Busy and Blessed

It's almost August and things are still hopping on the homestead. We have had a wonderful first month at the Lincoln County Farmer's Market. Everyone has been extremely welcoming to us and we've been very successful each Saturday that we've been there. Even though we are in the midst of the summer season, we have already begun planting produce for the fall. I've had lots of fun looking at different varieties of things that we can try to grow.

We've brought 7 new chickens to the farm (3 Australorps, 2 Rhode Island Reds, a French Black Copper Maran, and a Black Jersey Giant). We are looking forward to the additional eggs that they will provide for us. Our four pigs are growing and getting fatter each day. They are enjoying our fresh produce also! They are so funny to watch and so very smart! If they hear us coming, there is a good chance we have something for them to eat and boy do they come running as fast as they can. We are hoping to be able to sell our pork at the farmers market this Fall. We are also doing some research into the possibility of adding free range meat chickens to our farm and then selling those at the market as well.

Our produce has done so well and we've taken care of sharing that with the community, but we've saved some for us too. We've put up bell peppers, corn, and tomatoes for this coming winter so we can have fresh, healthy veggies on those cold winter days.

Before I leave you for today, I want to assure you that it's not all work and no play at our place. We were able to take a few days and head for the mountains of North Carolina and cool off for a pit. We had beautiful weather and the kids enjoyed catching crawdads in the creek.....which were quickly used for fishing purposes. :)

We hope everyone is enjoying their summer and being safe. Hopefully your own gardens have provided you with lots of goodies for your own families enjoyment.

Until next time,
Audra

Non-Stop Activity On The Homestead

What can I say? I've been slack about blogging but there is no slack happening on the farm. We have been busy busy busy. Cocoa and Mandy, our Nigerian Dwarf does, each had a set of twins in April. 3 boys and a girl. We have retained the female and named her Trixie. One of our boys went to a buyer in Charlotte, another went to a buyer just across the state line in South Carolina, and our third made a long trip to his new home in Florida. We are able to keep up with the two in South Carolina and Florida via Facebook and they are as happy as can be with their new families. Both will be herd sires when it is time to breed them. I'm so happy that we were able to find good homes for all three of these gorgeous boys! So since we moved 3 out, of course that means we had room to bring some in. :) We are happy to announce the additions of "Tillie" and "Opal".
Tillie is from FLG Farms in Taylorsville, NC. She was owned by my goat soap guru friend, Lee Ann Ferguson. She will be a year old in July and is the sweetest, most loving little girl.

Opal is from Past Ur Time Farm in Rutherford, NC. She is naturally polled and blue eyed so we are very excited to add those awesome genetics to our heard. Opal is still a baby, so we won't be breeding her until the Fall of 2015. She is a very vocal little girl and makes sure everyone around knows when she wants attention. We love her to death already!

It's pickin' time on Ellis Farms! So of course, evenings and weekends are spent in the field gathering what we are blessed to have sown this spring. We planted a total of 3500 veggies of various varieties and things are hoppin'.

I'm very proud of how beautiful our produce has turned out so far. We are set to make our first appearance at the Lincoln County Farmer's Market this coming weekend and we are also working with Devine Farms in Catawba County in a farm share opportunity to sell our produce at their farm stand. We also added four feeder piglets to the mix. We plan on raising them for meat for the family and possibly using one as a breed sow. Things are coming together and it is alot of work. We are still learning as we go, but we are enjoying it.

Til next time,
The Ellis'

Babies, Plants, and Everything In Between

It's been a crazy busy time at Ellis Farms in recent weeks (hence the reason I have not updated the blog in forever). Our new website has launched and we've had wonderful response. You can find it HERE. Plants in the greenhouse are popping everywhere and we are busy moving them to the ground. We can't wait to see what comes of the many varieties that we are adding to our lineup this year.

Last week, we also had some new additions come to the farm. Our goat babies are finally here! Mandy kidded with a gorgeous set of black and white twins (a doeling and a buckling) that we named Trixie and Domino. Trixie will be retained on the farm and Domino is available for sale after weaning the first week of June. Domino is naturally polled.

Cocoa, our registered dairy goat, also kidded with twin bucklings. We have named them Java and Butterscotch. They will also be available for sale the first week in June. Butterscotch is naturally polled and blue-eyed.

We have had the best time this past week watching these four navigate their new world. They are running, jumping, and playing all over the place!

Our next additions will be four piglets in May that we will be raising for meat for our own personal use. I'm doing lots of research and reading to plan. Pictures of the pig homestead will be posted soon.

Hopefully you all are planning and prepping your own gardens and enjoying what pleasures come from that. It's been a blessing to us for sure. We enjoy spending that time together as a family creating food that is healthy for our family.

Til next time,
The Ellis'