And then there were three...

Clover, Juniper, and Tulip don't know what to do with themselves without Ginger. I can't even keep them in their field anymore. The first thing Clover does after I close the gate is to clip-clop over to the fence and jump right over. I think that she's looking for her friend Ginger. One good thing about Ginger's absence...with Ginger gone, I can feed the remaining goats without chaining them up first. I can walk into their yard, bowls of feed in hand, and not be mauled. I love that.

Motel Room No. 1

If the shack's a rockin' - don't come a' knockin!

You can see Ginger through the slats of the fence. She's begging me to come let her out of there. At first she didn't care about the strange goat in the pen with her, but then when he started following her around - rudely and relentlessly sniffing at her, she immediately had a problem with the whole situation.

This is Wind. He is Ginger's chosen buck. She's bigger than him, but Scott, the breeder, assured me that Wind wouldn't let that inhibit him in any way. I will get a call after the deed is done. We are so excited that Ginger will soon be pregnant. We look forward to some new kids and the new milk supply.

Bearded Goat

Ginger has begun to grow herself a beard. She proudly displays her growth for me from two different angles. She's hoping that it'll grow long enough so she can braid it.

 

Picture of my first Chevre

I put them in Weck jelly jars for storage. I added some rosemary to one of the cheeses. They were simply delicious spread on a cracker and on some fresh crusty bread. MMMmmmm! 

and in this corner...

Ginger is off for breeding next week (do I keep saying that?), so I figured that she should have a goat pedicure so she can look good for her buck. Last time I used my goat tape to check her weight she was about 110 lbs. She’s got to weigh more now – or at least it seems that way. I knew it would be a struggle – she’s never enjoyed having her hooves trimmed; but man, she really fought me hard today. I don’t have a milking stand – yet. I guess I could have tried to tether her to the fence, but that has never seemed to help in the least. I figured if she wouldn’t cooperate, then I’d just get her on the ground and lay on her with my body while I trimmed away. Hardy-har-har. Yeah, right! Getting her feet from under her was the fairly easy part. Keeping her down was impossible. Then we’ve got Juniper and Tulip kissing me and nuzzling me while I’m trying to get near a hoof. By the time I’d get laid out on Ginger, the shears were about three feet out of my reach. None of the goats would hand them to me no matter how nicely I pleaded with them. It was scary having these extremely sharp shears open and then having kicking, struggling, and pushing all over the place. I noticed on one of her hooves she had that elf shoe going on; that must be the last hoof that I never make it to because I give up before I get to it. It just gets too dangerous. Someone is going to end up needing stitches. I’ll just have to wait for the old man to get home and we’ll use teamwork to take the girl down and clean her up right once and for all!

First Chevre

My first Chevre! It's so simple to make - you would not believe! Since I don't have my own goat milk supply yet, I went to Perrydell Farm to buy local raw goat milk. That night I put a gallon of the milk into a stainless steel pot and warmed it to 86 degrees. Then I put in a packet of "chevre starter" that I mail-ordered from New England Cheesemaking Supply Co. Stirred that in and let it sit at room temperature overnight (8 - 12 hours). In the morning I ladled it (with the help of my cheesemaking apprentice) into a cheesecloth line colander, then tied the four corners of the cheesecloth and let it hang to drain for 6 - 12 hours - the length of time depends on the degree of creaminess you'd like your chevre to be.



Then I salted it with cheese salt (not regular table salt) and finished off by filling four Weck jelly jars with the chevre. They look beautiful and taste so delicious! It really feels great to make your own delicious cheese!