Introduction & Announcement

A baby Firefly from 2023.

As several of our followers from facebook may have already seen this - please note that many long posts/stories will be shared cross platform between facebook, instagram, and my website here. I will say that this website will likely be the best source for information and slice-of-life stories.

So I've got a bit of an announcement I suppose... and maybe its time for another introduction to what ABA is. This will be very very long, so I hope maybe a couple people stick all the way with it to the end.

First of all, the announcement is that I have returned to my goat business 100% full time and will be solely relying on income from the farm again. Thats exciting and also scary. I used to be fulltime pre-Covid, and Covid era times completely wiped out my options to remain on-farm 24/7 for a multitude of reasons I will surely complain about another time, but I've done it before. I was laid off from my corporate-ish job on January 8th, which was a bit of a blessing, because it sucked. I hated it. I got to work under the sunshine in a field in the summer and have my own creative freedom on how things were done and bring my dog and some goats to work, which was fantastic and the only reason why I stuck around for years, but the entire operation was repeatedly screwed over from mismanagement (or indecisions) made by those above me, which severely limited my ability to actually do my job. So... why not continue being in the sunshine, spending time with my dog and the goats, continuing regenerative farming.... by myself? Now, here we are. The goats will kick off their kidding season April 10th. Itll be a small kidding season comparative to the last 10ish years, but around that same time is when milk shares, soap, and cheese should be ready. (Cheese pending USDA licensing, which is expensive and a PITA, so we will see on when that officially starts up). The goal is to have my cheese in local stores, multiple FDA-approved soaps available online, grow and process high quality tea for purchase locally & online, and also partner with and assist other farms with their operations as well.

Secondly, what is my business? Who am I?

I hate talking about me and not the goats, but here goes: I'm Dani. My hobbies include livestock management, video games (from Souls to Stardew to niche strategy games), scrapbooking, badly gardening, and staring at the sky in awe. My favorite animal, contrary to popular belief, is actually the frog. I have diagnosed ADHD and undiagnosed but very very likely clinical-type OCD. I despise cooking and will eat an entire bag of shredded cheese or some plain tortillas right out of the bag before bothering to cook a meal for myself, but thankfully my best friends and partner regularly ensure I dont do that (too often).

I passed my NAVLE in 2016 but do not practice and am not a licensed veterinarian. This was a conscious decision. I am not a human that is designed for vet med, mostly for other-human reasons. I am a human that loves to work with others on how to figure out their own best practices for their animals (and themselves!), I want to spend time with my own animals and ensure they are not just productive & healthy & improving the breed but also happy and well cared for, I want to see the same dairy and crop industries that killed my ambition and passion for both be reworked into something more viable for local communities, both for the farmer and the consumer. How many farms do you see out there - whether its in goats, or cattle, or horses, or crops - how many farms do you see that are just so innately negative, bashing each other, dont go to xyz their silage is too finely chopped, ignore the opinion of Jane Doe because she is from the city, let's cancel abc farm because their animals arent as perfect as blahblah farms? I grew up in an industry that prefers to push blame to everyone but themselves or the coops & processors that institute insane fees and low payout prices to keep the farmer poor, the consumers paying high monies, and the middle man making the big bucks. How many times have you, as a consumer of general food, gone to the store and seen high quality vegetables and meat and milk that you trust, that you know where its from, that you can go visit the farm and say "hey, thats kinda cool?". In my opinion, which may or may not be worth much, the solution to the ever-rising grocery costs and the disconnect from farmer to consumer, is to go back to the beginnings where the general public actually knows for a fact where their food comes from, understands the differences in quality, and has affordable options that doesnt also keep the farmer in perpetual poverty and loan-hopping. Scale things back. 30k head dairies may have a place, but its not what the community wants, as far as I've seen. Monocropping is putting all of our eggs in one basket and not even feeding our locals - not even the ones growing it. Not to even mention the environmental impacts it has on our soil, water table, atmosphere, and wildlife & pollinator populations. I have gone hungry so many times as "upper management" or herdsman of a large cattle dairy, watching cows get put on a trailer to become burger and milk fill the bulk tank.... but the food I ate was expired from the food bank, the berries sour from overseas, kitchen staples highly processed and refined ten times over before it went into my fridge.

All that scattered ranting aside, I think it's safe to say almost ALL of us fantasize about a life where we are more connected to nature, more familiar with our communities, and much more kind, accountable, and educated. Thats essentially the basis of my business. I love dairy animals. I drink an obscene amount of milk a day. I love working with soil and plants. I want to share the fruits of that labor with everyone I know, and collaborate to be better people and better humans with both those that agree with and disagree with me. I dont want to be giga rich with a summer home, I want to have a cool barn for my goats and spend more time with loved ones. I will never, ever sell my milk to another coop. Whatever it takes in terms of licensing, financial hardship, hard labor, boring paperwork, whatever - i wanna do it. I also want to see all of these other farms doing so well for their animals and soils do incredibly well and be happy too. Thats ABA.

As far as how the name Apple B Acres came along: in very shortened story terms, I had a very special goat a long time ago named Apple. He was immunocompromised. He had polio, recurring pneumonia, would get crazy rare infections like Blue Tongue that are practically unheard of in goats in this area. From other vets, he was given weeks to live. I slept on concrete floors with him, waking from very awful sleep to hold him while he had a seizure, begging him through tears to please live. Please live. And he did. For TWO AND A HALF YEARS. What a strong little man. I realized that I would do anything for my love of goats, and created Apple B Acres (the B for my last name, not for the chain restaurant, which I honestly forgot existed at the time), and so ABA was born. For the love of goats. Not just mine, but yours, too. I dont care if you personally hate me or vice versa. I still want to see your goats be happy & healthy & safe. Just like Apple got to be.

Thirdly (thirdth? Thirdst? Thirdle) - I made a new website. It's this one right here, actually, that you're reading this post on right now. So good job - you already made it! Its very rudimentary and a WIP at the moment, so dont judge it too harshly, but I am working on it actively and trying to improve it.

Im going to post most of the longer posts on this site as well as blog posts, and I am starting to work on & upload my goat care sheets and DIY projects I've accumulated over the years there for quick reference too. My knowledge will ALWAYS also be your knowledge, for free of charge, forever, if you want it. And for those who don't do the whole daily farm life, maybe it can help you notice the beautiful sunsets & frosty sunrises & interesting clouds & that really gorgeous dandelion. Maybe you can connect with my goats on a personal level and see not just their production but their ever interesting antics and personalities too. The world really is amazing in so many ways if you look. 💜

Eventually I will have pages for every single goat on there, too. I have a whole rant about wix and how cancer it is with its AI use and scammy practices, but I'll save that for another time.

Okay, long post over. Get used to my scatterbrained thoughts and being drilled to support one another over and over again. Im not going away anytime soon.