Cold Cold Go Away!

(I took this picture on my way out to do chores one morning)

I am so tired of the cold. I want green things growing, and baby animals and all of the soft sounds of spring. We have eagerly went through the seed catalogs as they arrived, making plans for new garden plots and marking things we want to grow; some of it tried and true and some of it something new.


As if in mockery of our spring time plans and our yearning for warm sunshine and soft south breezes, mother nature decided to coat us in a layer of ice and then layer us in snow. The temps will be in the single digits tonight and morning feed will be very, very cold. I suppose one could say that if we didn't have the critters then we could lay about in our warm beds. And yet the only thing that will keep morning chores from being miserable is the fact that will be in the company of our critters. I would rather be out in the cold taking care of them than laying about in a warm bed. Those that would rather have the warm bed just don't know what they are missing. I would wager a good amount that I am much happier out breaking ice out of buckets than my neighbor is out scraping his windshield.


Warm or cold, a morning just isn't a morning without goat kisses and happy hens.

Oat Bucket Farm Website

Goats put up with the snow

They aren't thrilled about it. They aren't happy that its in their pen. They are slightly offended that we have not cleared all vestiges of it from their pen. But the sun is out and the temp is almost 40 degrees. So they put up with the snow for a chance to stand in the sun.

Oat Bucket Farm Website

12 Step Goat Program

I am a member of a goat forum and in a thread someone commented that goats were addcitive and that we needed a 12 step program. I realized after I read that, that we already have one. So I wrote out the steps so everyone can know them.


step 1. see goats on TV/in a magazine/on the internet

step 2. think they are neat and read a little about them

step 3. start thinking you might want some someday

step 4. see a goat in person and fall completely in love

step 5. decide that you definitely want goats after you have everything ready

step 6. (this is an important one) join forum full of goat addiction enablers or GAE's

step 7. talk to GAE's and start feeling that you really can't wait as long as you thought you could

step 8. read every link they give you

step 9. read posts on the forum made by the GAE's about pregnant goat bellies and look at pictures of baby goats and talk of wonderful milk and soap.

step 10. put deposits on a couple of disease free doelings (you learned about diseases from all of those GAE's) to be born in a couple of months because you can't stand waiting a moment longer

step 11. drag significant other out into the cold to help you build shelters and fencing as you scramble to be ready for the new arrivals.

step 12. bring home baby goats, fall completely and totally in love and start making breeding plans. Within a couple of weeks you purchase a buckling and friend for him. And the cute little doeling you saw for sale on the forum a couple of weeks later. Then put up another shelter and pen for the buckling, realize that maybe you do have room for that other cute little doeling you saw on that website and that maybe that handsome buckling you saw on the forum would be a good idea too because you will need someone to breed next year's babies too because you have to keep some of them to see how they turn out...


Oat Bucket Farm Website