Tuesday, September 28, 2010

A Good Trim

We decided that this year we really needed to be on track with trimming the sheep, the Finn's as well as the Cheviot's, and Baby Dolls really needed it and we wanted to also have the Angora's trimmed as well. I was lucky enough to find the name of a young woman that was willing to travel out to our farm listed in the our local Pennysaver. She did a wonderful job and was very affordable. I hope that she will visit us int he spring when it is time to make everyone look wonderfully fresh! Now I'm searching for a mill to send it off to.....I can hardly wait to see what comes back. I'm very excited to see just what lovely yarn it would come back as. We hope to have this as a future product of Bakers Acres......and as a knitter I can hardly wait!


Saturday, September 18, 2010

The Fabulous Beekman Boys

I have been trying like mad to catch every past show of a fantastic new series that I'm totally hooked on and for many reasons. My brother told me about the show and that he thought it was great and that I really needed to see it he thought that it was right up my alley and as always he was totally right! I am a massive fan of the Fabulous Beekman Boys http://beekman1802.com/ . Please if you have any interest in Farming, Buying Local, Goats, providing for your own table, making life changes such as city to country, and being true to yourself then you will love this show.

The two amazing men have a small shadow of a town and have brought back a new sense of being. What they have done for the town a Sharon Springs is truly amazing, not to mention to movement of farm to table. I really encourage you to take the time to check out their website, show, books and products.


We were lucky enough to actually meet them, and I can say this, they are very wonderful people....the lines were long and I'm sure that they stood there into the night.....but if they made everyone feel as if they were as special as they made us feel, us as we stood in line with four boys and a puppy .....taking the time to talk to each of the boys, pet the dog, talk to us about our little farm and our hopes......then they sure are doing something right!

We left the wonderful Harvest Fest of Sharon Springs with wonderful ideas of Dairy Goats......I can't wait to see what the Spring bring to Bakers Acres!!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

The change of seasons.....

As our crops are slowing and the leaves are changing here at the farm I have been busy in the kitchen....Garlic Dill Pickles

Gramma's Bread and Butter Pickles

With a large family of boys food doesn't last long in our house, especially food that they like! As we all know the yummy things that we can when given the time save from the garden or Farmers Market to enjoy when the wind and snow are blowing outside and the fire is burning is wonderful! I enjoy canning and freezing an many wonderful treats from our yard as well as the Market. Honestly with the animals, and the kids it's hard to find the time but I really try to make a point of it. Not only do all of these wonderful treats save us a money and work well as gifts for others I find it very relaxing. This is something that right away, if you can look past the mess that it just made in your kitchen you see a wonderful product of your work-not to mention the smiles of four growing boys when I break them out of the pantry!


Peach Butter and Peach Jam



Homemade Sauce
I still have lots to do and more fall harvesting to take care of. Next year I will be adding tons of herbs to mix for drying and to add to all the goods I'm canning. This year has been a test of just how much extra we need to plant for the Farm Market and for our family. I hope to have some of these wonderful treats for sale at our Market next year!








Saturday, September 11, 2010

A little fuzzy bundle

We love to camp in the fall! One of our favorite times of year to head out as a family and have a wonderful time. We had the farm set and headed North! On our way to the ADK we of course stopped at a Farmers Market on the way.......needless to say as soon as we stepped out of the truck there she was Whimsy and all of her brothers and sisters looking for new home. She was so tiny and cute and our boys feel in love and I have to admit......so did we! With some wonderful fresh fruit and a new puppy we headed out on our way!



Whimsy is going to be a perfect addition to are Farm. You never know what you might come home with-as lest we here at Bakers Acres never know!

Did you say Bill The Goat?

This is Bill......Bill the Goat. He is the Naval Academy mascot. This is my husband alma mater.....Let me go back a little and explain this a little better.....

We decided to take the kids this summer to a local fair in Madison County. It was a typical small town fair where you often run into people that you know, see the same things every year but go anyway just for the fun of it. When we got there we noticed that there also happened to be a Fiber Festival taking place. This was very exciting to me. We noticed that the farm that our Baby Dolls were from was being represented by some very cute sheep and the very friendly owner. There were Alpaca's, sheep, cashmere goats and Angora goats. We have talked on and off about adding goats to the farm here but weren't to sure what way we wanted to head with them....fiber, meat, or milk.

On our way home from the Fiber Festival we talked about how neat the Angora goat was. Suddenly Rob looks at me and say "Bill! I think that's what Bill the Goat is!" Upon arriving home Rob was on the computer in a flash and sure enough that was Bill alright! Suddenly Rob was taking a real interest in getting goats!


While camping up North Rob had located a family run farm that just happened to have two Buckling's for sale. He really wanted to go and see them and we were game! On our way home from our camping trip we stopped. What a great experience. The family was so welcoming and full of great experience and information that they happily shared with us. Lets just say that they were so cute, we came how with two.

Adult Angora
Angora goats at a glance look much like sheep to many people. They have a very curly haired "Rasta" effect fiber. They are actually sheared like a sheep and the fiber reaped from them is Mohair. This is often mixed with wool. This of course falls right into the things I'm interested in. I'm working hard to build up fiber for spinning. This I was in hopes would be a wonderful addition.
These little guys are yet to have names but are very sweet. They come when you call and follow you anywhere! They are a great addition to our little farm family here. We are contacting a local person tomorrow in hopes of setting up fall shearing. I hope that after this shearing of everyone that I will have enough to send off to a mill. We will keep you posted on names and fiber. We would love to hear any name ideas that you have!