend, she went after him and tried to attack him, and then also rejected his sister. It was a very long evening in the barn, trying to work with Panda and her kids, but after trying many different things, we had to remove Panda from her kids and put her with the other goats for the night. We were able to hold her to allow the twins to nurse a few times before finally calling it a night. This morning, we tried some new ideas, including peppermint oil on Panda's nose and on the heads of the kids (thanks Cindy!) but all to no avail. We went out every two hours today to hold Panda down so that her kids could nurse. I can't tell you how sore both Hannah and I are from that (hello Arnica!!!). Tonight, we resigned ourselves to the fact that we probably had two bottle kids here now, and actually brought out the new bottle. Before we could begin, suddenly....we happened to look over at Scarlet and saw she was quietly in labor! No screaming, nothing! She was pushing out part of the placenta but no kid?! Holy moly, in I ran in to see what was up and knew there was a problem. Had to glove up and go in. HUGE kid trying to come out, but only one hoof! Despite digging, I could not find that other hoof and the baby was stuck. I mean STUCK good!! I had to use both hands to push the kid all the way back in (whose head was already out) far to finally find that other leg which was trapped behind him. Once I grabbed that hoof, I pulled up with his other one, and then with her contractions, I finally got him out. He was SO freaking big that she could barely squeeze him out. OMG, Hannah and I were both praying out loud for God to help us because it was a really bad situation and there was no way he could have come out without going back for the hoof. His sister slid out right after he arrived. Surreal delivery! Praise God!
And then, Hannah had the brilliant idea to try to graft Panda's rejected twins onto Scarlet! I wasn't sure to be honest, but what did we have to lose at this point? We brought them in discreetly while Scarlet was busy cleaning her twins. I proceeded to cover them in Scarlet's birth goo from head to toe, especially on their rumps, and then prayed while I put them in front of her. She began to clean them just like her other two! She totally accepted them as her own - she is their aunt after all. Auntie Scarlet to the rescue! They were actually nervous with all the licking (say, haven't we already been through that before?!) but did finally nurse. We made sure her twins got plenty of colostrum first before they nursed as well. We will be checking in on them later tonight. Our thought was even if they wouldn't nurse from her, they would still have a new mama to teach them and protect them within our herd. Praying it continues to go well as Scarlet raises her new QUADS! :-) Better photos of all four soon! (we are pretty exhausted!!)
Sweet Meadows Blackberry Pie (doe)
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Sweet Meadows Singing' the Blues (buck)
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May 11th: They're finally here!!! And not only that, Adele respected my request for a daytime delivery! SO weird as I told her last night that she needed to wait until 8am to kid, and what do you know....EXACTLY 8am on the nose she began to push her kids out! One on top of the other within seconds, no issues whatsoever! The umbilical cords were really thick on all kids, so that took a little bit of time with tying off, cutting, etc. but all was good! Two BIG does and a smaller buckling! All three look almost exactly alike and are darker buckskins with random white and white polls. The buckling is covered in little moonspots, including a giant one down his neck. He will be a wether. There may be moonspots on the doelings, but it is harder to tell at this point. At first, we thought these guys were swiss marked like their sire Mason, but they are indeed buckskins. Check out the video we took right after they were born. They had little coats on at first as they were a little cold and very wet, but the coats came off shortly after and they are doing great, nursing well and all! Congrats Adele - she's an amazing mama right out of the gate just like we thought she would be! We may retain one doeling, but not sure yet. Names - the boy is "Finn", and the two does (to be registered) will be called Sweet Meadows Gwendolyn (in honor of my mom for Mother's Day) and Sweet Meadows Southern Belle "Belle".
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May 10th: Friday afternoon and we are still waiting on Miss Adele to kid! She is taking her sweet time, and I think she enjoys making us suffer in the meantime! LOL. I am so exhausted from having the darn baby monitor on all night every night and the constant buzzing and static that goes with it, but last night took the cake! There was a really heavy rainstorm in the middle of the night. Our barn only has the metal roof, so when it rains, it is deafening in there - actually I like it a lot EXCEPT when it comes through the baby monitor at 3am!! Arrggh! It was SO loud, and seemed to last for hours, and so today I'm pretty freaking tired. Our first two does also chose to kid late at night and in the middle of the night, so praying our other does don't follow suit! LOL. I kinda have this feeling though that Adele could be tonight... She is due today! Check out our farm FB page to see video on Panda's twins, and thanks so much for your patience with getting photos and videos up! There is so much going on! :-)
Gotta have Faith. Need I say more?
Capella's kids find the mineral/baking soda feeder. Ohhh what fun it is to play in it! Promise especially finds it entertaining! Just her size! She's like a teacup goat. :-)
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Legend at a day old - a beautiful boy!
Capella and Panda now as roommates! :-)
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May 7th: It has been crazy around here, with little time to post updates lately, so here it goes! Capella's three kids are all doing really well. As I posted on FB, sadly we lost little Hope, the super tiny doeling, as Capella slept on her (had no idea). Little Spirit, Faith and Promise are all bouncing around their room non-stop! In other news, Panda kidded with gorgeous twins on Monday! We did not expect them to look like they do - the nicest looking kids we have had to date (and I don't mean colors!). They are very strong and really nice sized kids, and the buckling is really, really nice!! The doeling is also outstanding. I am still blown away. See them on our 2019 Kids page. We will determine if we might retain them after we see sister Scarlet's kids soon. Our wonderful vet Alison Cornwall came out last night to check on Adele as she has been really panting and struggling the past week due to her massive size, and had some leaking last night. We thought she had triplets, but wondering if there are more or if the kids might be huge. We don't give grain until the last few weeks for that very reason, so praying they aren't super big and she has trouble. She isn't due for another 3 days, but there is no way she is waiting that long! :-o Please pray that all goes well for her and her babies as I am a bit worried about her. Adele is due on the 10th, then Scarlet on the 12th, and finally both Pepper and Fauna on the 14th! In addition, I have been setting up our new buck area and it is going to be awesome! Their house will be in our big 10x10 shed (previously used as our chicken coop), which I am modifying with things to jump up on inside, and will be complete with a nice pasture area. I am looking for a play climber at the moment (found a great one for $50 on CL so hoping to find another one!) It's about to get nuts here! LOL. Stay tuned for more!!
UPDATE: Also, please check out our For Sale page, as we have added a couple new goats for sale. They will be offered to the families on our Reservations list first, but contact us if you are interested as well. Thanks!!
UPDATE: Also, please check out our For Sale page, as we have added a couple new goats for sale. They will be offered to the families on our Reservations list first, but contact us if you are interested as well. Thanks!!
Our first brief adventure out in the grass with mama to meet the herd!
May 1st: BABIES HAVE ARRIVED!!! And with a bang! Capella was showing early labor this afternoon, and at 10:30pm she started screaming on the baby monitor. We ran out and into her stall to see the first kid come tumbling out! Doe #1 and super tiny little thing. 10 seconds later, doe #2 - also super tiny, 20 seconds then a larger blue-eyed buckling, and then right on top of him came the larger blue-eyed doeling! It all happened so fast that we could barely think!! LOL. It is now 2:30am as I am writing this, and Hannah and I are just coming inside. Whew! The two larger ones went right over and started nursing like champs, but the two tiny doelings were not doing well initially - both had cold mouths and had trouble nursing, and so we took out hot water bottles and warmed them up. One couldn't even stand. We gave selenium gel and also some colostrum paste and that seemed to help a lot. Hannah, the goat whisperer, also worked her magic and got them both nursing really well and both standing too while I was inside working on a bottle. She's amazing. :-) We also put our little etsy fleece coats on all of them (I was thanking God for that idea to add the second heat lamp in her stall this afternoon!) and I used my fabric shears to shape them into mini sized coats! Worked like a charm! :-) They are all in a little goat pile sleeping next to mama tonight. Capella is the most amazing, attentive mama we have ever seen! Sweet dreams little ones! We prayed that God will watch over them tonight... More tomorrow! :-)
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April Farm News
April 25th: Well, we are getting much closer friends! Both Capella's and Adele's ligaments have softened as of this morning! They were both moved into their own stalls this morning. Adele is peeing a lot and pawing the ground, so she may be the first to go! Stay tuned here for updates and photos!!! Please pray for our sweet goats for an easy delivery and for healthy kids. :-)
April 23rd: I wanted to take some time to day to reflect on all the wonderful things Christ has done in my life, and in the lives of my family. We have been so blessed, and He has brought us through so many challenging times that I thought we would never survive, including cancer in myself. I am a 9 year cancer survivor, and I thank God every day for his healing. During hard times, it is so easy to get caught up in the negativity of what is going on around us, things that you can't control, people who feel the need to be hateful. God loves all of us, and we really need to remember that when we get frustrated and things don't go the way we had hoped. Mercy Me says it so well. We are Flawless because God loves us, and no matter what is going on in our lives, we can always choose to forgive, pray for those who hate us, and choose LOVE. Take some time today to watch this Youtube video, and may God bless you and yours today and every day. :-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjLlLPZderk
As the weather is warming up, Starr, Flora and Fern all got shaved in preparation for their new home - quite the task on wiggly goats! LOL. We used our brand new trimmers and by the time we got to our third goat, it looked much better. LOL. They were all very happy to get a new "do". Kitty and the kids are enjoying their new pasture area inside the front pasture. It was quite the challenge to get it all set up with lots of trips to Home Depot, but so worth it to see how happy the goats are in it! We got a play climber from CL for the kids, and they LOVE it! And of course, we are just one week away from starting our kidding season! Capella is getting HUGE and is first with quads/quints! She is already less interested in food, and we are thinking Adele could go alongside her! She was initially bred (just once) on the same day as Capella, but the buck wasn't very interested in her AND she then cycled again 10 days later. I guess we will see what happens! And Panda is due on May 4th, so a very busy week ahead next week! Stay tuned!!
April 1st: YEA!!! :-) We are finally into April!! Hoping it will bring some warmer weather. :-) I took some photos of the crew this morning and wanted to share in a slideshow!
March Farm News
March 27th: I found this hilarious set of photos from last winter of our wether Starr trying to eat snowflakes. These pages are actually from one of my Sweet Bleats books that was published last May, but thought I would share them here too. Really funny and adorable! :-) They are copyrighted.
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March 27th: Reservations are officially closed for 2019 kids. We do have a waiting list though, so email us via the Contact Us page if you would like to get on it and be notified about what kids or adult goats might be available after the ones that are reserved have been picked out by their new families. After two last families visit this weekend, we will not be allowing visitors on the farm until after kidding is complete and the kids and moms have had a little time to adjust and settle in (TBD - probably around the first of June). Thanks SO much to everyone who has contacted us about our goats, and for your interest in our farm! We are beyond excited to see the new arrivals very soon! Stay tuned here for more photos and updates coming very soon!
Some sisterly love.
March 21st: My daughter did this amazing sketch about the importance of soil for her environmental science class. They are currently studying permaculture, and of course she has first hand experience here at the farm! She is not only an amazing photographer, but also has an incredible talent for drawing! She didn't get it from me! I am going to try to get her to color it, and if so, will re-post it here! :-)
February Farm News
February 24th: We uploaded a new farm video to our youtube channel this evening! Check it out by clicking on the Farm Channel tab above! I am behind on videos, but plan to have more up soon, so please subscribe to our channel. Once the kids arrive in May, we will have loads of videos of bouncing kids! Crazy weather here, sleeting earlier and now raining which will probably turn everything to ice yet again! Fauna says, "Argggghh! When is spring going to arrive?" :-)
Doe Spotlight - Capella! The day that little Capella came strolling into our lives in the summer of 2017 was one of the most memorable moments we have had on the farm. Her mom, Lucy, had a very difficult birth with tangled kids, and we thought we might lose her as we could not get the kids untangled easily, and our vet was way too far away to help in time. It was that moment that it was just me, God and Lucy in the barn stall. To make things worse, Lucy had a prolapse, which made it even more challenging. Finally, after much persistence and prayer, Capella and her brother Solstice came tumbling out one right after the other! We immediately fell in love. Capella is not shy at all, and is always the first to greet everyone. She greets by unzipping your zipper or nibbling on your hand. :-) She is a mouthy goat, but this has slowed down a bit with her pregnancy - she is carrying either quads or quints! She is a big baby though, and her mom Lucy still allows her to nurse a little believe it or not! LOL. She is getting bigger already with a couple months to go, and we pray that she and her kids will be ok. This will be the first time we have had more than triplets on the farm. Capella is lower in the ranks in the herd, but is not a pushover either (probably due to her size). She is really just so CHILL that she doesn't seem to care when everyone else is squabbling. Our farm would never be the same without her here. She's that special.
February 18th: Another snowy day! We are supposed to be getting another 1-3" today, which meant postponing the delivery of 100 bales of hay. Arrghh! Our barn doesn't have a lot of storage space for hay, which we plan to remedy next year, but for now it means hay deliveries every 3 months...even in winter! We are so grateful for Silas and our friends at Last Resort Farm for all these years of bringing us great quality, organic hay!
February 9th: Weekly immune support, and herbal worming - all in one! Everybody gets a large organic garlic clove diced up and in a cup, along with herbs and their Molly's Herbal wormer #2 ball. We find the garlic goes the best with a handful of BOSS (black oil sunflower seeds!). They know when it is coming, and almost trample each other to get theirs first! LOL. :-)
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February 8th: Adele decided to pose for me this morning during chores. I happen to have my phone out there, and told her I would post her beauty shots on the farm website. You can't tell from this angle, but she is starting to look pretty huge! Her ultrasound showed twins or triplets, but we are wondering if there might be more in there! LOL.
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Make sure you get my good side!
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Doe Spotlight - Pepper! Pepper came to our farm in the fall of 2016 as a five month old doeling. She came with a buddy, Fern, from Doubletree in NY. Pepper was very shy at first due to a lack of socialization, and still gets a little spooked when people move too fast around her, but she is a total love bug. She will stand in front of you, right in your face, just waiting for to be pet. But, it is always on HER terms, and she only comes to you for petting when it is HER idea. And when she does, she will stand there for hours until you leave first! I guess that is what makes her our herd queen! She has no problem keeping her herd mates in line, and reminding them who is boss! And her son, Starr, backs her up constantly, right at her side - the muscle in her dictatorship. LOL. Starr is a gorgeous kid, beautiful head, coat and conformation and is perfect in every way - a big regret was castrating him and not keeping him as a buck! We are super excited that Pepper showed twins/triplets on her ultrasound. She was an amazing, attentive mom the first time around with Starr, and we can't wait till mid May to see her as a second freshener!
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February 6th: Well, we got a little break from the freezing temps with a couple of days in the upper 40's and even low 50's! The goats were all very happy to be outside and hanging out like it was early spring. It has been a weird winter, and we will all be so happy to see spring coming soon. I snapped some funny photos of Capella this morning. I watched as she started playing with my glove that I accidentally dropped. When she was shaking it back and forth, she somehow managed to flick it on top of her head! And then she just kept it there, so chill - just like her. She is such a riot - our favorite doe. :-)
Ohhhh, what's that?
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Say, how did that get there?
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Anyway, what were we talking about?
February 4th: Sadly, we lost our sweet wether Siren this week. A first with goats on our farm, we made the impossible decision to put him down after he lost the ability to use his legs or stand - which our vet thinks was a neck/spinal related injury as extensive tests could not confirm anything else. We tried many different interventions, both conventional and holistic, over a period of several weeks to save him, but all to no avail. We are so incredibly thankful for the loving support and help we got from our vet, friends, our church, my goat breeder friends, my wonderful homeopathy group and herbal support group, and even our amazing chiropractor who came out a few times to look at him. We are grieving his loss on our farm, as he is irreplaceable. Our only comfort is that he is now in heaven, running around and pawing at everyone for attention. He will be sorely missed. We will always love you Siren!
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January Farm News
January 26th: Our entire herd just tested negative for CAE, CL, Johne's and Brucellosis! See results on Herd Health page. Also, the entire herd got glowing marks for their routine fecal tests with zeros across the board! Natural herbal wormers continues to show their amazing power!
January 17th: Our vet was out this morning and performed ultrasounds on all of our does! Six were confirmed bred, and still waiting to re-test Fern. It looks like we will be super busy as everyone seems to be having multiples this year! And Capella...QUADS!! Maybe 5? "Hey mom, I told you I wasn't just fat!!!" LOL. Check out our breeding schedule for specifics on each doe.
Doe Spotlight - FAUNA! Fauna was born on our farm in July of 2017, alongside her sister Flora. She comes from amazing lines, and we are excited to see how she does as a first freshener come this May! Her grand dam on her dam's side is SG Sugar Moon Nut-Ella 3*M (PromisedLand, Caesar's Villa and Rosasharn lines), and her sire is Sugar Moon NS Ezekial. Ezekial's sire and dam are Old Mountain Farm Nightshade and SG NC PromisedLand SIA Zena 3*M 6*D. Fauna is full of personality and spunk, and is one of my favorite does. She holds her ears down and back when she wants attention, almost in a sort of "sucking up" style that is endearing. She also does it when she knows she has misbehaved and is apologizing. She was a lap sitter from birth, and will not tolerate anyone else (well, anyone below her place in the herd! lol.) getting attention when she is getting her daily rubs. She is a darker cou clair (like her grand dam Nut-Ella), covered in moon spots. Both she and her sister Flora were born with "hearts" on them. Fauna has two actually - a huge upside down one on her throat, and a tiny one on her ear. Flora has one on the side of her neck. They are close sisters, and generally hang together in the herd.
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January 8th: Happy New Year from Sweet Meadows Farm! Had some fun with the herd this morning, and wanted to share the photos! On breeding news, we have not seen Capella, Panda, or Scarlet back in heat again, so hoping they are bred! Watching for heats on Pepper and Fauna tomorrow. We are not sure whether Adele is bred, as we did see a possible sign of returning heat last weekend. We are doing ultrasound with our vet in early February, and we will confirm pregnancies on that date! Stay tuned!
A mother/daughter snacking moment.
Capella always has SOMETHING in her mouth!
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How dare you challenge ME? I am FERN!
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Beautiful, sweet Scarlet.
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Under the table dining. Don't judge me!
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December Farm News
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December 25th: Wishing a very Merry Christmas to you and yours! Best wishes for a safe, wonderful and joyous holiday! :-)
“And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2: 10-11 |
December 20th: We have our official breeding schedule up for spring 2019 kidding, and we will be covered up in kids! See the 2019 Kidding Schedule. We bred SEVEN does - Capella, Panda, Adele, Scarlet, Fern, Pepper and Fauna! All kids are due between April 30th - May 14th, pending confirmation of pregnancy! If you are interested in kids, please check with us about getting on a waiting list! These kids are going to be amazing!
December 11th: Capella and Adele posing with some fun winter accessories today! Capella is such a clown. The others joined in as well! A sunny, but COLD December day! :-o
"I think I will take a nap now..."
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"Why is Capella wearing blue?! Surely everyone knows that blue is MY color!" Fern says.
November Farm News
November 16th: First big snow happened today at the farm! We took some neat photos and wanted to share via a slide show! Enjoy!! :-)
October Farm News
Oct 4th: The new sisters Scarlet and Panda are settling in well! They fit right in with the crew, and are such sweet, adorable girls! We love them already. :-) Panda's bad haircut (my clippers broke!) is growing back in. She is SO funny and bouncy, and her sister Scarlet is so mellow and chill. They must balance each other out, like Yin and Yang, and are two peas in a pod the way they are never too far from each other.
Awwww, so sweet! "Wanna be friends Fauna?"
Fern is not fazed by the competition.
Say, where's Panda?
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Starr LOVES the new ladies!
Hey, where did Scarlet go?
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September Farm News
Sept 26th: Welcoming Back Meadow Farm Scarlet and Back Meadow Farm Panda! They are sisters and wonderful does with wonderful personalities. Thank you so much Fran! :) To see more detailed info about them, go to the "Registered Does" page.
Sept 13th: We were able to do a photo shoot with Rosie's babies before the first three left, and so it looks like we might be putting together our next children's book this fall in the Adventures of Sweet Meadows Farm series! Stay tuned for more updates here or on our In the Meadow Books website.
Sept 17th: UPDATE! Pumpkin left for her new home this afternoon. Thanks SO much to all the wonderful families that emailed us about her. There was a huge amount of interest, and it was hard to choose which family was the best fit, but we found the absolute perfect home for her. A special thanks to Maddie and her mom Jean! :-) So, everyone has a new happy home except Blueberry...who of course is staying on the farm with us! He is going to help me write the next book!
Sept 8th: Beautiful, blue-eyed Pumpkin is now available again as the sale fell through for her. If you are interested, we do require a farm visit before approving an adoption. She is a sweet little girl who loves head rubs, nibbling on things, and loves to sit on your lap. She is a false dwarf broken blue/black Holland Lop, and is $35. Read the story about Rosie's babies below. Please email me directly on our contact form for more information. Thanks!!!
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August Farm News
Slideshow with updated baby bunny photos of Rosie's five six week old Holland Lop babies!
July 31st:
The baby bunnies are getting to be SO big now! They are such cutie pies!! Go to the "Holland Lops" page to see updated photos of them! Yesterday we took the baby bunnies out into the sun for a minute and found out that two out of the five baby bunnies have blue eyes - Blueberry and Pumpkin!
Below is a photo of Pumpkin - she is too cute!!
July 27th: Day 15, and Rosie's babies continue to do well! They have actually potty trained themselves in their pen by only using one corner to pee! I was really surprised by that when I cleaned out their cage this morning. Smart little cutie pies!! No more piddling after feedings for Hannah (she is OK with that! LOL.) Either Nettle or Bumblebee now has ears that stick straight out to the sides! It is hilarious, and so different than the other four. He or she (we think one is a boy and one a girl, but now confused as to who is who since they are identical!) is also the most adventurous and is always running around and exploring. :-) Photos soon! Pumpkin is in the top two photos. She is a mini-me of her mama (still not sure if she is broken blue or black just yet)!
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July 23rd: Eyes are OPEN today for the baby bunnies (still opening on a couple)! I just posted an adorable video from this morning's feeding with Rosie. Check it out on our Instagram page! :-)
July 22nd: Rosie's babies arrived on Wednesday, July 11th. It is Day 11 now, and has been so crazy that I am just now posting about it. She gave birth to NINE, which is a lot for a Holland Lop! One died (or was killed - not sure), and two others had a back leg bitten off by her - perhaps excessive cleaning, but we won't ever know for sure. Both of those kits went to our wonderful animal rescue friend Ellen and were hand fed there while also getting antibiotics for their severe injuries. One of those two died at a few days old, and the other had surgery done at our vet to remove an extra piece of bone that was making it so that the wound could not heal properly. We then brought it back home to try and get Rosie's milk in it. Sadly, it also died two nights ago (Friday). We tried everything we could to save it, but there was just too much trauma between the initial wound and then the surgery. The remaining six had a bit of a rough start since mama was being aggressive, so they were solely hand fed by us every few hours the first 36 hours. We had to teach them how to drink from a syringe - not an easy task! We made a custom formula out of KMR/Raw Goat Milk/Yogurt. The formula though is challenging as it just does not have everything they need in it, but it helped get them through the first part. My daughter Hannah got to be the "piddler" and still is - which means she has to stimulate each baby after eating so that they urinate. They can't do it on their own until their eyes open. If they don't, they can die. Mom usually licks them to do this part, but Rosie hasn't been doing it much. Hannah sings to them while doing it, and so now they will start to pee when she starts singing! So funny. LOL. :-)
At two day sold, we administered homeopathic remedies for trauma and shock/stress (Aconite), and then we put Rosie in a pen with her babies (supervised closely!) and she began to let them nurse. It has been an uphill battle with Rosie with some days her not cooperating (and being VERY temperamental), but she is let in to nurse twice a day, and is then put back in her pen (they are in a separate pen on top of hers). Rosie does not like to be held or picked up, so we made her a custom ramp to go in/out of her cage to the padded feeding area on the floor. Another baby died that had skin lesions from what looked like bites from Rosie - it started to lose interest in nursing, and then developed a respiratory issue. It went over to rescue, and died within a couple of days. And so, we have five that made it. They are all doing well with their supervised twice daily feedings. Rosie made more progress after getting the homeopathic remedy Ignatia for grief and overwhelm, and followed by Sepia for hormone and bonding issues. It was also indicated for her bonding issues with her babies. Some days Rosie is cranky and nervous, but she then gets Sepia 30c/Aconite 30c and settles down. I have also trained her a bit with treats like a kale leaf and she is doing better. Looks like we may have two solid blacks, a solid blue, and two broken blues - we think maybe 3 boys and 2 girls. They are SO adorable. Two are starting to open their eyes, and all five had jumped out of their nesting box last night (I had prepared for that already!), and so their nesting box got turned on its side today - along with some rigging along all the edges of their cage so that they can't slip though any cracks! They are still very small! Lots of photos (and video too) on our Instagram page, but will post some here too. More updates soon! :-)
At two day sold, we administered homeopathic remedies for trauma and shock/stress (Aconite), and then we put Rosie in a pen with her babies (supervised closely!) and she began to let them nurse. It has been an uphill battle with Rosie with some days her not cooperating (and being VERY temperamental), but she is let in to nurse twice a day, and is then put back in her pen (they are in a separate pen on top of hers). Rosie does not like to be held or picked up, so we made her a custom ramp to go in/out of her cage to the padded feeding area on the floor. Another baby died that had skin lesions from what looked like bites from Rosie - it started to lose interest in nursing, and then developed a respiratory issue. It went over to rescue, and died within a couple of days. And so, we have five that made it. They are all doing well with their supervised twice daily feedings. Rosie made more progress after getting the homeopathic remedy Ignatia for grief and overwhelm, and followed by Sepia for hormone and bonding issues. It was also indicated for her bonding issues with her babies. Some days Rosie is cranky and nervous, but she then gets Sepia 30c/Aconite 30c and settles down. I have also trained her a bit with treats like a kale leaf and she is doing better. Looks like we may have two solid blacks, a solid blue, and two broken blues - we think maybe 3 boys and 2 girls. They are SO adorable. Two are starting to open their eyes, and all five had jumped out of their nesting box last night (I had prepared for that already!), and so their nesting box got turned on its side today - along with some rigging along all the edges of their cage so that they can't slip though any cracks! They are still very small! Lots of photos (and video too) on our Instagram page, but will post some here too. More updates soon! :-)
Bumblebee and Nettle (black solids - boy/girl)
Pumpkin and Honey (two broken blues - boy/girl)
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Blueberry (blue) - HUGE boy (we think) and bigger than everyone else!
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July 9th: Our new detailed doe pages are UP and RUNNING under "Registered Does!" Check out the new photos, funny personalities, and pedigree info! :-)
July 7th: Our goat videos were on the local news too! They were featured on Local 22 WVNY-TV & Local 44 WFFF-TV on both July 3rd and 4th! See them also here online: https://www.mychamplainvalley.com/news/south-burlington-goats-beat-the-heat-/1283384935. We are working on updating the website, and individual doe pages with new information and updated photos coming very soon!
July 2nd: Well, Capella is famous! I posted a video of Capella getting a "hose down" to cool off by our daughter on our farm Instagram page yesterday and got contacted by The Weather Channel to see if they could use it online and on TV. It aired on TV this morning right before 9am (we didn't know when it would air but taped anyway), but you can see it here as well on their twitter page: https://twitter.com/mikeseidel/status/1013499300201095168 She's famous!! LOL. :-) It is also on our Instagram page at #sweetmeadowsvt.
June Farm News
Our Fern is a star, and our daughter too! Our talented daughter Hannah is very gifted with photography, and took this photo of Fern. She submitted it to Stone Soup Magazine, and it was selected as the cover for June 2018! She has other photography also featured in the magazine.
May Farm News
May 3rd: My daughter Hannah has launched a fan club website for Annie, our farm dog! Here is a link: https://anniethelittlefarmdog.weebly.com/
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May 2nd: All three of our farm books went LIVE TODAY! :-) They will be up on various online booksellers such as Barnes & Noble and Amazon in a few days, and in local Vermont bookstores too (see the list on my "In the Meadow Books" website above). My Annie book will also be available in a hardcover through Ingram. Ebooks are in the works too, and will be available in the upcoming weeks.
Please share far and wide with your friends and social networks! Thanks so much!!! :-)
In other news, Rosie and Basil (our Holland Lop bunnies) bred twice in the past two weeks, so we are now waiting to see if Rosie is pregnant! Stay tuned! :-)
Also, we just brought in some new hens into the flock this past weekend! Our rooster is VERY happy, but doesn't quite know how to handle all the ladies now. LOL. They are all about a year old, and are already laying wonderful, colorful large eggs! We will soon be covered up in them! :-o Check back for introductions on the "Our Hens" page soon!
Please share far and wide with your friends and social networks! Thanks so much!!! :-)
In other news, Rosie and Basil (our Holland Lop bunnies) bred twice in the past two weeks, so we are now waiting to see if Rosie is pregnant! Stay tuned! :-)
Also, we just brought in some new hens into the flock this past weekend! Our rooster is VERY happy, but doesn't quite know how to handle all the ladies now. LOL. They are all about a year old, and are already laying wonderful, colorful large eggs! We will soon be covered up in them! :-o Check back for introductions on the "Our Hens" page soon!
April Farm News
It has been a very busy, but productive winter here at the farm. We are getting ready to independently publish not one, but three books at the same time! And, we now have started an independent publishing company called In the Meadow Books, and you can learn more about the upcoming books on the new website! We are targeting a release date of May 1st! See above in tabs.
December Farm News
December 24th: We have just launched a Youtube Channel for the farm! Check it out here, with recent videos of the goats and bunnies! :-) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDc3ynWNYAg-pczSGzuB81Q
October Farm News
October 19th: Sugar's girls both have heart...literally! Both girls were born with multiple heart shapes on their bodies. Most have faded, but one large one remains on both Flora and Fauna. Fauna has a huge upside down heart on her throat, and Flora has one on the side of her neck. They are SO cute and sweet. Love the heart sisters so much. :-)
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October 17th: It has been awhile since we have posted an update as it has been super busy here! We sold two wethers from this summer's kiddings, and three does. We have nine total now, including two wethers (somehow we ended up keeping Pepper's boy Star! LOL.) Back in the swing of homeschooling, lots of writing (I finished my second children's book), and staying busy as always! :-) All the goats are doing well, including Sugar's twin doelings that are now without mom, but adjusting just fine! They get extra morning and evening snacks and are even more rotten than before! :-) We added in two new bunny girls - Luna and Rosemary - girlfriends for Basil! My daughter has big plans for baby bunnies next spring, so stay tuned if you might be interested in a Holland Lop bunny! :-)
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August Farm News
August 13th: Emmanuel and Star were wethered yesterday and recovering well today. Both Emmanuel and Solstice will be traveling to their new home in Derby, VT soon!! Very exciting. The boys are bigger now, and so all three got their first collar today! So cute. :-) I took this really sweet photo of Solstice and his sister Capella this evening in the barn.
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Flora and Fauna. Such sweeties!!! :-)
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July Farm News
July 21st: After much request, I am adding in a slideshow of recent photos of everyone! All are doing great! We are adding in a new overhang to the front of the barn to keep rain and snow out a bit better. They are digging the shade though..even though the roof isn't quite on yet!
July 10th: Fun in the sun!!! Adele is so patient with the new kids...as is Lucy! :-)
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July 8th: So adorable...Pepper and her boy Star! ;-)
July 7th: Welcome to Sugar's new twin doelings Flora and Fauna! After a very eventful birth with Fauna (the second one) coming out upside down and backwards, but everyone is doing fine now! Flora is a black swiss marked, and Fauna is a cou clair, just like mom (only darker colors)! We are officially done with 2017 kidding season with an even three bucklings and three doelings!! :-)
Sweet Meadows Flora
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Sweet Meadows Fauna
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June Farm News
June 28th: We welcome in two new bucklings, one each from Maggie and Pepper! Maggie's buckling was born on Monday late and is HUGE, weighing in at over 6lbs, and he required a lot of pulling from me to get him out. He is chocolate with a white poll. Pepper's gorgeous buckling was born this morning. He looks like a cou blanc possibly with brown splashes all over his face/moon spots all over his back, possibly roan in there too. He is also rather large. Pepper is an amazing mom, as is Maggie! Sugar is due next week, and hoping for some doelings to even things out since it is 3:1 now! LOL. A week to get some much needed rest! :-)
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Solstice having fun in the sun on a first little trip out! :-)
What a beautiful, sunny warm day to meet the world!!!! :-)
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June 24th: Better photos, and introducing.....
Sweet Meadows Summer Solstice (buckling)
Sweet Meadows Capella (doeling)
June 23rd: Still waiting! I just wanted to posted a quick update here since I don't have a lot of time to respond to everyone who has inquired about the babies. They are both close, and we are hoping for today! :-)
8pm: THEY ARE HERE!!! Twin boy and girl!!! More photos soon as I am exhausted after a very complicated birth, but the buckling we think is chocolate with frosting, white splotches, and super cute! The doeling is solid black with white poll and blue eyed! No third. I think both are also polled, but will confirm soon. We are probably retaining her, but will not know for sure until everyone else kids. Mom and babies are doing great!!! Maggie is still holding out, but I am hoping for tomorrow so I can rest up!! LOL. ;-) More photos coming soon!
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June 16th: DAY 140!!! Both Maggie and Lucy are due on Wednesday, June 21st! :-) Lucy has been pawing the ground, laying down more, talking to her kids, and also is much less tolerant of her roommates so we decided to go ahead and separate her (through fencing so she can still see all her buddies!). Maggie and Sugar are now roommates next door to her (they are HUGE!), and Siren is playing "babysitter!" LOL. Pepper is coming along as well, and due 5 days after Maggie and Lucy! Sugar is really big, but not due until July 5th. Kinda dreary, blurry photos, but the weather here today is rainy and windy! :-)
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June 5th: Adele. Need I say more? So sweet and chill. My favorite goat. :-)
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June 4th: Well, it has been awhile since I have posted as we have had quite the busy spring so far! We have been working on various permaculture projects in our backyard for the past month, and it is going to be amazing! We are planting many new fruit trees and edibles, and are so excited!
Our sweet does are getting MUCH bigger and Lucy and Maggie are due on June 21st...so less than three weeks now! It is so hard to believe. Sugar is as big as a cow - we are thinking there may be more than twins in there, or it could be just very large twins (despite just a handful of organic oats every couple of days - she had a very large buckling two years ago, who got stuck coming out, so we want to keep the kids a little smaller this time around!). Pepper is developing a very nice FF udder as well, but is still rather petite. She is 13 months old now and will freshen at around 14 months of age -a bit younger than I like, but we are still not sure yet if we will be keeping her and wanted to go ahead and breed her this year.
Our sweet does are getting MUCH bigger and Lucy and Maggie are due on June 21st...so less than three weeks now! It is so hard to believe. Sugar is as big as a cow - we are thinking there may be more than twins in there, or it could be just very large twins (despite just a handful of organic oats every couple of days - she had a very large buckling two years ago, who got stuck coming out, so we want to keep the kids a little smaller this time around!). Pepper is developing a very nice FF udder as well, but is still rather petite. She is 13 months old now and will freshen at around 14 months of age -a bit younger than I like, but we are still not sure yet if we will be keeping her and wanted to go ahead and breed her this year.
April Farm News
April 7th: We are so excited to announce a fun, new adventure! My daughter and I have started a little company called Moonacre Felting, and can't wait to share our love of needle felting with others! Check it out at: http://healthyroots.weebly.com/moonacre-felting.html and see the current ones we have available for purchase, and pricing. :-) Here are a few samples. We do ship!
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April 1st: Silly goats playing in the snow.
Sweet little Adele lost in snow! Help!!
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Silly Fern! What is she doing?!
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March Farm News
March 20th: 4 of our 5 does are bred, confirmed by ultrasound this morning! See more details under our Farm Blog! :-) I thought I would share a few photos of our snow storm from last week here. My husband was busy carving paths to the barn, while I was working on paths inside the goat pens for the gals to play around on. Crazy winter we are having here in Vermont!
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March 6th: Well, the weekend passed by and no returning heats for either Sugar or Fern! So, hopefully, we are all set for summer! All five does are scheduled to kid between June 21st and July 5th. Email me if you are interested in getting on the list for kids!
the elders...
peek-a-boo!
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brother and sis...
Sweet Lucy
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the little gals...and their hen pals!
February Farm News
February 8th: I am just starting a blog on this website that will be the new place to see all the farm updates. It is under "Farm Blog." It is just much easier to put updates there, so please keep updated on farm news by going there. I also started another blog called "Healthy Roots" which is all about holistic living, natural farming, and much more! Stay tuned!
February 5th: A few snowy days here and there, but we would like more! The girls are doing well, and are happy. So far, no further signs from Maggie and Lucy with heats, so fingers crossed! Pepper was also bred on 2/3/17 down at Willow Moon Farm (thanks Sharon!). We are just waiting on Sugar and Fern now, a bit closer to Valentine's Day. If all goes well, we will have five does kidding this summer in late June and early July! :-)
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Beautiful Sugar!
January Farm News
January 29th: As we are patiently waiting for Sugar and Fern to go into heat, we did some "winter" cleaning today for the hens! They got a big "butt" trim, a dust bath in DE, and a full coop clean out! Lucky gals! We don't usually clean out mid-winter (we usually can't because it is SO cold and snowy too!) but today was nice and sunny and so we did! They were quite happy. :-)
January 27th: Well this morning we were happy to find both Lucy and Maggie is standing heat! Maggie has been notoriously hard to pinpoint heat cycles, so this was fantastic! We had already lined up to breed them at Blackberry Ridge in Wolcott, and took them there this afternoon to "have a date!" Both were bred to a gorgeous little buckling out of Tiny Angels line called Bly Acres Paso's Zircon. We are thrilled to see the outcome of this special breeding, with planned kiddings around June 21st (if the breeding was successful!). Thanks so much Koni! :-) We will be hopefully headed back there in the next couple of days with Sugar to breed to a different, beautiful buck Bacchus. It will be a busy summer! Check our 2017 Breeding Schedule for more information on the bucks and their amazing pedigrees.
December Farm News
December 29th: Merry Christmas everyone, and Happy Hanukkah too! We hope that everyone has a wonderful and peaceful holiday, and we pray for a New Year filled with love, joy and exciting adventures!
Cookie and Jingle (our elves) in their new digs!
Our tomtens (farm animal protectors) hiding....they move every night on the mantel during the holidays!
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Annie and a new pal
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November Farm News
November 20th: It is so much fun to see how the younger doelings from spring/summer see snow for the first time! We got snow today, and it is still coming down! Little brave Adele was the most curious one, and kept looking at it like "what the heck is THAT?!!" She kept talking the entire time she was processing what she was seeing. So funny!
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November 17th: We got the blood test results back from Cornell University and everyone was negative for CAE, CL, and Johne's. We are a closed herd, and are now thinking about breeding plans. See official results under "Herd Health".
November 7th: Today we had our wonderful vet Alison come out and re-test the entire herd for CAE, CL, and Johnes diseases. We added in three new doelings this fall with our adorable little Adele (below) from NH, and two gals from New York. Meet Fern (white/cream with blue eyes) and Pepper (a tri roan with frosting). More info on them soon. She also checked our whole group of eight, and gave exceptional marks for their condition and for the health of everyone. Last fecals were completed today (the first half of the herd was great!) and sent off on ice. We are excited about the future of our program! :-)
Such a funny thing happened today while the vet was here though. Obnoxious Maggie was following our vet around as she was drawing blood on all the others, and in her face, mouthing her non-stop. When she had the needle in Lucy's neck and was adjusting to draw blood, Maggie reached over and pulled the needle right out of her neck with her mouth! Alison could not believe it, and I am still laughing about it... That darn goat!!! LOL.
Such a funny thing happened today while the vet was here though. Obnoxious Maggie was following our vet around as she was drawing blood on all the others, and in her face, mouthing her non-stop. When she had the needle in Lucy's neck and was adjusting to draw blood, Maggie reached over and pulled the needle right out of her neck with her mouth! Alison could not believe it, and I am still laughing about it... That darn goat!!! LOL.
Fern meets Worma....
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....and then trots over to meet Aslan! ;-)
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October Farm News
Halloween News: A warm welcome to sweet little Adele from NH (pinto gold and white) and Basil the baby bunny. More information and exciting news soon! :-)
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October 9th: Girl and her goat. Priceless. :-)
Meet the hens!
EGGS FOR SALE!!! Our hens have started laying now and we are completely covered up in eggs! :-o 10 have started already laying, and more are coming soon! Laughing Hen Eggs (my 11 year old daughter's business) are from SUPER healthy, free range hens that have only been raised on Green Mountain Organics soy-free feed/fruit/veggies, organic sunflower seeds, and organic fermented hay (called Chaffhaye - sounds weird, but loaded with probiotics and chickens LOVE it!). No antibiotics, medications, or vaccines have been given. They also get ACV in their water, and minerals and probiotics. We use DE in the their coop and dust their food with it to keep them in wonderful condition.
Our hens are are SUPER friendly, and all have special pet names! They are the following breeds: Welsummers, Buff Brahma, Light Brahma, Partridge Cochins, Easter Eggers, Barred Rock (Worma - the queen, loves worms), Wyandotte, Speckled Sussex, Salmon Favorelle, and they lay blue, green, pale brown, pink, dark brown, medium brown, and speckled eggs. We will sell by the dozen at $5, and they will come in five different colored cartons. So fun! :-)
First come, first serve with customers signing up. We will have a limited number of customers due to the amounts of eggs we will have each week. Pick up in South Burlington at our farm. Fill out the contact form if you are interested! ;-)
Our hens are are SUPER friendly, and all have special pet names! They are the following breeds: Welsummers, Buff Brahma, Light Brahma, Partridge Cochins, Easter Eggers, Barred Rock (Worma - the queen, loves worms), Wyandotte, Speckled Sussex, Salmon Favorelle, and they lay blue, green, pale brown, pink, dark brown, medium brown, and speckled eggs. We will sell by the dozen at $5, and they will come in five different colored cartons. So fun! :-)
First come, first serve with customers signing up. We will have a limited number of customers due to the amounts of eggs we will have each week. Pick up in South Burlington at our farm. Fill out the contact form if you are interested! ;-)
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We are well into the school year now (homeschooling again via Oak Meadow - WONDERFUL program!) and are loving life. Our goats are doing very well, and we are staying super busy! We may be breeding them this winter for early summer kids - stay tuned! With the cooler weather rolling in, our two homemade broths are a favorite around here! ;-) We are incorporating the Paleo diet in with WAPF now, and the combo works very well for us so far!! Raw, fermented dairy such as kefir, yogurt, and sour cream are wonderful and can be made easily from raw milk!
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Immune Broth (vegetables only, such as wild gathered forest mushrooms, burdock root, tumeric, and much more!) |
Beef Bone Broth (from WAPF 100% grass fed happy cows!) |
August Farm News
We acquired two new friends at Sweet Meadows Farm! Welcome Maggie May (FF) and her sweet doeling Charlotte. We purchased Maggie bred...and got lucky with a doeling! :-) Both are a delight, lap-sitters and VERY silly, and have been a wonderful addition to the farm family. Maggie is dam raising Charlotte, and Charlotte is so healthy and strong. Maggie comes from amazing dairy lines too, and we look forward to seeing how she does. This pair is SO funny and silly! They love to nibble on you, and are constantly in your face for attention. Charlotte is a HUGE lap sitter too. :-) Our 18 chickens are growing up fast, and will soon start laying! They are between 18-20 weeks old now. My daughter's "Laughing Hen" eggs will be up and running soon!
So, do you have treats or WHAT?
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July Farm News
Summer bathing. Ahhhhh, what could be better than getting a showered down with a cold hose on a hot summer day? May as well get a bath while we are at it! LOL. :-)))
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Goat Selfie. :-)
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Sugar's milk feeds an abandoned baby mouse.
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May Farm News
May 15th: Chick update and photos! :-) Well, sadly, we lost one baby silkie this week to what we think was either a neck injury or severe wry neck. We nursed her for three days, called her Faith, and it got so bad that we ended up putting her down. It was terribly sad. :-( The other 26 are doing very well though and are thriving. Her sweet spirit will continue to live through them and the joy that they give us every day. ;-)
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May 4th: Well, the chicks are getting bigger in the garage and are keeping us busy for sure! They act bananas first thing in the morning as they know I am coming out with scrambled eggs and cottage cheese snacks! Everyone is doing very well.
April Farm News
April 25th: Well, today we added in 17 more chicks for a total of 27! We are done! I am sure we have some roos in there that will need re-homing, but fingers crossed for not too many! LOL. These little week old ones are from a farm in Bristol (thanks Sabrina and Ivy!) and are tiny compared to their just over two week old bunk mates! We got easter eggers, salmon favorelles, light brahmas, a barred rock, speckled Sussex, silkies, and a couple more welsummers. The new chicks LOVE organic scrambled eggs and cottage cheese each morning as a treat! The breakfast of champions!
April 16th: Today was sheep (I mean goat) shearing day! They have been so itchy with their winter coats, and I decided to help them out today with the electric hair trimmers! It was a beautiful, sunny day!! We had our friend Kalyn over today to help out, which was so wonderful! We had the biggest hair pile in the world - about the size of a new goat! :-) Sugar was a different color entirely underneath her winter coat - more of a silver with some brown too!
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April 9th: Although it is only 30's today, new baby chicks come to the farm! We got 10 day old chicks (layers) from the local feed store, and they are Buff Brahmas, Partridge Cochins, and Welsummers (dark chocolate layers)! We may have a roo in there (suspect one already, which we DO want!) but they are hopefully mostly hens. They are in our kitchen bathroom right now, and are doing great! We added blackstrap molasses and ACV (apple cider vinegar) to their water, after teaching them how to eat/drink (Green Mountain Organics Chick Starter). So far, they are doing very well, but are tired from the big day! My daughter's egg business will be up and running again in the fall.
April 9th: Although it is only 30's today, new baby chicks come to the farm! We got 10 day old chicks (layers) from the local feed store, and they are Buff Brahmas, Partridge Cochins, and Welsummers (dark chocolate layers)! We may have a roo in there (suspect one already, which we DO want!) but they are hopefully mostly hens. They are in our kitchen bathroom right now, and are doing great! We added blackstrap molasses and ACV (apple cider vinegar) to their water, after teaching them how to eat/drink (Green Mountain Organics Chick Starter). So far, they are doing very well, but are tired from the big day! My daughter's egg business will be up and running again in the fall.
buff brahma
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partridge cochin
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welsummer
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Sleeping Beauty
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April 2nd: Fun in the (COLD) Sun!
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March Farm News
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A Goat and His Girl
By: Valerie Parker Can I follow you? You run through the deep snow And I follow faithfully Our coats are laced with snowflakes We do not care that we are cold A rub is all that is required To be my friend. Can I hop up there? I love high places! You push the snow off the bench And I jump right up And sit down next to you My little hooves square on your lap The wind blows and howls But we do not notice. My friend and I Are in our special place, And all is right in the world For a moment. |
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February Farm News
Tracks in the snow. We walked around our land at animals tracks in the snow, and it was neat trying to figure out what they were.
A large hare
We thought it must be a fox or coyote with the one set of prints and not two - called direct registering.
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Looks like a claw at top - possibly bobcat?
Looks like mouse trails under the snow.
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What a bizarre winter we are having this year! Warmer weather, and then super freezing, followed by 40+ degree days again! I wonder if more cold weather is on its way?
Annie + Twinkle = Best Buddies. :-)
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Grinding organic buckwheat groats to make buttermilk biscuits! We soak the freshly ground grain in buttermilk for up to 24 hours first, Sally Fallon style....a family favorite!
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January Farm News
January 3rd: First snow angel of the season, after doing farm chores. It is a good one. :-)
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Calling Angels
By: Hanna Parker Forest covered in white No green in sight Cold air Running by is a white hare Snowflakes falling An angel is calling Snow under your feet Oh Spring, come with the heat! The snow doesn't melt You gaze around See a snowman with a black belt See a snowy owl Flapping its wings In the summer, the wasps Will come back with their stings. Suddenly darkness has come It is still light for some Shooting stars above your head It is almost time for bed. But suddenly you hear The faint sound of twinkling bells Above you in the night clear And while you watch the glimmering crystals fall, You can hear the song of an angel's call. |
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January 1st: Ice, and now snow, but the goats don't seem to mind! Happy New Year everyone!! :-)
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July Farm News
July 19th: It is time to start drying garden herbs to put up for winter in jars! We have a LOT this year with all the heavy rains, and so we need to get started. The bumbles and honey bees are still enjoying the flowers on the basil and oregano, so we are only taking a little bit at a time. Bees are SO important! Today we cut some of the Sweet Thai Basil, Spicy Globe Oregano and Rosemary. We packed the dehydrator to the brim, and the rest is hanging around the kitchen - the old fashioned way!
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July 17th: It has been pretty hot here lately, as well as humid, so the goats have been hanging out more in the barn than in their pastures! Everyone is getting along very well. Little Jack Frost is not so little anymore, weighing 15lbs already! He is such a clown though, and LOVES sitting in any lap he can find (and never getting off either!). He thinks he is a human. LOL. We have been quite busy in the garden as well this summer. There were so many photos to post that I created a slideshow. Enjoy friends!
June Farm News
June 22nd: UPDATE: The triplet wethers have been reserved by Mark & Tina of Sheldon, VT (pending deposit). Congratulations!! They will remain on the farm here until August after they have been weaned from Bella.
June 17th: Well, it looks like we got ALL bucks this year! How does THAT happen?! LOL. But they are all healthy and happy, and that is all that matters. :-) Sugar gave birth to a large buckling this afternoon. He was so large and her opening was so small that I had to reach in and help maneuver and then pull him out! Jack Frost, with cou blanc coloring, will be his name, and he is probably the most beautiful kid we have had to date at our farm. We are not sure if we will be retaining him yet as a pet, or selling him. My daughter is in love. Regardless, he will be wethered like the others as his dam is not proven with a first kidding for her.
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June 16th: The boys are growing by leaps and bounds, and already playing "king of the mountain" with the others! LOL. We have had a LOT of interest in this trio, and are also busy with the new baby, so we appreciate your patience in returned emails! :-)
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June 15th: Adorable wethers for sale!! $125 each or $300 for all three. See "Kids for Sale" page for details.
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June 7th: First brief introductions to the whole herd (including our kitties). All went very well!
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June 5th: They finally arrived! Bella delivered triplet bucks shortly after midnight on her due date of June 4th. One chocolate and two black boys, and everyone is doing well! It was a first for me with a breech presentation and needing to manually rotate/search for hooves, but all turned out well! Vet check passed with flying colors! We will be selling all three as wethers, or possibly retaining one as a buck. Sugar is due on June 17th!
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February Farm News
February 26th:
Well, the girls finally got their chicken saddles! After a very sad attempt to make one myself, I ordered them weeks ago and they finally came in the mail. We have two hens, Cricket and Hazel, whose feather had been pulled out so badly by the roos, who had to be separated into their own area right inside the Silkie room in the barn. Now, fully styled (and protected) they can re-join their buddies in the main coop tonight! The little silkie gals got pink daisy ones, and the big gals got the blue daisy dresses. So cute. Luna, our broody black Ameraucana with no face feathers because she won't leave the "community" nesting box, was not thrilled with her new outfit (see below). Also, this week of winter break, the kids and I began building an igloo in the backyard. We still have a ways to go, but it is so much fun! It is still brutally cold here in Vermont!!!
Well, the girls finally got their chicken saddles! After a very sad attempt to make one myself, I ordered them weeks ago and they finally came in the mail. We have two hens, Cricket and Hazel, whose feather had been pulled out so badly by the roos, who had to be separated into their own area right inside the Silkie room in the barn. Now, fully styled (and protected) they can re-join their buddies in the main coop tonight! The little silkie gals got pink daisy ones, and the big gals got the blue daisy dresses. So cute. Luna, our broody black Ameraucana with no face feathers because she won't leave the "community" nesting box, was not thrilled with her new outfit (see below). Also, this week of winter break, the kids and I began building an igloo in the backyard. We still have a ways to go, but it is so much fun! It is still brutally cold here in Vermont!!!
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EGGS FOR SALE!!
My daughter Hanna just launched her egg business, The Laughing Hen! Click on the "Laughing Hen Eggs" tab for more information about how to become one of just a few special customers.
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Winter Fun!
Everyone is enjoying the winter weather so far, although the snowfall has been pretty light to date. The cold weather has hit however, and the goats got their very first heat lamp! We are seeing more grass than other years in January, so I guess that is nice.
We have our nine standard chickens living in the main coop now, and the silkies got their very own "coop" in the form of our front room of the barn. I may regret that come springtime, but for now they are really liking their own space. We have for silkie hens, and two silkie roosters and plan to have many adorable silkie chicks for sale in the spring! Our hens are already SO broody, and we have to pull them off of their nests a couple times a day just so they remember to eat and drink! Silkies are known to be a VERY broody bunch, and so hatching chicks out should be no issue at all! The roosters have been fighting over them though, and so we have a rotation system in place where one is with the hens during the day, and the other at night. The other roo stays in the same room, but in a separate cage with his own food and water. He can still love on the ladies through the cage. LOL.
Bella finally came into heat, and we just took her on her first date on January 10th up to Capsand Creamery (thanks Christine!), and we will be confirming that she is indeed bred by the end of the month! Her expected kidding date will be around June 9th, if she is indeed pregnant! It is so exciting!! We also bred Nellie a week later at Willow Moon Farm (thanks Sharon!) and will confirm in a few weeks about her as well. Now, we are waiting and watching Sugar for signs of heat...
1/23/15 Update: Sugar finally came into raging heat this morning, and was bred at Capsand Creamery (thanks Christine for your patience!). We will hopefully have three kiddings in the beautiful, warm month of June! Check back for more details as we move into spring.
We have our nine standard chickens living in the main coop now, and the silkies got their very own "coop" in the form of our front room of the barn. I may regret that come springtime, but for now they are really liking their own space. We have for silkie hens, and two silkie roosters and plan to have many adorable silkie chicks for sale in the spring! Our hens are already SO broody, and we have to pull them off of their nests a couple times a day just so they remember to eat and drink! Silkies are known to be a VERY broody bunch, and so hatching chicks out should be no issue at all! The roosters have been fighting over them though, and so we have a rotation system in place where one is with the hens during the day, and the other at night. The other roo stays in the same room, but in a separate cage with his own food and water. He can still love on the ladies through the cage. LOL.
Bella finally came into heat, and we just took her on her first date on January 10th up to Capsand Creamery (thanks Christine!), and we will be confirming that she is indeed bred by the end of the month! Her expected kidding date will be around June 9th, if she is indeed pregnant! It is so exciting!! We also bred Nellie a week later at Willow Moon Farm (thanks Sharon!) and will confirm in a few weeks about her as well. Now, we are waiting and watching Sugar for signs of heat...
1/23/15 Update: Sugar finally came into raging heat this morning, and was bred at Capsand Creamery (thanks Christine for your patience!). We will hopefully have three kiddings in the beautiful, warm month of June! Check back for more details as we move into spring.
2/14/15 Update: We are pretty certain that both Bella and Sugar are bred (no further heats), but not sure about Nellie. She is difficult to figure out. We think she came into heat last week, but no tail wagging and very minimal signs. Will wait another two weeks and check her again.
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August Farm News
August 31st: We have had a very busy month in August! A lot of work with the chickens, and lots of moving things around! Our pumpkins had to be harvested early due to some insects in the patch, but they look pretty good for a first year's effort! Our younger chicks are growing up now, and we sold about half of them and are keeping the rest for the moment. We have 16 chickens, but four are roos....so how that works out remains to be seen! Two of the roos are silkies though, so maybe all will be ok! If we keep all four roos, we will use them for breeding. As of now, we will plan to breed Silkies, Blue Ameraucanas and Blue Orpingtons next spring, so check back then if you are interested in chicks!
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August 17th: Sunflowers everywhere! They did pretty well this first year! And the morning glories....well, they took over the entire fence area! They must like it there!
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July Farm News
July 15th: Today we trimmed 28 goat hooves! My daughter helped me immensely and the goats all got way more grain than usual! LOL. It took about an hour, and their feet must all feel so much better!!
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My daughter and I have started collecting seeds from flowers around the farm to save, and then re-plant next spring. Here we have pink and purple lupine seed pods. We keep finding a zillion Japanese Beetles around the
yard, happily chomping on all of our plants and fruit bushes. We are catching them in a jar and giving them as treats to our chickens. They take turns sticking their whole head in the jar to eat them! What a special treat!!
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July 13th: We have had a very busy past few weeks, as we have hosted several weeks of Camp Compass (Stern Center) here at the farm, therapy for children based on social thinking principles. It has been a really wonderful experience, and we have thoroughly enjoyed working with the Stern Center. On a different note, we finally received our praying mantis cocoons in the mail! Unfortunately, only a few mantis actually hatched. We are waiting to see if more arrive soon!
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July 9th: We are thrilled to announce a new home school cooperative here at our farm called The Meadow Coop. It is a semester-based program, and will begin this fall on Mondays and Thursdays. The two programs will focus on the farm/sciences/French, and farm/knitting and is for ages 8-13. See The Meadow Coop page for a link to the coop website or go to www.themeadowcoop.org.
July 8th: CHICKS FOR SALE!!! Two week old organically raised, soy-free chicks for sale, as well as a few cockerels. See Sale page for more details! They will go fast!!!
Our sweet Lavender posing for the camera. She is a silkie, and is such a doll (not for sale)!
July 7th: Our three ducks are growing so fast! They are super cute, but also quite messy, so we are moving their pasture area daily. They are quite happy as long as they have their kiddie pool to paddle around in!
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July 5th: Well, we got a surprise recently. An extra order of chicks that I had cancelled from a mail order. We usually get chicks locally, but my daughter wanted some very different varieties this year. We cancelled our back-up summer order after the first set arrived in early May with 9 of 10 dead. So, this other order (that I cancelled) came with 21 chicks! And just after we had gotten through the tough chick part with the heat lamps, messy garage! Oh well, they sure are cute though! We have a couple of more rare breeds in there such as Blue Ameraucanas and Blue Orpingtons. And now they are in the chicken coop, in a dog crate, with their heat lamp. We will need to sell some soon though (see sale page), as the coop only supports about 20...we have 36!!
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June Farm News
June 21st: My daughter holds in her hand the first strawberry of the season! She was thrilled! I worked this week on creating a deep mulch bed for my sunflowers out of chicken manure shavings, old goat hay, compost, and wood chips (from trees on our property that were felled recently as they were dead). It turned out great, and the sunflowers are thriving so far!
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June 17th: We found this interesting beetle in our yard, and I had no idea what it was! I found out that it is called Alaus Melanops - Small Eyed Click Beetle. It was very interesting to watch, as it had its legs pulled up underneath it, and would "click" and flip over if you touched it.
June 8th: We grew so much corn from seed that we need to create another space for 96 plants, so we are building a large cedar garden bed for them, and making the mix out of compost, wood shavings (from recent hardwoods, especially Maples, we had taken down that had died), and goat manured hay and chicken coop shavings! Great information from Meghan at VT Edible Landscaping, from whom I have learned so much! Should be great! We are also using the same planting strategies for three varieties of giant sunflowers that we plan to plant along our fence in the front yard.
Here are some much promised photos of our chickens (Sweetpea is growing strong and is the top photo #3). They are quite enjoyable to watch and are having lots of fun!!
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June 7th: Well, we are pretty busy now with a lot of new animals here at the farm, and have been super busy getting everyone settled in, and also planting our large garden (fairy garden area included, of course!). All seven goat kids are here now: Honey, Bella. Nellie, Sugar, Little Lucy (first photo), Pepper, and Siren! Here are some photos of what we have been up to, including some of our newest farm friends, our new Welch Harlequin duckling trio: Sunny (boy), Daisy, and Buttercup. They have been taking swimming lesson now every day. They are growing a LOT each day, and are now 2 1/2 weeks old! Our silkie chicks have really been feathering out too....more photos soon!
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May Farm News
May 19th: We brought the first of our goat kids home a little over a week ago, and have been quite busy since! We bottle-fed them for the first week, and they are doing great! We also got our chicks, although not the way we expected! Our mail order arrived with nine of ten DOA (heartbreaking), so we hand raised our miracle, two day old, little buff brahma "Sweetpea" in a box in our downstairs bathroom for a few days until we could find her some new pals! The same day, from a local person, and then a friend of the family, we added in four silkies and six olive eggers (Maran x Araucana), and they are quite happy together so far! We also added in five lavender Ameraucanas this past weekend that are a few weeks older that will be our blue egg layers. We are hoping for a lot of hens (can only confirm Sweetpea so far, as others are straight run)! We will see! More photos of them soon!
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May 14th: This week, I was able to take photos of a pair of beautiful deer in our wetlands area behind our home. They came back a few times, and were just beautiful to watch. We also saw a really interesting polka dotted bird in our front yard, and are trying to figure out what it is!
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April Farm News
April 29th: What a wonderful, spring day we have today! Mid 60's and sunny - what more could you ask for? We are in full blown spring cleaning mode, and have been working a lot in the backyard and barn. Our barn kitties finally moved out of the heated garage and back into the barn. They are having some time outdoors, but are mostly in the barn right now. They are slowly getting re-adjusted to the outdoors, and will soon have free reign during the day! Our bunny moved into her hutch in the garage, but her hutch might move into the garden area soon. Bunny poop makes for great compost after all! We have a beautiful line of 6 turkeys move across the meadow this afternoon, and I was able to get a few great shots of them.
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April 23rd: We took a week and visited Charlottesville, VA and spring is well underway there! I took some beautiful photos of dogwood trees that were in full bloom everywhere! The kids loved playing in the near-by creek, which was magnificent!
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April 17th: Kitty News!! We got this great shot of Callie and Phoebe today. So sweet with their arms wrapped around each other, and Phoebe winking at us. Such cuties! And just yesterday, our son entered Shadow in Cat Fancy's Black Cat Contest! He poses really well, and we hope that he wins!!
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April 16th: Wow, we got more snow last night! I can't believe it! After everything had finally melted, we woke up this morning to several inches. It was a beautiful sight though.
April 14th: We somehow added in another wether today, and so the final count of kids coming is now eight! Little "Blue" is a bottle-fed "alpine colored" wether that stole our daughter's heart. In the barn, our daughter actually started tears to add him to the family too when he would not stop following her around! Another silly boy coming home to us!
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April 12th: We headed back down to visit our goat kids at Willow Moon Farm this morning. They are super cute, and we enjoyed our visit! We will be bringing them home in about a month! Bella looks like an little old man wearing dark brown socks as she is trying to read the posted sign! LOL. Sugar is eating Hanna's hat, and Nellie, Siren, and Honey pose for a photo (finally!).
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March Farm News
March 29th: The kids and I travelled down to Willow Moon Farm this morning to see some of our babies, and we had so much fun playing with them! You can now see all of them under "Our Goats." Our little wether, Siren, took most of the photo opportunities (wether style!) and even danced for us (photo #1). Nice morning.
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March 23rd: Our foundation herd will be coming from the addition of four does and one adorable wether from Willow Moon Farm in Plainfield, VT. Sharon Peck is very knowledgeable, and we are very happy with the diverse set of kids we chose from her wonderful farm. Check for photos soon under "Our Goats" of everyone!
March 15th: Morning winter skies make for interesting photos! Loving the colors on these two.
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March 12th: Well, the snow has been pouring in all day, and is not stopping anytime soon. A huge snowstorm is predicted for tonight with up to 20". This morning, I saw a beautiful Robin and Cardinal in a tree in our backyard, peacefully sitting close to each other in the blowing snow for quite awhile. I thought it was interesting, and wondered what they were doing there together. Such vibrant colors against the drab and paleness of winter.
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March 10th: Is the snow ever going to stop? Wow, we are expecting 3-5" tomorrow, and then another possible 8-12" tomorrow evening! Well, at least today is about 40 degrees and almost feels like a summer day! My daughter and I started working on cleaning out the barn to prepare for some new farm arrivals in April! We are not moving to Maine as of now, and plan to re-establish our farm here. We have missed our goat friends tremendously, and can't wait to have little ones soon! We have new Nigerian Dwarf kids arriving in late April/early May from incredible genetics (will breed late next Fall most likely), as well as new baby chicks! It is a very exciting time here at Sweet Meadows Farm!
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Today, I worked on several projects in the kitchen. Opening coconuts is an arduous task that I tend to delay as long as possible, and my sore hands today remind me why! But, the rewards are great! And not only do you get fresh, delicious coconut meat, you also get coconut water, which is loaded with vitamins and minerals and is the perfect refreshing drink for restoring body fluids (like after working in the barn!). You can ferment the coconut water with kefir starter to make coconut kefir; you can also combine the coconut meat with water in a blender to make it smooth, and then add Body Ecology Culture Starter to it, let it sit out for 24-36hrs on the counter (closed lid, but not tight), and voila - coconut pudding! Be sure to refrigerate afterwards. My husband also faithfully makes chicken bone broth, which is such a healthy, vitamin-rich staple.
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February Farm News
February 22nd: The kids and I decided to build an igloo in the backyard, and had so much fun with it! When we finished it, we made a small window in the side, and put a candle in the bottom. Of course it collapsed the next day in the rain, and we will need to dig out the candle holder in the spring, but it was AMAZING, and we watched it from inside our house all evening!
January Farm News
Jan 22: The winter never seems to end in Vermont. However, it is pretty, and no one can deny that...even when they want to scream to see GRASS again! We stayed busy, both indoors and out, and even went ice skating on our front lawn with the loads of ice that we have had this year. Luckily, our backyard has a great sledding hill as well! We are ready for the spring to arrive though!
Jan 1st: Our chicks are ordered, and will be arriving the week of April 21st! This time, we ordered one each of many different varieties, for the variety in colored eggs (blue, green, olive, white, brown and terra cotta!) and also for the fun in guessing which breed is which as they grow! I had no idea how incredible chickens were for tick control until we didn't have chickens. They came back and were relentless!! The breeds we ordered are Dominique, Golden Campine, two Easter Eggers, Olive Egger, Blue Andalusian, Light & Buff Brahmas, Sicilian Buttercup, Buff & Lavender Orpingtons, Australorp, Salmon Favorelle, Welsummer, White & Silver-Laced Cochins (daughter's favorite!), Double Laced Barnevelder...and this time we finally ordered a rooster! After careful research, and wanting to avoid a stinker, we decided on a Partridge Cochin rooster. Hopefully he will be a nice boy!!
Jan 1st: Our chicks are ordered, and will be arriving the week of April 21st! This time, we ordered one each of many different varieties, for the variety in colored eggs (blue, green, olive, white, brown and terra cotta!) and also for the fun in guessing which breed is which as they grow! I had no idea how incredible chickens were for tick control until we didn't have chickens. They came back and were relentless!! The breeds we ordered are Dominique, Golden Campine, two Easter Eggers, Olive Egger, Blue Andalusian, Light & Buff Brahmas, Sicilian Buttercup, Buff & Lavender Orpingtons, Australorp, Salmon Favorelle, Welsummer, White & Silver-Laced Cochins (daughter's favorite!), Double Laced Barnevelder...and this time we finally ordered a rooster! After careful research, and wanting to avoid a stinker, we decided on a Partridge Cochin rooster. Hopefully he will be a nice boy!!
