What's new?

It seems like a lot is new here.  Yesterday Tila gave birth to a sweet little girl, Respa.  I went out to the barn in the morning and there was a perfect little baby.  There was nothing for me to do but spray her umbilical cord with iodine, give Tila some molasses water and tell her what a good job she had done.
Remember Tila?  She's the one who cried for 3 days when I got her.  She's a quiet girl now and a good mom.

The turkeys arrived a week ago but it's kind of hard to get excited about having more chicks in the basement.  It seems like there's been some stinky bird down there for 3 months.  I'll be glad when they're all outdoors.  I still have those pheasant eggs in the incubator so if they hatch it will be awhile till our basement just smells damp and mildewy instead of stinky like bird poop. 

I'm building a goat shed for the boys so I can move them over to the field across the street.  It was easier to build it in the driveway and take it to the field in pieces so I guess it's a pre-fab goat house.  Today I'm painting it.

Keri thinks I built a dog house for her in the driveway.

She and the mammoth donkeys are shedding like crazy and look like real ragamuffins.

My spaquaponics project is coming along nicely, I think.  I planted lots of seeds and many of them have come up.

The water has cleared and the bottom is a pretty green.  I have 6 or 7 bass and sunfish Adam caught in the river and gave me.  They ate my 5 goldfish and 6 minnows.

A few nights ago we had a big rain storm and the hot tub overflowed.  The next day there was a dead bass in the lawn.  I don't know why our dogs didn't eat it.  Today Keri was barking at it and I thought there must be a snake nearby the way she was barking.  Nope, just 2 butterflies on her fish.  I don't know why she was so offended by them.

Tuesday a group of Washington and Lee U. students came for a farm tour.  They milked the goats, took a tour of the gardens and then went back to the teacher's house and I taught them to make ricotta, mozzarella and burrata cheeses.  I think it all went really well.

 It was a women's health class and they each made a dish that day that had a super food in it.  I got a really nice lunch out of the deal. 

Tomorrow I'm doing another cheese making demonstration at our 2nd annual goat jamboree.  It's a group I've gotten to know through the internet and it's a pretty friendly crowd.  It should be fun.

Adam moved to the Outer Banks for an internship.  He's working for 6 months at Wild Horse Adventure Tours.  He started giving tours 3 days ago and loves it.  Like his mom and dad, he's not shy and like his mom, he likes to talk so he should be good at his job.  So if you go to the Outer Banks this summer sign up for a tour and take a ride in a humvee on the beach looking for wild horses while being entertained by a handsome tour guide.  Most important, give him a big tip.