Chrissy (The other goat)

A unsuspecting goat is now being sheared.

 Today, I'm going to talk about Chrissy. She is owned by our friend, Wendy. Chrissy has a sister! Her name is Lotte, and she is on the front page. But something exciting has happened. Chrissy has recently been sheared for the first time! Here are a few pictures of her.

Oh my! She is losing fleece!

Wendy looks sore in the neck and back and Chrissy is eying that food.

She is almost half way done.

Oh No!!!! They've killed her!

A once active goat, standing like a statue.

YAY!!! Revived by pear leaves!!

 When Chrissy got in the back yard, Katie, who is at the bottom of the pecking order, thought Chrissy was a new goat. She started acting all tough and tried to butt Chrissy. It was really funny, but I felt bad for Chrissy. She has to start at the beginning. She has to work her way up the chain of command again.          






 Posted By Claire

Yes, We Have No Eggs...

With cold weather, short days, and the unexpected loss of a few of our laying hens, we are staring at empty nests and empty egg cartons.  The hens are beginning to molt and recharge their systems after a long season of laying.

 
Cartons and nests are empty!!

We are therefore closing down egg sales until next year.  Our chickens are allowed to rest.  The typical commercial egg model involves things like forced molts, artificial lighting, and aggressive culling.  We rely on the sun and seasonal day lengths to provide a natural cycle for the girls - no lights.  And we do not cull our laying flock, meaning that the hens live out their full natural lives whether they are laying or not.  This is pretty much unheard of in the egg industry, even for "free range" or "organic" operations.  The benefit of older hens, besides their wisdom and personalities around the chicken yard, are the jumbo eggs they produce as they get older.  We are happy producing less eggs.  Instead we have large eggs coming from loyal old hens that we raised from baby chicks.  Some of our hens were born in 2002, and are still laying!

We have 27 healthy and hungry growing chicks (and one mis-sexed rooster) who will be joining the flock soon, along with additional heirloom hens coming in the spring.  We should have eggs again by February or early March.  We will be posting an update on our baby chicks soon and are working out our winter veggie growing system.

...and Bishop residents, please don't forget to VOTE on Measure C!

Vote!

EGG CUSTOMERS, WE'LL SEE YOU IN 2011!

Attack of the Killer Green Tomatoes!

We are in processing mode - big time.  We salvaged much of our remaining bounty just before the cold hit, and now the house has been taken over by all kinds of strange-looking vegetable oddities.


We made tomato sauce with our trusty No. 200 Victorio Strainer....

Yum!

Potato Leek Soup....

Salsa Verde with our tomatillos....

 HELP!  The kitchen has been taken over by GREEN TOMATOES!!!!

And what are these?

posted by amy

Peanut (our baby chick)

Today, I am going to talk about Peanut, our little chick who was born with a deformity.  Sadly she didn't make it.  This unfortunate event happened on September 13. We woke up to find a poor, suffering chick resting peacefully. Hannah was bawling, and refused to do anything but set up a funeral. I came home from school to find a mournful Hannah shoving a piece of wood and a black marker, telling me to  write the day Peanut was born and when she died. I added a sweet message on the wood for Hannah. She was pleased with that. We buried Peanut with our goats at our side. It was sweet and simple. Peanut is probably a lot happier now. Good-Bye Peanut! We will miss you forever.

posted by Claire

Katie and Snickers (milk goats)

 Well we finally got them!! Our milking goats, Katie and Snickers, are home and ready for action! Already the entire family is bonding with them. Below, Claire and Hannah milking a nervous Katie.

Claire and Hannah milking Katie.

 Here are the girls again milking with, as it appears, a worried mom overlooking. Doesn't Katie look more comfortable already?

The girls milking with Mom overlooking.

AWWWWW! Don't they look adorable? New BFFs, Hannah and Katie. Real bonding is going on here!

OHHHHHH! Look at the new BFFs!

Here is your first sight of Snickers. A little........bizarre? She looks like demon goat, doesn't she?

AHHHHHH!!!! It's demon goat!!!

 Hmmmmm........that's a really interesting.............udder? I think that is Snicker here.

Interesting um.........udder? 

 Is she adorable or what? This is the Henderson's first sight of Katie bug.

AWWWW! Sweet baby!!

Posted by Claire Henderson

Frost, and Goodbye Market!

We had a light frost Tuesday night and a harder frost last night.  We spent much of the evening last night bringing what seemed like endless crates of peppers and green tomatoes into the house.  Rather than having a green tomato warehouse blowout sale this week at the Bishop Farmer's Market, we are going to take a break.  So we will not be there this week, and this is probably the end for us being at the Market in 2010.

We are working hard on our plan to continue providing fresh veggies this fall and winter.  We will be sending out a newsletter, the "Goat Hollow Gazette" tonight.  Please provide me with your email address and we can keep you informed of our plans.  We are also very interested in hearing from you about what you would like us to grow in the future.  Leave a comment here or send suggestions to henderson.bio@gmail.com.  We have several blog entries in the works, and a little time off will give us more time to work on the blog and other garden projects.  Thanks for your support!

In the meantime, click on the photo for a preview of the "Gazette."


posted by brad

Hot Chicks!

Coming Home from the Post Office!

 

Here's Hannah peeking through the window into our La-Z-Boy Brooder!  We picked up our box of baby chicks from the Bishop Post Office yesterday.  The most important thing is to immediately get the chicks drinking, get them warmed up to about 90 degrees, and show them their food.

 

Our chick order showed up a day earlier than expected, but luckily we were ready for them.  Fendon's furniture in Bishop kindly donated an easy chair box, which we made into a fabulous brooder.  The chicks will be in the living room for the next few weeks, and we will gradually get them acclimated to the out of doors.

These chicks were hatched and packed on Wednesday, September 8.  We had one little girl who didn't make it along with one who appears to have a birth defect.  This chick has a leg that appears to be twisted the wrong way, and consequently she cannot stand.  She was nearly dead when the chicks arrived, as she was being trampled.  We have her separated from the others in the little box in the left of the photo.  We have been feeding her beef liver in the hope that the extra vitamins and protein will help to correct the problem.  Although the chick is doing much better today, we are not sure whether she will be able to survive or not, or whether she will figure out a way to get around.  In the meantime, she is getting most of the attention.  We have tentatively named her "Peanut".   

 

Our order included 10 Rhode Island Reds (great layers of brown eggs), 10 Easter Eggers (blue, green, and tinted eggs), five Dominiques (the oldest heritage breed developed in the U.S. - brown eggs), and five Speckled Sussex, a breed we have not yet tried.  The 28 healthy chicks are doing great and we plan to get them out to our clover and grass patch to get some greens and sunlight, weather permitting.

Got Clean Eggs?

Over the past few weeks we have been unable to keep up with the demand for eggs. So next week we expect a shipment of 30 baby chicks - 10 Rhode Island Reds, 10 Americaunas, 5 Speckled Sussex, and 5 Dominiques. We should be able to meet more of the demand come spring. In the meantime, I'll be posting pictures and providing updates here.

Read this article on the heightened demand for fresh, clean, humanely produced eggs:

http://wilton.patch.com/articles/local-farmers-scramble-to-meet-egg-demand-2

WELCOME TO THE GARDEN

Welcome to Goat Hollow (AKA Goat Holler’) Garden. The Henderson Family is pleased to present you with delicious and nutritious local produce grown with sweet water and on the rich soil of Bishop Creek in the shadow of the mighty Sierras. We have begun selling our produce at the Bishop Farmer’s market in the summer of 2010. We hope to expand our offerings in 2011!

Let’s Produce it Here!

Eastern Sierra residents pay a bundle for our food, and it is often substandard in quality. There is no reason for this! With abundant sun, good soil, and clean water, the Eastern Sierra has the potential to supply most food for residents as well as visitors to our beautiful area. We hope that our small garden , and others like it, can feed our growing locavore movement.

Our family is privileged to supply our friends and neighbors with the bounty of the land!