Are we having fun yet? The days are getting shorter already. I can't believe summer is almost over with! It seems like it just began, and now it's winding down. At least the temperatures have been almost perfect this week. Not too hot, not too cold. The sun has been shining most of the time, too. Good for working outdoors in.
Poor Astrid, her kids are driving her crazy. ☺ They are mr and miss independent, and do not listen to their mom when she's calling to them. They can squeeze through the fence still, although it's getting pretty tight, they are struggling to get through. They kind of just go where they want to. At least they are getting a good variety of food. Socks always looks so innocent, and Oksana is always right beside him saying, "who me? I didn't do anything." They are cute, even if they are little pains.
This morning when I got up and looked out the window, I about had a heart attack. The goats were all in the yard and all the gates coming into the "inner" yard were open! I got out there very fast and made sure there wasn't major damage done. Thank heavens there wasn't. The poor lilac got trimmed again, but only a couple of branches and not the whole thing like in the past. They ate one of the lily buds, but only one. I'll still have some pretty tree lilies. The goats did do something good while they were out. There is patch of thistles at the top of the driveway that they ate all the tops off of, so that got rid of the seeds and flowers. So that was good! They didn't get to the fruit trees, either. For once, no major damage was done. With 28 goats being in the yard, that is pretty good! The ones in the other pens that didn't get out were quite bummed and complaining because they weren't out, too. Ah, goats, the most loveable, frustrating creatures on the planet. ☺
I have re-done the website, which took 10 hours! No wonder the website designers charge so much, it's a time consuming ordeal to do a site. Now it's official. I'm only doing individual fleeces and I've started a cashmere fiber CSA! Kind of scary going in a new direction and against the norm. It's all on the website now. I think that doing the individual fleeces is a good thing. The ones I've done of mine are spectacular! It's amazing the difference they have when done by themselves. Much more uniform and smooth looking, and the fiber is easy to work with. It spins up beautifully! For people with a few goats and that like to spin it themselves, this will be perfect.
I also found a mill in Colorado that actually likes to process cashmere! They do a good job, too, from what I've heard so far. He seems to know what he's doing, and is one of the few people that like to work with the cashmere. Spring Too Fibers is the name of the mill. So if you have fleece that you want made into yarn and you have more than a few fleeces, this is the place to send it. If you only have a few fleeces and want to spin them yourself and want them individually done, then I'm the one to go to. ☺ Now there are starting to be choices for us cashmere raisers.
It's almost time for my helpers to arrive! They should be coming this next week, if all is going well. I have a list of projects to do that will keep us all busy until the snow flies. It's going to be good to finally be able to get all of this done!
I heard a wolf howl last week! That sure set the dogs off. Nellie was barking and howling, the neighbors dogs were barking and barking. They don't know when to quit! At least my dogs quit barking and listen to see what's happening. The neighbor dogs just bark and bark, and bark.
The wolf wasn't too close, probably a mile or so away, over across the way on the switchbacks. They've been around for years, but the only other time I've ever heard one was on my birthday in the wee hours of the morning a few years ago. It was fairly close, it woke me up! Didn't bother any of the goats or other critters, just howled for a bit then left. That was before we had Nellie, too.
We live out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by national forest, with every predator known to man up here. I have only lost one goat to a mountain lion, and that was 6 years ago. Everything since then has left my critters alone. They reduce the deer population, but do not come near my goats, chickens, or anything else. We have an agreement, they leave me and mine alone, and I'll leave them alone. So far everyone is holding up their end of the bargain.
It's time for the annual rat migration. Two so far. yuk! I hope there aren't very many out there this year. Well, that's it for now. More as it happens.....
