Babies are Here!

Our Tea Party Guests 2-13-09 One of our first does to have babies and it was triplets 2 girls and one boy.

Hello:

Well lets see, first off why I haven't written is because we didn't pay our local phone bill and the phone was turned off. David had a good market day and I then got to pay the bill and here I am again.

On Tue. it snowed again. Just 3 inches and then got icy out. So I stayed home. David was home so he drove Danyel to Biology class and did some running around town. Danyel and Ali had their HAM Radio Class that evening. David was suppose to go to Longview to his Sisters Big 50 birthday party, but because of what it looked like here decided to stay close to home. Its hard to predict what its doing 50 miles away from our house... even going to Seattle is a risk when weather is bad here. Anyway he did call her. Our 4-H meeting was cancelled until Wed..

On Wed. we worked on the farm, bought grain and went over to Black Sheep Creamery to vacuum up our first aged cheese. Black Jewels and NW Comfort. We did one round of each. I tasted it and YUM! it turned out really good. David will take that to market on Thur. to sell. He has been promoting it for about 6 weeks, so he knows he'll have people coming down to taste it. We went to Church on Wed. and that was a great Bible Study. A gentleman bought $15 of cheese to be delivered on Sunday.

Thur. the girls and I went grocery shopping for our Valentines Tea. We also started baking for the tea. Our menu was: three sandwich combinations (spinach leaves, garlic & dill chevre, smoked salmon patte- spinach leaves, garlic and dill chevre and tuna fish - peanut butter, powdered sugar, plain chevre - these are rolled up in flour tortia's and cut into three pieces). Sugar heart cookies, mini chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and drizzled with white chocolate, lemon tarts, apple crisp with whip cream, cream puffs with chocolate pudding inside with powdered sugar on top, almond Rocha crunch, carrots, candy, pretzels and of course tea and cream. On Friday morning I was up at 4:30 to package cheese for David to go to market and then I started baking again to get the sugar cookies baked and make the sandwiches. The girls got up at 6am to help clean and organize the house we were expecting 15 people - though only 9 showed up. We had a great time eating all those goodies. I ran to town in the middle of all this to get 13 bags of grain and take Danyel to Biology and pick her up. And we were ready. Tea party was from noon to 2pm. Three of our guest showed up by 10am, so they got to help. We had no babies born during the tea. My girlfriend and her three children were here and so I got to visit with her for awhile. After she left I packaged up some marinated feta and headed over to Black sheep Creamery again to vacuum up some Black Jewel and NW Comfort and the Marinated feta. I got to watch two sheep have lambs while there. I got home about 7pm when our last guest's parents picked her up. David got home at 7:30 and had a good day at market. At about 8pm our first doe had a baby buck. I was so tired by the end of Friday night. I went to bed at 9pm and was sleeping soundly when I heard my daughter and son and grandson come in. They were going to spend the weekend here. David came in about 12 midnight and said that the goat was still pushing, that had had a kid about three hours earlier. So I got up put my sweats on and a coat, grabbed the dish soap and headed to the barn. Sure enough she wasn't done. I went in and found a breach baby - I got one leg pulled out but couldn't get the other one out - so I just held onto the one and pulled the baby out - I figured 3 hours after the birth of the last one this one was probably dead.....NOT! and David said you think she has another one in there? So I bounced her (this is just placing your hand under the stomach and kind of pushing up on the stomach and feeling if there is a heavy weight coming back down) and there was. So I went in thinking again its probably dead......NOT! She had three bucks. I came back inside and went to bed.....

Sat. morning David went up to hay and came back with the report there were four alive animals in that pen... YA! I had to package some cheese for market so was up at 4:30 again. David left for market at 5:45am. Got the girls up at 7 am to go up and see the babies and do chores. I made french toast for the house full of people. Took the girls to Civil Air Patrol. Came home and My daughter and son and grandson all got ready to run to town to do some banking (so I can have my phone back), pick up some grocery's and the kids wanted to go to the cell phone store, while the girls were at Civil Air Patrol......we'll pick them up at noon and come home eat lunch and then go see baby sheep. My son stayed home and studied - when he grows up he's going to be a councilor to youth. That sheep tour went well, got to see a lot of baby lambs, took pictures. Came home got the roast in the dinner - David called from market and said it was really crazy and he was selling lots of cheese. When we got back from see the baby lambs, another doe - Wendi had triplets. They are the ones in the picture. After I got the roast in the oven I headed out to the processing plant to stain my olive oil, and clean up the plant .. do a little organizing. Chores started at 4:30 and was done by 5:45. My grandson loves driving the tractor (he's 5). So we moved some hay bales to the barn and fed the goats their hay. His mom and dad went to the movies for Valentines day in Chehalis. The rest of the evening was pretty mellow. David got home about 8pm he had had a really really good day at market. He didn't have alot to unload since he sold most of the cheese. He said the market was wall to wall people. The beef jerky guy sold out of his product by 2pm and left. David was close.

Sunday morning I was up at 4:30 to package cheese up for market for David. Jamie our son is going with him today. Heather and CJ are going to church in Longview and spend the afternoon with one of her friends and then will come back and pick up Jamie when David and Jamie get home from Seattle. Heather is going to go and get me some containers and lids and some garlic (one less trip for me) while in Longview. The girls and I are going to church this morning. This afternoon I have to go cut up another round of NW comfort and vacuum it up and some more Marinated Feta. Then lable them for tomorrow's market.

Well that is the run down for this last week.

Have a Great Day and remember SPING is how you look at the day!

More Snow!

I am beginning to think Winter is going to last forever. And what a better time to have kids born than when its really cold....ICK!
Well Friday I took an order of Chevre to Olympia to the Dockside Bistro. While there the chef gave me a taste of some ice cream that he had made using our chevre and caraway seeds. It was so good. He said he serves this alongside apple crisp with a dab of chevre on top. Yum! that sounds so good. The girls and I got some home school done before we left. I also went over to Black Sheep creamery and vacuumed some Marinated Feta for market for David. David did sort of good on Friday in Seattle. The girls didn't have Civil Air Patrol this weekend. Their friends came over and spent the day. My grandson got here about 6:30pm and we hung out with him till bedtime. His mom and dad went back to Clatskanie to a big birthday bash for a cousin.
No babies born this weekend... that means next weekend could be big. We didn't go to church on Sunday - stayed home and waited for Heather and Jamie to get here to pick up CJ. Again no babies. Monday, we started our home school work, Danyel went to Biology and David and I got all our samples and stuff ready to go to the Farm Chef connection in Seattle. We left at 12:30 and got there in plenty of time. We actually went across the street to a restaurant outlet store and looked for a vacuum machine. Didn't find one. We were let into the building at 3:45. There was alot of people there, they had estimated 350. We were there for 1 1/2 hours, sampling and selling our farm and products. No sales just samples. We did get an order from the Seattle Arts Museum for a standing 10 pounds a week and in June 20 pounds of Marinated Feta. That will be nice. We also talked to a Co-op in Spokane that would like to carry our cheese. I'll fill the info on line today for that opportunity.
No babies today. Today we were going to have a 4-H meeting , but we have cancelled it due to snow. We have about 3 inches up here and we can't wait for the RAIN! We set the meeting up for tomorrow.

Cheese Class - March 21, 2009 - 10-2pm - Winlock, Wa.

Email me or check out my web page for more details......The cut off date for the class is March 9.... Hurry the class is filling up!

Danyel and Ali have their HAM Radio Class tonight.... if it rains! David has his Sisters Birthday at 6:30 tonight.

Even when the weather is white keep your eyes on the Sunny weather to come. At least you'll keep HOPE alive for the next few months of winter.

Kidding Season Begins........

Good Morning:

This is my N.W. Comfort and Black Jewels Aged cheese. We are going to sample and sell it next weekend at Pikes Place Market. It is the first batch and we won't have anymore until the End of May this year.

Tue was one of those busy days. Jami and Seth and th grandkids left at 8am for Montana. That evening the girls went to thier HAM radio class, they liked it and look forward to going next week. I made it to grange and even hot a potluck dish to boot. I just took some of my stew I had made a few days before. David showed up for Grange at 7:1 5 just after the meeting started. The lady that we had speak did a great job on presenting her need for help in Africa. As a side note now I'v had two ladies ask me to come to Africa.... what and adventure that would be. Anyway David left the grange at 8:30 to go get the girls and I came right home. We were all in bed about 10pm.

Wed. I had all the good intentions to get up at 5am so we could get chores going alittle early.... I must of turned off the alarm or forgot to set it. I woke up at 7:20. I got the girls awake and sent them out to do start chores. David and I followed shortly. I was expecting the speaker at the grange to be at our house at 9am and I wanted things in order so I could visit and give her the info. she was wanting about goats. Well, we got the chores done and started our homeschool studies. It ended up not being such a rush thing anyway cause Jody showed up at 11:30. She stayed until 4:00. She took the tour and ate lunch with me. David ran Danyel to Biology and then went and picked her up afterwards. David also went and got some free hay that one of our grangers offered to us, he took the girls to help. When they got back from getting hay, our friend who works for the railroad showed up for dinner (which I had totally forgotten we had invited him for). He helped David unload the 60 bales of hay. We started chores at 4:30 and low and behold one of our does kidded. One of our Oberhaslies. She is early by about 5 days. The girls came in and got towels to dry off the kid. The baby was having a hard time breathing. So we suckered out its mouth and nose, but it just wouldn't clear up. So my next line of action is to swing the babies to force the flem into thier throat so I can sucker it out. But this didn't give me the results I wanted either. So we suckered it again. I had the girls put the baby in with its mom in a pen and finish thier chores. I told them to bring the baby in when they were finished and I'd give it some colostrum and some goat drench (it a liquid with lots of good stuff in it, vit. min. ect.). They brought the baby in the house we wraped it with a clean towel and put it on the heating pad in a basket. I put a tube down its throat and syringed some milk down it. It was so weak. It perked up a bit but not much and to make a long story short the baby died. The girls hate to start the kidding season like this, but such is farm life. Anyway now we have a mom to milk by hand. We will freeze the colostrum incase we need it for another baby.

Everyone Pray That our Kidding Season will be a Good Season!

Well, as I am writing I am swishing that oil around in my mouth. For some reason this morning it feels like I should gag.... I'll try and work through it. I only got 10 min. in instead of 20. Drank my 8oz of water and will have a cup of coffee.

I got up this morning at 4:30 to go make up some chevre for David to take to market. He left at 5:30am to head to Seattle. I sure hope he has some good sales today. I'll get the girls up at 7:30, this is thier last week of sleeping in and I'll let them enjoy it.

I am going to sign Ali up for BME which is rifle shooting through CAP (Civil Air Patrol) for next month. Its a weekend event. Danyel went in November I think to hers.

This evening I have the bible study at 6:30. I have been so busy this week I haven't had time to read my chapter and be ready for the class tonight. So I'll go blind tonight - or let the Holy Spirit lead me.

You have a Great Day today and enjoy the warmer weather and the glimps of the Sunshine.

Adventure on I-5

Hello to All:
Another entry from the goatlady. Thats what I am now referred to quite often as I enter the room. There is a nice ring about that name, I actually am growing fond of it. Maybe its and endearing title.
My Big Adventure: Monday morning David took the truck to Seattle to Market and left the car with me. It was running fine and started great when I went out to take Danyel to Biology class at 10:15am. I had on my farm jumper and I put on some flip flops, cause I was just running Danyel to school and then go get some gas. So I drop her off and headed tword the gas station outside of Napavine. The price was 5 cents more than the station where we turn off to go home so I passed the first gas station and headed out onto I-5 for our exit. Well about 500 yards before our exit the car starts sputtering and kind of jerked a little. Then I looked at the speedometer and it said I was going 0 and I knew that was not true. I kept giving it gas and it kept jerking and I am thinking this is not happening. I got to our exit and then off to the side of the road and the car stopped. I called David and told him he had better pray that someone I know or could trust would come and rescue me. Before I got off the phone to him, I heard a rap on my window and as I turned I saw a gentleman in an orange vest and in the rear view window I saw an WDOT emergency truck. He asked if I needed towed and I told him I thought I just needed a jump. So he jumped the car, it started he followed me almost all the way home. God is Good. The stupid car died again on our road home and a neighbor jumped me again. I got home in time to take the van and go pick up Danyel from Biology at 11:30.
Anyway yesterday my daughter from Montana and her husband and two darling children graced out home and spent the night. We had a good visit and had fun watching the youngest get around - she is just starting to walk. Justin the older grandchild kept his nose on the computer flying airplanes. Seth, my daughters husband, helped David put a new altinater in the car. What another blessing. Anyway we did enjoy the visit. They left this morning at about 8am. I fixed scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast with some homemade applesauce. Sent some yogurt and cheese home with them. After they left we all went out to do chores and check on everyones health. Some of those goats sure look close to having thier babies. But no one yet is gracing our farm with little feet...... yet! We worked on our homeschool and even finished on time today. David went and got grain, dog & cat food. We had to do chores early as the girls are now taking H.A.M. Radio classes from 7-9pm each Tue. for 4 weeks. Another class we are taking is a crochet class on Mondays from 3:30-5:00 for 8 weeks. We'll see what happens when we start milking goats the middle of this month. We also had grange tonight at 6pm. I went to grange with my stew in hand for the potluck dinner and David ran the girls into Chehalis to thier radio class, then came to the grange. Our speaker tonight is helping the people in Rowanda Africa - getting them goats and teaching them to make cheese. It was a very informative presentation. We got out of our meeting at 8:30 and I packed up my things and David left to pick up the girls. We all were home by 9:30pm. Its a long day.
Tomorrow the lady that spoke at our grange is coming to see the farm and talk to me. I have had two offers to go to Africa to help teach the people how to make cheese..... I wonder if I am being directed to go there? Anyway I look forward to our visit tomorrow. David is going to go get free hay that is being given to us to bed the barn down good with fresh bedding before the goats start kidding. We are expecting a couple to have thier babies this weekend... but the next weekend is going to be real intersting cause we have about 40 does due within that 10 day stretch.
Well you have a great nights sleep and rest peacefully. I am planning on doing that real soon.
One last note the sesame oil I am swishing each morning does seem to give me more energy. And I think I can tell a diffence in the whiteness of my teeth. David says he can't do it because the taste stays in his mouth all day cause of his dentures. We'll work on that.

A week of Dairy life

Hello to all:

Sorry I havent' wrote in a week. But our computer has been acting up.... I personally think its the internet server making my life rough so I'll pay the extra bucks for that quick internet service. But, anyway thats whats been up. So let me recap this last week for you

Thur. I went over and vaccum packaged feta and chevre. We got a new store buying our cheese, IGA in Winlock. And our fresh feta was ready to be packaged. David went to market and did alright.

A photo Danyel took of Mt. St. Helens from our field.

Fri. The girls and I did all kinds of running around. Picked up thier blues uniform for the banquet on Sat. I picked up our new business cards and lables. We went to the library and delivered cheese to IGA, ran by the tractor and farm store and got dog food. David got home and hadn't sold very much cheese. He had a headache. He unloaded his stuff and restocked and loaded stuff for market on Sat.

Sat. I got up at 4:30 to package cheese up for David to go to market. I got everything ready and he wasn't up yet so I told him I'd go. He said alright. I have to brag but I sold really good.... almost ran out of some of my cheese. David had to do the domestic chores... like get the girls ready for the banquet and take the dessert the girls made and some cheese and crackers. I would meet them after market. David also had to make sure all chores were done before they had to leave for the banquet at 6pm. I made it to the banquet but to late for dinner (I grabbed a hamburger on my drive home). They presented a bunch of awards and had a speaker talk about staying motivated and obtaining your goals. I got home unloaded and counted my cash box. They got home about 1/2 later than I did ( girls had to visit).

Sunday David left for market at 6am.. there was snow again on the ground and ice under that. David said he slipped around a bit. The girls and I stayed home from church. Our hill is so steep and I have a two wheel drive truck.... not a good combo for ice and snow. We did our chores and put the puzzel together and just hung out. I did go in the afternoon to get grain. David got home and had sold less than $100 of cheese ----NOT GOOD. He unloaded and repacked and stocked his supplies.

Mon. David left for market at 5am. I have been getting up with him and when he leaves I spend an hour reading my Bible study book and the Bible. Got the girls up at 7am to do chores. We have cut down to 3 goats milking in the morning every third day. I am really hoping by the end of the week we will be totally done with milking. The girls are milking by hand rather than dirty the whole system. I ran and got two rounds of hay at Grace Farms. A friend brought out her boar cross doe and two kids for me to do something with thier horns. We banded the mom's horns and we burned the doe kids horns , but the buck kids horns were to big to burn off and to small to band so we'll do them in a month or so. She left the goats until Wed. as she had to get home. David got home from market at 6:30 instead of 7:30. He sold all day ==== one container of plain chevre==== $6.25. OUCH!!!! We watched a movie with the girls and relaxed.

Tue. David was off and so he helped clean the last two baby stalls up by the hay. We had a 4-H meeting today. There was snow on the ground....ICK! David had a DR. appt. so he left at 9am for Longview. I decided not to try and take Danyel to Biology class due to our hill again. But when David got home he ran her to school at about 12:00 to drop off her make up work and to take a test. They were home before the 4-H meeting started. We got our homeschool work done for the day.

Wed. David was home today too. We got the goats fed and watered this morning, then came in and did homeschool until 2pm. At about 3pm we had a family come out and tour the farm. While they were here my friend came to get her doe and kids. David had taken the girls to a CAP event at 3:30 in Centraila at the Rifle Club - to meet the Army Marksman that won the gold medal at the Olympics. The girls said it was alright but they didn't fire any guns, but they did sign a photo. They got home about 5:35pm and we had to eat dinner and then head for church at 7pm. Got home at 8:40pm and David and the girls went out and fed and watered the goats. And now as I sit here writing they are all watching Phantom of the Opera. David will load up his stuff and be ready for market tomorrow.

Well that was our week at the dairy. We are expecting two does to kid on Sat. this week. I am sure the stories will be good when the kidding starts.

You all have a Great Evening and May God Bless You.

Horn Banding Day!

Good Afternoon:

Well, we banded horns this afternoon right after history class. So as I pomised here are our pictures. The first picture is of the horns on the goat. Second picture of me filing a notch as close to the skull as I can. It doesn't have to be big, but big enough to hold two bands in it. I notch out one on the front of the horn and one on the back. The third picture is of the bands on the horns - I use two. This ensures if they rub thier horns they may break one band but the second is usually still on. If you do this right... the goat should be throwing his head and rubbing his horns. It doesn't hurt them - there is just pressure on the horn and its uncomfortable. It takes about 2-3 weeks before they drop off. They stop being crazy by the next day. Its sort of like banding a buck and the laying down and getting up and crying is the same thing.

David left for market this morning and ended up calling me and said the car died. And so he got it jumped and came home. He say's he'll take the truck from now on. He did pretty good yesterday at market.... not good enough for me to have to package more cheese though. thats how we know its a really good market day.... is if I have to work making up more cheese for the next day at market. Anyway he is home today. I have him doing little fix-it up jobs around the dairy.

We are going to milk every other day in hopes of drying these last 7 girls up by this weekend. I am down to a little over a gallon a milking.

All the does are looking pretty big, from being pregnant. It looks like a good crop of does this year and that means a good crop of kids.

For P.E. today we worked for one hour cleaning one of the kid pens. This pen is alot harder than the other one we did. So it will take us a few days on this pen.

Well hope the banding horns helped you be able to do it yourself.

Have a great day. Remember you are what you eat! So eat healthy and stay active. (If you need something to do come work with us on the dairy for a day or two)

Its a Sunny Day!

Its a Great Morning:

Klahowya (Kl a how ya) Cowlitz Indian Jargon - Means: Hello or Good-by

I got up at 5am to make up some packages of garlic and dill chevre and to package some marinated feta for David. I also packaged up some plain yogurt and some fruit yogurt for David to take to market tomorrow. I still need to lable and make an invoice for the yogurt.

This is Elfy our Lamancha doe

Ali went to market with David today. Danyel and I have to go to Sunday school this morning so Danyel can take her class on baptism. She is getting baptized on Wed. evening. We are very excited.

The Indian Language class was great. We learned alot and I am looking forward to being able to talk to others with this old but new language. Grandfather Roy is an awsome teacher and he is a great guy too. We met alot of nice people. One lady who comes from Rainier Oregon was there, she also comes to our farm and buys whole rounds of our cheeses. So she caught me at the end of the lesson and ordered a round out of our first milkings in Feb. Ya!

Danyel and I have about 4 goats to band horn on today. So that will be our afternoon after church. I'll post the pictures tomorrow and directions on how we do it.

We only got a gallon of milk out of the 6 goats this morning and I think I'll have Ali only milk three tomorrow and then a different three the next day and so before the end of the week all milking will be done. I'll have about 7 gallons froze for yogurt. My fresh feta will be ready to package on Wed. of this week. David can't hardly wait - thats one of our popular cheeses at the market.

Well have a Great Day.

There is no more important spiritual and practical lesson we can teachour children than the principle of sowing and reaping. Choices always have consequences.

Do not be deiceved, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sowes, that he will also reap. (Galations 6:7)

And what better way to teach this than owning a farm, working a garden, raising an animal for slaughter, or for showing.

Spring isn't far away

Good Afternoon:
We got up am milked 7 goats got about 1 gallon -which is good cause it means they are going to be dry for about 1 month when everyone starts kidding.
I made yogurt this morning. For an order and the rest will go in the freezer for popcycles. The girls love them.
We went to an Indian Language class today. We are learning the Chinook Jargen > its alot of languages mixed together.
We had fun this morning sitting with the Indians of our area and learned thier language that they used to communicate with other tribes.
These are some of last years babies 2008
We are going to band some goat horns today. But the rest of the day will be kind of layed back.
David is in Seattle selling cheese.
We are taking our meat goats to the butcher today - I think I have 7. That will keep us until next winter. I have to go get about 12 or 15 bags of grain today too.
The girls had thier freinds spend the night so we had extra help on the farm yesterday and this morning.

Cheese Class March 21, 2009 - $35 - 4 hour class- Email me if your interested.

Hope Everyone has a great weekend.

Good-Bye to an Old Friend

This is Kusco in training, carrying one of our boar babies in his pack that Danyel bought him for Civil Air Patrol - search and rescue missions. He hadn't got to go on a mission yet.

Good Morning:

The weather forecast is suppose to be sunny.... I am going to proclaim it in faith the Son will shine!

Well we lost our friend Kusco yesterday. He is Danyel's pack goat - he was 5 years old and he fell last month and put his hip out of socket. We had been trying different things on him to try and help him. The vet had said there is nothing under surgery to fix the hip and then it will most likely pop out again. Besides the cost. I hated to see him go but I am glad cause I know he has been hurting. Danyel is sad to also see her faithful friend leave her.

But that is farm life and we seem to get alot of disappointments and death is one of those things you get use to in a sense on a farm.

So here is my obituary to Kusco:

He was a true trooper. He would follow Danyel where ever she went without a leash on him. He was a big boy - he would carry lunches for her in his pack, dogs,baby goats and hiking gear. He has walked miles and miles for Danyel. His latest training was getting him ready to go on search and rescue missions with the Civil Air Patrol. He never got to go on a mission - but his heart was in it. He will be missed.

Danyel will pick another goat baby this year to start over again.

Yesterday we, Daneyl & Ali and I, spoke at the Winlock Lions meeting. We shared about out farm and making cheese. We passed out samples of Grande' Rosa, Marinated Feta and Garlic and Dill Chevre. The girls and I enjoyed lunch on the Lions. It was a good community service for the girls. And good public relations for the dairy. Thanks Lions for what your organization does for our community.

I had womens bible study last night too. I made chicken and dumplings for dinner. David was at market and did alright for a Thur.

This morning I am up at 4:30am packaging cheese for market. I have more energy in the morning than at night. So I enjoy getting up early - but going to bed early is a must.

David is on the road already 5:30am.

Today the girls and I will work on homeschool. We are starting our drawing class- which will go on for about 10 weeks. And the rest of the day is open for a few extra chores on the dairy. Like trimming some hooves - Danyel has been doing this when she had been graining. But this evening I'll join her and we can get a bunch done. This afternoon we are going to band some does horns. This we do by taking a file and making an indent in thier horn as close to the skull as possible. Then putting two bands (the things we put on male goats to make them it's) on the horn. In about 3 weeks the horn falls off. We cant have any of our milking does with horns - one its dangerous and two thier heads won't fit in the stantion. We are going to move the babies almost yearlings into another pasture so we can work on one pen at a time until we get them all done before our babies start arriving in 4 weeks. This is not a fun job and it takes teamwork. So the girls and I will drop one class each day in order to clean a pen. I bet the girls won't mind.

Well have a great day and notice who is tending the flock - the Good Shepard.

Just a peaceful day at the dairy

These are some mailboxes on Twin Oaks road. The during and after shot. Jan. 8 & 9.

Good Morning.

Its another day on the dairy. We had a tour yesterday. We ran to Olypmia to drop off some cheese at Dockside Bistro. David didn't go to market. We got our homeschool done. And I made a Chicken Broccoli Braid for dinner..... All is good at the Rider House.

This morning David went and got hay. To get Danyel to school we have to drive about 7 miles out of our way due to road consturction in Napavine. After I picked her up we ran to Winlock to checkout a movie that we wanted to watch and to pick up a book Danyel had ordered. Home for lunch and back to school. We will be done about 3pm with school. Then feed the goats, make dinner and then off to church. Then when we get home from church we'll all sit and watch Ann Franks Diary. Then pack David's car so he is ready for market. Oh yes, market he made $60 on Monday. What a waste and he took Ali with him - so it cost him double on food. No more Monday's.

Well this is a short and sweet blog today. But its going to be sunny the rest of this week, almost up to 60 degrees.

Just Another Day at the Dairy

These are picture when the water was receding and when the water was raging. This is a barn on Twin Oaks Road, heading out tword Adna, WA.

Good Morning. David and Ali went to market today. Danyel and I did the chores and then did some Algerbra. I took Danyel to Biology and after that we are heading to Olympia to drop off some chevre at the Dockside Bistro. David also took some more chevre to Michou. The market yesterday was slow, meaning not alot of sales. Yesterday, I ran and got some grain and the girls unloaded it. We went to church in the morning. The girls had two neighbor girls spend the night, which means I don't see my girls because they are all down stairs playing board games or watching movies or playing on the computer.

Danyel took another goat off line today. Now we have 7 milking and that will be slowing going away, as she takes them off one by one this week. I have milk saved in the freezer for making yogurt. My last batch of feta is in the pastuizer today - I skipped out yesterday on the task. But in the end its alright because I ended up with 17 gallons. Won't make alot of cheese but will help with the fresh feta.

The goats went out this morning and are enjoying the grass. Its overcast but not raining or snowing. Its great. Tomorrow I'll have David go get some hay.

Danyel and I ran around and did a bunch of erronds today so didn't get home till 4pm. But we got done.

Have a great day remember Jesus is the Reason....... even for FARMING.