Crop Mob Atlanta!!

     Wow!  We had been looking forward to a visit from Crop Mob Atlanta, a group of folks who come together for a day and get their farm on, doing whatever needs doing.  We had scheduled a visit last Saturday, but that weekend was frigid, so we rescheduled for yesterday, February 18.  The nicest, most hardworking bunch of folks rolled up, and moved Decimal Place Farm forward on so many fronts.  One group of folks planted blueberry, blackberry and raspberry bushes, while other folks planted pear and paw-paw.  Another group of really dedicated folks extracted the last remains of an old shed from the ground, pulling ancient t-posts out of ground that was still pretty hard.  Other folks tackled the thankless task of beating back the bamboo growing alongside the driveway.  Then there were folks in the north pasture collecting rocks from the freshly tilled strips, and then overseeding with forage and cover crops.  Then these folks helped Mary string some fresh wire and they put a line of fenceposts in the ground, which will eventually allow us to better manage grazing there.  Then the volunteer caterer showed up and served a very nice lunch, including a great salad and a truly tasty veggie pizza.
     We hustled all morning just keeping up with these folks.  Yes, the early arrivers got a chance to milk, and the does were very tolerant of all the strangers in the dairy parlor.  There was a bit of a tour of the cheese parlor, answering lots of questions.  And there was time to talk, about what we are doing, and about what they are up to.  We really felt the power of community--the amazing things that people can accomplish when they come together.  It also has to make you think about how sad it is when we are denied that power--when we all live isolated lives, each of us tackling life's challenges all by ourselves.  Yes, of course you can, and sometimes you must, but how much higher can we aim, and how much more can we accomplish, when we enable the power of community.
     Crop Mob Atlanta really made an impact on Decimal Place Farm.  We are officially giant fans, and wish these folks all the best.  We hope that they were enriched in some similar measure by their visit to Decimal Place Farm.

New Year's Eve 2011

     An amazing 2011 comes to a close, and a promising new year opens.  The sunny, mild weather here is wonderful, even if it isn't of the season.  It's been a wet December, thank goodness, but just now it's almost shirtsleeve weather in the sunshine, even if the breeze is cool.  We were out in the garden this afternoon, lifting a volunteer turnip out of the rich black soil.  This old fellow carried a whole bush of beautiful greens, that will go with a pot of black-eved peas for our New Year's dinner.  Stress relief, food with no question marks, and volunteer turnips--you find all kinds of things in your own garden.
     An amazing year.  Starting with just a dream 15 years ago, Mary built up a great Saanen herd and then steered through the maze of regulations to get the dairy plant up an running.  Finally she got the kinks worked out and all the paperwork filed, and Decimal Place Farm joined the ranks of Georgia's certified commercial goat dairies.  We agree with Josh Levs: "determined people who chase the 'impossible' can prove the naysayers wrong and bring change beyond what nearly everyone imagined."  We had quite a celebration when Mary's dill cheddar earned a first place in its class in the commercial division of a national cheese competition.
     The response has just been terrific.  People know great cheese when they taste it.  It's been fun sharing those "oo-oo-ooh" moments with folks at farmer's markets in Buckhead, East Atlanta and Grant Park.  (Remember, when it's not farmer's market season, you can still find Decimal Place Farm cheese at Rainbow Natural Foods at Clairmont and North Decatur.)  We've also been gratified with the response from our friends in the restaurant community--Miller Union, Farmburger, Murphy's, and other spots . . . we're proud that our product is part of the exceptional experiences that they deliver.
     Now we are looking forward to the new year.  Kidding season approaches.  Does are "smuggling watermelons," but they aren't grunting yet.  When you hear that "unh unh unh" as they relax in the barn, then you know it's time to spruce up the birthing stalls and check the supplies.  Kidding season can bring some tense moments, for sure, but it also brings you in touch with the magic of our natural world.  And then there are the new kids--slipping between the fence panels, and dancing and twirling for the fun of it.
     We're hoping for a new cycle outside the barn, too.  Many of our visitors this spring saw (or at least heard) the owl mother and fledgling that took up residence in a hollow high up in a tree just beside the barn.  Well, there's someone out in the night who is making "owl noises" but who doesn't quite have the tune down.  Maybe we will be favored again this year.  We and the goats will look forward to spring in the pastures.  We'll keep an eye out together for new shoots of privet and kudzu (yummy!) and for new green grass.
     May you all be blessed in 2012.  May you find yourself out in the garden, or out in the woods, more often than you expected.  We will look for you in the spring, when farmer's market season opens once again.

Green and Grade A!!!

     The seasons have changed, indeed.  No, don't put your tomato plants out yet--there's another cold night or two still to come.  But it's Spring!  Just a hint last week and for-sure-certain this week.  The grass is already lush in the pastures.  The loafing goats look comfortable and satisfied lying in the sun on a green cushion.  We imagine them telling each other, "Now this is what I remember!"
     And speaking of green, Decimal Place got the green light from the state Department of Agriculture--we're Grade A again, once more legal to sell cheese in Georgia.  The word is spreading fast, and dibs are being called on major quantities of cheese-to-be.  Fortunately, almost all of the does have kidded, so we have a good supply of milk for cheese-making.
     Mary didn't take the big prize at the Flavor of Georgia competition in downtown Atlanta, a couple weeks back, but a bunch of folks were able to sample her cheese, and tasting is believing.  Following up that event with the news that Decimal Place is Grade A again, plus the springtime weather this week . . . the farm is just buzzing.
     I said, hold off on the tomatoes, but Mary and crew have been busy enough in the garden.  Last fall's onions and cabbages arev looking great.  Now the other beds have been turned over, and we have spinach and more planted.  Playing in the dirt makes Mary very happy.

Breath of Spring

Outside my window (where I wish I was) it's 60 degrees Fahrepeepers in teh creek nheit.  The goats, including a swarm of little kids, are basking in the sunshine, after months of huddling against the cold.  Yesterday most of the kids collected on a fallen tree, and it looked like the tree had sprouted a coat of fuzzy white moss.  The peepers in the creekbanks are singing, and they'll keep it up until late into the night.  In recent days, we have watched flocks of sandhill cranes in their long V formations pumping their way northward.  The pasture grass isn't green yet, but our wishes find slight tints here and there.  With all the rain we've had, we know the plant life is just waiting to explode, once Winter finally gives it up.
And the dairy itself has received its share of hopeful signs.  The 2010 Flavor of Georgia food product competition chose Decimal Place Feta as a finalist in the dairy category.  Mary will be at the Freight Depot in downtown Atlanta on Mar. 15-16, competing for the top prize in the category and overall.
Tomorrow, the state inspectors come back to Decimal Place to take samples and hopefully get us back on the way to Grade A certification.  Mary's been working with agricultural researchers at UGa, enriching her understanding of the problems, and broadening her sense of alternatives.
All around the farm, it feels like Spring.  We know that Winter can still return--and there probably will be chilly snaps heer and there--but we're looking forward to a season of renewal.

December at Decimal Place

As I write this, we are past the solstice and just days ahead of Christmas. One by one, the does get themselves in tune with the season, working less on producing milk and more on preparing for kids, though the first births of Spring are still two months away. So milk and cheese are a bit more scarce this time of year, but that seems to be what Nature intends.
All the stock make their accommodations to the cold and the rain. Mary is putting up more wind baffles, to make the barn less drafty. The goats snug down into the wood shavings, often settling down together in family groups . . .

or in "extended family" groups.

No, none of the does really want to hop up on a frosty morning for milking. They take their time, and wait to see if Mary is really serious and ready to go, before they stand and stretch. But of course, once there are does on the move, it's a race into the dairy parlor, same as always.
Not so long ago, 2009 was being marked as Atlanta's seventh wettest year since record-keeping began. Today at the feed store, I heard that 2009 is now second wettest. And now we are getting chores done and supplies in ahead of another heavy rain, so 2009 could take the record. We know farmers who have lost nearly everything. We've been blessed, with the creek staying in its banks, and nothing worse to contend with than a sea of mud in front of the barn. The goats don't like that, either. We try to be extra-diligent in keeping the water troughs and buckets inside the barn filled, and we go through more alfalfa hay on those days when the goats can't go out. And Mary makes a note of which does do venture out for a bite of pasture grass—she wants to be fair when doling out points toward the Good Grazer Award.
With the holidays, it seems that we have had one gathering after another here at Decimal Place Farm. Family and friends gathered here for a bountiful Thanksgiving dinner. The Georgia Dairy Goat Breeders Association came for their Christmas meeting/party. In between those two, there were just too many events to count. Mary's sister Stephanie came down for the weekend and shared her catering magic with the breeders group and a party of foodies, and thank goodness she did. Usually, a visit to the farm means a stroll around; though with the immoderate rain sometimes all you can do is sit around the heater and drink tea with your friends. Not that that's a bad thing.
We hope that you are also blessed this holiday season. We hope that you find the time to share a warm cup with friends. While we all look forward expectantly to Spring, it is important to stop and feel Winter in the air, and to experience the joys of this special time.

Fall at Decimal Place

Where we sit just south of Atlanta, fall means cool nights and mild days. The leaves are still turning here, and the grass is still green, making for a happy herd of goats. The fall of acorns from the spreading oaks makes the goats even happier. Some people say that acorns are harmful to goats, but our animals relish acorns as a seasonal treat.

Mother Nature has more than made up for the years of drought in these parts, with one of the rainiest falls on record. Some farmers in the metro area have suffered serious flooding damage, and our prayers are with them. But good luck and good planning have spared us significant damage. Mary has been working since we became responsible for this land to slow the movement of water across the land and to control erosion in the creek, using truckloads of otherwise-unwanted woodchips and whatever stone became available.

The spiders have packed it in for another year. In the warmth of summer, the spiders own the barn, but by the first cool weeks they have placed their egg cases and slipped away. Speaking of insects, we didn't see the praying mantises this year. We only see them in the very height of August's heat, but the years of drought may have set them back. We can only hope that this year's rains will help them to recover. By contrast, the fireflies did come back. Last year there were almost none, but this year they were twinkling under the trees at night, once again making it possible to believe in faeries. It wasn't the riot of lights from former years, but it was lovely and a promise of much more to come next year.

This is a quiet time in the barn. Cooler weather naturally inclines the does toward breeding, and so we can expect a wave of kids in early spring. But until then, it's just a matter of keeping the does well-fed, healthy and safe. We've been good at that for a long time.

But in the dairy parlor, there is all kinds of action. Mary has been at this long enough that people come to expect something special from her around Christmas. For some people, Mary's fresh chevre has become a fixture in their holiday plans, whether "plain" (a word that doesn't do the product justice) or flavored (basil pesto, garlic & dill, lavender & fennel, ash-coated, and dessert favorite amaretto & mandarin orange). Mary is also still making her fresh feta and tuma (mozzarella style) cheeses. Mary's cheddar-making has really come on. The fresh cheddar is terrific and the aged cheddar is a whole new experience. Even the brie is turning out more predictably, delivering the not-quite liquid texture and natural sweetness you'd expect when you open the mold-covered rind.

Fall is also the time for festivals and competitions, which kept Mary pretty busy the last two months. But there's plenty of good news and congratulations to go around. Mary's cheese took 3 prizes at the American Dairy Goat Association cheese competition, in Buffalo. Just getting the samples to the competition was a challenge. But the efforts paid off—Mary's cheddar took a first place, while her tuma and feta each took a second. This is Mary's second year competing, and her second time bringing home an armful of prizes.

Decimal Place also had good luck at the Georgia National Fair in Perry. Most of our does are American Saanen by breed, but we have a few who are classified as "recorded grade" or mixed breed. One of our recorded grade does won best in breed for that class, and other does won their classes or placed well. Our daughter also won her class in showmanship, demonstrating her knowledge of goats and her ability to work with an animal in the show ring.

. . .

a new day

Hello, folks. I am a farmhand on Decimal Place, and have taken it upon myself to record the farm happenings, so that all of you wonderful people out there who love the milk and cheese can see some of the things--whether big or small--that go into maintaining a working dairy farm.

There will be much more on this later...