Reflecting on THE PLAN

Well, I just found an old blog that I did on Myspace back in June about the prospect of moving out here to the country. I have just posted that blog here on blogger, so if you scroll down to the very first entry, you will see it.

As you can see, I outlined the basic plan for the farm, and it is interesting to me to see how closely we've followed The Plan, and some things that we've decided to do differently.

For one thing, we were not able to start out with the Nigerian Dwarf goat breed, as they are prohibitively expensive and hard to come by in this area. It was much easier for us to start with a goat breed that is abundant in our area, which turned out to be the Nubian, which I had thought my least favorite. I had heard that they are very noisy and make themselves quite a bother. Living with Marek at the time, I could not handle the thought of having yet another animal contributing to the cacophony. But, Tierra was the first goat I found and am I ever so glad I did not trust unidentified voices on the Internet telling me that Nubians are terrible to own. She's a joy.

I still plan on breeding Nigerian Dwarf into my heard, and I would not even mind having crosses of all the full size dairy goat breeds mixed with the miniature stature of the Nigerian Dwarf. The NG breed is also known for its high butterfat content, which means you can make more cheese per gallon than you can from regular goat's milk. I would like the first buck I invest in to be a Nigerian Dwarf with good dairy characteristics. Here's what Tierra's offspring would possibly look like if I bred her to a NG. They'd be called Mini Nubians!



I also ended up with an Angora goat, which was not even mentioned in The Plan. I had thought that it would be fun some day to experiment with the Angora breed and see if you truly can make money from them. Well, now I get to experiment sooner rather than later! The way I have figured it, if I can get even a modest sum for her mohair, it should cover the cost of her yearly feed and maintenance, with a little left over. Add to that the profit if/when she kids each year (with a break here and there, of course), and she should turn a profit. In any case, she's the only animal here (other than Ambrose) who is a pet and gets to stay just cause. I would like to learn how to card mohair, dye it, and spin it. If I did those things it would be worth much much more.

Chickens. Check. Pretty much on track with The Plan when it comes to them. I've lost 5 in the past few months, and one of my Wyandotte hens ended up being a rooster. Oh, well.

Ducks. Oooooh I want ducks. I want them now. I'd like to convert the underside of our back porch into a duck house- still working on Dustin for that one. In my opinion, its just wasted space. All I'd have to do is enclosed the underside with some tastefully done (ha ha ha ha!) chicken wire, and then close in the section under the stairs as a waterproof nesting area. I think it'd make a bang-up duck shelter, someplace safe for them to call home at night. I'd also like to devise some sort of pet door in the chain link fence going to the pond so they'd be able to free range the yard and pond area during the day.

We're still on track with the bees, as we plan to get them in the spring. Not sure where we're gonna put them, but we'll find a place.

Another thing we've added to The Plan is gardening and possibly a pig (or two). I know what you're thinking, what on earth do you want a pig for? Well, we want to eventually grow all of our own produce and fruit, and gardening on that scale requires quite a bit of muscle. A pig can be a farmer's best friend when put to work effectively. You can temporarily pen them on an area to be rototilled, and they will methodically eat all the vegetation, root around in the soil and remove all existing roots, all the while working their own natural fertilizer into the soil. By the time they're done with it, its ready to plant! A single sow can produce about 20 piglets a year, which could be sold off as weaner pigs or raised out for pork. Throughout history the pig has been known as "The Irishman Who Pays the Rent" because they are ridiculously profitable even in times of depression. We don't eat much pork, but its never hard to find people willing to pay for fresh, organic pork fresh from the farm. Couple that with the gardening benefits and their labor-saving ways, they make a perfect addition to any homestead. All that being said, I am a little intimidated at the thought of owning a pig. I've spent the last year researching chickens and goats, and pigs are like an alien creature to me. We'll see what happens.

We also plan to start raising turkeys in the spring. I'd like to secure advance orders for heritage-breed organic Thanksgiving turkeys, and raise out enough to sell come November, plus enough for our own consumption, and also enough to start some breeding stock for future generations. Unfortunately, almost all turkey breeds have lost the ability to reproduce naturally due to genetic modifications, such as breeding them with breasts so large that they are physically incapable of doing the deed. Therefore, if you want any chance of turkeys that know how to be turkeys, you have to look at the rare old-fashioned breeds. I am passionate about supporting and maintaining the populations of heritage breed livestock, and would like to incorporate them in the future. Barbara Kingsolver, my favorite female author, says that the heritage breed turkey she raises, the Royal Palm, tastes unbelievable and is almost reminiscent of lobster. Yummmm!