We’re making goat plans. I want them near the house, where I can enjoy them. Watch them. After all, my future goatie girls are not only useful for goat’s milk soap and goat cheese, they are ornamental goats. I don’t want to have to take off across the farm to see them. I want them right here, nearby. Where I can see them from the porch. Like the chickens. We built the chicken house on the far side of the house (away from the driveway). I can see it from the front and back porches, and from my bedroom window.
The front yard is a mess. To turn it into a “real” front yard, it needs further grading, topsoil replacement, seeding. Then somebody’s gonna have to mow it……. Or! It could be fenced in and turned into a self-mowing goat enclosure. As someone who has not touched a lawnmower since I was 12, this sounds good to me. And in a rural setting, we have no need to have a “front lawn” to appease the neighbors. We can do whatever we want. I love the country!
Sharing their proximity to the house with goats came as news in the chicken house. Some took it worse than others.
Darth Chicken: “Did I give permission for goats? I think not.”
And yet, halfway up our hill as we are, we have limited cleared and reasonably level land to work with. And look how adorable this would be. We could put the fencing down the hill along the driveway so the goats would have the wooded hillside to clamber and cavort about as well as the yard.
Don’t you love the word cavort? It’s my new favorite word.
Coming over to the “near” side of the house, we have our garden, which we would need to keep safely fenced from the goats.
Georgia was over and I asked her what she thought about our obstacle garden. And waited for her to drop her pearls of gardening wisdom upon me. “Think we’ll get anything out of this garden?” I asked.
She threw up her hands and said, “Can’t ever tell.”
And that, my friends, is your gardening wisdom for the day. You can’t ever tell.
Beyond the driveway, there are a couple of extra cars parked in the old timbering track that goes up the hill. We have extra cars because we live in West Virginia and everyone has extra cars parked in their yard and we want to fit in. We’re not doing real good cuz our extra cars actually run. But they look like they might not run, so we’re close.
Out there is where we are planning to put the duck pond.
The back yard is totally unusable. The hillside goes up steeply right beyond the back porch. We keep a ladder there for easy kitty access to their hillside playland and that’s about all it’s good for.
And so, if we want to have the goats anywhere other than down the hill in the meadow, far far away, it looks like the goat enclosure and goat house is going right down there.
I’ll just settle in here with a piece of pie and watch them cavort.
Snapper says:
I just want to rock on that porch!
Happy Hump Day. :biggrin:
On May 28, 2008 at 6:26 am
jane says:
Snapper – ME TOO!!!!
You should write a childrens book – about the farm, chickens and goats and the veggies out back. dont you think. It would really sell.
also 52 and the basketball court haning incident – comme on show us your face!! we wont bite!!!
Maybe one day you can have an internet gathering on that wonderful front porch. we could have grandmother’s bread, pie and all the fixins!!!!
On May 28, 2008 at 6:56 am
happyathome says:
Looks like you have your work cut out for you, but so much potential! Any time you can have less grass to mow is always good. It takes us almost a whole day to mow, and we have a large tractor with a 48″ mower deck to cut the time out. More time to spend with the chickens and the goats…..that sounds like a chils’s book quote or am I just not reading enough of adult books……
https://lifeislikechampagne.blogspot.com/
On May 28, 2008 at 7:10 am
Heidi says:
mmmmmmmmm pie.. 🙂 I like the idea of a self mowing lawn – goats are a great thing to have. They will eat ANYTHING you give them and they are so much fun. If you want to make goats milk soap, you should have Nubian goats – they produce the best milk, in my opinion of course!! But in the words of your famous Georgia – “Cant never tell” I LOVED THAT!!!!
Your place looks wonderful and I wish all the happiness in the world for you!! 🙂
On May 28, 2008 at 7:31 am
kacey says:
The porch looks lovely with those hanging baskets and rocking chairs!! I could so sit for hours and hours on that porch.
On May 28, 2008 at 7:44 am
Ann from Montana says:
“can’t ever tell” – Perfect! That is going to be my new answer for practically everything – I mean, what doesn’t it work for???
On May 28, 2008 at 7:51 am
Cyndi Lewis says:
I’m with Ann (from Montana). “Can’t ever tell” is going to become my standard answer. Love it!
On May 28, 2008 at 7:57 am
Kathryn says:
There you go with the pie again! :hungry:
I sort-of promised myself that I would have a very healthy boring bowl of something cardboardy and low-cholesterol this morning, but now I am fairly certain the last piece of lemon chess pie is mineminemine!
I love the idea of goat mowing. To think of them cavorting is just icing on the cake.
On May 28, 2008 at 8:22 am
Kim A. says:
“Cavort” is a great word. I think my all-time favourite word is “wend,” though. You could use “wend” (or wending, wended) in a post, Suzanne, and give me a thrill.
Darth Chicken is GORGEOUS! What stunning markings she has. (Hey, “my” baby house finches have hatched — most of them, anyway. Took a look in the hanging basket when I got home yesterday. Mind you, they aren’t particularly attractive at the moment. LOL.)
Goats are cute…but I want a pony! Okay, I did have two of my own while growing up, but that was a LONG time ago. If you get a pony, I can live vicariously through you.
-Kim
On May 28, 2008 at 8:57 am
Stitchin Bitch says:
You might want to move them further from the house just so you can sleep! There is nothing louder nor more annoying than a bleating goat or two. Don’t get me wrong, but when my neighbors got their two goats I was awakened each morning to their crying and started to make me crazy. They are three years old now and have quieted down somewhat but one is expected to kid anytime and I’m not looking forward to it! Love your house!
On May 28, 2008 at 9:26 am
Jill S. says:
It’s going to be lovely but a bit noisy, I’m guessing, lol.
On May 28, 2008 at 9:40 am
Robin G. says:
…you do know that goats smell, right?
On May 28, 2008 at 9:46 am
Jyl says:
We used to have goats…lordy they were crazy. Houdini was always escaping, Moses was alway butting whomever came close, Joe…Joe was sweet, I liked Joe. The others…they drove me crazy and I was always scared to go into their pen by myself. Moses never bothered anyone but me…he could smell the fear apparently and knew he had the upper-hand. But he had really big horns and was stout as an ox.
On May 28, 2008 at 9:58 am
DeeBee says:
I love your farmhouse and getting to see all the fun things you have at your home. :shimmy:
On May 28, 2008 at 10:06 am
Treasia says:
Have you gave any thought to the fact that goats do stink?
On May 28, 2008 at 10:24 am
Remudamom says:
My girlies goats never stank. Just the boys. Goats next to the house would be fun, you’re right, no point in keeping them where you can’t see them, but I think you might be dispointed in their grass mowing abilities. Mine would eat only certain stuff, and the rest would grow tall.
On May 28, 2008 at 10:31 am
Granny Sue says:
Goats do have a smell, but you can keep their shed clean and it isn’t bad at all. Our goat shed was about 200 feet from the house and we never smelled them–but we didn’t keep a billy, and they do have a very strong odor.
Goats won’t eat much grass–they will eat the bark off your trees, brush, scrub, briars, fruit trees, garden plants and weeds. But not much grass. A good fence is super-important if you have them near your garden and trees you want to keep. A neighbor uses his goats to clear forested land–they can kill trees for you.
Sheep, on the other hand, eat grass but not weeds. They smell a bit too, but if you want a lawnmower you might consider a sheep. I never had any after learning more about them–too much work for me. Give me chickens, goats, cows, turkeys and pigs instead.
On May 28, 2008 at 10:40 am
Suzanne McMinn says:
We’re just planning to have girlie goats!
Though if they kill trees, maybe we should put them on the north side of our hill behind the house so they can open up our satellite signal, LOL.
On May 28, 2008 at 10:44 am
Laura says:
https://fiascofarm.com/dairy/
I have also thought about making goat milk products (I’m a non-owner, but my cousin has more milk than she knows what to do with). I haven’t tried out the recipes, but they seem very well explained for the beginner. My aunt made wonderful goat milk ice cream when I was a kid – better than cow milk ice cream. And the best part of goats milk is that it is naturally homogenized!
Also, billies are beyond stinky, so you might want to look into AI when your girly goats are old enough. :heart:
On May 28, 2008 at 11:14 am
Laura says:
p.s. My best friend’s dad always said that if you want to clear the underbrush of a woods, then fence the area to be cleared. Then put in a mixture of 50% goats and 50% sheep. That way, the goats eat the thorny nasty stuff and the sheep eat the grass and both fertilize it. :heart:
On May 28, 2008 at 11:16 am
Carol says:
So, I just got to say……I love this blog. I look forward to it every day, I get to have a wise woman named “Georgia” in my life, a Suzanne friend who sees life as fun and quirky as I do, and now CHICKENS and Girlie Goats (goats have amazing faces)!!!!!
Thank you Suzanne for sharing with the rest of the dreamers…..now go cavort…..
On May 28, 2008 at 11:46 am
Becky says:
I love word “cavort.”
You’re getting quite a nice HQ there, Suzanne! Everything looks awesome!
I think I saw you on my drive home yesterday. Did you stop at the little gas station in Gandeeville? I thought about honking and waving but wasn’t sure it was you. So if it was… HONK! :wave:
On May 28, 2008 at 11:51 am
Kathy R. says:
I’m about at the same stage as you are — we moved into our mostly remodeled farmhouse in January (between snowstorms.) We just bought the lawn tractor to mow the hayfield that our yard had become, and every day means new fences, or the trip to Home Depot to get the materials. (Wish there was one closer than Charleston.)
The areas too steep to mow are just right for goats (so I thought.) The area is full of those thorny blackberry bushes, poison oak, saplings clogging the stream…goats are the perfect answer. Until my neighbor on the next hill said “Goats, eh, well you’ll get to know your neighbors real well because there isn’t a fence that a determined goat can’t get through.” So, rethinking my plans, I’m thinking goats in a harness tethered in a different spot each day until they get it cleared! I’ll let you know how that works out.
On May 28, 2008 at 11:55 am
Amy Addison says:
they are ornamental goats.
LOL! Of course you want to see the goats. What’s the point of having goats if you can’t see them. I’m sure Darth Chicken will get over it. I love the idea of letting the goats cavort up and down the hill.
Georgia, BTW, is a genius.
On May 28, 2008 at 11:58 am
SuzieQ says:
I would never get anything done if I had that porch and view…I’d just sit and rock and watch nature all day. I might read or do some sort of needlework just to make me feel , at the end of the day, that I did actually get “something” done. Oh yes, a nice glass of something to sip on.
On May 28, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Tori Lennox says:
I think having goats to “mow” is a great, environmental idea. Though Laura might be right about having goats and sheep both.
“Can’t ever tell” is a great, all-purpose phrase! I may start using it, too! 🙂
On May 28, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Brandy says:
I guess I’m the only one who thinks Darth Chicken is cute. *G*
Goats in the yard. Your a country girl now!
On May 28, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Estella says:
Your porch, with the chairs and flowers, looks great. I can picture you sitting there watching your goats.
On May 28, 2008 at 4:03 pm
anne says:
I love your porch !! A great place to eat pie, rain or shine.Love your goatie ideas. We have neighbors nearby that have goats and chickens. Good nice big brown eggs to buy there but you have your own, How wonderful !!!!
On May 28, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Carolyn says:
Goats smell? None of my Grandpa’s goats ever smelled. And I liked being near to hear them make that “nahhhh” sound. We called it the “nanny goat” sound. It was very comforting to me, so I know how you feel about wanting to have them around. xxoo
On May 28, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Carolyn says:
Oh, I forgot. And tell Georgia I love her lots. Big hugs to you, Georgia. xxoo
On May 28, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Susan says:
What a wonderful view you’ll have of all of your pets and garden! Georgia’s right when she said “Can’t ever tell.”.
On May 28, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Jessica says:
Right about now I want to grab a cup of tea and sit on that porch!!! (and eat some pie, too!)
On May 28, 2008 at 8:51 pm
maryann says:
What about miniature horses? At least you would get the natural fertilizer for the compost pile.
On May 28, 2008 at 11:07 pm
catslady says:
Tell Georgia she’s a famous quote maker
My favorite was the ladder for the cats so they don’t have to go all the way around and up the steps :cattail: what a nice mommy you are!
On May 28, 2008 at 11:38 pm
Donna says:
I guess I missed this one…I LOVE your house, porch..all of it. A duck pond would be wonderful!
On June 13, 2008 at 12:51 pm
KATHY BROWN says:
I also have Nigerian goats.Moved from 1 acre in NV to 40 in Ok.Had to with 16 goats and 4 horses. Love my goats. The like marshmellows. Walk under horses feet as they were raised with horse. Broke my heart to sell a few new ones (went to good home with a little girl to love them. Giving my girls a break for while will breed for spring babies. We have 7 cats ,three dogs and now 6 horses with another coming this weekend,Love the farm. Best move we ever made. Have great life on yours and good luck.
On July 10, 2008 at 9:00 am
KATHY BROWN says:
About the stink,hey the girl goats love it.
On July 10, 2008 at 9:05 am
butterfly500 says:
I love your porch. I also live in the country but it’s getting very filled up with houses and a school. I don’t like all the building but there isn’t much I can do about it. Wish I’d found something more out in the county, like you did. Good luck.
Dee 😉
On March 25, 2009 at 11:19 pm