Wind River Farm

09/05/2026

All restocked and ready to go. Come by and say, "Hello" to Farmer Joe, or ask me about our goats and goat milk. Hope to see you this morning at Farm & Art Market Downtown in Salina.

09/04/2026

Wouldn't you LOVE it if we could bring this to your local farmer's market?

Yesterday we met with our regional dairy inspector from the Kansas Department of Agriculture for our pre-planning inspection. Though I'm quite familiar with the regulations, I found our meeting quite interesting and I did learn a thing or two.

I'm more motivated than ever to establish a licensed dairy here on the farm. The next step is submitting a floor plan, and... sourcing FUNDING!

08/29/2026

Salina, a HUGE THANK YOU for all the love this morning at the Farm & Art Market Downtown!

For those who came after your favorite flavor was sold out, I'll be working hard to make sure I return next Saturday fully stocked.

And don't forget to bring your cleaned empty jar for $1 off your next purchase.

08/29/2026

More and more, our Cajeta is taking center stage in our booth at the Farm & Art Market Downtown in Salina. If you haven't had a chance to taste it, you are missing out.

There are now SIX flavors from which to choose! They are: Classic Amber, Amber & Salt, Smoky Valley Fire, Con Canela, Chocolate, and Espresso Infusion.

Come taste one or all, then tell us: What's your favorite flavor?

08/28/2026

Now there is lab-grown milk? Not sorry, not drinking that. Did you know goats prefer to eat off of trees and shrubs rather than pasture? Get your milk from your local goat farmer. You can restore the woodlands and have your milk, too!

Almost half of all habitable land on Earth is used for agriculture, and most of that is dominated by livestock farming, which not only monopolizes land, but has numerous negative impacts on the environment.

08/27/2026

Y'all. I'm not going to rehash all the awfulness that has happened this year. IYKYK. But I will say the drama continues.

I went out to milk and it appears that Moka May tried to cut off her dewclaw! Fortunately, this is not a life threatening injury and, with any luck, will not require veterinary care. I'm simply going to keep it clean, do a little hydrotherapy if warranted, and let it heal on it's own.

Moka May is walking on that foot, albeit quite lightly. And she's eating, drinking, came in to milk, and staying with the herd. So she's fine. I'm not going to give her anything for pain. If the wound doesn't bother her she may overdo it and keep ripping it open. Best let some mild pain tell her what she can and can't do.

How did she do this? Who knows? Put her foot through the fence somewhere, somehow. A possible scenario is she was lying down against the fence and her foot went through when she got up. Then, instead of calmly working her foot until her dewclaw was no longer caught on the wire like a normal goat would do (NOT EVER🤣), she just kept pulling until her foot ripped free.

We'll never know what really happened. Just thought you'd like to see a working example of "if there is a way to get hurt, a goat will find it."

Just another day in the life.

08/27/2026

Helen came over after school today to do a bit of farming. It's been a couple months since we've taken a serious look at their feet, and it's time for a trim. So Helen trimmed her first goat feet today, and she did a great job!

08/22/2026

The view from our market booth this morning. And we are dry! We'll stay open as long as they let us, thanks to this beautiful new all-weather structure at Farm & Art Market Downtown.

08/11/2026

Life goes on. Ferguson actually came to us two days before Abel passed. I had been debating whether to fully retire Abel or breed both Abel and Ferguson to select does within the herd. That decision was made for me, all too abruptly. Now, it's all about getting to know Ferguson better before breeding season.

Ferguson comes to us from Bright Marvel Farm with an excellent pedigree and some really superb does in his lineage. One of his daughters is milking 2.5 gallons per day!

We're super excited to welcome Ferguson to the farmstead crew, and even more excited to see what improvements he will bring to our future herd.

Please comment and say hello to our handsome new herd sire.

08/11/2026

Spartan Update:

No more follow up appointments needed at this time! Yay!

Spartan's ear cultures showed very little bacteria remaining, so we get to finish off the drops that we have and call it good. Then we'll do weekly ear cleanings here at home, and hopefully those will be enough prevention against future infections.

His skin looks really healthy and his hair is feeling softer. It isn't shiny and healthy looking, but it feels so much better. Medicated shampoos are much harsher so with a preventative bath every other week I'm unsure whether his coat will ever fully recover. As long as he's healthy, we'll take what we can get.

His nose looks pretty good! Most of the pigment has returned and there is no puffiness and very few lesions. His giant toe beans look dry but his feet don't hurt, so there's that. The doxycyclene seems to be working much better than the prednisone ever did. We have a couple weeks worth of that left, and we're to finish it off. Doc says if he absolutely has to, he can be on it long term with no issues, but hopefully we can just use as needed for flareups from now on.

Supplements will continue for life, and they seem to be working. Supplements are golden paste, niacinimide, and wild Alaskan salmon oil. Spartan now gets canned food with gravy mixed in with his kibble so we can hide the meds in it. He loves his new food regimen.

I'm happy to report that Spartan is looking and acting much more like his old healthy self. He's letting me know when I'm dog momming wrong. He even barked at our farmer neighbor who was checking his field across the road. I haven't seen even an inkling of protective behavior since all this started, really, so I was thrilled to see him run to the fence and bark his fool head off.

Pic is Spartan accepting the vet tech's apology after she made him cry when taking ear smears. 🤣

A huge thank you to Dr. Sydney Welchel and her team at Town & Country Animal Hospital in Salina for getting Spartan (and me) through this crisis. Dr. Sydney has been there for us when we lost Thornton, and when we welcomed Spartan to the barnyard crew. She knows how much we've been through with both our boys and she's been absolutely amazing. Looking forward to many more (hopefully annual only) visits with her as our vet.