Birth Announcement

Jackie did it again.  She often surprises me with her kids in the morning, even when I've been watching her closely for signs that she will soon be kidding.  But she knows her stuff and this morning there were two beautiful clean and shiny kids, and no afterbirth either.  They are beautiful - a male and female, Ike and Tina.  Ike is in front with the white patch on his head.  They are considered mini Nubians since Mom is a Nubian and Dad is a Nigerian Dwarf - both are milk breeds.

Pregnant goat

Last winter, I found a lovely woman on the coast who had a Nigerian Dwarf buck and she was willing for me to bring my rather large Nubian doe to him for breeding.  As it turned out, Tami went beyond duty and had to construct a soapbox, sort of, for her buck, Dusky, to stand on to mount Jackie.  Would you like a visual?  It's pretty funny.

As you can see, he's just getting ready and you can see he really does need a platform cause he's a little guy.  Now it's 4-1/2 months later and Jackie is looking very PG.  I'm hoping for multiple births and I don't think I'll be disappointed.  In the past she had singlets, boys. 

 

Her side is kind of in the shadow, but if you look closely you can see it bulging just this side of the fencepost.  So her due date is June 30, which is 150 days after impregnating, but can be from 145 to 155, so I'll pay particular attention to her from now on.  They will be cute and colorful.

Gardening

So what else is new?  But seriously, I do love being out in the garden with the birds and bees and all the amazing growth taking place in the last few weeks.  Finally, my tomatoes are beginning to look like hearty plants with blooms and a few tiny green tomatoes.  Although we have what might be called mild winters, our last frost date is still mid-May.  I usually plan on getting the tomatoes in around Mother's day, but they sit there wanting the soil to be a little warmer and the nights a little warmer, but eventually decide that they'll just go ahead and grow anyway.  So now they have their second cage around them and are good to go.

When I plant, I put one of those ubiquitous cages and wait for them to get some growth,  Then, hopefully before they outgrow those, I put the final cage around them.  I make 6' rolls out of fencing and stake them down.  I also tie them together in the middle so if one plant wants to try and fall into the path, it can't because it's tied to the one on the other side.  Here's a photo so you'll get the idea.

The garlic in the foreground was planted in October.  It's been watered a few times after the rains stopped, but I turned off the irrigation the end of May.  Now I pushed the tops over, gently.  I have some hardneck mixed in there and don't want to break off those tops.  I'll let them stay in the ground for another week, then dig and hang them, tops, roots and all, in the garden shed for a month.  During that time, I'll select some of the really nice ones for making braids, but leave the others to dry completely.  The tops will most come off of their own accord at that point and I'll store them in a cool, dry, dark place.  My garlic lasts a whole year, treated this way, and I've been growing garlic for 20 years now.  The head are huge which makes peeling one clove pretty easy.  And when a recipe calls for 2 or 3 garlic cloves, mine are probably the equivalent of 5 or 6 of the kind you buy in the store.  But I use the same quantity anyway.  Love that garlic.