Surprise!

Farmer K and Surprise

Yesterday morning, Farmer K told me there was a lamb in with the sheep. Since I had recently moved our first round of lambs to another pen for easier access and to keep them from interbreeding, I figured I was up for some fence repair. I counted my lambs and all six were there.

"Are you sure?" I called back, wondering if someone had snuck an animal onto our ranch.

"Yes, Mom. A lamb. A tiny one."

Well, that was a whole different story entirely. Mama Sheep had popped out a little baby ewe. We had no idea she was pregnant again. That lady wastes no time. Meet her lamb who we named Surprise.

Soap on the Way



My Mad Scientist Face

 I've been making more goat milk soaps!

August 1st, I made a batch of coconut scented goat milk soap. Today, August 3, I made up a batch of Oatmeal, Milk and Honey scented soap. Both must cure at least 4 weeks before they're ready to use. Oatmeal, Milk and Honey sold out fast last time it was available.

I plan to have the soaps available for sale at the Swan restaurant location and eventually, when our first store reopens, I'd like to have some available there, too. (The Fat Greek on Park and University suffered extensive flood damage from the restaurant above us when a water line burst, and is closed for at least a couple months for renovations and repairs.)
These soaps are very basic, containing Soybean Oil, Goat Milk, Lye and Fragrance.

Plan to Rule the World Foiled...Again

It was a pleasant summer morning when Big Momma said to Gucci, the dairy cow. "Hey. Hey come here." She nodded her dehorned, wizened head to the giant leader of the pen next to hers. "Lookit, Cow. I can get you out. I have this hand." Big Momma stuck out her tongue to show off the Adam's Family like thing she kept hidden. "I got this from Violet. She smuggled it in when she moved to our place. The head goat at her old place had a spare and she figured it was a cool parting gift and all."

Gucci stared at Big Momma, perplexed, but listening with intent.

Big Momma went on. "So, here's the deal. I give you the hand. You get me outta here from the outside of the gate. Cool?"

Gucci flicked a fly from her ear and nodded in slow motion.

Big Momma pushed her mouth through the chain link fence and let the hand fall onto the cow side. It crawled around on its fingers for a while. Gucci retrieved the precious appendage.

But little did Big Momma know that cows are smarter than they look. Their placid demeanor and dazed eyes are all a farce.

Gucci spoke to her minions cow friends and told them of a new plan. They'd mowed the two acres of land their stupid well-meaning owner had allowed them access to. She wanted more. The neighbor's yard was tasty last time she'd been sent there to mow his yard with her second in command, aka: T-Bone-Mr.Sandwich-Texas-Baby-Cow. And her baby, Karma, was totally up for the expansion idea.

Gucci hid the hand in her mouth and carried it to the neighbor gate. There was no chain on the gate like the goats' pen. Gucci had used her hypnotic powers to convince her owner that she was incapable of cleverness and tricks like a goat on the first day she met her.

Far behind Gucci, the goats screamed in violent protest to no avail.

With a single backward glance at the ranch she called home, she opened her mouth, stuck out her tongue, and used the magic hand to open the gate. It was an empowering moment to have the use of the proverbial opposable thumb. Oh, the possibilities! Not only could she mow all the grass on her property, the neighbor's property, and the next property over, she had sniffed the air and figured out there was a swimming pool nearby. And mesquite bean pods. So many bean pods like little, tasty sugar cookies sprinkled all over the place. And they belonged to HER and her MINIONS!

Her entourage of loyal followers mooed as she led them to greener pastures. It was freedom, the ability to come and go as they pleased as long as they possessed the hand!

Then the neighbor man saw her. She ran, hoping he wouldn't notice a thousand pound jersey, a steer, and a wee jersey calf sneaking across his yard. He was a busy man. She knew he probably had better things to do. They hid next door.

They munched. They frolicked. They eyed the unfenced swimming pool with abandon, planning cannonball contests. This was the resort she'd longed for. And the hand had made it all possible!

Sadly, her owner got wind of her betrayal. She pulled up in her silver truck with a wide-eyed look of concern.

Gucci, fearful of being seen as anything but innocent, nodded at T-Bone-Mr.Sandwich-Texas-Baby-Cow. "It was him," she mooed. "All his idea. I tried to stop him! But you know how he doesn't listen and gets all stubborn."

Her owner hugged Gucci, forgiving her because she loved her the most. Because Gucci is awesome and adorable with those big, brown innocent eyes. Then she grabbed Gucci by the ear like a misbehaving child and led her to the corral of time-out shame.

The End.

But not quite.

The goats revolted  and went to reclaim the hand as soon as the owner left. The hand was clearly misused for evil when in the cows' keeping and they were not worthy of such a mystical key.

They bashed their loosely chained gate and escaped. And they took back the hand. And after that, they took the rest of the alfalfa and the whole bin of sweet feed. And for good measure they ate all the bits of hay that had fallen on the floor in the milking area. And they ate and ate until they felt like they would explode.

Then, when their owner returned for the evening chores, they smiled their goatly smiles, and donned their goatly halos. They followed their owner right back into their pen like they little angels they pretended they were. Just to show that the cows were really the evil ones.

The End.

Grazy Days

The summer rains are filling in the greens for the cattle and any other grazing critter that gets to come out and about. We've let Gucci, Karma and Baby Cow (the steer) wander for a couple of days now all over the property. They're enjoying all the free salad they can nip off, a neverending supply of mesquite bean pods, and when they head back to their corral, they still get some alfalfa hay--though they don't seem all that interested in the hay now.

The wild amaranth is coming in, along with a variety of grasses, purslane and the alfalfa in the pasture area, which they have access to. I love to see the property greening up, but it'll be nice when the weather starts cooling down again.

More Pumpkins...and a Facelift

The garden is getting a facelift. This year, we have been dissappointed with its production. Last year at this time, we had buckets of tomatoes coming in, zucchini and even eggplants galore. Not so now. I am harvesting only a few tomatoes every couple days. They're delicious, but there are not enough.

Looking back, I noticed that when I started the garden last year, I mulched the heck out of it with straw. I did that because the ground had very little organic matter in it. The garden has loads of organic matter in it now. It also grows the occasional mushrooms and a healthy crop of roly-polies which shows me that the soil is changing and holding in moisture much better than before. We have had a very healthy crop of weed grasses. So I have started again with the straw mulch, weeding and mulching as I go. It didn't help that I was ill with pneumonia and not out there pulling weeds on a daily basis for a few weeks. They've gotten out of hand but hopefully will be removed before long.

Another thing I did differently last year was that I started with six packs of plants that were already six inches high or more. This year I did mainly seeds or small seedlings I'd started in the greenhouse. The plants we have from those starts are still small and not yet producing.

Watering in the Gigantic Garden has always been with an oscillating sprinkler. Last year, we had the test garden which was always hand watered and always looked more lush. Hand watering or more specific watering would likely help the Gigantic Garden get along better.

In the rows I've weeded and mulched the started tomatoes I planted are no longer sagging, a huge difference already. My guess is that the mulch is key and will need to be renewed yearly.

Nevertheless, we continue to get zucchinis and excellent pie pumpkins...

Pumpkins in the Summer

Pumpkins are traditionally a fall crop...and most people get pneumonia in the winter.

I planted pumpkins mainly as a shade crop to protect the other, more delicate vegetables from the harsh heat and sun. Pumpkin vines have broad leaves that created a lot of shade in a quick amount of growing time. There are pumpkin vines intermingled everywhere in the gigantc garden.

And of course, where there are pumpkin vines, there are pumpkins. I picked the first one yesterday and couldn't wait to make it into my favorite pumpkin muffins. This small pie pumpkin, grown from seeds saved twice over from a Halloween pie pumpkin 2 years ago, yielded three cups of mashed pumpkin. That's the perfect amount for my recipe.

I am of the belief that pumpkin muffins will cure my pneumonia too.

An Update

Summer is here in all its fiery fury. Nothing can survive in the greenhouse now. It's really a giant plastic oven with the heat turned up to broil. The camper and the sheds are HOT inside. The whole ranch is hot and only a little less hot in the shade. If I need to cool off, I stand under the sprinkler in the gigantic garden...which should be called the Dill Jungle. The dill should not have been planted in the middle of the garden. Especially since it's Giant Dill, a variety which grows about five feet tall. But now that it's there, it reseeds itself and will do that forever. I've decided to lop off the seedheads and drop them at the outer edges of the garden where the plants will do greater good shading other plants.

The green monsters of summer, zucchinis, have started getting big enough to pick. Every day I find more, but we tend to let them get big before we pick them because they get sliced or shredded when used at the restaurants. Bigger is better for them. If you haven't tried our zucchini patties, you're missing out!

The chicks we got in April are now fully featherd and a couple are trying to crow. It sounds like two tin cans grating against each other. I figure by the time they can crow properly it will be time for the frying pan... Not all of them are roosters though. Some look like they will be nice laying hens, a few Rhode Island Reds, a couple of Buff Orpingtons, some Barred Plymouth Rocks and more that we don't know the breed of.

Our old hens still lay but not always with consistency. Sometimes it depends on the weather. The extreme heat is hard on them. I give them lots of water and shade and even hose them off to keep them cool.

The baby sheep are getting big and fat. None have really turned out to be very friendly. I guess that's just the nature of sheep, at least the ones we have. They like me well enough if I have food, but otherwise, they'd rather not bother with me much if they don't have to.

All of our baby goats are getting big as well, except for Violet's little ones, the last ones born. She's a tiny goat anyways, so we don't expect her babies to do anything other than take after their momma. So far, they do in nature too, being sweet little lovebugs.

Karma the baby calf finally caught up to her mother's milk production. This was startling at first, but now I see it as a relief. I don't have to milk daily. I check Gucci to see if she's got any milk in her udder, but if not and if I don't need milk that day, I don't milk. If I know I need milk, I take Karma for a walk to the goat pen and leave her there until the next feeding so Gucci can make me some milk.

I also milked the goats a few days last week. I may separate their babies now and just milk them daily since they sure do love that sweet feed and can't stand not to be milked once started. They all know to run right over to the stand, get in it, and put their head in the lock for treats. I'd forgotten what a pleasure it is to milk the goats. Most of them cooperate and it's an easy way to keep up on hoof maintenance.

The only rebel is Tsica. She kicks pretty bad. I'd read an article about a family whose children milked all their goats. They'd tie one rear leg up high to prevent kicking. This works fairly well for Tsica. She still kicks backward but can't hit me or the bucket. She gives a good amount of milk to where it's really silly not to milk her. I figure over time she'll calm down like Ms. Cow, her sister, finally has. (I don't have to use hobbles on Ms. Cow anymore. We just lean against each other like old friends.)

In other news, Bruce Goose has been confirmed to be a girl by the male Pekin ducks... Poor Bruce.