Sometimes it seems like all our goats do is eat hay and cost money. I felt like that a lot over the winter when both Pepper and Flora were dry. Yet, even though it may feel like that after cashing out at Runnings, this is simply not true. These goats very much pay their own keep around here and then some. There’s the dairy aspect (which alone makes them worth it) and there’s the manure aspect that I’m sure a…
I’ve always said that I like all the seasons. Yes, winter too. I like skiing, the snow, pot roast, watching Father Brown in the evening with Rachel and some hot tea… I like just about all of it. That said, lately I’m reminded about how much I also like it NOT being winter any more. Our little homestead is out of dormancy: we have more eggs than we know what to do with, and the goats are making enough milk…
I was having a conversation with somebody the other day about waiting for our cream separator to come in the mail. Goat milk doesn’t separate like cow’s milk, so you need a separator to get cream and make things like butter. The person responded, impressed “Wow, you guys really are the real deal!” I hear that often whenever I talk about what we do. And whenever I hear that I think to myself yeah, right. We’re not the real deal….
We have ducklings! Three of them, to be exact. They hatched over this past weekend, and I’d forgotten just how adorable baby ducklings are. In terms of looks, I’ll take a baby duckling over a chick any day. I had however, also forgotten how messy they are! Ducklings love water, and it’s next to impossible to keep them from playing in their drinking water. Combine that with the fact that they often toss food around when they eat, and we’re…
Sometimes, I wonder why we bother with animals. Today was one of those days. This was the day I did our semi-annual deep clean of the barn. It’s long, stinky, dirty, back-breaking work. Not fun. The other times are the early, cold mornings when milking time comes. Tomorrow is the First of May, yet it’s still only in the 30s before 7 am still. Last week we had freezing rain in the mornings while I was out biking and milking….