More Goat News

Our baby goats are more fun everyday. Yesterday we had some excitement. :-) When I came in, a kid came in also. The people kids really like the goat kids coming in the house. Keilah just called them all in, all eight of them. How could I say no? Next thing I knew, the whole bunch were in the kitchen, on the couch, in the bedrooms, eating plants, and bouncing in and out of the rocking chair. Jakin was just waking up from his nap. As he was lying there sleepily, he was pleased to have Blanc, the white buck, leap onto his bed. I poked my head in his room to find him grinning from ear to ear at the goat on his bed. Pretty soon people kids and goat kids were running around the house like wild animals. At one point, Keilah had a group of goats in her bedroom. The six does seemed to enjoy playing with her dollhouse. They surveyed the mess and tried to help clean up, but lacked the ability to do much about it.

I did find out how quickly goats can make a big mess- or rather, I almost did.

I was working at the sink in the kitchen. Blanc reared up to see if I was getting his milk. As he was on the way back down, his front leg opened one of the cabinet doors. Since it was open, he poked his head in, just to see. All he really did was sniff. As I was bending to remove his inquiring nose, he accidentally brushed his nose on the lid to my mixer. As it came crashing out of the door, so did a bread pan. I am not quite sure how he managed to bump it, and I don’t think he was either. :-) As I put everything back and shut the door, I just had to grin about the whole thing. If this is how fast and totally unintentionally a baby goat can cause trouble, no wonder grown goats get into trouble. :-)

Raw Milk

I was very interested to find the following information on a friend’s blog.

Posted on Time.com...

"Richard Hebron, 41, was driving along an anonymous
stretch of highway near Ann Arbor, Mich., last October when state cops pulled
him over, ordered him to put his hands on the hood of his mud-splattered truck
and seized its contents: 453 gal. of milk.
Yes, milk. Raw, unpasteurized
milk. To supply a small but growing market among health-conscious city and
suburban dwellers for milk taken straight from the udder, Hebron was dealing the
stuff on behalf of a farming cooperative he runs in southwestern Michigan. An
undercover agricultural investigator had infiltrated the co-op as part of a
sting operation that resulted in the seizure of $7,000 worth of fresh-food
items, including 35 lbs. of raw butter, 29 qt. of cream and all those gallons of
the suspicious white liquid. Although Hebron's home office was searched and his
computer seized, no charges have been filed. "When they tested the milk, they
couldn't find any problems with it," says Hebron. "It seems like they're just
looking for some way to shut us down." "

More from the article....

"What raw milk fans most resent is stepped-up
efforts to crack down on a personal choice that wasn't doing anyone else any
harm. "There are 65,000 child-porn websites," asks indignant co-op member Nancy
Sanders, a pediatric nurse and mother of five from Des Plaines, Ill. "Why
doesn't the government go after those?""

Read the rest of the article here.

Thanks Crystal and Bessie for posting this!

David and I were discussing this issue. We wondered why there couldn’t just be a label put on raw milk similar to the Surgeon General’s warning on tobacco and alcohol. People are allowed to consume these products that are proven health risks. Why couldn’t they decide to “risk” raw milk?

Blog Writing

I am going to try to be more regular in writing in my blog. I am not able to write every day at this point, but I am scheduling it in to write once a week. That worked well last week and this week. So, check in once a week or so, I plan to have something new each Thursday. :-)
Have a blessed week and may the Lord bless you and direct your path today!

Created to be His Help Meet

I have been reading “Created to be His Help Meet” by Debi Pearl again. I am going slower this time and taking more time to do the studying part of the book. She now has a journal/scrapbook that goes with the book. It is very encouraging and enlightening. I again would highly recommend this book to any married woman or those who plan to become married soon. You can find a copy of Debi’s book here (click on "Biblical Womanhood" on the left side of the page) or from the Pearls here. I have a hard time keeping a copy for myself, I am always giving my books away! :-)

One more note on the Pearls. You can sign up at their website to receive a free newsletter bi-monthly. It is full of encouraging and helpful articles on a wide variety of topics. Anyone with children and a heart to listen to wise counsel will enjoy their publication.

Carrot Pizza?!

n Last night we had pizza for supper. Whole wheat pizza with cheese, greens and, (this may sound weird but it was good), shredded carrots. I have been making it with onions too, but I was out of onions. It is really easy and delicious. Crust, sauce and toppings with no pans to clean up! Better than a one dish meal! :-)

To make it even simpler, last night I used one of my frozen crusts. Homemade frozen crust, I should say. :-) Last time I made pizza crust, I made a double batch and froze 2 crusts. It was so easy to pull the crust out of the freezer a few hours ahead of time and then prepare the toppings.

Now, some may be thinking, “Whole wheat? I’ve tried that and didn’t like it.” So have I. But I have found a type of wheat that makes great baked goods and tastes wonderful. It is called ‘Prairie Gold.’ It comes from Wheat Montana Farms. It is a white wheat that is high in protein. It does very well it just about anything. I have used it in bread, rolls, biscuits, pancakes, muffins, etc. I have marveled at how it makes whole wheat bread. I have had to wonder, is this really 100% whole wheat bread?! I know it is since I made it myself, but it just seems to good to be whole wheat.

MDA

I am scheduled to go to MDA again in April. This time I was able to move my appointments closer together to each other. I will have my tests done the 4th and then see my doctor on the 5th. That will be much easier! I am planning to go down by myself again, but will only have to spend one night in Houston, compared to 3 nights. That will be much easier! I have purchased tickets to fly down and back, so that will cut my travel time down even more.

BTW, health wise I feel like I am doing really well. I have plenty of energy and have a fine crop of hair now. :-) LOL! I have noticed some effects of the chemo, but they seem to be fading as time passes. I just praise the Lord for His kindness and mercy to me.

I would appreciate prayer for the test results and for my trip. And thank you all for your prayers. Without prayer I would not be here today.

Farm Life

More Babies
This has been an interesting and fun week! Our goats now have had 8 kids. We have two sets of twins, one set of triplets, and one only child. They are just the cutest. We are bottle-feeding them all. I carry 8 bottles of milk out 3 times a day. It is a big circus trying to get everyone fed. I’m sure it looks ridiculous! :-) So far, we have Cappuccino and Blanc, Joan, Jill, and Josie, Mystery, and Phlox and her brother. (He is waiting on his name!) Amazingly, we have 6 does and 2 bucks. :-)

Milk
We have milk running out our ears now! We are getting about 4 gallons of milk a day now. One of our goats is giving almost 2 gallons a day. We should have plenty of milk now! I am looking forward to cheese, mostly soft cheese, kefir, and goat butter.

Spring!
The weather has been so nice here lately! Spring is finally here and we are happy to see it. The oak trees are tassling out and putting leaves on. The butterflies are flittering everywhere. The grass is greening up and fruit trees are blooming. The kids are overjoyed that they can forget their coats and shoes and just head out the door. I am really enjoying all of this. Ijust love my life here on the farm!

Babies!

Hello! I am still here, I just have not been blogging!

Goaties!
The latest news on the farm has been the addition of new baby goats! Our "ladies" are having kids, the cutest babies in Texas! We had twins born on March 8. This morning I got out of the shower and kept hearing a kid close to the house and I knew that it didn't sound like on of the kids we already had. Sure enough, we had a new little doe this morning.

We are bottle feeding them so that they will be easier to wean. This does mean more work now, though. :-) Now they all think we are their mothers. "Maaa, maaa, maaa," we hear as soon a we get near them.

As you might imagine, our people kids love the goat kids. :-) They enjoy feeding and playing with them. There are limits, however.

After the first kids were born, we all out in the pen feeding and petting them. I was explaining to one of the goat kids that I didn't mind being it's mother, too. Jakin just frowned and me and made a negative sound. The goat was close to me and I was petting it. Next thing I knew, Jakin was in my lap, and wanting me to agree that I was his mama, not the goat's mama. :-) It was hilarious, but not to Jakin. :-)