Mid-November

Monday is our catchup day.  We run around like fools trying to patch, wash, dry, mend, clip, clean, and muck!  This morning little Harriet the hen went from one nesting box to another testing them out.  She was like Goldilocks sitting in each spot and feeling around and then deciding on another.  Once she chose spot # 1 she promptly layed an egg!  I marked it with a 1 in case she wants to hatch them but by this evening I'm not so sure that is her intention.  I think maybe after a day of being broody she changed her mind!

Meanwhile, my goats have had no thoughts of kids on their minds and its been driving me nuts!  I'm supposed to check for signs of heat then count every 21 days to see if they are in a cycle, then bring them to the farm to get....action....  So this morning I am out back talking to our new wood delivery guy complaining about my goats and he says to me, "You have to stimulate them".  Now I'm thinking...hmmm....I'm not sure I want goat milk THAT bad....Once he realized my confusion he laughed and said - you need a male goat or the scent of a male goat!  oh...ooops!

So, I called my sister-in-law who happened to be going to pick up a stud and took a ride with her.  We picked the mini goat up and he had a very large goat smell.  My sister-in-law was kind enough to take the goat to my house first so the girls could get a sniff and I could get a buck rag.  Well, Buttercup got so rallied up whe nearly knocked Laura to the ground!  YES!  Maybe this is going to work out afterall!

After this adventure, John and I had to go to Oak Leaf Dairy and get hay for the girls and another fully stinking buck rag.  We got there and those goats could curl your nosehairs.  I rubbed them with the cloth and realized THEY ARE HUGE!  They've got to be twice the size of my girls.  So now I'm worried about hooking them up when the girls are ready.  Sometimes, some parts, some moments in farm life are just not for me.

All in all it was a good day.  The turkeys are finishing up their time on the farm, the hens are happy and using their nests, the guineas are getting ready for a much bigger flight cage, the goats are, I pray, going into heat, and the rabbits spent the whole day getting filthy digging tunnels.  OH, I almost forgot, I ran my kiln today - its been 2 years and I'm back at the wheel!  I wonder what the rest of the week will bring!

Be well!