Laffing Goat Farm and Wetland Preserve

09/17/2024

12 pints of tomato sauce yay! exactly 12, not a teaspoon more nor less :)

09/16/2024

I was wondering why one of the bird feeders was being emptied so fast. Today I saw why on a surveillance video. This is a edit of the video.

09/16/2024

I had given up the idea of doing any canned tomatoes this year as my crop was so poor and the farmer markets and u-picks are so expensive. Then a friend blessed me with what I am guessing is at least 10 pounds of good fresh ripe tomatoes this evening, so I know what I'll be doing after dinner :) The peppers I will slice and freeze and use them all year for omelettes and soups and stir-fry recipes. George snagged some fresh blueberries, not sure how I will use these yet but it will be yummy!

09/12/2024

NASTY bird is now at the Monroe Co-op, hope he makes someone a good chicken dinner!! He attacked me for the third and final time this afternoon, punctured a deep vein and feels like damaged radial nerve, swelling is still increasing almost 5 hours later as I think it is still oozing under the skin. If I wasn't in so much pain I'd have dispatched him with extreme prejudice myself. George netted him and put in a cage then we took to the Co-Op which is better than he deserves. I don't want him to get one of my eyes if I give him any more chances (uncle had a "c**k eye" from a rooster attack as a kid).
I expect a poor night's sleep as it still hurts a LOT. Don't think there is anything walk-in clinic or ER could do. Gave it a hot saline soak a bit ago to wash out anything that might still be in there, maybe stimulate healing. If it is hot or red in the morning will go to walk-in or Monroe ER (faster) as I had cellulitis from cat bites in past, this doesn't seem like that - yet.
Die rooster Die!!

09/08/2024

I do hope to be doing exclusively CRAFT sales from my little craft hut in future, as well as RENTING OUT THE SPACE to other crafters. If you are interested in renting a space for a weekend just let me know. There will be power available and you can set up your own tables and one 8x8 foot popup or umbrella if you want to (must be free-standing, no holes to be dug here, power and phone lines and water main is right under this space). You can also share the hoop structure/shelter with me or another artist for the day for sure, it's what I built it for.

09/05/2024

NO you can not milk male goats (which is all we have), and no we are not a petting zoo. We are a family that happens to have a few PET goats as part of that family. It would be the same as saying "Oh I see you have dogs, can I bring my children over to pet your dogs?"

Send a message to learn more

09/01/2024

EW! OK no more cinnamon imperials in applesauce like grandma used to make. In the old days at least I BELIEVED cinnamon imperial candies were made from real cinnamon and sugar with a thin hard candy coating. I only have a few left from last year so I went looking for them to make applesauce this year. EW!
Apparently things have changed. I didn't see them in stores so I went to Amazon, and prices seemed reasonable if bought in bulk BUT then I started looking at ingredients: literally NONE of them actually has any cinnamon at all only "artificial flavoring", plus corn syrup, red coloring, and SHELLAC! Shellac is bug p**p!! In my food?! No way!
They are all like that, every single brand. And then I looked at reviews, and people are noticing the difference in taste and texture: too sweet, no hot cinnamon flavor, all gummy and stale tasting instead of the semi-crunchy imperials we grew up with. HFCS is definitely sweeter and definitely gooey-er so the real cinnamon imperials we knew are no more (like so many other things). Sad.

I will be making REAL cinnamon applesauce this year, with real cinnamon, and if I want pink coloring, I can use a few drops of real beet juice, and as always only real pure cane sugar and fresh apples (or at least ones I cooked and froze while fresh).

08/28/2024

Chicken, Duck, Duck, Goose. second pic just Duck, Goose.

08/28/2024

Lots going on. I canned string beans (costco, mine didn't grow well this year) and picked fresh yellow squash (yes the bumpy ones are no different from the smooth ones and perfectly edible, they are not "gourds") and cherry tomatoes. My larger Amish and Steak tomatoes are still green on the vines, it's been so smokey and cloudy they aren't ripening yet but give bthem time, I hate green tomatoes and ripening on the window sill just makes a flavorless tomato. Then I canned some yellow Shiro Plum Butter and a batch of Dutch Spiced Wild Plum Butter (like apple butter only better) and some reprocessed Huckleberry Jam (because it didn't set so I had to reprocess and added more berries) and the extra juice from the huckleberries I just made into smooth Jelly.
I have a TON of fruits I have frozen because I don't have time to do them all before they go bad so I'll be making jam and jelly in the next month or so (sometimes as late as Christmas) as soon as I can get more 8 ounce jars. I'll probably buy bulk tomatoes if I can find tasty ones, and can them as mine won't be near enough this year even when/if they ripen.
And a pic of my boy Teddy Bear!

08/28/2024

Time for another batch of homemade cat food too. Teddy has some undefined food sensitivity and he loses weight on commercial cat food. This keeps his wonderfully muscular Norwegian Forest Cat self hale and hardy. :)

08/28/2024

I am in need of half-pint (8 ounces regular mouth only) canning jars. I don't need lids or bands but I really need jars if you have any laying around collecting dust please send them my way. They can be the quilty looking ones or smooth sides, no matter and they can be the straight ones or the squat ones with 'shoulders' as long as they are 8 ounces and regular lid size. It pains me to consider spending upwards of a dollar a jar to buy them new, especially as I sell the jams for only $5 each (consider cost of sugar and pectin added to that). Help a farmer out if you are able, thanks.

08/28/2024

Time for my annual PSA about pest control, be it fleas or ants or mites or lice, what you want is BORIC ACID POWDER.
You need to get borIC acid powder (emphatically NOT the same as laundry borax! I cannot emphasize this strongly enough, it is NOT the same thing, laundry borAX is toxic and very caustic). Pure boric acid powder (actually granular like salt) is not toxic (comparable in toxicity to table salt) and is sold in every farm supply, hardware and pet store. It kills ants, lice, mites, fleas, ticks, etc. It is used as an eye wash (many of your OTC eye solutions are boric) and as a topical antiseptic often used in wound cleansing, also as a vaginal do**he. For mite control in your coops and runs clean and sanitize all your nest boxes, then sprinkle a thin layer of BA in each box under the bedding. Then sprinkle a thin layer throughout the entire coop and run. You can even sprinkle it in your yard. I use it in my house as well as it prevents fleas. Have been using it for years, no fleas (15 cats and no flea meds) no mites or lice. I get it in bulk 10 pounds at a time on Amazon -- I put it in big spice shaker bottles, or the ones it originally came in from PetSmart as FleaGo.
For Fleas and ANTS and lice and mice, even ticks.
In the house, Vaccuum first, then lightly dust floors and carpets and animal bedding, and scuff it in. I don't evenn vaccum it up but if you do wait at least a day so it has a chance to sift into crevices and do the work.
Farmers have been using this safe effctive pest control for literally decades.

08/28/2024

Did a little canning today: processed in pressure canner 5 pints of string beans, new recipe. If I like these (will let them rest a week before trying one) then I'll make more. I like good string beans.
Also reprocessed my huckleberry jam which didn't set, with additional berries and different pectin.
Tomorrow plum jelly from plum juice I've held at near freezing about a week, need to get it processed soon. Then the frozen stuff in the garage freezer -- tons of blackberries and soooo many more to pick!

Send a message to learn more

08/27/2024

It seems that someone thinks we have a real operational farm here. Today we got a sample copy of this publication in our mailbox:

08/19/2024

I have to admit I am a little squeamish about some things, even as a kid. I would never as a little kid eat bananas because they have "bugs" in the center of them (I thought). You know those tiny black spots in the center of the banana? As I got older I learned they are seeds, not dirt or bugs. Lately I discovered that some people are afraid of some kinds of berries because they have worms on them. Yes, there are fruit fly larvae that get onto some berries and into most hard fruits, easily washed off with cold water and some people add a dash of vinegar and soak a few minutes. I've never actually seen these ones but I wash my fruit well because it does rinse out my other nemesis, eentsy teensy spiders! (shudder) GAH I hate spiders! Then it occurred to me that sometimes, maybe a lot of the times, they are not seeing worms, just like that little me that saw bugs in the banana fruit when there were none, and a light came on. It's seeds! Just like in the banana.
This is not to say there are not fruit fly larvae out there in or on some fruit. Just google the search term "usda percentage of bug parts in food allowed" and you will see you eat bugs every single day (don't think too hard about it or you'll never eat again). But I strongly suspect those worms in your blackberries may not be worms at all.
Our native blackberries here are so gritty with seeds that I usually have to strain them, or at least 50% of them, to make jam, otherwise it's like eating coarse beach sand. I still have mild textural issues I guess LOL (I still won't eat ice cream with bits like nuts or chocolate in it, and can't tell you how long it took me to get over the seeds in rye bread).
Anyway, don't feel bad, we all get squeamish about something!

08/19/2024

Done cooking for now. I may harvest and freeze blackberries and some more huckleberries from the top of the bush to reprocess my 2024 huckleberry jam that didn't set (may as well add more berries since I am able). I processed 24 jars of shiro plum butter and 9 more jars of Dutch Plum Butter (plums, cane sugar, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, a touch of vanilla and nuthin else) after cooking it down 4 hours. It came out surprisingly good, especially considering the poor quality of the wild plums this year. Actually the Shiro surprised me as well.
I have some apples I harvested and froze already as well as some concord grapes I froze and need to process. The caramel applesauce wasn't awesome so I'll stick to my pink applesauce with cinnamon imperials that always comes out so good, and of course who doesn't love wholesome concord grape jelly. I'll be adding these to the rest on the porch when they are ready.
I only ever use pure cane sugar, natural pectin when needed, filtered water and sometimes lemon juice and fruit I harvest myself. No chemicals, preservatives or corn syrup ever ever. Just pure food.
All my home canned goods are for sale next to the egg fridge, $5 per jar. (mostly covers the cost of sugar, pectin and lids which are not reuseable). Date on jar indicates date canned, shelf stable for usually 2 years as long as seal is intact.

08/15/2024

Did 8 jars of yellow plum butter (nothing but plums and pure cane sugar) and another 8 of Huckleberry Jam (just berries, plum juice and pure cane sugar, smidge of pectin to help it set although the plum juice has a fair amount of pectin already from boiling down the whole plums and skins. I have tons and tons of yellow plums on the trees still (I seriously thought I was all done and then this whole other bunch appeared on the trees overnight) and at least a bushel of Italian-like wild or Indian plums. They are rounder than Italian and sweeter by far than the Shiro plums I grow out front. I planted the Shiro 5 years ago, and the wild/Indian ones came with the house. I expect to be picking these toward evening when it is cooler (and I hate the in in my eyes) and I'll be cooking off all those tonight or tomorrow to prep them for butters and jams and cooking sauce. THEN I have a ton of fruit in my outside freezer that still needs to be processed. So much to do!

08/14/2024

OMG! I thought my Shiro plums were a total loss this year: off the tree they were utterly flavorless. So I gave away 2 bushels full, and had about 1 bushel left and getting too overripe to eat as-is. I decided to sort and discard the worst (maybe a dozen and a half) and cook off the rest to make plum butter. I figured I could add sugar and cinnamon and other stuff to make it taste like something at least. Tasted the first pot full as I was pulling skins and pits out of the mash and OMG they are perfect! Somehow cooking made them tart as they should have been fresh off the tree. So that almost full bushel cooked pitted and peeled yielded maybe 5 quarts of plum puree which is now in my slow cooker with a bare smidge of white cane sugar to balance that wonderful tartness, cooking down overnight to yellow plum butter. No other ingredients needed. I'll can them tomorrow. I MIGHT share some but it's so good I might just keep it for myself. ;) Meanwhile the juice that resulted from these (I used a minimum of water to cook them, the rest is juice) is strained and on the stove on a low boil reducing down. It could make a tasty jelly with a little sugar and pectin, or as liquid for other jams that I'll do this year (instead of just water I like juice). YUM!

Send a message to learn more

08/10/2024

VERY smokey outside past few days, you can see the orange tint to the sunlight and smell the smoke. Staying inside as much as I can, filtered air. Sadly the animals have to endure it. :(

Send a message to learn more

08/07/2024

Picked all the red huckleberries I could easily reach. The ones nearer the top of the bush would not be as good anyway as the ones that get the most direct sunlight ripen and overripen faster and are usually not good for picking and making jam. All washed and spread on a tray in the freezer (that's another trick: they lose the sourness or bitterness some peple don't like if you freeze them overnight). I'll bag them up and save for canning in a few weeks when I get to it.

08/05/2024

Moving slow in the heat and humidity, supposed to get better by the weekend. I did manage to move the 7 sisters into an acclimation cage in the BCM enclosure (for a week or so), and moved the two convalescing BCM hens from the garage to the grow out enclosure I had the sisters in. These 2 are doing way better, lots of new feathers so it was time for them to graduate. I might give them to our lonely rooster Black Feather in another couple weeks since his lady died a couple weeks ago. He's still grieving but doing better. The ladies are now where he can hear them.

Send a message to learn more

08/02/2024

I have tons and tons of fresh picked green-yellow Shiro plums. Bring your own bags or buckets and take as many as you want. I have way more than I will ever use and a bunch more in freezer I haven't had time to process into jam, plum butter, cooking sauce, etc. These ones this year are not nearly as tart as they usually are, a friend told me hers were like this too and that it's because we had so much rain this year. Still good to eat. Remember if you want them for animals they cannot have the pits (pits of plums, peaches, nectarines, cherries, mangoes etc are poison to animals, cyanide). PM for address.

08/01/2024

Many Many eggs both chicken and duck available. A lady who usually gets them is unable to at the moment, so more for you all, come and get $5 a dozen. Refrigerated at 48F after wiping, clearly dated with best-by date on each carton. Usually when they reach their third week I boil them up for my own use or to feed to the chickens. I love hard boiled eggs.

07/30/2024

07/28/2024

Got up early (7:30) today and did some neglected garden chores. Transplanted my four lonely Roma beans (in two plantings with fresh seeds 4 is all I got :( ) and lots of Marigolds, and replanted my struggling San Marzano tomatoes I started from seed: finally had to put them all on heated mats to get them to grow -- this was before out little mini heat wave. These last will stay in their bigger pots in the greenhouse a while longer, they're maybe 6 inches tall but they need some more time. I have some baby bell peppers that will keep them company a while longer as well. This is a funny year!
So it's before noon and everyone is feed and watered and taken care of. Time for my tea.

Send a message to learn more