Quick one, just for you, Erin!!

My sister and her son are here for the weekend, so they got to pet a baby chick (they're not so baby!) and the cats, and the dogs... not quite the goats, but he held a branch they took out of his hand. The goats LOVE the pasture--we see them ALL over it throughout the day. While we were out this afternoon, Gunner got in! ACK! Know what he did?? He herded them to me. When Slash freaked and took off, he went to chase her back!!! Wow. I have to admit, after watching the dogs take out a opossum and several other animals, including adolescent raccoons. (I HATE raccoons--ever since I tried to stop the dogs from killing a baby raccoon. Then it turned towards me KKK-KK'ing yea, kill it.) Anyway, I was sure that if the dogs every got a chance, it would be the goat's last. I love to be wrong about such things.

Forget corn mazes, come see our pasture maze!!

Today, we went out into the pasture, and cut paths for the goats to go on. They have mainly been staying right next to the barn, and the fence line right by the barn. This way, they can go out without having to worry about getting lost. Can you see the goats? Well, they are the white spots. (the only one you can really even make out in this picture is Gabby--the other two are just to the right of her.) Can you see the paths? We sure had fun riding through them on the lawn mower. Eric got the 4430 running, and used the bush hog to make most of the paths. Ben and I went VERY slowly with the lawn mower, but only where it wasn't very tall. We went in first, and the goats just looked at us, wondering what we were doing with weird green legs, I bet. They went up next to the barn, and after we left, went out into their paths!! This is what started the pictures today-- one of our Rhode Island Red chicks hopped up on the bungee cord and fell asleep! Awwwwww. They are growing up so fast! The Barnyard in your Backyard suggested that we set up a roosting place, and they will start to roost when they're a few weeks old. So, for kicks, I put one in when we separated the breeds.

But, most importantly, I figured out how to write around the pictures!!! YEA!

Fun fact: Goats need sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and sodium chloride (salt). It helps maintain proper rumen acidity. (Keeps them from getting upset tummies.)

Got her!

Well, FYI, goats need their hooves trimmed. And, you can do it with nice, sharp gardening shears! The trick is getting the goat to hold still. For those of you that have goats that actually like you, this will not be a problem. For us, I grabbed her while she was eating, and 'pinned' her to the wall, just like they said to in the book. *dramatic pause* (or just a scornful one) I am 5'10" the goat is roughly 18", maaaaaaybe 20. So, that didn't work out so great. I ended up gently pushing her to the floor, holding her down with the one arm, and working on the hoof with the other. She wiggled for about half a second (the time it took me to start cleaning the hoof) and then seemed content to have her hoof stop hurting her. After I was done, I scratched her all over. With both hands. If goats could purr, this goat would have been purring. She leaaaaaaned into it, for about 15-20 seconds, then realized that she wasn't being held down, and took off, about 2 steps: stopped, looked at me, and started eating again. YEA!!!!!!!! This is a Hallmark card-worthy event, people. If I had black ink in the printer, I would make one, send it to myself, (hey, who doesn't love getting mail?) and proudly post it on the refrigerator.

Fun 'fact': "Lost goats" are probably just in the smallest, hardest to get to place, and will remain there until they are good and ready to come out. So, just because it's full of thorn bushes, and has tin all around it, doesn't mean that the goats aren't there. Go check it out. Or, better yet, tackle them to the ground, scratch them until they like you, and then they'll come to you, instead of you having to go to them.

Storms comin'

Can't get enough of this view!!!! We figured the storm was hitting the highway about now, which is 2 miles away. It mostly missed us, but we sure felt the cold front go through! Much appreciated, and a great way to break up the longest day of the year.

No trouble sleeping here!

Hello. Ben and I are holding down the farm, so to speak. It is very fun and rewarding, but there are not enough hours in the day to get everything accomplished!!! It's a never-ending, wonderfully fulfilling life. *contented sigh*

We had a bit of excitement the other day. First of all, we are looking into getting some heritage breeds of hogs and cattle, to raise up for meat, and to help get them off of the critical list (endangered cattle, who knew?). Anyway, that morning, I spoke to a person from the ALBC, while Ben played in his 'office' right there, listening. That afternoon, we ran to town. Pulling into the drive, I was thinking about what all needed to be done, when Ben said, "Oh look, our cows are here." Well, not OUR cows, but there were definitely some one's cows meandering up the driveway. They sort of milled around a bit confused, so I went ahead and pulled in. (They had not spotted our garden yet, and were headed toward the back pasture, so I just encouraged them, you know, with a tiny little acceleration in their direction. If any gravel went flying, it was a coincidence. :) Unfortunately, there are few things that make you grin that spontaneous, pure bliss, sloppy grin more than chasing a group of animals. *hmmmm* Especially when they go where you want them to----oooo, it's when you're chipping ice off the sidewalk, and you crack it juuuuuust right, and a ginormous piece comes off, so big, you can barely lift it. *ahhh* good times, good times.

So... oh yes, cows, well, I called around, the nice farmer from down the road came to take a look, offered his advise, and left. It was a nice teaching moment for Ben. He wanted to know why that guy wasn't taking the cows with him, so we talked about responsibility; the person that owned the cows needed to come and get them. I have to say when I called around it seemed that with Eric being gone, these guys around here sure didn't want to bother my pretty head about some loose cattle. At first, I was a little offended, but honestly, I didn't want to be out there, trying to get a herd of cattle to go over and around to.... somewhere. So, you know what, I said thank you. Thank you for taking this responsibility off of my shoulders, and letting me know that I am not alone, and if I need help, I can find it. They may not have meant it like "Don't bother your pretty little head" that was never said, I felt it had been implied. It was an AHA moment. Why would I make my life harder because, why? so they don't treat women with... um, I got nothin'. So it turned out that the owner of the cows happened to be baling hay faaaaaar away, and wouldn't be able to come until the next morning. So, we got to watch cows run down the road, over the fence, and 2 guys on 4-wheelers got to experience that bliss of having the herd go where they wanted them to. It was a great day!

So, with the garden, the goats, the dogs, the cats, the chickens, and the kid (my personal favorite), our days are full. Eric is working hard far away so he can be closer longer later. We may be tired, but I've never been more proud of us.

Chickchickchickchickchick

The chicks are here!!! And formed very nicely as if they were a clock. The three at 6:00 are the feather-footed (the Partridge Cochins) The one at 9, and the group at 3 are the Rhode Island Reds, right at 4 is one of the rare breeds (Houdini--he's so small, when we first put them into the kennel, he kept popping through the bars) and the black fuzzy one up at 10:30 seems to be another rare breed (Owl) we thought they sent us 4 of the cochins, but this one's feet are fuzz-free. (And he looks a bit pretentious, so I referred to him as owl... oops.) The ones up 12-2:30 are the Aracunas, as is the one that looks white on the feeder. They are so little! And sooooo cute! Ben was so excited, and told me everything they did on the ride home. He didn't believe me that they didn't have fur. A few of them already have some feathers coming in this afternoon. Wow. I am not sure how this works, as these are our first chicks. The Aracunas are a Bantam breed, which means they will be smaller, but these guys are bigger than the RIRs which are supposed to be a Heavy Breed (like I know what that means). So we'll see how it goes. The cats watched for a good hour, eyes bright like kittens, tracking, tracking, but they didn't do anything, so that's awesome. This afternoon, Ben and I had some out on the floor ((they are sooooo cute!!!)) the cats didn't care one bit. Now, to do the work that should have been done instead of watching the baby chickens ALL day!!

As requested...

Well, things have been going very well. The goats are out in the lot for most of the day. They've mowed down most of the weeds, so that's AWESOME! Here are some pictures. They were following Ben around--he dragged the branch around, and they followed him like puppies. The other was hard to catch but the one you can clearly see is Slash the blur in the foreground is Deer, and the little bit behind Slash is our Gabby.

We have almost everything we need for the chickens. That is what I have been up to--decluttering the 'basement' so we'll have space for them. I am curious what the cats will do with the chicks near their food. We've been debating about putting the dogs down by the goats, so they can get used to them. We have not, because Kodiak is sick with something, so we have her right here, to make sure she's getting her fluids and medicine. Gunner is blossoming! Having food available to Kodiak all the time has made our Gunner quite plump. He's never looked better.

Fun fact: While eating, goats never hold still. However, in this particular situation, if you hough a bit, Slash will freeze just long enough for you to snap a picture, but will not fall for it again. The others could care less, as long as you do not take their maple leaves away. Should you try to do so, remember it is difficult to pick up a large branch and take a picture a the same time, before they start eating again. (I refer you back to the beginning sentence of this paragraph.)

They like us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, they like maple tree suckers, anyway, but WE bring them. Thus, they like us! This weekend, Ben and I took a friend to see the goats, and they came RUNNING up to us!! YEA!

Eric went around once again, to check the fences. He enclosed another area--just above the barn (in the picture) there is a corn crib, with some hog huts to the right. All of that is around a concrete area that is covered in weeds. Eric fenced it off, and we let the goats out! They were a little hesitant to begin with. Especially with Ben chasing them around. :) Eric is right (don't quote me!) that it's a good thing for them to be around Ben, just being Ben. The goats really don't seem to mind him at all. If he gets too close, they take off, but he's never hurt them (and he brings food, too :).

Then, to put them away for the night, I trimmed up the tree that smacks you when you go by on the 4-wheeler, and they followed me right into the barn. YES! :)

The plans for everything are down at the machine shed. We've started the dog house, but we got a call. There were some extras at a building site, but we had to pick them up right then, so free stuff beat out dog house.

Oooo! We have a pigeon problem. They are all over the machine shed. Eric wanted to take out the BB gun, but I've convinced him to give me a week to persuade them to leave... wish me luck!

Fun fact: Kodiak got into the 'dog-free' area. :) Guess we'll go around it again. And again...

'

Well, they're still alive...

so that's a good thing.

Wow--not sure how that happened--this was taken just minutes ago with my digital camera! It will not let me rotate it, so if you'd just gently tilt your head so your left ear is close to your left shoulder... (and read on, read on.)

Actually, things are going really well. On Wednesday, we went down again to help them get used to us. They still stayed away for the most part. They came over to check out the weeds we had gathered for them, but when Deer got close, Ben reached out and pet her. They ran. Gabby got her head stuck behind a gate-like-thing. Ben went over to her, walking carefully, speaking softly, and gently took her head, turned it, and pushed it back through the slot. Then, as she couldn't get out from behind it, he looked, then undid a wire. He turned to ask for help (I was already on the way) and in turning, let go of it just enough for it to fall on him. My goodness. It was very scary, but he handled it beautifully. As I carried him out of the barn (after making sure nothing was broken) he said "I saved Gabby, huh, Mama?" "Yea, you sure did, kiddo. Just like a hero." The look on his face--contemplative, and proud is one I will remember for a long time--wish I had my camera, so I could share it with you.

For the past few days, we've been trimming up around the trees, removing suckers, and taking them to the goats. They LOVE them! And we're actually trimming up the trees!!! The place has never looked so good. Yesterday, we took a few 2' branches and sat in the middle of the aisle. Deer was the first to come over, and start in eating. The others soon followed. We sat, while they got closer and closer... but this time, we just waited. Ben was such a trooper. We talked about why it wouldn't be a good idea to pet them right now, even though they were totally within reach. We decided that this was a good thing, that they came so close, but we'll wait until they come up to us when we don't have food. It was a great teaching moment for patience, and seeing the bigger picture. Plus, while I had him engaged in conversation, the goats almost touched the hand that was holding the branch. :) It was an awesome experience!

Eric is off today, so we're going over to finish up a few things at his parent's house while they are gone. It's our 5 year wedding anniversary. The traditional gift for 5 years is wood. How appropriate! We're planning on making chicken coops and dog houses this weekend!! (40% chance of rain, so we may be putting them together out in the machine shed!)

Hey--if you have one of those collapsible clothes lines, and it falls over, bend it back straight. (Our pole circumference was 1 1/4", so have your PVC be about 1/4" wider than your pole.) Then take a length of 1 1/2" PVC pipe, slide it over the entire length (from the bottom of the rubber thing, to where it goes into the ground (ours is about 2' --luckily we had a piece in the shed just shy of that!) I couldn't remember if PVC gets broken down by UV rays or not, so I went ahead and painted it with some sticks-on-plastic spray paint we had. (blue) If you're going to use regular paint, scuff it with fine sandpaper to help the paint stick. This plastic spray paint wasn't very expensive. With the PVC wedged on, the whole thing screwed together, and put back in the hole, I just sprayed it right there. ch-ch-ch, done!) I think we picked this up at Wal-Mart last year. If you are getting one new, why not put a piece of PVC around it now, so you don't have it tip over in the first place! An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

The dark spots on the PVC are from not taking my time. There is extra paint there. (gently arc back and forth, only 'ch-ing' in the middle part of the arc. And yes, that is the technical term. :) I was in a hurry this morning--I would like to hang up clothes this afternoon!

Fun fact: Goats do not eat tin cans. They do, however LOVE the glue they use to adhere the labels. (so do cockroaches!) ew.
If hungry enough, a goat will gnaw on metal objects, but it's not good for their gut.

Ahhh, the 'simple' life.

We sure do like it here, we think you will, too. That is our town's motto. I thought it was hokey when I first read it, but now I completely understand it.

This farm thing is a life all in of itself. To call it simple is naive. Basic may be a better word, but still not quite right. You ever have something that is pure good? Doing it, and doing it right feels... good, feels right? Now I enjoyed signing, and I sure did love the 'ah-ha' look, when something I taught got caught, but this, this is right. I never felt as at peace during any of my jobs that I have here in the garden, playing with Ben, or even waking up at 4 in the morning to close the barn doors, so the goats don't catch a draft. We've found our purpose, thus, we've found our peace.

Last night, we did not sleep with the goats (it rained!), but we realized that until they get to know us, they have no reason to trust us. The dogs, while they enjoy a good chase (and it IS fun to chase the goats :) , they come down to the barn because we're there. The goal here is balance. Balance all of the things that need to be done, with love and patience, and it's all good.

And now? Down to the barn, to let the goats get to know us a little better.

It's a good life, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Fun fact: Goats have very good eyesight, and can see movement up to a mile away.

I put this fun fact in, because yesterday, when we went down, they weren't watching us, outside the fence, they were warily watching our shadows inside the pen. Also, when we come in with a choice weed or carrot top, just holding it, they'll ignore it, but if you wave it around a bit, they can't seem to help themselves from tracking it.

the next few days

So it's not an every-day-exciting-stuff-happens kind of a thing. We found a home for the stray-Ben named him "Lion-dog" and the new owner (my father-in-law) named him Shep.

The goat thing is going alright. They are still in the barn, and still not overly happy to see us. Yesterday when we went to spend some time down there, we kinda chased them a bit. I had some trouble catching them... so today when we went down, they ran right away. Oops. So we spend several hours a day down there, just playing in the hay or straightening up the rest of the barn. We laugh, and play, and are generally fairly loud, to try to help them get used to us. Tonight, Ben and I are camping out down there. Eric may come too, but he has class this whole week, so he needs his sleep. SO, the mission for now is to get the goats used to us, and the dogs used to the goats. Sounds easy. LOL!

Fun fact: Dogs and goats are natural enemies. The fear that emanates off of a pack of goats can send even a very easy-going dog back to it's natural instincts. (this, of course, is just fabulous on this here farm. Our dogs enjoy catching rabbits, and are very eager to get in with the goats. Any tips for helping them get along? And don't waste your time, we're not getting rid of either of them!!!)

Day 3

Whew! We'll all sleep good tonight! Ben and I started cleaning out the old tack room (they kept a horse in there for a while...) while Eric opened up 2 more doors! Yea! Less climbing over fences. We found some things that we can use for the chickens, or clean up and see if we can use them elsewhere. It was like a treasure hunt. While hunting for some wire in the machine shed, Eric found a round rubber dish. We think this will work a little better than the huge tub (although it was pretty cute, watching them lean on one leg to reach in) for the water. It wasn't practical, since we have to haul it, to have a 30 gallon container for our 3 young goats.

Ben and I tried to win their affections with an apple--they licked it quite enthusiastically, but they did not eat it while we were there. They are still pretty nervous around us. Hopefully this won't last. It is teaching all of us patience, though, and that's a good thing!

We were in and out of the barn all day today. Gunner got in, through the door Eric was fixing, but left the goats alone--he just wanted to be near us, and out of the sun. Gunner is our English Setter. Our other dog is Kodiak, and she is a red Doberman Pincher. We have recently been introduced to a dog that was dumped on us. It is a male Collie? Sheltie? Australian Shepard? I am not sure of the differences between these breeds. We are on again/off again about keeping him. We're doing everything necessary to find him a home. I am against keeping him, as it's a big, fluffy dog, and we live right here in cockle burr valley, with sticky weed lane going straight through it. If you'd like a beautiful dog, that is very well mannered, post a comment, then come get him!

Eric went around and replaced the fencing he'd wanted to before we got the goats, and the gates that were pretty much useless. Ben helped. They cut down the saplings that were in the way, and put them in for the goats. Whoo-whee, do they LOVE saplings! We've been debating about staking them out in the pasture... and about getting an electric fence. There's so much information, but which one to choose? We'll let you know the whys and the hows of what we choose to do (and how it worked!).

Fun fact: Goats (on a pasture) get almost all the moisture they need from plants. (on a good day-but always have it available for them!) (the amount per goat varies as much as the places you can get information from! One said you need 1 gallon per goat. We were told a 10 gallon bucket was more than enough for 30, so watch your herd, and see what they think. )

Day 2

Last night, we gave them alfalfa. They sure seem to love it. The dogs are still trying to get in to them, but we've got it covered--literally with some woven wire bits here and there. This afternoon, as a goodwill gesture, I took a book and a chair, and picked a nice bunch of clover. For four hours I sat there, trying to entice them to come check me out, but they were perfectly content to avoid me like the plague. Then, Eric came down. Hmmm. Guess we know who they like better! Luckily, we were able to snag them fairly easily, and held them for a good half hour. Eric may not have gotten head-butted at all, but I can grab them quicker than he can! Thank goodness they are still so small! I think we should take their food, and only give it to them when we're there, so they associate food with us. Pretty much so they'll at least pretend to like me.

17 days until the chickens are here!!! They'll be inside for the first month or so, but we've been going over coop plans, checking out suitable areas, and in general, getting along quite splendidly. Who could ask for anything more?

Fun fact: Only 1 buck is needed to breed 20-30 does.