Today is the Autumn Equinox!

We are all very excited for fall here at Merry Magpie.  Too bad it’s 95 degrees outside today!

Our school lessons today revolved around learning about the various harvest and equinox celebrations around the world and throughout history followed by crafts.  All three girls knew that papier mache was on the agenda and they could barely contain themselves to sit through the lessons first.

Martha Stewart came through in a big way for us today.  I have, like many of you, a love/hate relationship with the eminent Ms. Stewart.  I won’t get into that right now except to say that all of the ideas I took from her books and magazines today went off without a hitch, beginning with the aforementioned papier mache.

We glued black and orange crepe paper onto balloons and hung them to dry.  Once they are done, we can pop the balloons inside them and they will hold their shapes.  The black ones are destined to become cat faces with open mouths to hold candy.  The orange will become a pumpkin.

It was extremely messy,but remarkably easy.

Next we assembled crowns of leaves made from rubber stamps, black tempera paint and colored construction paper.

Oona hasn’t taken hers off.

After our school day ended we celebrated by watching It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and eating Ghost Toast with Boo-nilla milk.

When you get right down to it, none of us will be the least bit sorry to bid summer 2010 adieu.  It’s been brutally hot and dry this year.  The only sadness is closing the pool for the year and saying goodbye to fresh summer food.

Luckily, I really enjoy cold weather foods as well.

Fresh pumpernickel anyone?  Or how about the delectable Pirate Peaches I made the other night?  Next year I will be certain to make at least 100 jars of it once peaches are in season again.

We mustn’t leave out Martha’s puff pastry pumpkins I tried out as well.  I didn’t have a pumpkin cookie cutter (go figure) so I had to use an acorn shape.  They are filled with gruyere and dijon.  So good!!!

Emily especially liked these.

The coming of autumn means the animals should be more comfortable, as well.  They’re definitely more playful when it’s cooler.

You can see Milkshakes is getting a bit shaggy.  She’s part Cashmere – I don’t know what else she might be, and for all I know she could be ALL Cashmere.  Either way I am going to try and comb her and see if I can get some of that shagginess taken care of.  She is beginning to put on some weight as well, which will help if we breed her.

Jerry’s wool is growing in very nice as well.  I am going to try and do a better job of shearing him in the spring so I can spin the fleece.   Or at least sell it to someone else who’ll want to spin it. I have more than enough knitting and yarn projects to keep me going through the next millenium. And really I do need the cooler weather for those.  Sitting with a huge pile of wool in your lap is not the most comfortable summer activity.

At least it looks like fall out there.

My brother and his beautiful girlfriend came to visit us this past weekend and meet all of the animals for the first time.  It seems crazy saying that, but that’s how long it’s been since I have seen him.  He lives up in Connecticut and the few times I’ve been up north we’ve missed connecting.

We had a fun visit – the kids just shy of driving us all nuts while piling on KB and Eleanor and demanding their full attention.

I made a yummy Lime Chiffon Cake for dessert Saturday night to set off the black beans and rice and homemade guacamole I made for dinner.  Now I am salivating again.

We also made lots of watermelon margaritas and fed all the leftover watermelon to the animals.  I love how the goats’ little beards get all stained red from it.

The boys are getting nice and fat and I think they are letting Milkshakes have some peace and she looks like she is finally putting some weight back on.   With luck I’ll be able to breed her to Susie’s Angora buck in the fall.  Speaking of Susie……..we donated our lovely Clem the rooster to Juniper Moon Farm.  Susan mentioned wanting a rooster and I have an over abundance of them.  Poor Clem was the low man on the totem pole so I am sure he is much happier now.

We’ll miss him, but he’s got his own harem now!

After dropping him off on Sunday we stuck around the farm a bit to see the baby goats get sheared.

Feenat got sheared, too, not long after this picture was taken.  She’s going to be bred this fall for the first time.  I can’t wait to see her babies next spring!

I love this spot at JMF.  Just lovely.

Watching the shearing.

Oona was happy to sit quietly and watch the goats as long as she was with Eleanor.

It was lovely, and now I really can’t wait for the fall shearing festival.   I was glad I finally got my brother out to see Susan’s farm, since I respect and admire her so much, and he and Eleanor got to see the kind of life I am working towards.  He is hands down the most supportive man in my life.  He’s also great with my kids. What other uncle would enjoy a nice facial with his nieces?

They had an absolute blast and were very sad to see their uncle and auntie go.  So was I!  I can’t wait for our next visit!

I’ve known the benefit of farmer’s market and home- grown produce for years (just try a garden – picked tomato vs. a store – bought one) and the taste difference between  free – ranged, pasture –  fed chicken eggs vs. a factory raised bird is unbelievable. Besides the taste, eating local has less environmental impact (think big gas- guzzling trucks hauling your veggies all across the US). These things I’ve known for awhile. But quite honestly, I’d never thought about similar implications with dairy products. I’ve always bought organic milk at the grocery, and that was that.
Now that I own goats, however, and people have started asking if I milk them, I’ve begun to consider the benefits of goats’ milk over cows’ milk (goats’ milk is far easier to digest than cows’ milk and is the preferred option for the lactose – intolerant) , and how much of a difference fresh can make. I don’t currently milk my doe; I simply don’t have the space for a milking stand or for storing supplies. I’ve also wrestled with the idea of dairy goats vs. fiber goats, since I am, after all, a major fiber enthusiast.

Enter Brad Kessler, author of the book I just finished reading – Goat Song. In it, he chronicles how he and his wife started their own small dairy in the mountains of Vermont and fed themselves with fresh milk and cheese from their small herd of Nubian goats.  He even travels to France at one point to learn from an artisan cheesemaker her age – old craft.

What really struck me, however, is what he shares concerning the taste and  health benefits of eating fresh, raw, unpasteurized milk, something most Americans will never even consider in their lifetimes, and it’s a real shame.  To paraphrase, he states that basically pasteurizing fresh milk kills over 99% of its’ bacteria and enzymes, good and bad.  Some of these enzymes are what inhibit the bad bacteria, which means that basically, pasteurized milk has more of a chance of developing these baddies than fresh milk, at least as far as cheese- making is concerned (since the milk and its curds will age).  It also kills all of the “taste” that would factor into the finished product, which is why French cheese is far superior to American.  In addition, a European survey of children conducted in 2007 found that those raised on fresh, unpasteurized milk were healthier and virtually allergy free, which was not the case with those raised on treated milk.

That last line really hit me.  This is not what we are told in the states.   I dog -eared that page and knew I needed to really look into that, and more importantly, share it.  It helped me come to the decision I’d been putting off. Yes,I need to keep at least a pair of dairy does in milk.  We won’t be able to sell any milk or dairy products due to Federal regulations but we can certainly feed ourselves (and likely reap great health benefits in the process).

I can’t believe how happy and calming it has been  to be on this road to micro-farming after struggling so long to find my fit in the “conventional” work place.  I certainly have my frustrations and bad days, but on the whole, this life has been so much better for us all.  If you have kids, I really urge you to take them to a local farm, just to see the animals and get an idea where food really comes from.  Not only do kids love watching the animals, but it makes everyone more appreciative of what goes into what’s on our plates.