Inspirational Reading (the goat edition)

Tonight I'm up late glued to a book called "Goat Song". Yes, really.

Who am I, and why have I got the Goat Fever all of a sudden? I'm simply besotted of my sweet, curious, playful little goats, and I can't get enough information about them at the moment. It is my unfortunate experience, however, that most critter-related reading is either the cold and clinical kind or - worse yet - the I wub my putty-tat!!! variety. Egads, NO. No Chicken Soup for the Goatherd's Soul, for me, thank you.

Goat Song is actually quite poetically written, by a man who's relationship with his goats has become, by his own description, a quiet, symbiotic paradise of a sort. He describes the milking of his does as a time of quiet meditation for he and the doe alike. He further details the nitty-gritty, down and dirty details of animal keeping (sometimes in very graphic detail), interspersed with bits of the story of the history of the human/herd animal relationship through the millennia, with heavy meditations on what it means to be so life-and-death linked with another creature whom you sustain and in turn sustains you. It's good reading - educational, inspirational and so sweetly written.

In the end, it really just compels me to dive further and faster into this goat herding thing for the joy and satisfaction that there is to be found in it.

And his description of eating his hours-old chèvre rolled in homegrown herbs or honey is enough to get me chomping at the bit to get our Miss Gertie bred this fall.

The keys to a happy Me

I've been doing more than my fair share of whining lately, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate you all putting up with it. I've been working on getting myself sorted out, and have tried to focus on those things that make me get my bedraggled butt out of bed every morning. So here it is, the good stuff. In no particular order-


Homemade Wine


Experiencing Nature


Brown-eyed girls


This Guy :)


Goofy-Sweet Goats


Enough good food to feed my family


Flocks of fat chickens


Knitting nutty things for the people I love

Add to all that a Venti Caramel Macchiato, the middle of a warm cinnamon roll, and a good thunderstorm, and you've got one blissed-out chick on your hands. :)

The (partial) Reformation of a Layabout

I've had a little energy crisis of my own these past few months, in that I've had none. Laziness abounds with no end in site. But farm girls don't get breaks. There are critters to feed, leaves to rake, trees to prune, etc. I'm just having the devil of a time getting off of my comfy little spot on the couch where I've been holed up, watching Law & Order re-runs and knitting hats for everyone I know. And all the while, the chores, they call.

For one thing, my yard is teeming with weeds. Hawksbeard, English ivy, Scotch thistle, Scotch Broom, you name it. Why the weeds of the UK seem to find my lawn & pasture so attractive is a mystery to me, but here we are. I really should get on top of these puppies before they take over, but I haven't been getting it done. However, I've found a new way to trick myself into doing little bits of yard work.

Here's how it works - Whereas on a typical day, I would walk by a weed a hundred times thinking "Man, I should pull that." before actually pulling it, I now walk by a thistle or mat of ivy and think "Wow, the goats would so love to eat that", at which point I ACTUALLY PULL THE WEED and shove it in the num-nums basket to take down to my goats. The same is true for the bunnies and chickens. All have their favorite weedy snacks, and it has changed my perspective on weeds completely. Now I see those gnarly weeds as free critter food, which will eventually yield us "free" milk, eggs and fertilizer. Therefore the two minutes of my time spent pulling a weed today will net me even more free food/free time (less grocery shopping, fewer feed store runs) in the future, and therefore pays dividends in the form of time to nap and extended couch-sitting sprees. (Naps as currency - now there's an idea that needs exploring!) The chorus of excited MEHHHHHH!'s that I get the minute the goats see me coming their way with my basket o' weeds is just the gravy on top. ;)

We're Legit!

We now officially own "livestock". Wow!

http://boggyhollowfarm.blogspot.com/2010/10/its-official.html

Stuck in Funkytown

You know what it feels like to be in a funk for a while, before realizing that you've been in a funk for a while, and even after becoming cognizant of your funky disposition still find yourself unable to bust out of said funk? Well, that's where I am. Uhg.

For one thing, I have horrifically bad sinuses that have been whooping on me for the last two months, sucking the energy right out of me. Come November, I'll be having a surgery to square them away, which I am simultaneously dreading and looking very much forward to.

But that's not the whole story. I'm not sure if I've even sorted out the whole story. All I know for sure is that I'm in valley right now and I could really go for a peak. I have this gorgeous new land that would love my attention/mowing/pruning, but I seriously cannot work up the gumption to go out and do a darned thing. My mojo, she is M.I.A.

I've often wondered if I have a touch of the Seasonal Affective Disorder, but this seems rather early in the season for that to be hitting already. And I like Fall, I really do, so what the heck?

Help a sister out. What do you do to bust out of a funk?

Recipe: Out-of-this-World Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm not much of a baker. At least, historically, I haven't been. I'm a slayer of yeast and, up until we moved this summer, the owner of the world's crappiest oven. No more, my friends!

My new old house came with a new old oven. Oddly enough, the very same one that my Grandma G.G. used to have. It's a 30ish year-old Maytag and it works like a dream. Emboldened by my new-to-me, perfectly functional stove, I decided to make my girls some cookies.

Of course, my cookbooks are all still buried somewhere in a box in the basement, so instead I Googled a recipe for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I found one that sounded good, then naturally, I monkeyed with it. Let me just say this - Holy cow, NUM. I love these cookies. I crave these cookies. I eat them in such quantity that I probably should not make these at all anymore. And so, I must share the joy/addiction. The original recipe can be found here. The following is my modified (and if I may say so, improved) version.

Chelle's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2 cups unbromated, unbleached, All-Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup maple sugar
1 large egg
2 tbsps applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups old-fashioned oats, uncooked
1 package (12 oz) milk chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add egg, vanilla and applesauce and mix well. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet and mix thoroughly. When well combined, add the oats, followed by the chocolate chips and mix well. Drop by scoopfuls/spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 9-10 minutes. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Enjoy with a tall glass of milk or a hot cup of coffee. Yummmmm...... :)

And the Winner is....

...Kris @ Quilted Simple! Congrats, my friend!

As I only had four entries for this giveaway, I went old school and had Olivia draw a name from a hat. Here is your small but lovingly assembled prize package-



Kindly shoot me your address to pisceschick99 at gmail dot com and I'll get it in the mail today. :)