Welcoming Committee

If you ever come over to my house, you will be immediately be greeted by Muff, one of our many cats. For some reason, Muff has taken upon herself to be the "official" greeter to our farm. She will walk you to our porch, stop and expect you to pet her to which she will reply with a growl. Don't be alarmed. Muff generally replies to everything with a growl. My husband refers to her as the "grouchy" cat.

Muff spends pretty much of her day growling at the world for no reason at all. Come to think of it . . . there are some days when I want to growl at the world, too! But, instead, you smile and purr. Muff says that is hogwash and growls. I guess I would growl, too, if my real name was Muffin! Sorry about that Muff! It was a moment of weakness and you were so cute as a kitten. But we did shorten it to Muff! Hope that helped!

Besides the obvious atrocity of the name, Muff had a rough beginning. First she was born in my closet (thank you very much!!). For some reason, Mom Cat pushed her away. I found Muff a few feet away from Mom Cat, very cold. So I picked her up, saw that she was still breathing and put her back with the rest of her sisters. As if that is not bad enough being rejected at birth by your Mom, 4 weeks later Mom Cat went outside and got hit by a car. So I guess Muff does have alot to growl at the world about.

So if you do come to my house and if you are greeted by Muff, don't be alarmed if she growls at you. She is harmless. She might even surprised you and purr. She has been known on rare occasions to purr!

Ducks for Sale

Yep, we are selling my ducks. I know . . . I love my ducks. Love watching them waddle around, quacking to each other. BUT, it is time to move my business in another direction and that direction doesn't, unfortunately, include the ducks. I would prefer to sell them to a farm where they will have access to a nice pond instead of going to a butcher. So, if you know of anyone who might be interested in a nice flock of ducks, have them send me an email to Diane@b-dgoats.com.

New direction, you ask??? Well, not really a NEW direction just kind of expanding the direction we are already in - make sense? Let me try to explain. A couple of weeks ago we went to buy another goat. The farm that we bought the goat from is one of the 3 "licensed" goat cheese farms in Ohio. The owner graciously showed us around and explained her set-up. As she did this, light bulbs were going off in my head - WE CAN DO THIS!!

Coming back and looking at our set-up, the only way we could do this is by selling the ducks - bye, bye duckies! It will take some work and $$$ to get this done, but I think we can do it. So, hopefully, in the next year or two, you will be able to buy B & D Goat Cheese. Keep your fingers crossed. And, again, if you know anyone who would love to buy some really nice ducks, please have them send me an email at Diane@b-dgoats.com.

Back in Business!

What a couple of weeks this has been! One single event came close to bringing my business to its knees. BUT with the Good Lord's Help, we are able to continue on - YEAH!

Over a week ago, I went out to feed the goats like I normally do in the evening. My buck (my ONLY buck) was in the back of the field crunching on something. He would look at me, bend down and pick up something from the ground and crunch some more. Now that's odd, what on earth is he eating. Coming closer, I realized he is eating acorns. Hmmm, is this a good thing or is this a bad thing? For safety precaution, I pulled him away from the acorns and gave him some hay and grain.

The next morning, he is not looking too good. So I call Dr. Brian, my Vet. Bad news - acorns are poisonous to cattle, horses, sheep AND goats - particularly the Fall green acorns. Not alot you can do - just hope that he didn't ingest a lot of the acorns. The buck died Friday morning. This is extremely bad news as my girls should start going into heat any minute and I will need a buck "to take care of them" (to put it politely!).

No pregnant goats means no babies - no babies means no milk - no milk means no soap! Which means I am up the creek without a paddle. Yes, I have friends that I can buy the milk from, but that defeats the whole purpose of having goats plus that cuts into my profits. I could also "borrow" someone's buck but that means I would have to watch my girls like a hawk and at the first sign of them going into heat, quickly put them into the truck and race up to a farm with a ready and willing stud. Only problem is that goats can go into heat at anytime during the day or night. So I could easily miss a heat cycle. See all the fun you are missing not raising goats!

So I prayed a lot! Told everyone I knew that I was looking for a buck. This is the worst time of year to be looking a for a buck because no one is getting rid of them - they hang on to them because they need them (like I need one!). Out of sheer desparation, I happened to look on Craigslist. OH MY - a miracle! There is an ad - someone in Cedar Grove, IN has a young Alpine buck that they need to get rid of because he is pestering all their does (girl goats) and they need to find him a new home ASAP!! OH thank you Lord! So Sunday morning, my husband and son drove up to Indiana and I now have a new buck!

And, the good news is that he is already "hard at work" taking care of the girls. So we are back in business. And, yes, we are getting rid of the acorns!

Farmer's Market Etiquette

Come on folks, do I really need to tell you how to act at a farmer's market! Apparently I do! Fortunately, this does not apply to 99.9% of my clients! BUT, Sunday I was shocked by the gall of one of my customers who is now no longer a customer.

I left my booth to go to the restroom. As I was coming back, I noticed the customer standing at my booth. Seeing that I wasn't there, she stepped behind my table and started going through my coolers! That is when I ran to my booth asking her "what the HELL are you doing???" Fortunately (for her) the police that usually patrol the market weren't there. She said she needed eggs and was looking for eggs. You tell me she couldn't wait until I returned??? To add insult to injury, she was MAD at ME and stormed off! As I said before, she is no longer a customer. Though, I am curious . . . if she did find a carton of eggs, would she have left money for them or would she just have walked off with them?

Fall

I love this time of year. Even though it looks like the Fall season has arrived a bit early (or maybe this is just a sneak preview), I think this is one of my favorite times of the year. The leaves of the trees are changing into all sorts of beautiful colors - burnt orange, vivid gold - oh so pretty. I know that also means spending the weekend raking up leaves, but that also means jumping into big piles of leaves (come on, you HAD to do that at least once as a child!). Here is a picture of my son jumping off a swing into a huge pile of leaves (he flies through the air with the greatest of ease, that daring young man on the flying trapese!) . . .
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I love seeing pumpkins and the mums being displayed at the farmer's markets, even though they signal that the markets will soon be ending. Can't believe that I only have 7 more markets at Anderson and maybe only 8 more at Hyde Park (I haven't decided if I will sell in November at Hyde Park).

Fall means cooler temperatures. After coming close to setting record temperatures this summer, the cooler weather is a welcomed relief! Though, we really could use the rain (and God could you please send some to Texas?).

And with the coming of Fall makes me feel a little sad because I know that it brings me closer to the day that my "daring young man" will leave to pursue to his dreams. But, I know the Good Lord will watch over him. So, for now, I will enjoy the beautiful colors that God has sent for me to enjoy, thankfully put on a sweater for the cooler temperatures and carve a pumpkin or two!

September?

It can't be September already? Where has this year gone? Seems like I just started the farmer's markets. That means the Hyde Park Farmer's Market will be on the Square for only one more month before we move back to the US Bank parking lot. Really loved being on the Square. The Anderson Market has decided to extend its market by two weeks to October 22 since the rainy Spring delayed the farmers from planting.

It certainly looks like Fall outside. All the trees are already changing colors, BUT I think that is due more to the drought than anything else. What a strange year weatherwise we have had - record rains, record hot temps, hopefully not record snow!!

In October, the female goats should start going into heat and the cycle begins again - the circle of life (do I hear Lion King and Elton John singing in the background!) If all goes as planned, hopefully babies by late February/early March.

Only a couple more months of milking, too. I usually milk the goats through the middle of November. Giving them (and me) a break through the winter months. Once I did try milking through the winter. Trust me, it wasn't much fun milking a goat out in a cold barn when the temperature was 6 degrees!!

Still can't believe it is September!