Breast Cancer Awareness

This post has been brewing for years. About a week ago someone put a status on Facebook that prompted me to write a mini essay. Another person posted some really great information that I thought needed to be shared. However, if I posted my thoughts as my status it would look like a rant. This is no rant. This is my well thought out and researched point of view. I respect that each of us has a right to our own opinions. My mother had breast cancer. Cancer, however, is not what killed her. She died of a drug overdose. The "medical professionals" gave her bushels of drugs that destroyed her liver and kidneys. The first step of her passing away was that her kidneys shut down and her liver wasn't functioning well. Both were the result of being overloaded with more drugs than those organs could metabolize. The AMA is a wicked, corrupt organization run by the pharmaceutical industry. The pharmaceutical industry is only motivated by making money. Big pharma has no intention of finding a cure. They want to string people along with their false hope and take them for every penny they have. I DO know that there are some physicians who have a sincere heart for helping people, and are doing their best to do so. They are rare, though. There are also some who went into the profession with good intentions, but have been brainwashed by the corruption that surrounds them. God has provided what we need for healing in nature via the plant kingdom and the earth (minerals). He has given us intelligence to know what is happening with our bodies, and if we invest the time and effort to study we can be healed of the vast majority of illness with what He has given us. I own an extensive library on nutritional and herbal healing, and there have been times that He has blessed me with nothing short of His supernatural understanding of what was needed; herbs that I truly didn't know much about, but came to mind and when I looked them up they were perfect for the ailment I needed to treat. I do believe there is a place for western medicine. Trauma is one example. Our doctors are really good at that. But for long term conditions- they stink.

I often feel judged because I do not participate in cancer awareness schemes. I think that my statement above is enough to explain my stance. I am certainly not going to give money to those who exist to make a profit at the expense of those whose suffering is unspeakable. Those who care and wish to be informed need to research. Some great places to start are listed below.

I will not be pinkwashed!

Abortions are linked to breast cancer.

Susan G. Komen supports Planned Parenthood 

Garden Walk

Our first three summers on the homestead we planted a huge garden similar to what we'd both grown up with. I'm talking about a 100'x30' area. We planted everything in rows far enough apart for a tiller to go between. By the end of the second month the weeds had won. Our vegetable plants were sprawling into the walk ways and there was no way you could get a tiller in there without destroying the vegetables. It was just too much space to keep weeds under control, especially in a previously unestablished garden. Last year I said, "That's it! I'm growing a micro-garden." I only used the flower bed that surrounds our back patio. I combined the methods of intensive gardening and square foot gardening to determine the layout. We harvested a lot of food from that little space! There were lots of tomatoes and peppers along with herbs and other things I've now forgotten.

This year we added two raised beds to our garden space. I really like having them close to the house. It's great to pause as you walk by to pluck a stray weed or two. I did my best to use square foot gardening to determine the layout of these beds.

I was weeding in the garden last night when something caught my eye. It was a cicada emerging from his exoskeleton. It was transitioning from the creepy beetle-like larvae to the beautiful winged insect we recognize. When I first discovered it, it's head was only about 1/2" out of the exoskeleton. In the time it took to get my camera it had already emerged as much as you see below. I took the pictures in the order shown, and he was completely emerged in about an hour's time. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

 

 The camera wanted to focus on everything BUT the bug! This at least lets you see how much he'd emerged.

 He was hanging on the underside of a moon and stars watermelon leaf.

 Finally! I got the camera to actually focus on the bug!

 Coming out a little more!

 Here is a shot of my east raised bed. It has pole beans, tomatoes, swiss chard, kale, cucumber, beets, and calendula. The flower bed surrounding the patio contains peppermint, ginger, cock's comb, Egyptian walking onions, calla lilies, lemon balm, honey suckle, violet, iris, and surprise lilies.

 This is my west raised bed. As you can see it has escaped! We don't have any cattle panels available and are trying to figure out a low cost solution to this problem. We are going to have to get these vines up out of the yard before the next mowing! This bed contains garden huckleberries, tomatillos, yellow squash, carrots, and water melon.

 Here are my tomatillos. I can hardly wait to taste their fabulous flavor!

This is chicken graffiti. It says, "Hen wuz here." This was created by using my flower bed as a dusting bowl, stepping up onto the patio, and shaking. Keeping the hens out of my garden is a constant war. There is a gap under our gate that they escape through, but if I fill it in the gate won't swing properly. At least they are keeping most of the bugs at bay.

 This is a ginger plant. My health food store was running a great sale on organic ginger. The piece I bought was huge, and started getting these sprout-like growths on it. They were similar to the hens-n-chicks plant, but white. I decided to plant a piece and see what happens. Time will tell if this is a worthwhile project, or just a little novelty.

 My cilantro bolted. It is an heirloom variety, so I am saving seed from it. I plan to use some of the seed for my spice collection, too. I adore the flavor of coriander!

A peppermint blossom. I am thrilled to have some flowers to attract the beneficial pollinators, especially honey bees.

 Here's our cicada still working hard to emerge. I was fascinated by the yellow-green appendages. They reminded me of frog's feet. I wondered if they could be his wings.

 Eeeek! At this point it looked like he could simply fall out! Would he plop to the ground once he had cleared his shell?

 A black oil sunflower that volunteered. We feed these to our goats. I let it grow to see if planting them ourselves would be a worthwhile endeavor. It would be SO great to be able to grow some of our own livestock feed!

 Lemon balm in bloom. This little herb makes me so happy. I love it's bright citrus aroma. I've repotted a bit of it to take to my classroom in the fall. I think it will make a delightful addition.

 Five color silver beet. Can't wait to enjoy these as well. I wish whatever is eating them would lay off. I can't ever catch anything on them.

 The first squash of summer.

 Calendula blossoms ready to break forth!

 Still pushing it's way out of that tough exoskeleton!

 A great shot of those yellow-green appendages. They are definitely his wings. It's hard to believe they are all crumpled up like that at first.

 What on earth is holding him in that shell?

 Ahhh!!! Free at last! Isn't it beautiful? I love how his wings are tinted green.

 Just hanging out.He stayed like this of a long time, with his wings blowing in the breeze. I tried to take a video, but it was so blurry you really couldn't tell anything about it. They were soft and flowy.

 

Simply perfect!

Night has fallen. He is all free of the exoskeleton, but still staying put. I have a feeling this is where he will spend the night.

Changes- After the Fact.

In January I added two La Mancha does to my herd. Their names are Tea Thyme and Little Alaska. Tea Thyme is my favorite goat ever. Her personality is as sweet as can be. She is friendly without being overbearing, and she is an excellent milker. Her behavior on the stand is absolutely fabulous. 

Tea Thyme

Little Alaska is also a dear. She has the warmest personality, and will win you with her charms. She is also the most conformationally correct goat I've ever owned. She does have one little quirk. About once a week she will stick her foot in the milk pail, and then look at you with a completely innocent expression, as if to say, "Why is my leg wet?" Despite this, she is a treasure of a goat, producing as much as the big girls, even though she is about 30% smaller than the rest.

Little Alaska

On March 8th Miracle kidded with twin doelings. I don't have pictures of them when they are tiny because I was at my grandfather's funeral 8+ hours away when they were born. Thankfully, Wayne was home and my dear friend, Michele, came down to assist with the birth. I named the girls Blessing and Anise. They are both little dolls with interesting personalities all their own. Blessing is very friendly and always curious. She nibbles at clothing and will climb on you if you let her. Anise is friendly, but not in-your-face. She enjoys being with you without having to be on top of you constantly.

Blessing

Anise

Baby continues to grow and flourish. She has the potential to be a wonderful milker. I am very eager to have her bred this fall and see how she freshens in the spring.

Willow Whip, aka "Baby"

And then there's Miracle. Bless her heart. I am loathe to put this picture up for you to see, but I try to always be honest about what is happening on our homestead. Miracle's condition has been deteriorating for about six weeks. No matter what I do (and believe me, she has been getting LOTS of extra everything), she cannot gain weight and in fact, seems to be losing weight. This past Tuesday I finally got an answer to the problem. She was infected with brown stomach worms. I have been deworming faithfully with Safeguard, but brown stomach worms are not susceptible to the standard dosage. When we ran a fecal exam on her she had no other parasites whatsoever, it was just the brown stomach worms. Just to be safe, since there is a good chance they've developed resistance to the Safeguard anyway, I dewormed her (well, the whole herd, actually) with Valbazen. I will repeat this in ten days and then again in another ten days to ensure I catch all the worms in the necessary life phase. In only five days she is already showing improvement. Her demeanor is better, she already seems to be picking up a few pounds, and her coat is starting to look less coarse.

Miracle

Six standard sized goats is a lot of mouths to feed for this little homestead. I was not prepared for the impact switching from Nigies to LaManchas was going to make on our pasture. I knew that they were bigger and needed more, but WOW! They burned through the pasture at more than double the rate of an equal number of Nigerian Dwarfs. I was also getting way more milk than we could use. I decided that downsizing the herd was not optional. I listed all of the goats for sale individually on both Craigslist and a couple of Facebook dairy goat groups. I prayed about which goats would sell and that they would go to good homes where they would be well cared for. Tea Thyme and Little Alaska have already moved on to their new homes. I need to sell at least one more, and my little herd will be just right for this little homestead. The proceeds from their sale is being used to complete the fencing of our property so that every available inch of pasture will be utilized. If I sell two more, then I will use the money to buy a Nubian doe. I've decided I'm ready to dip my toes in that water. Despite all the warnings of my non-Nubian loving friends, I really think I will like them. However, I am not ready to make a big leap. I'd like to get just one doe and see how it goes. Then I will be better equipped to make more decisions about the direction my herd needs to go.

Dairy Goat Breed Selection

My first goat herd.

I was recently asked about my choice of breed in dairy animals, and my response was rather lengthy. I decided it would make a great blog post!

I think the answer to your question lies more in why I started with Nigies. I always wanted Nubians. They have a reputation for being vocal, pushy, and high strung, though. It took me several years to talk my husband into letting me have dairy goats at all. He grew up with a milk cow, and didn't want the twice daily responsibilities that come with a milk animal. He told me on the front end that he wanted no part of it whatsoever. If I got one it was all on me to take care of it and milk it. Then he gave me his blessing. I researched everything I could get my hands on regarding dairy goats. I knew I needed to choose a breed that I could have a 100% guarantee of success with, and Nigerian Dwarfs seemed to be that perfect breed of goat for my beginner self. Nigies are small enough that you can do anything that you need to with them. It's not like wrestling with an animal that weighs just as much as an adult human. I followed through with that and kept Nigies for about three years. I enjoyed them immensely, but desired larger goats that produced more milk for the same amount of effort in milking and hoof trimmings. (Trimming hooves is my least favorite job in goat husbandry. :-) ) I was given a LaMancha doeling in exchange for her first doe kid very early on. I fell in love with her and the no-nonsense personality that seems to be the norm in LaManchas. Since I already had a LaMancha and I didn't want to run a mixed herd, I stayed with LaManchas when I was ready to transition out of my starter goats and into my permanent herd. I do still dream of Nubians, but I have reservations about how I will like their personalities after everything I've heard. I am definitely not in to having a herd of drama queens! :-)

I cannot say what breed will fit your personality and needs best. My goat mentor, Michele, has kept several different breeds and settled on Nigerian Dwarfs as her favorite. Everyone's personal choice will be unique.

Sleet and Ice Days

On Thursday we were pelted with 3/8" of ice and 4" of sleet. I was concerned that the electric lines would go down due to ice accumulation, and so I cleaned house like a crazy woman all Thursday morning until everything was caught up and spic and span. After that, I was able to relax and enjoy activities I don't normally have time to do. My first project was a simple home cooked soup for us to munch on.

 Since I have an abundance of fresh milk, I decided to make my potato soup a little differently than I ever have. It turned out amazing! Here is the recipe:

Best Ever Potato Soup:

One Gallon fresh, raw goat’s milk
Ten large/medium potatoes, diced
One large red onion, coarsely chopped
One stick of butter
Sea salt
Fresh ground pepper
Sharp cheddar cheese
Three heaping TBSP corn starch mixed in a cup of cold water

Combine first six ingredients in a large stock pot and bring to a simmer. Cook until potatoes are tender. Add corn starch to thicken. Return to boil. Ladle into bowls and garnish with grated cheddar cheese. Enjoy!

My daddy has been fussing at me because I never make my own butter. He says there is so much cream in this milk that it is a shame to not skim it and use it. Since I had about five gallons of milk in the fridge, I decided to give it a try. With all the milk skimmed, I got enough cream to make about 2 cups of finished butter. It is LOVELY! Probably not something I will do all the time unless I am blessed to find an affordable separator, but it's nice to know it's an option.

Next, I used that lovely skimmed milk to make homemade mozzarella cheese. Interestingly, the recipe was titled 30 Minute Mozzarella, but it took ALL afternoon! I had heated the milk at 1:00. It didn't cool off enough to add the citric acid, lipase, and rennet until 6:00 P.M.! Just in time to make me late for chores! Argh! It is SOOOO yummy, though, it's hard for me to quit nibbling. :-)

While the mozzarella was cooling I made Lemon Cheese. It is very nice. It has a very light flavor and the lemon juice certainly adds a nice quality to the cheese.

Over the course of the three days I've been home I have been working on making homemade dishcloths. I received two as Christmas gifts, and fell in love with them! They are round and have a rippled edge. They fit so much more nicely in your hand than a square dish cloth. I hope to make an entire set.

Deworming Goats

I was recently asked for advice about what I use for dewormer, and by the time I finished writing my response I decided to make it into a blog post!
I am philosophically opposed to using synthetic chemical/drug dewormers. For the first 2.5 years I had goats I successfully used Hoegger Supply's herbal dewormer with excellent results. When I took a goat to the vet for another issue I had the vet perform a fecal exam and he was amazed to find NO worms in ANY life stage present. That is a huge deal because even with synthetic dewormers used on a consistent schedule they expect to find a few. However, in the fall of 2011 I began to experience some health problems at the same time that my herd grew to an overwhelming size. I was struggling to meet all my responsibilities/obligations and I kept forgetting to give the goats their herbal dewormer. (It has to be given every week religiously.) I kept telling myself I wouldn't forget again, but I kept stumbling. After several times of forgetting their dewormer and having to go through the entire start up regimen which is both time consuming and costly, I decided I was going to have to give in and use synthetic dewormers until I could get things under control again. I bought the Agri-Labs brand of Ivermectin and used it faithfully according to instructions. (I believe it was once every six weeks.) In the spring of 2012 Miracle began having some problems originating with mastitis. I immediately sought medical intervention for her mastitis, but it took three rounds of antibiotics to get her cleared up. In her weakened state the parasites took hold with a vengeance. My veterinarian recommended Safeguard to me, and that is what I have used since then, though I do intend to return to the herbal dewormer protocol upon kidding. (I have reduced my herd to an easily manageable size now, currently two does with a possible acquisition of one more, and selling all this year's kids.)
I know there are people who are expert users of synthetic dewormers who talk about using "white dewormer and clear dewormer." I think it's simply an easy way to keep straight the basic classes of dewormers where the white ones attack one class of parasites and the clear dewormers attack another. I tried to find information about that, but was unsuccessful.

Rather than discuss dewormers that I have never used, I am going to refer you to some websites of folks who are more knowledgeable than I am:

Fias Co Farm is my go-to source for information. They have always been spot on with the accuracy of the information offered.

The Dairy Goat Journal is a good source for continuing education about our dairy goats. I do not have a subscription, though I've asked for one as a holiday(Christmas, birthday, Valentine's Day, etc.) gift several times. Their website offers some of their articles for free,  and this one was on the cover when I went to find the link for you. How timely!

This is the author of the above article and also recommended by my "goat mentor."

Milk is Seasonal Food

When I began buying fresh milk directly from the farmer I became frustrated with their seeming undependability. Over the years before I could get my own dairy animals I bought from three different sources, and with each of them, there would be times when they would say they didn't have milk, despite the fact that I was extremely careful to be a dependable and consistent customer, always buying on the same day of the week, and buying the same amount of milk each time.

Then I got my own goats. The first year was bliss. I felt that I could FINALLY have my own dependable milk supply. I knew I had to dry my doe off for two months prior to kidding to allow her body to put that energy into supporting the new life growing inside her. I also knew about colostrum, and had been told that you had to wait about a week for the colostrum to clear out before you would have sweet, beautiful milk. I could handle that. I froze milk ahead to get through the nine weeks I expected to be out of milk. Our freezer went out and all that milk was ruined. We were without milk throughout that time.

It was time for me to get a rude awakening. When Perle freshened I didn't take her to the milk stand for the first week, allowing her (three!) kids to have all her colostrum. When I milked her for the first time after she freshened I was shocked and disappointed to discover that her milk was still not in. I gave her a few more days and tried again. It was starting to transition into milk, but still funny looking. Another few days and it looked like her milk was in. Woohoo! I brought it inside, strained it, and poured myself a glass. It had been two and a half months since I'd tasted sweet milk. I took a big drink, and ACK!!! It was nasty! Even though it looked like she was in full milk, it still had a large component of colostrum to it. I continued to milk and try it daily, but it took another week before he milk was fit to drink. This took us to THREE MONTHS without milk! There was also another issue. With three kids on her, she didn't have much milk left to share with us. We were only getting a couple cups a day. Certainly not nearly enough to justify the cost and effort of keeping your own goats! I kept her daughter, Sassy, and also acquired another goat, Twilight. With Perle and Twilight we had plenty of milk to get us through. I thought I finally had it all figured out.

The same year I bought Perle I was given Miracle, a LaMancha doeling. She didn't settle her first year, and so I had her for two full years before she finally freshened last year. I knew what to expect regarding the time it took for colostrum to clear this time. I thought I was finally going to have enough milk to meet all of our dairy needs. (It was our intention to make ALL our own dairy products when we started producing our own milk.) Her due date came and went. Two weeks went by and I gave up any hope of her being pregnant. I was pretty sad because I could not continue feeding an animal who was of no benefit to our homestead. She would have to go. I was coming to grips with this when one day Wayne came flying into the house telling me to get to the barn. She'd given birth to two BEAUTIFUL kids! A buckling and a doeling. We were ecstatic!

I began milking her on the stanchion right away since it was her first freshening. I wanted to lose no time in her training. I froze her colostrum to have on hand in case there was ever an emergency situation that it was needed. When her milk came in it was far more obvious than with the Nigies. Her udder practically exploded! It was very large and full. I began trying the milk, but it didn't taste good. I thought it was just in that transition period, but it didn't improve. After nearly a month of research and trying different things, I learned that she was deficient in cobalt, thanks to my friend, Mrs. Liz. Within just a few days of supplementing with Diamond V Yeast Culture her milk became sweet and lovely. We now supplement all our goats with the Diamond V Yeast Culture.

Miracle didn't kid until June. I am a teacher. I need my goats to have weaned their kids by the time I am out of school in May, so that I can have the summer to make our year's supply of cheese. This obviously did not happen. Baby is just now weaning at six months of age. ( I retained her and sold the buckling at three months of age.) Miracle is (I believe) bred again. This time she is due to kid between March 2-9, 2012. I plan to sell ALL her kids as bottle babies once they've received her colostrum so that we have plenty of milk for all our needs this time!

Who knew homesteading required so much advance planning?! I have to think ahead at least a year in advance in order to accomplish the goal of making our own cheese during the summer while school is out.

Bringing Things Into Focus

When I began writing my blog I intended it to be a combination scrapbook and journal. Sort of like a cyber photo album documenting our life. As I got deeper into the realm of blogging and learned how things worked, I discovered that I fit best in the category of "homestead bloggers." I unconsciously shifted my focus to posts of that sort. I began to further narrow my posts due to my teaching inclination. I felt I should be doing tutorials. Teaching others about this life is my passion. I began posting less and less because I lacked the time to plan ahead to take photographs and do tutorials.  I am not here to impress others, nor to earn an income. It is my intention to get back to where I started. This blog is supposed to be about our life. We are more than simply homesteaders. Not that that isn't enough to occupy a person full time, but there is more. I teach full time. Wayne is a machinist. We live 30-45 minutes from work. As I was contemplating how I was going to make my new lifestyle work, I came to realize that I only have about three waking hours at home a day. No wonder I feel overwhelmed so much of the time!

We are preparing to start the Specific Carbohydrate Diet very soon. We had planned to begin on December 26th. However, we were given so much candy and special treats that we agreed to wait a few days until we could finish all those lovely delicacies before we attempted to start. We have finished all the sweets, but there are still quite a few items in the house that aren't allowed on the diet, so we are working our way through them. I think it will help ease the transition by going off sweets but not off other, more complex carbs, before jumping into the diet with both feet.

The diet coincides very well with the cyclical nature of food here. Miracle, my only goat left in milk, is drying off. I'm hoping this means that she settled when I took her to be bred in the fall. Milk is not allowed on the diet, and so the timing of this works out perfectly.

Things are pretty quiet here. Chores that took a couple hours a day in the summer can be completed in about 45 minutes a day now.

We still have seventeen chickens and five ducks. My golden laced Wyandottes and Cochins are laying superbly, despite the short day length and cold temperatures. I'm starting to think the most important factor in winter egg production is simply having ample water. We've been using steaming hot water in the mornings to help keep it from refreezing as quickly. I think it has helped a lot. The ducks are laying machines. I think they are each laying an egg a day without fail. Sadly, I discovered in mid-November that I am allergic to duck eggs. This has prompted us to look for a new home for the ducks. Hopefully they will be blessing someone else's egg basket very soon.

Miracle and Baby have adjusted quite nicely to being a two-goat herd. They are content little puffballs bouncing around in the goat pen, happy to stay out of the cold wind and munch hay most days.

I am not one for resolutions. I think they are just setting oneself up for self-loathing. However, I miss having personal devotions on a daily basis. When I was in my teens and early twenties I used to buy a new devotional book every year. It would be a book with a devotion for every day of the year. I have two such books that I bought several years ago, and I plan to get back into that habit. The books I am using are The One Year Chronological Bible and the One Year Book of Hymns. I timed myself this morning and I did both in under 15 minutes, so I think this is a very reasonable goal.

Thank you for following along on our journey in this life. May you and yours have a very blessed new year!