Open Gates

I think I just discovered a new Olympic sport - goat wrangling. Yeah, you read that right. The arena would consist of slick 'mud,' slopes, a love-crazed buck, and a herd of does that could care less for his presence. The point of it all is to catch the buck before he gets to the girls, and you get bonus points for not falling on your face in the slippery muck.

You see, we kept the buck from the last kidding as a buck for various reasons; he has lovingly been dubbed 'Stinky Pete.' He thinks that he's king of the world. Now that he's 2 months, we need to separate him from the girls. He's running around, chasing the girls (they hate his guts), and saying, 'What, what?' all the live-long day.

My task today was to get him in with our other two bucks when I moved them out to pasture. I got the llama and the bucks out, no problem. I caught the midget with minimal hassle, and put the little guy with the big boys. He got bowled over and tackled; he's still too small to play with the big kids. With Jack close at his heels, I let Stinky Pete through a small opening in the gate, but Jack pushed right through too. Noo!!! I thought that it was all okay though since the other gate to the girls' pasture was closed - nope. Darn it! Jack gallivanted around and kicked up his heels because he got to be with the ladies. NOOOO!!!!!!!!! Oliver, our other buck, is jumping around on the other side of the fence because he's jealous of his comrade, and the llama is humming with concern, 'Get back to your pasture!' I tried to catch Jack before he got to that gate, but with all the rain we've been having, the ground was as slick as bacon grease and getting traction was out of the question. I've got two legs; he has four. I think he has the advantage.

As I'm trying to get a footing while sliding uphill, Jack is having a heyday, and the does are scared to death of the freaky, furry, stinky, testosterone fueled mass rampaging towards them. I finally caught up with the bloke, tried to grab onto his collar. Wait, where's his collar? He doesn't have a collar?! And he got away from me again. As I ran to grab a means of lassoing him, he tried wooing the ladies. They wouldn't tolerate him for a minute except for the one doe that went into heat this morning. She's been singing her love songs and wiggling her tail at those boys all day. Phooey... we weren't wanting to breed that doe until this fall. Quick review lesson in farm math: 1+1= a lot more. I have reason to believe that there will be baby goats this July.

I guess you could say that this is all just one big face palm.

I think we need to figure out a better pasture system for the bucks... And always close the gate behind you.

February Freeze

We got a gorgeous blanket of the white stuff and more is on the way! Driving home yesterday when the storm came in was fun. [/sarcasm] But the roads were bizarre. With the wind whipping the snow around, the roads looked like swirling water. Now, we're just hunkered down for the rest of the weekend and making sure that the animals don't have frozen water. Yes, we've been hauling hot water from the bathtub downstairs to the barn and coop. Water likes to solidify when it's 16 degrees outside. ;) Once the wind died down, the cold doesn't bite so much, and you can get out there and enjoy the powdery snow!

Rolled Fencing

Don't worry, we drained all the water from the pipes. 

Morgan isn't so sure about all this white stuff.

The one time every year that the geese are actually camouflaged 

Whee!

Man overboard!

Getting all worn out

Our lovely neighbor

"I'm going to get the other sled now"

Mt. St. Helens

Here we go!

Dramatic minimalist pinecone

Walkin' in a winter wonderland

It's a cold little birdie

I get to wear the Bofur hat! 

This cat has the right idea - stay inside where it's warm. 

Where Have I Been?

Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't been around on this blog lately. Things are relatively quiet on the farm this time of year, and there just isn't a whole bunch to post about. Unless you want to talk about all the seed and chicken catalogs that arrive by the truckload or making sure that the row covers in the garden stay on the frames or mucking out the chicken coop or the horrifically dry winter we've had so far. Then we could talk all day! Besides all that action, I've been able to really work through my herbalist program (getting close to completion!) and get some sewing done (okay, a lot of sewing). While we're on the topic of sewing, that's where my writing attention has been focused. I've been working to get a sewing blog up and running! You can go check it out here: http://pintucksandpinafores.blogspot.com/

Until next time!
SG