A tiny cry in the flock

Yes, I went down to hay the ewe flock this morning in the rain(they're still in their temporary paddock)and, while I'm used to the deep baaaaa-baaaaa sounds of sheep who've been heavy smokers for years (or transgendered, or, well . . .just mature tenors) there was the bleating of a tiny lamb in the middle of the 35 sheep. She still had her umbilicus dragging in the mud and was going from ewe to ewe looking for mom. I made a radio call to announce the first lamb of the season and called for a towel. Two folks came down and we found the mom -- behind the small shelter licking clean lamb #2.

We have to get their more permanent shelter ready by Monday!!

egg-a-palooza and parsnips

Today was my day off and I did, in fact, take my Piglet to the rescue league. He's still very thin, but he plays with toys, purrs, rubs and acts very cute. They're wonderful there. They admire him as much as I do and wormed him, tested him for FeLV, will neuter him, and make sure he's in a home as soon as possible where he can scamper and watch birds and hunt bugs-- instead of in a cage in our red barn.

Our gardener is busy planting fruit trees today. We are eating up the rest of the parsnips out of the ground and the CHICKENS WON"T STOP LAYING!! Pound cake and custard and scrambled, fried, boiled, and quiche. AND I finally found the "mother-ship" freezer of last fall's vegetables.

Resting up a little today. Back to the fracas tomorrow.

Update on Piglet

"Piglet" is thriving. He's rediscovered his purr-motor and is up to normal size meals with no signs of "gastric distress". It's great to have a little creature to get snuggles with. If he were neutered I'd smuggle him into my room ;)

Piglet

In the red barn, the informal infirmary, a large metal crate bears the sign

"Cat's pet-project 4/21/07
Hi! My name is "Piglet". I am a 10-month-old intact male kitty who was abandoned here on the farm. I earned my name by collapsing of dehydration in the pigs' feeding trough this morning. I will likely be sent to Worcester Animal Rescue League to be neutered and adopted."

In late February someone dropped off three small pigs in the middle of the night. I suspect this cat came with them. We've seen him around, looking terrorized and darting under things. I got a radio call yesterday morning and Heidi came up the hill with a mewing, emaciated silver tabby who was dehydrated enough that his skin stood up like Play-Do. I gave him some subcutaneous fluids and a teaspoon of food, removed three ticks with a pair of Olsen-Hager needle holders (EVERYthing is just lying around this place -- its a gold mine!) and happily found myself in the pet food aisle at the grocery store that evening. I'll give him a week to recoup, ask him if he'd like to try and catch the 4# rats that are a problem in the barn, then send him to the place I've been going on my days off for "a kitty fix"--the rescue league. It's a great place. I have a feeling this little tom isn't cut out for farm life.
I think what I can get most washed up about if I think on it is that he was collapsed in the pig trough because, not only do the pigs get donuts and bagels, but the sometimes get eggs and milk and it must've smelled like the residue . . .

Yes, the way cows in India are "a sacred animal" such am I with cats.

And its summer now. Hot. Bypass spring and move right into summer.

Cheers --

More than a snapshot

I enjoy writing up the humorous "polaroid photos" of my time here, but let's see if I can't give a fuller pictures of the exciting/busy/frightening/ exciting changes coming up in the next three weeks . . .in case there aren't any blog entries for several days at a time.
1. Dale is here and active on the farm, and not travelling for the next three weeks from what I can tell. This is a great change in dynamic (for me, and it's all about ME;)
2. On Thursday I started working with the new Livestock Coordinator, Donna. I expected I wouldn't have much time with her, with all the conference calls to "headquarters" she needed to be on, but we were together for several hours every day and I think she's a wonderful fit, an eager-minded co-worker and someone I'd genuinely choose as a friend anyway. SO, I need to hang on to the sensation that we have a "livestock team" over the next few weeks as things change . . . and they always change, dontchaknow.

A. Yes, we've been entertaining tour groups and some overnight groups in the bunkrooms since I arrived. We've also been caring for a farm of animals in housing that's a bit, well, temporary, but the real "experiential education" is about to begin. In the next few days, as the weather brightens, the grass greens, and the camel becomes ever more neurotic, we are fleshing out our Global Village. There are photos of the regional houses several pages back on this blog. But this week we get to clean everything up and DISTRIBUTE the animals to the sites -- animals that are exemplary of Heifer projects in that area of the world. What happens then?? There will still be field trips and tours during the day, but groups will actually get to OVERNIGHT in the country they are focusing on. They will cook a meal over a charcoal/wood fire based on the staple foods of that country (will they leave a little hungry the next morning? perhaps . . .) they will talk about global food systems, and more . . .

B. At the end of this week of training and set-up of the Global Village, the Women's Lambing Program begins. Somewhere in this week we need to shear the sheep so we can see when the ladies actually "drop" and get ready to lamb. We need to move the goats out of the hoop barn and clean it for the first time in several months. The sheep will be on pasture during the day and in the hoop barn at night (we hope, weather permitting dear God!). Women's lambing is a popular program for good reason, but will certainly be an exercise in balance, patience, and communication, as the one thing that is really the wild card here are, of course, the sheep. They've been "timed" by stimulating ovulation back in the fall, but with the weather and the inexact nutrition they've been getting, I'm praying there's not a lot of tube feeding and nursing care that I have to communicate to our "guests" -- many of whom do not have real agricultural experience. The other challenge is that "regular" programming is also going on. School groups and hay rides and GV overnights. Out new livestock coordinator has graciously agreed to give hayrides to other groups during this time, 'cause my tractor skills are not qute ready for this and, well, I just don't want to!
As you can see from the schedule below, we keep the ladies busy. I AM excited to be part of the group running the "cheese-making" workshop! Donna and I have always wanted to, so now we will learn, and learn WELL, because you always do when you are "learning so you can teach"
I'll stop here. Unfortunately, we don't yet have more volunteers for all this. It is frightening to start scheduling people to run programs the first week of May, when said people haven't even arrived yet. A fun ride for sure!

WOMEN'S LAMBING EXPERIENCE
SESSION ONE of four running through May 12, fifteen adults per session
We interrupt this as needed to watch daytime birthing

Monday, April 30th
2:00 pm Introductions and a Heifer video
3:00 pm Farm Tour
4:00 pm Optional Milking & Feeding Chores or Free Time
6:00 pm Dinner
7:00 pm Short course on sheep-birthing
10:00 pm Nighttime Lamb Checks Begin

Tuesday, May 1st
7:30 am Breakfast
8:00 am Optional Milking & Feeding Chores or Free Time
10:00 am Heifer's Case Study
12:00 pm Village Meal in the Global Village
2:00 pm Free time for relaxation /reflection
3:00 pm Community Volunteering with Heifer
4:00 pm Optional Milking & Feeding Chores or Free Time
6:00 pm Dinner
7:00 pm Movie Night and/or Cheese-making
10:00 pm Nighttime Lamb Checks Begin

Wednesday, May 2nd
7:30 am Breakfast
8:00 am Optional Milking & Feeding Chores or Free Time
10:00 am Food Systems Workshop
11:00 am Free time for relaxation/reflection
12:00 pm Lunch
1:00 pm Gender Activity
2:00 pm Women & Globalization Video
4:00 pm Optional Milking & Feeding Chores or Free Time
6:00 pm Dinner
7:00 pm Fiber Workshop
10:00 pm Nighttime Lamb Checks Begin

Thursday, May 3rd
7:30 am Breakfast
8:00 am Optional Milking & Feeding Chores
9:00 am……………………..Make beds for the next group
10:00 am Group Photo with Lambs
10:30 am "The Gift" Slideshow
12:00 pm Lunch then Goodbye

next group arrives at 2pm the same day, stays for the same amount of time, with a two hour interval before session 3

A photo of my super-cool supervisor, Dale

http://www.daleperkinshorseshow.com/index.htm

Or. . .

. . .lock three chickens in the car accidentally. That's today's faux paux (sp?)

Add this to the docket . . .

. . .of things I never imagined I'd grow up to do:

Parallel park a longbed truck filled with goats in downtown Marlboro Massachussetts so I could use a pay phone to call a jolly-British-accented man named "Alf" for better directions to his boarding school because of flooded roads.

Last Tuesday three of us took quite a few Nubian goats and "yearlings" to a small, amazing, boarding-school-farm for at-risk boys. (Someone asked me 'have they already done something bad'? That's a big question! I think they all just earned some diagnostic-letters that puts them in the wrong column somewhere. . . thirteen-year-old boys were made to be working on the farm!!!) Due to the sheer volume of goats, and to missing birth records, we sent the wrong goat kids with the milking doe. The kids were old enough to wean BUT suddenly both Alf and Overlook would be in the dairy business without the kids (does can produce for 300 days--several quarts a day, with health issues if just left to "dry up"). All's well again. The way kittens and puppies have an "ear wiggle" when they latch on to a teat, lambs and kids have a "tail wag"

Has it finally happened? Spring for real this time?
Things are getting even busier here, and they're training me to help work with some of the groups and I'm helping to orient the new livestock person . . .
and . . .you'll need to forgive me, but I must brag for a moment about my housemate and fellow volunteer, John. This man is sharp as a tack, funny, congenial, generous AND 73-years-old!!!! He drove here from Ohio and tirelessly hauls water buckets out to Tibet. He fixes doors, builds shelving, and makes a mean spagetti.
What blessings to meet so many people here.

More magazine funnies

My recent discovery of back issues of "Live Animal Trade and Transport" has opened my eyes to the marketing of unique products like the "Wiley Net Gun: hand held for land vehicle, air or water capture" and the advertisements that bid to be the carriers of the spoils. Take, for example, Martinair Holland Cargo's add: "Our specially designed 747 freighters provide customized services for cattle, zoo animals, whales, pigs, ostriches, baby chicks and more!"

Then there are press releases and international news, such as "The nightly DHL 727 charter flight from Auckland to Sydney has been nicknamed 'The Flying Omelete' as its cargo regualarly includes asparagus, live fish and crayfish, eggs, milk powder, yoghurt and fruit juice. . .a DHL sales representative recently foiled an attempt to smuggle a Tuatara . . .he alerted customs and was able to help authorities expose a smuggling ring."

And, on a more banal note, there's a news blib with the title
"New York Drives Cats to Despair"

"Driven to despair by stifling humidity, New York's cats are leaping off balconies with alarming frequency . . .the luckiest cat dropped 46 storeys from its Manhattan apartment and landed in a plant pot. [This happens because] The animal reaches a terminal velocity of 60mph, allowing it to compose itself in a bat-like position causing maximum wind drag.

Dogs have a bad time, too . . .one pomeranian had an especially unlucky call. The owner was cleaning his guns with nitroglycerin that set off an explosion, blowing the dog out of a fifth-floor window."

From one of our lesson plans

"When using this lesson plan, remember to stress that we are not asking anyone to turn their lives upside down. We don’t expect anyone to change their entire lifestyle, but little, thoughtful choices can have a huge impact."

From a box of Cheerios that sells for $4.19, the farmer receives $0.06.
For a 12 oz package of potato chips that sells for $2.99, the farmer who grew the potatoes receives $0.06. For a pound of bacon that sells for $3.99, the farmer who raised the pigs receives $0.49.

The US food system uses over 10 Quadrillion btu (10,551 Joules) of energy each year, as much as France’s total energy consumption for a year. Growing food accounts for only 21% of this. The other 4/5ths is used to transfer, process, package, store and sell food after it leaves the farm. 28% of the energy used to produce food goes into fertilizer manufacturing, 7% to irrigation, and 38% to diesel and gasoline consumed by agricultural machinery. · Decrease in Sma

The number of farms in America decreased from 6.8 million in 1935 to less than 2 million in 1998. Of the remaining farms, large and very large farms make up just 8 percent of all farms, but produce 53 percent of all output. There are now more full-time prisoners in the US than there are full-time farmers.

Farm worker wages have declined more than 20% in the last twenty years, after accounting for inflation. Farm workers have the lowest annual family incomes of any U.S. wage- and salary workers.
77% of all farm workers in the United States were born in Mexico. U.S.-born whites represent 7% of the farm labor workforce; while U.S.-born Latinos represent 9% and U.S.-born African Americans represent 1%. The average age of a farm worker is 31. And 80% of all farm workers in the United States are men.

How can folks eat local food when they are busy, or live in a city, or if they don’t have time to cook?

Making a switch in the summer from supermarket to farmer’s market is one way.
· Freezing (or canning or drying) local produce for the winter is another way.
· Choosing locally produced products like milk, egg, and cheese all year round is another way.
· Shopping at an independent store or food cooperative instead of a national chain is another way to support community.
· If talking to adults, mention the option of a CSA (www.localharvest.org has great information about CSAs and other sources of local food).
ALASKANS "Calypso Farm and Ecology Center" lists four Fairbanks-area CSA's on its webiste
http://www.calypsofarm.org/csa.html

When you can, choose a local head of lettuce over a California one. When you have the choice, buy from local producers instead of far away ones. Think about the people and resources involved in the production of everything you buy, from sneakers to salads. It gets easier as you go on, and even fun!

Mystery Solved!

Housing animals in this wet, windy, stormy weather is a real challenge. Housing them where they can't escape, where we can give them grain and water and bales of hay, where the wheelbarrow fits and the other herd members don't literally "walk on top of them" to get to the feed (this works well if you're a sheep . . .they pack in tight as lemmings) is even harder. We've had two old sheep in "the hay barn" because we think they were bred with the ram last fall, but they're quite old and need a little extra attention. One of them developed a small bald patch on its back. No redness, itchiness. . .

(pause --just looked out the window and its snowing again --)

. . .or general malaise. Dale looked at her and said "Sometimes they loose their fleeces if they have a fever." No signs of a fever.
The patch got bigger.
Should we treat her for lice? The other one is fine. Look how uniform it is, like a crop circle. . . lets wait one more day . . .
BIGGER, now almost her whole back is bare, she has a full fleece on her sides, neck and head, buut her back has that downy loveliness of post-chemo new-growth and a few yellowing traces of lanolin from the roots.
I was looking for my lost pocketknife in the bedding of her pen yesterday and, with in a slow, dragon-like stretch, a long camel neck comes over from the adjacent pen and fills its mouth with white fleece like cotton candy.
I stood and watched for a moment, as an un-perterbed ewe ate hay and a neurotic camel ate fleece. Hope he doesn't get a hairball.

take care all --

We're having a blizzard

That's it. Just 'we're having a blizzard'.

Frosted Pigs

It's been a long week here. After Easter last weekend I just felt as insatiably tired as I've been feeling chronically hungry. I slept A LOT this week. And read my first non-agricultural book in more than six weeks. I am halfway through my adventures here and I feel myself re-assessing, gathering, and looking beyond my nose at my life. I recently got news that I won some goofy local poetry contest and that my "Africa manuscript" was rejected by the publisher that had it under consideration. I've been thinking a great deal about furthering my teaching credentials, farming at home in Alaska, sending out my manuscript again.

Farm stuff. Did I ever mention that one of our local volunteers works at Dunkin Donuts and donates the day-olds in garbage bags that we feed to the pigs? Their favorite are the pink-frosted Bavarians. They are so cute when they chase each other with pink frosting on their snouts. We have four sows that are a "heritage breed" (these are the genetics that are being squeezed out of the pool now that family-farming is on its last legs) called Gloucester Old Spots. One of my projects is to call the Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge MA and see if we can borrow their Gloucester Old Spots boar for some, well, pig making . . .

Hailing tapioca bits

"Due to extenuating circumstances, spring has been cancelled this year . . ."
Sleet, rain, hail coming down all day. All the spring projects I wanted to work on had to get pushed aside for indoor pursuits. In trying to get the office set up for our new livestock coordinator, Donna (arriving April 19), I've been going through two file cabinets and finding a great deal of archive-able Heifer publications and notes, some laughable semen catalogs (yes, you heard correctly--these flyers are as slick and glossy as SUV buyers' guides!) and veterinary information from the late '70s. We have a new housemate, John, who is a funny, friendly, white-haired 60-ish Irishman who likes single-malt scotch and Easter candy on sale. Our other roommate is arriving from Tanzania early next week. I swear, we are the most interesting menagerie here!

Catalogs for everything and cultural pluralism

First, you should know that Dale left again for a week in Arkansas. I have some things to order this morning with the farm's credit card, things like ear tags for the lambs and batches of turkey poults. Yes, there's a catalog for everything . . .you can order-up birds like batches of cookies, sheep-handling equipment . . .a whole catalog devoted to ear tags. YAY capitalism!!

On another note, Heifer International has been entertaining twelve Chinese delegates that are both project partners and government officials in their home province. This is a common paradigm in our international programs -- to have the leaders of many of these projects also in the government. They've been visiting US Heifer projects AND seeing all the sites of American culture. They flew into Los Angeles, went to Disneyland, made their way across the US . . .and in the middle of last week, our young, blonde beauty "Liz" --who is our "culinary and cottage coordinator"- took the Heifer van and drove into New York to pick them up and take them on tour to Washington DC. She got stuck with this job because no one else wanted it. Mind you, two interpreters were present, but none of the 12 spoke a spit of English (or, Liz didn't speak a spit of Chinese, depending on how you look at it), and the van's "door-lock sensor" was on the fritz. . .incessant chiming until she got it repaired. Liz and crew re-emerged here at the farm on Saturday evening, whereby we were ALL quickly shuffled off to the "Wong Dynasty Chinese Buffet" next to the Big Y grocery store, for a classic evening of gelatinous sweet n' sour and sitar coverage of Pat Benatar songs . . . experiencing American culture in its full splendor has been the theme! Oh, we had fun in our non-conversationalist way Saturday eve!! Now, we've got Liz back for the week, and we sent a fellow volunteer -- Matt -- to drive the gang to Niagara falls and then to their plane in Rochester. Saturday night we had 12 non-English speakers in the bunkrooms with one of the volunteer's 22-member American family! Zoinks!!

Good Friday

It's so hard for me to stay in touch these days, and I'm so sorry to be this impersonal!I think of you all a lot . . .always when it's a bad time to call! I'm sound asleep by 9 pm-ish (EST) every night. My days are spent almost entirely outdoors fixing gates, throwing hay or bags of feed, catching goats, my head down into the wind as I cross the barnyard, greeting new people or kids who trickle in "here for chores." I am, indeed, back to "having fun" and feeling appreciated, but I sure wouldn't mind if the weather acted like spring and if we had FIVE more "ag-vols" (agricultural volunteers). The new livestock coordinator employee is supposed to arrive on April 19. I've assumed she'll spend the first week shaking hands and all that whoo-haa but we'll be thrilled to have her.

I need to tell you, though I'm aware of the scope of my audience here, that we, ironically, spent Good Friday afternoon butchering a good portion of our rabbit population. There were about five residential and local volunteers that wanted to be part of this, and I suddenly realized that most people have never gotten to see the INSIDE of an animal! They've never felt the sponginess of healthy lungs or seen the membranous diaphragm. Every time, I think of God. It IS miraculous, the entire package, pardon me . . .but even the way the skin and fascia just peel off the carcass and the muscles emerge. (I said at one point :this is just REVERSE surgery, I've spent many years trying to put these animals back together after something tries to eat them). Yes, it was hard to watch the initial "stun" at the back of the head with the hammer. You do that, they twitch, you hang them and then remove the head. When I've seen this, after I get the "responsibilty" impulse out of my head (part of that veterinary vow 'primum non nocere') I think of it as a privelege. I am there for the exact moment that the soul is released from the animal. And I believe that -- that they have souls-- that we absolutely must respect "our protein." You can love them and wonder at them as they hop about and nibble and live, and also wonder at them as a gift on our table.

Happy Easter, all. Blessed be.

Snow, actually

Here I sit, looking at the lacy, ice-coated branches of trees and the rolling blue-whiteness of the front pasture. *Sigh* We had a really great drop-in volunteer with loads of animal experience, but she left yesterday morning -- leaving a four-page note and dashing my hopes that she'd be around for a week to help. Oh well. Tony's cell-phone alarm is set to go off with the song "Yankee Doodle". It goes off every morning at 6am and I never see him until 15 minutes before chores start. It is a clever juxtaposition to see Tony driving the tractor, giving hay rides to groups of paying customers. It's simply a clever juxtaposition to be in central Massachusetts from Africa . . .he is funny . . .wish him luck on his first 'telephone interview' this evening -- he's nervous!

Um . . . other news? I think we have 13 Chinese delegates visiting this weekend . . . or are we losing another volunteer so he can take them to Niagara Falls? (Say it ain't so . . .only Tony and I top do chores again!!) I can't figure it out. There's some girl scouts coming, but not for overnight. One of the office volunteers has her large family coming and promises they'll help with chores. There's a 6am Easter mass happening from a visiting church group that they promised I didn't have to do anything for. As far as animals . . .the list goes on and on. Someone thought the camel was lonely so they tried to put a 6 month-old calf in with him and the "little" brown calf fled in terror, busting up gates and nearly dislocating shoulders. Poor brown calf!!!! Just 'cause you weigh 400 lbs doesn't mean you aren't still a baby!! They put him back in with the other cows after they tried to pen him with the camel THREE times and he fled, every time. Someone said, " Well, I hope he doesn't go to nurse off Annette now that he's back in with the cows. " I said "Hell, I'd nurse off Annette after a day like THAT!" Camel, schmamel. . .Poor brown calf. . . (it was my day off, but I hear stories). . . uh, rabbits, goats, mastitis, chickens, moving this animal and fixing those gates and disbudding horns and trimming feet and praying the snow melts . . .which it will . . .and 60 degrees will feel even better then.

No ASCII characters were injured, trimmed, disbudded, or forced to bunk with a camel during the format cleanup of this post.

FW: Spring into new beginnings

From: "Heifer International" <info@heifer.org
Reply-To: <newsletter@heifer.org
To: "Catherine Whitney" <meowbackup@hotmail.com
Subject: Spring into new beginnings
Date: Mon, 02 Apr 2007 15:44:12 -0700

Dear Catherine,

A Heifer gift basket is full of warmth and hope, energy and optimism. Just like spring!

It's a wonderful way to share the joy of spring with a family in need.
Think of colorful buds bursting in the trees and the spring sun warming the soil for planting. Then think of how special this spring could be for the family you help with a life-changing Heifer gift basket.

http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.2630647&msource=0703EAP2W67A

Each basket gives families in need a fresh start, with a source of sustainable income and nutrition. And by next spring your gift could be "giving back" a bountiful birth of more lambs, chicks, rabbits or little baby goats that each family will pass on to other families.

What a wonderful way to improve the lives of children and families and the communities in which they live - lifting them out of poverty and despair and giving them fresh hope!

Thank you for your kindness and for making the generous gift of a Heifer spring basket today.

http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.2630647&msource=0703EAP2W67A

Yours for a better world,

Heifer International

----------
A season of peace and hope

Hope Basket
Provide a gift of peace with this basket of rabbits and chickens. The eggs from the chickens supply protein for hungry children and the rabbits provide a source of economic independence for their families.
Hope Basket: $50
GIVE NOW
http://www.heifer.org/site/apps/ka/ec/product.asp?c=edJRKQNiFiG&b=477887&ProductID=210202&msource=0703EAP2W64A

Promise Basket
Filled with geese, ducks, chickens, and rabbits, this basket will ensure the hope of a promising future for a family in need.
Promise Basket: $85
GIVE NOW
http://www.heifer.org/site/apps/ka/ec/product.asp?c=edJRKQNiFiG&b=477887&ProductID=210205&msource=0703EAP2W65A

New Beginning Basket
Give a deserving family a new beginning with a spring lamb. Lambs provide valuable wool and are a vital source of income in impoverished communities.
New Beginning Basket: $120
GIVE NOW
http://www.heifer.org/site/apps/ka/ec/product.asp?c=edJRKQNiFiG&b=477887&ProductID=210206&msource=0703EAP2W66A

----------
Tell-A-Friend
http://www.heifer.org/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.195982/siteapps/email/spreadWord.aspx?msource=0703EAP2W70&auid=2466931

Please pass this email on to your friends who aren't yet acquainted with Heifer, so they can learn about our work to end hunger and poverty.

Heifer International
1 World Avenue, Little Rock, AR 72202 USA
Tel: (800) 422-0474
Contact us
http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.730061/apps/ka/ct/contactcustom.asp?msource=0703EAP2W70&auid=2466932

Fudge! Fudge!

Just when I think I have no new muscles to tap into that could get sore from farm demands ... just when I think I've reached peak "fighting weight" . . .spring arrives and animals start escaping from their pens because its just plain fun to get into the grain bin and get chased around the barnyard. Or, if you're a sheep, its fun to slip out of the gate when the little woman comes with your hay wagon, or, if you're a camel, you just want to kick up your heels and if those dumb ol' humans are in the way --so what.

Mostly, its the goats that are trouble. We have full-size does that weigh over 150 lbs and we have Nigerian Dwarf goats that don't top 30 or 40 lbs all housed together. So the ergonomics of trying to make well-ventilated escape-proof housing is really tough. I dragged over a 7 ft. high dog cage the other day to put the dwarves in (you go to grain the big girls and you get four dwarves pushing through the fence and climbing on everything)! This sort of worked. One of the smallest dwarves, Fudge, is so tiny you can hardly milk her. Her kids seem to do OK, but she's small and clever. Mid-morning yesterday I caught her (for the second time) under the chicken coop eating chicken feed. I tried to radio for help, but my radio died. I caught her and began carrying her to the administrative center, where I knew I could find another person to help me. I got halfway there and decided to lock her in the hay wagon for a few minutes. Scott, the fellow working the front desk asked "what are we doing?" after I told him to put his shoes on and transfer the phones for a few minutes. I said, as we walked outside, "You'll notice the hay trailer is bleating. That's our project"

At 700 pm last night, while eating a potluck dinner at the volunteer house that overlooks the barnyard, in the middle of a bite of taco salad, someone yells "Fudge! Fudge!"
"Who brought fudge?"
"No, No . . .look under the chicken coop!" Ah . . .a twilight goat chase . . .we sent Matt and watched from the window.

Chester the donkey is going on ANOTHER Palm Sunday tour. I'm off (again) to brush him out and extricate him from his ewe flock. Chester is a "guard donkey" --though he's so old and docile I think of him as the Hugh Hefner of the sheep world.