Check out these tahtah's...ssshhh!!

All you goat farmers out there will understand my excitement here!

I have had goats for several years now but I seem to have trouble raising them, I think I have that little problem all figured out finally though, but I haven't had the very best stock. I didn't want to put a slew of money into really good stock for fear of letting them die as several have in the past.

Until last year when I started investing a little more energy

into trying to pick out better stock so I could gain strength in my herd.

I have some babies that are coming along nicely now.

Saphira may not be the best girl out there but we go way back.

She is a keeper!

She gives only a fair amount of milk but it is great stuff. So sweet and creamy.

This is a bad picture of her taken just before dark tonight.

She is upset with me cause I brought another goat into her territory!

Meet "Sunrise Valley Martas Minx"!!!

Danny said she cannot be called Minx, said she was a "Minnie"!!

I think it fits her!!

Hey, he paid for her so I can let him name her right??

Even though she is far from a mini goat!!

I will have to learn how to milk all over again!

Saphira's teats are very small and therefor are hard to milk.

Of course I have milked her so much that I am used to it.

With Minnie's nice long teats I can actually grab hold and milk the way you are supposed to milk a goat!!! Woohoo!!!!!

I have only dreamed of having a goat with a nice udder!!!!

hahahaha

You girls dream about udders?

I do!! LOL!!

I bought her from the lady that I had mentioned before that was going to sell me one of her 6 that freshened this season. This nice lady has had a terrible time as of lately, her mother passed away 2 weeks ago and she is also on crutches because of a knee injury. Poor husband of hers having to man the farm all by himself too!! He's a trooper like my Danny though!!

Anyway she picked out Minnie out of the 6 because of breeding purposes with my buck Thunder who also came from her farm. They will be a really good cross and should throw me some spotted babies!! Minnie is a two year old first freshener and delivered without difficulty a great big doeling kid that has spots!! Her was purtty too!! Of course I didn't get her.

I could have brought all those long ears home with me and I don't think Danny would have had a problem with that either ;-)))

He likes those long ears too!!

Of course he likes good udders and feels that just maybe he can learn how to milk her!!

Now I finally feel that I am heading in the right direction to get some good blood in my stock!

I am so excited to get some sweet creamy milk in my pail tomorrow morning too!!

I milked her tonight at their farm and it was just lovely. A full half gallon from one milking too!! I'll soon have milk coming out my ears! Made my hands sore but I'll get them toughened up soon enough!

He told me that she kicks occasionally....Whaaaa? I wouldn't know how to milk a goat that doesn't try to kick my teeth out!! Saphira and I have it all figured out by now and I think Minnie and I will have a great relationship too!!

Aaawwwhhh the cheese, soap, butter, ice cream.......................

dreaming bout udders full of milk again here!!

ps. she also gave me 30 more Buckeye chicken eggs to try my luck again at hatching them. She said that her husband reminded her that theirs didn't hatch til the 23rd day and they were all fine. I think I will leave these in there for about 35 days this time.....just kidding!!

Wish me luck on this hatch turning out better.

Come along girls.....

I am starting on a new adventure.

Won't you come along?

I have this very wonderful sister-in-law who has inspired me to veer towards a whole foods diet.

It wasn't hard she wasn't pushy at all.

After all I have tried them all, I will try anything once ;-))

She has been taking a nutrition class, that is being taught by a physician and his wife, and it is geared more toward coronary health.

She has lost weight in the 5 weeks that she has attended these classes and she didn't go cold turkey on this new eating plan either!! {{enter applause here}}

Just listening to her passion about this new way of eating struck a nerve in me and I changed my way of thinking about food at that very minute, during a short phone conversation.

She mentioned how much better she is feeling, she would not tell me that if it wasn't true either!

How tasty the foods are! That got me! hehehe

The idea is to eat our foods as close to the way they were grown as possible.

Now don't most of us farmgirls do that anyway?

NOT!! I was taught to take a green bean and cook it til it died!

Smother everything with lots of butter, gravy, cream and all those other delicacies.

Sorry Paula Dean, I love me some butter too!

I have had this cookbook for many years and I have made a few of the dishes in here, but just looking thru this book and reading the recipes and the description of the dish makes me drool. I want to run out and pray over each veggie in my garden that they will grow and be as tasty as I have imagined they would be in that particular dish.

This will really come in handy for me now!
I also have this one.......same way, I want it all.
This book has the veggies and fruits sectioned out by each fruit.
Blueberries it's own section, tomatoes their own etc etc etc
The recipes range anywhere from a Fresh Strawberry Pie right down to
Freezing Concord Grape Pie Filling!!!!
From cover to cover it is choked full of some great and tasty recipes.
I think all you gardeners out there would like to have these on your cookbook shelves too!



I don't have this one yet, but I am going to order it.
It seems to map out a diet very similar to the one my sil described.
I will probably never be a vegan or a strict vegetarian but we have to get healthier.
I am sure you guys are thinking "Poor Danny"!!
Quite the contrary actually, he is very happy that I am not killing him with my cooking anymore! hahaha
His slight kidney disease, (barely into the non-functioning zone now but irreversible)
and his very high cholesterol and high blood pressure leave him no choice but to try and eat as healthy as he can.



Yesterday was filled with preparing for this new chapter in our lives, a trip to the farmers market, the grocery store and the Mennonite health food store!
I came home with rhubarb, fresh onions, red potatoes, white potatoes, spices, whole wheat pastry flour, flax seed, carob powder, fresh roma tomatoes, garlic, fresh broccoli
dried black beans, lemons, Bragg's Amino Acids and many many other healthy items too numerous to mention!
I made whole wheat tortillas, filled them with a black bean and cheese filling for bean and cheese burritos for supper last night! Yummo!!
I was trying to mimic the Chimichanga served at our funky little international foods restaurant called aptly "Odd Fellas" which was previously called "The Three Legged Cow" !!!!
This is the first dish I got the first time I went there and I get it every time I go.....or if I know someone is going I have them bring me one back!! I can't even explain how good it is but I sure came awfully close to it last night!! I did not have guacamole in mine cause I forgot!
Danny was very happy and said that I never was going to get another meal out again!
That was truly a compliment!!

So come on girls.
Won't you join me on this new adventure?
If you have any healthy, low fat low cholesterol, delicious recipes will you please share them?
BTW all these books are available at Amazon.com!!

This way of eating is not completely new to me, however sticking to it for a long period of time will be new to me! I went on this whole foods kick about 4 years ago and I lost 28 pounds in 32 days! (back when Danny promised to buy me my Jaguar if I lost down to my goal weight, I got the flu and ended up in the bed for almost 2 weeks and went off my diet and never went back on it, I cried on his shoulder til he let "me" buy the car myself)
It was very easy to stick to and I felt so full all the time.
I am sure I was the healthiest I had ever been in my life too.
I also lost a total of 23 inches and 4 full dress sizes.
I was going to the gym everyday and doing calisthenics at home.
Actually it wasn't just me it was us!
Danny was right there beside me every step of the way, except for the flu!
We are a team and if I eat fattening foods he eats them but if I eat healthy he eats healthy too.
Thank you my dear sil!!
(BTW dear sil, you can leave an anonymous comment if you would like ;-)

WISH US LUCK!!!!!

I am so sad!!!!!

I unplugged the incubator last night but Danny wanted to open the eggs and see if there was anything resembling a chicken in there. He just took them all down the hill and opened them and all but 6 eggs had a baby chick in them. One of them was very much alive and moving around. A lot of the others were moving around a little. Why did they not open????? This just breaks my heart!

There's fog on the farm, rain on the roses and goats in the garden....

It's just another rainy, cool and foggy day on the farm.
I thought this was the perfect time to show you my favorite climbing rose.
I like it in the rain too!

It has ever changing color and is so interesting to watch the flower change as time goes on.


Turning from a dark orangy red.....

to a very light peach as the days go by.

Sorta like a woman's hair??

Sorry but mine has not reached that beautiful shade yet.

Maybe as my days go on?

See the fog?

See the goat tracks?

I woke up to 3 little boogers (not the babies) in my garden!

Urgh Urgh Urgh!!!

BTW...my babies are doing just great!

They are the friskiest ones I have ever seen!

3 days old and venturing out across the field from their mom, playing king of the mountain and running laps thru the pasture!! Sooooo cute!!

Do you see goldfish?

I do, for the first time this season.

I broke down and purchased a UV filter to go along with the biological filter that was already installed. The guy on youtube said it would only take 3 days for the algae to be removed but it has taken almost a week for ours. We have stubborn algae in these parts!!

Rain is also very pretty on my Smoke Tree!

Except when you are looking at the whole tree.

It's sorta scary if you ask me.

Looks like something out of a horror film that will grab you as you walk by and eat you!

I forgot to share with you my once beautiful irises.

They are still in color even though not at their peak any longer.

and these!

I am not liking the rain, even though we need it really bad.

Yesterday was spent in a constant state of vegetation.

I finally got a puff of air up my bottom about 8PM and with it came a burst of energy that threw me in a tailspin! I have one very very clean bathroom and laundry room this morning!

wooowoooo

However, I have lots of dirty dishes in my sink and dust bunnies all over the rest of the house!
Today is a repeat of yesterday,

other than waking up to goats in the garden, so I have to get started on some more cleaning.

I will have lots of outside chores soon enough and you can't drag me inside then!!

Have a great day!!

ps. I had no eggs hatch in my incubator. Zero. Nada.

Guess I am not a good old setting hen any longer.

My last batch was terrific at about 85% or more.

I am not sure what would have went wrong this time.

Everything should have been right.

I don't think I will try that again.

It's too much work turning those eggs so often.

Poor mama hen!!

Hello World!

Our names are Ruby and Diamond
Ruby and Diamonds are Robin and Leslie's birthstones.
I have always been able to keep the fine gemstone names going for Opal's babies.

Diamond has some peculiar markings such as this big gray patch on the top of her head.

Miss Clairol at such an early age?

Her father has spots in his bloodline and she got some of them!!

Ellie Mae's father was spotted and Thunder's sister so we are sure hoping for some spotted girls from her too!!

Ruby is just too darned cute and she is so sweet and quiet!!

She does have a moustache though!

I'm just saying!

My little Virginia farmgirl sure does like baby goats!!!

We had to go pick her up right after school so she could come over here and get some loving time in!!

Let me know when you get tired of baby goat pictures and I'll stop....well maybe!!

Thunder makes baby girls....

"Thunder" being my new Nubian buck!!

His first babies are here and they are twin doelings!!

My milk herd has more than doubled in a week!

Whew!

"You say that's my daddy? No way!"

When I got up this morning I could hear some chanting in the barnyard from my porch so I knew something was up. My goats like to sleep in and are very lazy and quiet til bout 7:30!!
I ran to the barn and there was one little white tail wiggling in the air while she was getting a drink!!


They are both girls! Did I tell you that already?




Opal is a very very good mommy!!!
These babies are half Tennessee Fainting Goat and Half Nubian......
I wasn't going to breed her for mixed babies again but Danny felt we should!
I am sure glad cause look what I would be missing!!

This excitement never gets old!!


Dad seemed really concerned with the whole mess.
"I would rather be watching cartoons."
That's what Danny watched while I was in labor with Leslie!!






Ellie Mae, who is supposed to be bred to Thunder, was looking on too.
I believe she had different thoughts on her mind
;-))))

She is thinking.....
"I hate boys!!"

Range hood makeover.......(and farm nursery watch)

This is the rangehood that was in The Fairy's Rest and it needed an update something fierce! Don't ya think?

It has been sitting in my out building for quite a while and got much dirtier than it was, I was awaiting a not so windy day to be able to spray paint it white.

The range and the cabinets are white but I LOVE COPPER!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE ANYTHING COPPER!!!

Especially hammered copper!

So I went to Lowes and found this Rustoleum Universal spray paint in hammered copper.

BUT......

I had the worst time ever using this paint.

I am surely hoping that I just got a bum can. I always use Rustoleum paints and always have loved them until this one.

Of course this one cost twice as much as the regular Rustoleum at $8 a can.

What's $8 verses a new rangehood though??

Even with the drips and runs I still think I like the look.

I would have been happier had it went on smoothly and effortlessly

but I guess it will do.

If I could paint some green in there I would have a well patina'ed (sp?)
look!!




Here it is right after the cabinets were painted and before the stove was

replaced with a white one.

I can't wait to get it hung and get the real before and afters up for you to see.

It may not look right but it's mine and I don't think anyone who knows me expects anything in my life to be "Right"...LOL!!!!!



I am playing nurse in the farm nursery today!

Today is the big day for Opal. Last evening she was showing signs. Other than getting ready to burst open!! She was oozing!! Popped a mucous plug!!!

I went out and moved all her friends out of her pasture so that she would have run of the place. I bedded her stall down with fresh hay and turned around and missed her. I called for her and she came out from under the chicken coop!!!!! OMG I didn't know she could fit thru that tiny little opening. I knew the possum could but this big pregnant goat!!!

No action this morning but at least she wasn't under the chicken coop, maybe she saw a spider or a possum when she went in there last night!!!



I turned my eggs for the last time in the incubator last night
so the little pips will be finding their way out soon!!


I had a really good day thrifting yesterday. You thought I was painting right? HUH!!!
We go this evening to pick up my Craigslist purchases of the TV and microwave. First I have to go back to Goodwill to pick up my loot from yesterday that wouldn't fit in my car. I bought a vanity for $3.95 and a small white kitchen cabinet for $5.95.
Among many other great items!
A quilt, not homemade but awfully pretty, some white milk glass vases for Jesse's roses, some lamps, games for the Fairy's Rest, a coffee pot to replace the one Danny broke from our coffeemaker (0.55 cents) woowoo, soup bowls...big soup bowls.
Last week I made a Goodwill run for my dear hubby a new summer wardrobe wink wink....I got him 7 new shirts in new condition too!!! I found several other clothing items for me and some kids pool shoes to keep on the boat.
Then the next day, Saturday, I took in a yardsale just down from The Fairy's Rest (they have the best yardsales in that county) and I found Danny 7 pair of Levis in like new condition for $14!!!!!!
He was happy!! So for less than $40 he has a new summer wardrobe!!!
Why not thrift???