Drama queen with her little boy: …and here’s the little girl: Also I stopped in the middle of fixing the HTML/CSS, so it’s more broken than before, but I’ll finish that soon and IE users will stop seeing a mess =)

In the middle of our waiting-for-goat-babies night, I realized I was absolutely famished and needed animal fat NOW! The following took about 10 minutes of hands-on time to prepare (including running out to pick kale) and will definitely be repeated. Kale-wrapped mint lamb burgers – 4 servings Ingredients:

• 1 lb grass-fed free-range natural ground lamb*
• 1 tbsp crushed fresh mint leaves (from our garden last year)
• 8 big leaves kale (from our cold frame)
• 1 small egg (from our chickens)
• 4 tbsp rolled oats
• 3 tbsp shelled sunflower seeds
• pinch or two of sea salt
• several apple wood twigs, soaked in water if dry
• olive oil

Instructions:

1. Start the BBQ on high (keep at about 400°-500°)
2. in a large mixing bowl, combine ground lamb, nearly-powdered mint leaves, sunflower seeds, salt, rolled oats, and egg. Make sure the egg gets thoroughly mixed in, it helps bind the burger together and keep it fluffy & moist.
3. coat a dinner plate with olive oil
4. shape mixture into 4 patties, putting each one on the olive oiled plate when it’s done. Not too thick; we want to cook these at high heat, actually flame-broil them a bit, and the inside should be cooked before the outside is charcoal!
5. get a little more olive oil and make sure the patties are completely coated
6. put dry applewood twigs into the grill…I drop them on the lava rocks, on the OPPOSITE side from where I’ll put the food (there will be enough flame from the olive oil dripping!)
7. plop the patties on the grill. the dripping oil will probably burst into flame; that’s ok. close the lid to keep the applewood smoke in.
8. cook until done – the outside should be a bit seared, even slightly charred. USDA blah blah blah standards blah blah blah specify 160° internal temperature. That recommendation is geared toward the filthy, diseased CAFO stuff at the supermarket; I cook ground meat to about 145° for myself but am not advising you to do that because you will surely poop yourself to death or something. The gov’t says so! I guess I died years ago.
9. Take patties off the grill and let them drain a bit on newspaper. Wrap in fresh-picked kale leaves and enjoy!

To make a portable, one-hand meal, I wrapped some sheets of newspaper around the finished product. The oily newspaper is wonderful stuff for starting the woodstove later. Sorry no photos; these got scarfed right up! *“Lamb” refers to meat from a sheep under 1 year of age, not little tiny babies. Generally, the older it is, the “sheepier” it tastes, and the more salt and mint you will want to use.

Ok, we know you’re all anxiously awaiting the play-by-play, but we’re still recuperating, so that will have to come later today or tomorrow. But oh boy, do we have stories to tell! In the meantime, here’s some eye candy for you: indistinct and over-flashed photos from probably about 3:00 am, a couple of hours post-birth. This is Drama’s boy baby – he was the first and most difficult to come out. See how Drama’s licking him? That’s her job, to get them cleaned up as soon as possible. The licking also helps stimulate blood flow and breathing, getting them up and moving about. Here’s baby boy again, looking for seconds – um, in the wrong place – of mama’s milk (actually, colostrum). And this is Drama’s little girl – she followed her brother out with almost no effort, probably not more than 10 minutes later. She looks an awful lot like her mama, but the one white foot is a gift from her pops. And, here’s Peter holding baby girl, just to give you an idea of how tiny they are right now. Mama and babies are all doing really well. For now, they’re keeping their private room together, to give them time to bond and rest (Drama) and become a bit stronger and learn how to use their legs (babies), before re-joining the rest of our small herd. The story of Drama’s incredible extra-long labor and birth will follow, as soon as we’ve recovered sufficiently to have enough energy to write it. And I’m sure there will be plenty more cute baby photos on the way as well!

22 hours after Drama’s ligaments went soft, signaling impending labor, she gave birth to twins – a boy and a girl. 25 hours after Drama’s ligaments went soft, we’ve finished the goat care and cleanup, and are falling into bed. It’s been a long, long day. Stories and photos are on their way tomorrow, we promise.

When I got up at 3am to check Drama Queen’s progress, the two ligaments to either side of her tail had gone completely mushy, just as Goat Health Care said they would…this usually means delivery is coming in a matter of hours (up to 24). There was no vaginal discharge yet, so I went back and grabbed a few more hours of sleep. Now it’s a little after 9am and Drama is showing more signs of labor; pacing around, talking more than usual, and pawing at the bedding. She’s still interested in alfalfa and warm water with apple cider vinegar (always a big hit in cool weather), and more interested in petting and scritching than usual. Teri and I will be taking turns checking on her, and tonight we’ll probably be posting photos of goat babies!

They say the waiting is the hardest part… Our very pregnant Drama Queen is showing signs that she could go into labor any day now. We’re checking her obsessively several times a day, and at night are putting her up in the private “kidding room”, just in case. Last night it was my turn to get up at 3:00am and check on her, and tonight (haha) it’s Peter’s turn. Realistically, we probably don’t need to be quite so obsessive, since even though we know she’s close (probably within a day or two of giving birth), the biggest sign of impending labor hasn’t happened yet – but once it does, kidding will likely take place within the next 12-24 hours. Goats have two ligaments (one on each side) very near their tail – when a doe is entering labor, these ligaments feel as if they’ve disappeared. In reality, they’ve simply loosened to allow her pelvis to open and allow the kid (or kids) to pass through the birth canal. This is the sign we’re waiting – and compulsively checking – for. Other signs she’s currently exhibiting that tell us her time is near: Though we can still feel her ligaments, they are softening, and the area is taking on a slightly “hollowed-out” look; she alternates between wanting extra affection and reassurance, to being extra twitchy and not wanting to be touched at all (though that part could have something to do with the constant poking and prodding of her hindquarters…); she’s holding her tail differently – kind of arched; her vulva is a little swollen, and yesterday presented with a clear mucus (an expected sign of pending labor); and she’s exhibiting various other unusual (for her) behaviors, like yawning and a general restlessness. Our fat little Drama, with now-starting-to-show Aberdeen behind her (this photo is a week old – she’s even rounder now): And, our little girl has gotten her boobs! (This photo is also a week old – yep, these are bigger now too.) So, we’re anxiously waiting, excited to welcome her precious babies into the world (and excited to soon have our own fresh goat milk), hoping for the best, and nervous about all the things that could go wrong (but probably won’t). Drama, taking her time… Here’s Aberdeen, just recently starting to show when I took this photo a week ago, now even bigger – she has one month yet to go: And random cuteness from Koko, not pregnant but not to be left out, in her “don’t hate me because I’m beautiful” pose:

Several weeks ago now, we received two more beautiful black little hens from the same neighbor/new friend who gifted us with Atom and Molly. The new girls have settled in beautifully, and our ladies are currently giving us 12-14 eggs a week. Our birds are also now officially free-range for most of each weekday (they remain inside for the weekends – too many dogs roaming around when we and our neighbor/friend/landlord are home and outside working on projects). I leave them in their coop-and-run until about noon each day, to give the dog a couple of good off-leash walks/runs while they’re still safely un-chase-able. Then I open the door to freedom. Here’s Atom, taking the first steps out of the coop, on the first day I let them out: And here two of the girls have followed him out (that’s Molly on the right, with Leo – short for Leopard-skin Pillbox Hat – on the left, and Shygirl – who is actually no longer quite so shy, but the name has stuck – still in the coop behind the chicken wire): And here are some very happy birds: Surprisingly, they tend to stay fairly close to their coop, our house, and our outbuildings. Occasionally they range a bit further afield, but if I look for them, I’m always able to locate them without a problem. And at dusk, they always return on their own to the safety of their coop – all I have to do is close and bolt the door behind them, to guard against predators. By allowing them to free-range and forage for their own food, they supply themselves with a far better diet than what we could provide – full of fresh green grasses and a wide variety of slugs, bugs and worms – making their eggs that much more nutritious for us (the fresh greens are what gives truly free-range chickens that vivid yellow-orange yolk – so different from supermarket eggs). The various grains and treats I throw to them in the mornings are just icing on the cake. And fittingly, it was on last Friday’s Spring Equinox that we found ourselves outside hunting for eggs. A side effect of allowing the chickens to roam is that they soon find many suitable places – places other than their nest boxes – to lay their eggs. Shortly after I let them out that day, I realized that I only saw two of the hens. The third was obviously off laying, though not in either of the nest boxes. So we went on a hen-hunt, trying to find her nest. After about 20 minutes of unsuccessful searching, I saw Molly walking serenely back to join the others, down a little path next to one of the giant trees that guards our home. So we narrowed our search. A few minutes later, we found the nest – with Molly’s still-warm egg nestled next to two others left from a day or two earlier. This is the well-concealed nest that we must have walked by about a dozen times while we were looking for her. Can you see it – right in the middle of the photo? (Oops – I should have taken the photo with the eggs still in the nest.) We’ve left the nest alone, since if we destroy it they’ll just make others, and then we’ll have to find them all over again. As long as they feel like it’s a safe spot, they’ll keep laying there. And I’ll keep checking it – along with their nest boxes – a couple of times a day. Chicken parade:

The daffodils are up! And so are the dandelions… …and these tiny little purple flowers that are everywhere… …and the snowdrops have already come and gone (this photo is a few weeks old). The trees are budding… …and the Indian Plums already have flowers. And in the garden, we’ve planted pea starts… …the garlic we planted last fall is thriving… …last year’s kale in the cold-frame is going crazy… …and there’s more starts in the greenhouse waiting to be planted (from left: blueberry, onion, and more peas; not pictured: another type of onion starts we planted last weekend, our new rhubarb plant, dormant asparagus roots, and seed potatoes, also all waiting to go into the ground – not to mention our large box full of saved seeds from the last two years and our enormous seed order on the way from Victory Seeds). Snail sex, I think… A dog enjoying the sunshine (complete with fresh gooey turkey poo stuck in his fur – he loves to roll in the stuff – it’s the black stuff on his neck on the right side of the photo)… …and the cat with the biggest eyes ever, enjoying her own patch of sunshine.

UPDATE: there’s a newer post with a picture of the device being used, for anyone who wondered exactly how that worked. In keeping with the already established aesthetic of our livestock equipment and housing, I built a milking/hoof care stand and stanchion out of old pallets and scrap wood. Here’s the overview: With the stanchion open: Though it looks like a medieval torture device, the blue bucket full of treats keeps goats happy and distracted during milking, hoof trimming, etc.: Goat’s-eye view: Teri pointed out that it would be disasterous for a goat’s body to slip off the side while her head was in the stanchion, so I added side rails. One can be flipped out of the way to release the goat (goats don’t like to go in reverse) Locked closed: Open: Old lawnmower wheels make this weighty contraption sort of portable: It may look slapped together, but typical of my engineering, it’s sturdy enough for a small elephant. I studied various sets of plans, made a few sketches, and adapted what I had in my imagination to the supply of old pallets and scrap we had lying around. Here’s proof that I didn’t major in drafting (or penmanship, which has continued its downhill progress through almost 30 years of computer use):