Favorite Treats FOUND

I've been trying to figure out what kind of "treat" I could give the goats once in a while... the kind that would make them happy to see me coming to the gate. Sure. They like their grains... and hay is yummy too.
But they aren't irresistable.
Also, it turns out, I'm not the only crazy goat lady in the world.
I'm a member of a few websites/forums on line that are farm and livestock related. I searched them for goat treat ideas.
SCORE.
Who knew goats love RAISINS!?

Also?
Harriet isn't terrified of the goat jungle gym anymore.

And I love her.

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Thrifty Goat fun

So here's the thing.
Goats like to climb.
They like it a lot.
They also like to play king of the hill.
Another thing?
Happy goats are WAY nicer than unhappy ones.
So of course I got busy thinking about HOW I would make my goats happy. Crazy goat people like me call things like this "goat toys."
I have an order in with my electrician friend for a really huge wire spool.
In the mean time, I found an old SOLID wood side table...
and some really sturdy carpet pieces at the Dollar Tree...
and came up with THIS:

Not to shabby for $4.99 total...
Hopefully the goats will stop being 110% too scared of it to get near it soon...
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New Farm Additions

I call them my "used Bunnies" and yes. I just got done saying just the other day that bunnies wouldn't make a good birthday pet for Macs. They still don't.
These bunnies are going to be working for their living. :P Well. They'll be POOPING for it anyway.
I've been doing some reading, and apparently, Rabbit poop is what you call COLD fertilizer. Meaning you can apply it straight to your garden and flower beds.
Well. My garden, I'm convinced, would have produced MUCH better if it were a little more rich. I think I have it in a decent place for sun, but it's definitely lacking in rich soil.
How does one get USED bunnies, you ask?
Let me tell you!
I have a friend who recently called me to say she had some art supplies that she wanted to give me. She is moving, and had a bunch of goodies she knew I would like. While I was at her house picking them up, she teasingly asked me if I wanted to take her bunnies home too. I laughed, and went home withOUT bunnies.

Then I started to read a really funny book called FARM CITY. It's author, Novella Carpenter ended up with bunnies in her urban farm, and used their fertilizer straight on her garden.
That got me thinking...
Which is never good.
And so my used bunnies.
They came with their amazing hutch, and already friendly. I officially added four rabbits to my farm today.

Meet Bugs. Boy.

Macs has laid claim to naming this one... Girl.

Bun Bun (who survived a dog attack, and "doesn't know how to use a water bottle") also Girl.
She and No Name had SOMEBODY'S number I think.

And Coco. Boy.

I put their hutch (which is really more like a condo...) at the back wall of my garden.
Pay no attention to the ground with all the weeds.
We're working on mulching that out.
The two boys each have their own sections on the left, and the girls have a pen together on the right.

After everyone was settled in, the chickens came to check things out, and had a field day with the hay... :)

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Getting Books Ready...

I'm getting the books that all of YOU helped me purchase ready to go to class...
Inside each book I wrote
"This book was bought for YOU by..."
and placed one of these names in each book until there was a name in EVERY ONE OF THEM.

• Cheryl Fisher
• Cara O'Connor
• Pamela Lincoln
• Alisa Burke
• Maya Henderson
• Jill Scripps
• Laura Pace
• Kathleen Tennant
• Debbie Doughty
• Jan Woodward.

Thank you so much to each of you. I also placed a letter inside the cover of each book:
When I was a little girl, I had an amazing mother. She loved art, and she wanted me to love it too. She believed in what I made, and never told me I did poorly. She took drawing lessons with me. She let me use watercolors to paint on my little sister’s face. Whenever she could, she encouraged my creativity. I believed I was an artist. I thought I would be one someday when I grew up. Then somewhere along the way as I grew up, I learned that people thought you had to make money at making art to be special enough to call yourself an artist. Unfortunately, I believed them, and I stopped creating things.
UNTIL.
It hit me. I don’t have to make ANY money to call myself an artist. I am an artist because I allow my creativity to come out of myself. No one else in the WORLD has to agree with me, to say it’s true.
I am an artist.
I AM ART.
Two of the loudest voices that helped me listen to the artist in my heart were the voices in this book. Two seesters that I had never met confirmed what I already suspected.
The definition of art is this:
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging symbolic elements in a way that influences and affects the senses, emotions, and/or intellect.
Nowhere in that definition does it say that other people have to like it. Nowhere in there does it say that it’s only made by certain people.
That’s what I hope you will take away from this book.
YOU.
YOU ARE ART.
Not because I say so, or your teachers agree. But YOU say.
I have since met the seesters that wrote this book. I’m lucky enough to be able to call them my friends. When I found out I would be able to guest teach in your class, I knew I wanted to get you this book. Linda helped me by giving me an amazing deal on them, and making a listing on line that would let some of my on line friends buy it for you to help me get Journal Revolution into your hands. Your own personal copy. Paid for by other people that believe in the idea that YOU ARE ART, and want you to believe it too. I have written the name of the person that bought your copy here in this book. I can’t wait to do some art with you this year!!
…let your heart be your guide… let your true colors shine…™

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Thanks, Jax!!

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
People Who Are Destroying America - Landscaping Goats
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election March to Keep Fear Alive

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New Goat Digs!

It's been a while since we actually did this, but I wanted to show everyone what we did to one of our outbuildings to be a goat barn!!
In doing that, we also more than doubled their yard.

We used wood pallets to divide the building into two areas. The area closest to the camera is about 5X8 feet, and the back area is about 10X8 I think.

We've been keeping Ganja in the back pen and the two smaller goats in the front. We'll use the back for kidding when the time comes. :)

So using fencing from the property, and what we already had from the previous pen, we were able to create a pretty nice little area for the goats this winter!! Come summer we'll set out the movable pen again so they can have fresh browsing on blackberries and poison oak.
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Finished Custom Order Steam Punk Doll

Did you know I do custom orders? I do! Not just dolls, either. Etsy makes is amazingly easy for you to request a custom item! Using the Alchemy feature, you can send a request, and we can negotiate what you'd like and what I am able to do for you. Once we agree, we submit the request, and I get started!!
This is the doll I just finished for a custom order!

Some close up shots. This is probably the most sewing I've done on a doll so far. It was tough, and I don't use a pattern... but I think it all turned out really well!!

If you're interested in a custom order, you can do that HERE! I can work with you on payments as well.
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Progress

I love the way she's coming along! I had planned to create a lace topped corsette on her bodice, but as I got started, and got to the point of putting the lace on, I realized that she would look great with a bomber jacket!! The chanille trim topped it all off perfectly!!

Just a skirt and the pocket watch to finish her off!

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Working

Working on a custom doll order!

Steampunk.
I'm pretty excited! :)

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Holy Houdini!!

I went and got our third goat today!!
Travis helped me change one of our outbuildings into a goat barn!!
That left me room for the third goat I wanted to get before winter!
Blogger was giving me photo phits, so I'm using Flickr to share some photos today!!
She makes this face when she's calling for mom.

Ganja and Ginger checking out the new girl...

Love her face. Her name is Harriet. When she was a teeny TEENY baby, she got carried around a lot, and she liked to nibble hair. :P

More Ginger...

Also? She can get through the cattle panels... so. I've got to figure out a good way to keep her from doing THAT now...
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Goat Milking Success!

It's only been a week, and we have a routine!! I'm not able to just let Ginger loose to follow me to the milking stanchion, so I've been trying to teach her to go there on a leash. It's been slow going, because she wasn't leash trained as a kid. I've been doing my best to get her from her pen to the stanchion without a lot of stress for her.
She HATED the leash.
I tried carrying her.
She HATED to be carried.
I tried bribing her.
She decided if I was holding it, she didn't WANT it.
I kept it up... just trying to keep her milk up, and at the same time not making it stressful for her. It's been tough!!
About 1/2 way through the week, I asked Travis for some long rope. I made it into a kind of a lunge line. That way, I had control over her, but at the same time, I wasn't so close to her that she was worried about ME.
The first time wasn't a huge success.
The second time, she seemed to be more appreciative of the long lead.
She also seemed interested in the bucket 'O' food I shook to tease her in the right direction.
TODAY...
WE DID IT!!
She ran straight to the stanchion, and waited for me to catch up with her to pour the feed in!

She ate the WHOLE TIME I milked her, and using my Henry Milker, I got a little over the usual amount of milk I get from hand milking! YAY!!
I had a few reasons for buying the milker.
1. It's a closed system, so no more hairs in my milk bucket!
2. No hooves from a wiggly kicker in my milk bucket! (Ginger doesn't do this, but Ganja will I think.)
3. No sore hands after hand milking. Once I get more than one to milk, I don't know if I'd be able to!! lol
4. I can easily teach someone who has no experience milking how to use it. This means the kids can try it too!! (not that they couldn't have hand milked, but I feel better not subjecting Ginger to their inexperience.)
5. The breed of goat that I have and milk is a Nigerian Dwarf Dairy goat. They have smaller teats than other milking goats, and hand milking can be harder to do on them. This system helps with that.
Getting suction started:

Filling the Jar.

Milk in the fridge. To keep track of which jar we're drinking and which one I'm working on filling, I have written on the lids. FILLING. IN USE. :)

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