August Fifteenth:

This last weekend we took an ambitious goat trip. We decided to go to my father’s cabin. I thought it would be a good idea to bring some goats to clear around the cabin to help with forest fire control. Saturday morning we were going to pack up and go but when I went to check on animals one of our Highland cows (Dana) had jumped the woven wire and supposedly electrified barbed wire fence. When we tried to herd her through the gate, of course she jumped another fence but into the wrong field. Then she jumped back out. Finally we got her into a new field and had to move all the animals since that fence was down, and the rams can’t be next to the ewes, etc. Then I found done of our rescued goats had her head stuck in the hog panel surrounding the hay. Our donkey had gone lame the day before. I had given her an antibiotic shot and some pain medicine and soaked her foot in warm water and tried to dig it out. Saturday she was still lame so after the animal chasing fiasco I soaked her foot in epson salt and warm water. I found the sore spot and dug it out a little better. The n we had to get the goats packed up. it took us 4 hours but we finally were on the road.

We’ve been looking for a apple cider press and grinder for a while- at least one year. We have a tiny press that doesn’t work very well and I’ve used the Kitchen Aide and the Cuisinart for grinder but it’s pretty slow. This year it looks like we’re going to have a large crop of apple so the situation’s becoming urgent. After several missed deals I found one Saturday morning on Craigs List in Estacada, Oregon. I made the deal just before we left saying we could pick it up Monday after going to Ellensburg. I also made a Craig’s list deal for a llama pack to be picked up in Portland. I’ve been looking for one also for a year.

After spending the weekend chasing goats who didn’t really eat the brush like they were supposed to- we packed them up Monday morning and headed south and then west to Portland. It took longer than expected and we made it there at 3:00 and picked up the lama pack. There was an accident on the freeway so we decided to stop at the store and buy some cider and then headed south east to Estacada (during rush hour) to pick up the press. All afternoon the temperature was near 90 degrees so we didn’t dare stop for fear the goats would overheat in the truck canopy without the wind. We finally headed north toward home at 6:00. We finally arrived home at 10:30 in time to do the animal chores and unload the goats, press and pack. Quite a goat trip!