Cold Creek Nursery

Just wanted to let you all know that Cold Creek in Aiken, SC is now carrying our Trail Ridge Farm products. Check it out if you are interested in getting our goat cheeses locally!

Cold Creek Nursery

398 Hitchcock Parkway

Aiken, SC 29801

(803)648-3592

Or check out their website here!

Nature's Beauty...

Matthew recently took this picture of our farm early one morning just as the sun was cresting the tree line.  There is such beauty in the foggy morning sunrise.  How blessed we are to be able to enjoy such beauty right here on our property!  

 "From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord's name is to be praised."

Psalm 113:3

Meet Our Farm Intern

Chelsea has been staying with us for the past two weeks, working as our very first farm intern!  She agreed to stay for a month, helping us out with milking, chores, and projects, and in return, we are teaching her what we know about goats, cheese, animal husbandry, and milking!

When we first decided to take an intern on, we were a little worried, because we've heard all of the horror stories behind interns.  We've actually kicked the idea around for some time (as Chelsea can tell you because she actually approached us with the idea about a year ago!) , but we just kept backing down due to our "fears".  After we finally decided to just go ahead and try it for one month on a week-to-week basis, we are so glad that we did!  Chelsea is working out great!  She is a hard working young woman, diligent, dependable and a go-getter!  She is always looking for more projects to tackle.  The Lord sent us an angel when he sent Chelsea our way and we are already making plans for her to come back during kidding season!  Not only is it our busiest time of year, but it is also the most fun!

She isn't too keen on having her photo taken, but she's been a good sport and let me capture some of her time here...

Chelsea is staying in our pop-up camper while she is here since the weather is still so nice, but when she comes back in January we will have to figure out a better plan! : )

Chelsea, at the Sandhills Farmer's Market with her dog and her goat...

...her baby Nigerian Dwarf.

Chelsea in the cheese room...

Being with us day in and day out, she's been pointing things out that we've never really payed much attention to before.  She remarked the other day that we are the most "whistling" family she's ever been around!  We got a kick out of her comment but when we actually stopped to listen, she was right, we are always either whistling, humming or singing, and usually it's not the same song!  Our goal before she leaves is to turn her into a whistler!

She is also doing a great job helping sell our products at the markets.  Here she is with Ethan at the University of South Carolina Market.

Our bi-annual Herb Fair also rolled around while she's been here, so her and I sold at that one all morning.  Savannah, Mom and Noah joined us after chores, so that Chelsea and I could take a lunch break.  She is an excellent saleswoman and can usually convince people that they should at least try the cheese.  She seems to have a quip for everyone's excuses:

Customer #1: "It's too early in the morning to try goat cheese..."

Chelsea: "We actually have a sweet cheese that works perfectly in the morning on bagels, if you'd like to try it..."

Customer #2: "I'm not much of a goat cheese fan..."

Chelsea: "Have you tried our goat cheese?  You might be surprised!"

Customer #3: "I'm having trouble deciding which cheese to get, there are so many to choose from!"

Chelsea: "You could get one of each and the problem is solved!"

She is so funny and had me laughing several times throughout our day together!  

Chelsea and Kelsey

(The rhyming names can get confusing.  We are both learning to answer to either!)

Noah, Chelsea, myself and Savannah at our booth.

Savannah's candles...

The musicians at the Herb Faire...

She has been pitching in and helping out with anything and everything, from helping us get ready for the Herb Faire (see picture below), to doing dishes, to cooking us dinner one night!

But all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy....so we have also been enjoying our late night games!  We have played Telestrations, Whoonu, Catch Phrase, and Mexican Train Dominoes.  She is a good sport and willing to learn new things, so we've had a lot of fun teaching her our favorite games.  It's also been a joy to just sit around in the evenings and talk with her.  Savannah, Chelsea and I sat around last night talking about anything and everything and nothing in particular.  She's so easy to talk to.  It's almost like having another sister!

During lunch break....

Chelsea has pretty much become an extension of our family while she's been here, to the point that Dad teases her that we'll adopt her! LOL!  

Here we are viewing a Civil War Exhibit of the submarine, the Hunley.

It's been nice to have extra hands around because she has been working on the projects on our list that we never seem to get to, such as scrubbing down the milking parlor, washing windows, and staining the siding boards on the dairy, as she is doing in the picture below.

So all in all, Chelsea's internship has been going great for us and I think she is truly enjoying herself as well!  It has made us realize that maybe internships aren't so scary, that maybe stepping into the unknown isn't a bad thing!  I realize that if we keep up the internship program, we may eventually run into our own horror story (yikes!), but for our first one, with Chelsea, the Lord has definitely blessed us!  

Thanks Chelsea, for pushing us to try this.  We are so glad that we did!

Introducing Our New Farm Hand

Or should I say "Our New Farm Paw"!

Meet Mist...

Mist is a one and a half year old, full-blooded Border Collie!  She is sweet, loves to please, and is a fast learner!

Bringing her home...she was quite comfortable with us from the beginning!

1st day

We picked Mist up right after we got back from our trip to Canada.  Our goal for her is to teach her how to herd the goats.  When we got her, she barely knew any basic commands, but she has proved very willing to learn and enjoys trying new things.  She loves "going to work" with the goats and is already responding well to our commands!  Hopefully she will work out to be the kind of dog that we need!

 

 

We have always heard the horror stories behind getting a Border Collie...

"Oh, you are really going to have to work that kind of dog!"

"They are super hyper and need a lot of outdoor time to wear them out..."

"Do you know how hard they are to train?"

 

And so on and so on.

But boy did we get a good dog, because she is gentle, docile, hardworking when she needs to be, attentive, and the quickest learning dog that we have ever trained.  Border collies might just be our new thing!

Here are some pictures of Mist working...

Cutie-Pie!

Kimme, The Talking Goat

The other day, Kimme, our matron milk goat was sitting out in the field all by herself and was just begging for a picture to be taken of her. 

 

 

She appears to be talking to me!

 

 

 

 

 

Winking Kimme!

 

We Were On the News

About a month ago, we had two news reporters come out from News Channel 19 WLTX in Columbia to do a report on our farm. 

You can view the News Report here

 and you can view the whole interview with Dad HERE

 

Here are a few pictures from our side of the camera!

 

Filming the kids...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The report aired the following week and it ended up being a pretty nice one!  Both the reporters did a wonderful job and we appreciated the advertisement!

Life on the Farm

So what else has occupied our time, you ask?  

Well, dear friends, enjoy the following pictures because these are sights that greet us each day!

The kids....

Zoe, a Nubian/Saanen cross with her adorable airplane ears!

Twins

 

We have several babies for sale right now, waiting for just the right home for them.

One of our Great Pyrenees Guard dogs, Rainy, patrolling her area.

Clancy, our house pet!  He just got a haircut today, so I'll have to try to post a picture of him sporting his 

new 'do!

And what could the dogs be looking at?.....

A mama bird who built her nest in our carport is greatly annoying them on a daily basis!  The birds build a next there every year, but the dogs have never gotten used to it!

One of our milking does, Rose

The "girls" enjoying their hay rack...

What a minute, who is this?  

Ahhh, the Shepherd!

And the Shepherd's son....building some football hoop thingamajig so that he can test his aim by throwing the football threw it from a distance and seeing if he makes it in.  I'm sure he has a name for this contraption, but it escapes me at the moment!

So,...that's been our life up to date...well, almost up to date!  My next post will be about the news interview that was done on our farm a few weeks back.  I'm a little behind, but better late than never, right?