New Kids

I have been putting off posting here for a few weeks, mainly because we've been so busy.  That has been the story since about a year ago, when our oldest daughter announced her engagement.  We had several months of wedding preparations, a wedding in August, recovery time... trying to get back into our routines, and it has really taken this long for things to get settled back down again.  Pretty soon after the wedding, our Jersey calved and sadly her calf didn't make it.  We had always counted on calves taking half the milk after freshning.  We quickly ordered a milking machine and were innundated with gallons of milk.  That plunged me into cheesemaking overnight.  In the end, it has been a great blessing.  We are now in the routine of cheesemaking and haven't had to buy an ounce of dairy since early September.  We've become pretty proficient at making Gruyere, Fromage Frais, and kefir.

 Just when I thought normalcy had returned, we engaged in a brand new project - dairy GOATS!  I've been reading up and studying all about them for months, checking books out from the library - all this in the midst of planting our Spring garden, etc.  This week we brought home a pair of Nubian kids.  A male named Poe (Love Potion No. 9, to be precise...), and Legacy, a great little doe from a farm up near Gainesville - Whiteacres.

Poe, aka "Love Potion No. 9"

I fell in love with this little guy when I saw this picture, before even knowing about his really nice bloodline.  Don and Michael have been putting in a lot of hours updating our fencing.  Next week, they'll be starting Poe's buck pen, as we've learned that bucks must be kept separate and well securely so from a young age, they've been known to breed as early as 2 or 3 months old!

Soon after bringing Poe home, we realized we really needed to get him so goat friends and quick.  He cried and cried whenever we left him alone.  Thankfully, Catherine from Whiteacres stepped in and this is beautiful Legacy.  Poe and Legacy seem to be very content together.

Legacy

We had friends over to see the new kids, fun times!

... and Poe got his bottle.

I'll be visiting my old blog routes and am looking forward to reading about what everyone has been up to lately in Blogland. :)