Baby Dwarf Goats!

The woman I spoke to on the phone yesterday about goats said, "Well, the first thing you need to know about goats is that they're addictive." What an odd thing to say, thought I. And then we drove up to Paso and out of Paso, up a long dirt road and finally up her driveway in order to meet her Nigerian Dwarf goat babies. OMG. Saying they are addictive is an understatement. If Jack wasn't standing right next to me, I would have stuffed our truck full of as many of them as I could shove in. As it happened, though, he allowed me two, but the woman threw in one more for the road. Ha! I love how people work out here in the country! So, without further adieu, I give you our two six month old little boys and our two year old girl (the pictures aren't good because I can't yet tell them where to stand for photo opps, but I'll post more once they realize I'm not the enemy who stole them from their 60 member herd of fellow vertically challenged Nigerians. Except that, actually, I am.):

Sure, they look like your average goats without anything to give size perspective, but below when they are next to Max, our 11 pound dog, you can see that I'm not making fun of them when I call them "dwarfs".

The tiny guy in the middle, who's face you can't even see in this photo, maybe has two inches on Max.

Avian Paradise

I still don't have any chickens, but that's only because I have no place to house them yet. When my students were here a few weeks ago they tore down the existing coops because they were, well, shit houses. The dude that farmed chickens here before us left an unbelievable mess behind, and its no wonder all his chickens got diseases and died. More likely they decided drinking the cool-aid had to be better than this cussing life and offed themselves in an overwhelming show of massive avian solidarity. At least, that's what I choose to believe.
Anywho, I wanted to pay tribute to my amazing helpers (Conner, James and Rae) by showing the before and after photos of what is now a two-duck resort, but what will shortly be a mecca for birds everywhere (but probably just for the two ducks and the five chickens). And actually, now that the ducks are pretty much full-grown, we've realized that we have been raising and housing illegal Mallards (thanks a lot Brianna and Magali!). And word on the street is that they will up and fly south for the winter. As a matter of fact, just this week I've noticed the smaller of the two sneaking behind the oak tree to try out her newly filled-out wings. I just can't shake the feeling they're planning something. And to think of all I've done for them.



The two buildings on the left were the existing coops. Everywhere you see plants, there are also deep holes for some strange reason.




Close up of the chaos

This does not even BEGIN to do the amount of shit in the coops justice.





Coops gone, plants pulled, holes filled. All in 100 plus degrees. Bravo, gang.

Who Knew a Goat Could be Just Like a Dog?

Out of our three new goats (each about 1.5 years old and all female), Daisy, the black and white, was bottle fed. Turns out, this results in the goat being more like a dog than a goat! We have discovered this in the few days we've had them because the moment we step into their pin, Daisy is literally all over us. She follows us where ever we go, nuzzles us constantly, and plays games with us, like chase and headbutting. It's amazing to watch, actually. She will push into our legs or hips trying to get us to play with her, and when we leave the pin, she cries for like 2 minutes! If she weren't so cussing strong, I'd even consider leashing her up and taking her for a walk. However, with two slightly bum knees at the moment, probably not a good idea. Plus, she could use a bath before I go showing her off to all the neighbors.
So here she is playing with Rae this morning. It's so stinking cute.

And here's all three of the gals with Sohie and Alanna, past students who stopped by on the way home from their roadtrip to San Franciso. We're feeding them oak leaves. It's like crack to them.

Goats!!!

There is so much to report, as I just realized I haven't updated this since July 24 or something. So sorry to lag so badly. We have had three of my students up here helping us all week, and we have had to work early mornings and late evenings since this heat wave drives us inside like ants around noon every day. The two boys, Conner and James, left yesterday, and Rae is here for 3 more fun-filled weeks of shoveling shit, raking, digging, planting, watering, tearing things down, feeding animals, weeding, sweating, swimming, and glorious sunsets.
The picture below is our fabulous five workcrew. We are not smiling, but that's only from pure exhaustion, not unhappiness. At least, that's what they all said to my face.

I just added this one because it shows the colorings of dusk. My favorite time out here.

Second bit of news: we are officially a farm now with today's addition of three goats! It took four adults to catch them in their old pen and get them up a ramp into our truck, but we did it. They are now in their new digs, and by the way they are chowing down on the pasture, they are fine with the upgrade. Let's just hope they aren't allergic to Eucalyptus leaves. If they are, they're gonners.

From left to right: Daisy, Tina and Kiki (already named by previous owner)