Introducing the goat herd.

Goats...so many goats.

Today when we came up the road from our trip to Alamosa (we bought straw for the barns and a freezer) the herd of goats, plus two llama girls came running across the field, along the fence, like a bunch of dogs, running to greet us. Silly goats.

We have so much milk now, we are going to start freezing it. That combined with our house fridge freezer full of vegetables from the garden, we definitely needed to upgrade to a chest freezer. We found a little one at Sears.

So, anyway...goats. I want to introduce the herd, starting with the new girls. A nice family gifted them to us because they are moving, but actually not too far away from us, so they can come and visit often.

There's Pinky. She's an odd sort of color, and a mix of something...Alpine, Nubian? She's very big and very bossy. She likes to shove her way through the gate to get to the milk stand. And she likes to dance around when she's up there, which means, I get to hold her back legs while Richard milks. That way, she doesn't kick the milk bucket over. We learned the hard way.

Pinky with baby Aspen behind her, and Oreo's head in front.

Pinky's baby doe is Aspen, and she's just adorable. She is polled like her mother, which means they were born without horns. I love polled goats. Alpine likes to lay in the middle of the hay trough or hay bale if it's on the ground while she eats.

Aspen

Oreo is a unicorn, the result of a disbudding (dehorning) gone bad, but her one horn doesn't bother us much. She is pure Nubian. We did all have to learn how to get her head in and out of the milk stand though. I also have to hold her legs when Richard milks, but she is getting better everyday. She is the best at standing still of the three new girls.

Oreo, flipping her head around so her ears stand up.

Oreo's baby girl is named Cookie and she is a Nubian/Alpine cross. She came with a cough, but it seems to be getting better. She also has one horn.

Cookie

Bluebell is my favorite of the new girls. She is full Nubian and disbudded. She just is a nice looking and nice acting goat, although she has her issues too. She likes to lean to the right when she's on the milk stand, pushing against Richard as he milks her. If he gets up, she keeps on leaning, nearly falling off the stand. I do have to hold her legs when we milk. I think all of these girls may have been hobbled on the milk stand. They'll learn over time.

Bluebell

And of course there's Jewell, who came to us about a week prior to the five new girls. She's older and seems like she's feeling her age a bit. She's a big Alpine goat, and very well behaved on the stand. She is also disbudded. She does eat a lot of grain though, almost like she's slurping it up, and she licks the dish clean, every time. Her udder is drying up now.

Jewell

Our first girl, Fairy Dust, who is polled and a Boer/Alpine mix. She is the littlest of the goats, but very well-behaved on the milk stand. She does have some issues with trying to figure out her place in the herd. She thinks she needs to be milked first, maybe because she was the first one here. She had been with the billy almost full time, until we got Jewell and separated the billy goat from the girls. Fairy's udder is nearly dry now and I think she is pregnant. We may be getting goat babies around the Winter Solstice.

Fairy Dust

The male is Molet. Big, red, full blooded Nubian with giant horns. He scares me a little. We have tried to find him a new home through Craigslist, but he's still here, sharing his male goat aroma with the rest of us at the farm.

Molet

Quite a herd gathered in such a short time. And we have more milk than we can deal with. We will start freezing it, but it would be ideal to start up a goat share program. So, if you are local, and in Colorado, and would like to own part of a lovely goat herd, send us an e-mail and we can talk about how that works. The share will get you fresh, raw goats milk weekly. We may also do a goat cheese share.

Llamas and alpacas do not get along.

What a ruckus! We passed the Fall Equinox and someone turned on the wind. Welcome to Fall. And, the animals are being crazy. Llamas jumping fences...

We had our three gelded male llamas separated from the two females, who are in with the goats. We added the male alpaca to the females and the goats. All was good...until Taylor jumped the fence into the male llama yard. She spent the night there just fine, while we tried to figure out what to do, or how we were going to get her back in with the goats without letting them all out. The goats are a little crazy too. They try to shove their way past when you open the gate.

So, we were milking the goats this morning when a real ruckus broke out in the llama barn. Alfonso had jumped the fence, apparently to defend the honor of Taylor, the female llama, and was now fighting the black llama Vader. Luckily, all of them have their fighting teeth removed, but still, the llama probably outweighs the alpaca by a hundred pounds, or more.

Vader and Alfonso

We rushed to break them up, but as I was yelling, clapping and creating my own ruckus, while debating running for a hose to spray them, Richard managed to frighten them enough to get them apart. None of them want to be touched by human hands, and they avoid us to no end (unless they are haltered and tied). He caught Alfonso and tied him up. Thankfully he still had his halter on, which I have been meaning to take off.

We finished milking the goats. Alfonso got loose on the outside of the yard, where he was tied, and he kept running back and forth, humming, mad, because Vader had jumped the fence and was now in the goat yard with Patty, the other female. Richard tied Alfonso to the car.

Meanwhile we let all the goats into the llama barn, got the other two male llamas back out to pasture, and herded the female llama, Taylor, back into the goat yard. Richard fortified the short chain link fence they have been jumping, added two lines of electric tape on top, just a visual, but it should deter them because of the height.

I chased llamas for a while, trying to get Vader corralled. No luck. I enticed him into the chicken yard with a bowl of grain, and we got him back out to the pasture with the other llama boys.

The goats were herded back into their yard and we put Alfonso back in with the girls. Everyone was back to normal, with  the males all talking snotty to each other over the fences.

What a morning. And this afternoon, the wind still blows...

Herd of goats

First Frost

Last night we had our first frost. We were warned by checking the weather, and also by a farmer friend. I had a feeling it was coming. So yesterday, we worked like mad to catch up on everything and try to get our tomatoes covered in time.

Frame for plastic to cover a row of tomatoes.

Quick hoop house over tomatoes.

My adult daughter and her significant other came to visit on Friday and Saturday. It was a lot of fun. They showed up just after we got the new goats unloaded and into the goat yard. We all learned to milk the goats that day.

New goats.

Richard has been working like crazy to get an extension on the barn done for the goats. It rained really hard on Sunday night and flooded the fields. Too many animals without shelter had us up early and working on getting everyone out of the weather. The barn is not done yet, but at least most of the critters have a chance to get out of the rain now.

Bigger barn.

While Richard put up the barn addition, I picked the produce. I pulled all of the cucumbers, no matter what size. I picked three varieties of peppers, found three red tomatoes, collected more calendula seeds, found a few marigold dead heads to save for seed, jarred my dried rose hips, and put mullein seeds in a paper bag to dry. And then I put straw mulch over the onions and carrots, just to be safe.

Cucumbers...some have been turned into pickles.

We worked like mad. It was a long hard day. But we did it! We got the tomatoes covered, picked the produce we could, and got the shelter made for the goats.

And...it frosted.

Frost bitten pumpkin vines.

But we were prepared. I am thankful our hard work paid off. And I am sad to see the gardening season winding down as winter closes in.

Growing the farm.

The weather is decidedly cooler since our last rainy spell. Now there is a cool wind blowing and the temps max out at 75 F or so. I can feel Fall in the air. We are trading our window fans for electric heaters. We have been collecting heaters all summer at various yard sales. This little farmhouse has no heat, except for the wood stove, which has not been cleaned, chimney included for what, ten years or more? I'm going to try and avoid using it, if possible.

Thankfully there is a lot of solar gain here, and except for the windows losing the heat at night, the house does get pretty warm during the day. We have put up some foam insulation over about half the windows in the hope of cutting down on the heat loss.

Foam insulation on sunroom (our bedroom) windows

This week, we dug potatoes out of one of our potato beds. We got 10 pounds, maybe. Not great, but not bad, considering we used our organic grocery store potatoes that started to sprout. We have two more potato beds to dig.

Pretty potatoes.

This is a big week. Yesterday we went to pick up an intact, male alpaca that our neighbor hay farm is getting rid of. His name is Alfonso, and he is pure white, which means, I can dye some wool.

Alfonso the alpaca.

We also met with a nice family who is re-homing their milk goats to us. We gave them a tour of the farm and tomorrow we are going over to their place to pick up some goats. I think there are five females. Three mamas and two doelings. Some polled. I think the goat herd is adequate now.

We have goat milk and cheese available here at the farm, if anyone wants to stop by to try some.

Treasures in the mist

Clouds on Ute Mountain 

It's still raining. We woke to another gray day. The ditch water is still running slowly into our big llama pasture. It may have gotten diverted somewhere before it gets to us. It's running real slow now.

Ditch into our property.

Playing in the water has led us to some wonderful discoveries on our little piece of earth. We found a few stalks of Mullein in the field on the way to the ditch. Some are gone by, some are getting ready to bloom and there are even a few of the first year mullein, before it blooms.

Mullein, about to bloom.

Mullein, first year.

This is my new best friend. This plant is supposed to protect and inspire healers, energetically. It has many medicinal uses, and I plan to study up on them in the next couple of weeks. We may be able to use this in a poultice to help heal our injured/lame Pekin duck, Guadelupe. It is supposed to be good for joints and inflammation. While looking up this helpful plant, I found a wonderful resource and what looks to be a great read at The Medicine Woman's Roots.

We dug up two of the first year mullein plants and have them drying on a screen in the garage.

We also found mushrooms growing in the compost, which is mostly just a mixture of llama poop and hay. Now we know something good is happening in those compost piles.

Shrooms

Some of our corn has reached seven to eight feet tall.

Corn 

 Richard picked an ear off of one of the colored stalks that had blown over.

Pretty corn. "Painted Mountain"

The wild asparagus is going to seed and has little red/orange berries all over it.

Wild asparagus next to the irrigation ditch.

And Richard got to witness firsthand how our little Patty girl get's out of her pasture.  "She just tucked her legs up and soared over the gate," he told me. She jumped the fence this morning to get back into the goat pasture.

Patty. Isn't she cute?

Getting wet.

Woke to a wet, gray day.

It rained all night again. In fact, it sounded like it was pouring, as it steadily and heartily bounced off our bedroom "windows."

Chicken yard this morning.

So, this morning we let the two very wet llama girls back into the barn with the boys. I'm thinking with this weather, they will stay close and not attempt to walk through wires. We closed them off into the small paddock next to the barn anyway.

Everything is soaking wet. But, at least we have not gotten the flooding my mother is getting in Colorado Springs.

Driveway this morning.

I AM thankful for the water, I really am. But when our neighbor showed up at our door to inform us that we get water today, all I could think was "Are you kidding me?"

Waterday! Tarp barrier ready to divert to the trees.

So we've diverted the ditches into the landlords' plantings of trees, and we are off to town to do our grocery shopping. When we get back, I guess we will try to flood the fields. Comical.

Good Morning!

A llama and the sunrise.

This morning when I looked out the front door, there was a llama standing about ten feet away. And this was no where near the llama pasture! We had an escapee on our hands. It wasn't the first time our little girl Patty has gotten out, but the first time here at this farm, where we have tried to be so diligent about the fencing. No one wants to chase runaway llamas!

What is it about llamas and hills? Patty found the hills of dirt in our yard and proudly climbed to the top, strutting and posturing for the rest of the llama herd, which thankfully, were all still in their pen.

It didn't take much to get the wandering young llama back in with the rest of the clan. She seemed uncomfortable outside of her space, and I think we were all surprised to see her where she didn't belong.

Richard checked the fences, but there was nothing amiss. I remember when Patty girl was a little llama-ling (a half-grown cria), she climbed between the wires of the electric fence. I think she just wanted to snoop on the other side. The grass is always greener....

So, in with the goats the two llama girls went. Now all the females can share a space for a while, and the llamas will protect the goats since the billy is partitioned off.

Did I mention the rain? It has been raining off and on for two days now, and Richard just finished rain shelters for the goats. Now the llama girls are back in the rain, without a barn again, until we finish the goat section of the big barn. Or are they?

Sharing the space.

While Taylor decided to bunk with the goats, our juvenile delinquent sat out in the rain, perhaps pondering a new escape that might get her back into the barn.

Patty, hanging out at the gate.

I don't recommend just using electric fence for llamas. It has just not worked well for us. Maybe we need more strands of wire, closer together. Maybe the llamas have so much fur, they never feel the shock of the wire. I prefer field fence all the way around, but since we are renting, we are hesitant to put more up, as we intend to take it down when we move from here. Plus, it's expensive!

I am so thankful the rest of the llamas stayed where they belonged, and thankful Patty didn't find one of the many holes in the existing perimeter fence that is falling down around the farm. Lucky day indeed!

Rain

It rained all night.

I slept badly, thinking of the poor goats out there without any shelter.

Yesterday, we separated the billy, put the girls in together and let the llamas have their barn back.

As a result, there was not enough time before Richard went to work to make shelters for the goats. I tried to go out last night in the dark after I got the kids to bed, and throw an old rug up over the corral panels for Molet. It was pouring. I failed miserably. The panels were not situated right to create a structure to hold anything. So, I took my wet and muddy self off to bed, where I listened to the rain come and go, tapping on the plexi-glass of the sun room that serves as our our bedroom.

In the morning, it was still raining. The goats were all huddled against fences, looking sad, cold and wet.

So Richard got up and spent the morning building shelters.

The girls now have a shelter.

And Molet has a place he can get out of the sun and rain.  

The sun is shining this afternoon, although the rain is coming again. I am thankful for the moisture, for sure, and grateful that Richard can put up rain shelters so quickly (thankful for pallets!).

The gardens are happy with the rain. But Fall is coming. I can feel it. I'm afraid our tomatoes won't have time to produce. We are looking at putting a greenhouse up around them.

The pumpkins are turning orange now. 

Huge pumpkins -- one growing right on top of another!

And the Marigolds are beautiful in bloom.

I appreciate the beauty of this wonderful farm and how our gardens are producing. The goats are giving us milk. Richard made some yummy cilantro pesto goat cheese. The llamas amuse me just by being their llama selves. I got a walk in this morning with the family and dogs, in between the rain. 

Life is good, isn't it? I sure am enjoying the abundance here on our little farm in the San Luis Valley.

Goats

Keepin' the faith....

Milking the goats....

pot o' milk

Richard is making cheese again today. The new goat's production is up after just a couple of days.






I think Fairy Dust is happy to have some female company.

Jewell

The llamas, however, are not thrilled to have been kicked out of their barn.

Llamas, missing their barn

Richard is reworking some fencing so we can use the corral panels to make a pen for the billy goat. The billy continues to head butt the pallets on the llama barn. He tore apart the little pallet goat barn Richard made for him and Fairy. So now, he will live behind the corral panels, with some kind of boards thrown on top so he can get out of the rain. Maybe we can find him a new home before the winter comes. I hope so. Or we may have to build him an Earthbag goat shelter and see how that holds up to his abuse.

Molet and Fairy Dust

I try to remember that Molet is just a goat, albeit a big, horned billy, and he is just acting like a protective billy when he head butts the gate after the girls go to the milking stand. It's his job to take care of them and I guess to harass them too. That's what animals do in a natural setting. Too bad the girls are not so keen on his affections. And so, it is for their sake, that we have decided to re-home the overly amorous billy and to separate him in the mean time. Anyone looking for a Nubian billy goat?

The Beginning of the Church Farm Blog

Here we go!

How do you start a church with no budget? How do we realize our vision of Green Desert Sanctuary and make it a physical reality?

I'm going to go with faith. And maybe throw in some dedicated work with the Law of Attraction.

Meanwhile, we keep plugging away at the farm, turning it into the Church Farm. We bought another milk goat this past week. She is still in milk. She's a big girl named Jewell--Alpine cross. Our big billy won't leave her alone. So, she's sectioned off in the llama barn for a few days until she can get used to us at least. We are debating moving the billy off by himself somewhere so the girls can have some peace.

So far, our farm consists of:
    5 llamas (three gelded boys, two open girls)
    3 goats (one billy, two nannies in milk)
    3 Pekin ducks (one male, two female)
    25 or so miscellaneous chickens and one rooster
    10 Buff Orpinton pullets, just starting to lay
    6 baby turkeys
    2 rabbits (one male, one female to breed for meat rabbits)
    1 Great Pyrenees (female, spayed)
    1 mutt (male, border collie mix)
    1 chihuahua (male, neutered, house pet, lap dog)
    1 white dove (house pet)
    1 Amazon Parrot (red-lored, 13 years old, house pet)
    1 black house cat (male, neuetred, 12 years old)


We still have so many things we'd like to try as we transition from our little homestead to the church farm. As we are still in a rental space, we are limited in what we can do here. I'm hardly going to construct a 30 foot labyrinth or build a pyramid to meditate in. Until we can find a suitable property, everything has to be transportable. There is a property a few miles away we are looking at, and hopefully it will be available when we have saved enough for a deposit. We are always accepting donations. Please visit our vision page to find out what we would like to do at Green Desert Sanctuary, and how you can be a part of it.