The Farmstead

Our ten-acre farm is located in Queen Anne’s County, Maryland.

We are approximately two miles from the Maryland-Delaware State Line.

Dover-- Delaware’s State Capital-- is a short 15-minute drive from our home.

Our farm once was part of a much larger parcel that encompassed an expansive family holding of land, which was used for agricultural endeavors ranging from raising livestock to farming corn, grains and even cultivating blueberries and grapes! Just before we purchased the farm, the owner tore down all the fencing on the property. At settlement we told him we wish he had left the fencing up as we intended on raising livestock, to which he responded that the only reason it was torn down was on the advice from his realtor.

(So folks, the lesson of the day is: don’t listen to all of your realtor’s advice.)

Regardless, we settled in for about a year with just our dogs and cats, and a couple of fish tanks, but eventually we heard the calling… if you own a farm you must have……….. chickens!!!

We purchased a large assortment of chicks from a nationally known hatchery in the mid-west and when the shipment arrived, much to our surprise, instead of receiving the 35 chicks we had ordered, we actually received those 35 plus an additional thirty 37 straight run chicks of differing breeds at no additional charge. Sounded like a great deal, right? Think again… most-- but not all of those freebies-- were, as you may have guessed by now, roosters!!! We were daily attacked by the gang of roosters and the poor hens were being mounted dozens of times a day by multiple suitors. We realized pretty quickly that we needed to intervene, so we took some of the birds to a local bird picker to put in the proverbial soup pot, and the rest we packed up and took to a local auction venue. So with a thinned flock, we were able to maximize egg production (the hens had been beat up so often by the roosters that laying had fallen off) and we were able to balance out the flock with birds that produced a variety of egg colors (white, light brown, dark brown and green and blue) while retaining breeds we deemed more community minded and who had shown us behavior desirable around our farm. The chicken breeds that we founded our flock with were the tried and true Rhode Island Red, the Majestic Black Austrolorp, and the uniquely crowned Sicilian Buttercup. We maintained other breeds as well, but for the purposes of propagating eggs for hatching, these were the ones we specialized in and sold.

Once the chickens took up roost, Danielle received a gift from a client while working for a local equine veterinarian: an unregistered Quarter Horse Mare named Riley. She proved to be a mild mannered lady, however, once Danielle received her second Quarter Horse Mare (Twig, who is AQHA Registered), also a gift from a client of the vet, Riley exhibited her true “alpha-tude” and made sure that in no uncertain terms she was the boss of the barn, the run in and the pasture. Riley died in 2006, but Danielle enjoys riding Twig when she has the time and takes very good care of her. We attempted to breed Twig in 2006 but she did not conceive. We’ll give another go sometime in the near future.

After the horses, we were gifted some beautiful Pygmy goat does and later adopted a Boer wether named "Frankie". Next we attended a 4H auction and purchased a number of Yorkshire piglets, which eventually tipped the scales between 375-600lbs each, and met the butcher. We later received a couple of peacocks (males) from a friend, however they escaped the farm and took up residence with a flock of local wild turkeys. We received reports regularly at our restaurant and country store from friends, neighbors and customers alike of sightings and testimonials of their seemingly good health and spirits with their new family. The same benefactor provided us more recently with two mating pairs of peafowl, and in August 2005 we hatched our first successful baby. In 2006 we hatched three peafowl eggs, and in 2007 after receiving a invaluable feeding tip from one of our Udderly Ez Milker customers in Arkansas, our two peahens laid over 40 eggs and we had a record hatching season! In early 2006 we established, our herd of Registered Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats. After purchasing a high quality existing herd of approximately a dozen and a half breeding animals, we began slowly and thoughtfully adding new members to our herd. In just under two years, we were fortunate to add breed stock from dozens of different herds/breeders.

In early summer 2006 we bred one of our beautiful dogs- a Registered Australian Shepherd named Luna. She whelped a litter of 7 puppies on October 13, 2006. She had 6 girls and one big handsome boy whom we’ve named “Sport” and decided to retain. All of his sisters were sold and are in loving, happy homes. Later, one of Luna's girl's, "Kissy Face" returned to us when her owner had to move and was unable to bring her along. 'Winnie" returned to us at Christmas 2010 when her owner had to move and was unable to keep her pets.

At the end of 2006 we added a black miniature horse gelding, “Cole” and a Paint/Mustang Cross Mare, “Baby” to our farm.

Our Spring 2007 Nigerian Dwarf Goat kidding season was our best yet with 20 beautiful kids hitting the ground. We did not show our goats in 2007 as Chris suffered a shoulder injury due to an accident in late 2006. However, our customers who purchased goats from us in 2006 had great success in the show ring in 2007. Every goat that came from Avolino Farm that was shown in 2007 placed first in their class and/or received Grand or Reserve Grand Champion for their respective show/sanction. We couldn’t have been more pleased!

We were honored in 2007 to be asked by the University of Maryland’s Cooperative Extension Service to use a photo of one of our does, Flat Rocks Emma, as an exemplar of the breed for their spotlight article on Nigerian Dwarves in the summer edition of their quarterly newsletter, “Wild and Wooly.”

We were also pleased to be promoted by Stone Manufacturing from Authorized Dealer to Authorized Distributor of the Udderly EZ Milker and numerous other livestock supplies.

At summer’s end, we chose to skip our Fall Mini-breeding season for 2007, deciding instead to consolidate our breeding for Spring 2008.

In December of 2007, Danielle broke her ankle while doing some chores on the farm. Her injury prevented us from taking a planned holiday cruise, but we settled for a quiet Christmas here on the farm. During her recovery, Chris single handedly managed the farm, household, and our businesses. Danielle was in a wheel chair for a couple of months and was back on her feet (literally) in time for the start of our 2008 Kidding Season.

Our newest Nigerian Dwarf Goat herd acquisitions arrived in April 2008 from Iowa. Bennie Hollingshead, owner and breeder under the Heatherwood herd name for nearly 30 years, was facing a relocation that would prevent him from moving his herd of Nigerians. We were honored that he chose to allow his amazing goats to become part of our herd here at Avolino Farm.

Our annual herd testing results arrived in Spring of 2008 and as expected, the entire herd was 100% negative.

Kidding Season 2008 began in March and lasted well into Summer. We were blessed with lots of healthy and happy goat kids. Our kids found new homes all over the Mid-Atlantic Region and Northeast. We exercised great restraint this year and kept only about a dozen (or so) kids retained within the herd. Based upon a lot of interest from past customers as well as folks new to the breed or interested in becoming involved with the breed, we held 3 clinics on the farm in 2008 dealing with topics from basic goat care, breeding, and nutrition to skills clinics dealing with hoof trimming, bolusing, and milking. In total, by the end of Autumn, we tallied 1014 visitors to the farm! This year, we built a new poultry house for our chickens and peafowl as well as adding 8 new stalls to our goat barn for breeding and kidding. We also created a nearly 300 square foot new goat shelter to accommodate our growing herd. It was a great year by any measure, and we were so pleased to have the chance to meet so many great goat folks and to start so many new friendships.

By year's end we added a few more new acquisitions to the herd, and worked toward wrapping up breeding for Spring 2009.

We've decided for 2009 to scale back our poultry flock and have elected to raise just a single breed instead of the 5 that are currently represented on the farm. While we'll be concentrating on a single chicken breed, we have added two new peafowl breeds to our India Blues. Danielle has started breeding Sugar Gliders (nocturnal marsupials native to Australia and New Zealand) as well as two species of aquatic turtles.

Spring 2009 Kidding began in mid February. Our season began with an inordinate number of buckling births. (By the end of the first month we were averaging 8 bucklings for every 1 doeling born!) But thankfully as we neared mid-season, our outcomes improved, and while 2009 will go down as the first "buck year" on our farm- we ended with an approximate 3:2 buck to doe average.

We completed our annual herd health tests in late Spring 2009 and every goat's results were as expected 100% negative.

In March we learned Danielle was pregnant, and with an expectant due date of December 14, 2009- we decided not to breed any does for Fall kiddings and not to breed our Australian Shepherd, Luna, for a Fall welping. (Luna is now officially retired from breeding.) We also decided to reduce the size of our herd in anticipation of our new addition.

In late July, we learned that our baby had died perinatally at 21 weeks in the middle of the second trimester. Danielle was hospitalized and induced and delivered a stillborn son. While the tragic loss was devastating, we've persevered and with the help of friends and family we continue on.

Having only bred less than half of the herd for Spring 2009 kiddings, we saw 89 healthy and happy kids born on the farm this year. We have once again struggled to exercise restraint <G> and retained just a handful of doelings this year.

Having embarked upon a small-scale herd reduction after learning of Danielle's pregnancy, we continued on that course even after receiving the news of our loss. In the process, we've not only reduced the size of the herd-at-large, but have also concentrated the quality and focused our attention on a handful of exceptional genetics with which we plan to evolve our herd.

At the start of 2009 we had no plans to bring in any new additions to Avolino Farm. However, as Fall 2009 arrived, opportunities presented themselves that we could not have passed up. Avolino Farm was pleased to be able to add an exceptional group of Nigerians from a herd dispersal in West Virginia. The bloodlines carried by this select group compliment those that we have been working with and are sure to yield substantial dividends.

We punctuated the year by constructing a new, substantially larger, buck shelter to house our herdsires-- just in time for winter.

We have a lot to look forward to in the coming year, and we'll be striving to keep our site updated frequently. An early 2010 re-design of our website should be the first of many projects we see realized.

Well, we rolled out our re-designed website in early January 2010.

Much of the early part of 2010 was spent commuting back and forth to the western shore as a member of Chris' family was hospitalized and after a brief illness, passed away at the end of February.

We had an easy kidding season as only 1/3 of our does were bred for 2010. We retained a few of the kids for ourselves and continued to share our herd's genetics with a number of new and past customers.

Our annual herd testing results arrived in late Spring of 2010 and as expected, the entire herd was 100% negative.

We got back in the show ring this year after a three-year hiatus, showing both locally as well as in New Jersey. While breeding and milking our focus here, we remain open to the possibility of showing in the future.

We began making homemade goat milk cheese this year (ricotta, mozzarella and chevre) with some nice results. We're going to continue making soft, fresh cheeses but also aspire to begin the foray into aged and hard grating cheeses in the near future. We are also going to start using some of our goat's milk next year to make homemade goat milk soaps as well. We have been making glycerin-based soaps for 6 years now, mostly as gifts for friends, family and our goat customers.

Chris spent many summer weekend nights performing all over Maryland and throughout Delaware with his band Mystic Harbour. Venues from Kent Island, Rock Hall & Chestertown, Cecil & Prince George's Counties in Maryland to the Delaware Beaches hosted the band.

After researching a future move, we traveled to Florida in late October 2010 and settled on the Southwest Gulf Coast as the destination for our eventual relocation. After living in Maryland all our lives more or less, we have decided to semi-retire to Florida. We will be reducing our herd down further to a yet to be determined size in advance of our move. We visited a number of estate and ranch properties in Sarasota and Manatee Counties during our visit that were available for sale and since our return, have been preparing our rental properties and our home and farm for listing. The move will afford us a very long growing season for our vegetable garden, a milder winter climate for our animals (and for us!), and we'll be ideally located near 5 major cruise ports in Florida which will suit our desire to travel more and pursue our love of Scuba Diving. Plus, we have a number of relatives and friends who already reside in Florida (Stuart, Winter Haven, Port Charlotte, Ft. Myers, Pensacola) so another perk will be that we'll be able to visit with them more often than we do now. Once our real estate here in Maryland is listed and sold, we will be packing up and heading south.

With the move on the horizon, we decided rather than to travel and take a cruise as we did last year at this time, that we would stay home and have a low-key Christmas and New Year's as it could be our last at this farmstead in Maryland.

As we will be reducing the Nigerian Dwarf herd further before our move, all our eligible does will be bred for 2011; many are or will be available for sale bred. We could have anywhere from 20-50 additional bred does available for sale before our move.

We conducted our annual herd testing in three stages in 2011 to make the blood collections easier on us this year, and the results arrived from February through July. And, as expected, the entire herd was 100% negative.

We had a wet Spring, and then a prolonged drought through summer 2011.

Damp conditions prevented the tilling of our vegetable garden until May. But we were able to get tomatoes, peppers, melons, beans, sweet potatoes, and other crops planted and started before the drought arrived. The drought caused leaf curl in a number of tomato plants and later blossom end rot on some of the fruit when the rains arrived. And the brown marmorated stink bug caused our squash plants to expire prematurely- but over all… taking into account all the adverse factors- the garden has been holding its own this season.

By the middle of August, rains began arriving via thunderstorm activity and Hurricane Irene, which skirted the Maryland and Delaware coastline. The rain was welcome, and it appears we will continue to see ample rainfall into the Autumn, along with warmer than average temperatures. We will be breeding all eligible does for 2012 (many of whom will be available for sale bred) as we conduct a final herd reduction in advance of our eventual move and as we prepare for parenthood which hopefully will occur in early April 2012.

In addition to Hurricane Irene, we received a deluge of rainfall from Tropical Storm Lee. Whatever deficit we accumulated from our summer drought- we have more than made up for that lack of rainfall over the last 2 months. Our garden is still producing an abundance of tomatoes, peppers, beans, and we'll begin digging and harvesting our sweet potatoes by early November. (There ought to be plenty available for Thanksgiving dinner.) We've been enjoying warm days and cool nights throughout October, but as we approach November, we can expect our first frost any time now. We've reduced our herd size down to about 30 goats to lighten our load as my pregnancy progresses and as we prepare for the winter months.

While winter officially arrived here at Avolino Farm in late December, it has been an uncharacteristically mild season so far. We've seen two snow events as of this writing (in the first week of February 2012). Both "events" were quite minor in comparison to recent years. We had a dusting of snow in early January and about 2 inches of wet snow in late January that was no where to be seen within a day of falling. Most of the precipitation has been in the form of soaking rains. The final days of January and the first days of February have been down right balmy in the low to mid-60s! The mild winter has translated in welcomed lower feed bills and lower hay consumption and the need to use water heaters for only about 20 days so far. But, we know winter is not over… Ground Hog or not-- the calendar says we've got about 50 more days until Spring!

As always, we invite you to contact us if you have any questions about the information found on our site or if you'd simply like to just "talk goats!"

-Chris and Danielle