DoeDoe's Turn

DoeDoe the day we got her.

Saturday I had a party. It started out as an invitation for friends to come hold some goat babies because really, who wouldn't want to kick back and hold a soft, warm, little, adorable baby? Especially one you can give back if it starts crying. My two younger sons had a playday with a friend that day, and the mom mentioned that she'd always wanted to stop by the ranch and see all the animals especially since we had babies. And of course, with two families coming, it really wouldn't be a party without my favorite surrogate daughters. And sandwiches, a veggie tray, drinks and s'mores. With a fire. It was a great time!

Everyone was pretty reluctant to leave, and some (I won't name names) kept saying they better head home, but instead, moved closer to the fire. And closer still and kept visiting and remarking on how peaceful it was to be there.

Slowly, my party dwindled down to me, my kids and my spare kids. Angelica kept sneaking away from the fire to check on DoeDoe because we have a top secret method to get a sheep to go into labor. I won't go into details but it involves grooming. It's worked twice before. We figured DoeDoe was the third time charm.

When her dad came to pick her up and take her on home, she snuck away one last time, but didn't come back. Next thing I knew she was calling for me to come help. I figured something had gone wrong. Nope. DoeDoe was in labor. As we had planned all along of course.

It was very dark by then and she nested in the sheep pen across from DoeDoe with a battery powered light and a blanket. The other kids eventualy joined her to watch the babies come. It was very exciting for them. DoeDoe had two babies and was assisted by Angelica, the midwife, who made sure everyone came out okay and got their noses swiped clean so they could breathe. She even played udder police and shooed away Teenager Sheep's greedy baby who saw DoeDoe's udder as fair game.

I couldn't get good pictures of the babies until today, but she had one boy and one girl.

Udder Watch 2-25-2012

It's a little bigger. I swear it is...

Tired of Waiting...

There are many more seeds where these came from.
We managed to get all of these into the ground though!

I just can't stand it anymore. I miss the overgrown rows of vegetables, the endless green, the daily checking of the garden to see what's ready to be picked. I was going to wait until March, but I AM TIRED OF WAITING! And I have all these seeds and this nice teenager friend who was willing to help me with my crazy drive to play Mother Nature. We planted half the rows this morning with garlic, and seeds: pumpkin, cucumber, carrots, romaine, peas, spinach, and two thick handfuls of yellow onion sets.

Everything was laid out in a very random way, following the permaculture theory that interplanting helps deter pests. (If you want random, enlist the aid of small children too!) The idea is that the variation throws pests off course and I shouldn't end up with a row of radishes that have been eaten to the stubs. We'll see if it works.

Here you can see the wider rows covered
with lots of organic matter. We did not
till the ground, in keeping with the permaculture
ideal of building soil by adding to it instead of
turning it each season.

Last year's rows were 1/3 the width of this year's so interplanting was a strange, haphazard attempt that led to a few plants growing in the pathways. I think this year's garden will be even bigger and better than before! The only downside I see is that harvesting will be a little more challenging, like an Easter egg hunt. But that sounds like fun to me.

I'm hopeful that all the dormant fig trees will wake up soon from their winter slumber. I know in the summer that the other garden plants are going to appreciate the shade those massive leaves will offer.

I'm still being patient with the plants in the greenhouse, which I will start to set into the garden next month, little by little. I tried a few zucchini plants but it was still too cold at night and they didn't make it.

If all the tomato seedlings I have started survive, there's going to be a bumper crop for both restaurants and extra to sell and share with friends and family. Salsa is starting to sound yummy already!

Princess Pops

This morning we went to check on the critters and hold Star's new babies. Princess, our orange Nigerian Dwarf, was crying in her deep voice and hiding out behind the goathouses. Maybe this was why:

It looks painful to me.
And generally it's a precursor to this:

A beautiful white and orange baby boy.
She may still have another baby in there.
We'll have to check on her this evening to find out.

Update on the Stars

Here are a couple of pictures taken in the daytime:

Farmer C with Starburst

Starlight and Darkstar

Three Little Stars

Last night, I headed out to the ranch late and was hoping to hold one of Muffy's (curly wool) babies. It was dark and despite the goats calling me to feed them right now, I heard the unmistakable high pitched cry of new babies. Who could it be? I thought Big Momma was the first to get pregnant, but I've been wondering if she just held her breath until her udder inflated to trick me. Princess was bred after Big Momma, so it could have been her... But she hadn't shown any signs.

Earlier that morning, my friend Christa and I were holding a couple of baby goats and sitting in the goat pen when Star came up between us and bit Chocolate Chip's ear. She then smirked at me and gave me that blue-eyed expression of smugness only she can give. Was that her sign that she was going to have kids? Was that her way of telling me, "Look Lady, it's my turn. Pay attention to me." I guess it must have been.

Because behind the concrete goathouses that night, she was busy cleaning up three perfect, little blue-eyed baby boys. They look incredibly small compared to the mixed breed goats. I held all three in my lap while their mom went to eat her alfalfa. Can't wait to go see them this morning and get better pictures...

Muffy's Babies

This morning Muffy wasn't interested in food.
Which meant something was odd. Really odd.

Or she was just in labor!

She wasn't (that) fat. She was pregnant!

My favorite inspector making sure everything
came out okay. She tried to adopt one of the babies.

Their names are Muffin and Ear Muff.