We love summer....

We spent a wonderful summer weekend with our oldest granddaughter Madison. Mom Rachel drove her up on Saturday morning. We spent long hours surrounded by nibbling goats, cheeping chicks and ecstatic dogs. The garden was extremely well watered, and there were earthworms harvested for the chicks. We gathered ripe strawberries and raspberries for our dessert. Grandpa Rick crafted a cedar bird house from scrap wood, and Madi painted it with bright acrylic colors, a rainbow and sparkling stars on its roof. Sunday morning we made Hawaiian toast for breakfast, there was more watering, Grandma pulled Madi in the wagon and we went for a long nature walk. Then it was time for the drive home. Madison is a serious foodie already at age ten. She helped me choose fruit at the fruit stand, and we chatted about how to make veggies tastier so Grandpa will like them more.
It was so much exhausting fun! We already have a list of want to do’s for our next sleep-over.


Summer is fun at FiddleSong Farm....

A new painting....

It is always exciting to have something new to frame. This watercolor is about 18"x 22" with sepia ink and lots of Prismacolor pencil work. These dramatically back~lit walnuts are just showing their new spring buds.  There is something magical about this Volcano meadow.  I drive by it twice a day, and I am fascinated by the shapes of the trees and the lush grasses.  I find myself returning to it again and again for subject matter for my paintings.

This one will be one of my entries in the Amador County Fair in July this year. You may view it in person at the Sutter Creek Gallery, until then...

...giclee prints are available :)

Small successes...

I just read Jenna's blog.  She has been milking her doe, Bonita for one month.  I am proud of her, and remember commenting on one of her blog posts last year that she should add goat's milk to her farm :)  GOOD for her!!

Tonight, I was out in the garden after settling my goat friends for the night.  I was looking at all the healthy weeds that have exploded in growth and thinking "OMG.  HOW am I going to get all these under control?" I have SO much to do and I am anxious to plant my green beans, and I have to clear another area for two more potato boxes. I have been weeding a little every evening after work while it is cool, and I am making slow progress. My onions are doing very well.  I have seedlings started in the greenhouse, and they all look healthy. My herbs are starting to grow, and my celery is growing taller. I have peas to eat, and spinach ready and I harvested a romaine lettuce yesterday. All is well.

My friend Alison told me that she is going to grow some veggies in her yard in Sutter Creek.  Deja said that Andy is clearing their space, getting ready to plant. Rachel is talking about planting some things in pots at her new place. Dawnia is getting ready for her tomatoes. My Mom and Dad still grow pots of tomatoes in their tiny manicured yard.

I remember planting a tiny veggie garden in a corner of our Oakley home in the '80's, and how satisfying that small effort was. My advice is GO FOR IT!  Even if you plant one wine barrel with a tomato and some basil, or a shady pot of lettuce seeds~small successes are still successes!

....Hmmmm, I wonder where the tomatoes should go this year?

Got GOAT cookies?

Whimsy LOVES her cookies :)

As I go along from day to day, I learn little tricks that help me in some small way.  I had to teach myself how to milk.  THEN I had to learn that each doe has her own style.  Then I had to learn that some goats are actually quite insulted when you are milking them.  Bella is a good example of this.  Bella is one of my Rosasharn does.  Her mother is Mariposa, one of their loveliest and most accomplished does. Bella freshened the first time with an udder to die for! It was large and perfectly formed. The first time I put her on the milk stand, I thought she was going to have a heart attack! The look of shock on her face alone should have warned me this was not going to be easy.

THIS was INAPPROPRIATE TOUCHING!

She kicked, scratched, did flips, laid down, yelled, kicked, scratched, knocked the bucket over the fence....you name it, she tried it. Off the stand she was perfectly mannered, easy to handle.  On the stand it was something like trying to milk a mountain lion. I read everything I could.  I WAS PATIENT.  I was kind, and reassuring.  I was persistent.  I had a regular schedule.  I tried playing music.  Different KINDS of music.  I tried singing :/ I tried massages.  I tried treats. Soon, I was bruised and bleeding from scratches, my patience at an end. Exhausted, I unclipped her and went and got Hummingbird, who, although not very trusting of people, was a perfect angel on the milkstand.

Now I have Honey, who is Bella's daughter.  Honey is not as easy as she could be, but with a few adjustments here and there, and a few well timed goat cookies, we manage to accomplish what we set out to do.  I have learned to use an "underbelly bucket" to keep her from laying down.  Now she is pretty steady on the stand.  Her doeling Bond is a "one sided sucker" so I only milk Honey's right side. Honey milk is creamy and delicious!

....I am more patient than a goat is stubborn...

Mossy walnuts

"Mossy Walnuts" 15" x 22"

I wish I had a more efficient way to photograph my own paintings. I do have photographer friends who are willing to help, but the logistics are hard for me. This painting was finished on my vacation, in between kiddings :)  This photo gives some good detail but does not give justice to the true color.  I used a LOT of prismacolor pencil in this, which makes it more challenging to photograph. It's companion painting is almost finished too:) I may not be able to let go of this one.

Goat update:

All does and kids seem to be doing fine! I had a wicked cold/flu last week which prevented the disbudding adventure I had planned. So, although our intentions were good, the kids from this year will have horns :/

All is well at FiddleSong Farm....

...the bad with the good...

Buck ~ FiddleSong Pilgrim

Buck ~ FiddleSong Stuck in Reverse

So after our traumatic delivery with Honey, I expected Whimsy's kidding to be a walk in the park. OMG. BOTH of these bucklings came out backwards! I had to pull so hard on Pilgrim that I was sure all his little bones were broken. Then, if that wasn't hard enough, here comes Stuck in Reverse.  He was trying to come out tail first!! Now, Whimsy is my smallest doe who had no trouble delivering her first batch of kids. But this time I literally had to reach inside her poor little rear entry area, push that big kid back inside, find the legs and pull them up and out.  THEN my trusty side kick Rick, who I would not be able to survive without, had to pull that big kid out the rest of the way. The kids are both fine and Whimsy is doing fine, too.

That was Monday. 

Saturday, I was hearing my doe Zipporah crying out in the back hill area. I thought she sounded like she was in season. So I went out there to check on her, and guess what?  SHE is pregnant!  Huh?  Friday, she didn't have anything in her udder. She showed NO signs of pregancy at all.  And actually I was disappointed about that because she has extra nice kids. So I look her over and decide, well the timing is right on if she did take when I bred her. So I brought her in and gave her a nice clean area inside the barn, just in case. She seemed to be going along fine, and I was trying to stay away as long as possible.  (She tries to sneak her kids out without anyone knowing.) OK, I decide, Zip has freshened three times, this should be easy.  WRONG AGAIN.  Zip labored all night without success and died this morning. As hard as I tried, I could not help her. I am so sad.

...sometimes life on a farm is very hard....

Welcome little one...

Meet "FiddleSong Bond"

Little Bond was born early Friday morning, April 6. Here is her mother Honey's story:

Honey was on the for sale list last summer. 

I had a few calls, but nobody was interested in a doe with horns. Honey is a bully, which means she is a doe with more goat status than the others~high on the "butting order." AND she has some wicked sharp horns. In her defense, she never offered to butt me or Rick, just the other goats. I didn't want her. When Honey came into season in the fall, I had my buck Fiddler breed her, thinking maybe I could sell her as a bred doe, or as a fresh doe after kidding. But I was really busy, and didn't get around to listing her for sale again.

As Honey's kidding date grew nearer, she started developing a nice udder. I thought she should kid around April 15th, so imagine how surprised I was when Rick rushed in early Friday saying "You have babies in the barn!"  AHHHH! 

Little Bond was the first kid born and the largest. She was wet, but looked alert, so I turned my attention to Honey.  Honey must have worked a long time to have her first kid, because her second kid, a buckling, was born dead. I HATE to lose a kid! Honey started pushing again, and I watched as she delivered a little brown doe.  The poor little thing was barely alive, and although I rubbed her and worked to get her going, I think she had breathed fluid. She never gained any strength and died in about an hour.

The hardest lesson to learn on the farm: sometimes little ones aren't supposed to live.

Mother Nature chooses. 

I was so sad. I was feeling like a total failure. Why was I doing this? Maybe I would not breed any more does. Maybe I would sell them all except a couple of favorites.

 Then the unexpected happened. As I sat in the fresh, clean straw, rubbing the tiny doeling Bond dry, Honey stood near me, her sharp horns six inches from my face. She talked to and licked her baby, and gazed up into my eyes as if to say,

"Isn't she just gorgeous, Ma?" 

Honey turns out to be an exceptional doe. She is an attentive and loving mother, she is trusting and easy to handle.  She stands like a statue when milked.  I couldn't ask for more.

"Honey milk" at FiddleSong Farm....all is well :)