In order to produce milk, a dairy goat must give birth. She will continue to produce milk after the kid is gone as long as she is still milked daily. I bought Nilah, my Nigerian Dwarf Goat at around 10 months old, and it would finally be her first time kidding. It was my first time, too.
animals
The circle of life
Now back to that nifty, sleek little compost bin on the counter. The tiny collector on the counter plays a huge role in our little sustainable circle of life around here. It is primarily fed banana peels (because I use a banana a day in my smoothies) but also regularly includes leftover salad scraps, onion peels, squash skin, apple cores, eggshells and the like.
My food scraps feed the worms, the worm castings feed the plants, the plants feed me, my goats and chickens, who in turn feed me milk and eggs.
A tiny gift from the desert
It all happened rather quickly. The first week we picked up the chicks and the next I was taking a quick trip over to my parent’s (three hours away) to pick up my horse, where she had stayed while I was in Seattle, and my goat who had also been at my parents, but had been in with a buck at a breeder’s house for the previous few weeks. On the drive home, I found myself with a baby desert tortoise in my lap.
Meanwhile, back at the farm
One moment I had my dream job with the Community College Initiative near Seattle, the next I was in Arizona, wrapped up in warm blanket of 95 degrees. My life has always taken some interesting turns, I never do know where I’ll end up next. Brent promised me from the beginning too, that hanging around him would never be boring. I promised him the same. We lucked out and found the perfect house at the foot of a desert mountain range, complete with gigantic saguaro cactus, with two acres, horse stalls and no HOA fees or rules. It was time to finally begin my mini-farm journey.
