The garden...

Despite the horribly obese (thanks to us) squirrel who has been devestating the garden daily, we have our first harvest! Green beans galore and a few early carrots that we couldn't resist pulling up-- we are a BIG carrot family.

I'm getting in some new seeds sometime this week, so I really need to do something about the squirrel. The only plants we get to keep are the ones it doesn't want to eat-- so, bean plants, leeks, tomatos... and that's pretty much it, which is horrible when you think of all the lovely things I planted earlier this spring.

The goats are down to two feedings a day and are NOT happy about that. On top of that, I dared to give them baths today, so they are in shock-- how DARE I hold them still and wash them, then hose them off! HMMPH! MMMMAAA!

Our lonely goose (we think/hope she's a girl) has probably quadrupled in size  in the past few weeks. One of our ducks is definately a girl, as she has started quacking. They are all so cute and entertaining to watch.

We have a very ANGRY chicken, who is actually just a normal chicken who is sitting on a bunch of muscovy eggs for me. She occasionally comes out of the coop, yells at everyone, and goes back. I understand the feeling... If even two of those eggs hatch it will be worth it...

The backyard looks a million times better than the house these days-- we put our energy and time into everything back there, and spend most of our time there. The house suffers, but sometimes it's nice to go out and play with the animals and pretend there aren't dishes in the sink...

The only downside of having this many animals is that I'm literally washing my hands OFF-- no matter what I do I can't get them moisturized well enough for long enough to make a difference. Oh well!

Kasen is doing great-- he moves constantly, and wears me out already-- bad sign, isn't it?

I have to confess that I've been daydreaming about more property, whether here or elsewhere. We just moved here and we LOVE it-- but we are limited by space-- there's been talk about a Jersey cow, a couple sheep, an annual pig and annual steer... I'd love to be able to someday get the boys an older Quarter Horse to learn to ride on... But it's all dreams for now. Keith needs a job first, then we can worry about what happens next and where to live-- or whether we should stay put in house we love, that just needs about four more acres.... :)

I'm doing a lot of reading about preserving and pickling. I AM going to make pickles this summer, even if my MIL won't help me.

Star is maturing quickly (all that extra milk!) So we may breed her as early as August... which would mean milk as early as January... yummy... I can't wait to have cereal! I'm going to pre-sell her bottle babies-- and Clover's later in the season-- they should make GREAT miniature milkers-- any takers? :)

If our goose is a girl, we'll probably keep her. If not, Toot will end up being dinner sometime. We all love her, but a lone goose can... hurt... ducks.... yeah, not good. Of course, if our duck ratio leans towards too many males, we'll be sending one of them to freezer camp too. I sincerely hope not... (for the record, we're thinking duck eggs...)