bleh

Nothing interesting has happened at Tollgate lately and I'm too lazy to make a regular posts so enjoy some memes:

BABY GOATS!! (again)

So if you read my last post, you'll know that 3 baby goats were born about 2 weeks ago, but as you can never have too many baby goats, 3 more were born last Sunday. We were already at Tollgate when it happened since there was an event going on there and we were selling things. When the goats were born, we dried them off, weighed them, and took them to warm conference center. There were 2 girls and 1 boy, (Estelle, Pheobe, and Tobias) and they all seemed to be getting on quite well, though the boy was a bit of a runt and took a little longer to get the hang of walking eating. When they could all walk, we let the other baby goats into the conference center too, and they were all jumping around and climbing on everything and everyone. It was a goatpocalypse!

BABY GOATS!!!!

So the day before yesterday, one of our goats gave birth to 3 baby goats, and everyone is really happy about this! The goats, who are all boys, were named Moose, Grover, and Franklin. They haven't really gotten the hang of eating or walking, but they are learning fast, and they are also extremely adorable!

                           little sleepy goat                                                                                                                              goat selfie

And that is not the end of the baby animal madness, either. We still have 2 other pregnant goats and 3 pregnant sheep all due in March! In addition to that, we are getting 2 pregnant cows on our farm soon, too! This gonna be a crazy month!

Cherry Slurp

So a little bit ago we had an official cherry slurp day. This is a day where we celebrate the thing that Michigan is known for, the cherry, and it was organized because it was the first state cherry day. We not only watched cherry-related videos, but we also made cherry-themed food, such as cherry slurpies and cherry salsa. Yes, cherry salsa. I have to admit, I was apprehensive at first, but it actually tastes really good, and if we have mango salsa, why not cherry? So, without further ado, our cherry salsa recipe:



2 cans of tomatoes
1 cup of cherries, pitted and defrosted
1/2 cup of chopped onions (you can use any kind, including green onions)
3/4 cup chopped jalapenos (you can add more or less than this, depending on your taste)
1/2 cup of parsley 
1 teaspoon salt

1.cook in saucepan for about 20-30 minutes and then wait for salsa to cool.

2. enjoy!

And here is the simple recipe for the cherry slurpies

1 cup of water
1 cup of frozen cherries
some ice

put water, cherries, and however much ice you want in the blender and blend until desired texture is achieved.

Kettunin Camping

Over midwinter break, I went to a 2-day veterinary class at a place called the Kettunin center. This was a 4-H class for people who are considering veterinary as a career choice and want to know more about it. The classes took a hands-on approach by not only giving information about common animal ailments, but giving an example case, some symptoms and information on the farm and animals, and letting us try to figure out what was wrong. The classes were very fun and taught me a lot about animals and how to handle them better. We also got to sleep and eat at the center, too. the rooms were very nice and the food was just amazing! Overall, it was an awesome experience.

Now, some pictures:

                                           a presentation I went to

                                                     dat view tho

                                                  the center

                                        (couldn't help taking a selfie😜)

crafts meet

Hi guys, I'm not dead! Life has been busy and I have not had to post in a while, but I'm back now with the tale of last Sunday's craft meet. The craft meet was where the older kids taught some of the younger kids their skills, like woodburning and painting. I taught crocheting, and other kids taught woodburning, acrylics, and seed art. It was quite fun, seeing all the different colored yarns, smelling the wood being burned by the wood burning tool, and looking at all the multicolored seeds and beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, white beans, and some beans that probably came from ethnic stores, because I had never seen anything like them before. It was fun teaching people to crochet, and everyone left with a new skill they could use in life.

                                 demonstrating how to crochet (I'm the one in the white shirt)

Cookies for Chickens

  Have you ever baked cookies for chickens? probably not, but that is exactly what we have started doing at 4-H. This is a thing called Flock Block, and it is meant to not only help them get the nutrients they need, but we hope that it will also discourage them from pecking each other and peck it instead.

this is store bought Flock block from tractor supply.

The ingredients of Flock Block vary from recipe to recipe, but these are the things that are found in most recipes:

• oats
• some sort of grain mix. the grains are for nutrients but also for chicken scratch
• wheat germ
• molasses
• cornmeal
• raisins or cranberries
• cayenne pepper

  These are basically the "foundation" ingredients of Flock Block, but things can be added to this for different chickens, where they are kept, and other things like that. Also, you may be wondering why cayenne pepper is in the recipe, well its because the chickens just enjoy a little kick in their food! OK, that was a joke, but there is a good reason for the cayenne pepper. Even though there haven't been any scientific studies it, many farmers swear that adding a little cayenne pepper to chicken food makes them lay more eggs, and cayenne pepper is also a natural warmer, which is  good if it is winter and you need to keep the chickens warm.

 So I hope this has taught you a little about how to take care of chickens, and if you own chickens or know someone who does, you can try this cool little DIY for yourself. And remember, if you want to see more like this, make sure to click that follow button. So bye for now!

Goat milk soap

Would you like to wash your hands with some goat milk? no? didn't think so. But little do most people know there are many benefits of using goat milk soap.

1. it is good for your skin.

goat milk is quite good for your skin and can moisturize it, and the soap keeps your hands clean, so goat milk soap is like soap and lotion in one. Awesome!

2. it is often natural
goat milk soap is often( not always) made from natural ingredients, like essential oils,  coconut oil and of course, fresh goat milk soap. This is especially the case if you buy locally made goat milk soap.

3. it may help skin inflammation and acne
goat milk has many skin healing properties that can help not only soothe inflamed, dry skin, but in the long run, could decrease the amount of acne you have, which is always awesome.

MAKING THE SOAP 

At 4-H, we make our own goat milk soap to sell at our farmstands and events. We use extremely fresh goat milk, in fact it is made from the milk that we got from the goats only a few days prior! We then add the other ingredients, like essential oils and other things. We used to use lye in the soap making process, but we use more natural substances now. We mix the ingredients, we let the soap cool and harden, and then we cut it and put the labels on, and it's ready to sell. (The labels are made by kids, so it is not uncommon to find a "help I'm stuck in a soap factory" on the backs of the labels from time to time) So my main point with all this is the next time you see goat milk soap at a store, pick some up. You won't regret it.