Category Archives: Kid Goats

Dogs, Farm, Goats, Inspiration, Kid Goats, Morning, Vermont

Here comes the sun

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Top Eleven Reasons to enjoy the hour before 4:30 a.m.:

11. Quiet, time, reading

10. Pouring my first cup of coffee

9. Putting the clean, dry dishes away from the night before and enjoying the empty shelves and sink for just a little while

8. Feeding the dogs, the cats and the chicks, and then sharing in their contentment during their quiet morning slumber afterward

7. The front porch and the cool dawn-before-the-light temps

6. Watering the potted plants

5. Painting my toenails with the chance of them drying before putting boots on

4. Making lists & planning menus

3. The rooster’s “How do you do?” call from the coop

2.The new light on the horizon kissing the day good morning

And the Number One reason I like early mornings:

     the first bird song.

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Saturday all-sorts

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some of the Bennington Children's Chorus members complete their day-long workshop with a porch performance

It is quite safe to say that every day is different around here.

This morning I sprang out of bed and dove into cleaning my house to ready it for a chorus workshop that was being held here for most of the day.  Char & I had de-cluttered the evening before and so my objective was to do a vacuum/mop/surface swipe all ’round before heading out for chores.

This house-cleaning thing?  It’s big news, trust me.

Saturday happy chickens, Saturday happy dogs

The big farm project for the day was completing the goat fencing adjacent to the horse pasture so that we’d have a place that the goatsies could graze/browse without destroying my flowering and fruiting bushes, which is what they had been intent on for the last few weeks.  Here is where I have to confess that I hardly helped at all.  Jim did most of the work, with a little help from friend Tristan the other night, and I probably contributed 15- 30 minutes of labor altogether.

Tristan holds the post in place while Jim lowers the bucket to drive it through our very clay-y and rocky soil.

Yay! Our very own playground! Complete with horse-buddies, brambles, browse and bushes! Also complete with two strands of electrified fencing!

The wonderful choristers left by 4p.m., I delivered some eggs and chicken as a donation for a local benefit silent auction, and then I prepared a delicious Pastitsio recipe that a friend of mine had prepared and shared via Facebook the other night.

Ground lamb, simmering with red wine, tomato paste, shallots and a little garlic

6 tablespoons of melted butter

whisk in 1/2 cup of flour

after the flour and butter are whisked into a smooth roux, add 3 cups of milk in a slow stream and whisk

whisk over medium heat

add 1/8 teaspoon Cayenne when thickened

add 1/4 cup of Parmesan(but I added about 3/4 cup!)

stir in Parmesan to thickened, seasoned sauce

add prepared pasta to ground lamb mixture

pour into prepared casserole, red wine(for me) and baby bottle of goat's milk(for the living lamb in the house) are optional

pour the Parmesian Bechamel over the top of the casserole and bake, uncovered, at 375 for 35 minutes

feed the lamb her bottle while you're baking the Pastitsio(no one tell her what's in the oven, o.k.?)

Remove from oven when top is browned

Pastitsio, and it was nostimos!

I’m really looking forward to a little quiet time tonight.  Tomorrow morning I’m delivering the children’s sermon and the scripture passage is Matthew 13:1-9, the Parable of the Sower. I will say that you can over-think a children’s sermon and I struggle with this sometimes.  I originally thought I would share the message that the destination of the seed would have to be conducive to growth, thereby the weeds, the stones would not help.  Then I started to think that really, I’d like to tell the kiddoes that if we don’t start with the right seed, the Good seed, then we can’t have growth either.  So I think I’m going to share sunflower seeds with them that are good for sowing, and sunflower seeds that are not so good(as in, the ones that have been shelled, salted and are ready for eating!)  Because I think it’s kind of a huge thing to try to absorb every week, if you’re a little kid(or a big kid!), that you’ve got to be so good, so perfect, such a perfect bed of soil, for the seed to sprout and grow.  I remember being overwhelmed and anxious by the challenge of being so good when I was young.  And though I aspired to goodness, and still do, in life we make mistakes.

So for all of those mistakes, we can try again, we can be forgiven.  And if it’s the right seed we’re cultivating, I believe it will indeed grow.

Happy Saturday to you.

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He didn’t mind their “Quack! Quack! Quack!”

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The fox went out on a chilly night,
He prayed for the moon to give him light,
For he’d many a mile to go that night,
Before he reached the town-o, town-o, town-o,
He’d many a mile to go that night,
Before he reached the town-o.

He ran til he came to a great big pen,
Where the ducks and the geese were put therein,
“A couple of you will grease my chin,
Before I leave this town-o, town-o, town-o,
A couple of you will grease my chin,
Before I leave this town-o.”

He grabbed the gray goose by the neck,
Throwed a duck across his back,
He didn’t mind their quack, quack, quack,
And their legs a-dangling down-o, down-o, down-o,
He didn’t mind their quack, quack, quack,
And their legs a-dangling down-o.

-excerpt from “The Fox”, traditional folk song

Today I found Emma dead in the garden.  She is one of my Blue Indian Runner Ducks.  I didn’t see any wound marks, though I do think she was attacked because a few feathers were on the ground around her.

My hunch is that a greedy fox couldn’t manage her removal once he’d gotten her and so she was just “wasted” and left behind.  You can tell the predator, typically, by the clues they leave behind and this mystery smacked of Vulpes vulpes.  Plus it seems a common story right now amongst my chicken colleagues that the Mister has been a-hunting.

I am always sad to think of the fear and the stress for my poor poultry when something like this occurs.  It is always unsettling for me even though it is an acceptable fact that these things will happen.

So to the pet-cemetery I went, my merry band and I, to lay her to rest.  Ironically, a little plastic cupcake decoration of a clown-head was unearthed while I prepared the grave.  I took it as a positive symbol because in our family, we have always been impressed by the permanent smiles that ducks wear.  Their countenance is endearing that way.

And also, though this day started with sleet and rain, grey clouds parted and the sun shone in the final moments as I lay her body in the ground and covered her with moist earth.  The menagerie that joined me in my sad task refused to allow for solemnity, as evidenced by the following photos:

Our pet cemetery, where we lay to rest our beloveds...

Cricket, ever the gamer, suggesting that while I shovel I should throw this toy for him to fetch.

Clowns in the rough.

My tool bears the weight of sadness for me.

Marcia, the grave-inspector

What are you gonna do? The pets were turning the tragedy into a comedy.

Professional Mourners

Rest in Peace, Emma

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Kid Goats, Legacy, Photographs

On Location

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Patricia arranges the top tresses while Marcia studies my manicure as I pet the sheep.

Have you got a camera crew, ready to snap your dazzling candids?  With cell phones, anyone can photodocument these days.  I’m grateful for my phone camera because I’ve enjoyed snagging a shot here or there around the farmyard when my other camera is just not handy.  This pic was taken by my friend Erin when she brought her youngster for a farm visit the other day.  While we were observing the pregnant ewes and our little goat entourage decided to climb all over me, fixing my hair just so, Erin said “Oh!  May I take your picture?  Do you mind?!”

Of course not, but the outcome is that what you see is what you get.  There’s no makeup crew, no costume staff, and my stylists are 6 month old goats.  But these are the kind of pictures I’ll have my children and grandchildren remember me by!

I wish I had more photos of my mom and dad and of my grandparents.  While my computer may bog down with the weight of so many jpegs, it is certainly a treat to purposefully chronicle the days and organize an album for the next generation. A stone in the ground with my name on it is not going to go a long way in inspiring any future little Tammies. However, a grainy cell phone pic just may.

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Career or Stay-At-Home Goat?

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Lu - more than a pretty face

This morning Lu came over and leaned on me.  I sat down in the snow and she crawled into my lap.  So we cuddled and talked.  Meanwhile, the rest of the kids came in to whisper and we gossiped about Ruger Jac, the handsome Quarter Horse nearby, when would the sheep deliver, how foolish the peacock looked displaying while the other chickens were pecking at his behind, and finally, the future.  I asked them if they thought they would like to earn their living with chevre in the coming years or if they would instead enjoy being pets and perhaps mamas.

I started with Lu because she was the one to get the conversation going.  She and I decided that she has proven she can take on anything.  My prior thoughts on her productivity were that she ought not to take on breeding and milking and certainly not nursing kids as I’m concerned she carries Caprine Arthritis-Encephalitis (commonly referred to as “CAE“).  However, she has shown fortitude and stamina, though her body is weaker than the others, but it seems that when the time comes it may be possible for her to contribute to the farm after all.

Patricia - watch her break through the (Chevre) glass ceiling

Patricia is where I’m putting my money, for sure, as a producer.  She’s full of it and I’m daily having to politely remonstrate her as she is always pushing the envelope.  As in, getting into situations where she is not welcome.  Every day I have to fish her out of the wheelbarrow while I attempt to expediently execute the chores and two days ago when I tried the kids in a new pasture, she was the first to figure the way out.  She often terrorizes the Blue Runner Ducks by climbing on their house and then climbing over their fence and into their yard, yumming up their food or chasing them into their house.

never idle for long

Patricia enjoys free rides

Rosa needs a job

I tried discussing the future options with Rosa, but she cut to the chase by butting Lu in my lap.  I’m thinking that she’s a career gal and it’s either as a prison officer or a milk goat.

Marcia the Marvelous

Marcia is a career-climbing kid for sure.  I could see her putting out the milk with a smile on her face and I am confident that if she wanted to be a stay-at-home goat, she’d be a great mother as well.

Lest you think that I am either silly or do not have enough work to occupy myself, I assure you it is the former.  The sit-down with the girls this morning is just part of my habit to be distracted by beautiful moments in life.

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Chickens, Dogs, Farm, Goats, Kid Goats, Morning, Outdoors

Fresh Tracks

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The first time a fox visited our henhouse and took some dinner back to his den, my kids and I mourned, cleaned up the wreckage, and then poured plaster-of-Paris into the paw prints.  We were pretty successful and I think the scoundrel’s signature is still kicking around this house in a basket or cubby somewhere.

Though most of the footsteps that I’ve delighted upon on a snowy, winter morning are obviously identified, I do enjoy imagining the stories told and decided to capture and share the seasonal delights of winter tracks.

Run, Blue Runners, run!

Marcia (and apparently a little bird friend)

Jill

Cricket, the professional fetcher

Mystery rodent!

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Hope in a Groundhog

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The Wing and a Prayer Farm animals and I took an informal poll today.  We looked high and we looked low.  None of us found our shadows.

So to you, Punxsutawney Phil, I say “Pshaw!”  Six more weeks of winter is not rocket science.  I live in Vermont and we don’t see green grass til May anyway.  But I’m not going to let you rain on my parade of wishful thinking that, just maybe, the sun will warm things up a little sooner.

Jackie and Abe the English Springer Spaniels looked,

Cricket looked(well, sort of),

and Max the horse looked.

Fig the White Peacock looked,

Chanticleer the Auracana rooster looked,

and Indian Blue Runner ducks ran.  (As they would run from their shadow, they really shouldn’t qualify for this poll.)

Lily the Shetland Sheep said, “There’s NO shadow, Phil!”

Patricia the Saanen/Nubian goat didn’t find her shadow,

Bean the Bunny searched (however, Bean can’t really be included in the survey because she lives indoors),

Niska the barn cat peeked,

and Wasabi the barn cat said, “I’m a way better judge of shadows than some groundhog in Pennsylvania!”

So move over, cute little groundhog, in our neck of the woods we just take it one day at a time.

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Scours – as bad as it sounds

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Scours(Diarrhea):  Scours in newborn kids can indicate any of a number of problems, including failure to ingest colostrum soon after birth, lack of sanitation, inadequate nutrition of the doe during gestation, feeding excessive amounts of milk, and feeding low-quality milk replacers.  The mortality rate is high, and swift action is required. -Storey’s Guide to Raising Dairy Goats, Breeds * Care * Dairying by Jerry Belanger

Poor little Rosa.  I’m not sure if she has a weak constitution or what, but for the past 3 weeks we have been taking the kid goats for a walk and twice Miss Rosa has had a horrible case of diarrhea.  So the first time, when we got back to the barn, I read all of my books, asked friends and came up with a solution for what I thought would help treat “Scours.”  Just saying it makes me cringe.

The home remedy I used combined buttermilk, raw egg, cocoa and baking soda. I had Jim pick a bottle of 25 calf pills of Neomycin from Tractor Supply on his way home from work and they cost $24.99.  I was feeling anxious about spending unnecessarily and weighed the cost of the pills for the home remedy vs. making a call to the vet and being out $100 bucks instead of $125. I opted to have some faith that I could work it out and after I whirled the kitchen ingredients together in the food processor, I added the crushed bolus.

My next concern was that she wouldn’t take the remedy.  I was to dose her with one-fourth of the mix(2 measly ounces) every 2-3 hours and if she wouldn’t take it, I didn’t know how I’d see her through.  Everything I’d read said not to give her milk, grain or hay – but I worried about dehydration.

The good news was that she happily sucked down her 2 ounces of “medicine” every 2-3 hours and by the next day, was right as rain!  I never did call the vet on it and when she had her second bout, I kept watch over her for a few hours before making a diagnosis.  That time her health improved very quickly and now it is safe to say that when she is not feeling “Scour-y”, she’s very, very much herself.

Rosa, full of the dickens!

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12 Months of “To Do” for 2012

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Pond girls - January 2010

1.  I will skate more in January.  I’ve got a great pair of speed skates that need to be sharpened so that I can get back on the short track.  I’ve also got some knock-abouts from my teen years for the pond.   And I will jump in Lake Paran in North Bennington at the end of the month for a fundraiser with my Youth Group for Vermont Special Olympics.  We are “Team Healing Waters” and this will be our 3rd year jumping in.  We wear masks and capes and we are crazy.  I thought about doing Yoga or some sort of exercise program, but I’m not going to get hung up if I don’t follow through.  I figure jumping into a frozen lake at the end of the month in Vermont in January sort of overrides other ambitions.  And I will ride Izzy if it’s not too icy.

Dedicated kids bringing the song and the cake to mum!

2.  I will blow out 47 Candles in February to the strains of my family’s singing, no matter how we can arrange their voices together…and, sing to Jody for his 21st birthday while he is fishing a tournament far, far from Vermont, and make and send Valentines (my inner child comes out!) and skate on the pond with my Youth Group for our annual Superbowl Party after we’ve sold a zillion subs for a fundraiser.  And  I will ride Izzy…

Spring does eventually return!

3.  I will force forsythia and repot seedlings in March.  Hurray for seed catalogs in December!  And I will put on a Talent Show/Boiled Supper Fundraiser with my Youth Group on St. Patrick’s Day, and put on my brogue for St. Patrick’s day(this drives my kids CRAZY!), and have a sugar-on-snow-party with 2012 Maple Syrup.  And ride Izzy…

Nite Nite with her trainer, Char, during the end of Mud Season

4.  We will put a cart on that pony in April!  And I will sing for Easter, and bowl with my Youth Group for Big Brother/Big Sister Bowl for Kids’ Sake, and find some time to celebrate Sarah Jane’s 19th birthday -I already know what she wants for her birthday dinner, but sadly she won’t be home :-(   And if she does get a chance to come home, go for a ride together….

Char cuddles the lambs: Maggie with Iglesias & Buttercup, Ruva with Daisy & Obaamaa

5. I will lose sleep when we lamb in May, this time hopefully with 5 ewes due! And I will attend end-of-year concerts, and welcome home college kids for their summer vacations, and get turkey poults started and maybe more chicks…haven’t decided yet.  And if there is any time, which there will not really be much of, I’ll ride Izzy.

Late day walks in hay fields

6.  We will make it, finally,  to Mel’s Solstice Party in June…and hay, of course, and plant and weed the garden, and soak up summer, and ride Izzy!

Jody with a bass on Gale Meadow

7.  I will go fishin’ with the family in July.  Actually, SJ, Char & I like to read & take photos while we accompany the fishermen.  And  we’ll celebrate Jim’s & Char’s birthdays -55 and 17, and we’ll garden and tend the flocks of sheep and poultry and kid goats, and ride Izzy.

a lane of hives

8.  We will harvest honey in August.  Last year, our bees didn’t have a productive enough year to share with us, so I am hoping that this will be a better year for them for their sake, and for ours.  I sure did miss having my own honey!  And in August, spend time at Lake Champlain with the family for our annual vacation, and hopefully bring the horses again so that I can ride Izzy.

wooly friends

9.  We will shear the sheep in September. And, sadly, say goodbye to Jody & Sarah Jane as they start their senior & second years in college, as well as see Char through college applications!  Oh let’s not start thinking about that now…Char & I will have to ride in September.

little Cooper with the 2011 entries

10.  We will host the Myers Road Pumpkin Party in October, and harvest the garden, and attend the Mount Holyoke Fall Concert, and hopefully have a long weekend with Jody, and watch the Red Sox in the World Series, and ride Izzy in the fall foliage.

Porch Turkeys

11.  I will harvest Thanksgiving Turkeys in November, but this year there will be a no fly zone declared on the front and back porches…I just can’t devote two hours a day to cleaning the porch off!  And probably rehearse Christmas music for December singing, and we will be enjoying my kids’ visit home for Thanksgiving break, and preparing the barn for wintertime tuck-ins for goatsies, sheep and horses, and get out on my Iz whenever I can.

Bennington Children's Chorus members line up to process at the Old First Church in Bennington, VT

12.  Finally, in December, attending the last Candlelit Service at the Old First Church in Old Bennington in which one of my daughters will be singing with the Bennington Children’s Chorus.  Ah, magical evenings they are.  I’ll hopefully be doing some singing myself in this month, and attending Mount Holyoke’s Vespers Service, and not being ready for Christmastime, and shovelling snow(hopefully?), and welcoming home college kids for winter break, and tucking in Shetland flocks that are successfully bred, and collecting eggs a-plenty for December baking, and be as healthy, grateful and blessed as I have been these past 47 years!  I’m not sure I’ll be riding Izzy in December ;-)

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Pizzelles, Pipes and Pond Skating

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Night Skating

Yesterday morning, my daughters and I spent the morning visiting a local art teacher’s historic home.  Mrs. Link is a patron of Wing and a Prayer Farm’s eggs and chicken and I’d bartered a tour of her home after she’d ordered a Christmas roaster this fall.  She lives in a renovated mill between two creeks in our town and between the history of the mill/forge and her parent’s book binding shop that flourished for many years in the space, alongside her artist studio and many beautiful works, I knew that the girls would be as awed as I with a visit.  Not only did Kathy tour us through the amazing stone mill, but she pulled out the tooled and embossed tomes that her parents restored during the Gerhardt Gustav Gerhlach’s publishing days.  We capped the visit with a lesson in Pizzelle-making in her kitchen, just for fun.  We left feeling charmed and delighted with a plate of warm, sugary-snowflake cookies and inspired hearts.

I had a full afternoon of chores and errands but the warmth of the season continued with spontaneous visits along the way.

Then, last evening, Jody came in from the chores asking where we turn the water off to the barn.  Alarms went off in my head.

Fortunately Jim was right here and ran downstairs to turn the main water to the barn off, as I wouldn’t remember it in a timely fashion to save my life.  I have a mental block against things like that.  We had a burst pipe in our house before, many years ago, and had I known which valve to switch, there’d have been much less damage.  My tendency to question myself means that I can be overwhelmed with decision-making in an emergency situation.

An assessment revealed that the PVC pipe to the washroom is where the break occurred and it had leaked all above the sheep stalls, the tack room, and the washroom.  The goatsies were spared, thankfully, as they would’ve been so stressed, frightened and cold had they been assaulted for who knows how long. The sheep were out grazing, and I was happy Jody was out there on the early side of the evening.  Jim was able to remove the light fixture in the tack room, which was full of water, and today we have barn-swathing duties all.

Our merry band was not discouraged from our evening plans of ice skating, though, and after dinner we trooped our way to the pond.  Earlier Jim had started a fire in the skate shed wood stove and all of the skates were warm and supple for the first glide of the season.  The lights were on, the surface was nicely glazed, and the air was none too cold for our under-the-stars party.  Except that a cloud covered evening was more like it and that actually was in our favor keeping the temps quite mild.

Sarah Jane & Char’s friends who both play hockey were here to pass the puck with Jim & Jody.  I tried my hand at it for a while and got my bearings in record time.  It’d been two years since I’d been on the ice and my speed skates were like old friends.  SJ & Char were practicing their figures, the dogs hung out respectfully on the sidelines, and there was much jollity.  The ice is not so very thick as we’ve had a mild December but it is clear and the view into the darkened pond was enchanting.  Mostly the surface was clear, but an occasional scruff of bark or leaf tripped me and my long blades up enough to prevent me from confidently building my speed.  It was a good night just to get the rust off our blades and change the scenery up.

I awoke this morning from a disturbing nightmare about a tsunami engulfing me and my cats in my home.  I’ve had my international friends on my mind of late and it would seem that the combination of barn-drama and the weather disasters of Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines and Thailand over the last couple of years had planted some unconscious seeds of worry.  The weather is considerably milder today, with rain on the roof as I type, and it will be a less glamorous day than yesterday with stalls and a tack room requiring an investment of labor.  Our New Year’s Eve plans are always low-key so preparation for festivities is minimal to none.

Interesting that the mild December temperatures would prevent us from getting on the ice before the end of the month, and ironic that when we could, it was the night that a frozen pipe burst in the barn.  Guess we are never so wise that we cannot learn a few lessons and enjoy beautiful moments of life all in the same day.

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