We are on a canning spree here on the urban homestead and it looks like it won’t let up anytime soon. Today we put up some tomato sauce and sweet pickle relish (pictures coming…. probably Sunday)
This week the peaches have ripen and peaches means jam and a few (er bunch) eaten raw. Covered in sticky [...]
Like I said, goats hate rain. They are sun- loving animals like most of our urban homestead critters. The other day, I twice caught Lady Fairlight napping in the sun and this is what transpired (hopefully this new photo sharing widget works for all those many browsers out there. Will be able to share photos [...]
Farmer D makes sure Blackberry doesn’t eat the harvest stats/chart
Here on the urban homestead we have our own version of Cookie Monster in a form of two adorable but somewhat stubborn goats.
This morning Farmer D was sitting in the garden tallying up the week’s harvest when Blackberry moseys on over and wants to nibble [...]
Q. I’m simultaneously designing and living in my moving-toward-sustainable homestead, which has a long way to go.
My question is, on your site you say that you let the goats out in the afternoon… and maybe other animals, too. That they enjoy the tender green treats that have been dropped on your mulched paths.
But how do [...]
Q. Thank you for your wonderful brochures. What you are doing inspires me
so much that I dug our first garden bed today and planted peas, and
kale! I have wanted to live a more simple, natural life for some time,
and have finally decided to just do it here and now. ( instead of
waiting until I can [...]
Q. I love reading your journal online, very inspirational! Anyways the link
and mention about goats was exciting to me. I wonder if you can have them
in the suburbs? We live near Portland, OR and we can have chickens but I
wonder about little goats. I wouldn’t see why not when someone nearby has
a rooster I hear [...]
Q. Keeping Animals in Town?
I’m really enjoying your website- it has been such an encouragement to me! We recently moved from a 5 acre farm in OK, complete with dairy goats, pigs, calf, chickens, and ducks to a urban neighborhood in CO. I was initially very frustrated to be so limited here, but I [...]
Q. Would it be a mistake to get just one Nigerian dwarf? We are considering such as a pet, with the idea of leading him daily to browse in our woods – lots of ivy!
Sylvia
A. There is no “mistake” in getting one goat. However, goats are “herd” animals and need companionship, so [...]
Q. Do goats and dogs get along?
A. To answer your question regarding pygmy goats and dogs. Dogs are the major killers of goats. In the country farmers have a terrible time protecting their herds from neighbors’ dogs or from roving bands of wild dogs. Often, they’d get a guard donkey or a guard llama to [...]
Q. I was pleased to see you’ve added some goats to the project. How do you keep them out of the garden?
Also, how do you keep the ducks from flying away?
Daniel
A. To address your questions:
First, about ducks … Our ducks cannot fly more than a few inches off the ground even if they [...]
Q. Sorry to bug you but I was wondering if you could tell me whether pygmy goats will eat citrus trees, landscape plants etc.? I would like to get some for my daughters and have an acre and am wondering if they can just roam around under the trees. Thanks.
Chris
A. Don’t worry about “bugging” [...]
Q. We are interested in getting goats, are they easy to find and how much do they cost?
A. There actually is a pretty good market for goats. I’m not sure where you live and whether that is true for your area, but for instance, it took me 6 months to find a female goat to [...]
Q. I just acquired two baby pygmy goats, I could use some assistance.
A. Anyhow, congrats on your new babies! I navigated to your blog and saw pictures of them. They are very cute. Nigerian/Pygmy crosses are very common and they produce some of the most adorable goats. Your goats definitely have the typical Pygmy Agouti [...]
Q. How tall will they get?
A. Pygmies generally range from 16″ – 22″ at the withers. However, our African Pygmy’s (“Blackberry”) mother was about 13″. Nigerian Dwarfs can range from 22 – 30″. The Nigerian dwarf (“Fairlight”) is estimated to be about 22″ at the shoulder.
Q.Will they give [...]
Q. What is the purpose of the goats, the turtle, the ducks, and Quinn (its a bird you have I just don’t know what it is called)? I saw that you feed them leftovers then compost their poop, but couldn’t you just compost the leftovers?
A. Our animals not only provide us with companionship, they are [...]
“Getting Along” Q&A with Jordanne
Jordanne’s answer to a reader about chickens and ducks getting along. Jordanne continually amazes us and others she meets with her immense knowledge of animals. She’s not the type to let on how much she knows but she feels that she should share her knowledge because as she says “I wish [...]
