February 14, a special day for the
Valentine Farm. Tomorrow I hope I am able to breed Rose who has now had two lutalyse injections to try to get her to cycle with this breeding I hope  I will be breeding my last doe for the season, several have been coy and difficult to get settled.  I am absolutely certain they have their reasons..as do I! 
friend Julie of Animal Crackers Farm was kind enough to bring her ultrasound machine over to take a look at the girls bellies. We think we have two girls with triplets, two with twins and at that reading two unbred. Have been working on that problem the past couple weeks. Gracie as too soon to tell (update she is in standing noisy heat today (15th). She had mastitis, the first time that I know of on the farm It was only picked up as the milk was abit more difficult to filter. She had a positive CMT test so we gave today in each side 2 times 12 hours apart I will probably slowly dry her off after sending a milk sample to be sure I treated the right organism. We did not ultrasound Brown Sugar the Nigerian dwarf but she probably had triplets or quads and is due  in the first week of May.Every one is healhy and happy for the time being.Feeding lots of hay and just slowly adding dairy goat grain to te evening feed. Now that they have figured this out they rush the human! We are in the process of evaluating different types of grain ration. I am currently reading about this after taking class on the rumen at the country farm Expo last month in Stanwood. More on feeding dairy goats in a future blog.....
Valentine's blog

     Seattle area just experienced record making snowfall. We know that isn't much compared to many other areas of the country, but for us it was impressive! In this picture of the large garden, several vegetable soldiers remain standing waiting for the thaw/melt to serve the many farm residents.
     Kale is one of the most powerful vegetables and has been a staple for centuries in most areas of the world. We shared over 200 lbs of this bounty with the Snohomish food bank this year.       Here is a wikipedia link to read more about this wonder. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kale
     Maybe the most important aspect of Kale for us Northwest folk, is the fact that it will pretty much provide food all year long. If everyone had a few kale plants in their yards or even on decks, balconies or porches, fresh nutritious food would be right out the door. This is a rather intimidating veggie for many, and I will be honest, it has taken years for me to embrace Kale. I am learning to include it in many dishes and different ways to prepare it. Some basics, remove the center stem and usually slice into thin strips about 1/2 inch wide. For a fresh salad it can be "rubbed" with salt to break down some of the chewy texture. There are dozens of recipes for kale salad on line, I like to be creative but always have a sweet and sour combination of ingredients. Oranges, dried fruit some apple cider vinegar based dressing.
Pasta and Kale are nice combinations. I saute onion and garlic until soft (in a bit of olive oil)  then add the kale (ribs removed and sliced into strips) stir that a bit, add maybe 1/4 cup of water, cover and simmer until tender. Then it can be eaten as is, or  added to any dish, lasagna, spaghetti, potatoes etc. Soups and stews are another way to incorporate this staple into the diet. For fun, make kale chips by tossing bite size pieces of kale with olive oil and salt, or favorite seasonings. Bake in hot oven (375- 400) for about 10 minutes checking for crispness. The small fragments that are left can be saved and sprinkled on eggs, casserole or anywhere you might want just a bit of color (and added vitamins).
     OK I am a convert and could go on forever, but you get the idea! Look for educational poster about kale at the Evergreen fair this year. Write to me with a favorite easy dish using kale, I take recipes that have ingredients food bank visitors are likely to have at home so they will know what to do with this huge green leafy veggie. I just thought of another one, baked crispy kale crumbled over ramen noodles! My parting comments have to do with the varieties I planted from Wild Garden Seeds- Rainbow Lacinato (my favorite) and "Wild Garden Kale Mix" a beautiful diversity of leaves and hues. Visit this Organic sustainable seed source here- http://www.wildgardenseed.com/  Enjoy!

For this new year of 2012 I am going to try my hand at a blog about Soaring Hearts Farm, activities, all residents, human, mammal, bird and plant life. Today Gracie was bred (again) to Bravo for what I hope is the last breeding of the year. Of course this means if she settles her kids won't be here until early June...no show for her in Stanwood! We had our first snow of the year and all the goats took a quick trip out to see it and then bustled back inside to eat some more!
More to come, but wanted to get the first posting under my belt (bathrobe as it is past midnight)!
Happy New Year we have hopes for happy healthy kids and lambs.
Namaste
Wendy Valentine RN
Soaring Hearts Farm