Goats in snow

Music: Angus and Julia Stone  - Here we go again

Finally a snow day

I checked out the smaller of the two cameras that we own and to my surprise, I found these photos from last year's winter.  It made me happy to see all the snow in these photos, I miss getting extremely dressed up and going out for a walk in the deep snow.  I could only ponder about the day when we would have a snow day. So, in memory of last year I wanted to still post these.  As you can see we are hard at work clipping the hooves of our does.  The front hooves seem to get longer quicker compared to the back hooves.  Asa and Che Che also seem to have a very thick winter coat, something that they lack this winter.  Perhaps because we have had a mild winter so far in terms of snow.  It will remain a mystery...

Just when you thought

That there is no way that Kehinde or Donkey could get more adorable, they snuck into the house and these photos are the result of their adventure...

Can you handle Goat TV?

No one can deny that these are the cutest goats in the world.  They have all adjusted to the mild weather and the little bit of snow that we had for Thanksgiving. Donkey has been feeding off of Asa and Asa has been a very good mother to Wednesday and Kehinde.  Asa keeps an eye on all three and whenever the little ones cry she runs to comfort them. Che Che feeds donkey more often and with out us worrying about it, the only thing is that Che Che does not instinctually answer to Donkey's calls...

The Long Journey ahead

Looking at the Monarch butterfly in our garden makes me very happy.  I purposely left some milkweeds in the garden for the butterflies to lay their offspring.  I was delighted when I found this one with wings still bent and feeling disoriented.  The Monarch also makes me ponder about change and how the cold nights are becoming a familiar feeling, how the preparation of garlic beds and the soon to be picked pumpkins and squash are the product of hard labor and dedication and how much I enjoy food preservation. 

Green zebra tomatoes

Great with salt, white wine vinegar and lemon juice 

Red cabbage 

I blanched some in boiling water, bagged them and froze them

Raspberries and Cucumbers

Bolt's First Egg !

Before moving the goat fence to include fresh raspberry bushes, we discovered something round by the roofing of the goats and chickens's house.  First, we thought that it was a mushroom, just because it was located in a dark space, but later when I went to move their house, I picked it up and it was an egg!

Our girls are maturing and looking pretty good.  They like to be with the goats because then haven't flown outside of the electric fence in a while.  Lindo is working on a permanent goat shed while I was picking our ripe tomatoes to make ketchup.

I pretty much followed my own taste buds to make the ketchup.

First

Collect, clean and quarter all tomatoes you want to use (I even used cherry tomatoes)

I probably used 7-8 pounds this time

Second 

Put them in huge pot with a chopped onion and a chopped sweet pepper 

Have them cook in medium high heat for a while ..... a long time in other words

Third

I added distilled white vinegar (1 cup) and sugar (1 cup) 

1 TBSP of salt and 1 tsp of allspice 

KEEP STIRRING IT AND LOWER TO MEDIUM HEAT 

Fourth 

I used a hand-held blender to blend everything once the mixture had a thick consistency 

KEEP STIRRING 

Fifth 

Let it cook for a while more until it looks like ketchup 

Meanwhile, get your ball jars ready and lids and water canner 

Sixth 

Run the mixture thru a food mill to get rid of seeds and skins of tomatoes 

Pour ketchup into jars, clean the mouth of jars 

Process in the hot water canner for 10 minutes 

I canned 6  (8 oz) jars 

ENJOY IN THE WINTER !

Fugee and Asa at a glance !

Adios snow and welcome dirty fingernails

Picture this... The weather is nice and it is the day when you finally see the last piece of snow/ice melting away. You are walking down the driveway to see a newt make his way across to where ever newts go. The goats are laying down chewing their cud by a grassy area among leaves, raspberries canes, and under the shade of huge hemlocks. Fugee is tied to a tree (otherwise she would take off) laying flat and chewing on the different things that she might find around her. It is time to open windows and let the cool air in the house. You are barefoot and the warmth of the soil in the beds makes you want to transplant this, fertilize this and weed this...you realize...IT IS FINALLY SPRING at Ladeau Road! 

Everyone wants to be active and that means lots of projects to accomplish during the weekend and even after work. Some projects include: 

• Changing the pump from the  water well since it stopped working, we believe that it could have been lightning and an exposed wire. 
• Cutting the huge patch of berries to let more sunlight in the garden and grow flowers in their place. 
• Fixing that old wheelbarrow that held old bee boxes all winter and was useless last season. It just needed a new set of legs!
• Planting shallots and onion sets, peas and radishes. Weeding, moving flowers, planting flowers and fixing old and new rock walls.
• Taking Fugee to the dog park after being closed for late winter/early spring.
• Second or third attempt to grow grass in the front side of the house. Spreading seeds in the patchy areas. 
• Started swiss chard, flowers (morning glory, as a climbing vine), and plum seeds.
• Trying to grow ginger, tumeric and Galangal a gingery root from Costa Rica 

The list goes on and on.  Instead here are some pictures! and more coming soon ! 

Parsnips that were sowed last fall started to sprout

Fugee gets her second run at the dog park after being closed for some time

Asa and Che Che being content and curious about everything we do

Rhubarb coming out and from what I read they are better for you than cranberries

Wild onions or ramps growing by an apple tree, we used the first of these in a salad

Trays that lived inside during early spring can come out and enjoy some sun 

Broccoli, cabbage, carrots, beets, greens and onions

Garlic coming out 

Fugee...it's about time!

I realized today that there are no prominent pictures of Fugee, our 16 month old Beagle from Bogota, Colombia.  Fugee has been a huge part of this household since January 2010.  She is Head of Security at Ladeau on Avery and is a constant source of entertainment for us both.  She also has the most expressive and beautiful face in the world.  Welcome to the blogosphere Fugee.  The internet is a much better place now that you are on it.

-BC