To Market To Market

Got a few little jobs done on Friday like putting cattle panel over the hole in Posie’s gate 

I stuffed the pallet fence with weed tree saplings to help give these girls a little shade in the late afternoon. Would like to extend that some. Have also thought of being able to tie off a little shade cloth high up on the sticks for more shade. 

Didn’t really show up in the pic but there’s a huge hole in a fallow garden space. Maybe a rabbit burrow as it looks bigger than most of the ground squirrel holes I’ve seen. Goes quite always down. 

Had a lovely time at market and came home to Chocolate and Gazelle going walk about.  They even had Posie’s gate open. 

Apparently the wooden fence post I hinged to dried out and the pintles are twisting. Got the girls in, temporary fix. Will work on it when it cools down some.

At milking time I discovered there was more to the story. Posie has broken off her small scurs…

AND Mocha has blue paint on her horns (like Chocolate and Gazelle.  Mmmm so now I wonder if Posie and Mocha got out and they got the other gate open.  Mmmm. 

Digger looking cute and innocent. He’s getting a little better about chasing the cat and chickens IF I catch him BEFORE he actually does anything. Like we are walking and I see a loose chicken and Digger is paying too much attention to it. If I tell him NO and distract him it’s good. 

I have no idea what was sooo interesting under the car. 

Tonight’s milking was interrupted by a thunderstorm with a little rain so took even longer than usual. Got the bottle baby, Digger and me some dinner and went to bed. 

#appreciation

I appreciate all my customers that help support my crazy life 😀

Today was Derailed by the Crazy Train

Digger got his leash stuck because he went around the tree half a dozen times. 

Doing chores. The view from Bashful’s pen. 

Mmmm.  Chocolate are you sprouting and udder?   Mmmm. 

Mmmm. And Gazelle too. But I didn’t breed you two. And I have NO recollection of you and Bashful being out at the same time.  Mmmm. 

So Digger and I are just doing chores, I’m watering some plants as I go. No hurry. And realized Chocolate has her head stuck in the fence. 

I *almost* got her loose but her horns are too long and wide and she was fighting me trying to maneuver her head. Texted a friend and while we waited for help I put down a stack of cement blocks for her to stand on. 

So my morning was derailed and nothing I planned to do happened. By the time I got some smaller mesh wire over the cattle panel it was too hot to work in the sun. 

Mocha is a piggie. She is scraping up the fine residue of feed that is stuck to the feed pan with her teeth. 

Lousy pic, I know. But livestock guardian dogs are amazingly smart. Digger goes around this pen when I’m feeding. (These chickens are freaked out by him so I don’t let him go in this pen). Coming back down his rope catches under the edge and he gets stuck. Today as he came around the corner he grabbed the rope in his mouth and carried it so it wouldn’t catch. 

And the consensus is Bambi is pregnant. Oh boy. Getting more than I bargained for!

PS: this should have posted on Thursday but having issues with technology....

Woot. It’s Done!

5:00 am. Good morning. Little goat. 

Storm and bottle baby’s brother 

Feed Digger his breakfast 

6:00am hay all the goats and check water buckets 

Feed the chicks. This year’s hatches were about 90% male 😒

Feed all the adults 

6:45am off to work. Back about 11:00. Feed me, the bottle baby and Digger. Fill some water buckets. Digger likes to drink out of the hose. 

Ran some errands. Came home and while it was hot it was cloudy so I got the gate set on the new pen. Moved Midnight’s boys in. I want to start separating them some during the day. 

They didn’t seem too concerned that mom wasn’t around and paid no mind to her hollaring   

Milked Posie and Mocha then Midnight. After milking I put her in with her boys. Then I went and got Chocolate and Gazelle. Then I milked Bambi and Storm. 

Chocolate is checking the fence out. I realized that I had forgotten to screw the pallets to each other and I hadn’t finished wiring one of them to the T post so it was wobbling. Got that done. And then it was dark. 

Ate some dinner and going to bed. 

PS. This should have posted on Wednesday but somehow didn’t finish upload

And It’s Almost Done

I’ve been working to make a pen for Gazelle, Chocolate, Midnight and her boys this week. First I lined this garden space with pallets to keep the goats from ruining the weld wire. I added some pallets and T posts to make a little shelter from the rain and to have some shade. I’m using some pretty trashy wood, crooked, splitting out at big knots so some needed bandaids. 

Rafters up. 

I worked all day to get this far. It’s pretty janky, I didn’t even bother going for level, square or plumb. The covered space is about 6x8 feet. Needs a little more tin along the top line. The rest is the top of an old pop up trailer. 

My 6 foot pry bar in the hole where I’ll put a T post to wire the pallet and chain the gate to. I might have finished today but of course I hit a rock. I also need to cover the gate with small wire and level the ground to keep the kids in. Slightly disappointed I couldn’t move the girls in tonight. 

Digger was exploring the hill pen this afternoon and the goats immediately began telling on him, baaing and snorting until he came back down. Cracked me up. 

To Market to Market

Eggs

Goat Milk Soap 

Goat Milk Lotion 

Found a few small tomatoes 

Swiss chard

Had a lovely time at the Globe-Miami Farmers Market this morning. Sold out of some lotion scents. 

The goats cracked me up this afternoon. That’s Digger going to explore the hill pen. Bashful’s pen and Posie’s pen have line of sight to that area and they immediately began “telling” on him!

This afternoon made a batch of lotion and did some laundry and dishes then all the usual chores. And now, again it’s way past my bedtime.  Zzzzzzz. 

Farmer Friday

Bashful is still getting used to the puppy. 

Wednesday and Thursday and a bit this morning I hauled pallets and worked on this new goat pen. Chocolate, Gazelle, Midnight and her twins are getting pretty cramped. 

Made a fair amount of progress. Really hoping to be done on Sunday. 

Bashful and Digger were pretty cute today. 

Mmmmm. I suppose hay dust could be the reason my phone hasn’t been charging well lately.  I was feeling pretty crunchy too so got a bath and washed my hair before heading to Superior for deliveries. 

Little goat has been eating hay. He’s graduated to a lamb nipple with a bigger hole so now he can drink more in the same amount of time. 

My Digger, what big paws you have. 

Esmarelda. Always has to be difficult and different.  Bambi, Storm and Storm’s kid all laying in the shade, chewing cud and napping. While Esmarelda stands on the hay feeder trying to eat the tarp. 

Digger is not happy being restrained in any way and barks, howls, cries and growls because he can’t get to me while I’m milking. He also tangled himself up and chews the leash. Tonight he managed to chew it in half. It’s only 5 days old. 

I did get some Swiss chard picked this morning and made a batch of cheese yesterday. We had a little thunderstorm this afternoon. Digger paid no attention to it at all.  Not much rain but I’ll check the gauge in the morning.