What My Goats Eat

Goats can eat anything!! Right? Hummm, I don't know about that. They will choose premium hay over stemy hay every time. They have very sensitive digestion as ruminants and guard their choices well. Given the freedom to chose what they browse on these are some of their choices....

Banjo Eating Licorice Fern

 Banjo enjoying some licorice fern. I observed that Lucy chose the licorice fern as a snack about 2 weeks before the boys decided to try it. Perhaps its because licorice fern often grows up the tree trunk and Lucy is taller and can reach them better. Maybe the boys are slow to trust and Lucy is just a pig.

Lucy Eating Male Alder Catkins

Lucy LOVES her male Alder catkins. What in tar nation is an Alder catkin? They are the reproductive parts of the Alder tree. The image below shows the male and female catkins. Lucy only likes the male catkins, probably because they have more nutritional value. BTW, you can eat them too, check out the website below.

Male Alder Catkin on left, Female Alder Catkin on right

Alder catkins contain protein, simple sugars, fat, starches, amino acids, over 40 vitamins and minerals and trace amounts of glucose oxidase, an antibacterial compound. Found this info on this site, thought the site was cool for other info too. http://www.wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/food/saldercatkins/index.html

Lucy and possible a patch of Pacific Star Flower

 What is this? Lucy loves it too. I think its Pacific Star Flower but can't be sure. She nabs all she can get her lower teeth into. 

Note: Turns out Lucy and Banjo are eating Pacific Waterleaf

 

Banjo Eating Pacific Star Flower

Liken The Lichen

All the kids like lichen! They do have a preference over some than others. Lucy likes this kind (not sure of it's name) and lettuce lichen, lobaria pulmonaria I think.

Banjo enjoying some yummy lichen

 Though the boy like the lichen too, they like the small green fuzzy lichen. I guess identifying lichen is difficult and requires chemicals or a magnifying glass. If I say "like" or "lichen" one more time this will start feeling like a Dr. Sues story. Like, I know right!

Huck testing the fungus among us

 They do like the mushies! Gotta find a better hiding place for Arlen's Shiitake, they ate them all. Huck is nibbling on some of these tasty fungi on a rotten log. I've noticed that they will eat lichen and fungi but not moss.

A close up of the unknown fungus [insert ominous Wild Kingdom tune here]

 Not sure what rotten log or what fungus this is but the goats are still alive after eating.

Little Rascal

Of course they eat grain too! In fact they will eat grain until they bloat and get sick if we don't ration it.  We hang the chicken feeders up high when the goats are visiting but, they still seem to think they can reach it (actually, Lucy can). Look above Banjo's head, you can see one of the feeders there.

Hay Box Mayhem

They eat hay! Not just any hay, these guys are picky and want green leafy hay with some weeds, no stems please! And yes, that is Huck in the hay box, however, they don't go in the hay box since their hens (three hens like the goats and hang out with them) started laying in there. (also, I moved the mineral feeder to a better place, no more stepping in it)

Snacking on scraps

 They eat a great many things including table scraps but they pick through it and mostly eat the squash and peppers. 
 

Eating invasive Blackberries

There are native Blackberries and invasive Blackberries. Both are edible but some came from Europe and are not native to the area. The goats eat any and all kind of blackberry. We'll have to identify the native ones and manage the goats access to them. We want them to enjoy but not destroy.

Cedar makes great breath freshener

The goats love Cedar trees. They will nibble the needles and bark like it was a big chocolate cake. We noticed them ringing the bark on some of the smaller Cedars in the chicken paddock from the beginning. We guard those and let them munch the bigger, more established trees out back. They have the nicest smelling breath after munching on some vitamin cedar!

Coffee, can you blame them?

 First only Banjo was a freak for coffee, then Huck started in on it. Lucy still doesn't care for it. Oh, and they like it warm so don't bother offering your cold coffee up. Also, if its super cold out, they love for you to bring them warm water to drink.

Little Cuties

The myth that goats will eat anything comes from witnessing things like the photo above. Though it appears as if they are eating or trying to eat Arlen's tape measure and belt, they are not. Most goat owners will attest that they "mouth" everything but they do not eat everything. I've noticed that my goats use their mouth as a tool much like we would use our fingers as a tool. They get information from things by "mouthing" them. Its curiosity mostly. 

Little Secret

I personally think they express or communicate with their mouth. This photo appears as though Banjo is telling Mesa a secret but, the little secret is he's attempting to bite her ear (he opted not to in the end). The boys will bite Lucy's ears to protest her hogging the food or the best position in the hay box. They attempt to bite Mesa's ears to bully her and/or challenger her. If I sit with them for evening visits, inevitably Banjo will find my ears and try to bite them. Perhaps Banjo just wants my attention or he's being playful? Banjo likes to hold my finger in his mouth like a small child holding their parents finger. Lucy "mouths" my fingers when I am leaving for the evening, maybe to say good bye or to ask me not to go. Who knows?

Stinging Nettle (note the arrow)

 They won't, however, eat Stinging Nettle. That's fine with us, we'll eat it. They eat things they shouldn't like Rhododendron and sward fern too, both on the toxic species list. It is agreed that Rhododendron is a no no by most goat owners and I don't let them eat it if at all possible. However, I've found that ferns seem to have little effect on them, therefore, I don't prevent them from nibbling while browsing.  

A face You Could Just Kiss!

Been absent the last 10 days at WFR and I do miss my little monkeys. Time for goat therapy.The little stinkers get in trouble when I'm gone too much. I think it's time to expand their paddock and eliminate access to the propane tank. But... they are so damn cute!!

SOOOOOO damn CUTE!!!

Ahhhh, that's much better... goat therapy does the trick again!! All better.

Sparing All My Friends Torture...

 I'm sparing all my friends the torture of my rambling on about our really cool kitchen, how hard we worked on it, how much we can't stop staring at it, etc.... I know its annoying and I know why. No one cares because its not theirs and they won't be living and breathing it, besides, they wouldn't have done it that way anyway. So, this is really a blog post for myself and to spare my friends the torture of hearing about it any further. :) Also, I have a million pictures of it from every angle and if I don't post some I'll explode... no one wants to see that!

Speak "Friend" And Enter!

 How do you like the front door? (by "you" I really mean "me" cause I'm talking to and for myself in this post remember) I like it very much, I know we considered the placement to be more centered between the big windows so it would look symmetrical from the outside but, in the end it really was crowding the bar.


I wanted to stand in front of the door and rumble from my guts, "Belllllloc" but I knew Arlen wouldn't get it since he hasn't seen Lord Of The Rings. I, instead, (and not pictured) drew a stick person in the door window and told Arlen not to let him in, he looked sketchy.

 

Bread, Stone, Wood and Rope

 Something about looking at an image of fresh baked bread, stone, wood and rope in the same frame just looks good. Yes, the bread tastes good too! Something about the environment on "this" side is working for Arlen's bread making. I don't know if its the wood stove, wood everything, warmth, new oven, less humidity... blaa blaa... it could be any or all.

Can You Say, "Fusion"

"Honey, there's a mix of Caribbean, Asian, southwest-y, northwest-y, western wrangler, European cottage, urban uppity and redneck honky all in one small kitchen!"

Well, I guess that's what makes us, "Us"!

Bar

The bar resting in place for installation. Its not even close to dry, that will be another 2 years. We installed it so it was mostly floating in place to allow for shrinkage while drying.

A close up of the live edge and character of the cedar.

The kitchen side looking good. You can barely make it out but, if you look at the left and right side you'll notice the right side isn't finished. We had a minor brain-storm about what to use to finish it this morning and all options would have been nice but, we went with rope in the end. We considered live edge framing but that would encroach on the back of the cedar bar a lot. We considered half inch square molding but it looked too ridged next to the stone back-splash. Arlen came up with the brilliant idea of using rope to finish it. Its perfect because its subtle, it contours the stone and it doesn't cover the nice cedar.

 Looks like a kitchen with a bar!! Also, the window treatment is installed and virtually unnoticeable. Now on to the floor and  front door!

Product Review

Filling up the new kitchen with life

These are the times when you receive a new product it's courtesy to leave a review. The best reviews are given after you've lived with the product for a while. We've lived with our kitchen now for a couple of weeks so I can give an update on the pros and cons.
Of course if I list the negatives first and sweep up with the positives, I can create a happy ending.
Cons:
1)I'm still afraid of the kitchen! Its like bringing a new baby home, you don't want to drop it on it's head. Every drop of water gets wiped up as soon as it hits the counter top and every morning (and sometimes evening) the floor gets swept and inspected for oogies, etc.   
2)The lady bugs are annoying in general but now they are annoying in our place of food making. I can't vacuum the windows and counter when food is being made (sometimes it really needs it)

Pros:
Here's my happy ending... 
1)I LOVE IT!! 
2)I can talk to the Chef when he cooking.
3)It's in the warm part of the house and any heat we generate from the kitchen contributes to the warmth.
4)The Saltillo tile isn't cold at all, it's kind of hard to describe but it's warm and fluffy.
5)The new stove ROCKS!!
6)I still love the stone backsplash
7)I like the fridge orientation much better as a right-handed open (the handle on the left side).
8)The hanging pots and pans look awesome and free up cabinet storage.
9)So much light even on a cloudy day!!
10)My wood shelves look great by warming up the wall, make excellent use of wall space for storage and it's all easy to get to. 

AIB... Animals In Black

Kiki The French Kitty

Kiki

I ahm Kiki and I ahm Frehnsh. Oui Oui

Kiki's servant

Zee's eez mah servahnt, Arlen. Ee ees preparing mah dinnerh.

Slurp slurp

Excuse eh mwah, do you mind?

Uuurp!

Very tasteh, I approve!

More Food? (I'm too sexy fo zees kitchen...)

Were eez Dog? Shee eez ehfraid of me and I will eat er food!

Kitty is dominant

See, zee scardy "cat" doggy eez ehfraid of meh! Oui Oui, tee hee, Ha Ha!!
(Oh, zat eez mah Mommy, Kat. She luvs meh!)