Summer

 Today was my almost annual trip up to the Eureka Fiber Festival in Eureka, MT.  This year it wasn't as big, a few of the regular vendors weren't there so I didn't get to visit with them and catch up on things.  The weather wasn't as hot as it usually is this time of year either.  That was nice.  We've had a somewhat cooler than usual summer with a bit more rain than usual, also.  Compared to most of the rest of the country who are baking in the heat, or flooding, or both, I feel very fortunate to live where I do.

After not wanting any kids this year, Miracle, a cashmere doe, who also is very easy to milk, decided to jump in with Simon, my dairy buck back in February, and gave birth to twin boys on July 18th.  They are cute little buggers.  One is white and the other has a gold tinge to him.  At least I can tell them apart. John named them Waffle and Whiffle.  Not sure how he came up with those names, but there you go. :-)  Since Miracle has excellent fleece, I'm hoping these boys will have at least nice cashmere.  We'll see next summer what they look like.  They have the somewhat wavy hair of a cashmere now, but they are only two weeks old, so we'll see later on if they have decent fleece.  I'm back up to 32 goats with these two.  I have quite a few older goats, a few middle-aged ones, and only a couple of 2 and 3 year olds.   After 24 years of raising goats, I'm contemplating just letting everyone age out without having any more kids, or maybe find another cashmere buck to breed them to and continue on. I haven't made up my mind yet on that. 

I'll post a picture of the kids one of these days.  I haven't transferred the pictures from my phone to the computer yet.  With these two boys being nice and healthy, I'm not milking Miracle this year.  I do have two dairy goats that I am milking in the mornings.  Next week is kid weaning for them, so then I'll be getting more milk, enough to sell to a friend for cheese making, and for me to make a bunch of soap. Also use the cream separator so I can get some cream to make butter with.  

This year has been the year of the raspberry.  We are getting more raspberries than ever before.  I've been freezing most of them. Made a couple of cobblers, and a failed attempt at jelly which became syrup instead.  The only thing I don't like about the raspberries is the seeds.  Otherwise they are great.  The berries are nice and big, and if I pick them at the right stage of ripeness, very sweet. We also have some yellow ones, which I think I'm liking the taste of them better than the red ones.  We also have a "Doyle" blackberry bush that is around 20 years old that is finally going to almost live up to its promise of 20 gallons of berries per bush.  Might get a couple of gallons this year, instead of the handful or so we've always had up till this year.  I hear the huckleberries are plentiful this year, too.  I haven't picked any of those in years.  I'm thinking I might hike up to the top and see if the patch that was there years ago is still there.  Our place is covered in Oregon grape so I am going to make some jelly out of some of those.  A friend made some and gave us a pint, it was excellent, so I'm going to try making some.  

Well, that's it for now.  The garden is starting to produce a good amount of veggies.  Nothing better than going out and harvesting some veggies and having those for dinner along with homegrown meat.  There aren't a whole lot of people that can eat a complete meal grown on their own place and made within an hour of harvesting.  I feel very fortunate.  There isn't anyone on either side of our families that are doing that.  We have a very wonky alternative lifestyle compared to the rest of the country, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.  There are some minor inconveniences, but I've lived with them for 31 years, so they aren't anything to get excited about.

I hope everyone is doing okay in these wild times.  If you are anywhere in the western half of the country, I'd get some extra air filters for your vehicles.  If one of the many volcanoes erupts along the cascades, the ash will cover everything and will gunk up your vehicle pretty fast.  I remember back in 1980 when Mt Saint Helens erupted and the ash from that.  We just got a dusting where we lived at the time, but where I'm at now got quite a bit more. So being prepared will be a good thing.  

Take care everyone!      

July 5th

 I'm going on a bit of a rant today.  It's about fireworks on the 4th.  The big booming, sparkling loud rocket kind should be outlawed except for the commercial shows, like towns, etc. I don't even know what they are called. Bottle rockets?  Just think of all the animals that get scared out of their wits every year because of those.  All the horses that run through fences, the dogs that run away and get lost or run over on the roads, the goats that pile up in the corners of their pens and almost squish each other.  Might be cattle stampedes, I haven't been around cattle on the 4th. But for sure the more sensitive animals get quite scared. Not to mention the wildlife.  Plus all the veterans that have ptsd that get triggered by the fireworks.  As you can tell, I'm not a fan of fireworks.  It was nice living up here in quiet for all those years, but I guess as usual, all good things must end at some point. 

After 29 years of peace up here, we have neighbors that have decided the last two years to launch the big, loud, booming, crackling kind, also waiting till late to do it.  I don't mind the smaller ones that most people have, those are fine, but the big ones should be allowed only at the commercial settings.  Last year we weren't prepared, so all the animals had panic attacks.  Skippy broke out of his pen and hid somewhere.  Luckily he didn't run away, but he sure was scared.  He didn't want to come in the house, he didn't want to stay in his house, he was a basket case.  The goats all piled up in the top corner of their pen shaking so hard they were holding each other up being packed together so tightly.  The deer went running by heading up the mountain as fast as they could go, snorting and whistling all the way.

  We live out in the forest far away from civilization, so not having those going off close by has been exceptionally nice.  It's a good thing it was raining, one little puff of wind as those were falling could've caught the trees on fire or fallen in the grass and started a big forest fire. It had dried out pretty good up until yesterday, then it started raining.   If that ever happens because of their stupidity and even one tree torches on our place, I will own them lock, stock and barrel, as the saying goes.

This year I was expecting it, so I was out there talking to Skippy and explained what was going to happen, same with the goats.  Skippy stayed in his house and didn't panic, and the goats weren't as scared.  It was raining and the dummies still shot them off.  What a waste of money, too.  Because of the rain, they didn't go up as high, which was nice, but it was still loud and scary for the animals.  

On another note, I sold 10 goats on Monday.  They are now over in Idaho.  I sold my cashmere buck, too.  Now I have to figure out if I want to continue breeding them or just age them out and not replace them as they die. On the 13th I will have been doing this for 24 years! Time flies.  I'll have to find another buck if I want to continue on, one with short guard hair, no wattles, and excellent fleece coverage.  Color doesn't really matter.  

I got an ebike on June 4th.  I like it!  I can go up hills without an issue, and I can go up faster than John.  I have to wait for him now, instead of the other way around.  It's been quite a few years since I've had a bicycle, at least 10 I think.  It's taking a bit to get my balance and agility back.  But it's coming back rapidly, and I am enjoying biking again. Fun times.  The other day we went on a ride up the county road below us and saw a moose and her calf, that was cool!  Good to see they are still around the area.  Only got dusted 3 times by vehicles, so that was nice to not have much traffic on the gravel road. It was a good ride.  Couple days before that, we went with another friend on part of the network of bike paths in the valley now.  That was also nice, although it was a hot day, and she had a bit of heat exhaustion at the end.  Surprisingly enough, I didn't have any heat issues, which is unusual.  I don't like the heat, but since I wasn't over working myself, there was a breeze, and I drank a good amount of water, I was ok.  It was around 90, we were in the middle of the afternoon with the sun blazing down on us.  Each ride I do I go another mile or two farther, so I'm building up slowly. 15.4 miles is the farthest so far. a whopping 65 miles on the bike as of now.  For only having it a month, and only riding a couple of times a week, that's not bad.  My bike has a range of around 60 miles, depending on how much I use the assist on it. Hills are the only time I really use any assist, flats and downhills I just turn it off or coast, so I don't use much battery power.  I don't know if I'll ever go that far. John still uses his regular bike, he only has an ebike for commuting to work, which he's only done a couple of times this year. 

Well, that's it for now.  Hope you had a good 4th. Sending prayers out for all the people affected by the flooding and severe weather around the country.  It's getting worse every year.        

Memorial weekend already!

Got some kid pictures finally.  Only the two dairy goats had kids this year.  Tara and Samson are out of Toffee, and the triplets are out of Sprinkles. 

 Toffee had quite the time giving birth.  She had Samson first, a fairly easy birth, although I had to pull a bit, he was a big baby!  Then almost a whole hour later, Tara came out. When I went back in to check on Toffee and Samson, here was another thing laying behind Toffee.  Looked like a capsule. Tara was fully inside the birth sack, legs folded, still attached umbilical cord and all.  I quickly opened the sack so she could come to life, which she did, and all was almost well.  Since Toffee had Samson an hour earlier, she decided that was her only kid.  She pretty much ignored Tara, barely licked her, and didn't want anything to do with her.  Still barely looks at her now at two weeks old.  The only time that I can see she lets her nurse is when I tie Toffee up in the milk stand and feed her some grain.  Then Tara jumps up there and gets her belly full.  I do that morning and evening. She must be getting a little more than that, or she wouldn't still be doing well. She must sneak a quick drink when her brother is drinking when I'm not around.    

The triplets are doing quite well, almost two months old already! With only these 5 kids, I am spending time with them, and they are friendly.  I must say, it's been nice taking a break from kidding on the cashmere side.

  I am selling the buck I have now.  I just don't like the looks of most of the kids out of him.  For one thing he has wattles, and I totally dislike those.  For over 20 years I've had clean necked goats, I don't want to start in with wattles in my herd now.  He's only 4 years old, very lightly used, so he has plenty of breeding years left in him.  He does have impressive horns, I will say that.

 You can't see his wattles with all the hair on his neck, but when he's shed out, and also with his kids, they are very visible.  Being white, he doesn't stay clean with his buckly antics.  He's hard to catch, but once caught he is easily handled.  He'll eat out of your hand if you are on one side of the fence and he's on the other. Once you are in his pen with him, he's elusive.   His fleece is nice, he's too nice to go to the auction, but that is where he is headed in a couple of weeks if he doesn't sell.  I have an ad on Craigslist, nothing so far, but one can hope.

Now I am going to be on the hunt for a new buck with short guard hairs, no wattles and lots of cashmere. Color doesn't really matter. Sam is the first white buck I've ever had.   Others have been black, red, badger, and a tan color. My herd has all colors in it. Including white not from him.

It has warmed up nicely today.  Sunny and near 70 degrees.  I'm heading out now to work in the flower beds.  I relinquished control of the veggie beds to my husband John so I can get the flower beds looking good again.  So many things to do, and I want to take better care of the animals and get this yard looking nice again.  I can't do it all, and since John loves to garden, he can do the majority of it.

Here is my latest weaving project.  A set of pinwheel kitchen towels.  Very soon they will be listed in my GoImagine shop.  This time of year, there isn't much time for spinning or weaving, I'm outside more often, especially now that I'm feeling better and my body has recovered from all the injuries Skippy caused running into me.  Never take walking for granted!  It is so nice to be able to move freely again around here.  Still a bit stiff but getting better every day.  I can get down on my hands and knees again for the first time in over a year.  Life is good!!

Hope you all have a good weekend, and the weather is behaving itself wherever you are. Thanks for reading this!
  

Happy May

 April went by fast!  Spring is here, it seems.  We usually get a June cold front around the 8th, which sometimes means snow, (sometimes a lot), and other times a mild cool down for a day. Right now the grass is green, the daffodils are blooming, the wild Glacier Lilies are in bloom, and I see lots of buds on the Oregon Grape that covers our whole place.  A sea of yellow pretty soon!  Smells good, too.  The dang deer are coming in and eating every blade of grass as soon as it comes up, so the goats don't have anything to eat.  I have to feed them hay till the grass is growing faster than the deer can eat it.  Skippy isn't much help; he rarely barks at them anymore.  Someday I want to put up an elk fence around the perimeter, which is around 8 to 10 feet tall, to keep out all the deer and other critters and then the goats will have plenty of grass and things to eat. We are surrounded by literally thousands of acres of forest service land, with plenty of food for the deer, but they come in here on our little patch of 20 acres and eat this. They feel safer in here with the fence that mountain lions and other predators don't go over.  A bear did breach it last fall.  Squished it right down to the ground almost.  Before I do start letting the goats out into the big world, I will have to go around and check the whole fence line and do some repairs.  The deer also land on it sometimes and push it down.  We had to rescue a deer last week that got caught in it.  At midnight we were out there in our pjs and bathrobes releasing a deer that got its back legs stuck in it, jumping and pulling its legs forward too fast and sticking them through the wire. Skippy was barking fiercely at that incident. He let us know something was amiss out there. We have a woven wire field fence around the perimeter of our place. The deer is fine; she's back to jumping again and coming in the yard and everywhere.  Just had some hair missing on the underside of her legs.  

It's almost time to start getting the garden ready to plant.  I usually don't plant anything till late May, even as late as July and we get a good harvest of everything.  Of course, there are always one or two almost crop failures.  Not a total one, but not a good one either. 

Finally got all the goats combed, except one.  He won't let me catch him for some reason.  He's always cooperated before, usually coming into the combing room and jumping up on the stand with no problems.  For some reason this year he doesn't want to get combed.  Maybe he knows his fleece has gotten too coarse and he'll end up in the freezer, who knows. It's very annoying. I can't get him into the smaller catch pen, he knows what that is for, so he stays back even with food offered and won't get within arm's reach of me. He's a big goat, too.  One of the 4 big wethers I have.  He's the biggest one.  You can tell he doesn't miss any meals at all.  He is quite fat.  The other three are of a good weight, but he's verging on obese. Last year his fleece was still quite soft. He must know something I don't yet. Oh well.

I've been doing some spinning and weaving lately.  A friend and I did a weave-along, and we both actually got our projects done in the allotted time! Towels are what we both made, with a pinwheel pattern.  I will be adding the two I made to my new Go Imagine shop pnf cashmeres.  Gotta get some good pictures of them first.  I really struggle with taking good product photos.  

Time to get to work.  Hope you are all staying safe in the areas that are having all the bad weather, and everyone have a great day!   

Some pictures

Finally got some pictures on here!  This year I took a break from kidding any cashmeres and just bred the two dairy goats. Sprinkles had triplets on March 30th. Cute little squirts. Toffee, Sprinkles' sister, is due mid-May.  They are a total mix of breeds. The Doe is a mix of just about every dairy breed, plus a little Kiko and Boer thrown in. The buck is an Alpine Nigerian Dwarf cross. I think these kids have a bit of everything.  Their ears sure are cute! 

Here are the baby blankets I wove on the floor loom, (they are just displayed on the rigid heddle loom), for John's niece who had a baby boy on the 4th of this month. Got the "happy baby" 8/2 cotton color kit from Cotton Clouds and wove these up using my own design. Hopefully they get well used!   

This is an interesting cloud formation in the valley below our house. I took this picture from the hill behind our house.  I swear this is a real photo, taken with my phone, no photo shopping or AI used.  It was kinda spooky, very cool, the ETs are here!  

And lastly, here's a fairly recent picture of Skippy at about 18 months old.  We got him to be an LGD, but that he is not.  He chases the goats whenever he can, he goes after the chickens.  I can't trust him around any of the animals.  John likes him, otherwise he'd be in a new home.  He might end up in a new home anyway if he doesn't shape up.   

I do have a new online shop up and running.  I gave up on Etsy.  They have become too big, too focused on shareholder profits and don't seem to really care about handmade anymore.  Just who sells the cheapest, most product. I'm not selling my items cheaply. I'd rather keep them myself or give as gifts than lose money just to make a sale.  I put way too many hours and work into making these to sell at a loss, that doesn't even make sense.  I get very little profit as it is at the prices I do sell them for, just slightly above breaking even.  So I closed my etsy shop and moved to Go Imagine.  

Go Imagine is only in the USA so far, but since I haven't sold anything to any other country for a couple of years, that's ok. Everybody is squawking about the tariffs here, but other countries have had pretty steep tariffs on goods from here for years. Customers pay way more in taxes and shipping to get my products than the actual item costs. The link for it is: New Shop   I have 10 items in there now, and I plan to add 10 more soon.  Adding a listing takes a while, there are a lot of things to fill out, pictures to add, and all of that. I still don't seem to be able to take a good product photo for the life of me.  I can get pretty good photos of scenery, animals and all of that, but my creations? Not so much.  Don't know why that is, but I keep practicing.  One of these days...

Well, that's it for now.  Please check out my shop and let me know what you think about it. I'll make myself a note to check back here for comments, which I always forget to check.  I write a post, then forget about it till the next post.  Not a good way to do a blog. 

 I'll be adding some more things pretty soon.  Maybe some handspun cashmere yarns, and some kitchen towels made out of cotton.  

Have a great day and thanks for reading this!  

 

Bear and Skunk

 Sorry I don't have any pictures to go along with this post, but it was dark, I was in my jammies, and only concerned about the critters. For only the 3rd time in 30 years, we had a bear come visiting.  Didn't do any damage except to the fence.  Skippy actually barked at it, the goats snorted and gathered in the middle of their pen, and it was 3:30 in the morning when all this woke me up.  I went out with my spotlight and saw eyeballs out behind the goat pens but couldn't see what it was.  I walked into the pen and over to the fence closest to that side. Finally saw a big black body behind the eyeballs.  It was just ignoring me and sniffing the ground. I told it to go away, but it didn't pay any attention, so I grabbed a big stick and started banging on the closest metal roof of the goat houses.  That scared it away.  I don't think it came back again.  The fence is needing repair now, but I'm going to wait till the bear hibernates or for sure isn't around any longer before fixing it. 

Today I walked around the lower pasture fence line and found another couple of spots where a bear smooshed down the fence and came in.  So, I'll be repairing that area too, later on.  Down at the bottom of our road they did an extensive logging operation this last month.  From too-thick trees to almost clear cutting, it looks wildly different down there.  That is also where all the bears, mountain lions and other critters were hanging out, since there is a creek down there. The logging pushed them up this way, so now we are dealing with a few newbies to the area.  With three LGDs in the neighborhood, they aren't sticking around too long, thank heavens.  

Then two nights ago Skippy started barking around midnight pretty fiercely.  I once again went out in my jammies, spotlight in hand, to see a rather large skunk coming out from underneath the "gray shed", a little storage shed where I keep the chicken feed and other things.  Luckily Skippy was in his kennel, so he didn't get sprayed by the skunk. Although the kennel is only a few feet away from the shed. It left after a bit without spraying anyone or thing.  I don't think it's been back either.  I guess they eat mice, and that shed has quite a few in it, so as long as it doesn't go after any of the birds, it can come around once in a while and have some dinner.  The chickens and guineas are in pretty safe areas now, so I don't think anything could get them.

My heart and prayers go out to all the affected people in the SE that got nailed by the hurricane Helene.  That was/is awful. I can't even imagine what that was like to go through that, and now dealing with the aftermath. I have observed over the years, that as long as people survive the disaster, they usually come out of it in better shape than before when all is said and done.  Most of the time anyway.  Everyone I know that has survived something, has ended up better off for it.  It's a huge struggle at the time and dealing with everything, but a couple of years later and they are doing quite well, living in better houses than before, and better situations than before.  One thing Americans, and humanity in general are good at is banding together when adversity strikes. All differences get set aside and everyone works together to get things up and running again. No governments needed, just people helping people.  The government doesn't do much of anything anyway, they are too big and too slow to be of any help. Can't count on them for anything.  Humanity is pretty resilient as a whole. All the poor animals that were caught in it and didn't make it, that is really sad.  I wonder how many goats were lost in that whole thing.  

We are having some dry weather now, after a rainy few days.  I may get the goat pens cleaned out after all.  If my left leg would work properly, I could get more things done.  It's been almost a whole year since Skippy crashed into me getting away from the goats, and the muscle still isn't totally healed.  It's much better, but I still can't walk normally, or do a whole lot on it.  I'm pushing my way through it, which is probably why it hasn't healed, but I have animals to take care of and all the things to do around here on a daily basis.  My husband helps out some, but a lot of it he can't do, so I'm doing it. He does help if I really need some assistance.  I can't walk fast or run, so that is posing a few issues.  Probably a good thing the bear ran away from me and not towards me, I'd be a sitting duck. Same with the skunk. That could've been interesting! 

I'd post more often, but I don't think most of what I'm doing around here is all that interesting, so I haven't been writing anything.  

Hope everyone is doing well.  Looks like things are going to get interesting this month out in the big world.  

Inconsistency and Flying Time

 Well, so much for posting on a regular basis. Too many things to do and time is just flying by! I still haven't taken the time to put the pictures from my phone onto my computer and organize them, so I can share them on here. One of these days...

I've been working outside a lot, so the fibery end of things in the house isn't getting much attention.  I have three years' worth of fleece to dehair then spin. I've only wove one round of cloth, haven't decided what to make with it yet.

I did make it up to Eureka for the Fiber Festival they have every first weekend in August.  That was fun.  It's a small one, so I get a chance to see most everything and visit with all my fiber friends up there.  It was nice to get out of here and see a bunch of like-minded people for the day.  I really like the venue up there, and the way they have the vendors set up, etc.  It's a good one to go to! Saturdays are the busy day, so I go up on Sunday when there are a lot less people there.  Then I get to visit more with the vendors I know. 

Skippy, our Grand Shepard, is a year old and 115 lbs.  He's supposedly going to grow till he's 3, so this could be interesting.  Ever since November of last year, just before T-day, when he crashed into me in the goat pen trying to get away from one of the goats chasing him, I've only had about one month of being able to walk normally and pain free. I just get healed up, then either he runs into me again, or one of the goats, or something hits me, and I'm back to gimping around.  I must say, it's getting really old.  I have a lot to do around here, and this is really slowing me down.  I'm not using crutches this time, but it is slow going feeding and doing the other things that need doing.

Three baby guineas hatched out a few weeks ago, and they are still alive.  I have them in a large chicken tractor with two layers of fencing any critters have to go through to get to them. It's working quite well, so far.  They are starting to be able to fly a little, so it's time to build a little roost in there for them so they can get off the ground.  Mama guinea is not happy being penned up in there, but in order for the babies to survive, it's necessary till they are big enough to fly well and roost up in the main tree they all use. The other adults pecked and tried to kill them when they were just a few days old, so in the tractor they went.

We broke down and put a metal gate at the end of the driveway finally.  Even set the gate posts in concrete so it's a sturdy gate.  After 30 years of wood pole gates that have to be replaced every few years, we now have a gate that should last for decades. Skippy can't get out of this gate, at least he hasn't yet. He's tried a couple of times without success, so I think it's dog safe. We'll see...

We also fenced along the access road through our place to the neighbors. After 4 years of having that end open and anything walking through, it was time to secure the perimeter again.  It's much better now, their dogs don't come up and get into things anymore, the predators generally don't want to mess with going over a fence, so they are staying out. He's not happy about it, now he can't plow the snow way up into the round pen area anymore.  He has the whole downhill side of the road to plow snow onto, but he thinks that is going to make more work for him.  All the snow he plowed onto the uphill side just melted down into the road and made a mud bog, so maybe he'll figure out it's better to plow it all to the downhill side so the road dries out faster in the spring. We lost the use of the bottom 1\2 acre of our place, but that only fed the goats for a couple of days, so the trade-off for having a secure boundary is worth it. I sure wish we would've had the money to buy these other properties as they came up for sale, but, alas, we didn't, so we have more neighbors. It was so nice back when we only had one other full-time neighbor up here.  Much quieter.  

We've been getting some rain the last couple of weeks.  Not a huge amount, but enough to turn the grass green again.  After over a week of temps in the mid to high 90s with sun and a breeze, the cooler temps and rain is very welcome!  Seems most of the country is having some sort of extreme weather this summer.  Some parts are getting way too much rain, and others are dry as a bone.

I hope you all are doing okay and life is treating you well. I hope to have pictures to post next time, whenever that is.  Have a good day!