4.13.10

What an amazing blessing to have and be surrounded by so many little blessings. Sunburned and worn out from a days work doing what you love and believe in. Exhausted from lack of sleep for the honor of being mom to a tiny kitten every four hours. Dirt under my fingernails from potting more little green groceries and cures. Milk stained jeans from missing the pail while milking our new beloved Anna. We are so very lucky.

We've been very excited to bring Anna home and were able to pick her up today. On top of getting a truly wonderful goat were treated to some of the nicest people I have ever met.

Anna is Saanen/Nubian mix and huge. Much bigger than Matilda and Matilda is pretty big. I may switch over to Saanens or a mix, they seem to have a much calmer personality than most Nubians. They do need more shade but should also be hardier in the winters. Maybe one or two of each will be just right :)

Milking was easy and akin to hanging laundry in that i found it meditative and peaceful. I'm very glad to have learned how to milk a goat before getting goats. I might have figured it out with cow milking experience but it is a bit different.

I'm using just warm water to as an udder wash and a teat dip I've made myself, 1 part live vinegar to 1 part water plus 2 to 3 drops of tea tree oil per cup.

Our first milking this evening went to the animals (who didn't complain at all) because I didn't pay attention and Anna put her foot in the milk pail. We have one nursing and one pregnant feral cat who were very pleased. And Raspberry, the barn helper who used to help me feed the bucklings and got their leftover milk, got a big share all for himself.

One bad thing did happen today, Fox, the RIR rooster, split his beak trying to peck Sir Didymus through the glass of a campershell which is a temporary roo house. There was blood and gore everywhere and it looks bad but he's able to breathe, eat and drink so i think he'll be alright. We were able to pen him up for the night in another area and will work on roo pens tomorrow. I'll watch his beak and is it doesn't heal up I will try a tiny bit of superglue which we used on turtle shells and a baby alligator head when i worked for a vet in Florida.

The hens are also a little problematic in that none have gone broody yet this year. We always have at least one broody by March but none so far. We're behind having chicks because of it. Hopefully soon because we need to replenish our flock and have people waiting for natural chicks as well.

The worms are doing well, I got fancy red wigglers about a month ago and they're doing wonderfully ! Some crawled out of their ben the other day but i think i let it get a little to dry for them. I have a pretty cool set up. We have the worm ben is situated right under the bathroom area of Junipers winter hutch on the porch. The bun poop falls into the worm ben and they turn it into excellent rich compost. It will take a while for them to make enough for the garden but I have been able to use it in the seedlings.

I tried it with regular earthworms a few years ago and that actually worked pretty well too. After they got established I would divide them and put half back into the gardens every few months. I hope the red wigglers will do as well.

Tiny Kirin is doing wonderfully and growing big! He has a big fat buddha belly and purrs loudly when you hold him or love him at all :)

A horrendous thing has happened to our Ozark Farmers Market. It's been changed drastically this year and it's terrible. Most of us who have set up the last two years will not be back this year. It's very sad. We're just getting the results. For the past two years Ozark Farmers Market was on the courthouse lawn at the square. On the grass with several shade trees and a gazebo with live bluegrass each night. It will now be held on the big asphalt parking lot of the new community center, no trees, no grass, no music. The vendor fee was 25.00 a season (we knew it would go up each year not didn't expect this). It is now 150.00 per season. The strangest part was that they said they had voted (the council members I guess) on whether to move it to the park or the parking lot of the CC. I can't believe that chose ass-fault over grass, trees, shade, life ... There were some other things i can't recall right now but just that is enough to bum out a lot of people. One of the ladies who sets up near us every year just broke down crying. I cried with her. Some of us actually did it to earn money and the joy of it was a wonderful side effect. but a lot of folks set up just for fun.

I'm going to be going ahead and vend at Nixa Market at least two days a week and maybe Spokane but I felt a bit devastated at the news. I had worked so hard through the winter and this spring to prepare for or beloved market.

But life is wonderful for the most part and we keep on with the wondrous adventure of it all.