Goat Salt and Pepper Shakers

This goat set of salt and pepper shakers used to be my nanna’s, and when we moved into our first home, they were given to us. Although we don’t use table salt anymore, as it contains aluminium, and my husband had a severe reaction to it – tinnitus and hammer toes – but since we stopped the table salt, his tinnitus and hammer toes have both disappeared, it is still a rather interesting ornament.

However, I digress – I remember this goat salt and pepper shaker sitting on the table whenever we were gathered together, and times with my nanna were such special times. She was the sort of person who could make you feel special just by being there. Her way of interacting with people was one that I shall always remember, and her love and kindness toward me makes me smile each time I think of her.

Was it predestined or just coincidence that we have a farm with 21 goats? I don’t know, but just as I have fond memories of my nanna, I enjoy each and every one of our goats, although the billy goats are a bit smelly at the moment, as it is rutting season – makes it interesting when the wind is blowing the wrong way. Oh well, at least this billy goat doesn’t smell. What do you think of him – is he cute, or what?

Mary, I thank you for hosting this Meme – care to join, visit Mary at Hope Echoes.

Caught in the Act

Isn’t he gorgeous? This is David, our billy as he prunes the Bottlebrush. In this photo, can you see his wet beard? It is at this time of the year that the billy goats really start to stink, as it is rutting season. Call me crazy if you like, but I still love him, as he sires the most delightful babies.

Do you have any rose cuttings or native plant cuttings that you need to dispose of? Goats love them, but don’t feed any animal Sugar Gum, as  our vet informed us that it is high in arsenic!

A Week On

A week on, and my husband has stronger pain medication. I pray that his knee will hold out until August, and on his visit to the doctor today,  he was given  Durogesic 75 micrograms/h, which means that 75 mcg of Fentanyl is released every hour. August seems such a lifetime away. Sigh! Two hours after placing the new patch, my husband has said that the pain is much less, and that he can cope with the level of pain that he has, now.

Yes, it’s strong, and in a perfect world, it’s not ideal, but he needs to be able to walk and do light duties until August so that he doesn’t become too bored. I am so looking forward to August, when my husband will be having a Total Knee Replacement, and total relief from pain.

In the meantime, my husband will be teaching our son to milk – his choice, as my daughter said that she wouldn’t mind milking the goats, and we have three new nannies ready to kid in the next month. I’m praying that they will be easy to milk, as first time milkers are often jittery and can be challenging to milk, even for a seasoned hand.  ‘Twill be rather interesting here over the next five months, so please keep us in your prayers.  Believe me, they will be very much appreciated.

My son is also working toward his year 12 Academic Certificate over the next couple of years, so he has a heavier school workload to cope with, and my daughter is currently undertaking studies for her year 10 Academic Certificate. There are animals to feed, wood to collect, meals to prepare and household chores to be done as usual, but if we band together, all things are possible.

Mind you, there are certain subjects that are taking a back seat at the moment, such as German and music, but I really can’t push the children any harder. With all of the extra work, there are only a certain number of hours in a day, and believe me when I say that we are using every one of them to our advantage.

God promises that those who honour and obey their parents and God’s Word, will be blessed. Our children belong to God and we are commanded to bring them up in His ways, but the Fathers are also exhorted to provoke not their children to wrath, but to nurture and admonish them when necessary. The children will only be obedient to us, and to God’s Word, if we have their respect, and if they can’t be obedient to us, they will never be obedient to God’s Word.

It is here that we see the results of child-training, as our children grow up and take on added responsibilities, and it is wonderful to see them volunteer to help around the farm. We feel extremely blessed by their attitude of quiet obedience to what is needed at this time.

Praise God that we can do all things through Him which strengtheneth us, and that He hath said that He will never leave us nor forsake us!

Of Snakes and Strawberries

Jeanne wrote a post the other day about how “Fresh is Best“, and this started me thinking about how we actually live on the farm. With three asthmatics, we have to be very conscious of what we eat, and pre-packaged foods contain some real nasties, such as MSG, sulphur as a preservative and loads of other additives that we really don’t need. Consequently we don’t eat  much that is prepackaged, the exceptions being yoghurt, cheese, fritz, pitta bread, tinned pineapple and mettwurst.

Kalleskes of Tanunda make a really delicious mettwurst, and we use this for home-made pizzas, using pitta bread, tomato sauce, grated cheese, pineapple, fritz and mettwurst which is our Sunday night meal. The majority of the foods that we eat are fresh, as we live on salads, fresh fruit and vegetables and our own farm-fresh produce.

In our home, we :

• Make our own bread.
• Make our own ice-cream.
• Milk our goats.
• Grow our own sheep, chicken and turkeys for meat.
• Keep chickens for eggs.

Last night we picked up our meat from the butcher’s, maybe in a slightly different form to when we dropped her off, but this sheep was VERY fat, and dressed almost thirty kilograms, which means that as live weight, she would have been about 60 kilograms. Our butcher kills and cuts up our meat, rolling the front legs into roasts, and all for $30.00. We don’t have a meat saw, nor do we have a cold room in which to hang the meat, so this seems very good value to us.

This afternoon I went out to water the strawberries, as they don’t like bore water, and one step from the strawberry trough, I nearly stepped on a baby brown snake. Now, I don’t know how much you know about snakes, but a baby brown snake is as deadly as an adult!

I let out a HUGE scream for my husband, and in one bound I was on top of the outdoor table, with my feet on top of the bench seat. Did I want to be anywhere near that snake? No way! No siree! Nope! I hate snakes with a passion, and my vocal chords certainly had their workout for this week. My husband came out and re-located the horrid thing, and I dissolved into a flood of tears. Now, why, oh why, do they have to pick our back yard to have their babies?

The strawberries are growing wonderfully well, and we actually get to harvest our fruit, now that a good friend gave us a helpful hint:~

When you plant strawberries,

make sure that you have tinsel

scattered around the strawberries,

so that the birds don’t beat you to the fruit.

AND this helpful hint actually works. We only planted our strawberries this year, and they are fruiting so well. We planted blackberries (the thornless type) last year, and this year they were badly frosted, so we didn’t expect to harvest any, but they are actually fruiting again, now. This morning my daughter and I actually had our first taste of thornless blackberries, and they are every bit as good as the variety with thorns – YUM!

This morning my daughter picked the ripe tomatoes, and they are absolutely divine – I love home-grown cherry tomatoes, as the taste of a home-grown cherry tomato is so full of flavour! There are also a few Apollo tomatoes that are good for sandwiches, as it is so fiddly trying to place cherry tomatoes onto a sandwich.

I praise God for His constant provision over us, and I am truly thankful that He constantly provides us with all that we need. Notice that I said, “All that we Need”, for He provides for all of our needs, but never our greeds. I also praise Him for keeping me safe from the fangs of the brown snake that intruded into our back yard today!

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. Colossians 1:16, 17

Bathsheba’s Daughter, Susannah

Susannah, the black goat (taken with my daughter) is Bathsheba’s daughter

Bathsheba was the first goat that we bought, and she was the most beautiful goat. She:

1. would climb up against the house fence and eat the climbing roses from the other side.
2. gave the sweetest goat’s milk that you’ve ever tasted.
3. would come up for a nuzzle and a pat whenever she saw me.
4. also produced some of the most beautiful kids.

I really miss Bathsheba, but her daughter is so much like her, except that her daughter, Susannah, has horns, as we haven’t budded any of our goats. Budding, unless it’s done properly leaves the goats with scurs (horny plates) that continue to grow, and sometimes will grow around into the goats’ eyes.

~~~oo0OOO000~~~

In the Old Testament times, goats were kept for:

• their skins that were made into tents, carpets, cloaks, sacks, slings, and various camel, horse and mule trappings. They were also made into bottles for water, oil, semn and various other liquids.
• their flesh, when neither beef nor mutton was found.
• their milk, which was drunk and made into cheese and semn, a sort of clarified butter which was used in cooking.

Kids were slaughtered for honoured guests, and were also used for sacrificial purposes, as the goat was one of the clean animals. Goats would have to be one of the most destructive animals, and are largely responsible for the condition of deforestation around Judea and Lebanon. The male of the species are renowned for their wonderful beards.

~~~oo0OOO000~~~

Susannah is one of my daughter’s goats, and she loves her so much – Esther is her other goat, and the two goats are like chalk and cheese. Susannah is black with horns, and Esther is white and is naturally polled.

Esther has a beautiful temperament, and so does Susannah toward people, but Susannah tries to be boss in the paddock, and doesn’t have a hope, as Quiily is boss out there. At the moment we are trying to cull our herd, as we have twenty-seven goats and kids – it is really hard, as I would keep them all, but this is impractical, so we eat the boys and keep the best of the does. There is nothing better than roast goat, and the taste is not dissimilar to lamb.

Years ago I would have had a real problem with eating anything that we had raised ourselves, but these days I’m a little more countrified, and the benefits of eating your own produce are that you know what they have been eating. I still miss Bathsheba – she was one very special goat, but her daughter is, too.