The Babies Are Coming!

It’s February and we are tingling with excitement as the anticipation of newborns overtakes us. There is a cyclical nature to life on a farm. If it is July then the garden needs to be weeded, if it is September then the goats need to be bred, and if it is February then baby goats are imminent. There is a purpose to each season which we base our lives upon. And now, as exciting as Christmas, we are looking forward to the arrival of spring babies. The very first ones arrived last week- two large breech kids, one buck and one doe. Yesterday, in our absence, arrived two more bucks. It was a community effort in that situation since we were gone to the ocean for the weekend. Wonderful friends and neighbors pulled together to deliver, milk and bottle feed the newborns.


This is when I am jealous of all those lambs that get to stay with the ewes in the field. As dairy goats we must take the babies away and bottle feed them. This is for a variety of reasons but the most important one is that they are raised to be very tame and easy to work with as their future will be working in close quarters with humans. It’s a fair amount of work but it’s also quite rewarding.


There is truly nothing cuter than baby goats. Cuteness of a lamb but with tons of personality. At three days old they are bouncing around like they have springs for legs. Their natural curiosity and desire to run and jump leads to all sorts of comical images. Our children run and the baby goats chase after them. Kids chasing kids!

I think back to my former life, the one made up of bus schedules and calendars on the wall. While I noted the changing seasons, the seasons did not change me. February used to just be another month on the calendar with all the usual deadlines and do lists. February is not that way any more. It tingles and crackles with excitement and anticipation.

I Can Smell the Earth

After the great snow and the great rain and the almost great flood came spring in January. I love how early our spring comes. Of course it stays until mid July before we get summer. But the worst of winter is behind us. I went outside last week and I could smell the earth. It was letting me know that I could come and work in it. I’ve been itching to get into the garden so I was elated. The sarcococa (sp?) or vanilla plants were giving up their heavenly, daphne-like smells that kept catching me unawares. The robins have returned from wherever they’ve been to add their songs to the chattering of the starlings and sparrows. The eagles and hawks seem to be more active as well. One huge mature eagle landed in the top of one of our evergreen trees that line the driveway and stayed there, spying out the situation. Our chickens were hilarious as they tried to dash from shelter to shelter to get to safety- something from a bad spy movie. The eagle finally moved off and the roosters gave their all clear crows.
I love the animals but I also really love the garden. This year I am re-organizing the whole layout of the vegetable garden so that it can be larger and easier to manage. That means that my shovel and I are back together again, an inseparable pair.
Yet I’ve realized that I’m not completely bought over to the farmer mentally. After much agonizing, I’ve decided to keep my dog. I know that I should have sold him. I found a nice family that wanted him. But he’s too much my pet. So for a price, we keep him. The price being a completely new and separate 2nd invisible fence. Should one line go down the other will still work. It’s still a risk I know, but I’ll have to live with it.
Kidding time is coming up. I calculated it and there’s a good possibility that two does will kid mid Feb. That’s in 2 weeks. I don’t hardly feel ready. But Steve is almost done with the wash room so that will be ready to use. We will do an all hands on deck of cleaning and scrubbing out the milking parlour and the wash room and everything else.
We worked like crazy to get our web site up (gardenhomefarm.com) and I feel good about having most everything somebody would want to know on it. Potential customers have been contacting me like crazy- I hope I don’t run out. The whole goat share thing is new to me so I hope people bear with me while we work the kinks out.
I really think that the whole raw milk movement it far larger than anyone realizes. Once people start coming together about it, it’s just going to snowball and that can only be great for everyone. The Weston A. Price Foundation (see realmilk.com) has chapters all over the country. One is starting here in Mount Vernon so I’m joining that. If anyone is interested they have a fantastic web site (westonaprice.org). It’s great to be part of something which so many people are excited about.
Maybe it’s the spring air that is so palpable that is making me excited, maybe it’s seeing the light at the end of the tunnel of construction, maybe it’s seeing the does’ bellies swelling more and more every day. Whatever it is I’m lovin’ it!