Closing Thoughts

On goat milking:
After trying out the milking experiment and proving the theory (manually inducing lactation), Nancy and I made the decision that the 1/4 cup a day over four milkings I had worked up to was simply not enough for it to be worth her scheduling around and attempting to maintain while I am away for the summer, especially while first learning to milk - so until next spring when we have real live baby goats, we are weaning off on the milking. We look forward to spring when (hopefully) both Petunia and Esther will be producing much more milk than that with much less effort from me. Through milking, Petunia has become more gentle and sweet, so that is a plus we can hang on to for the summer.

On the Canine Good Citizen test:
Tilly passed! We are now a fully qualified search and rescue team with Whidbey Search Dogs, with voting rights and everything. Amazingly, over only a few weeks, Tilly has gotten her bouncy paws attached to the floor even when being given attention by a stranger or stopping near another dog. Hurrah! She did great during her test, though I was fairly nervous and worked up. I would have benefited from spending our time before the test laying down and snuggling with her in the grass like normal instead of practicing the test items over and over again.

On my teacher test:
Actually the "WEST-E" which is the Washington exam for "highly qualified" teachers and to be certified as a teacher in Washington, I must first be "highly qualified" in at least one subject - and art is the subject the Department of Education instructed me to test in. Though an art exam may sound easy, in reality it is 47,000 years of history from cave paintings to the modern day across all the major cultures around the world; quite a lot to cram for a test on! In addition to all that history and culture, the test also covered printmaking terms and techniques, sculpture, glazing chemistry, and kiln firing temperatures, hazardous materials handling, weaving, carving, musical theater, digital file formats, principles of movie making and editing, art theories and principles of design... you get the idea. In Alaska, I had to take the "Praxis" version of the same test twice before barely squeaking by on passing. Today, however, the test went smoothly and I was immediately told I passed despite not a lot of studying and even less sleep.

What was I doing not sleeping before a big test if not studying you ask? The advantage of taking a big test on the way to the airport for two months commercial fishing in the Bearing Sea, leaving my puppy and farm behind, is there is little time or energy left for worrying about the test. The disadvantage is there is so much else to do!

With short breaks to run errands around town, I spent nearly the whole day from sun up to sun down out in my garden. The center garden circle in the driveway has long been a problem area. Being the first thing people see, I want it to be beautiful, and being a confined and defined area that seems possible. When we first moved in, the area had been tilled over and piled high with fresh dirt - I don't know what it looked like for the previous owners but I'm beginning to have a suspicion. After a year of trying to garden this area, planting veggies and succeeding with growing garlic, I let the area be enveloped by the pushy horse tails. Last summer Mum and I went about trying to tame the wildlands again by mowing down the weeds and covering the area in thick ground cover and many many many bags of bark chips. Even after all those efforts, the horse tails were determined to come back. In early spring, we did a little weeding and I planted five asparagus plants, two mint plants, and an old lavender plant rescued from Greenbank Farm. Other than that, I left the planting up to the wind. Beautiful flowers have begun springing up and filling in around the edges. A poppy is in full bloom on the downhill side, columbine border the rocks, and other beautiful plants form little groups around the area. After taking out another 10 wheelbarrows of weeds this week and adding a few more bags of bark, the wanted plants are well framed and its beginning to look pretty nice. When I come home in the fall I hope to plant more lavender and mint (deer deterrent) in a border starting with our neighbors side, maybe a lilac bush too, then more asparagus ferns in the middle each year. I hope when I come home the horse tails and quack grass haven't gotten too out of hand.  

Remember how just a week or so ago it seems I was showing off my nicely cleaned up compost area? Well now the mound is higher than ever with a freshly cleaned goat and chicken barn and those 10 wheelbarrows of weeds. I also cleaned out the far bin of finished-ish compost mounding up the potatoes again. I skimped on rotating the rest of the piles before heading out. Always more to do!

The potato bins are finally full to the top and have been well watered in. It is best to water deeply and thoroughly or not at all. The dirt was mounded up higher than the sides before I added the water to help the bins settle. I look forward to opening those big wooden boxes in the fall and seeing how many potatoes are inside.

While we are gone, the chicken coop is all set up for "U-Pick" eggs with a big box of recycled egg cartons and directions on the door. Hopefully our neighbors will keep picking up eggs and the system will work for the summer. I wouldn't want Nancy to get flooded with over a dozen eggs a day!

I also included some egg "safety" and handling information for those a little nervous about eating something that is so farm fresh and not from the familiar supermarket. (click below to expand and read)

The goats are all set up for while we're away with their feeder finally reattached securely to a new section of wall and a salt block to supplement their mineral needs. So far they still seem to prefer the familiar lose minerals. One thing I forgot to do is add a few new staples in the corner of the chicken run fence where the goats managed to push a hole straight through to the great outside world. I used bailing wire to lash the chicken wire fence back together around the corner post, but a few staples too would have really sealed the deal. 

The sun set around 10:30pm last night, so that's when I finally headed in to start laundry, dishes, packing, and cleaning. I know I should have been on this a lot earlier, but I got it all done! I even cleaned and organized my ever messy "farm room", cleaned off my desk, and swept all the floors! I think I am ready to go!

This morning, just as I was putting the finishing touches on cleaning and worrying how I would take care of Tilly before I left and how she would do home alone after getting all wound up watching me pack, Nancy showed up. She thought I wasn't leaving until later and was coming by to practice the morning routine before I left but it turned out to be the most perfect timing. Nancy took Tilly to the beach with her dog for a long run while I headed out the door and then brought her back to spend the day with Grandpa and her new toys after I had left. Thank goodness! Also Tilly gave me a very nice hug before I left, managing to calm her crazy wiggles long enough for a goodbye snuggle. 

I know my farm is in good hands while we dip our nets in the far North!

Recap

I've been getting out of order lately. Looking back over my recent pictures, I realize I never posted in April about the Search and Rescue helicopter that didn't come, despite our very cool gear and good positioning around the edge of the landing field. At the very last minute, the crew decided the wind was above their safety limits and had to cancel.

 April 21 Search and Rescue helicopter drill

The first weekend of May, Tim, our friend Zac, Tilly and I headed east over the Cascades to Okanogan Barter Faire. Zac stole the show with an excellent fire-spinning show. Tilly wasn't allowed in the faire, so she spent the day in the woods with her Eastern Washington foster family. Though they took great care of her, she was happy to get back to our camp site on Curlew Lake.

I also didn't say much about our most wonderful Juneau/Whidbey neighbor finally returning to the island! Nancy's son, Zac, and I spent the morning at her house clearing out piles of horsetails from the yard so she'd come home to beautiful flowers rather than a sea of green.

I had the most excellent birthday on Sunday; waking up to a delicious breakfast (after milking Petunia) of french toast made with our eggs and Amanda's pumpkin bread thanks to Tim, going to Unity together, stopping by a farmers market, (milking again), and having friends over for an evening on the beach around the campfire (between milkings).

Tim has our car almost back together again after spending the last week removing, rebuilding, and replacing the transmission.

And I have succeeded at my potato project, I moved the finished compost to the potato bins to "mound up" the plants after adding more side board, then moved the second compost into the third bin, first compost into the second bin and the giant pile of stuff into the first bin. Hurrah! 

Potato bins now half filled with dirt after adding three more levels of siding.

 The compost shuffle! Turning the compost pile and adding water as needed helps keep the composting process going by mixing together the inside and outside, mixing in air, mixing the "greens" and "browns". Also note the potato plant growing out of the middle bin? 

First harvest of the year! 

For the first time in a long time, I actually cleaned up the ground all around the bins as well, throwing everything in for composting! Now it's all ready to be piled high with fresh weeds and grass clippings and coffee grounds and - time to clean the barn? Here I am just trying to take care of my potatoes and somehow it leads to turning compost and cleaning barns!

Zac is kindly using his arm and to measure the height of the nettles around the compost bins - over 8 feet?

 Tim took a little time out from fixing the car to fix the goat playground. They had a teeter totter for a while but it was becoming increasingly sad and broken. The new and improved structure is a kennel they are loving going in and on, with a raised walkway over to a second platform. They love having something to fight over!

The milking is continuing to be increasingly productive with increasing time between milkings and decreasing milkings per day. The result is my enduring resolve to continue with the milking program. If I had to go the other way, starting with one or two milkings a day and gradually working up to 10 a day, every two hours and waking up at 3am to try (and fail) to convince myself to milk just one more time... I would not have made it a week. Below is my magnetic refrigerator calendar clock milk scheduler as of Monday. The colored magnets mark milking times during the day, with little fuzzy chick magnets starting and ending the day. The white inner magnets with lines pointing to times are my goal magnets, which I march my milking times steadily towards in 15 minute increments every day. Today my markers are on those white dots - 5 milkings a day about 4 hours apart. Tomorrow the little rainbow markers will start marching towards 4 milkings a day about 6 hours apart. It gets better!

How to Build Potato Bins

Step 1: Go to Home Depot or similar to buy materials.

At Home Depot, I found a 12-foot 2x4 for about $5, six 6-foot 5/8x3.5 cedar boards for about $1.50 each, and a small box (need 48 screws) of 1-5/8 screws also for around $5 making the total project about $19 with screws left over. (You will need about 12 more cedar boards by the end of the summer and would be wise to buy them all now.)

Home Depot also has the excellent service of cutting boards for you for free, both helping the lumber fit in a compact car, and expediting the project. Have the cedar boards cut to make 4-ft and 2-ft pieces (approximately. As long as they are all the same the length is not specific) and have the 12-ft 2x4 cut into quarters, or four 3-ft sections approximately (again, as long as they are all the same as each other). 

You will also want a drill with a bit a little smaller than the screws and an appropriate screw driver. I used battery powered tools as pictured above. 

Step 2: Go home and screw it all together.

Pre-drill then screw the 2-ft cedar board to the short side of the 2x4s. Match up the corners as well and square as possible with your eye and attach with only one screw in the corners. We will make it square later before adding a second screw. 

Move to the second side and repeat so the 2-ft cedar board is spanning between the short edges of the 2x4. Again pre-drill and screw in corners. Repeat to attach another 2-ft cedar board to the other ends of the 2x4s.

There should now be a full frame. Use a tape measure to measure diagonally from corner to corner in both directions. Tweak the frame until both the diagonal measurements are the same (upper left to lower right, upper right to lower left). Then add a second screw to each corner to secure. 

Repeat for second potato-bin end with the other pair of 2x4s and 2-ft cedar boards. Once both end frames are complete, stand them on end so the 2-ft cedars are vertical and both frames are parallel about 4-ft apart with the wide end of a 2x4 against the ground. Connect the frames using the 4-ft cedars and repeating the steps of drilling, screwing, squaring, and adding a second screw to each corner. Flip over and repeat to complete the bin. 

Potato bins in place, planted with potatoes. Also pictured, beginning of retaining wall to hold in garden beds in newly fenced corner of garden. To plant potatoes we had to build a fence, a wall, and bins. Those better be some good potatoes!

Step 3: Install and fill the bins. 

Once complete, carry the frames out to the desired location. If grass is present, cover the ground with brown paper bags or similar. Place bins on brown paper bags cedar side down with 2x4s standing upright. Fill to top of cedar board with compost. Evenly space 6 to 8 potatoes on the dirt. Screw on a second level of cedar boards above the bottom frame. Cover the potatoes in more compost to fill this second level. 

Step 4: Tend the potatoes.

As the potatoes grow, add more levels of cedar siding and fill in with dirt, covering the bottom 2/3 of the potato plant. When the bin is filled with dirt and the potato plants are dying off in fall, unscrew the added boards, spread the compost on your surrounding garden, and dig out your potatoes! Next year, move the frame to a new garden bed and fill again to continue fertilizing your gardens and growing healthy potatoes. 

The littlest hen lays the biggest eggs

The night we killed all the roosters, Tim did everything he could to talk me into letting Big Chicken, #20, one of only two "buff" (orange) chickens live. That was the chick Tim kept sneaking into the house after the others had moved out to the barn. Big Chicken was the one to sit by the warm air vent on Tim's computer and keep him company. Big Chicken was the one to snuggle up on a reluctant and curious Tilly. Big Chicken was named such because he was nearly twice as big as the other chicks even in their first weeks of life - a tell-tale sign of being male. Meanwhile, Little Chicken, #19, the only other "buff" (orange) chick, the mini-me to Big Chicken, was the last to fit into the leg bands, weighing more than an ounce less than Big Chicken by the time they grew their first feathers (at a wee 4 ounces).

Little Chicken was always a little odd - while the other chicks grew in a round and fluffy matter, little chicken grew long and sleek. Other chicks weighing less than Little Chicken had fatter legs and feet, fitting the leg bands a week earlier than Little Chicken. Little Chicken was the first to grow a full set of wing feathers, which further accentuated the difference between the long thin bird and the fluffy, round flock-mates.

It's cheating to post the same picture twice, even a year later, but it must be done!

Here is the first batch of chickens, last year, early June.

Note the clear rooster perched on the bottom rung with a bright red comb growing. 

Also see the two orange chickens, Big Chicken on the left and Little Chicken on the right.

When it came time to kill off the extra roosters, only the two we still have looked anything like roosters - the rest looked pretty generic and indistinguishable from the hens. To pick which to kill and which to keep, we compared their growth charts - roosters are supposed to grow and develop a little faster than hens; we watched their behavior for signs of dominance - young roosters attempting to learn the chicken mating rituals; and we looked at their combs. While both roosters and hens can grow combs, the roosters tent to have big, beautiful, bright red crowns on their heads and waddles under their beaks, while the hens keep their combs more dull colors and close to their heads. In a flock of all-hens, one hen sometimes has a comb that is a little redder and fuller than the others, and takes on more of a leadership role, but that's as much as I've seen - and only when there is no rooster.

Some of the young hens last summer had almost no visible combs, while some of the young roosters clearly had bigger combs than I'd expect on even a full-grown hen. Other members of the flock were harder to tell the difference, but overall, I felt we did a good job with our sexing, and that the numbers came out to be about half the flock male and female was reassuring.

As the remaining hens and two roosters grew, my confidence in our process grew as we seemed to be right on all accounts. My fear we had accidentally killed a star-layer, mistaken for a rooster, before she had a chance was countered by the distinct lack of hidden roosters in our flock - until one day in fall. Suddenly, my smallest, most effeminate chicken was sporting something big and floppy and red off the top of it's head. It looked like a mistake that should be removed. The other chickens seemed to agree and picked at it a bit. On top of this tiny hen was a comb big enough to rival our star roosters, but flopped over and sad looking.

Suddenly I had doubts. Most strongly was the doubt that this particular bird fit into what kids these days call the "gender binary". I had yet to see crowing, particularly striking tail feathers, any sort of respectable size, or mounting, yet I also hadn't seen any time being done in a nest box, being mounted by the roosters, and there was that comb to think about. And maybe one striking tail feather starting to poke up. Chicken #19 was changed from "her" to "it" and marked for the next butchering date. Tim, desperate to save the last little yellow chick, tried to convince me of Little Chickens merits - reminiscent of the plea for Big Chicken. This time, however, Tim tried to claim that Little Chicken was the mysterious hen behind the large, round, white eggs in the hayloft of the goat barn. No evidence.

This morning, I headed down to the the barn for our morning ritual of feeding and letting everyone out, counting chicks and gathering eggs. As soon as I opened the door to the barn, the flock followed me in. If Little Chicken and Russia had elbows, they would have elbowed me out of the way. First, the big white hen jumped into the hay manger. We fed another flake of hay to the goats last night, so their cozy nest was gone. Russia circled and scratched and tried to get cozy for some laying. Little Chicken watched from her perch on the wall, squawking what sounded distinctly like "HURRY UP IN THERE! I GOTTA GO!" After a minute, Little Chicken gave up on waiting and hopped down to the hay, crawling under Russia and booting her out of the nest. Russia gave up and hopped down to the floor, protesting loudly. In under five minutes, a large, round, white egg popped out of our very little bird. I've had chickens since I was about 3 years old, but surprisingly, today was the first time in my life I have actually watched a hen lay an egg. I don't think Little Chicken even bothered to sit on the nest for a minute - more pushing and squatting than what Mama Number 9 is doing with her developing eggs.

Little Chicken on the hay-nest (They do have nice nest boxes in their own barn...)

- Side note - Speaking of those mama hens, Mama Ukraine and her three chicks have joined in the evening levitation practice, sleeping way up on the nest box shelf instead of down on the floor. I am trying to get them used to sleeping somewhere else before our December 1st hatch date when Mama Number 9 will hopefully need the good spot on the floor.

Back in the house, I added Little Chicken's latest egg to the carton and noticed that she is my dominant layer - providing a third of the eggs and being the only hen to seem to lay every day. Russia Hen, who was next onto the hay bale, gave me a tiny brown egg, making her my second most frequent layer and producer of the smallest eggs of the flock. In one glorious morning, Little Chicken has moved from the "red banded" kill list to the "green banded" long lifespan list. As the only bearer of such bright plumage, and best layer, she has proven herself to have valuable genetics, floppy comb included.

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I hate to make our family a footnote to a lengthy post on chicken gender identity, but so it goes!

Fish Expo: Ronnie posing as a fisherman, Ariel, Tim, and Joe admiring.

Tim's dad, Joe, and Joe's bride, Ronnie, returned to California yesterday after a brief visit during "Fish Expo" - the Holiday Market of Commercial Fisherman - radars and rain gear galore! Ronnie made a large batch of cookies the night before they left, but the cookies didn't even last until their departure. Thank you Ronnie for the delicious cookies!

Daniel shoveling and packing leaves, Petunia Goat helping by eating some.

Brother Daniel and his fiance, Amanda, spent today house-hunting on the mainland - hopefully they will soon have a place of their own. Yesterday Daniel got busy helping me with some manual labor around the farm - moving leaves down to the compost pile and stacking firewood by our bedroom door.

Dry firewood piled against our bedroom door. Old barn door leaning to act as a roof. 

This is the wood from the branches Dad "pruned" when we first moved in, now well seasoned.

We are looking forward visiting Tim's birth mother, Dawn, as well as Joe and Roni and meeting Roni's family, over Christmas. My parents are planing to be here, gifting us with farm and puppy-sitting for a few days while we get away. I try not to post about the future - it's cheating and not being present - but this is exciting news to share.

The last delicate flowers to survive the week of frost and remind us of spring.

Winter

The first morning of grass crunching as I walk,
Each step breaking through the top layer of frost.
The first morning of greeting the chickens,
By breaking apart the layer of ice on their water.

Too late to plant garlic - none for next year.
Too late to dig steps - it will wait for next year.
Too late to grow lettuce - they'll die off 'till next year.
Too late to turn compost - it will settle for the year.

This is the time for sewing, repairing, mending, making.
The season of baking, warming the house and bellies.
Now I can clean, organize, unpack, decorate.
The quiet indoor time of year.

Trying to get through the last of the fall chores before winter, I spent Monday spreading the left-over barn sand in the chicken run - covering the slimy, slick layer of mud and getting the sand off the dying grass. Tuesday, Daniel ran the leaf-blower over the property as Tilly and I stood suited up for helicopter training with eye, ear, and body protecting, practicing around the loud noise, fuel smells, high wind and flying debris. She was stoic as always. Then Amanda and I dug up the remaining half of the potatoes - about 5 gallons! I estimate we harvested about 10 gallons total this year and I am hopeful next year will be even more spectacular on the potato front, though we will have nothing but Safeway powdered garlic to put on them. Last year, I planted the garlic just before Thanksgiving I think, but this year it is already freezing out. The garlic is supposed to have three weeks frost free to get established before winter but I might be too late. If it warms up sufficiently today, I may haul a couple wheelbarrows full of potato dirt onto a garden bed and plant some garlic anyway - hope for the best. Also against mid-November policy - Monday I noticed a second hen spending a little too much time in the next box. I put two extra eggs in the box next to her and she quickly gathered them into her warm feathers. It looks as if we may be having December 1st chicks if she has any success. It's not the ideal time of year to start a family, but who am I to tell her what to do!?

While digging potatoes, we uncovered this little guy trying to stay warm in the pile and rather fat from all the bugs down there with him. Our potato patch has the happiest looking worms, bugs, and now lizards I have ever seen.

I'm thinking today might be the day to start wearing my fleece pink-elephant pajamas under my clothes. It might be the day to move as much firewood as possible into the new firewood shelter by our bedroom door and keep a fire going for the next 4 months or so. Eventually I still need to clean the goat barn for winter but... maybe after I build a fire.

Sorry, I was farming

Meeting a lieutenant from the fire department for lunch, sweaty and covered in chicken/goat/pig poo and paw/hoof/claw prints? Sorry, I was farming; digging up grass from one area and moving it to another.

 

All the concrete blocks are now packed with uprooted grass and the edge is securely wrapped in a 5 foot by 1 foot roll of sod, carefully dug up and transported from the overgrown stairs and basket ball court by me. I also added another wheelbarrow of sand now that the rain and critters have packed the first load of sand into the cracks. Even after a few rainy days, the ground is still dusty dry when I dig down more than an inch. I am hoping the fire bans across Washington will be lifted soon, but so far I am understanding why there are so many fire bans down here. Last night I brought in a bucket of logs from out in the weather, out in the "rain", and put a handful of cardboard in the bottom of the fireplace with 1"-4" logs piled on top. On my first try with a lighter, I had a happily crackling fire. 

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Missed your phone call? Sorry, I was farming; watering the compost pile in the rain, consolidating a years worth of compost and grass clippings and barn cleanings into one big pile. 

I've been slow to get around to this chore. For quite a while, I've been putting "turn compost" on my daily chores and goals list and then... thought about it and decided it could wait just one more day; desperately hoping the compost fairies would come and turn my beautiful, enormous piles. Usually my compost pile is at or above 160f, but I have not had the thermometer in the pile since pre-chicken butchering, meaning it has been a cold, dry, un-turned pile since Tim came home from Bristol Bay at the end of July. Far too long to neglect my beautiful compost! I've been rather negligent in my gardening; so much weeding to be done and so little food succeeding, but my compost I am generally proud of. Perhaps next year I will enter a jar of it in the Island County Fair Compost Competition - though they would probably disqualify me for cheating on account of my compost being unbelievably amazing. There are many theories on composting: everything from pouring a beer and a coke on the pile to precise measurements of various materials. My theory on compost is that being 'finished' is a product of number of times turned, so a pile turned weekly will be done in 10 weeks or so, where as a pile turned monthly will be done in 10 months or so. 10 being an arbitrary and randomly chosen but conceivably believable number. When the compost pile is turned, it must also be watered to a damp sponge-like wetness. It would also probably benefit from being covered to keep extra moisture in or out depending on the weather.

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Forgot to put the garbage out or change over the laundry or finish the dishes? Sorry, I was farming; hunting through mounds of mulch for hidden potatoes, scouring the property for where those chickens might have hidden their eggs this time. 

Monday night Grandpa came down for dinner and we each had an ear of corn fresh from the garden with our home chicken noodle soup (our chickens) and home bread (with goat whey from my milking and cheese making and eggs from our hens). Last night, we had mashed potatoes with our home grown potatoes. Tim has been taking sandwiches to work with the bread I made topped with the cheese I made and some tomatoes from our garden. It feels so good to be eating the food we grew. Hopefully this trend with continue to grow until it is our majority. Oh, and the above eggs. That little dark one looks about the size of a normal egg yolk, but indeed it was mostly whites inside with a tiny speck of miniature yolk. When Nancy collected our eggs one night, she reported the same. Hopefully we don't have a secret quail in our hen house. As much as I always wanted my pet quail to lay eggs, I am not hoping for quail eggs from these hens! Tonight there were four eggs in the nest boxes! I left them there to encourage a feeling of safety in laying eggs in the nest box and to hopefully reduce the number of eggs misplaced about the yard and goat/pig barn. Oh! about that multi-species barn; I try to avoid predictions of the future, but it sounds like we will have a couple of large, milky guests in our barn for the winter. A fellow Whidbey goatherder needs boarding for a pair of milkers this October through February, which would be just around when Petunia will (hopefully) be having babies and starting to milk. So far she is still away on her date and we are missing her but mostly Esther is desolate. 

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Haven't updated my blog in a while? Sorry I was farming; introducing the Tilly Puppy to the chickens with her muszzle on and a 12 foot leash trailing behind in case I needed to catch her.

To ease Esther's heartbreak, I've been using this opportunity to encourage Tilly and Esther to bond. It seems to have worked. Tilly has successfully been out with Esther supervised only through the window with no muzzle. Also, Tilly had her first outing with the chickens (off leash but with the muzzle) while I turned the compost and did great with them. Tonight there was a little chasing and I think I must do a better job walking her and tiring her out and calming her before releasing her with the chickens. When she is feeling 'cooped' up and under-stimulated is the wrong time to tempt a terrier with skittish birds. Though even given the challenging timing, she did pretty well wandering around with them without harassing, and when she started getting carried away with herself, the chickens found an orderly path into their coop and were locked up for safety. The goat and pig also went to bed as Tilly really needed a proper romp in the yard after being such a good girl all day. We went to Home Depot and people walking past stopped and pet her before I saw and she kept all her paws on the ground and her mouth closed! I had to resist getting excited and ruining the moment. There is hope yet of passing our Canine Good Citizen test! Oh, which reminds me, I don't think I properly bragged about Tilly's last Search. Another team (dog and handler) were given a Zero problem (no one hidden in their area though the were convincingly lead to believe someone was there and must decide when they feel confident they have thoroughly checked their area and there is no one there) but Tilly was given a typical "20 yards in any direction from this point in the woods" problem and mastered it! It was her first night problem and it was a delight to see her flashing light and reflective strip bouncing through the brush. I need to start giving her much longer, harder problems as she's been solving these ones in under a minute it seems. Good thing little kids aren't that good at hide-and-seek!

Making up for lost pictures

Today's project for me was to build this most excellent hay holder in my 'milking parlor' which now also has a functional gait into the rest of the barn and a sink complete with retractable sprayer nozzle.  Next step is to make a nice milking platform and get the girls used to the routine of hopping up and eating their pellets while being brushed and washed and messed with. Also, I am thinking of eventually adding some shelving in here for their brushes and whatever else goes on shelves. 

The goats approve of the changes to the barn and appreciate all the split hay.  

The pig also approves, though he's not convinced I have good reason for scooping up and redistributing all the straw he's carefully pushed into his mini barn. Since coming to live with us, his hair has gotten thick, his spots have gotten black, and his skin is a little flaky and sun burnt, though he always has the choice to lay in the shade instead and we try to encourage time in the shade and even try talking him into rolling in mud from time to time. At least he's happy. And strong. Today while working in the barn, I moved the stepping blocks away from the door, making the door jam far above his head - probably a good 8 inches high. Without pausing, he leaped effortlessly yet dramatically up into the barn. What a change from the first day he was here and got high centered and stuck with all legs kicking trying to climb over the door step!

While I was working in the barn, Tim was busy in the yard perfecting the goat teeter-totter! Making things for the goats is far more fun than working on the part of the house where us humans live. Petunia is enjoying the game and has associated tipping with treats, but Esther isn't yet convinced. 

Our joint project of the day was making Tilly's super duper utility vest, fully equipped with 6 pockets. Tim's ingenuity and creative direction and my sewing skills at his direction and Tilly's excellent patient modeling came together to make something beautiful, comfortable, and practical. She seems to think it's just fine and it holds a good amount of rocks in the pockets to slow her down.

Grandpa's beautiful garden is in full swing of production. It's nearly time to start transitioning to the fall garden for the next growing year. Grandpa brought down a garbage bag full of tomatoes which are now drying on the dehydrator.

Amazingly, the corn is growing taller than me and has harry ears sticking out along the stalks.

 Grandpa also brought down a bag of cucumbers which I am pretty sure are pickling cucumbers and regardless of the seeds they came from, the little nobly vegetables are now floating in jars of vinegar and spices.

The farm has a nice rhythm growing. In the mornings, I wake up and start the coffee, let the chickens out of the hen house and into the yard,  then feed and let out the goats (the goats just get in the way if they get let out first). Tilly gets a walk around the lake to see all our friends, then I try to be productive for the day until it's time to shut the chickens in to their house and the goats (and pig) get tucked in with dinner. The weather is still warm and sunny, all the animals are happy, the garden is growing, and everything is what we've always dreamed of.