When the Homily is about Immunology

Goats

Monday's Farm update

I worked all day Saturday getting the barn finished. In fact I hadn't been done with the barn for more than 20 minutes saturday when Sue and the girls pulled up with the goats in the back of the van. I started the day by hauling the rust hulk down to the feed store and filled up with four bags of a variety of feeds, two bales of straw, and three bales of alfalfa hay. Once again I left a trail of farm related debris on the way home, wholly enjoying the experience and lamenting only that the old truck didn't have a radio for me to blast out some country music. The final touch, after getting all the doors and gates made, was to spread some of the straw in the stalls...a sort of bed making.

I was surprised at how big the mama goat (aka "Firefly") is, both taller and wider than I thought. She also makes a very interesting noise quite unlike what I expected which was the sort of vibrato "baaaaaaa", but rather she offers something of a much deeper and consistent sound - almost like a soft-voiced cow.

A good deal of money has been thrown at this project and the guest cabin - more than we anticipated (which of course you always sort of anticipate). So we are beginning to settle back down into our belt tightening mode. But now milk and eggs are flowing, and disregarding (for now) initial investment, the chickens are more than paying for themselves and we expect the goats will too if her production levels are as predicted by the previous owner. Goat Cheese and soap sales will also hopefully begin to take off.

Looking at an upcoming week of nice weather - even HOT - we are going to finish the fencing for the goats and then hopefully take a day to relax and enjoy the sights and sounds of our growing farm...just a day, and then back to the cabin labors. Once the cabin is done I still have a lot of wood to chop.

Of course, bringing in the goats has assured us of having more farm duties to do each day - milking takes place twice a day, the stalls will have to be cleaned regularly, and the goats cared for to keep them clean and healthy. I expect Sue...when, and if, she has a spare moment...will post pics.

In other news, 4H is in our sights and so is DSL.