April 2011 - Page 2 of 2 - Morning Song Farm

This is why llamas don't like goats

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Here’s our intrepid goat herd leader, Nibbles (aka Whiskers On Kittens) challenging the (much) larger llamas, “so what are you going to do about it”.

Llamas are clean creatures (once feed hits the floor, they won’t usually touch it) Our llamas utilize a hiarchy with regards to which llama can approach the feed and when. And here’s Nibbles lounging in their food, completely oblivious to llama sanitation standards, established hiarchy proticol and common decency. Final insult: Nibbles left behind goat “pellets” upon departure.

Goat Update

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Latest update on Mary, who was last reported to be spending some time back at her breeder’s ranch with Bob the Stud Goat, after a vet’s scan determined she wasn’t yet pregnant. Evidently, Bob’s goof-ball romantic goat antics fell on deaf ears as Mary would have nothing to do with him. Natha. She seemed to relish prancing and teasing, but wouldn’t have anything to do with Bob that might have resulted in her pregnancy. Sooooo, a different goat stud was selected for her approval, and this time, instead of Mary visiting him, Joe the New Goat Stud has been invited for conjugal visits with Mary here at Morning Song. And just for the record, does he stink. Male goats are just a whole different deal. They reek, they slobber, they druel. I read recently that goats have, throughout history, been at the bottom of the Livestock Wish List (cattle being at the top). After getting within nose shot of a male in rut, I can completely understand my ancestors’ thoughts, which up until now I had thought had been well, misinformed. As in, if you had a herd of my Nigerian, sweet-scented goats, you wouldn’t think they belonged at the bottom of your Wish list. I was right, except that you can’t keep a dairy herd going forward without a breeding program, not historically and now today; and that certainly requires a member of the male, reeking species. Mary is enjoying showing Joe around; although we fence them in at night; the goats have run of the farm during the day. They chew through the groves, chase each other up and down the hills, and get themselves tangled in anything that can possibly cause a tangle. This morning I tried to put up an electrified temporary fence to keep them off my front porch, and Gracie immediately got tangled up in the fence and tipped in over. I really hate having them at the front porch. First of all, they are not like llamas in that they don’t have a “special spot” they go to to relieve themselves. It’s everywhere. And secondly, 20 times a time one of them checks to see if the front door is locked. If not, in they come, the goat version of a home invasion. For some reason they enjoy attacking Lance’s work boots, always dragging them somewhere and leaving tell-tale nibbles. They also like heading straight for my teenaged son’s bedroom; where lots of delicious paper (homework) is known to reside. Nibbles, the herd leader, likes to dominate from my son’s bed; dragging a clump of munchible homework with her, and then daring any other goat to try to knock her off her perch. Finally, in case it isn’t clear that they have invited themselves in, at least one of the herd uses the livingroom as a latrine. These antics are not met with familial affection. Son, Frankie has googled “goat meat recipes” and forwarded the results to me. Lance keeps asking, “and why do we have goats?”

Quick question about non-subscribers viewing boxes

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Donna, I noticed that one of your suggestions when deciding about joining was to go by a drop off spot to look at the produce and to be able to determine the size box needed. I would love to be able to do this. I live in the Oceanside area. Would this be possible? Thank you, J Hi J, Ahem, well we used to allow this. It sure seems reasonable from the non-subscribers side of the fence post. But when I’d receive angry emails from an actual paying subscriber that they came upon a member of the public who had been given the exact drop off point and was found to be pawing through said subscriber’s box, (who knows if they’d even washed their hands) things got a little less black and white. We added box lids years ago to discourage a problem that developed of random swiping/switching between subscriber’s boxes, and added a “trade in” basket so that switching could be done legitimately. We don’t want our fabulous produce to go to waste, either! So the long answer is “no.” Totally uncool. Now, that said, I’d be happy to share my box with you here at the farm in Rainbow. We harvest and prepare boxes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. If you let me know ahead of time, I’ll be sure to be here to meet with you! We have two sizes, small (34.50 a week) and large (44.50 a week). If you go to www.morningsongfarm.blogspot.com, you’ll find our last two harvest tickets with what went into the large vs. small shares. You can also reduce your commitment to a “trial” of 4 weeks, if you’d like to…(there’s a $4 a week premium to do this.) And, if you join and want to switch sizes, anytime during your subscription, we are happy to accommodate that as well, either charging the difference if you want to size “up”, or crediting your account if you want to size “down.” –D

Harvest Ticket for April 5-6th

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Sprouts are back after a few week hyatus.

Images of Kale and Bok Choi are below.

Everything else is pretty common….

Sprouts 1/1 (The first amount is for the large share, and the second amount is what went in the small share)

Limes: 10/7

Radishes: 2 bunches/1 bunch

Navel Oranges: 4/3

Grapefruit: 7/half

Avocados: 3/1

Strawberries: 1 bag/1

Carrots: 2 bunch/1

Kale: 1/0

Bok Choi: 1 bunch/1

Beets: 2 bunches/2

Lime Yogurt Muffins

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Ingredients:
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup sugar
1 tablespoon grated lime peel
1 teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup lime or plain yogurt
6 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Topping:
1/3 cup lime juice
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the first six ingredients. In another bowl, beat the egg, yogurt, butter and lime juice. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fill greased muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20-24 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes; leave muffins in pan. Using a toothpick, poke 6-8 holes in each muffin. In a saucepan, combine the topping ingredients. Cook and stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Spoon over warm muffins.

Farm Day at Morning Song Farm

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Mark your calendars! Saturdays, April 16, April 30 and May 14 are member farm days, from 9 to noon. Bring a picnic lunch, meet our friendly llamas, pet the baby chicks (maybe bottle feed a new baby goat?), and come see where your food is grown! Rain cancels. Our goats love, love love Nature Valley’s crunchy granola bars’ Oats ‘N Honey. Bring a few, if you like, and enjoy their enthusiasm. We’ll include directions, in next week’s newsletter. Morning Song is in Rainbow, which is just south of Temecula, and north of Fallbrook.

What's Up With the Nigerian Goats

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Mary isn’t back on the farm yet, I can’t wait to have her here so the four mama goats can get used to each other before we have baby goats to tend to. Whiskers on Kittens (Whisk) has become the herd leader and insists on ridiculous royal privileges. The social injustice is a little disconcerting to witness, but according to several goat books I’ve purchased,(Raising Goats for Idiots, etc.), evidently this always happens when there’s more than one goat. Goats are herd animals and don’t like to be solitary; some writers even consider keeping a single goat as abuse. Whisk has mellowed out a little as the others no longer question her position, but from my standpoint, her behavior can seem appalling. She gets the best place to sleep, the first munch of any treat, and the lead position on any walk. She’s also, (ugggg) decided all farm roads are hers and will not get up from a center-of-the driveway sun bask even for my big, red, farm truck. Honking is futile and completely ignored. I’m forced, a couple times daily, to park on the steep incline leading to my farm office, jam on the emergency parking brakes, get out, and shoo her out of the way, then race back to the wheel before she resolutely returns. My little dairy herd traipses after me wherever I go on the farm, with Whisk leading the way. They used to chase me down the driveway even when I was in my truck, but soon discovered that I couldn’t be caught and gave up. Now they just follow me when I’m on foot. The llamas were offended at first, but now llamas and goats are getting along, albeit suspiciously.

March 30-31 2011 What's Up

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Below you’ll find this week’s harvest ticket, and information about upcoming Spring farm days. We’ve schedculed three in the hopes that everyone will at least get to squeeze ONE into their busy schedules. All subscribers, their family, kids and friends are invited, April 16, 30th, and May 14th from 9:00-12:00. Bring a picnic lunch and relax under the oaks! By the end of April, we should have baby goats. We’re hoping to schedule the annual llama shearing on one of the dates (we’ll keep you informed). And the baby chicks are so cute! Of course the mama goats are sweet and enjoy all the attention they can get. Especially attention that involves crunchy granola bars. 🙂

Harvest ticket for this week:

(Large share/Small share)

Hass Avos: 2/1

Navel Oranges: 10/Half

Ripe Limes: 9/Half

Leeks one bunch/None

Radish bunch: 1/Same

Bok Chi: One bunch/Same

Strawberries: One bag/Same

Beets: One bunch/same

Carrots: 2 bunches/half

Lettuce: 2 loose heads/half

Brocolli: 2 bunches/half

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