Cape Breton Farm

Little Holly is doing much better, but it was a rough couple of weeks for her. Things began to turn when one sunny day, I brought her out of the stall to warm in the sunshine. Our Maremma sheepdog, Brigida would not stay away, although I kept trying to push her back. Finally, I just relaxed and let her come over. She immediately began to sniff and lick a recent wound on Holly's horn bud (given to her by another goat). From there, Brigida did not stop until she had licked Holly all over, and nuzzled her. When Holly tried to move away, Brigida grabbed her tail with her mouth and pulled her back. Though rather daunted by this "mothering", it seems it was exactly what Holly needed.

We had another such session later in the day, and since then, Holly has been far more confident and lively. Yeah for Brigida!

I'm experimenting with cold frames in the greenhouse, and plastic on the ground, to see just how early
 I can get planting in there. This is our first year with the greenhouse, and I'm truly hopeful that it will significantly extend our season. In the past, we have had frost in the first week in July, and again in the first week in September. That leaves 6-7 weeks for growing anything that requires warmth. I'm learning about four season gardening, and am very excited to try some of the techniques.

The food from the local stores is appalling and far too expensive. I am determined to grow whatever I can on our farm. It is as much about quality as price. We have raised our own meat and chicken for the past few years. By chance we had a store bought trurkey in the freezer that I cooked up recently. we could not believe how inferior it tasted to our own. We could barely eat it. It was dry and bland and tough. It really highlighted for us how vastly superiour our own food is.