Mother's Day

I had the greatest Mother's Day. James and I drove a little over an hour south to Enchanted Hill farm on Bent Mountain with the intention of looking at a buck for Strawberry, our Nigerian Dwarf goat, to breed with. The farm was incredible, alpacas, goats, chickens, dogs and birds all over. The owners, Ed and Joanie, were very warm, welcoming and informative. We stayed for 4 hours as they gave us the tour of their farm. They had so many outbuildings/barns, I was envious. I'd love to build one for the goats and hay storage and can't wait to get started. If only I had the materials. I have an idea in my mind though. I LOVE a building project.

Of course we came home with the buck, Witty, formerly Woody, aka Woodrat. We changed his name to Witty because we have a human friend Woody and we thought Witty sounded close enough to his name. As I type, I'm watching Witty chase our chickens around their fence. He doesn't touch them, just herds them. I just put him in their fence because he was wearing Jake out, my cute little wether (neutered male goat). He keeps butting Jake and Jake seems scared to death of him. Strawberry, our doe, has mixed feelings I think. She butts Witty like she wants to be in control but then lets him hump her and doesn't seem to mind at all. Hopefully in a month or less she'll be pregnant and we'll have little Nigerian Dwarf goats running and jumping around. I don't think there's anything cuter. Even puppies and kittens aren't as bouncy and playful as a goat kid.

Joanie gave us some of her homemade goats milk soap. I must learn to make this. It smells and feels wonderful. Ed says he loves using it. We haven't tried it yet. I almost hate to ruin it because she made it in such pretty molds. I have lots of plans for when Strawberry is providing us with milk. I can't wait to make soap, yoghurt and cheeses. I guess first I need to learn to milk her and of course raise baby goats. Once the chickens start laying I plan to make icecream from the goats milk and eggs. Some pretty rich ice cream huh?

On to something besides goats. Today I spent the afternoon in Roanoke with Feenie fixing some plumbing in his daughter's rental house. First we put a new faucet on the clawfoot tub. That went easier than I expected. Then we had to fix a leak in the drain of the bathroom sink. Not as easy as I expected. We took it apart 4 times. We still need to go back to fix the downstairs shower. Plumbing isn't one of my favorite chores but it was fun to do with a friend.

My son, Adam, offered to mow the lawn for me for Mother's day. He's broke. I prefer he doesn't spend money on me anyway. I thought about what I wrote about a few days ago concerning helping people. For a Mother's Day gift I asked him to do something for someone else. Not us or his friends, but someone who would really appreciate it. I still don't know what he did. I hope whatever it is he does makes him feel good and want to do more.

Time for dinner, steak and sourkraut.