Black Friday

We bought rocks! No crowds, no lines, no waiting. What'd you buy?

This year we're thankful for. . .

A- Apples. Apple pie, Apple sauce, Apple butters. Looking forward to starting new trees.

 

B- Barn space. Being able to house not only our animals but most of our equipment this winter will be wonderful.

C- Canning. Though we left a full garden behind, we are still enjoying last years goods and I overcame my fear of the pressure canner.

D- Deer. To keep Rog and his binoculars on the hunt all winter.

E- Elephant. Since we have so much more space, I sort of want one.

F- Fireplace. Cozy, crackling and a useful 'back-up' plan to our propane heat.

                        

 

G- Goats. Spoiled stinkers.

H- Hay. Because we can never have enough. Especially when the elephant arrives.

I- Iris. She's super cute and mischievous.

                 

J- jam and jelly. Beet is my favorite, Rog prefers blueberry.

K- Kitties. Rosie, of course. Annie-cat, Mama-Kitty and Socks, the skittish stray that eats all of the food.

                       

L- Licorice. Yep. 

M- moo-cows. I want one of those too. Her name will be Minnie, preferably a Jersey.

N- Niece. Our new niece, Ava, who loves her pumpkin. 

                             

O- oaks. In about 100 years, these newly planted trees will look fantastic!

P- Pups.

Q- Quiet. 

R- Room to Roam.

S- Silkies. Our study new rooster who doesn't realize he is tiny and looks like a marshmallow.

T- Tedder. Moving this back from Adario this Tuesday officially, finally, ends our move.

U- Una. She single-handedly stacked these bales for us. 10 more on the way. Her mother told us not to work her too hard while she was here...

V- Video player on amazon. How else would we survive winter?

W- wood. Fire. Wood make fire.

X- X-rays. X-rays help us feed our goats. And pay a mortgage.

Y- yamaha. Yamaha Grizzly 660. Indispensable on the farm.

Z- zippers. Z is tough. But zippers are certainly helpful, life would be awkward without them.

Happy Thanksgiving from Capra Lane Farm!

Luna the wonder goat

Last time I mentioned Luna, she was wearing a cast and a t-shirt, still smiling. Her shoulder wound has healed and she has been through many cast changes since then. Enough time has passed that we were hoping her knee joint had auto-fused or scarred down and stabilized enough that she could walk normally. She is still short-cycling and flirting with the boys - constantly.

At her most recent cast change we noticed that her leg was still a bit unstable, the knee bending a bit in the 'wrong' direction, more so as she walked around.

So I started wracking my brain to come up with a more permanent option. Not that casting is too difficult, but long term its a lot of smells, worries about it getting wet, and come on, she's a goat, its going to get peed on.

I enlisted the help of my colleagues at Leimkuehler Orthotic and Prosthetic to design a more permanent support for Luna. We took a negative cast and they assisted in molding and fabricating a clam-shell type brace that would hopefully help Luna get around long term.

She is happily showing it off. It's going to take a little work, and probably a few adjustments to get her walking on it again. Her hoof is still a bit tender from her previous bout with founder and having not walked on it in quite some time as her foot was enclosed in the cast also.

Thank you Bill Leimkuehler for accepting the challenge! When I visited the lab, the techs were noticeably disappointed that they did not get to meet Luna. I will keep them updated on her progress.

What do you eat for Thanksgiving? Goat?!?

Our Thanksgiving is all about the food, like everyone. And no, we don't eat goat. That's not to say we don't stray from the norm at all...

Turkey is the main course. Giant, fresh, home raised, whenever possible. Except this year, of course due to the move. Rog and I are even off the hook for cooking and hosting - twice!

The giant turkey debacle of 2012. Yes that's just a wing. On a dinnerplate. 

Rog's favorite is green bean casserole. We all razz him for picking such an ick favorite, but I've noticed in more recent years there isn't much left over. I might like it now too.

He also looks forward to his mom's stuffing all year long. Lots of sage, lots of sausage, it's the only stuffing I love also. At my house growing up, noone was a big fan of stuffing / dressing so we made an obligatory small batch from a box and most of it went uneaten.

Sweet potatoes, butternut squash, bread (of course), sometimes cheesy potatoes round out the meal. I prefer my sweet potatoes plain and roasted, not ruined with sugar and marshmallows. Not sure where Rog stands on sweet potatoes. By plate 3, he is usually whittling down to his favorites, stuffing and green bean casserole.

We do sometimes bring in a few 'that's not thanksgiving' options. Sausage rolls, yum. Or is that Christmas?

Nothing says Thanksgiving like cavatelli! Every. Year. 

Pea salad- to bring some freshness to the summer drear. 

Wedding soup to start the meal. 

Egg custard pie. Although pumpkin is a staple, I don't like it. Egg custard is also a favorite of my sister and dad's as well. Again, Rog has a lot of leftover pumpkin pie to eat! Apple often finds its way on to the table as well. 

Turkey-say-what? That's not a turkey! This year since we failed to deliver turkeys to the plate, we will be having turketta with my family on Friday. Turkey breast, prepared like Italian porchetta, stuffed with herbs and pancetta and roasted. A sneaky way to fit bacon into thanksgiving dinner is always welcome!

Life

So this happened. 

Ugh. The mild fall had convinced us winter may slip by undetected. But plain as day, snowflakes were flying last night. A fitting end to a stressful week. As we enter the season of chaos- ie prepping the farm for winter, holiday office Rush, school finals, meetings upon meetings, breeding goats, unpacking, rearranging things, thanksgiving, Christmas, work parties galore - life happens. 

A fabulous deal on stone moved up our plans to start renovating the kitchen so we found ourselves demolishing things, creating messes in the areas we had just sorted. We adore the new countertops, a huge improvement for sure. But now the rush is on to install backsplash, tile, lighting, etc in time for the holidays. No, it's not "necessary" to have it done but I'm fixated on it now. We know how that usually ends. 

Rog's faithful truck picked a perfect time to putter out. In the interest of safety for his much longer commute and with the time crunch of winter fast approaching, we got him a new one. I haven't seen him much since then, I think he's standing by it again...

Things are coming together outside, just finished more painting inside. We have a month of concrete work, fencing, building and more rearranging ahead of us. The darkness at 5pm, however, really convinces us that a better option is sitting on the couch eating carbs. 

Luna and Rosie, our hairless-breed family pets are settling into hibernation mode, I have to search out their sweaters soon. 

The corn is down from the surrounding fields. Much like our Adario house, we still live in a flat barren wind tunnel. The goats are enjoying chasing all of the stray corn husks and cobs, Blessing hollers at them, just in case. 

Rosie is learning about the joys of fire. All winter she searches for a hoodie to crawl into, a throw to burrow under or a lap to claim. A favorite spot of hers has been on top of the TV, where all of the heat is released from the vents, until now. Now, she is enamored with the fireplace. So much so that our dark brown furniture is dotted with tiny ashy footprints from the hearth whenever she is left unsupervised. 

Wondering how to get in there...

She rotates frequently so she doesn't have a "chilled" side.

Around and around again, purring the whole time. We're going to need more wood. . .