This year is going by way too fast! There are just not enough hours in the day any more, it seems.
My helpers are here and getting settled in. It is so wonderful to have some help around here!! The goat pens are getting cleaned out one, by one. Colin is doing a great job! The goats are happy with their clean pens now. The mountain of poop is getting quite large. Plenty for everyone who wants some for their gardens.
Colin is getting pretty good at milking now. He's still not getting quite all of it out at a time, but the goats are getting used to him now and are starting to be a bit more cooperative. Miss Dottie still can be a real pain. She just does not do well with change at all.
Heidi is busy teaching school. I think she is going to be one of the best teachers in the country in the coming years! She's coming up here and helping out a bit on the week-ends, getting used to the goats, and they are getting used to her. Teaching all week doesn't leave much time for working around here. She needs time to do things around their house on the week-ends.
The dehairing is going okay. I'm in a big push to get a couple of orders done by the end of next week. Don't know if I'll have them done, or not. Each batch of cashmere is different and they take different amounts of time to dehair, so trying to keep to a schedule isn't really working all that well. Batches that I think will go fast, don't at all, and the ones that do go faster are rare.
I have quite a bit to do before I shut down for the winter! I'm done taking in new customers now. When I get done with the ones that are scheduled now, I'm done for this year. I still haven't got to do my own fiber yet. I did a few fleeces a couple of months ago, but now I'm back to doing everyone else's again. I did do some kid fleece, and it turned out really nice. I spun it up into yarn and am now making a cowl with it. It's so soft!!
The goats are getting their winter coat on pretty good now. Even the horses are starting to get fluffy already. The geese are starting to fly over heading south now. Nellie sure doesn't like them! She's out there barking so hard I think there's got to be something major going on, so I go outside and here she is barking at the sky and a flock of geese flying over.
We lost Stubby yesterday. He was the guinea whose toes froze off a couple of winters ago. He survived and was getting along just fine. But yesterday the neighbor's rottweiler chased them on the driveway and I think Stubby died of a heart attack or something. He disappeared into the woods and I haven't seen him again. The dog didn't get him, so I don't know what happened to him. The two remaining guineas are very quiet now. They are also staying home now and not venturing outside the fence where they are fair game for anything. Maybe they learned their lesson yesterday with Stubby's demise. Rather sad...
I think next spring we will get some new guineas and some new chickens. There is a hen sitting on 5 eggs now, so hopefully they will hatch out around the end of the month. These girls are all getting past their prime, so it's time for some new ones. Maybe I'll try a different, more colorful breed this time. The Jersey Black Giants are good birds for both eggs and meat, but I'm tired of black chickens. It's time for some color out there. Might even get some turkeys again.
Well, that's all for this post. I'll try to remember to write sooner next time!
