Garden disasters

“All sorrows are less with bread. ” 

― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

I had to take some time to practice my skills...after all, the great wheat harvest of 2013 is right around the corner.

See it? Look closer...under the ragweed and the queen anne's lace. 

There's one! One of these years we're going to suck it up and use weed killer before planting. "We can handle it", "it's not that big an area", "we just need to keep up with it." Yeah right. . .

“Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that theyare gods.” 

― Christopher Hitchens

Annie-cat making a rare appearance by the house. She stayed just long enough to attack Hemi and roll around in the grass before retreating to the barn. She's a nasty one. She likes the warmth of my giant puffer coat during kidding time though, and often crawls on my lap, swatting like a maniac if I dare shift or disturb her. 

“Sometimes just to touch the ground is enough for me, even if not a single thing grows from what I plant.” 

― Andy Couturier

Whoever Andy is, he's full of shit. I'm bitter and angry that my peppers look like this. Notice: no peppers.

"A weed is but an unloved flower.” 

― Ella Wheeler Wilco

Who needs tomato cages? Mine barely reach the first rung. Worst garden ever. Most of the dirt washed out of our raised beds, causing the plants to drown and yellow in the residual clay soil.

One apple tree is so loaded it has arched right into the ground.

The other played buffet to the passing deer.

This is the lone surviving hanging basket for the year. Pretty typical for August 1st. I thought this year was the year I'd keep them alive, given the non-stop rain that made watering less of a chore. Oops. . . 

Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died.

Erma Bombeck 

Shhhhhh Erma. . . I didn't kill the zucchini!

My sis bought special imported zucchini seeds that grow primarily flowers and fewer fruits. We are definitely reaping the benefit of all those blossoms. Of course, they are best fried. Does that somehow defeat the purpose of growing vegetables I wonder?

We caught a swarm in the apple tree the other day, hopefully the new bees are setting up shop here and will establish a hive that we can add to our apiary. 

Freakishly large sage leaves, mild and sooo tasty.

First year for these blackberries, now to keep the birds away until they're ripe. . . 

New fruits on a 2 year old plum tree. Deer don't like plums as well as apples, I hope?

These can go in the 'hard to kill' category. My tabletop 'pinterest' display is doing well.

Also hard to kill. They are the only plant in this bed not being choked out by invasive little flowering vines.

 “The sunflower is mine, in a way.” 

― Vincent van Gogh

Somehow, he's right. But for me, these are a little taste of vacation. . . I think next year we'll scrap the wheat and plant the entire back field in sunflowers. They are certainly beautiful and thankfully tall enough to overcome the multitude of weeds that surround them.

The good, the bad and the ugly

“The rain to the wind said, You push and I'll pelt.' They so smote the garden bed,  That the flowers actually knelt, And lay lodged--though not dead. I know how the flowers felt.” ~ Robert Frost

Rain.

More rain. 

Rain is all three. Good, bad, ugly. Good for the hayfield, good for the lawn, the aquifer and the birds. Bad when it  floods the fields and the driveway and hovers at ankle level in areas muddled with multi-species poop. (this is starting to feel like a country song) Ugly when it continues for 16 days and even the goats are crabby and tired of laying in damp ick. The garden drowned, pepper plants are laid out flat with scraggly yellow leaves pining for sunshine, the tomatoes don't look much different than they did when I put them in the ground. Mosquitoes are thriving and slowly sucking the life out of us which makes porch time uncomfortable and brief. But eventually the rains ended, the puddles dried and we hurried to cut our hay during the week long heat wave that followed. We were thankful to put away 400 bales last week, not to shabby for a bunch of city folk.

Hay is GOOD. Always.

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If you go to Gettysburg and take the time, maybe take a tour, maybe just drive around, read some of the monuments, read some of the plaques, you will come away changed. ~ Jeff Shaara

Gettysburg is good. My mom, sister and I revisited the town for the 150th anniversary, almost exactly 20 years after our first trip there. 

Also good was the national park services' efforts to restore the 'battlefield' to its appearance at the time of the civil war. Encampments, reenactments, hospitals and even the landscape down to the fences and trees were reflective of 1863. 

Good and bad were the thousands upon thousands of dedicated reenactors who descended on the town. Obviously knowledgeable and dedicated but a little odd in that they seemed to have......expectations. Some acted as though they were deserving of a fan club. Some clearly still live with mom...in the basement. 

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“Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.”Jim Davis, 'Garfield'

Which of these things is not like the other? Looks like a zucchini snuck into the watermelon patch. It was white inside, seeds as large as pumpkin seeds and a sweet watermelon-ish smell. Any ideas? Nothing I planted. We are one week into the zucchini harvesting season and I'm already over it. Zucchini is quickly moving from the 'good' column into the 'bad' column. 

Zucchini blossoms, however, are GOOD. Very good. I have fried at least 4 batches in finely ground farina and beer, along with some freakishly large sage leaves from the garden. The season is short, and fresh is the only way so we make the most of it.  

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“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.” ― Charles M. Schulz

Chocolate is GOOD. This is our favorite. We always have a bar in the house, one square after dinner every day, it even has an assigned spot near the napkin holder. 

Chocolate is BAD, when your 'big' dog steals hamburger buns and inadvertently knocks down the chocolate and your 'little' dog eats it, foil and all. A little peroxide, a little barfing, a little activated charcoal and a little lethargy later, Tinder is doing a-Ok now. 

Kaelyn is still waiting for her mimosa. She also turned 11 last week and we've been so busy we haven't made it to Dairy Queen yet. Soon, Kaelyn, soon...

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“Inside a barn is a whole universe, with its own time zone and climate and ecosystem, a shadowy world of swirling dust illuminated in tiger stripes by light shining through the cracks between the boards. ” 
― Carolyn Jourdan

Progress is GOOD. Constant reorganizing and remodeling and flip-flopping form over function resulted in a new / old sink and new cabinetry in the barn. Still waiting on concrete. Not having our own concrete truck and having to rely on contractors who have no set schedule = BAD.

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“People don't know how chickens can turn on you, but they can -- just like mad dogs.” 
― Mary Ann Shaffer

Eggs are GOOD. New birds have been integrated with old, Calvin Klein played an integral role again. The black bird in the back? Last years' penguin chick 'freebie'. Doing well. 

Chickens are birds. Birds are BAD. Terrifying. We are starting to wonder if the pretty one in front is a rooster. It is very tall and very colorful, no way in hell I'm getting close enough to check. 

A new chicken yard is GOOD. They now have rotating pastures so fresh greenery and bugs are always at the ready. 

Home grown chicken is GOOD. And tasty. 5 weeks to go!

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“In summer the empire of insects spreads.” ― Adam Zagajewski

Flies are BAD. And UGLY. Really #$%^^&* BAD!!! My fly swatter has seen better days. I go on a daily rampage. I can't work, eat or sleep with annoying vermin buzzing around my head. Where there are livestock, there are inevitably flies. Where there are pets going in and out, there are flies. Where there is a dead mouse stuck under your garage step, there are flies. All attempts at fly control have failed us. Any suggestions???

Is he laughing at me?

Finally Summer

Sofia! Still cute as a button. She sounds like an angry elephant though...

Photobomb via Sage. I was trying to get a picture of the goats climbing all over one another to attack the hay, despite having 2 acres of pasture to nibble on all day.

I'd love a mimosa. . .

The pigs are still bringing us great joy...from the freezer! We have yet to add a new batch of piglets, waiting on some concrete work to be completed to keep things neat and tidy.

My favorite time of year! I usually pick after morning milking and the berries rarely make it into the house. Rog made me put some cups in the barn so I'm not 'forced' to eat them all immediately.

Sunset over Pleasant Hill Lake. I was just admiring this photo and how I captured a bird in flight just over the horizon. Then he disappeared and I realized it was just dirt on my laptop.

Showing goats - 2013 edition

Why do we show goats? A question I am often asked by family, friends, and even other goat showmen. The reason we started is to network. To show other 'goat people' that we have healthy, happy, quality animals and to hopefully to draw in buyers and increase the value of our herds' progeny. So 6 years into this game, I wonder if our goals have changed...

Showing goats requires a ton of preparation. Packing, organizing, bathing, clipping.  Aaaah...clipping, the single most predominant reason I don't show my animals more often. Clipping goats is something I liken to scraping wallpaper. Or scrubbing toilets. Or pulling out your eyelashes one by one. Or putting on wet jeans. Or sneezing in your OR mask. Clipping goats is something noone in their right mind could ever enjoy. No matter how careful I am, what type of clothing I do or don't wear, I always feel like I rolled over a porcupine and promptly develop an itchy rash. 

The vast majority of the goats don't like it either. The clippers are loud, warm up quickly and are obviously terrifying, based on their acrobatics on the milkstand. I always win though. Headlocks and footlocks drive those needle-like goat hairs deeper into my skin with each passing minute; I may bleed, swear or even cry, but I always win and those little buggers get their haircuts. 

The second-worst part of showing goats is training. The milkers generally have fairly good manners, as they are handled twice daily at milking time and lead easily on their collars. But we still have to break them of foot-shyness or udder-shyness when approached by a big scary judge or another exhibitor. The babies need collar work as well, which I always try to do 'tomorrow' and then 'tomorrow' and suddenly 'tomorrow' is show day!

This is how the goats look when no one is looking.

This is how the goats look when the judge glances our way. 

 We've come a long way since our first goat show 6 long years ago. I had done a little research, I clipped my goats with a small dog-sized clipper and 8 hours later they looked good! Then I walked in and saw people with razors, shaving cream, tiny paint brushes to remove bristly hairs from udders, shoe polish, goat coats and other intimidating accoutrements. Like dog owners, goat owners sometimes resemble their goats. In condition, dentition and fragrance. With a shudder, I kicked some poop off their hooves and into the showring we went...we even managed to go home with a few ribbons. Its taken several years, but in time I learned about withers, escutcheons and hocks. I can tell a good chine from a bad, spot a great rump from ten yards and I just learned to check for the elusive 'spring of rib'.

This year, the shows fell a little earlier in May and were clustered together over a period of a few weeks. Hectic, yes, but clipping is minimized, so sign me up!

First stop...Burton for the Western Reserve Dairy Goat Association show.

Lounging and resting up for the big event. 

Burton is a nice little show, I've been going for the past several years. It is structured over 2 days with one ring each day which means that there are not 2 judges judging classes simultaneously so that those of us crazy people with multiple breeds are running back and forth aimlessly. The fairgrounds are quiet and quaint, close to the town square. Hot water in the bathrooms was an added bonus this year. We finished the show with:

Macy - RGCH senior toggenburg

Emmette - GCH (ring 2)  and RGCH (ring 1) junior toggenburg

Masquerade - GCH senior saanen

Next stop...Springfield for the Ohio Dairy Goat Association Annual Buckeye Classic. I learned after arriving that Springfield is kind of a dump. Being situated out in the country between Columbus and Dayton, I was expecting more rolling hills and less inner city. I also learned that Springfield scores well above average ( and not in a good way ) in violent crime and property crime per capita. Fortunately and unfortunately I learned these fun facts after arriving home or else I may have opted out of this one!

“It always rains on tents. Rainstorms will travel thousands of miles, against prevailing winds for the opportunity to rain on a tent.” 
― Dave Barry

That quote sums up our experience. Good friends made the weekend bearable. Upon arriving we were greeted with unclean pens, un-constructed pens, locked bathrooms and non-working water fixtures. And rain. Despite this, we put on our game faces, set up our animal housing, set up our campsite that would be home for the next 3 days and settled in for a long night. Long not from the rain, but from the other activities going on at the fairgrounds that included a race that commenced at 11pm and music loudly piped over the speakers until after 2am. Yearning for sleep, night 2 went just about as well. A monsoon brought torrential rains, flooding, panicked, wet goats, wet bedding and hay, and a truck cab that smelled like a teenage boys locker room.

Thankfully we had the foresight to bring food. And plenty of it. The food 'vendor' was serving meals out of a livestock trailer and didn't bring coffee. When I inquired he responded 'I have water and orange juice, that's pretty close'  Pretty close???? Really?????? &#$%^^&*(^*(^!!!!!!!

Despite our hardships, things ended well. By Sunday the skies had cleared, I washed my hair, aired out the truck, bought new straw and drank some bourbon.

Buckeye Classic show results:

Macy - GCH both rings

Emilene- BOB (best of breed) both rings

Masquerade- RGCH one ring

Luci- RGCH one ring, 2nd place saanen in state, futurity competition

Cammile- GCH one ring

Emmette- RGCH both rings

Delfina- RGCH one ring

Sofia- RGCH one ring ( I love her!)

Last stop ( for a while) Wooster for the North East Ohio Dairy Goat Association Show. Wooster is the closest stop for me, which meant one day in and out. No truck camping or neck aches for once! Wooster is usually one of my favorites, attended by some of my favorite goat friends, yet one of the more hectic shows as two simultaneous show rings mean a lot of shuffling around and minimal down time. 

As usual I neglected to photograph my goats when in their 'show best' so I'll rely on the photos taken by the professionals and will post them when available.

Wooster show results:

Masquerade - GCH one ring

Macy - GCH and BOB both rings, finishing her permaent championship!!

Emmette- RGCH one ring

Sofia - RGCH one ring (love her!)

Now its break time. The girls were growing weary of the trailer and I was growing weary of dragging all that crap around. Its time for them to lounge in the pasture, roll in the mud and relax for a few months until our Linear Appraisal session arrives in September. We will get busy making hay, nurturing veggies and I'll continue to work on my fly fishing technique. Next year when show season arrives, I'll dust off the tack box, oil up the clippers and dive in, knowing that I'm inviting rashes, back pain and misery. Smiling as I finally admit that I am . . . 'goat people'.

capra vie

We made our debut at the Oberlin market on May 25th! Very happy with our initial showing and we enjoyed socializing with all of the other vendors...

Our introductory fudge flavors were well received, we offered a sweet a savory. . . sea salt & caramel and herbs de provence. The cajeta was a big hit, we will need to make extra jars next time.

Next market date - Saturday, June 15th from 9-1