Fall and Winter Brings New Life Too

The calendar says it is fall but it has been feeling a lot more like winter lately. We even had freezing rain in November, a very rare occurrence for fall.  Both fall and winter are associated with death.  The garden slowed down and finally I flung the doors open to allow the goats to finish it all off before everything died, along with any nutrients beneficial to the goats and chickens.  The days have been growing shorter.  A few months ago we had to wait tell after 8pm before the chickens would return to the coop for bed, but now it is dark by 6pm.  The shorter days and colder temps have killed off all the grass, caused the leaves on deciduous trees to change colors and drop their leaves, and just makes the world appear to be dying or going to sleep for a season.

Here at the ranch though, fall and winter is not a time when everything is dying or sleeping.  Believe me, we are not resting.  Yes, on days when the temperature is below freezing we are less motivated to go outside and work, but we are not taking a break.  There is always something inside or outside that needs to be done.

Nature also is not taking a break.  It may have slowed down a little, but a lot is still happening.  For instance, there are a lot of plants, like garlic, which are planted in the fall and apparently need the colder winter weather in order to grow properly.  I did not plant any garlic in the garden but it is something I am considering doing in the future.  Some animals go into heat during the fall months in order to have their babies in the spring.  So while it may appear that nature is taking a break during the winter, the exact opposite is actually taking place.

So, what is happening here?  First, a little over a month ago we brought home two livestock guardian dogs (LGD), Great Pyrenees (GP).  They are in the process of learning their jobs, which is to protect the goats, chickens, and other future animals, from predators.  There are a lot of predators around here who find baby goat and chicken very delicious.  This year coyotes have been a real problem for other ranchers, but cougars have also been seen.  Raccoons can easily kill a kid too.  But wild animals are not our only concern, which is why we decided we needed LGD’s on the property.  We named them Abraham and Sara.

 (The puppies checking out their new home the day after we bought them.)

Last summer we purchased several Nubian does.  Nubians are dairy goats and are known for producing wonderful rich milk.  Both does were supposed to have been bred but only Bella clearly is pregnant.  Both does spent several months with a buck and it is unknown when Bella actually got pregnant and therefore it is a guessing game when she will kid.  So every day when we go outside to let the chickens out and tend to our other morning tasks, we look to see what condition Bella is in.  We are guessing that some time in the next week, or two at most, we will be seeing little baby goats running around. 

The timing of Bella kidding could not be better.  During the past month Bambi, the only doe we have been milking, has been drying up.  I have literally been milking Bambi right into a dog bowl and feeding it to the puppies.  Bambi just isn’t giving us enough milk to make it worth the effort to keep it.  So we are in desperate need of a fresh doe to milk.  Once Bella kids, we will once again have an excellent source of yummy milk for drinking  and cooking with.

(Bella)

As for Belle, if our suspicions turn out to be true, we can take her back to the breeder to be bred again.  Since selling us the two does she has found a new buck that is a lot more eager than her previous buck was.

And lastly, last May we purchased 13 Rhode Island Red chicks that have now grown up and have started laying eggs.  Yesterday I collected 10 eggs, the record so far.  I have been able to share our egg bounty with several families. 

 

(The Rhode Island Reds lay the smaller brown eggs.  Donated chickens lay the Jumbo size eggs.)

The calendar may say it is fall and winter may just be around the corner, but there is a lot of activity happening here.

 

(Puppies today--they sure are growing fast.  Bambi looking away.)

 

The First Freeze Arrived

This fall we have had a few cold fronts pass by us, but last Tuesday was the first cold front to bring freezing temps.  Wednesday morning it was a brisk 28f (-2c) when I went out to milk Bambi.  The milking stall is made out of pallets and is basically outdoors, so we did not waste any time getting that job done and returning to the warm comforts of the house. 

The cold front actually arrived Tuesday morning.  The day started out pleasant enough in the mid 50’s.  But as the weather folks predicted by the time we finished the morning farm chores we could literally see the front coming.   I looked out the back door window to see what looked like a roll of atmosphere heading straight down upon us.  I did not think to grab the camera but we both knew the front was here.  The wind immediately picked up and with each passing hour the temperature dropped throughout the day.  It was definitely a day one wants to stay inside, but we had a job to do.  Rick has been dealing with some health issues and had not yet winterized the chicken coop.  Even though he was not fully recovered yet, there was no choice.  We went out together and spent most of the day putting up siding around the chicken coop bottom to keep the cold wind from blowing into and through the coop’s floor, which is made out of one inch square welded wire.  We used plastic to cover the windows that line three sides of the coop.  These windows are covered in chicken wire, no glass, so it is imperative they are covered to keep the wind out.  It took most of the day but we got the job done and now the chickens have a decent place to be when the weather is not fit to be out in.

 

The first freeze always means the end to the summer garden.  I have been preparing for this day for the past month.  The day before our first cold front of the year we went out to the garden and picked all the green tomatoes off the branches.  I spent the next few days trying new green tomato recipes and canning the results.  One recipe, Green Tomato Chutney¹, has proved very delicious. We opened one jar and devoured the contents within a few days.  Once everything that doesn’t do well in chilly weather had been picked, I started pulling up plants and feeding them to the animals.  Plants belonging to the nightshade family (tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, etc.) are poisonous to goats. On the other hand, except for potato leaves, chickens can eat them. So day after day I pulled up a few tomato vines and tossed them into the chicken’s yard, much to their delight.  While the chickens enjoyed tomato vines, the goats enjoyed melon vines and other goodies.  I also spent time removing anything from the garden that might be dangerous to the goats or items they will destroy it if they have the chance.  So on Tuesday, with the temperature dropping by the hour, I removed the last item from the garden and then flung the connecting gate wide open.  The three goats that lived here last winter immediately headed for the garden and started gorging themselves.  The others needed a little coaxing, as they seemed unsure if they were allowed in there or not. Once inside the garden, with freedom to return to the goat enclosure whenever they desired too, the garden cleanup begun. By the end of the day there was hardly a green thing left.  It would take another day or two to finish the unripe melons and squashes, but soon even that was gone.  But there is still much to eat as the weeds took over the place this summer.  I will leave the gate open as long as my environmentally friendly cleanup crew is hard at work.

 

We are now prepared for the colder months ahead, but the animals need special attention until spring arrives.  With the onset of colder temps comes a lack of green plants for the goats and chickens to eat.  I have been experimenting with sprouting grain (fodder) for the goats and soaking grains in water to ferment them for the chickens.  The chickens go absolutely crazy for the treat and I am told fermented grain² is extremely nutritious for them.  I just started fermenting the grain this week so I am still experimenting with how much to give them and what else they need to be healthy.  But it is clearly a popular food.  I also know they like whey (what is left after making cheese) and just today I made them some yogurt as this was suggested to me too.  As for the goats, I have been busy growing the fodder in plastic trays but am not too worried about them this week since they are still busily cleaning out the garden.  Once that job is done though, I will have to be more diligent in making sure they have plenty of fresh food to eat.

But in the mean time, this is Texas and the cold weather has gone away for a few days.  As I write this it is 69f (21c) outside and no coat is needed today.

_______

1.      Recipe can be found in the Complete Book of Home Preserving.  I have been unable to locate this recipe online.  If you wish to have the recipe please email me.

2.      To learn more about fermenting grain to feed chickens:  http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com.au/p/fermented-feed.html

Preparing Vs. Prepping

Almost as soon as I posted last time I started thinking that post sounds a bit like I could be mistaken for a prepper.  In case you have not run across the many online prepper groups or the TV program Doomsday Preppers, let me explain. Extreme Prepping is the act of preparing for some doomsday or catastrophic event.  While most preppers fear an economic collapse of the U.S. government, which anyone who is paying attention to what is happening around the world, knows is inevitable, there are many other fears preppers prepare for.  I am not an avid fan of the TV program Doomsday Preppers but I have watched a few episodes.  A few of the natural disasters people featured on the show are prepping for include, solar flares destroying the electrical grid, meteorites hitting the planet, a polar shift, mega-earthquakes, etc.  The individuals preparing for these disasters all fear that when these disasters occur, there will be riots and looting as hungry city people look for food wherever they can find it.   So prepping involves much more than just making sure you have enough food to last a few weeks in case of a natural disaster.  Extreme preppers literally prepare not only to be able to survive for a year or more, but also to defend what is theirs, with deadly force if necessary.  The goal of an extreme prepper is to stockpile one or more year’s worth of food and water, and stockpile weapons and other items for protection.  Often extreme preppers will talk about ‘bugging out’ or having a ‘bug out place’ which simply refers to a place hidden away where they can escape to and hide protected from the disaster and riotous mobs they believe will soon follow.  Bug out locations could be a bunker buried in their own back yard or a private hideaway nestled in the country where they believe they will be safe.  Extreme preppers often spend $50,000 or more stockpiling food and other supplies so when that disaster occurs (natural or manmade), they will be able to survive.
 

Let me make myself very clear.  I am not a prepper.  Personally, I do not believe prepping and Christianity are even compatible.  Prepping is about fear.  Preppers say I must prepare for the disaster, I must take care of myself and family, everything is up to Me.  If preppers even believe there is a God, their behavior communicates that God is not in control so they must take whatever action needed to be in control of their own life. 

  

Christianity on the other hand is about faith and putting ones trust in God.  1 Timothy 1:7 says fear comes from demons.  Jesus also told us not be anxious about tomorrow, but to trust God instead (Matthew 6:25-34). So clearly faith and fear are incompatible.   

  

That does not mean we can be lackadaisical about our future.  Trusting God does not imply that we do not have to prepare for tomorrow (Proverbs 6:6-8), just that it should not dominate our lives.  Instead common sense should prevail.  A common sense our forefathers practiced when they canned their summer harvest and prepared for the harsh winter ahead.  Sadly with the easy accessibility to grocery stores filled with what appears to be an abundant supply of food; people, including Christians, have gotten lazy about being prepared. 

    

The U.S. Government recommends that every one of us keep a three day supply of food and water in our home in case of an emergency, which I find a joke.  The truth is to be properly prepared for a natural disaster; a two week to one month supply is more realistic.  (Just ask a friend of mine who was without any electricity for 3 weeks after a hurricane hit her area a few years ago.)  Yet very few people even comply with the three day recommendation.  It seems every year we hear about an approaching storm and long lines at the grocery store as people rush to buy food and other supplies.  The day before a blizzard is due is not the time to go generator shopping, yet folks wait tell then to look for such items.  Grocery stores, even supersize stores, only carry about a 3 day supply of food.  So when there is a run at the grocery store, they run out very fast and have no way to resupply their shelves quickly.  The time to prepare for any future natural disasters is today.

  

As stated earlier, I am not a prepper and never will be.  I am a Christian who believes in living a healthy lifestyle.  I am a Christian whose goal is to live as sustainably as possible.  The food available in today’s grocery stores is grown all over the planet.  It is flown or trucked in from far off locations, which is not sustainable.  The soil the food is grown in is often depilated of nutrients.   The food is picked way too early and so lacks the taste and nutrition of what is grown in my own garden.  More and more food is grown from genetically modified seeds which have never been tested for safety in the environment or as a food source.  No one really knows the long term dangers of what we are doing to the food supply, because no real scientific testing has occurred, but there is growing evidence that those changes are harming human beings.

  

Even if God were to tell me personally; that an economic collapse of the US. economy will never occur and I will never again experience a natural disaster, I would still choose to live a more healthy and sustainable lifestyle. 

  

Finally, do not forget this property was purchased in order to provide a safe place for chronically ill homeless people to come live.  God healed me of a chronic illness and I know He is still healing others.  But the chronically ill will not hear that God heals if they are homeless, hungry, and no one will help them.  Neither I, nor AOCCCI have an unlimited amount of financial resources to feed and house everyone who will one day come for help. But by growing our own food, canning the surplus in preparation for winter, learning to make cheese and other products from our own goats, etc. we will be able to help those who truly need help. 

A Season of Learning

WOW!  Life has been so busy and crazy I have not had the time to even think about posting.  Sorry about that.  I have been meaning for some time now to share what is going on here. 
  

First, taking in that family was not an adventure I enjoyed.  The entire family stayed for one week.  That was long enough.  It was clear the father and oldest daughter, neither of whom wanted to be here, needed to leave.  Their presence was causing a huge amount of problems and the father not only did not want to help with the workload, but preferred to just sleep all day long.  After one week they were driven to San Antonio where we had secured a place for the 2 of them to live for awhile.  The father was then able to start looking for a job.  The 3 youngest children stayed with us.  It was not easy being surrogate parents to kids who had never had to live by rules before.  At first it was not that bad but as time progressed and they became use to living out here the situation went from bad to worse.  I think if we had been provided legal guardianship of the children and they knew this was permanent, things would have been different.  But as it was we did the best we could.  Thanks to others we were able to send them all to a Christian Adventure Camp near here and introduce them to Jesus.  The beginning of July we took them to their father who even though he is still unable to properly care for them wanted them back.  So that family is back together and peace has once again returned to the Ranch.

     

Second, with or without children in the house, life goes on.  The 3 goat kids born on the property have been growing nicely.  Eventually it became necessary to sell Lawn Mower’s bucklings.  The moment they were born I knew that day would come. Lawn Mower’s boys could be used as breeding bucks and each was sold to a different buyer.  I used a reseller service so I have no idea who purchased them but I am assuming they went for that purpose.  It also became necessary to sell off the twins, Zorro and Boots.  Last January we had the twins castrated so selling them was more difficult.   I placed ads on Craigslist, advertising them as pets.  This area happens to be at the crossroads of several geographical areas on Craigslist.  I placed the ad in one area and later while looking for something else in the San Angelo area I found someone looking for pet goats.  So I contacted him and told him about the twins.  Well, not many days later we loaded the boys into our homemade goat-tote and took them to their new home in San Angelo.  They seemed scared but they quickly settled in to their new surroundings.  On July 1^st I had 8 goats, but by the end of the month I only had 4 goats.

    

Now that my goat herd was down to those I planned on keeping, it was time to go dairy goat shopping.  We decided at least for the time being meat goats are not for us.  The problem with meat goats is they are cute and have a lot of personality, which makes it hard to harvest them for food.  Dairy goats on the other hand still provide food without having to sacrifice their life.  And we can later decide to harvest bucks if necessary.  But goat’s milk is very healthy and yummy.  So I put the word out I am looking for dairy goats.  I quickly got responses from all over the state and started visiting breeders.  After a few trips I settled on 3 Nubians, 2 of whom had been with a buck and therefore there is a good chance they are pregnant and 1 young doe whose growth has been stunted due to worms and other issues.  Everyone seems to have settled in nicely.  We are convinced one of the older Nubians is pregnant and hoping the other one will soon show similar signs of weight gain.  We are treating the stunted doe for worms and GI damage naturally as much as possible.  She is slowly gaining weight.

    

Third, last winter I read about Straw Bale gardening and when spring arrived we purchased lots of straw bales and started getting them prepared.  It takes about 2 weeks to begin the composting of the bale and have it in shape to plant in.  Then it is planting time.  I started with one row of bales by one fence and soon as that row was planted, we purchased more bales and set up another row.  I also planted in the two areas of the garden I had prepared last year.  Not everything I planted has grown well, but it has been a successful gardening season. 

   

Forth, Bambi, one of the goats that kidded this past Spring is a dairy goat.  She may be petite but once she weaned her daughter, Susanna, we started getting about a quart a day out of her.  We have stopped purchasing cow’s milk all together.  Goat's milk is very healthy and many think raw goat’s milk is much better for people then cow’s milk is.  It is also very delicious.  I have been learning how to make different things, including cheese, out of the milk.  It is hoped one day I will have few items I am an expert at making and will be able to generate some type of income from these goats.  Or we will just use the milk to feed people who someday will be living here.

    

Fifth, having a garden creates one problem.  What to do with all that produce.   I have had the opportunity to share with others in need.  I have also shared with a few folks who are not going through a difficult time. Besides sharing the bounty, I have been learning how to can.  I planted 2 cucumber plants and one of them is very happy.  I have for the first time in my life made pickles.  I have tried 3 different recipes.  Two I canned and one of them was a refrigerator dill pickle.  Just today I turned a bunch of rather large pickles into both sweet pickle relish and dill pickle relish.  I already canned it all and it is now cooling on the counter. This past weekend Rick made a ton of salsa and I canned it all. I have also made homemade turkey broth and got 17 jars out of it which has been canned.  My butternut squash plant is doing very well also and yesterday I made a butternut squash soup that was really good.  So as soon as I have all the ingredients ready, I will be making large amounts of that soup and canning it too.  We won’t have everything we need to sustain us through the winter but we will have a good start. 

   

Besides learning to can, I purchased a food dehydrator and am learning to use it.  Unfortunately my solar dehydrator was damaged in the microburst last year and needs a lot of repair.  I have been told some vegetables, like zucchini and yellow squash, cannot be canned.  The 2 ways to preserve it is freezing and dehydrating.  So that is what I want to do with all the yellow squash that has been growing in the garden.

    

Sixth, we now have chickens.  We have laying chickens and growing chickens.  Back in May my baby chick order arrived and we took on the task of raising chickens.  They were so cute and noisy.  At first they were in the kitchen in a large metal water trough.  It did not take them long to outgrow their home and so Rick converted the 10by10 dog kennel into a chick habitat.  There is no way a predator could fly in and grab a chick or crawl under the fence and grab a chick or for a chick to get out.  Their coop is an old dog house. 

    

Before we moved the chicks outside we received a call from a friend asking us if we wanted a flock of chickens.  It turned out a friend in town was tired of caring for the chickens and wanted them gone.  So Rick turned his attention to finishing the chicken coop as fast as possible and then we threw the dog crate in the back of the pickup and drove to town.  Our friends would catch a chicken and hand it over to us and we would quickly put it in the dog crate.  We left with 11 hens and 2 roosters, who have been named David and Goliath.  The chickens spent a couple weeks locked in the coop getting use to their new home while Rick finished the fence around the coop.  Once done, we let the chickens out.  Now they enjoy their days free-ranging for bugs and greens and anything that looks good to eat and they spend their nights in the coop protected from predators. And we spend our afternoons gathering fresh eggs to eat.   

   

And lastly, I am not the only one out here learning new skills.  Recently a neighbor offered us several wild pigs he had caught in his trap.  Rick butchered them and we have been eating pig meat ever since.  It is really good meat.

    

So 2013 has been a year of firsts and a year of learning. 

 

 

Bella, Belle, Clara

The new dairy goats we purchased. 

They are purebred Nubians.

 

From front to back (cantaloupe, yellow squash, cucumber, beans, sweet potatoes, habanero...)

 

Cherry Tomatoes, Roma Tomatoes, Big Tomatoes, Jalapeños.

 

I have had a bumper crop of Cherry Tomatoes.

 

 

Donated chickens investigating the area where I removed a compost pile.

 

Donated chickens checking out the area under their coop.

 

Day the baby chicks arrived.

May 13, 2013

 

Baby chicks one week after they arrived.

May 21, 2013

 

 

 

Baby chicks today

Sept. 3, 2013

They grow fast.

 

 

 

Helping Others: What AOCCCI Is All About

From the very beginning I have had two purposes for moving out to the country.  I have mainly shared the first purpose—to live as self-sufficiently and sustainably as possible.  We have spent the past year mostly working on that goal. First I paid a crew to install a fence so I could start a vegetable garden.  I have grown some vegetables every summer since.  Then the goats showed up so Rick Sanchez came out to build me a goat enclosure.  Before he was even halfway finished with that job he decided to move out here too.  The goat enclosure is now completed and home to eight goats (2 does, 3 wethers, and 3 babies).  One of our two does, Bambi, is a dairy breed and so I have been milking her daily.  Unfortunately Lawn Mower developed mastitis in half her udder and rejected the second born twin.  So I have decided to wait on learning to make goat cheese and instead I am feeding Bambi’s milk to the rejected kid.
  
Now Rick is actively building a chicken coop/rabbit hutch.  The rabbit hutch half will wait to be completed, but work on the half that will be for chickens he is anxious to finish.  A friend has offered to give us a few chickens.  There are also many stores in the area selling baby chicks right now.  So as soon as the chicken coop is complete, there will be chickens on this land.  Chickens produce eggs and we love eggs.  While Rick is busy building the chicken coop, I have been busy preparing the garden for the vegetable plants and seeds I recently purchased.  And if all goes well, the fig tree I purchased and planted in a pot yesterday will be producing figs by the fall of 2014.  When I was a child my aunt had a fig tree and us kids just picked the fruit right off the tree.  I have not eaten a fig since as they cost way too much in the stores.  So it will be a joy to be able to pick a fig off the tree and indulge.
  
I have been kind of silent concerning the second goal, which has always been the primary purpose of AOCCCI, which is to help people.  Rick and I have not been doing all this work just for us, but so that people who are in danger of being homeless and in need of help, especially individuals with major health issues, can be helped both physically and spiritually.  Long before I moved to the country, I have been corresponding with such individuals.  Before the move every time I had to tell someone that land had not been purchased and so there was no place for them to come to, my heart would always ache.  I understand the fear and desperation of being too ill to work and yet not having a safe place to live.  Once there was land, the problem has been the lack of cabins for people to live in.
  
As I just said I have been corresponding with people in need for years.  Most of the time I only hear from an individual once or twice, but there have been a number of individuals where correspondence has been extensive and they came close to moving out here.  Occasionally it has been a friend or even a case worker who has been the contact person.  In such incidences the friend or case worker is looking for help for someone or a family who is on the verge of homelessness and is suffering from major health issues. Such is the case concerning a recent contact.
  
A few weeks ago we were contacted by someone aware of a family in a desperate situation.  For their privacy I will keep details confidential, but without help the father, who is currently facing major health (and other) issues, was in danger of losing custody of his children due to a lack of decent housing.  After numerous phone conversations a decision was reached to send the family here.  The contact person knew of resources that would provide money to pay for bus fare out to Texas.  Earlier this week the bus tickets were purchased and this father and his four children were put on a bus.  April 5th, Rick and I drove two vehicles to San Antonio and picked the family up and brought them back to the ranch.  It would have been wonderful if we could have moved them into a completed cabin but without volunteer help and financial contributions to help defray the costs, Rick has had to put off building the cabins.  So we brought out this family of five knowing they would have to live in the house with us. 
  
The town of Rocksprings may be small, with limited resources, but thanks to donations made long before this family’s situation was made aware to us, we were able to obtain enough mattresses and bedding for each person to have a place to sleep.  We placed the two girls in the office for privacy, and the father and his two sons are in the family room.  It is not an ideal situation but at least this family is still together with a roof over their head.
  
Please pray for this family.

Lawn Mower Finally Kidded

The big day finally arrived this past Thursday.  We let the goats out of their enclosure to graze on the weeds that have managed to find to grow with the limited moisture available.  While everyone else quickly ran out of the pen, heading towards freedom, Lawn Mower chose to remain inside the enclosure.  She has been acting quite fatigued the past few days so I did not think much of it.  I did check her out for any tell tale signs she could be getting ready to go into labor, but once again I saw nothing.  So I worked on preparing the vegetable garden while Rick continued building me a milking stall.  We both though kept a close eye on Lawn Mower.
      

After lunch and a short nap, I ate an orange.  Lawn Mower loves oranges.  She loves the fruit and the peeling.  After finishing my orange I gathered up the peelings and went out to give them to her.  She sniffed but reused to partake.  Lawn Mower refusing orange peelings is like a child saying no thank you to cake and ice cream.  I knew something was up.  I immediately checked her out and there were noticeable differences from that morning.  Lawn Mower was finally going to kid. 

     

I cannot go anywhere without a herd of goats following me, all wanting to be scratched.  I wanted to be with Lawn Mower but she wanted to be alone, away from the other goats.  It soon became apparent to me the only solution was to lock the rest of the goats in the vegetable garden.  Once that task was accomplished Lawn Mower stopped relocating her heavy body from one location to another, and now just concentrated on her contractions, which were coming more apparent.  A little after 4pm on Thursday Lawn Mower pushed her first baby out.  Like a good mommy she soon went to the task of cleaning up the kid.  Pushing the second kid out went much faster and was accomplished around 4:25pm.  Lawn Mower is now the proud momma to twin boys.

 

 

Life is sure full of surprises and unexpected turns.

Surprise #1
   

I am use to Little Bit taking off now and then so when I did not see her on Feb. 25 I did not think anything of it.  But as each day passed and Little Bit did not make a showing, my concern grew.  Usually she was only gone a day at a time.  Two days is usually the max.  So when an entire week passed and still no Little Bit I was pretty sure the worse had occurred.  Little Bit and her sister Tiger, who thankfully is a home body, are barn cats.  They have access to a cabin where food, water, and pillows for sleeping on are available, but they are free to roam anywhere they wish. 

    

   

There is risk to any animal living outside, which includes the cats.  So when Little Bit was not seen for an entire week I knew in my heart she probably had become someone’s lunch.  The thought really saddened me but I have always known that is a risk.  I grieved for a few days for my kitty and then moved on with life.  I still had Tiger and there is always lots of work to do around here. 

   

Little Bit had not been seen for 13 days when I went outside the front door one evening, stopping in my tracks.  Was I dreaming?  A few yards from the steps, I saw Tiger and Little Bit sniffing each other.  Little Bit was not injured or skinny.  Where ever she had been she had been eating. 

   

Surprise #2

   

We never witnessed the act, but by December we were positive our Boer doe, Lawn Mower, was pregnant and very suspicious Bambi, our dairy doe, was also pregnant.  As time passed Lawn Mower grew larger and showed many signs that she would probably kid in early March.  Around February 10 her udder started filling up, a sure sign she would soon be kidding.  Bambi on the other hand, who is a much smaller and younger goat, was just starting to develop baby bumps by the end of February.  The evidence was clear.  We were 100% positive Lawn Mower would kid first and Bambi would follow second. 

    

On March 7 around 10am I decided to take some treats out to the goats.  I was half way to the goat enclosure when I noticed Bambi curled up sound to sleep.  The fact she was sleeping so soundly I found troubling.  I am use to her lying down chewing the cud but it is rare for her to be out cold like that.  As I continued to walk closer to the enclosure my eyes feel upon a small black object.  It didn’t take me long to realize what it was.  Bambi had kidded. 

   

I quickly returned to the house, grabbed my camera and told Rick to get his shoes on, and back outside I went.  As we approached the fence Bambi woke up, along with her new little baby girl, who we later decided to name Susanna.  Bambi was found in the road by a friend and raised by humans, but that has not prevented her from knowing how to be a good mommy.  Bambi is doing an excellent job of raising her little girl. 

    

Bambi looks tell us she is part Nubian and Alpine, both of which are dairy breeds.  She is also very small and appears to have some pygmy, or some other small breed of goat, in her ancestry as well.  Dairy goats must be milked, so that afternoon I found a video on how to milk a goat and have been milking Bambi every since.  Since Bambi is so small and I am allowing her to feed her baby 24/7, I am not getting that much milk.  By the time Susanna is weaned I hope to have Bambi use to the activity and I should be getting a decent amount of milk by then. 

   

Lawn Mower is still pregnant and though she is huge and looks very uncomfortable is showing no signs of going into labor.

 

 

   

Unexpected Turn:

   

Our Spanish buck, Midnight was only two weeks old when he came to live here.  He was so cute I could not see ever getting rid of him.  But all cute babies eventually grow up.  Midnight shared the goat enclosure with both does until sometime in January, when the situation became intolerable.  The problem with Midnight is he is an intact buck and well, he started acting more and more like a buck.  Last fall, literally overnight he went from smelling like a goat to stinking like a buck.  When bucks go into rut they stink.  Female goats apparently find the odor very romantic but not humans.  Thankfully Midnight only stunk for a month but I am told it gets worse as they age.  But like all boys do, Midnight suddenly became very interested in the girls and started harassing them more and more.  He also started treating me like I was part of his harem.  All my attempts to make him behave were futile.  As the weeks passed by his behavior just grew worse.  Finally in January I removed him from the goat enclosure and put him in the vegetable garden by himself.  That helped a little bit for a short time, but did not totally solve our problem. 

 

 

   

Our plans were to fence off another area and build a shelter that later could be converted into a chicken coop.  As time passed by though it became clear to us that the only ideal solution was to find Midnight a new home.  He was not happy being kept by himself, even though only a fence separated him from the rest of the herd.  Feeding him was becoming a very unpleasant and even dangerous chore.  On top of that we are in a drought and it is winter, so I have been forced to purchase alfalfa for the goats.  At $16 a square bale, feeding Midnight was getting very expensive.  There was also the issue of his purpose.  Midnight had already bred both of our does so it was very doubtful we would use him as a breeding buck next year, let along ever again.  So the decision was made to sell him.  I put ads in various locations and put the word out.  But after weeks passed without any response, we decided we would have no option but to take him to auction.  Rick spent a day building a goat tote for transporting him and last week we hauled him off to the auction.  We both prayed a friend at church was correct, that a rancher would purchase him and let him out in a field with a bunch of does to play with.  I know that would be the perfect environment for Midnight to spend out his days.  He will be one year old in April so he has many breeding years left.  I got $92 for Midnight.

   

February: Preparation Month

When I lived in the city February was just another month on the calendar.  Since moving out to the country with the intent of living more off the land, February has become a month of transition.  According to the movement of the earth around the sun it is technically winter.  But this is the southern part of the United States and it often feels more like summer then winter.  Last week it was warm enough for shorts but yesterday’s low was 29f (-1.6c).  On those warm days I am itching to get the spring garden planted, but since temperatures below freezing are still possibly, I must wait. 

  
No matter where one lives, for gardeners’ winter is a time to plan.  Seed catalogs start arriving in the mail with all sorts of tempting choices to choose from.  Seasoned gardeners may ponder trying out new varieties of vegetables or flowers.  I on the other hand am just trying to get started.  My first year here I spent months digging rocks out of 6 inches of soil to form my first vegetable bed.  I also tried planting a few things in a compost pile topped with soil.  Even though we have been in a catastrophic drought since long before I moved out here, that first year’s garden was pretty good.  Not great, but it was much better than anyone else I know who attempted a garden.  I at least had a few cucumbers, zucchini, and summer squash to share.  I also brought in a few tomatoes and other crops for personal use.  Last year due to a variety of circumstances, the garden was not fruitful.  But now it is February and I get to plan for a new season.  Last fall I learned about Straw Bale Gardening and after having studied this method, I am eager to get going.  I have high hopes that this year, using straw bales as my medium, I will have a bumper crop.
  
Though I have spent the past month studying a variety of resources from gardening experts in hopes of improving my successes at growing my own food, I have also been studying other topics, such as goat care.  There is an expectancy in the air here as daily we watch the development of Lawn Mower and Bambi, our two pregnant goats.  Until early January the two does lived full time with our young buck.  We never saw the act done but we could tell he was eager to figure out how to do his job and clearly he succeeded.  Goat gestation is around 145 to 155 days.  With that in mind and other evidence I am guessing Lawn Mower will kid in early March.  Bambi does not seem to have progressed as far as Lawn Mower so I am guessing she will kid in late March or early April.
  
Lawn Mower is a Boer crossed with some unknown breed, possibly kiko based on the shape of her horns.  Both Boer’s and Kiko’s are meat goat breeds (though Kiko’s do descend from a combination of a meat and a dairy breed).  Goat meat is eaten by many cultures around the world and is in short supply here in the United States.  There is big money in raising meat goats for ranchers.  When it comes to the commercial meat goat industry, Texas is a major player, producing thousands of pounds of goat meat each year.  Texas has also been hit hard by a multi-year drought which is hurting all the ranchers and farmers in the state.  Without rain, wild grasses can’t grow, and bushes and trees die.  Goats are browsers.  They eat bushes, trees, and the wild grasses.  Due to the drought, ranchers have to buy alfalfa and other sources of food.  I may only have 6 goats right now but I am still affected by this drought.  Not much is growing due to the lack of rain and so I too have to buy alfalfa and grain to feed those goats.  Yesterday I spent $15.65 on each square bale of alfalfa I purchased.  Believe me; six goats can devour a bale of hay in only a few days. 
   
Bambi is a dairy goat.  People more knowledgeable on goat breed characteristics then I am have guessed she is part Nubian, part Alpine, and possibly part pygmy or some type of mini-dwarf breed.  She is a small goat whatever her genealogy.  Meat goats are developed to produce a lot of meat, whereas dairy goats are bred to produce a lot of milk.  Even though Bambi is half the size of Lawn Mower, from her earliest days Bambi had a bigger udder.  Bigger udders are needed to hold more milk.  I have read that dairy goats can easily produce a gallon or more of milk a day. Dairy goats are not common here in my part of Texas but they do exist, usually to provide milk to a rancher’s own children.  Bambi was found in the road and so it is only a guess where she might have come from.
   

We may not know the day the does became pregnant but we know who the daddy is.  Midnight is a Spanish buck.  Like Boer goats, Spanish goats were developed for meat. 
   

Sometime in the next month of two there will be new life running and jumping all over the goat enclosure.  Goats can have anywhere from one to four kids, though twins are most common.  Since Lawn Mower is a meat breed I have no plans to try and milk her.  Bambi on the other hand is a dairy breed and therefore she will be milked.  An elderly neighbor has a milking stand left over from the days he had goats so that is one item I will not have to purchase.  I have never milked a goat or cow, but I am sure there is a YouTube video demonstrating that skill.
   
I also just began an at-home online Meat Goat course through Penn State.  The time spent reading the material and answering the instructor’s questions has already proven worthwhile.  Even though this is the first week and only introductory information was taught, I still learned something.  And even more valuable is I have the ability each week to directly ask the instructor questions.
   

December Was A Tough Month

I can honestly say the past few months have been pretty difficult, but it is a new year and 2012 is now in the past.
  
First, on November 27, 2012 my friend Abi died.  My friend and ranch partner, Rick Sanchez is the one who introduced us.  Abi is his ex-wife’s sister.  Over the years Abi and Rick became good friends and at the time of her death Abi was living in Rick’s house.  When Abi passed away Rick headed to San Antonio to clean all her stuff out of his house.  He had a cold when he left for San Antonio but appeared to be healthy when he returned. 
  
Second, on December 11, 2012 my car was totaled.  Rick had returned from San Antonio only a few days prior and we were catching up with errands that needed to be done.  We needed to make a quick trip to the small town of Camp Wood to purchase a Christmas present.  Rick was starting to feel bad on the way there but insisted we go due to time running out (the present had to be mailed too).  I ran into the shop that sold homemade Mohair clothing (made from Angora Mohair-goat fiber) and then we started our trip back home.  Camp Wood is a very small town, around 700 to 800 residents, plus tourists.  I had traveled about a block or two when the car in front of me stopped.  While waiting for that car in front to continue on, another car slammed into me.  Thankfully no one was seriously hurt, but both cars were totaled.  The elderly man who hit me claimed his foot fell off the break but an eye witness never saw his break lights ever come on.  Considering the force with which he hit me, I am wondering if he accidently hit the gas pedal instead. 
  
By the time the EMS checked us all out and the deputy arrived from another town to file the police report, Rick was feeling even sicker, we both had a headache and his lower back was hurting.  His doctor thinks he just sprained his back and Rick is slowly getting better.  But December 11 was the beginning of two very difficult situations we had to face.  First, Rick became very sick.  Upon arriving home Rick went to bed and basically slept for five days, only waking up when I forced him to take his medicine.  He cannot ever remember being that sick before in his entire life.  It took almost two weeks for him to even start functioning. He is better now but everyone except Rick, who just slept all the time, was very concerned about his health.  Second, my car was totaled.
  
December 12 we were suppose to go to Abi’s funeral.  In fact Rick was suppose to officiate the funeral, but when I was unable to wake him up long enough to even get out of bed, I became concerned and called a retired nurse friend for advice.  In the end, I called the family and let them know Rick and I were not going to make the funeral.  Just telling them Rick has a temperature of 103.6 convinced everyone Rick was very ill.  I then managed to wake him enough to get out of bed and dress.  Once he was dressed, I assisted him to the car and off we went to Kerrville, an hour drive away.  Rick slept the entire trip. 
  
First stop was the Veterans’ Clinic so he could see a doctor.  I truthfully was concerned he might be sent to the hospital in San Antonio and if so they would have to get him there as my car was barely drivable and not really legal due to the accident.  Fortunately Rick’s lungs were not involved so the doctor sent him home with some medicine and instructions for me.
  
After picking up some canned soup for Rick to eat at home, my focus turned to the wrecked vehicle.  I dropped my Toyota Rav4 off at the body shop and Enterprise picked me up.  I had been on the phone with them since the day before needing a rental truck.  When we left the grocery store they did not have a truck available but praise God, within five minutes a truck was returned. 
  
I spent the entire day dealing with issues related to the wrecked vehicle while Rick slept.  At the body shop Rick slept in my wrecked car until Enterprise showed up.  Then I woke Rick up and helped him get out of the car and into the Enterprise car, where he immediately fell asleep.  Then later when the truck was ready and it was time to leave, I woke Rick up and helped him get out of the car and into the rental truck.  Rick has no memory of most of the day.  He was really ill and I felt bad for him knowing he would rather be in his own bed.  Finally everything that had to be done was done and I was able to take him home and put him to bed.
  
Rick was still not totally well when we had no choice but to start truck shopping.  Our need for a truck had been growing over the months and we had been keeping an eye out for an old cheap used truck.  Now that my RAV4 was totaled, it made since to replace it with a good used truck. The closest car lot is over 60 miles away and the closet dealership is even farther.  So truck shopping was not an easy activity.  It usually took us a couple hours just to arrive at a dealership.  Then by the time we got there, looked at what is available, and returned home it after dark and we were exhausted.  We were able to visit at two dealerships before the Christmas weekend, but they did not have what we were looking for.  We spent the Christmas weekend doing a lot of research and praying. Time had run out and we needed to find a truck immediately or start paying for the rental ourselves.
  
On December 26 as the sun was just beginning to rise we once again headed to San Antonio to visit a third dealership.  God was gracious and there we found a truck that provided what we were needed and more.  The sun was setting as we signed the final paperwork and were able to leave with our 2011 Nissan Frontier.
  
Though the cover on the truck is suppose to be easy to remove, the simple truth is the bed is not quite as big as we had planned on having and if we want to carry a lot of something—that is going to be a problem.  So even before New Year’s Eve arrived we begin talking about a trailer. 
  
Yesterday, January 24, we went to Kerrville to celebrate Rick’s birthday.  After a wonderful lunch we stopped at a few places selling trailers.  The second place we looked at had a red 2011 trailer that had just been traded in that morning for a larger trailer.  It looked in excellent condition and fit our needs.  I wrote a check for $700 and we hooked it up to the truck and drove off.
 
Our last stop for the day was to purchase some straw bales and then we headed home.