The Goats of Big Buck Ranch

All of my Nigerian Dwarf Goats are registered through either the American Goat Society or the American Dairy Goat Association.  They come from excellent milking lines including Heaven's Hollow, 5280 Farms, Wyojem, and Velvet Acres to name a few.  BOHICA ACRES Dauntless (1 year old doe) and BOHICA ACRES Valentine (4 month old buckling) are not pictured.  The 2 little rascals wouldn't stand still long enough for me to get a photo.  Enjoy!!

BOHICA ACRES WebiGayle
Bred-due the end of September

BOHICA ACRES Sweet Candy
Bred-due the end of October

BOHICA ACRES Erudite

Oven Drying Fresh Herbs

Fresh Lemongrass and Wild Chamomile drying in the kitchen.

I have been selling herb infused salts and herbal vinegars at the Pine Junction Farmer's Market.  I use fresh, locally grown herbs for both.  The vinegars are easy, I just add the fresh herbs to heated vinegar and let them steep for a few weeks.  When I make salt, I dry the fresh herbs.  Normally I like to air dry them near the kitchen window.  If I'm in a hurry to make salt, I'm finding the oven method is fantastic.

I wash my fresh herbs, pat them dry, and put them on cookie sheets.  As I'm prepping everything I preheat the oven to 175 degrees.   Once I've put the fresh herbs in the oven, I leave the door cracked a little to let moisture escape.  The drying time varies from herb to herb; thyme dries within an hour while sage can take 3-4 hours to dry.  I just keep checking them periodically to see how they're doing, and pull them once they're dry.  After a brief cooling, I strip the herbs from the stems.  Some herbs are easier than others; thyme gets tricky because the leaves are so small and the stems break easily, while sage goes quickly due to the size of the leaves.  

I leave the herbs on the cookie sheet, it makes crushing and bottling so much easier.  Once all of the herbs have been stripped from their stems, I cover them with parchment paper and crush them with a rolling pin.  My kids have a small rolling pin left over from a Strawberry Shortcake baking set, it's the perfect size for the pan I use.  

After the herbs are crushed I pour them into a mason jar to use in making salts or in cooking.  The herbs have such a punch of flavor compared to store bought dried herbs.  The process may seem long, but it's something I can pick up and put down throughout the day depending on my schedule.  All in all it's worth it.

And the Hits Just Keep on Coming

I keep waiting for some calm in our lives, but it doesn't seem to exist anymore.  Our stress is as oppressive as a humid summer day.   So much to do, so much happening, so much going wrong, so little in the checking account, it makes my head spin.  I find peace in cuddles with the kids, in prepping meals for the critters, in goat kisses.  Those simple actions take me away from the daily grind, the thought of what will go wrong next.  I need to cherish the simple, look for joy throughout the day, leave this little pity party I keep having for myself.

My head swims most days with tough choices, second guesses; should I do this, was this right, why does every decision seem wrong.  I'm blessed with an amazing man, who listens to my crazy, who brings the calm.   He reminds me that not all of my decisions are wrong, but supports me through all of them.  I am blessed with amazing children.  They enjoy my crazy most of the time, it's given them the opportunity to commune with animals, build tepees in the woods, and be kids without technology.  Granted there is a lot of technology in this house.  I am blessed to live in an amazing home, nestled in the woods, away from the hustle of city life.  Sometimes the hustle gets too close though.  Cherish the quiet moments, look for beauty in the simple, take time for those I love; that alone will help me weather this current life storm.

Kitty Kisses

Purrpikitty's favorite nap spot.

Other than our lab mix puppy, Buster, there is a rotating cast of characters that share the bed at night.  Usually it's a cat or 2, some nights it's our little Cocker Spaniel, Cookie.  The other night my beautiful little tabby, tortie, Purrpikitty, joined me in bed.  At some point during the night I woke up, used the bathroom, put on some lip gloss, and headed back to bed.  Shortly after returning to bed I felt something wet touch my nose followed by a sandpaper tongue on my lips.  Purrpikitty was licking off my lip gloss!  This goofy little cat loves peppermint, and I had put on peppermint lip gloss.  I don't know why she likes it so much.  She will even try to lick the toothpaste from my face if I sit down on the bed to watch the news while brushing my teeth.  What a goofy, sweet girl!!  Gotta love the personalities of animals.

Milking Time

I have had the new group of goats here for a couple of weeks now and every day things get a little easier with them.  Goats are very skittish by nature.  They think I want to eat them.  It's taken a year for my first two does to feel at ease with me.  My two black does are learning slowly but surely that I'm not a threat.  I'm finding you can't rush things with them, slow and steady will win this race.  

Milking time takes about 20 minutes for me.  I know it can be done more quickly, but it's not a wham bam thank you ma'am activity.  Erudite, my milk doe, now walks nicely on a leash to the milk stand, this used to be more of a tug of war.  She dives into her grain instead of calling out to her herd mates.  Even her herd mates now ignore our twice daily excursion.  I brush her before I milk and talk softly, this calms her and teaches her that I won't eat her.  Erudite now stands calmly munching her grain as I milk her.  The 2 pounds of daily grain are putting weight back onto her slight frame, having nursed twins before she came to live at Big Buck Ranch.  This is a peaceful time for me, a time when I can focus solely on the bond between my goats and myself.

This is why I've been MIA

Things have been slightly chaotic here at Big Buck Ranch.  Other than chasing down my goat, Houdini, on a daily basis, I've been selling pine cone firestarters and herb infused vinegars at our local farmer's market.  I still have grain bag and burlap totes to complete, but the rest of my product is ready to go.  Hopefully, I'll start having more time for other things, like chasing my escape artist goat!

Life Lessons from a Runaway Goat

As horrible a week that was, as much stress as I put myself and my family through, losing my goat Houdini was probably the best thing that could have happened to me.  Don't get me wrong, it was an awful experience I never want to duplicate, but good has come from it.  I've been able to regain the faith of my mentor.  I've learned more about goat behavior.  I proved to myself that I can work through a difficult, bleak situation.  Most importantly, I've learned a true sense of patience and calm with my animals.

Monday, I brought the last of my herd home; a doe in milk, a two year old old, and two month old buckling.  My dream of breeding and raising Nigerian Dwarf goats is coming to fruition.  When Houdini came home, I was hurried, stressed.  I stuck a frightened flight animal into a pen with an ornery goat he'd never met and expected things to go well.  This homecoming was different, it was quiet, slow, peaceful.  My youngest daughter helped carry over the baby while I moved the does.  I let them see the other goats, got my milk doe into the milk stand for a quiet brushing, and chatted with the girls in the new goats' pen while they got used to their surroundings.  

Be quiet, be still, be peaceful, be present; those are the things I need to do to settle my new herd.