Meet Brady & Bruschi

Brady & Bruschi

When we first moved here we knew we needed something to help maintain the large fenced in pasture.  Jamie wanted to go straight to getting beef cattle to raise to eat but I said no way.  We are not going to get the largest farm animal you can get with us not having any experience.  I had been doing lots of research on goats and thought that they would work well with the pasture and also the type of fencing we have, which is chain link.  Also the barn attached to the large pasture is just one big open room so we needed some type of animal that we didn't need stalls for.  We decided on goats. Dairy goats to be more specific.  I didn't want to raise meat goats not knowing if I would ever eat it and Jamie & I talked about whatever animals we have on the farm they have to have purpose, not just pets. So we decided on dairy goats. They will help maintain the pasture but we will also be milking the goats too.  I will be trying my hand at making yogurt and all different types of cheese and maybe even soap with the milk from our goats.  We were not suppose to get the goats until next year but realized we would need to get the goats immediately instead of waiting.

I started looking on the Internet for some dairy goats, specifically Nubian's.  There are lots of types of dairy goats but I just love the long ears the Nubian's have.  We found a wonderful couple named Pat & Katie and got in touch with them about purchasing some goats. 

The day we went to pick up the boys was a very interesting day, full of learning.  We went to Pat & Katie's farm, Salem Farms in Norene, TN.  They spent about 3 hours with us showing us around, letting us meet and play with all of their goats.  We also learned all about caring for goats including feeding them, vaccinations and worming and also hoof trimming.  We also all learned about milking and got to hand milk a goat that day.

Once our day came to an end we got to bring Brady & Bruschi home.  We put them in a large dog crate and brought them home in my minivan.

Meet Brady

Brady was named after Tom Brady of the Patriots. He is full Nubian and is registered with the ADGA, which is the American Dairy Goat Association.  Brady will be our future herd sire.  That means he will be the daddy of all the babies we will have here.  It also means any babies he sires, we will be able to register.  It's kinda like when you get a purebred dog and register it with AKC. Same thing but just with goats.

Brady

Brady's personality is hard to put words to.  He loves to "talk". Anytime he sees anyone he starts to hollering to get you to come over and see him to give him pets.  Once you are with him he is quiet and wants to stand very close to you.  He loves to have pets on his head and neck but really loves to be rubbed right in between is front legs on his chest.  He stands real still and will half close his eyes in ecstasy.  He's a real sweet boy and I have grown very attached to him in the short time he has been here.

Meet Bruschi

Bruschi is named after Teddy Bruschi of the Patriots. He is 1/2 Nubian and 1/2 Lamancha.  Lamancha goats have these really tiny ears so when you breed them with a Nubian you get "airplane" ears, that is what Bruschi has.  Bruschi is what is called a wether.  He has been castrated.  He will never have babies.  Goats do not do well living by themselves, you have to have more than 1. The boys will be living separately from the girls so we needed to get a buddy for Brady and Bruschi fit the bill.  I just thought he was too cute.

Bruschi

Bruschi was named perfectly for his personality because he fits a linebacker.  He is bigger than Brady as Lamanchas, which Bruschi is 1/2 are.  He is not very talkative but will call every now and then to show his excitement.  He loves to have pets too on his head and loves the have his cheeks rubbed.  He also will stand real still to have his chest rubbed, he likes to hang his head real low when we rub there.  Bruschi is a little pushy, wants all the attention and will try to push Brady out of the way to be closer to me.  He is so sweet and we love him too.

Brady & Bruschi love each other and are best buddies.  I am very happy that we decided to go with dairy goats because there is NO way I could butcher and eat these babies. I'm sure they will be with us for a long time.

Best Buddies

Check back soon for the introduction of the girl goats.  We will be getting 5 in June.

The garden is growing well

My gardening gloves and hoe, my new best friends.

What I remember most about gardens is eating from them.  My father always had  what I would call a large garden when I was young, my favorite thing about that garden was the pole beans he grew. My brothers, friends and I would eat these beans in fistfuls.  Thinking back on it, he never once got mad that we were eating the beans either.  He always grew other veggies too.  My grandfather, Pappy also had a veggie garden every year.  He always grew the largest zucchini I ever saw.  With growing up with all this gardening you would think I would be an avid gardener but that is not so.  I tried one year and had a 4x4 garden when Drew was 2.  I bought plants, not seeds and barely anything grew and what did grow the deer ate, which I couldn't figure out until Jamie told me.

I have always had a "black" thumb, yes black not green.  I have always been known NOT to give plants and flowers to because I will kill them and very quickly I might add. I decided to prove to myself, no one else that I could grow something. Even better, something that I could eat.

So when we moved to our new home and had some land to plant a garden I started planning on what I wanted to grow.  I thought it best to grow things in large quantities just is case I did kill some.  This way I thought that at least some may make it through and actually grow and produce something.

Jamie tilled the garden area a few times and our friend Tim also tilled it for us when he came to visit.  The kids and I picked rock after rock to get the ground ready for planting.  By the way the goats love the pile of rocks they have now to play king of the hill on.

The kids and I took a Saturday and planted the whole garden in one day.  We planted everything in seeds except for the pepper and tomatoes plants.

I am happy to report that the garden is doing WONDERFULLY!!

Green Beans

Zucchini Plants

We currently have growing, 7 rows of corn, 2 rows of green beans, 3 rows of yellow beans, 2 rows of red onions, 1 row of yellow onions, 1 row of garlic, 1/2 row of green onions, 1/2 row of basil, 8 hills of zucchini, 8 hills of yellow squash, 10 hills of cucumbers, 1 row of 2 different types of lettuce, 3 hills of pickling cucumbers, 1 eggplant plant, approx 7 pepper plants, which include green peppers, red peppers, yellow peppers, jalapeno peppers and banana peppers and approx. 14 tomatoes plants including cherry tomatoes.  We also attempted watermelon, they started to grow but now are dying. I will be raking out that area soon and planting something new so the space won't be wasted on nothing.

I'm looking forward to tasting everything that comes from our garden and of course extras will be preserved either by freezing or canning for the winter months.

Gardening is a LOT of hard work but being able to see the plants grow from seeds and know that you had a hand in that is so satisfying.  We will definitely be growing a veggie garden every year from now on.  Maybe next year we will plan a little bit better and have more of a variety.

First bounty of the garden - Cherry Tomatoes

Farm Fresh Meat Chickens

Meat Chickens - 4 weeks old

When we learned we would be moving to TN and have the farm we had been hoping for, the first thing I wanted to get was chickens.  I wanted to get layer hens for fresh eggs but I also wanted to raise meat chickens for our own consumption.  I learned as much as I could about raising meat chickens and got our first Cornish Rock X chicks in March. These type of chicks are very fast growing, it only takes 7-8 weeks for them to get to full size and be ready to butcher.  We waited until they were 7 weeks old and decided to butcher them.  I won't go into details but the butchering went well and we ended up with almost 21lbs of meat from 5 chickens. 

I do have to mention that we had chicken for dinner the night of butchering, not our own but store bought.  I had a little trouble eating it just from knowing that I now know the process that the chickens goes through to get to my table.

Meat Hen (girl) Chicken on butchering day

Meat Hen (girl) Chicken, cooked beer can style on the grill

The above chicken is the first of the meat that we ate.  We grilled it beer can style on the grill as we all love the chicken this way.  The skin was nice and crispy and the meat was juicy and moist.  This may sound funny but I expected it to taste different. I really don't know what type of different but just different.  Well it wasn't, it tasted just like the chicken I buy in stores.  Of course Jamie had no trouble eating it, neither did Hailey. Drew we weren't to sure about so we didn't tell him it was one of ours until he finished eating, surprisingly he was fine with it and said it was tasty.  Now me on the other hand, I had trouble eating it, less so than butchering day though, which was a good sign.  I just kept thinking about taking care of it for 7 weeks and then just killing it so I can eat. 

I have put a lot of thought into that chicken since Saturday and have realized since eating it that I would rather eat chicken from my own farm than from the store, to know that the food I am putting into my families body was raised by me in the most healthy way gives me satisfaction. By taking care of these chickens everyday, I know that they are eating the best food, drinking the cleanest water and living in the cleanest conditions because I feed, water and clean the coop everyday.  I also know that they are not crammed into tiny cages all day and night because I always make sure to let them out of the coop every morning to they can run around out in the chicken yard and pick and scratch till the sun goes down.  I also know that they are not suffering at butcher time because Jamie makes sure that they go as humanly and quickly as possible.

With all this said we will continue raising our own meat chickens for us to eat, plus I already have 22 more meat chicks in the coop already growing and another 25 more coming at the end of June, so I will just need to get over it. I'm sure I will, I like eating chicken more than I like not eating chicken.  I'm hoping that these 2 sets of chickens will get us through the winter and then we will do it all over again next year.

Strawberries season is here!!

Fresh picked strawberries

2 of the 3 flats of strawberries we picked

Strawberry season is here in TN.  A little bit earlier than it is in MA.  I was a little worried about finding a place to go picking but found a wonderful place called Bussell farms.  Diane Bussell and her family run this berry patch along with rasing many other fruits and vegetables which they sell at the local farmer's market and they also raise beef.

The kids, Jamie & I went picking Saturday morning and picked 30 lbs of strawberries, even Diane helped fill our flats with us. 

Sunday was a day for preparing, I hulled and washed 30 cups of strawberries and seperated into bowls for each batch of jam I was making. I then took out two bowl fulls for us to eat and then froze the rest on cookie trays to have through out the year to make smoothies for the kids.

Later in the day I started making jam,  I ended up with 15 jars of Strawberry Jam and 12 jars of Strawberry Kiwi Jam.  It may sound funny but I love to can. I love to preserve local fresh fruit and vegetables knowing that later when the season is over I will still have some of that wonderful fruits and vegetables the my family can enjoy.  Jam is one of the first things I learned to can, I make sure to make some every year so my kids can have homemade jam on their PB&J sandwiches.

Lots of Strawberry Jam

The finished product

Strawberry Jam on the left and Strawberry Kiwi Jam on the right

First room is done.

Andrew's Bedroom

Well the first room of the house is done. Andrew's bedroom.  When we found out we were moving and weren't going to have a guest bedroom anymore I offered the queen bed we had to him.  We decided to go ahead and have him pick a new comforter.  The only stipulation was that it had to be something he would like for awhile and not out grow too soon.

He decided to go with black and gray.  I didn't want to paint the walls black so I said why don't we pick an accent color you will like for curtains and pillows.  We made a trip to the fabric store while we were living in Knoxville and Drew chose this bright electric royal blue.

We picked up enough fabric for long curtains and a few throw pillows.

We decided to paint 3 walls gray and paint one wall to match the accent color on the fabric.  I also painted these nice big shelves for him.  Currently they have all of his trophies and the stuffed animals he isn't willing to part with yet.

I went ahead and made the curtains, I also sewed black fabric to the back so he could have blackout curtains to make his room really dark.  I also made two throw pillows to match.

As you can see he just had to hang up his Black Ops & Modern Warfare posters to make it more to his liking.  I think the room came out great and hopefully Drew won't want it changed for quite awhile

Our TN Adventure has begun.

Our TN Home

This is my first time blogging so please be patient with me.  As you can see our new home in TN is beautiful.  It is located in Bloomington Springs, TN.  Which is right in between Knoxville and Nashville.  Our home has 3 bedrooms, a game room and bathroom upstairs. Downstairs we have our livingroom, diningroom, bathroom and kitchen.  We also have 2 one car garages.  Outside is full of buildings.  We have a boy goat barn which is just right in size for 2 boys.  We have our large goat barn for the girls and then we have a regular barn that has currently 3 stalls.  We have converted 1 into our chicken coop and the others are just clean, waiting for our next animals we choose to live there.  We also have an extremely large workshop and 2 wood sheds that we are slowly filling up with wood from our property to heat our home in the winter.  Did I metion we also have 27 1/2 acres of land? Jamie is really going to enjoy hunting this year. Well back to the beginning. My husband Jamie & I have been talking about this dream for at least 3 years now.  We use to tell all our friends "One day we will have our land and farm".  I don't think they took us too seriously back then. Well we have made this dream a reality and couldn't be happier.  We closed on our new home March 10, 2011 which was a special day anyway because of it being my daughter Hailey's birthday.  We have been settling in and finally have everything unpacked and have started the long process of making the house our home.  Andrew and Hailey are doing wonderful at their new schools and making lots of new friends here too.  I'm writing this blog so family and friends back home can come and check in on us and see what is happening here with our family and the farm.  I also would love to hear from other people who have a similiar story to ours and be able to learn from them.  I hope you enjoy reading about our TN adventure and check back often.