www.sabinehomestead.org

If you have not seen are web site take a look , www.sabinehomestead.org . The garden is starting off well , planted Tomatos , peppers and cellontro in to bigger pots . The baby chicks [ barred rocks ] have grown in to some nice big birds and hopefully will start laying in another month .

Spring has sprung

I shure am Thankfull for the trees and shrubes that the peple living here planted , that are all in full bloom . Not having the money for flowering plants , would not have planted them , enstead l panting fruit tree , with what money i had , but it shure looks and smells very Nice .

New milking stand finished

The new milking stand is finished and the 7 gallon cheese Vat for making biger batches of cheese has arived . the 5 doe babys are almost weened . Its time to try making hard sharp cedder cheese , now that i have every thang . Tilling up the garden and planting , but slow going with just me , shure need some help . Now have all fenceing for new farming area , just got to get it up . Looks like we will need to set up Hog Trap , saw new hog rooting in new farm area .Lake has come up about 6 feet and the fishermen are realy here , all boat ramps full , and im hering the fishing is real good . Leaveled out the milking loffing area and put more cement pavers down . It Shure is nice to get some more rain .

Projects for this year

* Contenue to , test making cheeses
* set up hoop green house
* grow vegys for are farm stand
* Grow bigger patch of surghum to make about 10 gallons surhup
* set up surghum mill
* train oxen to mill
* build new chicken house
* canning unsold vegys
* plow farm area with oxen
* set up 15 ft swimming pool with rain water catchment , back up water for garden
* set up garage for sales area
* build green house
* build fence around farm area
* log fire wood for next year out of forest with oxen
some of these are alraedy started or we have most of what we need to start them . What would realy help is some investores , partners , or others that see what im trying to set up here , a place of safty , well being and secquity of working together .

I made Some Lemon Cheese

Today i tryed making some Lemon Cheese , it was very ezy , Just 1/2 gallon Goat's Milk and 1 Lemon . It is very good , im realy looking forward to making sevral kinds of cheddar cheese , like jalapena cheddar , also i would like to make some wheels of monterey jack and parmesan . That will have to wait untell i sell all the baby bucks in about a month , then ill have lots more milk . Did some weeding on the carrits and roman lettice , those baby carrits are real good tasting and tender , Thanks Frank for planting them .

last of the girls to give birth

Poppy had 2 baby girls , so thats 5 girls and 6 boys for the year .

The Goat Rodio and my first cheese

Well training the goat for the milking parlor has been a rodio , but there gitting better . A few days ago i made some whole goat's-milk ricotta cheese and that was far out . the baby goats have been playing out in the pasture in this very nice spring like weather we are having now . The baby chickens are getting biger , and the layers started laying agean , all that warm weather we are gaving .

The Milk's here , So its Cheese Making Time

Theres 9 happy goat kids playing in the pasture , and the milk is here . So its time to learn to make cheese . I have been reading up on cheese making and looking at a few DVD's that i found on cheese making . Over the last few years i have been collecting the equiment i could find , stanless steel cheesepress , pots . cheese cloth , laddles and slotted spoons ,stainless steel cheese prep table, ext. ext. So i have most that ill need for that , now getting the milk in good order , up to now i have been milking outside in the dirt or rain and mud , trying to get the money to finish milking parlor , but the milks here , so im just going to have to go with what i have , and finish it later . This will be nice , milking indoors , no bugs , theres lights ,water , heat and soon A/C too . A dream coming true .

The Good And The Bad of the last few days

The twines had there babys , one had one , and the other tryed to have two at the same time and thay died and i had to pull them out . Poppy is very ready to have hers , maybe today.
Im going to sell the oxen , i dont have the feed for them and $10.00 a bale for grass hay is just to much , it hert but i need to feed the goats .

Another Wild Day ,,,,

Carmel had a baby , Star had a baby and little girl had 2 baby Goats today . I hauled 3 loads of leafs home , put one in the goat barn for cleaner badding . Im very tired , but got to go out in a few hours and feed a few bottles to a few babys . 4 more moms will be having there babys too , soon .

Yesterday , what a day ,,,,,,,,,

This morning i found a surprize in the goat pen , baby pumkin , that is not even a year old , having a baby , a baby girl . Thay are ok , but pumkin has no milk . So i went to town and got some Colostrum milk at the feed store . Got home and feed her , Then i got a call that a nabor had about a truck loud of leaves , that we need for the garden and the chickens . It tuned out to be 4 truck loads , but we need it , and im very tired . I went out to the barn to give another milk bottle to the baby , and could heir more babys criying , but not at the barn , way out in the nabors pastune , where the heard of goats is . The herd gets back by the time im finished feeding the baby , and i can steel hear babys in the pasture , so i walked over there and find 2 baby bucks , dryed off and ready to go home . Poppys doughter had them , but isent giving them milk , so i milked her , and feed the babys , then feed all the other animals . I cant tell you how tired i was then , but i went to bed after all that , this morning im steel feeling it .

Another Buitiful Day in are wild paridice

Augest 1 2011 ,it started off as a nice day , went to work at brookshine brothers in the produce depratment . About 2 hours later i stated filling bad and gitting worse . So i went to sabine hospital , where thay only did a bunch of test on me , for a bigger billing , then thay dident even treat me , or give me eny pain medicen , thay just call a abulences ,' more money . And sent me 2 hours to a bigger hospitle . I was there almost 2 week . Thank You Frank , For Frank was there to take care of everythang and to help me when i got home . Thank You Frank ,,,,,
Im feeling a lot better and getting ready for a biger better year . I have been ordering seed and a few more trees , clearing more of the farming area and burning the slash . All 9 girl goats are pregnent and well heve there babys in a few months . Also working on a fence around the farming area , or the wild hog well till it up after we plant it . After i got to feeling better Frank headed south to be with his ralitives for the hollidays and to help his Dad . We fineily got some rain , but to late for all the lone leaf pine trees we planted , thay all died and untell are drought is over im going to hold up on replant . The lake is starting to come up , but steel 11 feet down , i think the next nice day i may go fishing . This year im going to learn how to make cheese and may raise up another set of calf to tain as oxen ,with all the milk , it has been very hard to keep up with the cost of Feed . I was getting grass hay for $3.50 abale now its $10.00 . Im also working on setting up a farm stand that we can sell out of this year . So that we would have more eggs for salling i got another 25 pullits that will start laying this spring . Thay arived in the US mail and have grown out most of there feathers , so ill move them out of the brooder soon . A few people have wreton , but so far its just me here .