Claudia (my WWOOF'r roommate/farm manager) has been here since late September and she's a GREAT worker/roommate and I couldn't ask for better.
We were pleased on December 17 to have twin doelings from Taffy the Nubian/Oberhasli. However, December babies aren't really the best because it's so hard to keep them warm and healthy in cold weather. That's why March and on is much better. Well. Victor the buck wasn't going to take no for an answer and was going to tear down the fence so we put Taffy in with him. Since Taffy is an experienced mother and I had a previous appointment, I left her and her brand-new babies alone. Came back about 6 hours later to find one almost-dead twin and one very poorly-looking twin. Darnit. The almost-dead one (Mocha) was barely breathing and her heartbeat was intermittent. Once they appear to go "flat" on the ground, there isn't much hope. But I decided to try...
I brought them in a large tub (like what you use for a keg of beer) and kept them near the woodburner with a warming light and a warming pad. The almost-dead doeling was so bad off, I dunked her in hot water (to warm her body temp - you keep the head out of the water of course), tubed her with a mixture of warmed milk, molasses (for the iron) and coffee. Yes. Coffee. Coffee can stimulate the heart/system to start working again. After the next 10 tubings and round-the-clock care, she started recovering.
One such tubing, I had her near the woodburner's blower. She flipped her head up, her lovely Nubian ears got tangled in the blower and damaged them badly. Darnit. No external damage, but they swelled up like puffy pillows. Then, she started going blind in one eye and her knees swelled up. Sepsis (a total-system infection) that originated in the damage ears. $55 later and antibiotics from the vet, she began to recover.
It's been a tough go, but now? Her knee-pad has flaked off and her more damaged ear has SPLIT and PEELED so that her ear(s) will have permanent damage - almost like frostbite. I don't know how much of the ear will remain. Let alone the damage to the OTHER ear... She has recovered sight in the blind eye and is VERY healthy and adventuresome. She's my favorite. Her twin sister, Lilith, seems to be fine and is growing well. At Mocha's young age (December 17 to now - just 6+ weeks) she's been literally in the ICUG (Intensive Care Unit for Goats) for more than half that time. What a struggle to keep her alive! Without Claudia to help care for her every 2-4 hours for the first several weeks, I don't think she would have made it. No, her mother (Taffy) wouldn't take them back, so we continue to bottle feed them.
We were pleased on December 17 to have twin doelings from Taffy the Nubian/Oberhasli. However, December babies aren't really the best because it's so hard to keep them warm and healthy in cold weather. That's why March and on is much better. Well. Victor the buck wasn't going to take no for an answer and was going to tear down the fence so we put Taffy in with him. Since Taffy is an experienced mother and I had a previous appointment, I left her and her brand-new babies alone. Came back about 6 hours later to find one almost-dead twin and one very poorly-looking twin. Darnit. The almost-dead one (Mocha) was barely breathing and her heartbeat was intermittent. Once they appear to go "flat" on the ground, there isn't much hope. But I decided to try...
I brought them in a large tub (like what you use for a keg of beer) and kept them near the woodburner with a warming light and a warming pad. The almost-dead doeling was so bad off, I dunked her in hot water (to warm her body temp - you keep the head out of the water of course), tubed her with a mixture of warmed milk, molasses (for the iron) and coffee. Yes. Coffee. Coffee can stimulate the heart/system to start working again. After the next 10 tubings and round-the-clock care, she started recovering.
One such tubing, I had her near the woodburner's blower. She flipped her head up, her lovely Nubian ears got tangled in the blower and damaged them badly. Darnit. No external damage, but they swelled up like puffy pillows. Then, she started going blind in one eye and her knees swelled up. Sepsis (a total-system infection) that originated in the damage ears. $55 later and antibiotics from the vet, she began to recover.
It's been a tough go, but now? Her knee-pad has flaked off and her more damaged ear has SPLIT and PEELED so that her ear(s) will have permanent damage - almost like frostbite. I don't know how much of the ear will remain. Let alone the damage to the OTHER ear... She has recovered sight in the blind eye and is VERY healthy and adventuresome. She's my favorite. Her twin sister, Lilith, seems to be fine and is growing well. At Mocha's young age (December 17 to now - just 6+ weeks) she's been literally in the ICUG (Intensive Care Unit for Goats) for more than half that time. What a struggle to keep her alive! Without Claudia to help care for her every 2-4 hours for the first several weeks, I don't think she would have made it. No, her mother (Taffy) wouldn't take them back, so we continue to bottle feed them.
Mocha and Lilith. Notice how bleary Mocha (left) appears while Lilith appears quite "bright"
Taffy's twin doelings: Mocha and Lilith in the kitchen in the tub after they decided to live. Mocha is on the left and Lilith is on the right.
I don't think I shared this... These are some of the pecans I collected from my pecan tree! They were much smaller than Southern pecans, but wow. They were wonderful in baked oatmeal. Yum.
It wasn't EXACTLY the model I would've preferred, but I bought a cream separator! I've yet to use it, but I'm pretty excited to finally have one! All the instructions are in Romanian. As this unit came from Romania. We are truly global.
Well, I showed you pecans from trees I planted some 8-10 years ago... THESE are black walnuts - native to Indiana and some other states. I have yet to crack some and make something with them (Claudia isn't really familiar with black walnuts having grown up in Missouri). Maybe I'll make a black walnut cake. Or, my favorite? Black walnuts in honey or maple syrup. Wonderful.
THIS to me (besides 15 huge round bales) is my "insurance." This is 2 1/2 ricks long (a rick is 8' long, 4' high and 1 1/2' wide) and 5-6' high. So, there are two and a half rows here. OR? almost 6 rick Nice hardwood off my property. Black locust, ash, walnut, black cherry, red elm and a bit of hackberry. Cut and split with my chainsaw and logsplitter. Wood heats you three times, say the old timers. Once when you cut it, once when you split it and once when you heat with it. It heated me one more time when I hauled it up and stacked it all. Makes me feel a lot more comfy knowing we have enough wood to get us through the rest of the cold season. I figure it takes 10 ricks of wood to get me through. We've already used ~4 ricks. I was taught to make the cross-hatch stack on the end to "finish" the stacks. Works pretty well! We've made holz hausen (a type of "igloo" made with wood) but I like stacks like this best - probably because it's what I grew up with.
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