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Posts tagged as 'gleaning'
I've been staring at the goatlings' backsides lately. They have little tiny udders. I simply can't believe it! They're only two months old, but they're becoming little ladies.
Anyway, I had a bit of a Rumpelstiltskin moment when Bebe's former owner emailed me, asking for photos of the doelings--front, side, and back. They were taking their doe from the buy-back agreement we had made when I bought Bebe, all preggers. I thought the family only wanted a doeling who was polled (without horns) but it turned out they wanted to take Orla or Georgina, dependent on their backsides, because the family wants to show the goats in 4H and other Nigerian Dwarf shows.
When I look at Orla and Georgina, I guess I know that Georgina is a better looking goat--she's got a straight back and long legs. So it wasn't a surprise when the family decided they wanted Georgina. The mom explained:
"She is a lot more level across her topline, her rump is less steep, she has more width accross her chest, and she has a wider escutchen." The escutcheon is an index for milking--the wider the better milk production.
But Orla is (truth be told) my favorite because she's so docile and sweet. So we are all happy! The mom said it was a hard choice because both of the girls turned out really nice. And she predicted that next year, after I breed Orla, I'll have more milk that I can handle. She said Bebe's offspring often milk out 3.5 pound of milk! That's almost a gallon! And, Orla's got a suitor with blue eyes just waiting for her.
Tagged as gleaning, goats | 1 Comment » | Continue 
It's that time again--red juice dripping down the chin, sticky fingers, jam-making inspiring-plum season. This year William and I head to our friend Linton's house where we picked a bucket of Santa Rosa, yellow, and red plums. It only took 20 minutes to fill the bucket. It was a lovely scene, with Linton's chickens clucking around us and a top bar beehive in his neighbor's yard to keep us company. When we got home, I cooked the plums with some water until they boiled down. Then I removed the pits (harder than it sounds, next year I'm going to pit them first) and cooked the jam with some pectin and honey. The jam is very sour, but William insisted on no sugar. I cooked some of it some more and added brown sugar but then promptly burned it. Shit. The good news? Once again, the pigs love burnt plum jam. We have about 20 jars of the unburnt but sour jam. Next up will be apricots....
Tagged as gleaning | No Comments » | Continue
Anyway, I had a bit of a Rumpelstiltskin moment when Bebe's former owner emailed me, asking for photos of the doelings--front, side, and back. They were taking their doe from the buy-back agreement we had made when I bought Bebe, all preggers. I thought the family only wanted a doeling who was polled (without horns) but it turned out they wanted to take Orla or Georgina, dependent on their backsides, because the family wants to show the goats in 4H and other Nigerian Dwarf shows.
When I look at Orla and Georgina, I guess I know that Georgina is a better looking goat--she's got a straight back and long legs. So it wasn't a surprise when the family decided they wanted Georgina. The mom explained:
"She is a lot more level across her topline, her rump is less steep, she has more width accross her chest, and she has a wider escutchen." The escutcheon is an index for milking--the wider the better milk production.
But Orla is (truth be told) my favorite because she's so docile and sweet. So we are all happy! The mom said it was a hard choice because both of the girls turned out really nice. And she predicted that next year, after I breed Orla, I'll have more milk that I can handle. She said Bebe's offspring often milk out 3.5 pound of milk! That's almost a gallon! And, Orla's got a suitor with blue eyes just waiting for her.
Tagged as gleaning, goats | 1 Comment » | Continue 
It's that time again--red juice dripping down the chin, sticky fingers, jam-making inspiring-plum season. This year William and I head to our friend Linton's house where we picked a bucket of Santa Rosa, yellow, and red plums. It only took 20 minutes to fill the bucket. It was a lovely scene, with Linton's chickens clucking around us and a top bar beehive in his neighbor's yard to keep us company. When we got home, I cooked the plums with some water until they boiled down. Then I removed the pits (harder than it sounds, next year I'm going to pit them first) and cooked the jam with some pectin and honey. The jam is very sour, but William insisted on no sugar. I cooked some of it some more and added brown sugar but then promptly burned it. Shit. The good news? Once again, the pigs love burnt plum jam. We have about 20 jars of the unburnt but sour jam. Next up will be apricots....
Tagged as gleaning | No Comments » | Continue