Stubborn,Hard-Headed ,Hillbilly Woman

Hubby calls me that at least once a day! I think of it as his little pet name for me and just smile...and say,"Yep, you knew that about me when you married me..."

I am going to share with you all where this...ummm.. ...character trait..that is what I am going with, panned out yesterday after a long journey on a particular goal. I have been determined to have fresh milk. Before I moved to the farm I was buying it. Not an easy or cheep task around here,if you manage to find anyone brave enough to sell it it runs $10 a gallon! No that is not a typo I said $10 a gallon! The Boy had to drink every last drop out of his cereal or I threatened his life!  So I get to the farm and Hubby gets me a cow,Fiona. Little did we know she was Satan's she Heifer ! Oh ,she seemed fine at first. Then she calved...still fine. Then came milking time...that is when she decided she was going to use my head as a soccer ball! I had worked with her before she calved,practically milked her, so this came as a huge surprise! No matter what we did the she was determined to brain me! Hubby built me a milking stall ,she could kick but she couldn't kick me, well, she couldn't kick me in the head at least! This worked for a short while. Then she figured out she could hide her milk...even if I let the calf suck  first to get her started...I could only get a small amount. She got better at this every time I milked her and I got less and less.Fiona continued on her rampage of evil getting worse and worse. She became to barn yard bully and eventually gored the horse and  one donkey. I wanted to make her to hamburger but Hubby took her to the vet and had her "tools of darkness" removed. Apparently the devil lived in her horns because after her exorcism, or horn removal, she became a normal cow again....who  would have thought.

I am going to have me some fresh milk! So The Boy loves the goats...so I get to thinking we will just have milk goats. All we had is Butter Bean,a whether,and Nibbles who was too young to breed and no buck even if she was old enough. So I turn to everybody's friend, Craig's List. We come home with Doodah who is supposedly bred. Nope she comes into heat. Now we are new to goats at his time and I would have swore that goat had turned into a Banshee! The wailing and hollerin' that goat did !  So...we need another bred goat.We get Guinness and Sweet Pea which turned in to heartbreaking disaster. Lack of experience and just plain naivety  led us down a bad path. Sweet Pea had to have a c-section and her baby was dead.Guinness had Murry then died . Murry who was seemingly healthy this whole time died at about 6 weeks.That was such a sad chapter in our new life...

We  got us our own Buck ,Mr.Tumnus. He is a very sweet and good natured fellow,and very handsome ! So by this time Nibbles was old enough and Doodah was more than ready according to her Banshee wailings! This meant even longer wait for the elusive fresh milk,baby goats just don't happen over night you know!
A lesser,non hard headed hillbilly woman  might have given up by now...not me! So Nibble's finally  has her boys and Doodah has her triplets and we are waiting until the time is right.

There is something I need to tell you about Nibbles...if goats could be diagnosed with  goatie ADHD she would be the poster goat for it! Training her to milk has been...interesting to say the least. I had been leaving it up to The Boy to get her used to the stand and getting...handled ! A week goes buy and I have no milk...I ask what is going on and he tells me she won't stay still.Well, of course not, it is Nibbles after all! So I make him a Velcro hobble  for her. No go ,she is too strong for it .So,  I decide I am going to get some milk one way or another, I have waited long enough!

I go out to appraise the situation. I have my milk pan in hand...I give Nibbles a steely gaze ,she looks at me like a brainless idiot. Surly, I think, I can get me some milk out of this  crazy ADHD goat. She hops up on the stanchion and begins eating. Well that was easy...maybe too easy! I put my pan under her and go to milk and she is still  from the mid-body up, except for her big ole rubbery Nibble lips hoovering up that feed at light speed! She has got to be setting some sort of record! Now from the waist down..wait,I don't think goats have waist...well you know where I mean! From the waist down she is doing something akin to Fred Astaire on crack. "What the heck is wrong with your goat?!?!" I am genuinely ....perplexed! Well....I am getting some milk from this goat one way or another! I tell The Boy,"Grab on to them back legs because we are fixen to tag team wrestle this  crazy goat!"
And we did, and we did it again the next day and we will ever day until she decides to surrender and GIVE ME MY MILK! I have been waiting a year and a half for this milk and I am going to get it even if The Boy has to take a goat hoof to the head! No, no, I am just kidding,but I am getting my milk! I have been dreaming of fresh milk for so long...I was a little nervous at the first sip,I had never actually had goats milk before. I had heard from some it is horrible and some it is delicious.....and I have to say YUM! It was really good!..Next week I start with Doodah. Then It really will be tag team wrestling..the Goaties vs. The People! Maybe I should say the Goaties vs.The Stubborn Hard-Headed Hilly Billy Woman and her Offspring!

Life is Good

I was awarded the LIFE IS GOOD award from Teresa at Eden Hills.It is a great blog, she does a lot of cool stuff from raising goats to making her own wine!

                                                             Let the questions begin!

1. What would your prefect day consist of?

Any happy day spent with my boys!

2. How would you describe yourself if you were an item of clothing?

                                       
Can you wear a crazy quilt?!?!?! I think I would be  something hand knitted out of soft hand spun wool. It would probably be nerdy and out of style,haha!

3. What hobbies are you currently working on?

Gardening would be the big one right now.Although my new favorite is knitting but I haven't had time for that in a while! I guess my whole life is a hobby since I live on a Hobby Farm!

4. Walking in the woods in wellies or bare foot on the beach?

I love the sea,not the tropical sea,the cold,waves crashing on rocks,chilled wind in my face tangling my hair,roaring north sea! That being said, my heart longs for the mountains.The mountains are where I belong...someday. 

5. Have you ever hugged or sang to a tree?

I have the overwhelming  urge sometimes to lay my hands on trees! I know it sounds crazy but I just want to touch them and feel their energy!

6. Growing your own veggies or nipping to the supermarket?

Grow my own! Well...for the most part!

7. Have you found anyone exciting in your family tree?

I have tried tracking it down a little.My GG Grandpa,I think, came over from Ireland and a GG grandma was supposedly a Choctaw Indian.Not very exciting I am afraid!

8. Slap up meal in a posh restaurant or fish ‘n’ chips from the wrapper?

This ole hillbilly woman doesn't do posh!.

9. Which element do you most resonate with, Earth, Air, Fire or water?

Earth.I love the dirt,the smell of it ,the color of it ,the magic of it....

10. Do you believe in fairy’s?

                                                                Yes,and gnomes too!


 I have so many blog friends so it is hard to choose who to pass this on too...


Texan, my great blogging buddy and my friend!

Polly, at Polly' Path ,  she has a great blog about homesteading!


Nekkid Chicken she is a homeschooling homesteader!

 DebH at Dakota Goats


Barbara at 3 Acre Homestead


Tails from the Williamson's Trails,she is a sweetheart!


A new friend at Life with Jack and Jill


I would also choose Isobelle, at Isobelle Golightly the Beautiful Goat but she got the award with me!




I would choose sooo many more wonderful blogs but it takes  time to do all the links and I am short on time these day...I love getting awards,I just hate having to choose who to pass them along to. Is that blogger's guilt...haha!

Wordless Wednesday

The reason my heart beats........

Giveaway

In a slightly belated 200the post celebration I am having the traditional blogger giveaway! I would like to thank all my wonderful blogging friends for being such...well..good friends! I truly enjoy being a part of all your lives through cyber space! Do they still call it cyber space any more or is that out dated and ole fogey-ish? Hmmm...I will have to ask The Boy!

So...the prize will be... The Double-Up Grill and Panini Press !

All you have to do for a chance to win is leave me a comment! If you would like 5 extra entries just blog about me with a link to my giveaway and then leave me 5 extra comments saying that you did...you all know how this game is played! That's it, easy-peasy! The drawing will be in 2 weeks ...that will be...on the 25th! So good luck everybody!

Mother's Day Goodies

I hope everyone had a happy Mother's Day! Mine was great! We started the day by going to church...well,we actually start every day by tending to critters,lol!  I did not get to have The Boy sit with me because he works up stairs on the audio visual part of the church service. Then we went out to eat some Mexican food and then to Home Depot where I was instructed to buy what ever plants I wanted with the condition they had to be things that lived along time so when I looked at it years later I would remember my boys got it for me! I picked out a red Crepe Myrtle....

I have wanted one of these red ones for a long time and they have been hard to find so it was like it was meant to be for my special day!

While I was plant shopping the boys were off getting me a porch swing!

When we moved here there was a dilapidated porch swing hanging under a big oak.I loved that swing but it fell apart...so now I have a new one! I will love being able to sit here in the shade and just watch...the birds,the woods.... the grass grow!

I told Hubby he didn't have to do so much for me and he said ,"Well,they don't have a wives day so  I will have to use Mother's Day instead." That's my Hubby,I love him! Not just when he is buying me stuff either! I love him all the time!

Ole Bessie,you all remember her right? She is our "new" 1970 International Harvester tractor.Well she got her first accessory ! A bush hog!

The boys were fighting over who would get to shred the pasture first! I just love that my kid is such a country boy! Oh, she also got a new muffler,the guy we got her from had put a glass pack on her! You want to go deaf? Just ride around on a tractor with a glass pack  sticking out the top!

I have my giveaway planned! That will be tomorrows post!

Long Time No Blog

Well,as most of my farm friends know, some times it just gets unbelievably busy and that has happened to me these last few weeks! At last I feel somewhat in balance and caught up now! The garden is going good,babies are growing, the weather has been agreeable, my machine gun sneezing has stopped and the seemingly endless trips to the chiropractor are fewer. Because you all know how it is,when you are at you absolute busiest is when your body falls apart!  Middle age..phtzst ! The most important and best thing ,Hubby is home!

Nibble's boys,Tube Sock and Hoss, are almost ready to go to new homes.I have to admit  I will be sad to see them go .They are so sweet and tame...but we already have a wether,Butter Bean,so  we can't really keep two more.They will make wonderful pets for some one and we are going to try and make sure the go to a home that they will be just that and not BBQ.

Doodah's babies are not as tame as Nibble's.They are not wild but they do not have the same disposition as the first two.Bo Diddly is pretty close though....

Harley will come for scratchins' if you sit down somewhere..

Lola will come over eventually but she definitely has a wild side! She is the runt but  in typical runt fashion she is a rooter tooter!

My Buff Orpington hen hatched  9 out of a dozen turkey eggs! So I have 2 other hens sitting on some turkey eggs now. I haven't decided if I want to sell the 9 babies or keep them for us....I think they will sell since Bourbon Reds always seem to sell out at the hatchery's. I guess there is no way of knowing until I try!

We have a batch of baby bunnies...only 4 this time.This doe always looses a few....she had 7.

My batch of bannie chicks are doing great! They are still in a coop since they are not big enough not to be carried off by hawks! I have killed two  5 ft plus chicken snakes this week.One was in the coop,but it was full of golf balls instead of eggs! I am glad because it was in with my girls sitting on the turkey eggs,so many times I have lost the eggs under my broody hens to these snakes!

The font half of the pasture is finally done! We have happy critters in there! Hubby had remarked how Anna Bell, our Dexter calf that was born last spring, has never had that kind of grass in her life.We went straight into drought last spring and no grass grew so she has only had hay. I know grass is best but when nature doesn't cooperate you got to do what you got to do!

The Boy,my baby, only 13 years old ,is now 2 inches taller than me! He is standing at 5 foot 7 inches ! His favorite thing to do is to come up to me and say,"Awww,my short little Momma,"in a voice like he is talking to a baby! 13 years old...yeah!

Being such an old place you would have thought it would be covered with flowers and the like.Nope.The only thing here when we moved in was one,small,half dead rose bush in the front yard. I am working on covering this place with flowers...but it is going to take a while before we get that old home place feel. Here are a few things that looked good this spring...

This was a great year for roses! Here is the white yarrow blooming...I found some red a few days ago and had to buy it! I can't wait to see it bloom!

This is some egg plant in one of my raised beds. That is purple basil behind it and there are some leeks in there too...

 The tomatoes in the raised bed are huge! Some of the ones in the garden are pretty big but not this big! Plus I have some green tomatoes on plants in both places! My mouth is already watering! Of course,in true southern style, the first dozen or so that get big will not get to ripen! Got to fry those yummy  green tomatoes up! If you have never eaten fried green tomatoes you are missing out!

I noticed I have passed my 200th post! I think this calls for a give away! Next week I think.......

The Trio is Named

Name picking is hard!

So with out further delay I present you with...


Harley...

Lola...she was a show girl.. with yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there.....get out of my head Barry Manilow! But really, her name is Lola...she works at the Goata, goata-cabanna....I know I have to stop but I can't!  Dang you Barry!

and right about here is where my camera went dead! The last little buck is named Bo Diddly! Yeah,one of the boys should be Rico and the other Tony..but since we are selling the boys it seems a shame to break up the trio....

What I got a few shots of  before I went to take pictures of baby goaties were this clematis that is intermingled with one of my old fashioned roses.

 The rose is apricot and has a lovely scent.It is getting ready to burst forth with  a hundred blooms I think!

This is just some stuff i have around the base...

There is some yarrow...old fashioned Pansy..a few baby lime basil and a baby yellow echinacea  .Oh,and a lizard hunting Weenie Dog!