Introducing Lakota and Other News

    Hello there! I have a bit of exciting news to share with you all today! Wonderland has a new edition; an adorable Great Pyrenees puppy named Lakota. Lakota is eight weeks old and looks like a giant marshmallow, but he'll grow up to be a big guardian for my goats. He is currently undergoing training from Mellow, which - considering his age - mostly involves watching her while she does her job and getting used to everything here. He came from a farm that raises Boer goats (which are huge compared to my miniatures), so he is already used to having caprine companions. I'm definitely excited to have him here, because I know he will grow up to be a great guardian for my bucks. He settled in very quickly, and I have faith in his instincts and his mentor (Mellow). Speaking of his mentor, Mellow accepted him right away. I wasn't very worried about that, though. Mellow is extremely smart, so she was able to understand that Lakota belonged inside the fence. I have no doubts that had he been an invader, he would not have been welcomed so kindly. Luckily for all involved, Great Pyrs like Mellow are very intelligent, and she knew that I approved of him and that he wasn't a threat to "her" goats. Thank goodness for the guardian breeds! Goodness knows I would lose a lot of sleep if I didn't have Mellow. I bet I'll sleep like a baby when Lakota is old enough to move into the buck pen. =]

    As for my other news, well, it isn't as exciting as a new puppy. My blackberry bushes have started to produce this year, and we got our first ripe ones in yesterday. My bushes are still pretty young, so the berries are a little smaller than I like and they're not producing as much a more mature plant, but they gave us enough for my mother, my friend, Sarah, and I to each have a bowl. They needed a bit of sugar, but they were still delicious. I think knowing that they're 100% mine and have never had pesticides on them makes them a bit sweeter. There is something special about food that you have produced on your own. Speaking of home-grown food, we took some of our peas from last year's garden out of the freezer for supper tonight. They were delicious! I can't wait until our garden starts producing this year. Actually, I can't wait until we get it all in. Things have been slow going this year, but at least they're going!

    My buck, Beetlejuice, was put back in his own pen yesterday. Neither him nor my whether are too pleased about the situation, and I can't say that I blame them. They were living it up with ladies for company, but now they've got to be roommates for a while. I think they'll get acclimated soon enough, though. They're probably sharing stories about how silly girls are right now, and probably thinking of a way to talk me into breaking off more gum tree limbs for them to munch. Hopefully I'll have four does kidding this fall between August and November. I tried very hard to be able to have exact dates, but no one would cooperate with me. I'm hopefully going to be sending off pregnancy tests to Biotracking later this month. It's just a matter of dad having the time to help draw the goats blood, since that's definitely not something I'm comfortable with doing on my own yet. I may end up having to pay the vet to do it, but I hope not since it's $90 just to get her to make a house call. If you think you'd like to buy a kid this fall, head on over to my website (http://www.wonderland-farm.webs.com) and contact me. I can let you know as soon as I confirm pregnancies, and also as soon as they kid. 

    Well, it's time for pictures! These are a bit better, thanks to Sarah coming over and using her digital camera. 

This is the family of geese that lives at our neighbor's pond. They waddled over to eat in our yard. 

Mellow, checking out Lakota. He looks a little bit pitiful, because I had just given him a bath and doctored the scrape on his nose. 

Checking out a stick. 

Checking out Brownie, who was also checking out Lakota! 

Mellow and Lakota get along wonderfully. Mellow is such a good dog. 

Beetlejuice is such a ham. 

This is the first bass I caught, with a cricket on a cane pole! He broke the line just as I got him to shore. He weighed about 3lbs, but we put him back anyway. 

This is my dad, holding the second bass I caught. This one weighed around five pounds, and was caught on an actual bass setup. We put him back, too. I was pretty excited that I caught such big fish, though, since the largest fish I've ever caught previously have been brim! (This is at my grandfather's pond, btw.)

Thanks for reading!

-Rach in Wonderland

Picture Blog!

These are all picture that were taken on a film camera and scanned onto the computer, so they're not the greatest. They're pretty cute, though!

Beauty, looking a little insane...

Beetlejuice

Beetlejuice

Beetlejuice, walking away. At least you can see his color.

Brownie.

Sandy, using Clara as a footstool. Hehe.

Clara.

Most of the herd munching.

Sandy.

Mellow, morphing into a wolf...hahaha. I promise she's not crazy.

That's all, Folks!

So It Goes

    Well, my summer has taken yet another turn. I was let go from my job, because the owner couldn't afford to keep me. I understand completely, and I harbor no ill-will towards my boss or anyone there. My only regret is that now my original summer plans were kind of screwed up. As you know from a blog a little while back, I had planned on having a huge garden and focusing on my hobby farm. Unfortunately, I do no have my garden in the ground yet, because the month that I was at work I was insanely busy and then insanely tired after work. After I was let go, it rained SO MUCH that I couldn't get anything else in the ground. As of right now, all that's planted are tomatoes and peppers. That's going to hold me back, though!

    Despite my set backs, I still intend to have my garden. Thanks to the long growing season of West Tennessee, there are still a lot of plants that I can get in the ground. The crops may be late, but I can deal with that. I also want to make some more soap and start getting serious about selling it, and I'm also thinking about a way to start selling baked goods. I know that I can successfully do it, it's just a matter of getting started. All in all, I want to start focusing more on what I've always wanted to do - working for myself. I want to dive head first into my hobby farm. I've had a few set backs, and the economy certainly doesn't make things easier, but I'm not ready to give up. As they say in the the movie Meet the Robinsons, "I'm going to keep moving forward." (That's a good movie, btw, if you're in need of something to watch!) One other thing I want to focus on more now is my creative writing. For a while now I've mostly written poetry, but I've missed my prose terribly. I'm diving back into that, too. My biggest dream for life is to publish a novel. 

    As for updates about the farm, well, there aren't many, but that isn't really a bad thing! Beetlejuice is still being housed with the girls. I do wish they would be more public with their relations so that I would know the deed was done, but apparently they're shy. He has been with Clara and Rumor since March, and with the Sandy and Brownie for over a month, though, so I've few doubts that we'll have kids born here this fall. Besides, if anyone doesn't take, they will just be re-bred for Spring kiddings. I'm praying it's a doe year! I could really use the extra money (does sell for much more than bucks and whethers), and I also plan to keep a doe or two. I know I will be keeping a doe out of Clara if I'm blessed with one from her. Everyone is doing well, thankfully, and I'm praying that they continue to do well throughout their kiddings. I just keep telling God that I'm not ready for a hard delivery! I don't have the experience to handle it yet. I hope He listens and takes pity on me. =) 

  Well, I hope you all are enjoying your summer! 

-Rach in Wonderland

P.S. - I'm sorry for the poor picture quality. They're from my cell phone, because my camera is still out of commission.

They love to be let out into this thicket to munch the weeds.

I put Krystal in the round pen so she wouldn't bother the goats, so instead, Beetlejuice bothered her.

Just a Short Update

Okay, I know I should be flogged for taking so long to write a new blog, but I've been super busy. In fact, I don't even have time for a full fledged blog. I'm just going to update about a couple of things that have been going on lately. 


First off, I now have a job! I'm working for a local orchard in their restaurant/store. It's a pretty awesome place and the people I work with are fantastic. My only complaints are that my feet are really having trouble adjusting to the long hours of standing on concrete. I'm hoping that losing weight and simply getting used to it will help with that, but in the mean time I'm practically living off of Aleve and Advil. I know that's unhealthy, but at least I'm down to one soda a week...;] My only other complaint is actually not even a "real" complaint. I just feel like I have no time anymore, haha. I feel like I went straight from school to work and had no summer break. In truth, however, it's not that I don't have time, I just haven't adjusted to the situation yet. I'm slowly learning to budget my time a bit better, and I'm finding that it is possible to have a life when you're working full time. [Plus, more hours means more money, meright?] 


The only other important bit of news is that I have decided to purchase Beetlejuice, so Wonderland is now a full-fledged goat operation, complete with it's very own buck! Okay, it's not really full-fledged - I still only have seven goats. I just have a complete set now. =]


One more thing before I'm off - I made four A+'s and one A this semester! I'm pretty excited. Okay, now I have to go buy goat feed, run some errands, and switch some of the goats around to different fences. 


This picture is from a recent trip to Middleton, TN to visit the farm we buy our raw milk from. It was lots of fun! [I just bought a new computer, so I can't give you a picture of goats today. Sorry!]

Green Tea and Other Things

    Hiya, everyone! I hope that you're all enjoying the Spring weather as much as I am. It's been lovely outside. 

    Unfortunately, with that lovely weather comes bugs. Pesky, blood sucking bugs. I am, of course, talking about worms, ticks, lice, flies, and mosquitoes. Personally, I think that prevention is best when it comes to these parasites. I believe I mentioned giving the goats the old Spring-sprucing (trimming hooves and worming, in particular), but today I also gave the horses and goats some parasite powder that will take care of lice, mites, certain flies, and mosquitoes, and I also wormed Mellow (our LGD). Hopefully I can keep one step ahead of those yucky Summer bugs.

    Spring also brings green things, though! I gave the goats a tree limb with some fresh green leaves on it. They attacked that limb like little piranhas! I'm pretty glad I'm not a tree limb...I've been on the receiving end of goat molars once, and trust me, once is enough! Hah! (Remember that if your affectionate goats get  a little over-zealous with the loving, and decide to munch on your fingers!)

    In non-goat-related news, I've decided to start trying some healthy teas, such as Green Tea, Red Tea, and herbal teas. So far I've tried the green tea and the red tea. Surprisingly, I love it! It took me a while to acclimate to the green tea, which tasted like grass at first, but after drinking it for three days, it grew on me. Now I can't get enough of the stuff. I like the red tea on my first try, but that might be because I tried the Passion Fruit and Pomegranate flavor. I'm mostly sticking to the green stuff, though. If you haven't heard of the wonderful benefits of green tea, you should "Google it." I first tried it after reading an article about it benefits for weight loss - it suppresses appetite (it really works!), and is supposed to increase metabolism and boost energy. I've since read that it is also chock-full of antioxidants. Now, if I could just learn to enjoy classic Southern Sweet Tea...

    Other than that, I don't suppose that I have much news. Summer break is almost here, though. I can hardly wait for that. Well, until I blog again!

-Rach in Wonderland

Here's a picture for the road - the first Brim of the season! We put this little guy back, though. He was too small to be anyone's lunch. =]

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