Thursday, July 20, 2006 - Romance Down on the Farm |
You'll never guess what Daisy and I found in the barn when I went out
to milk her this morning. My husband had piled clover into Daisy's food
bin that's attached to the milking stanchion. And he made a little
flower arrangement out of all of those little purple clover flowers.
The flowers were all sticking up out of the bin, and they looked just
beautiful. *sigh* Flowers for me and my goat. How romantic. I wish I could show you a picture, but the milking couldn't be delayed.
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Saturday, June 17, 2006 - Reflections on Daisy the Wonder Goat |
So we've had our...goat for 5 months now. (Side note: why do I trip
over using the plain word "goat"? I guess because goats have a reputation
and now that I have come to personally know our goats, it seems silly
to just call them "goats". They're really so much better than plain old
"goats". That's why I refer to Daisy as the Wonder Goat, I guess.)
Whenever something is new, such as the first week of owning a...goat,
there is obviously a lot of excitement in the household. Even the work
involved is fun and new. I could see the look in the eyes of family and
friends when we excitedly told them about our new livestock venture
last January. "The look" said (not audibly, of course), "Sure, it's
great fun now, but just you wait. It'll get old soon and you'll hate
the work, especially in bad weather." They seem to think we had never
considered that.
Well, it's been five months now, and let me just say, I still love my
goats (Daisy gave us Rose, Iris, and "Billy" soon after we bought her).
It is hard work at times, but it's the kind of hard work that gives
very rewarding and immediate tangible benefits. Namely, raw goat's milk
for my children to drink fresh, and for my husband and I to drink as
kefir. The work is really worth it, even though I am at times
exhausted. And that seems to be the story for all our "homesteading"
endeavors: it's hard work, but it's worth it.
Right now our plans are to keep breeding at least one or two dairy
goats a year, and then possibly adding a miniature jersey milk cow to
our livestock menagerie at some point to give us the milk we'd need for
our family's cream needs (butter, cream cheese, sour cream, etc.).
Thank you, Lord, for Daisy. 
Blessings!
Amey
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Monday, April 24, 2006 - Goat's Milk Ice Cream |
Just made my first ever goat's milk ice cream. It turned out pretty
good! We have a little 1-1/2 quart electric ice cream maker that in the
past we have used somewhere between seldom and occasionally. With
plenty of fresh pastured goat's milk and grass-fed chicken eggs this
spring, this is a great treat! Maybe that little gadget will see more
use over the next few months (my kids can only hope).
I used a recipe that came with the ice cream maker's manual, but I
changed it all around. It was just all wrong. Here's what I whisked
together to pour into this handy-dandy little appliance:
3-1/4 c. goat's milk
1/4 c. maple syrup
1/4 c. honey
3 egg yolks
1/8 tsp. Real Salt
1 Tbsp. vanilla
It makes wrestling a goat totally worthwhile. 
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Thursday, March 9, 2006 - The Rose and Amey Show, and Those Pesky Canadian Geese |
Yesterday I let the kids (the goat ones) out of the pen while I milked
Daisy, that way they could wreak havoc elsewhere, rather than on the
top of my back. It's killing my knees having Rose dance around up there
like she does! Then my mom stopped by this morning and Rose and I had
to do the "show" for her, which she enjoyed. We just got our goat in
January, kind of spur of the moment, and we didn't have things ready
with a fenced-in pasture and a separate pen for the kids. (Side note:
if we waited until we were prepared to do anything, we'd never do it.
Sometimes we just have to jump in with both feet and do our best as we
fly along.) My husband is working on the milking stand, and it is
almost done, but not quite. He has to do it in his "spare time".
The Canadian geese are out in full force. Are they still "protected"?
Those things make such a huge mess. We hate to have them on our pond,
so we try to scare them off whenever they come for a visit. I'd rather
have our own ducks out there making a mess if we must have a mess.
Anyone here from Canada? Could you come over and get your geese? haha.
Amey
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Tuesday, March 7, 2006 - That Does It! |
This is the last time I milk Daisy with her kids in the pen with us. I'm just surprised I held out as long as I did!
The star of the show in this picture is Rose, who managed to stay on my back until I was almost standing totally upright.
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Monday, February 20, 2006 - I Did It! |
Before last week, I had never milked an animal before in my whole
entire life. This morning I milked Daisy the Wonder Goat with both hands at the same time. Maybe you seasoned farm people cannot imagine my excitement. I really can
get faster and better at milking. I thought maybe I would forever be
taking the entire allotted time for milking (i.e. the amount of time it
takes one goat to empty one small dish of goat chow) just to get 2/3 of
a cup of milk. This time: 1 and 2/3 cups!
A related note (are you paying attention, Amber?):
I also made my first goat's milk kefir over the weekend. It's
delicious! I had to mix the goat milk with cow milk, though, because I
didn't quite have enough. If you don't have any kefir grains to make
kefir out of, you should really track some down. Here's a tip on
acquiring kefir grains: I suggest you ask anyone but me. Just kidding.
If you send me a message here at HSB, I'll give you the e-mail address
I sent to for my kefir grains. I don't know if they can be shipped
anywhere in the world, or anywhere in the country for that matter, but
you could always ask!
Blessings this Monday!
Amey
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Monday, February 13, 2006 - Finally, a Couple of Pictures |
My husband took a few goat pictures for me this weekend, so here they
are! The first is a picture of Iris, one of our female kids.
This second picture is "Billy", our creatively named male kid, which we
are not likely to keep. But he is cute and fun to watch! And they're
all very friendly.
Too bad there's a fence in the picture, but I bet we'll get better
pictures this spring when they're out grazing on that great spring
pasture! Well, maybe not Billy, though. We'll see about him.
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Tuesday, February 7, 2006 - Our First Milk |
We got to try our first goat milk over the weekend. We weren't
disappointed! To be honest, I was a little surprised that it tasted so
good. We got our goat, Daisy, about 3 weeks ago. She had three babies a
week ago Saturday. Her babies are still drinking most of her milk, but
we were fortunate enough to be able to "sample" it over the
weekend. Before you know it, we'll be drinking our own goat's
milk kefir! 
I told my extended family to get ready for some homemade goat's milk
ice cream at our next birthday party, but they thought I was just
joking. Boy, will they be surprised! haha. I guess I'll still have to
get some Breyer's anyway, just for backup. I would hate to have to deal
with a riot.
While I'm on the subject of raw milk, here's a
little information I've learned: when you drink pasteurized milk, your
pancreas has to work extra hard to provide the enzymes needed to digest
the "cooked" milk. When you drink it raw, the enzymes are already in
the milk, which gives your pancreas a break, which in turn gives you
more energy. There are some doctors who will even use raw milk as a
treatment for "chronic fatigue". Sounds like I should be drinking more
milk!
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Saturday, January 28, 2006 - Come Congratulate Daisy the Wonder Goat! |
It happened! Daisy the Wonder Goat had her babies late this afternoon!
One boy, then two girls...triplets! I'd never witnessed a goat giving
birth before, but now that I have...it's amazing! I'm just glad I'm not
as squeamish now as I was when I was a kid! I could tell stories, but I
won't (you can thank me later).
Back to the goats. Daisy is reported to be 50-50 Alpine/Nubian (she has
the dreaded airplane ears), and the "father" is reportedly 100% Nubian.
These babies look Nubian, with the floppy ears. Two are brown,
and one is white with black markings. Very cute, and naturally that is
an understatement of the highest degree.
Now I'm ducking down under the computer desk as I type this, because I
have to tell you that I don't have any pictures yet (please don't throw
rotten tomatoes at me, I'm ducking so you'll miss anyway). Allow me to
explain. To get pictures I would have to use the camera. To do that, I
would have to know how to use it. Yes, I know you have to push the
button to take the picture, but there's also this "setting dial" thing that I
don't know what to do with. Also, I assume you have to plug the camera
into the computer to get the pictures to go into the computer, hence I
would need a cord of some sort, too. Do you have any idea where that
might be and what it might look like (I need more than cord-ish)? Me neither.
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About Me
I'm a midwestern gal, living my dream life on 7 acres in the country. I love Jesus, my husband, three children, Daisy the Wonder Goat, and our chickens. I'd still love to someday have a miniature jersey milk cow.
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