Kid Update

Here are WillYum and Woobie (Tigger's two sons) at home. Looks like they have lots of forage to choose from and lots of room to run. Also looks like they are totally spoiled; goats do hate rain...

BlueBell (Tigger's daughter) and her bunk mate Moon Lily are shown on the right. BlueBell is to be bred this Fall for a Spring delivery. Yes, that's standard to breed a young doe to kid for her first time when she is one year old.

Breeding season has begun for me. Yesterday my chosen Buck arrived and is now in the yard with Tigger, Una, and PJ. So far he's shown considerable interest in PJ, but none for the other two. He'll be here until he's bred all three which might only take a couple of days, or might take a couple of weeks.

Today's Menu:

Breakfast: Goat Cheese Quiche, Uncured Kielbasa, Gogurt with Blueberries

Main Meal: Grilled Chicken with Homemade Seasoned Salt, Creamed Swiss Chard, and Pickled Beets

Evening Snack: Salami, Cheese, Grapes, Wine and Dark Chocolate

A Tale of Mice

I have officially killed thirty-six mice in the barn since it was built. I've been keeping track by putting marks on the wall.

When I realized that I was going to have mice out there, and that I really couldn't ask my husband to bait the traps and dispose of them for me, I decided that I better learn to do it myself. So, I bait the traps, and when I catch one, I dump the body in the field (outside of the barnyard) and reset the trap. I do wear gloves!

There's really no way to keep them out of the barn, there are so very many ways they can get in. But, I sure don't want them setting up house in there.

I've devised a strategy that seems to work pretty well. I use to put traps all around the milk room, but the mice would steal the bait and not get caught. So now I set up kind of an ambush. I put five to six traps in a circle. In order to eat the bait off of one trap, they have to stand on another. Sometimes one mouse will get caught by several traps. That's fine. I do want to be sure that they are dead. And they are, thirty-six so far...

Today's Menu
Breakfast: Uncured Bacon, Scrambled Farm Eggs, Gogurt with Blueberries
Main Meal: Large Salad with Garden Lettuce, Garden Tomatoes, Garden Green Peppers, Onions, and Shredded Ricotta Salata Cheese, dressed with Sweet Oil and Vinegar Dressing; Grilled Chicken Thighs with Homemade Seasoned Salt; and Pickled Garden Beets
Evening Snack: Grapes, Assorted Cheeses and Salami, Wine, Dark Chocolate