Dairy Entry, Dec. 22

More progress. Last week, the goats were just so loving, especially Cocoa who is leaning on me. They all wanted attention...even Ginger.

We have been experiencing sporadic cold weather in the hill country. On especially cold mornings, I give them oatmeal to warm their bellies. Sean calls this their goat Wheaties. They get so playful afterward.

Coming Soon...

a garden! I hope that I will consequently also have more toned arms and abs. Why? Because I am sifting--by hand, mind you--the rocks from the garden. Hence all the "equipment" in the picture. Libby is supervising.

Ok, I am at least trying to sift about half of the rocks. I am probably about 25 to 30% done. The January planting window is just around the corner and while I don't expect to have the entire garden sifted like flour by January, I do hope to have a portion done to allow for some plants. Broccoli, cauliflower, fennel, carrots, YUM!! More garden pictures forthcoming.

Animal News: The goats now enjoy the pasture during the day. We started letting them out and they are doing quite well. Can you tell we are new to goats with all the concern? I even built them a straw bale "igloo" for the cold and windy weather we experienced earlier this week. The wind was howling so I stacked straw bales to protect them. It worked somewhat but they were still shivering in the morning. I made them warm oatmeal and must have boiled about 5 gallons of water to thaw their drinking water.

They have begun to roam with the llamas and Jasper on occasion. Additionally, I am happy to report that Ginger, the most skittish of the goats, is warming up to us. As you can see here, she is letting me pet her.

I have now nicknamed her Stevie. If you scratch between her shoulders, she will sway her head in pure pleasure...just like Stevie Wonder when he sings. I am very pleased that she is becoming more confident with us. They still need a lot of training, but there is noticeable progress. I keep reading and re-reading my books on goats. I am a very anxious herdess.

And, finally, it is just not a post without a picture of Jasper. He was very upset that he could not come into the upper pasture. He was stomping at the ground and here he was wrapping his mouth around the gate in the hopes he could pry it open. Obviously, he was not minding the sign.

Long Time, No Post

It has been a very long time since my last post and there is much to catch up on. The biggest news is that we put our Austin house on the market, sold it rather quickly by all accounts and now live in a slightly larger than 500 square foot cabin on the small farm. We have been here for about 8 weeks come Halloween.

There are countless reasons for the move, but primarily it was quality time here that finally got us off our duffs. This includes quality time with Jasper. He is such a beggar! Despite his fickle nature, he really is a good donkey and he warms my heart--especially on the days he allows me to brush him.

We now have added more four-legged critters. Meet the dairy goats: Ginger, Cocoa and Brie. Guess which one is Brie. Brie we believe is a mix of Nubian and Boer. Ginger and Cocoa are Nubians. Look at those handsome markings and Roman noses!

We are working with them so they will freely come up to us. We're still not there yet unless goat treats are involved. Hopefully soon we can turn them out into the pasture with the rest of the animals.

Jasper is calmly curious--he used to guard goats and I think they are bringing back memories. Below is a picture of me giving Jasper an apple treat. That was a "fickle" day. As you can see, he would stretch his neck to keep a safe distance. He oh so wanted that apple though.

I know we need a donkey diet plan, but this would involve the neighbors. After meeting and getting to know some of them, Sean has come to the conclusion that Jasper belongs to the entire neighborhood--we just house him. Everyone evidently stops and gives him a treat.

To date, we have dug up an area for an initial garden and a pond that will be the future home of the future ducks. I had ducks as a child and hope to have them again as a much older adult. I haven't really decided what kind yet. Possibly Khaki Campbells.

There are lots of interesting rocks being discovered as we dig and prep. I also believe I am finding calcified bone fragments. And while digging Felix the Cat (the skidsteer) out of the garden, I found my first arrowhead. Of course, I am eyes glued to the ground when in the garden looking for more "artifacts."

During the evening we hunt for shooting stars. Any night of the week if you look long enough you will see a shooting star or space trash. On Wednesday evening, October 22nd I saw a slow moving light. At first, I thought it was a plane. Then it started descending downward rapidly. My next thought was a panicked one...it was a plane crashing. And next the falling light just fizzled out.

My conclusion: I was watching a "man-made falling space trash" star. Oh well, better falling space trash than a falling plane.

Last evening we had a shooting star watching contest. Greg won seeing the first. Nonetheless, we all witnessed at least one through the night. Greg and Sean topped the list evidently with an amazing spectacle of a bad-ass shooting star. Regrettably, Michelle and I did not get to see it. My next internet activity is to research if there is meteor activity that produced last night's show.

So, do we regret our move admid all the spooky economic chaos going on right now? If you cannot tell from the above, the answer is hands down "No!"

Until the next post, I say Happy Halloween.

Bird on a Wire...Sort of

I guess it is really a bird on a post. He and his buddies were hanging out by the road. We managed to get this picture before he jumped down. Now I know where these critters we hear on occasion live.

I don't have much else to say. I thought it was an interesting picture and just wanted to share it.

Mamma Llama and Moonbeam Announce a Son

Friday brought the long-awaited arrival of the newest llama to Greg and Michelle's herd. Mama Llama gave birth to a healthy boy. The video shows attempts at his first steps. Cute little guy, isn't he?


Moonbeam is a very devoted and caring father, ever on the alert. He even pitched in with the other girls in welcoming him and trying to help the little fella stand.




From the struggle in the video, you may be interested to hear that he was walking about 45 minutes after his birth. He now knows what his legs are meant to do, but at times they seem to have a mind of their own and to surpise even him.

Here he is sharing a moment with mom. A name is in the works.

Signs of Spring

Last week we could see wee leaves appearing on the trees. This week, they are really starting to pop as you can somewhat see through the fog (it was a great foggy Saturday). The oaks on the upper yard lose their leaves in autumn. After studying several leaves and referencing a couple of books, we believe these oaks to be Post Oaks. At the very least, we think they are in the White Oak family. We hope so any way. White Oaks are not as suspectible to oak wilt as the Red Oaks. These trees are just awesome and we would hate to lose them to the hideous oak wilt.

Last weekend, we converted a deer feeder left on the property to a bird feeder and the birds have discovered it. Essentially, this meant removing the corn feed and loading bird seed. I am not much of a fan of feeding deer, then stating that they are over-populated as an excuse to shoot them. Truthfully, we don't need corn to attract deer--they show up on their own accord. By the way, the fan is on very low speed so we don't hurt the birds. We miss the orioles, but look forward to their return on the next migration.


I continued my donkey and llama poo-scooping duties which is on the agenda every weekend. We are really starting to develop a small mound in the future garden area. Yes, I am including a picture of the dung hill. Some may consider it gross. I consider it part of nature.

This week, we finally caught Jasper braying on video. Actually, Sean caught him twice on video. The first video was of Jasper dashing out of the barn as Sean was approaching him. Jasper equates people in the barn with him as an anticipated "capture." I have included below a link to the video of Jasper braying. You can't really see him, but if you turn up the sound, hopefully you can hear him.


We also captured pics of what I am referring to as "llama wrestling." Joker is the white llama on the left, Titan is on the right. Jasper and the llamas seem to be getting along fairly well. I believe Jasper takes his guard duties seriously.

Maiden Post

This is my maiden post for my maiden blog. I have been sharing pictures and stories of our new "ranch/farm" with friends and family by email. I think this would be a better medium.

I have never been much of a diary keeper. However, something happened when we purchased this piece of land in the Texas Hill Country just a hop, skip and jump from Luckenbach and an honest drive from Enchanted Rock. We live there part-time--weekends only. Nonetheless, it seems every weekend so much happens ... even if it is only relaxation and watching the sunset. Or sitting on the porch in the mornings listening to the birds.

I so enjoy early morning consciousness brought on by a canyon wren. To date, we are not sure if we have ever seen a canyon wren in person. From our bird book, they are not very colorful. Their song completely makes up for lack of colorful appearance though.

Even scooping donkey and llama droppings relaxes me. Want to know why? Because Sean and I are returning that to the earth for a future garden.

I am coming full circle. I grew up in Richlands, Virginia. When I hit 18, I could not leave faster for the city and college. I did not grow up on a farm, but we did have gardens. It was common in that area and time to have a garden. Much of the food on our table came from the garden made by mothers, grandmothers, aunts (yes, the women).

At that time though I could not wait to shed my rural roots and leave small town life behind. I have been living in cities since then. I made my way to Austin, Texas by way of Richmond, London, the Washington DC area, back to Richmond and then to graduate school in Austin.

In Austin, Sean and I rented a community garden. We soon realized how much better vegetables taste straight from the garden--especially tomatoes. Nothing like home-grown tomatoes.

Later we bought some property in the Frederickburg, Texas area. Can you say rocky? We had always noted that a nearby property looked really nice (very few rocks) especially when it came up for sale about 3 years ago. We would occasionally walk up to the fence and say hello to the goats and donkey while admiring the terrain. At that time we did not consider it feasible to buy that piece of land.

The picture of the sunset is from the porch of that property. It recently came up for sale again and we took the plunge after much thought. The goats are long gone, but the donkey came with the property.

I don't think it was the intent of the previous owner to keep Jasper there by himself. She had people who wanted to take him, but Jasper refused to go as we found out later. Good thing we said we would take him as part of the transaction.

Mind you, I would never have "adopted" him if we did not have family that visits him and his two new llama friends daily. We also have a neighbor who comes and works with him a couple times of week as well. He makes me laugh when he brays. We are enjoying getting to know him. At times, I think he is warming to us too, but it comes with lots of caution.

Future posts will be devoted to Jasper and our experiences in the Texas Hill Country area over time. Stay tuned if you wish.