![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Jessica-Clark-with-goats-in-background-rotated.jpg\")
<\/a>By Jessica Clark\nCommunications Assistant Manager<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n
Clark is a near lifelong Flagstaff resident, an NAU alumna and a recent edition to the NAU Communications team. She spends her free time raising plants and animals that can help feed her family and her community and dreams of developing her land into a proper small farm.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n When my husband and I bought our house east of Flagstaff in 2019, we had big plans to create a small farm. I dreamt of building wonderful gardens bursting with food and he of raising abundant livestock. So, we put our money into a house on a couple of acres and got started.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Our story of chicken multiplication is a little different from most. Before we purchased the golden chicks, we\u2019d discovered that a rogue chicken had wandered into our barn from the neighbors\u2019 house and laid a giant clutch of eggs. After what seemed like an age of watching and waiting, we assumed the eggs weren\u2019t viable and made a trip to Tractor Supply to take advantage of chick-buying season. We should have counted the days.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It turned out that stray, broody hen knew exactly what she was doing. In all, we counted 14 chicks hatched, and for a time, any visit to either the garage or the barn elicited cheeping.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n By the end of our first spring, we\u2019d become the caretakers for seven chickens\u2014three plump domestic hens, three slim, breedless feral birds\u2014one of which would turn out to be a rooster\u2014and one rambling mama whose wanderlust was so strong that she eventually flew the literal coop, escaped into the adjacent yard and was seen only once thereafter, screaming into the neighbor\u2019s empty, echoing horse corral.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On some level, I had wanted goats for longer than I had any real plans to have a farm. I was not alone in being drawn to these odd creatures with their horns, hooves and slit-pupiled eyes\u2014they have made appearances in the mythology and folklore of cultures around the world. Still, I was hesitant. Chickens were one thing, but I wasn\u2019t sure we were ready to take on the increased work of caring for these bigger and needier animals.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Goats are useful animals, particularly on small farms\u2014they browse on weeds, provide milk and their soiled bedding can be composted and used to fertilize plants. But most importantly: Goats are fun! When we first brought home our two kids\u2014young goats share the term with young humans\u2014we found that crouching down anywhere near them prompted them to jump onto our backs, sometimes fighting each other for the high ground at our shoulders. (This has to be the phenomenon that started the trend of goat yoga.)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Now, fully grown, Domino and Daisy are too large to allow on our backs, but we still have a good time playing headbutting games and trying to keep them from chomping down on the stray ties and strings that dangle from our clothing and hats.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In our first year, not long after the surprise barn chickens, our barn also became host to two tiny gray kittens, and we began to joke that it was a magical animal-producing structure. At the time, we weren\u2019t in the market for cats, so we captured them and took them to the nearby animal shelter. But only five months after taking on the goats, and after some rodent interference in the garden, we reconsidered our position on barn cats. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Today, only one of the original adoptees remains. Both my husband and I feel a great sense of accomplishment when this anti-social creature bravely holds his ground as we walk nearby or when he deigns to play with us\u2014pouncing on the end of a piece of bailing twine one of us holds from many feet away.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Life support<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Although we acquired each of these animals first for practical purposes\u2014eggs, milk, manure, weed control, rodent control\u2014their presence on our mini-farm has enriched our lives immeasurably. When working from home, I can take a break, walk outside and have a conversation with a goat or watch a flock of chickens forage. It provides a type of grounding that I didn\u2019t know I wanted before filling my life with these animals. It isn\u2019t easy\u2014caring for them requires a lot of labor, it needs to be done daily and it makes vacation planning a nightmare. But they support me, just as I support them.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So the question is: Which do we get next\u2014a highland cow or a donkey? <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jessica Clark | NAU Communications <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\nIt started with chickens<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n
<\/a>Our livestock holdings started small\u2014literally\u2014with three fluffy, golden baby chicks. We raised them in a plastic tote in the garage until they grew into awkward chicken adolescence, and we relocated them to the coop outside. But, as anyone who has spent time in hobby farm or homesteading circles can attest, it\u2019s never just three chickens.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>We let the hen\u2014officially named Rogue at that point\u2014care for her babies while we took care of ours. Eventually she spent a few nights away from home with her babies and came back with only seven. Soon after, a predator took four of those, and we decided it was time to put in some protection. We integrated the two flocks, wired closed all the gaps in the livestock section of the barn and its yard and moved everyone in.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nChickens beget goats<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n
<\/a>Throughout the next year, we gained and lost chickens, taking some on for a friend who needed to temporarily rehome his, losing others to predators or barnyard hierarchical disputes. Then, as the following spring approached, my husband began browsing the internet for goats.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>When my husband sent me a Craigslist ad for two babies\u2014a brother and a sister\u2014I knew immediately: Those were our goats.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nThe spontaneous manifestation of cats<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n
<\/a>True barn cats are not like the cats people keep in their homes as pets. They aren\u2019t interested in spending time indoors, and they probably won\u2019t come rub against your legs or ask for attention. Still, they benefit from having a safe, sheltered place to live and a steady supply of food and water. This was the perfect arrangement for our little farm\u2014creatures to keep the rodents away, but who wouldn\u2019t come inside and activate our family members\u2019 allergies.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>We used High Country Humane\u2019s barn cat program to adopt a pair, but it didn\u2019t really occur to us that a safe, sheltered place for two cats is a safe, sheltered place for <\/span>all<\/span><\/i> cats. Our pair of permanent residents was soon supplemented by a rotating cast of around five semi-permanent and\/or sporadically visiting felines.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\njessica.clark@nau.edu\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n