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.
  

Temporary Straw Bale Kid Shelter

Last week the weather man started warning us viewers that it is going to be cold this week, really really cold.  I knew it would eventually happen I just did not think it would happen so early.  It is hard to think about temperatures in the 20’s while wearing a short sleeve shirt.   Personally, I am always prepared for cold weather.  But I now have animals to care for and it is whom I immediately thought of as I viewed the weather report.  The cats would be fine and so would the big goats.  The only thing left to do concerning the goat shelter is a little trim and a coat of paint.  The big goats are all wearing a nice thick winter coat so I knew they would be able to handle whatever the weather brings.  It is the younger goats I was concerned about. 

First, Sport has some special needs.  We have known since he was ten weeks old he is a little off.  He doesn’t see as well as other goats and has some neurological deficits.  What concerned me the most is he might be cold natured.  While the other goats spent the summer lying in the shade, Sport chose to be in the sun.  While most goats have no problems with very cold weather, some do get cold.  I was concerned that Sport might not handle the cold as well as the other goats do. 

My second concern was that Sport and the twins are currently living in the vegetable garden.  Sport used to sleep in the dog igloo but a few months ago we stopped seeing evidence that he was still sleeping in it.  I had cleaned out the old straw and put some new straw inside the igloo and the new straw did not get packed down like a goat had been in there.  Since there are no trees or any type of natural shelter available in the garden, I was concerned.  Before that cold front arrived we needed to get something built for the kids.

A month or so ago I learned about straw bale gardening and want to try it out this spring.  So whenever it is convenient I have been picking up some straw bales.  It occurred to me I could use those straw bales to create a temporary shelter for the kids.  Last Friday I made a trip out to my source for straw bales and picked up six more bales.  I then came home and got to work on a temporary straw bale kid shelter.

My little helpers Sport, Zorro, and Boots.

 Straw apparently is yummy tasting.

I stacked the straw bales widest part on the ground for more stability.

Goats like to be as high up as possible.

Checking out their new shelter.

 

 

As expected an arctic cold front came through Sunday evening.  Monday was cold but the temperature did stay above freezing, barely.  That was not the case Tuesday and Wednesday morning when the temperature dropped to 29f here.  I received reports from others in the county of the temperature dropping to 20f.  So it was pretty cold for a few days.  Thankfully it has started warming up to more normal temperatures for December.  As for the kids, I know they love the roof of their new shelter and I have seen evidence that they are going in there at night to sleep.  

November Was Busy

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.  Rick’s son brought his family up for the holiday and it was wonderful visiting with everyone.  Rick’s grandchildren are in the 7^th and 9^th grades and they loved feeding and playing with the kids (baby goats).  For safety reasons we did not allow anyone in with the older goats.  Rick’s grandson had fun chopping up a huge pumpkin for the goats, all of whom enjoyed eating it.   These are city teenagers so this was an experience they will long remember.  I am sure they will be out here again soon.
    

The week following Thanksgiving was not so wonderful.  First, Rick came down with a bad cold and with the damp chilly weather outside he was forced to stay indoors and rest.  I know that was hard on him because his to do list is very long.  Then on November 27 Rick received a phone call that he knew he would get sooner than later but hoped it would be later rather than sooner.   The phone call was informing him that Abi had died.  Rick has once been married to Abi’s sister and had been friends with her off and on for 40 years.  Abi has been living in Rick’s house.   Abi’s death was not a shock but it is a sad affair.  Her death also meant Rick needed to go back to San Antonio and clean her stuff out the house and deal with other issues since Abi has no family in town.  We are hoping he will be able to return to the ranch later this week.

    

Before Thanksgiving Rick helped a local elderly man with some plumbing repairs on a rental house.  Rick has had several opportunities to help people in town with maintenance problems.  His ability as a handyman has opened up ministry opportunities to local residents.  Though time does limit what he can do for others.  He has a very busy schedule here at the ranch with a very long to do list.  Really more than any human being can accomplish alone.  Anyone wanting to spend a day or two out in the country is welcome here in exchanged for little help with some of these projects.  

    

Rick also was given the opportunity to preach one Sunday night.  Those who heard him all said he did a great job.  Rick has pastured a church before and preached in non-traditional locations.  So I am sure he will get more opportunities to preach out here in the future.

    

I have been very busy too.  There are also goats to be fed and other chores to accomplish around the ranch.  When the weather makes going outside undesirable, both Rick and I spend our time studying different subjects.  Thanks to the Internet we can access information quickly online and in books and magazines.  We both have a lot to learn so we can accomplish the tasks that God has called us to do.

    

It has been a very busy month overall.  No matter how much work we get done there is still so much more to do both inside and outside the house.  The holiday, followed by Rick getting sick, and then having to leave for San Antonio, has put us behind in our work schedule.  With him gone caring for the animals is left totally up to me.

   
I do have one praise to share.  Back in May we received our first kid.  He was a 2 week old Spanish buck we named Midnight.  I was in the process of weaning Midnight when I got a call asking me if I would like another kid.  Sport, Boer buck, was only hours old when he arrived.  I spent several weeks bottle feeding both boys until finally Midnight was completely weaned.  Then before we could wean Sport, a rancher called us asking us if we would like twins.  Bottle feeding twins was a lot of work and after a few months we started craving a break.  I informed God I did not want to spend the winter having to go outside to give a kid a bottle in the cold.  I wanted a break.  Rick wanted one too as bottle feeding kids really ties us down.  Well, Saturday night we gave the twins their last bottle.  We expected to bottle feed them longer but a few weeks ago they finally started eating grain and suddenly they could care less about that bottle.  So we decided to speed up the weaning process and now we have no kids that need to be bottle fed.  After six months of daily having to go mix goat milk replacer, then prepare bottles multiple times a day and go outside in all kinds of weather to stand bent over feeding kids, we now have a break.  If God wants to give us some free kids in the spring (does please as we have enough boys) then I will freely take them.  But for now I am glad to have a break from that task. 

In closing, last Friday a friend came over and decorated a Mountain Cedar tree at the corner of the driveway and road.  Traffic is very light on that road but for the few cars that pass by they are blessed by Christmas decorations.  This same friend helped decorate the same tree last year and we had fun doing it.  The tree is too far from electricity so we use solar lights.  Instead of garland, this year I decided to go as natural as possible and string popcorn.  It was fun and I am sure the birds will enjoy it.

Installing Electricity

Last August I promised to share photos from the day Pedernales showed up and installed our electricity.  Then a few days later we were hit with microburst straight line winds and well, life took a turn and I just never got back to it.  We have been extremely busy and it has been hard for me to find time to get to it, but I decided I better do it or it will never get done. 
  

Pedernales showed up before 9am and didn’t leave until after 1pm.  Watching the crew work was interesting.  Everyone had their job and didn’t need to be told what to do.  They drove onto the property and immediately got to work.  It was sort of like watching a ballet.  While one used the auger to dig 3 separate holes in rock, others would be preparing a pole, while others would be preparing the wire or working on a different pole or doing something else.  No one took breaks.  No one stood around doing nothing.  Everyone on the crew worked hard that day.  What these guys do every day is physically difficult dangerous work that most of us never think about.  But thanks to them and men like them we have electricity. 

 

Part 1

 

 

 Part 2

   

 

Part 3

 

 

Twins

Typical fall weather has finally arrived.  This morning I folded a load of jeans, both long and short, while wearing a sweat shirt.  It is cold outside.  Two days ago it was shorts weather but overnight that all changed when a cold front came through dropping temps significantly.  It seems every fall and spring I find myself washing summer clothes while wearing winter clothes and vice versa.  Due to the biting wind and chilly weather, no outside work was accomplished yesterday.  Once again this morning the cold weather kept us inside.  But thankfully the sun has finally come out and Rick is outside working.

       

Looking over the last few posts I noticed I have not shared the addition of our twins.  It was September 6 that I received a phone call asking me if I would like the twins.  It is pretty hard to make a living just raising livestock; so many ranchers also run a business.  This particular rancher had been involved in replacing my roof.  During his visit he learned how I had gotten into the goat business and so when he realized one of his doe’s had abandoned her twins, he thought of me.   Some ranchers do have the time to bottle feed their livestock, but many do not and this rancher just didn’t have the time.  We made arrangements to meet him in Rocksprings where he handed over the boys to us.  Their mother clearly had cared for them the day they were born but a day or two later decided to stop mothering them.
  
Carrying for Caprine kids is not nearly as much work as human kids but it still is a big time commitment, which is why some ranchers will give the kid away to anyone wanting a free goat. The first day or two is spent with the kid learning how to suck on the bottle.  Once that is mastered, they are fed four times a day until they are two weeks old.  Then they need to be fed three times a day until they are two months old.  Then they get a bottle twice a day for a month and then just once a day until they are four months old.  Fortunately we have a neighbor willing to come over and feed the kids when we have to be gone during the day.    We are currently weaning the twins off the middle of the day feeding.
  
Right outside the dining room window we have a large dog kennel set up where we keep the kids donated to us.  The twins keep us entertained; they are so funny to watch.  Sometimes they love to run around the kennel, jumping off of cement blocks and playing with each other.  Other times they nap or graze on the alfalfa or grass we provide them.  They are also our alarm clock.  Boots is loud.  He makes a sound like a siren and lets us know when it is time for their next meal.  Sometimes he is a bit early but he always lets us know when they are getting hungry.
  

Boots

Zorro

The twins arrival increased our little goat herd to six.  We now have 2 does, 3 bucks, and a wether.  Our does are Lawn Mower (Boer-meat breed) and Bambi (Nubian/Alpine/something small-dairy breeds).  Our bucks are Midnight (Spanish-meat) and the twins (Boots and Zorro).  The fourth goat we were given turned out to have some genetic issues.  He has vision and some neurological issues.  Many ranchers around here think a goat like Sport should just be sold off for meat but he is such a sweet little boy and having raised him since he was hours old, we did not like that idea.  So he was castrated, thus he is a wether.  I am hopeful with some training that one day Sport will be a working goat.  I am already trying to teach Sport to walk on a lease.  He needs to be about a year old before he will be big enough to start carrying packs and/or pulling a cart. 
 

Sport

Sadly, we cannot keep all three bucks since we only have two does.  The bucks will fight each other and I have read of the looser in such fights literally dying of depression.  So eventually two of them will have to be sold or traded for a doe.  Bottle feeding a kid, at least for us, causes instant attachment and love of the goat, so that will be a sad day for us when it arrives.
  

 

Building Projects, Fairs, and Worms

Time sure flies when you are having fun, or in our case working hard.  Rick and I have been very busy this past month and do not see any relief for some time. 
  

First, we have been busy rebuilding the well house and goat shelter.  The goat shelter still has some work to be done but at least the goats can get out of the rain when necessary.  Rick used what he could of the old shelter but mostly the materials are new.  This new shelter is also well anchored.  The old shelter was attached to the ground but after what happened to the last shelter it became clear we need to build everything for the worst storm possible.  Rick also made some adjustments over the old shelter, one being too off center the doors to help prevent rain from entering the shelter during storms.

    

Facing East

Facing South

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old Well House in upside down and
behind the new well house.

As for the well house, we decided to have a little fun.  We could have saved money by buying cheap plywood, but when I spotted the camouflage plywood clearly meant for building deer blinds, I wanted it.  My only other request was to make the well house big enough to function in.  The fact is from time to time wells break.  It may be as simple as an ant sort circuiting the electrical system or a part could break.  The old well house was so small we could barely move around in it.  Also it was so short that we had no choice but to crawl on our hands and knees (a painful activity) to get inside.   Our new well house is much bigger and more expensive than necessary, but it is much nicer to look at and will be more pleasant to have to go inside to fix the well.

   

We had loaned the welder out but it has now been returned, which is good as we still have some fence repair to do.  The fence was knocked over in the storm.  We fixed most of the fence but the gate and supporting posts need to be re-cemented and welded again.  Hopefully next week Rick will be able to get that job done too.

    

September 29 Rick and I traveled to Fredericksburg to attend the annual Renewable Roundup and Green Living Fair.  We were able to attend and listen to a number of excellent and several not-so-good speakers.   Two speakers did stand out.

   
Marjory Wildcraft spoke on “How to Grow Your OwnGroceries”.  Marjory, in the space of most people’s yards, grows most of what she and her family eat.  She gave us lots of helpful information and renewed hope that even though this land is made up of very rocky soil, we can grow a lot of the food we and the future residents will need.  Marjory energized us to start preparing for next year’s garden.  For those who are interested, Marjory advised us to purchase the book, How To Grow More Vegetables, by John Jeavons.  She claims that this is the best book on the subject and is invaluable.  I have purchased but not read the book, yet.
  

Kindra Welch spoke on Natural Building.  I was familiar with many of the natural building technologies she shared with us but this was all new to Rick.  He was very surprised to learn how beautiful these buildings are, in addition to how fire resistant and energy efficient they are.  After arriving home I emailed Kindra and asked about caliche as a building material.  Both Cob and Adobe use clay as one of the ingredients.  Kindra wrote back that caliche is one of her favorite clay materials to use, which is good news because caliche is plentiful around here.

      

Rick and I are now studying the different natural building techniques and preparing for the future.  But there is still one building project that must be completed before we can get started on anything new.  When I purchased the property there was a partial foundation built but not being used.  Materials have already been purchased to utilize that foundation by building a shed on top of it.  We need a place to store the many power tools we have purchased, along with other items and this shed will be perfect. 

     

Rick drilled holes in the bottom allowing
worm juice to seep out into the blue bucket.

Another project we have started is a worm compost.  Looking for a quicker way to compost and Rick likes to fish.  Composting with worms just seemed to make since.  We almost purchased a worm composter but one person wrote a review complaining that during a hot spell all his worms died.  So we looked for a different method and found a YouTube video that provided for hopefully a perfect worm composter for out hot climate.
      

Finally, we had company in September.  Friends came out for a couple days to help repair the cabin/kitty condo's roof and take a mini vacation.  Now the roof will not leak during storms.  This couple has been going through marital issues and not only did they help us but we were able to minister to them too.

   

There is plenty of work to be done, so much in fact that we welcome anyone coming out here who would like to spend a few days volunteering and enjoying the countryside.  Just let us know if this would interest you.