Chicken Scraps Blog

As of May 2nd, Fenella is now officially a yearling! She is a very pretty little horse with a great temperament.  Spirited, yet very friendly and easy to train, she will make a great horse someday.  Recently my brother has been doing a lot of shooting in the back pasture, and she has become quite desensitized to the sound of firearms- to the point that she either ignores his invasion of her pasture, or comes over to fellowship with him and observe his target practice.  This has been encouraging to me, since I have considered training her for mounted shooting, or at least laying the groundwork for someone else to do so.

I have news:  We now have a Border Collie stud! Dandie Duncan, a beautiful black and white ABCA registered Border Collie, will be coming to our farm in July. Sired by Gage, out of Sunday, both owned by Dawn Boyce, an excellent breeder in northern Georgia. I had pick of the litter among the males, and can hardly wait to pick him up. Duncan in center. I'm looking forward to when he and Cleone can play together, and of course, to the time when they have puppies.  He is from great herding lines, and I expect him to be beautiful, hardworking, and most importantly, have a great personality.

     Pretty much everyone will have to deal with an infection of some sort at some point in their life.  This is especially true if you live on a farm, for you will not only have to watch over yourself and your family, but your animals will also claim your attention.  We have had our fair share of infections, and while prevention is always better than cure, we have found an herbal cure that works almost every time.  In fact, we have not had to apply a topical antibiotic for about eight years now, and rarely have we used an internal antibiotic.      This is because we use an herb called Goldenseal .  Goldenseal is an herb in the buttercup family which has been used for centuries, especially by the American Indians.  It is an effective help or cure for a wide variety of disorders ranging from the common cold to mouthsores; stomach problems to bad cuts/ scrapes.

I just finished building another goat milking stand, and now it is for sale! This one was particularly fun because I stained the wood a beautiful Provincial brown, and then varnished it, making for a stanchion that is very pretty (at least, to me!) as well as sturdy and functional. Price:  $150

For some time now, I have toyed with the idea of creating a farm newsletter.  A friend sends one out every week, and I am always inspired by reading it, even though much of it is filled with everyday details of life on the farm.  A recipe here and there; a reference to a new project you can see on their website; how many chicks their heritage breed turkeys hatched this spring; the number of meat chickens they have for sale, and expected butchering dates; all these combine with her funny stories, and diary of what they did every day of the last week to make a fun, and instructive newsletter. Finally, I decided to take the plunge and try writing my own.  After blogging for several years now, it shouldn’t be too hard.  Mine will be different, and I plan to send it out once a month instead of weekly, but I expect this to be a fun way to keep up with my readers.  Keep an eye out too for coupons to my online store that will be exclusively available through this ne...

Over the last few years, I have been hearing more and more about A2/A2 cattle, and the health benefits of the milk, but I always kind of passed it over as rather silly; I mean, seriously, how can a genetic difference in the cow make a difference in how healthy the milk is?  I also did not like that the company who tests cattle for this gene was also the one doing the research.  But then recently, some friends who run an excellent natural farm in Lake City have started talking about it.  Apparently, a customer interested in buying a heifer asked if any of their cows were A2/A2, and when they tested, they discovered that 5 out of 6 of their cows were. Now, the interesting thing about this, is that quite a few people who have reactions to cow's milk, even raw cow's milk, have told them that they can drink milk from their cows with no problems.  I always assumed that this was because of the high level of cleanliness, and the good quality grass/ minerals they f...

This blog post is a bit late, but now it will be more informative.  :) In July, when we took a family vacation, we also picked up Cleone, my first registered Border collie. I have been wanting for some time to begin breeding Border collies, and finally my hope is on the way to becoming a reality.  Our family vacation was the perfect opportunity to research a wider range of breeders, and find just the right puppy.