The Day of Ben Franklin

This was another beautiful day here. The sky was sunny and blue, while the breeze was consoling to an outside worker. I was  with the  children most all of this day. We had small adventures with the animals here on our small farm. We pride ourselves in believing it is a safe haven and a learning experience for all. Recently we made cheese from the milk we have been gathering from our very own goat. All of these things are also new to me. The children and I are learning numerous lessons as we "farm". Not the least important is how to restrain a goat so that she is not able to kick the milking pail over. It took me the better part of two weeks to figure that out, and I am still making improvements to the method of restraint. Of course, you can not milk a wary goat of hardly a single drop of milk without a stanchion. Though it may look like something from the dungeons of a medieval castle built in the 1300's circa, I can assure you it has its place on the modern age milking scene.  It is designed so that you place a small bit of grain in a pan to where as the goat will stick her head between two boards. One of the board hinges so that it my swivel. Both have a small notch sawn in to them so that her neck will fit but she is unable to pull her head out between them once locked in to place. For a while the goat is happy to be in the head lock position. But before too long she eats up all the grain and becomes bored of my squeezing on her teats to procure the milk I am keeping her for. It is at this time I have to have her foot tied to the floor, else wise she would kick the milking pan over as she attempts to kick my hand off of her teat. This wrestling match has become quite violent. She is a goat with spunk, and so am I. Two nights ago she three times turned the stanchion over, with her still on it. I three times picked her and the stanchion up. I eventually got a little over a quart of milk from her, and a deep scratch on my right hand. It was a bit comical, though not at the time. I since have added a 1x4 board to the front legs of the stanchion. like this. ___L____J__ The board is nailed from the left leg to the right leg at ground level, it extends out beyond the legs. The effect is I have a much wider base on the stanchion, and she can no longer sway it so much that it will turn over on her, on me. Now for the last few days the milking has gone pretty much without incident. I've also learned how to grab her leg up high and squeeze her leg tendon. If done correctly she can not move her leg and kick. This is a good thing to know because untying a  goats foot can actually take more athleticism than tying it up. You need speed, accuracy, and practice to tie it down. You need all of that and some luck to untie it without getting kicked, unless you know the hold on the leg tendon. Another lesson learned is that you don't want to rush the goat to get on the stanchion. It has become apparent to me that it is wise to take a little time and let her prepare for the venture. If you don't she might repay you by peeing or pooping on you while you are trying to milk her. Although she has never done that to me while on the stanchion, there was a time I was trying to get her out of some brush she was entangled in. She repaid me by filling my right shoe with goat urine as I tried to push her from behind up a hill and out of the brush. Perhaps I pushed on a kidney or the bladder. We had words over that. In short I told her she was a baaaaaaad girl for doing that. She without remorse ate her weeds and looked at me as if to say, "what?" Fortunately they were creek wading shoes and were none the worse for the wear after a little cleaning.
 There are other lessons learned by the observance of animals. Often similarities can be struck between animal behavior and human. One day as my goat was getting on the stanchion I though about how stupid she was to stick her head in the gate for the food in the bucket. For in just a few seconds I was going to make it impossible for her to leave until I was through with milking her. I knew after only a minute or two she would no longer wish to be in the position she just put herself in. In effect, she sold herself for "a bit of the red".  She is not hungry in the starvation since of the meaning, but she likes the grain treat that's in the pan. And so she sticks her neck out, and then I have her. How much different is it for those who slave at the factory so that they can have the 50 inch plasma, the new shinny automobile, and the two car garage that is so full of junk you can't even get one car in? Are we no smarter than goats?
 You may notice that this post is written differently than my other posts. This is because I have been listening to an MP3 of Benjamin Franklin's autobiography. He had a distinguished way or writing that I enjoy listening to. He was an interesting person. He spoke more than just a few languages, French being one of them. He was an author and a scholar. After listening to his book and his prose I feel we might have lost the ability to express ourselves in a dignified manner over the last century. Perhaps from this vulgarity and the profaning of language, with the induction of slang words and expressions, we have allowed our very nature to become vulgar and profane. If one tends to speak on a higher level than the street expressions that are so prevalent in today's society, one naturally begins to think on a higher plane of all things. If you doubt it then you should try it and see for yourself. You might be surprised at how your thinking of unsaid words will follow what your mouth enunciates, or your pen dictates.
 At this time I must conclude this entry. It is late, and I need to retire for the evening. I hope you have enjoyed it. Please let me know if you enjoyed how this entry was written, or not.  It is more challenging to write in such a manner as this, but I find it more fulfilling than my other way of writing. So what do you think?
Goodnight.

Cheesy does it

Today I made goat cheese with some home grown herbs mixed in for flavor. It was delightfully good, of course. It took about 3 quarts of milk to make 9oz of cheese. It is easy to make. -
Heat milk to 180 deg.
Turn off burner and add 1/4 cup of lemon juice.
Stir slightly for good mix.
Strain mixture through several layers of cheese cloth laid in a colander.
After strained tie four corners of cheese cloth around a bib wooded spoon and hang for 1.5 hours.
After hang drying put cheese in a bowl and mix in herbs.
A clove of garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of fresh rosemary,1/2 t of chives.
2 pinches of course salt.
Mix it well.
Serve on toasted bread slices.
YUMMY!
Other farm news;
The baby goats are eating sweet feed now very well. They were born the last of April, so they are about 2 months old now, or 12 weeks. Which ever you prefer to call it. I have them just about weened, although they still love to nurse moma goat if I let them.
My kids-
Nyle is growing up so fast. He has a couple of "new" bikes. One is a bit too big,one is way too small now, and the last one we just got for him FREE off of Craigslist is just right. It is a black Mongoose. A pretty nice bike. And he can expertly ride it.
Owen is such an adventurer. He goes all over the farm. He loves to "help out" when ever he gets a chance. He is a bear when it comes to eating the berries growing around here. Like a lil' bear cub foraging for any berry he can find.
Well that's all for now.

Milking time

Hello to all my farming fans and family.
 This morning I milked the goat for the first time. I got a quart of milk before I stopped. She had more in there, but I was tired, and so was she. I will do better the more I do. All in all not a bad experience. I learned that my little nubby finger is better to milk with on one side than the other.  So, after I got her milked I took her back to the weedy hill side and let her back in her 'heaven". I then went and let the "kids" out. I had put them up and gated them off from her last night so that I would make sure I had some milk this morning. The "kids" were good and ready to see their moma. Although I am not too sure she was ready to see them. They are big enough now to where they are eating a lot of weeds, just like Gurdy is now. So I know they don't need the milk as much as they used to. Pretty soon I will have to start tying them off, just like Gurdy or else they will be in the garden, just like Gurdy.
 Other news is we are harvesting the early cabbages and Cauliflower , and broccoli too. All of it was delicious! I was reading last night that it is time to replant all of this for a fall harvest. So I another month or 3 we will have it all over again. My corn is still coming up. I think it might be too late to plant field corn, but I mat still give it a shot. The seed was free. Nyle and I picked it up out of the road last year where some farmer spilled a little in the road. So if I plant it, it will not be a big loss even if it is a total loss.
 Owen and the boys are getting bigger. Nyle has out grown his bike and has been campaigning pretty hard for us to buy him a bigger one. So soon he will have a bigger bike. He rides his little  a lot, so I know it would be something he would use and enjoy.
I guess that's the news for this morning
Adios