KRISHNA EAGLE AND FAMILY
(Page 4 of 4)
March/April 1972
By the Mother Earth News editors
The first—a farmer and his wife in their 50's—sold us a nine-month-old Alpine/Saanen doe for $35. (We have since become close friends with the Smiths and get gardening tips from Nellie all the time. The Smiths are also our source of comfrey roots—for planting—and salalberry jam. Comfrey, by the way, is good to feed to both chickens and goats . . . especially if the latter eats too many buttercups.)
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Our other goat source (Dave) is an ex-San Francisco draft objector who arrived here four years ago, read some books, planted a garden, got a goat and then went into the business of raising chickens and goats to sell.
With goats on the way, the chicken coop was no longer adequate and we really needed a barn. So we sat down and designed a 13' x 13' building which would accommodate chickens, goats, a milking area and hayloft.
The lumber company had left so many poles lying about that we settled on a chinked log barn with clear plastic sheeting stretched inside and out to keep the moss in place where the animals couldn,'t eat it.
It took us three or four days to gather the 300 or more logs necessary for the task (we also used some of the poles to corral in about 1/2 acre of pasture). We had hardly gotten the frame up and some of the wall done when-Bang! December hit and so too, as if by magic, winter. We worked another full week until the falling snow was 21/a feet deep on the ground! It was a good experience, and except for cold hands and feet and 1/2 foot of snow in the loft before the roof was shaked, I really enjoyed it! We're now well set in for the winter and the total cost of the barn was under $70 for flooring, plastic sheeting and five-inch spikes.
We make it into town for supplies about once a week and, since there are three natural foods stores nearby, we can get whole grains and bulk oils for cooking. These stores have expressed interest in our organic vegetables, herbs, honey and goat products next fall . . . so we have a ready market for our goods. Actually, what we may do is ask them what they need the most and then plant exactly that—using our only tools, a shovel and a hand hoe—in the "commercial" sections of our garden.
Looks like we're gonna make out alright.
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