This past week we farm sat for friends Karl and Margaret at their farm in Gray. With chickens, goats, turkeys and ducks we had our hands full, but had some good laughs and learned a couple things along the way too....
Lesson 1. Goats are funny. There are seven goats at the farm, and the older goats are all named after famous Mainers. Joshua, Percival, Chansonetta, Flyrod, the kids are Tonni, Toka and one is unnamed.
Joshua is the leader of the goats, which means he is in charge of planning and initiating pen breaks. Turns out he's pretty good at it. We woke up one morning to find all of the goats outside of their pen...baffled, we came to the conclusion that he rammed the door so hard he split a 2x6x10 cross board right in half.
Tonni was my favorite, she had very long white eyelashes.
Lesson 2. Goat milk runs like water at Ten Apple Farms.
Between the two female goats they usually average 2 gallons of milk a day. That's a lot of milk. What to do with it all...make cheese! make yogurt! make coffee! make friends who like milk!
Lesson 3. Fresh eggs are delicious and colorful, and some chickens have no feet. One of their chickens, named Diablo (picture withheld to respect his dignity) got frost bite in the winter time, and lost his feet.
It's kind of crazy the difference between fresh eggs and the kind you buy at the grocery store. Previous to this weekend, it had been almost a year since we left our chickens behind in CA and have been without fresh eggs. oooh man have we been deprived. Once again omelets, quiche, egg salad...
Lesson 4. Farmhouses are like picture books. Karl and Margaret's daughter's name is Charlotte, and I can't help but think it's because of their barn...
The whole barn ceiling was covered in the most beautiful webs. Just breathtaking. Inside the house was also quiet magical. Check out this rad painted floor...
You can never go wrong with a porch + rocking chair...rock on.
Lesson 5. All in all, the hard work definitely pays off.... Roast duck, garlic and herb mashed potatoes, and baby carrots with dill and butter. YUM.
Thanks Ten Apple for a wonderful week! Check these guys out at here.
