Good News, Bad News

I was hoping for a more uplifting post this time, and there are some good things to share, but also a couple of notably bad ones.  To set the stage - Caleb had a conference yesterday and didn't get home until 10 pm, and my interns left after lunch yesterday, so it's been just me and the boys...

To start with the bad news - Caleb moved the animals, as usual, about 5:30 this morning.  When he did, he discovered that Sabie, our oldest goat, had been hanging from a tree for who knows how long.  They like to walk up with their front feet to reach the higher branches, and she apparently slipped, got her ankle wedged in a fork, and hung like that on her back, suspended by her foot, probably most or all of the night.  I checked on them yesterday evening - I didn't go right up to their paddock, but scanned it, and listened for a while and heard no one in distress.  Who knows if she was like that then or not, but she's unable to walk today.  We brought her back to the house, drenched some electrolytes into her, and brought her some greenery, but I don't know what kind of prognosis she has.  If she doesn't make it, that's not good for her girls.  They are only about 8 weeks or so, awfully early to get fully and suddenly weaned.  Last year we lost a mama when her babies were 5 weeks and they were both dead within another month, so while these girls look healthy, it can disappear quickly without mama's magic elixir of life.  ETA:  about 6 this evening we out her down, she wasn't eating or drinking and was starting to seize :(

The second thing Caleb discovered is that our calf is gone.  No idea where or how, just gone.  He looked around some, but had to come back to go to work, so after I milked the goats I headed out and looked for about 2 hours.  This time, I do have a time of the last sighting - when I went out yesterday at 4 pm, she was there, nursing with Fern.  This morning, I found hoofprints outside the hard fence that look to me like calf rather than deer - but may be deer.  I crashed through a lot of chest-high brush pretty thoroughly, and Caleb came back at lunch and we searched some more, and on this side of the hard fence as well, and couldn't find a thing.  There wasn't even any sign of her being dragged off by coyotes, or trails in the brush, etc - nothing.  It's baffling, but as much as Fern is bellowing, if Yarrow isn't coming back I think it's because she can't.  The only remaining good option is that she somehow got in with the goats - I walked through their new paddock, but since they've only been there since this morning, it was also waist-deep grass and brush.  I didn't see her, but theoretically she could be buried somewhere in there.  You'd think, though, with all her mama's crying she'd come to the fence between them!  I don't think we'll ever know where she went.  We've had this happen once before with a newborn goat as well, still a mystery.

To top it all off, Malachi started running a fever last night, so he, and consequently Caleb and I, barely slept for him waking up crying repeatedly.  He's still running a fever, and crying most of the day - it's one of those days...

The good news is I have a bit more farm help!  Well, not today but... Wednesday I got an email from a WWOOFer, and she started working here on Monday.  She lives locally, so she's coming out Monday through Thursday and helping us, mostly in the garden so far.  

With 2 interns and a lot of willpower, we've gotten a lot done in the garden this past week.  We got the last open bed tilled and planted, pulled out the last bolting sections of the hoophouse, got most of the weeding and mulching done that needs to be, and started digging the first set of garlic.  There's still some more planting to do - I've got some plots of corn or sunflowers coming that will need pole beans planted in them, and I want to replant after the garlic is all dug, but obviously that's a first-things-first scenario!  

I'm feeling better about the garden, though, and am finally able to justify spending some time on things like organizing and wrapping soap, making more, and making boxes for some of it. I have made a couple batches of goat milk soap, in a 2 oz and a 4 oz size.The smaller one is a nice little square, easily fitting into a little square origami box that's simple to fold - but the larger one is a molded bar, in the shape of a sleeping goat.  Not so easy to box!  I have a commercial paperboard box I use for some other bars, rectangular with a viewing window in the front - but it's both too shallow and too short.  So, I found a video online showing how to make the same origami box, but rectangular instead of square, and it worked great.  I use the brown paper from the chicken feed sacks, so it only costs me my time - not insubstantial, but it's at least enjoyable time spent. 

Again, I hate to be the bearer of bad news (although not as much as I hate to be the recipient), and again, I hope for better next time!