Gearing up for a Challenge

Ever since reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle a few years ago, I've been mulling over trying for myself one of the book's core ideas - eating only what you yourself grow and produce (with a few guidelines & exceptions) for a specified period of time. I don't look at this like a stunt, but more of a way to challenge myself to eat better and make the best use of what I have. And what better time to start than summer, when the crops are rolling in and the goats are all well in milk?

In theory, it should be pretty easy. In theory. I have eggs for protein and fat, goat's milk for dairy/protein, a fishing fiend of a husband who brings home salmon, clams and crab, and (hopefully) a garden, teeming with fresh greens, berries, corn, tomatoes, carrots, pumpkins, potatoes and squash. I also live in an area with no less than 4 blueberry farms in a one mile stretch. I'm flush with food. Now, do I have the gumption and the willpower to limit myself to eating that and that alone for a while? This is where I get a little shaky.

Bill and I have tossed this idea around a little and come up with a few hitches and fudges -

1) Coffee would have to be permitted. I already buy organic, fair trade coffee, so I don't have too much guilt about letting this one go. And I can get my beans from a fantastic local roaster, Batdorf & Bronson. Besides, I'm planning on doing this during the summer when my kids will be home with me all day. A day without caffeine could get ugly quick.

2) We're not going to make the kids do this with us. A morning without cereal, a summer day without ice cream, we'd have an insurrection on day one.

3) We might expand our food shed area to include food produced within our city. We're talking grown, born, butchered, etc. in Olympia. No doughnuts or Chinese food from downtown, lovely though that would be.

What else are we not thinking of? We'll be doing a lot of physical labor on the farm this summer, so we've agreed at this point to only have the experiment last for two weeks so that we don't run ourselves down too much on a diet with significantly less carbs than our usual pasta and rice intensive fare. Is two weeks long enough? Does that seem too wussy? Have we made too many exceptions? Help us get this ironed out so that we can put our little farm to the test this summer! We're thinking of beginning in July, as the garden should be kicking by then. What say you to all of this craziness?

Granola Giveaway #3

In celebration of my 200th post, I'm giving away a bag full of granola & farm goodies! Check it out -



This Farm Aid shopping tote is filled with some of my favorite earth-friendly products, an inspirational read and some gardening goodies to get you outside and planting. This package includes-

*Farm Aid "Farmers Kick Ass" shopping tote
*Farm Aid "Farmers Kick Ass" pin
*Alba Botanica Coconut Milk Face wash (Love this!)
*Three dishcloths, hand-knit by yours truly
*Biobag non-GMO, 100% compostable bags for your compost bin
*Ladies size medium Bamboo Gardening Gloves
*"Farm City" by Novella Carpenter (used copy, cuz that's how I roll)
*Miscellaneous heirloom seeds from Victory Seed Company

I'll probably throw a few more goodies in there before I mail this off, but you'll have to wait and see. ;)

All that you need to do to enter is to leave a comment on this post. I'll draw the winner on Friday the 17th, so check back and spread the word! Thanks again to all of my followers and friends for reading.

Good luck!!!

sitting in my chicken's yard
drinking cold red wine
swallows above dart and swoop

The Goatalympics!

One of my very favorite animal rescue organizations, New Moon Goat Sanctuary & Rescue, is sponsoring an event called the Goatalympics. I'm seriously thinking about entering a goat or three from my herd, since this is all in good fun and benefiting a great organization, and because even unruly, less-than-perfect goats are welcome.

They have a ton of different categories, both "skilled" and unskilled - obstacle course (aka "bribe a goat"), loudest bleat, prettiest eyes, widest goat, etc. So I'm looking for a little input here - if I were to enter, who should I enter and for which category/event? I can take up to three goats to the Goatalympics, but that might be pushing it for me to handle all three, even with help from the girls. You tell me - should I go? Who should I take and why? I have a small album of goat pics over on my GGG facebook page, but I'll include a few here as well, because like any proud Mama, I'll take any excuse to whip out the pictures of my babies. :)

Behold our potential contenders-


Fritzen, "The Boss-Lady"


Buckley, Teeny & Oreo, Fritzen's babies


Gertie, the Princess


Blue aka Donkeh (with Blackjack)


"Sassypants" Chardy


Archie, the one-horned eating machine


Spike, aka, Sir TurdBurglar

Only does and wethers (castrated males) are eligible, so Blackjack, Barley & Buckley will have to sit this one out. Review the candidates and take a peek through the "goats of happiness" category to get a little more insight into their individual personalities and tell me who should represent Boggy Hollow at the big game!

Waves of Usefulness

Our house guests have returned home now, and the house is quiet again, which is both nice and a little sad. Hanging with those crazy nephews of mine lets me be the nutty-fun auntie that chases and spoils the little maniacs until we all pass out. Good times!

But now that they're back home and I've mostly recovered from the cold and sinus infection that we all passed around, I finally find myself with a teensy bit of unscheduled time to knock out some more of our honey-do projects and even play outside a little. As my manic energy tends to do, my get-up-and-go has been coming in waves. I work my tail off on something on Sunday, then sleep and snarf down antihistamines and tylenol all day Monday. I don't seem to have a second gear.

Yesterday was my coma-nap day, therefore today is supposed to be a go out and kill it day. Meh.

I'm back to morning goat duty, after a generous hiatus afforded me by my darling husband, on account of my killer stomach bug and the time required for me to bounce crawl my way back to normal. Goat patrol, as we call it, really takes it out of me. Today I had to hike up the hill and back no less than four times (because of something that somebody did/didn't do who will be hearing about it tonight, I promise you.) These old bones can't go from zero to sixty like that! So now I'm taking my well-earned ease with a homemade frappuccino and pondering my next move. Put a few more plants in the garden? Take Spike for a walk on the leash to eat down some Scotch Broom? Take a nap in my lawn chair with a Diana Gabaldon book? Nah, No effing way and hells yes!

Today's wave was short but fast moving. I think I'm back to the trough. :)

P.S. - Look for my a Granola Giveaway coming up very soon, in honor of my 200th post!

Sweet Baby Violet

About 3 days old


She has her Papa's blue eyes and frosted ears.


Checking out the hay wagon with her Mama, Gertie


Hiding behind the shed


Mid-sproing!


Gert & Vi

The Gert-a-nator Gives Birth

FINALLY!

She toyed with us for days. A little nesting behavior here, an over inflated udder there, and nada. I had a sinking feeling that she was going to save her labor until I was home alone with all four kids (nephews are here) and no one to help either wrangle kids or stimulate babies. And she almost did, that Turkey!


My girls, chillin' with Gertie, waiting on some baby action.

Bill went up the hill to check on Gert one last time before bed last night and discovered the baby, just delivered. He came down to the house and got me. We waited there for another 30 minutes or so, watching to see if another was coming. Nope, just the one. She was awfully fat for having had just one little peanut in there! I'm sort of relieved that it was just one though, as this is Gert's first, and she's an "older mother" as goats go (four or five by the vet's guesstimate), leaving me feeling a little leery of her instinct/ability to mother her babe. So far so good, with the exception of the baby escaping by accident by walking right through the fence. She's tiny!

So here she is, our as yet to be named baby girl -


About 20 minutes old.

We're not sure yet whether or not we're keeping her. A lot of things depend on whether or not Gertie ends up being a good milker. Let's hope that she's at least better than our other Nigerian Dwarf.


Who, me? I'm straight-up DELIGHTFUL.

So our littlest Mama became a mom on Mother's Day - just barely. Now I'm off to share the good news with proud Papa Scout's owner. :)

We're still pondering about what to name her. Any suggestions?


Happy Mother's Day from Gertie & Baby Girl!