Goats,A Shop, and more, (and yet more) goats

Greetings all

Its been a little while since I wrote. .what a wild ride its been. So far, so good…we’ve survived a pandemic and all the stuff that throws at us all…you know what I mean….still, we’ve survived , and even thrived. We have solar and wind power hooked up, so, not powered like city power, just enough to charge a phone or laptop, an hour of light to cook by.. we reallydo need so little. We have a rainwater collection system,and it caught a little rain and snow melt…our chickens grew and gave us eggs…. we were gifted goats.. all pre-loved, and all with issues… and we fell in love with them, and it now appears that we’re creating a Sanctuary for Pre-Loved goats

I have never had much to do with goats, consequently, I was unaware of how easily they steal your heart. I guess the story that goats and humans share an evolutionary history is true. In so many ways, their antics and personality traits demonstrate this fact…their faces mimic humans, their actions mimic human behavior.. do not let their cloven hooves fool you…they are very clever, and it appears that they spend a lot of time thinking about how to manipulate their humans…I mean, honestly, much of my day is spent dutifully catering to their needs ( wants … ).

First, there was a phone call from our neighbors…”would you like a baby goat?…he has an abscess,… he needs a home or they will just put him down”…

What do we do? We say yes, of course, and so begins our journey.

Goats can’t be on their own, they need a companion…

So, enter Angie, formerly Angel…Madame with issues…older, high maintenance…she doesn’t know how to be a goat, and had been butting other, pregnant, does in their bellies…she needed a home… desperately.. of course, she came with us… and, we were told she was pregnant. She has the most psychological issues of any so far…

We treated the abscess on little Bilbo as we called him…Bilbo Baggins…because he brought so much baggage with him….people had also tried to cut his horns, in an attempt to stop them growing, they had sawed them off, and applied battery acid…?

Why anyone would do this is a question I can not answer 😦

We were so happy when his abscess finally cleared and healed. He is such a loving soul. He soon made friends with Angie, and peace reigned for a short time.

And (above) here he is, Bilbo Baggins, crooked horns and king of all ❤

Next, another neighbor told us of some other goats in need of a home… Enter, Rachel and her daughter, Amy… emaciated, unfed..left to roam the paddock of scant juniper and scraggly weeds.

We brought them home, but, unfortunately, that led to Angies’ premature labour…I had to deliver her of two, stillborn doelings…that really upset the already unstable Angie, and it took her several months to recover. She is a trooper, and she did recover, and took her place as Queen of her little herd.

Some weeks after the dust had settled, my husband came home with two more young goats…twin baby bucks, he’d found abandoned in the forest.. left to their fate, they were starving, half dead from dehydration, ready to succumb to death by thirst, or coyotes… We called them Bill and Ted.. they’d already had an excellent adventure, and were quite ready to rest and eat and grow.

With all the hungry animals making their way to us, it soon became obvious that we needed a way to feed them…yes, we have 20 acres, however it grows juniper and pinyon pine trees, sage and wormwood…and, because it’s mainly unfenced, the range cattle eat everything …they are so destructive, and of course all this beautiful national forest surrounding us is leased for next to nothing to a few privileged ranching families…but, that’s another story

We built an Etsy shop. I make a variety of salves, soaps, we sell crystals and make incense and other things sourced from our land…and, it is dedicated to helping us feed our hungry, expanding family. Should you be interested in taking a look, you will find it at fisheyetreasures@etsy. First, we had six goats, now, with all our new additions, we have thirteen … and we love them all.