Many Happy Kids at Rainbeau Ridge!
I love visiting my friend and neighbor, Lisa Schwartz of Rainbeau Ridge, but especially in the springtime. I’ve written about Lisa in previous blogs and about the award-winning fantastic goat cheese she produces from her goats’ milk. You may recall seeing Lisa on my television show. Spring, of course, is goat-birthing season and this year, there are thirty-seven does listed on the kidding calendar on the Rainbeau Ridge Web site. That means there are plenty of adorable and playful kids running around, many of which will become future milk producers. Rainbeau Ridge is also committed to teaching and offers cooking classes to adults and a variety of kids’ programs. These very popular programs enable children to learn by hands-on exploration of the farm, with art projects, and in the kitchen.
1 This is Lisa being greeted warmly by a slew of one-month old kids. Lisa is very attached to these babies, as she helps to deliver each one.
2 This is the Rainbeau Ridge farm logo, which is also on the labels of of Lisa's award-winning farmstead goat cheeses.
3 During milking season, this little cheesehouse is where Lisa and an intern produce that delicious, creamy cheese on a daily basis. You can see the molds that the cheese has been hand-ladled into, where the whey drains out from the curd.
4 At Rainbeau Ridge, there is a menagerie of animals. Heritage breed turkeys are hatched here on a regular basis. This proud Tom is called a Royal Palm.
5 There are also peacocks.
6 Guinea hens roam the farm freely, performing insect control.
7 Lulu, one of the llamas, is very protective of the goats, and will nudge visitors away if she feels they are a threat.
8 Indy, another llama, is patrolling the newborn kids.
9 This is a Jacob sheep, which has four horns and sometimes six.
10 Prized for its soft, thick wool, Jacob sheep are on the rare breed list.
11 These are Shetland sheep, whose fleece has the widest ranges of color of any breed, including white, reddish brown, silvery gray, fawn, dark brown, and black.
12 And of course, honeybees to help pollinate the farm crops.
13 The kids' programs at Rainbeau Ridge provide a unique experience for children to explore and appreciate and make connections to nature through hands-on exploration on the farm, art projects, and in the kitchen.
14 In these classes, the children spend as much time outside as possible, learning about the animals and gardening.
15 Susan Shaw, (in red) an educational consultant, has been teaching at Rainbeau Ridge since the very first session. Each child had the opportunity to touch the soft chick.
16 Susan taught them about feathers and how a chicken changes throughout its life.
17 She then took them to see the mature chickens.
18 They filed into the hen yard.
19 Susan explained about the egg laying process.
20 These chickens are confined to this yard during the morning, which is when most of their eggs are laid. They are then allowed to roam free-range around the farm.
21 Lisa keeps about three dozen chickens and has a yield of about thirty eggs per day.
22 In keeping with the chicken theme of the lesson, Susan made a snack of meringues for the children - the very same meringues featured on the May cover of my magazine, Martha Stewart Living!
23 Susan also read these books about chicks and chickens, which she found at the local library.
24 At the end of each lesson, the children are taught how to make a craft.
25 Susan has been felting and made these adorable chicks. The children were given all the parts to put this little chick nest together.
26 Of course, goats are at the heart of Rainbeau Ridge.
27 These does, all named after female singers, are all quite pregnant and just lying around waiting for their delivery to come.
28 This is Carole King, who appeared to be in the early stages of labor. Carole is one of about 38 does giving birth this spring.
29 Lisa explained that a doe has two ligaments near her tail. When those ligaments become soft and elastic, delivery usually happens within twenty-four hours.
30 Lisa assuring Esperanza that all will be fine.
31 After a doe gives birth, Lisa likes to keep mom and kid inside this barn for a few days. This is Shakira.
32 And this is Shakira's kid, just two days old.
33 Another newborn - how adorable!
34 Also in the barn with kids are Sheryl, Ella, and Gladys.
35 Lisa leaves the kids with their moms for a week to ten days, after which they are separated and the kids are bottle fed goat's milk.
36 The reason for bottle feeding is to keep the utters in good health for optimal milking. If this weren't a cheese farm, the babies would stay with their moms.
37 These bottle fed kids are so playful and so much fun.
38 They love to leap and bound.
39 They are also curious about everything.
40 In the adjacent pen are the kids who were just taken off their moms and are adjusting to being bottle fed. This is where Indy, the llama, oversees.
41 This is where the kids' gardening classes are held and yes, that is a flower 'bed'!
42 Because it was such a mild winter, Lisa got her first crop of peas in the ground on February 1st! That's more than a month ahead of schedule.
43 The garlic wintered over nicely.
44 In the hoop houses, there is a nice winter crop of arugula.
45 There's also broccoli rabe, claytonia, and parsnips.
46 And beautiful artichokes
47 Tomatoes and other crops have been started from seed.
48 Lisa grew a giant pumpkin last season and has several plants growing from its seeds. Because it was such a huge squash, she wanted to get a head start and plant the seeds early, allowing plenty of time to mature.
49 There's still plenty of fragrant garlic left over from last year's harvest. These are hard-neck varieties.
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
Okay, I can't stand it! Naming the does after female singers is so cute and I about died seeing the flower "bed"! It's refreshing to see someone like your friend Lisa Schwartz who not only is doing something she obviously loves but is also giving children an opportunity to learn about farm life and not only make connections to nature but to our food sources. Thanks for bringing us back to Rainbeau Ridge Martha!
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
BTW Martha, I've been LOVING your shows this week! Looking forward to the backyard show today!
Posted by: Cindy F | April 13th, 2012 at 8:12 am
Adorable...great form of early education!
Posted by: Teresa Touey | April 13th, 2012 at 9:05 am
These pictures are wonderful. Lisa Schwarts does such a great job teaching LIVING to children with hands on projects. Rosen may have failed to asknowledge the efforts of many mothers, who may seem to be gifted. Your shows this week continue giving us opportunity to learn much about accepting others and having a good time. Thank you and Hallmark Channel.
Posted by: ann | April 13th, 2012 at 9:07 am
That first picture of Lisa with the kids made my day! Such warmth!
Posted by: Darryl Moland | April 13th, 2012 at 9:34 am
Hi Martha, Thanks again for taking us along to Lisa Schwartz's beautiful Rainbeau Ridge farm near your Bedford farm! I certainly recall seeing her farm with those beautiful goats, etc. on your TV Show and your blog! Looking at these awesome photos was so familiar and delightful to see again! Seeing her terrific website was fabulous and she does so many great things there at her farm-sure would love to visit it some day and will add it to my list of great places to visit! Sure wish my niece's young son could go there because he loves to help people and he would have a blast being around those baby goats, etc.!!! Those llamas sure are great care takers for Lisa to have! How great that those children can learn so much at that delightful farm! Thanks so much for sharing the Rainbeau Ridge again! Hope you have another great day and weekend! Off to see F&S watching those guys fix a drainage problem at your Bedford farm! Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | April 13th, 2012 at 9:36 am
Hi Martha,
Picture #1 says it all. The animals love Lisa as much as she loves them. What a great picture and what a WONDERFUL person Lisa is! Picture #28 made me laugh – I think all who have given birth can relate to that one! Put a glass of ice cubes next to any of them and it could be a rendition of me. Haha Thanks for the spring update on Rainbeau Ridge, a place of so many good things and especially the adorable goats! Trish
Posted by: Trish | April 13th, 2012 at 10:13 am
What a great program. It's important for city children to learn where food comes from. At one time many familys knew of someone who owned a farm but with the demise of the small family farm, such opportunities to learn from a friend or relative has disappeared.
Posted by: Sharon | April 13th, 2012 at 10:45 am
A wonderful program and such an important tool for teaching children all about farm life. This will stay with them forever and some will go on to work in such a capacity. I know as a litle girl i spent countless hours on my grandparents farm...harvesting vegetables, fruit and flowers...to this day it's one of the most satisfying aspects of my life. Some might call it my obsession...in a good way!
Posted by: Sherey | April 13th, 2012 at 12:36 pm
What a fabulous blog!!! Lisa, who is a friend of mine, is such an incredible and inspirational person!! What adorable kids, too.
Posted by: Sophie | April 13th, 2012 at 1:36 pm
OMG one of the best blogs yet!
What a beautiful soul Lisa is.
I really like the educational aspect that is provided to the children.
However, nuttin' beats those darn cute 'kids'!
gail
Posted by: gail pierson | April 13th, 2012 at 2:04 pm
That was a real treat for a city girl like me, thanks for posting!
Posted by: Elizabeth | April 13th, 2012 at 8:23 pm
I love her and her beautiful animals. I would love to have a farm like her's. I like that she shares and teaches the children. You know they enjoy that so much. Thanks Martha for sharing with us.
Posted by: Dolly Sarrio | April 13th, 2012 at 9:28 pm
Absolutely wonderful pictures. I enjoyed them so much. Thank you for sharing with us.
Barbara Douvier
Posted by: Barbara Douvier | April 13th, 2012 at 10:13 pm
Where to I sign up to intern here? I will be 44 in 2 days, and I need to start a business just like this. Those goats and kids are the cutest things EVER!!!! Except for my "kids" and puppy of course! My grandfather and 5 generations back were butchers. He and Grandma would always have chickens roaming, that we would get to feed everytime we visited. Also, little lambs that you wanted to hug all the time. They would grow peas, green beans that were fun to snap the ends off. We sat on their front porch and drank homemade seltzer, using those capsules, from dixie cups!!! How do I recapture that time and live off the land like they did? I'm so ready to do that now in my life. Any tips MARTHA? Thanks a bunch, Kim in NJ
Posted by: Kim from NJ | April 14th, 2012 at 9:00 am
I grew up on a dairy farm. I am so glad those children are getting to see where food comes from.
Posted by: homer | April 14th, 2012 at 6:50 pm
Martha,
Yay, for an update about Rainbeau Ridge! I've been waiting and wondering about them. Glad to see and hear all is well over there. Thanks for sharing this blog.
Posted by: KLBrown | April 15th, 2012 at 4:58 pm
It's really nice your friend has that children's program. American food writers are always commenting on how disconnected Americans are from where their food comes from.
Posted by: Karen | April 16th, 2012 at 4:03 am
Martha,
I was a preschool teacher for over 25 years and my little ones would have loved to visit your friends farm and Rainbeau Ridge. It is very improtant for young childre to learn about farm life. We as teachers tried to duplicate it with picture books and stories but for children to have a hands on experience is the best yet. They remember what they learned for a much longer time and can also relate to it when they see it again. What a lovely lady and what a gorgeous farm. Goat chees is all I can eat so I really appreciate what she is doing for us latose intolerent people. I enjoyed this visit so much. Thank you for making it possible to see and hear about some many things I would never have been a part of before. You are doing wonderful things for many people. Thank you again.
Posted by: Judy Oliveira, San Diego, CA | April 17th, 2012 at 11:58 pm
Martha:
I LOVED this blog about Rainbeau Ridge. I feel so fortunate to live close by. Picture #25 gives such a great sense of how engaged the children are and how well behaved. My friend, Janice Bass, is the other woman standing in the back of the room. If all the volunteers at RR are as caring and giving as Jan, it's indeed a real treasure in our midst. Thanks for blogging about this.
Posted by: Suzanne Keay | April 26th, 2012 at 11:45 am