PJ Jonas

Category: Farm Life

  • Persimmons

    Persimmons

    We are fortunate to live in an area with lots of persimmon trees.  In the past, we’ve never owned any, so we’ve always had to go on walks and harvest ones from other people’s trees with their permission.  Harvesting persimmons is super easy because all you do is pick them up off the ground after…

  • Sleeping in the Soap Room

    Sleeping in the Soap Room

    We work very hard to be present at the birth of all of our goats.  Sometimes we miss, but that is very rare.  People often think we’re over-vigilant and worry needlessly.  I’ve been told before, “They’re goats, birth is a natural process, they’ll be fine.” To which I respond, “Yes, many goats (like people) can…

  • Puppies at the property

    This morning we brought Thor and Baxter to Scottsburg with us. Although we’ve brought them before, it has always been on a weekend, when there was no active construction.  So all the activity was new for them. Colter, Greyden and Brett took them for a walk around the house construction. We wanted to see how…

  • Our Great Pyrenees Puppies!

    Our Great Pyrenees Puppies!

    Thor and Baxter are settling in at the farm and doing great.  Right now they are living in a stall by themselves.  Their outside run is adjacent to the goats‘ run, so the goats and dogs can see each other and touch noses through the fence.  Thor and Baxter are livestock guardian dogs, so eventually…

  • Great Pyrenees Puppies

    Great Pyrenees Puppies

    Meet the newest members of the Goat Milk Stuff family!  Thornton and Baxter are registered Great Pyrenees brothers who will be guarding the goats (and the children) at the new property.  Jim isn’t thrilled with the prospect of having two very large dogs (they’ll be around 150 pounds each), but the goats need some protection…

  • Asparagus

    Asparagus

    Asparagus is one of my favorite vegetables to grow, because it is the first thing to come up in the garden in spring.  Asparagus is a perennial, which means that once you plant it, you don’t have to replant it. You purchase the plant as “asparagus crowns” which are little cut off plants with lots and…

  • What is a Vegetable?

    What is a Vegetable?

    At our home, we work very hard to live a healthy lifestyle.  So I’m always telling my children to eat their vegetables.  And the other day, one of them asked, “What is a Vegetable?” I gave them a very simple answer (which made perfect sense to me): “A vegetable is anything we grow in our vegetable…

  • My Herb Garden

    My Herb Garden

    I love my herb garden.  Right now, it’s not in the best shape and needs a lot of dead stuff from last year removed.  Some fresh mulch would make it look really nice too.  Here is a photo of one of my lavender plants (notice the lemon balm creeping in and the dead stuff to…

  • It’s Garden Time Again!

    It’s Garden Time Again!

    I am so excited that Spring is here. Our cherry trees have blossoms on them and so do lots of other trees. Emery’s daffodils and hyacinths are up and blooming. It’s wonderful! My asparagus isn’t up yet, but it should be poking through any time now. And that means it is time to weed the…

  • Bringing in the Hay

    Bringing in the Hay

    Many of you remember Farmer Frazier, our 80+ year old neighbor who supplies us with our hay from his hay field. Normally, he just brings us one or two bales at a time, but this year, he decided to bring them all down at once. This took quite a lot of time and required the…

  • How To Build A Pole Barn 101

    How To Build A Pole Barn 101

    When we have a barn/building that needs to be built, we call Mr. McNew.  Not only is he a great hunter (he has brought us up to 4 deer in one day), but he also builds great pole barns. So when we need a new goat shelter, or an addition to our barn, all the children know that…

  • Jason

    Jason

    Jason is one of our barn cats. We have two – Jim Bob and Jason. We used to have three, but we lost John Boy (actually we’ve lost several John Boys). Jason is a super mouser, which is important when you have little boys feeding your goats and spilling grain everywhere. The other day, I…

  • Fruit Trees

    Fruit Trees

    Our fruit trees looked amazing in the Spring. Beautiful, healthy, and lots of fruit. Pears: Apples: Peaches: Peaches: Apples: Peaches: Then the drought set in:   And things didn’t look so good.  We eventually lost 3 pear trees due to a combination of the drought and fire blight.  Jim ordered three more pears that are…

  • Herb and Flower Gardens

    Herb and Flower Gardens

    With winter coming, it’s time to say goodbye to my herb garden til next year. One of the best parts of having a perennial herb garden is knowing it will return. Here are some photos of my herb garden with lots of weeds and live purple flowers: Here it is freshly weeded and mulched (and look,…

  • Sweet Potato Harvest

    Sweet Potato Harvest

    Here is a photo of this year’s sweet potato harvest. It’s about 150 pounds. Last year we grew 118 pounds. Normally we wait until two days before the first frost to dig up our sweet potatoes. But this year we’re going to be all over selling soap, so I thought we’d better harvest now before…