Work Continues On The Goat Enclosure

According to the calendar it is still spring, but it already feels like summer.  Last week we finally gave up working in the afternoon due to the heat.  In case you missed the past few posts, we include Rick Sanchez and me.  After much prayer Rick decided God was leading him to move out here to help me with the many building projects that need to be accomplished and to minister to others in a variety of ways. 

        

Rick has been working on this first project for months now.  At first he thought installing a goat fence would be easy until he came out here and discovered soil is scarce but rock (including bedrock) is plentiful.  But after many months of work, talking to others in the area about local fence building techniques, and purchasing a lot of new tools, this week Rick finally dug his last hole.  He still has a few more support posts to weld and then he will be done with stage one of installing a fence for a goat enclosure. 

    

Up until this past week we were able to work outside most of the day, but our afternoon highs are now reaching into the 90’sF (32C and higher).  So starting this past week we have had to resort to indoor activities during the hot afternoons.  So our pattern has been to work all morning, come in for lunch and then rest and work inside until supper.  After supper the sun is no longer overhead and therefore not beating down on us, so we can resume working outdoors until dusk.

     

While Rick has been digging holes and then pouring concrete around pipe and t-posts, I have been scraping dirt off a slab of rock which will form the foundation of a goat shelter.  Once again this job proved easier said than done.  I purchased a flat shovel for scrapping up the dirt.  I would use a hoe to break up the dirt and then by hand push the dirt onto the shovel as roots and rocks often prevented me from sliding the shovel under all the dirt.  Due to abundance of rocks around here, roots are often very shallow and therefore make the project more difficult.  I also had to pick out anywhere from 10 to 30 rocks per each shovel-full of dirt.  That is no exaggeration.  The rocks ranged from large (requiring two hands to pick them up) to the size of a green pea.  Sometimes it feels like for every rock I picked out of the wheelbarrow, five more would spontaneously form.  

    

Stage one of building a goat shelter is to remove the dirt down to the bedrock and I too am nearing the completion of this stage.   I have a little over a foot more to go and then I too will be done with stage one.  Then Rick will anchor three 4 by 4’s to the bedrock.  Once he is done I will start hauling caliche to form the floor of the shelter as the floor must be elevated so when it rains the shelter will not flood. Goats do not like to get their hooves wet.  At first I thought about pouring cement to even out and raise the floor, but upon further study learned that cement is hard on goat hooves.  Caliche is dirt and rock made up of sodium nitrate and/or calcium-carbonate which occurs naturally in this part of the country and South America.  It packs down hard and is often used for shelter floors, dirt roads, and many other tasks.  For instance it was used to cover all the plumbing pipes to prevent freezes since it is impossible to bury pipes underground. 

    

We both are excited to see the completion of stage one of building a goat enclosure.  Stage one of both projects is the most time consuming part of the job.  The next stages should go much faster and in no time there should be a completed quarter acre goat enclosure for Lawn Mower to roam around in.  Once she is out of the garden, the plan is to head for Kerrville and buy vegetable plants.  If it was not for the goat I would have had a vegetable garden planted by March at the latest.  So I am eager to get one in the ground.

   

We may be spending a lot of our time outside working on the goat enclosure, feeding and taking care of the animals and other related tasks, but there is plenty to do inside during those hot afternoons that are now upon us.  Both Rick and I are busy studying various topics and preparing for the future.  We also have had lots of conversations concerning the future.  Alpha Omega Christian Communities For The Chemically Sensitive (AOCCCI) is about helping people, especially chronically ill homeless people.  In order to fulfill our purpose we need to build cabins and other structures; so many of our topics of conversation center on those topics.  This is a Christian ministry, so many of our topics of conversation center on God.  We have also been watching videos in the evening dealing with the topics of the brain, mind/body/spirit connection, and the occasional Christian movie.  We also read.  I just finished The Meat Goat Handbook; Raising goats for food, profit, and fun, by Yvonne Zweede-Tucker.  I enjoyed the book, especially the photos.  I did learn a lot about raising goats and can recommend this book to any novice interested in the topic.  I have another book on the topic of meat goats to read, but I think the next book I will read will be a Christian book.

      

This past week a potted  cactus and a prickly pear blessed us with beautiful flowers: