Our quiet winter days have come to an abrupt end. Not that we ever have anything quiet around here; we do have three boys aged seven and under. Perhaps I should have said ‘uneventful’ rather than quiet. Gone are the moments of peacefully watching sap boil, we’re now full into milking, seed starting and mud.

So far we’ve started onion, broccoli, pea and butternut squash indoors. The bay window in the front of our house has trays of seedlings set before it, and we’re trying hard not to be making too much mud in the house with the potting soil. Everything has gone well thus far except for the onions. We will never start onions from seed again. They’re a pain to work with and require far too much maintenance to get them to sprout. We’ll be starting from sets just as you do with garlic and potatoes. Hey, if Pa Ingalls can buy a cow in milk and bypass raising a heifer and calving then we can bypass the seed stage and just grab onion sets. Sometimes I think my desire to be a ‘purist’ is far too idealistic. So next year: sets instead of seeds.

We were supposed to be clearing out our bay window by transplanting some of the cold-hardy seedlings outside tomorrow, but the last few days of downpours has left our yard pretty much all mud. The ducks are having a blast, the goats are miserable (they hate getting wet), and we’re starting to get claustrophobic having all these seed trays in our living room. Remember, our house isn’t that big.

Pepper continues to supply our family with enough milk, which is saying something considering that she’s feeding two kids as well. Hopefully Flora will be able to give us the extra we need to make cheese. It won’t be much longer as her time is coming soon; she’s due on Easter Sunday. That said, it’s time to start Kid Watch 2017 – Part II!

Poor Flora. I feel bad for her, as Pepper is not the easiest goat to get along with. She’s the dominant doe, and reinforces the social hierarchy of the barnyard with frequency. In a larger goat herd that’s fine. If anything it’s preferable, as it’s the natural order for goats and it provides them with a sense of security to have order and organization in the herd. With only two goats it just means that Flora gets bullied a lot. Hopes are high that Flora has a doe kid we can hold back. Restore balance and bring peace to our backyard, it will.

Flora’s not the only one that Pepper picks on. She seems to like picking on Rachel too. Whenever I’m working late and Rachel has to do the milking, Pepper starts kickboxing. Ever try to milk a kickboxing goat? It’s not easy. I don’t know if it’s an ‘alpha’ thing or if it’s just that she prefers the way I milk, but regardless, this is a work-in-progress.

Here’s hoping to warmer days, stronger yields, and goat kids without Y chromosomes!