This has been a wild weekend. Friday with beautiful weather we started our hay barn. We are putting up a hoop shelter to store hay in this year. We had been using tarps as we've needed more hay storage but this year we lost half of our hay to mold and mildew. So we are setting up a hoop barn for next year. We got our frames up Friday and our family came Saturday to give us a hand, unfortunately, one who was there was Mother Nature and she brought snow! Not really helpful. But we made good progress, hopefully next weekend we'll be able to get the barn finished.

Friday night, while my husband, father-in-law and brother-in-law continued work on the barn; I headed to Columbia for a meeting with the Boone County Farmer's Market. I took a sample of my soap and lotion hoping to get their approval to become a vendor, which I did. Our Boone County Farmers Market opens on Saturday, April 3 in Columbia and continues through October. I am really excited about the market but will need to get even busier getting soap and lotion made, which I worked on again this weekend. I am still letting my does nurse their babies, so I am using milk I have frozen from last year. When I first started making soap I bought my oils (lard, olive oil, and coconut oil) from Wal Mart and the lye from Lowe's. I bought essential oil for fragrence from a health food store and a soap mold from a craft store, with that I experimented with different recipes, different techniques, and continue today trying new ideas. My last mold I bought on Ebay, but I also now have found online stores that are cheaper for buying in bulk and I am now purchasing my coconut oil in 50 pound buckets. Bramble Berry is a favorite site for supplies and ideas as is Whole Sale Supplies Plus and Soapers Choice for supplies. It's getting close to time to place another order, if you notice the square, plastic container with the spigot in the back of the picture is getting pretty low, that's my 50 pound conainer for olive oil.

I also held a project meeting this afternoon for my 4-H group to work on our demonstration for pack goats which they will present at our April 1 club meeting.

Tonight, when we went out to feed, I found a new baby. My second group is beginning to kid. Paddy-Wack was bred to Snickerdoodle and she had a beautiful daughter this afternoon, I'm thinking maybe Creme Brulle' for her name.

So goes another weekend, certainly never dull.

Kidding Season...........

In a few short weeks, this little girl will be checking in to Chateau de Maternity Ward ala Goodwife Farm. Her name is Star and she is an unregistered Kinder goat. She is the first kid born here at Goodwife Farm and I love her dearly. She is so sweet and shy and beautiful and I can’t wait for the kids she is going to give me! She already has her room reserved here.

Housekeeping doesn’t have it all bedded and totally ready for her yet, but the week before her confinement arrives it will be deeply bedded and and sparkling clean!

She has a heated kid box, that the babies very quickly figure out is the happenin’ place to be. It usually only takes a couple hours for them to figure out that it’s nice and toasty in there. They are generally found snuggled in a pile in the corner and will pop out for refreshment once in awhile and then go back inside. They also have the home away from home in the Igloo dog house, but it is mostly reserved for jumping up onto and knocking each other off!

The maternity suite offers it’s own hay rack (can you see the chicken peeking out of it? They like to lay eggs in there during the off season!), and it’s own heated water bucket.

After a few days Star and her child/children will check out so that this little lady can check in.

This is Naomi and she is a registered Kinder bred to a registered buck. Star and family will be moved to this less fancy but equally nice suite here at Chateau de Goodwife Farm.

Then about 3 weeks after the arrival of the children, Star will be introduced to this lovely contraption…….THE MILK STAND.

This will be Star’s first freshening so I’ll be training her to the stand and pail. I always train my doe kids to the stand from a very early age, that way it isn’t such a shock when the time comes. I give them a little grain and let them put their heads in the stanchion to eat. I lock them in, brush them, and rub their udders. That way they know what it’s about before the time comes.

Well that's about how things go here at Goodwife Farm.  Hope your kidding season goes fabulous and you have mostly doelings! 

Till next time............GOD BLESS FROM GOODWIFE FARM!