24 April, 2012

Antici…

…pation.
Josie is enormously pregnant and filling her udder, but not showing signs of imminent labor, like softened tail ligaments. The suspense is killing me as I anxiously await my first goat kids!

Meanwhile the garden is growing like a very leafy army, the chickens and quail are laying like mad, the latest set of eggs hatches in nine days, and we’ve begun collecting eggs from the Old English Game bantams again to set as soon as the incubator is empty. Which will be in six days, since I picked up a second incubator to use for hatching.

The magnificent Miss May continues to give us 3 quarts of milk a day, and I’m getting quite good at cheese making. The chevre May and I produce is frankly amazing, if I do say so myself.

I am woefully behind on pictures and have plans to correct that.

Anyway, if you’re in the area on May 5th, come on out and see us at the big Gilmanor sale, where we’ll have baby crele Old English Game Bantams to brighten up your yard or cop!

14 April, 2012

Gosh, I’m all official

Got my herd name registration back from the American Dairy Goat Association today. Baby goats born here and registered with them will have the herd name prefix MixedBlessings!

I’m still waiting to hear from the American Goat Society about my herd name with them. Hopefully it’s the same or dual-registered babies will have two different names depending on which studbook you’re talking to.

In other news we’ve added a breeding group of coturnix quail.

9 April, 2012

May, clad in cloth of gold

My leetle flock has received its second to last member, a mostly-Nubian doe named May. She has a beautiful glossy red-golden coat and is an absolute treasure. You see, she’s in milk, her young son having just reached a good age for weaning, and Miss May patiently stands for me to milk her by hand, three times a day.

It will probably get down to twice a day when my hands get some strength in them, but we’re doing all right for now and Miss May has given us about two and a half quarts of milk today. She’ll probably give us another quart and some change at evening milking, which means I need to start making cheese and soap before she floods us.

3 April, 2012

Being a lady of leisure is not as fun as I hoped.

I’m two days into unemployment and already looking for ways to get myself in trouble. Next week I’m probably going to start Siddy on herding. We enlarged the goat paddock today and could definitely have used a good herding dog’s help! So Sid shall become a dual-purpose dog, hopefully.

In other news, Annabelle is currently shacked up in connubial bliss with a blue-eyed boyfriend, which means kids from her in September. Once she’s knocked up, Esk will go done and spend some time with a buck, and be due to kid in October. Our winter milk and cheese supply is therefore assured. Josie, due in late April or early May, continues to inflate like a hairy balloon on legs, and her udder seems to be filling.

Meanwhile I’ve applied for unemployment and am waiting for the determination letter to tell me how generous (HAHAHAHA) my payments will be. And Daniel has secured perhaps the coolest part-time job ever being a bad guy for the FBI. So we’re doing all right despite it all, but given my boredom levels I think I might reconsider my plan to take this summer off from school.