Goat Shed

Several weeks ago we implemented a plan to help keep hay costs down as well as clear off the garden that we let go once we saw that the plants weren't going to produce due to the drought. We used cattle panels to make a small goat pen and let them eat the weeds! This necessitated the building of a small shelter for them, since the herd queen takes the little dog house and refuses to share with anyone else. :-) (Not that they could have all fit in the dog house any way.)

Wayne was able to gather shipping crates and pallets from his work that we disassembled and used for the framing, and the sheathing is made from my old brooder boxes. I hope that I will never have 100 cockerels again!!! That was an experience I never care to repeat.

Here is another view showing the inside. We are not quite finished yet. We will completely close off one end, and the other will be mostly enclosed with a door that is just big enough that I can get inside in case I need to care for them in it.

On Wednesday, we got our first snow of the season! It was a shock to us all. On Tuesday evening it was 70 degrees. By Wednesday night we were supposed to have a low of 24 degrees, but there was no precipitation in the forecast. However, we got quite a good little snowfall for a couple of hours. The ground was so warm that it instantly began to melt, but it was frozen on all the high spots when I got up for chores on Wednesday. We were all very thankful for the little goat shed!

Hen House

One of my favorite things about our home is the outhouse. It's the Cadillac of outhouses, I tell ya. It has a concrete toilet, a wooden dowel for the tp to hang on, a coat hook, and vents with shutters! I think it's pretty special.

However, the chickens were in need of a home that is better than the chicken tractors that we started out with, and so we decided to remodel the outhouse into a chicken house! I love it, and hope you will enjoy a little tour:

Standing in the front looking in. What appears to be a jagged hole near the ceiling is actually a heat lamp reflecting the sunlight. We use it when the weather dips below freezing to prevent frostbite, which our birds experienced the first winter we had them.


This shot shows the perches and the vents with shutters at the top. You can also see the corner of the nest boxes to the left. Do you spy the egg on the floor?


Here is a better shot of the nest boxes.


I am working on a new way of using the animals to increase our food production. This little garden spot is last year's chicken yard. The photo was taken the second week of August. See how small everything is? That is because of the drought. We've only had three rains from the end of June until now. Even though things look pretty green, nothing grew or produced very well after early July, until the fall. This little patch and my row of tomatoes are what we chose to keep hydrated and nurse along. It has paid off well. The soil is just beautiful in this spot. It is so rich, loose, and nearly weed and bug free. Our plan is to rotate the location of the chicken yard to enhance the garden spot. We are working on a plan for housing them through this transition. We will either have lanes for them to travel to and from their house, or we will build a portable chicken house on skids.

Late Tomatoes

Here it is October first and we are just now getting a decent tomato harvest. We've been getting a couple of the little yellow ones here and there for a few weeks, but not enough to really do anything with. Today I was able to harvest a nice little mess of them. What a Yummy salad they will make!

Hot Toddy

I feel like I've been hit by a Mack truck. It started with a headache that nothing would touch on Saturday. Now I have all the symptoms of a full blown URI. My wonderful husband hauled the tv, vcr, and DVD player into the bedroom, and I'm piled up in bed watching "You've Got Mail." I'm plotting to use my neti pot laced with colloidial silver when I finish sipping this soothing drink. I did a web search to get the proportions right, and I'm not measuring, so these are estimates. I'm using a four ounce juice glass. Put in two ounces of boiling water. Add a heaping tablespoon of honey and a tablespoon of lemon juice. 1/4 teaspoon of powdered ginger, and an ounce of whiskey. Stir thoroughly to get the ginger mixed well and the honey dissolved. Take your time sipping. It makes me feel better than any cold formula drug, let me tell ya!

P. S. I just dropped and shattered my neti pot! *sob*

Amazing Opportunity!

I promise you this is not going to turn into a blog promoting other blogs or givaways. This one is just too good to pass up, though! I've wanted a grain mill for YEARS but there is never the extra money in the budget to acquire one. I am thrilled that Heavenly Homemakers if hosting a Nutrimill givaway! Simply go to: http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/nutrimill-giveaway-from-paulas-bread/comment-page-57#comment-111825 and enter the givaway. She offers several options to earn extra entries. This is one you DON'T want to miss!!!

Oh How Much You Miss!

A few days ago I told you to enter for a chance to win a Mrs. Meyers book. Amazingly, I won the drawing!!! I was thrilled! It was the second day of school, and I was having an I-can't-homestead-and-work-full-time meltdown when I saw the package sitting on the deep freezer. It took a moment to remember what could be coming in the mail. I was just expecting a book, but I picked up the box I got a whiff of my favorite herb (Which I can not grow to save my life!) and felt the weight of the box. I knew that there was more than just a book inside. Melissa put so much thought and love into the things she sent. When I opened it... wow! I was just speechless. Inside were a delightful apron that makes me think of Holly Hobby and Little House on the Prairie, a precious doily, a peach colored, heart shaped pin keep, homemade goat's milk soap, Never Lose Heart, by Joyce Meyer, Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Home, a set of homemade note cards with matching adorable envelopes, a spray of lavender, and get this, a thank you card!!! Can you believe that? Melissa was thanking me for taking the time to read her blog! Her generous spirit flowed from the contents of that box and enriched my life in ways far beyond those tangible gifts! I was simply overwhelmed. It was interesting how perfectly her gifts fit my tastes, too. Peach is one of my favorite colors, and I have a LOT of heart stuff. (My husband asked me after about five years of marriage, "You have a thing for hearts, don't you?" I had never thought about it, but when I started looking around I discovered that apparently, I do!) LOL! Thank you so much, Melissa! Your gifts are treasured!

Farmgirl in Training Givaway

Look over at my blog list on the right. Find Farmgirl in Training. Click on it. Scroll down to her giveaway and enter it. Mrs. Meyers is cool stuff!

Laundry Soap

You will need 12 oz. of bar soap, one box of Borax, and one box of washing soda as well as a container to put the finished soap in. I was a little bit short of washing soda, so I used some baking soda to make up the difference. Not perfect, but it worked just fine.
Grate all the soap up like shredded cheese. I love using my salad shooter for this.
Then add the washing soda
and the borax.
Mix thoroughly. Scoop into your container of choice. I use half-gallon canning jars.Use 1/8 to 1/4 cup per load of laundry depending on load size. You can use up to 1/2 cup on very large, very dirty loads.
I would like to say a special thank you to my helper and nephew, Jesse. He spent a week with us this summer when school got out. He is a joy to have in our home!

Tornado

My husband and I both work in Joplin. I'm sure there is nothing I can add to what you have already heard about the tornado. I thought this link was worth sharing, though. The link takes you to satellite images of the part of Joplin where the tornado did the most damage. If you look at the two side by side it's not of value because it's showing different places, but if you click "show only before" and then "show only after" under the pictures, it is the same area. The air is thick with a sense of mourning, but also the grit and determination that we will get through this. We will rebuild. We will survive!
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-joplin-tornado-slider,0,2395484.htmlstory

Sunset

I took these pictures the evening of Sunday, May 1st. In the past I've struggled to captur sunset pictures that live up to the real thing. I think these may just do it!

New Additions

This week I was given a bantam hen and her lone chick. The hen has the beginnings of feathers on her feet, and her chick has significantly more feathers than she does. Cochins are my all time favorite, and I'm hoping they might have a little in them. Here they are on their first non-rainy day at my house:

Momma's not real sure about getting out of the cage. Baby's saying, "You can do it, Mom!" (I heard it with my own ears! *wink*)



Oh yeah! The grass feels good under foot and the bugs are mighty tasty.

The goats were out, too, and very curious about the new arrivals, especially that cute little puff ball. Momma hen was not impressed with the goats. The goats didn't know that squawking and spreading one's wings means, "Go away!" They do now. That tiny hen whipped every goat on the place!!! It all happened so quickly I couldn't get my camera out and focused in time to capture the hilarity.


Okay, time to get back where it's safe before the sun goes down!

Garden 2011

All tilled up and ready to be planted:
The chicken coop/former outhouse is in the background. We let them free range as much as possible, and are planning to fence the garden soon.

I was able to find enough stakes to lay out several rows at a time, which made the process MUCH easier! I planted 1/3 of the garden on April 30th, 1/3 of it last night, and will plant the last 1/3 of it in two weeks, when the soil is nice and warm for those tomatoes and peppers. :-D

The following veggies are planted:
Swiss Chard (Five Color Silverbeet)
Pole Beans (Green)
Cucumbers
Red Kuri Squash
Carrots
Red Pontiac Potatoes
Yukon Gold Potatoes
Silver Queen Corn
Yellow Straightneck Squash
Zucchini
Small Sugar Pumpkin
Dill
Cilantro
Yellow Granex Onion
Red Globe Onion

We still plan to plant peppers, tomatoes, beets, garden huckleberry, gourds, kale, and watermelon. We also have plans to put in a perennial garden in a seperate space for things like asparagus, horseradish, walking onions, garlic, and many more that I will come to learn about over time.

Herd at Sunset

*Sigh* I think this is what they call "the life." Do you notice how the screen on the door is bubbled out? That's thanks to Miracle dediding she wanted to come inside one nice day that I had the house open but the screen doors closed. Goats... gotta love 'em!

And a sweet, cuddly nap!

Checkup

Well, the kids are five weeks old. I can't believe how much they've grown! I weighed them last weekend and was shocked! Tonka weighs TWENTY ONE pounds!!! I didn't weigh the kids at birth, but I estimate that Nigel and Sassy were two-three pounds each, and Tonka was pushing five. Now Nigel weighs twelve pounds and Sassy weighs nine. I had a really hard time catching them in pictures. (The Welsummer rooster slipped into the shot, and I thought he was too pretty to crop out. :-) ) You know who Perle is. Sassy is the smallest, and her hair is reddish. Nigel is the middle sized one, and he has more defined spots on his body and stripes on his face. Tonka is almost white all over, and he's huge! Here are some pictures to let you see how they've grown:

A Quandry

I'm really struggling over the goat vs. cow thing. I definitely don't REGRET buying goats, but I chose them because I thought it was more cost effective for our small homestead. I was looking at the actual cost of the goats themselves. Now that I've been doing this for a year, I am seeing a LOT of hidden costs. Fencing that will hold goats is at least 3X higher than fencing for cattle. They are much more difficult to contain. Then, to get the cream from the goat's milk I need a cream separator for at least $200, maybe more. Goats have higher nutritionalrequirements, and so if you look at it pound for pound, they are more expensive to feed, not less. On the flip side, I couldn't cuddle and play with a calf like I can the kids, and I seriously doubt a cow would be as affectionate as the adult goats are, either. Goats are pets that produce. Goats were definitely a better choice for learning to milk and manage a dairy animal. I would have been SO overwhelmed with the volume of milk a cow would produce in addition to adjusting to the routine of milking. Thoughts, anyone?

The Kids

I can't believe the kids will be three weeks old tomorrow and I haven't posted any pictures of all of them together. Here are some pictures of them at one week of age: I love this one with Nigel and Sassy. I can just hear them talking, and Perle telling them, "This is good to eat." It's hard to believe they were all born at the same time! Sassy's trying to get her bluff in on Tonka. :-) -and Nigel leaping off the log. You'll never catch me! The mineral dish makes a nice double bed, apparently.

In Like a Lion out like a ... Lion?

Today is our first day back to school after a glorious spring break. Early last week we had highs in the upper 70's. It felt like early summer. This is what I awakened to today:

BABIES!!!

At approximately 7:30 P.M. yesterday (March 10, 2011) Perle delivered one beautiful doeling and two precious bucklings. When I got home from work I knew she was getting close, but then, I've thought she was close for over a week, so I tried not to get my hopes up too much. Here is her final belly pic, taken about two hours before she kidded:

Here she is having a contraction:

I only saw her have one contraction in an hour, and so I thought it could go on for several hours before she actually delivered. I put her on the back porch and started making supper. I'd been inside about thirty minutes when Perle cried out. I turned to Wayne and said, "She doesn't usually do that!" (I've been keeping her separate from the herd when I can't be with her for a few days, and she will talk if she hears me in the pantry, but not like that!) I went scurrying out to her and immediately saw two HIND legs hanging out of her. I jumped over to her and took the legs and tried to soothe her. Thankfully, she had another contraction almost immediately and I was able to pull the kid with it.

It was a doe! :D She took almost no time to get up and around. Wayne says we should name her Spunky.


After about fifteen minutes #2 started to emerge:

With the next contraction she made real progress. If you look closely you can see his perfect presentation with two tiny front hooves and his little nose.

He is HUGE!!! Almost twice as big as his siblings.

Perle wanted to keep licking #1, and I kept trying to get her to work on #2. I really didn't expect her to have another one in there. (Her first two births were twin does.) I was sitting right beside her when she grunted and pushed and out popped another pair of hind legs!!! I grabbed them and pulled with that same first push. #3 slipped right out!

Being born is hard work!