A big “Thanks” to Karen Masterson and nourish restaurant for bringing Russ Cohen to Lexington for another of his “Wild Edible Walks” to help support LexFarm’s work! We learned a lot from Russ about how to responsibly forage and eat well at the same time! After the walk, we enjoyed lunch and great company at nourish. Credit for pictures here go to Mark McMinn at LexMedia.org. If you want to catch another of Russ’s walks, click here fo a schedule.
We had some great help from Daisy Girl Scout Troop 65197 with some important spring work at LexFarm’s goat yard yesterday. Under the direction of Farmer Charlie, they raked out, mixed up, turned over and shoveled all the compost (including wonderful, rich goat manure) that had been collected over the last several months. Pretty soon, we’ll be able to use the compost to enrich some soil to plant goat forage. After their hard work, the troop enjoyed some time with Ionia and the rest of the herd.
If you would like to bring your group to LexFarm’s goat yard, just to visit, or to help with a service project, please visit our “Group Visits” page.
Check out the “New Farm Spotlight” of Farm-Based Education Association’s Winter newsletter!
Goats are natural browsers. They like to eat leaves and other vegetation about head high (more or less). Trees, bushes, and high grasses provide a variety of tasty seasonal offerings in spring, summer, and fall.
So what do the goats do in winter? In winter, we provide our goats with hay and dry tree leaves (some of which generous visitors brought to the yard for us this fall)…and fresh green leaves in the form of eastern white pine!
Our goats would welcome your contributions of pine. Please feel free to bring fresh eastern white pine branches to Visiting Hours (Sundays 1-3pm). Just be sure it’s the correct variety of pine (with long needles, as shown in photo), with no pesticides or other chemicals. Thank you!
Out at LexFarm’s Goat Yard this afternoon, volunteers, visitors, and goats alike enjoyed the sunny but brisk afternoon. All of us were prepared: humans with our manufactured coats, and goats with their natural winter coats.
If you visit the goat yard, you will notice that our goats have thick winter coats now, with three layers of hair to protect them from the elements:
- Ground hair, the bottom layer, is dense and downy. It helps them regulate their temperature to stay warm.
- Awn hair, the middle layer, helps protect the ground hair from the elements and provide further warmth.
- Guard hair, the top layer, is coarser, longer, and more pigmented (colored). It helps keep snow and ice away from the lower layers.
With these layers of hair, our goats are well adapted to be happy and active in the cold winter months. They love to browse around the yard, and the kids love to play with each other in the snow. Sound familiar?
See you at the Goat Yard!
If you’ve been to LexFarm’s Goat Yard recently, you’ve seen that Ionia is looking “very pregnant.” She is in her 15th week of pregnancy, so she has about 6 more weeks to go. A strong doe and a great mom, Ionia continues to be out and about in the Goat Yard with Ella, Naya, and Sapphire. They are enjoying the beautiful snow!
At this stage, Ionia’s new kids look like little baby goats, with eyelids separating, nostrils opening, teeth beginning to erupt, and hair beginning to grow around the eyes, muzzle, neck, and chest. They are tiny: roughly 4 inches long, and weighing less than a pound. Without an ultrasound (which is not a routine part of pregnancy care in goats), we cannot tell how many kids she is carrying. Any guesses?
Bright and early on this wintry morning (snowy enough to make a snow angel), goat enthusiasts met Farmer Ben at the barn to embark on our first Goat Care Skills class. Ben began by putting goat care into a larger context of food security and sustainability, then the group got into the nitty gritty of goat care:
- Relationship between breed characteristics/adaptations and diet
- Effect of dominance structures in the herd on goat care
- Wild food versus concentrates, and protein requirements at different developmental stages
- Logistics of feeding the Queen, the triplets, and Jasper
With Ben teaching from experience and an obvious affection for the goats, the participants learned a great deal about goat care — including much that could not possibly be conveyed in a textbook. After this first class of the 8-week session, participants commented:
“Ben, it was fantastic learning from your experience.”
“I learned so much. Ben is a great teacher.”
“Ben conveys his knowledge and experience eloquently and effectively.”
Another Goat Care Skills session will begin on January 28 (six Saturdays, 7:00-8:00am). We have just one space left, so visit the Programs and Group Visits page for more information if you are interested in registering.
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An unexpected bonus was seeing animal tracks in the fresh snow. One participant saw deer and rabbit tracks, and all of us saw what we think are coyote tracks!
At LexFarm’s Goat Yard, we are embarking on a project to revitalize the soil to promote carbon holding and growth of forage material (such as clover) for the goats. This winter we plan to rearrange the Goat Yard to make room for three growing paddocks – and plant bushes such as forsythia around the fence-line as well.
We hope you will join us for this Saturday’s Learn & Work Project, 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Together, we will jumpstart the revitalization effort by moving the goats’ large climbing structure closer to the barn and aerating the soil in the areas that will become the growing paddocks.
What: Learn & Work Project
When: Saturday, January 14, 10:30-12:00
Where: LexFarm Goat Yard (park at Busa Farm and walk back to red barn)
Cost: Free!
Bring: Digging forks (pitchforks) or shovels if you have them
Due to an unexpected schedule conflict, we are changing our Saturday Goat Care Skills session to six weeks: Saturdays, January 28 to March 3, 7-8am. You can find more information and our registration form on our Programs and Group visits page.
The Tuesday Goat Care Skills session remains eight weeks: January 17 to March 6.
We are delighted to introduce new hands-on farm-based education programs at the LexFarm Goat Yard!
- Learn & Work Projects (2nd Saturday of each month, 10:30-12:00)
- Pasture Walks (4th Thursday of each month, 1:30-3:00)
- Goat Care Skills – Overview (8-week session, Saturdays January 14 – March 3, 7-8am)
- Goat Care Skills – Focus on Pregnancy and Kidding (8-week session, Tuesdays January 17 – March 6, 6:30-7:30am)
- Goat Stories at The Elephant’s Trunk (days/times to be announced)
For more information, please visit our Programs and Group Visits web page.
And, of course, keep coming to our regular visiting hours (Sundays, 1-3pm). We and the goats are always happy to see you!