Flowers and milk...

I planted Morning Glory seeds early in the spring. They have taken their own sweet time growing, but finally there are some blooms to enjoy. When I lived in Memphis, the Morning Glories grew like wild fire and bloomed in huge riots. Here they are more miserly in their efforts. Next year I will try to start them earlier in the spring in the green house to give them a head start. This vine is rife with happy childhood memories for me, and I want to enjoy them for more time in the summer season.



I planted several Zinnia seedlings in the spring, and they have bloomed brightly and reliably. They seem like such honest, friendly flowers.


I also planted rafts of petunias. I don't normally love them, they are sticky and smell funny to me, but for some reason they spoke to me during the planting season. This variety is stunning and makes me happy. Probably because they look like Morning Glories!




This morning I had most of two gallons of goat milk taking up a lot of room in my refrigerator. I made a batch of yogurt. To do this I heated up a two quarts of milk to the boiling point. Then I chilled it until it was around 98 degrees. Next I stirred in a little more than 1/4 cup of yogurt. After stirring well I poured the mix into my wonderful yogurt maker. There it sat, incubating, all day. The yogurt maker keeps it warm, so the bacteria can multiply and eat and turn milk into something else entirely.


Next I turned one gallon of milk into cheese. I heated it to around 100 degrees,(close to goat body temperature,) then stirred in 1 cup of sour cream from the grocery store. I let the mix sit for an hour, then added one drop of rennet. I let this sit all day. The milk began to solidify, leaving a yellow-ish liquid, (whey) floating on the top. Tomorrow I will pour all this into a bag made of butter muslin, (very tightly woven cloth, similar to cheese cloth.) The whey will drip out through the fabric, leaving the milk solids to make a simple Chevre, a mild goat cheese. I will salt it and freeze it. This winter it will make flavorful things like lasagna. It also makes a wonderful dip, served with crackers. I mix in garlic, basil and a bit of olive oil. Delicious!



This afternoon I checked on the yogurt. Dipping a finger into the white mass, I found it to be more firm than liquid, and it had a very tangy taste. My taste buds stood at attention, and I said "WOW!"



Next I checked on the cheese that was sitting, at room temperature, doing its thing.

I dipped a questioning finger in and tasted the thick, creamy product. Sweet and mellow. Entirely different from the yogurt.

Milk, from my good goats. Treated only slightly differently, I was left with two entirely unique products. It is little mysteries like these that add flavor to my days. And the flowers? They add color. I am rich.

Labor day...

Today dawned clear and fine, and the weather people promised it would be hot. We both had the holiday off. After morning chores were done I ate a local peach, sliced and swimming in fresh goat milk, with a sprinkle of cereal on top. Then I went out and cleaned out the goat room and the pony shed before it got too steamy. Chris joined me and said, "It's a beautiful day. We could take a cruise on the Appledore out of Camden at 10:00." I saw the beauty of the plan, and hurried to shower and get dressed.

We got there in plenty of time.



The boat motored out of the harbor, then they put the sails up and cut the engine. There was silence... except for sound of the winds and waves. The Appledore is a wonderful wooden schooner. The crew was friendly and informative... the day fine and the sky blue. There was plenty of wind to fill the sails.



All around us was the scent of the sea, the sound of the water lapping on the hull, and the wind in the sails. We saw other boats, their passengers enjoying the day...





Or working...




There were sea birds and gentle motion. I realized,again, that all my best times are spent with my husband/best friend/sweetheart. He comes up with plans to uproot me from home and bless me with wonderful new experiences. And today there was salt air and sunshine. It was a delight.

Sensory delights...

This morning we met my niece, her husband,their baby daughter and my sister at a favorite breakfast spot. They were in town for a wedding, and kindly made time for us before they headed home. The baby is 8 months old now. Her parents don't want her picture spread all over the 'net, so let me describe her for you. She is a study in curves, as babies are. All soft, sweet and cuddly, with no sharp edges. Her eye lashes precede her by a mile, and she has shiny new teeth when she smiles. And she smiles a lot. This baby is the image of glowing good health,is clearly bright, and is one of the happiest little spirits I have ever known. And you know what? She smells like BABY! I am completely smitten with her. Her parents very sweetly let me hold her lots when I get to see her, and I try to take advantage of every precious moment.

After breakfast we came home and checked on the critters, then, because it was a perfect day,and there are not many summers days left, we headed for the beach. Daughter Rachel joined us. It is frosting on my proverbial cake when we are all together for a time.



Sometimes I take a book to the beach and lose myself in words. Today I just sat let the place work its magic on my senses.



I listened to the incomparable sound of the waves greeting the shore, smelled the indescribable scent of the sea...



I waded in waist deep for a few moments, then walked the beach from one end to the other,letting the water wash over my feet and legs. The water was pretty chilly, but not painfully so. I picked up tiny, scuttling hermit crabs, then let them go and watched them as they danced across the ocean floor. I tried my hand at skipping stones, but clearly need more practice. It's been a while.



There was some time spent sitting in the sun, watching kids play at the waters edge, gulls swooping, boats skimming by with snow white sails full of wind. I drank it all in, storing the memory to sustain me when the winter winds blow. A day full of family, sweet baby snuggles and the sea. What could be better?

Tradgedy and joy...

Last week Celeste acted a little "off" when I milked her Friday morning. I noticed she was not out grazing with the other goats much during the day, either. When I got her on the milk stand Friday night I realized something was very wrong. She had mastitis, an infection in her udder. In many cases this is a fairly simple thing. A little massage, some warm compresses and maybe a bit of special antibiotics infused up into the udder and all is well. In other cases the infection becomes systemic, causing the goat to become very ill. It can even prove fatal.



Sadly, the infection spread from Celeste's udder to affect her entire body. By the next morning she didn't want to stand, or eat, or drink. The veterinarian came out and left me with a lot of medications and a pile of needles and syringes. I've been giving the poor goat 5 different injections every day. I am not a big fan of needles, but have learned to give both sub-cutaneous and intramuscular injections. I've been working on getting the infected liquid out of her udder many times a day, massaging firmly with oil infused with peppermint, and putting hot compresses on her hard, sore udder. She doesn't like any of it, but has been incredibly cooperative.

All of this has caused me great worry. After several days of having one or two hooves in the grave, Celeste seems to be on the mend,though her udder is still hot, hard and very sore. She may be useless for milking in the future, and that makes me sad. At one point I was in such despair I decided that all the animals had to go. They simply bring too much sorrow and heartache. But a cooler head prevailed, and I was able to remember how much happiness the critters bring me every single day.

Here is an example. One of the Silkie hens went broody a few weeks ago. This means she was feeling in a family way, and planted herself firmly on a soft nest, with a pile of eggs beneath her. I've had hens go broody before, but none that were as faithful as this little bit of white fluff. She was on the nest 24/7, only dashing off her eggs once or twice a day for a brief moment to get a drink, fill up on a little food and relieve herself of waste. Her dedication was impressive. There is no guarantee, when a hen goes broody, that the eggs will hatch. Sometimes the entire event is exercise in futility.



Today was the little hens 23rd day brooding. When I went out mid-day to treat Celeste, I gently lifted the little hen to see if, per chance, there was any sign of hatching eggs.



To my delight, a wee small chick, already fluffy and dry, peered up at me with bright eyes. Another chick was struggling to get out of it's egg. I gently placed the mama hen back on her nest and did a little happy dance.



By tonight there were three little fluffy babies snuggled up cozy and warm under their dedicated mom. I don't know if more will hatch in the night...
but there may be more joy tomorrow!

Luna update...

Several people have asked about Luna Goat. Luna was our first goat, and is one of the sweetest spirits I've ever met. She had a difficult pregnancy this winter, was off her feed a lot and caused me many sleepless nights. Luckily she kidded fine, producing two healthy babies to delight us. I had the vet out to see her shortly after that, because she was losing weight at an alarming rate. She took some tests, we wormed her, we treated her with antibiotics in case she had some infection lurking. She continued to fail. For weeks I began each day thinking I'd find her dead. But she tenaciously hung on to life. I did lots of research and treated her with everything I could think of. Vitamin drenches, mineral supplements, pro-biotics to help her her digestion, special treats, special foods to tempt her appetite. She began to be a bit perkier when I began giving her a new supplement that has iron, cobalt and other wonderful things in it. The vet came back out last week, and we treated her again for internal parasites, and I began giving her daily injections of B complex vitamins. The vet said, "Inject her every day until she runs when she sees you coming with the needle." Tonight she ran a little when I came at her, but I was able to catch her so I jabbed her! She is eating well, has been more active the last couple of days, and still rules the other goats quite firmly.

She never lost her winter coat this spring, and looked scruffy and dirty compared to the other sleek, shiny,goats. All of a sudden about 3 weeks ago her coat began to fall out in huge clumps, leaving her pink skinned and pathetic looking. But it is growing back in, and you know what? I am feeling hopeful. She is terribly thin, but has a light in her eye and a determination to live that is encouraging.



This goat has brought me a lot of joy in the 4 years she has called FairWinds home. I am glad for every day that she greets me at the pasture gate. I hope there are more greetings in our future.

Canned duck...

I stepped out front this morning and heard a little splashing sound. I looked around and there was one of my naughty brown ducks,out of the pasture, AGAIN! She was splashing about in a watering can I'd left in the driveway. Why this was more appealing than her wading pool, I do not know, but she spent a long time there, and seemed content.



First she'd dip her graceful head into the watering can. She'd bob up and down, then turn her head to wet the feathers on her back.





I had to stand and watch her a while... the entertainment at FairWind's knows no bounds.

Broader horizons...

A few years ago the property behind and beside us was sold to people that live out of state. I was a little heartsick, worried they'd build a house in the wild meadow behind our place. Instead they made a driveway into the woods down the road a bit and cleared some trees. After a lot of nagging from both my friend and my daughter I contacted the people and asked if they would consider letting us put up temporary fencing in the meadow so our hoof stock could graze there. To my delight, they happily agreed. Ever since then we've been trying to find a free afternoon to put fencing up, and add a gate to our existing fence for access. Today, finally, was the day.

Chris started off by putting 30 or so poles up for electric fence. I joined him and put the sunshine yellow insulators on the poles. Then we strung two strands of electric wire all around. Next, Chris brought out his weed wacker and trimmed all the high grass and weeds and vines from under the new fence. The goats knew something was up, and called to us, out there in the field. They watched with great curiosity as we worked in the hot sun.

Once the area was enclosed, we cut a wide opening in the existing wire fence. Luna goat, who had been napping in the shade all this time, walked purposefully up to where we were working. It was very clear that she knew something BIG was up. The moment the wire fence was open she stepped daintily into the new enclosure, and began to eat. The other goats were not so brave, grazing in the old pasture and keeping a sharp eye on Luna as she ranged into new territory. I brought Chanel, the horse, down. She carefully observed the new opening, and was wary. I led her through the gate and took the lead rope off. She snorted and tossed her head and trotted happily into unfamiliar territory. The sun glistened on her back, and she happily explored the wonders unveiled.





The other goats joined in, once they saw their friend and protector out in the tall, tall grass.



The goats are here, in this picture, but the grass is so high you can't even see them. It is a hoof stock smorgasbord!

Chanel did a good bit of running around in her exciting fresh pasture. I sipped a glass of chilled wine and enjoyed seeing my critters having a grand time.