It's almost that time of year to start the combing of the cashmere already! I can't tell from this angle who this is, it's an older picture, but they were ready to be combed, whoever it was.
I got the dairy barn all cleaned out yesterday, new shavings and straw installed. Goats are THE biggest wasters of hay I've ever seen, especially dairy goats. If it's touched the ground, it's inedible. It seems the more goats there are eating in the same pen, the less hay gets wasted. The cashmeres don't waste nearly the amount the two dairy does do. The 5 dairy kids aren't quite as bad. But, since we drink their milk raw, I guess wanting to only eat very clean food is a good thing, less things and flavors to get into the milk. Since I keep the buck on the other side of the place from the girls, their milk is very good. Nice and sweet tasting, no off flavors at all. Back when I entered the fair every year, the milk and other products I entered always got a blue ribbon. It doesn't taste "goaty" at all.
We have had a very mild fall so far. We've had a couple of snowstorms, but it warmed up and melted away within a day or two and it's been just occasional rain since. That means the main goat pen is a mucky mess where I come out from the hayshed and into the feeding area. Next year things are going to get really changed around out there. I am tired of dealing with the mud and muck. Luckily the majority of the pen is dry, it's just the flat areas where it's gross. But of course, the flat areas are where I want to do the feeding and have the feeders set up. I've had to move those a bit, so they aren't in a swamp while eating.
We still have a container of flowers blooming by the front door! I have a bed of spinach, Swiss chard and lettuce that I'm still harvesting from. The plants aren't really growing anymore, but the leaves are still green and edible. The spinach and chard, and maybe the one variety of lettuce, should come up in the spring and take off, enabling us to have early greens to eat next year.
I seem to have a never-ending warp on my table loom. I keep thinking the end should be coming over the back beam every time I advance it, but it still has a ways to go. I don't remember how long it was when I put it on, but I didn't think it was this long.
The only thing I have left to do on my outside list is finish trimming all the goat hooves. I'm about halfway through them. It sure is taking me a long time to get back in shape after being injured and not able to do a whole lot for over a year! I just don't bounce back like I used to. I'm getting stronger, though, slowly but surely. I must say, except for the mud issue, I am enjoying the relatively mild fall we are having. It's nice being able to get things finished up outside and actually be ready for winter to come.
The outside world is pretty wild these days, but around here, life is going on as usual, more or less. This year is going by at a rapid rate; it's almost Thanksgiving already! Seems like it was just Christmas a month or so ago.
Well, it's time to go out and feed again. The days are getting quite short; the sun is setting before 5 pm these days. Hope you are doing well and enjoying life, it's an amazing time to be alive!
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