welcome 2013

Happy New Year!

2012 was packed with new experiences. The sculptures had their first solo show, Tangelo Studio work beat me to countries on my bucket list (especially that Little White Horse - he gets around) and the farm began supplying families with food. The children were able to experience the full cycle of breeding, birthing, and milking the goats. Their experience went from farm animals as pets, to experiencing the full spectrum of farm life. We lost a couple prized animals, nursed wounds, carried water, walked a mile in the snow with feed bags, and chopped wood. In every difficult situation there was the knowledge that these domesticated animals depend on us. They have no choice but to do their job, and not following through on our commitment was never an option.

We were constantly searching out information, planning, and reconsidering between a dawn and evening milking. There were quite a few times when big A and I looked at each other a couple days after completing a project and realized we should have done it differently. Like I said, a year of learning.

Having dairy goats is a life altering experience. They will push you, even if you're tired. One of my biggest accomplishments of 2012 was milking those goats. For a girl who enjoys her sleep it was an exercise in surrender. I often thought as I sat down beside a doe and gently washed her udder, that every dairy goat deserves to be milked by someone who's had engorged breasts. I try to imagine what it must be like for dairy animals on one of the industrial-sized farms...so little time for care and observation.

The morning chores are complete, I'm waiting on a doe to kid, and there are still a couple human kids sleeping after their first year staying up to watch the ball drop. I've yet to grab my coffee because getting back to the blog is a resolution of mine, so I better grab this moment. For totally selfish reasons (that I hope you might enjoy if you check in) I need the daily writing. I like the way it gets my brain working and I enjoy the dialogue with people who share my interests. It's an interesting opportunity we have to be on a little mountain homestead and still connect with people around the world. It's yesterdays news, but it still blows my mind. It really changes who is able to do what...and what doesn't need a little shaking up?

Resolutions? I have a few.

Gratitude, it fills the holes with light.

Here's a little peek at 2012:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May the New Year bring you and your loved ones peace, health, happiness, and prosperity!

kidding time

It has taken a while to get these up, but here's a look at our first kidding season. For us it was a little later than usual because our does were due in June. 

We watched for signs every day. As the doe gets close to kidding time, her body will start to adjust. Her pelvic bones begin to spread out. You can see the area around the back bone of the goat, where it connects to the tail area, begin to indent. You may, or may not, see a small amount of jell/mucus leaking from the vulva, this is called "loosing the plug". Later, an extension of this will be a steadier leak of fluid.

In our experience "strutting" happened 24hrs before kidding. When the bag is strutted, the skin is as tight as it can get. It will look shiny...it also looks very uncomfortable. I was tempted to relieve some pressure, but didn't want to milk-out colostrum. Read all about "Liquid Gold" here.

We put the pregnant does in a smaller pen at night so they would be easy to locate. There were many late night check-ins by flashlight. 

One night, around 11:45...

 

Gidget was the first to kid. She's the herd queen. Above you can see her tail raised as the ligaments loosen. Below, you can see the kid's head emerge. What you see is the ideal presentation - a diving position. At this point we wipe the nose clean and continue to encourage the doe with soothing words and steady hands.

Around 2:00 am we had our first kid.

As soon as we clear the airway, and towel-off, doe and kid bond. She starts trying to get him on his feet immediately.

We dip the cord and the hooves in iodine and place clean used feed bags under the kid.

In the morning we all get to know each other.

Two sets of twins soon follow.

Our approach to milking in a later post.

one new sculpture

at the table # 3

papier mâché

farm update - chicken sperm and goat teats

It's been very busy around here. I'm working on two sculptures that I hope to have finished in time to present to the curator of my upcoming show. We also added three pregnant goats to our herd in steps toward getting our creamery up and going. I'm still making cheese with purchased milk, but soon we should have plenty of our own. The local extension office has been helpful with legal information and in my free less busy moments (while filling a trough, or taking a pee) I'm reading in preparation for being a goat midwife next month. To catch you up on what's happening on the farm I took some pictures this evening...

The new girls are Saanens. Saanens are known for their large size, vitality, herd compatibility and their “eager to please” temperament, but the largest part of their popularity is their milking ability. They are known as the Queens of the Dairy Goats.

These girls are all pregnant and their udders are starting to grow

We are teaching the herd to goat pack. Evening walks are good training

leaks

lettuce

baby apples

figs

plenty of eggs

new additions to the egg laying team

a Show Girl for the fun of it

a beautiful new Cochin rooster for breeding. They have so many feathers that they can't breed naturally. The kids and I learned how to artificially inseminate on a 4-H field trip

My two older ones recently competed in the Virgina Poultry Federation's Poultry Judging Contest. Their teams did well in the state wide competition.

Hopefully my next post will include the finished sculptures!

new painting

Here's a detail of a 24" x 30" oil on canvas I've been working on. It's one of the paintings from Bears Den. Since I moved back to Virginia (about a year and a half ago) I've been painting at this spot along the Appalachian Trail and points west, including the Shenandoah River.

A few years ago I noticed that my landscapes were generally wide open spaces - pasture and rolling hills. Painting from inside the forest was a challenge to me. I hike often, and after some time on the trail I became aware of what you might call, walking meditation, perhaps a second wind. The body is in sync with the breath, the first thoughts to bombard your conscious in a quite moment have passed, and instead of looking AT things, I'm seeing a lot at once.  From the undergrowth and mess of trees an organization emerges. 

How to tackle the "busyness" and wild, without creating a complete mess, became my challenge. I've enjoyed the balancing act of the forestscapes and return to them to switch things up between sculptures.

The Painter Who Loved Chickens - a Book Suggestion

We just checked out a lovely children's book from our local library, one that earns a spot on my gift book list.

The Painter Who Loves Chickens, by Olivier Dunrea is the story of a painter who lives in the city yet dreams of living on a farm with the animals he loves. The illustrations are bright, colorful, and full of fun details. As a 4-H poultry club Mom, I appreciate the accurate breed paintings opposite each full page illustration.

There once lived a man who loved chickens - very much. He made his home in the city, but he dreams of living on a farm. And on his farm he would have chickens, lots of chickens....

Sure, I'm a painter who loves chickens, but I promise you don't have to be to fall in love with this book.

Inside the Box (The Artists' Gallery Annual Box Show )

An invitation to participate in The Artists' Gallery annual box show got me experimenting "inside the box". My invitation came with a 6 inch pine box that I could work with in any way I wished. This is an image of the first day.

When I saw the box I thought about shelter. I went about recreating(at 50% scale) an earlier sculpture that was about a different type of shelter. I've been curious about placing the paper people inside a structure - this gave me the opportunity to play around with that idea.

Well, it was a busy week around here and I didn't finish painting my outer walls. I missed the deadline by about 12 hours, but I'm thankful for the nudge to try something new. I look forward to doing it again next year.