move over, teddybears

because everyone loves a picnic!

I dragged some freshcut branches to the upper paddock this morning.

Black birch: always a crowd favorite!

Each branch puts out many lateral side-branches, 

so if a big branch is hung on a fence,

goats on both sides have equal access to lots of leaves.

Betula

Wildlife note:

moose also love black birch (Betula lenta).

 I recall a natural resources debate about the reason for this,

and I stand firmly by my theory:

moose want minty-fresh breath.

Vinca

Goats are very particular about which leaf they wish to eat.

Acer

Very, very particular.

LeShodu

Even the babies:

Azalea and her mama, Lily of the Valley

Dara and his mama, LeShodu

Of course, in the snap below,

Betula is reaching for a leaf on Lily's side of the fence,

and vice versa.

Naturally.

My fault.

I don't know what I was thinking,

distributing All The Best Leaves

on the Other Side.

 I apologize for the quality of these pictures.

They are like not-really-very-good family holiday snaps

where a fuzzy subject is also half out of the frame.

I was mostly holding the camera over my head

and optimistically shooting down through the foliage.

9 out of 10 images looked like this:

But just in case you've never been to a goats' picnic before,

I wanted to invite you to this one.

Go on, nibble a twig.

Minty-fresh breath isn't just for moose!

~~~~~

wonderful wednesday

Oh my gosh, am I tired!

For two days in a row, I have had hired help for outdoor chores;

a fellow with a brush-cutter and chainsaw for a few hours yesterday,

and the hard-working 16-year-old for a few hours today.

"About time for a Poultry Palace Clean-Out,
wouldn't you say?"

Each day, I did morning chores an hour early,

then spent 3 solid hours doing prep-work.

When a helper arrived, I worked alongside or nearby.

Final step in the Seasonal Scrubdown:
Palace windows now (briefly) gleaming!

Yesterday, when the chainsaw man had gone,

leaving a wake of downed saplings and branches behind him,

I was very ready to call it a day.

Until I noticed the fresh cherry branches left on the ground in one of the paddocks.

I spent another half hour picking them up, one by one,

and heaving them over a 6' fence to get them out of goat-reach.

(Had to be done.)

He's coming back Friday, and I hope to get 

the other half of two tasks finished.

That should be all the chainsawing/brushcutting needed for a while.

Special Effects: chickens through a screen!
The hens are at the screenporch door,
probably saying "Thank you for our spotless Palace!"
Or...
"Come back! You missed a corner!"

Today, by the time the tireless teenager left,

I could barely creep to my chaise with a huge glass of V8 on ice.

More progress on the VRB!
Hundreds fewer branches to trip me in the paddocks!!

It is so lovely to have this young man helping out here.

No complaints, no shirking, no hesitation to ask questions.

Real, visible progress on tasks that have been

nagging at my mind daily for a very long time.

Today I even asked him to do a couple of chores

that I can do myself, but which are very labor-intensive

(for me, these days; but not for him)

while I got on with other tasks.

And I'll tell you what: between us, we got a heck of a lot done!

I'd go take more pictures to prove it,

but that would mean getting out of this chaise.

Would you like to see some squash leaves instead?

I planted a few varieties of winter squash this year,

and although any possible harvest seems a long way off,

the leaves are simply delightful!

The big leaves are huge!

The size of the steering wheels I remember from childhood;
a narrow rim of coated metal, with a horn in the middle.
I wonder if those steering wheels are still made.
I would like to have one.

Squash and kale: my cup of leaf appreciation runneth over.

Speaking of leaf appreciation,
I dragged some oak tops all the way up the driveway yesterday
and distributed them between the goat paddocks.
Today? Just naked, frayed twigs and barkless branches.

So, in conclusion, here's a goat picture for you:

Left to right: Tsuga, Acer, Campion, Azalea, Lily, Betula

The goats have had a rather unsettled time,

due to all the noise and bustle and shifting around.

So this evening, they shared an entire bale of hay at the fence.

It was a lovely picnic!

Fun for all!

(I had to do something. There weren't enough chaises to go around.)

~~~~~

just a moment

Summer.

~~~~~

some is better

It was almost 6 this evening when I realized:

Piper and I had not gone for a walk by the pond this weekend.

Rats.

Yesterday we tried, but on the way there

we did two errands,

then Piper ended up having a lovely visit with a friend

while I went to look at some goats, and then...

there was no time left.

And now, it was suddenly Sunday evening, and nearly time for chores. 

Still...it seemed likely that Piper would prefer

to spend 10 minutes playing in the woods

than no minutes playing in the woods.

So away we went.

I'm glad we did.

Piper spent as much time sniffing 

as she did running,

and she had a good time doing both.

We walked about 20 brisk minutes,

and lollygagged a few more.

Then we really had to head home to get all the goats

sorted and fed and settled for the night.

You don't want to try to do chores in the dark

with four kids bouncing around your knees.

Really. You don't.

This was on the way back, almost in the parking area:

 Piper was still trotting jauntily along a good distance in front of me

as we headed for the car, so she wasn't reluctant to leave.

Apparently even just a little time in the woods

can be enough.

Here's to the new week ahead.

I hope we can all spend at least a little time each day

doing what makes us happy.

 ~~~~~

wiped-out wednesday

La-la-la-la-la-la-la....

guess what?

My helper came again today.

I wish I had taken a "before" picture of the Very Raised Bed

(hereafter known as the VRB).

Over the past week, I have carried many, many trugs

of mucky hay from the barn to the VRB,

and spread it into a beautiful, thick layer.

Now covered by a layer of saplings and branches:

It may not look impressive compared to

the heavy layer we built last Wednesday,

but here's what you can't see:

after I pointed out the area to "harvest" from,

my helper picked up and carried every stick

and arranged them for (we hope) maximum stability.

He also carried 500 pounds of oats from my car to the barn.

I like this helper!

Meanwhile, while he was doing all this work,

I waltzed around my gardens like The Queen of the May,

snapping pictures of daylilies:

and singing: La-la-la-la-la-la-la....

~~~

Okay, not really.

Really, I spent the day cleaning the barn and

working on a sturdy divider and gate.

I can't post an "after" picture, because I ran out of hardware

and didn't want to make a special trip.

(Spent a couple of hours in the car yesterday,

and am not in a hurry to do it again.)

But here is what it looked like when I had taken down

the original, temporary divider,

and started building the new, more permanent, one.

That upright post is one edge of the gateway.

Experimental Project Alert!

I made one section of the new dividing wall

into a little hay feeder.

The goats are eating a LOT of hay now,

and that's fine, but they are also wasting a LOT.

Every trough arrangement has been claimed by the kids within minutes,

as a lovely, edible bed.

And THAT would be fine, too,

except goats tend to wake up, stretch, and...pee.

Wherever they happen to be.

Like, in the hay.

So I've made a tall, narrow "hay wall,"

using 4' high, 4"-square, woven wire fencing.

It's only 4 inches deep - the width of the roughcut

framing of the dividing wall and gate -

so the goats won't get into trouble

trying to cram their heads through the fencing

to get to more hay.

I hope.

Here's a view from the top:

And here's the arrival of the Review Committee:

While I was sitting on that bench with my camera,

Dara, LeShodu's son, noticed that I was sitting.

An empty lap means only one thing to Dara:

Full disclosure: when goat breeders talk about behavior issues,

I have always taken the line,

"If it won't be cute when they're 60 pounds,

it isn't something I'll encourage when they're adorable babies."

Erm. Yeah.

Thing is, I've never seen kids as gentle as Azalea and Dara.

(If they weren't also playful and rowdy, I'd be worried!) 

Even when she was tiny, Azalea, Lily's daughter,

instead of jumping on me the way all baby kids do,

would slowly raise herself up on her hind legs and balance

until I picked her up.

Honestly.

Now, when she's too heavy for me to pick up,

Azalea will sometimes come and lean her shoulder against me

and just stand quietly for a minute or so.

It's very unusual behavior.

And Dara!

Most babies, from a couple of days old, will leap up on a person in a chair.

Then they will then jump right down again.

(This is a perfect example of the kind of thing I don't encourage.)

But Dara does not want to jump right down.

Dara wants to lean back, quietly chew his cud, and doze.

Indefinitely.

I have witnesses.

They couldn't believe it either.

I usually end up putting him down

because I cannot sit for long periods of time.

Today, when I was sitting on that bench with my camera, legs bent,

Dara hopped up, observed that my lap was apparently broken,

and gently squirmed his way under my arm and across my legs anyway.

What would you do?

I took a picture.

This goat is 9 weeks old.

Now you are all witnesses.

Because I feel confident this behavior will be self-limiting -

that one day, Dara will suddenly decide,

"gosh, this is no longer a comfortable position,"

and that will be the end of the Amazing Lapgoat -

I am ignoring my own "rule" about discouraging any behavior

that won't be cute in a yearling.

"Don't worry. One day I will be a Grown Up Goat,

and this will all just be a memory

that makes you smile."

~~~

And now, all that waltzing and singing

has really worn me out.

Time for evening chores, then an early night!

~~~~~