Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[frustratedearthmother]

OMG - The smell in my house when I walked in after work was almost heavenly! I put leg of goat in the crockpot this morning. It had been marinating all night in wine, rosemary and garlic. I dumped the old wine marinade out this morning and put it in the crockpot with the other half of the bottle of wine, some fresh garlic and onions and let 'er rip all day. Leg of goat was the most absolutely delish thing I've had in nearly forever.

DH tasted it and said he was going to get the gun. What for????? We gotta kill some more goats, cuz this is the best thing in the history of food! I'm afraid the goats are NOT gonna be safe now. Really - who needs beef?????

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Yesterday I noticed that Big Red had a goopy discharge - go Red! I can't wait to see her babies and to see how many... probably just two, but she could feed triplets pretty easily. I checked on her during the night and just ran home at lunch to check her again. Her ligaments are really soft, but still there. Her due date isn't until Monday - but I have jury duty Monday so I hope she'll get it over with before then. The grandbabies are coming to visit this weekend and it'd be really cool if she'd put on a private showing of the 'miracle of birth' for them!

The big garden has been getting into production this week. At least with squash and green beans. I picked about 6 squash yesterday; one white patty pan, 2 zucchini, and three yellow crookneck and there are plenty more wherethose came from. I think we'll be having squash for din-din pretty soon. I've got a mess of green beans too. Think I'll cook some of those up this weekend while my daughter is here. We'll throw in some of that home raised/cured bacon and she'll think she's a kid again. She has always loved eating fresh from the garden. I'm sure when she leaves some of my fresh veggies will find a hiding place in her car, lol.

Blackberries are blooming like crazy and I notice little volunteer shoots coming up all over the place. So, my small garden may be converted to a serious berry patch. Oh, and the asparagus is in there too... so it'd have to be an asparagus vs. blackberry contest for space. I don't even care who wins - I love them both!

I've been semi-milking some of the gals. Spooky and Lil Bit both kidded with kinda congested udders so I've been working on those and milking them out. They're both looking a lot better now and I could probably stop milking and let their kids take over - but this is good training for them . I really thought Spooky would be the bad one on the milk stand, but she's turned into a different goat since she kidded. Now Lil Bit, on the other hand has morphed into a total witch! She was a bottle baby and was spoiled rotten before I got her. Her little prima donna attitude is NOT gonna last at my house or she's not gonna last. I've got some folks who desperately want a milk goat and I told them to come see me this month and I'd decide which, or if, I have a goat for sale. Lil Bit better watch out! Only thing that would be in her favor of staying is that she's got the biggest teats on the place and is sooooo easy to milk out (when she's not turning sumersaults) because you can use your whole hand on her teat.

Now Cocoa is a whole 'nother story. She's the frst of the kinder-types to kid. She's got the most beeee-you-teeee-fullll udder you ever did see... but finding them itsy bitsy tiny teats is a real pain in the patookis. She's a 'milk her with two fingers' kinda gal. She's really a doll on the stand, but until yesterday hadn't totally let her milk down for me. When she did the milk flowed a lot better and it wasn't such a pain to milk her. AND, I only milked one side (she had just one kid who has just been nursing from one side only) and got over a pint of milk - and I didn't even strip her out! I have high hopes for this little missy!

It's raining again today.. not a bad rain...just a few gentle showers - but just in time for grandbabies and muddy shoes....geeze! I don't care though, it's worth every speck of mud on the floor to get to squeeze those little darlings! Is it Friday yet?????

 

[Denim Deb]

If she doesn't kid B4 Monday, do you think you can get excused from jury duty?

 

[frustratedearthmother]

OH, you know I'll try, lol. But, somehow I have a feeling that the judge won't exactly understand. I could always do my "I love the death penalty - let's hang 'em all" act.... Anyway, I checked her ligamets again a minute ago and they're still there... geeze, I love this goat, but she's tryig to push my last button! GRRR

On another note....I'm so proud of myself! (where is that 'patting myself on my back' emoticon?) I just ordered all the stuff to start doing my ow fecals!

AND... I've decided to start weighing all of my garden produce to see just how awesome my garden is and how much money it saves me.

I'll be disbudding the babies this weekend. Probably on Friday moring before the grandbabies get here. I hate that... hate it, hate it, hate it....but it's gotta be done.

Have a squash casserole in the oven - yippee! Fresh garden squash - you just can't beat it. Yummy!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Today is jury duty day... I was at the court house bright and early, got to my assigned courtroom and wondered why there were sooooooo may people. Turns out they wanted a pool of 200 people to pick a jury from for a capital murder trial... just my luck. The last time I got called for jury duty was for a capital murder trial. Thankfuly the first time they plea bagained a deal and this time the trial was postponed. But, there are 5 more jury trials at the court house this week, so I didn't get excused. I have to go back at 1pm and go through voir dire for a trial that might last most of the week. But, it's better than sitting for 3 weeks on a cap murder.

I was so worried that Red might decide to have her babies today while I was gone - but the gal done me proud! She delivered last night around 10p - TRIPLETS! Two girls and one boy. I went out this morning and they were none too happy to be moved out of the kidding pen into a bigger area - but Red is waaaay too big to spend much time in a kidding pen that was built for pygmies.

My daughter and grandbabies were here for the weekend. We had a blast! They helped me pick green beans and squash out of the garden. Turns out they're pretty good little bean pickers, although they weren't too fond of the squash cuz it's prickly.

I decided to come home and go back to court instead of sitting around killing time for 4 hours - so I guess I'd better make good use of my time ad get something accomplished. Laundry beckons... joy!

 

[Kotori]

OMG - The smell in my house when I walked in after work was almost heavenly! I put leg of goat in the crockpot this morning. It had been marinating all night in wine, rosemary and garlic. I dumped the old wine marinade out this morning and put it in the crockpot with the other half of the bottle of wine, some fresh garlic and onions and let 'er rip all day. Leg of goat was the most absolutely delish thing I've had in nearly forever.

DH tasted it and said he was going to get the gun. What for????? We gotta kill some more goats, cuz this is the best thing in the history of food! I'm afraid the goats are NOT gonna be safe now. Really - who needs beef?????

I'm late to the party, and my first thought was 'OMG she eats her goats? I love this lady!" Most of the dairy crowd is so appalled when I mention eating them if they don't produce, and the meat group don't do dairy.

Did I read right when it said Kinder? Thats a pygmy/nubian cross right?

 

[Wannabefree]

Yep Kinder is pygmy/Nubian best i remember. Just sold one today

FEM I wanna try goat meat!!!!!! I shoulda kept one of them and ate it

Congrats on the new babies!!!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Kotori - yep, I milk goats and we eat goats. But we are newbies at eating 'em - we've only butchered one - so far! And, you are right that a Kinder is a cross between a Nubian and a Pygmy. Technically you're not allowed to call them a Kinder until they're registered. So, when I stop saying Kinder-type and just say Kinder you'll know I got off my duff and got the paperwork done.


WBF! Good to see ya gal!

You head on down to Texas and we'll kill a goat in your honor! It's soooo good. DH and I were talking about which one of the newest kinder-types we'll wether and eventually taste... Dunno yet, but out of the three at least one of 'em is slated for the freezer. Ahhhh... They're so darn cute right now though. You really shoulda kept one for eatin'! Best stuff ever!

Sigh.... I've got to go back to the courthouse tomorrow. We all went back at 1p and got postponed again. So, I get to do it allll over again tomorrow - gee whiz...

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Just my luck - I got picked for jury duty today. Thankfully the trial was a short one! The trial was for "unauthorized use of a motor vehicle" and the DA only brought 3 witnesses. Only one of them was really relevant to the case - the other two just providing a little backgroud info. The only witness that counted was just not a credible witness - and she had more to gain by lying. A whole lot more to it than that, but that's the short version. So....... we found the poor guy 'not guilty'. It was actually kinda fun.

Had to milk Red today - all three babies are nursing from one side, so far. I'm sure they'll get it all ironed out in a day or so, but she needed some relief today!

Well, I guess it's back to work tomorrow.

 

[Denim Deb]

I have a feeling I'll never be called for jury duty again. I hadn't been for years, then got summoned last year. I wrote them a note telling them I was willing to serve, but was subject to vertigo attacks. They sent me a letter asking me to call. I didn't get called that time, and have a feeling they won't be calling me again.