Friday on the Farm 7/22/16

July 22, 2016 by IH Farm

I thought it was time for another Friday on the Farm post! Here are some highlights from this week at Independence Homestead:

Goats Enjoy New Goat Pasture

Last Saturday we fenced in two more sections of our woods as goat pasture. The milking does moved to one of the pastures, and our buck Champ and his wether friend Storm moved to the other pasture. All the goats are loving the abundance of trees and shrubs on which to munch! Here you can see the lush buffet enveloping Champ and Storm.

I am amazed that we were able to fence in two sections in one day! We have come far in our fencing skills since we first started, that’s for sure!

Milking Goats

Now that we have a milking machine the does and I have settled in to a new routine. All three does have taken to the machine very well! I’m thankful for the machine as my hands were getting pretty sore from milking into a pail by hand.

We are greatly enjoying all of the milk we’re getting! We use the milk as is, and we also make cheese, yogurt, and kefir with it. The yogurt sometimes get utilized for frozen yogurt, too. We are thankful that we now buy barely any dairy products, and we are eating delicious homemade dairy instead! (We do have some milk to spare if you’re interested in a herd share)

Upcoming Goat Class

If you’re thinking about goats to clear out your woods, or to get goat milk, sign up for our upcoming Goats 101 class on Saturday August 13th, 10am-12pm. Just contact us to sign up!

Tanning Rabbit Hides

This week we are moving along with tanning the rabbit hides from the rabbit processing we did in our Raising Rabbits class two weeks ago. Since the class we fleshed the sides, soaked them in an alum and saltwater solution, and this week we tacked them up to dry.

They’ll take about a week to dry, and then we’ll use the hides to make a stroller blanket for Rebecca. That will keep her warm when she’s out “helping” with farm work this winter!