Meet Cupcake

(Written by SonRidge Farm)

Introducing... CUPCAKE!
Cupcake is our newest addition, joining our farm on May 29th 2011.
She's a 5 week old mini pig... who is currently living inside (yes, she's litter trained!).
We do hope you'll be able to attend an up coming Family Day, so you'll get to meet her in person.

Allison - SonRidge Farm

Cupcake

Last Day - Goat Show

*(Written by SonRidge Farm)*
Congratulations Hannah, on winning fourth place in the goat show this afternoon!
I know you studied real hard on the dairy goat parts this week and you practiced showing many times too. You did a great job showing Trig during the goat show!
We had a wonderful time with you during Farm Camp this week, it seems like you had a lot of fun - I sure hope I'm right!
We do hope you will be able to attend a family day, I know your baby goat Pineapple would love to see you again!

Family Day Dates:
- May 21st 2011 (5-7 pm)
- June 18th 2011 (8-10 am)
- August 6th 2011 (8-10 am)

Allison - SonRidge Farm

P.S. - Good Luck with your speech today!

I cantered up a hill again on Patches. It was fun. We stamped designs on a leather clover. I put an eagle in the middle. it had too much caffeine. we weighed our goats ( the babies and the milkers, but our milkers weights are the ones that matter most). It wasn't on a scale; it was like a tape measure. Allie wrapped it around their bodies behind the fore legs. She tried measuring us by wrapping it around us under our arms. It said i weighed something like 87 pounds. I think i weigh 90-100.
trig hasn't given me more than 1 pound of milk. the only time i milked more than 1 pound of milk was when i mixed up skittles and trig.
I picked out a bar of soap. Allie wrapped it up really pretty. Now I'm blogging. i would add a second post about the goat show, but I have to leave right after it. The boy baby angora finally has a name: Peter. Allie isn't sure of what to name the baby girl yet. She thought about Precious, Lucy, or MiChaela . I think she should do Lucy or Precious. Ask me how the goat show went in the comments and i can answer in the form of a comment.

I got to do a fast rack on Patches. It was like a canter but better. I scooped poo and tried to convince Mrs. Teague to sing a poop scooping song. I asked, not promised, if she would sing if we danced. I got teased. Stephen showed Grace and I how to put wax in frames for the bees. It's kind of tricky. We had lunch. Liberty isn't making a good name for herself by stealing every one's sandwiches. Today she stole Divina's sandwich; lucky her. Everyone else was offering her food. Stephen and I had to put iodine or something on her udder because she had an infection. Mrs. Teague is a wonderful non-singing volunteer. She has been wanting me to say that. Another angora had a baby, but this time it was a boy. I also practiced goat showing today. Grace was the judge. I better hurry up because now I'm supposed to be making laundry soap. I think I might post a second blog later.

cheese making went well. it smelled like goat. we had a little discussion on it. i said that goat smell is a primary smell and it doesn't smell like anything in particular. we made salve that smells like oranges. i like it. i put some on (my mom will probably notice it before she reads this). I wish i could keep a goat, a baby one and a milker.

We did the morning usual. I tried to go fast on Patches but it's hard 'cause she's a Tennessee Walker. The new baby Angora goat is so cute! I wish she had a name already. Grace and I helped with the bottles. It hurts my back when I bend over to pour. Madison and I cleaned, well, I don't know what to call them, but we cleaned them. It had to do with cleaning the wool from Tumnus. Had lunch. Got to eat the homemade ice cream. it was good, but different from store ice cream. I milked TRIG today. She was good, but when I went to put her back she walked really slow. Now I'm blogging but I'm supposed to be cheese milking. I'd better hurry and finish up here.

New Addition

(Written by SonRidge Farm)

Farm Campers...

Tumnus (the Angora Goat that we sheared during Farm Camp this afternoon) kidded at 6.30pm tonight, and had 1 lovely doe (female/girl). *Pictures below are of her*

Though we are sad you weren't able to be here for the kidding, we would love some help with... NAMING.

As most of you know, I do a theme each year for our dairy goat kids (2011 is the "fruit year"). But with our Angora Goats, I'll stick to just "random" names. Any ideas? Make sure to let me know! (She is soft - cute - & cuddly - maybe a name pertaining to that?)

See you tomorrow, who knows - maybe one of the names you came up with... will be chosen!

P.S. Don't forget to practice the "Dairy Goat Parts" Game - it was posted on your blog last night.

Allie - SonRidge Farm

We did basically the same things this morning. The first thing we did ( and probably will be the first thing we do every day ) was feed the baby goats. We rode Patches and Bella after that. Since only the boys chose forgery, all the girls got to ride both horses. I trotted on Bella, and I tried to trot on patches but it was hard to get her going. Allie showed Grace and me how to show your goat. The main things are squaring up the legs and keeping your goat still. We had a little free time afterward. Then we the boys and Stephen made ice cream while Allie sheared an Angora goat named Tumnus. Grace and I helped bag the wool. I got to lick something that from the ice cream machine that had ice cream all over it. Next we had lunch. There was a bit of free time before milking. Trig had 1.5 pounds of milk for me today. I might have gotten more but it started down pouring and I got soaked. Now I'm blogging and I'm about to make some lip balm.

Dairy Goat Parts

(posted by SonRidge Farm)

Make sure to visit the site below, so you can learn the parts of a Dairy goat - as they will be included in the "Dairy Goat Show" this Friday!
http://www.goats4h.com/Java/GoatPartsTest.html

Enjoy!

SonRidge Farm

The first thing we did today was feed the baby goats. They are adorable! My kid is called Pineapple, but I also like Blackberry and Blackcherry. Afterwards we groomed and rode a horse named Patches. Grace and I ( we're are team 3 ) clean a mini pony's pen. I helped separate the cream. It is poured into a machine and it filters out the cream and skim milk. There isn't a lot of cream. You have to turn a crank for the machine to work. It is harder than it looks! Allie showed us our milk goats. They crowded all around me. In the field with the goats is a huge dog named Cricket. Later I helped make the custard so that we could make ice cream tomorrow. Then we had lunch. There is a zip line here so I played on that after I finished lunch. I can't remember exactly when, but at some point we went into the pen with our baby goats. They hopped up on us and some nibbled on my shirt. After lunch Grace and I helped make soap. When we were done, we did one of my favorite things : milking the goats. It is like milking a cow except you don't pull down on the teat. All you do is squeeze it. I think I got a pound of milk out of my goat, Trig. Now, I'm blogging, and there isn't much left to do. I can't wait for tomorrow!!

My Assignments

My Milking doe is: Trig

My baby goat (kid) is: Pineapple

My team mate is: Grace Carter

My team number is: (team) 3

SonRidge Snack Shack

**Note from SonRidge**
For your convenience the SonRidge Snack Shack will be open 3 separate times each day of farm camp, and also be open on each Family Day. On Family Days the Farm Store will be located near the purple Snack Shack.
At farm camp items will range from $0.25 - $1.50 (with the exception of the color changing cups (with the farm logo) at $2.50)
Selection includes:
Cold drinks, juice pouches & sodas (Coke/Sierra Mist/Orange Crush)
Crackers, snack bars, chilled candy bars, Popsicles, and ice cream.

Please make sure to bring a couple dollars if you are interested in purchasing some snacks.

SonRidge Farm

I will be attending a 4-H Farm Camp in May.
While there I will learn things from tacking up and riding a horse...



















to learning about shearing and even processing Angora Goat Fiber.








I will also be assigned a dairy goat; which I will be responsible for milking, feeding, everyday care & even learn how to show her.


















I will learn how to make blacksmith items in a forge

and even make cheese, butter, and ice cream. I'll learn about bees and get to make my own beeswax lip balm.

I'm going to have so much fun that I can't wait for the week to start. I will even be keeping my own blog of the week and updating it each day. Please follow my blog so you can see all the things I'm doing and learning. We can even come to family day on the farm...for free! I know that I'll want to introduce all my family to each of the animals on the farm.