Thank you for reading the infrequent Dreamfarm blog!  The height of the summer pulls us in many directions and unfortunately all farm updates get put on the back burner.  But here we are in September!  We made it!  

Our calf, Juniper, is healthy and growing quickly.  We are slowly weaning her off milk this week and she will only be eating grain and hay next week.  In the coming weeks we hope to rejoin her with her mother, Nelle.  Her companion these last handful of months has been Artemis, our young goat buck.  He will join the lady goats (does) at the beginning of October.  Together they make the cutest pair on the farm.

Our cheesemaking has been very successful this season.  With the help of our healthy animals and the beautiful summer weather, we have been able to produce enough cheese to supply not only our CSA members, but the Willy St. Co-ops, L’Etoile, Underground Meats, Oliver’s Public House, the Sow's Ear, and the Westside Community Farmers Market on Saturday mornings.  The local community has been generous and we are honored to be a part of southern Wisconsin’s food movement.

We have specifically been working on perfecting our Mozzarella cheese.  I think we have finally found a system that works.  Our mozzarella begins with Nelle, our sweet Jersey cow who provides the wonderful milk.  Diana then takes that milk and makes the mozzarella curd in preparation for it to be stretched the next day.

The following photos show a picture story of the stretching process.     

Mozzarella curd Diana
made the day before

Cutting the curd in
 preparation for stretching

The curd is cut into small
squares and transfered
 to a bowl

A mixture of whey, water and salt
is heated to 180 degrees to be
poured over the cut curd

The hot water being poured
over the curd

The first batch of hot water sits on
the curd for about a minute

The water is drained off

The curd has softened slightly.
Another batch of hot water
is poured over the curd.
Now it is time to stretch! 

Once the second batch of water is poured
the curd needs to be kneaded together and
stretched

Once the curd becomes smooth and
uniform, a portion is pulled off

Then the portion is folded in our hands
to form a ball  

When the ball is smooth
and uniform it is finished and
placed into a tub of cool salt water.  

Then they are weighed, packaged and
labeled, ready for sale at the market.  

It's a Girl

Nelle, our Jersey cow, calved on Sunday, June 28,  ten days past her due date. She had a beautiful heifer calf and we named her Juniper. All seemed good until Monday afternoon when I went out to the pasture to bring Nelle in for milking. She was laying in the shelter but her baby was not with her. I searched the entire pasture and finally found Juniper in a different pasture, tucked in the tall grasses. I picked her up and carried her back to mom. When I came back 45 minutes later to get Nelle to the barn for milking, Juniper was gone again. Then I realized Nelle could not get up and her baby was hungry. I tried different ideas to get her up, but she just did not have the strength. I called my younger brother who runs the family dairy farm I grew up on. He is filled with lots of information so I figured he could help me out. But of course, it was his milking time also, so I did not get an answer. I finally opted to call the vet, knowing it was an "after business hours" call, but I was worried. The vet arrived about 30 minutes later and we headed to the shelter. She took Nelle's temperature, listened to her heart and felt her cold ears.

These symptoms showed that Nelle had milk fever, which happens when the body is low in calcium and pulls any calcium it can from the bones to make milk for it's baby. When that happens, the muscles react and lose their strength, making it nearly impossible to stand up. The vet gave her an intravenous of calcium and within 20 minutes Nelle was able to stand. As we were under a metal shelter, a storm came through, which happened to be a blessing because Nelle went straight to the barn and I was able to get her milked. We thought all was good, but the next morning Nelle could not get up again. The vet came out and gave her another intravenous of calcium. He mentioned that Jersey cows, in their older stages, are susceptible to milk fever. Well, it happened again the third day and the vet was back helping. But all is good now and Nelle is producing rich milk and baby Juniper is growing.
     This season we have been moving our young doelings to new browse about every 3 weeks. This gives the adolescents good greens to chew on and keep them busy. Last Sunday Jim and I spent the afternoon moving all the fences to create a new browse pasture. I thought it would be a good idea to use some old existing barb wire fencing which was dense with growth for one long side of the pasture. Jim reminded me that they would get out through it, I agreed but said it would take a couple of weeks before that would happen. So we completed the pasture, moved the goats into it and all were happy. By Tuesday they were getting out through the barb wire lines and into the alfalfa field. By Wednesday, they were up on the road and visiting with walkers on the Ice Age Trail. I corralled them back to their pasture and put up poultry netting along the escape route. But they knocked that right over and headed to the road again. They are now in a different permanent pasture until we can set up new browse for them. They are growing well and will be joining the milking line next season.

     People often ask us what we do in the winter. With animals, there is the daily care and feeding. In addition to those chores, Jim heads to the basement and works on a barn quilt. He has now completed 5 quilts in the last 3 years. They adorn our barns and buildings. He looks through my various quilt books and finds a pattern he likes and transfers it to plywood. This past winter, instead of going through quilt books, he got out our colorful geometric blocks from when our daughters were young. He played around with them and created his own design. Jim transferred this design to plywood, gave it many coats of colored paint and it now elegantly hangs on our milking barn.

     Well, my brother Tim did return my phone call the next day. He was busy, but took the time to give me some advice. He was trying to cut hay and a hydraulic hose broke on his equipment. He took the hose to the farm implement dealer for a replacement, they could not get a new hose for three weeks! When hay is ready, it needs to be cut, so Tim had to rent a hay cutter for $50 per hour. We laughed together about our crazy week and gave each other a wish of luck for the next week.
     Enjoy your week.
     Diana and family
   

The Grand Transhumance and Summer Coats

Welcome to the beginning of summer,  We are excited to enter this 2015 season!  First we want to thank all those who are supporting us through the CSA and at the Westside Community Farmer's Market.  It has been a joy seeing all your faces again.  

For many dairy producers throughout the Northern Hemisphere, summer means lush pastures for their cows, sheep, or goats.  These grasses lend to the best milk for producing cheese, butter, yogurt, etc...  In Switzerland, the culture celebrates the coming of summer with a festival called the Alpine Transhumance.  Transhumance is the seasonal movement of people with their livestock between fixed summer pastures and winter pastures.  Well, while we don't live in the mountains nor do we keep our goats in their summer pastures for the entirety of the season, we have begun our own small version of Transhumance every day after the morning milking is complete.  With a bucket of grain and Marly at our side we bring the milking does into the far pasture of our land to graze and browse for the duration of the day until evening milking comes around.  They are starting to understand the routine and with each day it becomes easier.  With these new pastures it keeps them healthier and allows them to have green foliage in their diet, which is important for an organic producing farm.  On the other hand they are keeping this area cleared out for us and produce great milk for our cheese.  Both the farmers and the goats are happy!  

Summer on the farm also means shedding of the winter coats, literally.  Yesterday the sheep were rounded up and relieved of their wooly jackets.  David who is a "gun shearer" (A professional sheep shearer who works very fast, shearing a sheep within a few minutes) as they call them, showed up to shear our small flock.  It took him just about a half hour to shear our 6 Jacob sheep.  They are quite dapper with their new look and are ready to go off into their summer pasture.  

As for the farmers, summer is a time we embrace wholeheartedly.  It is a wonderfully busy time.  At the end of each day we are worn to the bones, but looking out at the goats and sheep in their pastures, the chickens pecking joyously, the pigs rooting around, the calves sunning themselves, and the frogs croaking by the pond it all is so worth it.  

Chicken Moving Day

     It is a wonderful day when we can move the chickens from the brooding coop to their pasture pens.

Chickens in the coop before being moved
out to pasture for the season.

     It all started last November when the first batch of chicks arrived at our local Cross Plains Post Office. I get an early morning call to come pick them up. The Post Office is not officially open to the public, so I knock on the back door and they let me in. After the postmaster scans the box and records the pick up, I load them into my warm car and head back to the farm. The heat lamps are on, it is very important that the chicks are kept warm these first days of their lives. Each chick is individually removed from the box and I dip it's beak into warm water for a first drink to get them going. Then the chick is placed under the warm heat lamp. There is chick starter (feed) sprinkled on newspaper to help them find their first food. I check on them often to make sure the heat lamps stay on and that there is plenty of food and water available at all times.
     This fall posed a new issue for Dreamfarm. I ordered all 250 chicks to arrive the same week. But there were hatching problems at the hatchery. The second batch of chicks arrived 1 month later. One month of age makes a big difference in the chick world. The older chicks would be too aggressive
to the younger chicks. We decided that we needed to divide the space in the chicken coop so that the older chicks were in a separate area. It all worked out quite well, and the chicks turned into chickens over the next 4-5 months. It is quite amazing to see the chicken coop turn from plenty of space for all the chicks, into bursting at the seams by spring. That is when we are so happy to get them onto pasture. Three of our chicken hoops needed big repairs. Jim, with help from Diana, Alicia and Rosalyn worked on the repairs and completed them on April 8. All 4 hoops needed to be moved to new pasture. The areas where we housed them the past 10 years needs to rest.
     April 10 was the big moving day. Jim hooks our old blue Ford up to the front of the hoop, 2 people lift up the back with hand trucks. Then Jim pulls the hoop to the designated area as the people in the back follow by holding the hand trucks. We place the poultry netting around the coop, set up the roosts, food and water and all is ready to receive the chickens. The night before the move we closed the chickens into the coop after they had settled to roost for the night. (We opened the door each day so the chickens could be outside). With a "catch fence", we gather the birds into a corner, catch and put them into crates. The crates are driven to the pasture, placed into the hoops; the crate door is opened and the chickens pop out and immediately begin to peck for bugs, worms and grasses. It is a wonderful site. Of course, it does not all go as planned. By the end of the day, many birds have flown over the poultry fence. Some have already roosted in the trees. The following morning, they are huddled outside by the door. For some reason, they can fly out, but they can't figure out how to fly back in! We get them back in through the door, and they do the same thing the next night. But they seem to be laying most of their eggs in the nest boxes before they "fly the coop" for the day.

The movable chicken hoops in their first location
for the 2015 season

     The first eggs are very small, they are called pullet eggs. The egg will size up as the chicken continues to lay. It takes their bodies a little time to adjust. They will peak in production this summer, then slowly drop off as the days get shorter and colder. We raise a variety of breeds, which gives us a variety of egg colors: brown, blue and white. The eggs are certified organic through MOSA. We sell our eggs at the Westside Community Market.
 
     We still have a few "cheese shares" available through our Dreamfarm CSA program. If interested, check out our website at: www.dreamfarm.biz to sign up. We also are back at the Westside Community Market located at the Westside DOT up the road from Hilldale Mall. We hope you will join us for the season!

Diana, Jim and Alicia smile for the camera at the
end of another successful chicken moving day. 

View from the blue tractor on the way out to the
chicken hoops. Alicia walks ahead.

MARCH HAPPINESS

New baby "Jacob Sheep" lamb

March has started off quite cold, but that sunshine sure is nice. It makes our solar unit hum with happiness as it generates power for the farm.

The month of March for Dreamfarm is the start of our busy season. We have six does that have kidded and three sheep have lambed. Another sheep is lambing as I write, and I will check on her as soon as I finish this note. We have 25 does and four sheep still waiting to give birth. Most of them are due within the week and with the full moon, it can create the mood for all this to happen!

Baby lamb
 warming up in the sun

With the abundance of milk from the does, cheesemaking will begin at the end of the month. The cheeserie is ready: all walls and floors have been scrubbed, old caulk was removed from the base where the floor meets the wall, and new caulk applied. The equipment, drain tables, cheese molds, tools, etc. are washed and ready to be put into action.  While we wait to make cheese, our time is filled with the care and feeding of the baby goats. Most does have twins or triplets, so we expect about 60 babies this season. They are bottle fed so a close bond is established between us. Because we do not milk our sheep, the lambs are nursed by their mothers.

Dreamfarm still has cheese shares available through our CSA. Check out our website at www.dreamfarm.biz for more information, we offer an online sign-up for convenience.

Nelle, our Jersey cow and her goat friend Dorla

We encourage you to come out to the FairShare CSA Open House this Sunday, March 8, from 1:00-4:00 p.m. at the Monona Terrace.

There are over 35 CSA Farms participating, along with workshops, fun activities and information help areas. The Natural Family Expo is going on at the same time. Please plan to attend both for a full day of exploring.

It's FEBRUARY: time to order your CSA Share for 2015

Ellie, growing her bellie! Soon to kid.

Time has travelled as fast as it usually does. Here we are into the second month of 2015. It has been a good winter, although a bit more snow would have made for some nice cross-country skiing or snowshoeing. The nice weather has made it possible to go walking with our dog Marly, a few times a week.

Our animals have enjoyed this weather, much more than last year at this time. The goats are growing big bellies in anticipation of "kidding" (having their babies) about the first week in March.  Soon after that, the production of our cheese will start. At the end of April, the Dreamfarm CSA Farmstead Cheese Share deliveries will begin. We would love to have you join us for the season. Please check our website: www.dreamfarm.biz for more information and sign up.


Last October we completed the installation of solar electric for Dreamfarm. With the help of a Federal REAP Grant, a Focus on Energy Grant, and great assistance from H & H Solar Energy Services in Madison, we are harvesting the energy from the sun to run the electrical equipment on our farm and in our cheeserie.

Forty panels were placed on the south-facing roof of our old, majestic barn. As you can guess, we wake up each morning hoping the sun will shine! We will let you know our satisfaction with the solar as the months pass and the days get longer. H & H Solar Energy Services is offering some nice incentives for anyone interested in purchasing solar for their homes. And if you purchase a system from H & H, they will donate some of the profit to FairShare CSA Coaltion. You can reach them at 608-273-4464.

February and March days are filling up fast. The milking room (where the goats are milked) will get a complete wash down (ceiling and walls) by hand. Warmer weather would make this job more enjoyable, the barn has no heat. The milk house (where milking equipment is stored and the bulk milk cooler cools the milk) needs to get scraped and painted. Milk house paint is very thick and glossy, hard to work with. But it gives the walls a nice coat to protect from all the water that is used for keeping equipment clean. That task is done every other year. The walls, all equipment and utensils in the cheeserie will get thoroughly cleaned. Bookwork, conferences, meetings, webinars and house cleaning will fill the remainder of the days. There is the daily feeding and care of the animals, along with the weekly removal of their manure! It is fun to watch the daily changes in the animals as they prepare for birth.

Enjoy these days of late winter. As you relax and gaze out at the barren trees and wintry landscape, think about the pleasures of spring and summer and the bounty they provide for us. Please take some time to look over our website and join us for the season.
Diana
Dreamfarm