10 Goats = Entertainment.

I have done a couple of posts on my goats. One was on whether they were pregnant or not.  Another was Chloe giving birth.  A third post was when Chloe's kids went missing.  This post is to introduce all 10 goats.  A crazy amount of goats and I'm hoping to sell all four kids in fall.  The male goats are $100 each and I will be fixing them and the female goats are $150 each.  At least goats are very entertaining and are a stress relief.  The kids love the tire and will sleep inside it and run around on the inside.  The picture is of me with Mozart and Jack at just a couple of months old (2011).

Two wether (fixed male) goats we have.

Chloe, the mother of Rocky and Oreo.

I'm guessing goat momma's have a lot of patience's. Mayble was jumping up and down for a few minutes.

Jack, the Daddy.

The female pen is like a soap opera.  Chloe doesn't like Betsy.  Betsy doesn't like Chloe's kids. The kids all love each other, but have to avoid each others mothers.  Watching the female pen is entertainment.

Lorissa

Meet the Scarecrows.

We had our first group out May 13th and we set up our Scarecrows May 10th.  We have 18 scarecrow scenes set up around the yard and in the Forest.  Shirley and Lorissa make and dress up the Scarecrows.  TJ makes them stand and Amanda draws the faces.

Two men enjoying a campfire

Cinderella going off to an afternoon tea.

The footman (a male servant that ran behind or beside wealthy people's carriages).

We put a "real" scarecrow in our Forest this year.  He's not doing a really good job though.

Goldilocks tasting three bowls of porridge.

A behind shot of Little Bo Peep.

Lorissa

Gardening Bloopers and Tips

I have been gardening or watching my mom garden my entire life.  Most times the gardening goes according to plan, but sometimes things go awry.

Blooper 1: I once planted a row of sunflowers, than beans, and than two rows of tomatoes. The beans had no sunlight, but surprisingly still gave beans.

Blooper 2: I tend not to label everything and just do the basics so I can figure out what is what.  One year my mom phoned me all excited.  There were white things growing in the pumpkin row in our small 0.3 acre garden.  I come over and take a look and there were spaghetti squash growing among the pumpkins.  We use our small garden for educational purposes so it was an oops.

Blooper 3:  I planted 120 feet of zucchini.  If you have a good market you might be able to get rid of all the zucchini, but I had an overload of zucchini that year.  If you plant zucchini just for your family, two or three plants is enough.

Lorissa transplanting tomatoes in the greenhouse.

Shirley picking peas in our small 0.3 acre garden.  

 

 

 

 

 

Tip one:  Have a garden plan and practice crop rotation.  Crop rotation is important to prevent diseases, nutrient balance, and other benefits. One thing we do is plant a row of peas, than cucumbers, peas, cucumbers, etc.  We do this because peas come out at the middle of July and this allows the cucumbers to vine where the peas where.

A truckload of Indian Corn and squash.

  

Tip two:  If you're new to gardening make sure you read up on gardening on the Internet, in seed catalogues, in books, etc..  Gardening does require a certain amount of knowledge in order to get a bumper crop of vegetables.  You can't seed tomatoes, peppers, and sweet Spanish onions in the garden because they will never get ready before the first frost. Once you have some understanding of gardening it is fun and rewarding.  Even if you are a seasoned gardener you can always learn something new while browsing the Internet and books.

Tip three:  If gardening isn't your thing Penner Pumpkins sells fresh vegetables off their home yard and at Pineridge Farmers' Market..  Check our facebook page for what vegetables are in season and our hours.

Lorissa

The Most Annoying Scarecrow

The guy in black is one scary footsman.

You would think after 5 years of seeing scarecrows on our yard we would be use to them.  Apparently not as the same scarecrow freaks Shirley, John, and me out.  When ever we step out of the barn and look to the right we get a scare.  We think someone is wandering around in the back by the Snack Shack.  People driving onto our yard and wandering around our yard is normal (when we are not open to the public).  A bit bizarre, but normal.  So sometimes we don't know who is real and who is fake when we aren't really paying attention.  I will just have to get use to the fact that everyone once in a while my heart rate and blood pressure will spike when I am by the barn and in the Forest.

Lorissa

Lost goats and kittens, while trying to plant a garden.

Little Bo Peep has lost her goats and kittens, but not her sheep.  I was sitting down ready to have a nice cup of coffee in the morning and I get a phone call from my mom (Shirley).  She was frantic because she couldn't find the baby kids.  Chloe was frantic and bleating.  I told her to look throughout the pen because they couldn't have escaped.  They weren't in the pen so Shirley let Chloe out of her pen to find her kids. As soon as she was out she ran out to the green grass and started chowing down.  I dumped my coffee into a travel mug and drove over to my mom's place.  When I got there she had the baby kids.  They had escaped the pen and were curled up tight in a corner by our barn.  Thank goodness they were alright.  Now the gate is shut tight so they can't escape again.

Oreo and Rocky lying on their bridge I made for them.

I than went to the greenhouse to check on the plants and to start seeding the pumpkins.  I heard yodeling coming from our table.  We have this huge table in the middle of our greenhouse so we can put our trays on it. We have created a mini greenhouse around this table with plastic.  On Sat. or Sun. Fleck Head (a cat) had kittens in the greenhouse.  She decided having them in the rolls of plastic was a perfect place to have her kittens.  On Sun we found one kitten, on Mon we found two kittens, and Tues. we found four kittens.  I had found a nice box for the one kitten on Sun, but she decided plastic was a much better place.  When I went into the greenhouse on Tuesday they were on top of the table all over the place.  I moved them into one corner with a piece of cloth.  I planted for a while, went for lunch, and when I came back they were yodeling again.   Being 3-4 days old the kittens sure can yodel and motor. I found them ALL (scattered all over the table) and put them into the box.    On Wed.  they were still in the box thank goodness.

Fleck Head with her kittens.  In the first picture is our table.  During the winter months we only use half of it so the plastic is rolled up on the other side.  Fleck Head had kittens on top of the table and bottom of the table in the plastic.

When we were not finding lost animals we were busy in the greenhouse and garden.  In the greenhouse we seeded the pumpkins, gourds, squash, and cucumbers.  In the garden we have seeded peas, carrots, sunflowers, lettuce, beets, and beans and we planted potatoes and cabbages.  In two weeks we are going to tackle our 5 acre garden.

Lorissa

Goat labor, birth, and after

On Wednesday (May 8) Chloe starting acting really strange.  She was pawing the ground and staring into space.  Her favorite position was standing in a corner facing the wall.  I was expecting her to have her kids around May 17 (which would have been the 145th day) so I wasn't sure if this was labor or not.  I fed her some Alfalfa and she ate it so I knew she was okay.  I had read a lot about goat labor, but I found the more I read the more confused I got.

Picture was taken April 8th.

On Thursday she was doing the same thing as Wednesday.  Than late in the afternoon she was sort of pushing so I figured it had to be soon.  I got a lawn chair and sat down to watch whether anything was going to happen.  All of a sudden she flopped on the ground on her stomach and started twisting her heads in all directions.  In a short time 3 kids were born.  A first timer with triplets.  One was stillborn, the second had weak kid syndrome, and the third was healthy.  At around two hours old he was chasing the rooster and his hens around the pen.

About 1 hour and 45 minutes after birth.

The second one I tried to get it to drink from nipple and the bottle and it didn't want to drink.  I tried to get it to eat every four hours (at birth, 7:30pm, 11:30pm, 3:30am) and when I went back at 7:45am it was wobbly walking around.  It looked like it had sea legs.  It was really nice to see it walking around.  I still needed to help it find the nipple, but it was sucking which was a relief.

Their temp names are Rocky and Oreo.  I  will be selling them at the end of October.

May 12th the kids are doing wonderful.  They are jumping around outside and are extremely cute.  Now it's Besty's turn.  We still don't know if she is just fat or pregnant.


Lorissa

Cleanup time at the Forest.

Spring has sprung and now it's time to cleanup the Forest.  It's amazing how much work needs to be done before we can open.  Our first group is coming on May 13th (Monday).  Tomorrow we are going to be putting up the scarecrows in the Forest.  TJ is working on putting up the Kiddie Corral.  We had a huge snow hill on the yard and it was melting slowly so TJ took a shovel to it so it would melt faster.  Than there is a lot of things that need to be washed.  It's amazing how dusty everything gets.  Fences need to be fixed, flower pots need new dirt in them, gravel needs to be put down by the slides, the seed plots need to be tilled and seeded, etc.  Good thing TJ and one of his friends love to work and are working really hard to get everything up and running.  We open to the public on Aug. 31.

Lorissa

21 or so varieties of Herb plants for sale.

Herbs are a wonderful addition to gardens, flower containers, foods, and drinks.   You can use herbs fresh, dried, or frozen.  A good site on how to use herbs: using herbs and how to freeze herbs. One tip I have found is to use1 tablespoon fresh = 1 teaspoon dried.  I sell a variety of herbs off of the home yard and at Pineridge Hollow Farmers' Market.   This year my Lemon Balm, Oregano, Lavender, Cinnamon Basil, Catnip, and Stevia did not want to grow.  On my third or so try I finally got Lemon Balm, Lavender, Cinnamon Basil, and Catnip to grow.  I usually have a wide variety of mints for sale, but my mints did not overwinter this year.  I thought mint plants were extremely hardy, but mine didn't make the winter.  I hope to find some mint plants soon and than I should have a variety of mints again.

Basil:

Purple ruffles- has a slight clove scent and flavor. Can be used to add color to salads.

Sweet Basil- Traditional basil that is used to make pesto or other dishes.

Thai Basil- has a licorice scent and flavor.

Cinnamon Basil- has a sweet cinnamon flavor. Can be used in food dishes and also be used in flower bouquets.  Has a purple stem and purple flowers.

Lemon Basil- sweet and tangy flavor. 

Lime Basil- Has a slight lime flavor and can be used in a variety of dishes.

Spicy Globe Basil- Is a compact bush like basil and has tiny leaves.

Genovese Basil- is the very best Italian pesto variety of basil. Extra-large and dark green leaves.

Catnip- Cats love this herb. It can also be used in teas.

Cilantro- Has a citrus and nutty flavour and it is used in salsas. The edible seeds are called Coriander.

Dill -We do not sell dill plants as they do not transplant well. We do sell fresh dill off of the home yard and at farmers' markets.

Lavender- The lavender we grow flowers in the first year. Lavender is used in a variety of crafts (potpourris, sachets, soaps, and wreaths). 

Lemon Balm- Has a nice lemon taste.  Really good in teas.

Mint- Good for making jelly, teas, and in other recipes. I have for sale: ginger, orange, apple, pineapple, peppermint, chocolate, and English.

Oregano- Can be used in food dishes or in teas.

Parsley- Has a celery like taste and can be used in soups, as garnishes, and other dishes. Rosemary Can be used in crafts. 

Rosemary- Can be used to flavor vinegars, salad dressings, and oils.

Sage- Has a slight lemon flavor and can be used in dressings, sauces, and teas. Can also be used in dried floral arrangements.

Summer Savory- Has a peppery taste. A lot of people use this herb to make a fresh bean soup.

Thyme- Can be used in teas and food dishes.

Orange Thyme- a citrusy thyme.  Can be used in a variety of dishes.
Lemon Thyme-Is a very beautiful looking herb and has a mild and sweet taste.

Tomato Plants
Big beef:  Beefsteak that produces 10-12 oz tomatoes.
Beef Master:  Beefsteak that produces 18-32 oz tomatoes.
Sweet Million:  Red cherry tomato
Applause:  Smooth, bright red tomatoes, 10-12 oz tomatoes.  Grows well in colder weather.
Crista: 10 oz firm tomato with good shelf life.   
Early Girl: A very early tomato that gives plenty of tomatoes.. 4-5 oz tomatoes.   


Peppers
Lilac colored
Yellow colored
Red colored
Ace: 50 days green, good in colder weather.  Good producer.

 Lorisssa

Feeding time at the Funny Farm

John calls our petting farm the "Funny Farm".   Feeding hungry animals who all want to be fed at the same time is very interesting and tests your balance and strength.

For 6 months we allow our animals to roam in the back by the zip line.  We do this so that the animals get some exercise and feeding them in winter is easier.  Feeding them when they are free is very interesting.  We have four different types of feed (horse, pig, chicken, and sheep/goat) we want the right animal eating the right feed.  When you open the sliding door to go outside you first have the sheep (4 of them) barreling towards you baaing full force.  Than comes the horses (3 of them) and next the goats (4 of them).  First we feed the horses because they insist on being fed first.  Next we feed the goats in four separate pans and of course it's mayhem because the sheep want to eat right NOW.  As you put the feed into the pan, four to eight heads try to eat the food and than when you go to the next pan you have 8 bodies following you.  Than we feed the sheep in a red wagon (we use what we have lying around).  Watching the goats eat is if really funny.  They always think the next pan has better food and are constantly rotating and trying food from each pan.

Little Peter sharing his lunch with the chickens.

Little Peter (our pig) likes wreaking havoc during feeding time.  Sometimes he eats in his pen and other times he tries to tip the red wagon and eat the sheep's food.  Other times he is trying to tip the horses wooden box.  The other day there was 3 horses, and one goat eating out of the wooden box and along comes Little Peter.  The goat was standing in the wooden box and Little Peter tries to tip the wooden box over.

The chickens have food in their pen and than they go and eat all the leftovers, if the horses haven't gotten to them first.

Our animals do not believe in eating in peace.  Feeding time is mayhem time.

Spud, Butternut, Jenny, and Mozart.

View from the Zip line deck.

 

 Lorissa