Oh, and for the record...

We have three more does to kid.

One is Hallie, a large beautiful alpine that we bought last summer.

One is Star, the first kid born to daughter Katarina's first goat.

The last is Priscilla, sister to Ruby. Readers of this blog may recall the sad story of Ruby who we worked over and nursed for weeks, only to finally concede defeat and have to put her down. Ruby and Priscilla came to us as 5 1/2 yr olds, never bred. They were painfully thin and malnourished, which is what led to Ruby's death. I never thought that Priscilla might get bred when the buck was in the pen with the other Nubians. I feel really stupid to say it, but she was just so OLD and had never been bred before! In people years it would be like a 48 year old woman getting pregnant for the first time, totally by accident. So we didn't feel a need to separate her out. And now I get to sweat bullets waiting for her to kid, worried about all kinds of unspoken challenges for the six year old first-timer.

Then we are done with kidding...until November, anyway!

Exhausting

I wonder, sometimes, why we don't remember how exhausting this time of year is!

We have babies due to be born, so we are up at night checking on pregnant does.

We have babies already born so we are up at night feeding bottles to very little ones.

We have does newly fresh in milk, so more milking.

Pasteurizing more milk for market.

It seems like everyday there is work to be done with the babies. If it isn't giving a routine vaccination (today's was for tetanus), it might be worming, or tending to the logistics that go into making sure that each baby gets a good start on hay or alfalfa, not too much, just the right amount, and that they respond well.

It is traditionally a wet season, so we have mud to slog through...more laundry, plus it seems that at Swede Farm soggy ground=a propensity for baby goats to have the runs, so more cleaning plus taking temperatures and treating accordingly, making sure that is is not something more ominous.

These days we are adding more and more markets, so there is the work of getting ready for each market, plus the logistics of preparation, etc.

And...as if all this isn't enough...LITTLE LEAGUE!

Calgon, take me a...oh wait. There are baby goats in the bathtub. Guess I'll have to settle for a quick shower.

Sales?

I hate selling things.

This might sound like a silly thing for someone who stands in a farmers market three times a week and sells a product, but I really loathe selling. To me, when we sell our milk at market it is less about selling and more about teaching people about goat milk and about sharing what we do. Farmer's markets are actually fun to me!

What I hate is where you actually have to try to sell a product or a service, where you are trying to make people see that they actually need what you are selling. Besides the required stints as minimum paid clerk at stores when I was a teenager, I have experienced this as a midwife when seeking clients and in our early years selling goat milk from the farm. I think the thread that underlies this is a sense of desperation, when you simply have to make that sale and the feeling afterwards that your own sense of self-worth is tied to how what you are selling is received. When it seems that so much rides upon a particular sale and that you, yourself are rejected when the sale does not go well it is no wonder that it takes a very particular kind of person to be successful in sales.

This is why I don't sell anymore. I am more than willing to discuss with someone why I think goat milk is great, how I practice as a midwife and the merits of a particular goat's bloodline, mainly because I love talking about these things. They are near and dear to my heart. What I am not willing to do is to get anxious over whether someone is interested in my milk, my midwifery services or my goat. I think they are all great, and I hope that you think that they are great but if not...it's been a pleasure talking with you, God be with you, good luck in your search!