Laffing Goat Farm and Wetland Preserve

11/05/2024

The ones I saw this week were the second one, so hopefully moderate.

Winter lore...

11/04/2024

Free while they last, limit one per person. Already posted on Snohomish Sharing Network:
In lieu of our usual annual gifting of half a spatchcocked fully cooked turkey with sides to just one person, we decided this year instead to make a triple batch of fresh cranberry sauces to share with the community for Thanksgiving.
Choose from smooth strained cranberry jelly, whole cranberry sauce and whole cranberries with mandarin oranges. Home canned according to USDA canning standards and shelf stable at room temps (under 80F and above freezing) up to 2 years as long as seals are not broken. Made only with fresh whole cranberries, pure cane sugar, home squeezed locally sourced white grape juice (I don't use water), and natural fruit pectin -- oh and a dash of lemon juice. The cran-orange one also has Mandarin orange sections. No chemicals or preservatives ever.
PM to be on the list.

11/04/2024

Brief Bio
Laffing Goat Farm and Wetland Preserve
http://facebook.com/laffinggoatfarm

We purchased this property in February 2011, and expanded it to include the wetland to the east a year later so we are just under 5 acres total. We are devoted to protecting this fragile wetland from "development" and keep that space distinct from our adjacent small hobby farm where we raise goats, chickens, ducks and geese, and grow some fruits and veggies for consumption. While it is not really self-supporting, we do sell chicken eggs, duck eggs (for eating), and fertile eggs (for hatching) to the public, as well as canned goods made from fruits grown on our tiny farm and share extra produce when we have it with anyone in need. We believe in supporting local farmers and producers whenever we can.

George Mells
Kathleen Lent (co-owners of Laffing Goat Farm)

from our page "about":
Sweet little hobby farm outside of city limits with 5 (4 men and a little lady) goats, 34 chickens (more or less), 17 ducks, 3 African geese and a bunch of cats. Numbers vary, especially with the ducks and chickens -- as ducklings and chicks are always being hatched through spring and summer. George is a city boy, but this was always my dream, to have a little farm with animals and subsistence gardening, do my own canning and preserving. Both of our parents would be amazed at what we have done. When I have extra I share with my community, and we sell eggs at the front door -- these critters eat a lot! Half our property is protected wetland, which we have and are restoring as it was badly abused before, and the adjoining wetland west of us was “developed” by a local car dealership, so we are doing our best to protect what we can of this beautiful space. It’s work, but it feels good, and the animals are restful to watch when we aren’t doubled over laughing with them.

Our animals are strictly spoiled PETS. We never eat them. Our page is to share the fun at the Farm.

11/04/2024

Mister Zed is still under the weather. He had been losing weight and acting painful when he tried to eat so we had him to the vet and then some dental extractions last Monday, after which he seemed to be doing so much better, until the scheduled pain meds ran out then he declined again over the weekend, so luckily the vet saw him again this morning and gave him some subQ hydration and antibiotics and more pain meds, and appetite stimulator. Here's hoping he starts feeling better very soon. He was a semi-feral we adopted with Benny a few years back, both very timid and shy but will sleep with George. Benny ran away a couple months ago :( so just his brother Zed now (Mister Zed, Z for Zorro owing to his mask face). He has finally eaten a little bit since we got home from the vet this morning so fingers crossed!

11/02/2024

Bright Blessings to you as well. It is nice to be seen. :)

10/29/2024

I think I have seen larger grapes :) Mostly the new BCM pullets are starting to lay bigger eggs but there are 11 of them (with 4 adults from last year) and a couple are still just starting to imitate their sisters. Quarter for comparison to the wee one from this morning.
The blue ones are from my Whitings who haven't given up entirely for the winter. Not a dozen here, probably tomorrow.

10/26/2024

OMG they are delicious! If no one buys the wee tiny baby chicken eggs I'll eat them. Just fried up 4 in a scrambled egg sandwich and it was awesome (too much for 1 sandwich so I made 1 1/2, works for me). They'll only be laying these tiny first offerings for a few weeks, a couple of them are already laying more normal size ones. I often don't eat my chicken eggs just because ppl buy them out so quickly I don't get a shot at them. :) Duck eggs are awesome too fortunately and I eat plenty of those.

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10/18/2024

Battening down the hatches for expected wind storm this afternoon through tomorrow evening (50 mph gusts expected). Already had one (long dead) tree down in the western wetland that thankfully missed the power line (so rotten it broke up before it hit anything at all). Others would fall in another direction judging how they currently lean. Nothing bad is near the house. We get these storms maybe twice a year in fall/winter. Trees down in the 2 wetlands don't bother us, it's nature. I laid down and covered or brought in the furniture in my hoop house out front and we'll see how wind proof my construction is :) At the moment it's still an open tunnel as I haven't got the ends on yet, but those wouldn't provide much protection in any case against wind. Stay safe my friends!

10/18/2024

Ramping up for another night of fun. Revised the ratinators to make it harder for them to open the rocker door from inside. Enjoy pics of some of last night's guests: this one we named Donald. :)

10/17/2024

Another 25 jars of Limited Ingredient homemade cat food in the freezer. They also get Merrick's limited ingredient food (wet and dry) as well so they are getting everything they need. This just costs a tiny bit less and they enjoy it and I know exactly what is in it. Teddy is doing very well now that we have him off the cheap commercial food, and our Mr. Zed with his dental issues (pending surgery) is getting at least 6 meals a day to fatten him up, so it's all good.

10/17/2024

Got 5 this morning in snap traps, 4 in the 2 days before them, and 5 tonite after I made modifications to the Ratinator. We have mutant rats with an IQ in the 200's at least. We have them on video going into the ratinator via the rocker door, eating what they want then reach up with a paw and pull down the closed side of the rocker and walk out easy peasy. They all seem to have this information and they teach the young ones. I suspect some maybe even have a genetic memory. George thought the fat ones were sitting in the doorway holding it open, which they have also been seen to do.

Tonight I changed it up and connected two of these ratinators together front to back so they would have two of the rocker doors to have to navigate to get in and out. It didn't initially seem to be working, as the smaller ones at least were just going in and out of the second door as easily as the first one. Then I saw on our camera the second trap had a lot of movement in it so I rushed out to see if I could keep those from getting out before I got to it. It had 3 giant rats in it and I shut it down just in time. Then I checked the snap traps since I was out there and got one at least a pound and a half (!) and a wee one, so 5 so far. Rebaited the snap traps and reset the ratinators -- have minor revision planned for tomorrow to make it harder for them to pull down the rocker from inside.

The record for us so far is the first year we had the ratinators 24 one night and 26 the next -- that was before they got together with the escap*es from NIMH. Last summer and fall we were up to a running totall of like 400 in mostly the snaps before I stopped counting. We live on a wetland and even without animals we would have them.

OH, and the chickens are on patrol, but I suspect they are on the take, in league with the rats. We watched for a couple hours this evening as every time a rat got even close to the traps the chicken would rush out and chase it off. Finally the birds apparently went on dinner break and the rats all came in and had a party (which I interrupted when I went out and caught the three fat ones), I counted at least 20 at one point.

More fun tomorrow :)

10/15/2024

Didn't get any sewing done today (I'm Conjurewoman's Cottage https://www.facebook.com/ConjurewomansCottage ) but I winterized the coops and spritzed the whole property with Wolf P*e bc I caught a coyote on my coop cam last night checking out my girls. I haven't seen one any closer than the front drive for a couple years and had gotten lax about keeping up with the predator p*e. All covered now. Got my cranberries all canned last evening ahead of turkey day. Tomorrow back to sewing projects.

I sew seat cushions, pillows, seat covers, small upholstery, mending, hems, hand embroidery. I can also do some stained glass.

10/11/2024

10/08/2024

5 pints of steam extracted white grape juice in the fridge now -- just need to decide what to do with it :)

10/07/2024

YAY I did it! Been canning green beans. The pickled ones don't need the pressure canner, just water bath, but the dinner ones need the PC and I got impatient the last batches letting the pressure off maybe 10-30 minutes after the time was up, causing siphoning of the liquid in the jars. I read another recipe that said let it cool till all the pressure is gone even if it takes an hour or more, so I waited it out this time. No siphoning, perfectly canned seasoned green beans! This pressure canning has a learning curve for sure! I also canned some strawberry preserves. Still trying to decide what to do with at least 10 cups of white grapes George brought home -- not my favorite. Might make jelly, not sure yet.

10/06/2024

good morning!

10/04/2024

Going to pressure can some green beans this evening. I wasn't thrilled with the seasoning I used last time (garlic and a bit of dill) so I think just salt this time around. Plus the fresh dill came up under a couple of the lids duriing processing and prevented seals, so I had to reprocess.

10/02/2024

This is the video of the heron that came by in the last two days.