Recent Happenings

Once again, the procrastination bug has hit! I have put off making a blog post for too long. Not that much has been going on…with the recent, much needed rains, we have been cooped up in the house for the most part. Between showers and the nice weather we had on Sunday, we have been concentrating on buttoning up a few of the outstanding projects and preparing for the next ones in line.

The goats are all doing fine. The babies are no longer getting a daily ration of milk…they are weaned (can’t you hear the faint sounds of the Hallelujah chorus?)! The morning chores take a little less time, so I am now sleeping in. Instead of rising at 5 am, I can slumber until 5:15 am…woo-hoo, 15 extra minutes can make a big difference. The wee fur balls are now eating grain and hay and browse the pasture in between, that is, when they are not being chased out of the barn by Minnie, the grump of the herd. The wee ones are also getting on my nerves on one point…they like to jump. They will jump up on anyone that dares to get near. I generally come back from the barn with little muddy (hopefully just mud, LOL) hoof prints on my pants legs where they jump up to see if I have anything for them to eat. They are growing by leaps and bounds, and it is getting close to the time that I will have to seriously consider selling a couple of them, especially the timid little boy. His shyness is sure to wear off soon as he develops an affinity for the ladies, if you know what I mean.

The kids (two-legged kind) helped me the other evening when it was time to trim the hooves of the bigger goats. It was a little past time for a pedicure…and let me tell you, these girls needed one… bad! And another thing…that is one dirty job. Who would have imagined goat’s feet could be so smelly? Well, you probably would if you realized that they walked in, er…well, you know. And these ladies we not overly enthusiastic about the operation either. After much kicking and jerking and all kinds of weird grunts and baaaas, we got all the clipping done. I almost shot a “toe-nail” in Daniel’s eye…what fun! Now if I can get them to pick up all the "toe nails"...this is the barn, you know, not the living room floor. LOL. Both Daniel and Katie took turns snapping some of these photos of the process.

The garden is coming along rather well. The cabbage, broccoli, and lettuces are growing well and the onions seem to be taking off. The snow peas…not so much. I am not sure if it is because I planted them late, didn’t plant them deep enough or too deep, or that I used 2 year old seed. Anyway, if they do not start coming up better, I may have to plow them under and try again in the fall. I can always plant something else in that spot! So the garden may too get a trimming.

Daniel and I started on a drip irrigation project for our grow boxes. I will do a post after we finish that will show how we did it. I should not be long before its done.

Since we are having more milk due to not having to bottle feed the babies, we are trying to figure out what to do with the excess milk. Soft cheeses like chevre and queso fresco will only last a couple of weeks in the fridge. Feta will last up to a year, but really, how much feta can one family eat? So we are going to try our hand at mozzarella. It keeps well and can even be frozen. I will have to order some different cultures for mozzarella, so depending on how quickly delivery can be made (and I get some time), I will make a post about making moz. Until next time….blessings!