Our farm was featured in the Jan/Feb 2012 edition of Down Home Magazine

Our farm was featured in the December 16, 2011 copy of The Weekly Independent

Robin and Johnny Blakley prepare the Buffalo Creek Farm and Creamery Store for opening.

Buffalo Creek Farm expanding with store, new products
Susan Williamson, Contributing Writer

"Local foods", "value added products" and "agritourism" are all buzzwords in farm economics. Robin and Johnny Blakley are working toward all three on their Germanton Road farm.

The Blakley's farm, called Buffalo Creek Farm and Creamery, LLC, already produces goat milk soap from their dairy goat herd. Plans are to have the creamery on-line by next spring, producing goat cheese. Their 34 acres are also home to grass fed beef, free range poultry and pastured lamb, all of which will be offered for sale in their newly constructed farm store just off Germanton Road in northern Forsyth County with pastured pork being added in 2012. Robin and Johnny are certified meat handlers and all livestock will be slaughtered in plants inspected by the U. S. Department of Agriculture.

The value added aspect is clear in the packaging of their goat milk soap. A special gardener's soap is wrapped in gloves as a gift for a gardener and another soap, called "Woodlands" is a dirt scented soap packaged in old soil sample bags.

The Blakley's handicapped parking pad was poured last week, so the store will be opening soon. They are already stocking Foothills country ham from Jonesville, Amish made jams, jellies and pickles from Hamptonville as well as Ashe County hoop cheese and free range whole chickens from their farm along with other local foods. Goat related toys and collectables round out the mix.

Expanding their operation has not been easy. A grant from RAFI (Rural Advancement Foundation International) funded their wastewater treatment. But first, the North Carolina legislature needed to make changes allowing small farmers to operate with requirements appropriate to small operations as opposed to laws written for large scale manufacturing.

RAFI grants through the Golden Leaf Foundation are funded to help former tobacco farmers and workers find other ways of making a living. Both of the Blakley's were one time R. J. Reynolds employees.

The Cooperative Extension Service and North Carolina's agriculture schools help farmers to make transitions. Blakley said North Carolina A & T University helps farmers find suitable hogs for producing pasture raised pork. Bloodlines selected to be raised in confinement are not successful in a more natural environment.

With handicapped accessible parking and restroom, the farm will be able to host small groups wishing to tour the operation in 2012. In addition to the production animals listed above, the farm also raises miniature Zebu cattle, guinea pigs and rabbits. For more information, the farm has a website at buffalocreekfarmnc.com or people can call 336.969.5698.

(The caption under the picture on the front was: Johnny and Robin Blakley stand with some of their goats at Buffalo Creek Farm and Creamery.)

(Caption under farm store picture was: )

(Caption under the two goats was: The Blakley's have goats on their farm in Germanton.)

(Caption under the five goat picture was: Buffalo Creek Farm and Creamery, which houses goats, is expanding.)

    
Our farm was included in the Goodness Grows in North Carolina display at the 2010 N.C. State Fair.

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Artist, Isabel Forbes Paints at Buffalo Creek Farm in Germanton, NC

Despite April 4, 2009's rainy weather, artist Isabel Forbes of Spartainburg, South Carolina was at Buffalo Creek Farm painting. She was visiting Germanton as part of the Painting North Carolina Plein Air Show. Paintings from her trip are on her blog. Included in the show is one of her paintings done at Buffalo Creek Farm highlighting their Dairy Barn; Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats; Livestock Guardian Llama, Little Boy Blue; a Bourbon Red Turkey and Guinea Fowl. Forbes also painted the Blakley's log cabin on April 5. Isabel's paintings and those of the other artists were on display at the Germanton Art Gallery through the month of April.

Our farm was featured in the November 23, 2006 copy of The Winston-Salem Journal

A Farm Team: Retired couple find peace working together on property in Germanton
By Lisa R. Boone, JOURNAL REPORTER

When Johnny Blakley retired from the Winston-Salem Police Department about two years ago, he traded working crime scenes for the full-time responsibilities of running a family farm.

Blakley, 51, and his wife, Robin, bought Buffalo Creek Farm in Germanton in 1992. But both juggled other jobs with working on the farm until retiring because of health problems.

In January 2005, Blakley was found to have a medical condition that disrupts the signals that his brain sends to the rest of his body. It prevents him from working without a break during the day.

The Blakleys say they have never been afraid of hard work, though. And they say that their 34-acre farm requires a lot of it. Teamwork is key.

People in the small town noticed right away that the Blakleys were a team. When they first bought the farm, they decided to build together a shelter in the front pasture.

"We go up and put rafters up, and she's on the roof putting rafters up just like I am," Blakley said. "That was the talk for the service station up here."

"That's the only way for us to get something done - for both of us to do it," said Robin Blakley, who retired after about 18 years at R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

She grew up on a farm, so going back to the country was a homecoming for her.

"Our kids are grown, married and gone, so we handle the whole place now by ourselves," Johnny Blakley said. "There's always something that needs doing.

"Mending fences, putting up new fences. It depends on the season."

The couple bought the farm at 6749 S. Germanton Road because they needed a place with more room for their four horses. They had been keeping the horses in a barn and small pasture at their house in Winston-Salem. The Winston-Salem Police Department had a residency requirement that restricted the couple from buying land in Forsyth County outside the city limits.

"We found this farm, and we bought it. Since then, we've gotten into everything but horses," Blakley said.

"There's not much farmland left in Forsyth County that's as nice as this because of development," he said. "The main thing that's keeping this place from being turned into housing projects is that creek right there."

The farm is named for the creek that separates the pastures in the front and back.

"That creek - not only is it what makes it such a pretty place, it's what's keeping it such a pretty place," Johnny Blakley said.

There are no buffalo on the farm, and the horses are long gone, but it does have plenty of other animals, most of them more exotic than on the average farm.

The Blakleys raise Blackbelly Barbados and Hawaiian black hair sheep, Boer goats, Nigerian dwarf dairy goats, guinea fowl, guinea pigs, rabbits, miniature Zebu cattle, and beef cattle.

They sell most of the animals - the hair sheep mainly for meat and the dairy goats for milk, and sometimes as pets because of their small size.

Some of the animals won't be sold, Robin Blakley said.

"I get so attached to the ones I bottle-feed," she said. "I keep them for me."

The farm also has a llama and two Great Pyrenees dogs that protect the pastures from coyotes and other wild animals.

The couple have changed the daily routine at the farm since their two children went to college about six years ago. With time management, a midday break and knowing how to effectively work together, the Blakleys' routine has become easier, they said.

"This is one thing that kept me sane while I worked for the police department," said Blakley, who was a patrol officer.

"I always worked in some of the worst parts of town when I was working."

"To us, it's just basically having something that's peaceful to do," he said.

"We did what we could afford, and we brought it back to being a full-time working farm. Now we've got it where there's little that we can't do."

• Lisa Boone can be reached at 727-7232 or at lboone@ws-journal.com.

Our farm was featured in the May 24, 2004 issue of Farm Chronicle

Hair Sheep Spell Success for Buffalo Creek Farm
by Jenan Jones Benson

GERMANTON, NC – Despite its name, Buffalo Creek Farm doesn’t produce bison, but throughout the property’s history, it has been home to diverse agricultural pursuits.

Robin Blakley tends her new Boer goats. Each animal to tagged to track such data as parentage and growth.
Photo by Jenan Jones Benson

“It was originally part of a large dairy farm,” owner Robin Blakley says of her farm named for a waterway that runs through the farm. “Then the 34 acres we now own were cut off and used as a goldfish farm.”

When Robin and husband Johnny bought the farm in 1992, it had been abandoned for five years and was so overgrown that Johnny had to stand on the tractor’s seat to mow the pasture. The couple restored a former sharecropper’s home to serve as a rental property and converted the milking parlor into a barn with an apartment. Eventually, the dams on the 21 goldfish ponds were broken and returned to pastureland.

“We started with three hair sheep,” Robin says. “I didn’t want the headaches associated with wool sheep, and hair sheep are easy to raise. They grow a winter coat of hair with a fine undercoat of wool and shed it naturally. So there’s no shearing and no docking tails because the hair doesn’t retain manure or debris. The Blackbelly is a shearless wonder.” She adds that Blackbellies are heat, disease and parasite resistant.

Today Buffalo Creek’s flock includes 37 Blackbelly Barbados and three Hawaiian Black, that are grown mainly for meat.

“The meat of the Blackbelly Barbados is low in fat and cholesterol but is high in protein content,” Robin says. “There is no mutton-like taste and ethnic groups always pay a good price for sheep, and prefer it over beef,” she says.

Over the years, Robin has developed a loyal customer base, by marketing through signage, newspapers, flea markets, and the Internet. She also markets through the International Blackbelly Barbados Sheep Association, of which she is a member.

“What really helped was when my daughter made a website for me, “ she says.

“The Internet brings people from as far away as Florida and Texas. A zoo in Ohio wants a ram from me.”

“Especially during the holidays, my phone rings off the hook, “ Robin continues. “There’s a high demand now for lamb and goat meat. People come to me to buy and I can get a good price for them.”

Buffalo Creek breeds their ewes naturally year-round, using a purebred Blackbelly Barbados ram that is a descendent of a North Carolina State University flock imported from their native island.

“Ewes can be bred any month of the year and can birth anytime, “ Robin says.

“They have babies on pasture, so no lambing jugs, heat lamps or special care are needed.” She adds that due to multiple births, she can get five lambs from some ewes in a year. “That’s good return on your money.”

“I raise the sheep as naturally as possible, “ she says. “I don’t use hormones or antibiotics.” She does worm with Dectomax and trims hooves when needed.

“I feed a sheep ration from Performance Livestock & Feed in Lawsonville, NC,” she says. “It has corn, oats, pellets and a small amount of molasses. A sheep ration must be low in copper, because it can be toxic to sheep.” She also feeds hay grown on the farm and adds a protein tub during the winter. A free-choice mineral mix is available for Buffalo Creek’s flock.

The flock is watered with a water line run to the pasture from the farm’s well.

“We are working with the North Carolina Agriculture Cost Share Program that allocates funds for water quality problems, “ Robin says. “We had a flood in March 2003 that washed out a pipe in a creek eroding the stream banks and cutting off water to one of our pastures. We have hired a contractor and are waiting for work to begin. When completed, NCACSP will reimburse up to 75% of the cost. “

Since the pastures are treeless, the Blakleys have built special sheds to provide shaded, dry shelter.

“Each is built specially for the animal that will use it, “ Johnny says. “Some are elevated to provide dry areas when the pasture is wet. All are made on skids so they can be moved to another pasture. This is also great for cleaning.”

Buffalo Creek also produces meat goats. After raising pygmies for a few years and Nubians more recently, the Blakleys now have Boer goats.

“These should be easier to raise, “ Robin says. “Weather doesn’t matter to them because they have a down undercoat.” Boers also give birth on the pasture and are able to raise their young outside year round except in extremely cold conditions.

“We have thirteen does and one registered, full-blooded buck, “ she adds. “We will mainly sell goats for meat. I’ve joined the North Carolina Meat Goat Cooperative, which will buy any unsold goats for northern markets.