Golden Acres Ranch

From frig packing boxes to fine art by Melinda Copper. And I helped!

Greetings from California,

I have food on my mind this morning, so I thought I would mention the results of my experiment with diatomaceous earth (DE).

Bobbie and Fred keep food-grade DE at the ranch, mostly for organic pest control and to sell. As I was researching DE to add a page to the website, I discovered that people can use, too, for intestinal health. Last time I was in Florida, I wanted to bring some of the ranch's DE back with me. Mom and Charles were just too worried that I would be arrested for drugs or explosives if it was found on the plane. So we agreed they would mail some to me.

I've been putting a tablespoon of DE in my grapefruit juice in the mornings for months now and have been carefully monitoring my body's response. I can safely say that it hasn't done me any harm. Can't say it's changed me in any physical way, though. What it has done is caused me to think fondly of Mom, Dad, Charles and the ranch every time I mix some DE into my juice.

Bye for now,

Christine

Well, as Bobbie says, it looks like every... uh, "undesirable" in the world has found our guestbook. So we're deleting it. People can still join up to be a member although we will be limiting it to people with a legitimate interest in the goings on of the farm.

I've been posting more often to my rural living site, www.SunhouseCA.net, if any of you want to see how things are in California. Have I mentioned my web and graphic design business is up and running. Go to www.CLGolden.net for a look at that site.

My brother, Phillip Alan, is at the farm until the 12th. They are going to ditch witch and lay pipe for the troughs this weekend. Dad, Chuck, Ken, Phil and Bobbie will be entertaining a group from east Florida that want to know about the processing business and raising lamb and goat.

That's all for now. Let us know how you are doing with your comments.

The newest little mixed breed goat kids will be weaned and are going to a new home March 1, 2010, as treasured pets for a couple living in the Panhandle of Florida.  The kids job will be to browse and clear a patch of their pasture.  Hmmm, that's good eating!  They will also be required to frolic and play for the joy and entertainment their new owners.

Two of the puppies are now with their new owners.  One will be a 'guardian' dog for goats.  The other will be an outside pet with the responsibility of keeping watch over the property for their owners   We expect to keep one of the little girls for our own use to keep the fox away from the chickens.  So that means, just two to go.

Six new goats were born in these last couple weeks. We've named them all "uh-oh." We found the escaped Nigerian buck in with the registered Myotonic females last July 28. They are all really cute and should stay reasonably small and may be more docile than Nigerians. Nigerians are not a large goat but they are a little ornery, the Dad being a case in point.

None are showing the myotonic gene at this point. We have asked the grandchildren to be sure to play with them so they will make good "spoiled" pets.

There are six of them altogether and they will be ready for sale in March 2010. You can see more photos on the Livestock Page. Triplets (2 male, 1 female) were born Dec 23rd, twin doelings were born Dec 30th and a single black female was born on Christmas Day. The female's mother Tonks is letting one of the triplets nurse with her. This is highly unusual but the triplet's Mom surely appreciates the relief.

The puppies are six weeks old and are so-o-o cute!

The puppies' eyes are open and they are beginning to move around and are interested in puppy food.  They are sheltered with Dam Gracie and Sire Siggy in a goat pasture.  Both parents are good guardians of the goats but would adapt to sheep easily.

The male weighed 5.5 pounds and has badger markings. He's already spoken for. Two of the females weighed 5.5 pounds and two weighed 4.5 pounds. One has badger markings the others are all white.

Well, we had to make the decision to stop going to Fernandina Beach Farmers Market with our Lamb and Goat product.  Sad for me.  It is such a great place and well run. Kudos to Jan Smith the woman that runs it.The distance is just too much for us even though we only went occasionally.  We are making a more serious commitment on the local level by going to Lake Ella in Tallahassee every Wednesday.  We're also looking into Saturday markets in Tallahassee.  There are two.  We have to choose which will be best for us then apply and be approved.

We are receiving orders and shipping around the state now.  Our first two orders went out this week and arrived at the destination in less than 24 hours.  We also delivered an order to someone inTallahassee on Wednesday while on our way to Lake Ella.  He was nice enough to email me and say how great his first meal was using the lamb kabobs in a specialty dish.  I wonder if he would share the recipe. I'll share it if it okay with him. We added a Recipes page to the website.

We getting ready to put in our pasture well. I've been investigating how to install solar for the power source. Fred, Charles and I are planning to do it. There is a web site www.solarpumps.com that has a 'how to' video. Looks pretty simple to us.

The FSA/USDA Equip Program engineer was here last week and gave us guidelines. We feel pretty comfortable about it. I'll try to get pictures of us putting it together for our website. It will be a couple of months until it is all complete.

Gracie, our 1/2 Maremma and 1/2 Great Pyrenees had puppies on Monday, November 16. The sire is Siggy, our Great Pyrnees. They will be de-wormed and given their required shots and ready to go by January 16. There are four females and one male. We'll get photos as soon as they are up and about. Cost is $200 each.