​I quit doing monthly hobby farm updates because... well, there's not much to report on from month to month. But I thought I'd at least do an end-of-the-year recap.

Chickens

My last duck died earlier this year, so all I have left is chickens. Thanks to predators and old age, by October my flock was whittled down to 11 birds; 9 hens, 2 roosters. I bought three more pullets from a local 4Her. Those should begin laying in a couple of months.

I've got to say this: it's very nice not having ducks. As much as I loved to watch them swim and play in their pond, it was annoying having to empty and refill the kiddie pool of water every two or three days. The chicken water stays clean for much longer now. Unlike the ducks, they don't need an entire kiddie pool, so I can transport fresh water in a five-gallon bucket. Speaking of which:

I broke down and bought a heated water bucket this year. It was $30.00 on sale at a local farm store. The bucket is thermostatically controlled so it only runs when needed, plus it requires very little energy. Hubs was concerned that an additional heating element would not be worth the added electricity costs, but after reading the label on the bucket, he changed his mind. The heated bucket will reduce the amount of water I have to carry this winter, and also make chores easier for others when we are away.

I also splurged and bought the chickens some "real" bedding; a bale of pine shavings. I had been using sawdust from Hubs' shop, but since he got a sawdust-sucker (sorry, I don't know what it's actually called) it's more complicated to get the bedding when I need it. The bale of pine shavings was far easier to carry than wheelbarrows full of sawdust, plus less messy, and it looks so nice in the coop. For $5.00, I think it was a pretty good purchase.

I grew some oat grass fodder for the hens last week, for the first time. It was very easy and cheap. When we get back from our trip, I'm going to set up a system for doing the fodder. I know, I know... I say that every year. But really, I think I will do it.

I tried using the waterglass technique for preserving eggs, instead of selling the extra like I normally do. The waterglassing was a failure. A third of the eggs were well preserved, but the other two thirds developed "smells" over the months in storage. The good eggs were only good for baking, not scrambling. After starting this project, I read that waterglassing is not ideal for fertilized eggs, plus over time the solution weakens the shells and makes them more susceptible to breakage. One broken egg in the bucket, and all of the rest will develop smells. Somehow, flies got into my egg bucket and started laying their own eggs, which developed into maggots. Disgusting! I won't be doing this preservation method again, unless the eggs are unfertilized and there are only a few to preserve. Also, I wouldn't preserve spring eggs for winter; only fall eggs.


Bees

Unfortunately, my beehive this year was not a success. I did not harvest any honey, and yellow jackets invaded the hive without me realizing it, until it was too late. I made quite a few mistakes along the way, but I also got the hang of doing routine hive checks, using the smoker, etc. I'm slightly less terrified of bees than I was a year ago.

​I thought that after I started working with the bees, my fear of them would go away. It definitely did not. About halfway through the summer, they plastered their entire hive with propolis, a sticky, gooey substance made of tree sap (I actually saw them collecting the pine sap one night... it was very interesting!). I dropped an entire frame one day while checking the bees, which definitely made them mad. After that I just felt like a terrible beekeeper, and it was like pulling my own teeth to go out there. Everything was covered in propolis and burr comb and a huge hassle to get into. I stopped checking the lower deep, for fear of crushing the queen, who I hadn't seen in weeks. When I went out to check the supers for honey, I thought the bees were moving slower, acting almost drowsy. The supers were entirely empty, though there was still capped honey in the upper deep. In September, I noticed a few yellow jackets crawling around the hive. Just a week or two later, there were more yellow jackets than there were guard bees. That was pretty much the end of my bees. In October there was a very small population of honey bees still in the hive, but I doubt there is enough to make it through winter.

I would like to try the bee project again. I'll order another package of bees, and maybe build another small hive just in case my old one is bad. I would love this project to be a success, but it didn't happen this year.

​Strawberries

The other new project for 2018 was selling strawberries. I planted my strawberry field in 2017, but this was our first year of harvesting and selling berries. It went okay. I really should have got a babysitter for our daughter during picking season. The deer ravaged my plants and they only produced half of what they should have. By the end of June I was about to go crazy, and the darn plants still needed weeding. I took July off of strawberry farming (a mistake) and made up for it tenfold by weeding the berries almost every day for the next two months. 

Financially, the strawberry project more than paid for itself. I made $500.00 net profit, when all was said and done. Next year I will not have as many costs, and hopefully will harvest more berries and thus, earn more money like I had expected to do this year.

​Garden

I didn't realize how much the strawberry patch would interfere with my gardening time. I also didn't realize how many BEES would be swarming around my raised beds and how much that would bother me. The bees actually scared me away from weeding and harvesting, which cut my garden yield. Next year I will plant the bee-friendly herbs and flowers farther away from the garden.

For spending almost no time in the garden, I got a decent yield. Chinese long beans were a smashing success. Beets were a success. The heirloom tomatoes I planted were beautiful, but not very good for canning and didn't produce much for all of the space they took up. Peppers were a fail (I think it was the hot weather?). All throughout the summer I had sprinkler and hose problems. I did actually grow some watermelon, which was a first for me!! Sweet corn patch was a fail. Pumpkin and acorn squash was a fail.

​One success for the garden this year was an extended lettuce harvest. We invested $40.00 into a plastic greenhouse panel and used it to make two cold frames. The first cold frame had pepper plants in it, which froze right away. The second frame had lettuce in it, and the lettuce is still growing in early December! We save about $2.00 per week by not buying lettuce, plus my lettuce is organic (in which case, the savings are probably even more). We've already saved $16.00, so the second frame has almost paid for itself.


Re-evaluating Profit and Loss

Ultimately, I think the hobby farm balance was a loss. I sunk $600.00 or more into bee supplies, a couple hundred dollars into chicken feed. I think I spent about $100.00 on garden supplies (greenhouse panel, seeds, bulbs, landscape fabric). The strawberry profits probably covered chicken costs, but that's it.


I've spent the last several years trying to make my hobby farm earn an income, or at least pay for itself. I've had goats, chickens, ducks, a sheep, a farmers market stand, a farm stand, and and Etsy shop. Trying to make each project pay for itself was very difficult. Some projects just aren't very economical. Bees and chickens, for example, are definitely "hobby" projects. Milk goats and strawberries, on the other hand, can easily support themselves plus bring a profit.

The most efficient way to get your hobby farm to pay for itself is to have a cash crop (or "cow", if you will) and use that to pay for your other unprofitable projects. Even so, I've discovered my hobby farm is much less about earning money than it is about providing good quality food for my family, learning new things and getting outside. I also want to keep the hobby farm going so our daughter can reap the benefits of gardening and learning animal husbandry.

Looking Forward

Next year, I'm going to make the hobby farm my "local food fund". Any profits from the strawberry patch will either be put back into the farm (paying for chicken feed, beekeeping supplies, etc.) or spent on food from other local farms. This will technically increase our food budget (hopefully, anyway). It will allow me to contribute to the local economy not just by consuming, but also by producing. 

At this point, I don't have any new projects planned. My goals are to 1) double profits on the strawberries, 2) get some kind of honey harvest, 3) extend the garden growing season and 4) keep my chickens happy and healthy. I'm excited to see how much I can do with the farm in 2019!  

​Again, guys, this update came super late. I will be coming out with a May update in a week or two, so this one is going to be short and sweet.

Chickens and Ducks

Not much happened since the opossum incident. Egg production went up a little bit. We bought feed this month.


Garden

I continued to nurse seedlings. I also started preparing the garden beds for planting. My husband tilled up some areas for row gardening. The strawberries stayed dormant.

Most of April was pretty cold; hence, no garden activity.


Honeybees

I finished assembling my hive and got to pick up my bees this month! I was pretty scared to death when I installed the package in my new hive. I got stung once and panicked about what to do. Then later I worried that I had made some awful installation mistakes and my queen would not survive. (In the end, it turned out well, though.) 

I will tell more about my beekeeping adventures in the next hobby farm post, as I only did one inspection during the month of April. I did chose to buy (and use) gloves for my beekeeping, though.


Profit & Loss

Expenses:
Chicken feed- $42.00
Beekeeping gloves- $11.49
Total expenses: $53.49

Income:
Farmers Market book royalties- $6.64

Net profit: ($46.85)
Year-to-date net profit: ($663.68)

That's about it! Most of my non-profit accumulated thus far has been from my bee project: $570.62, to bee exact. LOL. 

Til next time,
-Bethany

Note: Over the next few days I'm going to post a few things that "missed" their deadline. My apologies for being so untimely!

March was pretty slow here on the hobby farm. It was so slow that I considered not even writing a report. Better late than never, I guess.

Chickens & Ducks

Right now there are 17 birds in the coop. We had a single chicken die in March. Before that happened, I suspected that something fishy was going on. I noticed that kitchen scraps- including large potato chunks- had been dragged into a building across the fence from the chicken area. While some of the chickens do sneak under the fence, I highly doubted that the chickens could or would drag food items into that area. It seemed more like something a pack rat would do. A few days later, I found one of the chickens, mauled, in front of the chicken coop. Of course this was upsetting, but it was, again, fishy. Usually when a raccoon gets a chicken it will drag it out to the boundary of the fence. Raccoons almost never leave their prey right where they killed it. Hawks strangle their prey and carry it off.... so, what was I dealing with?

Obviously, I started shutting the chickens in at night after that. Some people shut chickens in all year long, but I get lazy in the winter and just leave their little door open. That way I only have to go out there once a day. Anyway, two nights after the mysterious killing, I turned the light on in the chicken coop and caught a opossum in there- red handed!! Thankfully he didn't have a chicken, but was probably just stealing eggs. Either way, he was... exterminated.

In March, the chickens started picking up laying eggs a bit. 


Garden

Not much to report for the garden I started some seeds using a Jiffy greenhouse. I think I'll do this with almost all of my early start seeds for next year. It's so convenient and I lose fewer seedlings because I don't have to transplant so often.


Honeybees

​My bee project for March was putting together my Langstroth hive. I ordered the first deep, cover and bottom board assembled already, but assembled two honey super boxes and 20 frames myself. I also realized that I should have another deep, so I ordered an unassembled kit for that as well.


Profit & Loss

Income: $0.00

Expenses: $72.65 (extra hive deep)

Net profit: ($72.65)
Year-to-date net profit: ($616.83)

My profit and loss is turning into just a loss. I guess it really is a "hobby" farm now. I'm not selling many farmers market books, and the ones I  do sell wouldn't begin to cover chicken feed, let alone a new bee setup. During the first quarter of 2018 I spent $64.00 on chicken feed ($21.33/mo.). The rest of our net "non-profit" is from my new bee setup. They are less like value-producing livestock at this point and more like cash-sucking pets. 

For a couple years now I've been slowly transitioning the priority away from earning and more toward just saving money with our farm (and doing it for my own pleasure). I feel like if I want to be earning money, my time is better spent writing. In order to measure the true "profit" of the hobby farm, I should be calculating how many eggs and other food products I harvest, since that' now the goal instead of earning with dollars. Perhaps I will try to keep track of this in the month of May.

I'll be coming out with an April report pretty soon. Stay tuned!

-Bethany

Well, we had another decent month here on the hobby farm. 

Chickens & Ducks

Egg production is picking up! In February I got one duck egg almost every day, plus two or three chicken eggs. This amount is perfect for us. Of course, I can always use more if we have them, but when we start getting six or more eggs a day, I have to focus more on using them up or start selling them.


Strawberry Patch & Garden

The strawberry patch is dormant like it has been for the past several months. I did order some seeds for the vegetable garden. This year my focus is going to be tomatoes. I'm hoping to can quite a bit, but also sell some as well. At the end of February, I started all of my tomato seeds plus some herb and flower seeds.

​
Honeybees

I've purchased most of my hive equipment for the bees! The bees themselves won't arrive until late April, but for now I'm keeping myself busy assembling some of the supers and frames. 

My budget for this project was $500.00. I've spent most of that already. There are just a few things that I'd like to purchase yet, so I will probably go over budget on the honeybee project.


Profit & Loss

Expenses:
Package of bees- $120.00
Beehive supplies- $306.50
Beekeeping tools- $39.99
Beekeeping coat/hat- $19.99
Total expenses: $486.48

Income:
Book royalties- $3.15

Net profit: $(483.33)
Year-to-date net profit: $(544.18)

So, that's about all I have to report for February. In March I hope to finish putting together my beehive!

Til next time,
-Bethany

Hi everyone! January seemed like a short month here on our little hobby farm.

Poultry

The birds are doing great. Right now we have 16 hens, two roosters and two ducks (either one male, one female or both females). In January I was getting between zero and two eggs per day- including one duck egg almost every day.  I've been using duck eggs for THM "muffin in a mug" recipes, and they are wonderful. Finally I've found a use for those yolk-heavy duck eggs. Right now I am just filling the feeder and letting the birds eat whatever they want. When the grass starts to green up I'll go back to "rationing" but for now it's an all-day buffet.

Other Projects
I'm not going to lie. While planning my to-do list for spring, I felt a twinge of regret about selling my goats. No goat babies for me this year. 😔 However, the good news is that I've put in my order for honeybees! My goal for February is to order supplies and a hive kit. As far as gardening goes, I have two more seed packets to buy and I'll be done shopping. Hoping to start some of my herb seeds in February.


Profit & Loss

Income:
Book royalties- $3.15

Expenses: 
Shelled corn- $20.00
Layer mash- $44.00
Total expenses: $64.00

Net profit: $(60.85)
Year-to-date net profit: $(60.85)

And we've started out the year in the red. Last January I also lost money, but only $29.00. I think I'll be lucky this year to break even because of my bee project and also not selling as many animal products as I did last year.

Til next time,
-Bethany

Failure #1: Specialty Farmers Market

After hearing about how wonderful evening markets are, I signed up for one in June. You can read all about it (and watch a Youtube video!) here. To make a long story short, it was a complete bust and I actually lost money. That was the nail in the coffin of my farmers market career- mostly because I lost money but also because I was getting too pregnant to be hauling crates and setting up tents by myself. This year I have Baby Girl to tend to, so I'll not be doing any markets. Instead, I'll be focusing on our roadside produce stand.


Failure #2: Butchering Roosters

This wasn't exactly a failure- it's just something I've decided not to do anymore on a regular basis. I dread the task, plus some of our roosters last year hardly had any meat on them.

​
Profit & Loss

Income: 
Book Royalties- $3.32

Expenses:
Shelled corn- $10.00
Layer mash- $22.00
Beekeeping book- $15.63
Total expenses: $47.63 

Net profit: $(44.31)
Year-to-date net profit: $280.20

So, I declare this year's hobby farm a success! Of course, the ONLY reason I ended the year profitable was because I sold the goats. That's okay with me. I'll be harvesting the $280.20 from 2017 and start 2018 at $0.00.


Goals for 2018

1. Income: I hope to earn a small profit or at least break even in 2018. I'll probably be spending $500.00 or more in January on bees. Thankfully my massive strawberry patch was paid off last year, so most of the money I earn from that will be pure profit. I expect this income to pay for the bees and possibly another strawberry patch. 

2. Chicken sustainability: I want the chickens to pay for their own keep. In 2017 it was difficult to estimate chicken feed costs because the shelled corn was being split between chickens and goats. According to my records, I spent  $312.00 on feed and earned $188.00 in egg money. That means I only sold enough eggs to pay for 60% of their feed (though some of that feed did go to the goats).

This year it will be easier to see if the chickens are truly paying for themselves. Right now they are eating about $20.00 of feed per month ($240.00 per year if they continue at that rate). At this point in mid-winter they are not even laying enough eggs for us, but I expect production to pick up in February. Then I will sell the extra eggs. I think I will raise egg prices this year to $2.50 or $3.00 a dozen. Last year I noticed that my prices were fairly low compared to other local hobby farmers. In addition to raising egg prices, I'll try to cut feed costs by supplementing the chickens with fodder during the colder months.   

3. Farmers market book: I don't know if this is a hobby farm goal or an author's goal, but I want to rewrite my farmers market book for a wider audience. Right now I'm only making about $3.00 per month on it. With updated content, a new cover and better marketing, I think I could triple or quadruple that number. Having $10.00 or $20.00 per month to add to hobby farm income would be wonderful.


Goals for January

This month I hope to (finally) finish building my chicken fodder system. The sooner I start saving money with this system, the better. I also want to finish reading my beekeeping book and find out where I should purchase supplies and bees. Lastly, I need to purchase seeds for the garden.

Til next time,
Bethany​

Apart from selling the goats, November was a really slow farm month. We didn't even buy feed this month. It seems that every day is colder than the last. I've been leaving Baby Girl inside with Hubs while I do chores; it's just really cold for her to be out there. Plus she hates being in the stroller now. :/ Every time I do this I'm so glad we sold the goats. Chores only take about five minutes between dumping new feed in their feeder, collecting eggs and breaking their water.


Chickens

No chicken deaths to report in November. We are up to three eggs per day now, as opposed to two last month. So that's good news!

I also started working on a new fodder system for my chickens. I wanted to do this last year (and previous years) but just never got around to it. I got my husband to use his construction whiz skills to build a frame for stacking fodder containers on top of each other. This month I'm going to drill holes in my containers and stack them on top of each other. The idea is to line the bottom of each container with seed for sprouting. Then you water on the top, and the water trickles down to all of the other containers. Each day you take one container of fully sprouted fodder out to the chickens, and add more seed on the (empty) bottom container.


Strawberries

This month we used fallen leaves to cover almost all the rows of strawberries. I had planned on doing straw, but I think the leaves will be better because there is no chance of them shedding seeds for a weedy strawberry patch next year. We also didn't have to buy straw. There are still a few uncovered rows that I should probably buy straw for. But we'll see if that happens or not.


Profit & Loss

Expenses: $4.00 for fodder containers

Income: $3.15 from book royalties (One Season of Farmers Market)

Net profit: $(0.85)

Year-to-date net profit: $324.51

Well, the good news is that I lost less than a dollar this month! I know I will have to buy feed in December, but that's all I can forsee. I really like the pared-down animal chores this year. We are planning on doing a winter vacation sometime in January, and the goats are one less thing I have to worry about while we're gone.

Til next time,
-Bethany

​I waited a long time to post the October update because we made some big changes recently.

Goats

I didn't feed any hay in October thanks to the warm weather/pasture growth. Last week as I was feeding the goats, baby in a front pack, I noticed that Barry's hooves were in bad need of clipping. Ugh. I had put off clipping them while I was pregnant, not wanting to deal with his bulk, have him kick me, etc. But now that I had the baby, there was even less of a chance that I'd get it done. I'd have to get my husband out to help me lift him onto the stand, and then we'd have to have someone else watch the baby. Furthermore, there were 100 other things I'd rather be doing with my baby-free minutes than clipping goat hooves. I realized then that I didn't have enough time/energy to devote to the goats' care beyond basic feeding chores. 

The choice to sell was spur-of-the-moment... kind of. For the past year or so I noticed that Adi's milk supply was declining to where it was just enough for Hubs and I, and it only lasted four-five months. She was still paying her way though, and not a lot of work to keep, so my plan was to keep her for the rest of her life and then re-evaluate getting new goats when she died. I seriously considered selling Barry this fall, but just never got around to it. 

Before baby was born, it was easy to do stuff outside. Now that she is here, I can still do stuff... in 15 minute increments, with her strapped to my chest or hanging out in a stroller nearby. I can still do things, but it's a lot harder. And it makes me think twice about everything I do. I realized last week that it would be better to sell both goats NOW before I spend more money on feed and hay. I also won't have to deal with kidding in the spring, selling goat babies, milking, washing jars, etc. Furthermore, we can be a little more free to travel if animal chores are only once a day year-round. I always dreaded pawning off my milking chores onto friends or family. Last year Adi kidded while we were in the Dominican Republic. Not anymore!

The new owner has her own goat dairy and I'm confident she will take great care of my goats. Also, not having the goats will free up the time I do have, so I can focus on caring for my chickens and strawberry patch. 


Poultry

My only expense this month was the purchase of two new ducks at $15.00 each. I'm 100% that one of them is female... not sure about the other one. As far as I know, neither of them is laying eggs yet. They should start laying soon, though. Right now I am only getting two chicken eggs per day. Obviously this is *just* enough for our own use with not an egg to spare/sell. I upped their daily feed ration by two pounds to see if it increases production, but so far I haven't noticed a difference.


Garden

We mostly finished up garden work in October. I dug up/harvested all of the remaining edibles and Hubs tilled up my annual beds. Because I had so many unused raised beds this year, I think I will eliminate growing space in front and just let that go into grass to be mowed. Corn will grow where my old strawberry patch used to be.

I had a free hour one Saturday to clean out the chicken coop. I put all of the dried up chicken poo on my raised beds. Some of the poop came off in "sheets", which was really convenient actually. Usually I do lasagna composting with my raised beds (carbon layer alternated with nitrogen layer), but this year I'm just going to dump the chicken manure on and leave it at that. I bed the chicken coop with pine sawdust, so the rotted mixture of wood (carbon) and manure (nitrogen) should provide the same effect as layering carbon and nitrogen materials. Plus I don't have time for layering this year.

Strawberries

We tilled in between the strawberry rows one last time. I'm hoping to get the rows covered with straw sometime in late November/early December. I was also hoping to go through and weed the patch one last time before it got cold, but that just didn't happen. Oh well.

We used leaves fallen from the property to cover some of the strawberries. This was nice because they were free.


Profit & Loss

Income: 
$4.00- Eggs
$270.00- Goats and goat tattoo kit
Total income: $254.00

Expenses: $30.00- Ducks

Net profit: $244.00
Year-to-date net profit: $325.36

Since we sold the goats, I won't be buying hay or restocking the goat feed this month (November). The chickens are set for a while in regards to feed. November should have a really boring report!

Til next time,
-Bethany

As many of you know, the birth of Baby Girl broke up the month of September for us. For the last two weeks of the month, Hubs did chores while I stayed inside for the most part, recovering from birth and taking care of our new daughter. 

​
Goats

Adi and Barry continued munching on pasture. This month (October) I put them together for breeding. This should bring goat kids in March or April. Unfortunately it's been more difficult to estimate due dates when there is only one doe in my "herd". Last year I did the same thing, putting Barry and Adi together on October 1st. I was hoping for goat kids in March, and they were born April 1st. So we'll see what happens this year.

Another exciting thing that happened: the owners of our 2016 goat kids sent us a picture of Adi and Barry's "grandkids". That was pretty cool! 


Chickens

Unfortunately we lost several chickens this month due to a neighbor's dog getting into their pasture. Of course this HAD to happen when I was "off duty" with the baby. We had noticed the dog in our yard several times a day for a few days, but didn't realize it was getting in with the chickens. I had no idea that there was a hole big enough in their fence to accommodate the dog, otherwise we would have contacted the owner sooner. Anyhow, I'm guessing we lost between 3-5 chickens. I'm crossing my fingers that the dog got our older hens and roosters (we know he got one rooster) instead of the young hens and still-laying chickens.

So obviously egg production continues to go down, not only due to the weather but also likely due to the fact that there are no longer as many chickens. We've been getting between 2-6 eggs per day- less if the chickens eat the eggs, which has been happening off and on. We have some crushed oyster shells to help with this, but as I mentioned before Hubs has been doing chores and he isn't familiar with the finer points of chicken husbandry. So hopefully now that I'm back "on duty" things won't be as chaotic in the chicken coop.


Garden & Strawberry Patch

The highlight of my gardening month was harvesting ornamental gourds. This was my first year doing them, and it was so fun to see the different varieties. I got at least five different kinds of gourds from the saved seed that I planted. I also harvested several small pumpkins that were grown from saved seed.

My mangel beets are HUGE!!! I think I'm going to store them in sand until I want to use them this winter. 

The strawberry patch is looking a little weedy, as I haven't been out there in weeks. I'm hoping for a few nice days in October to do some garden work.


Profit & Loss

Income:
Books- $6.47
Eggs- $22.00
Total income: $28.47

Expenses:
Layer mash- $44.00
Corn- $22.00
Total expenses: $66.00

Net profit: ($37.53)
Year-to-date net profit: $90.23

So it looks like we are down to two figures in the hobby farm account. LOL... good thing it's a hobby farm and not a real farm. This month I stocked up again on chicken feed. The last time I bought feed was in July when we had more poultry AND I had ordered less feed than I did this time. I'm fairly certain that my two garbage cans of feed will last through the end of the year.

One expense that I'll still have this year is hay for the goats. $90.00 should be plenty for that. 

Til next time,
-Bethany

Chickens
Only one chicken died last month, probably of old age. Egg production is down from 6-9 eggs to 5-7 eggs at this point. Raccoon season is pretty much over (I think), so we aren't closing up the coop at night. While this might be taking a risk, it eliminates the need to do chores twice a day. It also eliminates the chance of me forgetting to let the chickens out in the morning (their water is outside, so they NEED to be let out).

Goats
Our big August event was to dry off Adi. "Drying off" is a fancy term for "stop milking". While it means that I don't get any more free milk, it also means we only have to do chores once a day, and I don't have to wash hideous amounts of mason jars anymore, nor is there a race to use up milk before it goes sour. Not much to report other than that in the goat department.

Strawberries
We continued to til, weed and water the strawberries as usual.

Garden
The garden produced mainly cucumbers and herbs for the month of August. You can see a bit of a garden update in my video (above). I have a feeling that September is going to be my big garden month. In this month's newsletter I gave an estimate of how much money I saved this year by gardening (and also how I'm going to squeeze another $20+ out of my plants before frost). Growing your own vegetables is a great way to save money, but when you factor in savings from fruit, herbs, and flowers as well, it really adds up. In fact, you get the most savings per hour of work by growing fresh produce, herbs and produce. If you're going to preserve anything, fruit should be the first priority, then vegetables and then most herbs. 

Goat's Milk Soap
In August I also dried some different things with goat's milk soap. One project was French milling- that is, essentially grating and remelting an old soap into a new soap. I really liked this process because it allowed me to use up bits and pieces of my old batches. French milling also allows you to add essential oils and fragrances that would not survive the lye chemical reaction of the regular soap making process.

My second project was using madder root (a red powder) to color goat's milk soap. I tried both infusing the oil (didn't work... the powder and color just sank to the bottom) and adding the powder straight to the soap once it reached trace. My second method was successful. It made a beautiful pink soap. I put a whole ton of phthalate-free pomegranate fragrance in to scent the soap, but unfortunately the smell didn't come through. I think my pomegranate soap is definitely a candidate for French milling (rebatching). Hopefully when I add the fragrance oil the second time around, you'll be able to smell some of it.


Profit & Loss

Income:
Book royalties- $3.32
Soap- $14.00
Eggs- $21.00
Total income: $38.32

Expenses:
Soap making supplies- $27.45

Net Profit: $10.87
Year-to-date Profit: $129.76 

Yay for a net profit this month! I sold eggs to an additional two customers last month, and my wonderful SIL also offered to take my soap to a farmers market she was going to. That made up the bulk of my income, plus I sold a book* last month. Every little bit helps. :) We didn't have any feed costs this month, which is why I was able to spend so much money on soap supplies without going in the hole.


Future Income... Will There Be Any?

It's the time of year again when I wonder if my $129.00 is going to stretch through March. Not only are my farmers market days done for the year, but egg production will probably come to a screeching halt in November.   That will eliminate my main and secondary sources of income for the hobby farm.

Starting in November (hopefully), I would like to start listing soaps on Etsy again. I tried this before, but there was just not enough interest to make it worth doing. Now that I have a Youtube channel, I have a better chance of selling both Etsy products AND books for a source of winter income.

Spring will bring baby goat kids to sell, of course, but June and July will also bring strawberry sales. The goat kids will pay for Adi & Barry's keep, but the strawberry income has already been earmarked to subsidize a new project- honey bees!! I've wanted to do bees for years now, and I think 2018 will finally be the year. Initial costs are estimated to be around $500.00. I estimate that 2018 strawberry sales will be enough to cover the bees and initial strawberry investment from this year, but not much more. So if the farm is to stay afloat, I will need to keep plugging away at some of my other sources of income.

So those are my plans looking into 2018. October has been set aside for BABY bonding time (!!) but after everything settles down I might find myself itching to do something more hobby-like. November will be a great time to start selling soaps for the Christmas season, and after that I will probably resume working on book projects.

Til next time,
-Bethany 

*I only count royalties from my hobby-farm related books. I would already have my bees if I'd been counting the sales from my other two books! At this point I only have one hobby farm book for sale: One Season of Farmers Market, available on Amazon.