Not Here As Much

Due to circumstances at home, I am not able to be at the farm as much as I would like anymore. I have taken a full time job in order to provide my family with better healthcare coverage. The farm is now something I do quickly in the mornings and evenings, rushing through what once was something I had the luxury to take my time on and enjoy. This has been a difficult adjustment for me.

For anyone that follows this blog, sorry for the long silence, but I can't promise that I will be able to post regularly again anytime soon. To follow is an old picture of the farm when it was not much more than an idea. I'm posting it here as a reminder that big ideas start small and take time and hard work to grow into something tangible. But sometimes, life gets in the way.

Fodder

Having ruminants means having to feed ruminants. Having to feed them, especially cows, means having to buy in a lot of hay. I'd prefer my cows, goats, and alpacas eat fresh pasture because if they were wild, that's what they'd do, but let's face it, this is Tucson, this is a desert.

Over the years I've been testing different ways to get pasture to grow. My challenges are doing so with minimal to no irrigation, and finding fodder crops that will tolerate this harsh climate. I've spread different types of pasture seeds all about, sowed fodder beets, fodder corn, alfalfa, and fodder vetch so far. This photo is the vetch. And it's growing everywhere now. The pods are quick to develop so my hope is that it will reseed and that the ruminants will like it and eat it.

Our "pasture" if you can even call it that, consists mainly of wild things like pigweed (wild amaranth) and wild arugula, Malva, and various grasses. The cows really go for the grasses, mowing them off on their walkabouts so the grasses grow in fuller. They do enjoy the wild arugula which is insanely prosperous right now. I had hoped for better with the alfalfa, but it has grown in well next to a garden bed and thickens when it comes back each year, reseeding itself.

This is the first year for fodder corn, and I'm trying Trucker's White, an heirloom variety. They're about 4 inches tall at the moment. Good sign. All parts of the corn plant are edible, and I know my cows like the leaves.

We have substantially less animals than in the past, so feed is not as crazy a cost as it used to be and I'm finding, when the weather cooperates and waters the land, there is so much food available that all I need to do is let the cows at it and they get filled up and happy. Creative solutions and supplements have been the annual surplus of Christmas Trees from tree lots and the tree recycling drop off in town as well as loose hay from the feedstores that often would end up in the garbage because it's not easy to sell. Most people in my area have horses, not cattle and cattle will eat varieties of hay with no complaints.

If you have any fodder seed suggestions that may work in our area, please feel free to comment below.

Thanks!

From Hobby to Business

It has been seven years since we bought our semi-rural property. Seven years of regrets and waiting, hoping, anxiety and many moments of thinking we would never be able to realize our dream of building a home there. And seven years of work. We are hoping that this year will be the one we can finally put a home there and finish the life changing move we had planned so long ago.

Our priorities have shifted from McMansion to a Minimal home that will be just enough. Our children are older and have had the privilege of experiencing farm life with all of its ups and downs.

We have gone through nice neighbors and mean neighbors and learned many valuable lessons about grumpy neighbors and nosy ones. We have learned that privacy is very valuable. While fences don't make good neighbors, they can certainly make boundaries when we are not present to enforce them with words.

In order to move forward with this plan to have a home there, it's time for the little hobby farm to become a real farm that pays its own way and with luck, also turns a profit. If you follow this blog, please send good vibes our way... 2015 is going to present many challenges.

New Year's Snow in Tucson

New Year's Eve was spent at a friend's house near the ranch. We did chores later than usual that morning, knowing we'd be doing them well after midnight for the second round. Flakes of snow came fluttering down as we set off fireworks in our friend's driveway. For Tucson, this is a pretty big deal.

The snow stuck and had blanketed everything when we showed up to check on the ranch in the wee hours of January 1, 2015. I have learned not to fight too much with Mother Nature, so there is nothing covered with blankets to hold off the freeze. The plants need to go dormant for winter and be able to survive in our funky desert microclimate, otherwise it becomes far too much work and stress on me to try and baby them. Pictured is the raised bed with kale growing in it. And the kale, so far, has toughed it out.

Artichokes

I planted artichokes in the raised beds of the Three Sisters Garden in 2012. They produced well. I picked the blooms and ate artichokes until I got tired of them and let their flowers run their course.

Artichokes are related to the thistle plant. If you let them go to seed, they make spectacular purple flowers that eventually dry out. This triggers the plant to go dormant and die back.

They are perennials, which means they will return year after year, sprouting back up like a Phoenix rising from its ashes.

My artichokes have been very low maintenance. I've even stopped watering them altogether. They are growing in a raised bed fertilized with composted cow manure and shaded by Canary Island date palms and wild amaranth when in season.

I went through last week and cut all the dead from the plants, discovering new growth beneath. All of the plants had flowers still attached and I sat and picked out the seeds, pictured below. Come spring, I'll drop them in the soil and hopefully have many more artichoke plants in the future.

Barren Space

There are spaces on the ranch that are fairly barren. They might grow a scant amount of short, scrubby grass that withers and dies with the first blasts of summer heat. Mostly it's because there are no trees shading these spots and the ground is flat.

Here is a section of this barren land behind the cow corral that I have decided to experiment with. Old fashioned furrows of earth, dug up with a hoe and layered with compost and mulch were slowly added over the course of a week. (The cows were fascinated.)

After they were built, I planted mangel seeds and sprinkled the rows with a pasture seed mix appropriate for our climate. I watered once and decided to let nature take over from there. This spot is far from the reach of the hose and I had to connect three hoses together to get to it.

It took a few weeks of waiting. And even though it's winter here, we did get some rains. I also noticed that the dew forming in the mornings was watering these little furrows daily.

Some days the dew forms frost on the rows and is melted down into the earth once the sun comes up, watering naturally.

I was skeptical that it would work, but my doubts were soon laid to rest...

The pasture grass has started to come up all over the rows but most heavily in the dips where the most water would naturally pool and soak in. No signs of the mangels yet. Mangels are a giant beets used for fodder for livestock.

Sustainability has always been my goal, and the more food I can grow for my livestock, the better. When the weather warms up, I plan to drop in organic, non GMO fodder corn seeds and transplant some mesquite trees to help nurture this once barren space.

How to Hot Compost on a Budget

Poop management is a daily job here at the ranch. One of the best ways I've come up with to keep on top of this beneficial chore is to hot compost all the animal waste that my critters make for me.

Dark brown, crumbly compost is an excellent growing medium for your garden. If you have farmy critters that make you fresh pies and beans in the form of their doodoo, try this easy method to get that stuff transformed into soil--fast.

What You Need:
35 gallon plastic/rubber trash can (preferably black) with lid
Drill and large drill bit
Animal Poop and/or hay/straw/plant waste
Sunny Spot

Directions: Drill vent holes on the bottom and sides of your trash can. Fill with poo and plant waste, place lid on top, set in the sun to cook down. This process goes fast here in the desert heat. The manure will cook down to half its size within a week. You can build raised beds with it, add to existing beds or mix with soil. I've been using it to build up my experimental hugelkutur beds in the Three Sisters Garden and it's making pretty fast work of covering up a lot of wood real estate.

Three Sisters Garden, Summer 2014

I imagine summer in Tucson is like winter in states that get snow. It's oppressive, wearing away at a person until he or she wants to give up fighting and let nature do what it's going to do. In the garden I've had some success with the Three Sisters section. It's really only half a garden since only 5 rows are in use. 3 rows aren't done and one was just build and needs to set a while before it can be planted. The corn has done so well this year in height. In the years past the corn only grew 2 or 3 feet then died. There was poor pollination resulting in less than ten (really deliscious) kernels on each cob. IN the past I was planting hybrid corn. I can't say if that was the problem, or if the soil just wasn't right.

This year I'm hopeful for good corn. I walk the rows and pollinate by hand to give those kernels a kickstart. I planted every week, so that the crop might come in succession rather than all at once. Watering was done with mostly buries soaker hoses. The Three Sisters garden is only about 3 years old. It was originally going to be a pasture, but it never took hold.

This year's corn is all heirloom. It is 7 feet tall in some places and keeps going. I love to stand between the rows when the wind blows and listen to the whispering leaves. It's like a little hideout. No one can see me in there. It's shady and peaceful. It reminds me of my parents' garden in Phoenix when I was child.

Winter crops are still growing in the Three Sisters garden: brocolli, kale, Brussels Sprouts, and Cauliflower. I don't know why! You'd think the heat would have offed them all by now. We like to make kale chips in the over with olive oil and parmesan. Tasty and healthy.

The zucchini is coming in. It's always amazing to me how you can turn your back on the zukes for a day and end up with gigantic monster squash. They too, remind me of the garden in Phoenix. My mom would slice the giant zukes thinly, batter and fry them. Mmmm. I think I'll do that with the one I picked today!

Corn, Trees, a Cat, Soap and Pies

It's been a little while since I blogged. Like many hobby farmers, I have a 'day job' that supports my 'habit' and also helps pay the bills for living expenses. I have been busy with that. Also with my children's many goings on: 4H meetings and duties, chaperoning a band trip, shuttling to and from school and soccer practice. Whew.

So if you're wondering what's happening at the ranch, here's a little rundown...

Today I planted heirloom sweet corn. If it's successful, expect a harvest in 76-80 days. If it's not successful, expect the cows to be eating some dried-up, failed corn stalks. I filled in the first two rows in the Three Sisters Garden. I may do more in the other rows soon. That garden is meant to be low maintenance and has some experiments going on to try to conserve water and still get a good harvest.

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My husband expressed the opinion that there were not enough trees near where we want to build our house (someday--who knows when that will be?). That's true. That section of our property is fairly barren. It's supposed to be the part that's riparian, but it looks like a parched, sad, overheated desert. In general when there is a wind coming through, it comes from west to east and it can be strong enough to knock things over. Since that section of the property is so barren, it can also stir up a vast amount of dust.

The poplar cuttings I ordered from Frank Gomez (http://hybridpoplars.com) are doing so well, and are fast growing trees which (when strategically placed) can be used as a windbreak, so I ordered more. Behold, 100 hybrid poplar trees only about three inches long:

If all goes well tomorrow morning after chores, I'll dip them in rooting hormone, stick them in soil and watch them grow like the magical things that they are. As far as I know, we have plenty of time to grow some windbreak trees to have around our house that isn't there and may not be there for years. Time: waste not, want not.

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In other news, although we have had no more farm animal deaths by predation, we did manage to capture a FERAL cat. This little guy/girl went off to Pima Animal Care this morning. Just a friendly reminder to spay or neuter your cats so they don't make more and more and more. If you can keep them indoors, do so. It's safer for them than letting them roam where coyotes and bobcats can get to them. Also, it keeps the odds in favor of small farm animals surviving, and limits losses to the native wildlife. Every year we seem to get an influx of feral cats in our area. I'm sure it's new litters born from those clever parent cats that manage to not get picked off by the packs of coyotes. And every year we see the evidence of their carnage on the quail, woodpeckers, doves, and whatever else used to wear all those feathers left in piles here and there. They kill lizards, snakes and many rodents as well. They are survivors.

If you've never encountered a feral cat before, you should be aware that they are not in any way shape or form like the kitties raised with a trust of humans. Feral cats can and will bite you or scratch you. They will do so with all the malice and intent of a wild animal that feels threatened and wants to get away from you. Don't reach down and pick up a feral kitten. It will bite right through your finger. True story. 

I wished the kitty good luck on his/her journey, but it probably will not be a happily ever after. This cat was older and did not like people at all.

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I made some lavender soap. I was experimenting with a different kind of oil. It came to trace faster and hardened faster than what I usually use. I waited too long to cut it and was sad that much of it broke apart.  It's still going to be good soap but won't be as easy to sell since it's not in uniform shapes/weights.

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I have been ever diligent about my manure maintenance plan and have discovered new ways to make the process easier. I may write a whole separate article about the process I use to get poo turned into black gold when I have more time. In the meantime, there are daily sweep and shovel parties as well as pie hunts in the cow corral:

Thus, I shall leave you with the above happy picture. 

Remember, if life gives you poo, make compost and grow flowers.

Chase your dreams and work hard. At least you will lead a full life.

Invasive at Last!

Since the beginning of the garden, there has been mint. It would not survive the winter and often would not live through the scorching Arizona summer. I kept replanting each spring. So many articles I read about this herb stated that it was invasive, but I never had that happen with mine. Until now.

For those that followed the prior post about this experimental raised bed, it works. Here is the one downside so far. Mint can sneak through the slats. For me, this is a happy moment. This mint survived the winter, took over this whole raised bed, and is reaching past that to invade elsewhere.

Go mint, go!

Greenhouse and Critter Update

Some plants have moved out into the garden. Some are still waiting, tapping their roots and rolling their buds at me when I don't choose them to move out. Most are ready to go. Some are still too small and delicate.

Here are some pictures of what's happening in there.

These little sticks have been fascinating to watch. They seem to grow right before my eyes. They came from Frank Gomez who runs http://www.hybridpoplars.com/ and have, so far, lived up to the claims about them.

This tray contains starts of marigold, African daisy (none have germinated), green beans, and corn. I like these Jiffy peat pellet greenhouse trays as I tend to have success with germination. I don't like to plant a bunch of seeds and have to thin out plants. The pellets can be reused if a seed didn't germinate in them.

Last year I sowed zucchini seeds directly in the plots. Some grew, some didn't. I wanted to try starts this year to be sure that all areas were evenly covered. Here you can see half success on germination.

The most difficult to germinate are the bell peppers. I'm really not sure why. They are new seeds and out of 72 it looks like about 12 have started. Very dissappointing.

For those that check this blog for animal updates, the critters are doing fine. I'm still milking my Alpine and my Nigerain goat, although I'm drying off the Nigerian. I don't think the Alpine will dry up easily as she has not slowed at all in her production. She's a good girl and loves to be milked. Now that she is the biggest goat in the pen, she has claimed the matriarch position. She is not good with human children, so it would have been difficult to sell her to a family who wanted a milker. Most people wanted to eat her when they saw her, which to me, seemed a huge waste for such a prolific milker.

My pregnant cow is developing a lovely rounded bag. I am a little frightened since her mother, who only had three good teats, was a prolific milker. Four good teats is well...gonna mean more milk. Since her calf will be half mini, I wonder how much milk it will take. Jerseys have been bred to make more milk than a calf needs and my cow will need milking twice a day. She's a feisty girl and always has been. But today, she let me rub her all over and even touch her udder. She will need milk training and that will likely start soon. The cow corral was moved some time ago and it's not in the best location relevant to the cow milking area. My cows are not halter trained and not good at taking directions unless they are very hungry and feed is in my hand. Even then, I do not completely trust my Jersey. She has horns and she knows how to use them on anyone who isn't doing what she wants. It's never a good idea to piss off an animal that can squash you.

The alpacas are fine as well. Quiet, peaceful, not a bother. They need a nail trim soon which will require a child to hold the halter while I wrestle with making the alpaca realize I'm not going to hurt them. My goal is to get their fleeces from last year spun before I sheer them this year. It may or may not happen. Some fleeces are dirtier than others. They were sheared in May last year before they came to us. I had contemplated hand shearing but I'm not that good at it and the fiber is so freakin' awesome that I would hate to lose length by doing a bad job. I will likely have the same shearer come out to get things done as she was very efficient. My one alpaca with the face wound has cleared up for the present. He wears a fly mask to protect him from the nasty buggers which as yet, have not been too bad. I do think he'll be needing his front teeth trimmed this coming year as they are quite bucky, more so than any of the others. That is another thing I will need help with.

Things to Think on...

Imagine you had this place that you could go to where you felt at peace, where you had friends who were always happy to see you when you arrived, where you could do what you love to do and no one would bother you or tell you that you had to stop. Imagine that you went to this place and did what you did there just because it was fun and it made you happy. You didn't have to do that fun stuff for money. You did it because that was what your heart and mind told you to do. You loved that place, your very own garden of Eden complete with plants and animals.

Raspberry, Thai Basil, Tomatoes

I found a place like that. Made it my own. Shaped it and nurtured it, filled it with things that make me happy. Like the movie Inception though, perhaps I have been too caught up in my dream world of creation, joy, change and creation again, that I have slipped too far from reality.

Willows and Poplars

I have always known that happiness is all around me--every day. I have only to look for it in the small things: the laughter of a child, the smile and wave of a friendly neighbor, the way a hawk cuts across the sky, the colors of a desert sunset, a line of quail chicks darting across the road behind their parents. The promise of new life, growth...

The taste of tomatoes to come:

And eggplants as well:

The miracle that seeds more than three years old that were forgotten and thought lost could somehow be brought to sprout:

I have often heard the expression that God gives us what we can handle. I think that's true. I think I was given an opportunity to have a place where I could be happy during a time in my life when there was a great deal of darkness and uncertainty. Today I am thankful for the good times in my happy place where I saw babies born and raised, I watched plants sprout, bloom, bear fruit and dry up with the end of the season, leaving behind their seeds of hope for the next year.

And I know that if I want to make a place like this again, the seeds for it and many others are buried deep within my soul, waiting to be planted when the time is right.

Planting Journal

Today I planted bamboo. Four of my nine phyllostachys rubromarginata, green bamboo that is grown mainly as a privacy screen, and one phyllostachys nigra, a black bamboo that is just so beautiful I couldn't resist it's charm. I also placed the snapgragons in the ground. This is all around a hugelkultur bed I built on Monday which is spot planted with lavender, chocolate mint, and purple lantana. The hugel was heavily sprinkled with a variety of flower seeds. This bed is located at the north of the property near the chicken coop and run. That side used to be where we kept Lucky the ram, so it was pretty bare and in need of some green.

After Lucky and his entourage of wives moved away, I began tilling over the ground. They'd been on it for some time and left their nitrogen rich manure. I mulched over it all with spent straw and there are already things growing in it, mostly wheat and alfalfa.

Here is a photo from Monday of the hugel:

A pathway lined with Christmas tree trunks meanders along that brick wall and I think it will be beautiful once everything is set in and fills out--a little outdoor nature walk.

I checked in the greenhouse and discovered that the cucmber seeds are already beginning to sprout:

Planting Journal

This morning I planted cucumber and bell pepper seeds in the peat pellets/Jiffy seed starting kit. The tomato seedlings are tall enough to have their lid removed. They're reaching for the sunlight from the window.

Planting Journal

This morning I hauled the last of the Christmas trees to the second unfinished hugel bed. They were all quite flat from sitting so long and still smelled of fresh pine. The better trees were tossed into the goat pen as snacks--and those three ruminants got to munching right away!

The remaining de-needled trees will be de-branched and used as fence posts or garden bed/path edging. They are beautiful and straight when done. What a shame it would have been if they went to the landfill. I've gotten so many uses out of these free trees even though they delivered way more than I expected.

My next task is to find and bring in some good compost. I know where there is some free, but it will be a chore to get it to the ranch. I would need to haul it myself and that takes time and hard work. But like anything, a little bit at a time can accomplish big things eventually.

My greenhouse has a small collection of plants who, like me, await spring warmth before they can get into the garden. I puchased the last three bareroot trees for the Three Sisters Garden (all apples) and will need to rebuild the bed where they'll go before I can set them in place. I have two six-packs of snapdragons and have started soaking the peat pellets to start some vegetable seedlings. Maybe cucumber, maybe eggplants... Maybe both.

Planting Journal

This morning there wasn't any frost. I planted 6 lavender plants and 5 artichoke plants in the Three Sisters Garden. These were placed in the rows that are visible if one is looking into the property from the main gate. I had already placed 3 Canary Island date palms in the first row. Upon turning up the dirt in the row I found a wonderful humus rich soil.

I didn't shovel dirt or compost today because I was in pain from working so much on it the day prior, but I did mulch over the finished parts with straw. The main hugel is nearly done. It needs dirt over the south side of it and some wood border along the bottom as a finishing touch. The border helps keep the dirt in place.

No pictures today. Sorry!

Getting Ready for Spring

I have not posted in some time. There are a couple of good reasons for this.

#1: There has been a lot of human caused drama out at the ranch. Bad drama. Drama that I don't want to be a part of. So, rather than elaborate on all that, I am setting my sight on the future, more specifically, spring!

#2. Spring isn't here yet. Drat.

As you can see by the frost on these mesquite logs, it's still too cold at the ranch to plant anything that can't handle a freeze. People in town are probably planting away, but not me. I have all these great raised beds in the Gigantic Garden just waiting. Sure, there's some brocolli, cauliflower, artichoke, rosemary, lavender and trees in there. But I want to plant tomatoes! I want to set in the eggplants! Ugh. It's so difficult to be patient.

It's okay though. There is always something to do out there:

For example, I had some leftover trees from last year's lot delivery. Since I only have a few goats left and about a million--okay maybe about 60 trees--I decided that I am done feeding these crusty, dried up things to my goats.

Did I mention that weeds don't care if there's frost? In the Three Sisters Garden there is a bumper crop of weeds growing between the rows. Permaculture teaches us that these weeds (which appear to be related to the dandelion family) have long tap roots and are nature's way of breaking up compacted soil. True. That soil is compacted because it's a pathway.

These weeds are tasty if you're a chicken or a cow or a goat. But when life gives you dead wood and weeds and you can't plant your seeds yet, oh and half your Three Sisters Garden needs some beds, I say make HUGELKULTUR (and a long, run-on sentence)!

Hugelkultur garden beds are raised beds made of wood, plant trimmings, and dirt. Basically, you build a pile of wood, old, new, rotten, whatever you have on hand (see what types of wood are best in the article link at the end). Then you toss on some organic matter and bury it all in compost and dirt. Plant seeds right away and water.

Does it work? *shrug* Other people online say so. Sepp Holzer wrote a whole book about it. So, I figured since I can't plant all of this stuff:

I might as well make myself useful and pile my trees and pull some weeds. It can't hurt, right? I could stand to lose a few pounds anyways. Hard work is good for the soul.

Here's a pic (above) of the nearly finished hugelkultur bed. Sepp Holzer recommends building these things high, like five feet up! That way you don't have to crouch down to harvest. This one is maybe four feet high. It's being covered with well composted manure/straw and a layer of earth (you can see the trench next to it where the earth came from). Finding enough compost/dirt to cover this is the trick. I did notice some dirt piles near my cows...

My tomato seedlings are excited! Hopefully by the time spring gets here, they'll be ready to live in that hugelkultur. And double hopefully, the hugelkultur will be done and ready. Maybe spring is waiting for me to finish?

For more information about this type of garden, check out this very informative site:
http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/

2013 Reflections and Warnings for Future Hobby Farmers

Another year has come and nearly gone and we still don't have a house on the land we originally purchased to move to 'the country'. Turning the land into a hobby farm because we were unable to build has been a many faceted learning experience. We have tried to see what will work and what does not work and are constantly reevaluating 'the plan'. There never really was a' plan' which I have learned was the first of many mistakes. So, if you want to farm in any way shape or form, you should make a plan before you begin. A good, strong, detailed plan. And be aware that your plan will change anyways. But you should have a starting point.

City folk won't have the basic knowledge years of farming creates, knowledge that gets passed down through generations, so we must learn from books or by doing. Especially if there is no one nearby that can share farming knowledge.

Animal Changes
My goal has always been to strive for sustainable farming. Buying in feed for animals is not sustainable or cost effective in the long run. For many reasons, we have decided to downsize on animals and focus on plants. While we will still retain a limited number of livestock for pets, milk and manure, I no longer want to raise meat animals. To do so in a method that makes sense, we would need pasture and the land and the limited Tucson rainfall does not naturally support that kind of growth.

Shifting focus to intensive vegetable gardening has brought about raised beds and deep raised beds, more intensive composting, and a whole other massive sized garden. Pasture seed has been scattered anywhere and everywhere else it could possibly sprout and I await spring with bated breath and high hopes. Not for the first time. There will most likely not be enough pasture to support the limited livestock, but I am crossing my fingers still.

I have looked back over this blog to the beginning of this adventure and found that the saying "Chickens are the gateway drug to other farm animals" to be very true. Of course, my first chicken was a feral pigeon...but that's another story. This whole crazy idea started with a few backyard chickens. You have been warned.

Farm animals are unique in that most people keep them because they serve a purpose, or many purposes. In evaluating the most useful farm animal, I vote for the noble goat. A goat can clear unwanted vegetation, trim trees and small branches, give fresh milk which can be made into cheese, yogurt and soap, provide meat in the form of her offspring, carry small burdens, entertain, comfort, and will accept hugs as well as give them in her own goatly way. Goats are also cute and can learn basic verbal commands. You have been warned again.

Most often overlooked by those who raise animals for meat is the animal's intelligence. I have seen people who have no respect for the animals--especially when they want to eat them. Throughout this farming adventure, I have seen time and again that animals deserve a kind hand and compassionate treatment whether they are destined for the dinner table or not. They deserve respect. I hope that those I sold have found a place where they are treated with the same respect and kindness I showed them.

I don't recommend cows but I'll keep mine, thank you very much. They are gigantic beasts and get excited easily. Their steering and brakes don't work all that great when they're happily skipping and running toward a person. They can be stubborn and their sheer strength makes that an obstacle when they need basic care. But as my vet, Doc Mary, once said, "Cows are fun." They can be hulking, ginormous, earth thundering fun. True.

Sheep are too flighty and skittish for me. I loved my Muffy most of all because she was old and covered with wool and she loved to eat and would let me pet her. She was a challenge. She taught me to spin and want a spinning wheel. She was my gateway drug to alpacas. But sheep are not for me.

Ducks came because my oldest son has always liked ducks. He was the only one who mourned when they moved away. Ducks are a high maintenance bird, especially in the desert. They make big, nice eggs great for baking, but ducks too, are not for me.

I miss the geese, but I am the only one who does. Geese are not for my family. They are however, excellent watchdogs, weeders and makers of huge eggs. If I had a large pond and a larger acreage and my family all lost their hearing, I would totally have two geese again. I prefer geese over chickens, but it's obvious by now I am a little touched in the head.

The alpacas make the best yarn. They were not tame when they came to us, but they're getting there. Because they are fairly exotic here, their care can be a challenge if something odd comes up. But I like them. They don't have to die to make a product. They're peaceful and quiet. Best of all their pellet shaped poops are all made in one communal pile for easy cleanup. People who don't clean up after farm animals can't appreciate that last statement to its fullest.

So we have downsized to alpacas, cows and a few goats. Cows have goats beat on milk production and manure production although goat manure is far superior and easier to manage. What can I say. I love the goats and the goats love me, ever so much more than the cows or alpacas ever will. Cows and alpacas tolerate me. They could care less whether I tend them or not. They find me annoying. Goats like to hang out with me. Cows and alpacas hang out only if I have food. Then they go away because they don't think I'm that cool.

Milk Changes
Selling raw milk is, quite honestly, a pain. I milk by hand. I drink my animals' milk raw. I'm happy with that. I like to make cheese sometimes and soap sometimes. There are many regulations regarding the sale of raw milk that I don't really want to mess with. So, I generally don't sell milk. And I'm okay with that. A person really can't appreciate milk until she has to milk her goat or cow every day, morning and night, without fail. I would be the one crying over spilled milk because my Popeye muscles were made from milking day in, day out for the past couple years. I love milking. It's a time to sit and focus on nothing at all but the task at hand. It gives my mind a break. There is something timeless about it that connects a person to the past. I'm happy just milking for what my family needs or maybe our friend Koulis since he likes to play and make cheese and yogurt, but that's the extent of my milking prowess.

Egg Changes
The only laying fowl we have retained are the flock of chickens. They make eggs for us and the restaurant. If we manage to have surplus, friends and family might get some, but these hens are slowing on their production and one day, I'd like to just have three hens again. Three was enough. Since all the kids are in 4H poultry, it may be a while before that happens.

I am hopeful that 2014 will bring about better things for everyone, that our economy will recover and people will get back on their feet. Driving past so many closed businesses in Tucson is still gut-wrenching. The mortgage losses and foreclosures--devastating.

So, I don't have a house in the country, but I have years of useful knowldege, fond memories, painful memories, the memories of really good food and time well spent doing hard work, the kind of hard work done just for fun, not for profit. Markou Ranch is a hobby farm, not a business. It is in existence because when I was five years old, I wanted to be a farmer when I grew up. Each experience has taught me something, good or bad, that I will carry forward, and one day I hope I find that special house in the country to come home to, whether it is on this little plot of land or not.

2013 Photos in Review

Calf scales, not just for calves...

 

Nothing like a warm fire on a cold night.

 

Tomatoes in November. Mmm.

 

Donation to the Community Food Bank provided by the sale of a goat.

 

Some neighbors don't like a crazy goatlady...

 

Pumpkins prevailed in the Three Sisters Garden!

 

Goodbye to Ms. Cow, Barbie, Espresso, Starlight, Starburst, Stardust, Paprika, Violette, Salt, and Vicky. Last run of the goats before a major downsize.

 

Goodbye ducks.

Hello Raised Beds and Big Eggplants!

 

Thanks for helping, Mom!

Super useful and compact hay shed for the alpacas.

 

My spinning wheel with alpaca yarn in the making.

 

Piper having breakfast.

Yearly Kingsnake Visit.

First Potato Harvest

Goodbye Geese.

Exploring New Methods to Feed the Flock.