April 2, 2005 Update

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. We are having a drizzling rain, which is much needed. The morning goat (six) and pig (one) chores were finished just as the first drops fell.

Fred and I own chickens together. The Buff Orpingtons are in the chicken tractor that Christina and I built together, but two older hens and the Lavendar Orpington rooster are free range. We lost all but the two older hens to hawks, coyotes, and perhaps owls. The pig is a refugee from the county fair. The granddaughter of a friend raised Otis in her mom's garage in a nice neighborhood. When it came time for Otis the Pig to go to auction, she asked if I would take it. He now lives in a large pen with a shed, water, a mud hole, a feeder, and toys. Fred goes down to scratch his tummy twice a day.

Planning a DIY water catchment system

Researching now. https://youtu.be/wOumD-IFfBg?si=MZZd9pVZ7fmgryBz https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004VMFYBI/ref=sw_img_1?smid=A13F7XKM8D9DJN&psc=1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63Ov9yM5ZW0&ab_channel=GreenTechTown

Ouch.

I think the little buckling who was stuck has bad luck. He put his head through a gap between a shed and a fence and peeled the skin off the back of his left ear. Thank goodness for nearby veterinarians. Stitches, shots, bandages, and overnight in a crate at home. He moved the bandage down his head overnight, so Fred held him still while I rebandaged it.

Spring 2023

What a fascinating Spring. The weather can't decide what to do. We've alternated from almost 90 degrees down to 50 within hours, over and over. Luckily, the rain has been intermittant. Grass is growing. The trees are recovering from several years of drought. Saanen cross babies were born on February 22. The dam is Bug, a purebred Saanen. The buck is a brown and black Nubian from the other side of Spicewood. Doeling first, then a stuck buckling that I thought was going to die before I got his right front leg unstuck from under Bug's pelvis. His lips were blue by the time I got the leg out. Following was the second buckling, quick and healthy. They are doing well. I did supplement the unstuck buckling with some milk replacer in a pan for a while. He just seemed to not be thriving as well as the others. It helped him rally. The second buckling has been band castrated, and he's going to a local family for a fall picnic. I'll keep the doeling to see how she grows out and a possible replacement for Bug, as she's about ten years old. The buckling that was stuck has been named Frodo, and he'll stay around long enough to breed to Sissie (the yearling Nubian) in the fall.

February 21, 2023

Late in the winter, Louise's arthritis got the best of her just a couple of weeks before her fifteenth birthday. We had to put her down rathern than extend her suffering. Quirky Goat Farm is currently down to five goats. The Nubian yearlings, a doe and a wether. They were orphan bottle babies purchased from a local breeder. Bottle kids are tricky, and I wanted to spare them the anguish of being raised by a rookie. They are now almost fifteen months old. Sissy will be bred in the fall, which will give her plenty of time to grow. She is simply brown with black tips. Boo, the wether, is moon spotted. What is it about the flashy colors going to the males? Sigh. I purchased two mature Saanens from Dapper Dairy near Weimer. Pearl and Bug are BIG white girls. I dried off Bug, had her bred, and she'd due to kid in March. Pearl is still giving three quarts per day on one milking. I'm trying to dry her off gently. I am transporting Bug to Texas A and M Veterinary College tomorrow, February 22. Her "girly bits" are profoundly swollen. It's not prolapse. The veterinarian her didn't know what is going on, so I called the vet school, sent a picture, and they said bring her in!

September 30, 2022

All is well on the Quirky Goat Farm, Spicewood Annex, with a contingent of six goats. The Nubians are now about ten months old and fully assimilated with the herd. The biggest news is that Gypsy has been deposed as herd queen. She had been behaving badly - biting and bullying the other goats. I removed her to a small pen for a "time out" of several days three times. After the third time, Bug, the largest Saanen, decided not to take any more bullying. She outweighs Gypsy by maybe 40 pounds, and she put every bit into pushing back. They fought, head butting and shoulder pushing, for several hours. By the next day, there was no doubt that Bug had deposed the queen and taken the position of leader. Gypsy had an obvious emotional reaction to losing her status. She stayed far away from everyone and didn't come for grain for two feedings. Even after a couple of weeks, she is still more solitary and subdued. I am milking Pearl, the other Saanen, once a day and getting three quarts every time. Cheesemaking takes place twice a week, and I'm working my way through all of the cheese recipes that I used to make. Chevre, of course, as that's the easiest. Robiola and brie. A batch of cheddar is underway as I am typing this.

Summer Solstice

I have to laugh. Apparently I wrote this quite a while ago. I wish the weather paid more attention to the calendar, and the official "end" of summer. These afternoon with temperatures in the 100s are a challenge to deal with. Good news on the goat herd. Travis had forwarded a link to The Dapper Goat dairy at Weimar. A few emails and a phone call, and I traveled to the dairy and acquired two "big white girls." Saanens are my favorite breed. Big, calm, softly talkative, and great production. Integrating these two lovely ladies (Pearl and Bug) into the herd has been a bit difficult.The roll includes Louise, age 14, her daughter Gypsy (10), Gypsy's daughter, Betsy (3), and Betsy's bucklings (one month). Add to that, the two Nubian orphan bottle kids, Sissie and Boo, now about five months old.

Goat update

I made the strategic error of joining a Texas Dairy Goats page on Facebook. A nice lady in Dripping Springs was liquidating her herd and had two orphan Nubians born in December. They were about two weeks old when I acquired them - bottle kids!!! Four times a day. Fun at first and then you remember WHY bottle kids are stressful.

Luckily, now in April, they are graduating to the adult pen during the day. Betsy, who is Louise's granddaughter, was bred to a Nubian buck and is due to kid the first week of May. Her X-ray shows at least two kids, but she is HUGE. As one of the Homesteading Today members says, she looks like she swallowed an ottoman.

Flat Rock Road, Llano, Texas

The house isn't visible from the road, which is nice. The driveway winds in and you are greeted with this well kept double wide home. Front deck, covered porch with a ceiling fan on the back.

The workshop with both a personnel door and roll up door is insulated and has a one bedroom living space with bathroom and laundry along the back wall.

This wonderful equipment shed has four perfectly balanced doors, plus a solar powered opener on the left hand door.

 

The bunkhouse is nicely finished inside with paneling, a twin bed, and a powerful air conditioner.

Funny how things happen...

About a year ago, I had planned to phase out of rental properties. Hahaha. Then, the runaway housing market in Austing prompted me to sell the house on O'Dell that my mother had purchased thirty two years ago for Travis and Nathan to live in while they attended the University of Texas. After the boys graduated, I rented the house to college students and various folks. The market yielded about a sixfold profit. Thanks to the IRS program for a 1031 Like Kind Exchange, I could invest the money in another property and not have to pay Capital Gains Tax. The search was on for a replacement property. Thank goodness, a local realtor and I had been working together, as I had purchased four lots in the small, vintage gated community of Lakeside Beach. She located a 13.5 acre property just east of Llano, Texas. A gentleman had been building a fine horse facility there, but unfortunately, he passed away before it was complete. The land is hill country granite and granite gravel. There are oak and mesquite trees, native persimmons, and a myriad of cactus varieties. Three ponds are located to the north of the house. There is a high producing water well at the house, and another well that I am going to develop toward the north end of the property Excellent horse fence borders the property and separates the horse area from the house. The 1800 sq ft double wide mobile home, although a couple of decades old, has been very well maintained. Only minimal work will need to be done to have it in rentable condition. The kitchen counters have been re-tiled in a Texas theme. We are repainting the interior. A fire pit is already in place for evening cookouts or simply visiting around the fire. Other buildings on the property include: Insulated barn - 30' x 40' with personnel door and roll up shop door. Concrete floor. Living quarters in the back of the building. Equipment shed - 29' x 48' with four swinging doors. Two operated by solar powered openers. Dirt floor. Feed/tack room - 12' x 12' with personnel door. Concrete floor. Concrete floor wash rack (under the roof) for hosing your horse down after rides. Round pen for working horses. Run out pens. Three bay chicken coop or dog pen. Garden area behind the house. Was fenced to keep out native rabbits, but that fence is in disrepair, and the garden has gone back to prairie. I don't know yet if there is improved garden soil there. Because of the size of the property, the layout, and the buildings, this will be a multi-income stream opportunity. I am in the process of designing a tiny house to build near the second water well. A local mushroom grower plans to extend his production facility to the property and develop a small mulch production site for the spent substrate that is a natural part of the mushroom growing process. Think mushroom dirt from The Natural Gardener.

First Freeze in Spicewood 2020

The weather guys guessed wrong. It got colder than expected. I left the faucets around the house dripping, but one above ground water line froze anyway. Plus, I forgot the landscape watering timer that comes off the well house. The faucet is fine, but the timer itself froze and blew ALL its gaskets.

plumbing

Deleted

Goats back in my life.

Thank you to Jamie Craig, my neighbor in Spicewood. She asked me to help find her a couple of goats just about the same time that Angela in Missouri asked me to find a home for her last two does, as her human kids had grown up, and the family no longer needed goat milk.

It is with GREAT JOY that I hauled Louise (born in Ganado) and her daughter Gypsy (born in Missouri) south to Texas.

Having goats down the road is a blessing. They make me smile.

No More Goats

Not long after the barn building post, I stopped owning goats. It was a sad and stressful time.

My two favorite goats had become ill with different unexpected and non-preventable diseases.

Their daughter/grand daughter perished.

I was through. Finished.

Some of my dear goat friends took the remainder of my goat family. Bless them always.

Barn Buildin' in the Ozarks

After accumulating a nice assortment of farm equipment, primarily for bushhogging, road and driveway maintenance, and hay production, it was time to have a barn built. I looked at local ads in the Ozark newspapers, asked around, and settled on having H.E.L.P, owned by Alan Stocki, build my barn. We agreed on a turnkey price of $10,000 for a pole barn, 24' x 30'.

Thanks to the weather, construction activity was restricted to early morning hours. The crew started arriving about 6:30 am and usually shut down before the mid day heat became dangerous.



We went from a bare field at the top of the hill between the Cabin and the old log barn to corners and posts. One *really* impressive fact is that the barn is within 1/8th of an inch being square. This is impressive measuring and attention to detail.



Just a couple of mornings, and the girts were on. Then the trusses were placed by Ash Flat Truss. Awesome!



Sheet metal goes on next!



TA DA!



Interior details. Trusses on 2 foot spacing instead of 5 as in most prefab or turn key buildings. The perimeter band board is 2" x 12" for extra strength. All connections are screws or lag bolts. No nails. Gutter along front roof edge to prevent wash out at the doors. Double posts between bays for additional strength. Alan and his crew did a wonderful job of site clean-up. No screws or trash left behind. Dirt leveled and rocks removed.

Some equipment has already found the new home.



I highly recommend H.E.L.P. (Alan Stocki) for your pole barn needs. He also does remodeling, home repair, electrical, and air conditioning. His number is 417 778 1731.

Oregon County, Missouri

(Rented. Move in date is Sept 15, 2014)

I purchased this home and farm a year ago. It was rented by a very nice disabled veteran, but she had health issues and had to move. Now, the home and hobby farm are again for rent or for sale! I need someone with homesteading experience and some equipment, please.

The nearest town is Alton, Missouri. Nearest city is West Plains, Missouri.

The Earth Bermed House is approx 2000 sq ft, with some of that being a screened in porch. The house has a new metal roof that was done after the pictures were taken. Four bedrooms, two bathrooms. Central heat and air conditioning. There is currently a hearth in the living room with a wood heater. Good well and well house.

The twenty acre property has two large barns, a small raised bed garden, hay fields, two ponds (one with bass), chicken house, one three sided animal shed. The barn that has a concrete floor needs a new roof.

Land is mostly open, in hay fields, with some cross fencing that creates paddocks. Small wooded area. Fruit trees, raspberry bed and strawberry bed in place. Fenced on three sides. North side fence needs to be replaced. Lagoon septic system, which is legal in Missouri. The west side adjoins another property that I own.

I will consider owner financing. Terms will be determined by the amount of down payment and duration of the loan.

Asking $150,000.

Rental would be $700/month.



More pictures:
http://quirkygoatfarm.blogspot.com/2014/08/underhill-pictures.html

Five miles from the Eleven Point River Scenic Waterway
http://www.exploretheozarksonline.com/

Demographic info:

Alton, Missouri. 10 miles from the house.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alton,_Missouri

Oregon County, Missouri
http://www.city-data.com/county/Oregon_County-MO.html

Nearest large-ish city is West Plains, Missouri
http://westplains.net/index.php

Underhill pictures

The "Underhill" house at Many Springs, Missouri. Ten miles east of Alton, Missouri.

Current milking system

Ultimate EZ Milker vacuum pump. Pulsator. Silicone lines. Udderly EZ Milker bottles.

herd domination struggle

Kidding count down

Lily. 1/2 Alpine, 1/2 Saanen. Today is April 7. Kids due April 17.

April 8


April 10