Ranch Newsletter | May 2026
- Angela Powell
- Aug 9
- 5 min read
Originally sent to subscribers on May 30th, 2026 Farm Update May is always a whirlwind of a month. When we breed our goats we always aim for May births because the weather is perfect for it. Typically, it's not too cold at night, and not too hot during the day. So if I end up in the barn in the middle of the night, I'm not freezing to death, and if the goats give birth during the day, then we're not pestered by flies.
But that isn't the only reason May is busy. Our last frost day is the last week of May, so we do most of planting throughout the month. Cold hardy plants go in the ground in the early part of May, and hot weather ones towards the end.
May is also the time when we can do agricultural burning, so we do a lot of yard cleanup, especially with any trees we had to fell, or that came down on their own in the past year.
This May followed the pattern pretty well. We burned a couple of times, and planted our gardens, and Honey had her kids. But the weather has been wild and unpredictable, which kept us on our toes.
Honey showed signs of being in labor the evening of May 12th during one of the month's cold snaps, and in the past when she shows signs, she gives birth pretty quick. So I stayed up to monitor her. And of course, she took her time. She didn't start pushing until 6 am on May 13th. About midnight, I gave in and came inside to watch from the camera because it was COLD out there.
Shortly after 6, she pushed out a little boy, and then a little girl. (pictures below) I watched her and made sure the babies didn't get cold and she looked like she was done and the placenta was on its way. So after an hour, I cleaned up my gear, went in took a shower and a nap and came back out and hour later to find a third, stillborn baby boy. I had to check the cameras to see what happened, and it appears the third baby came out along with the placenta.
I am in an online goat group and laid out the situation to them to get their thoughts on the matter. The consensus was a placental abruption - the placenta detached too soon. And given the details I saw after the birth of the first two, there was nothing I could have done. No indication that I should go in and assist. I've been monitoring Honey for any signs of illness, but she has been doing great, and so have the two kids.
That same week the cold snap ended and we had 80 degree weather. I watched the weather forecast for a day or two to make sure it would stay that way, because if it did, I figured we were close enough to the end of the month that our below freezing nights were over and I could plant out the warm weather veggies.
Everything appeared stable, so I planted. And the very next day the weather forecast changed and showed a cold front moving in that would give us overnight temps of 28 degrees! I scrambled to get everything covered, but it wasn't enough. I lost all the tomatoes, peppers, and squash I'd planted. Thankfully the local nursery still had enough of everything in stock, so I was able to replant. But serves me right for thinking I could plant early!
I mentioned last month that Craig had to have surgery at the beginning of April on his finger. He just had his final follow up with the doctor, who told him he could stop wearing his splint and go back to business as usual. He still has some tenderness, so he is being extra careful to protect it when he's working with his hands, but that ordeal is basically over!
In other news, our hen Peppermint, hatched out two baby chicks on May 18th and they are doing great. I ended up putting her in a cat carrier to sit on the eggs so Ginger couldn't get at them.
And we're finally moving forward with our barn build! If you've been following us for awhile, you might remember that we were planning to build a barn in January, but our area is newly incorporated and the new city council put a building moratoriam in place for six months. They worked really hard on getting the zoning and land use codes in place and were able to lift the moratoriam for residentail builds a month and half early. We're just in the permit getting phase, but hopefully soon work will begin!
With the weather warming up for real now, the alpacas are feeling pretty miserable. They were supposed to be sheared on the the 18th of May, but we received word that one of the shearers was injured and they pushed us back to June 12th, so we've been hosing them down on the really warm days and they pretty much spend the afternoon in their shed under the fan, or in the shade of the trees. The only drawback of hosing them down, is all the water decreases the quality of their fiber, so instead of having it sent in and made into yard this year, I'm going to wait until next year to do that. This year, I'm going to use their fiber as mulch in the gardens.
Ranch Tours – Available to Book Now! Public Farm Tour: June 19th 7:00pm Ticket Prices: $20 for adults, $12 for kids, $1 for 3 and under. Group Farm Tour: June 26th 7:00pm Price: $200 for up to 10 people.
Come see the ranch, learn how we do things, and meet and interact with the animals. Learn more and book here.
Farm Stand is up and running! Our farmstand is now out front every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 8am to sundown. You can find jam, pickles, a small selection of skicare items, occasional baked goods, and organically grown produce! Follow us on Instagram to see what's in the stand each week.
My next soap making class: June 5th 6:30 - 8:00pm Held here on the Ranch. Cost: $55/person https://www.julbudranch.com/events-1 (If you can't make this class, but want to attend a different one, my classes are scheduled for the whole year and you can see all the dates at the above link)
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