Buy Fresh Buy Local.............

We are listed in the Buy Fresh Buy Local  guide and will also be listed in the Farmer-Chef Express.  Virgina is working hard at connecting the local farms and local consumers.  From the BFBL site "Buying local food keeps your dollars circulating in your community. Getting to know the farmers who grow your food builds relationships based on understanding and trust, the foundation of strong communities." We are excited to be a part of  Buy Fresh Buy Local!

Savor Staunton............

Check out the new website for culinary tourism.  savorstaunton.com  It is a beautiful website and it highlights some of the wonderful places to eat in Staunton.  
We are especially excited about this because it links the goats being at the Frontier Culture Museum to the restaurants where Boer Bok is served.  I can't tell you how many times we have been out tending the herd and someone stops and asks where they can taste Boer Bok.  
Staunton is a destination place for people who love to travel and eat locally grown food.  If you are in the area, be sure to stop by the Frontier Culture Museum in May and see the herd at work. 

Boer Bok is a hit at The Ivy Inn.......

Boer Bok was on the menu at Ivy Inn's "Get To Know Your Local Farmer Spring Equinox Dinner" last Saturday night. It was a special tasting dinner featuring food from local farms.
Our Boer Bok was served as a Katskiaki (Greek word for goat) gyro canape. Aren't you glad we chose the name Boer Bok for our goat meat instead of Boer Katsikaki?  I would never be able to spell or say it right!  We heard that it was quite a hit and will be served as an appetizer course next week.   

You can read Chef Angelo's blog about the dinner and see more pictures of the meat being prepared on his website.  Here is the link You are what you eat!  The dinner was also covered by Rowena Morrel and will be in the April edition of "In The Kitchen" magazine.
PS. We are preparing and serving Boer Bok gyros for our family Easter meal. Can't wait. Yum!

Our Boer Bok is on the menu this weekend at Zynodoa's...................

The chefs are excited to have a new and different product to work with. "Amazing" was the term conveyed to us regarding the introductory dish prepared at Zynodoa. You may wonder about our application of the term "Boer Bok". We use the original and correct term for our South African Boer Goats which is Boer Bok. This is the Dutch term used by the South African farmers that literally means "Farmers Goat". Not only is this the correct term for our genetics, it is also helpful deflecting the negative connotations of "goat". Those negatives are NOT representative of quality Boer Bok. Well there is one exception to that. As much as we wish it were otherwise, we do confess that male Boer Bok during breeding season do look a lot like all male goats in breeding season.
Here is the link zynodoa.com

Spring is on its way..............

There are signs that Spring is on its way at Autumn Olive Farms. As you can see from this picture, the goats are starting to shed their winter coats and rubbing their fur off on the trees. The birds are going to be thrilled to line their nests with fur when they start their nest building. Another sign that Spring is on the way is the goats are running, jumping and playing. They are saying good bye and good riddance to the snow!

The dogs on the other hand are not thrilled with the weather change. They think this has been the best winter of their lives! They were the ones jumping, running and playing in the 30 inches of snow. They love the snow and cold weather. 

 The goats just put up with it and were happy with their high quality alfalfa/orchard grass hay. As you can see from this picture the winter has not been too hard on them. They just have to eat and ruminate. They are however looking forward to fresh green invasives. Those invasive species plants don’t know what they have coming for them! The goats will be back at the Frontier Culture Museum this spring and they will also be on different projects throughout the county. 

One last picture to share is this hen standing on Alexandra’s back. She was using Alexandra as a foot warmer! The chickens have been pecking bits of dirt and hay off the goats. Unfortunately it is just dirt and hay and not bugs. The chickens are anxiously waiting for the bugs to come out of hiding. When the flies come out the goats will go up to the chickens and lower their heads for the chickens to peck the flies off of them. It is an amazing thing to see. I wish we could send the chickens with the goats when they go to do their invasive species management, but it is not cost effective to use poultry net for fencing. The chickens are really going to miss the goats and dogs when they hit the road.

Boer Boks are Vogue!

I found this picture of Jessica Biel in the February 2010 issue of Vogue magazine. She is wearing Ralph Lauren and posing with a Boer Bok. We always knew the Boers were Vogue! Unfortunately you won't see me in this outfit while I am tending the herd. It costs about $4000. :)

Her last round.....

Zoe made her last round on Saturday checking to make sure everything was okay after she spent the night in the house. Friday evening I discovered that her cancer had advanced and she was declining. We brought her in the house for the night and started her on pain meds to keep her comfortable. We knew this was going to be her last weekend at the farm. She felt much better on Saturday morning and we let her go back out with the herd. She went right to work to check on things and to see what had happened in her absence overnight. She then made a bed in the hay with Mudflap and Chloe laying with her. They knew that she was not well. She spent Saturday night in the house and once again she felt like going out with the herd on Sunday. Later that afternoon, I found her surrounded by the goats in her bed of hay. That was her last time with the herd.


Zoe was a very sweet dog with loving eyes. I remember Dr. Anderson from the NC State Vet School commenting that he had never seen such friendly livestock guardian dogs. She fell in love with Dr. Bowman here in VA at Commonwealth Vet Clinic. She did not act like an LGD. She put her paw on him and just looked at him with her sweet eyes. It was almost embarrassing she was supposed to be a mean and tough LGD! We formed an unconventional relationship with our LGDs. We could not have mean dogs with children and older folks visiting our farm. Even though she was a sweet dog and never seemed to do much in the way of guarding the goats there was more to her than met the eye. We have never lost a goat to a predator. We had a large coyote population at our farm in NC and birthed almost 100 kids there and never lost a kid to a coyote or any other predator. Thank you Zoe. You will be sadly missed by your family, Mudflap, Chloe and your herd.


These are some of my favorite pictures that were taken at our farm in NC. Zoe was just under a year of age and already knew how to take care of young kids.











Zoe
February 2005 - January 2010