My Holiday Wish List

1. A Pressure Canner

My 2012 resolution to stop freezing and start canning never got off the ground.  But the freezer is chock full of goodies! I was recently reminded of how easy it is to can, especially milk. The gallons of milk frozen and stuffed into every crevice in my freezer would be gone and I could simply fill the shelves with quarts of pasteurized, canned milk that only takes about 10 minutes to process. Goal for 2013.

2. A Giant Mudroom

Not white, for sure. A place where dripping muddy boots can leave puddles on the floor, where bucky smelling clothes can hang alone without contaminating our 'good' clothes. Where hay bits and goat berries can fall off our overalls without getting dragged into the house. Maybe in the next house. After I win the lottery.

3. An Amish boy with a pitchfork.

They work hard. We need help!

Although, substitutions can be negotiated on a case by case basis.   Good thing Rog never reads this blog.  I found these on ebay, if you select priority shipping they will get here before Christmas.

4. Hay. Alfalfa. Green, lush, non-shitty hay.

Prices are high, quality is low. I swear the goats give me the stink eye when I feed them.  Were spending 3 x normal  expenses to get poor quality hay. Next year we will load up early, drought or no drought. We did, however, just trade some cow-quality round bales for a new haywagon, so its not all bad. 

5. A maid, preferably live-in.

Someone who enjoys following us around and picking up hay bits and wiping up dog prints and nose prints.  A bonus would be if he/she enjoyed picking hay bits out of our hair and clothes as well. Also who is specially skilled to clean the drips of milk that inevitably seem to spill between the glass layers on my oven door where they would otherwise stay for all eternity. Also is passionate about cleaning milk bottles and plastic goat nipples. 

6. A milkroom

Shiny, clean and smells like bleach. No flies, climate controlled, hot water, oooh! and a window.  I'd get rid of my plastic hawk that currently hangs above our milk stands to keep the tresspassing birds off of them. Really I'd settle for a canvas sheet / wall. And maybe some concrete on the floor. Or maybe Rog will let me move his hunting blind in to the barn and I'll sit in it. 

7. A sickle bar mower

This is for Rog. The last item to make us self-sufficient at baling our own hay and not having to rely on a neighbor to cut for us. Selfishly its for me too, so I can stop hearing about it and stop finding issues of farm and dairy and farm tek littered with post-it notes and page markers. 

8. Chickens

Why on Earth would a girl who hates birds be asking for chickens?  Because I'm asking for chickens that don't peck eggs and eat them. And don't perform daily Houdini escapes to poop in our bucks' water buckets. Who roost on roosts, not Capone's back. Who lay eggs in nest boxes, not hay racks. Only a select few are misbehaving, I'm going to start picking them off soon...

9. Head Gear

For when I get brave and try to catch the chickens. And to protect me from the  little wrens that made a nest in the loft in our buck barn and scare the pants off me daily when they dive bomb my head. Also for when Hemi tries to attack my hair. 

 10. A joyful and healthy 2013 for yours and ours.

Time flies

Today = 2 months until kids start arriving. Yikes! I feel like I just bred them! As it stands now I have 17 bred does, but I just decided to post a couple for sale so we will see. If they weren't so stinking cute I wouldn't put myself through this every year...

We have some breedings we are excited about this year, our 2012 doe kids are all quite strong, so we are hoping to fine tune things this year. In the Alpines, We have the majority bred to Bugs and our first Bugs daughters, Sage and Lottie will freshen this year and we can get a better indication of what he can produce. We bred both Cammile and Sage to *B Windrush Farms Kona Samson, whose dam, SGCH Windrush Farms IRS Saffron is just beautiful and finished high at Nationals the past few years.

In the Saanens, we bred to Mickey again, I didn't dislike any of his kids so far and I want more of them! Mona Lisa was bred to Bugs out of convenience. She will be a first freshener this year and after we evaluate her udder we can choose a more "planned" breeding next year.

For the Toggs, Elina, Emilene and Macy were all bred to Capone. Now that we are off his "all buckling" streak, I admire and have retained most of his daughters and now we will have a few more. Mallory is breds to Rowe's Fairtrade Freetrade, who will hopefully pass down more lovely Rowe genes that she received from Macy's sire, Rowe's Falcon Redbird. Esmerelda and May were both bred to GGF Alpha Snowbuck's Jerry, Snowbuck has several impressive progeny and Jerry's dam, Jayla, is beautiful as well.

Soon anticipation will turn to excitement, then to exhaustion as they arrive by the dozen! For the coming weeks I'm going to enjoy the reprieve from milking and keep stockpiling hay. I am not overly excited about pulling out the bucket feeders and the many many hoses that come with them...

Prepping and waiting for winter

Another winter like last year would certainly make my commute more enjoyable. Probably too good to be true though...

A mild winter thus far follows a summer drought and results in hay prices so high that my shoe collecting is on hold. Gotta feed those expectant momma goats well so every week we search for usable alfalfa and grass. We are down to 2 months until the spring babies start arriving, it seems to go faster every year. Just last week we cheered in celebration of hanging up the milk lines for good as we finally managed to get all of the does dried off so they can store their energy and focus on their growing kids. Based on the growing bellies in the barn we will have plenty of multiples this year!

So the turkey newbies screwed up...we realized a couple months back that we had two males, they strutted and displayed their feathers proudly. So we assumed a lot of their girth was just that .... feathers. They dressed out at 35 lbs...each! That's a lot of turkey for a household of two, especially since we were only planning on 6 for dinner. Luckily we had the foresight to have them halved, planning to smoke some and roast some. Half went to the neighbors who kindly pointed out that the turkey leg would be plenty to feed them both. Half went in the freezer for Christmas-time. The two smallest halves went in to a brine for Thanksgiving dinner, the necks made an extremely rich gravy, they were so large I had to put them in the crock pot overnight. Here is a wing on a standard 10" dinner plate. Needless to say we had plenty of leftovers.

Post holiday pig-outs gave way to hunting and gathering mode. Spreading manure to boost next years harvest, turning over the garden and planting rye grass to serve as mulch for next years veggies. We harvested the last few carrots of the year.

The first deer hunting day of the year was a success for Rog and we quickly processed the doe for the freezer. As soon as we find some spare time we plan to load the smoker with homemade jerky and sausage made from the venison, goat meat and ground piggy-pork.

We have to take time to enjoy the few remaining pleasant nights before the winter dull settles in. We may not see the sun until May!

More evidence that we are destined to eat cheese...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121212134044.htm

Dec. 12, 2012 — The first unequivocal evidence that humans in prehistoric Northern Europe made cheese more than 7,000 years ago is described in research by an international team of scientists, led by the University of Bristol, published December 12 in Nature.

Blog Slacker Part 3 ~ Things to Love About Fall

Things to love about fall...

Breeding season! Bellowing does, blubbering bucks, the clingy odor of the rut hangs heavy in the air.  As usual the does did not cooperate with my ideas for the breeding plan, we will have kids scattered towards the end of February through mid-March. We are happy to wash and put away our stinky breeding coveralls and there will be no more goaty-dates in my new car this year. The breeding page on the website is up to date, here is the link: http://www.capralane.com/planned-breedings

Beautiful blue fall skies, ever-changing leafy displays, living in the country where raking is optional. . . 

Resourceful postal workers. In the city that box would've blown away.

Hemi. . . our latest rescue. He has a total of 27 toes, fitting, given my profession... Hemi is short for Hemingway, who is partially credited with bringing the trait of paddle-foot or polydactyly,  in cats to the US.  Hemi is now fully recovered from pneumonia and life on the streets and growing well. He will be a barn cat, eventually.... He really loves the couch right now. 

Tinder...the dog who hates everyone (but me!) loves Hemi. They wrestle and snuggle 24/7. T-dog is deadly but loves kittens...who knew?

After a few late night stake outs and shoot outs, we finally got the little bastard who took up residence in our chicken coop. No chicken attacks but several dozen broken eggs later, we got him! The best part is, we didn't get sprayed. Neither did the dogs nor the cats. A few stray bullet holes in the chicken coop (oops...it was dark!) should make it look more threatening to future intruders.

"Take that, trespasser!"

Blog Slacker Part 2 ~ Meat

Chore time is trimming down nicely. After exactly 8 weeks, and 0% losses the chickens were processed and we filled our freezer with 30 birds averaging 6-8 lbs each. 

After distributing a few of the pre-ordered birds, I've delved into winter cooking mode, stocking up on stock, chicken soup, chicken and dumplings and paprikash. Last spring's beef was put to good use by stockpiling chili and using the last of the garden to make stuffed pepper soup. Everything goes with mashed turnips...and carrots...and zucchini. I think I planted too many. Again.

There's such a difference in these birds that we raise solely on grain, veggie scraps and milk. No greasy stringy dark meat, excellent flavor. Boy can they eat! We were flying through feed, 50 lbs at least 2-3 times a week.

Variety is the spice of life! Alpaca chops for dinner. Taste and texture of beef, zero gamey taste, maybe just a hint of smoky flavor. Very lean and healthy. Again with mashed turnips...and carrots.

Remember when the pigs were cute? For about 5 minutes? They quickly turned into destructive eating machines. They tossed, yes tossed and chewed up the 18" x 18" x 2" pavers in their pens. They lifted the 100lb rubber mats to burrow under them to sleep. From birth to 250 lbs in a little over 5 months. Overall very efficient. Raised mainly on milk, a little hog feed, whole oats, cracked corn and garden scraps, they cost only about $100 to raise to 500lbs live weight and yielded nearly 70% in meat. We finished them on acorns after reading that most of the world's best Spanish hams and cured pork products are finished on acorns and on wooded forage. 

A great angle...check out those hams! 

Now all is well in the world, our freezer is stocked with fabulous beautiful bacon, roasts and chops. The acorns were a good move, the flavor is fantastic. Aside from the odors and sometimes daunting displays of strength, they really were fairly easy to deal with. Loading and unloading went smoother than expected, no one was hurt! Recent news stories reminded us to respect those hogs...

Baxter and Bettina are now Baxter I and Baxter II. Fall feather displays  are suggesting that they are both male. They are growing very large, very quickly, and yes, I am scared of them. When we reach in to feed them they are right at eye level. I hope they don't realize Thanksgiving is right around the corner... No worries there, they truly are incredibly unintelligent. They pace back and forth behind their enclosure in the wind and rain, too dumb to walk around and go inside the shelter.

The last of this years surplus goat meat has been distributed and orders are filling for next year. My pumpkins, so promising early on this year turned into a total bust. Little black beetles burrowed under every last one of them and destroyed them. Maybe next year...no time or motivation to carve one, it would probably blow away anyway!

Blog Slacker Part 1 ~ Fall Highlights

 Capra Lane has not dropped off the face of the earth....just very busy! After fair week we were inundated with overflowing work at our "real" jobs, the ongoing desperate search for hay, family weddings and birthdays and finally filling our freezer with the fruits of our labor from the garden and the barnyard.

After months of poor planning, M and I finally gathered a free day dedicated 100%  to cheese. Armed with 3 reference books and 12 gallons of milk we tried to put our education and skills in hard cheesemaking to good use. 

So far...so good! Floculation (gelling), curd cutting, careful timing and hours of sitting by the stove.  After pressing and brining, we had produced 3 goats milk tommes and one wheel of garlic and chive fresh pressed cheese. Into the aging cave (dorm refrigerator) it went. At first, no excitement..which is good. Then mold. Then panic.

After consulting with our trusty cheese leader, we scrubbed and washed and continue to do so every other day. Brown  spots and gray fluff gave way to pearlescent blue-green and white. No rotten death smell but still intimidating. "Taste it" she recommended. Hells no. Too scared. Something tells me the affineur should not fear affinage...

Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks...a family wedding over Labor Day.  This spot should be at the top of everyone's "to-do" list and is definitely high on my "repeat" list. I have my eye on that ranch in the valley...

Buffalo...another one of those animals that is somehow bounds more charming in its natural habitat.  We accomplished a ton of sightseeing in our 24 hours. 

Happy 90th birthday to Nana Batt

Goats in the news

 Want to start a goat farm?
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/cleanplatecharlie/2012/09/want_to_start_a_goat_farm_jojo.php

Drought Challenges Goat Dairy
http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/564530/Drought-challenges-goat-dairy.html?nav=10

New Grade A Goat Dairy
http://www.dailycommercial.com/081312goats

Goat Milk and Cheese a Big Hit
http://blog.syracuse.com/farms/2012/09/goat_milk_cheese_a_hit_at_the.html

Goats Gaining Popularity as Show Animals
http://thedailynewsonline.com/news/article_d93f87b4-e75d-11e1-9786-001a4bcf887a.html

Fair Week

 We aren't strangers to the 'goat show' world. On average, we try to attend a few in-and-out shows in the area to try to win awards and potential championships to help confirm that we are breeding in the right direction and also increase the value of our animals. This year, two lovely groups of my friends encouraged me to attend and show during the open class at the Lorain County Fair. Rog and I are faithful attendees of the fair for the past 15 years or so, it is one of the largest fairs in the state and takes place in a community local to my practice and to Rog's summer park gig. I've hesitated to attend many fairs, because most require that the animals are present for the entire week, which equals stress, french fries offered by visitors (adults, naturally...), close quarters with other animals that may not lead such a privileged or healthful life and lots of grubby hands that are irresistible to curious goat lips. With Rog already back in school, and offers from my friends to help with feeding and watering while I was at work, I gave in and brought 4 junior does, May, Esmerelda, Sage and Mona Lisa. My dedicated companions also had 4-H duties of their own to perform so they had planned to stay at the fairgrounds all week to facilitate the process and I opted to join them for a few evenings. Here's a little photo journal that sums up the week (not all mine, I was too traumatized to take many pics. Actually I kept my phone tucked away so I wouldn't be tempted to start a gallery of "people of the Lorain County Fair", I have to maintain at least a hint of professionalism while in public)

Infamous for causing massive traffic jams in the booming metropolis of Wellington, nearly 130,000 people attended this years fair. 

 

 

 

I attended my very first pig race. I can't fathom that I made it 35 29 years without witnessing this. The little porkers can fly when there are oreos at the finish line.

The fair provided me much needed quality time with the great love of my life...fried cheese curds. Move over elephant ears, Oh Boys and soggy french fries, you don't hold a candle to these guys. Salty, squeaky, what's not to love? My GI tract is now fully recovered.

The yearly NSTPA (?? ) tractor pull. I made up those initials, lets just say I didn't buy a t-shirt. Every year we go.  Every year seems longer and longer. Every tractor looks, sounds, pulls the same with the exception of a few flames and explosions every now and then. Every year the way home is filled with loud gutteral W-W-W-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A's from the drivers seat as we exit the muddy parking lot. Every year I pray for rain. This year, 5 hours in to the event, I found myself unknowingly rocking back and forth RainMan style in my seat out of sheer exhaustion. My eyes must have been involuntarily crossing too b/c noone protested when I politely excused myself to the tent.

A must for fair campground dwellers. Providing endless hours of entertainment to boisterous underage drinkers who call the fairgrounds 'home'.

The campgrounds are the picture of organized chaos. With inches to spare, the campers and RV's are organized into cubicles and figure-8 family cliques, generally arranged to seclude the inner circle which may hold anything from an outdoor kitchen, to a couch or a full sized refrigerator, a pool, a dance floor, or all of the above. The tents were few and far between, and we were in one of them, conveniently located near the porta-potties. Now, I'm no stranger to tent camping, and we certainly didn't let the intermittent rain showers dampen our parade. The tent provided a lovely daylight nighttime glow from the giant floodlights overhead that stayed on 24-7. It allowed us to enjoy the many trains that seemingly careened right through our tent until 1am, after which we were granted a reprieve until 5. Each morning the 5am train provided a thorough and reliable alarm clock, I actually woke up running for my life on more than one occasion.

So I admit, our tent probably looked something like this. Aside from forgetting the pump for my air mattress and just rolling it up and sleeping on it, everyone was quite comfortable.

We also had a screened kitchen and dining area where we enjoyed many non-fair-food meals. Ours looked a little different than this, our decorative light fixture and camo chairs helped us blend in.

We did spot this cool bug on our tent. 

The other campers decorated their sites as well. 

I learned all about the fair 'uniform'. It starts with daisy dukes. It is preferred that the shorts are so short that either the front pockets stick out, butt cheeks stick out in the rear, or both. I was quite comfortable in my Umbro soccer shorts that I've had since high school.

In reality, the scene more closely resembled this. The 'uniform' was favored by everyone, ages 10-70, size 0-20. When paired with a shirt proclaiming ' I pooped today', or 'Slut 1',  in a play on Dr. Suess, you truly are at the height of fashion. Some of my favorites were seeing a mustard stained Red Cross 'orgasm donor' t-shirt stretched precariously over a furry bulging belly. Perhaps he should seek out the 'Redneck in Heat' I spotted earlier. I was a bit horrified at seeing a sparkly pink 'Sexy 1' t-shirt on a 12 year-old. Can't wait to watch you on 'Teen Mom'!

So where is mom in all this? Strutting proudly in her daisy duke mom jorts!

Looking for dad. . .

The shorts generally should be paired with cowboy boots. The heels will accentuate your butt and help you look more like a farmer-type. I didn't see many of these beautiful leather boots.

But I saw plenty that resembled these.

Aviators finish the look.

Even the sheep were wearing spandex! What is the world coming to... Seriously, apart from a few spectacular specimens, the crowd was pretty enjoyable. The 4H barns were impeccably clean thanks to the kids on barn duty, the vendors were generally friendly, we spent time with goat friends, old and new. I was able to share the 'farm-side' of my life with co-workers, patients and other members of the community and of course, 'promote the goat' whenever possible. 

First year in 4-H, Miss Moon finished 2nd in showmanship in a large class that spanned ages 8-18, very impressive! The accolades continued when her junior alpine, Zaidee was named Reserve Grand Champion in the open class.

Capra Lane BS Sage was named Grand Champion Junior Alpine in a class of nearly 40! This counts as her 'dry' or 'restricted' championship leg. We were very pleased and are excited to see her compete as a senior doe after kidding this spring.

Mona Lisa, too was awarded GCH in the saanen class! She had already earned her dry leg at an earlier show, but still an impressive win. That meant 2 of the 4 Capra Lane does in attendance had to stand in the Best-in-Show lineup at the end of the day! Our Toggs rounded out the day with 3rd and 4th in their class. All in all, a good show for the barn 'newbies' and a very long week for the goats. Sunday couldn't come fast enough...

Goat noses are cute, as far as noses go. Soft, smooth, generally clean.

Not quite as cute when coated in green boogers and hay bits. The fair crud set in by weeks end. It then spread from the goats who attended the fair, to the baby goats that stayed home, and finally one by one through the milkers. Snot, congestion, fever, lethargy...my $50 or so dollars of fair awards was quickly spent on antibiotics for the goats.

The thing with goats is, when they don't feel well, they crash. They whimper and whine, hang their heads with a fixed spacy stare and sometimes play dead. All to screw with their panicky owners.

Just like humans, they need rest to recover. I *hope* I gave my last dose of antibiotics yesterday. A few more days of milk dumping and things will be back to normal around here. So will I bring animals to the fair again? Probably not. I don't have the time or energy to deal with the aftermath. Will I attend the fair again? Of course!!! I'll help with my friends' animals, help during the show, and dutifully sit through yet another tractor pull. I'll fill my gut with cheese curds, cheer on Hilary Rod-HAM Clinton at the pig race and comfortably retire to the tent and enjoy the sights and sounds of the fair. But next year...................I'll know what to wear.