I feel like this week just flew by.
1. Adi had her baby goats!!! She had two does on Saturday evening. They seem to being doing well. All of Saturday (and this includes the wee hours of the morning!) I spent running out to the barn to check on her in between doing other things. This might seem paranoid, but last year I lost both kids to freezing cold temperatures because I wasn't there to help keep them warm. Despite my efforts (breeding for April instead of late January), Michigan STILL managed to have snow and wind and temperatures below freezing on Adi's due date. On Saturday afternoon we decided to move her into Hubs' shop where there was heat. A couple hours later, she kidded!
I sat in the kidding pen with her for several hours. Except at one point I really, REALLY had to use the bathroom. Better go now than later, I thought, because she is still standing up and hasn't started pushing yet. So I ran over to the bathroom, and less than one minute later I came out to discover her licking off an tiny black thing in the corner of her pen. WHAT?! She purposely waited until I was gone... that goat! Needless to say, I helped her clean it off because it was still a little cold. A minute or so later she paused the licking and pushed out the second baby. I was there just in time to catch it and stick it under her nose. Thankfully she started licking that one right away, too. I stayed there until both kids found the nipples to suck off of. Then Hubs came back (he had the great idea to go get pizza!) and we celebrated with dinner.
This was my first ever experience with kidding. Though checking Adi every hour for like 24 hours was probably overkill, it helped me get familiar with signs of kidding. I'm glad I could be there for the whole process. I was surprised at how well Adi gave birth on her own. It was like the kids just popped out. I had all of my "supplies" all ready to use and hardly had to intervene at all. Which I'm thankful for.
Now, however, I've got to some choices to make. If the kids were bucks, it would be easy- just castrate them and sell as pets. But because they were does, I'm faced with 1) do I keep them or sell them, and 2) do I register them before keeping or selling them? I've chosen to register both of them, but now I have to navigate through a lot of paperwork and eventually learn new skills like ear tattooing. I think I will sell at least one of them to cover 2016 goat keeping and registration costs. If I keep the other one, I could technically breed her this fall, but I'd want to use a different buck than we have, which could get complicated. Perhaps I'll just sell them both. In addition, I'll have to decide in the next few days what the milking schedule will be, bottle vs. dam-raising and other things I never had to deal with last year.
2. Sold 6 dozen eggs.
3. I found some orchids at Walmart for $5 each and decided to buy one.
1. Adi had her baby goats!!! She had two does on Saturday evening. They seem to being doing well. All of Saturday (and this includes the wee hours of the morning!) I spent running out to the barn to check on her in between doing other things. This might seem paranoid, but last year I lost both kids to freezing cold temperatures because I wasn't there to help keep them warm. Despite my efforts (breeding for April instead of late January), Michigan STILL managed to have snow and wind and temperatures below freezing on Adi's due date. On Saturday afternoon we decided to move her into Hubs' shop where there was heat. A couple hours later, she kidded!
I sat in the kidding pen with her for several hours. Except at one point I really, REALLY had to use the bathroom. Better go now than later, I thought, because she is still standing up and hasn't started pushing yet. So I ran over to the bathroom, and less than one minute later I came out to discover her licking off an tiny black thing in the corner of her pen. WHAT?! She purposely waited until I was gone... that goat! Needless to say, I helped her clean it off because it was still a little cold. A minute or so later she paused the licking and pushed out the second baby. I was there just in time to catch it and stick it under her nose. Thankfully she started licking that one right away, too. I stayed there until both kids found the nipples to suck off of. Then Hubs came back (he had the great idea to go get pizza!) and we celebrated with dinner.
This was my first ever experience with kidding. Though checking Adi every hour for like 24 hours was probably overkill, it helped me get familiar with signs of kidding. I'm glad I could be there for the whole process. I was surprised at how well Adi gave birth on her own. It was like the kids just popped out. I had all of my "supplies" all ready to use and hardly had to intervene at all. Which I'm thankful for.
Now, however, I've got to some choices to make. If the kids were bucks, it would be easy- just castrate them and sell as pets. But because they were does, I'm faced with 1) do I keep them or sell them, and 2) do I register them before keeping or selling them? I've chosen to register both of them, but now I have to navigate through a lot of paperwork and eventually learn new skills like ear tattooing. I think I will sell at least one of them to cover 2016 goat keeping and registration costs. If I keep the other one, I could technically breed her this fall, but I'd want to use a different buck than we have, which could get complicated. Perhaps I'll just sell them both. In addition, I'll have to decide in the next few days what the milking schedule will be, bottle vs. dam-raising and other things I never had to deal with last year.
2. Sold 6 dozen eggs.
3. I found some orchids at Walmart for $5 each and decided to buy one.
Just in case you're wondering, there was a reason they were 50% off. This was the best flower my plant had.
4. It was pretty cold this week, so I ended up making a lot of soup. I used chicken and broth that I canned last year to make yummy, nutritious soup.
5. This week I transplanted my fruit tree cuttings into compost. I'm hoping that at least a few of them start growing in the soil!
6. I also transplanted some delphinium starts for my garden.
7. I started some cabbage seeds and more lavender seeds. I still want a bed of lavender this year!
8. Hubs and I updated the household Quickbooks. While this wasn't frugal in itself, I think you could call it an accomplishment. Afterward I did some nerd-numbers and figured out things like "how many bottles of shampoo did we use in 2015?". This will be helpful for me when bargain shopping, because I know how much "a year's supply" is for us. Last year I found a great deal on brand new, non-expired name-brand toothpaste at a garage sale (thanks, couponers!). However, I wasn't sure how much to buy because I didn't know how much we used. So I just bought two tubes. We actually used about 4-5 tubes last year, which means I could have saved $6+ had I just bought them all at the garage sale.
Goals For Next Week
The next few weeks are going to be rather busy for me. Thankfully I'm almost done starting seeds, but the rest of the month is going to be ALL about gardening and farmers market.
1. Start cantelope and watermelon seeds.
2. Plant my "greenhouse bed" with lettuce, cilantro and radishes.
3. Send out email newsletter and book launch on Friday!
4. Print labels for granola, lip balm and jam.
5. Start making puff pastry.
6. Start making pie crusts.
7. Buy several lbs. of butter.
8. Send in registration paperwork for American Dairy Goat Association.
Hope you are having a great Monday!
-Bethany
8. Hubs and I updated the household Quickbooks. While this wasn't frugal in itself, I think you could call it an accomplishment. Afterward I did some nerd-numbers and figured out things like "how many bottles of shampoo did we use in 2015?". This will be helpful for me when bargain shopping, because I know how much "a year's supply" is for us. Last year I found a great deal on brand new, non-expired name-brand toothpaste at a garage sale (thanks, couponers!). However, I wasn't sure how much to buy because I didn't know how much we used. So I just bought two tubes. We actually used about 4-5 tubes last year, which means I could have saved $6+ had I just bought them all at the garage sale.
Goals For Next Week
The next few weeks are going to be rather busy for me. Thankfully I'm almost done starting seeds, but the rest of the month is going to be ALL about gardening and farmers market.
1. Start cantelope and watermelon seeds.
2. Plant my "greenhouse bed" with lettuce, cilantro and radishes.
3. Send out email newsletter and book launch on Friday!
4. Print labels for granola, lip balm and jam.
5. Start making puff pastry.
6. Start making pie crusts.
7. Buy several lbs. of butter.
8. Send in registration paperwork for American Dairy Goat Association.
Hope you are having a great Monday!
-Bethany
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