January 22

Well, the Inauguration has come and gone. What an event!

For all those “Louise Fans”, she is doing much better. She still limps slightly, but we look for a full recovery.  She is our smallest goat and so cute.

We have the most amazing vet out here. He is truly one of a kind. We put Louise in the back of our car (goats travel very well that way -not like cats or dogs) and took her to the vet. He took some x-rays to rule out broken bones. We had to take the x-rays on the porch of the vet clinic and Louise was very brave and cooperative while we adusted her sore leg for the pics. We drew quite a crowd of onlookers. Every trip to our vet is a learning experience. He takes the time to explain what is wrong, and give lessons in livestock handling and medications. Even taught ME how to give shots. A trip to his office is always an experience as he treats all animals from livestock to the family pets.

 

 

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Yes! We are still here. Although much has changed in our lives.
A beloved family member passed away at home here, under the care of Hospice. I cannot say enough great things about Hospice and the
amazing folks who came to our aid and comfort. It was a trying
time, made comforting by them.

The animals, however, have not been so tolerant of our loss and
demand our love and attention no matter what. The goaties are growing nice long hair coats, which we will shear in about 6 weeks.

Our littlest goat,Louise, injured her leg somehow and we are now coping with that trying to get her back to her old self. She is getting
spoiled and pampered.

Winter has been kind to us up here..no heavy snows yet. But some really cold weather coming in over the next couple of days. And although we are only about 2 hours outside of Washington DC..I think we will stay home and watch the inauguration on TV!!!

Patuxent Rendezvous

Well, The Patuxents have finished their Labor Day Rendezvous here at Willow Run Farms, LLC and Cider Mill House.  As always it was a super event and even the weather cooperated. Really cool to hear the sounds of those long rifles echoing off the ridge.  We joined them for the Saturday night camp dinner. Such nice people.  We always look forward to their events.

I think, though that I startled some of the B&B guests when I greeted them in 18th C. clothing. Well, today it is back to the 21st C. and all that goes with it!

Our next big event will be next weekend…the Pickn’ in the Panhandle Bluegrass Festival  (and barbeque cookoff) which will be held about 2 miles from here. The B&B is fully booked for the whole weekend. Ed is going to be a judge at the cookoff..hope he brings home some leftovers!!!

September will bring some more campers to Willow Run Farms. Some return guests..the American Heritage Girls, will be using the campgrounds and Tipis. We always get a kick out of their enthusiasm. It’s a nice way to begin our Fall season.  Although I HATE the thought of winter coming…………..

A Brief Vacation

Hooray for us!  We just got word that our B&B was named “Best” by the Martinsburg Journal’s (our local paper) readers poll. We are delighted and pleased that our neighbors and customers think so highly of us. We are also getting rave customer reviews on the Bed & Breakfast.com website. It makes all the hard work worth while.

So, My SILS came from  all the way from Illinois and Kentucky for a visit…and the three of us took off for a few days in Williamsburg.  We had a blast..AND…as always I came back with some new goodies and ideas for the B&B.  The folks in Williamsburg really know how to do it right, all the way from marketing to management.

We stayed in one of the Colonial Houses on Duke of Gloucester Street…right across from Chowning’s Tavern. Very very convenient for an evening of tavern games and rum drinks!  In fact I brought back one of the games, Shut The Box, for our B&B guests to use.

Things are humming along here at the farm. We harvested and dried our catnip crop. Put my SILS to work cleaning leaves and buds. A big crop this year..I only managed to harvest half of what I could.

The goats are starting their winter coats. Getting very shaggy. Hopefully they will continue to grow well and we will get a good shearing of mohair next spring.

We have set up a small chicken “annex” to house the 4 chicks that Ed moved out of the brooder. They are doing fine and growing rapidly.  Augie, the rooster, has taken over responsibility for their education. We also have one teenage Guinea hen…the sole survivor of a clutch of 13 keets that hatched…and 6 brand new little keets that were hatched out in the hen house brooder boxes 4 days ago.  All the hens and Guineas have slowed down on egg production so we are back to buying our eggs now..bummer. We got so spoiled having our own source right at the back door!

Next weekend, Labor Day, we will be welcoming back the Patuxent living history group for their fall rendezvous. We just have the best time with these folks. They will be encamped at the campground. We also have B&B guests that weekend. Should be fun..and busy.

The goats send a big baaaaaaaa out to all their fans!

It’s Been A While

We have been super busy and I have been very slow about getting back to my posts!

But..here goes.

First..the palette I painted for Main Street Martinsburg was stolen!  This was a HUGE painting of our rooster, Augie..or maybe it was Rowdy…they look sooo much alike.  The thing is about 4′ square and very heavy, so whoever took it …aside from being an idiot…has a large, unwieldy, heavy item to try to dispose of or hide.

My neighbor at A Rare Breed farm is unhappy, because Augie originally belonged to her (but ran away to take up residence at our house because we had a nice wild birdfeeder…nevermind…it’s a long story)

Needless to say..we all want it back. So a reward has been set up for the safe return OR information on who stole it.  A free night’s stay at Cider Mill House B&B with a gourmet organic breakfast!

Business is going well at Cider Mill House and we are encouraging folks to come on up and enjoy all the local festivals and activities going on. It’s really nice here and we are less than a tank full of gas from the east coast, NJ, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Delaware, Maryland.

The farm is keeping us busy too. Lots of rain just when needed has made for a super hay crop and lots of browse for the goaties.  We are getting tons of eggs from the chickens and Guinea hens and have had to put additions on the chicken and goat houses. I’m making hundreds of zuchinni breads from our fresh crop and we have lots of great veggies coming along as well.  Storing up for the winter, which, thanks to the economy, could be lean indeed. Saving food & pennies.

Last but not least…for all the goat fans out there…the goats are doing well.  We trimmed their feet yesterday and gave them worm medicine.  Unfortunately, Ed trimmed Tillie’s back foot a little to close and nicked her a little. Poor baby is limping today…so Ed, feeling guilty gave her some peanut butter cheese crackers…sigh.

Hopefully she will be her old self again in a few days.

bye for now.

Frank

Memorial Day Weekend

Big Big weekend on the farm!  The Patuxents were encamped here for 4+ days.  They are some of our favorite people and it is great to see their tents at the campsite.  The camp dinner, Saturday night, was, as usual, terrific.  It’s always a pleasure to step back to the 18th C. for a few days with them. Even though the clothes we have to wear take some getting used to. Ed got to do some long rifle target shooting too.

Also we had a FAMACHA workshop at the B& B, hosted by our neighbor, Andrea. For us goat and sheep owners it was worth the money. We spent hours discussing goat poop and parasites! No joke.  We collected it, squished it and looked at it under a microscope.  Hey..this is a big deal with goat and sheep folks. AND believe it or not, we each came away with a certificate that says we now all know about Barber Pole worms….you had to be there.

As for the B&B..we have had folks staying here all weekend…no, they were not in proximity to the goat poop group. The weather has been super…lots of local events going on, including a great Wine and Arts Festival in Martinsburg, WV. So everyone has been getting their money’s worth out of this weekend.  We get the nicest, most interesting people staying at Cider Mill House.  They don’t even mind it when Sonny, one of our roosters, starts crowing at 5:00. And they haven’t even batted an eye at all the gunfire noises coming from the Patuxent camp.

I will have pix up soon.

 

April 26, 2008

We had HUGE rains here a few days ago with lots of flooding. Nothing washed away..well, not here anyway.  The goaties were stranded in their barn because they were afraid of a large puddle at the door. Smart goats!  After two days of being confined in the barn they were happy to see their old home field again.

Some of our B&B guests had asked to be notified when we sheared the goats.  Maybe next year. Sigh. Well we had to do it spur of the moment when we had a break in the weather so I didn’t have time to get the word out.  We managed the 7 goats in under 4 hours! And of the 7 we got four outstanding fleeces which have already been sold.

Thanks to our neighbor we have added 4 roosters and 2 hens to our “paltry poultry” flock.  Now our 28 Guinea Hens have chicken company.  And we are treated to lots of fresh Guinea and chicken eggs now. Welcome Sonny & Cher, Gertrude, Rowdy, Clem and Augie to Willow Run Farm!

We went to the Fort Frederick Market Fair yesterday and bought some great stuff for the B&B. We will be adding an 18thC. style fire pit to the garden yard this year as well as expanding the herb garden.  Also this year we will again be welcoming the Patuxents living history group to rendezvous at Willow Run. We just love these folks and really look forward to their encampment…even if it does mean we have to don our 18th C clothes for a weekend.

For the goat folks..we are having a FAMACHA learning session here on the 24th of May. You goat folks will know what that is..for everyone else…well it involves parasites. Nuff said.

 

 

Life on the Farm

Hi all…we are entering the world of Blogs and learning as we go!

We’ll keep you updated on what’s going on at Willow Run Farms & Cider Mill House and OF COURSE, all the animals!