People often ask what it’s like to run a small homestead. The answer? It’s a little bit like playing veterinary whack-a-mole. Just when you think you’ve solved one problem, three more appear. This week has definitely been one of those weeks. Buckling #1: Corneal Injury
We officially survived our first-ever goat show! Yesterday, we headed to the Northern Goat Classic in Bloomer, Wisconsin, with a trailer full of goats, an impressive amount of stuff, and absolutely no idea what we were doing. Thankfully, a few experienced friends helped us figure
If you’ve been hunting for quality large fowl Buff Ameraucanas and coming up empty – you’re not imagining it. They’re genuinely hard to find. Buff has been an APA-recognized Ameraucana variety since 1984, but serious large fowl Buff breeders are few and far between, and
Trigger warnings: Miscarriage, D&C, uterine scarring, infertility, fertility surgery If you’ve been following our Long Road posts, you know this journey has been… a lot. Years of trying, losses, procedures, and a rotating cast of doctors who kept telling us things were fine when they
We’ve been raising Mini Nubians, Oberhasli, and Guernseys long enough to feel like we have a handle on what kidding season looks like. This year reminded us that goats didn’t get that memo. Spring 2026 threw a lot at us – record rainfall, record mud,
I don’t even know where to start with this month. If you’re in northern Wisconsin, you’ve lived it. If you’re not – we’ve had round after round of rain since early April – rivers over their banks, broken dams, roads that have literally washed out,
If your chickens still aren’t laying eggs and it’s almost April, you’re (probably) not doing anything wrong. We’re seeing the same thing here in Mishicot, Wisconsin. Our Buckeyes and Pilgrim geese are already laying really well, while several of our other chicken breeds are still
After rescuing our little feral guy (Deuteronomy? Still working on names!) and adopting Jamie/Bartholomew last month, it quickly became obvious that we were probably headed toward a three-kitten household. Two cats can work beautifully, but there is something about a trio that often rounds out
If you had asked us a year ago whether we were planning to add llamas to the property, the honest answer would have been “probably eventually.” I’ve wanted them for years. Ken has been… less convinced. So how did we finally end up with llamas?
Back in December, we learned something new about my uterus that might explain the fertility struggles and miscarriages we’ve been dealing with since 2022. During a saline sonohysterogram (SIS), imaging suggested that I might have a uterine septum and possibly a T-shaped uterus. Neither of
When we first trapped our feral little lurker, the plan was simple: get him healthy, get him neutered, and once the Wisconsin weather breaks, see if we can convince him to live his best life as a high-functioning barn cat. He was a ghost, a
Our first kids of the season were born on Wednesday – DDB triplets! When we first bought Candy back, we brought her to the vet and confirmed pregnancy. The ultrasound showed twins, which is what we were fully expecting. Two. Manageable. Predictable. As she grew
How and why we built our goat and poultry care guides When we first started putting together our care notes, they were never meant to be public. They were for us – a giant, slightly unhinged data dump of everything we reference when we’re tired,
Life has been a little… a lot lately. The good kind of busy, the exhausting kind of busy, and the “how is it already Thursday?” kind of busy. Between work, animals, and everything that comes with running a farm alongside full-time jobs, we’ve been juggling
Living on a rural residential property in Mishicot, Wisconsin, we’re used to wildlife passing through. Deer, turkeys, opossums, raccoons, a coyote here and there – and cats. Most of the time, they keep their distance and move on. Last year, we noticed an adult cat
In December, we were hit with the news we’d been dreading: our fertility journey might be at an end unless we found a surrogate. The IVF provider we’d worked with for three years delivered that verdict – and then offered no real guidance, no next
Last week, we posted on Facebook asking whether anyone had some kefir grains to share. To our surprise, almost nobody knew what they were. The easiest way to think about milk kefir is this: it is like the sourdough starter of the dairy world. It
We try our best not to overshare personal issues on the farm blog… but here we are, blending cute critters with real life once again. For the past few years, we’ve been riding the emotional rollercoaster that is fertility treatment. This week, our doctor told
After months of prepping our bucks and teaser does, and despite a few kinks, we had a VERY successful collection with the help of a new friend who let us use her farm – and another who let us use her teaser doe when NONE
We have some VERY exciting plans for next season! Dr. Sarah Jane Owens has worked tirelessly with partners in the UK to be able to import new Royal Golden Guernsey semen to the US, for the first time in something like 18 years. Two bucks
She’s BACK! Sooo… we know we’re downsizing and all that, but one promise we make to our buyers is that we’ll do our best to help if they ever need to rehome goats we’ve sold them. We can’t always take them back, but Jess has
It seems like we only ever remember to post in here when we’re going through some sort of crisis, but things are mostly fine! We are very, very low on funds and have had to make some heart-wrenching herd cuts that we hadn’t expected yet,
On the day of our August milk test, our poor girl Pickles took a brutal headbutt to the udder. Her right half swelled up super badly and she produced about a teaspoon of milk. Any trauma can open the udder up to one of our
We’re chugging along through our busiest goat season to date, with not a ton of time for much else! We’ve been trying SO hard to schedule buck collection so that we can sell off some of our stinky guys and had finally found a couple
We had our first Linear Appraisal this Wednesday, and it was super informative! While prepping everyone, we learned that Ken is a master at clipping goats – he did it waaaay more evenly than Jess did! We haven’t taken decent pics of the girls yet