Keeping Warm

The snow and ice from Sunday's strom are finally melting. Things have been closed down around here for most of the week, and we have spent a lot of time sitting around the wood burning stove watching videos. The goats have not been convinced to stray far from the barn, since the storm. Some of the chickens are out and about, but they often end up ice skating across the top of the crusty snow. Ha! We didn't quite get the new chicken house completed before this storm and cold spell hit, but it has a roof, walls, and roosts now, which are providing better shelter than the tractors did. Hopefully, we'll get a door on it soon, as well as nesting boxes and a storage cabinet for their feed and other supplies.


Jeff and I experienced a white christmas in Murphy, NC, where we celebrated the holiday with the Davis family. A bunch of us made a snowman, and I watched the others sled in the abundant wet snow. There was the requisite snowball fight as well. Inside, we enjoyed Aunt Ellen's fabulous cooking and playing board games, including Battlestar Galactica. Jeff and Bill turned out to be cylons, and Dawn and I were unable to prevent the brothers from anihilating the human race. Drats!

I did a lot of knitting in December, making hats and ear warmers for family members. I also knitted a tiny hat and scarf (modeled below by a homemade ugly doll), which I hope will fit the baby next winter, as well as barbie blankets for my nieces' dolls. I will be taking knitting lessons at the local yarn shop next week to learn how to make socks. I also got a book from the library that has instructions on how to make knitted toys. Fun! I am excited about my future knitting projects!!






















-Annie

New Additions to the Herd

We bought 2 new female goats this week, since we lost several females a few months ago. We bought them from a local family that raises dairy cows and goats. Although they don't look like it, the new goats are sisters. Maegan is almost 2 years old, and she has beautiful coloring. She had her first kids last fall, and she is still in milk. Katie is the same age as Remus and Romulus (born last spring), and she looks like R&R too. We were assured that both Maegan and Katie have been bred, so we hope to be milking 4 goats this year. We'd like to increase our milk production so that we can make and sell more goat milk products.

Both Zella and Lily look very pregnant (and like to lie down a lot now). Lily is especially big, and we expect her to kid first this year - probably early next month. Zella and then Katie should not be too far behind, and Maegan should kid in either April or May. Hopefully we can start staggering the breeding more so that we don't have gaps in milking, since the does should be dried off 2 months before kidding. Pete bred Zella and Lily again this year, and a beautiful chestnut spotted buck named Boaz bred Maegan and Katie. We can't wait to see what this kidding season brings!

The human herd is expanding too. :-) I have reached the halfway mark in my pregnancy, and my belly is expanding fast. I gained 7 pounds last month with the help of all the good holiday food. I've been feeling the baby moving around a lot the past few weeks, and I recently discovered that I can feel some kicking from the outside too. Hopefully the baby will do some good kicking sometime soon when his papa is around to feel it too.

-Annie