You Liberals think that goats are just sheep from broken homes. - Malcom Bradbury

I just threw that title in cause it's a crazy presidential election season, but I should have titled this post: We're giving up the goats.

Yep, you read correctly.  Our family's 3 plus year adventure with dairy goats is coming to an end.

If only had once sentence to explain why I'm doing this it would be this:

I believe God is leading me to use my time, resources and skills as a nurse to serve others in His name more.

*****I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY!  The above was the beginning of a long, thought-out post about why I've decided to give up the dairy goats in pursuit of more time available for serving God with my life as a nurse... or however He leads.  But, the Mac locked up and I had to force quite and that is all that's left!  I guess I don't need to post a long thought out post.  Deep sigh.

I guess I'll just post pics from our years with the goats and say, I'll miss the cheese and yogurt and milk.  I'll miss the kidding seasons and those floppy-eared personalities.  But I'm looking forward to laying aside the good to pursue the best in what God would lead me to do right now.

FYI:   For my soap customers and friends: I'll still be making soap.  Goats Make Soap Co. will have a new direction and operate a bit differently, but we'll still be making our amazing soaps.

“If we really have too much to do, there are some items on the agenda which God did not put there. Let us submit the list to him and ask him to indicate which items we must delete. There is always time to do the will of God. If we are too busy to do that, we are too busy.”

- Elisabeth Elliot 

Butter, Whole30 Bread, Bucks and Cute Babies

I made butter today!

For about 1/3 cup of cream from my goat's milk, and 5 minutes of effort, I got about 2 tablespoons of butter.  It was a fun experiment.

Goat milk is naturally homogenized, so the cream doesn't separate as easily from the milk as with cow milk.  I could use a cream separator, and maybe I will at some point in the future when I'm getting more than a pound or two of milk a day.  For now a spoon, small jar and some shaking will work.

I also made Caldo de Pollo and a Whole30 allowable flatbread to dip in the soup.

The soup is one of our favorites and you don't have to slave over a stove all day either.  Boil a whole chicken in a large stock pot.  Add your favorite veggies ( I used onions, carrots and chayote squash) and spices.  Simmer for a few hours till the meat is falling off the bone and serve topped with avocado, cilantro and a lime wedge.  Deliciso!

The flatbread was a throw together last minute idea when I was craving cornbread to dip in my soup.  It doesn't get top scores for moistness for sure.  But, for a dip in soup it turned out pretty good.  Can't share a recipe on this one cause I didn't measure anything.  I threw handful of coconut flour, a handful of almond meal, a couple dashes of salt, a couple dollops of coconut oil, and four eggs in a bowl, mixed until it formed a masa-like texture, flattened a ball of it in my hand and toasted in a skillet over medium heat.

Buck goats make great entertainment when it's not rutting season and they don't stinketh to high heaven.  This is our buck Duke.  He's a total crack up and I got a few funny shots of him I had to share.

When you gotta reach that awkward place to scratch that itch that just won't quit and you're a buck, uh, it's a little embarrassing.  

Ryland's a good goat herder.

Do your ears hang low? Do they wobble to and fro?

Three things are stately in their tread; four are stately in their stride:
the lion, which is mightiest among beasts and does not turn back before any;
the strutting rooster, the he-goat, and a king whose army is with him. -Proverbs 30:29-31

Babies at sunset.  Awwww.

Darla and her Daylight

 Quieted,

Sheila

Diary of a Milk Maid: Week 3

* Warning:  This post will be full of goat speak.  For anyone who may be interested in learning the lingo I'm learning, I've linked the terminology to sites explaining their meanings*

Today completes three weeks of milking my first freshener Darla.  The three weeks was completed in Darla's cantankerous style.   In fact I would say this morning's milking was the most frustrating of all the milking days I've had thus far.

I purchased a goat hobble last week since Darla's kicking habit doesn't seem to be going away.  She's a kicky milker.  Holding one hind leg with one hand and milking with one hand works, but takes much longer.  On the plus side, my deltoids are getting a nice cut from the isometric workout their receiving holding one kicking goat leg in place with one hand and milking with the other.  But any who,  milking with one hand isn't ideal so I hoped the goat hobble would do the trick and keep my girl from  kicking.  It didn't.  This goat could be a ballerina.  She kicks both back legs up in the air, standing on her front legs in a near hand or hoof stand.  And the unsteadiness of falling off the milk stand when she does this doesn't detour her at all.  She's an acrobat and stubborn!  This makes for an eventful milking.

She may be determined to not let me milk her for more than 30 seconds (which is what she does with her kids) but I'm even more determined to not let her win.  It's gonna be a battle and it may take the entire 305 milking days a doe is said to have, but by golly, I'm not giving up!

Sigh.

This morning's shenanigans had me covered in about a half quart of milk before the not-so-pretty milking was over.  Whoever said milking is a peaceful experience wasn't milking my Darla.

I'm currently torn between my two favorite herd names.  I have to pick one to officially register my goats and since I've found some ADGA members who are willing to write a letter so I can register Darla as Native on Appearance (since apparently she is not registrable with her sire's papers... something I'm still working on investigating) I can at least use Darla to produce official purebred Nubians in the future (her great grandkids can be registered as purebred).  Depending on how her daughters udders look using Duke's (my buck) good milking line I may keep breeding her to him.  If they are not correct like their mom's then I'll just breed Darla for the milk production at home.  Anway, the two front-runners for my herd name are:

Yellow Door Ranch 

or

Lil' Toad Farm

I really like Yellow Door Ranch.  I recently painted my front door a bright yellow.  The pop of color is something of a style I've come to really be drawn to.  I've always been a yellow fan.  I remember as a kid telling my parents that when I grew up I wanted a yellow house with a wrap-around porch and a white picket fence.  Yellow Door Ranch just has a nice ring to it.  But Lil' Toad Farm is near to the heart.

If I close my eyes I can hear my mom softly saying, "You'll always be my Lil' Toad."  I can also hear her calling me through the house in a more urgent manner which meant the "Lil'" fell off and I heard, "TOAD!"  This was usually followed by some instructions such as, "Can you run over to the neighbors and see if they have a roll of toilet paper we can borrow?  We're out!"

When we moved into this place we had several wildlife visitors: Palo Verde Beatles, desert rabbits, coyotes and desert toads.   Desert toads were one of the first to show up at our back door and it was at that time that I first thought of Lil' Toad Farm.

The nostalgia for Lil' Toad Farm weighs heavy in my decision, but according to my 9 year old, it's not fair, cause then it will sound like it's my farm only and not the whole family's.  Hmm.  Good point.  But, since the head of the house weighed in and likes Lil' Toad Farm the best, ownership is mutual.

I just can't let Yellow Door Ranch go though!  Uh!  Decisions.  Decisions.

The average milk production for a dairy goat is 1500 pounds in 305 days.  I thought it strange that milk is measured in pounds when I first started learning this home dairy thing.  I've always been used to the gallon or half gallon as the appropriate measurement for milk.  But, in the dairy goat world, pounds is proper.  If you swear you're old nanny out back gives you gallons you probably have some missing front teeth, a dozen or more broken down cars on your lot, several goats standing atop those cars and you milk your "nanny" straight into an empty, not-so-clean coffee can and swear that that floaty stuff on top grows hair on your chest.  Yeah.  Don't measure goat milk in gallons or you'll be ostracized as a backwards hick for sure.

That said, I calculated my doe's production thus far and she's producing at a rate that puts her around 500 pounds per year.  Sounds bad, but actually it's pretty good considering I'm only milking her once a day.  Most people milk their goats every 12 hours.  So if I doubled her output, assuming she'd put out the same amount twice daily, she'd be producing about 1000 pounds a year.  That's pretty darn good for a 1 year old first time freshener with a novice milk maid like me milking her.



Darla's udder is not prize worthy.  And she'll be considered a "grade" goat because I can't prove her lineage.  And she's a kicky milker.  But even still, she's teaching me tons and despite frustrating mornings like these I'm having a great time being a milk maid!   Besides that, her milk is delicious.  I've been skimming the cream off the top.  When I get about a half cup of cream I'm going make some butter.  Can't wait!

Quieted,

Sheila