CTChick - Farmette in the 'burbs

[CTChick]

Hi! I love this site, found it through Backyard Chickens - chicks came first a few years ago, this spring I dove into goats. I've been posting here and there, wonderful advice provided and lots of fun. Here's my journal: I guess I'll start with the questions suggested and add as I go.

Laura

1. What state/province/country are you in and what is your climate like? Shelton, CT - northeast USA. It gets cold here. I was raised in California ... let's just say I've gotten used to it. Sorta. The animals certainly like it more than I do!

2. How many people are in your family? Marital status? Married with four kids, ages 19 through 8.

3. How would you define your farm? Kinda sorta "legal" we have two acres that backs into woodland, reservoir property. Hilly.

4. What would you do with your spare time if you had any resources you needed? I am a writer, publisher asking for book I promised back in June - 'course, I never said June of what YEAR. 2013 is looking good ...

5. Have you ever built a house, barn , or other types of building? Do you want to? I have built a chicken coop, I would LOVE to build a small cabin on the property.

6. Can you weld? Steel, aluminum, MiG, TiG, stick, Oxy-Acet? My husband is a certified welder. Very busy, very talented.

7. Who or what inspired you to be a farmer/rancher, hobby farmer? Love animals - used to work in a vet hospital, wanted to be a vet myself.

8 Is it a hobby or an occupation? It's an OBSESSION!

9. In what areas are you knowledgeable and in what areas would you like to learn more? Goats are new this year, at some point I should really learn how to butcher especially as food prices continue to escalate.

10. What types of farming will you never choose to do? Hogs do not interest me, maybe a tiny one as a pet ... but I do not like ham or bacon.

11. Are you interested in providing more of your own food supply? Yes. I am a prepper/survivalist.

12. Where do you end up when you sink into yourself, away from the outside world? The beach, the woods or in front of the computer. Every night, I read myself to sleep - love a good book. No e-books, no nooks or kindles. Yuck!

13. Can you drive a farm tractor or a semi? No

14. Do you make crafts or useful items? Would you want to teach others how to do these? I can sew, mom was a seamstress

15. Can you legally have all forms of livestock where you are at? Do you have any? What kinds? I have more than I should, my neighbors are wonderful and I am very lucky. Chickens, goats, rabbits ...

16. Can you operate a lathe? Metal, wood? No

17. Do you like to garden? If so, what do you enjoy growing? Love to garden, I have a herb/vegetable garden.

18. Do you fish? Bait or explosives? No fish.

19. How much space/land do you have or rent? City farm? Country? Two acres with a raised ranch, we own the hot mess.

20. Are you a Novice, Technician, degreed? I don't consider myself a novice although I do not have a degree.

21. What is your farm specialty? Or what one would you like to learn? Jack of all trades, master of none I suppose!

22. Are you interested in herbal animal medicine? I am a naturopath, so yes.

23. If you could live any place you chose, where would it be? On the coast on a bluff, with the ocean in front of me and woods behind me.

24. Do you use a wood stove for heating or cooking? Yes, we installed one last year and putting in another this year downstairs.

25. Do you make and fix things yourself to save money? I was half raised by grandparents that went through the Depression, so yes. I feel guilty when I waste anything.
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I own a shop, Talisman - I do not sell online so here is the site www.talismanct.com as I am not looking to profit in any way. But it is a big part of who I am and how I spend my time. I write a blog for Hearst publications' Connecticut based newspapers and lectured a couple years ago on the "changing face of spirituality" at Yale Divinity School - so I am now a reference for alternative spiritualities. My shop newsletter goes out to over 2,000 email addresses and further all over the world - and I am thrilled (and al little scared at times) to be part of what appears to be a great change - not the end of life, but certainly the end to a way of life. A way of life that wasn't working for 97% of us anyway ... so away with it, I say!

As people lose their homes, they are tribe-ing up ... families once divided and scattered once again residing under the same roof. And that's a good thing! We need each other. For too long, strangers have been raising children in daycare settings, at younger and younger ages ... with parents/grandparents living together, we can hopefully go back to a family dynamic that will ensure the safety of a family unit. I am seeing more and more barter - "I'll cut your hair, you tune my engine" - also good stuff.

And this site - this site is the BEST!
More to come, thanks for having me!
Laura (aka "CTChick")

 

[bonbean01]

Looking forward to your journal Laura!

 

[kstaven]

Enjoy your time here.

 

[elevan]

Enjoy your time here.

x2

 

[Bridgemoof]

 

[Alice Acres]

Welcome and your farmette sounds like fun. I have an urban farmer friend couple - they love doing what they can while being townies.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

 

[CTChick]

I got my goats piecemeal: Cricket and Bridget are registered, show-quality Nigerian Dwarfs from a friend's farm. the come from 4-star miling lines. My son had been working there, and back in April she had two orphans (actually mother just didn't want them) I offered to bottle raise and RETURN ... haha, joke was on me, how the hell do you give back babies after being their mommy for a month? They were so tiny, I brought them to my shop and had a little corral set up (my patrons LOVED it!). Then I responded to an ad for an Alpine doeling - only to find out the young owner's father had ordered her to find it a home or he'd sell it to a friend to eat ... she answered my call, started crying and so without enough thought I added a third. Zoey had been weaned at 4 weeks - way too young, a day or two before I got her - so back on the bottle she went too.

So I had my three girls. And good, because I wanted goats for milk and I should have plenty when the time comes, right? So I began to look around for a buck to breed with (not planning to buy one or even to breed now as they are too young, just some preliminary searching ...) and I find that there are NONE around. My friend I got the two NDs from runs a "closed" farm which means no goats in or out, so her bucks are not available to me. But two towns away, someone is selling "the sweetest buck they ever had" So I impetuously bought a 3 year old buck in September - a registered Nigerian - with the plan of sharing him with another goat owner in need of a buck's services. And yes - "Garnet Hill California Kid" aka Luigi IS a sweetheart. Settled right in, stinky but almost two months later I have to say he is a blubbering goofy fool who loves to be petted. Dehorned and very easy to handle (none of my goats have horns).

All this brings us up to this weekend: I had been keeping Lou in a pen next to my does with a large doghouse for shelter and the girls in a modified children's playhouse ... but clearly, that won't do for our upcoming Connecticut winter! Hemmed and hawed, looked at my options (I built one of my chicken coops but really don't have the time for a goat shed) finally found a carpenter who offered to build what I wanted for $300. But since the goats are up and on a hill, he built it in panels which had to be carried up and assembled on site. The house has a shed roof and measures 8X8X4. So I spent Sunday carrying REALLY heavy panels up over mossy rocks (woodland) and acting as carpenter's assistant while everything was assembled. Husband was coaching my youngest son's Little League team and so it was just me and Rob (carpenter). It is very early Tuesday morning as I type this, but I am still aching in every muscle of my body!

Good news: The girls LOVE their new home, and Big Lou is enjoying the playhouse for now. He'll be relocating to my friend Lisa's farm in a few weeks, and I'm sure he'll be returned happy having had time with her nine does! I need to paint it, make it pretty - and then I'll post pictures!

 

[Bridgemoof]

Sounds great CTChick! Doesn't it give you great satisfaction, though, that you helped build the new goat shed? Despite the fact that your muscles are aching!

Can't wait to see the pics of the shed AND your goat family!

 

[CTChick]

I have been checking sites, looking at ideas for homemade hay feeders. The man who built my goat shed was supposed to add a wooden rack, I guess he forgot and I didn't thiink to ask. I have all sorts of options, hay bags and hangers and racks - height is a challenge with two nigerians and one ful sized alpine. My buck willl need something too. I am playing around with tomatoe cages, wonderfing if I cut the wires I can rework them into a cage which is open at the top that I can attach to the wall? I saw a very cool idea using a plastic garbage can with a lid, and keyhole shaped holes cut in the sides, but I am afraid my little goats will get beat up by their big "sister" while they try to eat! She is usually gentle, they share a bowl of grain twice a day ... but it only takes one time for someone to get hurt!

If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them! I also need to find a piece of linoleum/vinyl to put on the floor. I actually put leftover pergo in the chicken coop I built! It's great - looks like a hardword floor and the dirty pine shavings just lift right up.