Country Living
Country Living
We have always yearned to live in the country, if fact we put a 10 year plan together to move to an acreage. City life was not our gig! I was thinking a 5 acre property was enough for a garden, a few dogs, with neighbours only a short distance away in a "country living community". Then my husband suggested we move to a farm - a farm! This meant much more than I ever dreamt. This means animals of the larger version - not just a fish and a dog - but the endless opportunities were at our feet.
Just like anything else that we do, we jumped in - sold our city home and purchased a 20 acre spot with a barn, shop and of course pasture - for those larger animals. Now the question was - what animals do we want to have? I preferred to take it a bit slower - read about farming and learn before I have a sick animal before me with no idea what I am doing.
You have to remember I grew up in a small town, moved to the city, married and stayed in the city - where the grocery store was just down the lane or a short drive up the road. I was used to convenience where the kids could walk to school and the mail box was 1/2 block away.
When we first moved in I was on a "vacation high" as I took 3 weeks off to move and get re-settled in our new home. It felt like we had rented a country home for vacation even though the house was filled with our belongings. The view was and still is stunning, the "city" noise is non existent and the dog lost 10 lbs due to having the space to run and explore. The children were only inside to gather some food or to go to bed. I was in love with life! I was very content with our little piece of heaven.
We decided that goats would be the "larger" animal for us to start - so bought every book I could find and every article that was online. Did we feel ready to accept the first farm animal to our farm - hell no! Oh the anxiety and uncertainty was unreal.
My cousin had a goat - Gary - that his children cared for as a part of a 4H project and was looking to rehome. I thought to myself - why not! So we put Gary in the back of the truck and brought him home. It was super cool to look out the window to see Gary hanging out on top of the dog house roof, but he was acting a bit weird...only to find out that he had worms. Nothing happens on a farm during working hours - No everything happens on a weekend or after hours. Gary was on deaths door according to the "google search"- see I needed to read a bit more - and we needed to do something fast. We called the Vet and medication was needed to bring Gary back to normal - however the medication was to be given with a needle. Hmmm...we both have jobs that deal with people everyday - so one could say we have no experience with giving needles to animals. But the one thing I told myself before taking on this adventure was not to be afraid of new obstacles - just get it done. Thankfully my husband was a bit more comfortable with the needle giving, therefore I have officially given this duty to him. Once Gary recovered it was clear that he was lonely. The more I read about goats the more I understood that they are pack animals and need friends - sound familiar!?!
Our relator was selling another acreage and her clients needed to re-home a momma goat and her 2 kids. We thought to ourselves - why not, Gary needs a friend - right? Sure! They delivered them to the farm in blue totes - very city like - and just like that we had 4. We named the Momma, Gem and her daughter, Amber and son, Buck - when being dropped off they indicated that Gem could be expecting as their male had escaped for a short period of time into her pen while on holidays. No problem! But...there is always a but in farming...Gem was under a lot of stress due to being moved therefore she got pink eye, yes on a long weekend! Pink eye is something that makes the goat blind for a period of time with an opague eye and looks to be quite painful. What I read about pink eye in goats was that it can be brought on by a spontaneous abortion due to stress. Okay - she was pregnant but not anymore - but what do we do? I jumped into the truck to head into town to get something from the drugstore to help the poor goat. But before I could even get into the store I found our barn cat crawled up under the hood of the truck and was hanging on the motor for dear life and making quite the noise! What the hell - how did that happen? I second guessed myself - was this my cat? Well our cat has never left the farm therefore was scared of everything including me! After about an hour of chasing her under and over vehicles in the parking lot and elderly women grabbed her, maybe my emotions were playing into being so unsuccessful but this women was so gentle and kind. Note to self - do not let my emotions take over! Into the store I go after that fiasco - of course the pharmacist thinks I am a lunatic. Man I should have read more! I left with Neosporin for pink eye - better than nothing! Next business day Gem was off to the Vet - $$$ - later and was prescribed antibiotics and gel for her eyes. Ever tired to put drops into a toddlers eye - this is much harder with just as much noise except she has horns!
While at work one day my husband and then 5 year old youngest son decided it was a good idea to buy Mom a new goat. Yes I came home to find a new goat! She is a beautiful goat, all white Saanen and a caring personality almost dog like - she will paw at you if "rubs" are not provided quickly. If I am late coming out to the barn at night she will bellow to remind me that I should be visiting her! I named her Cookie, and yes she is my favourite goat! Now we have 5 goats and the cold weather was approaching.....
A friend of mine and her family came over on December 31 to purchase and pick up a treadmill. I offered to show her children the goats that we have. So we packed up a few cups of raisins and off to the pen we go. While walking over there one child asked "Do you have baby goats?" I replied "No we don't, we only have adults". With the disappointment of no baby goats we continue to the goat pen. I tried to explained how to hold the cup of raisins out for the goats and then they both squealed with delight and yelled "you DO have baby goats!" Wait - WHAT! - what is happening, I am confused?!? Well, as I bent down I saw that there were 2 perfect baby goats. Gem WAS pregnant and carried to full term. It was a "Christmas Miracle"! Bubbles and Nutmeg were added to the goat family here on Horny Goat Acres.
All of this happened our first very short 6 months of living on a farm. What were we thinking??? An adventure - check! There were many more ups and downs along with a few shenanigans - but that's another story.