Thursday, April 4, 2013



With our attention focused mainly on  little goat kids, kidding does, and yucky barn stalls,  March snuck right on by.   April 1st was suddenly upon us and Diana decided to start saving the mother does’ milk for our first cheese make.   On Wednesday April 3rd we brought 190 pounds of goat’s milk from the bulk tank cooler in the milk house to the pasteurizer in the cheeserie.  As the season progresses the pounds of milk will increase, as well as the different flavor profiles.  The goats have been on a diet of grain and hay which compliments the cheese flavor differently.  As soon as the spring weather allows their diet will consist more of fresh greens.  Unlike a cow or a sheep, goats are browsers.  This means they prefer leaves, bark, and stems from plants over vegetation near to the ground.  So, in other words, goats like to “work hard” for their food.  Stretching their necks to reach that one tasty leaf.

Yesterday Diana and Alicia moved a group of goat kids, 10 bucks (boys) and 10 does (girls), to outside pens.  They are loving the wide open space to run, skip and jump.  We are still feeding them milk from the nipple bucket but they are starting to enjoy a bit of grain and hay.  Soon Diana will decide which kids she will keep for next year’s production and which she will sell to other producers.  We have 43 kids altogether and 7 does yet to kid!

In addition to April being the start of Dreamfarm cheese making, our various markets will also begin.  Willy Street East and West will start carrying our cheese again starting next week, the West Side Community market opens on April 20th, and the first CSA delivery for the spring share is April 25th

We will move the chickens into their summer housing soon.  The melting snow will allow the pastures to grow and make for great chicken scratching.  Until then they have reveled in their freedom of the farm.  We open the coop doors every morning and one by one they emerge, eager for the day’s finds. Sometimes we’ll even get visitors on the porch.  The pullet eggs are slowly growing and the outside pastures will make for nutrient-rich, deep yellow yolks and delicious eggs!  We’ll be selling them at the market again and Trillium Natural Foods in Mt. Horeb has already started to stock them. 

The season has officially begun!  Let us revel in it!

Cheers!