Geek Acres

More horse photography

2009-02-28T05:37:00.000-08:00

I did a photoshoot for a local horse owner recently. Picture here is "Rusty" of Noblewood Farms. Rusty is a

5 year old, 15 hand, ABCR Registered Bashkir curly with Mead bloodlines. Rusty is the only leopard appaloosa ABCR stallion in North America, and the only appaloosa marked curly stallion to offer shipped semen.

I liked the indoor photos the best based on the lighting, but of course the people who know horses like the movement shots.

Butter churnin'

2009-02-28T05:25:00.001-08:00

Dazey Churn
Originally uploaded by duanekeys

The neighbors to the south of us raise Red Poll beef cattle and recently had a cow lose a calf during birth. They asked Jennifer if we could use the milk knowing that we're raising baby goats. Of course my ever enterprising and ambitious wife agreed. She's been helping to milk her for the past couple of weeks. Our fridge and freezer were getting pretty full of milk, as was the neighbor's.

One evening they pulled out the butter churn that belonged to their parents. They told us stories of passing the turn around the room to take turns churning. We hadn't the slightest idea what we were doing, so we hopped on the internet for some directions.

We did eventually get butter from this old churn, though it would have went much faster had we read some instructions first (letting the cream sit out until it's room temp is important).

We've made a couple batches at home using the blender, very effective and much easier on the wrists!

Lessons

2009-01-28T21:38:00.001-08:00

Jiminy
Originally uploaded by duanekeys

Pictured here is Jiminy and his twin sister (in the background) Cricket bouncing towards the camera. Baby goats are so cute when they're playing.

Sadly we lost Jiminy yesterday to what we believe was CDT. It was pretty traumatic for Jennifer and me. We were confident that we were doing everything right: vaccinating, controlling food intake, etc. We've been told we have to expect some losses even with vaccines and vigilant care, but that doesn't stop the guilt and "what ifs."

Brief polictal rant

2009-01-28T18:26:00.000-08:00

I couldn't help but respond to this blog post:

Well I said it, Obama, sounds like Osama, is now telling the Muslim world that we are not their enemy. Well I guess he has forgotten September 11, 2001, the USS Cole, the Kobi Towers, the attacks on US Embassy's in Africa, and the 93' bombing of the World Trade Center. In an AP article Obama used his first official address on a TV network to tell the Muslims we are their friends, he picked an Arab TV station to be his first public TV address as so called President. How American is that? Not very, he is the most un-American person besides Michael Moore that I can think of and he is suppose to the the President. Obama didn't want to talk about how his dad was a Muslim and the stupid liberals would get mad at anyone who mentioned that fact during the campain. You liberals get so mad and belligerent at anyone who disagrees with you, the first thing you liberals do is yell 'racist' when that has nothing to do with hating Obama's polices. Those polices I mean are trying to be friends with those who kill Americans, Just like Bill Clinton had a chance to take out Osama Bin Landen because he was with a Saudi Prince. Polices like sending American Tax Payers dollars overseas to provide abortions. I guess Obama is killing foreigners by using our money to pay for abortions in other countries, maybe if they used guns to kill un-born babies it would bother the liberals even more.

You can tell the writer of the AP article is biased, saying that George Bush "launched wars" in Iraq and Afghanistan, well how about this, we were attacked by Muslims, people who believe in killing those who they consider infidels, their religion is more important to them than their alliance to a country, that's why it doesn't matter what country they are a citizen of, they are a Muslim first, they attacked us first, we finally retaliated, something Bill Clinton should have done in 1993.

Oh, and one more thing, Obama's name always comes up as a misspelled word, it isn't even in the dictionary on MS Word or Firefox.

I commented on the post but thought I should use my own space for a rant:

Seriously?

The Muslim world isn't our enemy. Muslim extremists and intolerance are our enemy. There are good Muslims in the world just as there are bad Christians. There are Muslim Americans that love this country as much as you and I! Are they enemies of ours as well?

Is US Army Captain Humayun Khan your enemy? Captain Khan "lured a suicide car bomb away from the men in his charge, joining other Muslim soldiers in giving their life for a country that increasingly bases its opinion of Islam on the sensational and horrific beheading videos that have clogged the Net recently." (article)

Should we put Muslim Americans in internment camps? Surely history has taught us better.

Intolerance works both ways.

As for the man who is "supposed to be" our president...

Obama was elected within our system. He is our president and implying or stating otherwise is as bad as when people claimed Bush "stole" the election. Just as I told those folks then: get over it.

I've been republican all my life but I will support the president of our country, and as a matter of fact, I voted for him. I may not agree with all his policies, as I did not agree with all of Bush's, but that doesn't change the fact that our system has worked and we have again had a peaceful transfer of power.

And I sure hope you're joking about the MS Word and Firefox dictionary... I'm going to assume that was laced with sarcasm. As a matter of fact, I'll assume the entire post was sarcastic...

Ghost says cheese

2009-01-26T21:02:00.001-08:00

Ghost says cheese
Originally uploaded by duanekeys

I couldn't resist posting this one!

DIY Goat Feeder

2009-01-26T17:57:00.000-08:00

I built this nifty little hay feeder from plans on goatworld.com. I modified it slightly to include a roof that's hinged. It seems to work really well, and the goats only tip it over when it's empty, ha!

You can see Snowflake and Sampson along with their mother, Ghost in the background. Stocky little ones aren't they!?

Technorati tags: Geek Acres, farm, goat feeder

Bouncing Baby Goats

2009-01-26T16:23:00.000-08:00

Things have been crazy busy on the farm the last few months. Our journey into the world of goats continues on. Pictured here are some of our bouncing baby goat kids running towards Jennifer. They're just so dang adorable! Princess, Jiminy, Cricket, Bella, and Stella have a great time bouncing off over turned buckets and bales of straw. Soon our two newest arrivals, Bugsy and Gander, will be doing the same. I can't help but smile when I call "Baby goats!" and they all "baaaaa!" back in unison. Jennifer and I can actually pick out their individual voices!

We just finished up ice storm preparation, hopefully it's for nothing:

all water tanks are topped off
extra bedding has been applied to all three goat barns
all feeders are full of hay
some slight rearranging of kid warmers and heat lamps is complete
wood hauled in and fire going

Should we loose power I should be able pull the generator out of the garage (it was test started last weekend) up next to the well house and plug in the well and run a cord in to the house for the furnace blower, as well as plug in minimum necessary kid warmers in the barns.

I hope everyone fares well during mother nature's latest. How do you prepare?

Technorati tags: Geek Acres, farm, goats

Buh Bye Wild Blue

2009-01-22T19:22:00.000-08:00

I can hardly believe it, but I have DSL service now on the farm!

Overall, the WildBlue experience has been tolerable. It's better than dial-up, but that's not saying much! The latency and inconsistent performance was frustrating. Perhaps not having to wait on pages to load will encourage me to blog once again...

Hoops

2009-01-22T15:01:00.000-08:00

The greenhouse hoops are up. My
buddy Timmo came out last weekend with the welder... these hoops
aren't going anywhere. Next up is to build the ends and attach the
plastic. I considered straw bale construction but the learning curve
is probably too long for the time that I need to get the greenhouse up
and usable.

Any one have any tips? I think 2x4s treated will work for the ends to
hold a door, fans, and chimney...

Kids!

2008-12-09T07:16:00.000-08:00

Ghost had a buckling and a doe kid this morning.

SWMOBoer.com

2008-11-17T15:12:00.001-08:00

As previously mentioned a few local goat ranchers have gotten together to start swmoboer.com to combine marketing efforts. We're still adding content and getting the site set up, so check back often!

Kids!

2008-11-15T07:19:00.000-08:00

We don't have any of our own kids yet, nor are the they kind of kids people typically think of. Picture here is a baby goat of Carter Farms of Dadeville. Cute, eh?!
We've got the buck here now to breed our goats, which puts us "kidding out" sometime in April. Life has been busy lately with the construction of a new small goat barn, new pens for goats, and the partial closing in of our three-sided hay barn.
Jennifer had been struggling with a name for our farm, something to put on a business card when selling goats in the future. Her friend, Carol, came to visit recently. She's quite good a coming up with creative names. During her visit she watched Jennifer in the pasture with the flock of chickens, the herd of goats, and the horse all peacefully existing. She told Jennifer later it was very harmonious sight and the name Harmony Hill was born. I guess it's maybe a bit better than Geek Acres. In any case, the blog will remain Geek Acres, but for goat and other farm product marketing purposes it's Harmony Hill.
We have also teamed up with a couple other local goat ranches to combine our marketing efforts and we'll be launching a new website soon. Stay tuned for more information on that.

Technorati tags: Geek Acres, farm, boer goats

Lilly

2008-09-27T07:34:00.000-07:00

Jennifer picked up this goat along with three others on craigslist.
Her ear tag IDs her as number 42. Of course this number has special
meaning to geeks, especially those who went to school at Rolla.

Lilly, as we've come to call her, is my favorite goat. She's the most
affectionate of the herd and by far prefers to be petted than other
goat activities like eating.

We're up to 10 goats now and we're enjoying having them. Jennifer gets
to spend quite a bit of time with them so they trust her as their
shepard so to speak. The herd won't venture into any tall brush with out
her leading them in. They will typically follow me now as well.

New pad

2008-09-03T11:39:00.000-07:00

The greenhouse pad is taking shape!

Harvest

2008-08-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

I've not been posting updates on our garden like I hoped this year.
Tis lack of updates is mostly due to time constraints and the fact
that the produce is moving so quickly at farmer's markets. Pictured
Here some of what I collected last nhght.

Chicken Tunnel

2008-08-19T17:04:00.001-07:00

Herd
Originally uploaded by duanekeys

I made a tunnel of fence that connects the chicken enclosure to the rest of the pasture. Now our chickens have the full run of all our fenced-in pasture along with the goats and the horse! It's quite a sight to see when Jennifer walks in the pasture with a horse, goats, and chickens following along. I think the chickens are much happier now that they're "free range" of sorts. Pictured here some of the hens and goats are mingling out by the round-pen.

The chickens are good at finding the places to escape, showing me the weak spots in our fence, though they only usually escape one at a time and spend the rest of the time trying to figure out how to get back to the flock. Every few days or so I'll have to spend five minutes trying to catch a stressed hen to put her back with the flock.

I have had to change my morning chore routine a bit because of the chickens new freedom. I used to let the chickens out of the house first since they've been cooped up all night (pun unintended). But after the chickens learned the goats are fed a bit of grain in the morning the first thing they do is make a mad chicken-waddling dash to the goats for some of the goat's grain. It's a pretty funny scene to see 20+ chickens in an all out sprint, wings half spread and heads just bobbin' back and forth as fast as their legs will take them. Only one of the goats makes and effort to push the chickens out of their feed. The other two simply watch the chickens peck like mad. I've resorted to keeping the chickens locked up just a bit longer to give the goats a chance to have some breakfast.

Delta Smelta

2008-08-19T05:24:00.000-07:00

Delta Smelta
Originally uploaded by duanekeys

Jennifer is pictured here petting one of the newest residents of Geek Acres. Delta, or Delta Smelta as I like to call her, is one of the six Boer percentage goats calling our farm home. With all new two by four inch square fencing all around the farm the goats should be safe and secure.

There are lots of misconceptions about goats like that they'll eat anything or that they stink. These inaccuracies are mostly perpetuated by pop-culture and urban (or is it rural) myths. A goat that is not properly cared for (read: hungry) probably will eat anything, just to survive. Does do not stink, though a buck can. We'll only lease a buck long enough to breed our does.

We've really enjoyed having the goats. They've got great personalities and like a good scratching. Delta (Delta Smelta), Smokey (Smokely Dokely), Annie (Annie-mal) have been with us for about six weeks now. A couple weeks ago Jennifer acquired three new goats, Lola, Glitter, and Sparkle. They're currently in separate pastures but we'll combine the herds soon. Lola is nursing a leg injury at the moment and we don't want the bigger goats pushing her around.

Pyro

2008-07-06T12:53:00.001-07:00

IMG_3545
Originally uploaded by duanekeys

My buddy Lee, pictured here with his son, is a bit of a pyromaniac. Some people really get into Christmas others go all out on Halloween. Lee goes crazy for the fourth of July. He's pictured here next to his completely automated, fully wired, fourth of July trailer. I got some neat photos of his display in action in my photostream.

Storm damage

2008-06-19T15:20:00.000-07:00

This is one of three trees blown over in the Frisco building parking
lot at Chestnut and 65.

Driving with an Accent

2008-06-03T04:42:00.001-07:00

accent
Originally uploaded by duanekeys

Fueling the F-150 for the drive to work and back was becoming a significant expense, so as of Friday we parked the F-150 in the drive, relegated to pulling the trailer and other duties suited to the V8. When we bought the Truck in 2004 it was averaging nearly $0.10 a mile to drive. Today it runs over $0.25 a mile. With a 60 mile commute it was adding up fast.

In it's place we bought this little car, a 2002 Hyundai Accent, and I will be using it as my daily driver. It's a no frills base model with hail damage but she'll do the job!

It's a bit different driving when compared to the truck. The most obvious is the height and size difference. With my seat this low to the ground 55 mph seems quite fast, this psychologically helps offset the noticeable difference in power. The amenities and comfort level are different as well but for the savings I'll suffer through it.

In Bloom

2008-05-23T08:11:00.001-07:00

in bloom
Originally uploaded by duanekeys

This colorful medley of plants borders our driveway and front yard area. Jennifer was happy to see the Iris blooms this year as last year a late freeze had destroyed the fragile buds. Also pictured is a Knockout Rose (about center), Evening Primrose (the pink flower on the right), and Yarrow (the yellow flowers in the foreground). Also peeking out in the background are the purple flowers of the May Night variety of Salvia.

We began our Memorial Day weekend early this year. I have vacation time and know how to use it! I've taken Thursday and Friday of this week off and will be back in the office on Tuesday of next week.

Last weekend we hauled in 3 cubic yards of compost and quickly used it all up in the vegetable garden. Yesterday we used my dad's dump trailer and hauled in another 6 cubic yards. That ought to last my wife a couple more days! ;)

The vegetable garden is coming along nicely and Jennifer is having good success at the farmer's markets "in spite of herself," she says. I plan on taking some photos today. The heirloom and organic herbs are selling quite well and this weekend some unique varieties of lettuce and radish will be ready for market. Stop by the Willard Community Farmer's Market and pick some up this Saturday!

The rest of the weekend will be interspersed with fence building, irrigation system installation, hay hauling, outdoor grilling, lawn mowing, and some occasional relaxation.

Back Yard View

2008-05-04T18:36:00.001-07:00

back yard view
Originally uploaded by duanekeys

Jennifer's back yard creation is starting to come together. You can see a few of the raised beds she created in the back/side yard. She has just recently finished the Missouri Master Gardener's classes (way to go, honey!). Jennifer's a go-getter and has already put in all the required volunteer time for the year! One of her classmates scoffed at her suggestion of planting in raised beds consisting of nothing but compost. Behold the evidence presented here. Take a look at more photos of plants here.

So far this year we've had to scramble to protect all these plants (and more) from frost damage on three separate occasions. Hopefully we're done with that! (Audible sound of knocking on wood)

Look close at the photo and you can see Scarface the rooster, as well as Des our Percheron mare. Scarface is of course so-named for the Great Chicken Massacre of 2007, of which Scarface survived, sans one eye. We've been diligently closing the chicken door at night and have managed to keep the flock number steady. In fact our recent arrivals (25 new chicks) now call half of the chicken house home. I divided the house in half to let the little ones acclimate to the outside temperatures. We keep a heat lamp in one side in case they get cold. I haven't had a chance to get back to the hair-brained idea of an automated chicken door. I do still imagine it coming to fruition one day.

Hot/Cold/Green House

2008-05-04T18:26:00.001-07:00

mini greenhouse
Originally uploaded by duanekeys

I built this structure the other day... If you decide to build one, wait for the wind to die down to save yourself some frustration. I'm not sure if this is a hot-house, a cold-frame, or a mini green house. In any case it's supposed to somehow help all these little plants (you'll have to ask my wife).

To construct it I used 2x8's in fastened together in a simple rectangle. On one side I stapled weed fabric. For the hoops I attached 10' long half-inch CPVC. It was more flexible than regular half-inch PVC. We stretched plastic over the hoops and stapled through cardboard, through the plastic, and into the wooden frame. To keep the plastic from coming off the ends I used some alligator clips and rope to keep tension on the plastic from within.

First Market

2008-05-03T19:19:00.001-07:00

First Market
Originally uploaded by duanekeys

Jennifer and I loaded the explorer and headed to our first farmer's market (as a vendor). We were one of five vendors at the first Willard Community Farmer's Market. All in all we were pleased with the turn-out. The wind was blowing hard today, which made it a challenge but we'll be back next weekend with more and better plants!

Chicks

2008-04-07T17:15:00.000-07:00

chicks
Originally uploaded by duanekeys

Brown egg layers were selling for minimum of $15 a piece at the Bolivar Sale Barn a couple weekends ago. We want to ramp back up our egg production so instead of spending big money on bigger birds, Jennifer picked up some smaller birds for less from Estes Hatchery. We were down to six hens and a rooster after some predator attacks and giving some away.