Wild Moon Cottage is a small working homestead in the pristine Ozark Mountains. We have dairy goats, poultry, organic herb and vegetable gardens, a start of a tiny fruit orchard, several black walnut trees, wild berries and fields of wildcrafting goodness. We raise our own milk, our own eggs, much of our own medicine and food. I do laundry by hand, make my own vinegar, candles, soap, bread, cheese ........ For a living I am an artist and herbalist. My goal for myself and our homestead is to be as self sufficient and self sustaining as possible.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

6.18.08

I'm very late getting here, aol malfunctioned this morning and I've spent the last hour and a half getting it back on. I had to reinstall it but I don't seem to have lost anything, so all is well :)

I got a far amount of weeding done this morning. We've been letting the chicks and ducks out each morning for about an hour to get them used to things. I work in the garden and throw any pulled weeds or grasses in for them when they go back up. If the Reds were a little bigger I would just leave them out for the day but better to wait and be safe.

I've wanted to get a small milk cow for years now. We were supposed to be able to buy this place but the guy changed his mind when it was to late for me to change mine. Then we were supposed to be able to buy another house with 3 acres but that guy just disappeared after working with him for a year.

Anyway, I've been thinking a lot about getting one anyway. We don't have much room but there's enough for one small cow tho we would have to buy hay and feed year round. The way things are tho .... she could provide dairy and meat *~* Dairy mainly tho.

A Dexter would be perfect but they're very expensive and money is a huge issue for me always. There's a Dexter place near Nixa and I may see if they have a young Dexter cross for not much money. It would certainly be an adventure but one that could feed us well eventually.

There are many times when I wish I had a mate, buying a cow and building a greenhouse are some of those times. I've had such terrible luck with men tho I'm not sure it's worth the chance. I have been considering it a lot more recently tho. Not just to help me work of course, that's just a little of it ....

1 comment:

Peggy said...

Juli, you didn't make me do any extra work on the water garden. I went to take a picture and got sidetracked. LOL by getting sidetracked I caused the dirty water. Why don't you get a dairy goat? Cheaper to feed and the milk is healthier and taste better. Makes great cheese, ice cream, butter, and yogurt too. Goats are alot more friendlier and loving. I had a dairy farm years ago and we milked 150 cows twice a day. They all had names and I loved them but all of their personalities together wouldn't match one goats.