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!