Goats, Thanksgiving and Black Friday

I find most holidays hectic. While I love having family over, I don't often get the chance to visit because I'm busy putting the meal together. This year I decided to do things differently.

First, I wasn't using my best dishes (they can't go in the dishwasher). Instead I got nice plastic throw-aways.  Also, I wasn't cooking the Thanksgiving turkey on Thanksgiving. For the past few years our homegrown turkeys have been much bigger than most cooking charts cover, so I've guessed the timing and we've had to wait for the turkey to finish while the potatoes got cold and the stuffing got mushy. This year I cooked the turkey the day before Thanksgiving- it took 6 hours. I also carved it up and laid it out on a steaming rack, ready to heat up quickly when needed.

Thanksgiving morning I woke up with the delusion that everything was done and I was ready to enjoy the holiday. This was going to be the first year I would actually have time to talk to people while sitting in the living room. I was in the midst of enjoying my quiet kitchen and smiling over this thought when Joe came in from the barn and changed everything. A doe - a very big, pregnant doe carrying kids we'd been anticipating arriving for the past two weeks decided to kid - now.

I guess I should have known this doe would pick this day.  There she is in the picture. Her name is Valentine. As her name implies she was born on Valentine's Day. Last year she had her kids on Christmas Eve. Since Thanksgiving is a holiday, she'd clearly decided it was the perfect time for her to have her kids.

After 4+ hours of labor she presented us with two great kids - black bucklings. They are wonderful, but the time she took to have them ruined my dream of a casual Thanksgiving Dinner with the family. Instead, I was wearing barn grubbies and up to my wrists in goat goo, pulling kids from their tired mom. Once the kids arrived we figured we'd retreat to the house for our Thanksgiving feast, but Valentine hadn't appreciated the holiday guests who wanted to see the new babies. They made her so nervous she fumbled around the kidding pen stepping on baby toes and almost laying on her kids in an attempt to protect them from people she didn't know. We had to ban the guests back to the house while we stayed behind to keep her from accidentally injuring her babies.

I spent the next hour running back and forth between the house and barn taking care of goats and finishing dinner while Joe stayed with Valentine. Once  everyone settled into the meal, I took Joe's Thanksgiving dinner to him in the barn and went back to eat dinner hurriedly with the family.

I didn't get time for nice conversations with anyone as I gave Joe a needed break. By the time I finally made it to my living room to sit down everyone was gone.

Joe and I ate leftovers for supper in the house and even put our feet up for a few minutes to watch TV. Then he went back out to check on the Valentine and her kids. When he came back it was with the news that another doe was in labor and about to deliver.

We went back to the barn for a couple more hours. Dulcie gave us two beautiful does. Being as there was no longer any company around, we lingered in the barn. Joe fed the goats and I took pictures of the new kids to share on Facebook and put on our webpage.

It had been dark for awhile by the time we closed up the barn and went back to the house. Having yummy apple pie late went a long way to making the entire day feel so much better. It also kept awake. I stayed up way too late Thanksgiving night putting kid pictures up on Facebook and revamping the farm webpage to announce their births.

The pictures above are Valentine's boys and here is one of Dulcie with her doelings.

After going to bed late - very late - I woke up the next morning and was was lazily enjoying the idea of sleeping in when Joe (who always gets up early) broke into my happy thoughts to tell me there were  more kids in the barn. Three more kids to be exact.

After a mad rush to dress and race bleary-eyed to the barn, I was presented with a set of triplets by Suzy-Q. She had spared us hours of waiting by handling their birth all by herself. Her babies were clean and fed and ready for us to admire. She had two bucks and a gorgeous doe. They were Our Black Friday deals delivered to the barn.

Here's Suzy-Q surrounded by her lovely kids. They all have spots and are the most colorful group of kids we've had born on the farm.

After taking more pictures and doing all the things that needed to be done to make sure they were on the right track to staying healthy, we went in the house - but not back to bed.

Our twice a month housekeeper arrived within minutes to noisily clean the house and we had errands to run.

Its a new day now, almost 2 am Saturday morning. It's been a long day, but my kidding pens are full of moms and babies. My email and Facebook friends have kindly offered congratulations and nice comments about the new additions to our herd. Who could ask for more? But I did get more. When I ran through the rain to visit the barn this afternoon to see that everyone was doing well, it was quiet. It was kid nap time, no more fuss, no more needs, just happy moms and sleeping kids. Peace at last and enough quiet time to feel thankful.

Farm Life as a Whole - According to Me 1/4/2009

Living in the city - any of them I've lived in - I found it hard to make friends. I don't really think I was that unusual. Except for my friend Patty, who is a profoundly great friend to numerous people and extended family members, there have never been really close women friends in my life.

When Patty decided I was friend material she brought that special element into my life - a good woman friend. She's one of those people you can bounce crazy ideas off of and know, whether she says it or not, exactly what she thinks. She has been a great reality check for me through some pretty difficult years. I've enjoyed and still enjoy her friendship.

Here in on the farm, both Joe and I worried whether or not we would make the kind of friends we needed. People who could give us advice, helps us find our way around town and suppliers and be there when something goes wrong that we don't know how to fix. Farming is not quite like being a homeowner. There are a few more buildings, a few more pieces of equipment and a new set of problems that can happen here on the farm.

All the books I read about farming assured me we would be just fine. Our neighbors would become friends and we would find people who had shared interest who would become friends. Not just acquaintances, but friends.

Those books weren't wrong.

This Christmas every single neighbor on our street made sure they let us know they were glad that we're here. One neighbor left a beautiful handmade wreath on our door, another brought over goodies and sparkling cider, two more brought baked goods on beautiful plates that we were told to keep. When the snow came it took only one afternoon when we could finally get our truck out before the neighbor up the road surprised us by clearing our driveway with his tractor while we were gone. What a blessing. He'd been taking care of the private road we lived on every day since the snow started piling up looking for nothing more than a wave when he tractored by.

The woman who was our son's temporary homeschool teacher is now a friend. We go shopping for goats together. I rejoice in her good purchases and she comes over to see mine. We are buying our goat supplies together. Her son's Christmas presents - two lovely mares - are stabled in our barn and in him we've gained an unpaid hired hand ready to do whatever we need help nwith so the mares can stay there. They've also offered to share their hay crop next year to help care for whatever animals we may have. They are grateful for our help, we are grateful for theirs.

The lady who bought our heifer, Wendy, from us now teaches me how to spin wool. We've been to visit her farm and she comes to visit ours often. She is such a wonderful lady and a real help with my new spinning efforts. She also raises goats and cattle so we have lots to talk about. She also hooked me up with her cleaning lady so that twice a month I get a little help around the house.

Today we bought a third boer doe from a couple on a farm in Ethel, about a twenty minute drive from our farm, I get the feeling they will be friends, too. While we visited with them we found out that she actually bought the prized boer buck I had hoped to buy for our farm. I was thrilled for her. She'll make good use of that buck with all the does she has. She has also agreed that I can come see him when he arrives and his services will be available to my does should I desire it. That's nice. No, that's more than nice.

I'm also part of a great writing critique group. All of them have lived in small country towns for years. Most of htem have farms of various sizes and have livestock or small animals. They are fun, supportive and writerly wise. I feel really blessed to have been accepted into their small group.

Honestly, there is something special about people who make their living raising animals. People who care for and love them. Those people seem to have a great capacity for being good friends, too. Maybe finding freinds in the country is easier because we often share many common interests just because we are here in the country living very similar lives. Lives that aren't too busy to make time for some goat shopping, fiber spinning, canning and visiting over the fence.

Now the big challenge is learning to be a good friend back. Next year I am so going to be ready with the neighbor gifts at Christmas. If I make any kind of resolution for 2009, its learning how to be a good friend to these people who are becoming good friends to me. It seems to be another step towards becoming a country lady myself. It's part of the life.