Notes from the Farm: Frida, Elton, & Opal

  Kicking off our very first weekly blogpost series, we wanted to write about something fun. And honestly, what’s more fun than an armful of baby goat?

Couldn’t think of anything, could you?

We’ve gained several new members here at Cleveland Organics and they get quite the attention from everyone who sees them. Frida and Elton are six week old ‘Mini Nubians’ from the boonies of South Carolina. Adopted by Emma and Matt in January, they’ve already almost doubled in size and are bottle fed twice daily, once in the morning and once more before bedtime. Frida and Elton weigh in at about 12 pounds right now and stay busy running around the yard, chasing the chickens, climbing on anything that’s climbable, trying to run into the house each time the door is opened, and bouncing onto people’s backs (their favorite place to sit).

        

From left, Frida stands on top of the chicken coop while her brother, Elton, snuggles and watches from the porch.

Their little pal, Opal, is a five-month old Nigerian Dwarf and is the lightest color of the three. She’s also by far the calmest (and heaviest, at about 20 pounds).

Mini Nubians (Frida & Elton) are known for their sweet demeanor, their good tasting milk, and their distinctive droopy ears. Fully grown, the females can weigh up to 100 pounds, while males sometimes reach up to 130 pounds. Mini Nubian Goats can produce on average up to 2 quarts of milk daily. Matt and Emma plan to use the milk from both Opal and Frida, but will have to wait at least a year before they can take advantage of it. You can drink the milk, of course, but there’s also plenty of other things you can make from goat’s milk: yogurt, ice cream, cheese, soap, and lotion, just to name a few. Aaaand,  you can use Mini Nubians for meat, but these little babies are strictly for milk!

As you can see, the goats will chew and climb on anything. The chewing can be beneficial, as goats are great helpers when it comes to keeping the weeds and grass at bay.

As I mentioned, Opal is an entirely different breed from the other two. Nigerian Dwarfs are small in size and easy to take care of, making them popular pets. They are classified as a dairy goat breed and because their milk has a high butterfat content, it is ideal for cheese making.

And if all this talk about cheese has made you hungry, HERE is a link to an abundance of recipes that incorporate goat cheese.

Frida is smiling because she’s excited about our very first giveaway TOMORROW. Stay tuned to our Facebook Page for a chance to win!

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Up and Running!

We are so excited to have our new website up and running! We still have a few bugs to work out, photos to upload, and things to post, but we are slooowly getting there.

2012 was quite a year for us. First and foremost, we are finally certified USDA Organic. After 3 long years of planning and preparation, we finally arrived at that milestone in October of 2012. We just recently wrapped up our most successful pecan season yet, with almost 200,000 pounds of pecans harvested and sold. Our organic blackberries were a major hit and we’re planning to expand our crop this year and even add organic blueberries. Our Caffeine Crunch was voted 2012 Best New Food Product as well as People’s Choice through the Specialty Coffee Association of America. We’ve gotten our foot in the door at several retailers and can’t wait to add to that list. Overall, we had a year filled with many blessings and we can’t wait to see what 2013 has in store for us.

One of our goals for this year is to have a heavier online presence and to better communicate with our customers. We want to keep everyone updated on the happenings around our farm because, let’s face it: it can get pretty entertaining around here. A great way to stay connected is through this blog and our Facebook Page. We’ll be doing weekly blogposts about life on the farm: what we’re up to, what’s growing, the process we use to grow our crops, and other things we find entertaining around here.

Another addition we’re excited about is the fact that we’ll be doing a giveaway every other week. From our delicious, fresh-roasted coffee to our Coffee Toffee Bites to our Salt & Pepper Pecans: we want to give everyone the chance to taste the products we spend so much time growing and creating. Be sure to “like” us on Facebook to be eligible to win and to stay updated when these giveaways are in process.

Lastly, we’ll be doing quite a bit of traveling this year. We’ll be displaying our products at the Specialty Coffee Association of America Show in Boston on April 11th through the 14th. We will also be at the Fancy Foods Show in New York this summer (June 30th-July 2nd) and this fall, we’ll head to the Atlanta Gourmet Gift Market on September 17th through the 19th.

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So, all this to say: we’re happy to be in business and we want to hear from you. If you have any comments, suggestions, or questions, we’d love to hear them. Drop us an e-mail at beth@cleveland-organics.com. Be sure to “like” our Facebook page. Add this blog to your RSS feeds. Check out our website at cleveland-organics.com. And stay tuned for our very first weekly update from the farm coming to the blog very soon!