Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Last goat walk and flower pressing

 One lovely day in September the kids and I took a walk with the goats before gathering leaves to press. I had an inkling that it would be one of our last and it was. Above is Eden, our favorite doeling out of Xanadu, sold now. 
 Noah standing behind Cammie, one of his favorite goats who is now in a new home doing well.

 Ember, My favorite doeling of this year, oh I doted on her. Her rump looks short and steep in this picture but it's not. She is now with her dam in a very nice new home. I will get to see them regularly, so I'm looking forward to watching her grow.










 We pressed flowers and they turned out more beautiful than I could have imagined. Now I have to find a special craft to feature them.

2 comments:

Ruthie- Fruitful Hill Farm said...

Hi Emily,I am a new reader of your blog and have enjoyed reading up on your homesteading experience. We have just gotten some Nigerian dwarf does and have one due to kid next month. I have been reading as much as I can about kidding and my searches led me to your blog. I was hoping you could tell me about the milking equipment you have used, how you clean/sterilize it, and how you clean and care for the utters and teats? I like to do things as naturally as possible and would appreciate your advice. Hoping you are able to enjoy your free-er mornings!

Emily said...

Hey Ruthie, I bought a stainless steel pail and tote from hoegger and have used them all these years. The pail was squat and the sides were vertical insead of being narrow at the bottom so it was less easy to kick over and the top had a half moon lid making it harder to step in and less hair and stuff would drop in it. it takes a little while to get your milking aim right but i think it is worth having less particles in your milk. Then i would strain the milk using the stainless steel strainer into wide mouth jars with the disposable filters that work with the strainer. After trying lots of different sanitizing procedures i went with washing with warm water water and soap and rinsing with very hot or boiling water. For the goats i made a simple teat dip with warm water, a few drops of lavender dr. bronners, tea tree essential oil (anti fungal) and grapefruit seed extract (antibacterial), not too much or it is drying. Sometimes when it was warmer out or i had a warm place to store it i would store the teat dip in a gallon lemonade jar with a spout, and would give a gentle shake before using. i highly recommend kat drovhdal's goat pet herbal. it has a natural teat dip recipe, and natural and herbal solutions to most every aspect of goat keeping. Best wishes! Emily