Dear Nature Academy: Week 2

Dear Nature Academy,

Hi again!  Today was so fun!  Doran hit the nail on the head when he said that the flow of our day was awesome.  Projects combined with play...  I just think about everything that you accomplished today and I am so grateful!

Can I just say that you all rocked at milking the goat?  It amazes me how quickly you all picked it up.  It took me days to get to the point that all of you reached after a few squirts in the bucket.  You all were so gentle and empathetic towards Terra.  Milking an animal is an intimate thing, and you can't help but form relationships with them.  They can feel when they are being respected, loved and appreciated.  I could tell that Terra was very comfortable today, and although she was a little nervous here and there, over all she settled in very nicely to having so many different people handle her.  It was truly a reflection of all of your calmness and gentleness.

So during our milking lesson we talked a little bit about the difference between a sterile operation and a sanitary operation.  Some farms use harsh chemicals in an attempt to sterilize all of their equipment and the udders of their goats.  We however choose a more natural approach.  We first washed Terra down with a cloth dipped in hot water and peppermint castile soap.  We scrubbed all sides of her udder, especially around her teats, and also her belly to remove any loose hairs.  Next, we sprayed her teats and our hands with a sanitizing vinegar and essential oil solution.  Here is my recipe for that spray:

Home Made Disinfecting Teat Spray

You will need:

1 – 4oz dark colored glass spray bottle

8 drops – peppermint essential oil

8 drops – tea tree essential oil

6 drops – lavender oil

2 drops clove oil

Distilled white vinegar to fill bottle

Add each essential oil to the glass bottle and fill remainder of bottle with vinegar.  Shake before each use.  Use this teat spray after you wash her udder and before you milk, and allow to air dry to disinfect her udder and prevent germs from traveling into the milk.  Spray her teats again after you are done milking to protect her against pathogens infecting her udder.  This spray will not harm the milk or the kids in the least.  

 So since Terra kicked our bucket a few times, we fed her milk to the pig rather than keeping it to drink ourselves.  When pasteurization isn't in the equation, we always have to be prepared to discard milk that has been contaminated, even if it's only a possibility that it's been contaminated.  

I am so thankful for the delicious picnic you all brought for us!  Everything was so good, and filled my belly up!  Nom, nom, nom... : )  

After lunch we moved right along to making some herbal medicines.  First was the Immunity Tincture!  This preparation is full of herbs that are going to fight both bacterial and viral infections (colds and flues), build your immune system, as well as tonify and cleanse your liver and blood.  Here is the recipe we followed:




(All of the herbs listed from this point forward are linked to more information about that herb.  Just click on the herb name.)

Immunity Tincture

You will need:
1/2 pint mason jar
1 tbsp elder berries
1 tbsp echinacea root
1 tbsp nettle leaf
1 inch piece of astragalus root (torn into small pieces)
Raw apple cider vinegar

Add all herbs into your jar, and then top the jar off with the apple cider vinegar, leaving 1/2" of head space. Shake and set in a cool dark place for at least 4 weeks.  Shake daily (if you remember...).

Here are some things we discussed about tinctures:

• Traditionally, tinctures are made with a strong alcohol as a base.  However, alcohol free tinctures are an important option to have for people that react negatively to alcohol based preparations, would prefer to avoid alcohol or for when the medicine is being made for children.  Raw apple cider vinegar (from a trusted, ethical, and/or organic source) is a very effective and high quality alternative to alcohol, however, it does not extract the properties of the herbs as efficiently as the alcohol, so it is important to leave the tincture to steep for an entire lunar month.
• Speaking of lunar months...  I like to prepare all herbal medicines on the new moon, and leave them to infuse until the following new moon.  The new moon has fantastic energy for starting new projects, creation and setting intentions.  Leaving the medicine to steep through the entire moon cycle allows it to take full advantage of all the drawing properties of the moon cycle as it goes from new, to waxing, to full, to waning.  
• You can make a tincture with whatever ingredients you want in whatever size jar you want!  The general rule of thumb is to fill your jar 1/5 of the way with dried herbs, and then fill the rest of it with the apple cider vinegar.  Kale and I spoke about headaches a little.  Here's a recipe that could help with that:  Migraine Relief Tincture
• We talked about why using dried herbs is preferable to using fresh herbs in tinctures.  The vinegar will draw out the juices from the fresh herbs and become diluted.  This will diminish the effectiveness of the vinegar pulling the vital components out of the herbs.  The above migraine recipe gives the option of using fresh or dried herbs.  I would definitely use dried!  

We also made some herbal oils, in preparation for making salves in a few weeks.  The process for making herbal oils if very similar to making tinctures.  We infuse herbs into oil for entire lunar month, however we filled our jars 1/3 to 1/2 of the way full with the dried and/or fresh herbs.  In an herbal oil it is great to use fresh herbs!  Herbal oils get made into topical applications, and in most cases the juices from the herbs are what brings relief to wounds, rashes, sores, etc.  I had an array of herbs available for you all to include in your oils and each of you came up with your own mix!  I loved seeing all the variations.  I know Meg and Keenan went outside to pick some chickweed to add to their oils.  Did anyone else?

Here are the herbs that I had out:

• Calendula
• Lavender
• Comfrey root
• Marshmallow root
• Chamomile
• Thyme
• Echinacea root
•  Chickweed

Once our jars were filled with our special blends of chosen herbs, we then topped off the jars with organic olive oil, and put them up on the shelf with our finished tinctures.  I'll am shaking the jars once a day to make sure no air bubbles collect around the herbs (which would interfere with the extraction taking place), and in 4 weeks we'll harvest our medicines, and use the oils to makes salves!

In closing, I want to send out a HUGE THANK YOU to you all for moving my terribly heavy bath tubs into the garden for me!  What a chore!!!  It'll be great to plant medicinal herbs in them and have a "farmacy" right outside the door!  You guys rock ; )
 

Dear Nature Academy: Week 1

Dear Nature Academy,

I must admit that today I was a little nervous...  I knew you all were special.  I've heard all the amazing stories about your infectious and deep characters, your strong spirits, intelligence and maturity.  I saw many of you at Jon Young's talk at the Monge Family home a few months back, I heard your stories about your Sespie adventure, and I've interacted with most of your parents.  I have greatly admired each of you before having met you, and I wanted to make sure that I was worthy of your work and efforts on my land.  I wanted you to feel welcomed and free.

And then you all got here!  Miles on his bike and everyone else caravanning up my driveway!  Excitement!  And then I was greeted with your amazing smiles.  I instantly felt normal again and at ease.  How great you all are.  So full of youth and life, and bursting with energy and will.  I said it at our closing circle and I meant it with all my heart.  The homestead felt fully alive today.  Thank you for bringing that energy to this place.

So our day begun!  I was able to greet you with the exciting news that our Mama Cat had given birth in the wee hours of the morning, and so we went on a kitten hunt!  There was no fruit from our labors other than the deduction that Mama Cat had her brood stashed deep beneath my house.  But still so fun!

Following that was goat introductions!  You all got to meet Miko, Terra, Lady, Ivy, and the babies, Honor, Opal, Timber and Darryl.  I loved seeing that you all had gravitated to the spot where our beloved Daisy was buried.  It was so sweet to sit around her little tree that her babies have relentlessly nibbled, and talk about all the benefits and beauty of raw goats milk.  She is the one that taught it all to me, so it was a perfect spot to pass on some of that knowledge.  I know she loved it.  : )  We talked about holistic approaches to raising these amazing creatures, about different types of cheeses and how they are made. 

And then we dined!  It was such a pleasure to prepare food for you all!  I hope that through my food, you felt my deep appreciation for each of your lives and for your presence here with me.  I made you two flavors of fresh goat cheese: rosemary with garlic and honey with sea salt.  I also made a couple loaves of french bread, and a frittata.  Here is the frittata recipe if anyone is curious:

2 sweet potatoes (cut into 1/2" cubes)
1 leek (sliced white part only!)
1 cup cooked black beans
3 stalks of asparagus (chopped into small slices)
10 eggs (beaten with a splash of milk)
coconut oil

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Melt the oil in an oven safe pan.  Add the sweet potatoes and fry until tender.  Add in the leek and cook for a minute.  Add in beans and asparagus and cook for 2-3 minutes.  At this point season the dish as you would like.  I added nutmeg, oregano, sea salt, just a little garlic powder and black pepper.  Stir to mix spices in then add in the egg mixture.  Cook in the pan for a minute to set the outer edges of the egg and then put into the oven for 10-12 minutes.  Don't let it brown too much on the top or else it will be dry.  You want to be just done.  Enjoy!

I loved that Doran reminded me to discuss hazards!  The most important of those was to be mindful of nails or screws that may be on the ground in the project zones, and to keep your eyes out for snakes! 

Then you guys said something amazing...  You wanted to do my chores... Whoa...  lol!  So I showed you all our grain mix recipe that gets fed to the goats and pig, and several of you participated in mixing the grains for me.  Made me so happy!  Here is the recipe we followed:

16% protein ration:
Ingredient	Amount
Whole Peas	3#
Whole Barley	3#
Whole Oats	2#
Black Oil Sunflower Seeds	1#

In the blink of an eye our day was at it's end.  We said our goodbye's, looking forward to next week's milking lessons, herbal medicine making and getting started on the bathtub herb garden project you guys wanted to work on.  I sent a link to a fun goat video for you all to watch in preparation for next week.  Here it is:

Blessings friends!

In gratitude,
Shayna

Rickety Reflections & A Milk Stand Makeover

Most things around here are a little, er... rickety.  That's what happens when you jump right in and aren't willing to spend your life savings on fancy equipment, new materials or professional labor.  A huge focus of our homesteading adventure has been to spend as little money as humanely possible so that this lifestyle doesn't end us up in debt.  So far, we've been very successful at this.  We've gleamed needed items second hand from farm sales, we've repurposed and wild-crafted materials from around our property, and we've simply DONE WITHOUT on many occasions!

We have also been very fortunate, and give so much THANKS, for the things that have been given to us free of charge.  The most notable of free items that we have come across are our two goat's Rose and Lady, and our milking stanchion!  Rose and Lady were a lucky find indeed, and we are so happy that they are part of our herd!  Rose is a registered purebred Lamancha goat.  Doe's of her calibur and pedigree are usually accompanied by a hefty price tag.  Lady is mostly Lamancha, but she is considered an "experimental" breed because she has 1/8th Saanen in her.  She looks just like a Lamancha, but is all white like the Saanen (all white is not uncommon for pure Lamancha's however).  I chose not to breed her this year, but next year she will be a fantastic milker, I know!  I'm so excited for her future!  To top it off she's got a dynamite personality.  : )

Now back to that milking stanchion...  When it was gifted to us, it had been unused and sitting outside in the weather for probably a year or more.  It had quite a bit of rust on it, and it was missing the piece that holds the feed bucket.

I used it for a little while like this, but I decided that I no longer wanted a rickety milk stand!  A few inexpensive updates, made it beautiful and brand spankin' new!  And most importantly, these updates made it easier to keep clean.

First I used a wire brush to brush off as much of the rust and caked on dirt as possible.  This took a long time, especially with all the nooks and crannies that this stand has, but it was a vital step to ensure that the paint would adhere well.  After I had it all nice and smooth I gave it a very thorough wipe down to get off any remaining dust and grime.  Once it was completely dry, I spray painted it with Rustoleum Hammered Finish spray paint in a dark bronze color.

Ya... You like that don't you?  Isn't that so spiffy looking?  I love it!  I loved the paint I used because it was so easy to just spray it on, it seals up rust and prevents it from spreading, and looks awesome with that hammered texture.  I hope you can see the texture in the photo!  TIP:  There are a few moving pieces on the headpiece of the stand so while the paint was drying I moved each hinge and the latch a couple times to prevent sticking.

I gave the paint a couple days to completely dry and "cure" before I reassembled the milk stand, and added the finishing touches.  This stand looks identical to the stand sold by Caprine Supply so I went ahead a purchased the replacement feed bowl holder that they sell.  Thankfully it fit!  I also added a little something special for the comfort of my doe's : )  

Ta da!  I found this pretty foam mat at a big box store for super cheap, and I thought that it would be much more comfortable on their feet instead of that hard metal grate.  It's lovely and really brightens up the milking station, and it's super easy to clean and it's functional.  

Since we're all about frugality around here, here's the approximate break down of what this little project cost:

1.  Feed bowl holder:  $10

2.  Spray paint (2 cans):  $12

3.  Foam mat: $8

Wouldn't you pay $30 for a milk stand that looks as cute as this?

Assembling Your Kidding Kit

So things are getting really exciting around here!  Daisy is less than 2 weeks away from her due date, and we are getting ready for the big arrival.  You see, this is an extra special event.  Not only do we dearly love sweet Daisy, but her's will be the first ever goat kids born on this farm.  That is special!  That is exciting!  We have so much to do to get ready!

I have been slowly gathering items for our kidding kit.  If you have goats, or any animals that have babies for that matter, it is a very good idea to have some items organized and ready to go at a moments notice.  Birth is unpredictable.  We make an educated guess at a due date, but all pregnancies and all mamababy's (no that was not a typo... the mother and baby are a single unit, of course!) are different.  Be prepared so you can be calm and fully present when the big day comes.

Now with that being said, I would like to explain my approach to the kidding kit.  If you do a search online you will find exhaustive and elaborate lists of items that one "needs" to have in their kidding kits.  Everything from milk replacements, to medications, shots, kid pullers, lube...  Even the more holistic lists I have happened upon have multiple types of supplements, washes, herbs, etc....  That's so not me!  I'm a minimalist and I have complete trust in the birth process.  When I chose to have my second baby at home, I opted to not create a birth plan, or even a back up plan in case of the need to transfer to a hospital.  My mind couldn't go there...  I did, however, prepare extensively to have a wonderful and peaceful home birth.  I put my energy into what I wanted, not what I feared.  So I'm taking a similar approach to preparing for kidding.

There are a few basic areas that you will want to make sure your kit covers.  Those are umbilical cord care, postpartum comfort for mama, cleanup, and a few "just in case" items in the event that you have to assist or a kid is feeling a little weak.  When you read up on kidding it seems like the most common complications in a goat birth are kids coming out in a not so perfect position, or a kid needing a little bit of extra love to "get going" after being born.  I'd like to be prepared for either of those things.

So without further ado, here is my kit:

Ta-da!

For umbilical cord care there is:

•  Goldenseal root powder - This is an excellent antibiotic herb that works very well to dry up the cord stump and guard against harmful bacteria.  Initially and every time I clean their cord in the following days, I will crack open a capsule, mix it with some water in one of the plastic cups, and invert the cup over the cord stump to make sure to evenly coat it.  Alternatively you can use a cotton swap to apply the powder directly to the cord.
• Unflavored dental floss for tying off the cord.
• 2oz plastic cups for mixing up the goldenseal/water solution. (note: I do not like plastic and have been keeping my eye out for appropriately sized and shaped glass containers to do this job.)
• Iodine - I DO NOT plan on using iodine.  It is rather harsh, and if the tissue is healthy it will actually damage the tissue more than it will help it.  HOWEVER, I did want to have it on hand just in case someone develops an irritated belly button or if the "break" is not so pretty.  It's all about weighing the pros and cons!
• Sharp medical scissors for trimming the cord if needed.  Usually the mama takes care of severing the umbilical cord, but you will want to have sharp scissors on hand just in case the cord piece still attached to baby is too long.  You want the cord stump to be about 2 inches long to minimize as much as possible the chance that it will touch the ground or poop.

For mama care (these items aren't pictured as they will be prepared that day):

• Warm cooked oatmeal with molasses and cinnamon. I will probably make this once it seems like she is in labor and put it in a hot food container to maintain it's temperature until she is ready to eat it)
• Hot herbal tea (I'm thinking a mix of raspberry leaf to encourage her uterus to contract back down to it's normal size, nettles to tone and provide iron, cayenne to moderate bleeding, and cinnamon for warmth and flavor).  I'll brew up two liters of this and put it in my Thermos to keep it hot.  Then I will mix it 50/50 with fresh water and a small splash of apple cider vinegar in her water bucket.  
• And the last item in this section isn't really tangible, but still important for mama's health.  First I will say, you should not impose your own repulsions onto your animals at the expense of their happiness and well being!  That's a fancy way of saying, let her eat her placenta if she wants to!  Don't scoop it up immediately and treat it like biohazardous waste.  It's hers.  Let her have it.  If after a little while she has zero interest in it, then by all means, dispose of it.  Keep in mind though that most animals feel compelled to consume their afterbirth.  Many believe that this a survival based behavior that evolved from the fear of predators smelling it.  Other's believe that there are vital nutrients that the mother needs, and hormone balancing compounds that help her adjust to motherhood and lactation.  Either way, let your doe satisfy her needs.  If her mama instincts are telling her to fear predators, then she needs to resolve that.  If she needs the nutrition and hormone balancing then you shouldn't deprive her of that.  Ok... that is all on that : )

For the "just in case" scenario:

• Elbow length gloves, for... you know.
• Olive oil - I knew that I did not want to use a petroleum based lubricant on my does, so I chose olive oil.  You can use most any type of natural oil though.
• "Flutter valve" nipples - Just in case a kid can't nurse right off the bat for whatever reason.  I have zero intention of bottle feeding babies, and if I do have to at any time I will give the baby goat it's mama's milk and colostrum.  All of our animals CAE negative, and so I have zero worries here.
• Cayenne Pepper tincture - This is an EXCELLENT supplement to have on hand for a number of first aid situations.  It is very effective at controlling bleeding, and works wonders at giving a little boost to a weak kid.  Cayenne is very warming and is loaded with B vitamins.  I love the tincture from Fir Meadow, LLC because it is in an apple cider vinegar base, and is of a very high quality.  Fir Meadow is an excellent source for herbs.

Cleanup Supplies:

• The straw bales in the photo are part of the kit too!  Some websites I have read suggest using things like puppy piddle pads or old feed bags to set new kids on immediately after they are born.  This immediately makes me think about a horse "breaking" technique I read about once.  Basically, the horse trainer rubs a piece of crinkly paper all over the young horse.  The sound and feeling greatly disturbs most horses, and they are considered "broke" when they are able to handle it.  Apparently this gets them to be easier to handle and used to being touched.  I guess just touching them often doesn't work the same or quick enough?  Anyways, I'll admit that I know very little about horses aside from the basic care and nutrition, but I'm choosing simply to have lots of extra dry straw on hand to replace any wet or soiled straw with.  This seems more comfortable to me for the babies and for mama who will be trying to clean and bond with her babies.   
• Cotton towels - Once mama is done cleaning her babies, and depending on what time of day it is, I may need to finish drying them off to make sure they don't get could.  

And there you have it folks!  A minimalist approach to kidding kits!  My hope, as always, is to inspire the belief in others that less is more.  Please, do not go spend hundreds of dollars on things that are unlikely to be used and will just expire or collect dust at the bottom of your supply cabinet.  If your animals are healthy and robust, then the risk of complication is low.  If I do encounter an emergency situation where assistance is needed, I believe that my kit covers that well without going over the top.

Good luck and blessings for the kidding season to you all!

Hay Feeder Make Over to Reduce Waste

I've said this before, and I'll say it again.  Goat's are picky eaters!  I swear!  No one ever believes me when I say this...

"Oh, but I thought goat's will eat anything?"
"Ya right, a goat tried to eat my shirt at the petting zoo."
"Oh really?  Then why did my goat rip apart that tarp, shred up my barn records, and then swallow my shoe lace?"

Ok, I get it.  Goat's chew on A LOT of stuff, but they aren't actually ingesting 99% of it.  I promise you!  Goat's are very oral.  Just like a baby likes to touch and grab everything with their hands and then shove it in their mouth and lick it, a goat explores their world by grabbing things with their lips, tasting it, and then 99% of the time, spitting it out.  They are also very determined... When they see something they DO want to eat, they will pretty much rip apart whatever is in the way.  Say for example a tarp that is covering a bale of hay... Or perhaps they have been presented with a flake of alfalfa but they just want to eat the leaves... Unfortunately, this behavior has given the impression that they will eat anything, and it also creates a lot of destruction and waste.  To further illustrate my point I have created a little inner monologue that might occur in a goat's brain at feeding time...

"Oooooo, alfalfa!  Yum, Yum, Yum, Yum!  Gimmee, gimmee, gimmee, gimmee!  Munch, munch, munch... Oooo wait a sec... That alfalfa leaf was way tastier than that alfalfa stem...  I'll just eat all of those first, and then I'll eat the stems later."  (This is where the goat proceeds to rip apart the flake of hay, discarding the stems and eating only the leaves.  They fill their belly and go about their daily business of grazing and meandering the pasture.)  "Ok, I think I'm ready for some more hay.  Oh wait, I already ate all the leaves, and now all the stems are on the ground.  I couldn't possibly eat something that has been on the, *gasp* GROUND!  No way, not even if my farmer walks over here, picks it up, and puts it back in my feeder will I even consider touching that foul ground hay!  She's just going to have to bring me an entirely new flake, and I'm going to sit here and yell at her until she does."

And that, my friends, it how it goes down... every day.  With hay prices in the $18-$21 per bale range in our area, I had to find a solution, and fast!  Hay waste is a big problem that many goat owners face.  I know one goat owner that doesn't ever put bedding down in his barn stalls because he knows that within one or two days the floors will be covered in wasted hay anyways.  Just look at all the waste in the feeding area's of our pasture!

<<<<  Not OK!

Not OK!  >>>>

So the other day, me and the hubs visited a ranch sale, and happened upon that big awesome hay feeder you see in that first picture there.  It's a large feeder designed for horses, and it is supposed to be mounted to another piece with a huge tray for catching waste, and long legs that raise it up to the horse's heights.  Thankfully the people at the sale were selling the two pieces separately so we only bought the rack piece.  We considered buying both but we would have had to cut the legs down to goat height, and we decided that having the waste catching tray was actually a bad idea because our goat's seem to always want to put their front feet up on things.  Since our pasture is rather steep, I could just see this thing toppling over on a goat.

So are you curious how much we paid for it?  $20!!!  So awesome, considering this single piece can rarely be found for less than a couple hundred dollars.  So the way we got just this piece of the feeder to work was by mounting some 2x6 wood pieces to the bottom to give it some stable feet to stand on. 

You can also see in the above picture that I made one other little modification to reduce hay waste.  Like I said above, this feeder was designed for large livestock, and so the rack bars have large spaces between them for a horse to fit it's nose through.  A goat certainly doesn't need that much space, and in fact will take full advantage of that room to pull hay out of the feeder and throw it on the ground (much like they were doing with the old hay feeder...).  So all I did was measure out a piece of some remnant no climb fencing that we had lying around that would fit on the inside of the feeder, and then used zip ties to secure it in place.  

The feeder has been out in the pasture for a couple days like this, and it's been working great!  The openings on the wire fencing are only 2"x4" and so there has been very little waste as the goat's can only pull out small bites at a time.  They really love to use the new feeder as a back-scratcher too.  Win, win!

So I hope that this little project of mine inspires you to seek solutions to your problems with frugality and creativity.  It is so unnecessary to buy everything brand new, and in fact so many people who are new to the homesteading lifestyle fall into the consumerist trap.  Be patient, go to ranch and garage sales OFTEN, scour online listings, and take a hard core look at something even if it's not 100% exactly what you need.  Often times there are quick fixes and/or modifications that can be made to make it perfect.  Don't get in over your head with any DIY project though!  Here are a few common sense tips when buying second hand farm equipment:

1.  Avoid serious rust like the plague, unless the item is 100% free and you are OK with having to replace it in the near future.  

2.  Always avoid worn edges that have become sharp or pointy even if the item is free.  You definitely do not want one of your kids, yourself or an animal getting hung up on that.  If you are a goat keeper you want to especially be mindful of anything that may potentially cause harm to an udder.

3.  Consider how and where you will mount the item (if it's that sort of thing) and make sure it is compatible with the type of fencing or walls you have.

4.  Be willing to haggle with people and/or ofter items for bartering!  Often times sellers price their items expecting to make deals with people.

Hope that's useful!  Enjoy!