Amazing & Awkward: III
Spring is officially here! There is lots to celebrate:
Amazing
- We haven't had a fire in over a week (which, if you remember, wood is our only heat source).
- I'm almost done purging our home. Two years ago we moved from a 2,500+ square foot house to an 1,100 square foot studio. I am finally to the point where I look around and don't see "stuff". Now, instead, I see memories and treasures. My rule? If I don't absolutely love it, it has to go. As a bonus, cleaning is easier with less things lying around.
- I finally bit the bullet and made my own laundry soap. I used Thrifty NW Mom's recipe which you can see by clicking here >> It's been over three weeks now on the new soap and we have zero complaints. It was easy to make and gets our clothes clean...which is not necessarily an easy task. Needless to say I'm thrilled to be saving the money we spent on laundry soap.
- Turkish is really coming into his own and we're starting to realistically talk about what kind of heterosexual life partner we'll get for him. I say it like that because whoever we get will be neutered, just like Turkish, and hopefully also a rescue. Read: The best things in life are rescued.
- We saw Cincy successfully "go surfing" with a few of our ladies. This means, if all the stars were aligned we could have lambs in August. But, right now it's still a guess since breeding right now is actually "out of season" for Katahdins. A few of our ewes did come from aseasonal breeders but there's no guarantee that trait was passed down.
- Mrs. Robinson is due in a month! Her pregnancy is confirmed. We had our friend and goat mentor Donna from Edelweiss Acres (who also provided the buck for Mrs. Robinson to be bred to) come out and feel around. She is pretty sure she felt just one baby in there, which we are more than okay with. I love our goats, but, if it's a boy we will neuter it which basically means it's another "pet". If it's a girl we may end up milking her too, but that wouldn't be for a few more years since dairy goats grow much slower and we don't breed early. Either way, at one point there was talk of triplets which was never something I was looking forward to.
Awkward
It's been two months since Izzy has gone outside. She is just not interested and we're not forcing it. Boots spends all night prowling in the barn, and has the mice to prove it, and then spends a few hours outside, but other than that he is also now an indoor cat. The good news is, Izzy is starting to become super friendly. She still doesn't like to be picked up, and only pet on her terms but, she is much more "in your face". I think this is a huge step for a tiny little cat who was rescued with 31 other cats in a single-wide hoarding situation. She's even been allowed to join the "Bed Girls Club". Yes, you guessed it, only girl cats sleep on the bed at night. Sasha on my pillow, Six on my feet and Izzy on the handsome man's feet. Why, I don't know. But I know enough about cats at this point never to ask "why?"- I saw my first pig penis yesterday. I had heard stories about them, but wow, it was otherwordly. Like a really big earthworm, and, the oddest part, spiraled at the end. Yeah, I'd say it was awkward. We'll have to separate Sampson from Delilah and Gumball at the end of this month. Even though they'll be just 5 months old he could accidentally breed them, and we're not breeding until they are at least a year old.
- The ducks have officially moved in. Their favorite time is shower time but they also thoroughly enjoy tormenting the cats. I'm so glad we got them as they really do bring a lot of enjoyment to our days. You can read about them here >> It is just a little awkward to watch them follow the cats around like tourists in a strange land. Although, Pip has figured out that if he begs while sitting next to Lola and Gregory, who are also begging, he has more success. Treat of choice? Scrambled eggs of course! Chilled and diced into tiny tiny chunks with lots of water to wash it down.
And so we've welcomed April with a bang. The bees are coming at the end of this month, hopefully we'll wrap up the hoop house this weekend and finish the inside of the laying house in the next few weeks. The pig shelter needs to be built, we still need to fence and somewhere out there is a tiny house just waiting to be imagined. And those are just the big projects...
But, we're also making a conscious effort to stop and enjoy our farm, the spaces we are creating, and the animals we get to share them with.