New Home for Sage and Peppermint

As with any endeavor, plans change. Last year this time, the plan was to grow the goat herd to begin production of soap. We were going to drink the Nubian milk and make soap and butter from the Nigerian milk. Well, after attempting to milk Sage, and really feeling the difference in the two breeds- I decided that Nubians were the only way to go. The children were also key to the soap plan and they didn't have much success with milking either.  Yesterday, we decided to list Sage and her daughter on craigslist and in 30 minutes we had a couple lined up to come get them.

Congratulations to Crystal and Brian- the proud new owners of 2 Nigerian Does. They are very nice and are new to the adventure of milk goats. Hopefully, they will all get along well. They may also be interested in one of Scarlets bucklings when they get old enough to go. Awesome!

Last picture of Sage and Peppermint

In other goat news, I milked Ebony last night and she was a dream to milk. A little apprehensive at first, but settled into her grain quickly. Hooray for two milking goats!

The garden is doing well- we've had an abundance of rain and nice sunny days. Seems like everything is about 3 weeks ahead this year.  That's good for now since my freezer is about out of corn and blueberries frozen from last year, but his summer may be pretty miserable in the weather department.

Now we're off to celebrate Memorial Day with the family!

Mid-May and All is Well!

It was questionable, but all is indeed well. The goats have been high maintenance this year! Scarlett was passing blood in her milk- of course, the first panicked thought is MASTITIS! However after spending a lot of time on the internet doing research, taking her temp and comparing signs, it appears she only had some congestion that had to work itself out. It lasted about 3 days, I massaged her udders and milked her out twice a day and it cleared up. We do have the California Mastitis Test, but it's a strange way to test, and the reaction that occurs when there is mastitis is described as gelling. Never saw gel, and I'm still assuming it would have been dramatic. Anyway...whew!

The bucklings are finally all doing well. Bubba progressed so much slower that the other 3- even Forrest who has also been getting bottle fed. He seems good now, but definitely has some catching up to do. The girls came up with names for the other two- Ebony's little guy (with the sticking out ears) is Rio and Scarlet's is Mushu.

Forrest and Mushu under the hay manger

Rio and Bubba cuddled up

The black runner duck hatched 5 ducklings. No pictures yet as she is being very protective. That little 5 pound duck can be scary when she wants to! The only other animal news is Dinkey the Donkey managed to get out of his paddock and went to visit our neighbors barn. She caught him and put him in a stall until I could get over there. Then, I spent 30 minutes dragging him home because he wanted to go through the woods (prickers and thorns!) and I wanted to go by way of the road (beer truck!). I prevailed- luckily he's a mini and I'm pretty stubborn myself. The beer truck only derailed him for a minute and I got my workout for the day. Silly donkey.

All our other critters are doing well. We need to thin the herd a bit very soon- rabbits and goats for sale- cuddly or delicious! I think we'll be selling Sage and her doeling also. Suddenly, making soap doesn't sound nearly as appealing...

All the raised bed crops are in and sprouting -corn, tomatoes, peppers, herbs, carrots, lettuce, chard, peas, and we're trying okra this year, too. I'm not a fan unless it's in soup and tastes like all the rest. Chuck loves it fried. Maybe I can come up with some new recipes that we'll all eat. In the field dad has planted cucumbers, zucchini, green beans and will soon be putting in sweet potatoes. I must say I'm most looking forward to fresh goats milk mozzarella with basil and tomatoes straight for the garden. MMMMMmmmmm!

Last Saturday I set up a booth at WRD's Spring Fling (kid's school). I had several people interested in my WRD shirts, and 10% of sales of them are going to the school. I sold 3. Hopefully, more orders will come and at least I got some exposure. I sold 1 head band and 1 wallet, too. There just weren't a lot of people there. REALLY need to get the webstore going. It's on the list. 

The list is calling- need to feed the children, then the rest of the farm.