Hey Reader,

The beginning of this month got away from me, but here I am now back in your inbox.

April brought little rain and we're still in a drought here in the western part of Tennessee. What we experienced in monsoon season last year has been decidedly absent this go around. Thankfully everything is still greening up with what little precipitation we're receiving but I do wonder how it will affect hay and straw prices.

A topic for another day, but I was thrown for a loop by the difference in hay and straw prices in Wyoming and Tennessee when I expected the complete opposite. Will expound at a later date...

Homestead Updates

In the Coop

Our April egg production had a lovely increase to 241 from 205 in March.

On the bad side, we lost a hen. I found her in the coop and I have no idea why she passed.

I do sometimes side eye the guineas when I have a random bird pass on. I at least know they're responsible for pulling the tail feathers off our roos. The guineas aren't terribly aggressive towards the chickens but they will run them off and harass them from time to time. We really wanted to increase our guinea flock to help manage ticks, but can't because of their aggressiveness currently.

With that older, productive hen passing we've had a decrease in egg production from the peak in April that I don't fully attribute to her passing. The guineas stopped laying in the coop after 4 days and I believe the chickens are hiding some elsewhere too. 🙄

I'm still searching for their new spot...

In the Garden

The 2026 Good Luck Garden has commenced!

If you're new here, I call it my Good Luck Garden because I start out with good intentions and inevitably get sidetracked with other tasks. So far I've been pretty good about weeding.

I'm also jumping on the bandwagon and trying my hand at a potato tower this year (not pictured).

Our garden is small because 1) I don't have a green thumb and I can't say I enjoy gardening very much and 2) we don't eat a ton of veggies so our garden needs aren't large.

My biggest hope for a large harvest is with my luffa plants! I could never get them to grow in Wyoming's short growing season but I loved getting them last year in Tennessee. Those suckers are so useful.

What's your favorite garden variety to grow?

In the Pasture

Man, the ticks. Good grief these are beyond obnoxious. We've never experienced ticks like this growing up in the Deep South. Is Tennessee (and the further north you go) just a special incubator for them?

We've got the guineas and chickens working on them, but the goats love the woods and can come back just covered. Currently I'm testing multiple ways of dealing with them on the goats.

In other pasture news, Pumpkin and Pepper are available to join your herd or homestead in August. Pepper will be wethered in the next month or so. Nobody tell him.

They are such sweet goats since we've been hands on with them since birth. As has been the pattern in all of Pender and Peaches' kids, Pumpkin is more outgoing than Pepper. It's strange how every doeling has been more confident and outgoing than the buckling so far.

Their parents have shown full faints and so have their older siblings. We've even witnessed Pumpkin's full faints twice now, but unfortunately the first thought isn't always to grab the camera to document.

With how friendly and accustomed to humans they are, they don't faint often unless something foreign startles them. This is great because freezing up all the time just doesn't seem fun.

In the Kitchen

I've been experimenting this month with my sourdough baking. As any great baker knows you should definitely change 52.7 variables each bake when experimenting so you know exactly what went right and wrong.

I hope you can read the sarcasm here.

But the big takeaway has been the efficiency of the two pan baking method documented here. Essentially you can increase the number of loaves baked at one time in one oven compared to using dutch ovens.

We've really enjoyed the bread from using this method and it's so much more efficient and less cumbersome than lifting multiple dutch ovens.

I will say that taking the top pan off during the bake can be tricky. I've dislodged it and dropped them on the bread directly multiple times but, as I always say, taste is more important than presentation.

I'm using stainless steel pans rather than aluminum and I didn't grease the pans this past bake. Worked great!

What Worked & What Didn't

Hey this is fun to discuss again right after food - ticks. Like I mentioned previously, I'm troubleshooting the insane tick infestation that our goats deal with.

I've tried raw, cut up garlic but the only one who eats it straight away is Pender. Peaches and Peanut tried it and promptly coughed and won't touch it again.

I tried mixing the garlic with molasses and Pender is still the only one that will deign to eat it.

So I tried to make tick buster balls by mixing and shaping garlic with sunflower seeds and molasses into a ball. It was a mess. I'm going to try again with ground up sunflower seeds and kelp.

I've consulted a Holistic Goat Facebook group and someone mentioned just getting garlic powder. I may try that route but I know the fresh, cut up garlic is healthier for them beyond just fighting off ticks.

We also trimmed their hooves this past week without a stanchion and... yeah, won't be doing that again. I'm envisioning using something like a dog grooming harness in the future. Think they'll appreciate that?

Any tips for ticks on goats you'd like to pass along?

One Thing I'm Learning

My countertop mill is still staring at me in the face. Just judging me.

I swear this is going to be my #1 task to tackle in May even if I bake a frisbee. I feel like I've conquered sourdough bread baking but whole wheat baking (grinding my own berries) feels like a giant I can't slay yet.

I will bake a whole wheat sourdough loaf (or frisbee brick) this month and report back to you next month.

Hopefully.

Fingers crossed.

I mean how long can I truly put this off?

What's Available Currently

We have hatching eggs available year round, but I'm mostly focusing on local purchasers and I entertain shipping if someone reaches out to me specifically.

Shipping eggs is so fraught with how USPS treats packages and buyers are quick to ignore your Terms and Conditions and do chargebacks with their bank.

As much as I love sharing Swedish Black Hens with everyone so their numbers grow, I'm preferring to stay as local as possible.

We won't have chicks again until next year but we do have hatching eggs as long as the weather remains cooperative.

And of course, Pumpkin and Pepper are available to reserve for pickup in August.

Ciao for now!

Jamie

​​​