And More.

I went to check on Pansy and Buttercup (the Boers) this afternoon because I thought Pansy was pretty close to going into labor this morning when I gave them breakfast.  Sure enough, she was busy cleaning up twins.  She still looked big and she kept laying down and getting up, so I wondered if she might have another baby that hadn't been born yet.  She's never had triplets before...just two males every year, but I watched her for about 20 minutes or so, then I went off to do some other things.

I went back some time later and there she was, cleaning up another one.  Tom had just gotten home and Jordan was driving up, so I enlisted their help in getting Buttercup, Pansy, and the triplets into the barn.  I probably would have just left them out if it wasn't supposed to get cold tonight.  Pansy was very upset about moving her babies and we had a hard time getting her to follow us to the barn.  We ended up having to play "leap frog" with the babies.  I took one, Tom took one, and Jordan took one.  I'd set mine down and Pansy would run to it, Jordan would set his down several feet ahead, and she'd run ahead to that one, while Tom was setting his down several more feet ahead and she'd run to that one.  We did that all the way to the barn.  Buttercup followed sedately along.

Now all the babies are safely ensconced in the barn and I'm waiting on Buttercup to deliver hers.  I'm so relieved that everyone is in, safe, and healthy and I can finally sleep soundly at night.

Boy, girl, boy.

Wide load.

Kids, Kids, and More Kids

I needn't have lost all that sleep over Daisy.  After several nights of getting up at all hours to check on her and even sleeping in the barn apartment a couple of nights so I'd be nearby in case she had triplets and needed help, of course, she had her babies while we were at church and didn't need me at all.

\

Girl.

Girl.

Girl!

Four out of six kids are girls this year.  We usually have all boys with a girl thrown in here and there.

Yay!

Udderly Ridiculous

Hyacinth's udder is, once again, as hard as a basketball and bigger than ever.  At least I rememebered this year and started the babies on a bottle right away.  Since her udder had gotten hard about two weeks before kidding, I started giving her Vitamin C back then in the hope that it would soften up quicker and be ready to feed the babies, but it didn't work.  At least, it hasn't worked yet.

I'm torn about what to do about her.  On the one hand, she has this same trouble every year and it makes life difficult for all of us since she can't support twins at first.  I can't, in good conscience, sell her to someone unless it was to someone who wanted only a pet and didn't want to breed her because they'd end up with the same problem.   On the other hand, I have so much time invested in her.  When her udder softens up, she's a good milker.  She has calmed down on the milk stand and hops up on it willingly.  She's a leader and the other goats will follow her and she will follow me, so that makes it easier to handle the other goats.  It doesn't seem fair to just toss her out because of a few weeks of udder problems.  But, is it fair to continue to breed her?  Is it a genetic problem that will pass to her babies or is it something that was caused by the mastitis she had the first year?

I really just don't know what to do about her.  It's too difficult to have a doe that can't be bred because it makes pasture rotation too complicated when I have to keep the does separated from Billy.  That's the reason I sold Rosie last year and I thought I had finally simplified matters.

**sigh**

On another note, I've been checking on Daisy every few hours, for the past few days because I'm sure she is going to have triplets.  I don't want a repeat of last year, so I want to be present at the birth.

"Just put me out of my misery."

Intuition? Goat ESP?

Whatever it is, I need to learn to listen to it.

Last Friday (it is now Wednesday) I felt like Hyacinth would be having her babies soon, so I got the stall all ready to move her into.  I debated with myself if I should put her in that night or leave her out a few more nights.  I refreshed my memory about the gestation period for goats.  It is roughly five months or 150 days.  If Hyacinth (and the other goats) were bred on the first day they were exposed to Billy, Friday would have been day 142.  So, I decided to ignore what my gut was telling me and leave Hyacinth and Daisy outside for another night.

So, at around three in the morning, I just woke up and my very first thought was, "Hyacinth is kidding."  But, it was pouring down rain (of course) and I didn't want to go out there.  I laid awake for an hour and a half worrying about Hyacinth having babies outside on a cold rainy night (Even though all of the livestock do have shelters to be out of the wind and rain, it is still cold).   I finally was able to go back to sleep.

I went out to feed extra early on Saturday morning and when Hyacinth didn't come out of the shed for her breakfast, I knew she had kidded.  I ran down to the shed and sure enough, she had twins, both alive and apparently healthy. 

Tom and I spent the morning, out in the rain, moving goats around.

So, even thought the babies are healthy, Hyacinth once again has a congested udder and can't support two until it softens up, which is several weeks.

This picture was taken yesterday.  They are four days old.  The one in the foreground is the female and the one closest to Hyacinth is the male.  On the second day, it was clear that the male was not getting enough to eat.  He was lethargic and huddled up just like the twin that died last year was.  For some reason, the female was perky, running around, and  playing.  Maybe the difference in who lives or dies is that one learns to nurse faster and gets all the milk first, then there is none left for the baby who is less adept at finding the teat and latching on.  That is what I observed with these two.

I remembered that I had some frozen goat milk left over from previous years - four quarts from 2010 and one from 2011, so I thawed those and started bottle feeding the male right away.  The female was not really interested and it has remained thus.  The male guzzles the bottle down and the female has to be forced to take even an ounce.  They both are still attempting to nurse...successfully, I guess since the female hasn't starved to death.

She has become slightly smaller than the male.

But they are both active and playful and neither seems to be starving.

Curious Donkeys

Round Pen

I'm very excited about this.  I've needed a round pen to work Henry, Kip, and Pony in.  I plan to use Monty Robert's methods ( http://www.montyroberts.com/ ) with the pony and the donkeys.  Pony has been a pet for the past few years and has developed some bad habits, like crowding me when I lead her, or her trying to lead me, and being too greedy for treats.  I want her to be as safe as possible for little children, so she's going to need to break those bad habits.  I haven't seen Monty Roberts work with a mini or with an older horse (Pony is almost 11), but I'm assuming that the same techniques work on all horses. 

Donkeys are different from horses in several ways, so all of the techniques might not work, but I'm going to give it a try.  Monty Robert's philosophy is pretty much the same as mine and from what I've seen, a lot of the things he does, I do naturally anyway.  Now, mind you, I have never  in my life "trained" an equine.  Every horse I've ever had came to me already trained and I never gave it much thought.  But, hey, until we bought this farm I'd never milked a goat, never halter broke a donkey, never grew a garden, never built a fence, never trained a livestock guardian dog, etc. etc.  My list of "never dones" is pretty long, so why stop now?

Anyway, I've been searching for either livestock panels or portable dog kennel panels to make a round pen with.  In his TV programs, Monty Roberts uses what looks like dog kennel panels.  You can buy a 50 foot round pen from his website for about 4,500.00.  Many ranchers around here use the livestock panels that you can hook together in whatever shape you need.  I could get a cheap round pen new for 750.00.  Looking on craigslist, I could buy up every dog kennel I could find for about 150.00-250.00 for a 10x10 pen. 

But,  I found this guy on craigslist that was selling all of his dog kennel panels  - 15 6' panels and 6 10' panels for 400.00!  That makes up a round pen that is just a little short of 50 feet.

Tom and I drove over on Tuesday morning to get them, then he and our nephew, Jordan, put them together for me.

Now I have to get serious.  No more excuses for not training the donkeys.  Ack!

Winter Gardening

I haven't done much in the garden this winter.  In fact, I only just got the old asparagus and tomato plants pulled out of there.  Winter weeds love the garden and I'm barely keeping them from taking over.

I planted some broccoli, but only three seeds germinated. They are just now starting to produce. 

And my lettuce in the greenhouse is coming up.  So far the winter has been so mild that freezing hasn't been a big issue.  I put that little heater in there on a timer so that it comes on if the temperature gets below 65 at night.  I don't think it would keep the whole greenhouse warm if we had a big freeze, but it's working for just this small area so far.

An old man with a green thumb and an amazing garden told me this weekend that it's time to put onions in the ground, so I'm trying to get that done this week.

Rest In Peace, Hilde

We had a sad death at the farm today.

At full gallop, Hilde ran head first into the fence and broke her neck.  She did not die, but couldn't get up, could not breathe and had to be shot.  It was horrible to watch and makes me very sad. 

All of the donkeys have turned out to be good guardians and have done their jobs well.

Pony!

I've been searching for a gentle pony for the grandkids to ride when they come visit.  Finally found this little one.  She's very gentle and I'm hoping she'll be a good horse for little ones.  I'm going to work with her a while to get a feel for how she'll be.  She's cute as she can be and when I go out there she comes running to me and follows me around.  She's wet in this picture because It rained all night and she's been standing out in it even though she has a shelter.  I hope she didn't stand out there all night, although rain doesn't really seem to bother horses.  She's very interested in the goats and donkeys and the neighbor's horses so she's standing out there looking at them all.  She even found the hole that we cut in the fencing for the goats to get through and eat the grass in the alley between the pastures.  That's where she was this morning when I went out to make my feed rounds.

She's actually a miniature horse rather than a pony, but who wants to tell the grandkids, "I got you a miniature horse!"?Sounds so much more fun to say "pony".

Now I just need to talk Tom into building me a round pen to work her in.  He thinks she's cute, so maybe he won't be hard to persuade.

Heat...Sort Of

We finally got the furnace hooked up.  It took the guys about four hours to run the pipes up through the ceiling. hook them up to our existing ducting, and install the return air vent box.  Tom lit a fire in it right away even though the temperatures have been in the 60's and 70's this week. 

I guess this week is not a real test of the furnace's ability since it's been so warm outside, but it does heat the house adequately so far.  The reviews that Tom read said we should be able to keep the house warm enough by burning just three pieces of wood a day.  I don't know how that is possible because right now, we're burning at least that much every few hours.  Supposedly, we'll learn to regulate it just right so that it burns hot, but not fast.  I don't know.  Seems impossible to me.  And we're having to get up at night to add wood or we'll wake up to a cold house.  That is not fun.

One thing I was extremely disappointed about is that it is NOISY.  One of the reasons I thought this furnace was a good idea is that our regular heater, installed in an inside closet, is very loud.  I thought having the furnace outside with little fans would be very quiet.  Wrong.  It's horrible.  Another thing one of the reviewers said was that you don't even need to install the fans.  I think that's wrong, too.  If there were no fans blowing, the heat would barely come out of the vents.  The way to get optimum heating is to run the furnace and the inside heater fan, which I really, really don't want to do because that's a double-whammy loud.

My opinion of this thing so far is...not worth it except for the savings in propane costs.  Maybe I'm just a whiner and need to get over the noise aspect and be grateful that we have heat.

Wood Burning Furnace

This is supposed to be our future heat source for the house.  It is a wood burning furnace that is made to be hooked up into the existing HVAC ducting of a home.

Our regular gas heater is inside the house in a closet that is right on the other side of the wall to the left of this furnace, which is sitting on the back porch.  The furnace has a chimney pipe that goes up through the ceiling of the porch and through the roof.  There are two pipes that come out the top that will be hooked up to the ducting that is above our current heater and there are two blowers attached to the back of the furnace that will force the air into the ducts and out the vents in the house.

The reviews that Tom read said they didn't need the blowers.  We'll try it with and without to see what works best.  This should end our dependence on propane heat and it's supposed to burn far less wood than our fireplace does, although I do like using our fireplace because it feels so cozy.

We're waiting on the AC guy to come hook it up.  Tom could do it himself, but our home insurance company insists on a professional install or they won't insure us.  It's a pain waiting on the AC guy because he's the same guy that did the barn apartment HVAC system and he is notorious for not showing up when he says he's going to.  We've already wasted weeks on him, not to mention having to run our heater.

Bah.

Like Black Friday at Walmart

I sold some goats today, listing them on craigslist.com last night. 

I listed our four girls born this spring, 50 bucks each or 160 for all and within ten minutes some guy texted me (at midnight) that he wanted them.  After a string of texts, we agreed that he'd pick them up at 10:00 this morning.

Then, this morning I had e-mails and phone calls galore.  When I told the responders that the goats were supposed to be picked up at 10, they each made me promise that I'd call them if the buyer didn't show up.  One woman even got a bit miffed at me telling me that she emailed me last night and "didn't you get an email from Ruby?" like I purposely ignored her email so I could sell the goats to someone else. 

I guess I priced the goats too low.  Tom told me after the fact that female goats are going for 90+ at the sale barn.  Oh well, the guy, who was willing to drive an hour to pick them up, got a great deal and I probably made his day.  I didn't make a profit, but I just wanted to shrink the herd and not have to feed them all through the winter.  I really would like to have polled the responders to find out exactly why they were so anxious to buy my unregistered goats.  Was it the price?  Was it because they were Boer/Nubian crosses?  Did they want them for resale or for their own use?

We're down to two Boers, two Kikos, and two Nubians.  All are pregnant except for the Kikos because they're too young still.  And we just had the three boys butchered, so our freezer if full.  I definitely am going to have to start cooking more.

At Long Last...Wedding Pics!

Been waiting to get my copy of the CD from the photographer.

All flowers by Meagan.  Her beautiful bouquet.

We put tea lights in mason jars and hung them from the rafters.

We made this flag bunting to section off this area of the chapel and we also strung it up in different areas.

Beverages...

...served in mason jars.

We froze berries in star-shaped ice cube trays for the drinks.

And this is what we did with that old farm sink that Tom made the stand for.  There were outhouses on the grounds, so we made the signs, "Ladies" and "Gents", made a skirt for the sink, provided soap and hand towels, and used a watering can for hand washing.

Meagan and I went to the flea market and found these vintage lapel pins.  We pinned them in a cluster for her hair ornament.

Meagan used huge round balloons as part of her decorations and to take photographs with.

Afterwards, the kids had fun playing with them and whoever could convince their parents to fit them in their cars could take them home.

Blue checkered tableclothes with burlap runners and loads of flowers in old crates, milk glass vases and mason jars adorned the food tables.

We had THE greatest band.  They played the processional, then all through the reception.

Part of the tables with burlap runners.

Dreamy.

Goings Ons

I moved these mandevilla and bougainvillea into the greenhouse last week because there was supposed to be a freeze.  I was under the impression that a greenhouse would protect plants from freezes.  Apparently, that is not the case.  The plants are now completely dead.  Somewhere I read that I should put a barrel of water in the greenhouse.  Theoretically, the water would heat up during the day and then the heat would dissipate during the night and help, at least a little, to keep some warmth in the greenhouse.  Also, not true.  The water in the barrel remains cold at all times.

I wanted to grow some veggies in the greenhouse this winter...maybe some lettuce or tomatoes.  So, the question is, what is the trade off in cost?  Is it cheaper just to buy lettuce and tomatoes at the grocery store or to heat the greenhouse during the night with heat lamps or a space heater?

This is our new propane tank.  Think it's big enough?  After we get it taken off of the trailer, Tom is going to hook it up to a generator so that if we lose power, the propane will run the generator, which will power the house. 

Our Family Cheesecake

I started making this cheesecake at Thanksgiving many years ago when my siblings and I could still all get together for the holidays because our kids were young and didn't have their own lives.  It became a tradition for us that continues still.  This is the one that I made earlier this week and took to our partial family gathering in Oklahoma.

Here's the recipe.  It's somewhat labor intensive (in my opinion), but well worth it because it tastes wonderful.  The notes in my recipe book say it originated from Good Housekeeping and was called "Chocolate Zebra Cheesecake".  I've changed it somewhat to fit our gluten free needs and I call it:

Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

1 1/2 cups gluten free ginger snap cookie crumbs

(if you don't like ginger snaps, you can use any other cookie crumbs, Oreos are especially desireable)

3 Tbs. butter, melted

3/4 cup chocolate chips

4 8-oz. pkgs. cream cheese, softened

1 1/4 cups sugar

3 Tbs. cornstarch

1/4 tsp. salt

5 large eggs

8 oz. sour cream

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup heavy or whipping cream

8 1-oz. squares semi-sweet baking chocolate

Early in the day or a day ahead, preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9" x 3" springform pan.  In bowl, mix the cookie crumbs and melted butter; firmly press onto bottom of springform pan for crust.  Bake crust 12-15 minutes.  Remove crust from oven; sprinkle with chocolate chips.  Let stand several minutes until the chips soften, then spread evenly over crust.  (Note:  this does not work with old chocolate chips so make sure yours are fairly fresh...trust me on this)  Refrigerate.

With mixer at medium speed, beat cream cheese until light and fluffy.  In small bowl, mix sugar, cornstarch, and salt; gradually beat mixture into cream cheese until blended.  With mixer at low speed, gradually beat in eggs, sour cream, vanilla, and cream until blended and smooth.

Divide batter evenly into two containers with pouring spouts.  In small saucepan over low heat, melt the baking chocolate.  Stir chocolate into one of the bowls of batter.

To create the swirl design, pour half of the light batter into the springform pan.  Holding the dark batter about two feet above the pan pour about half of it directly into the center of the light batter.  Pouring from this height will cause batter in center of cake to be pushed toward edge of pan, forming a bull's eye design.  Repeat procedure three times, decreasing the amounts of batter each time and pouring from high above the pan only into the center.  Top of cake should look like a series of concentric circles.

Bake cake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, then turn the oven control down to 225 and bake for one hour and 45 minutes or until center is set.  Turn oven off and let cake remain in the oven for one hour.  Remove cheesecake from oven; run a thin-bladed spatula or knife around the edge of cake to loosen from side of pan.  Cool cake in pan on wire rack.  Refrigerate cake at least six hours or until well chilled.

NOTES:

For extra decadence make this chocolate glaze/shell to coat cake with (I've done this a few times and it is very good, but extra rich).  In saucepan over medium heat, heat 1/2 cup of heavy cream until bubbles form around edge of pan.  Remove saucepan from heat.  Stir in four 1-oz. squares of semi-sweet baking chocolate until melted and smooth.  Cool glaze for 10 minutes.  Meanwhile carefully remove cake from pan to cake plate; with spatula, spread the glaze over the top and side.  Refrigerate 30-45 minutes until glaze is set.

To prevent your cheesecake from cracking, place a ramekin filled with water in the oven while baking the cake.

My light batter is extra yellow because I use free range organic eggs from our own chickens.  Expect your cake to be a lighter color if you are using store bought eggs.

The Big Dig

Wow, it's been about a month since I've added to my blog.  All I can say is that we've been crazy busy.  The pond is finally finished and we're awaiting floods of rain to fill it up.  So far, we've gotten a few inches, but the pond really can't tell.

The front part is the the main part of the original pond with the water that made it through the summer.  The spot of water beyond that is water from an underground spring that started bubbling up while the digging was going on.

Second Cousins

All four second cousins made it to the wedding.  Four boys in 18 months makes four great grandsons for Mom.

What are the odds of getting them all together for a picture and all happy at the same time?

Naked Cake

The wedding was wonderful and fun.  I think it was everything that Meagan had hoped for and envisioned.  I didn't take any pictures and am waiting for ours from the professional photographer, Alisha Hurt, http://alishahurt.com/ .

In the meantime, friends have been posting their personal snapshots on facebook, so I copied this one for my own use.

The cake went together with absolutely no problems, despite the fact that my heart was pounding and my hands were shaking as I very carefully transported them to the site and stacked the tiers.  Our wedding day coordinator artfully arranged the berries at the last minute so they wouldn't get soggy and Meagan made the silhouette cake topper.

The cake is sitting on a framed mirror that I had found at an antique shop a couple of weeks ago.  It was the perfect size and perfect style.  It will be hanging in our barn apartment soon.

Do I Have Time for This?

Why yes, yes I do.

We had everything that could be set up done by around noon.  With great friends and family to help, I turned the reins over to the wedding coordinator, Alicia, and she's doing a great job.  We're all very relaxed.  The weather is beautiful, but the wind is blowing harder than necessary. 

This is the sky that we woke up to this morning.  It looks like we live at the base of a snow covered mountain, but we don't.  That is a bank of clouds or fog, I don't know which, but it was very disorienting to see that out there this morning.

This is from a little bit of a different angle.  It was a far as the eye could see.

It looks like we're TPing the pavillion, but we really aren't.  We're battling the wind trying to get the drapes hung.  Of course, Harry had to come down to the chapel to see what's going on.  The guys really did a great job getting them hung according to our specifications.  Patient guys.

It's time to deliver the cake.

Wish me luck.

Tomorrow Is THE Day

OK, tomorrow is the day that we've been working towards for two months now.  Wow, it went fast.

My biggest anxiety has been the cake.

It is frosted and safely stowed away in the refrigerator.  Everything turned out straight and I managed to put them together without breaking any layers.  Whew!  Big and scary.  I didn't go grocery shopping or feed Tom all week because I knew I had to make room for this behemoth. 

Tomorrow I'll take them to the site and put them together.

Everything else is ready and waiting to be set up.

Rehearsal dinner tonight at our favorite restaurant...Indian food.  Yay!