tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90072417513919255392011-08-02T20:59:27.555-07:00life on a north carolina goat farmKentucky Risinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16294925070210757309noreply@blogger.comBlogger171100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9007241751391925539.post-41794542536548789552010-04-21T15:47:00.000-07:002010-04-21T15:51:11.108-07:00

The pause I wrote about last time?  Yeah,  well it's well over.  Now, I feel more like maybe my mind and body are still clinging to that  pause while I'm being pushed along by some great invisible wave. I haven't been writing too much, okay at all, because I've just been trying to stay afloat and sort through many confusing and conflicting feelings about what I'm doing and where I would ideally

Kentucky Risinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16294925070210757309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9007241751391925539.post-26065034144190100472010-03-25T17:10:00.000-07:002010-03-25T18:42:24.468-07:00

March has us living in a rare pause.   You know that space between exhaling and your next inhale?  It feels like that.  Not uncomfortable, just still.  This month has provided me the opportunity to gather my thoughts and plan for the upcoming rush of Spring. Only five babies have been born all month.  The older babies, born at the first of the kidding season are so big.  They no longer need

Kentucky Risinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16294925070210757309noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9007241751391925539.post-30281933940810940402010-03-17T18:53:00.000-07:002010-03-22T09:40:42.437-07:00

 My friend Emily is a pie baking queen. No, wait, maybe Pie Ambassador is the best title for her.  A master's student in UNC's Folklore Curriculum studying women's creativity in domestic spaces, Emily writes the tastey blog nothing in the house to archive all of her pie baking adventures, share recipes, and post interesting finds from her studies along the way.  March 14th marked Pi(e) Day, so

Kentucky Risinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16294925070210757309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9007241751391925539.post-69729875699670728482010-03-11T07:38:00.000-08:002010-03-11T07:38:31.971-08:00

...and one of me (by joe, of course)

Kentucky Risinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16294925070210757309noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9007241751391925539.post-44181315260962985182010-03-11T07:28:00.000-08:002010-03-11T07:28:54.909-08:00

Kentucky Risinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16294925070210757309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9007241751391925539.post-82641830434145658422010-03-10T17:39:00.000-08:002010-03-10T18:29:16.816-08:00

Over the weekend we held our second Open Barn of the season. It was the first nice weekend we've had in a while and Spring Fever had all of us out in the sunshine.  I don't have an exact count but I think we welcomed somewhere around 200 people to the farm- multiple families picnicked on blankets in the fields, Rupert our resident peacock happily paraded for his audience, and lots of kids met

Kentucky Risinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16294925070210757309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9007241751391925539.post-11622590686093080062010-03-04T13:53:00.000-08:002010-03-05T04:04:47.486-08:00

One of the best things about living on the farm is that we have a Bed & Breakfast Inn steps away from our front door.  With an Inn comes a huge commercial kitchen, gas oven ranges, a library full of all the cookbooks I've ever wanted to own, and an industrial dishwasher- meaning that yes, I might have died and gone to farm heaven.  It also means plenty of reasons to experiment with yummy recipes.

Kentucky Risinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16294925070210757309noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9007241751391925539.post-47628066901707236052010-03-03T13:43:00.000-08:002010-03-03T14:09:22.696-08:00

The babies are getting so big. The oldest ones are now eating grain and hay!  The biggest ones are almost too fat to dance on the milk buckets which has been their favorite pastime at feedings up until now. Growing means changes to their bodies- natural and forced.  Last week Brit told me it was time to start disbudding the babies.  Disbudding is done to remove the goat's horns before they

Kentucky Risinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16294925070210757309noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9007241751391925539.post-26108442669519813772010-02-24T14:37:00.000-08:002010-02-25T06:57:04.080-08:00

One of our baby goats, Little Sammy, died during the night. Sammy had already had a close call with death.  He was born small with peculiar traits.  His sister was small too, but learned how to bottle feed once she was weened and is thriving.  Sammy, on the other hand, never developed a suckling reflex and when placed in the pen with other babies would separate himself and stand, motionless,

Kentucky Risinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16294925070210757309noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9007241751391925539.post-80003615562161283182010-02-23T10:15:00.000-08:002010-02-23T10:16:29.532-08:00

Last week we were featured on UNC-TV's travel show, "North Carolina Weekend."  I am so proud of my babies!  They looked great on camera.  You might recognize me as the headless farm hand, feeding babies from a bottle in one of the shots. Watch the full piece here.

Kentucky Risinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16294925070210757309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9007241751391925539.post-82814485690908622622010-02-22T15:57:00.000-08:002010-02-23T10:24:30.118-08:00

   yes, joe bought me a cake for my birthday.  the lady at the bakery down the road asked, "you want it to say what? well, as long as i'm not giving it to her!" joe also treated me to an incredible wine paired dinner at chapel hill's bonne soiree and a night of dancing at a durham house party.   31 doesn't feel so old.  like 21, but with a better wine selection. 

Kentucky Risinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16294925070210757309noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9007241751391925539.post-26732154564038697972010-02-14T20:26:00.000-08:002010-02-15T13:20:51.471-08:00

There are so many new experiences, sad endings, exciting ideas and turning thoughts I have to write about, but not tonight.  I am headed to bed after a week and weekend working, but so grateful.  Grateful for my tired body, exhausted from hard physical work and staying up late laughing with new friends, and grateful for an emergent confidence coming from challenging myself in ways I've never

Kentucky Risinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16294925070210757309noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9007241751391925539.post-51278084589196570912010-02-09T20:42:00.000-08:002010-02-09T21:00:56.071-08:00

It feels like I've been living under overcast skies for months.  Snow, rain, rain, snow.  The fields are muddy and just walking across the yard from our house to the barn seems like a major feat in weighty boots.  Wet and dirty clothes are piling up by the backdoor as we refine living strategies to keep the farm on the farm and not in our living room.  The Persephone Months of winter have me

Kentucky Risinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16294925070210757309noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9007241751391925539.post-63805898666926837912010-02-01T18:54:00.000-08:002010-02-09T21:01:34.548-08:00

It was a quiet, snowy day on the farm.  Everyone was home from school and work including our neighbors Mary and Zans and their two children.  Mary made some delicious pizza and it was fun to spend time together with everyone in the Inn taking a slower pace to their day and enjoying the weather. Tonight during my feeding and milking chores, I think I finally made a breakthrough.  Milking has not

Kentucky Risinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16294925070210757309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9007241751391925539.post-72081119907284576542010-02-01T10:01:00.000-08:002010-02-02T18:07:33.938-08:00

Here's a quick shot from this weekend.  North Carolina was hit with snow, turning the farm into a seriously beautiful winter wonderland.  We had previously scheduled a visit to our local co-op, the Chatham Marketplace to promote our upcoming Open Barn (y'all come!).  With our  4X4 power and a hunger for brunch we set out with our first born doe, Suri.  It ended up being a great day- we talked to

Kentucky Risinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16294925070210757309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9007241751391925539.post-59856207182665689862010-02-01T09:36:00.000-08:002010-02-01T15:01:52.024-08:00

Kentucky Risinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16294925070210757309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9007241751391925539.post-8397285177368556802010-01-29T15:40:00.001-08:002010-02-01T09:43:24.540-08:00

I know, I know....I've already missed the first 29 days of the year.  Not a good sign for this here blog, but I promise I have a really good reason:  BABY GOATS! One December morning Brit, trying to prepare me for what I was about to experience in my year-long internship at Celebrity Dairy, motioned to the barn and told me, "There's a rhythm to things out there."   I had no idea that that rhythm

Kentucky Risinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16294925070210757309noreply@blogger.com2