May on the farm has continued to be all about milking goats and processing raw dairy products, but the weather is starting to get nice so we did get some gardening done, too! With nicer weather, farm walks have started up again – this is when Joey & I take our drinks on a walk after lunch on Sundays to look at all of the things happening around the homestead – it is fun!

If you are interested in April’s farm update, read it HERE.

May on the Farm

I am milking 3 goats now; two goats 2x daily and the other goat just in the mornings. We are averaging about 2 quarts of milk each day between it all. I have been consistently processing the milk into:

yogurt (usually 1 quart per day)
kefir (about 1 pint per day)
cream cheese (about 1/2 pint per day)
any more milk I get is put in the milk pitcher for the children to drink.

I feel blessed to have a raw goat milk kefir smoothie daily for my afternoon snack. It feels amazing to be at this point in our homesteading journey.

My husband enjoys the cream cheese with homemade crackers almost every evening. It has been such a joy to provide it for him.

My children eat yogurt every morning with breakfast! It is a huge health benefit and I am thankful we have access to it now.

Two of the goats are still quite stubborn and do not behave well on the milk stand, but they are getting better! Perseverance pays off!

Garden Progress

My husband put in hours of hard labor rototilling the chicken yard and sifting some nice soil from there for all of our garden areas. When the barn areas get mucked out, the old goat bedding gets thrown into the chicken yard throughout the year for the chickens to compost for us – it works out great.

We haven’t received the sweet potato slips yet, but we planted corn, green beans, turnips, beets, and carrots in the big annual garden on Memorial Day. The sweet potatoes should arrive soon and we plan to put them in the ground this weekend.

We transplanted several tomato, pepper, and cucumber plants outside. Some are thriving and others are not, so we may need to start more seeds or buy some plants from the local garden center.

I harvested a row of radishes and pickled them. We enjoy them with our Mexican meals.

I have some kale, spinach, and lettuce coming up in my garden boxes in the kitchen garden. I will start adding them to our suppers soon.

Animal News

We are culling our mini pasture pigs. Over the years we have realized that 1 acre can only support so many animals.

The plan is to focus on chickens, rabbits, and dairy goats going forward. We are always expanding our garden/orchard areas, so that is another main focus.

Speaking of chickens, we have reached the time of year when eggs are in abundance, so we are putting them in lime water for storage. I am aiming for 6 gallon-sized jars this year.