Snippets from my life

My husband and I took the family to see Wall-E last weekend. We're a little late, considering it's been out since about what, June? But that's just par for the course for us. It is a great movie. I really thought it was well-done. But ouch. Quite a slam against consumerism. It calls to mind Dana Carvey as George Bush the First on Saturday Night Live in the early 90's when the nation hit an economic downturn. He told us we should "continue to do what Americans do best. We consume." Then he proceeded to turn the broadcast into The Shopping Show. I have read movie reviews that say that Wall-E is anti-conservative and environmentalist, but I saw it as simply anti-consumerist, which is about as conservative as you can get, so I don't know what those reviewers were thinking.

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Did you know that turkeys can roost really really high? Now that the weather has turned cold, I put my beloved red bourban turkeys in the pole barn for some shelter. At night, they are roosting in the rafters - a good 15-20 feet off the ground. A skunk got one of them a couple of weeks ago and had it for supper. At least, I think it was a skunk. Or it could have been a fox (saw one a couple nights ago), and the skunk was just scavenging.

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In related news, my birthday was a couple weeks ago. My husband is so thoughtful, he took me skunk hunting on my birthday. He always knows just what I want. I can't tell you how that turned out or he'll get mad at me. Just wanted to let you know how wonderful he is.

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I could smell a mutiny brewing, so you should know I am no longer the family carb Nazi. When the husband begs for hamburger buns and the kids ask for lasagna with garlic bread for their birthdays, that is when you know surrender is near. No more carb Nazi. Now I'm the egg Nazi.

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So I've started making buttermilk biscuits for them. They seem to really like that. Don't tell anyone, but the secret ingredient is lard. I've made biscuits before, and they always turned out truly awful. Now that I use lard, they are great! It's also good to fry potatoes in. I've heard it's super in pie crusts, but I haven't tried that yet. (Sorry for the commercial.) Lard is probably only bad for your health because you're having a heart attack right now reading about me liking lard. But our family is doing just fine. We're not dead (yet). My kids aren't any fatter or sassier than they were before. They still literally climb the walls and break my eardrums when saying "goodbye" to guests driving out the driveway. No changes there.

Farm Pics

Here are a few pictures I took tonight right before chores.

Here are my beloved Red Bourbon turkeys. I started out with twelve this spring, but 12-3=9. The local hawks claimed three about a month ago. I was spittin' mad.

Something new I learned this summer: we have lots of wild yarrow growing around the ol' homestead. Now I won't have to buy it. Yarrow is an immune system booster, and sometimes I use it to make a tincture. The yarrow flowers look a lot like queen anne's lace, but yarrow leaves are more fern-like.

Here's "Buttercup". Notice she has the neck of a linebacker. Right after she was born, I was able to pick her up to move her. Not no mo'. She's huge. I think we should call her "Patty" (...as in...Hamburger Patty).

I finally set up a trellis for my pole beans. I like to grow pole beans. It's fun growing vertically. Nice change of pace. Behind the beans are some tomatoes. Both beans and tomatoes I didn't get out until mid-June, which is late. A lot of gardeners around here already have beans and tomatoes ready to eat. It will take mine several more weeks, I think. But I do have garlic, which I'll be digging up probably in the next week.

This is a picture of one of our "natural" ducklings. We have two. They are the first birds we have been able to breed ourselves without having to go through a hatchery. Cool. Except we decided this spring not to "do" ducks anymore. Not sure when we'll get rid of the ducks, but it's still fun having ducklings nonetheless.

Thanks for stopping by to visit. Blessings!

In a Bloggin' Mood

Baseball is now over. Boo! Yay! It was a long weekend last week with tournaments. It seemed we spent all our time at the ball field. Actually, we probably did spend all our time there. We played a total of 4 games, 2 of which were postponed one day, and re-scheduled the next. So it was really like 6 games. Since we haven't had any practice this week I am revelling in all this new-found time. Every evening I get a little bit more caught up on dishes and laundry. I'm not there yet, but maybe sometime in the next week, I hope. Woohoo.

We have a varmint picking off our chickens one by one. (*gory details ahead - go to the next paragraph if you DON'T WANT TO KNOW*) Some skinny creature has been breaking into the barn and biting the heads off our chickens. Sometimes he (she?) bites all the way through; other times, the head is just left dangling. Not a pretty picture, I know. We think it is a weasel or another mink. A while back we had the same thing happen and it was a mink. Now, as my husband says, it is an ex-mink.

It was a long, long spring with our cow, Ruby. We were first-time cow-milkers, she was a first-time cow milk-ee. She kicked. We kicked back. She developed mastitis, we stayed up half the night doing things to a cow we never dreamed we would ever do. Now I'm going to be honest with you. We've been getting farmier by the day over the last 3-4 years, but this experience was the first time we ever thought to ourselves, "This is just too much. Where do we go to resign?" We were also thinking, "I wonder how a humungous miniature jersey would taste as hamburger?" OK, we're just as human as anyone else. It was TOO MUCH. But we stuck with it. My thought was, maybe the worst is behind us, and we would be fools to give up now. So, we still have Ruby and "Buttercup" (a.k.a. T-Bone). They're both quite healthy now. But I'm not milking Ruby, either. That's because once we got her better, the calf started taking all the milk. That was fine with me, too, I needed all the time I could get for other things. This is a drama still being played out. Stay tuned for further updates.

I am, however, still milking two of our goats, which is providing our family's milk needs right now. It is just barely enough for the kids to drink, and not much else. I did make some great ice cream tonight, but I don't usually have enough to do that.

In gardening news: my spinach and lettuce have bolted. I've pulled the spinach, and am in the process of pulling the lettuce. Having been so busy over the last two months, I only just now got out my tomatoes and beans, and still haven't planted any peppers or zucchini. I do have some nice looking beets and cabbage, though. And chard.

The new guys: we bought a beef cow this spring - "Blackie". She is an angus/jersey cross. We also have a dozen Red Bourbon Turkeys, which I love. They are a heritage breed. That means they aren't profitable enough for the industrial turkey farms to raise, so they are becoming rare. I am hoping they will naturally breed next spring so that we don't have to buy our turkeys from a hatchery any more. That would be really cool. Plus, we are helping a rare breed keep from going extinct. I just hope they're tasty too, or all will be for naught.

Hopefully more blogs will be forthcoming. Baseball season is over and I feel like writing.

Ruby's Calf and Other Stuff

Well, our new calf is now over a week old, and she is doing great! It only took Ruby a day to get used to the "mommy routine", and now there's no problems with the calf finding her milk at all. That is good, because I am close to being able to wean my bottle-baby. I don't need another one.

Here's the calf with her mother.





Before she was born my husband warned us all (and I quote): "You might not want to name this one, because you know where it will end up." (note: our last ones were named T-Bone and Sir Loin) What did I hear my husband call her the afternoon after she was born? "Here, Buttercup! Here, Buttercup!" SO, I don't know exactly where this one will "end up", but can you imagine serving "Buttercup" for dinner? Me neither. We'll see what happens.

We have a number of new birch trees along our driveway now. The biggest tree in the background, right in front of the pond, is "Penny". She has been a part of our family for years now.

Check out this huge egg we got the other day. Ouch. It was a double-yolker.

It's a Girl!

Ruby had her calf this morning around 6:00. She's a beautiful animal, but Ruby keeps kicking her away and won't let her get milk. This picture was taken right after we found her around 6:30 this morning out in the pasture. Apparently, that's where Ruby decided to have her baby. It makes me mad that I missed it. I wanted to be there.

Calf Watch

I am beginning to get a little concerned. Ruby has not calved yet, but I am sure she is in labor. It seems to be off and on, though. I considered doing a "live blog" event for this, but then, I don't have a laptop to take out in the barn with me, so...there goes that brilliant idea. I am just praying we don't have to call a vet. Maybe it is just one of those "false labor" things. You know, like in humans, when a woman fakes labor just to get attention. It's not really time yet, but it sure is fun to watch people's reactions when they DO think it is time! Maybe Ruby's just thinking to herself, heh heh, I'm going to get that human that takes care of me to come out and check on me every hour and only sleep 3 hours a night because she thinks a calf will be here any moment. Then when she's so exhausted she just can't stand it any more and goes to bed at night for a good 8 hours, then I'll REALLY go into labor.

Well folks, we have about hit that point, so look for Ruby's calf to arrive during the night tonight while I'm dead to the world.

Ruby Update

And now for a late-breaking news update: my cow is in labor. It started yesterday (Thursday) evening, and has continued into this morning. No calf yet. But this is her first time. Also, while I'm here, congrats to my older "little" brother on a Big Deal Work Thing he did. Way to go, bro!

More Spring!

I have to admit, I'm getting a little nervous. I've been milking goats for over two years now. But a cow? If a goat steps on your foot, it hurts, sure, but is not that big of a deal. A cow? If Ruby stepped on my foot it would smash the bones in there to smithereens. Well, maybe not. But maybe yes! Ruby is due any day now. Pray for me! We don't even have our stanchion yet! But we will. And I'm so excited about CREAM. Here's our WonderCow, maybe only a day or two before L&D! ;-)

Remember our baby bottle goat kid? Well, now her favorite past-time is terrorizing the chickens. Loads of fun. Nothing more hilarious than watching frollicking kids.

My garlic is finally up. I must have planted it a little deep because it took longer than I thought it should have to sprout. But here it is! I think it should be ready to pull around the end of June.

And here's the peas, lettuce, and spinach I planted a few weeks ago. It's up too! I guess you can barely see the little sprouts in this picture, but they're there if you look closely! I also have a few baby asparagus shoots poking up out of the ground, but they are too young to pick this year. It will be another year or two before we can enjoy that.

Finally, some daffodils and forsythia. We're having beautiful weather this spring. No big ups and downs like last year. Hopefully that will mean a better fruit crop this year!

You might be thinking right about now: Gee, Amey, you do about everything! Heh heh heh. Boy have I got YOU fooled. You don't know how many dishes I have piled up in the sink or how many "stacks" I have about the house. If I measured the laundry needing to be done I would have to weigh it by the ton. But my boys have been to ball practice, my animals are happy, the refrigerator is well-stocked with eggs, and I read to my children today. All is well with the world.

Meet "Jeffrey"

Here "Jeffrey" is almost one hour old. "Jeffrey" was named by our older son.

In this picture he is about 3 hours old. He is a strong, healthy little boy, and one good-looking goat. Very light in color, as you can see. The big event happened this afternoon around 1:00. He is an only child, and his mamma is named Rose. It was an uneventful delivery, for which I am grateful. Last year, Rose's delivery was NOT uneventful.

Early Spring is Here!

It's been a long time since I've had to use one of these. Our "senior" doe (Daisy) had her babies on Saturday. One of them was extremely weak and underweight. Her mother would have nothing to do with her, so we have to bottle feed her.

We were keeping the baby in our kitchen full-time right after she was born. Now she's starting to spend all day in the barn and nights in the laundry room in a laundry basket. This is a picture of her. For some reason in the picture she looks like the goat from outer space. Don't worry, her eyes are actually normal. For goats. Yes, I have a goat in my laundry room.

This is Rose. She's next - due to have babies sometime between this weekend and the middle of next week. She had a difficult delivery last year. We hope she has an easier time this year. It's hard to tell from this picture how big she is, but she is getting huge. Don't tell her I said that.

These are some birch trees we planted between our house and the pond several years ago. Our trees are finally starting to grow to be a nice size. As you can see, the grass is brown and the trees are bare. For now. Six weeks from now, things will look a lot different.

We spent a lot of time outside today because it was so nice. Things have been very muddy so far this year, but it is finally starting to dry out a bit. Although I hear we are supposed to get more rain tomorrow. I did something wild and crazy this afternoon. I planted some peas, lettuce, and spinach. This is a picture of the bed I planted them in. I got this idea from Square Foot Gardening, by Mel Bartholomew. We'll see how they grow. I have never planted this early before.

Children's Literature: Pick of the Week

James Herriot's Treasury for Children, Warm and joyful tales by the author of All Creatures Great and Small

This is just a lovely book about the experiences of a rural vet and the various animals that he encounters. We've been reading it for our studies in first grade (my second son). The illustrations are just beautiful, and I think I enjoy reading it as much as my kids enjoy hearing it.

We had a country vet visit our little homestead last week as well. My only registered goat, a Nubian, came down sick last week. Turns out she was stricken with goat polio, which is a vitamin B deficiency. So we've been giving her shots twice a day and she seems to be doing better. We are hoping that her vision isn't damaged permanently. Thanks to everyone who prayed for our Ellie. It feels a little silly asking people to pray for a goat of all things, but...all creatures great and small the Lord God made them all, right?

Here's a link to an article reviewing a new book I'd like to have a look at (Good Calories, Bad Calories, by Gary Taubes). The book reviewer didn't seem to think much of the book, but it sounds to me like maybe the book's author has a few things figured out.

Long Time No Write (which gives me license to ramble)

Well, it's been awhile since I've written here, so I thought I'd check in today. Time has been flying by. I'm not sure where September went. It zoomed past at the speed of light. Now here we are finishing up the first week of October with nary a frost in sight. We're still eating zucchini casserole once a week, and the tomatoes are still blooming. I brought in the rest of my cabbage last weekend to make our family favorite: cortido (Latin American sauerkraut). This weekend I am drying chopped celery from the garden. Despite all this good eatin', I've really been neglecting my garden dreadfully. I haven't been watering it like I should! We've had very little rain this year. We have a volunteer squash plant in the old garden where we throw the compost. I think it might be a butternut squash. The biggest one isn't ripe yet, but I'm crossing my fingers. The big question is: when will we get that first frost?

On the critter front, our little farm hit its maximum number of occupants towards the end of August. Now those numbers are dwindling. We butchered one group of chickens the end of August, and the second group will be done in another week or two. Our two steers and one lamb went to the butcher last week, and we've also done 3 turkeys. Besides that we have lost 4 ducks and several chickens to outside causes. One of our ducks got hit by a car during an unauthorized road crossing (serves the bird the right for wandering off the property). Of course, we'd rather eat them than have them get hit by cars or devoured by wild animals, but there's not much we can do about them going across the road. Other than...eating them before they cross the road.

School is humming along, and I am making the necessary adjustments for the new school year. I gave it three weeks, found some things that needed changing, and we're working on that now. We just finished Week 4 of our school year. We have school for three weeks, then take one week off. We do have school in June and July, but then we take August off. That makes 36 very full weeks of school.

I enjoy having my kids home with me every day. That way I can micro-manage their lives. Just kidding! No, actually what I like is that we are putting into practice something that I have always felt intuitively but never really fully realized until fairly recently: that is that the healthy home should be one in which all members of the family contribute to the household economy, and there is as much producing as there is consuming. As Americans, we are all already very good at consuming (that is after all the American way). What we need more practice at is producing. You know, being productive. Making needed things and maintaining what you have so that you don't have to buy another one.

Speaking of being productive, I feel really productive these days. I usually get up at around 8:00 (anything before 8 is TOO EARLY). Now with our daylight hours dwindling, when I get up in the morning and go out to milk the goats, the sun has just risen over the horizon. It makes me feel like a real farmer, up at daybreak, and doin' the chores. Yee haw.

Well, I guess that's enough rambling for now. Back to what you were doing. Something productive, I hope. ;-)

Meat Freezer Solstice

This morning was the first dawn after our Meat Freezer Solstice. Allow me to describe to you the contents of our meat freezer yesterday morning: one big bag of medicinal herbs, two freezer bags of turkey backs and wing tips (for making broth), one small bag of duck hearts (for making ???), and 2 pounds of tough, teeth-challenging ground beef. That freezer was never so empty. We finally got our first batch of meat for the season yesterday afternoon: pork.

I went through a time when I wasn't sure pork was o.k. to eat. Back in the good (really) old days, God commanded the Israelites not to eat pork, and I figure there was probably a pretty good reason for that. But as time went on, I weakened. When I first went on my low-carb diet, breakfast became the greatest sticking point: what's eggs for breakfast every morning without bacon? And aside from bacon, how about some sausage? You can see how the weakening process began.

So when we had a chance to buy some pork from a reputable local farmer, I got right in line. I like to hear what they feed the animals, because I think at least part of the problem with hogs is, they will eat literally anything. There are some things that I would just rather not have animals that I eat, eating themselves, if you know what I mean. Personally, I think we found a really good source of pork.

So yesterday afternoon I drove home with a trunk full of locally-raised frozen pork for my pitiful little forlorn freezer. That freezer still is not even a fraction of the way full, but it will only get fuller as the season progresses. Next up will be the chickens we raised for meat, and maybe a turkey or two. Then in another month we'll have beef and lamb. Before you know it, our freezer will be packed full, and we'll be ready for a long season of good eatin'. The tide has turned. Isn't this how holidays get started?

Inventory

1 huge miniature jersey
2 small miniature hereford steers
1 billy goat
3 nanny goats (in milk)
2 young wethers (2 months old)
2 female kids (1-2 months old)
2 lambs
17 laying hens (not very GOOD laying hens right now), mostly Rhode Island Red
12 chicks (Silver-laced Wyandottes)
3 turkey poults
5 guinea chicks
1 black lab
1 cat

Yesterday the Fedex guy delivered a package. He stopped to pet Daisy (she was right by the garage). He stopped the truck in the middle of the driveway and talked to Ruby (the jersey) for a good 2-3 minutes. I think he had fun.

A Day in the Life

8:30 - I wake up. No alarm clock. Get ready to milk Daisy and Rose.
8:45 - Milk Daisy and Rose and say good morning to the animals in the barn. We get 1/2 gallon of milk.
9:05 - I bottle the milk and go back out to do the other animal chores. I feed the animals that stay put (Ruby the cow and Billy the billy) and put the other animals in their appointed places, which are mostly on chains attached to posts. Also, make sure they all have water.
9:30 - I get ready for the rest of the day
10:00 - Make pancakes for the kids' breakfast, which they eat with butter and maple syrup. My breakfast: 3 eggs over-easy, bacon, coconut muffin, a glass of kefir, and two cups of herb tea.
10:35 - Settle down to eat my breakfast and read the morning's news on the internet.
11:00 - I put off starting school by looking up several hatchery websites to see what chicks we want to order this year. I e-mail my husband to ask about ordering chicks.
11:30 - Clean up and get ready for school.
11:50 - We start school: Bible, phonics, reading, piano lesson, and my older son works a while independently ("independently" is a relative term here). We had a late breakfast, so I figure there's no reason to have lunch before 2:00. We continue working until:
1:50 - My second son notices a white horse out on the road, walking south. I notice that the horse has a saddle, but no rider. I go outside to investigate and see if I can find an owner for the horse.
1:55 - As I walk across the yard, I see Iris standing in her spot with some sort of white and black animal lying still on the ground next to her. I realize that Iris, the goat we thought was NOT expecting WAS expecting, and she has just had her baby. I partially recover from the shock of finding an unexpected newborn goat kid outside in our yard, and take the two into the barn to make sure they are ok. I totally forget about the horse. The new kid is a girl.
2:10 - The newborn kid, which seemed almost lifeless when I found it, perked right up in the barn, but showed no signs of wanting to nurse. That worries me, so I try to help it get a drink. Still no interest. I let her rest for a while. I notice a Bobcat driven by an Amishman drive down the road.
2:30 - The Bobcat goes back past the house going the other direction with the white horse in tow.
2:45 - The kid gets up and stands on wobbly legs and starts looking for milk. She finds it on her own. Yay! Both mother and baby are perfectly fine.
3:00 - I go back inside to get some lunch: warmed up soup for me, and leftover pizza for the kids. It was frozen in a little freezer bag and took forever to warm up in the toaster oven.
3:30 - We eat lunch and take a break from the day. We all thank God for the white horse that got my attention so I could discover the newborn goat outside. Otherwise we wouldn't have known about it for at least a couple more hours. I catch up on Dr. Mercola's blog.
4:30 - I read with my older son, and we talk about our stories. My daughter cuts holes in her tights with unauthorized scissors.
5:15 - I check on the new baby and then take a phone call. The kids argue over whether the baby goat should be named "Dandelion" or "Belle".
5:30 - I realize there are no dishes clean for dinner and rush around getting the dishwasher loaded before ball practice.
6:00 - Ball practice for my second son. Older son and daughter ride bikes at the park, and I walk around behind them and also read a homeschool magazine while they play on the playground.
7:20 - I put some Italian sausage on to cook for dinner. It's so nice out and rain is on the way according to the radar map, so I put it on low so I can go outside.
7:25 - I go outside and talk with my husband about animal stuff, and we work together on evening chores and getting the pens situated for this new mother and baby. That took some doing since the other mothers and babies are separated at night, so we needed a new separate pen. We ended up taking the "chicken tractor" into the barn to keep the babies in for the night. That's a makeshift solution, but, it will work for now.
8:30 - I have no idea what time it is, but I figure I'd probably better go inside and make dinner. We'll want to eat eventually, right?
9:15 - Dinner is ready. Husband and Son #1 are still out arranging the animals, so the rest of us eat: spaghetti for them and a big salad with sausage for me (I'm grain-free right now). This is a late dinner - even for US.
9:45 - I catch up on Dave Gumpert's blog (writer for Business Week). Son #2 asks me to make him some eggs. I tell him I doubt I will have time to make him any eggs since I haven't even started the dishes yet, and there are a lot to do. He starts doing dishes just so he can (he hopes) have some eggs.
10:00 - I make kefir, Son #2 continues doing dishes. Then I join him.
10:30 - We are both still doing dishes. Isn't he a trooper? This is entirely voluntary. I decide to fix him his eggs. He says he wants them over-easy.
10:50 - My son sits down to his snack of 2 eggs: one over-easy, and one scrambled (the yolk broke). I go back to the dishes. I ponder whether or not I should believe that kombucha is good for you or not. Son #1 makes me an early Mother's Day card. It's sweet.
11:15 - I quit doing dishes. Haven't I worked on them long enough? I never did get them done. I wander over to the computer, thinking about the day. I considered doing "a day in the life" type of blog in the morning when I woke up, so I sit down to write it out.
11:45 - Get my kids ready for bed and say good night.
Midnight - I finish my blog and head for bed. I thought when I got up I would blog about a "typical" day, but it really wasn't that typical. But then again, I really don't remember the last time we had a typical day. Anybody know what normal is?

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!

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?

Big Family Announcement!

Daisy had her babies Sunday evening. It was a great experience for all of us. Our kids were there for the big moment, so I figure I get to count that as at least one full day of school. She had 2 males that look almost exactly like her. We're a little sorry that they were both boys because the females make much better milkers! But our two little fellas are adorable, and they are already starting to run, jump, and play. They are a lot of fun to watch, but we know that unfortunately we will probably have to eventually sell them (and by "sell them", I mean get someone to take them off our hands, using whatever means possible).

Soooo......Anyone out there need a couple of male goats? Hey! You won't need a lawn mower anymore with these two little weed and grass munchers tied up in your yard (jungle?) this summer. I've also heard that you can train them to pull a little goat wagon. There you go! Get a goat wagon, and Tom and Harry (my older son named them) can pull your kids around the yard. They'll love it. I'm sure at my crazy low prices that this pair won't stick around here for long. Get in touch with me now before they're gone!

In other news, baseball practice starts this week (both of my boys are playing....on different teams). I already have no time for doing things that I want and need to do, so no doubt I will be Beyond the Land of Sanity before the season is over the end of June. Right now I divide my time between the following leisure activities: outside chores, food prep, meal cleanup, laundry, and school. Yes, that about sums it up.

No wait, except for one more thing: egg organization. I spend a few minutes each day rotating my eggs. We are finally getting plenty of eggs from our chickens for our family, and I feel so secure with all my egg cartons filled up in the fridge. I have a very meticulous method for keeping my eggs organized and rotated properly. The rest of my house is a wreck (well, mostly, anyway), but those eggs are my pride and joy. Don't mess with my system, folks. It is something to behold, believe me.

Just a reminder, don't forget to let me know when you'd like us to deliver your new goats. They should be weaned by the end of May.

It's Almost Time!

My lovely nanny goat, Daisy, is due to have her babies any time. This will be our second time experiencing a goat birth, and when she had her babies last year, it was such an amazing thing to see. (Side note: I'm not as squeamish now as I was as a kid. Maybe that has something to do with having three kids myself and cleaning up their many messes of various sorts and originations. You think?) Goat babies are so fascinating to watch. In hardly any time at all they are up walking around; even running, jumping and playing. I just can't even imagine what it will be like when our jersey cow gives birth next year (Lord willing she will, anyway). How great will that be?!

Here's a picture of Daisy, reaching for some hay. It's hard to get a good picture of a goat. You need some sort of bait to keep them in one place while you snap the picture.