Besides battling strep throat in the children we kept busy.
First, the kids (not children) were taken to go through the horrible experience of being disbudded. Poor babies didn't like it very much ( I don't blame them) but they got over it pretty quickly (at least that is what I am telling myself).
First, the kids (not children) were taken to go through the horrible experience of being disbudded. Poor babies didn't like it very much ( I don't blame them) but they got over it pretty quickly (at least that is what I am telling myself).
They are growing rapidly. They love to run around and play in their little yard. They are also starting to nibble on real food. In fact John has been seen eating whole leaves. 
It is really fun feeding them and we love to give visitors opportunity to do so. Last weekend we had cousins over and they really had fun feeding the baby goats. This next weekend we'll have some friends visiting and they have a 3 year old daughter who will really have fun feeding baby goats.
It is really fun feeding them and we love to give visitors opportunity to do so. Last weekend we had cousins over and they really had fun feeding the baby goats. This next weekend we'll have some friends visiting and they have a 3 year old daughter who will really have fun feeding baby goats.
If you look closely on the top of Lefty's head you'll see the disbudding marks.
Butter is due to kid in just 2 days. Her body is getting ready. I really do hope that her instincts will kick in and she'll allow her kid(s) to nurse. I pray this is the key to taming her down to become a good milking goat.
I cleaned out the stall on Saturday morning as well.
Firefly continues to give me an enormous amount of milk for which I am very grateful. I tried my hand at yogurt last night but it didn't work. The oven didn't keep it warm enough (90-100 degrees) for long enough. I had hoped it would have but it is electric and no pilot light to help with heat. So I'll try again but this time during the day so I can keep an eye on the temp.
James and I have decided to jump into making soap. We sat down and went through the recipes and equipment and hope to start as soon as we can get some lye (which is really hard to find these days). Goat milk soap is supposedly a wonderful moisturizing soap, great for your skin! If interested in trying it out let me know and I'll keep you in the loop regarding availability.
The garden is getting underway. I'm a bit disappointed that once again things are getting in late. They are earlier than last year so it's not TOO bad. We did have such a crazy cold spring that it was hard to work the soil. I have corn in and squash and cucumbers and today I intend on planting potatoes and beans.
The three apple trees are FULL of pea size apples.
I transplanted 10 tomato plants on Sunday afternoon. They are called 'Heinz' and are saucing tomotoes. I really pray they make it. I so want TONS of tomatoes for canning. I have 20 under a tent in the garden and several of those aren't going to make it. I need to build a second tent for this new batch. Plus I have 8 red pepper plants that need a nice warm place to live.
I cleaned out the stall on Saturday morning as well.
Firefly continues to give me an enormous amount of milk for which I am very grateful. I tried my hand at yogurt last night but it didn't work. The oven didn't keep it warm enough (90-100 degrees) for long enough. I had hoped it would have but it is electric and no pilot light to help with heat. So I'll try again but this time during the day so I can keep an eye on the temp.
James and I have decided to jump into making soap. We sat down and went through the recipes and equipment and hope to start as soon as we can get some lye (which is really hard to find these days). Goat milk soap is supposedly a wonderful moisturizing soap, great for your skin! If interested in trying it out let me know and I'll keep you in the loop regarding availability.
The garden is getting underway. I'm a bit disappointed that once again things are getting in late. They are earlier than last year so it's not TOO bad. We did have such a crazy cold spring that it was hard to work the soil. I have corn in and squash and cucumbers and today I intend on planting potatoes and beans.
The three apple trees are FULL of pea size apples.
I transplanted 10 tomato plants on Sunday afternoon. They are called 'Heinz' and are saucing tomotoes. I really pray they make it. I so want TONS of tomatoes for canning. I have 20 under a tent in the garden and several of those aren't going to make it. I need to build a second tent for this new batch. Plus I have 8 red pepper plants that need a nice warm place to live.
6 comments:
Put my name on the list for soap!
When do you have time for everything? LOL....
I have never done goats milk yogurt, but I have done cow's milk and here's what I did to keep a consistent temp.
I heated the milk to 180 and held it there for about 5-10minutes on the stove with a handheld thermometer.
Then I put the pan in a bowl of ice until I got the temp done to 110. After this I add my yogurt culture, stirred, and placed in a quart jar. (This was as much as I tried)
During this whole process I filled another jar, large bowl, or coffee cup with boiling water. Then I placed in a cooler than you would normally keep drinks or ice. I put the closed jar of yogurt in the cooler as well and closed the whole thing up and left overnight. The warm water kept the inside of the cooler at around 90-110 degrees. By morning the milk was fully fermented into yogurt. Hope this helps.
I'm hoping debudding is on the head and not the other end.
The kids (both kinds) are so cute!
I have had similar problems making yogurt (with raw cow's milk), so I switched to kefir instead. The bacteria colonies (called grains) in kefir are happiest at room temperature, so there is no fiddling with thermometers when the children are trying to distract you!
What is the sword for?
Why, that is my herd guardian of course!
:)
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