Seems like the only blog posts I write are posts about not having time to write blog posts!
So, its nearly the middle of May of 2017. It was still 2016 the last time I wrote. Go figure. We got GOATS the end of December!! The week after Christmas, Lucia and Daisy joined us via a road trip to North Carolina!! Lucia is a dwarf Nigerian, and Daisy is a mini Saanen. The Saanen is a full size dairy goat, Day is a cross between a dwarf Nigerian buck and a Saanen doe.
Lucia was pregnant, and she delivered us a gorgeous set of Triplets on March 10!! So I've been busy learning to keep and raise goats!! And milk and feed and goatify my yard which is a lesson in frustration and futility. I am not gardening at home at all this year, and will work to repair their voracious appetite based damages next year. Of course I bought the goats BEFORE the fencing for the additional acreage was done because that's basically how we do most things around here. So they are eating my yard.
But goat ownership is FUN, frustrating and some days a little terrifying.... Lucia was a trooper during her delivery but we had two goats present at one time DURING the birth which was pretty intense but God's Grace and my calm husband, I managed to push one back, and hold it, wait for a contraction and pull one out!! So we added Thelma, Roscoe and Louise to our little homestead farm that day. Two does and a buck, who is now a whether. So having the babies led to milking their Mama, which means we have AWESOME goat's milk in our household now!! Absolutely the most delicious stuff I've ever had. Its like drinking ice cream!! Milking has been a fun thing to learn... not. Lucia is not always cooperative about that endeavour but we are finding our way. So this morning, I'm making my first cheese with Goat's milk and we are making Chevre which is just french for goat. But sounds so MUCH cooler... Chevre Cheese!! I'm such a sophisticate. LOL with chicken and goat doodie some where on my person.. which is my normal state now.
More updates, lets see, two weeks ago I chased bees all week. One hive released three swarms in the course of about 6 days. We were beyond blessed to be able to capture all three swarms, thanks to a very well placed crepe myrtle bush that seemed to be the perfect landing spot for all three swarms. Honey production was doing very well just before the swarming started. Its a trade off. I went from 2 hives to five, so I'm not complaining. All have settled well and are eating and building up. So that was a busy but great happening.
Most all of the gardens are planted. We are growing potatoes for the first time, and we have corn, peas, limas, okra, squash, tomatoes (of course we have tomatoes we are southern) bunches of herbs in the greenhouse, green onions, yellow onions, garlic... seems like I've skipped something. There is asparagus crowns put in the ground, and the new peach trees have a few baby peaches on them and the apples trees are all leafing. Inside the green house both the lemon tree and the lime tree have fruit on them. I'm attempting ginger this year. And there's probably something stuck in a pot somewhere that I just can't think of right now.
Soaps and body products are good. Just finished an Aloe Rose soap which is new for us. I think its going to be a really nice facial soap. And I am about to make my first real lotion. I have made body butters, but not lotions due to their short shelf life. This is a rose facial lotion, so I'm looking forward to giving that a try.
You can check us out on Instagram or facebook to see some photos of what's been going on!!
And I've started adding some of our Soap Natural line to Ebay!! So you can find us there too!!
I would like to maintain this blog a little better, and I think I say that every time and still takes MONTHS to get here. Hopefully I'll be back sooner rather than later.
Until then..
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