Elinore and Marianne

About 9 weeks ago I saw an add for two female pygora goats not too far from us. G had talked about getting some sort of fiber animal for some time. We visited them along with our 4-H leader and decided we wanted them.

Today was the day to go pick them up, now they are almost 9 weeks old. We left from church to drive to Lapeer. After a couple stops, lunch and TSC for last minute necessities and the latest MaryJane FarmGirl magazine, we were almost there. Even Todd asked "Are we there yet? Lake Huron should be right over the next hill."

We arrived to find a note taped to the door. We were about 45 min after the time I had said we'd be there. But the number the owner left for me to call wasn't working. So I hid the money and found the kids with their mama.

None of them were real sure we should be there, but the kids are little enough that they could be convinced. The Mama was small enough to handle too for that matter being 50% pygmy

They were very quiet on the way home, cuddling together in the borrowed animal crate.

Their grand entrance into the barn

Heidi had to see what was going on. (or maybe she was looking for a treat.) She responded with a motherly bleat to the kids' little baby bleats. We have to keep them separate for a period of time. Kind of like quarantine when you bring animals into a new country.

They were hesitant to come out of the crate, but came eventually

They found the water and salt block right away, but weren't too sure that we were safe. When G put the grain in their stall they got busy with that. It took a bit for them to be sure the alfalfa was good, but when they did they munched away and got closer to us.

If we got a hold of them they would sit quietly on our laps until we let go. Then they were off to the other side of their stall.

I can't tell them apart very well yet. Marianne has curlier hair on her body, less hair on her head and is bigger. She was the one to go to the grain and alfalfa first.

Elinore has more fluff on her head, but is smaller and less curly on her body. She took a little longer to warm up to her new home.

Here is an up close of the fiber:

It is still short because they are babies, but it is very soft and curly. Their dad's fur is very long and curly.


In this picture they are standing right in front of the door to their stall. The top of the door is about the same distance as from the bottom board to the top board.

After we had the girls settled and had moved on to other things, Todd was putting his good fishing poles away in the barn when we heard hollers for help.

Nothing panicky, but obviously something he didn't want to deal with alone. One of the goats (he can't tell them apart either, he might never be able to) had jumped the gate to the stall. He managed to coral them then head to the house for the cordless screwdriver.

The outside of the door.

We thought for sure it would be tall enough, but one of the kids had shown us her climbing ability when we were trying to get her out of her original home: She was on top of a box that was on top of an old kitchen cupboard. She jumped from there into the adjoining goat stall. After we got her sister out of the stall the climber jumped back in from the next stall. Then while we were securing the pen she climbed to the top of a pile of hay bales. Actually, with my back the way it is, it was easier to get her down from there than up into my arms to carry her to the van.

He grabbed an extra board and made the door a bit taller.

They supervised the redesign of their new home from the top of a dog house. We got the dog house for Hugs and Heidi. Hugs (the dwarf) like to stand on it to be tall. Heidi doesn't need any help to get up. She is our resident mountain goat. Todd and G made a small pasture for Hugs and Heidi. Heidi won't stay in. The fence is standard cattle panels and the door is a palate that has been added to so that it it taller than I am. We wondered if Heidi didn't "tell" the kids how to get over the door.

It should be plenty tall now, but we have checked on them a few times. It seems to have worked. They have been calling for their mama, but haven't escaped again.

Goodnight Heidi, take care of the babies.

First Horse Show

G has been taking riding lessons for 3 years now. Her passion for horses has only grown; even when she had to muck out stalls for lessons. This spring I talked with our 4-H leader to try to figure out a way we could make it so she could show. Actually, I started asking about M doing lead line with one of her daughters. M follows in G's red hair and passions for activity and animals. I thought that might be easier to make happen. Jennifer in her wisdom, said that it really wouldn't be fair to G and her hard work for M to show before G.


So we worked it out that M could do lead line with P Jennifer's oldest daughter on Fanny and G could do showmanship with Carly, Jennifer's second daughter's, T, horse.


Jennifer told M that she would be helping P with her horse for the show. Wow! did that make M happy. I think she asked everyday "When am I going to P's to help her with her horse?"


We managed to get a practice in at their house and one at the arena. We also had a mini practice and my girls got to help get the horses ready for the show (bath and brush).

Jennifer has been a horse-lady forever and a 4-H leader for a long time. She does a great job. Anyway, she has quite the collection of riding wear. So after the first practice we had a fashion show. Very fun. Sorry no pictures. Mary found a shirt to wear with her bright pink split skirt and T's helmet matches and fits. G found a black hat and jacket to wear with her black boots and khaki jeans...wow did show look grown up.


G has a hat that her grandfather bought out West and carried back on his lap in a cramped car in the late 1950's. She will wear it with pride, but the many years on the closet shelf has incurred some wear and tear. Mostly it needs reshaped. So before show season is over we will have that done.
G was so excited and nervous I don't think she slept well all week before the show. But it all paid off.


She put on her show clothes and was transformed from my little busy, rough and tumble girl to a sophisticated horse-lady. Wow. I barely recognized her. She carried herself with such confidence I rarely see in her. The only other place was the goat show ring last summer.


OK enough mommy ramble on to pictures:



No grandparents were able to come, but our church family was represented by the Schlitts from our small group. And our neighbor Mrs. Cooper brought her Granddaughter. G works for the Coopers feeding their mini horse (and a Morgan who was recently sold) and the cats and keeping the plants watered. What a treat to have them there.

Waiting for her class...kind of nervous.

My little and not so little cowgirls.

Showmanship is judged on how well the participant presents the horse, not at all on the horse. They have to do a pattern of sorts. The pattern was a little different for the levels for this show. G participated in the the walk-trot level; it is for beginners with only 1-2 years of show experience.

Her pattern was to walk to the judge, stop and set the horse while keeping the horse between her and the judge, then turn 90 degrees walk to a cone

Then turn and trot to the exit gate. Carly wasn't interested in going very fast. As they left the gate Jennifer had G make Carly do as she was told. Good learning for both girl and horse.

G got Carly to trot and went back to the trailer to let her rest. She almost missed her placing being called, but was brought to attention quickly enough to hear that she had earned first place!!! She said she teared up and didn't really believe it.

Great job G!!!

"Thank you Carly for being mostly good"

On the way to the ring. How P ended up alone with M and T and a horse I don't know, but they did great all the way to the other side of the arena.

Toes up, back straight.

In lead-line a small child usually 5-7 years old rides, but another experienced horseman is in control of the horse. They all get ribbons. It is a great learning experience.

They are led around the ring and have to change directions then line up to talk to the judge.

M had to answer a few questions for the judge. This judge was very patient and helpful with the little ones. M knew all the answers except she forgot the name of the horse. She said it was because she knew the mare had more than one name. Now she knows both. She also could answer a question she hadn't practiced and backed Franny up a step or two. In practicing for the show she had trouble remembering the color. Who has the color sorrel in their kindergarten crayon box?? So she kept repeating to herself, "sorrel, sorrel, sorrel," enough for her to remember and to drive her siblings nuts.

Happy with a job well done!

Showing off her ribbon. The white participation ribbon faded into to the lightly clouded sky. The weather couldn't have been better that day--partly sunny with a cool breeze.

My Friend George

Our 4-H club had the opportunity to incubate eggs and hatch some chicks. We wanted to add to our laying stock so we borrowed a rooster to fertilize some eggs for us. He was low rooster on the totem pole at his home so he was enjoying life here. We didn't enjoy his noise as early as 4:30 AM and as late as 1 AM. So when we had all the eggs we needed he went home.

There was a bit of a mishap with the incubator and only about 18 of 70 eggs hatched. N fell in love with a little black fuzzball and bought him with some birthday money. He came with 4 other chicks. So we brought home 8 baby chicks: 1 old English Bantam and 7 Americanas (the bread we currently have). We were also given 4 Rhode Island Reds from another club member. The club will be trying to hatch more, but we don't have the rooster to get more eggs. The one we borrowed isn't coming back anytime soon. And we only wanted 4-6 more laying hens (odds being that more than half the babies would be male and become dinner) so club members were generous in helping us build our laying flock.

The baby chicks came home when they were 5 days old. We tried to have them in the garage, but they acted very poorly so we brought them into the laundry room. I like having them in my office and got to know them a bit. One in particular would stretch its neck out to see who was looking at it. I started calling it George since is seemed curious.

I would get him out and he seemed quite content to sit with me as I drank my afternoon iced coffee and checked my email.

Not too long after these pictures were taken the chick smell began to overwhelm the office and they moved outside. George has forgotten who I am and runs for cover when any human gets close to the chicken tractor. Oh, well. The good news is that it appears that George is a pullet (girl) and I won't have to eat my friend. Amazingly of the 12 baby chick we brought home only one appears to be a cockerel (boy). Come October we may start a small egg business or more to my girls' liking a bakery specializing in rich desserts containing lots of eggs.

6.1.10 Garden

A number of plants that I planted from seed last year came back nice a healthy this spring. The comfrey I bought. It has gone crazy. the 5 plants in the front of the house have already been trimmed. Most of it I turned into mulch for the tomatoes. A bumble bee enjoying the remain comfrey blossoms. This one is in the back and will remain untrimmed for now.

The house from the garden

I had trouble getting lettuce going this spring. I think the combo of hot dry weather made it hard. I also started later that I normally would have. But it won't be long now before we get some home grown salad. I have never planted Lima beans. But in honor of a book called A bad Case of the Stripes I tried it this year. I thought this little group was interesting, showing many stages of growth.

This is the south garden. We didn't plant anything here last summer. It has 2 batches of the Carmans' wonderful manure, a crop of buckwheat and a crop of winter wheat tilled into it. From front to back we have mints and thyme, then garlic (planted last fall), Strawberries (from the Carmans' over flowing strawberry patch), then N's little personal garden. A row of sweet peppers, 3 rows of a variety of tomatoes, squash and pumpkins on the ladder, pickling and slicing cucumbers, pole beans, watermelon, more tomatoes and some herbs then D's sugar snap peas. Then in back to guard it all the dog's kennel.

Todd did add to the edging this spring with 2 dead birch trees that needed taken down. It won't be nice to burn so it is serving a purpose.

The heavier vines will be trained to climb up these ladders. They were in the barn.The other trellises are made from saplings that G cut down earning $0.50 each. Todd helped us screw the end frames together and the cross pieces just sit on the end frames. We will See how it works. It goes with the rustic edging, so it looks nice. I just hope it doesn't fall down.

The north bed we planted last year. Todd put the dividers up so the water and sandy soil would stay where I want it. Then we top dressed it with manure. From front to back: pennyroyal, mint, marigolds, and lemon balm; red, white and yellow onions; spinach and over flow lettuce; broccoli, most of it is from the store, I planted seeds but they did come up; kale; Nantes and purple carrots; potatoes; Basil; carrots, basil and kale; then the asparagus, rhubarb and horseradish. We also added a post to hold a second hose. The season started out hot and dry. I though the hose would be going all day everyday. We have finally gotten our May showers, in June. Still it has made us think about an irrigation system using the pond.

View of the garden from the front porch.

A delphinium bloom. I have an affinity for blue flowers. My bridesmaids carried dark blue delphinium. I have some that will bloom darker than this to match. I started these from seeds last year. they are tall enough that you can see them peeking over the window sill in the living room.

If you come to visit in August please bring your canning apron.

I have an excuse

for not blogging...my computer is being a snail. I am not sure if it is my computer or my internet.

Coming soon to the barn blog will be the garden and our family's first horse show. When will depend on my patience with the cyber world.

I do want to type a small blurb about the horse show.
I was amazed with G's performance. As soon as she got in her show clothes she seemed transformed, kind of like Cinderella. She won first place in her first show in the walk trot showmanship class.

Later as I reflected on the day I thought of Mom. I would have loved to have had her here. I could just hear he say "Wow has she grown up" "She has found HER place" and the like. Plus I like to think that she would have praises for me.

I missed you especially today Mom.

Goat Quiz Bowl

Here are a few pictures from the goat expo in East Lansing. I was at home with the other children, but J went along to document. This is the Jr. quiz bowl team from Saginaw County. They have been meeting since January to practice goat information.

G and two other "goat kids" about her age worked on solutions to a problem solving scenario, then had to present it to a judge. G also did an individual speech and a craft. She received 2 ribbons and tons of fun and experience.

New kids

G wanted another animal this season. She went back and forth between sheep and goats but was sure she wanted a fiber animal. We had a guy look for us then we looked. IT took a while but I finally found these listed online. They live about 1.5 hours from here. We went to see them Wednesday. It was a long wet car ride, but with "expert" advice from our 4-H leader friend we put some money down. Now we have to decide about dehorning them or not (G's research project for the weekend) and wait until they are weaned. We decided to name them Elinor and Marianne (from Jane Austin's novel Sense and Sensibility)

This is them curled up in the cupboard with their mama (a pygora) guarding them. This is their papa an angora goat. Look at all that fiber!!

Actually our first new critter of the season was N's birthday present. She had been wanting a bunny since last year. While Todd was away on business I took the chance and bought her a mini-lop with a hutch and feeding equipment. Todd didn't complain and Natalie was thrilled.

His given name was Floppy, but when we found he is a boy Natalie wanted to change it to something more masculine. So now he is Zoser a character from the musical Aida.

Unrelated....

Why in the world did I think that G would get her "computer school" work done outside?

Distracted by little sister:Distracted by whatever was happening over by the pond:

I am sure there were many more distractions,

but it looks like she did concentrate for a little while at least.