Can you believe it? It’s been almost a month since my last blog post. It has been busy as usual around the farm. So, I am going to try and give a quick update and some pictures.
The garden seems to be doing just fine. We have harvest a bunch of broccoli, so lettuce and onions. Jamie froze most of the broccoli for later use in casseroles, but we added some to the lettuce and onions for a delectable salad we had with grilled steaks on Mother’s Day. We also have strawberries just starting to ripen and little pears all over the pear tree. The cabbage is doing pretty well too, but the bok choy (Chinese cabbage) is not looking so hot. Apparently, it tastes pretty good because some kind of bug is devouring it. With all the rain, I have not sprayed anything to make the little munchers go away. I’ve read about using cayenne pepper and things like that, but just haven’t made it around to it yet.
We lost 4 cabbages though to an escapee…Abraham, our Boer buck goat pulled a Houdini and got out of the fence. He proceeded to the garden where he devoured 4 cabbages before he headed to the shed and knocked over the grain bucket. He ate so much I was afraid that he would die from grain overload, but he made it fine with just a swelled belly. I came home with thoughts of goat burgers!
Speaking of goats, we did a little math to the herd—we added and subtracted! I got two new goats, both registered Nubians—one buck and one milking doe. The subtraction came from taking six of the goats to the livestock auction. One of those included Abraham. It was a little disheartening since Abraham was our first goat, but he had outlived his usefulness here at the farm since we have decided to go with the Nubian breed exclusively. Here are some pictures of our additions.
Our new doe, Nettie
Our new buck, Cedric
We also added to the menagerie of critters here at the farm. I think this has to be Katie’s favorite. Last Saturday morning just as the sun came up and after finishing up with the morning milking, I happened to look up as I entered the building to retrieve the dirty milk bowls. And what do you think I saw? From the opening where the barn loft floor meets the lower level ceiling, the two beatty eyes of a black snake met mine. Kinda startled me for a minute, but I gathered my senses and ran to the house and got the camera. I decided that it would be best to leave him be since black snakes are not poisonous and keep the mice population in check—I don’t want any mice eating the goat feed. Since Bubbles the cat passed, we no longer have a mouser, so I figured the snake would do until we got a new cat. I named him Fred.
Until next time…blessings!
The garden (what little there is of it) is doing well. This is a picture of a small harvest we made a week or two ago. There are several types of lettuce that went into a salad, some onions, and a bunch of broccoli. The flower vase is filled with blooms from the sage we planted a couple of years ago...it's still going strong. 
