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!