Coming Soon!

Bug Off goat milk lotion! Nourishing for the skin, and a deterrent to those pesky bugs of summer!

Catching up

It has been a busy couple of weeks, not leaving much time for writing - and then the stress of the last months and the exposure to who knows what sorts of illnesses all caught up with me and knocked me flat.  I spent a couple of days last week sick at home, then a couple more sick at work, and come Saturday my sweet hubby wouldn't let me lift a finger.  I was exhausted and laid down and napped and read and napped and read.  My fever finally headed the right direction though!

This spring has been really rather fantastic with gorgeous weather, and the perfect amount of rain.  We have had a good mix and even several days when we didn't need to water the garden, and it's still thriving!  Even the young hens are in laying finally!

And Gerie, my sweet pregnant gal, is broad as a barn.  I expect babies on the ground in about 3-4 weeks.  

And of course, boys will be boys.  

The chard is getting so big, as are the carrot tops.

We even have tomatoes coming on, and peppers that look like they will produce soon!  

 We were gifted with a start of Garlic Chives - popular in many Asian dishes.  After a little bit of root shock at the new soil, it's perking up quite nicely!

 Those beans - I still am not sure if I should start over, or continue to give them a chance.  This week, they are perking up and new leaves are appearing.

 And my favorite summer garden produce is coming on like there's no tomorrow.  The zucchini bed is vibrant and gorgeous and sure to fill many a summer meal with its deliciousness!

 And last, but not least, the cucumber are starting to grow like mad.  I need to get their fence in so they have something to climb so they won't choke out the row of basil that shares their bed.  I am still stunned that the basil is coming up from seed so well!  The plant that is in the back yard raised bed (thing) is something we are already harvesting from and using, but all the baby plants that are coming up from seed are just a delight! There shall be pesto, and once we are back in milk there will indeed be basil pesto chevre with sun dried tomatoes and pine nuts! My mouth is watering already!

A New Neighbor

The nieghbors who rent the property next to ours have brought a new friend into everyone's lives.  She is beautiful - Tall with long legs, a long neck, graceful body and a good personality (so far!) plus, she is somewhat exotic. Yes - I admit I sort of like that in a horse.  She's a 6 year old Arabian mare.

Last night we had a meeting of minds at the adjoining fence, and while there may have been some reservations on both sides things seemed to settle down pretty quickly.  She was slightly distraught when everyone on our side went to bed, because she was ready for a visit and missed her new friends. 

I think this is another neighbor we'll enjoy having around.

Happenstance

This is another of those posts that has nothing to do with the farm, but simply to do with life.

Today was quite eventful with my son finally getting his blue belt, after an extended time as green belt due to extraneous circumstances.  (Two broken bones, not at the same time, a sprain, bronchitis, the flu, and more. This caused a serious slow down in his progress.)  Now he just has brown to get through before attaining his black belt!

After the happy occasion, my hubby headed off to a guild meeting, the kids went to their dad's, and I had lunch out on my own. I'd been craving Chinese food for days, so I went to my favorite hole-in-the-wall and had an amazing lunch for not much money, and afterward headed to the grocery store.

About three quarters of the way through this adventure (Ha!) as I was putting some frozen veggies in my cart, a gentleman came up to talk to me.  I had passed him a time or two already, a few aisles back.  He looked a little bit lost or nervous, I couldn't tell which, so I waited thinking he wanted to ask some random question like "do you know where the okra is?" or something like that.  I was completely taken aback when he smiled very nervously and said "I've never done this before, but I have to say this because if I get hit by a bus tomorrow I'd regret not telling you that you are the most amazingly beautiful woman I have ever seen. I passed you a few aisles back, and just... You have an uncommon beauty..." and here he trailed off.  If he had seemed creepy at all, I would have bolted.  As it was, his nervousness and sincerity just made me smile.

What could I do?  I thanked him, and admitted no one had ever approached me out of the blue to say something like that.  I made a point of flashing my wedding ring and letting him know that my husband does tell me I'm beautiful, but no stranger has ever just come up to me and said that.  It made me smile, and I appreciated that he did take the time to say this.  As I walked away, I couldn't help but reflect on this instance.

I will tell you now that I was simply grocery shopping, and had on jeans and a t-shirt and tennis shoes and I really am not feeling all that well today.  My eyes burn as if I have a fever (not going to check it just in case there is one - I don't want to admit it if I'm actually ill) and my throat is aching, and I've had a headache since I got up this morning.  I did do my hair today - apparently that counts for something.  Really though, no beauty queen here, folks.  To top it off, a few days ago in a fit of absolute upset with myself about myself, I started faithfully logging all of my calories and activities being determined to shed several unwanted pounds.

There has to be a lesson in this.  Perhaps it's just that maybe we should be a little more forgiving with ourselves, about ourselves.  What we see in ourselves isn't necessarily what the rest of the world sees - and we should try to look at ourselves with fresh eyes.

Do me a favor: Go to your mirror and look at yourself and try to see what others see, whether they know you or not.  You may just see a beautiful person staring back at you.  :-)

It's May For Goodness Sake!

It has been sunny and warm and the perfect spring weather to invite one to be out and about in nature, enjoying the burgeoning green of the season.

Then... the weather changed.  Today's high was at 6:00 a.m., and then it was 49 degrees.  The low tonight is about 35 degrees!

I should have been tipped off when I came to the conclusion that my winter of lazy with the donkeys was over, and it was time to get back on Penny's training, instead just loving on her and her mama every day rather than really working with her.  We haltered and groomed and fly-sprayed Lulu, and each of the goats.  Then, it became Junior Rodeo with Penny.  She wanted to play catch-me-if-you-can.  Through much ado, we did catch her. 

She was haltered with less fuss than I expected (thank goodness for the good long memory of donkeys, and laying it open in the small pan of oats - she pretty much haltered herself) after leading us a merry chase.  Then she refused to budge.  We did not want to risk her taking off with a lead rope snapped to her halter and hurting herself by tripping on it, so hubby ran the catch rope in a single loop through the ring and held on tight.  Fortunately, she was right by the stanchion so he was able to use one of the posts for some leverage.  I loved on her and told her how good she was doing, and what a good girl she really is. 

Then I introduced the spray bottle.  Normally, the spray bottle is the epitome of evil for Ms. Penny-whistle.  This time, I give her credit - the worst thing she did was lock her legs and lean back a little bit, then she stayed stock still while I sprayed her for flies.  All four legs.  Chest. Neck. Back. Butt.

When it was over, and she was still in the halter and hubby still had control of her, she got a handful of oats as a reward for standing still.  She remained standing still while hubby slipped the length of rope out of her halter and had another bite of oats before she realized she was not being held there.  At that point, she took off like a shot. 

About 30 feet away she realized the halter was still on her head and she shook her head in frustration. She tried running and that didn't work.  So she gave up and ate.  And she was fussy.  And the weather was changing. And we added the donkey-halter-of-shame to her world. 

Finally the lightbulb in my head got turned on and we realize she and her mama are both in heat.  We'll wait a few days before we continue!