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I’ve been participating at a great community blog site, Farm Chit Chat, for several months now and we’re holding a giveaway to welcome friends to Farm Chit Chat. Joining together in a community blog allows us to bring together a great diversity of information, writing styles, and photographs of farm related topics.
For this giveaway, we have two different prize packs (don’t forget to scroll down to see the second one) and a total of 10 unique prizes to giveaway:
1) The first one consists of twelve hatching eggs from Tiffany (at The Egg Basket) for one lucky winner. She and her family breed unique, show quality, chickens and you could win hatching eggs from this meticulous breeder – retail value $70.00. Don’t miss this one; this kind of opportunity doesn’t happen often. Just click on the red RaffleCopter link below and start entering – I really wish I could enter this one!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The second one consists of nine different items from many of the participating bloggers at Farm Chit Chat:
2) From Better Hens and Gardens/Bramblestone Farm we’re giving away “The Backyard Beekeeper – An Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden” by Kim Flottum. Kim is a well-known expert in beekeeping, just happens to belong to our beekeeping association, and was our beginning beekeeping instructor – so we really think this book belongs in every beekeeping homestead library. Retail value $25.00.
3) Sonja (at Lally Broch Farm) donated a one-of-kind Mosaic Eggshell Pendant hand pieced from shells from her own hen’s eggs. Lally Broch Farm sells the beautiful jewelry on their Etsy shop but you might win your own unique piece. Description: “Crimson & Clover” Our layered diamond inspired pendant measures approximately 2.5″ x 2.5″. The base diamond is hand painted in shades of emerald-green. I painted the top diamond in a variegation of rich garnet red. . This piece is painted black on the back and signed. The ornate silver toned bale is secured with a jump ring fastened through the top of the diamond. This pendant comes with a 24″ inch, silver tone, link chain that closes with a silver tone lobster clasp. Retail Value $25.00.
4) Also from Lally Broch Farm, another reader will win one creamy, 5 oz., Goat’s Milk Soap bath bar. If you win, which scent will you choose: Lavender, Baby Powder, Peppermint, Citrus-Mint, Cinnamon, or Jasmine? Retail Value $7.25. I’ve tried her goat milk soap – you’ll love it.
5) Marissa (at Abundance Farms) has painstakingly blown out some gorgeous eggs. This is truly a breathtaking art form. Description: 6 blown eggs. You will receive a colorful assortment of three Black Copper Marans, one Yokohama, one Easter Egger, and one carved Pekin duck egg. Each egg has been collected from our various breeds and blown out for your decoration or crafting purposes. Eggs are blown out by using a needle to poke two holes at each end of the egg and then the egg is cleaned out. Very rarely do I make my Easter Egger’s (her name is Waldo and she was my first hen ever) eggs available for purchase. She lays one of the most beautiful green eggs I have ever seen. So, why not take a little piece of Abundance Farms with you?
6) Janet (at Timber Creek Farm) raises sheep and the wool is locally spun into yarn. The Border Leicester yarn is 2 ply and knits and crochets beautifully. The 150 yard skein is plenty of yarn for a long scarf or maybe a pair of hand warmers or mittens.
7) Gretchen (at The Backyard Farming Connection), not only raises everything from kids to garden vegetables to farm animals but also paints! This absolutely stunning painting is on a 6” x 6” canvas and is sure to be a favorite with any chicken lover. This would be just beautiful in my kitchen – I’m envious of the winner to be!
8) Sheila (at Hope Farms) made a rustic rag rug for the giveaway. I don’t know about you, but I love these rugs. The workmanship that goes into something like this makes it all the more valuable (the rug color and pattern may vary).
9) Marlana (at Handsome Homesteader) makes some lovely jewelry. Nothing like a handmade necklace to add just the right touch to your outfit. Or maybe share with a friend, as a special birthday gift?
10) And to sweeten the pot a little more, we have donations of Chris Mclaughlin’s book “Vertical Vegetable Gardening” and two seed packets from Page Seed Company.
The two giveaways are running at the same time so enter one or both. Winners will be chosen on June 1, 2013. Best of Luck to Everyone!
(Please use a valid email that you check frequently. We will contact the winners twice by email, announce the winners on the Facebook page and blog page. If we don’t hear from the winners within a week we will choose a runner-up winner for that prize.) All prizes must be sent to a valid street delivery address and not a PO box.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
 We’re up to six honey bee hives this year; and a common question is why? The obvious answer would be the honey, but it’s actually more complex – honey bees are very important; but their numbers have been declining rapidly the last several years.
They’re Important
Honey bees are important because their pollination is estimated to be responsible for producing one third of the food we eat worldwide. According to a recent United Nations study, 70 out of the 100 most important food crops in the world must be pollinated by bees. Without enough pollinators, crop yields decline and the varieties of foods that can be produced diminish. [...]
Continue reading Help the Honey Bees
 This year is the second freshening (kidding) for our three original Nigerian Dwarf does (Tinker Bell, Bit ‘O’ Honey, and Jewel Box), and they’re really starting to look good and produce milk well. Tinker’s udder looked nice and she produced well as a first freshener; but Jewel and Honey didn’t produce impressive quantities of milk as first fresheners. However, as second fresheners, their udders are starting to look impressive and milk production for Jewel and Honey went up significantly.
Jewel made the biggest jump in milk production, she’s now consistently producing over 2 ½ lbs. (5 cups) each milking (last year she [...]
Continue reading Nigerian Dwarf Does Maturing Beautifully
 It’s a sure sign of spring when the rhubarb pops up; it’s a perennial and is the first thing we can really start harvesting fresh each spring. This is a very simple but delicious way to use that first spring rhubarb, and the recipe can be varied endlessly with other fruits such as raspberries, strawberries, cherries, etc. Simply substitute 1/2 of the fruit quantity with whatever other fruit you’d like to use. We also like to double this recipe and that fits perfectly into a 13 1/2 x 9 1/2 inch standard baking dish (the crisp shown in the photo is a double recipe of 1/2 [...]
Continue reading Fresh Rhubarb Crisp
 Many goat-herd owners choose not to keep bucks because they’re only needed to breed the does once a year, it takes time and money to feed and maintain them year round, and they can have a strong odor - particularly during mating season. In the past, we chose not to keep bucks for those reasons, and used bucks owned by our friends at Wild Wind Farm instead. But, after a lot of thought, I finally decided to get a buck.
I’m interested in breeding polled (naturally hornless) goats; but because of an article written in 1944 that linked polled goats to increased rates [...]
Continue reading Bramblestone Farm’s First Herdsire
Like many farms, we have a long driveway, and depending on where you’re at in our home, it’s not always easy to tell when someone is coming up the driveway. We’ve talked for years about installing something to alert us to incoming traffic, but didn’t want to run yards of underground wiring to solve the issue. So I’m happy that we recently found and installed a solar-powered device that really seems to work well.
The device is called the Safety Technology International STI-34100 Solar Powered Wireless Driveway Monitor, and it detects when a vehicle enters or leaves the [...]
Continue reading Driveway Monitor
 We received our first Seeds of the Month Club seeds, and I’m quite pleased with them. Eight different vegetable varieties come the first month, and I’ve never grown any of them before so am looking forward to trying them. We got Lemon Basil, Large Leaf Sorrel, Black Diamond Watermelon, Anaheim Chili Pepper, Thomas Laxton Pea, Green Globe Artichoke, Homestead Tomato, and Golden Wax Bean.
The back of the packets all give a description of the variety, days to germination, days to maturity, and all the information anyone would need on when, where, and how to plant as well as tips on care, harvesting, eating, and health benefits. It looks like it’s too late [...]
Continue reading First Seeds of the Month Are Here
 So, the goats have freshened (given birth), and now it’s time to start reaping the reward – fresh goat milk. Our goats are Nigerian Dwarves, which produce the highest butterfat milk of all dairy breed goats (around 6 – 10%), so their milk is incredibly good fresh, and makes awesome butter, ice cream, cheese, and yogurt. Obviously we’d like to get that milk, but the kids’ welfare also needs to be considered.
The question is when to start milking the does and how to feed the kids – do you immediately pull all the kids from their dams and bottle feed [...]
Continue reading The Goat Kids Are Here – Can We Milk Yet?
 The winners for the Sun Dried Tomato Prize Packs have been drawn (see Win A Sun Dried Tomato Prize Pack), so I’ll post one more recipe that we tried while reviewing the tomatoes. This one is so easy it’s ridiculous, and I think it’s my favorite. Not only is it delicious, but we made this just as the first of our Nigerian Dwarf does kidded this year – so I will always associate it with a happy event too. This uses the Julienne Cut Sun Dried Tomatoes in Olive Oil, and they are so flavorful – what a wonderful appetizer this makes!
1 [...]
Continue reading Mediterranean Brie
 Since we’ve got the Bella Sun Luci® sun dried tomato giveaway going (Win A Sun Dried Tomato Prize Pack), I couldn’t pass up sharing another recipe that we tried as we reviewed their sun dried tomatoes. This recipe won the Bella Sun Luci® 2012 recipe contest, and after trying it we know why. It uses the “Sun Dried Tomato Halves in Olive Oil” and my tasters ate this so quickly I almost didn’t get any – absolutely delicious – and it’s the sun dried tomatoes that make the flavor outstanding.
8 oz. cream cheese
3 large garlic cloves, pressed or diced (optional)
1 cup canned artichoke hearts, [...]
Continue reading Sun Dried Tomato Artichoke Dip
 I did a blog post on making homemade sun dried tomatoes (see Homemade Sun Dried Tomatoes – Oven Dried Really) that generates a lot of interest, so I was intrigued when Lisa from the Bella Sun Luci® Company contacted me to see if I’d like to review their sun dried tomato products. They like to promote the use of their tomato products in a healthy Mediterranean diet, and we’d just returned from a trip to Italy where we loved the Mediterranean inspired cuisine, so I was enthused to give them a try.
The Bella Sun Luci® products that arrived for review included [...]
Continue reading Win A Sun Dried Tomato Prize Pack!
 When I initially posted pictures of all the 2013 Nigerian Dwarf goat kids at Bramblestone Farm, I identified that several of them were polled, but didn’t explain what that meant –so we got a few questions. A “polled” goat (of any breed) is one that is naturally born without horns (Almond Joy in the picture on the right is polled while her sister Toffee in the left picture is not). Most goats in the US today are naturally born with horns, and many owners choose to de-horn (typically by disbudding) them when they’re babies for various reasons (see Disbudding Goats). [...]
Continue reading What Are Polled Goats?
 We’ve been getting lots of questions about and requests for pictures of the new goat kids, so here they are from oldest to youngest (they are also posted on the 2013 kid page at Bramblestone Farm here). Chai Tea and Tigers Eye are sold and Pearl Tea and Silvermist are retained, but otherwise, they are for sale. The first three are bucklings that have Jewel Box as their dam and Old Mountain Farm Palindrome as their sire. They are Moonstone, Obsidian, and Tiger’s Eye, and any of these three would make very nice herdsires:
The next three have Hot Tea as their dam and Palindrome as their [...]
Continue reading The New Goat Kids
 I heard about the “Seeds of the Month Club” a few weeks ago, and was really intrigued by the concept. I just love looking through seed catalogs, but with all the choices today, I’m always conflicted about what new seed varieties to try. So I was excited to learn that for just $3.09 per month, the Seeds of the Month Club would send me eight packets of seed the first month and four packets of seeds for the next 11 months. For a garden lover like me, it’s a perfect monthly treat – and I don’t even have to agonize [...]
Continue reading Seeds of the Month Club
 The four Bramblestone Farm Nigerian Dwarf does (Hot Tea, Tinker Bell, Bit ‘O’ Honey, and Jewel Box) all kidded over the past week, and everyone is doing well. Our sister (Julie) is a highly skilled veterinary technician who stayed with us and helped during kidding – we learned a lot from her and the process was easier for the does because Julie proactively helped each (as necessary). I think a couple of the does would have been quite exhausted (if not worse), and a couple of the kids may not have made it without her assistance. I’ll be posting pictures and sale information for each [...]
Continue reading 2013 Kidding Success – A Baker’s Dozen!
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