Mama's, milk and mad men!

When I was 13 and we lived on the farm, I hated it... every single minute of it! It was lonely, we lived to far from town, it smelled in the barn, I hated plucking and cleaning chickens, castration, yuck and who eats rabbit anyway? I would sit at the dinner table and look at the milk that had come steaming from our cow Bessie in the morning with bits of hay and straw floating on top, see the roast chicken and imagine how it had looked running around with its head cut off and wonder how the broccoli worm could possibly still be alive after the 30 minute full boil mom subjected the veggies to? My stomach churned and I barely touched my food.

Can you see the shot of milk?

Is it any wonder that my parents keep telling me they can't believe I have moved to rural New Brunswick, an hour to town, mucking through chicken shit to collect eggs and now even milking my goat? No, I understand, they think I have become a twisted version of the Stepford wife and instead of pearls and heels I have now embraced gum boots and sweat shirts and transformed into a "Fosterville Farm Wife". I think even my neighbours look at me dumbstruck - meaning they think I have been struck dumb by my current choices! (A quick aside from this weeks blog - at Christmas we attended the church concert that Jessica was in - no one recognized me - turns out they thought the woman who brought Jess was someone else - perhaps the better dressed relative? Yes, hair was straightened, great eye makeup happening that day and I even dressed appropriately to be wandering outside of a barn! News Flash: I haven't always been "Betty Crocker".)

Len's new project - because he doesn't have enough to do!

Yesterday I went off to my cleaning job and came home to find out that my dear spouse, Len felt we needed to expand the creatures on the farm and he purchased a 55 gallon fish tank, complete with all supplies, cabinet, fish and food and we were to go pick it up, ok? Oh, ya, that is exactly what I thought we were missing!I thought he was a bit mad, but fish should be fun. Now the challenge - an old house with limited power and infrequent plug ins... have fun my handsome! I know I certainly enjoyed laying on the couch relaxing, while he made 30 trips to and from the kitchen to get water for the tank. (Only to decide after maybe it was in the wrong spot... You have to  love them, right?)

I meanwhile had made a deal to get 3 ducks and a drake to move in later in the spring. OK we are both accumulating living things! After coming in to make dinner it was my turn to take my first run at milking Miss Freya , mama goat. Our friend Georg had milked her the day before to get her started and Len had built a great milk stand - now it was my turn! We have been letting baby Simba have full access to mom up until now and he is growing well, even taking a try at leaping. (Simba will soon be sold to a new owner who wants a future buck or to become meat ... I know, sounds awful doesn't it? Trust me when he gets all goaty, you wouldn't want him either!) 

Well, apparently this was not going to be a me/Len activity, the girls ran to get their coats and cameras to document mom's first milking session. It actually went quite well! We didn't get a lot of milk and didn't plan to keep it, for now it is cat food. We are just milking her off once a day to keep her milk strong and soon she will wean Simba and we will keep the milk. (I already have customers for goat feta!)

Freya happily jumped onto the milk stand and put her head through the gate to reach the food. Len kept the bucket steady while I, mother of milking, used the many years of breast feeding experience from my babies, to apply to the task at hand. It was easy! I was pretty excited and Freya was surprisingly cooperative! I did manage to squirt myself in the face as well as up my sleeve, but other than that, I did it! Rachel took pictures which I have attached to this blog. 

Later, when done, the girls couldn't understand why I was so pleased with myself. I explained, this is the first time I ever milked anything but you guys! They were shocked, they just figured I had milked animals before! I laughed, nope, I was like you, hated the farm, but here I am at 45 years and loving it! 

Time to bake cookies!

Snow days, babies and jamborees... what a week!

For some reason the last week has felt rather overwhelming and therefore I am behind in some basic tasks that need to be done. Perhaps it was because Rachel had exams and her English Literacy Proficiency Assessment (ELPA) which is required in New Brunswick - I suppose because we are bilingual  they want to make sure that not only have the students grasped French, but GASP they have also managed to learn their own language - English! Most students write this in Grade 9 and if they don't pass it they get another opportunity in Grade 11. Of course we weren't here for Grade 9 and Rachel had to take the 3 part exam during the last week along with her other exams. Add two snow days and classes/exams being moved around and voila - chaos! Fortunately it is now done! Today high school students were to return to school and we had ANOTHER snow day!

Oh well, winter in New Brunswick.

Simba about 2 hours old

I watch the weather reports avidly each day. What's the temperature? How are my animals? Can we travel? Will school be open? Can I make it to the farm market? Well, last week there was a storm brewing for Friday and that impacted the farm market plus the school had pre-advised possible closures - so I spent Thursday morning making all my breads for market early and getting a list of tasks together to head to town. I decided if I couldn't get to town Friday then we could go on Thursday! (I am getting smarter at this whole rural thing!)

On top of all this, I had a mama goat who by my calculations was due on Saturday January 28th. I took pictures of her body and how she was progressing gestationally and sent them off to my goat whisperers, experts in the field of Canadian Goats. Of course the more experts that enter a conversation the more (and varying) advice you start to get! What seemed consistent is that my girl was not due to have her baby(s) for about another week or two. I definitely have leaned toward the advice of the Crazy Goat Lady - Bonnie and the Tiny Goat Lady - Karin - thank you both! So, I developed a baby goat  pool based on the suggestion of my reflexologist, Tracy (who I now learn just wanted to win the free bread and eggs being offered!) (Winner Carolyn!)

I went to bed Friday night, not expecting anything to happen Saturday other than attending the community jamboree that was planned for the afternoon. So, on January 28th I stayed in bed, cuddling under the covers since it was about -15c outside. Len went out around 8:30am to check on the livestock and feed the dog his daily meal - I was surprised when Len came quickly back inside with the news - we had babies in the barn! 

Mike's Hard Lemonade time!

Since these were Freya's first babies, she showed no pre-natal labour signs that I had been watching for and she did it all on her own. (Nature is truly a miracle!) The first baby, a doe was still born, eyes closed. The second baby, was mewling, moving around and looking for food. He was so tiny and had long jittery legs, he looked so weak, pushing up on his hind legs, forelegs folded beneath him. I had been advised that the colostrum in the milk was necessary and he should have at least 4 good feeds within his first 24 hours. Since we didn't know if mom would accept her babies, I prepared by purchaseing from the feed store - bovine colostrum for lambs and goats. I ran into the house, made a measuring cup with enough for the first day and tried to put the formula into a water bottle with a lambing nipple. Nope, no way that was going to fit and the bottle kept caving in. Now what? Yay! Mikes Hard Lemonade! (No just the bottle! I figure with the alcohol in the bottle and a good rinse it was sterile right?) 

While I made the formula, Len disposed of the afterbirth and the doe - into the forest, the circle of life, from the earth, back to the earth. I had an old towel to  rub down the little guy and make a bed for him. I cuddled him, mewling away and offered him the bottle. I remembered how the hospital nurses showed me to open a baby's mouth and force the bottle in but this guy was having none of it! He only wanted his mama and she was still a little freaked out about giving birth. (Seriously, we all have nine months to plan, talk to people, imagine a baby... and she wakes up with cramps one morning and has some live creatures fall out of her butt? I would be freaked out too!)  

We decided to leave them be for awhile and head into the house to make a few calls - to the experienced goat people I know. I called Freya's previous owners, MaryEllen and Keith, who offered me advice, a heat bulb and to come help put the baby on the teat if we had trouble. Len, Jessica and I headed back to the barn and we had to be a little rough - just to get things started. Len had to get Freya, hold her down on her side, I had to grab the baby, force his mouth open, push the teat in and make him drink. (Again, very reminiscent of one of my babies in the hospital, who needed some extra support to get going.) Fortunately we only had to do this for two feedings and then mama and baby both got on board! 

Saturday afternoon there was a Jamboree at the community centre. A good old country music, down home, honky tonk, a little gospel, sometimes hill billy and rock a billy musical day - overall a great way to spend a freezing afternoon with good company, fun music and some corn chowder, chili, beans and biscuits for dinner! Gib, the local president had suggested that Jess and her friend Jamie might want to sing since they do sometimes at church and the talent shows at school - but they said no. They said no, that is until the second band, got up and sang "Soul Sister" they were then motivated to sing their personal hit "Jar of Hearts" by Cristina Perry. They headed off to the bathroom, played part of their tune on the cell phone to get them started and with many giggles, nervous legs and anxiety they came back to wait their turn. Of course the band did NOT know the song so they sang A Capella and it was BEAUTIFUL! They received the loudest applause of the day and were invited by the band to practice with them to do a few numbers at Field Days this August! (I am a proud mama!)

The first 24 hours of little Simba's life (that is what we named our baby goat - soon to be a wether - castrated or sold off as a  buck. ) My main concern now that I could see he was feeding was to get those front legs up. So I spent a lot of time with him on Sunday, stretching his legs, massaging them, standing him up and nudging him to join his mama. I am happy to say he is now walking, getting the teat on his own, following mama around the barn and surviving in the -24C weather!

Simba - 3 days old - walking, strong and feeding!

I must say attending 4-H Sunday afternoon I was feeling like quite the farm girl! I even picked The Horse Whisperer as my Sunday night movie - Yup, it was an amazing week! (Oh and the cat, Mr. Finnegan, has VERY much enjoyed the colostrum formula!)

Another success - down home, on the farm!

A good old fashioned baby pool!

We are holding a contest! Check out our Facebook group Golden Unicorn Farm - Fosterville  and enter our Baby Pool contest! I am posting some pictures and some updated information. As you know from previous blogs, I thought the kids were due last Wed, then I thought they were due tomorrow! However, I took some detailed explicit pictures for some goat whisperer's I know and they gave me some advice... the kids will be born somewhere in the next 3 days to 3 weeks!

So let's have a baby pool! Whoever guesses the date and time (closest guess to the delivery of the first kid wins) will get one free loaf of bread - your choice and one dozen free range eggs - all from our farm! 

Here are the pictures, read past few blogs if you would like more details! You must join the Facebook group and make your answer on the link that has the question. You can see other voters guesses at that time. So, vote away! Feel free to invite your friends. If the winner is not local they will be sent a few freebie gifts of our choice.

Tick, tock, tick, tock...

Coldest day this year -30C sunny though!

Math was never my strength and apparently that is still true. Most people can add 150 to a number, but for me... it was something I calculated over and over until I came to the conclusion that Miss Freya was due to have her kids on Wednesday, January 25, 2012. In preparation for that, tonight when I fed her I decided to put her in her stall, sit on some straw and just hang out for awhile so that she would be used to me in the "room". Since this would be her labour room I figured we should both get comfy. Fortunately Len had cleaned out the stalls and chicken coop today and it was about 5C so it was rather pleasant and we hung out for about 45 minutes. Me, Freya, Jessica and Luki on the other side of the stall trying to figure out why we were hanging around. As you can see in the picture above, both Luki and Freya appear to be practicing parenthood on the lovely little Finnegan who adores pampering from any creature! 

Less than a week to kidding

About 2 weeks ago I decided that I should try to pin down Freya's due date for her first kids ever. First I realized I had been thinking she was bred at the end of Sept. 2011. I then looked back at photos and blogs and finally on Len's blog saw that he had a photo of Jack mating Freya on Aug. 31, 2011. So I was a good month off to start with.

I started my calculations again; I added the weeks, then counted the days, then figured the months and kept getting a different answer. When I finally got the same answer twice, I thought it must be correct. We were expecting babies tomorrow, Jan. 25, 2012. Well, after seeing Freya tonight and knowing that the babies had "dropped" and that she was definitely less active... (what mother isn't days before birthing?) I decided to count again and this time did the simple math.

If she was bred Aug. 31, well, Sept is 30 days, Oct 31, Nov 30, Dec 31 and we are now on the 24th... So she is due, likely Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. Now, we could be a day or two off but the gestation is 150 days and we do know Jack got at her a few times that week... So get ready for the birthing story coming to a blog near you soon! 

The Lion King

Rachel was out on Sunday taking some pictures of the animals. Sunday was the coldest day so far this winter. We went to bed at about -22C and woke up to -30C! OUCH! Frozen pipes and water at the new end of the house but the old plumbing is holding up very nicely!

As you enjoy these photos of our "furry farm family" keep in mind it is about -26C at this point of day. Sunny, clear and FREAKIN' cold! The weather has now improved and was at +7C today which was glorious although the roads were a virtual ice rink! Saturday, birthing day, the weather appears to be good and I am very happy that Miss Freya did not give birth last weekend!

I am ready for my close up
Mr. Spielberg!

Well, time to tuck in munchkins. School was cancelled today - much to their disappointment - seriously, they were disappointed! (Kids, they are just NEVER satisfied!) Back to routine tomorrow and my task at hand is to work on my pantry room since Len has the shelves up. It will be a task, but one well loved! Have a great day!

I'm late, I'm late! For a very important date!

Wednesday started like any other day, but by the end, I wish I could have had a "do over." I went to work, visited with Glenn and Edna, said goodbye to Dan, their visiting son and headed to town to get some fuel and groceries. It sounds pretty basic... but not for me!

Last week when I went to the bank there was an error and after depositing my cheque I had no money. The insurance company had received an unauthorized payment and I was stranded, an hour from home, no fuel or cash. Fortunately the library had a computer and after some confusion and stress I had it all straightened out. If all went well, I should pull into my driveway by about 5:05 pm.

I was sure this week would be smooth sailing! Bank, check, no problem! Now I simply had to get a few groceries and fuel across the border, but first wanted to get a few things in Woodstock. How can I go into a store for an item or two and then lose an hour of time? It always amazes me! As I checked out of the store, getting some amazing deals after Christmas on items that were 75% off! I looked at the time... 3:45pm! OH NO!

Race to the truck! Skip the feed store! Race to the border! The US Border Patrol Officer to me: "Where are you headed ma'am?" Me trying to speak slowly although rushing: "Just home to Fosterville, via the Orient border crossing." Officer: "Are you stopping anywhere or going straight through?" Me: "I am stopping in Houlton quickly for fuel and some groceries, then home." Officer: (looking at his watch which now shows 3:57pm Atlantic time) "Good luck!" Me: "THANKS!"

Off I went! Zoom! To Houlton, first stop, bank machine. Second stop, grocery store! I hurried through the aisles, trying to get a few specials items to bake some artisan bread with flavours such as sun dried tomatoes, feta cheese, sliced olives, red peppers and more. A few items for the girls lunches and voila! I am done!

Now for the grocery line! YAY! Only one person ahead of me! No problem! Except... this lovely lady, of about 80 years of age, was sloooowwwllyyy looking through her purse for change, coupons and her rewards card. HURRY UP!!!! I stood there, tapping my fingers, trying to be discreet, leg rocking, breath going shallow... P U H L E E Z E ... MOVE it lady!!! Ugh! FINALLY done!

Now for me. Yes, I am fine! Yes, nice day! Yes, not into a chit chat with you now thanks! (OK I didn't say that out loud and I really tried not to look impatient, but c'mon already! Just pack the damn food!!!!)

Out the door! Trying not to knock over any shoppers in the parking lot. (I did get a few looks as I pulled out!) Over to the gas station, threw some diesel into Buddy and in to pay! To speed things up I already had USD so I didn't have to worry about the exchange. I asked the woman at the check out the time. 3:30pm (which is 4:30pm to us) and I said, OH! I am rushing, have to get to the border crossing in the next 30 minutes! She wished me luck and off I went.

I will admit, I did break a few speed limits but I was CERTAIN I could make it! The roads were dry, still light out... in fact I was watching the sun go down and thinking how nice it was that the days were getting longer as I viewed the pink sunset. The traffic was light and I moved! I did swerve once on the highway on a corner so I reduced my speed to increase safety. I listened to CBC/Shift on the drive and when they started to tell the 5:00pm news as I made the turn off US Highway 1A to head to the border crossing, I kind of freaked out! My clock said 4:55pm but they were about to start the news, so someone was wrong!

I was only minutes from home! I WOULD make it!!! I was low on fuel (again!) and had no extra cash, I didn't know if I could make it back to the Woodstock crossing. I live pay day to pay day and most of the time it was OK but when things went wrong... it could make me mental! The side road to the border was a bit icy and after another slide I pulled up to the Orient/Fosterville border crossing between the USA and Canada.

 

Len outside our customs building

Through the border

OH NO!!! The gates were pulled across, the lights flashing and giant STOP signs looking at me. My heart dropped! Well, maybe playing stupid and explaining my predicament would convince the Americans to let me drive the wrong way through THEIR gate! I parked Buddy, motor running, lights on, door open and ran up to the US guards door. He pushed open his window and told me I was out of luck, I couldn't use the phone, it didn't matter that my clock was slow and he really did NOT care what I had to say. I couldn't believe it! No amount of tears, anxiety, the fact that I was about a mile from my house, could convince him. He wouldn't even let me use the phone! 

I was devastated! I had spent the last hour worked up in such a state of angst, hurrying and stress that I completely lost it. I sat in the truck, turned off the motor and lights and proceeded to bawl my eyes out! Yup, heaving, hiccuping and quivering lips! Eventually I started the truck and slowly drove away. I knew that nothing I did would convince them to assist me. I was no one. At the most they maybe saw me as a terrorist. Someone who was going to illegally enter Canada and bake bread to poison the masses! 

Shoe Tree on the way to Houlton

As I drove away I thought I would pull over and borrow a phone at one of the houses along the road. I couldn't. There was no way I could make it up to the door and ask to use a phone without completely heaving and crying again. Instead I drove back to Houlton, slower this time and by the time I passed the shoe tree and reached Hodgon road I had regained control of my emotions. I decided to head BACK to the Irving station and see if I could use a phone. No, I don't have a cell phone. No, there are no pay phones ANYWHERE and YES I needed to call home.

When I got to the gas station the attendant said "Hey! You're back!" I said, sighing heavily, "Yes... I didn't make it. Well, that's not true, I just made it there two minutes late and had to turn back." She said, "No way!" Me, "way". Then, I asked if I could use the store's phone to make a long distance call to Canada to let my family know where I was. I had $2 US and could pay for the call. She was very sweet and said, "No, just use my cell phone." AH!!!! Thank you sweet girl!

I then called home, to my agitated children to explain today's drama from their mama. They were glad to hear from me and I was relieved to find out that Rachel had made it home (she had tutoring and I hadn't been able to phone her ride.) I hung up, my relief showing in my face as the checkout girl smiled and I told her how grateful I was to be able to use her phone. I then confided in her, that over an hour before, when at the station, I had to pee and still hadn't gone! She laughed and I went to the restroom. WOW what a relief!

Ten minutes later, I sat at the Woodstock border crossing, again and had to explain to the border guard why I was there. He went through all my receipts, looked at me like I was a bit of a nut and let me back into my home country. Sometimes, there is nothing like coming home! I had left Canada 2 hours before and was no closer to my farm. 

I had to go back to town, return some items I had purchased so that I could get more fuel to get back to Fosterville and by 7pm was on the road again. The Hwy 540 had NEVER looked so good! I pulled up to my house at about 7:45pm, tired, cold, hungry and in pain. I guess during the last few hours I had tensed up a bit and my old neck injury from the trip across Canada had flared up.

All I wanted was to get into my jammies, have a bowl of mini wheats for supper and go to bed. Wednesday, could have been a do over and do different! What is the moral of this story? You can't bluff your way through a closed border crossing!