We have been so fortunate this year here in North Carolina. The weather, for ONCE, has been relatively kind to our animals and to us. Granted, it wasn't hot enough for my tomatoes to do much (and don't even get me started on my failed crop of green beans) but the mild temperatures has made it easier on the health of our goats, rabbits, chickens, and turkeys. The rain has been fallen in reasonable amounts to keep the pastures green but not create superfluous mud puddles - which means that our goat's hooves have been in excellent shape this year (especially when compared to last year's problems that resulted in chasing goats around to soak hooves in Koppertox). And so now, here we are in the month of August with the temperature averaging at about 85 degrees in the afternoon. Will is warm up to the triple digits we were expecting, maybe? But, the reality is that we are probably going to slide quickly into a cool fall and with that we start to prepare for those other issues with weather that can complicate goat health. 

So here is my proclamation -  I'm a WORM-A-PHOBE. I don't like them in my goats, I do not like them in my chickens, I do not like them in my rabbits, dogs, or cats. I do not like them Sam-I-AM! Coming to understand effective worm management sort of reminds me of obtaining my graduate degree. I like learning about worms, antihelminthics, FECRT, BSCI, assays, etc just about as much as I enjoyed nearly failing bio-statistics (read as NOT enjoyable for me). However, I have come to realize that ignorance, in this case, is not bliss. In this case, when it comes to our goats, ignorance can be deadly. Over- or under-use of worming medications can create more problems, long term, for both the health of a herd AND for the efficacy of the worming medication. I'm not going to get too much on the soap box here - that's not my goal. My goal is to invite new goat farmers to gain new information that may help them feel more empowered and less frustrated. So, thanks to my friend and extremely knowledgeable goat mentor, Ken Brown, DVM - I'm posting a very helpful, scientific data link (done for those like me who do not want to learn a new scientific language) that will help walk my fellow goat friends through the various ways of understanding and controlling those little worm buggers. 

American Consortium for small ruminant parasite control 
Many great articles and free powerpoint slide shows to help get the basics.
http://www.acsrpc.org/index.html

By the way - I mentioned my friend, Ken Brown, DVM. I'd just like to take a short paragraph to tell you about this incredible advocate for goat health. Ken Brown went back to college to become a veterinarian later in life. He served our country prior to becoming a veterinarian and now, serves the needs of many of my favorite types of quadrupeds! Dr. Brown's mission is to continue the development a mobile practice that serves the needs of the rural areas in Florida. He has formed a non-profit organization to do so, but is in need of support. So, many may wonder  - why support someone in another state who may never actually lay hands on my animals? It's a good question. The answer is - because Dr. Brown is an active resource on Facebook and he welcomes calls and texts from those, like myself, that have sometimes found ourselves without an ally in an emergency situation. Dr. Brown has helped me, by phone, save 2 of my goats who developed sudden fevers and lethargy. I am his biggest fan.

So...the point of this paragraph - Dr. Brown has set up a  "GOFUNDME" campaign. Even if you can contribute $5.00 to his mission, please PLEASE do so? Thank you!

So... Help a vet help animals. And goats.
http://www.gofundme.com/awrn7w

'Tis the season of Farmer's Markets and Festivals! We have had so much fun bringing our soap and lotions out the masses! There is nothing more rewarding than meeting new customers and seeing our repeat customers! 

The summer temperatures have been so pleasant. The animals are all thriving. Currently, our animal inventory includes 21 Nigerian Dwarf goats, 19 rabbits, 32 chickens, 4 turkeys, 3 dogs, 2 cats, and a spotted leopard gecko lizard. Feeding time is always labor intense.

We are excited to have our products at The Green Sheep in Hickory, Devine Farms in Newton, Buffalo Creek Creamery in Germanton, and Good Food Grower's Market in Kernersville. We are set up in Taylorsville, NC at the Saturday morning Farmer's Market in the old hospital parking lot (HWY 16 just past Walmart) from 8-12 almost every week. Come see us! We are busy trying to keep the website as up to date as possible! 

Our next major festival will be in September. We are currently debating which event we will be at but we will post our announcement soon. 

We currently have 2 goats for sale, one doe and one buck. See our sales page for pictures. We are downsizing our rabbitry and would love to rehome at least half of our stock. For questions and pricing, please email us at [email protected]. We are expecting babies in October. FLG Farms La Luna Creciente is getting PLUMP so we hope that she and Oakmoon FLG Drift had a successful date and that she's not just fat! Dahlia was also bred for the same date but she's been tough to get bred and we don't think she took this time either. She has yet to have her first freshening and we are starting to feel a weeeeeeeeeee bit impatient.

I will try to get another blog up here soon! New addition to the website made today includes an update to our soap and lotions and the inclusion of our stud service agreement memo. 

Happy days to you and yours! Thank you for reading!

Yes...yes we have been completely BAD about updating our blog. Life gets busy! However - I thought I'd share some of our new babies with you! Meet (from left to right) Hershey's new babies: Katydid, SnickerDoodle, and Hiccup. Two does and one buck that joined us early EARLY Sunday morning, March the 16th. Hiccup is tiny but hanging in there, getting strong every day. His sisters are active and so much fun!

In December, we got to meet Bellatryx (pictured lower left with mom Bonnet) who is just a dream baby. She is sweet and curious and will let me love all over her. I see her being as great of a milker as her mom!  

We have suffered TOO many chicken losses to predators here and decided to finally add a Livestock Guardian Dog. "Winter" came to us from Buttermilk Acres in Trade, Tennessee. She is the BIGGEST puppy I think we've ever seen, let alone adopted but she is incredibly sweet and very smart. She is learning her job quickly.

In February, we welcomed Tudor Rose's first freshening and a sweet little girl we named Tatyana (Tatters for short). The winter has been LONG and Mother Nature needs some serious mood stabilizers but we are eager for spring to begin. We have some wonderful things planned for this year. Sadly, Old Man Winter took one of our beehives out. The one beehive we have remaining is struggling. It may be a project we put on hold until 2015. We've been adding to our orchard and now have 8 apple trees, 16 blueberries, 12 raspberries and 3 fig trees. It's my hope that we'll be generating lots of pollen which may help new bees forage a bit closer to home when we do rebuild the hives.

The soap business is amazing, fulfilling, and a lot of work! I'm excited to see new stores interested in our products! Tomorrow, Saturday, I will be dropping off a new order to a wonderful organic farm store that just opened outside of Kernersville. Check out Good Food Growers Market on facebook! We've loaded up Buffalo Creek Farm & Creamery in Germanton, NC with lots of soaps as well! By the way - BEST Dates & Honey Chevre EVER. 

Thursday - December 12, 2013 - something is WRONG with Prissy Polly. She is standing by herself at feeding time and she is shivering. It's chilly out (45 degrees) but noone else is shivering. Out comes my trusted thermometer and Polly's temperature is 99.6 degrees. Sooooooo, I've heard nothing good comes to goats when there core temperatures go below 100 degrees. ODD. FAMACHA check -she's pinkish, not too red not too pale. CRAP...what's going on here. Joanna Wilcox has mentioned something called Meningeal Worm (and me in my optimistic protective coating of denial) has hoped she was just overthinking things because THAT sounded really awful to me.

Polly goes into the kidding barn to be near the heat lamps. She's moving ok and she seems just simply irritated for me to be even poking her in undignified places. I apologize, get her settled and carry on with nightly chores. 

The next day - Polly looks to be about the same but she's got a weird stiff gate in her back legs. I put her up on a goat house to check her temperature. She's at 100 degrees today (slight cheer of success from me at this point) but then, she gets out of my grasp and jumps off the surface. It was then I realized something was very wrong with Polly as her back legs collapsed underneath her and she struggled to get them to straighten them out. CRAP...this can't be good.  Joanna Wilcox, a great friend and fellow goat enthusiast, had mentioned "MENINGEAL WORM" to me during a trek to see Apple Hill Farm today. That sounded a bit to scary for me to contemplate at the time. Another night in the goat barn - cydectin wormer in, probios in, and some serious finger crossing that this is all just my imagination. 

WRONG.

Saturday morning, December 14. Polly pulls herself out of the kidding barn with only her front legs working. She is dragging her back legs under her. CRAP. Off to the vet's house we go (on a very rainy, cold morning to boot). Vet is puzzled. I am freaked out (and yes, there are tears when I'm freaked out). Polly is wheezing with raspy breath sounds. Pneumonia? Sure...why not. Fecal check - YES, let's add some strongyle type worms on top of it all. Great - so now we have a salad bowl of symptoms with no clear idea. Is it Polio? Is it Listeriosis? Is it a spinal injury with pneumonia plus worms. UGH. Is it this meningeal worm??

Thiamine....check
Vitamin B complex...check
Dexamethasone (steroid)...check
Nuflor Gold....check
Exede...check
Ivomec Plus...check
Fenbendazole...check
Probios.....check
One pissed off goat...ohhhhhhh yeah you betcha.

That night...more dexamethosone. I'm pretty sure, at this point, my goat feels like a voodoo doll.

Longest blog ever...but as I've been a bit busy with high maintenance Prissy Polly I have a lot to catch my readers  up on!  Ok...where was I....oh right, busy pumping the goat FULL of anything and everything to try and get her back up. and sooooooooo one long night of Polly on our sunporch in a crate with a heater keeping her comfy and the next morning we find Polly able to support some weight on her hind legs but not so great.

AM Ritual: Repeat
Thiamine....check
Vitamin B complex...check
Dexamethasone (steroiod)...check
Fenbendazole...check
Eating, yes...peeing, yes....pooping, oh yes - mostly all over us when we are doing physical therapy with her.

No real change throughout the day - Polly continues to be able to stand but doesn't really want to without some help.

Dexamethasone that night before bed

AND THEN...Monday, December 16 - here she is and we are DELIGHTED. We let her go wander all day after (of course) the AM ritual:Thiamine....check
Vitamin B complex...check
Dexamethasone (steroiod)...check
Nuflor Gold....check second dose
Fenbendazole...check
Probios.....check

She had a great day wandering out everywhere - very few falls and we feel on top of cloud nine. She's going to be FINE.  RIGHT??!

First - THANK YOU to anyone and everyone who has purchased our soaps. We have received such incredible feedback and simply put, it just keeps me wanting to make more soaps!  This past month we rolled out a number of new products including our beer soaps, our lip balms, and our body butters. FUN! See our FLG Bath & Body Products website to see all of the soaps off the curing wrap and ready for purchase!

May I help you??? This truly has been the theme over the summer with the incredible response to our FLG Farms soaps. WHAT A THRILL to be able to create a product we love and THEN find out that others love the soaps as much as we do. This summer has been kinda crazy working out the details and goals for the future of our soaping business but we sure don't mind and we love that our soaps have now been shipped to Minnesota, Arkansas, Illinois, Florida, and Michigan! Our store here on the website is now up and running and our soaps are ready to be sent anywhere in the US!  We are also SO PLEASED to be in partnership with THE GREEN SHEEP SHOP in Hickory, North Carolina! What a great eco-friendly store with amazing natural parenting supplies AND Blue Ridge Woodworkings beautifully made pieces. Go check them out!

We are also now in partnership with THREE FORKS CAKES who uses our free-range chickens' eggs in their AMAZING cakes. All in all, the summer has brought us many things for which we are grateful.

On another note - the goats are doing great. We've had a lot of changes in our herd over the summer. Having had a SEVERELY buck heavy kid year this year - we had to move some out. Goodbye to Diego, Capone, Buckshot, Stratus and Cirrus. Mortimer will go to Avynat Farms in December and in his place, we welcomed in Chocolate Kiss who reminds me of a dalmation and is just as sweet as a little puppy.  We also acquired some new doelings from Pinnacle Hills Goat Farm (Mary Colman and her husband are the NICEST people) and got to see how another wondeful soap maker works her craft while we were there! 

Yes...we've had some downers this summer as well. Dacia broke her leg - I mean REALLY broke her leg. All the bones in the lower part of her right leg were shattered. What a lesson we have learned about Houdini goats who slip under fences, climb up on barbecue grills and then get their foot caught in the BBQ's lid handle on her way down. Who would have ever guessed...but all is well. 3 weeks in her cast and a follow up xray reveals that her bones have healed. 

The rain has been NONSTOP. Goat maintenance has been constant and at times, a bit exhausting. The pastures haven't been dry for more than a day and it is one big squishy mudpit. At the same time, our barn has been on the final days of construction so we have had no choice but to leave the goats in the current wet soggy swamp of a pasture. Feet trimming and koppertox treatments for unhappy hoofs has been a constant around here. We are thrilled that our garden did so well...but what makes you happy makes you sad I suppose! Happy for the produce, sad for goat feet. I think we will make it out of summer intact and WAY SMARTER than we were prior!

My goal for the fall is to continue to pump out creative soaps for the upcoming season and to write a blog MORE than once every 4 months! Thanks for reading and please be sure to LIKE US on FACEBOOK!

What a few weeks we have had!
As you can tell, the website has a new look. We needed to "spring" things up a bit! So, here's a brief recap (ha! Like I'm capable of being brief) of the last few weeks:
1) Both Danica AND Carmel finally delievered the "goods". We have FIVE baby goats kicking, squealing, and bolting around the backyard. FOUR BOYS and ONE GIRL. Danica had triplets, Carmel had twins. They are now on the our Nigerian Dwarf Herd page and our facebook page is filled to the brim with baby pictures. They are FUN, the are HEALTHY, and the mom's are doing a great job.
2) We are a foster home! Eggbert and Tooters joined us temporarily from Five Points Farm North. We are happy to have them and as you can tell be the picture above, Tooter has found a friend in Audrey!
3) In approximately 6 weeks, we have had 35 baby New Zealand/California babies born. Actually, we had quite a bit more than that born but as I've mentioned before - baby rabbits and bad moms do not mix. We are weaning them and hope to have them posted for sale very shortly.
4) Our soap business has taken off! 56 bars of soap sold in one week with customers coming back wanting more! So, we've worked to make it happen and there is now a new link on our website called the FLG Farm Store. Here's where soap can be purchased, by the bar or in multiples for a discount. I can make local deliveries and also ship! Direct link is: http://flgfarms.com/flg-farm-store.html

We are going to keep a few of our basic but awesome recipes throughout the year (Nurture Your Nuzzler Facial Soap, Oats, Milk & Honey Emollient soap, Simplicity soap, and the Café Latte Soap will remain on the menu. Seasonal soaps will be added! We currently have (FOR SALE ON THE SITE yeahhhhhhh!!!) our Cocoa Mint Kiss Goat's Milk Soap. On the curing rack are mint soap, choco-nilla soap, an improved version of our CocoBanaNut soap, our bug-b-gone dog soap (shaped in dog bones and paw prints but humans can use fido's soap too!), and yes, Nurture your Nuzzler will be ready in about a week's time! This weekend: Lemon Poppyseed Loaf soap and Lavender Rain soap!
5) We have a new farm logo that will be making an appearance on our farm store and when we go to shows. Obviously, this website has a bit of a "feminine" nature to it, so to balance out the anima with the animus, our logo is bold and quite simple!

So, a busy few weeks we have had!!!