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)*

Huge Congratulations Grace, on winning FIRST place in the Goat Show this afternoon!! You looked like a real farm girl out there with your goat "Mon Cherie"! And we all know you worked very hard on learning your dairy goat parts - great job at remembering all of them!

We sure had fun with you at Farm Camp this week, you were a great camper - and you seem like a natural here at the farm!
We do hope you will be able to attend a Family Day this summer. The dates are:
- May 21st 2011 (5-7 pm)

- June 18th 2011 (8-10 am)

- August 6th 2011 (8-10 am)

Allison - SonRidge Farm

Well i have finally come to the end of my farm camp amazing journey...WOW!!!!!

I Fed my baby goat this morning, i got to ride patches again. I cantered up a hill again on patches.

We wet and "dented" some designs in a four leaf clover. I had to sit down with a hair dryer and dry all the clovers. Then we put a polish over it to make it waterproof.

We made some pizza. They put butter on the pan and then a lot of seasonings, then the dough, then they put the sauce and cheese. It was the bast pizza i have ever tasted!!

I milked my goat today...she knocked the pail over so i just got 0.3 pounds.

I need to go practice my goat showing. It is 1:30 and we have a "goat show" at 2:30.

Goat showing is a real thing. Allie(worker) shows her goats all the time. You have to stay on the other side of the judge...You have to use a show collar(chain collar(It doesn't hurt the goat)), You have to know the parts of a goat, and you have to be able to place their feet. Very complicated, but fun!

We get to take home our soap that we made on Monday. This Blog will stay up for a while... until the space runs out. Thanks for reading my blog on this camp journey. If i get to do the Intermediate camp next year i might use this same blog.

First thing we did this morning was feeding our kid goats.

Then we got to ride horses. They allowed us to ride out in the pasture. We got to canter up a hill. That may not seem like much fun...but it was! That was probabyly the highlight of my day. I got to ride Patches, the Paint tenesee walker up the hill. They took a video of me cantering patches.

For our first break I practiced being the "judge" for the goat show. I realy didnt want to get my goat out and they needed a judge so some others could practice.

Then our "chore" for the day was to fix wax bee hives. It was very complicated! I only got 2 done in 30 min. WOW!! Plus the wax was melting and tearing.

Lunch was next...it was fun. We ate at a picnic table. We had a bunch of fun! We laughed a lot!!!!!

Then we came inside and helped make some laudrey detergent. We added a couple ingrediants and wrote it down on a piece of paper, so we can use it at home.

I get another free time later...and we are going to add some papers to our folders.

Cant wait until tomorrow. I cant believe tomorrow is our last day! We are having pizza for lunch with homemade goat milk cheese.

Keep checking in for more post!!!!!

1st post for wed.

When i arrived a baby goat was waiting for me...she was not even a day old. She is adorable!

She is so white and pure! She stumbles when she walks,its so cute! They keep her inside and in a diaper...except when she is outside she is bundled up in a blanket.

There is one more due today but they dont think she is really pregnant. There is another one due Friday.

I fed my kid goat(raspberry) and i also got the chance to feed one of the one week old too!

I rode patches(a Tennessee walker ) by myself and trotted him...it was a lot of fun!

Then we learned how to fill bottles to feed the goat. The dog drank the milk that we spilled. haha!!!!! I learned how to use teamwork to fill the bottles with a funnel...and get a nipple on the bottle.

For our first free time i practiced goat showing with my goat(Mon Cherie).

Then we went across the street and learned about how bees help the garden. Cucumbers have to be pollinated 8 times. Then we came back to the house and looked at a bee exhibit. Interesting.

Then we washed some wool we shaved off yesterday.

We ate lunch and had a bunch of fun...haha...a lot of laughs.

Then I my goat next, i only milked 0.9 pounds. Not as much as i would have liked.

Now im blogging and next im going to help make cheese. Then i get another free.

I have to go now...because everyone says i am taking to long and need to go.

By the way...Sorry i fsome of the paragraphing is not correct the computer wont let me fix it. Also sorry if some of the words are black...it wont let me change those either.

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

2nd Post Tues.

Ok...i am SOBBING wet!!! who would have thought that i would be milking a goat in the pouring rain!!! WOW!!!!LOL!!!! I am pretty happy though...i milked 1.5 of milk and yesterday I only milked 0.9 pounds.

Next i get to make some lip balm.

Lunch was good, nothing ate it...haha... we ate inside at the table...out of the cold.

I got to help feed milk one of the one week old baby goats.

That's about it until tomorrow unless it stops raining, then we can go back outside.

By the way some of the photos i am posting today are from yesterday. They ones from yesterday are the ones below this post.

So far today..i have fed my goat, learned how to show a goat..which needs some practicing..haha.
I have ridden a Tennessee walker horse and a quarter horse...it just makes me want to see my horse.
It is very chilly!! lol, i thought you were supposed to get hot at farm camp. haha
For the past couple minutes i have watched Allie(worker) shear a pregnant angora goat. It very cool!She is due on Friday.
They have let the 1 week old baby goats out. I picked up and held a couple of them.
I will Probably Post again today but later....
Please leave feedback!

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

I have had a lot more fun than i thought i would! My teammate is Hannah Meile...My Milking goat is named Mon Cherie...and my Kid goat is Raspberry. Raspberry is black with white spots.It was a lot of fun feeding milk to my kid.

Team #3 (Hannah and I) got the chore of cleaning out a very small glassless pasture. The mini horse that lives in it cant eat grass.

We watched some blacksmithing, but not for long. All of the girls chose horse riding. We groomed the horse and tacked it up. She did not lead me around since i know how to ride, but for those who didn't, she led them around. The horse we rode is a Tennessee Walker.

We strained some cream.

I sat on a tablecloth on the ground. I had my sandwich on my lap and the dog came over, i tried to push him away but he is a bull mastive....he grabbed and put the sandwich in his mouth and walked away. There went my lunch! I ate some of Madison's lunch that she didn't eat.

Then we helped Allie(worker) make some soap. We get to bring it home on Friday!

Steven(worker) helped me milk my goat. I had to wipe the teats of with a baby wipe and learned how to milk a goat. I was milking him and he knocked my milk pan over, there went my milk! I saved half of it. Thank Goodness!!!!! So i finished milking my goat and put her back out in there pasture.

They have one week old goats and they are adorable. 3 of there goats are due to have babies this week.

I have had a great time at farm camp today. I cant wait to feed my baby goat tomorrow...and i think we get to make lip balm!!!!!

My Assignments

My Milking doe is: Mon Cherie

My baby goat (kid) is: Raspberry

My team mate is: Hannah Miele

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.