Category: Updates

Talk About Vicious Rain Last Night!

The lower field was flooded like a lake for the first time since we put in drainage ditches. The water came across the street from the fields and the ditches. Swollen drain ditches, flooded river bank and massive rains are good enough cause for all this standing water. Just since 6am the water has receded back across the street which is good news for traveling our road.

My little crew of hard working farm hands have dug nice deep drainage ditches alongside every planted row of vegetable seed. The seed beds are not flooded and hopefully the seeds stayed in place to sprout.

The first planting of potatoes are sprouting good and steady now. These will be an estimated earliest harvest date of: FIRST WEEK OF MAY
I will keep you all posted with more developments on these organic Red Pontiac early potatoes.

Recently planted seeds:
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Spinach
Kale
Cabbage
Daikon
Radish
Brussels sprouts
Mustard
Mixed greens
Lettuce

Greenhouse starts:
Parsley
Cantaloupe
Honeydew

Baby Valentine Update

Our sweet little Valentines Day present is doing well. She seems to be putting on some weight, although she is remarkably smaller compared to my Saanan nanny goat babies.
I tend to be overly alarmed with every detail when it comes to babies but she is still doing well.

We are building a new “play pen” for nannies with babies. Hopefully it will be ready for them to venture into soon. I can’t wait for the typical baby goat playful acrobatics! I hope I can catch her in the act on video for you all!

Small critter and gate training time!

I’ve enticed 2 of my more adventurous male kittens into the main pen with the dogs, on 2 separate occasions. I wiggle a string on the end of a stick just cleverly enough the kittens can’t help themselves. They come pouncing through the open gate, enchanted by the squiggly prey.

On day 1 I stood 2 feet from the open gate, playing with the kittens and watching the pups reaction closely. Each time any pup became too curious to ignore the playful kittens I gave them a firm and sharp “NO”. Occasionally, I stomp my boot closely by them for added effect. Most times the verbal is all any of the pups required for direction.

The older pups of course learned quite quickly. Each of the boys needed only 1 verbal. The girl preferred to watch the others and learn from their scolding. The younger pups took several repeats before they would lose interest in the kittens and return to puppy play instead.

On day 2 I stood about 8′ away from the gate open 2′ wide and with the same playful kitten temptation. The older pups did not approach the kittens, but instead noticed them for a brief moment, then quickly returned to safe puppy play with other puppies. The younger pups required much more follow up from me. This was to be expected. None of them were interested in the open gate.

I always train my pups to only play with each other or other dogs, but not any other sort of animal. It’s too dangerous for the other animals, to allow these large breeds to play with your domestic or farm animals. I also train them NOT to jump on humans.

Briefly open gates should not be a worrisome issue with properly trained LGD’s. With the gate open about 2′ wide, I watched carefully for any curious pups and gave a good verbal direction for that too. They were much more interested in the kittens then the open gate, I will say.

This would be due to the fact that I’ve been doing repeated gate training with them twice per day at each feeding time for weeks now.

A Pup’s Heart

This video is a little sad because it shows the other twin baby goat that was still born. The reason I’m showing this video is to demonstrate how even these young pups understand instinctively that small creatures need protection. This pup does not quite understand that the baby goat is already dead, but he knows it’s sick or hurt and needs to be protected. He keeps the horse, the Billy goat and all the other dogs away from it. Gently licking it and nudging it to try waking it up. He only allows ME to tend to the frail little body. A VERY intelligent dog right here.

Fresh Ground Flour

Do you like to do your own baking at home? Why use store bought flour that’s been sitting on a shelf, caught up in transit for weeks or months, and laden with chemicals? Instead try our fresh ground flour.

The soft wheat berries are harvested right out of the field during harvest time by us. This is locally grown, NON-GMO wheat. No added preservatives, chemicals or bleach. We grind it fresh to order BY HAND crank burr grinder. No fast moving metal blades to heat up your flour and make it go rancid.

You’ll love the extra fresh flavor of all your home made baked goods.

Several ppl I know remarked that even though they were diagnosed with gluten issues, they don’t have the same complaints when eating our baked goods. *I am not a doctor and do not claim to be able to diagnose, cure or treat any diseases, or otherwise take the place of your physician. See your doctor for medical advice.

Prices:
Whole wheat berries, to grind yourself:
$.50 per pound

Whole wheat flour, ground fresh to order:
$1.00 per pound

Fine Sifted flour, takes the place of traditional white flour in your recipes:
$1.50 per pound

Call or text for availability. Open for customers on Most Tuesday’s and Saturdays.

Price List (January 2016)

Dairy-
Goats milk 3.00 quart
Eggs 3.00 dozen

Meat–
Live chicken 15.00
Chicks-(mixed breeds only)
3 day old 4.00 each
2 week old 5.00 each
4 week old 6.00 each
6 week old 7.00 each
12 week old 10.00 each
6 month old 15.00 each
Laying hens 20.00 each

Probiotics–
Kefir grain starter 5.00 small/10.00 large
Kombucha 4.00 pint/7.00 quart/25.00 gal
Kombucha scoby starter 5.00 sm/10.00 L

Bakery–
Quick breads 6.00 per loaf
Cookies 6.00 dozen/3.50 1/2 dozen
Pumpkin pie 11.00
Fruit pie 12.00
Cake 8.00
Sand which bread 6.00 loaf
Dinner rolls 6.00 dozen
Whole wheat berries .50 per pound
Fresh ground WW flour 1.00 per pound
Fresh ground FS flour 1.50 per pound

Produce– (coming in soon)?planting now!
Available seasonally only.

Herbs, plants and seeds-
Grown in the garden or wild crafted seasonally only.

Household–
Lye bath soap 5.50 6oz bar
Celtic sea salt 7.00 pound
Lard or Tallow 5.00 quart

Rainy Days

With the recent barrage of storm winds and 10″ of rain just in the past 2 days, I’m considering nick naming our place- Oasis Homestead Swamp!

It’s just been awful. Luckily all the animals have some small areas of high ground or benches/perches to stay dry on but this swampiness is quite uncomfortable. It’s even coming inside our house.

Fortunately, we can count our blessings that we have had 0 injuries or sicknesses and no property damage despite the brutal storm winds. As others in different states are dealing with tornado and ice storm damage, we have a lot to be thankful for. God bless those that have lost their loved ones, homes and animals. I pray that each special critter gets care while its lost and is reunited with its family.

All of us at Oasis Homestead send you soggy hugs!