A flock of females

This is most of my family. My sister and her 3 girls and 2 grand daughters. My oldest daughter and her 3 daughters. Plus me. There were 11 females in my house for 7 days. My husband was home for 3 of those days. He didn't stand a chance for anything. I think he was glad to get back in his big truck and leave.

My sister and all her kids and my brother were all here for my step dad's memorial this past Sunday. My brother's son and daughter and their 2 kids couldn't be here. We missed them.

It was crowded in the house. And very loud at times. And there were a few scuffles and stuff. But when you get that many females together, there is always some drama. And lots of eating out. And lots of shopping. And talking late into the night. And teenagers  going in and out all night. And little kids going in and out all day. It was fun. But I am glad to get my house back again. And me and my mom will go to Col. to see everyone again in August.

My oldest niece brought her little dog Alicia with her. Bubba didn't like it one bit. It took about 5 days before they could actually tolerate each other. She was a little dog, but she wasn't afraid of anything.

                                                                       Silly people!

Makin' butter

This is my little niece Aubree. She was here with her momma Emilee and her sister, Taylor. Aubree just loved this little butter churn. So she was pretending to make butter.

She really had a good time while she was here.

She just loved Bubba and Stella. (And her Gigi loves Bubba. She wants to take him home with her.) They let her roll all over them. I hope they get to come back soon.

Sour pickles

I have done this before and I love them. The recipe is in Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz.


You just take fresh cucumbers, garlic, dill seeds, grape leaves, and salted water. Put the grape leaves, garlic and dill seeds in the bottom of a crock or bucket, or like I do, a glass jar. Then add the washed cucumbers with the ends cut off.

Add the brine, cover with a cloth and let sit in a cool place several days, tasting and checking for mold on top. Keep cucumbers covered with the brine. These are amazingly good. My whole family loves them. I hope you all try this.

 I will be making sour kraut soon too. And some beet kvass when my beets are ready.

Is anyone else doing any fermenting?

Taylor, the goat cleaner

This is Taylor, my great niece. She's a little city slicker. She's here visiting with her mother, sister, GiGi and aunts. She loves to help with the animals in the mornings. This morning, she helped feed the goats. Then she wanted to wash their udders for me before I milked them. She was trying to decide who to wash first.

                                                            She chose Penelope first.

                                                             
                                                          Then Zarah. She did not like this at all.

Then Sandy. Look, they have the same hair color! And apparently, Taylor thought Sandy was filthy, because she kept washing her "who-haws" over and over.

She finally said Sandy was clean enough to go back outside with the others.But just one more little spot right there.

Then she wanted to wash the little kids. They wanted nothing to do with that.

Taylor was a great little helper this morning. She also helped feed the chickens. I like little helpers.

Hens and chicks and baby goats

I got these hens and chicks a few years ago. And I found the hen planter to put them in at a little nursery in Tn. I didn't know if these were going to make it. Then they started to get green. Then I noticed these really pretty flowers. I love them.

I don't know if you can see it, but there is a volunteer tomato plant growing in this planter in my front window. It has flowers on it.






And this is Mariah's jaw. For those with goats, does this look like bottle jaw to you? I think it is. I have given  her Cydectin the first day, then Ivermectin, then Dectomax. And it's still there, just like this. So maybe she just has a double chin? She's half Nubian and half Boer. The other 2 don't have this.

 
The 3 girls together.They are so sweet. But very wild. Sandy's kids always are. Until they get older. I will probably keep these girls.

And I had a call this morning from a newspaper reporter. She wants to come out Thursday to do a little story on my farm. My friend up the road gave her my #. So she will come and do a story about the animals and soap and other things.

Also put an ad on CL for the LaMancha goats and had a call on them. She's going to come this evening to look at them.

Who needs a mop...

when you have 2 dogs who love goat milk?

Happy dogs!

Shearing the last 2 sheep

Finally got Amarillo and Adelaide sheared this afternoon. Poor girls have been miserable in this heat with those thick wool coats on. Now they are nice and cool and much lighter.


This is Amarillo. She was first up. She did great for her first time. But when he tried to get around her neck, she took off running!

So now she looks kind of wonky, but she doesn't care one bit. She's a happy ewe.

And Adelaide. She's such a sweet ewe. I love her. She was great. Never whined or complained at all. But I will not be able to use her wool. It was so matted and felted. I am going to look into getting coats for her and Amarillo. Their wool is just too nice to waste it.

We got the halter on her to get her neck. But the poor little guy that came with them got a little ride. She jumped up in the air and did a few turns, but for a city kid, he hung on for dear life! I hope he didn't sprain his wrist. These sheep. I just never know what they'll do. I was trying to trim Fionna and Leelah's hooves and they about went crazy trying to get away. But I hung on. It wore me plum out though!

Doesn't she look pretty? He coat is really wavy. And I don't think either of them are pregnant. Which is fine. We will wait til fall then. It's too hot right now to have lambs. And I don't think Abraham is too interested anyway.

Here's Adelaide, hiding behind the post. She looks a bit embarrassed, don't you think?

I am so glad we got them done. I am going to have to invest in some good shears now. I have the stand, which they used. I am so glad they used it and not sat them on their rears. I don't like that. And after reading someone's blog this week about her shearing horror story, I would never put my sheep through that again. Anything could go wrong. And I have sheared sheep before. I just need to get the shears next time some money comes in. I don't really like having to depend on other people to do things for me, when I can do it myself. And I think they will all be ready for another shearing in the fall.