Here a goat, there a goat

Here a goat, there a goat

The other day when I got home from the farmers market the goats were out.  The does, who had been all the way out in the back grazing on a hillside covered with kudzu, had gotten out and wandered all the way up towards the front of the property.  With the help of some unsuspecting farm customers coming to pick up their vegetables, we managed to herd them in with the young females that we had weaned in July.  All seemed well.

Then our buck, LeMoyne got out.  Having the does near by was just too much for a rutting buck.  It was late Sunday evening and I couldn’t get him back into his pen with the other males, so we closed all the perimeter gates and went to bed.  No one was surprised to find him in with the does in the morning.  Then all the young bucks got out.  They ended up in with the girls, too.  It’s goat chaos.  I tried getting them loaded into the trailer to sort them but they were not having it.  Our goats aren’t particularly cooperative.  Now we can look forward to baby goats in mid-January.

August is a challenging month because there isn’t a lot of room to maneuver.  Between shorter work days because of the heat, harvesting, planting for fall, and summertime fatigue, we are already pretty stretched.  So when things pop up that demand immediate attention, like goats running around everywhere they shouldn’t be, they can be extra hard to deal with.   But at least all the goats are behind a fence.  For the moment.

Fall is coming

I have started transplanting the fall crops out of the greenhouse.  So far napa cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower.  Over the next few days I’ll be transplanting cabbage and kohlrabi.  I have direct seeded beets, carrots, lettuce, arugula, greens mix, and baby kale.  There is a lot more seeding to do over the next couple weeks that will carry us into October and November.

The first two plantings of tomatoes have finished producing.  There are more tomatoes in the field but peak tomato season is over.  There is another planting of melons that should be ready in a couple of weeks.  Let’s hope it is as successful at the first planting was!  More eggplant and peppers are on the way, too, and a final planting of squash and zucchini as early as next week.

Small Shares

• Butternut Squash
• Okra
• Slicing Tomatoes
• Long Beans
• Sweet Peppers
• Watermelon

Full shares

• Butternut Squash
• Okra
• Slicing Tomatoes
• Juliet Tomatoes
• Long Beans
• Sweet Peppers
• Watermelon