Hi , August is here and the grove is doing well. As I said in the previous newsletter, the trees are having a light year. But as we are harvest, we are seeing a lot of baby fruit. Most of the babies are about two inches big and looking
great. |
Couple of New Kids-- And speaking of babies, we have two new
additions to our herd: Macy, a dwarf Nigerian doe and Maggie, a Nubian doe. They have not joined the other animals yet, but I hope they do in a month or so. When we brought them home, Macy was so tiny and not very healthy. We started her on two bottles of raw goat milk every day and within two days she was a happy active little girl. She is now weened down to an evening bottle and wow, she downs it so fast it is quite impressive. Maggie was a month older than Macy and is
enjoying her hay and alfalfa but comes over to sniff the bottle when Macy is eating. Maggie is definitely the older sister of the two and is much more cautious and watchful than Macy. I love how each goat has their own unique personality. They are little gems! |
Bringing GEMs to the Farmer's Market-- And speaking of gems, this
month we will be bringing organic GEM avocados to the market. We might start the Reed this month depending on the amount of GEM we will harvest. GEM avocados are named after Grey Edward Martin who was an assistant to a grower who was working on developing new varieties of avocados. I think the GEM is one of the prettiest avocados that we grow. As it matures, the peel starts to darken but the bumps remain green for a while. Some even say it looks like a stary
night. IMPORTANT: We will not be at the market on August 27th. My husband and I will be helping our youngest daughter move into her college dorm. We will miss seeing you all but will be back the next week. |
And speaking of stary nights, we have
been hearing both Great Horned owls and barn owls out and about during the night. We have put up four owl boxes encouraging the barn owls to settle down on the farm. They have moved into two of them and we are happy to have them call Chetwyn home. They do a lot to help us with the rodents, who also think the avocados are delicious. Barn owls usually eat about 10% of their body weight, which is a lot of mice. It is wonderful to have them on patrol when we are
sleeping. |
Do Good with Every Purchase From Us-- And speaking of 10%, We are excited to announce that we will be donating 10% of our sales to a wonderful
organization called Agros International. Agros International provides poor families in rural Central America with land of their own, teaches them how to cultivate profitable crops and mange finances and works to improve the health of the village by construction health clinics. As a small family farm, we love this vision of Agros to help families start farms of their own as a way to break out of the cycle of poverty. To find more information about Agros International, visit their website here. |
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