New Kid on the Block

His name is Mr. Stubbs and we estimate him to be a year and a half old. He's missing a tooth and nearly half his tail. A beautiful animal we thought might possibly be a Carolina Dog. A little over three months ago he decided to visit Cheatham County Animal Control for food. Eventually, he came in. No owner. Wild-caught as it were. The first time I visited, he was calm, he knew the "Let's Go Outside" routine. He didn't bark. He didn't jump. He watched what you did and acted accordingly. He marked certain spots outside. He paid attention to his surroundings using his eyes, ears & nose. He wasn't difficult. Didn't require controlling or anything of that sort. He seemed content and confident. Didn't mind that I had the leash and went with me. I was pretty sure if I took the leash off, he would naturally heel and follow me wherever I went. You would probably describe him as a perfect gentlemen. I visited a second time, with my husband. We took him out for another walk, checked out his tail. We talked about his looks and his behavior. We talked to the Animal Control about his history, verifying that he voluntarily came in. We examined his tail to determine whether it short through natural birth or some later accident. Then we contacted Rachel Nagher, a master's degree student studying Carolina Dog populations under Dr. Brisban at the Savannah River Ecology Lab, who first identified the Carolina Dog in the wild. Eventually Ms. Nagher helped us with on-site verification and we have brought Mr. Stubbs to Mule Shoe Farm to be fostered with the other Carolina Dogs.

This put Mr. Stubbs in the middle of the changing pack dynamics between Wodi, Dora and Carmel. How would his presence affect the relationships of the females? I took him around to be greeted by the males and let the females had their initial look at him. Carmel greeted him with barking, fur raised all along her spine and growling with bared teeth. Wodi and Dora touched noses, sniffed him, let him sniff them in a limited fashion but no aggression that was obvious enough to note. Carmel was having none of this new dog. We put him on a thirty foot run with a twenty foot cable, close enough to the house to observe him, yet out of the front yard territory we have previously observed in the Wodi/Dora dynamics of the past few weeks. Carmel repeatedly charged him, fur raised, bared teeth snarling and growling. He was non-plussed. After the fourth or fifth foray by Carmel, he turned his behind to her and spaced his hind feet fairly far apart and stood there. Letting her run at him repeatedly. She never touched him. Never got close enough or quiet enough to sniff him. At one point Wodi, went up to Stubbs' hindquarters as if to show Carmel how it's done. She surprised the heck out of Mr. Stubbs when her wet nose touched him, but everything between the two of them was quite cordial. Carmel kept on. Eventually we all went inside to discuss the day's events and after an hour or so, Carmel's forays became less rapid and seemed to stop. Sometime in the middle of the night or very early morning, I woke up to the realization that the females were barking their guarding bark they have and it was quite bit closer to the house than usual. When I peeked out the window, Mr. Stubbs was trying to come into the front yard. He had slipped his collar and the females, all three together were preventing him from doing so. Carmel was leading the "charge" as it were. Once he was put back on his line in his proper spot and the collar adjusted, everything settled down to normal and the night was quiet.

Now all three females are back on the porch together. Wodi and Carmel usually sleep together and Dora is not far away. Dora is certainly not banished from the pack at the moment. Saturday morning saw Wodi & Carmel in the whelping box and Dora sleeping in front of the door. Sunday morning saw Dora in the whelping box and Wodi with Carmel under the car. There has been no aggression toward Dora that we have observed since Mr. Stubbs arrived. We will continue to keep an eye on the situation to see how it evolves over the next few weeks.

Three Days in a New Territory

This morning, Hunter fed the dogs and the goat. This is how it happened today.

Hunter fed Wodi and Carmel first in the front yard. After they were fed, Dora followed him to Yellow Boy who lives in the field in front of the house. When he returned toward the house, Dora showed hesitation in entering the "Front of the House" Territory. Hunter explained it was as if she was following an agreed upon line. Wodi ambled up with Carmel while Dora was trying to get through as quickly as possible on the northeast side of the house. There is only a nine foot clearance between the house and the hill on that side and it is the side where the puppy den has been for the last three litters.

When Hunter turned the corner toward the "Back of the House" Territory, Wodi followed and waited on the back porch, seemingly for food to be dropped. Hunter didn't put any food out and momentarily, Wodi ran off toward the woods. Carmel stayed behind but so far from Dora's feeding spot that she wasn't a threat.

Dora went to her feeding spot and once the other two dogs were not observing, Hunter put out her food. Next time he feeds he will try passing on the southwest side of the house where there is more space, to get from the front to the back. We will see how than impacts the territories negotiation for the three girls.

Changing Places

This past week saw a change in the porch population. Around Tuesday or Wednesday, we noticed Dora wasn't around in the morning. Dora is the blond juvenile on the right in the photo. The red female is Wodi, Dora's mother.

For several months now, Wodi has been the alpha and Dora, the beta, with Carmel, as the omega female. Dora and Wodi took the top of the porch and Carmel hid under the house. We've gotten used to this arrangement.

When we noticed Dora was gone, we figured she was out hunting. When we didn't see her the next day, we started calling her. Lo and behold, she was hiding up in the brush on the hillside to the left of the house about 300 feet away. She wouldn't approach the porch and I had to feed her away from the others. They would "school" her whenever she got close to them.

There is a shift in pack rank going on. Dora was skinny and covered in ticks on Friday. She took a trip with Wodi and Carmel to the local Animal Control office to help the staff identify Carolina Dogs that may show up. Two males we looked at both tried to mount the girls. A sure sign someone might be in heat soon. Neither male comes here because either one would cause a heat cycle for the alpha female, Wodi. Neither male has been verified as a Carolina Dog, either. The beta female, Dora could also be in heat but not show signs. This could be a reason the pack dynamic is changing.
Carmel has come out from under the house and is her mother's constant companion two days later. She is only 5 months old and thus not a threat to the alpha status. Our pack management question becomes what to do with Dora to not excessively interfere with the natural order of things but also allow her to survive. There is a real possibility that she would perish as the new omega.

Yesterday, I thought about how juveniles in any pack will split off from the main pack at a certain age to form their own groups. Perhaps this is also part of the situation here. I set Dora a double ration near a dog shelter that we are not currently using. This shelter is in the back yard of the house near a wet weather creek that will be dry until late fall. I then placed her food in the creek bed where she would be visually shielded from the other dogs should they decide to look around the side of the house. I tried to set up a situation for Dora to inhabit as her own territory without threatening Wodi's territory.

Yesterday became a turn around day for Dora. She ate and ate well. She no longer looked too skinny. She stopped hiding under the milking table on the back porch (where she had been early in the day) and stretched out on the pavement of the back porch and slept. Not a half awake monitoring sleep that many dogs will do during the day, but a full body, sacked out, long breath deep sleep. She was sleeping in the same area this morning, albeit in a different position.

Today when I fed, Dora accompanied me, careful to keep her distance from Wodi and Carmel. Wodi and Carmel were only interested in the porch territory and did not accompany me on any of my feeding routine. They didn't show any interest in Dora once she went to the side of the house. I fed Dora last. She anticipated where I would go with her food and led me to the exact spot I had fed her yesterday. She had a small pile still there. I added today's food and she immediately commenced eating. This is to be her feeding spot for the time being.

In conclusion, I think the pack rank changed due to Dora's relative age and maturity and this is a natural process to be expected. By providing a safe den area for her to go, she is able to successfully survive and perhaps later have her own family without a challenge to Wodi. What remains to be seen is how long the two home territories; the front and back of the house remain as such and whether we can do the same thing on other spots of our property.

Grooming

Yesterday, Mercedes went to a new home and today her two sisters were hanging out with Wodi, their mom.

To be more accurate, Crystal was hanging out with mom being groomed and Carmel was sleeping on the porch when I first looked in on them this morning.

Most of the information you read about Carolina dog fur on the web will indicate that because of its characteristic coarseness, the dogs do not have to be groomed much. In short, their coats are self-maintaining. This we have found to be basically true. There is however, a grooming ritual.

Who grooms who may be related to hierarchy. I cannot tell. It is most prevelant amongst the mothers and puppies. I have seen Wodi groom cats who happened to live here. There is not the excessive licking that you see cats do, but rather a nose led exploration of the dog's coat. The dogs make a kind of nibble on various spots. They will often do this to our outstretched hand when we greet them.

In our pack, that nibble might look like a close mouth bite, but it is really just a nibble. Special attention is paid to the ears when grooming which explains to me why their large ears don't require extra maintenance on my part. I think this is what they do to us or try to when we sit down on the steps of the porch. I have also noticed that the males are not typically involved in this activity.

This morning Crystal and Wodi were involved in grooming. Wodi was checking Cystal's coat and ears while Carmel was sleeping on the porch in the favorite orange chair. A little while later, Carmel was up and out with her mother and sister. Wodi was grooming herself and Crystal was grooming Carmel who seemed to be disinterested in this activity. A little bit later Carmel groomed Crystal with the enthusiasm of a 14 year-old cleaning his room. After a half a minute of this, both Carmel and Crystal curled up. Carmel actually closed her eyes and was "sleeping" the way dogs do. Crystal got up and was grooming her again. And she didn't seem to care much. Didn't even open an eyelid.

What's all the fuss?

Came home about 8:30 or so this evening and everything seemed to be normal with the girls on the porch. As we settled in, there seemed to be some commotion amongst the porch community, but didn't seem to be too much. I looked at the 2 of the puppies barking. They were facing the north hillside, and the adults, Wodi and Dora, seemed rather disinterested. Not elaborately feigning disinterest, the ladies were looking at the puppies but not moving from their cozy spots. As time went on, the barking grew more frequent. It was the kind of bark that tells you something is out of the oridnary. It doesn't sound like the hunting bark or the get out of my space bark or any of the other various vocalizations these dogs make.

As the intensity and loudness and particpation in the barking grew, it became impossible to sit still and do nothing. So I from my computer spot and Jim from the TV spot moved toward the door. What we found was the females guarding the porch from one of the male dogs, Hoover. Hoover had twisted his cable until it frayed apart and gone visiting. The girls were not about to let him on the porch. He came up to me readily and although the older ladies settled done abit, the younger pups, especially Carmel a.k.a. Crawfish gave a warning bark from under the porch in her spot she likes. Crystal also growl/barled a warning. We took Hoover back out to his run in the back of the house and emergency repaired his cable so as to keep the peace tonight.

The cable we use for his run is the heavy duty twisted cable for the larest size dog. It is the strongest cable outside of a chain that we can put him on. We learned from experience with our older male that even this strength cable only holds them on their lines just so long. Usually they break it when one of the females is in heat and isn't paying "enough attention" to the male. Through careful observation, we have been able to break the twisted cable cycle. Once a female chooses whichever male she wishes, we put them together in a kennel until her cycle is finished and then everyone goes back to their normal order.

Before we get up in arms about the lack of free movement the males have, let us consider what will happen should one of them or both them be loose. One word. Death. Whichever male is free will attack the unfree one. If both are free then fighting happens at the nearest convenient spot. Hoover and Yellow Boy are evenly matched and would surely kill each other. That would not be a desireable outcome for our pack. So one lives in front of the house, Yellow Boy and one lives in the back of the house, Hoover. Both are on generous runs. Neither can see the other which eliminates the mutual posturing they would do, if they were close enough for visual challenge, not to mention the twisted broken cables that would result. Ideally we would like to securely fence two 10-15 acre sections of property and allow each male their own area and their own pack. We are working on the fenced areas as a long term goal because the fencing requires a fairly sizeable investment of time, money & labor.

Feeding today

Today, Jewel, our youngest, fed the dogs around 11am. I noticed that Dora, Mercedes, & Carmel followed her out to Hoover's spot atthe old elm tree and then followed her back to the front porch. In the big pile of food for the puppies, Wodi & Dora, there was a quick order established. Wodi rolled Dora and then ate with the three youngest puppies: Carmel, Mercedes & Crystal. Dora sat a few feet away on the other side of the front door, ostensibly dozing on the porch.

When I say Wodi rolled Dora, that means she established her dominance by standing over Dora while Dora rolled over an exposed her belly. Since this was a food situation, it is more likely that Wodi snarled at Dora. I actually didn't see the action, but heard the quick yelp and observed Dora sitting by herself.

In about ten minutes, the puppies and Wodi were done feeding. About half the food was still on the porch for later and Dora had moved off to somewhere else.

OMG - IT's Colder than A. . .

You finish the sentence. But you have to keep it clean. Please comment below.




Burning firewood in our two fireplaces and using a couple space heaters in this below freezing weather has shivered the following out of our timbers:

• why didn't we cut this wood two months ago when it was warmer
• 62 degrees is pretty balmy after walking around for a few hours in less than 55 degrees
• hats are underrated
• your feet will sweat in your nice warm socks even if the rest of you is freezing
• speaking in Pirate makes even cold weather funny - Arrr, matey.

Molly at three months

This season being our first as a community supported agriculture venture has been interesting and quite the learning experience.

• Worms can kill without obvious symptoms and not all wormers are created equal.

There are only a handful of wormers actually approved for use in goats. None of them specifically target tapeworm. So to keep your goats effectively wormed, many folks recommended using cattle "wormer" off-label and dosing appropriately. This year we tried using an organic/herbal wormer. No dice. The goats were asymptomatic - meaning they didn't show the worm infection until it was too late and they were already anemic. This year, the plan was to raise the goats completely organically without chemically-derived wormers.

• Fencing is of primary importance

We only have a portion of the area we used for livestock and growing vegetables actually fenced in. This was fine most of the time, but certain circumstances arose where this was a liability. The farm is home territory to many different types of predators and plant eaters. The fence is effective in deterring these predators as long as it is in place. We lost two goats and numerous chickens to predators. A partial list of animals cited this year includes coyotes, owls, hawks, raccoons, possums, minks, weasels, foxes and the family dog. Plant eaters of note included deer, groundhog and rabbits. Plant predation was low because of the presence of the dogs. But one dog in particular really liked chickens and several seemed to think goats legs were chew toys. The fence was an effective deterrent once it was up.

• Chicken tractors are awesome

Not only did ours protect the chickens but it has been most useful preparing areas for cultivation. . If the chickens have been there first, it is so much easier to do to turn the ground over. I am so grateful to the friends who lent us this piece of equipment for making that bit a this year's adventures a success.

• Farm work is harder than most people think

There were several shareholders who liked the idea of working for food. Since, I'll take any help I can get, I agreed to let them come and help me. I worked along side most people and several did not come back after the first time. One notable exception, a wonderful young woman who is also a museum, had to stop helping because of heat issues. I love this kind of work, but apparently that is a pretty rare occurrence. Maybe later when the farm is more established and we're not doing so much break-breaking work, people will enjoy actually the labor involved.

I've learned countless other lessons big and small and am so grateful to everyone who supported the cause and encouraged to keep plugging away. We will have another season next year and I hope to post 2009 share agreement around January 1

Happy Thanksgiving y'all!!!

Snacks that Subtract

apple by Aurimas Rimsa

I was poking around on the Internet while waiting for the washing machine to finish filling up. Guess what I found out. Some of my favorite snacks to keep on hand are good for helping you keep off extra weight. I though I would share this list with you.

• Celery - takes more calories to digest than it provides and it will keep you feeling full.

• Berries & apples - will help calm that craving for sugar, fill you up and help you eat less. Berries take more energy to digest than they give you and an apple before each meal will help you eat less.

• Water - I know, duh. Not only do we drink water to help "fill" us up, but water helps our overall digestive process. And if you chiiillll your water, it will help you burn even more calories.

I'm kind of in list mode right now and we'll ride it out. Maybe I'll stumble upon the list to end all lists. Any ideas?

Useful Links

Lettuce & Broccoli bed in the spring.

Here are a handful of links I was looking at today after visiting the Open Air Market.





Preserving Herbs after the Harvest
http://www.seedsofknowledge.com/herbharvest.html





Five Squash Blossom Recipes
http://www.seasonalchef.com/recipe0805b.htm





Fried Green Tomatoes
http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/001506fried_green_tomatoes.php





Interesting information about Cucumbers plus a couple serving ideas
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=42#descr





Super Carrot Raisin Salad
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=recipe&dbid=164#ingredients





Pickled Peppers - hot &/or sweet
http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/hgic3440.htm





Arthur's Limericks
http://limericks.5gl.net/families/a.htm

Keep on, keep on, keep on.

An Inspirational Note written by Bobbi Decious

My mother just told me yesterday, in speaking of the ~100 acre South central KY farm made up mainly of rocks, clay and sinkholes I grew up on, that they KNEW they couldn't make a living on the farm, but, they were raising children, not really anything else. Everything else was just a bonus. And, she was right, and she is STILL raising children but we all love the farm, with the thistles and ragweeds and whatever else is there.

I lost my father, my mother's best friend of 50+ years and the best dad, we think, in the world last week, so this touches a nerve with me today as I have to make it back to my world, work, etc. Daddy would have admired what you are doing SOOO much, as he was a student of all things agricultural, interested in new advances but loved the old ways too. One of my sister's has a goat herd that breaks her heart, too.

I have a few heirloom yellow tomato plants that I would like for you to have. They make a very large, meaty tomato with a little red on the bottom. These were from seeds saved from the long time, most beloved 4-H agent in Wayne Co, Ky ever. Mr. John Rickett was the 4-H agent there for, I'm sure almost 40 years, and my mother worked with him as the Extension secretary for about 33 yrs. He had these wonderful tomatoes that she always saved seeds from and got starts the next year, of course. Well, I guess this hadn't happened for a few yrs, but this year, the story goes, that "everyone had lost their Rickett tomato seeds" and she found an envelope marked 2000 in her pantry and my dad planted several trays of these seeds, hoping that 5 or 6 would come up. Well, probably 100 came up!! and they are 4-5 or 6 inches tall and I brought some home with me, but I can't keep that many and can't bear to throw them away. The plant is very large at full growth, so it must have room.

It just hit me that Daddy would like for you to have these tomatoes and for you to not give up. The day before his surgery he was out "delivering tomatoes" to several of his buddies at his hang-out places. Ah well, it's off to work, but I hope you can remember that even when the corn isn't growing, your children are, and learning to love the land and all of it's joys and heartaches.

Save Fresh Herns Without Drying

This tip I picked up who-knows-where comes in handy this time of year when herbs are plentiful and fresh. I've used it for chives and it works great.

Cut up, smash up or whatever you need to do to the herb for using in your favorite recipes.

Take a tablespoon or teaspoon of the fresh herb and put it in an empty ice cube tray - in one cube space. (In case you were wondering if you should sprinkle it or dump it).

Fill that space the rest of the way with water. It's easier to keep the herbs in the ice cube tray by pouring water from a cup into the tray.

Let the tray of cubes freeze. You can pop the cubes out and put them in their own freezer bag labelled with what herb it is. I don't know about you, but I have plenty of other mysterious frozen things in my freezer. I don't need anymore surprises.

The herbs should keep three to six months like that. When you are ready to use them, take the necessary cube out of the freezer and let it defrost. Voila! Fresh herbs. If you put some up this week, they will last until January at the latest.

As I sat writing ...

It's hard to know where to start when I sit down to write. A few months ago, a dear reader observed that there seemed to be a lot of bad things happening on the farm this year. So I backed off the wiritng. If you don't have anything nice to say, then you shouldn't say anything at all, right. Well, when you have seven out of eight goats die on you and a five week dry period, you spend your time trying to hold it together and then picking up the pieces. I'm not saying farm life is all hard work and doom and gloom, but sometimes, what you think of as news is not so good. I can say that I know what caused the goat die off. I also have a new perspective on irrigation. I've gotten to watch my daughter grow taller and stay pink. I seen my son get used to having jobs to do and learning how to trim horse feet with my husband. All those are great and good things, but when I sit down to write, I remember the individual goats, the struggle to get time to pull fence, the property line "discussion" the adjoining property owners keep bringing up and so on.

The truth is farming is a quite a bit of hard times punctuated by brilliant flashes of great moments. It IS work. It IS hard and it can be disappointing. But I love it. I would work whether it was at this or something else. And I love this. The quiet moments of picking or weeding. The intense joy of watching a small animal play. and so on. It can sound quite cliched and maybe it is. But perhaps that's because so many people have had a chance to experience this life either through their relatives, TV, books or whatever.

So stick with me. It may be hard but anything worth doing has a price. Besides, the stories may be interesting. I think this farm is absolutely necessary. More small farms are needed. We must concentrate on growing local food for our own survival. Tomatoes, anyone? How about spinach?

Mark this Date on Your Calendar!

See Kort & Law "Feedsack Dress"

Ms. Law is a shareholder at Mule Shoe Farm and recently participated in Grand Ole Dulcimer Day. Enjoy the YouTube video at www.muleshoefarm.blogspot.com.

Then There's the Mulch.

If you put in flowers this past weekend, it's time for mulch. If you're not sure you want what's at the store, come on over to the Farm and load it up.

We've been moving mulch here, there and everywhere. Six to eight inches deep in between the raised beds for weed control and moisture containment. Two to four inches side dressing on plants for nutrition.

We use two different kinds of mulch. One is the wood chip mulch which is now three years old and quite nutritious. The other kind is the compost we created from last year. The compost is for side dressing on the planted areas. This compost acts as fertilizer in addition to weed control.

To improve soil fertility in the field, we rotate grazing animals like chickens and goats. When they're done with a grazing pen, we can use it to plant crops in two weeks or less. We also planted squashes and melons directly into the wood mulch this year. Those plants are coming along nicely and should have record yields.

Compost and mulch are two great secret weapons in an organic farmer's arsenal. These things build soil health which in turn builds healthy plants. Healthy plants are more nutritious for us to eat. So composting improves our diets and helps us be healthier. It all starts with the earth.

More Fence, Please.

Some days, it seems that the only tasks a farmer has is to put up fence, repair fence and plan for more fence. Where we farm, in the cove, a fence is necessary to protect our chickens and goats from predators. Since we practice rotational grazing, as the goats or chickens finish grazing one pen, it's time to move them to another.

We opted for the "do it as we go" method which means we build new pens as we need them. It also means we don't have a giant cash outlay all at once. We thought it would mean we wouldn't have fencing materials laying about, but that hasn't worked out like we thought.

It's time for two more pens to go up. We've decided to separate the girl and boy goats, so that we don't have any baby goat surprises. The goats have also eaten quite a bit of the pasture in the two existing pens, so it's time to move.

I have to say, putting up fencing is not a job I enjoy. I would rather that the fence brownies came and did it, but it's got to be done. The fence brownies don't apparently exist.

First we measure out the pen size and locate the corner posts. Then we locate the gate posts. Thirdly, we put in other posts as needed. Then it's time to string the wire - a job best done with several people and vehicle. With the tractor needing a part, it's also time to order the part and repair the tractor, so it can be used to stretch the fence tightly. Finally we put up the gates and open the pasture up for grazing.

Wish us luck.

Digging in the Dirt

We've been busy planting last Friday and this past Monday. In the raised bed area, last Friday, we planted spring peas, snow peas, carrots, dill, fennel, lettuce, onions, beets, and spinach. I think that's a complete list. This increases the number of lettuce varieties to at least seven. Three packets of lettuce seeds were mixes, like chef's mix and Mesclun mix, so those actually have more than one variety.

On Monday, the kids and I planted herbs: oregano, basil, sage, bee balm, parsley and thyme. Planting with the kids was such fun. They asked lots of questions about the different weeds we cleared first. We talked about what various herbs can be used for. They learned how to transplant herbs from a pot to the ground and about different types of soil.

I was reminded about how important it is for children to know where their food comes from and how it is produced. By helping me plant in the garden, the children have a stake in what they eat. This is also the basis of Community Supported Agriculture. By supporting the farmer, you have a stake in what you eat. Not only that, you help ensure that the farm can continue to produce the food you eat.

And speaking of farm involvement, the kids were extremely excited to help milk the goat. They are learning how to take care of a milk producing animal, and how milk is processed. I am reminded that children who grow up on farms are more likely to be compassionate and responsible because of their involvement with animal care. These are priceless lessons that cannot be taught in school as effectively.

The Pie Lady

The Pie Lady has been making fried pies for a really long time. Twenty years - she thinks. At first she only made them for her family. Usually she made apricot pies, but sometimes she made peach pies. She would make them when family and friends requested them.

One year, her daughter told her about an new Open Air Market in Ashland City. All Master Gardeners were invited to set up at the market and sell their plants and whatever else they were producing at home in their gardens. Her daughter wanted her mom to come with her. Mom didn't want to go because... why after all, she would not have anything to do. So her daughter suggested that she make some pies and bring them, just to see if they would sell at the market. She sold 20 pies in 30 minutes.

The Pie Lady comes to the market early on Saturday mornings. Those delicious fried pies are the first item sold out every time. She now makes four flavors of fried pies: apple, apricot, chocolate and peach. All of them are fantastic.

I eat breakfast so early on Saturday mornings, that by the time I get to market and get set up, I am ready for a snack. One of those delicious homemade fried pies really hits the spot. When the Pie Lady's grandchildren are there, you can often get a large cup of sweet tea to go with your pie. When you come to pick up your share or to visit your friends at the market, come early and see The Pie Lady.

Our New Prince

This goat is our new herd sire. Notice his beautiful and quite long ears. Look at that lovely color. Java is a Nubian goat. Nubian's are milk goats.

We got him from Beth Thompson who maintains a quite wonderful Nubian Herd. Beth also makes fantastic goat's milk soaps which you can get at the Ashland City Open Air Market.

Java enjoys playing with Rock, Gem, Rock Lee and Anabelle. He has also visited some with George, the rooster.

Java is acclimating well to our herd which now features three goat breeds: Saanen, LaMancha and Nubian.