Gardening and Valentine's Day

Today after schoolwork we worked in the garden.  PD#2 used the little red wagon to haul my tomato seedlings to the garden.  After planting 72 tomato seeds only 26 germinated and sprouted.  Not a very good germination rate, but I am sure if I had a greenhouse the rate would have been better.  I transplanted the 26 seedlings to the raised bed.  The rest of the egg cartons containing the ungerminated seed I dumped into a prepared bed, raked the soil lightly and am waiting to see if any more will sprout there in the sun.  It was a beautiful day today, so I am hopeful they will sprout.  If not, I'll plant more seeds.

We also planted 50 onion sets/plants in two prepared bed areas.  I raked the entire, small pile of chicken/goat/horse manure and hay pile into the area where we will be planting corn in a few weeks.  I am hoping to get six rows, but PH thinks four is more likely.

The lone peach tree we planted last year has flexible branches, so it is a possibility that the goats didn't kill it.  They continuously stripped the leaves from it, no matter how hard we tried to fence them out.  This year we are hopeful our new fence will keep them out.  Plus, we have installed an electric fence (solar charged) to divide the acreage in half.

One of the baby goats born yesterday, the white one, we named Poppy.  Poppy is not doing so well.  She is very wobbly still, lies down too much and won't nurse.  She keeps arching her back which is not a good sign.  Tonight her mama started acting strange after eating a scoop of sweet feed.  She acted like she was choking, and had continuous saliva/drool drip from her mouth.  I believe she has an impacted cud, and am praying she recovers.  We will check her cheeks again in the morning, if she makes it, to remove anything.  I will run to get mineral oil in the morning to dose her, plus get a calf bolus (like a laxative) to help.  I am praying she will be recovered in the morning though, but I think it means no more sweet feed for her.  I am putting a bale of alfalfa on the shopping list for Thursday so that all the mamas will get additional nutrition while they are nursing in these early days.  Plus, several goat blocks would be a good idea, along with more DE for worming.

The all black doeling we named Holly (I wanted Nightshade but was outvoted).  That little girl is very active, and definitely knows where her food is, I wish she would show her sister!

For Valentine's PH and I went into the small town closest to us and had dinner, the kids stayed home, and we brought them dinner.  It was really nice to be able to sit and eat without fussing, or running someone to the bathroom.  Honestly, I was so happy and relieved when PH suggested going without the kids.  I love them, but it was a stressful day and I needed some quiet time.

PS#2 is taking a sign language class for toddlers at our home school co-op.  He really isn't into practicing the signs, but he is obviously paying attention because when I do them, he can tell me what they are, he thinks it is a game.  When signing the word "Jesus" he thinks it means the entire song of "Jesus Loves Me". ;-)  He is also studying Creation, and Phonics.  The fourth hour he either stays with me in my Emergency Prep class, or plays in the nursery with his little friend Monkey Boy.  ;-)  I stay with PS#2 in his first three classes.

PD#1 is taking a Science course on energy, a guitar class, a devotional class for young ladies, and a high school writing course.  PD#2 is taking a class on major U.S. Rivers and Water Conservation, an Art Class, one called Pizza Party (a unit study on Italy) and Music.

Have a good week, and I will check in later this week to share what we have done to prepare and to get your progress.

More Goat Babies

The PKs and I arrived home to see PH crouching under a tree close to the front gate.  We call it the "birthing tree" because the majority of our goats like to give birth here.  No idea why??

Well, Chamomile, our young doe FINALLY gave birth today.  I was walking to the garden this morning, and saw her hanging out away from the herd, and she was HUGE.  I swear her udder looked as big as a Jersey's, and even now her udder is huge, and she appears to have lost a lot of muscle tone in her abdomen area.  I think it is because she had triplets.  She is the first one of our goats to have triplets, unfortunately, one of them didn't make it.  PH arrived to home to find the third one still in it's sac, and it had apparently suffocated.  Poor little thing.  I can't blame the mama too much, she did deliver two little girls, and I am sure she was tired by the time the third little girl arrived.  Here are a few pictures.

Chamomile (mom) and her ALL black kid (this is NOT NORMAL)

Boer kids are normally two color, white with a second (usually brown, but we have tan and black too)

The other little girl

Trying to stand

I am trying to come up with flower/plant names for these two little girls.  I wanted Nightshade (for the black one) and Narcissus (white), but PD#1 thinks they are stupid names.  I don't want Daisy or Rose, I want something unique, so I still might name them my choice.  The name needs to fit with the Family.  Bluebonnet, Violet, Chamomile, Dandelion, etc., So, I have looked up a list of flower names in English and Latin trying to find a good one.  We'll discuss it tomorrow when the girls are awake.

Sprouted Tomato Seedlings

Working the raised bed in order to plant onions

It rained last night, not too much, more of a misting all night.  Had our home school co-op meeting today.  The girls really enjoyed it.  Normally, I don't like going, but today was a good day.  I am really NOT a morning person, and to get up and actually accomplish chores and such before leaving at the crack of dawn is not me.  Okay, it wasn't the crack of dawn, but to leave at 9 a.m. felt like it.  I really like teaching my Emergency Preparedness Class.

After handling the goat situation, arrived at the "house" to discover one of the goats, we are blaming Larry, had broken off the spigot and water had flooded the entire yard, which means the pump/booster pump was running a good long time. A lot of water was wasted.  We should have really nice green grass in front of the house in a few weeks, if it warms up.

Everyone is tired and feeling a little blah, the change of weather always makes us a little sick.  Going from 26 one day to 65 the next, our bodies don't adjust very well. The PKs went to bed much earlier than normal.