On My Own......again

So lots has happened, and I have decided that I am not going to try and play catch-up.
As you probably guessed from my title I am the only intern again. Matt went woofing in Hawaii, Jordan lives in town but no longer works on the farm, Nella went to New Zealand and is now woofing in Australia. Kylee came back for a month long visit, and then went back home.

One really cool thing that happened in December was I got to see Mystere by Cirque du Soleil for free! One of our share holders is a performer in it and was able to give us seats up in the sound booth. It was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was in awe the entire time.

Another exciting thing in December (the 23rd) we had received two days of steady rain. So Thursday evening we noticed that the river was rising rapidly. So we spent several hours taking down fences and building a temporary goat pen higher up. We were very worried that the farm would be flooded. The river stopped rising at two feet away from disaster. (sigh of relief)
Two weeks later was spent re-putting up the fences.

Can you believe that I have spent 8 months here at Quail Hollow Farm? I started in June and it is now February. Time seems to have flown.

On January 11th I tested for my Purple Belt in Western Tang Soo Do Karate... and I passed. Next test will be for orange then blue then green then red then black. I will probably only get as high as blue before I leave.

We are half way done with our winter season.

Farm News.....
I have been transplanting tomato plants.... lots of tomato plants. Tomatoes have to be transplanted twice. You first transplant them into plastic cups then a month or two later you transplant them into the ground. I had transplanted 44 variety's into cups. Each variety has about 15 to 20 plants depending. We then were putting the cups into our high tunnels, (Hoop houses... kind of like green houses except there aren't any shelves and you actually plant in the ground.) in the pathways because our green house was getting too crowded. Well this week we had two REALLY COLD nights. All but 15 of those variety's died. So around 500 plants died. I guess this is one of the things about farming that keeps you guessing and on your toes. So yesterday (Saturday Feb. 5th) we replanted lots of tomatoes and are waiting for them to start to sprout.

Thursday Jan. 27th we decided to take Goat's Milk Cheese to the Farmer's Market. Each container had a little over 1/4 pound, and each container was $10.00 . We had Herbed Chevre, (Rosemary and Garlic, and Chives and peppercorns.) Feta Cheese, and some plain Chevre. If you go to a restaurant and order something that says it has goat's milk cheese it will most likely by chevre. Chevre is French, Feta is Greek, Ricotta is Italian. So if you go to these kind of restaurants these will be the goat's milk cheeses most commonly. All of the cheese we took to market sold super fast. It was really funny because all the women would see the cheese and say "If I still have $10.00 after looking at everything, I will come back and buy some cheese." All the men however wouldn't leave our table until they had bought the cheese. We actually were pretty much sold out of everything on the table by 11:30 am. (The market starts at 10:00 am and goes till 1:00 pm)

On Friday Jan.28th one of our goats had two miss-carriages. The following day she had two more. She had another month to go before they should have been born. It was only her second time being pregnant and 4 babies was too much for her. Monte buried the first two. I buried the last two. (Laura and Monte had to go out of town Friday evening and came back Saturday evening.) It was really sad seeing these 4 dead babies but it was almost even sadder seeing the mommy goat, she looked so distressed and confused.

We now have 48 baby rabbits. And are due to get more in the upcoming week.

We have planted tons of onions over 2,000.

We also have one hen that is sitting on eggs that are due to hatch on February 16th!

This week while we were doing chores before heading out for the Farmer's Market we received a phone call saying that the farmer's market is closed due to some zoning issues. We are thinking that the root of this problem is political, because their have been complaints about parking and someone always steals the farmer's market signs that give directions to where it is located. Also possible because of all the media attention it has attracted. There might be a battle about to take place to get the market going again. We are praying that it will be resolved soon. 12 of our shareholder's pick up their baskets from this location.
Because we had prepared so many vegetables to take to market we just set up in a parking lot of an empty business. It would be much appreciated if you could keep the farmer's market success in your prayers.

Also I would avoid shopping form Whole Foods if you can. They are teaming up with Monsanto a company that has destroyed many farmers who used sustainable methods. A company that does Genetically Modified Food. A company that has patented a form of life that we now almost depend on. A company that is corrupt. Watch Food Inc. and The Truth About Our Food to get a better picture of what Monsanto is. Whole Foods is charging organic prices for unmarked Genetically Modified Food. Just a note of warning.

One of my new year's goals was to not watch as many movies during my free time... instead I will try to read as many of Laura's books as possible. I just finished reading 3 books in the last week and a half. I read The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawethorne This book is AMAZING!!!! If you read it and would love to discuss it in depth I am interested. I also now love the name Hester. It is one of my current favorites because it changed me and helped me to grow. The Tall Women by Wilma Dykeman it was enjoyable, and Silas Marner by George Elliot another very enjoyable book, very well written. These last two didn't make as much of an impact on me.