On The Subject of Housebreaking Goats......

So often when I talk of our goats,

I talk about our fainting goats.

We have a second breed of goat, though...

our Nigerian Dwarf goats.

Two years ago, we started out with a pair of pregnant does, 

Star and Ash...

 

Pregnant, these two were half the size they are today.

Today they look pregnant all of the time (which they are not).

Rotund, is what I would call them.

Star, with blue eyes....

Her sister Ash with brown eyes....

Two springs ago, Star gave birth to this little sweetie pie, Stella...

Stella, held by my friend Sheryl-lyn.

who morphed into this gal, today....

Adult Stella

Star also gave birth to our Spider, who was the friendliest of all

the kids...

Jenn with Spider.

And, like all adorable kids,

Spider grew up....

Ash had tri-colored twins.

We kept the little girl, Audrey.

(Tawdry Audrey)

Today, Audrey looks like this...

I often get the question...

"Could you house train a goat and keep it inside?"

The answer to that would definitely be

NO!

Unlike dogs, who search out a location to do their business

and then perform that deed;

goats, on the other hand just perform the deed as they go...

dropping goat berries everywhere they walk.

This is especially evident in the winter time,

as they leave well marked trails through the snow.

Funny, they always use the same trails...

which become darker and darker as the weeks after a snowfall pass.

Goat berries are good fertilizer and don't need to be cleaned up.

Thankfully, because I cannot imagine what a manure rake

for goat berries would look like.

Perhaps like a huge comb.

They also make wonderful houseplant fertilizer 

and have next to no odor.

I would be happy to send you a box if you desire....

(kidding!.....not sure if the Post Office would consider that a hazardous substance!)

PS....a few of you expressed the desire to see more photos of our 200+ year old log cabin.  I have a few that I took during the summer months. You will find these photos on the sidebar to the right in a slideshow.

 There are two rooms on the first floor and stairs to the second floor.

Two bedrooms are on the second floor with stairs to an attic above.  It looks as though there might have been a porch with a roof at one time, however that no longer exists.  This house sits on top of a spring...hence the slatted door on the ground level.  The spring drains out beneath this slatted door and down to our pond. 

This area was heavily populated with Native Americans in the days in which this house was built.  Having the house on top of a spring gave the settlers the ability to drop a bucket to the cellar to get their water, without having to go outside and risk contact with hostiles.

We have had the house shirred up and re-chinked a few times in order to preserve it.

Amazingly, without plumbing and just rudimentary electricity, this little cabin was inhabited until the mid 60's!

I would love to turn it into a little colonial tea house, but we are too rural to attract enough clientele.

For now, it provides a bit of storage space and is a picturesque landmark.