Little by little...

This very busy week was spent getting to know Doris and Skippy better. I have never kept goats before and I was unprepared for how very affectionate they both are. They will stand at the gate and "Naaaaaa" for me to come out and pet them and sit with them and when I leave ten to twenty minutes later they "Naaaaaa" again, until they become distracted with something else, such as climbing around on the downed trees and rocks in their large enclosure or browsing. These two goats seem to ALWAYS be browsing and foraging or else chewing their cud. They have four stomachs and are milk producers, as are cows. But more on the health and beauty benefits of goat milk in an upcoming entry.

These past two weeks my husband made great progress on the little 7 1/2' x 8 1/2' goat barn. Him and my big strong son, Colin, rented a post hole digger to dig four holes for the barn, plus an additional hole for the door. Into those holes they placed four locust tree posts, approximately four inches in circumference, that they had cut from the woods surrounding our home. One 4 x 4 post was used for the door. Larry cut 2 1/2' x 3' holes for the two windows--one on the east wall of the barn, and one on the west. We are very fortunate to have a used building supply store not too far from us, so whatever we can glean from there we take full adventage of. They charge practically nothing and as an added benefit these perfectly good building materials are "recycled" and kept out of our community landfill. Truly a win/win situation for all. At this Saturday afternoon writing, Larry is finishing framing the two windows and the four corners.
Next weeks project will entail digging swails to divert the rainwater as we are on a mountain, and when it rains hard water runs like rivers off this mountain--we do NOT want a river running through the barn!