Our riding mower has lost a belt, so it's not available for cutting the field. Most people believe that goats will keep a pasture (or yard) trimmed; but that is not the case. Goats pick and choose their favorite plants and take a few bites of it, then they move on looking for something else interesting. We definitely have to keep the pasture mowed or it would be impassable for goats and people! I had to use the non-riding mower to make a swath through the dense, lush rainforest. The area around the yellow metal loveseat is covered in poison ivy; it's like a thick carpet. I mowed that - and am hoping that I don't get any rashes! As soon as I was finished mowing, I practically ran inside for a shower, where I SCRUBBED with lots of soap on my washcloth. We'll see how that works.

Tulip and Juniper


Mmmm. Weeds!

In bloom on the farm

Thistle. Asa found out first hand how prickly they are.


Daylilies near the Codorus Creek. The goats tried desperately to demolish these plants this spring. They LOVE to eat the leaves of the lily. Luckily, they grow in abundance in the pasture.

girls in the pasture

Juniper has recovered from her illness, and is back in the pasture munching away at the tasty weeds!

Clover in the pasture. Do you think that it's almost time to mow? Soon we won't be able to even see the girls out there!

While I was mucking out the barn, the girls kept busy in the field. I keep having to run them back to the barn when it begins to rain again. 100% humidity and scattered showers are making it hard for the goaties to enjoy a day in the field .

Mother's Little Helper

Asa helping with barn chores. Here he is getting the "Stall-Dry" and spreading over the urine-saturated earth floor. After we lay down the Stall-Dry, we spread a thin layer of straw over the top of it. Today in the barn there is 93% humidity! It's really unpleasant.

Juniper is better now

At the vet we learned that Juniper did indeed have coccidiosis, so both her and Tulip were put on Albon medicine for ten days. This all just before we were to leave for our annual vacation to Woman Lake in Longville, MN. Thankfully, we have friends who were already prepared to care for all four of our goats - and didn't bat an eye at having to also give an oral dose of medicine to two goats every day that we were gone! Thanks Max and Vickie! We were happy to learn via e-mail messages that Juniper's diarrhea cleared up and all goats are back to normal and healthy. But, we learned that on several days, Vickie would arrive at our home and find Clover in our back yard, grazing. She couldn't figure out how Clover was escaping. After a few ideas from us, we came to the conclusion that Clover was pushing her way through a poorly secured chain-link fence at the back of their yard. A quick fix of careful placement of two cinder blocks took care of that problem until we can permanently goat-proof that gate. We knew that it would be a matter of time before they figured that one out.

I have returned home from our Minnesota trip finally free of all poison ivy rash for the first time in months! I am determined to keep every inch of my body covered any time I am going to have contact with the little girls. I am certain that I am getting it from their body fur and faces. Their field has areas that are completely carpeted with the poison ivy plant, so they walk through it, lay on it, eat it, and then seek me out so they can rub it onto my skin! I must be smarter than them and protect myself at all times.

sick baby

Yesterday I noticed that Juniper had poop all over her behind indicating diarrhea. She has been acting a bit strange the last couple of days - standing by herself at times and kind of staring off into the distance. Worried that she has coccidiosis - so I'm taking her to the vet this morning.