Colors in Spring

Bulbs have been sprouting all over the yard. They are yellow, light orange and white. Some daffodils, tulips and crocus.  Other plants that are making their appearance are the delicious yet wild, Ramps.  Chives are growing fast and so is the garlic that we planted last fall. 

One morning we noticed two garter snakes together and by looking at their different sizes, we could tell that they were a couple.  Also, we have seen golden finches, woodpeckers and the resident phoebes flapping their wings, calling, eating at the feeders and hunting insects.  

Farewell goats

Goats have gone to a farm nearby. They have found a young couple that could give them plenty of room and extra attention. We are limited on space and found ourselves making this decision.

Week by Week

Yesterday marked the beginning of the countdown for the anticipated growing season of '12.  Keeping in mind that Memorial Day weekend is the last day of frost, I counted 11 weeks till then.  The weather has been unusually nice and I started to work outside.  First, I used the garden hose to wash all the goat and chicken poop from the front lawn.  The grass in that area started to turn green and the chickens are starting to scratch all over the yard,  leaving huge holes in the ground.

Local flour delights

Supporting local agriculture where we live is very important to us.  When we go to our favorite little food co-op, we buy spelt and whole wheat organic flour from the Beidler Family Farm in Randolph, VT.   The recipe I follow to make scones is from Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I used goat's milk instead of soy milk.

I also have used the local flour to make pizza dough.  I do half of all purpose flour and half of the other local flours.

Goat milk scones with chocolate chips and local raspberries. Recipe follows.

Making things

Inevitable the winter brings the need to find entertainment indoors while fantasizing about spring, summer and fall.  I stare at the kitchen waiting for the inspiration to dictate what I can do.  After I decide what tunes to listen to and what ingredients we have, I begin to make things.  The warmth coming from the soapstone wood stove rises up the basement stairs and persuades me to make bread.  I use the same dough recipe that I use for our pizza parties.  I modify the recipe by doing the following: mixing all purpose and local whole wheat bread, mixing herbs or seeds in and shaping the loaf in different ways. I love experimenting with the same recipe.  I try to pay close attention to the relationship between how the dough is shaped, cooled and baked in the oven and what the outcome is.  Making two batches simultaneously yields 8 lbs. worth of bread.  We freeze the loaves and use them weekly.  The smell of baking fresh bread is the best and even though I sometimes bake it after dinner and dessert,  I find myself giving in to the desire of slicing a piece and eating it with our homemade goat ricotta cheese.

Wednesday, Kehinde and Donkey?

To choose or not to choose?

Donkey

Kehinde

Wednesday

Free time

When we are are home, the goats are free to roam around and so am I.  I can't keep myself from taking pictures of these amazing creatures. I can spend all day staring at their behavior if it wasn't for the cold and the million other things I have to do.
Anything that seems like a possible platform is a toy for the kids; the wood shed, the wooden cart, the deck, the downed trees, the stumps and even the inside window sill of their barn.  They love to explore and eat whatever the does are eating. They have eaten newspaper, squash seeds, bark, dead grasses and pine cones.  Inevitable they have also developed a "chicken food" tooth and viceversa for the chickens. We are still looking for the perfect set up of feeding chickens and goats in the same place and we are working on dividing their barn into two sections.

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...

Queso Blanco

2 Quarts of goat's milk
1/4 cup of vinegar
Thermometer
Heat

Cheese Cloth with the curds dripping for hours, that later can be mixed with seasonings.

Whey left over that can be used to make other cheeses!










Thank you goats!

To be grateful in season

Thanksgiving is certainly the time of year to reflect on the past growing season and ponder about the place you occupy in the world.  I love our place and I hope and wish that everyone feels the same way about the place where they live.  We moved up North five years ago and this year seems magical.  The summer ceremony, the arrival of the kids, the amazing harvest of all sorts of crops and the continuity of friendships and connection with distant family makes me feel eternally thankful.

The unconditional love encompass our lives. The world seems like a nutshell that we are given to fill with whatever we seek in life.  I keep thinking about my world and all I can think of is sweet home. The feeling of belonging grows stronger and stronger as I learn to take the steps into a more sustainable future with the land. The techniques we follow and the people we have met are far too precious to discard in this process. The hands and laughter are what makes this place our home and regardless of inevitable imperfections, I keep in mind the sacrifices made by previous generations that helped us get here.

Our friends arrived at our home with intentions of saying hello to their goat godchildren plus they helped us cook Thanksgiving dinner. The vegetable pot pie was a revelation. Who needs a vegetarian roast when you can make this dish with whole ingredients. The gravy started off as a veggie stock made of onions, celeriac, carrots and parsnips mixed with water, ume plume vinegar and soy sauce. Later flour and water were mixed until a ball formed and then the veggie stock was added with some dried herbs.



 The crust was made with grate care. Flour, salt, cold water and earth balance all carefully mixed and set aside in colder room. Meanwhile, the potatoes and carrots were roasting in the oven, while the tofu and the chicken of the woods mushrooms were sautéing in a pan with selected seasonings. Late the pie was assembled and cooked in the oven for 40 minutes between 350 and 400 F.
The top of the pie was brushed with egg from our chickens.

The left over crust was for the dessert pie.  This was the most exciting part of the meal. The pumpkin was grown in our garden, the eggs from our chickens and the milk from our goats. We cooked the pumpkin in the oven with olive oil, then scrapped the inside onto a bowl.  We added spices and 1 and 1/4 cup of goat milk, 4 eggs molasses and sugar. The color and the taste of the mix was splendid.  Everything came together perfectly like it was meant to be.

We also enjoyed local apple cider from Champlain orchards, bread rolls from my famous pizza recipe, vegan stuffing with chicken of the woods mushrooms and corn and cranberry sauce from local cranberries.  After spending of this time in the kitchen, our friends had to leave to meet up with their family.  We are excessively thankful for their company and willingness to make us a delicious Thanksgiving dinner that we will never forget.  

Here they are holding their goat godchildren.

First snow and cup of milk

Donkey and Wednesday hanging out by the wood barn

Kehinde and Wednesday laying on their first blanket

First two cups of goat milk from Che Che. We have milked her
for 4 days and I had Hot Cocoa with her milk. It is beautiful
in texture and tastes extremely creamy.

Donkey and Che Che are getting closer.
 Mom is letting Donkey feed and today they were laying side
by side. At first, Che Che didn't want let Donkey feed, so we had to
hold mom against her will. Now,  Che Che is more caring and keeping
an eye on Donkey

Donkey explores the feeling of deep snow, 10 inches !

Milk poop. Healthy!

Los tres amigos

Check out the Baby Goats Page!

Che Che's kid has arrived

After checking on Che Che all night she finally gave birth between 6 and 6:30 this morning. The kid is gorgeous and she is the only one. We helped getting the baby dried off and warm. It was really cold this morning and baby was shivering.  We saw her taking her first steps and her first sips of Colostrum.  She started calling immediately and with out a concern in the world she has approached us and let us pet her.

Baby looks like a miniature donkey to us and sounds like one too. Hence we are naming her Donkey.  We brought Asa and the kids from the basement into the pen with Che Che and Donkey and they are finally ONE cute herd.  The sun is out now and Asa's kids (we still haven't named) are running sideways and exploring the pen.

Her placenta/afterbirth came out of her within two hours of giving birth.  Che Che was not interested in eating it. We waited to see if anyone else was showing up. It looks like Donkey is going to be a spoiled little baby.

Asa's kids were born

Just one day after the due date, Asa gave birth to two beautiful healthy kids during the day. We were not here to witness the miracle of life but it sure has a great after taste. These little angels are so precious and their personalities are shining through.  No names yet for these little guys, but we know we have one baby buck and one baby doe.  The buck is white with black spots, and the doe is white with mostly brown markings, including on her ankles and feet.  

First day out and about 

Asa is a great mom. As soon as they were out, she went to meet with Che Che (the other doe) and they licked and bonded.  The kids were out but laying down while this was happening.  Five minutes later, Asa and Che Che were head butting painfully, and both of them had their fur on their back raised up.  We don't know why, but I think Asa is defending her kids.  Che Che is due any minute know. We are keeping an eye on her today and tonight.

"Wednesday" He is the buck with black and brown markings and spotted ears like mom.  We weighed him today and he is over 5 lbs. He started playing with his sister yesterday night and today.  He has a pink nose just like Fugee. He figured out where to find food from mom and company in mom and sister.

"Kehinde". She is the girl with black markings and spotted ears like mom. We weighed her today and she is 4 lbs. 2 3/4 oz. She is still confused about the udder placement in mom, but with a little help from us, she is starting to figure it out.  She loves to sleep and yesterday she was very cautious about everything including mom.  She was also walking backwards, wagging the tail and sneezing.  Although she is smaller, she was the first one to cry for mom. 

Asa seems to know what to do like she has had kids before. She is a great mom, calling her kids, cleaning them, smelling them and licking them everywhere. She has been eating her food and getting treats like carrots, molasses and raisins.

 One curious thing is that Asa had her collar with a bell on yesterday when the kids were born, but we took it off last night when we were helping bottle feed the babies. When we were cleaning the basement, we moved the collar with the bell and the kids responded with loud cries, hence they know bell means mom. We put the collar back on Asa today and the kids seem more comfortable with her.  The kids are definitely curious about us, but don't appreciate being picked up. 

WE LOVE OUR HERD!

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 !

Irene sweeps Ladeau away

The tropical storm brought a lot of rain in our neck of the woods.  It started raining last night around midnight and it is still raining with some wind right now.  We went for a walk to see how the neighborhood was doing and some parts of the road has been washed away and some are flooded.

Save the Elf! and sheep

Waterfall ripping !

Some of our blue potatoes that I picked this week.  We lost a lot of the Russet potatoes I planted since the mice got to them and ate them.  They ate them since the bed was a new bed made up of sticks and organic matter, in other words a perfect home for mice.  I won't be doing that next year.  On the other hand, the potatoes that did not get eaten were huge and delicious.

We have corn from Cedar Circle Farm.  We volunteer there when they have festivals and special events and in return we get free produce. 

I plan to blanch the ears of corn, then strip the kernels off and freeze them in bags. We also have 70+ pounds of tomatoes to make sauce and can.

Che Che and the chickens take refuge in the tool shed while the storm passes.

Asa looks out the window for us