Friday, April 30, 2010

Hunny & Bunny are healthy

Turns out Hunny & Bunny are healthy. The milk was tested and its perfectly normal. As soon as the antibiotics are out we can start drinking it again. We still don't know exactly why their udders have started turning color but I did read that Toggenburgs do have pigment changes. I looked at the pictures that came with their registration papers, pictures of their udders when full and they do look a bit grayish/purple in the pictures too. So I guess we worried for nothing and everything is fine. I feel good being reassured the milk is fine. The little blind goat has been named Porkers because he eats like a big. He is back in the barn and drinking from a self feeding bucket. He is able to find it on his own now and he's very strong and healthy. Such a cute little guy too! He gets so excited when he hears our voices.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Blind Goat Kid












We had a little boer goat born this week and we think he's blind, both eyes are cloudy. He's very strong and healthy so far. He had a difficult time eating with his mom so he's a bottle baby now. Right now we have him in the house in a box but soon he will move back out to the barn and drink from a bucket. We are still not sure how Hunny & Bunny are doing. We have been treating them for mastitis because their udders have been turning a grayish black color but they don't have any other symptoms and the milk appears fine. There has been no improvement in color but they don't act like they are in pain or sick. We took a sample of it to the vet today and they are going to culture it over the weekend and let us know Monday what's going on. It could also be bruising or just the color Toggenburgs change. That would be weird though if they just suddenly turned this color.

Our spring chicks (Americana & Buff Orpington) moved to the coop this week. They are about 5 weeks old. We made them their own safe pen with a heat lamp. This way they can still get to know the older hens so when we are ready to let them out of their safe pen they will hopefully all get along. I've been warned about the older hens picking on them and possibly killing them but so far they don't seem to care about them at all. The hens have only been in the coop about 4 days before the chicks so maybe they hadn't fully claimed it as their territory yet. We'll see in a couple weeks if they can all get along.

We had a basket fundraiser for the preschool this week, where we all put together some kind of basket for a silent auction. I put together a basket of HunnyBunny goat milk soap and lotion. It had 2 bars old fashioned honey oatmeal lye soap, 1 bar rose, 1 lavender, 1 honey & 1 vanilla. It also had two small bottles of lotion, one peppermint and one green apple. I also included some information about goat milk soaps and the ingredients in each.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Moving Day

On Saturday the chickens moved outside. They were cautious but seemed happy immediately. Since I still don't have an actual coop, we modified an old shed. It will work for now. We have been getting more eggs and the chickens seem happier to be on the sun's schedule, not just when we turn the light on and off like when they were in the barn. I lined their pasture with chicken wire, I hope it keeps them in and they don't decide to fly over the fence. I'm counting on the fact that they are all heavy breeds and that they will be happy enough in their pasture. In other news, Hunny and Bunny have a serious case of mastitis. I'm hoping we caught it in time to save them from permanent damage. Luckily we hadn't been drinking the milk for the past few days since the flavor seemed off. Here are some pictures of the chickens enjoying the outdoors and wonderful spring weather we've been having.



Monday, April 5, 2010

Soap & Lotion Making

Today I tried the old fashioned goat milk soap using lye. I was afraid to use the lye but it wasn't so bad. I think it will turn out, I'll know tomorrow when I slice the bars. They will then need to cure for 3 weeks. I'll post pictures and the recipe tomorrow. I also made goat milk lotion today and it turned out beautiful. I've tried making a different lotion recipe before that never turned out but this time it did. Here's the recipe:
6 oz liquid oil (I used olive oil)
3 oz solid oil (I used coconut oil)
1 oz beeswax
9 oz water (I substitued goat milk)
essential oils (I used tea tree, vitamin E and grapefruit seed extract)
fragrance & color (I used rose)

Simple instructions are to melt the oils together, mix in partially frozen goat milk and then add the essential oils and fragrance. The trick is to use the slushy frozen milk so it doesn't get too hot when added to the oil. The lotion looked like yummy pudding, tempting to eat. While all ingredients are safe, I doubt it would taste good and don't recommend eating it! Here are some pictures!

Cheesemaking Update

My cheesemaking turned out well. I made regular soft goat cheese and added cinnamon and sugar for a cinnamon cream cheese. It still has the tart flavor of goat cheese but it doesn't have that "goaty" taste. I also made ricotta with the leftover whey that was SOOO good. Way better than the ricotta bought in the store. I made stuffed manicotti with it. I wish the yield was better but its still good considering your using left over whey. Since I still don't have a cheese press my next cheese will be mozzarella. Yesterday we made a HunnyBunny Easter Breakfast. Here was the menu: egg bake with sausage and hashbrowns, cinnamon bread from scratch with buttermilk, buttermilk waffles, banana bread, fruit, orange juice and goat milk. It was very good and all turned out well.