Just a Few Pictures.

Hello, all. there isn't any news to report; things are trucking along as usual. However, I do have a few new pictures that I would like to share! Enjoy!

Clara Bow loves me, but is a little bit shy of the paparazzi.

This is Sadie May. She was my birthday present one year.

I don't understand why we call these weeds.

They're so pretty!

I think these are lovely, too.

Beetlejuice looks like a grumpy old man. "What are these whippersnappers doin' on my lawn?! Can't a man eat his dinner in peace?!"

This last one is of myself. I just wanted to show off my new hair cut! My hair was to the middle of my back. I felt soo bald when I got it chopped off! 

My Goats have to Share

    With horses that is. It's more of an inconvenience to me than them. I'll try to explain. 
    My goats don't actually share their personal space with the horses, but in order to get to the goat pens, you have to either climb through the horse fence, go through the gate, or go through the horse barn. In a way, that's great to help keep people out. The barn, gate, and goat pens all have locks. Also, the barn is situated to where one door is inside the fence, and one is outside. However, the outside door is locked from the inside, so you have to go through the fence/locked gate to get inside the locked barn. So, that protects our hay, feed, tiller, etc. 
    So, the situation is great for keeping people out. Plus, the horses are between any dogs or coyotes that might want to attack the goats. Sure, horses aren't traditionally livestock guardians, but mine have been know to run off dogs. Of course, all of that is good. However, it causes some problems for me, too. I think it'll be easiest to outline them by walking through my routine. 
    First, I go into the horse pen. I unlock the doe pen first, because it's hard to unlock it when I come back with my hands full. Then I walk to the barn, which lately means practically wading through mud. The horses keep the area right in front of the barn very muddy whenever it rains. I feed the horses first, since they will try to steal the goat's feed if I don't. One is still in the way, though, since we only have one stall for them. Luckily, I have gentle horses, or I would be in trouble. Right now, I have two does and the buck I'm borrowing in the kidding stall, so I feed them next. I have to walk beside/behind one of the horses butts to do this - like I said, I'm really lucky my horses are nice! Then I take feed/hay/etc to the doe pen. Then I lock everything back up and climb back through the fence.
    Overall, the inconvenience of mud and horses being in the way aren't that bad, and I wouldn't really change much, because of the extra security it gives me. Today, though, I was reminded of how lucky I am that my horses are gentle and don't kick (knock on wood). Rumor escaped from the breeding pen and tried to make a break for it back to the doe pen. I caught her and "I led" her back to her pen (which almost resulted in a Rachel-goat-mud-pie. You realize just how slippery mud is when you're being led through it by a goat!) When I got back to the stall, I completely forgot about the horse until Rumor and I were both in perfect kicking range for my quarter horse, Sam. I was stooped down to hold Rumor, so if he had kicked, It would have most likely hit me right in the face.
    Thank goodness for kind horses! 

-Rachel in Wonderland

Selling my Zebra Finches

I need to re-home my zebra finches. I bought them in February, and it seems as though my mom is allergic to them. I payed $15 each for the birds and $15 for the cage, so I'm selling all that and the food and millet that I have left for $20.00. I want them to go to a pet home, not for reptile food. I live outside of Memphis, Tennessee and can possibly meet people up to an hour or two away. I can't ship them, though. This is a male and female pair. Oh, as always I am open to barter, so let me know if you have something you want to trade!

-Rachel in Wonderland

Dreams and Aspirations

    I have to say, I feel like this is the year. I have felt a stirring since February that has just told me that this is going to be a good year. I'm hoping that this will be the year I'll finally be able to turn my passions into profit. Last year I was able to do a bit of that with my soap. This year, I want to expand upon that. Let me tell you my aspirations for this year.
    My one (almost) certainty is that I'll have does kidding in August or September. That means that I'll have kids to sell, and home raised raw milk for drinking, cheese and butter, or possibly making goats milk soap. This is probably what I'm most excited for. I think that I will primarily make cheese and soap with my goat milk, and continue to buy raw cow milk. Nigerian milk is perfect for cheese and butter because it has such a high butterfat content, and cow milk is the generally preferred taste for my family. Right now, I can't afford enough raw milk to make our own cheese, so we're still getting pasteurized cheese. Yuck!! I can't wait to be able to have 100% raw dairy products for myself and my family. Yum yum yum! 
    Also, I just ordered our tomato plants for this year! I'm very excited. I ordered about 40 plants from the Tomato Baby Company (http://www.tomatobabycompany.com). I also ordered a few sweet peppers and bell peppers, and plan on getting some jalapeños later. I'm hoping to have enough tomatoes this year to sell them, either in a road side stand or at a small farmer's market, or maybe just from my front yard. Goodness knows that we can't eat all of the tomatoes from 40 plants! My plan for any left overs that don't get eaten or sold is to can them. I would actually like to put back enough canned tomatoes to last for the year - then we would have home grown tomatoes for spaghetti, Rotel, lasagna, and whatever else we might make! 
    I'm really hoping - maybe foolishly, but maybe it will work out - to finally have a chicken coop and some chickens. What would that mean for Wonderland? Well, first of all, it would mean not buying any more eggs that come from caged, grain-fed, chickens that lead poor lives and produce nutritionally sub-par eggs. It would also mean having eggs to sell to the public! That would put a little bit of money in my pocket, and give more people the option of eating eggs from well cared for chickens that have access to all the yummy buggy and grassy goodies they can desire. It would also open up the possibilities of selling fertile hatching eggs or chicks, depending on what kind of chickens I buy, and how many. It would also open the door for supplying my family's chicken meat needs- that would most likely not be obtainable in the first year, though.
    The last thing I'm hoping to achieve this year is related to my tomato goals. I also want to have other vegetables and melons to sell to people. I'm planning on having a booming garden this year! I just hope the weather cooperates with me this year, rather than turning our garden into a gigantic mud hole again, like it did last year. 
    So, those are my semi-short term goals. I do, of course, have more long term goals. Those will happen in steps; I want to start out with what I've listed here. The second step will be adding Muscovy or heritage ducks and heritage turkeys. The next step is very, very long term, and involves me graduating from college, buying more land, and expanding Wonderland in ways that it cannot expand while I live on only five acres. I also have non-farm related goals; those involve writing and a bakery, but you don't need to know about those. ;)


    Okay, that book-length blog aside, I would like to remind everyone that I still have homemade Oatmeal Complexion Soap and Old Fashioned Lye Soap for sale, for $4.00 and $1.50, respectively. I also am selling some gently used women's clothing- if you're interested in that, you can follow this link for more info - http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/showthread.php?t=345901
That link will take you to a listing I posted on my favorite forum advertising the clothing, but you can email me about them. You don't have to contact me through the forum.
    If you'd like to contact me about the soap, the clothes, or just because, you can email me at themuffinwoman@aol.com
    Have a Happy Spring, everyone! 

    -Rachel in Wonderland

The Girls have a Visitor

A male visitor, at that! Sherri Jones from Chinook Winds Farm has let me borrow her buck, CHW CJS Beetlejuice. I am breeding Clara Bow and Rumor to him as soon as they come in season, which will hopefully be soon, since they are being housed right next to the buck. I do hate separating them from the other goats and Mellow the LGD, though, especially after seeing two coyotes in the back pasture yesterday. I believe that our fencing and barn are secure enough to keep them out, though, and hopefully the horses would run them off if they got close to the barn, anyways. I'll be including pictures at the bottom, as always. I'm sorry that they're such low quality- my camera is out of commission, so I had to use my cell phone. Also, please ignore the dirty floor. I put fresh shavings down right after I took these pictures.

This is Beetlejuice. I'm hoping he'll make Clara's kids within the height limit for NDGA (Clara is over height), and give both of the girl's kids color. This is his impressive pedigree- 

S: CHW BW Capt. Jack Sparrow, 1x GCH Jr 

GS: MCH Twin Creeks BH Baywatch ++*S 

GD: CHW AR Once In A Blue Moon, 2x GCH Dry Doe, 1x RsCH Jr

D: Piddlin Acres Piroette, 1x RsCH Dry Doe 

GS: MCH Green Gate King Midas +S 

GD: Goodwood KW Will 'O The Whisp