Cooking again!!

Oh my yum, yum. It's been forever since I cooked a regular meal. What with driving an hour each way to the hospital every day for the past two months, now going out to the barn constantly to check on everybody I haven't had time to even think about cooking or going to the grocery. Cooking is one of my most favorite things to do. I ordered a new cookbook, Vegan Fire and Spice by Robin Robertson. It's a collection of recipes from around the world with lots of pizazz, just my type of food. Today I had time to do a thorough grocery shopping and then try out a new recipe. It is an odd combination, at least to me. From the African section a wonderfully spicy Peanut Tomato Salad. Seeded diced tomatoes with hot pepper, onion and a dressing of peanut butter, olive oil, and lime juice, topped with crushed peanuts. MMMMMmmm!!!! I think this one will be a summer favorite once those fresh tomatoes start rolling in.

So Cute!!

These babies are adorable. The little black one is a feisty one, he hops and jumps sideways like he's saying "hey, I'm alive, I can move, yippie." The blonde one is still figuring out his legs are for standing and walking. They seem to be doing great. We let them out with mama for just a bit yesterday to get some fresh air and exercise. The little black one was watching intently as mama ate. He tried to bite a couple of blades but couldn't quite figure it out. Then he just went back to his usual supply of mama's milk. I laugh when they start to nurse and they do the little head bump first.

Zelda's big day!!!

She did it, and she did it beautifully!!! Yesterday was Zelda' official due date. When Papa let them out in the morning he noticed she was acting funny and "talking." Zelda never talks. I even noticed it from the window. He brought them all down to their regular pasture area and rubber her a little. When he walked through the gate to come in the house she immediately started for the barn, not like Zelda either. So we dressed and went out. The others were grazing in the pasture and she was standing in the door looking at us like "what took you so long?" She spent a little while pawing and getting up and down. She laid inside then got up to go outside. About an hour passed and I called Vince back because she had laid down inside and appeared to be pushing. When he got there she decided to go outside (it was warm but windy) so we let her. Then she really started pushing. And the moaning, steady constant, human like moaning. We felt so bad for her. Papa rubbed and massaged her and did all he could to comfort her. Then there it was, the "bubble." Papa popped it with some straw and there were hooves and a head, Praise the Lord. Out popped #1 as quick as you please. We put her in front of Zelda and she didn't waste any time started to clean her baby. We helped since it was a little chilly from the wind. Then more pushing, ha here comes #2. It all happened so fast neither of us remember if we saw hooves first, we think it was head then hooves but he popped out almost quicker than the first. AAhhhh! glad that's over. Now the clean up. We took every body in the barn and cleaned and dried and Zelda licked, and licked, and licked. She even licked Papa. She kept looking around like "wow, did I do that?" Yes you did beautiful girl. She did a great job. The moaning still haunts us though. In the pics of her head on Papa's foot and him rubbing her face she's constantly moaning. #1 is a big golden boy with blue eyes. #2 is a feisty black boy. They are all resting comfortably with their sweaters on and a heat lamp just for a little warmth. Zelda had a little treat of grain with molasses and a nice cup of hot coffee with molasses boy did she like that. I'm so glad that's over, it was amazing. I am not sure I could do all that with a large herd of animals. I worry too much :-)

So where have I been??

Well the days are zooming by even when nothing is going on but since Christmas Eve the days have been a blur. My mother-in-law had an accident on Christmas Eve. She fell and hit her head on a ceramic tile floor. Ouch!!! We think she fell early that morning and my daughter and son-in-law found her that evening, so she was unconscious pretty much 12 hours. They did emergency surgery and she was in a coma for several days. All in all she's doing amazingly well especially since the surgeon didn't really have much hope for her at all. She's doing physical therapy and has been released to an Assisted Living Facility to continue the therapy. We are now starting our barrage of doctors appointments and I'm sure they will all say "come back in a couple of weeks." So that's where I've been between driving to the hospital (an hour one way) and rushing in and out of my house it's been a crazy two months.

Now how is my little pregnant goat :-) She's a round weeble she is. I think she's going to pop any day. Her due date is March 5th so we are watching the signs constantly. I sure hope she picks a warm day to deliver. Generally goats will go into labor during the warmest part of the day in cold weather and the coolest part of the day in warm weather, that gives the babies a better chance of survival. Ha, guess that's another one of those things the Master thought of. I'm sure that doesn't always happen but generally that's what I hear. I went out today and sang her favorite song "Soon and very Soon." While I sang I gave her a massage, she kinds gets that spacey look in her eyes. Not sure if she's tuning me out or not. Only the goats like my singing.

Well off to check on her again, it's really cold and I sure hope she waits a couple more days.

Jesse the spoiled goat

This is Jesse. He is a love bug. Now you see Papa letting Jesse do something he shouldn't. We bought Jesse and Luke from Tranquility Acres and Sharon told us not to allow the goats to jump on us. Well Papa wasn't listening. Jesse likes hugs and back rides. Fortunately Luke is a little larger and hasn't learned this yet. He just likes to be loved. I think these goats are a little spoiled and Papa says I do that but I think these pictures prove otherwise, don't you?? :-)

Snow Snow beeeeautiful snow!!!

We had a great big snow and it complete shut down the town :-) Our town doesn't handle too much snow well but that's okay since it usually doesn't stay around long anyway. The dogs loved it. Rory danced and pranced and ran all around while Annie just tossed her ball in the snow then dig it up with both paws, snow flying all over the place. Papa decided to let them run in the pasture since the goats were in the barn, ha, Rory made a beeline for the pond and jumped in. Crazy dog. Rory has become our working dog. When we walk back from the barn to the house she insists on carrying something. I usually give her a scoop or bucket and she proudly carries it all the way to the house. Sometimes she doesn't want to let go.
The goats are staying in the barn during the snow. They have a little play area and we put them extra hay. They still expect a nice warm snack around lunch so I soak a little beet pulp in warm water topped with a little molasses and cut up oranges or tangerines. Jesse's not crazy about the beet pulp so I put a few peanut hulls on top for him. They are all happy campers.

The chickens took one look at their snow covered ramp and said "nope, not going out today." So they just stayed inside and of course I felt sorry for them so I made them some oatmeal with yogurt and raisins. They too are happy campers.

So all is running smoothly at our little pretend farm. We even have an official name "Midlife Crisis Farm." We decided this was our crazy time so we gave it a crazy name :-) I have come to realize though it's really not farming. Farming is hard hard work and it takes years to establish a farm as something really productive. What we do is a hobby. But that's okay we enjoy it. I have a hard time with the animals though. Since we don't raise them for meat and I get a lot of joy from them I don't see me ever getting to the point where their sickness or death is just part of the plan. I think that's one thing I will love about heaven, there will be no sign at all or even any hint of "death." No dead leaves, no dead trees or branches, no dead or "struggling to live" animals. An no mean people that are cruel to animals. Well I'm going out to walk in the mush now that the snow is melting. Gotta go see all the lovies!!

I think I saw her belly roll!!!!

We decided to let Wyatt and Zelda mate this fall and of course being new at this whole thing we didn't have a clue!! So we thought Zelda might be, possibly was, could be, should be pregnant. I have read there's really no way to tell for sure until the last 4-5 weeks. So she's been getting a little pudgy and round but hey that could be from what is causing the rest of us to be pudgy and round :-) But this morning I was brushing her (she loves to be brushed and rubbed) and I stopped for a few seconds and just watched and I saw a huge roll in her side. Cool!!!! I think she' s got a little goober in there. I'm so excited and nervous. You know just like people you read and hear all the horror stories about kidding.
We sold Wyatt and I think he's found a good home. We thought Basil (BaaBaa) may be pregnant too but not because we wanted her to be. She's not showing any sign at all of being pregnant, which is a good thing. She was just a little young yet.
Luke and Jesse are tremendously happy that Wyatt is gone. Now they can all play and jump and be frisky without Mr. Horns butting in. The fact that he had horns and none of the rest did was not a good thing. The breeder said he was disbudded but those horns say a different story.
Most of the ducks have gone to good home. There were just too many of them and darned if two more, a huge male and female didn't just show up for dinner and stayed. Where they came from I don't know. They were muscovy too. We're down to 6 chickens and plan to get a new batch in the spring. I think I'll try Speckled Sussex this time and maybe another kind.
That's a short update on the animals. It's been awhile since I've been in the kitchen. We had a sad accident with my mother in law over the holidays so we've been back and forth to the hospital since Christmas Eve. I'll post about that separately later today.
Gotta go check out that belly one more time :-) YAY!!!!