Forget Me Not

On the way home from picking up Sophia this evening, we stopped at Harman's Farm. Luckily, the pick-your-own strawberries is still happening, so we waded through some big ol' muddy puddles down the neat rows of gorgeous strawberries.

I have to admit, Sophia and I hunkered down and indulged in a few strawberry samples. Its totally nerdy to say that I literally could taste sunshine in the strawberries. But I think we did. We are pretty stinking lucky to live so close to someplace like Harman's so we can eat such fresh fruits and vegetables.

I was in Minneapolis earlier this week, and had an overnight break from milking Phoenix and fending off the affectionate baby goats. I missed them. I missed all my kids, although my human kids are usually okay as long as I have promised to return from a business trip with candy. I missed my husband and my Havre de Grace.

I missed my routine!

This morning I was still struggling with gaining control over my schedule again, and at 9:30 AM I shouted at Kevin OH MY GOD HONEY I FORGOT TO MILK PHOENIX!! I was just chugging along at my laptop, drinking coffee in my pajamas, when WOW, was hit with that reality. I mean, really? How in the heck did I FORGET to milk an animal that turns into a monster with a goose's squawk when not milked every 12 hours?

Luckily, it was only 13 hours and she was pissed about my lapse, but healthy. The benefit of this scheduling snafu was that I got to learn how to chase chickens back into the barn with only a broom. A story for another post.

morning at the barn

Early rising children interrupted my barn plan at 6AM this morning, which meant that I was going to go straight to work FROM the barn. The traffic God was smiling on me this morning because for a rainy morning, there was hardly a snarl in the journey! The kids and Phoenix were a lot of fun to hang out with as they were penned up all night in the stall and entertained by the buttons on my jacket.

Starting the day this way brings me such happiness, which I realize is rather odd. I get to spend so much more time with the human kids before work as well as love all over my goat and goat kids and Ruby before I enter the chaos of the day.

LETS GO, LETS GO!

Last night, I took Sophia to the barn with me to take care of our goats, despite the rain.

That child thinks that rain means that she gets to have even MORE fun at the barn because she can get even dirtier! She wore black tights, her "ballerina" pink dress, and her ladybug raincoat and pink boots. It was hard not to splash in the mud puddles with her becuase she really was having a blast.

While Sophia was splishing and splashing, I was half-heartedly chasing down a sopping wet goat to milk, while trying to ignore the bleating calls for love/food from the stall wherein the BAYBAY Goats lay dry and warm.

LETS GO PHOENIX! LETS GO! Phoenix doesn't usually run from me, but she seemed to have an idea that I had grain for BAYBAY Goats as well as for her. I could see her brain scheming to heck, why not try to make me fall down into the mud so she could eat the grain without the bother of getting in the milking stand??

After remembering that Phoenix would ultimately follow me out to the milking stand since I did indeed still hold the grain (DUH), LETS GO, I marched out of the paddock with her close at my heels.

Once I got her head locked into the stand and her udders completely sanitized, I realized, of course, I didn't have my dang milking bucket!!! I remembered that I had a glass milk container in the tack room, so I ran around like a mad woman trying to get into the room and back out before Phoenix finished her grain. Once she finishes eating, she starts kicking like crazy to get me off her udders. And it is not pretty or fun, and I am totally out of bribing peppermints.

In order to use the glass bottle as a container, I literally milked one udder at a time aiming (most) of the milk into the bottle. This alone was making me laugh until it started raining, pouring actually, and then I was starting to sound a little hysterical. Sophia abandoned me for the drier option of the baby chicks stall.

I finally got Phoenix all milked out and we both bolted for the barn, completely soaked. I dumped some of the milk into a container for the chicks, and then started the begging to my daughter to LETS GO LETS GO so we could start our journey home.

LETS GO LETS GO in Sophia's mind means saying goodbye to and touching each one of her favorite animals (Stanley the Megahorse, RubyRube, CandyCandyWhyYouBuggin', Chilly Willy, all three goats, and about 14 out of the 30 chicks). I actually enjoy this part of the night because I too get to love on all these awesome animals that make our lives pretty darn special.

LETS GO LETS GO LETS GO - finally headed home, we sang "Need You Now" and "Forever Young." I got out of the car to unsnap Sophia from the car seat, and I dropped the glass bottle of milk onto the driveway and of course it went UNDER my car!

Fabulous! Not only was I now without the stinkin' milk I carefully got into the bottle one udder at a time, but now there were GLASS SHARDS all over my driveway.

My lovely husband did come out to help me clean up the damage IN THE RAIN no less, so I couldn't really complain.

This morning, more rain.

Phoenix and the BAYBAY goats were in the stall overnight to avoid getting wet, so the routine went quickly. I actually remembered my milking bucket but forgot to bring plastic wrap to put over the top so that the milk wouldn't slosh out from under the lid when I was driving.

Got the milk home, only wearing half of it all over my jacket.

Live and learn, Devine.

Baby chicks gobbling up the goats milk. =)

More GOAT

Baby Bluebirds

Bluebirds just hatched in the neighbor's birdhouse. Awesome!

Cheese, Not.

This weekend was the first time I was to unveil my cheese at a party in my neighborhood.

Live and learn, Devine:

Apparently, Chevre culture (or whatever it is called) dies after a certain amount of time. Therefore, I had nothing to work with minus a clump or two of overachieving molecules.

I will admit that I almost caved and purchased factory made goat cheese to hide my failure, but my sweaty palms in the store were an obvious sign that I couldn't pull off the lie without incessant giggling (which would only add to my usual weirdness) and sweating.

I finally just returned the cheese back to its rightful shelf and accepted my cheesy defeat.

And really...So WHAT if the whole neighborhood thinks that my insanity is a reality now that I can't even produce anything edible to support my boring-ass goat stories??

Oh, and they do think I am nuts. If only for purchasing a home in our "low maintenance lifestyle" and "exclusive" community when we probably should have bought a freaking farm to maintain all of the animals I keep adding to the family. But I could see it in their eyes when they asked me about how my riding was going, which led into the goats, and eventually into the tons of baby chicks I am sharing with The Fearless Barn Owner. You know, your average cup o' crazy!

Thus far, I have been milking twice a day. The amount our mama Phoenix has been producing is impressive - I am getting about a gallon a day! We drink some, freeze some, share some with Tank the three-legged-dog, and maybe if the stars are aligned and I click my heels three times, make some amazing cheese. I just wish I could manage my entire Goat Milk Game Plan a little better so I didn't have to "waste" so much milk. The barn cats and baby chicks are enjoying their portions, though, and there is something peaceful about that aspect.