Lady Gaga, an adorable girl born this spring.
Fresh Chevre
Fresh Sicilan Ricotta Salata flavored with sun-dried tomatoes, basil, garlic and pine nuts
The Beast rolls thru downtown Alsea, loaded with about 65 bales of the best hay in our valley.
I don't know what the etiquette is for this type of diary. I've seen the most successful ones to be requests for assistance for a member posted in a diary by another member. However, it's July and people are travelling and I don't know who to ask so I am beginning to put it together and see how it goes.
It's hay season. We have a small goat dairy located in Oregon's Coast Range. We make luscious goat cheese which we sell at farmers markets in Portland, Corvallis and Eugene and which we also sell to chefs.
http://www.oregoncoastmagazine.com/...
Go to page 18 and 19
Through the worst of the bad economy, I've kept everyone working, no cut in hours, no raises but no pay cuts. I've paid all the operating expenses, all the utilities, all the taxes, all the expenses to take our cheese to farmers markets.... and we've squeaked by but the margins keep get tighter and tighter. Grain goes up, gas goes up, packaging and labeling goes up. Also, a forty year old woman built this sweet little dairy and farm and I don't know where she disappeared to but this much older woman has been left in her place. I'm relying more and more on a core group of wonderful people, most of them women, who milk the goats, help with cheesemaking, assist me with herd health chores. Jobs, especially jobs for women, are few and far between in this isolated valley and most of these people have worked here on the farm for years and years. First and foremost, they love the goats. They all came to work this April, knowing I couldn't pay them every penny each week until sometime in May, and wouldn't be completely caught up with them until June. As of the end of June we've reached that point. Everyone is caught up and paid in full.
I'm not homeless or facing homelessness. I'm not hungry. I don't have a healthcare emergency although I don't have insurance and am awaiting implementation of the ACA. Our lifestyle is laughingly called decadent poverty. I trade for the most wonderful food every week at the several farmers markets we attend which I bring home to share with the crew. All the veggie growers want cheese. I know my needs and my asking for assistance, measured against the needs of others who are really struggling, may seem frivolous.
It's just that I've reached my limit. You know the old saying, "Make hay while the sun shines"? That's really true. It's finally sunny and warm and finally the season for hay to be cut, raked, dried and baled. You pick each bale up out of the field, load it on the truck and drive it home to be put into the loft, there to be doled out throughout the coming year. As in other years, we are trying to fill the lofts to the brim. A barn full of hay gives you the reassurance that no matter how bad the economy gets, you can feed the goats for another year. So last night and today, we put the first 6 tons of hay in the barn. Tomorrow, there is a crew of three coming early. Today my son rebuilt the carburator in The Beast so we'll have a working hay truck and hopefully we'll get another eight tons.
Sue grows the best quality hay for her horses. We take every bale she doesn't keep for herself.
The hay we'll get tomorrow from my neighbor, Sue, is fine stemmed and great for feeding to young goats, sick goats, aged goats.
Steve was a little shy about having his picture taken.
The first six tons already in the barn came from Steve's fields and is great quality oat and fescue hay. It's very green, palatable and high in protein. We'll hopefully get another six tons from Steve's next field to be cut, on the 4th. Will be baled by the seventh. Twelve tons from Steve. Eight tons from Sue. Twenty tons all together.
Both Sue and Steve always let me get the hay now and pay for it over the next month. Twenty tons. $100 a ton, plus the cost of gas for The Beast and paying the boys on the hay crew, which all adds another $20 a ton. I know we have been managing this for the last twenty years but this year, I've reached my limit. I have no freaking idea how I'm going to pay for this hay. I don't know how I did it in the past.
I'm pretty good at budgeting and measure each week by "making progress" or not. I'm looking ahead, and again, I have no idea how I'm going to do it. I'm anxious and worried. I'm embarrassed and afraid it will all finally come tumbling down like a house of cards. I'm mortified that I'll be exposed as the financial fraud that my inner demon secretly whispers that I am. We all have those demons but mine is giving me agita at the moment. All for the love of goats.
In sharing these worries with my friend, Blue Jessamine, she came up with the idea of Kossacks sponsoring a goat for three, six, or twelve months at a time.
Blue Jessamine and Quill at a Portland area meetup at The Lucky Lab Brew Pub on Hawthorne.
We spoke of her teaching me how to do a photo diary like the beautiful ones she posts but then she had to leave for Glacier. So, I'm forging ahead and will attempt to show you why we do all of the crazy work: we love the goats!
Mudball.... when she was a yearling, in spring she'd come into the milking area all caked with mud which stuck to the long hair on her back. She was always such a little mudball!
A mature doe like Mudball eats about 1/2 a ton of hay each year. Sponsoring Mudball or one of her sisters would be $60 for a year, $30 for six months or $5 a month.
"I am GOAT", a really hardy, huge, healthy doe kid born this spring
I am GOAT could be sponsored for $30 for a year or $15 for six months.
Kali, The Goat Girl, and her pal, Miss Amelia Pond
Miss Amy Pond could be sponsored for $30 for a year or $15 for six months.
Fresh live grazing along our country road supplements the hay for much of the year.
I love the tan ones. And the all black ones. And the black and white ones. I just love them all.
The milking herd, spending some quality time with the local blackberries
We have 32 yearling and older does needing sponsorship for $60 a year, $30 for six months or $5 per month.
A long time farmers market customer visits the farm and falls in love with little April Moon
April Moon at birth, trying to get back thru the fence to her Momma, Elia. Elia has the most beautiful face of any goat on the farm.
April Moon could be sponsored for $30 for a year or $15 for six months. Elia could be sponsored for $60 for a year, $30 for six months or $5 a month.
Just after kidding, here is Cocoa and her two girl kids, Mocha and Latte
Little Mocha struggles to stand up after soon after her birth.
Little Latte takes a nap after all the hard work of being born.
Little Latte had a run in with something a month or so ago.
The Vets at Oregon State University Large Animal Veterinary Teaching Hospital took good care of her.
She looked much better when the doc was done. His stitching was amazing to watch. She healed just fine.
Cocoa could be sponsored for $60 for a year, $30 for six months or $15 for three months. Mocha and Latte could both be sponsored for $60 for a year, $30 for six months or $5 a month.
Albrecht, also known and loved as Albie. Albie is everybody's favorite little buck. He's a Nigerian Dwarf and we use him to breed to all the first time girls, so they will have sweet LITTLE babies and nice easy births. Albie, himself was a little bottle baby and is super sweet.
Albie started life as the official housegoat
Sponsoring Albie for $60 a year would cover all his hay needs and allow for the extra high protein grain that he needs to perform his duties as junior herd sire. $30 would cover six months and $5 would feed him for a month.
Ramone, our herd sire. He's over 200 lbs and may be over 300 lbs. Thats good, because during breeding season he'll get so worked up he'll stop eating for a month or so. Sex on the brain. Goat Love!
Special Order Chevre for my young friend, Samantha's, wedding
Produced With LOVE in Oregon
Anyone sponsoring a grown doe, or Ramone, or Albie, or two kids for a year can request and will receive an assortment of goat cheese in November or December for the cost of shipping only. Shipping is not cheap but the cheese itself would be sent at no charge.
If you feel it's inappropriate for me to ask for help buying hay for the herd, I apologize. I just don't know what else to do. I can't stiff my neighbors and I can't not feed the goats. I don't want to give up on making and selling cheese, after twenty years, after surviving the worst of the economy, only to run short now. So many customers LOVE the cheese and so many of my neighbors benefit from the farm continuing to operate.
If you are unable to help, I hope you have enjoyed the pictures and stories of the goats. Reccing this so that more people see it would be helpful. Thanks so much in advance for reading this diary, and for reccing it.
Paypal link: luvsgoats@gmail.com
Update as of 9 pm, July 3rd: Hay truck wouldn't start after several trips but still got a few good loads out of Sue's field. A neighbor came to the rescue with his truck and with him added to the crew, the entire field was bucked and put away in the hay loft. Six tons again today. Eight more to go, but not until after the weekend. The crew is booked and ready and I may have an alternate vehicle lined up. Now that the day is over, it's so beautiful on the farm. We all sat outside in the shade and shared a few moments of pleasant cool breeze, grateful that the work is done for today. Now all we have to do tomorrow and Friday is get cheese packed and ready for the farmers markets.
Come sit awhile, take a load off, sample some delicious fresh goats cheese
1:37 PM PT: 1:30 Wow, you guys are all so generous and kind. Thank you so much. I've tried to thank everyone personally. My next job is to make notes and respond to everyone who is asking about cheese shipments. We are still haying, beginning again tomorrow, so please be patient and don't hesitate to email me on Monday or Tuesday.
Fri Jul 05, 2013 at 12:30 PM PT: Thanks again to everyone. You all really came through. We are out moving some more hay today. I'll be sending as many personal thank yous as fast as I can but please know I appreciate those who helped and those who were unable to but still read the diary and wished us well. Thank you.
Fri Jul 05, 2013 at 12:48 PM PT: I forgot to add this: I was going to do a yard sale to help raise money to pay for the hay. Now I don't have to do that, but I still will, and instead will donate all of that money to our very own Alsea Valley Food Bank. I will make the donation in the name of Daily Kos members. Remember, Pay It Forward. It works.