And So It Goes

Harry now sports a dangle stick. It's not a comfortable thing.

The idea behind the dangle stick is that as soon as he starts to run, or even walk fast, it will trip him up. With the dangle stick, he cannot chase chickens.

Chicken Sez

"Are you going on holiday?"

(One would need to have seen the claymation movie, Chicken Run, to appreciate the sad hilarity of that question.)

Twenty-two Reds?

So, today was day two of free ranging. Tom let's Harry out of barn, chickens out of coop and leaves to go to a property tax hearing.

I look out the window and see Harry dashing around chasing a chicken. I put on my shoes and run outside, "HARRY! NO!" and hang around telling Harry "no" for another 15 minutes. He finally gets bored and goes away to chew something. So I go to work in the garden and Harry follows. He hangs around for a while and then leaves. I wonder what he's up to, but I'd never get anything done if I'm constantly checking on Harry.

So when I get done weeding the garden (with Paden's help) and drive the cart around to the back of the house, I see Harry pouncing on a chicken laying on the ground. I go get him and see that the chicken is laying there with no visible signs of life - limp, eyes staring sightlessly - really, very dead looking. So I take Harry away and tie him up.

When Tom gets home, I tell him the sad news, "Harry has killed a chicken." Tom goes out to check and lo and behold, the chicken lives. Tom puts it in the isolation cage. Personally, I think it should be put out of it's misery, but then, I thought he should have put the broken legged chicken out of it's misery, but he has recovered.

**sigh***

Freedom With a Price

Tom started letting the chickens free range yesterday. I thought it was too soon.

And Still More Excitement!

Tom has heeded my pleas for gates into the pastures on the driveway side. How wonderful is he?! You may remember that I've been having to climb the fence if I need to get into the pastures, which is frequently. He and Charlie have built two and there are four to go. I think they look great and will be, oh, so useful.

The Queen of All Garden Sheds

This is one of the projects that Tom has been working on - turning the loafing shed by the garden into a garden shed. We used one of the windows taken out of the house during the remodel and the front door (so it has a peek-a-hole, as Tom calls it). Tom, his friend, Charlie, and Paden all worked hard digging out the old hay and tall bermuda that had grown up in there, and they used the old bi-fold closet doors from the house for shelving. I used more of the saltillo tile that we took out of the house for the floor.

The only thing we lack is a doorknob and the metal sheeting for the walls. We're waiting for the metal store to get some seconds in so we don't have to pay full price.

I LOVE my garden shed and can't wait to move my gardening stuff in. There is an electric line run out there already and Tom is going to put in an electrical outlet (I'm secretly planning to put one of our unused stereo systems out there) and overhead light. I'm giddy!

Clown Feet

Larry says that Harry is so clumsy because he has clown feet.

Great Pyrenese and Anatolian Shepherds both are breeds that have double dewclaws. They look pretty funky, but I guess they have a purpose.

Too Gone for Too Long

It's not that nothin' is happening around here, it's just that too much is happening around here.

I had a wedding to go to in Maryland two weekends ago. Before that, it was shop, shop, shop trying to find something to wear. I don't know why, but I always feel like I need something new to wear to a wedding. Maybe it's to celebrate the new relationship that is being formed...or maybe I just want something new. I bought three dresses with the intention of wearing one and taking two back. But I am bad. I kept all three. I figured I've got all of my special occasions covered for the year...even the big lawyer's firm X-mas party. And two of the dresses I can wear for more casual events.

Then last weekend I went to a wedding in Oklahoma. We had to get someone to farm sit.

And this coming weekend we're having a big Fourth of July bash, so all week is being spent on getting ready for that. Well, for me, anyway. Tom didn't have to shop (I got him something new to wear), so he spent his time doing projects around the farm. Pictures of those coming soon. But he will be spending the next two days strictly on the party prep.

Gone Molin'

Gone Swimmin'

Isn't it amazing how animals just automatically know how to swim? Harry was completely unconcerned the first time he went deep into the pond and his feet could no longer touch bottom.

Texas Sunset

I can't take credit for this picture. A friend borrowed my camera and took this while visiting our farm.

Weeding Results

I've almost got all the hairy vetch and the bermuda that was growing beneath it pulled out. It's taken about 2-3 hours of pulling weeds almost every morning for a couple of weeks now. It's so satisfying to look back on those cleared garden rows.

The tomatoes are growing fast and there are several unripe tomatoes on the vines. I didn't get tomato cages on all of them, so that might be a mistake. I thought I'd get something better than I had last year, but ended up not getting anything at all.

Still, my corn is not doing well. It seems that there is one row that just doesn't want to grow corn. I've planted three times and have little to show for it. The lettuce is out of control. I need to make a note to myself not to plant so much lettuce.

I stopped milking Hyacinth on Monday. Tom and I decided to start leaving the goats outside at night and hope for the best. I was going to gradually stop milking, but when I checked her udder on Tuesday morning, I could tell that Cosmos and Rose are still nursing. Leaving her out with them keeps her milked out. So much for weaning them.

One of Pansy's kids has a funky lump on his neck. Uh-oh. I thought it might be CL abscess like his mother had, but the sites that I looked at on the internet say it's a wattle cyst. I hope that's right. Ugh.

Storms

It's stormy here in Texas today. I didn't take this picture until after the worst of it, but it looks like more is coming. At about 1:45 a.m. lightening struck our power pole again, knocking our fuse off and causing a power outage. Tom called the power company to let them know. We thought they'd be around in the morning to fix it, but about 20 minutes later their truck pulled up. I was shocked that they would come out at 2:00 a.m. to restore our power. I'm impressed. The last time that happened was on a Sunday morning and they arrived about a half an hour after we called them.

News Flash

I heard a little news brief on the radio today and I wish I could remember all of the statistics they gave, but I can't (stinkin' aging brain). But it could explain somewhat why Americans have such a hard time keeping weight off.

The gist of it was that our food has more fat and less nutrition in it than it used to, even 20 years ago. They gave the example of chicken...something like 165 more fat grams, because instead of the chickens free ranging and eating what they would naturally eat and getting exercise, they are all stuffed into those chicken farms, standing around doing nothing but eating the fattening food that they are fed all day. Same for feedlot cows, pigs, etc.

And our vegetables don't have as much nutrition because they are treated with chemicals, which causes them to grow faster and they are picked before they have a chance to develop or absorb the nutrients that they would normally have.

So even those people who are trying to eat right by eating chicken without the skin, "lean" cuts of meat, and lots of veggies aren't able to keep the weight off or stay as healthy as they could.

Today's Projects

After mowing a couple of pastures and helping a friend load 90 bales of hay on his trailer, Tom put in a water line to the garden. Previously, the faucet was just outside the fence and we had to have hoses running across the field out to the garden. That causes problems for mowing since I'm known to mow over whatever is out there. Paden helped Tom dig the trench to lay the pipe. Some of the area had hard packed clay and rocks and was much more difficult to dig up than the ssand. About halfway through it I had the bright idea to bring the tiller out there to break up the ground so it would be easier to dig the trench. It worked, but the tiller gets away from the operator easily and Tom ended up breaking a piece of the fencing. So, the trade off for easy trench digging is fence repair.

I had an easier time of it today. I spent a couple of hours digging out bermuda grass and weeds from the garden and trying to recover from the setback the hairy vetch caused. Then I replanted some corn, squash, and cucumber. The rest of the day I spent doing mostly inside projects.

It's a chore keeping Harry out of the garden. He doesn't really do anything, but he's so big and floppy that he crushes plants wherever he goes. I ended up tying him to the golf cart while I worked because it's impossible to get anything done while constantly watching, yelling at, and chasing Harry. I'll be glad when he gets to big to squeeze under and through the fence.

First Cutting

First cutting of our hay - cut, fluffed, and baled entirely by Tom. He and Paden spent many hours picking the bull nettles, which stung them even through leather and rubber gloves, long sleeves, and jeans, out of the hay before baling. This cutting has a lot of weeds so we'll be selling it to a friend for just the price of the fuel it took to process it. Subsequent cuttings will hopefully be organic hay that someone will actually want to pay a little more for.

Barbie Carrot

**wolf whistle** from the carrot gallery.

A Bale Was Born

This was an exciting moment for us even though it doesn't appear terribly exciting on video. Tom bought this old baler and it worked perfectly the first time out...well, it made bales and tied them although they weren't exactly uniform.


"ca-chunk, ca-chunk, ca-chunk".

Making Hay While the Sun Shines

Those words are beginning to have meanings for us that we never thought of.

First you cut the hay with a cutter and let it dry. The weather has to be just right. Then you take this machine and fluff it, which turns it over to dry on the other side and piles it in rows in preparation for baling. Tom has cut and fluffed a test area.

Our fluffer needs new tires.

Some Things Have Survived

Despite my problems with planting several things too early so that they didn't sprout, I have had some success with a few things. Carrots and onions have done very well. Even the cabbage, whose leaves look like lace because of some evil little caterpillar munching, has produced it's first full head.

More about Harry...We've been giving him a rawhide chew each evening as we leave him in the barn for the night. It's to keep him occupied so he won't spend his time chasing the cats or tearing up stuff in the barn. We thought he was completely consuming them.

Not so. Evidently, he is stashing them in places for future use. I found three in the golf cart today. They're in a basket that we keep in the back to carry things that we use regularly. When I took the cart out to feed the donkeys, Harry jumped in and took the rawhides, one by one, and stashed them out in the field. He made a feeble effort to bury them, but I don't think he actually dug a hole...just scraped the cut grass around, but the rawhide in and covered them with his nose. I don't know if he'll ever find them again, or if he'll even remember putting them there. We gave him a big bone today that he was ecstatic over. It disappeared when he got tired of chewing. I'll probably find it with my lawn mower in a few days.

More Guard Duty

zzzzzz

Guard Duty

Huh? Whazzat?!

Don't be alarmed. I got it, I got it.

Plum Harvest!

Look what I found under the new plum tree we just planted this year! A perfect little plum. Granted, it's just one little plum, but hey, we didn't expect any fruit from the fruit trees planted just a couple of months ago so we're feeling very blessed.

I ate it. It was good.

Ridin' is Better

Harry has figured out that riding in the golf cart is much easier than running along behind. So he's getting ready to go out to the front pasture with Larry and Tom to pull fence. This is how he likes to ride - sticking out the back. Pretty soon, he will be too big for the cart.

Growin' Reds

Chickens are all feathered out. We still don't know which ones are hens and which are roosters. With our luck, they'll all be roosters. Tom takes Harry with him to tend the chickens so Harry will get used them and hopefully not chase or kill.

Harry

Harry likes to roll in the ground cover and is digging a hole to China right by the back door. He had his vet check up today. He's nearly eight weeks, 26.5 pounds, good health, no parasites.

A Job Well Done

Kip has been successfully integrated with the goats in the pasture. He's with the mommas and babies and there have been no casualties. He's turned out to be such a sweetie.

The thinks he's going to get a treat.

Hey! We want one too!

Kip is showing Harry who's boss.

Fraidy Cats?

The cats are afraid of the puppy. What's up with that? I mean, they aren't afraid of anything. They weave around the donkey's feet even though the donkey has tried to kill them. They follow the goats out to the pasture and hang out with them outside and in the barn. The slip into the stalls with the donkey and goats every chance they get. They play with Pearlie and rub up against her even though she would like nothing better than to kill them. They lay in front of a moving vehicle as if they are unsquashable. They weave in and out of our feet as we walk and they climb all over us. They go into the pasture next door and dare the longhorn cows to chase them. They climb to the very tops of the tallest trees. And they cornered a big snake, for goodness sake! So why are they afraid of a big sloppy puppy?

They stay up in the rafters of the barn, hiss with big wide pupils, and run around with their tails puffed out.

Silly cats. I hope they get over that or the rest of their lives will be miserable having to share the barn with the dog.

Sez Pearlie

"Mine... Also mine."

Livestock Guardian Dog

We decided to bite the bullet and get a livestock guardian dog. We have the donkeys for the pastures, but thought we needed a dog to patrol and protect our whole acreage.

This new pup is part Great Pyrenees and part Anatolian. He should be 100+ lbs. when he's grown. If the breeder was honest, he is seven weeks old and Meagan and I can attest to the fact that he is very heavy since we had to carry him through the market and out to the car. Yes, we did the unpolitically correct thing and bought him at the flea market.

I really resisted getting a dog. It's more trouble and more expense. But it seemed inevitable. So here we are.

We haven't decided on a name. Pearlie is not happy with this situation. Look at that pouty face.

Look What Jasper Cat Found

This was in our front yard by the wishing well. I was headed out to the garden and saw Jasper acting funny. I went to see what was wrong and there was this snake. It's probably about four feet long and I don't know what kind. Tom carried it out by the pond and let it go.

Poor Babies

The vet and his assistant were finished and just getting Henry and Kip on their feet when I went back out to the barn. They staggered around like they were drunk, so we let the donkeys recover for about an hour - until they could walk straight. Since the vet said they need to be up and around for their wound to drain and heal properly, we took them out to the pastures for the day. They felt well enough to run around a bit.

The poor little goats didn't get over it so quickly. They curled up together in the corner of the stall until we made them go outside. Then they curled up together out in the pasture until it was time to go back into the barn for the evening. All I could see all day was their little heads peeping up over the tall grass. When we took them back to the barn, they immediately went to lay down in the corner again without even eating any of their pellets.

Castration Day

The vet is here to castrate Henry, Kip, and Pansy's two kids.

As much as I want to be down there gleaning as much information as I can from the vet, I knew I'd better get out before the kids start their bleating. At least, mercifully, they put the donkeys to sleep for their procedure, but the kids will be awake and alert. I know I couldn't take it, so I headed out right as Kip fell asleep.

It Has Come To My Attention...

...that I had not posted a picture of the finished chicken palace. The building is finished. The yard is only partially finished. We're going to put chicken wire across the top to keep out the airborne predators. So far, the system is working well. Tom put a little sliding door in the side so that we can open it up for the chickens to go outside during the day.

At night, we call them in, "Here chick, chick, chick!" and they all frantically run in to eat the chicken scratch. I had bought a little round bowl with several holes in the top for the chickens to eat out of, but they have outgrown it. Somehow, they would pack it tightly with hay and it would get buried in the litter, so that every time we went to feed them, we'd have to dig through the hay to find it, then dig the hay out of the little holes. What a pain that was. So Tom put the big trough I had gotten earlier in the coop and we feed them in that. When the chickens are eating it sounds like they're popping popcorn.

Video?

Let's see if I can post a video. This is Henry and Billy. I don't know if they are fighting or playing, but this is what they do...only they were a bit distracted with me standing by the fence. They usually are a lot rougher with each other. Nobody screams in pain, though, so I guess they're OK.

Donkey Training

Here's Tom leading Kip back to the barn today. They're both getting better at it.

No Quarter

And they don't even let you "work up to it". We're beginners. We can't just buy the land and then instantly have all the livestock and all the produce necessary to qualify. Nope, from what I understand (and that's not saying much), if you don't qualify the first time you file the paperwork, you lose your exemption for five years. Then you can reapply. They said they're sending an inspector some time next month and as it stands right now, we don't qualify.

We were able to put Kip back in the barn tonight without much fuss. I coaxed him out of the pasture with some sweet feed and he came along fine. I asked Tom to come help because I couldn't carry the feed bucket and lead Kip at the same time. Tom wanted to lead Kip, so I walked along, carrying the bucket and giving instructions to him. I'm sure it was annoying to have me telling him, "Say, 'walk'; walk for a little while, then stop and say, 'whoa'; walk on his left side and lead with your right hand; don't let him lag behind; hold the rope closer to his chin; don't give him so much room to dance around...Ooops, ouch I bet that hurt." Well, if he had listened to me, he wouldn't have gotten kicked with Kip's back foot. How does a donkey kick you with his back foot while you're leading him? You let the rope dangle and let the donkey dance around with a yard of rope between you. That's how.

My philosophy is that every outing is an opportunity for training. Teach him to walk when I say "walk" and to stop when I say "whoa" and he must walk where I want him to at the pace I want to go. Obviously, I think my method is better than being dragged and kicked.

**sigh**

Well, you gotta hand it to the gov't officials. They are one clever lot...evil, but clever.

Tom went into town to file some paperwork on our acreage so we can keep our agricultural exemption. You have to have a certain number of livestock on a certain number of acres and if you grow a garden you have to sell a certain amount of produce to qualify.

For goodness sake. We don't want to go into business. We just want to grow our own food. The rules are many and include something like one cow per two acres (or is it three?), but three goats per one acre. So we'd have to have a whole bunch of goats - far more than I care to bother with. And I didn't want to have cattle, but it looks like we're just going to HAVE to. And our donkeys don't count unless we have an ungelded male. I don't have the skills to handle a full grown Jack donkey. And what if he somehow managed to get in the pasture with my neighbor's mares and produced a bunch of mules?! What a nightmare - Appaloosa mules.

And produce...well, to get the exemption, we have to sell the produce. To sell the produce, we'd have to have a much bigger garden AND, worst of all, we'd have all the gov't regulations for food handling to contend with.

So, they get us either coming or going. If we don't fulfill all the requirements for the exemption, we get hit with a huge tax burden. If we try to fulfill the requirements, we have all the regulations, paperwork, and fees associated with that - or we kill ourselves with working the land and livestock.

Tom is researching the issue some more to see what the easiest way for us will be. I'm hoping it will be as "simple" as putting a few head of cattle out there and just letting them eat the grass year round.

Oh yeah!

I also got our herd name changed to my first choice (of the second round), Legal Tender. I can't believe that name wasn't taken. I was sure I was going to have to go with my second choice, but was almost hoping for my fourth. Second choice was Oviedo, third was Asturia, and fourth was 371 1/4 Grains. Heh, I think that would have been great, but did not have any family support for it.

Who doesn't know what that means?

Anyway, I think it's pretty cool that I got Legal Tender for the herd name and SLVR (silver) for our tattoo, since Tom is so into the lawful money issue. Maybe we'll name our farm Little Oviedo or something like that. Meagan and I toyed with the idea of El Goato for the herd name, but in the end, I thought it was too silly.

So, we're set. I can register Rose and Cosmos now. I have my tattoo set ordered and it should be arriving soon. As soon as I get them tattooed, I'm going to put them up for sale.

Bird's Nest

A bird has built its nest on the back side of the light by the front door. It's a picture perfect little nest, daubed on with mud and covered with mossy bits. I peeked in the nest today while mom was away and there are four little eggs in it about the size of small grapes.

We dragged Kip out of the barn today and put him in the small pasture with Hyacinth. He had been in the barn for about 10 days and did not want to come out. He behaved well after we got him over the threshold of the stall. For some reason it freaks him out. However, it did not go well with Hyacinth. Even though she could go in and out of his stall without incident and didn't seem to be afraid of him and he wasn't disturbed by him, Kip ended up chasing her all over the pasture. I was afraid he was going to hurt her, so I took her out and put her in with the other goats. Not sure what I'm going to do about the donkey chasing problem. I need to do some research on it.

I'm thinking about training Kip further - possibly to carry a pack or pull a cart...maybe even to ride him. Pack first, I think.

Tom has been working on the chicken yard. It is enclosed all around, but doesn't have a top on it. We let the chickens out all day in the yard anyway. I can't be sure (because chickens are impossible to count), but I don't think we lost any to airborne predators.

New Front Door...Finally!

We got our new front door installed this week and the finish man just finished it out today. It is so nice to not have those towels stuffed up under the door in a vain effort to keep bugs, dirt, and cold out. And we can walk in and out without kicking and tripping over them.

We just have a temporary doorknob on because my lockset/handles are on order and haven't arrived yet. And some day, I hope to be able to afford decorative iron grilles to attach over the glass part. But, for now, this is what we have and I'm very happy with it.

The front hall (which isn't finished because we don't have the door casing yet) is so light and bright that Tom and I keep think we left the door open. It'll take us a while to adjust to light entryway instead of a dark cavelike entrance.

Peeping Skunk

That's where Pearlie lays while I'm sitting here at the computer on my kitchen desk. See the window right behind her? Just a few minutes ago, something moving outside the window caught my eye. I've seen possums ambling by a couple of times, so I was expecting that's what it was. Nope. It was a skunk. It made a tiny scratching noise when it put it's little front paws on the window to look in.

I sat very still, hoping that Pearlie wouldn't notice (she was busy licking her foot), because if she saw that skunk just about one foot away from her, she would have come unglued, which may have made the skunk come unglued, which would have made me a very unhappy camper. Of course, it would have sprayed on the window and brick instead of us, but I'm pretty sure the smell would have seeped into the house.

Lovey Dovey

Well, Kip has turned out to be a real sweetheart so far. He's always there to greet me at the front of the stall and loves to get rubbed. He'll let me take off and put on halters and lead him around the stall. I haven't tried leading him out of and back into the stall, but I'll try that soon. Knock me over with a feather.

Hair

Remember when my hair was really, really long? Not so long ago. And I wanted to cut it because it made me look old. So I've been wearing it much shorter for several years. Now I'm toying with growing it out. I wore it in a tiny ponytail today. It's been a while since it would make a ponytail.

Coyote Scat

...er, poop (for those who don't know what scat is), has been found uncomfortably close to my house.

At least, I think it coyote scat. It's not dog and it's not cat (cats usually cover theirs). I went looking on the internet to try to confirm my suspicions that it is from the coyotes. Not surprisingly, there are tons of pictures of animal poop on the internet. What is surprising is the number of pictures in which the poop is held in a human hand. Ack!

Anyway, the scat is full of bugs that have been injested by the animal. I really didn't know that coyotes ate bugs. I thought it should be full of rabbit and mouse parts. But what other animal could it be? I first noticed the unusual poop just a few yards from the chicken coop. Uh-oh. I think they're peeking in and planning a raid.

Then today when I walked out to the garden, there was a large pile that looked as if several coyotes (or whatever) had all pooped in the same place. That's just a few yards from the house. I've been hearing the coyotes yipping very close by lately, so I try not to let Pearlie out after dark except right by the front door. I probably should go ahead and get a very large dog. That might be helpful in keeping coyotes away from the house.

Gadonk-adonk

Kip is in the barn!

I went out after lunch, put some food in his bowl in the trailer and when he walked up in there, I shut the door quickly. Then I went in with him to try to put a halter on, but he tried to kick me, so I had to rethink the strategy.

Meagan came out to help and we were able to get a rope around his neck so Meagan could put the halter on while I held him still. He didn't fight too much, but I think it was because the rope was so tight, he was having trouble breathing...poor thing.

Tom came out and helped us hook the trailer up to the truck, then Meagan and I drove the truck to the barn, backed it up to the stall, hooked two ropes onto his halter and led him out. He did not want to go into the stall. We had to pull him with all our might, but we got him in and he's OK. He's remarkably calm. I expected a fit from him. He's just hee-hawing a lot, but he came right up and took a carrot from Meagan so I think he's not as scared as Henry was.

And Hyacinth has mastitis in one side of her udder. Ever since I started milking her I've noticed that the one side only gives a few ounces while the other gives the bulk of the milk. Then on Thursday evening, there was a little bit of blood in the milk from the smaller side. So I bought a mastitis test yesterday and tested her milk. Sure enough, that side is infected. I got some meds from the vet today. Oh joy, oh delight. The medicine is in a syringe. I have to put the syringe tip into the opening on the teat and squeeze the medicine into it while "reverse milking" so the medicine will go into the udder. Hyacinth will love this.

Sometimes the section of udder that is infected gets so much scar tissue that it will no longer produce milk. I think that may be the case with Hyacinth, which will be bad if she has twins again.

Let the Weaning Commence

Whew! This is how my day has gone so far.

Milk Hyacinth; put Pansy and all kids in pasture four; put Billy in with Buffy (who was by herself in pasture two, which is not goat fenced); put Cosmos in with Henry (in pasture three); watch to make sure Henry doesn't kill Cosmos; put Hyacinth in corridor between pastures three and four (which is goat fenced); go out to try to get Hilde in the trailer; on the way see that Billy has escaped pasture two; detour to get Billy corraled; on the way see that Henry is trying to kill Cosmos, who is running for his life along the fence line and Hyacinth is running along other side of fence line, then I'm running across the pasture trying to stop Henry; save Cosmos; look over and see that Hyacinth has miraculously escaped her corridor (must have jumped the fence in a panic to save Cosmos); hold Cosmos so Henry can sniff and understand that Cosmos belongs, but soon after I put Cosmos down, Henry is after him again; get Cosmos out of dangerous pasture while trying to hold Billy in; shuffle six goats in and out of same pasture with the intent of getting them all in pasture three except for Hyacinth because Rose and Cosmos are desperately trying to nurse (I thought they'd be weaned by now, but no); put Hyacinth back in barn. **big sigh**

Now, where was I? Oh yeah, try to get Hilde in trailer. Hilde went right in. I inched the door up slowly in case she tried to leap out, but she was calm. I closed the trailer all up, went and got the truck and Tom and I moved her into pasture two with Buffy. Now Kip is in the big front pasture by himself. The question is whether to leave him out there by himself to night. I really don't want to do that. He's still a little guy and despite all his bluff and bluster, he probably is vulnerable to coyotes.

So I'm going back out this afternoon to see if I can get him in the trailer and move him to the barn. I probably will not be able to do that, but my options are to leave him alone or move Henry and Billy in with him.

Funny observation: When we put Billy in with Buffy, he reared up to head butt her right away. She promptly turned her rear end to him like she was going to give him a kick and he didn't do it again. She immediately established the fact that Billy was not the boss of that pasture and she was not going to put up with his nonsense.

Got Milk?

I am consuming goat milk as we speak...so to speak.

In my cereal.

I'm a little freaked out, but it tastes just like regular milk as far as I can tell. I'm not a milk drinker. Milk has always kind of grossed me out to drink straight. Since any kind of milk might make me gag, I'm not a good judge of milk taste, but as long as it kind of fades into the background of the cereal taste, I'm OK with it. And it does. So, I'm OK with it. Sort of.

Gadonk

Seems that's what I call Kip more than his name. It just fits.

Neighbor, Joann, came out to the pasture to help me with the donkeys, but as I expected, they wouldn't have anything to do with her. Before she arrived, they were gathered round me getting rubs and nibbling my fingers, but as soon as Joann arrived, they went off. So we stood around in the pasture talking a long time just so the donkeys would get used to her being around. After a while, they did come back and kind of hang around, but as soon as we got out halters and ropes, they took off again.

Oh well, I had a good visit with Joann, so it wasn't a total waste.

Last night, in desperation, I wrote to a complete stranger, a goat farmer I found on the internet, to ask for advice about how to get Hyacinth to stop kicking. She actually called me today. I was very surprised that she would take the time. We had a good long talk and she gave me some tips. But when I told her my plan about weaning the kids, then milking Hyacinth, she wasn't on board with that at all. She thought it was a bad idea and referred me to her website on which she addresses that very issue.

I liked what she had to say, and it made sense, but I decided it did not apply to my situation because Hyacinth was a different kind of mother. I won't bore everyone with the details. Suffice it to say that I will continue with milking Hyacinth unless or until it proves to be unproductive. I got another quart today. At that rate, although it is paltry for a Nubian, I would get more than a gallon a week and that is way more than we regularly use. So it's enough for now.

If you're interested in what the advice was, you can go to the website and read it. I think those who know Hyacinth would agree that it doesn't really apply.

http://www.glimmercroft.com/Udder.html

We Survived

We survived the milk test. Although, I don't think it really counts since it was only five tablespoons in the bread and it was cooked. The real test would be to pour our cereal in it and eat it. I was going to do that this morning, but cereal just didn't sound good.

Milking went a tiny bit better this morning. I still had to give Hyacinth wee bits of food to keep her still, but she didn't kick as much in between. Maybe she'll calm down after she learns the routine. Routine seems to be important to goats.

The carpet is being installed in our other house today, so Tom is there seeing to that project.

A friend helped me figure out how much fabric I need to make my curtains. 33 yards for the bedroom, 52 yards for the living room, and 2 1/4 yards for a roman shade in the kitchen pantry area. Friend used to make window coverings professionally and has offered to help me. I might take her up on that. I could probably learn a lot from her.

Goats, Donkeys, and Fertilizers

Donkey Plan B went into effect today. Actually, I didn't have a Plan B. It just happened.

As usual, donkeys were all lovey dovey and "gimme, gimme" when I went out there by myself today. They went nonchalantly in and out of the trailer, so I practiced lifting the ramp a tiny bit just to see what they'd do. Of course, Hilde and Kip got their nose all out of joint and ran off. Buffy was in to eating all the food herself, so I got brave and lifted the ramp a little more (the ramp lifts up to close the trailer). She didn't freak out, so I lifted it all the way. She seemed a bit concerned, but was calm, so I latched it. I called Tom and told him I had Hilde in the trailer and we might as well move her. So he drove the truck down to the pasture.

Neighbor's daughter-in-law, Jesse, happened by as I was closing the trailer, so she helped us hook the trailer up, then went to help me move Billy and Henry. I had put moved them to the next pasture over so they could have some new grass to eat. That pasture wasn't goat fenced so I was a little concerned that Billy might get out, but as far as I know, he didn't evey try...and why should he? The grass is definitely better on his side of the fence. Anyway, we moved them back to their regular pasture and put Hilde, by herself, into that pasture. Tomorrow I plan to try to get Buffy and Kip into the trailer. Neighbor, Joann, said she'd help get them in and then she would put a halter on Kip. I said, "Better you than me." Heh.

I put all goats except Hyacinth out in the pasture today. It didn't seem to bother the kids that they went without their mother. They stuck close to Pansy. I guess she's their surrogate now. I figure if I keep Hyacinth and her kids apart for a few days, they'll forget about the nursing and I can put Rose back in with her mother and send Cosmos out with the big boys. Poor Cosmos. Maybe he'll have his voice back tomorrow. He sounds so pitiful - like a kitten.

I milked Hyacinth again tonight. In between feedings, there was a lot of kicking and thrashing. I left her on the stand longer than I needed to just because I was feeling annoyed and she needs to know that she stays there until I'm finished. All told, I got a quart of milk from her today. And I used some of it to make my focaccia bread tonight. If you don't hear from me tomorrow, we might have died of goat milk poisoning.

Tom finished his fertilizer training. It's kind of a catch 22 situation (sort of like getting a gun license). Now that he is a licensed applicator, he has to keep up with all these rules. Even if I (me, myself) buy a jug of round up to squirt on a dandelion, Tom has to keep a log of it and we're supposed to notify anyone who comes on our property that we just sprayed something. He even has to log my use of compost tea and orange oil on my garden plants. There are a whole bunch of other rules, punishable by fines, criminal charges, and threats of losing one's license. The problem is, you can't buy the products to use unless you have the license. So they've got you no matter what.

There are still 23 chickens alive and well.

Pimiento Cheese Spread

I made this pimiento cheese spread for lunch today. Since I didn't have any gluten free bread made, I put it on some GF crackers and I must say, it was wonderful! I copied as best I could the pimiento cheese that a tea room in our town serves. Mine was better - I think because my cheese wasn't as sharp as the cheese they used.

I didn't measure the ingredients, so if anyone wants to make it, you just have to eyeball it.

grated cheese (I used the cheddar/jack finely grated cheese from Costco)
chopped pimientos in a jar
chopped pecans
chopped candied jalapenos
mayonnaise

Mix all ingredients together until it is the consistency of a chunky spread.

Yum!

Moderate Success

I attempted to mik Hyacinth last night. It was pretty much a disaster. She'll stand still as long as she has something to eat in her bowl, but the instant it's empty, she starts kicking. I estimate that I was able to get about two cups of milk, but none of it was usable.

With all the thrashing around, I had milk squirting everywhere, so not all of the two cups went into the pail, some of it got spilled and she stuck her foot in the pail several times, which, as you can imagine, contaminates the milk terribly. The whole process was very frustrating. Especially since preparations to milk (all the sterilizing, etc.) are time consuming. It's frustrating to go to all that trouble just to have Hyacinth act awful and spoil the milk. I suppose it can't be fun for her either with her head in a headlock and having someone squeeze her udder.

Well, I tried again this morning armed with a slightly better plan. Instead of pouring all of her food into the bowl, I just gave her a little at a time. It was a pain, but it worked. I was able to milk her without any feet in the pail and I got 12 unspoiled ounces.

Poor little Cosmos must have cried all night. He was so hoarse that he could barely manage to whisper-cry this morning. Rose seemed to have fared better. At least, her voice was strong. I hated to think of them without their mother last night. As luck would have it, we had one of the coldest nights we've had in a while - about 34 degrees, and we've moved our only heat lamp to the chicken palace. So Rose and Cosmos had to rely on the hay and each other for warmth.

Our donkey plan was a bust, too. We could neither get the halter on Kip nor get him in the trailer long enough to shut the door. Whenever anyone goes out there with me to the donkey pasture, they are on high alert and they know we're up to something that they aren't going to agree with. We'll have to try something else today.

Today Tom is taking a class on organic fertilizer usage. It's a mandatory training before anyone can purchase and use fertilizers - or large amounts of fertilizers, I guess. We just found out that he had to have the training before he can treat our pastures. So we're a little late on the weed management of our hay field.

Crying Babies

I'm weaning Rose and Cosmos today. Tom and I cleaned out all the stalls. Ugh, what a backbreaking job. Then we put Rose and Cosmos in their own stall and gave them a little grain. My intent was to take the rest of the goats out to the pasture for the day as usual, but surprisingly, no shockingly, Hyacinth wouldn't leave the barn without her kids.

I coaxed her out and a little way from the barn, but she kept stopping and looking back. Of course, Rose and Cosmos were crying and crying their little baby "maaah's". Then she just wouldn't go any further and she turned around and ran back. So, I just put her, Pansy and Pansy's kids back in their stall.

I'll be attempting to milk Hyacinth this evening. Wish me luck.

Tom and I are also going to attempt to get Kip into the horse trailer and into the barn some time this week - maybe today or tomorrow. I still haven't got a halter on him, so I don't know how this is going to go. Wish us more luck.

The chicks spent their first night in the chicken coop. We put a heat lamp in there because it was in the 40's last night and is supposed to be in the 30's tonight. When I went in to feed them this morning, they were all huddled in the light's heat. And they are already learning that "chick, chick, chick" means "come eat". I have to teach them that so that when we start letting them out during the day to range, we'll be able to call them back into the coop for the night.

Twenty-three Rhode Island Red chicks from the flea market at three FRN's each, hatched on March 13th. If the chicken man made an honest attempt at discerning the sex of the chicks, there should be about 20 hens and three roosters. He didn't guarantee it, but promised his best guess. Tom and I worked most of yesterday on the palace and finished up today putting trim on the roof and corners.

More About Chickens

The chicken palace now has a roof. Walls to follow later this week.

We were told by a friend that you need two different kinds of chickens - one kind for laying eggs and one kind for meat. I don't accept that. In my Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens (thank you Tina) it says that there are such a thing as "dual purpose" chickens. It says "best of both worlds--eggs and meat. Dual purpose chickens "don't lay as well as laying hens and don't grow as fast as meat birds, but they lay better than meat birds and grow faster than laying hens...are the classic backyard chickens."

They give a list:

General Purpose

Dominique
Houdan
Plymouth Rock
Sussex
Orpington
Wyandotte

Better for Eggs

Australorp
Red Sex Link (hybrid)
Rhode Island Red

Better for Meat

Black Sex Link (hybrid)
Langsham
New Hampshire

And the book tells me the number of eggs that I should expect per day would be two eggs for every three hens. I should figure out how many eggs I want and decide on the number of chickens from there, figuring in a certain percentage of chickens that might die off.

So, with that information, I've decided to start with 25 Rhode Island Reds. We'll see how that works out. Chickens aren't a long time investment as they are only good for laying for about a year or two and you don't want to wait until they are too old to eat or they'll be tough. If the Reds don't work out, I think we can easily switch to a different breed.

Perhaps I'm relying too much on a book (sort of like Howard Garrett's gardening book that has been proven wrong too many times), but...well, that's what I do.