Spring does not look the same everywhere: some may be fortunate to spend a day at the beach and others may go skiing. On the first day of Spring we woke up to 4 inches of snow. Whenever I think winter is over, Mother Nature reminds me that I have no power over the weather! Usually, snow melts by April 1st so we shall see how it goes this year.
Twisp is a pretty unique place: a tight community, friendly people (younger or older people), natural beauty with mountains, rivers and lakes. We met a couple people that just came to visit Twisp and never left. The rumor has it that once one comes to Twisp, one never leaves….I actually heard several people tell this story and only time will say if it is true or not for us.
On Saturday we had two mama sheep gave birth, almost at the same time, with three kids and we had we trying to figure out who was who. The plan was that I would hold the lamb and have the mom follow me to a separate pen… Well, of course it did not work out like that because sheep do not like to get close to humans (at least ours are very wild) and in my opinion, sheep are not too bright, too wild and stinky, and the only good thing as far i am concerned is that their milk makes great cheese (sheep have tiny teats and it is not easy too milk!). I do not care for sheep at all (but the cute, tame lamb are okay). Back to my story. I was holding the lamb while Derek, Ed and another guy, Eors, were trying to catch the sheep. I have to say that it was hysterical watching these guys slip in the mud, dive onto the sheep, launch in the air…Derek did a great dive and got the sheep. It was one of the funniest thing I’ve ever seen! I wish I would have a recording of it! Anyway, we figured out the moms and the kids, but one of the mom was rejecting one of her kids…not enough milk for both so we moved the lamb with the goats and after a couple days it seems to be doing good in its new environment.
Another 25 kids left on Sunday and I still hate separating the moms and kids. Kids need to be at least 12 hours to be sold but on sunday we gave away a little guy that was barely 8 hours old…so little time with its mama : (
We do lots of natural care for the goats using herbal teas and essential oils. Right now we are treating a case of mastitis, which means we can’t use the milk for drinking or making cheese. This is why it is important to test the milk regularly so you don’t contaminate the whole batch. We feed the goats grains twice a day and some of them are getting too much of it so their udder gets big and hard. The solution: cut off the grains and massage of the udders with special oil. They seem to like it very much and I don’t blame them.
Anyway, Vicky made some yogurt and cheese yesterday and it was delicious. We had garlic/black pepper and ginger/chili chevre: they were both delicious, with almond-rice crackers…yummy. We pretty much can eat all the cheese we want and drink all the milk we want…can one survive on cheese, milk and yogurt?
Here’s some pictures taken this week:
