The Blissful Place

There wasn't an exact moment I could tell you when it happened. Sometime in between having Justin's dad over for dinner back in September and sharing Thanksgiving with good friends this little farmhouse became a home. We've slowly hung more pictures and salvaged old furniture, brought in and warmed the house with an old wood stove, baked delicious pies and burned Thanksgiving stuffing. Schöne Vida has become a comfortable place for friends and, soon, family to gather. This is a place where we eat dinner at the table together every night, something I realized I took for granted growing up, but completely enjoy now. The plates and glasses don't match and we don't have a couch yet, but that fact seems to make it bit more special. Schöne Vida does not judge where you came from or what you're wearing (although it will likely smear some dirt on your shoes or jeans as a parting gift) and it is not pretentious. Moreover, the door is always open to loved ones who want to drop in; it's a true country home. Being here makes me excited about the year to come. Hopefully we can make more traditions and enjoy more wonderful food with the ones we love. Happy Holidays!

Tahoe and Fences

This morning when I went out to do the morning chores my gaze was met by more than just Charlotte and Buttercup. Before me stood, along side my goats, my neighbors 4 goats and Tahoe, the giant horse. Oh no...we forgot to close the pasture gate last night! Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but with heavy rain systems passing over Shone Vida, our garden and farm yard areas have been turned into giant mud pits. Little 45 lb Charlotte and Buttercup can't do much damage to the soil, but 1000 lb Tahoe makes the garden soil look like the surface of the moon--cratered. Great...

The shenanigans that followed while I sleepily tried to herd the horse and 4 goats out whilst keeping my goats in were quite comical. Tahoe stood there resolutely non-plussed by my efforts to pull him out and Buttercup ran out into the pasture crying for Charlotte and evading my efforts to coax her back into our farm-yard (she's still a little shy of us, but loves Charlotte). Finally, I got all my neighbors animals out into the communal pasture and my goats locked in our farm-yard. Now onto the morning chores. The girls were happy that they didn't have to share their hay breakfast with Tahoe and company. The chickens were more at ease. Now everything is back to normal, except the garden soil. Justin is going to be driving T-posts into the line that will delineate the garden and the farm-yard today and on Monday we will string the fencing; something we've been wanting to get done for a long time. Then we will have a legitimate garden!

Our lesson for today: always close the pasture gate at night.

These Rainy Mornings

Tonight is Cornish Christmas in Grass Valley, the town where I work my day job, so my bosses don't need me in until noon. Granted I'll be working until 9pm tonight, but the work will be fun since we'll be too busy to be bored.

This morning after being not-so-gently coaxed out of my warm bed and into the rain by Charlotte's loud bleating. I took hay to her and Buttercup, let the chickens out, and ran back inside for some much needed coffee. Right now Justin's slowly getting the fire going, due to some wet wood, and soon we'll head back out in the rain to clean out the barn and lay down fresh straw. Since I have extra time this morning Justin and I agreed we'd work on cutting and splitting some fallen oaks around the property. Our little wood stove demands more fuel and I demand a warm house! We bought a nice maul (wood splitter) from our local hardware store a couple weeks ago and have put it to good use. Justin taught me how to split wood properly and I must say that I feel a little more hardcore every time. After I've worked up a good sweat and can hardly catch my breath Justin takes over and makes my measly splitting look like child's play with a leap and a sharp swing of the maul. He can take a giant round of oak and turn it into 8 or more perfectly even wedges with 2-4 whacks. Show-off.

I'm very thankful to have Justin here to teach me the more manly side of homesteading. He has learned a lot of useful winter skills like splitting and stacking wood. It may not sound like a whole lot, but this guy gets the work done with gusto and he's an excellent teacher. If you'd have asked me as a child in Pasadena if I'd be living in the country splitting wood to keep my house warm I would have said "No, that's why we have gas and Poppy to bring the wood in". Yikes right? Nevertheless, I'm better for it. My weakling arms are getting stronger and I feel more and more confident in my "roughing-it" skills.

Ok, coffee's done and the rain is lightening up...

Why I raise livestock

So I’m finally sitting down on a rainy day here at the farm. To be quite honest, I am thankful for days like these when it’s too rainy to work in the garden, fix the fences, or do minor animal husbandry. These are the days when I can catch up on my correspondence and housework. Here is a long rambling on my experience with farming, especially raising animals. There are so many topics I could talk about, but here’s one to start. If you have any other questions or want me to discuss something else entirely let me know.

Firstly, in regard to heritage livestock: these are animals whose genetic breeding can be traced back to before we began raising animals in CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations). They were around even before the industrial revolution. These are the animals that our ancestors raised out on the farm or in large pasture settings. They raised them from birth to slaughter in this fashion. The really cool thing about these heritage breeds is that they retain strong instincts to be good mothers, hide from predators, forage for feed, withstand hot or cold weather, and resist pests and pathogens. Not only do they carry these instinctual behaviors packed in their DNA, they also have better tasting muscle fibers (meat). They started dwindling as CAFOs took over how we managed livestock because they couldn’t produce an cheap product in the shortest amount of time possible, they are not as cost efficient to raise in a CAFO setting, and they cannot withstand the pressures of living in such a confined space. For example, the last flock of 100 chickens I raised was of made from a cross-breed of heritage stock. The flock took 12 weeks to reach an average dressed weight of 4.5 lbs., while a CAFO bird will reach an average of 4 lbs in 7 weeks. Despite the increased length of time to harvest, we had a very low mortality rate of 5%, and a CAFO chicken operation can claim 11% on a good flock. You can find in depth information different breeds on the critically endangered list on the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy wesbite: http://www.albc-usa.org/

The crazy part is that CAFOs are in place because they are an efficient way to provide cheap protein to the masses, but at a terrible cost. There are numerous negative environmental aspects of raising livestock in such a fashion and all the while it is doing terrible damage to our local economies. I don’t just mean the United States in general, but our counties and towns. The way we are doing the things now is putting all our money into a few large companies who produce an insane percentage of our country’s meat when we could be giving cash to our local farmers. These guys and gals sign contracts with these big companies. For beef farmers that means sending their calves off to CAFO feedlots like Harris Ranch for “finishing”. For chicken farmers that means getting paid by Tyson to raise fast-growing meat birds indoors for 7 weeks before they are picked up for slaughter and the same goes for pork. Just think about the petroleum and diesel used to ship those animals across the country to different processing facilities and then ship it back to your local grocery store.

After knowing the enjoyment of raising my own chickens, harvesting them with my own hands, then eating it at the table I know that I cannot eat another “un-chicken” or even Tofu again. The flavor is richer and different from a Tyson chicken. I know personally that the animal was well cared for, even loved while it was alive. The chicken was honorably thanked for providing meat for my table and killed quickly. I know that I spent the least amount of gas possible caring for them too. Doesn’t it seem more economically and environmentally responsible to go to a local farmer and buy straight from them? To be clear, I only buy meat from farmers who raise their animals in a fashion that I find suitable.

I realize as a compassionate, caring person with a no-doubt beautiful heart and mind you feel the need to make the effort to stop taking lives through your eating choices. The fact is that this is that carnivory happens in nature. Meat is a vitamin-rich and calorie-dense source of sustenance. Because we are evolved creatures we have the ability to choose what we eat, but instead lets choose “how” we eat. Pasture-raised meat is a wonderful thing in moderation.

Because I care about the humane treatment of livestock, I eat them. I purchase, raise, prepare, and devour (with gusto) them. I support my local small farmers who raise their livestock on pasture. This drives Justin insane because I’d rather purchase more expensive pasture-raised meat or not eat meat at all that night, but in the end he has seen how much better our chickens live than CAFO chickens. I know that every purchase I make to “clean meat” farmers shows someone making decisions in the agri-business world that people are appalled at the deplorable factory farm environment. Until their bottom-line begins to decrease, millions of animals will continue to suffer and the heritage animals that know how to get the job done, on pasture, will disappear.

I cannot tell you that a pasture-raised animal does not suffer. Of course it suffers for an instant at death, but it dies to feed us. The reason livestock are here is to sustain us, and only in their death can that happen. What I care about is the life they lived before that final day. I take solace in the fact that my chickens felt the sunshine and breeze on their feathers. They got to flap their wings and make all kinds of racket. They got to peck the dirt and take dust baths. I don’t feel guilty harvesting them anymore because I know the beautiful life they lived. I can tell you that I am extremely thankful for them.

A vegetarian’s diet can support sustainable agriculture and does make a difference in how vegetables are conventionally grown, but keeping that money kept out of the hands of responsible small livestock farmers isn’t changing the treatment of those CAFO animals you are abstaining from eating. If you spend your hard-earned cash on one pasture-raised meat product a week, things would have to change in the CAFO industry and fast! When the money is gone from those factory operations, the animals will not live such sad lives.

I raise meat because I love animals and I eat it for the same reason.

The "Barn"....if you will

Holistic Farm

I'm happy to report that our two caprine additions are getting along very well together. Yesterday when I went out to give the girls their morning feed and let the chickens out I found them both, dead asleep, completely cuddled up to each other. It felt good to know that they both have found comfort and companionship in each other so fast.

For the last 36 hours Shone Vida has been enjoying immensely cold weather and non-stop rain. We might even get snow soon, if it gets colder. In good faith of that fact, Justin and I spent a bit of last night and this morning shoring up the "barn". I piled fresh straw in a corner for the goats to cuddle up in at night, Justin put up some lumber in the barn opening to keep a bit more cold out, and we brought an armload of hay out for them to eat. From what I've read, I need to make sure that the girls have plenty of feed for the day and night. Firstly, because goats really don't like the rain and won't spend as much time eating the grass in the pasture. Secondly, I don't really want them eating the wet grass because right now there are more parasitic parasites on the grass. I keep the girls wormed, but prevention really is the best policy. Neither of them seem to be too distressed about this, spending much time in the barn eating their heads off. Charlotte, especially, is the most glutinous creature I've ever met.

Today marks the first day that I start my holistic approach to farm management. I recently purchased an amazing book by an Aussie, Pat Coleby, called Natural Goat Care.

Amazon was selling it for about $20 new. Coleby is an expert in the field of holistic livestock management. From my reading I've gathered that her approach to management is prevention of disease through proper nutrition. She suggests making a mineral lick for the goat using readily available minerals in their natural form. The cool thing is that animals have an amazing ability to seek out the vitamins and minerals they require, while we humans tend to ignore those signs. So now I have a few buckets out in the barn with different minerals in them. Now the goats can eat as much of a nutrient as they want whenever they need it, according to Coleby, because of that they will be much healthier. One of the items Coleby suggests having available ad lib is kelp meal because it provides a myriad of important vitamins and minerals in their most natural form. I'm pretty excited about this little experiment. Charlotte seemed to enjoy a few licks of the kelp meal already. Now I am interested to see if the chickens decide to take any of the vitamins. Hopefully Shone Vida will be enjoying a long time of healthy and happy animals.

The Goats Have Arrived!

The momentous day has finally come and now two goats call Shone Vida home. You have known about my first goat, Charlotte, for a while. Now going on 8 months old, she's growing up nicely and is still as friendly as ever. In my last post I said that we picked a little boy to be her companion, but after a week of trying to get a hold of my vet with no response back (the vet is known for this nonsense) Justin and I decided that a female would be better for us. She is a white Cashgora from my co-worker's herd and super cute.

Justin and I went to Samantha's house this morning to pick the little girl up. We simply loaded her up in the Ranger with the camper shell on and drove down to Green Acres. I wanted the two goats to arrive at Shone Vida together with the intention of everyone starting fresh. Things didn't quite go smoothly at first though: as soon as we loaded both goats in the back, the little Cashgora began furiously butting Charlotte out of pure fright. Needless to say, Charlotte spent the rest of the truck ride home on my lap. What can I say? I'm a sucker for that little goat.

Thankfully the two are getting along great now that they are safe in their new pen with food and water. Unfortunately they are both experiencing some growing pains. Both of them are in the pen crying loudly. I imagine it will take a few days before they completely settle into life here. I've been agonizing over this day for a while; feeling guilty about taking Charlotte from Green Acres and her beloved sister, and guilty about taking the baby Cashgora from her herd. But time to face facts: farming and sustainability are my passions and Charlotte is a huge part of making that happen. Charlotte is special because she is really the spark that started this journey for me.