Goats!

"The miniature Nubian dairy goat produces on average, 2/3 of the volume of milk on 1/2 of the feed of a full size goat." - Soaring Hearts Farm

"My does average around 5-6 lbs of milk per day (1 pound = 1 pint, or half a quart)  First time milkers will give less than experienced does.  My first fresheners usually milk 3-5 lbs a day.  My best milkers give about 7-8 lbs (1 gallon) each day.  The most milk I have had one doe give me in a single day was nearly 11 lbs!!!" - Green Gables Mini Nubians

"Just A Goat": From time to time, people tell me, "lighten up, it's just a goat" or "that's a lot of money for "just a goat." They don't understand the distance traveled, the time spent, or the costs involved for "just a goat." Some of my proudest moments have come about with "just a goat." Many hours have passed and my only company was "just a goat" but I did not once feel slighted. Some of my ......saddest moments have been brought about by "just a goat," and in those days of darkness, the gentle touch of "just a goat" gave me comfort and reason to overcome the day. If you, too, think it's "just a goat," then you will probably understand phrases like "just a friend," "just a sunrise," or "just a promise." "Just a goat" brings into my life the very essence of friendship, trust, and pure unbridled joy. "Just a goat" brings out the compassion and patience that makes me a better person. Because of "just a goat" I will rise early, take long walks, and look longingly to the future. So for me and folks like me, it's not "just a goat" but an embodiment of all the hopes and dreams of the future, the fond memories of the past, and the pure joy of the moment. "Just a goat" brings out what's good in me and diverts my thoughts away. I hope that someday they can understand that it's not "just a goat" but the thing that gives me humanity and keeps me from being "just a woman." So the next time you hear the phrase "just a goat" just smile, because they "just" don't understand." - Slate Creek Farm

Pictures added to previous post!

And perhaps more pictures still to come. We'll see.

Currently I am sitting in the lawn, another beautiful evening with the chickens and Tilly. I've been continuing to labor away on my barn projet: yesterday it was cleaning out all the garbage from the barn, including tearing the insulation (aka rat nesting material - heavily used) out of the walls and sweeping cobwebs from the ceiling. I filled the truck entirely with the large chunks of stuff from this barn cleaning project, plus filled a garbage can with the small stuff. This morning I took it easy, focusing on digging the doorway level - instead of indulging in the slope of the hill like it has been. I also got the "barn broom" out and started going after some of those cobwebs on the walls and ceiling. While cleaning out the loft of the barn, I finally figured out why there is a strange little window cut between the chicken barn and main barn! There were two windsurfing sails in the loft there which are nearly as long as the barn, and the only way to get them down was to carefully thread them through the opening into the chicken house and over the heads of all the confused hens, then feed in back out into the main barn section and out the door! With that, the last odds and ends should be out of the barn, though I'm thinking that whole loft either has to go, or has to be relocated about 6 feet. Where it is now makes no sense and blocks light and is inaccessible. Unfortunately, everything on this property was built with nails, so disassembly is a bit of a pain. After staring at the loft and disassembling with my mind for a good long while, I gave up and headed to Oak Harbor to dump the dump load at the dump and pick up five large bags of mixed alpaca fleece from the woman I helped with her loom this winter. I am thinking there will be a very long alpaca rug running down our hallway when Tim comes home and helps me set up my loom, after the goats are (hopefully) settled in the barn.

More on the Bay after still not enough rest

Bristol Bay! Everything about my trip was beautiful and wonderful! For years, Tim has been telling me about Bristol Bay, trying to get me ready for the day I would go along, and I was bracing myself for a dusty, dirty, scary, windy, ugly place and stormy weather. When I got the call this summer to pack my bags and get on the soonest flight I could, I didn't have time to worry and was only delighted to be on my way to see my husband and do something exciting for the summer.

After ice cream in the sun with my parents in front of the Greenbank store and racing to meet the shuttle at the ferry terminal, I met a lovely Whidbey girl who also lives with her grandpa, who also has a dog, who also loves hiking, and who is also a Star Trek fan. Her and I and two other young folks camped out at a table at SeaTac all night laughing and telling stories waiting for our early morning flights. On my flights, my seatmates were terrific, and even the TSA agents were superb and friendly. On arrival in Naknek, I was met by a taxi full of friendly, chatty, courteous gentlemen and was brought to my temporary home for the second night of my journey. On the porch of the Leader Creek Fisheries office, I ate my canned oysters and watched the tide come in and go out. Two of us lost crew members took turns napping on the comfy couch and waiting for any news of a tender (large boat) coming by to drop off the fleets catch and pick us up to be brought out to the fishing grounds. Early the next morning, my fellow crasher took off for a tender and left me with the couch to myself. I walked to town and got some amazing pizza, visited with all the lovely office ladies, knit a hat, read, and then stayed up late again the next night listening for the radio to announce the arrival of a tender dropping off fish and heading out to Nushigak. While I waited, the lone office drone on the late night shift and I did xtra-tuff ballet and decorated binder covers for all those important forms and such. Finally, the call came and I made my way down the wobbly line of floats and on to the tender with my backpack and rain gear and pizza.

My oyster-eating spot on the Leader Creek porch and a view of low tide in the creek.

The tender boat I found myself on turned out to be a man and his daughter (my age), his son, and one other crew member. The daughter kindly gave me the top bunk in her room, and in the morning the captain explained things about the boats and Bristol Bay and such as we radioed the m/v Whiskey Creek looking to meet up and drop me off. My anticipation and excitement grew as that wooden top house came into view and the m/v/ Whiskey Creek tied up to my tender in rough seas. Waiting for a pause between swells, I jumped from the large, stable boat onto the small rocky one with my backpack, pizza, and fishing gear. The guys tossed my bag into the cabin and I slipped on my rain pants and gloves as we got busy changing the nets on the boat with fresh nets off the tender. As soon as we cast off from the big boat, we dropped our net in the water and made a quick but huge set, drifting towards other boats and the boundary line and having to quickly real the net in. As the guys picked fish, they tossed them to me and I kneeled on the deck ripping gills and counting fish, sliding hatches open and closed, to keep the same number of fish floating in each of the 14 refrigeration bags.

As soon as one set was picked (the gill net back on the reel, out of the water, and fishless), we made another set (put the net back in the water to catch more fish), or ran to another area to set again. Between each set, I hosed off the deck to remove all the scales, slime, blood and guts. Around midnight, we took the boat load of fish back to the tender to unload and clean up for the night. Once all the bags were emptied, washed, and rehung in the clean fish holds and the deck was given a last rinse, we anchored up for the night, feasted on potatoes or rice and fresh salmon, then slept for a few hours before waking early to get back at the fishing. Eventually I made time between sets (while the net was hanging in the water soaking up fish) to actually unpack my bag and say hello to Tim, Joe, and Woody. I also cut up some old foam and made myself some very awesome knee pads which made my job much more pleasant.

Another important fishing skill is napping between sets. My favorite in-rain-gear napping spot was behind the captains chair until I was banished for being the stinkiest crew member in the fleet with fish blood soaked into the linings of all my gear and rotting. The price of having a job that involves sitting around in pools of blood and occasionally spraying yourself in the face with more blood. The boat was properly pink and glittery after a good set.

While Tim and I were busy in the far north, life went on for our farm. Grandpa and Tilly walked the beach, the first rooster began to crow, and Mom and Dad built a beautiful, sturdy fence around our lower yard. When I finally got home from fishing at 2am on the 11th, I couldn't fall asleep until I had walked the perimeter of the fence, running my fingers along it in the dark with delight.

Since getting home, I had every intention of relaxing and recovering, but there is simply too much to do! First off, I had to let the deer into the garden for some midnight snacking by forgetting the gate after all Grandpa's careful care. Luckily they didn't nibble it all up, but we may be short a few beets. I had just been thinning and weeding and making us some lovely beet greens (which turned out rather badly the first time and then not enough the second time) when I forgot the gate. Fortunately my nest box building went a little better.

Since coming home to my wonderful fence, Tilly and I have been spending an hour or so every evening sitting in the grass and watching the chickens as they have a little time in the newly expanded yard. Each day they are getting less timid and coming closer to our cozy spot where Tilly chews bones and I read about chicken butchering. After continuing my research, I think I have settled on a new method for my butchering which is more like how I took care of all those thousands of fish in Bristol Bay - holding them and talking to them and gently petting them as they bleed out (well, maybe a couple of those fish went that way...). I will link my favorite demonstration video here: Part 1 - Butchering and Part 2 - Dressing. So far, one of my three Marans (dark egg laying) is happily crowing but not too loud or too often, and none of the other chickens are! Surely there are more roosters in the bunch, but even a week after he showed his true colors and tune, the rest are still clucking. I am wondering if his shear masculinity is putting the others off. If there is no rooster, one of the hens generally steps up to fill the role, so perhaps if there are bunches of roosters and one is clearly filling the role already, the others remain more androgynous? Like the honey bees and ants and such with their queens? Hmm, from my very brief research, it looks like roosters can live together as long as it's not coed, or else they fight over the ladies and harass the ladies to no end. Expected I suppose. When the hens start getting harassed, or more roosters start to crow, or Tim gets home, it will be time to freeze the birds.

If there were other things I thought of mentioning, I am now far too tired to remember. Sunsets are still glorious here. The days are sunny and hot... Oh! In that hot sun of the day, I have been working hard trying to clean out the barns. The barn here has three sections: Main Barn (to be Goat Barn), Chicken Barn, and Shed Barn. The Chicken Barn is still in good shape, I removed some garbage, empty feed bags, odds and ends. When it gets time for chicken killing, I will give it a good cleaning before the roosters 24-hour lock in pre-butchering (to hydrate and starve them to empty their digestive systems. Hopefully it won't be so hot when the day comes! But also not too cold or wet as the girls will have to be locked out...). So with the Chicken Barn done, I moved on to the Shed Barn. It was rather gross and cluttered. By gross I mean spider webs, smells of rats of the past, garbage, toxic things... So I removed everything, raked the gravel and such about to make it level and clean and fill in the gaps leading suspiciously to the chicken run. Then I followed some of the wisdom of the internet and got about organizing everything back into there, with good wood and power tools going back to the shop, and piles of empty garbage badness going into the back of the truck. It is now looking quite nice in there, and by my measurements there will be a cozy spot for the 'lawn tractor' to just fit to the inch, and a convenient place for the wheelbarrow. All the shovels and axes and gas cans are also living there now. So with the two smaller barn segments clean and orderly, I opened up the main compartment and took a look behind door number three. I took a few items out that needed to go to the shop or shed, and then thought about what a pain it will be to drag all that garbage out of there. I gave up quickly and decided to take measurements and draw plans for its finished glory and get back to the dragging of garbage uphill tomorrow some time. My plans for the finished thing include installing about three windows, building a little milking parlor/storage area section and turning the front wall into a wall with two (smaller) doors instead of a falling apart mess that doesn't currently reach the ground thus provide much security for locking critters in. I am quite pleased with my plans, though I may still have to think a little on the installing doors on a hill bit... There are options!

Sunsets like paintings, turning my room pink.

Back home

It took Tilly about 20 seconds to curl up next to me and fall asleep once I picked her up and brought her home from the puppy sitter. It is good to be home! We have a lovely new fence built by Mom and Dad around the yard here, ready for Tilly, goats, or chickens. I had an excellent time fishing. We caught plenty of poundage, and now I am ready for a nap. Pictures and details to come.

BRISTOL BAY

Not technically about our little growing farm, but I wanted to send out an update that I have made it safely to Bristol Bay and am happily holed up at the leader creek fish plant in Naknek. The office ladies have been lovely, the weather warm, oysters on the porch for lunch, a cozy couch to sleep on. Hopefully I will head out to the f/v Whiskey Creek in the wee hours of tonight. I will read and sleep and knit until. No cell service and poor interneting from my phone, but its great so far!

One last post before I leave.

In 8 hours I will be heading for the shuttle to the SeaTac airport.
In 19 hours I will be boarding the flight to Anchorage.
In 29 hours I will be arriving in King Salmon.
And sometime after that, I will make my way first to the Leader Creek office, then onto a tender, then out to Nushigak, then on to the m/v Whiskey Creek with Tim and Joe and Woody.
And Tilly will have to be a very good dog while I'm away.

But what good timing to have my parents come just as I am leaving! Just in time to watch the chickens and sweet Puppy Tilly! In the few days of overlap we've had, we have been very busy with dinner guests and house work. First on our list of visitors were Heidi and Launi, the previous owners of our beautiful Honeymoon Bay house and the party responsible for all the outstanding landscaping and arboretum.

Heidi and family

Over grilled salmon on the sunny porch, they shared the stories of the house and let us love it through their eyes of 30 years here. We walked the gardens deadheading rhododendrons, learning the names of all the plants, and pointing out which ones should go. By the time we reached the cars, conversations lingered. We bought the house for the view and the buildings and the land without knowing it also came with such good friends and neighbors.

Launi and family

The following night, we kept our good hospitality flowing and had friends from long ago for dinner. About 15 years ago, Rhonda and Gordon moved from Juneau to Whidbey Island for the Waldorf Schools and peaceful gardening. With more potato salad and grilled salmon, we had yet another lovely evening visiting until dark threatened to impede their motorcycle ride home. In the morning, we stopped by their house to return items and got the full tour of their enchanted gardens and delightful goats and ducks and tiny dog.

 Grandpa and Gordon taking a turn churning the ice cream

I've just been looking back over my bloggy records and saw that Tilly had her first "run away" search training on April 13th! It has only been just over a month, and already Tilly can find a person hiding over 100 feet away in thick brush and then lead me back to them reliably! I am amazed at how quickly she picks up on new information and applies it, in a few short lessons going from chasing someone who runs away to being let out of the car and beginning searching for an unknown person in the woods somewhere, following my ques what areas to head towards. I generally do not know where the person is hiding other than a vague and increasingly large area to search, and my only indication of her successful find is the cues she gives me. She quickly follows scent back to the source, then after spending a few minutes evaluating that source with tail wagging, she races back to me and touches me to alert me to her find, then leads the way back through woods to the hiding volunteer. Even with deer popping out of the woods near by, she stays focused on her task until she's gotten her frisbee, stick, treats, and praise to end the game. She'll have three weeks off from training while I am gone fishing, but I have no doubt she will be right back at it when we return to training.

Rain, green rain

For three nights in a row and a fair amount of the connecting days, we had rain! Finally, water replenishing the well, replenishing the gardens, replenishing the grass and trees and chickens and all else! I was beginning to wonder how long it would be before the rain returned. After the rain comes and goes, and the sun returns, everything green leaps up - like the potatoes! They are now all a foot tall seemingly over night.

What else have we been up to? I assisted with my first real search! Because Tilly isn't up to snuff yet, she stayed home to avoid distracting, and because I'm not up to snuff yet, I got to help man the base camp, meaning hang out and eavesdrop on the radio chatter and run errands such as picking teams up from one area and delivering them to another, or going for pizza. All-in-all, not bad and free pizza is always good.

Back at home Tilly and I tried to walk all the way to Freeland along the beach and got to the next big point before there were a suspicious number of "no trespassing" signs and a house in view. Next time we will start from Freeland and walk back to see if that is the only problem house and thus worth sneaking past, or if it continues to get more crowded.

As we were walking the beach, I saw a medium critter bounce past at full speed, looking suspiciously like Tilly, but then a second critter even more like Tilly was bouncing right behind and I looked again to see the first critter was a Tilly-sized baby deer. "Tilly! Come!" and with that magic word, her head and body snapped around and continued full speed but changed the trajectory for straight to my feet, coming to a skidding halt for praise. Far more than I expected from my little rebel!

On other projects, I've got the pig barn almost finished. Now we need the roof, and the attachable run area and we will be all set for Oliver, the 11lb micro-pig. This barn also suitable for use with new mother hens and clutches of chicks or sick birds needing isolation.

Crafts On Whidbey held the first official crafting class! Which turned out to be my friend Cassidy and I hanging out and having a lot of fun chatting and felting. No complaints there, though making $50 while hanging out would have been a plus.

Mom and Dad come tomorrow, Uncle Joel leaves today, but MOST EXCITING OF ALL: I am going to join Tim and Joe and Woody up on the m/v Whiskey Creek commercial fishing in Bristol Bay, the edge of the Bearing Sea! I AM SO EXCITED. I am excited to see my husband again, and I am excited for the challenge, for work to be proud of! And the pay check will be quite nice.