OUR 42 ACRES OF PARADISE

 

 

 

 

 

It has been a heck of a ride for the last 7 months. I had such good intentions of doing this blog through this journey to share what we are going through so others may take some comfort from it. 

The one thing I learned fast is cancer turns your life every which way but loose! And the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. 

I just now read the comments from the previous post. And belated I thank all who commented. I can tell you all that some days just getting through the day takes all I can give. And emotions can come to call at the oddest times.




I am giving strong consideration to getting back to blogging. I have taken to facebook as it is a quick way to keep family and friends on board with our situation. I go days sometimes without even turning on the laptop. Phone calls are limited mostly to family. I have gone out on my own to do something other than marketing only three times since we began this journey. There is a measure of safety and comfort spending my days here at our "42 Acres of Paradise" with Geoffrey and the critters. I am not able nor ready to change that.

We are at the "breath holding" phase now. On the 25th we will meet with the Dr. to determine if the original diagnosis was correct. And then if it was is the CLL now in remission and where do we go from here. If it isn't and he has what is called Mantel Cell Leukemia what that will mean. I have read the press on that one and it is cause for concern. 

So once again I ask patience. I hope to get more serious about this blog again as I said. Prayers for you and yours. Check back again and we will see how my new blog pledge is going. Or friend me on FB and keep us with us from there.   

 

CLL

MMMMMMMMMMM alphabetical skills have been lacking. Acronyms too. Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/CLL/Patient/page1

This is life folks. My husband Geoffrey is in Mercy Hospital in Redding with the above. It is a sneaky bugger, slow growing, by now more then a decade but who knew?

We eat well home grown, organic for the most part. We work hard with a herd of LaMancha dairy goats, chickens and such. But when my husband was young in New Jersey and each week the truck went through the neighborhood spraying a fog of DDT the parents encouraged the children to go "play" in the fog. It was the fifties who knew?

So maybe the take home from this is if it kills anything then it isn't good for anyone? I will try to keep blogging but some days between the farm and daily visits to the hospital it is hard to even keep eating.

This sharing isn't about "poor me, or poor us" it is sharing. Get up breath, one foot in front of the other and make it through the day. We are all human, all of us put our jeans on in the same fashion. Isn't it about time to take into consideration that we are all the same, down in the core?

Have a blessed evening with the ones you love!

A bit of love for you all.

Oregon shuffle

Trip made. Critters exchanged. Camera in truck. Pix and commentary later. Time for bed. Mark this space!

Pompier First in Heart 'n Barn

Poste de Pompier First In Heart 'N Barn

aka Spinner

October 13, 2000 - July 9, 2012

"Go rest high upon that mountain for your work on earth is through

Go to Heaven a shout'n  but for the Father and the Son"

 

This is Sherman

We knew when we bought 42 acres for our farm we would need more help on the livestock guardian front. Spinner is almost 12 and not in good shape, in fact we don't expect her to make it through the summer.

So I began a search for a puppy. It was beginning to look rather hopeless. No one had a litter yet or they were crosses not 100% Pyrenees. Not to be confused with being registered. We just wanted a dog that was all Pyr. After having four of our own and fostering or transporting close to 100 we are head over heals with the breed.

Finally the breeders who sold us Spinner as a pup had a male to offer. Evidently the first offer had to back out due to family issues. 

Enter Pompier Magical Mystery Tour aka Sherman. He was then old enough to leave Mom but we had a few things in our way fencing and barns still to finish.Then it rained and rained we got woefully behind. Finally the end of January things were a go and plans were made for me to travel to White Dog Ranch in Potter Valley http://www.whitedogranch.com/  That was to be early February. But the trip was not to be I fractured my patella (knee cap) three days before the trip. So the four month old puppy waited some more, sigh. 

Finally in early May I got the go ahead from my Dr. and I made the three hour trip to the ranch bringing home Sherman. 

He bears a resemblance to Spinner when she was a pup. But he is his own dog. He is a bit of a rascal I attribute  that to the "boy' parts.

And did I mention ? He climbs. Despite our best efforts Sherman defeats us and climbs over just about everything.So for now we have tossed in the towel. 

Every afternoon about 1 - 2 p.m. he climbs out of the yearling pasture and cruises. He visits Geoffrey in the garage and then does a drive by Spinner.

 She has always been an alpha bitch but now with her physical issues she tolerates no nonsense and our young "bucket head" gets his face "eaten" and he then goes over to lie down with the senior does who go out foraging daily.

Part of our plan in getting this daily escape to come to a halt is giving him a partner. In a week to two weeks I will pick up a 3 month old female from a friend in Oregon. We have high hopes supplying him with a buddy will be helpful in curbing his daily climb overs. Spinner was very happy for about 6 years with her partner Kingston(below with Claire on left and Emmy on right)  until his untimely passing. Crossing all that dangles the adverse effect won't happen, he teaches her his tricks. We still have 5 strand barbed wire for perimeter fencing around all the 42 acres. Not exactly Pyr. fencing but it will be a bit before we can afford to fence the perimeter with 47" field fencing . So cross your fingers and dew claws for us that the cute young thing from the great state of Oregon turns this California boys head!

Farmer's Market Day

One of the things that I have started since we got somewhat settled in is selling our eggs and goat milk soap at the Anderson Farmer's Mkt. on Thursday mornings from 7:30 am to 1 pm. I don't do a rousing business $$ wise every time but I do an amazing business otherwise. That would be the business of sharing. Sharing the whys and wherefores of sustainable living. I borrowed my status from my FB yesterday which explains a bit more.

This is my table at one of the first markets I attended. I have branched out and will get some new photos to share next week. I am a  member  of the Shasta Growers Association and plan on becoming involved in Mountain Growers Association also which will enable me to attend two other markets as we grow.

 Facebook Status 7/5/12

 My new read "Folks , This Ain't Normal" Joel Salatin, I love the whole deal family farm, pastured pork, chicken. Humane treatment of animals who give their all to feed us. My vision is getting food of this nature to people who need it but can't afford it because of the cost. This is why , one of the whys, I am at Farmers Mkt. in Anderson every Thursday. Yes I love selling my products but more so I love sharing the vision.
 
And while reading Joel Salatin's book tonight this caught my eye and I could relate to it . I love farming and here is what he has to say. "What do you do out there on the farm? If you don't go to a movie, don't get takeout, don't bar hop, don't spend most evenings at soccer games-what on earth is there to do?" Oh, let me tell you. Each morning I step out into dew-speckled pastures, each drop a rainbow-studded diamond adorning orchard grass, red clover, white clover, plantain, chicory-a whole salad bar bedazzled in morning's solar glory. I have thousand of expectant animals waiting for a fresh salad bar. They love me."

We aren't close to the level of Polyface Farm. But the vision is shared. If we can make a difference in the eating habits of one family each time we attend market then the day is a blessing , a gift to us and to them.

I come from a line of farmer's my mother's people. I sincerely believe there is a farming gene in the DNA make up . I got it or it got me, no matter. But when one receives a gift sharing it with others is what makes it special.

                                             GOATS GO FORAGING

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY TO ALL!

I am attempting to set aside some time each week to resurrect my blog. So much has happened since the move to our 42 acres of paradise in November of last year. All of the sudden it was kidding season and my life went into overdrive dairy goat style.

So check in occasionally, some of you do already, high hopes that by end of month I will be posting on a newly designed blog if not daily at least a few times a week. Our background is a photo of our wonderful view of Mt. Lassen out our "back yard".

Moving day #1

Well they came and went. The movers. So here I sit for at the least 3 more days until the girls and I leave. I am in good company even if the furnishings are rather sparse at this time. Geoffrey took four of the house cats and all my goldfish from our pond and left this morning. He is now home. I have Ari , 2 yo English Setter, two of the house cats we thought would make the transition better with me. Also all my does and doe kids and last but never least Spinner. And it is raining! But the Son was shinning for our family today we are so blessed to be off on our next journey!

On this date 6 years ago we put our home in Fresno on the market. On this date today we are officially no longer the owners of the house we currently live in. We have a contract allowing us two weeks to move stock and us to our new home. Please note the use of home ( A valued place regarded as a refuge) vs house (The physical structure within which one lives, such as a house or apartment) . 

Welcome friends and family to our new home. Trust you will visit soon and often!

Sunday no rest today

Even though Sunday should be a day of rest when the farm is going home, finally by grace of God, there is plenty to do. Got the kitchen mostly packed up. We are eating out of the barn freezer trying to minimize both the cost of food in the next few weeks and using up what is there. Going off grid is going to be a lesson in transit so we are strictly living by less is more!

Made more soap labels for the soap that will be sold at the goat ed. day in Red Bluff next Saturday. My dear friend Donna is going with her granddaughter and will bless them , be flying solo this year. Geoffrey will take the soap over on Wednesday when he goes to Ash Creek to start up the temporary shelters with Donna's husband Dallas.

My lovely Onyx has recovered from her bloat and scours. She is the daughter of my  PJ who is a stunning two year old this year and she is the cover girl for out blog. Razamataz  had an insect bite that caused aggressive swelling of her neck and face, she too is now on the mend. Raz is special as she is my last Nubian , I intend to begin the Nubian line again with her. Her dam Berrie and sister (two years older) both passed this year. As I have said before it has been a rough five years for us in this location. We are eager to move on and the girls have been given instructions to be well and safe for the duration of the next 7 to 10 days.

We will press on in our journey. Many angels have been placed in our path . God is good.

It is Saturday take the chicks to chick sitters

This is the second time we have moved Walnetto Farm. The first was almost 5 years ago from outside Fresno and that makes a 5 hours drive in a vehicle. If there is a trailer behind more like 6-7 hours. Of course all is veritable due to traffic. This time the move is about 3 hours northeast without trailer, with more like 4 or so. Again factor in traffic.

So I have learned the fine art of farming out the farm. Since there is nothing on our land except the solar/well house and the log home we need to leave some critters at various sitters. My dear friend Donna in Cottonwood is now buck sitting with our 2 y.o. LaMancha buck. The Polach family in the central valley are also buck sitting an 8 month old, Sundance Kid. In addition they were gracious enough to offer to have our 25 pullets and 1 cockerel shipped to them two weeks ago.

Today my 9 senior chickens all hens went to my friend Patty about a mile away. She has an empty coop and is delighted to care for the ladies for a bit. Geoffrey leaves Wednesday next to get going on the temporary shelters for the does (who are still here with us and will go directly to the new home) the bucks, the chickens and so forth.

I am anticipating that  all of the farmed out members of the farm will be home by early December. Also by then will be our newest Great Pyrenees a two year male. Who will be helping Spinner out with the guard duties.

We again are grateful to all who are helping make this move easier by giving them safe haven until we have somewhere to put them. In the Spring we will be breaking ground, God willing, for a post and beam wooden barn. Where there will be room for all and some expected additions.

Also in the works is a revamped blog and web site. It will be good to be home finally. And we are so grateful to have been blessed by God with this gift. Have a lovely evening!

                                                     Almost Home on Ash Creek!

another amazing day

It has been a heck of a day. Started with the usual barn chores. I am now drying off the girls in milk so we are milking only every third day. PJ, Spring, Cradle the first freshening two years old's are varying stages of drying off. Even with milking's three days apart they are still producing 1 gallon plus each. Beanie who is now 3 years old is milking very persistently like her Grand dam did . Milking her only once every 5 to 6 days and she is producing 2.5 gallons a milking still. I know from many years experience they will go dry but we are almost at a point of "watch out what you wish for you just might get it". 

At any rate we went from morning chores to the bank to wire the funds to get the home on Ash Creek closed. Then to Tractor Supply to pick up a stock tank to serve as a temporary home to our fish. They are feeder fish from Mendo Farm Supply but after three years are part of the family. No way will I leave them to chance so they will travel with us to our log home.

After that off to the notary to get some title work done. Turns out that her hubby is an acquaintance who spins and knits from the LYS (local yarn shop), small world once again!

The afternoon was spent taking one vehicle at a time into the shop for oil changes. Geoffrey cleaned the barn and got his paperwork with the title company done.

Dinner was nachos , Geoffrey makes the best on the planet. I caught up with a few things, email, laundry and did evening feeding.

Tomorrow is another day on the way to paradise. But right now it is time for bed. Have a blessed night! 

Been a long time coming

Well if any of you have made it until now I will share with you the new farm. In 1.5 weeks we will be living at the Log House on Ash Creek. We will be off grid and starting from scratch. Temporary everything but house and solar/well house. It is a blessing from God, a dream so long dreamed. A place where we can house children and grandchildren if the future brings that. We have 42.34 acres. Be still my heart! I see goats, sheep, horses. I see a grade A milk barn and a cheese room. I see bliss, peace, love and we will finally after 5 years of lessons, lose and heartache-I see home.

Stay tuned. May not be frequent at first but new things are happening!

In their names we will never forget

"Be Prepared " a Girl Scout motto

Here at Walnetto Farm we  are still thick in the process of hauling in winter hay. After tomorrows trip we should be in a fairly good place as far as having hay for most of the winter.

Other happenings afoot. Barter, I love to barter. I truly believe if this world ran on a barter system we would have a more symbiotic existence. If we had no monetary system and relied on barter we would truly need each other in a way we don't now. With that said my bartering days are evolving into my vision.

Today I bartered my soft herbed goat cheese for a healing salve. Next week a local organic farmer will pick up my excess milk to feed her piglets on. In exchange we will get her organic veggies.Also yesterday I set up a tentative agreement with someone to barter for her massage/Reiki  sessions. And a local farmers market participant came over to glean apples off my trees in exchange for her jams/relishes.

How does this play out in being prepared? My goats have feed for over wintering. I get those veggies that we can't or don't plant in our garden. And the most delightful fresh jams and relishes in return for the apples that grow on my land.

Next installment? Our bees. On Tuesday with the help of a friend we will open the hive after one year and see if there is enough honey so that we can "borrow" some. And what of this honey? Dependent on amount some for us and some to sell to the local soap maker who already takes my milk for her goat milk / honey soap. If there is enough to share she will get some local honey too. And yes I do make soap, but this lady makes a delicious bar of soap and it is one more thing I can put by the way side to spend more time knitting, weaving or spinning.

Think local, think barter. A win/win for everyone!

Barn Hop

This was a pretty laid back day here. We don't get many of them especially at this time of the year. It was a cool morning , a hint that Fall is on the way here in Nor. Cal. After chores of milking and feeding I took our livestock guardian , Spinner for a walk. Spin has been our LGD for almost eleven years , her birthdate is 10-13-2000, and we have had her since she was four months old.

Her partner Kingston passed about three years ago. Spinner and I began our tradition of walking not long after that when I stopped working at a local animal clinic as one of the nurses. She missed the interaction of her life partner and the activity of occasional play time with him. So we began to walk daily at the time anywhere from 2 to 5 miles. We both dropped some weight and she certainly seemed happier for the extra attention.

Now that Spin is getting older, ok, me too! We don't walk as far a mile round trip being about it. She has some issues with her spine and some old dog things also. I have old goat lady issues so it seems to work well for us. She still lives with the goats 24/7 and probably wouldn't know what to do if she were not in the barn. She still guards but her ears don't hear like they used to and she is getting cataracts in both eyes. So her guarding isn't as aggressive as in her younger days. And we are fortunate that the area we are in now doesn't require her being fence line from 0-60 at this point.

Spinner came from a wonderful breeder who has had the breed for 50 years. Their dogs go from field to ring and excel in both areas. They have also earned their good citizen awards. Her dog (sire) lived to be 11 when he was euthanized do to advanced liver cancer. Her bitch (dam) was still alive last year at 13. An amazing age for a giant breed. So we are hoping that God grants us another year or two with this amazing girl who has spent her life caring for our critters and keeping them from harms way.

So until then we will continue to walk, not daily at this point but several times a week. And if you are ever in Mendocino county and see an old goat lady with a big white dog give a howdy honk!

Preparedness Challenge #22 but only #2 for me!

What did I do to prepare today? Began getting in hay for winter. I always try to buy enough hay to last from Sept/Oct until April. We don't have enough land to grow our own but do supplement with goat garden stuff as much as we can. But good milk demands alfalfa and my friends it ain't plentiful nor cheap anymore!

130 # bale went for $5 in 1987 it now goes for , ouch,ouch, $15.50 to $19.99 and more often than not they aren't even close to 130# a piece .  So today as luck would have it the fellow I often get hay from brought in 178 bales of pretty darn nice goat alfalfa. Fine stemmed and leafy. Not super green but then green doesn't always mean good. Price was right, so I came home with 10 bales. If they test out well by the "alfalfa test goat team'' I will get another 64 and hope that the weather cooperates and it is a wet winter, early dry spring and baling begins on time. Which would be early to mid April.

 I have a nagging feeling that with lousy economics in play, weird weather for two years running. Very late season for beginning to bale here this year. That hay will be very hard to find and very expensive. I wouldn't be surprised if it hit $25 a bale in my area. Since there are very few if any who farm it over here and most all of what is available here is trucked in from either S. Oregon/extreme N. Cal or the Sacramento valley. So that increases the cost.

The thing I miss most about moving out of the San Joaquin Valley? Besides my grandbebes and kids. My hay man. Brett who grew high octane alfalfa, cut and baled to perfection, delivered it and stacked it with a retriever. Bless him he would also scale the retriever arms and knock the first two courses down as we didn't have a ladder that would work.

Other than that today not much in the way of being prepared. But I just got a heads up the tomato's are beginning to ripen. Good thing I ordered extra jars from Azure this month! Have a wonderful rest of weekend.

Barn Day . at Walnetto Farm that is everyday!

A walking tour of Walnetto Farm. We are small only 4.3 acres but that is enough to allow us to raise livestock, have a garden and honey bees. We have been working on being self reliant as I spoke of in the last post for many years. It will never be perfect thank God as we would then be done and on a farm there is always something to do!

 This is P.T. one of our many cats, we have 8 including the house and barn. One of the "professional hazards" of being in veterinary medicine. P.T. is a 50/50  cat. In and out but most certainly in at night. The crew in the window are (L to R) Chloe, Monkey and far right Mollie.
Both Monkey and Mollie are three legged which at least in Mollie's case illustrates why we prefer not to leave our cats out at night. We do live at 1000 ft. in the eastern edge of the coastal range in Mendocino Co. There often are things that go bump in the night around looking for an easy meal.

The beauty on the right is one of the many flowering plants that I have in locations all over the farm. This one lives on the front porch below my office window. I am the flower person here and Geoffrey is most certainly the "all business" veggie guy!


Below left are the "teenagers" . These five girls Maggie Mae, Wonderlust, KC, Katy and Onyx are  5 month old doelings . They love to have their ears rubbed, Maggie Mae in particular , and will most likely all be staying in the herd a bit. We will see.






If these two look like impending trouble you are right. Justice followed by Liberty are the last kids born this year on July 2. They are  6 weeks old and full of it. Love to cuddle when they get their bottles and love to nibble on bare legs when one is wearing shorts. OUCH!!

Some of the older does enjoying a mid afternoon snooze.  The  small ones are two wethers belonging to one of them who are almost two months old. Time to start looking for a new home of sorts for them.

We have had Great Pyrenees now for 21 years and it seems like only yesterday when our first joined the herd for predator protection. We have had five of our own but for many year worked with Great Pyrenees Rescue of Nor. Cal and have fostered and transported dozens more. They are wonderful dogs, hard working, intelligent and self motivated. Our current dog Spinner has been with us for almost eleven years. She will be eleven in November and she is slowing down but will live her days out doing what she has known all her life. Spin was whelped on a working horse/sheep ranch . When you are eleven and have worked all your life you more then deserve a good nap on a daily basis.

We are ending our first year with our first hive. These bees came with the land. The original hive was over 60 years old. Over the years feral bees have taken place of the original deliberate occupants. We got rid of the old boxes and frames which were rotting and were lucky to have the bees stay with us instead of swarm after both a change of housing and the location of the hive.  Visit an older post and see what we did to get to this

point. http://walnettofarm.blogspot.com/2010/09/first-full-day-of-fall-and-things-are.html  

A lovely plum tree is just one of many fruit trees we got when we moved here. These are a prune type and last year I dehydrated many of them . They are really sweet and great to munch when on the way to or from our barn. We also have multiple apple trees some over one hundred years old and various nut trees plus a persimmon and pears.

Full circle now back to the garden area by the front porch. The sculpture below I purchased about 10 years ago at a stand in the central valley just north of Fresno. I enjoy it all year round and this goat is without question the easiest keeper we have!  Thanks for visiting and have a wonderful day.

Preparedness Challenge

Well I figured out how to link to the challenge but am still not really clear about how it works. Perhaps Amy can email me about that.

I was a Girl Scout so I guess that qualifies me as being prepared. At least that is what our trusty leaders always said.

We have been leading a life of being self sufficient for a time now. Getting closer each time we tweak it. We have dairy goats for milk and all that brings. We have our own chickens. When we get moved to the next , and I pray final house, I would like to raise a calf for meat. We have done that in the past and with pigs but haven't recently.

Geoffrey plants a wonderful organic garden. He is the Master gardener on the farm and I am the canner of the bounty he provides.

As I learn more about the PC I can do a bit better on this. Oh, did I mention our bees? Year one almost to a close. Honey is on the way!

Mountain Home Quilts is all abuzz about bees

http://mountainhomequilts.blogspot.com/   check out the bee keeping book give away!