We've written about our dream of a Harley Herd of weedbusting goats. Your weeds are their lunch. Goats prefer blackberry bushes, Canada thistle, poison oak and even poison hemlock to their usual pasture grasses, making them a natural part of land management. Now we're looking for the extraordinarily patient individual who'll manage the Harley Herd.

You'll have a basic understanding of the botany of both weeds and desirable plants, so that you'll know when to introduce the herd. You'll have empathy with the goat hierachies: control the boss goat and thus the herd. Work with the herd dog. You'll decide how many goats to introduce, and how you'll keep them on the property. Optimal land management involves seasonal or annual control: you'll seek public and private land contracts, keep detailed records of projects, and make pricing decisions. And you'll have the patience of a shepherd!

You'll work with Harley Farms, county Sustainable Business of the Year. We seek integrity and commitment to community, and we look forward to hearing from you!

It's been a productive morning. Fourteen babies arrived last night, bringing our total up to 29 - one mother had quadruplets! Also, I made a chocolate birthday cake from scratch for our lovely, youthful office manager Sharina.

Surprise!

I could probably be a professional baker, don't you think?

Only thirty-three…

We bred the goats early, so the babies have started arriving. The newborn families are separated from the lively week-old babies, and just-about-to-give-birth mothers. We'll have a very noisy barnful of pregnant and nursing goats over this rainy weekend!

Born last night

Tours begin in February, so do come and admire the babies soon.

We're a month back from Yorkshire, and I'd like to report that British men are looking good! They were wrapped in chic cardigans and scarfs, shoes polished and witty charm on full blast. Of course, my husband has nothing to fear. He keeps a closet of clothes at my parents' house: wet weather things and tennis whites acquired fifteen years ago at Pescadero's thrift shop. A fine establishment, and naturally my husband looks very fine, as you'll notice from the photo.

You can't have everything - slick cardigans, witty charm, ready cash… - but I have got the most wonderful cook. Our New Year's Eve feast was pheasant and goose, prepared by my husband with assistant son and nephew. We ordered the birds from the extremely well-supported local farm shops in Yorkshire. Most people shop locally in the country; each small town might have three or four butchers, each with their own specialty sausages, for example.

I love the festivities and routines of Christmas in Yorkshire. It's both a fizzingly exciting whirl of cooking and singing and cold weather and everybody off work, and a recharging, peaceful reassurance of the pleasures of childhood. On New Year's Eve, we had cocktails and canapes at my parents', moved on to neighbors, and ended up at Tony's house, dinner having being cooked in three ovens in three different houses. There were millions of candles, Andrew and Griff brought Andrew's famous amaretto trifle, and we ended up with two hours of fireworks in the freezing night.

Tony was away, with family in the Lake District, so he couldn't see the party devastation of his house. The very last wine glass was put away as he returned the next day.. Here's to 2009!

Salud has worked for Harley Farms for 13 years, and knows instinctively by smell, or feel, or taste, if something's not quite as it should be. You cannot buy this kind of expertise, and she is the lynch pin of the dairy. She is as immaculate in appearance as in habit, and I know I have often let her down with my sloppier tidying! Salud, Norma, Rebecca, Luis and I took a two-day Spanish-language course in the science of cheesemaking, organized by the local cheese guild at the College of Marin. There were maybe 25 people from local dairies, all of whom knew their recipes back to front, but perhaps not the whys and wherefores of those recipes. We looked at the differences between cow and goat milk through microscopes (size of fat globules), we heard about how temperature affects the culture, we saw bacteria and measured pH. Everybody brought their cheeses on the first day, and by the way Salud and the others rushed to see them, I realized we should constantly be bringing cheeses to our dairy to taste and talk about. Mexico has a strong cottage industry of fresh cheese (queso fresco), but there are so many different cheeses here in the Bay Area.

These two days with our staff made me vow to get a microscope and pH testing kit for our dairy, to incorporate into our routine and tours. It gave Salud and the others contacts at other dairies, with all the same day-to-day issues. And it reminded me how thankful I am for the consistency with which we run the dairy and control the ultimate flavor and quality of our cheese. I must just try and live up to my staff!

It has been another magnificent year for the farm. I can't thank my amazing staff and friends enough, and wish them all a toasty holiday season. We're leaving tomorrow for an icy Yorkshire Christmas, and I can't wait! Happy New Year!

Farm manager Ryan, a man who can look cool anywhere, and especially on a barn roof. Congratulations to him and his fiancee; sorry ladies. Thanks to Poppy de Garmo for the photo!