As some of you may know, I keep a small herd of Saanen milking goats, and these lovely ladies provide me with yogurt, cheese, ice cream, meat and of course milk! I currently have four full-sized milking does and two miniature milking does: Now when each one of the big girls produces rough a gallon and a half of milk per day you end up with a lot of milk! I use it all, but that's another story for another day.

In order for these lovely ladies to produce their copious amounts of milk, they have to kid, or have babies. Well, my rental property is backed up against the freeway, and on a flat area in the valley that gets quite a bit of wind, so I needed some way to keep these ladies and their babies safe, draft free and warm during kidding season. I couldn't afford a nice barn and those rent-to-own deals all have floors so I wasn't left with too many options.

Enter the West Virginia side of the family - AKA my dad's side. All the siblings were born, and with the exception of my father, raised on the multi-generational farm in West Virginia where everything from tail to snout (animal, vegetable, and mineral) was used, and then re-used! These ideals were never abandoned, and to this day I have one uncle who keeps a "museum" of old stuff for self-reliance, or because he thinks it's cool, or when SHTF.

Lord love my uncles and father, because they all came to the rescue when they heard my predicament about the goat barn. Salvaged lumber from previous projects was furnished, old
greenhouse siding was unearthed from the back-40 and given, posts from our sustainably harvested range/forest land were cut and gifted, and tin sheet-metal, which has seen the side of more than one building was compiled and donated to the cause.

Dad collected and loaded all these materials up and headed the five hours down to my house on a

Thursday after work, and by Sunday we had a functional shed for the ladies to utilize. We started with bare ground and went to a post-in-the-dirt, roof and sides covered and LOTS of "ventilation" holes from previous projects. This past Sunday I put up the very last pieces of the siding to close in the barn from weather. There are a few things I'm planning on adding when kidding season gets closer, but until then the ladies are enjoying their space out of the wind!

The beautiful bride!

Ok - obviously I've been neglectful in my blogging. I have excuses I promise! :) September and October have become akin to the April I had this year, which was busy let me tell you. I was on the interview trail during April, so much so that I was only "home" 17 days out of the whole month. Yowza!

September was chock full of meetings, fields days, Mom's birthday (the big 6-0), more meetings, beef harvesting (butchering), the Lost Rivers grazing Academy in beautiful Salmon, Idaho and the wedding of an amazing lady to an amazing guy! I was home for half of the weekends in September. Again, yowza!

Turkey number 1 of 3:56 lbs of meat overall.

October has been a bit more laid back than September - I'll be home three out of four weekends. Ha! Meetings, coaching team members from Idaho's state 4H livestock judging team, again with more meetings, a full week of new employee orientation in Moscow on the University of Idaho's campus, poultry harvesting, and my first evaluation as a UI Extension Educator are all on the docket for October. By this time yowza might not cover it. :)

However, my freezer is full, my pantry is going to be full once I get all the produce I picked up in the Yakima Valley canned-up, I've gotten to visit with my equally as busy brother and sister-in-law and parents. My girls (goats) are bred and in 4.5 months the babies will arrive, milk will flow, cheese and yogurt will be made and the bottle feeding of day-old calves will begin. My other girls (dogs) are very happy I'm home (and so am I!) that they want to cuddle all the time. I get a temporary roommate in December (I'm hosting a local ag student teacher).

I am very thankful for the opportunities I've had to re-establish relationships with friends and family, as well as begin new friendships with people in the area. As busy, and a yowza, as my life gets, I enjoy it. But I need a nap! ;)

Times they are a changin'.....

Three years! It has been three years since I posted on this blog, and let me tell you it has brought some big changes.

1) I took a job that moved me back to the Yakima Valley in Washington. I worked in a completely new career (agronomy) for a year and a half. Everything was going well, my custom livestock raising business was beginning to take off, I was asked to be a panelist for a Women in Ag conference, I found a place to rent in the country that was perfect and had an easy going landlord, and I finally graduated with my Masters degree! Then I was called into the boss' office one morning prior to a conference and was told I was being laid off. Holy crap! So I took some time to regroup and began a new job search.

2) I decided I didn't like the sales portion of my previous agronomy job and started searching for a position in Extension once again. After all, it has been a dream of mine since I was 16! So I claimed unemployment, raised animals to fulfill the contracts I had in progress and for my freezer, and applied for jobs. Once the interview processes began, I was ping-ponging all over the Western United States! In the month of April 2014, I was only home for 17 nights. I was one tired lady!

3) I accepted a position with the University of Idaho as the Small Acreage & Production Livestock Extension Educator for Canyon county. I am in my 2nd month of the job and so far I'm loving it! It's the perfect blend of concepts to satisfy my inner hippy and yet also my practical side by working with area dairymen and cattlemen. I have kept my goat herd and one breeding pair of sheep and plan to begin anew with my custom livestock raising project. I have been laying out breeding plans, and tracking down bottle calves and hay for the winter.

I am happy to be working again and be able to follow my personal vision to operate Cherryview Creek Custom Livestock in Fruitland, ID and I promise to do a much better job blogging! :)

Shave poochie poochie...

I know, I know...*hangs head*...I haven't written in a while. Bad Samantha. Bad! However, I intend to make up with an update with pictures and an interesting story.  :)

Setting: Early morning (OK maybe not too early) June 30th on HWY 87 between Havre and Big Sandy (that's less than 50 miles from my house).

I am headed home to Washington to help my dad with cherry harvest and since I will be gone for over a week I have decided to load up the posse and take every one with me. Interesting, no? I had purchased two rabbit cages for my birds and had under taken the painful assembly process. The night before I am set to leave I place the large dog crate and two rabbit cages into my TrailBlazer. I also have tied the four tires (minus rims) onto the roof of my rig. I have been preparing for the journey for two days and was super jazzed to leave early in the morning. I packed up and got everyone loaded (oh yeah it's as much a travelling shit show as it sounds) and head out for Havre (breakfast stop, duh) and home.

With breakfast at McDonalds taken care of, the two goats, duck, goose, eight hens, three dogs and I (crammed into the TrailBalzer) are on the road. I notice I'm experiencing some major wind resistance due to the tires...I topped out at 65 mph. I think, "Crap! This might take longer than I'd hoped." As I'm toodling along at my whopping 65 mph I hear the sheet metal of the roof flexing. Hmmmm...probably just normal for having crap tied to the roof, I think. Boy, was I wrong! All of a sudden the flexing stops and a massive POP! happens and in my side mirror (because my rear view mirror is block by goat cage and goose head) I see two of my tires go bouncing and rolling down the roadway. Double shit!

Thank goodness there was no one any where near me on the road. I pulled over, untied and removed the two remaining tires from the roof and shoved them in the one available space (the space behind the passenger seat which was supposed to be for the dogs). I then pulled a U-Turn and went off in search of my two missing tires. Luckily they were easy to find, so I hauled them up from the barrow ditch and began shoving and praying!

With a fair amount of determination, stubbornness and sheer luck, I was able to shove the two remaining tires into the rig. Now I have zero visibility for my rear view mirror and there is a serious lack of air flow. The 12-hour drive went well after that. I stopped about every three or four hours to water everyone and give the dogs (and me) a potty stop. I also put the goats on a leash and let them stretch their legs at the rest stops. People loved it!

Once I got home, my mom and I immediately set about getting all the animals out, housed, and fed and watered. While we were doing this my dad was trying to get the tires out. The good Lord was with me on the tire thing...dad had to use a pry-bar to get the tires out. The return trip was much easier (if not easy on my wallet) because I am now in possession of a new-to-me 2-horse trailer.

Anyway, the girls made it home safe and sound. Aaaaand here they are....

Goatie (standing) is now 4.5 months old. My guess is she weighs roughly 25 pounds. I'm still debating whether I will be getting a boy Goatie to make babies, but I won't have to make that choice for a while since Lala is just a baby. Lala is 3.5 months old and is about the same size as Goatie but she hasn't caught up in the poundage area yet. I know she's grown some but I can't really see it that much yet.



The birds have taken up residence with the goats because as you can see there are a few birdies missing. Something (probably my resident feral cats) started eating them, even during the day. However, since I put them in with the goats not a one has disappeared. Yay! I guess the 5-foot fence thwarts even the wiliest cat.

This is my "boss" chicken. Isn't she pretty? My hens are Barred Rock (this chick) and Buckeye (the red ones), I think. Then there is my one goose and one duck. The duck is for sure a hen (she quacks) but the jury I still out on the goose. I'm working on a good way to tell...it doesn't honk, kind of has a hoarse cheeping sound. I will for sure know if it lays an egg! :)

And as an added bonus, while at home in Washington Yotee got a haircut! He looks kinda like a lion because whenever the clippers got any where close to where hair remains he fuh-reaked out! So I just left it and now I call him my "little lion." :)

Productivity is an amazing feeling...

I have had one productive weekend! The new additions - Bug & Spatz - required a new living environment because they squished a baby chicken and a baby turkey. So I took all weekend to build their pen mainly because I ran out of energy to do the physical work. On Saturday, I drove the T-posts and ran one roll of wire. Then I had to make a Big-R run because I needed more posts and wire. The pen cost more to construct than the friggin' goats did! LOL After I returned from Big-R with my fencing supplies and other various sundries I finished the third side of the pen but just plain ran out of oomph to do the rest so I relaxed for the evening. This morning I moved my old chicken coop and took the front off to create an A-frame house for the girls. I also had to make a run to WalMart today to purchase a tarp, carabiners and some bungee cords because the girls needed some shade! So by 3 pm today the girls had a finished home with shade, a tub for their feed and mineral block, and had been vaccinated to prevent goat diseases!

One thing I do wish I had taken the time to buy (and I still might buy it) is this great book called, "How to Build Animal Housing." It looks amazing! I also recently purchased Storey's guide to raising dairy goats and a self-sufficiency book. I am excited for them to arrive!














I woke up this morning with some serious sun burn! I'm still not used to being this far North meaning a higher UV index. I checked yesterday and today's UV index - it was 8 both days. Out of 10! No wonder I burned...I had bug spray and no sunscreen on. I did buy some Banana Boat this weekend though and will be sure to wear it!


I also did some planting of my containers. I planted my little BBQ with cucumbers - the Bush Crop variety. I planted my wheelbarrow with zucchini and I chose the Black Beauty variety. In my 4' by 4' raised bed I planted two varieties of corn (Earliglow & Orchard Baby), two hills of pumpkins (Small Sugar), some Six Nation heirloom dried beans, and a mix of marigold seeds everywhere! They are an excellent bug repellent and pollinator attractant. I have several lilac bushes in my yard and they are blooming like crazy! I picked some and put them in a Pace salsa jar - don't laugh it's the closest thing I had to a vase - and put them on my kitchen table. Gorgeous and they make the house smell great!

I stared a small herb bed near the house and am hopeful that I can keep it growing well into the future. I brought some Libson Bunching onions from my mom's garden and planted small Rosemary and Onion Chive plants that I bought at Walmart. I also planted some parsley and basil from seed. The parsley is coming up well but I had to replant the basil since there has been such cool & wet weather. Here's to hoping it comes up!

I've mentioned  how my dogs are my kids right? I always make sure they are spayed and

up-to-date on their vaccinations. June marks their annual vaccination time. I gave them a 7-way that covers parvo, distemper and Leptospirosis to name a few. Yotee did OK but didn't want to come to me so I could pet him for a while. Lil Guy did great but he didn't want to get his shot which resulted in a cat and mouse game for about 5-minutes. I tricked him by coming in to the mud room then nabbed him! :) Ruby on the other hand did not do too well. She struggled big time, had to be stuck three times and bent the needle but she got her shot! She must have struggled enough to make me hit her muscle because she's limping around and in obvious pain. So I called my resident farm vet (my mom!) and we decided to give her an aspirin and I started icing her neck. She's now resting comfortably!

Next weekend I plan on getting the chicken coop's outside run built! I love warm, sunny weather and the ability to be outside being ultra productive. This evening I let the goats and chickens out to run a bit before they got put back in their pens. As they grazed, I sat back and reflected how peaceful and content I am here. The middle of June will mark my one-year anniversary of being a Hi-Line resident. I am thankful for the chance to work at a job I love and with people who are great! All in all it's been a difficult but amazing year! :)

Making a home in the mud...

So once again I beg your forgiveness - the rain has made my desire to write null and void. However, we had 65F and sunny today so here I am with some writing ambition. :) I know the title of this blog entry is interesting to say the least but all the rain has resulted in standing water, massive flooding and mud, mud every where!

I have done some updates around the Muddy Manicure. I planted the window box with lettuce, spinach, broccoli, tomato plants and my one surviving eggplant. I mainly keep the window shut because it's still quite cool here at night - around 40F, sometimes lower. The cold frame concept really works well up here in the harsh climate of North central Montana.

My strawberry bed is thriving!

The big one's are the geese.

I have also watched my Homesteaders Flock grow. My chicks now have feathers and so do the turkey's. The duck and two geese are still peach-fuzzy; who knows when they'll get some feathers. I took them "swimming" every day while they were in the house. I had to teach them but they got the hang of it and love to swim. While dad and brother were out over Memorial Day weekend they helped me move them outside into the coop. I will be adding on the "run" part on later when the birds get big enough.

Today I picked up my newest addition to the Muddy Manicure - two baby Nigerian Dwarf doelings. I haven't named them yet and would welcome name suggestions. They currently weigh around 19 pounds and the breed standard says does grow only to be about 30-40 pounds. Currently, the two babies are out in the chicken coop since there is a heat light out there but I'm hoping shortly the nights will warm up enough to keep them outside. I plan to do some intensive grazing with the girls around the outbuildings when they're older.

Sorry it's sideways - I'm lame ;)

              
 The girls were born on March 7th and their breed is a recognized dairy breed so if I do decide I want a dairy goat one day - BOOM! already got two! :) I'm thinking that the girsl would also be useful for my 4H kids in case any of them want to show something at the fair but can't afford it. Other than that they're just going to be spoiled goat pets! :)

Sorry it's sideways again!

Spring is making itself known around the Muddy Manicure and the Hi-Line. My container gardens are doing really well. My bathtub has Walla Walla sweet onions, yellow onions, shallots and Scarlet Nantes carrots in it. They are doing awesome! The pig feeder planter is chock-full of yellow onions and they have been loving the rain and cool weather. Too bad I'm not! :)  They've rocketed from a dried up set to beautiful green, alive baby onions! Gotta love it! I need to get a bunch of other stuff planted but some of them I'm going to have to buy like the squash. I'm going to get peas and corn planted this weekend. The weather and package planting information should be just about right. Here's to hoping it doesn't rain like the dickens this weekend!

I'll leave you with a parting photo that brings a smile to my face and thoughts of spring followed by summer to mind. The lilac bush closest to my house has begun to bloom! :D