The big storm and freeze

Winter is here!!  It is 0 degrees out and we have about a foot of snow.  I have closed up the dehairing room for the week, it's just too cold to work in there.  We did put insulation in there, but since the walls are only 2x4's, R-13 is the thickest we could use.  That isn't warm enough for these temps.  So I will do other things that need doing that have been put off since I got the dehairing machine.
   The dehairing of cashmere really is one of the slowest processes on this planet!  I enjoy it, though.  It is pretty neat to watch a clump of cashmere go in one end of the machine, and come out a fluffy cloud on the other.  Each batch of cashmere dehairs a bit differently, too.  Just like human hair, no two cashmere goats are exactly alike in fiber.
   I expect this to go pretty slowly this winter, then when the warmer weather comes next spring, I'll be able to really get into the rhythm of this process.  Since we are off-grid, the machine works best when plugged into the household current.  We've tried running it off the generator, but the engine speed fluctuates too much to run the machine well.  It speeds up and slows down too much.  That can't be good for the motors, so I will run the machine off the house for now.  This machine takes quite a bit of electricity to run, too.  We have a "true-sinewave" inverter, so the quality of the electricity going through it is very high and steady.  The dehairing machine hums along nicely when plugged into that.  We need sunshine to charge the batteries and this time of year we don't get much.  We have to run the generator every day I use the machine.  So I'm only getting between 5 and 6 hours a day on the machine right now.  So if anyone of you reading this has cashmere to process, please bear with me while I get through the "start-up hitches and gliches" of getting a new enterprise up and going.  The fleece I have processed so far is turning out really nice.  I enjoy working with the cashmere, and am having fun doing it.  But, it really is incredibly slow.  Way faster than doing it by hand, though! :-) 

   We have started processing all our turkeys.  No more raising turkeys anymore.  They were fun for a while, but now that I have the dehairing machine, I don't have time to take care of everything anymore.  Time to focus on fiber.  I might even have to sell most of my goats next year, depending on how much time I have to take care of them.  That will be sad if I have to sell, but the dehairing comes first.  If I can't take the best care of my goats, I don't want to have them around and be neglected.  So I might have a good starter herd of 13 does and 1 buck for sale in the Spring!

   I am enjoying the dehairing of the cashmere.  I love working with it.  I am grateful for the opportunity to do this.  A real dream come true!

   Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.....    

My Dream has come true!

On October 4th my dream came true! I got my own cashmere dehairing machine! I've wanted one since I found out such a thing existed. This has been at least six years in the making, and now it's here on our place, in it's own little room, working away dehairing cashmere. I used it till the 17th, then it broke down, took two weeks to get the new parts and get them installed, but now I'm back in business.
I'm busy with lots of cashmere to dehair. It literally is one of the slowest processes on the Planet, but since the end product is so incredibly soft, and it is rather neat to watch a clump of raw cashmere go in one end and come out the other in a fluffy cloud, it's worth the slowness.
I am totally passionate about everything to do with cashmere, from raising the goats, to now dehairing the fiber, that I am completely happy when I'm out there running the machine. Working with cashmere is why I am on the Planet at this time. It is what I am meant to do.

All the goats are doing well. I decided to only breed two does this year, since I'm pretty sure I'll be way too busy dehairing cashmere in the Spring to be having to deal with lots of babies. Then Rusty, one of the bucks decided to take matters into his own, and got in with one of the does in heat at that time. I came out one morning, and here he was, in the pen next door, with Maggie. So now I will have three pregnancies. Arianna and Astrid will get bred in their next heat cycle, so I just might end up with a nice little birthday present next year. On my 50th birthday, no less. That would be a great birthday present! I've been hoping one of the does would have a kid on my birthday for a few years now, but it hasn't happened yet. On each side of my b-day, but not the actual day.

The garden is all but done. We have a spectacular carrot crop this year. They are the sweetest tasting carrots we've ever grown. The potatoes did well, too. For the first year that I can remember, we didn't get a good green bean crop. There are no beans frozen this year. We did get lots of zucchini this year. I fact, we had the last fresh ones tonight. The apples did pretty good. The peas were not good. Not enough to do anything with. I hope next year will be a better year.

Well, that's all for now. I'll be busy dehairing cashmere from now on!

Time flies!

I can't believe it's autumn already! Or it will be in a couple of days. We have had a very wet year, compared to the last decade or so. Everything is still green!
Quite a bit has happened since last writing. I now have 3 minature horses. I picked up 2 mares from the Spokane area the end of August. They are cute. Rascal is finally warming up to them. He's always been by himself up until now, so he had to get used to having other horse companions.
I've sold six goats now. All have gone, or are going, to good homes where they will be well taken care of, and spend the rest of their lives eating weeds and pasture. It's already quieter around here without Carmel complaining about everything. She was a noisy little kid. Always has to be in the middle of things. Yesterday when I was unloading stuff from the truck, she jumped in the front seat and walked all over the seat exploring things. I sold her, her mother, and two wethers to the same person. It sounds like they are going to have a perfect goat life from here on out. Lots to eat, and plenty of room to roam.
There are still 5 young turkeys. No one else hatched out. The 4 chicks are still around. They have formed their own little flock and live outside the chicken coop, roaming wherever they want. Most of the time they are in the garden eating bugs. They aren't doing too much damage, and it's nice to not have bugs in there, so they can stay. The young turkeys go in there, too. They are getting big enough that they are starting to trample things.
The garden is slow this year. It's been so cold and rainy that things are just not growing like they usually do. We planted pretty late, too. Next year....
We have disposed of 13 pack rats so far!! A new record for us. They are the most disgusting creatures, messy, and extremely stinky. I am getting so I absolutely hate that smell! I'm also catching a mouse in the trap in the milk parlor just about every morning. We must really be in for a nasty winter, if the amount of rodents moving in is any indication. Scary thought!
I haven't got in the winters' supply of hay yet. I'm still deciding if I want mostly little squares, or go with more big round bales this year. The round ones are much easier to handle. I don't have to load them, and to unload, I just hook on to them and drive out from underneath them. The downside of that is I don't have a tractor to move them, so where they fall is where they stay. I can only get around 5 of them in the hayshed at one time. So I'm thinking I'll get about 3/4 of the hay in little squares, and the rest in round bales. I'd better decide pretty soon, time is running out for hauling it all up here before the bad weather comes.
I'm almost done with the Farmers' Market for this year. I'll do this coming week, then see what the weather is like for the last three. I've had a pretty good season this year. The best yet! Lots and lots of people stopped by to watch me spinning. Most had never seen that done before. Others had relatives that did or do it, and a few actually spin themselves, or have at least tried it. I sold more cashmere product this year. Now that I've decided to quit making the soap, I will concentrate on the cashmere totally. Since the goats, spinning and crocheting are what I really love, it's not a hard thing to do. :-)
Well, that's it for now. I'll try to write in here more often.

August Already!

It's the middle of August already! Time is really speeding up. All the goats are doing well. Spunky is growing and looking good. He's a friendly little guy. Comes up and jumps on my leg like a puppy would and wants to be petted. He's cute.
The five baby turkeys are growing. They won't be big enough to eat this year, but next year they will be. There are two more hens sitting on nests, so we could end up with a large group of babies for next year. It seems there is always at least one late hatching of turkeys every year, this year being no exception. The chickens have 5 new chicks, too.
I went up to Eureka for their Fiber Festival the first full week-end of this month. That was fun. They have such a nice venue up there and it's a laid back and friendly bunch of people running it. I always have a good time there. I took a needlefelting class this year. I made a "pixie". That was fun. I actually got to stay overnight up there, so I got a mini vacation out of it. That was nice, although I didn't get to sleep in because it was too noisy in the morning. People were leaving the hotel rather early. Oh well, at least I didn't have to do the chores, or cook , or anything.
I've started taking the goats out into the neighbors places to eat now. They get full in one hour, it's so lush in the woods over there. If we didn't have neighbor dogs around, I'd just let the goats out to wander at will like I used to. But, I don't trust the neighbor's dogs, so I go out, too. Even though I don't get any work done for two hours, it's nice to be out in the woods, just listening to the sounds and watching the goats and other wildlife. My meditation time. There is a nice Whitetail buck that is living out around here. He comes in fairly close when we are out there. He's come within about 30 feet of me before. His antlers are growing rapidly!
The garden is doing well. We are about to get a ton of green beans. I planted another batch of lettuce today, so we should get a fall crop. I'm going to build a cold frame over that section so we can eat lettuce for a long time into the fall and early winter. We had a lot of strawberries and asparagus this year. Yum! It's looking like we will get a lot of potatoes, too.
I'm getting a couple more mini horses next week-end. Rascal will have some company of his own kind. That should make him happy, especially since these two are mares. They are about 5 inches shorter than he is. All about the same color.
I still haven't started hauling in the winter's supply of hay yet. The thought of hauling 31 tons of hay by myself is a daunting one this year. I'm not in nearly as good of shape as I was last year. I'm seriously thinking about going to round bales, or the big squares and just getting a few at a time. Then all I have to do is drive out from under them, and they are set in the hay shed. No unloading and stacking bale by bale. The only thing is, I can only get about 8 of them in the hay shed at a time since I don't have a tractor to move them around with. So all winter I would have to be hauling in hay. If we get a lot of snow like we are supposed to, that could pose a problem. So we will see what happens in the next few weeks.
This evening when the goats were out in the pasture, I heard one of them yelling out in pain. I went running down there, and here is Mouse, a big yearling wether, with his two front legs wedged in the V of a couple of aspen trees that were growing together. He was pretty well stuck. I had to pick him up and get him standing up higher than where his legs were stuck. Not an easy feat! Then while I was holding him up with one arm, I had to slowly and carefully lift up his legs and get them out. It was hard, but I got it done. I thought the one was broke, but after I massaged it, and he moved a little, it was okay. He lost some hair off both legs, but other than that, he seems okay. He was in a bit of shock, but he's going to be fine. His back legs are weak from standing on them for so long. He was hung up for around 20 minutes, I think. Poor guy. That's the problem with having aspen stands, they grow together quite a bit.
We finally have a second vehicle. John got a 1999 Lexus RX 300. It's in really good shape, and looks new. It's fun to drive. It's nice being able to just zip into a parking place anywhere, without having to look around for spaces with plenty of room so the truck can fit in. I still drive the truck most of the time, since I usually have to get some kind of animal feed whenever I go to town. We aren't using the Lexus for hauling anything but groceries in. It's our "going to town" car. ☺
Well, that's all that has been happening around here....

It's summer time!

It is now the perfect haying weather. I hope the guy I'm getting my hay from gets it all put up and ready to go before it rains again. Same for all the hay farmers everywhere! Yesterday when I was driving around the valley from one errand to the next, I saw people out everywhere cutting hay fields.
I also noticed more canola fields than ever before. They are pretty with their intense yellow color. Almost blinding in it's brightness.
The last cashmere kid has been born now. July 1st around 5 am. I missed it. When I went out to check on the doe, here was a little baby goat up and moving around with it's front half all cleaned off and eating well, etc. I named him Spunky. He's cute with his big ears. His mom has some Nubian in her, so he inherited the long Nubian ears. He's 8 days old now. Molly is a good mom, very attentive, even for a first time mom. After going back and forth on whether or not to keep her, I've decided I am going to keep her. She's a really good mom and Spunky is a nice looking little guy. He's out of Rusty, who throws good looking, fleece covered kids. Too bad he's a boy, but oh well. He will make a nice wether.
There are 6 baby turkeys now. They hatched on the 1st, too. Now that there is more brush to hide under in their pen, and the hen actually takes them into the house at night, they just might survive! So far, so good. The two older babies are doing well, too. Now I'm waiting on the chickens to hatch out their babies. They seem to be sitting forever on their nests.
Now I am up to 60 goats. I'm selling 18 of them. They are on the website on the goats for sale page. I'm charging lower prices than I should, they are worth more, but I would really like to downsize a bit, so to move them, I'm not charging as much as I should be. Now is the time to get some good cashmere goats! These all have nice fiber, and are friendly and easy to handle, once they know you and trust you. Once a goat knows it's owner and trusts them, they are very easy to deal with. A lot like dogs. But, if they aren't handled a lot and just left to their own devices most of the time, they can be pretty wild.
Well, that's the update for now. It's warm and sunny, with a little breeze. Good for drying out the cut hay.

Summer is finally here! It is warm and sunny, the mud is drying up and the mosquitoes are thicker than ever before. The grass is growing now, and the goats are happy campers.

The garden is starting to grow. I'm almost done making the new beds in there. The flowers are all doing really well this year. All that rain did wonders for them. This place is starting to look pretty good now.

Yesterday when I was using the grass clippers to trim the grass in the iris bed, I managed to cut a chunk out of the tip of one of my fingers. Ouch! It took quite a while before the blood quit flowing. I had to lay on the couch with my arm sticking straight up in the air for a while before it finally quit. Now I have a cumbersome bandage around the end of my finger. Hope it heals quickly. It's hard to type without using that finger. ☺ Or do anything else, for that matter.

The goats are in the upper pasture for two weeks now. I'm doing a two week rotation. There is lots for them to eat up there right now.

Last evening we heard a mountain lion growling over in the neighbor's place. The goats were up on the hill behind the house when that happened. They ran into their pens pretty quickly. I went out and walked the fenceline over that way, making lots of noise and trying to scare it away. I was successful, at least for the time being. The deer are back, so that means the lion has left.

I'm waiting for the last doe to have her kid. The only accidental pregnancy this year. She's due on the 1st, so it could come any day now. Hope it comes out easily, the hand that would help is the one that is hurt, so I can't be reaching in to pull anything out!

Well, that's pretty much all that is noteworthy around here for now. More as it happens....

Singing in the Rain

Here are the Cashmere goats eating in what used to be my round pen for working horses in. I took down the fence and it's now just one of a very few flat spots we have on the place.

As you can see, there isn't much grass in there yet. The deer keep eating it down. Now that we've had all the rain and things are finally growing, maybe the deer will move out into the woods where there is lots of taller grass.

We have been getting a lot of rain lately! Today we got a whole inch, and it's still coming down lightly. I let the goats out for a while, but they didn't go far. They kept watching for me to come out and feed them their grain.

I'm out of hay now, so I'm going to have to go get a load on Friday. I made it longer than ever before this year. Usually I run out in March or April. It's almost time to start cutting this years' hay, so I should only have to buy about 2 tons to get me through until this years' crop is ready.

I got the asparagus/strawberry bed all weeded yesterday. That took a few hours. It looks so much better now. We are going to have a lot of strawberries! We're getting quite a bit of asparagus, too. Yum!

I dehaired another ounce of the taupe cashmere cloud today. When I get it back from the mill, it still has a few guard hairs in it, so I go through with a pair of tweezers and pick all the hairs out. It takes about an hour per ounce to do that. Then when I sell it, or spin it myself, there aren't any guard hairs to keep stopping and picking out as I go. I still miss an occasional hair, but that's it. Much better product that way.

I'll be taking in this year's harvest pretty soon to be dehaired. Then I'll have lots of cashmere cloud to work with and sell. I love spinning cashmere and crocheting with it. It is so soft! :-)

Well, that's it for now. More as it happens......