The one thing that does bug me is that I ended up having to give a whole lot of my milk to my dogs. While I love my dogs, I gave them a good 8 gallons that I would have liked to have for us over the winter. Oh well. Live and learn. I also pulled my girls back to milking once a day, another maybe not so wise decision. You get less milk once a day, which is fine because I was getting buried in it and had no where to store 2 gallons a day. We can run through about a gallon a day, but running out of room to make my soft cheese too. So how to solve the problem? Bring them down to once a day. The only problem is they are now only giving me about 3/4 of a gallon a day. Sheesh. I was hoping to run them through to next year but if they keep dropping and drying off I may have to get them going again this fall with new babes for the spring. We shall see.
My one girl Cassie is probably pregnant. Due in November. When the weather starts to get rougher. Some positives and negatives there. Not good to have babes in that kind of cold that comes in December and January, but I do have a green house converted into a baby nursery for babies to keep warm in. Plus, if my two big girls start to dry out, then Cassie might be able to help us to stay in milk. It won't be much, but could get upwards of 1/2 a gallon a day from her alone. Always good to keep barn records.
All of that said, these are things I was able to get finished up. Smoked and canned the two young bucks I had to take out. I also dispatched two young animals for meat this Thanksgiving. Absolutely gorgeous little roasts, I couldn't believe it. They were both 6 months old. So young enough to be very tender and still manageable size for dispatch day (we do it all ourselves) and small enough to fit in my existing freezer well. I love it. I canned 30 qts of cherries too, made bread, you know...the typical stuff. I have harvested about 5 qts of raspberries thus far, and have more to go. The wild blackberries are ready and my thorn less will be ready in about a month. Potatoes need harvesting...onward. Oh, and we have 14 new chicks with hopefully 10 more on the way. They are sitting under momma now. Half will be roosters most likely, so some fowl for the Thanksgiving table too :-)
Another thing I'm really looking forward to next year is even more milk (I'm crazy I suspect) Because look at this picture!! My very own butter!! It's the first I've made. It is raw goat milk butter and wow, I've never had anything this amazing. Smooth, really lovely flavor, ever so slight tang. It was extraordinary. But I don't get enough milk right now to make anymore. I actually insisted the day I made it that I will never do that again for such a small amount of milk, but really, just because whey was flying all over the kitchen and huge messes were being made for one softball sized ball...doesn't mean I should not try again. I was being too fussy. I've since come to my senses and cannot wait to have more next year. I should have 6-7 milking does. Instead of 2.
Yeah, I need that freezer don't I?
Ok, a few of the sights and sounds of the last month. A lovely rabbit salad and some fried rabbit "wings" and my fabulous, over the top butter! |
| Fresh Raw Butter from Goats Milk |
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| Rabbit Salad - my Rabbits and Garden w/Blackberry wine |
