What you learn.

Recently I posted about making butter and soft cheese.  I had a friend ask me how I learned to do this.  This year on the farm we have had some really joyous births and await several others.  Again, I get asked questions concerning how I learned to care for these animals.  It occurred to me that most people have gotten so far away from the farm and where their food comes from and how their food is made and grown that a lot of knowledge has been lost.  For me, I mostly read the books dating back to the late 1800's as they have the best information that has nothing to do with commercial feeds.  Then it is a lot of experimenting and putting everything into practice.  I was raised in the city and before I moved here I had only grown a few veggies.  It is amazing the things you can learn that after you learn it you sit back and go, wow, that is just common sense!  So, I will try to tell you what I know and what I have learned and then we will learn more together.

Our farm raises Highland cows, Jersey cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, rabbits, and goats. We use commercial feed for the rabbits only.  The others we grow our own feed and just get minerals for them.  We live in a climate that most would never live.  It is a zone 1B.  Yes, you read that right.  1B.  We do get colder then that sometimes, but not for very long.  The hardest thing is watering the animals as it freezes in less then an hour.  Even a greenhouse will freeze in this weather in the winter.  So, our choice of planting is very limited.  We are still young at farming and still learning.  If you think you can learn everything about farming or animals you might as well stop reading now.  You will always learn something new.

So, what would you like to know about or learn first?