Beautiful summer days

Darn it, those pesky 'job' things can certainly put a crimp in the beautiful weather we've been having. I find myself making excuses to get something from my car or escort people outside frequently through the day. Spending a few fleeting moments under the towering oak tree beneath which I park every morning is certainly preferable to the malodorous scents that frequently permeate the office. Speaking of the office, my little cave vomited confetti last week. Yes, I firmly believe in 'practice makes perfect' and I am undoubtedly excelling at being '29' for yet another year. Tiny glittery stars have been discovered as far away as Cleveland Heights, likely traveling in on unsuspecting shoes. We've placed bets on when the final piece of glitter will be unearthed, my bets are on 2015.

On the show scene, we hit our third show of the year in early June. Though it was a hectic few weekends, it was worth crowding in all these shows so I didn't have to re-clip any of the animals. Clipping goats usually means goat hair in your eyes, ears, buttcrack and other unmentionable places, needless to say, not desirable in 90 degree weather. The Wooster show is usually one of our favorites, attended by most of our closest goat friends. We met Mickey's (our Saanen buck) dam, and she was lovely in person and it was a pleasure to see her owners as well! Mona Lisa, one of our saanen babies (and Mickey's daughter) was GCH junior saanen earning her restricted championship leg.

Macy earned a GCH leg as well as Toggenburg senior champion. This was an exciting one, because Miss Macy has won GCH 8 times and this is the first one that counted! There were often not enough animals in the breed to make it 'official' and once her owner may have messed up some paperwork, making her win invalid...*ahem*

On the homefront, things are trucking along. The second cutting of hay is drying as we speak, the girls are anxiously awaiting some fresh hay to munch on. We're drowning in milk, milk and more milk! The pigs are doing their part and our fridge is stocked.

Cheese fills most of the tupperware containers in the house, the fridge shelves are loaded with experiments, all at different stages in the 'aging' process.

Queso fresco -  a good way to use up a large quantity of milk and generally dummy-proof as far as cheesemaking goes. A little bland by itself, but is melt-proof and fries up nicely for sandwiches or salads. Turned out well considering I improvised a cheese press with a steel bowl and free weights from the basement. Maybe someday soon, my 'real' cheese press will magically appear since it was promised to me as a birthday gift...

Nope, not a cheese disaster, they are intended to look that way. A little mold, a little ash and in about a week we should have perfectly fuzzy little rounds of moldy molded chevre.

As you can probably tell, I recently discovered Hipstamatic and Instagram. Which translates into many photos of insignificant things around our home. Now don't try to follow me there, I'm still shunning most social media outlets, I only share photos here and with my BFF, my i-phone.

Just a pot of flowers

Daisies...with effects!

So far, the garden is flourishing. We've always adopted 'quantity over quality' which truly means, productive but ugly. At this point in the summer, usually the weeds have taken hold and the thistle has completely defeated us. But so far, so good! Our little Mantis-esque mini-tiller, brought to Rog by the birthday fairy, has made life much easier. The lack of rain really has not impacted much except maybe the watermelons and canteloupes. But as we know, my largest watermelon to date has been the size of a toddler's football so I still feel like success is within my grasp.

Zukes and cukes

Can't wait for sweet corn. This is the first year that we've reached the 'knee high by the fourth of July' milestone is quite some time. I will no longer complain about our excess of goat shit and chicken shit.

This fall I am certain the Great Pumpkin will make a stop in our backyard. The other day I was pulling weeds and Tinder was hidden completely under one of the leaves. Freaking huge!

Lettuce and herbs in a raised pallet garden, courtesy of Pinterest. I mean CraftCrack.

Next up, Kaelyn turns 10 in July! Still as photogenic as ever...

*smooch* Arrivederci!

Piggies send their love and kisses. They've ballooned to about 75-80 lbs already. Still greatly resemble ham in the ass-end and any remaining cuteness is fading fast. Weight-gain truly equals stench-gain. They squeal and snort near mealtime as if we are starving them. Poor pigs, were the chevre, whey and stale peanut butter cookie treats not pleasing enough? It is fun and awfully cute to watch them scramble around and wrestle and roughhouse like puppies, but most of the time we just look forward to eating them.