Happy Mother's Day!

To our Moms, Kelley and Renie,

Who taught us about patience, caring, and compassion,

who's unconditional love gave us the courage to be different and follow our own path,

(knowing they would always be behind us, every step of the way)

and who will soon be the most amazing Grandmothers (!) to our baby, We love you!

Happy Mother's Day! You mean the world to us.

Love,

Goat Kidding Season A Success

 The final two

As of this afternoon we are officially past our first goat kidding season. Mayday, one of our original does, gave birth to a beautiful little doeling and quite possibly the cutest buckling we've ever seen. Our grand total comes to 10 kids with 7 doelings and 3 bucklings. Everyone was born healthy and all of the moms are in great shape. There were very few surprises, other than the first goat kidding three days before her due date! We are thrilled and thankful that it all went well. Thanks everyone for all the kind words and for joining us through this adventure.

Mayday's buckling

As beginning farmers you always expect the worst and pray for the best. Intense preparation during the weeks leading up to the births really helped us through it. Our friends at Edgwick Farm gave us wonderful recommendations for what to have on-hand. Spur of the moment questions and concerns were happily answered by neighbors and fellow goat-raisers. Goat-raising books provided solid advice. And of course, our trusty friend Google saved the day a few times when we needed to see images to make sure everything "looked" ok. 

Everything looks ok

And so now it's on to milking, cheesemaking, bottle-feeding, and so on. We'll have an update post soon, it's been far too long. Hopefully we'll get back to posting more frequently, it's been a busy time! 

 

Goat Birthing Madness: The Elite Eight

We're in the midst of our own version of March Madness. Goat Birthing Madness. A week ago we posted about Sandia, our first goat born on the farm. Over the intervening time we had four more does kid and now we're awash with eight little baby goats. We have one more expecting mother, Mayday, who is due on April 8th, and then our kidding season is over for the year. It's been a joy and a true privilege.

First up, the photos, because that's what everyone really wants to see! At the end I posted a few takeaways.

The Elite Eight, in reverse birthing order:

1Oak and Santos Party House, born to Tenjune (the bad NY nightclub line)

Milk lips. Ready for a napCalima and Chinook, born to Zephyr (names of winds)

Calima, born to our Alpine buckChinook, born to our Nubian buck

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