Kids, kids, and more kids! Part 1...

Although technically the end of the 2010 kidding season, Jack Frost is the oldest of our newest batch of kids. He was born December 30, on the first day of a serious cold front. His sweet frosted shoulders and time of birth made his name an obvious choice! He is so sweet and friendly! He is sired by our awesome buck Image, and out of Gidget.

The real 2011 kidding season started February 6 with these two gorgeous Blue Eyed kids out of Hibiscus and by our awesome blue-eyed buck D'Artagnan. Hibiscus is one of our best milkers - she easily gives close to a quart of milk every milking! The black and white kid is a buckling - Fairywood DA Twilight, and the light buckskin doe - Fairywood DA Dawn will be retained.

Two days later, Hibiscus' firstborn - Storm - gave birth to two blue eyed doelings! These babies are also sired by D'Artagnan and we are so pleased to see his long body and long legs and blue eyes coming through on all his babies! Both these girls will be available to go to thier new homes around Easter.

February 9th, our big Nubian doe kidded with two adorable mini-nubian bucklings. They are sired by Image, and are so similar to thier brothers from last year. They are best friends and so funny to watch as they caper and play together! The brown, moonspotted buckling is already spoken for, but the black and white is available as either buck or wether.

This was our first week, by the end of the next week we had 15 kids born out of 7 does! It has been crazy, but so fun to see these sweet babies playing and bouncing around!

Merry Christmas 2010

Mariposa

As you can see, little Elsa still loves her Mariposa! She has decided that she wants to milk her all by herself, so every night she goes out with me and milks while I sweep. She is doing a great job!

Here is a great picture of Mariposa taken when she was a junior doe - right after her first breeding. I still need to get a good udder picture of her. She just had her second freshening and
gave birth to these gorgeous little blue-eyed bucklings sired by our herd sire Image.

Fairywood IM Bonnie Prince Charlie (pending) is already sold! He will go to his new home as soon as he is weaned in October.

Here is Charlie from the back. He is going to make a fine herd sire for his new family!

Charlie's brother (nicknamed Gremlin) was tragically killed by visiting dogs. He was very curious, and had learned he could slip through the gap between fence and gate. Unfortunately, the dogs thought he was the perfect plaything and he couldn't outrun them. Elsa was devastated to lose him, and so was I. It is one of the hardest lessons about farm life - we can't always protect everyone however hard we try, and so sometimes we lose an animal. But we learn from our mistakes, make improvements, and hopefully reduce future risk. It is part of the circle of life. We must accept death, but there is always a new birth to remind us of the beauty and miracle of life.

D'Artagnan

This is our young, new hersire, Fairywood CS D'Artagnan. He is sired by Flying Goat Cassanova *S and out of our lovely little doe Bamboo Acres BP Mariposa. We have bred all of our junior does to him and can't wait to see the results!

Image

Here are current pictures of our herdsire, Big Enuf SI Image of the Moon. He is looking a little older and more "filled out", but he is healthy and happy and sweet! We love this guy and boy has he sired some gorgeous babies for us!

Merci's Quads

Well, we knew she would at least have triplets again as she was huge!! And I did suspect quads. Sure enough, February 9th, Merci kidded with one solid black doeling, two black and white bucklings, and one chocolatey brown buckling with tiny white spots. They are just as amazing quality as last year's triplets, without the flashy coloring. All will be available for sale and should be weaned around Easter.

Mini Nubians are Soooo Cute!!

Last fall, when faced with the problem of breeding our dear Nubian doe and no available Nubian bucks within easy reach, we decided to go ahead and try breeding her to our darling Image. Well...it worked! And, the kids are just the cutest things we have ever seen! February 11 KitKat kidded with triplets (last year, bred to a Nubian buck, she had a single buckling...) One very dark mahogany doeling, one black and white extremely outgoing and adorable buckling, and one brown with amazing moonspots and sweet personality buckling. We wil keep the doeling, but will probably sell the bucklings. They will be available as either bucks or wethered for pets.

Gidget Does it Again!

February 1st Gidget gave us twin doelings again! This is the third time in a row for her, and since it is her 3rd freshening, she has only ever had twin does. This time they are both blue eyed as well, and just as beautiful as ever. Gidget and Image throw gorgeous dairy doelings! The little buckskin looks just like her mama and will be named Fairywood IM Saint Bridget, and the black with white spots will be Fairywood IM Snowdrop. Both of these babies are available for sale.

New Year Baby

Mocha totally surprised us by giving birth to this sweet little guy on New Year's Day! We had thought she wasn't bred, and were about to re-breed her to Image, but apparantly she found a moment with our Jr. Buck (not jr. any more!) Fairywood IM John Muir...and this darling little buckling was the result. We were calling him "Early Bird", but it has been changed to "Lightning Bolt" by the neighbor boy who will soon be his new owner. Lightning Bolt will be wethered and go to his new home for Easter.

Raw Goat Yogurt

That's right. Raw. Made from milk fresh from the udder.
I did some research and am soooo happy with the results! This is the best yogurt I have ever made, probably the best yogurt I have ever tasted! Just as good as the yogurt in Europe, which I thought was divine...

Here's my method:
1. Milk goat
2. Strain milk
3. Put about a quart of still-warm milk into a jar low enough to fit in the Yogotherm
4. Stir in 3-4 spoonfuls (the kind we eat cereal with) of Straus Family Creamery Organic Whole Milk Plain Yogurt (I buy it at Sprouts or Trader Joe's) then close the jar.
5. Put jar in Yogotherm bucket and add HOT water to surround it.
6. Put the lids on the Yogotherm.
7. Move it to a corner of the counter where it won't be disturbed.
8. Leave it alone for 10 hours

After 10 hours it is so thick and creamy with just that perfect tangy flavor. I don't have to add any thickeners at all. This may be because Princess and Gidget have been lactating for several months so the butterfat content is high enough.

Delicious!!!