The true meaning of "Vacay"

We are on vacation this week - truly. No jobs (mostly, I should bury my blackberry in the sand), no mail, no interruptions, no laundry, and no animals. I have been struggling with this break, actually, as I now consider my animals to be the foundation of my personal day - of course my children take precedence and root me in reality. But when I am milking my goat, rolling around in the hay with the two kids, and kissing Ruby's soft nose, I know how damned lucky I am to have this life. I am blessed with a husband who will support this madness and constant animal acquisition, children who love to muck out the barn and all the animals, and friends that I have met through being a part of this barn.

Being able to stay in bed with Eliot and Sophia and watch Sesame Street or play the snoring game instead of going to milk and feed the goats is a nice nice nice break, though. The woman I bought the goats from told me that one really can't prepare for how to take care of them, you just do it. And this is true - entirely. There is a lot of juggling of time, fear, pleasure, dedication and tons of milk to deal with. But what I didn't bargain for or even have an inkling about is how much closer I am to nature. I am so proud that my family drinks the milk that Phoenix provides, eats the cheese, and has no complaints.

On our way to Delaware, we were absolutely starving and broke down to get a quick fix at Taco Bell. I have always had a soft spot for Taco Bell as it was my first employer, but I know what goes into that crap so shame on me for giving in and ordering a 7-layer burrito. In the middle of the meal (driving), I tasted the shit that I was eating. Plastic flavored crap. Why? I have gotten used to eating the local beef from Deer Creek Meadow and Level Beef Farms, fresh eggs (until my babes start laying!) from Andy's Eggs, all fresh veggies from our CSA share at Harman's. I have been spoiled.

We ran out of my saved goats milk two days into the trip, and I have been debating whether or not to give in and get pasteurized water milk from the store to keep the kiddos happy. I am going to wait to see if any meltdowns occur before I give in.

I am one lucky lady, I know. And I can't wait to get back to all my animals. We should have turkeys in that mix by this weekend!

Sneaky Like a Fox

The start of our weekend began with the realization that we lost 9 chickens during a midnight fox raid of the coop. I was surprised by how devastated I felt when I learned of the massacre, and was thankful I was not the one who discovered the poor chickens.

In response to this murder scene at the farm, my Poultry Partner in Crime and I double-layered electric fencing around our coop, electrocuting ourselves in the process. Okay, it was my big bootie that accidentally bumped into the live wire fence behind the coop and wound up sending the current from my ass to Poor Leigh. It was pretty darn hysterical though, once we recovered from from the buzzing heat coarsing through our bodies. I am fairly certain I also transferred the electric to one of the goats as well, but they act so goofy anyway its hard to determine the root of the freak out.

Earlier this week, we ordered 20 turkey chicks that will arrive on June 28th! We intend to raise them organically and share with friends and family for the holidays. Should be interesting.

In light of our reduced flock, I have decided we should replace the fallen with a rare assortment of "Rainbow Egg Layers" soon!

Surprise!

When I arrived at the barn this morning I knew something was wrong with Phoenix because she continued to lay on the ground despite hearing the grain scooping. When I was able to get her up, she was favoring her right hind leg, and her hoof was bleeding.

So what was meant to be a quick milking trip turned into an epsom salt bath foot soak (read: Me body-pinning a 160 lb goat and wrestling her foot into the soak bucket) and then digging through all my tack room crap to find my bandages. I have no idea if my intervention will help, but please, please let me have a vet bill break for a month.

I will be going right after work to soak her foot again. I sure wish someone would wrestle me into an epsom salt bath.