Rose Kicked the Bucket

I know how the saying "kicked the bucket" got started. This morning one of my two milk goats, Rose, kicked the milk bucket, totally knocking it over and spilling milk all over the milk stand. Grrrrrrrr...And we were almost finished, too. I was close to committing goat-moiduh. This is the same goat that did this to me last winter while I was milking her mama:

What a little stinker. Of course this was before we had the milking stand, so I don't have to milk like this anymore (it got rough on the ol' knees). That goat sure does owe me. Big time. This is her first year being milked, so suffice it to say, I expect a whole lotta milk from her in the future.

Homestead Update

It's been a great week here on the farm. I'm milking again! Not one, but two does! Our babies are old enough that we can separate the babies from the mamas overnight, and then claim some milk for ourselves every morning. We have averaged about a 1/2 gallon of milk each morning over the last 5 days or so. The kids are getting used to the goat milk all over again, and now we have enough that they can have more than just one cup at breakfast. We also have the eggs to go along with the milk, so we are doing great! Last night I made the kids egg nog, which is delicious, even though it is not December. I'd love to try my hand at making some cheese, but that is just one of a number of things on my List.

Thanks to everyone who prayed for our new little goat mother, Rose. She seems to have recovered. We believe she broke one of her legs. Once I realized that is what had happened, I put a splint on it, and in a few days it was straightened out and she was able to put a little bit of weight on it. Now she's walking around just fine, and her baby Sunflower is growing fast!

I am trying some square-foot gardening this spring. I'm not sure how it will turn out, but we're trying! I started some seedlings about a month ago, but they did not do so well. So far, we have two 4x4 boxes planted with spring stuff - lettuce, spinach, onions, herbs, carrots, etc.

In the kitchen, I've been experimenting with coconut flour. It's just dried coconut ground up. I've been avoiding wheat in my diet over the last few months, and I have figured out how to make some pretty good muffins with the coconut flour. There isn't much information out there about this stuff, so this has been pretty much just "winging it". You can also use it for fried chicken, I have found out. But it didn't work so well for gravy. Maybe I just need to experiment more with that. I have read that you can use it to make pancakes too, but I haven't tried that yet. The big trick about using coconut flour is that you need plenty of eggs. I use two eggs for every 1/4 cup coconut flour.

Another thing we tried for the first time this week is kombucha. It is a fermented drink that tastes a lot like soda. It's sweet, but it has a slight vinegary flavor to it also. It is supposed to be very good for detoxifying. But I am skeptical about it. You use regular sweetened (with white sugar) tea, and then put a little pancake-y looking culture in it, and let it set out for around 10 days. The culture "eats" the sugar and ferments the tea. It actually ends up somewhat carbonated and tastes really good. Two out of three of my kids loved it. But it is hard to understand how something like that started with white sugar could actually be good for you. But who knows, maybe it's true!

Congratulations to my baby brother, who just officially got engaged! We are all so excited about this big news, and can't wait for the wedding. My kids are already talking about it. They are thrilled. Especially to be getting such a great new aunt!

Let Me Blog Something...Anything!

When I woke up this morning, I realized in no uncertain terms that I could not possibly leave That Cow Picture up at the top of my blog. If you have to ask why not, then you couldn't even begin to understand even if I explained it. That's why I'm here blogging over my daily eggs-over-easy. Now I have to think of something to say...

OK, here it is, I've got it. The Republican Primary. I have a front-runner in my own personal poll (which is to say, if the election was held today, I know who I would vote for). Here he is:

Dr. Ron Paul, physician and congressman from Texas.

I like this guy because he actually votes by the Constitution and by his conscience. He pays no attention to lobbyists and special interest groups. Do you have any idea how rare that is? Right now, I don't imagine he has much chance at winning the primary, but that is why I'm posting this now, so I can encourage everyone to do their research BEFORE the primary instead of after. Not that you have to vote exactly like me, but find out about the candidates and vote for the one that is closest to carrying your ideals. That seems simple, but really, I don't think most people think to do that. They just find out about the candidates from the television (NOT A GOOD WAY TO RESEARCH! ...sorry I yelled). I've said this before, but it bears repeating: I think the Republican primary will be more important next year than the Big One in November. Let's not elect a dud to run against Hillary or Obama, or whoever else the Democrats come up with (Gomer Pyle, Julie?). If we do, I'll be voting third party. And I don't think I'll be the only one.

The Cow

This is just bizarre. Totally bizarre. Words fail...My husband saw this cow on a recent business trip and HAD to take a picture. I wonder what mastermind artist came up with this idea. I prefer my cows on all fours out in the pasture, thank you very much. Or maybe as a t-bone on the grill, eh?

I've Always Wondered...

Frank Gorshin as "The Riddler"

Vladamir Putin

See any similarities? Am I the only one that thinks that Russia's president looks like the Riddler?!?

A Timely Conversation

I was going to write about something fun today, like transfats or GMO's or similar, but I've got to interrupt my regularly scheduled blogging for some commentary on the evil events that took place on the Virginia Tech campus yesterday. Leave it to WorldNetDaily to provide some fabulous coverage and editorials concerning what happened. Here are a few:

How to Prevent Next Massacre, by Joseph Farah
You're Dead, I'm Healing, by Dennis Prager
Needed: More Americans with Guns, by Andrew Longman

People once again are clamoring for more gun control laws, but no one seems to have noticed that what the murderer did was already against the law. Laws didn't stop him from committing a crime. But gun control laws did prevent responsible people from defending themselves and other innocents. One person with a concealed carry permit in that engineering building could have prevented several dozen deaths. In fact, the killer may have reconsidered his plans if he knew there would likely be armed people in that building.

I think it is a tragedy that so many young men today are only being trained in violence through R-rated slasher movies and video games; and not in a healthy, responsible, manner, such as through gun safety courses and a constantly attentive father who teaches them to channel their "violent energies" for defending innocent people. Would it not have been good for someone so trained to have stopped the killer yesterday? Instead, what we have is a society that overwhelmingly values complete non-violence, which opens up the door for evil to violently conquer. And why not? There are no good guys to fight back. This belief is why I would never make it in the Amish community. That and my love affair with electricity.

I currently know of at least one responsible person we see regularly at a weekly gathering of a large number of people who has a concealed carry permit. Personally, I feel safer in this gathering of people knowing that he is there. Let's say you could choose between two classrooms in that Norris building in which to be a student: one completely unarmed, and one with a well-trained concealed carry permit holder who was "packing heat". Which would you choose?

This is a controversial topic, I know, but if you decide to leave a comment to this post, please at least leave a real first name. I won't take anonymous comments on this post. I assume my opinion is in the minority, but I won't mind if anyone has a well-organized opinion on the contrary they'd like to post. I'd just like to know who's writing it.

Rough Goat Week

It's been a rough week so far out in the barn. Rose (one of our younger does) had her babies early Monday morning in a very difficult delivery. When I went out to the barn in the morning, one of the babies (female) had already been born and was dry. There was another baby that was not in the proper position to be born, and it had died before we could help it out (male). Somehow in the process, Rose hurt one of her legs and was not even able to attempt standing for almost two days. Now she is standing from time to time, but is unable to put any weight on the injured foot. I put a washcloth in some strong hot comfrey tea and then wrapped the cloth around the joint for a while, and then I wrapped it up in an athletic-type bandage. We are not interested in racking up a huge vet bill, so I will try to treat it as naturally as possible here, and hopefully it will heal up after a week or so. If anyone has any advice for me, feel free to leave a comment.

All of that work with Rose and her baby has left me sore and bruised. Once when I was helping the kid find some milk (which I need to do every few hours), I moved Rose the wrong way and she flung her head up and hit me in the side of the head around my eyebrow. It still hurts. Fortunately, I don't have a black eye. Or perhaps, unfortunately I don't have a black eye. Think of all the fun stories I could tell explaining how I got it, because of course, people would ask. I mean, if it hurts anyway, why not have the trophy to go along with it?

Merry Easter.

Children's Literature: Pick of the Week

The Little Duke, by Charlotte M. Yonge, is one of the books I've been reading aloud with my second-grader this year. This is a wonderful, historically accurate story about Richard the Fearless, Duke of Normandy, who was the great-grandfather of William the Conqueror. It takes place in 10th century France. Richard's father is assassinated and Richard inherits his dukedom at the young age of nine. It was written close to a hundred years ago, primarily for children, but it's a great read for adults, too. The book's cover doesn't particularly arouse a great deal of interest; however, the story is riveting. We only read a chapter a week, and it is hard to stop at just one. We found this book listed under Ambleside's Year 2 reading list. This is the (free) homeschooling reading schedule we have been loosely following for the last year. If you think you might be interested in this story, you can find it on-line at The Baldwin Project. Personally, I like to have it in book form. It's hard to cuddle up on the couch with a computer. But if you read it from the computer (or print it out, which would probably cost close to the same as buying the book once you consider the amount of paper and ink it would take), it's "free".

See what I have to put up with?

I don't have a picture of the leech in our aquarium right now, but if I had one, it would go here too.