We are indeed late in breeding the girls, but the job is being done. We brought home their new love (Ha!) a few weeks ago, and poor Neville is being shunned by the girls.
So what that he's a little smaller and a little younger, he's more than happy to do his job! Gerie was a downright pill, actively preferring the useless wonder that is Chester the Molester. Through much ado, Ms. Gerie was finally convinced that Neville was a perfectly good male and now her due date (provided all "took") is July 19th.
All of those hormones, though, through no fault of their own have infected Balvenie and brought her into heat a week early. It's another randy few days in the barnyard while Neville works hard to win over this blue eyed beauty. Neville and Balvenie will get to spend some quality time alone together in the small separate pen, so if all goes well she should be due about a week after Gerie.
Adventures in goat breeding - never a dull moment!
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Saturday, February 9, 2013
It's All A Choice
I have been extremely remiss in writing lately. I started writing this blog for me, and if anyone else happened upon it and enjoyed it or learned something from it that's a bonus. It has been very therapeutic and lately the lack of writing is evident in my daily life.
There are no excuses - just a fast "catch-up" on what's been going on. In December I had bronchitis for the holidays, and recovered just in time to have sinus surgery on January 9th. My activity is still somewhat limited and recovery is slower than usual, but recovery so it is. The chicks moved from the closet to the barn in a mini-coop, and then into the back coop with their mini-coop inside of it. They are gorgeous girls and we are sure they will be a fantastic addition to our pastures. A week ago we bought and brought home a mini-lamancha buck named Neville. He's perfect for Balvenie and Gerie, but he is working on earning his place in the herd.
The real reason I logged in to write today though is a bit more introspective.
We raise our goats and sell our soaps. We raise our own chickens for eggs and meat. We bake our own bread and cook from scratch. We make our own beer and wine. We set our own fences and are building our own garden. We make our own cheeses, and we even make our own laundry detergent. We work hard at our day jobs and on our farm that we consider our real job. And we are often asked "Why?" from folks who work at the same type of day jobs and go home only to regenerate enough to do it again the next day. We often hear "How do you have the energy for all of that?"
The answer to the question of "Why?" has so many layers. More and more often as I go to my day job and work to the best of my ability I find myself asking what sort of way is this to live? We spend our time working in jobs we do not love to go home exhausted and try to cobble together what we do want because it is all a step in the direction of achieving our goal. That goal is to some day be off the grid and sustain ourselves from our own land. We want to reduce our negative impact on mother earth. We want to feel that what we do makes a difference in our own lives and in the lives of others.
We choose a simpler life. That means in the meantime is that we work toward the goal of having no debts, and building a means of supporting our desired lifestyle. My favorite work is always with the animals and the land, even when it's blistering hot or freezing cold. It matters.
That is a worthwhile choice.
There are no excuses - just a fast "catch-up" on what's been going on. In December I had bronchitis for the holidays, and recovered just in time to have sinus surgery on January 9th. My activity is still somewhat limited and recovery is slower than usual, but recovery so it is. The chicks moved from the closet to the barn in a mini-coop, and then into the back coop with their mini-coop inside of it. They are gorgeous girls and we are sure they will be a fantastic addition to our pastures. A week ago we bought and brought home a mini-lamancha buck named Neville. He's perfect for Balvenie and Gerie, but he is working on earning his place in the herd.
The real reason I logged in to write today though is a bit more introspective.
We raise our goats and sell our soaps. We raise our own chickens for eggs and meat. We bake our own bread and cook from scratch. We make our own beer and wine. We set our own fences and are building our own garden. We make our own cheeses, and we even make our own laundry detergent. We work hard at our day jobs and on our farm that we consider our real job. And we are often asked "Why?" from folks who work at the same type of day jobs and go home only to regenerate enough to do it again the next day. We often hear "How do you have the energy for all of that?"
The answer to the question of "Why?" has so many layers. More and more often as I go to my day job and work to the best of my ability I find myself asking what sort of way is this to live? We spend our time working in jobs we do not love to go home exhausted and try to cobble together what we do want because it is all a step in the direction of achieving our goal. That goal is to some day be off the grid and sustain ourselves from our own land. We want to reduce our negative impact on mother earth. We want to feel that what we do makes a difference in our own lives and in the lives of others.
We choose a simpler life. That means in the meantime is that we work toward the goal of having no debts, and building a means of supporting our desired lifestyle. My favorite work is always with the animals and the land, even when it's blistering hot or freezing cold. It matters.
That is a worthwhile choice.
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