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By Lyn Stanton & Billy Joe Fudge  July storm rolling across the farm. Dear Friends, Summer is here in all its sweltering glory. The fields are plowed and sown. Schools are out of session, their regular wards turned to lose upon their families and yards. Sidewalks are scorching and making time to visit the lake or the pool is a weekly priority for many. Each evening, the smell of cook-outs glides through the air in our towns, and ice cream just tastes its best this time of year. Farms are busy and bustling with animals enjoying the season’s bounty and the days are filled with never-ending chores. All the heat, the sun, the work, the games, the time with family and friends, all these things make the fabric of life in the summer. There is such wonder and magic to it. But for all the simple joy summer brings, there is much to cause us anxiety and unease these days. Without going into many particulars, we can say 2022 is a year of uncertainty for all of us. High fuel costs, high fertilizer costs, high costs of everything, and drought conditions in Kentucky and much of the surrounding area are contributing to that sense of uncertainty. However, in the true spirit of the American Way, we are plowing forward. And at Homeplace, we are finding ways to provide some relief from economic woes with affordable rental rates, accessible family festivals, and dynamic education programs teaching self-reliance and sustainability, subscribing to that old adage about giving a fish, versus showing how to use a pole. But before we dive into whats to come, let us share with you some highlights from the year so far as we have rounded the halfway marker. We also want to make sure to thank all the great businesses and folks who have helped us this Spring! So let's take a look back to our 2022 Plow Day Spring Festival. After missing our festivals in 2020 because of Covid and a wet 2021 Plow Day, we had an extremely successful event on the last Saturday of April. Thanks should go out to all our event sponsors, demonstrators, our hardworking and devoted board members, vendors, and those that sacrificed their time and energy to stage our many events, including folks who hauled their horses and mules from all over Kentucky and beyond. Enjoy a few snap shots of the day! Spring Plow Day 2022 Slide Show
 Something to look forward to, we received a grant from The Honorable Kentucky Colonels to improve our barns with some bling, some bass, and some heat! We have purchased heaters, a sound system, and a ton of warm twinkle lights to install in our Bank Barn! Starting this fall, our barns will have a permanent sparkle after we wrap the interior poles in the lights and in the bank barn, guests will be able to link a play list from their phone right to the sound system via blue tooth. Plus, as the weather shifts towards winter, we will be able to keep parties going with some high mounted heaters to keep our barn in use for much more of the year. Looking Here at the Homeplace Farm, we have been beating the heat by keeping busy and getting ready for a very busy lineup of fabulous events coming soon for our community and region. Now saddle up your mule, hitch up your britchen' and let’s ride into the future. This summer and early fall are crammed full of family-friendly activities. Our calendar has never been this intense.
On July, 14, our Goat Recipient Program will officially be born (pardon the pun) before our eyes. I know most of you are getting ready to “Google” Goat Recipient Program right about now, so let me explain. Generally speaking, there are two commercial types of goats; milk goats and meat goats. The milk goat males, of course, do not produce milk and are sold for the meat market. Their slender body type usually produces a small and low-quality carcass for the market. Consequently, many milk goat producers are using meat goat bucks to introduce hybrid vigor into their milk goat herds which produce better carcass weight and quality. Goats typically give birth to one, two or three kids (baby goats). However, they will most often produce several more embryos that will fail to develop into fetuses. Producers of valuable meat goat breeding stock such as the Boer breed do not want to waste these valuable embryos. Therefore, they often use surrogates and harvest the extra embryos from their females and implant them into females of other breeds to act as mothers for the high value Boer goat kids. Homeplace is proud and thankful to be partnering with Chris and Marie Anderson of Boerderline Goat Farm of Campbellsville, Ky. There are currently about 40 nanny goats being lodged at Homeplace which will soon become surrogate mothers to Boerderline and other area goat farm embryos. On July 14th we will have an embryologist here on the farm who will spend the entire day flushing does and implanting them into surrogates on the farm. The goats which reside here are not just surrogate mothers, but lovely and delightful little clowns who enjoy their peaceful pasture and visits from people. Soon we will have some feeders installed so that visitors can toss cracked corn and other treats. We welcome you to stop by to see them and us! Upcoming Events
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