We found a suitable saddle at a local tack shop and I would have bought it if the shop owner had been a bit more pleasant when we were there looking at it.  If you are trying to sell a saddle that had been sitting in your shop for over a year you’d think you’d go out of your way to be nice to a potential purchaser, but she was a jerk and we won’t be shopping there again.  This is a pretty rare saddle made by an Amish saddle maker in Pennsylvania.  I found it new at a few on-line dealers, but the price was more than I was willing to spend.  Also, I really didn’t want a new saddle if I could avoid it.

Imagine how happy I was when I found the same saddle in a Craigslist listing in Virginia!  This saddle is practically new and was over $100 less than at the local tack shop.  The man came out and bought my Western saddle and I immediately called the woman in Virginia and arranged for her to ship the saddle to me.  It will arrive on Friday.

Meanwhile, I’m scheduled to meet a friend this morning at Kings Mountain for a trail ride … but I don’t have a saddle!  Luckily she has one I can borrow.  Another friend was scheduled to go to South Mountain tomorrow for a ride and originally I thought I couldn’t go because orientation at Mellow Mushroom was scheduled for Friday at 4:00 and I didn’t want to risk being late.  I was pretty disappointed that I couldn’t go because I wanted to meet the people who were going on the ride.  Yesterday evening I got a call from Mellow Mushroom telling me that the orientation was going to be postponed a week because the restaurant wasn’t quite ready.  Now I can go to South Mountain tomorrow … but again, I don’t have a saddle!!!!  But they’ll let me borrow one.  Luckily, all of these people I’m riding with have short-backed, wide framed Arabians so their saddles will fit Trophy.

I’m so incredibly paranoid.  One of the things I thought after I got the call from Mellow Mushroom was that they were really going to have the orientation this Friday but that they called me and told me it was postponed so I wouldn’t be there.  I’ve lived through a lot of abuse and disappointment over the years.

Until later …

I don’t know why, but I’m feeling incredibly depressed.  I have no reason to be depressed.  Everything is going reasonably well.  I barely have enough energy to take care of the animals these days.  Maybe it’s the weather.  It’s hot again and we desperately DESPERATELY need rain.  I’m not sleeping well and it’s hard to get up in the morning.  Maybe going back to work will help.

I find myself doing chores in stages: I go out and milk Gwen and then let her calves out, let out the chickens and ducks and feed them.  The cow milking/calf sorting process is going really well.  Then I come back in the house and try to recharge my batteries for the next stage of chores.  Then I go back out and feed the horses and put Gwen and her calves down into the back pasture, milk and feed the goats and Spot and then put them out to pasture.  Let out the pigs and feed them.  Come back in the house and try to recharge my batteries.  Maybe my batteries are no longer holding a charge.  Then I go back out and feed the cats and dogs and drag the hose around the property filling water pails and barrels.  Earlier I wrote about dragging the hose around.  I have to do it with the ATV because it’s so heavy.  The animals are drinking water by the gallons.

I rode Trophy on Sunday and had a good time, but I haven’t ridden him since.  It’s hard to get up the ambition to go out and ride by myself.  Not sure if it’s ambition or energy.  I can’t seem to recharge my batteries enough to get up enough energy to go out and ride him.  Also, I’m not happy with how the saddle I have fits him.  It’s wide enough, but the skirt is too long and it hits against his hip bones as he moves.  That can’t be comfortable.  Last night, I went and picked up an endurance saddle that I thought was going to fit him, and it may very well, but it’s a poorly made saddle and it stinks to high heaven of mold!!!  I’m highly allergic to mold.  Just having it in the house triggers sneezing and asthma attacks.  Hopefully I’ll find a proper saddle soon.

We did get the cross fencing done on Monday.  All that is lacking is getting the grass under the fence mowed and installing a cattle panel into the hedge row where we couldn’t put electric fence.  We’ll also need to put a few pieces of field fence against the barbed wire that was exposed by clearing the hedge row (to make sure neither the goats nor Rose can get around the fence).  I’m not holding my breath that Rose will stay in the pasture; hopefully the goats will.  It’s been great to be able to put Gwen and her calves down into the back pasture.  Neither horse has shown any inclination to chase them.  I think at first Gwen was nervous around the horses, but now she comes into the paddock with them when it’s close to time for her to come up.  Cows have wonderful internal clocks.  She knows when it’s time to be milked in the morning and then when it’s time to come up in the evening.  Sorting the calves off her in the evening has become really easy.  It used to be a rodeo.

Gel had been working like shit for a while.  I don’t know what got into him.  Maybe the same thing that got into me.  I was about ready to trade him in for a new model (yea, right!); but he seems to have straightened out and is doing his job.  What a freaking amazing thing it is to have a dog that can put up or move chickens and ducks; herd pigs and keep them off me when I’m pouring their food (a WONDERFUL thing); move the cows (even if one of the cows is an angry mother cow); do all that I need him to do with the goats, etc., etc.  He’s truly a great dog.  Mica is still doing well too.  It’s way too early to know if he’ll be useful or not, but he’s a clever boy.  That’s important.

Well, I guess I better get out and milk the goats and finish up the chores and then maybe I’ll take a nap.

Until later …

As I wrote earlier, I sold two goats on Sunday and on Thursday, I pulled two more from the milking “string.”  Once they get down to a quart or less per milking, it isn’t worth milking them.  Because the bucks are living with them, they are being bred earlier than I would normally breed them so that may be contributing to the reduction in milk.  Breeding them this early may end up biting me in the butt.

Gwen is doing well feeding the two calves and I get about a gallon and a half of milk from her in the morning.  I am still making quite a bit of cheese, but that’s primarily for the whey to feed the pigs.  Of course, I could just feed them the milk, but we’ll use the cheese over the winter.

Maybe in preparation for starting to work at Mellow Mushroom, I’ve been cooking like crazy.  I made both banana and peach bread this morning and while breakfast cooks, I am preparing to make banana pudding.  Craving bananas?  Wonder what that means.

In a little while I am going to head down to the local horseman’s club with Trophy to ride with them for a while.  It will do us both good to ride with other horses.  I called the girl I got him from yesterday and told her he needed a new name: Spook.  I can’t blame him.  It’s a lot to ask of any horse to ride alone in a strange place.  It was may more than we should have asked of Virgil.  You live and learn.

Until later …

We found the perfect horse for me: a 19 year old Arabian gelding named Trophy.  Wally and I drove out to look at him on Saturday.  He hadn’t been ridden in about a month, but for as well-mannered as he was, he acted like he’d been ridden the day before.  So far, he seems like a perfect combination of Virgil (the chestnut gelding) on the ground (wonderful!) and Merlin under saddle (i.e. a pistol, but a controllable pistol).  We were able to work out a payment plan that fit in my budget (even on Mellow Mushroom salary) and we took him home.

The problem is that my confidence has been terribly shattered.  Even working with him on the ground I’m leery (from being banged around by Merlin) and frightened under saddle.  He’s an Arabian and they tend to be more observant of their surroundings.  I rode on Sunday and he did really well given he was being ridden by himself in a completely new environment.  His “shying” consists of stopping and sort of starting in place.  It’s really nothing, but every time he did it, my heart jumped into my throat for fear of him taking off running and bucking like Virgil did when he got scared.  I only road for about 30 minutes before coming back.

Yesterday I went with a friend to the Ingles grocery store in Dallas.  She hadn’t been there before and wanted to see it.  She was like a kid in a candy shop (just as I was the first time I went there).  I had a few other errands to run and even though we left at 11, we didn’t get back to the house until almost 4.

Here it is almost 10:00 and my morning chores are done and I should be out there getting Trophy ready to ride, but instead I’m here in front of the computer.  Maybe I’ll get my act together and get out there and ride him, but … Fear is not a good thing.

The woman I got Virgil from is coming out on Thursday to ride with me and I think that will be a good confidence booster for me.  Also, friends of Wally’s are going riding on Sunday and Monday this weekend and they invited me to go with them and that will help.

All of the animals are doing well.  The two goats that I sold went to their new home on Sunday.  Milking Gwen is going wonderfully.  I can milk her out in about 15 minutes now.  Her milk is a pretty creamy yellow color and tastes fabulous.  I made a batch of yogurt from her milk on Sunday and it came out perfect.  I’ve gone back to mixing cow and goat milk together to make soft cheese and that’s equally fabulous.

We are going through yet another week of 90+ degree heat.  While it doesn’t feel as bad as it did over the past months, it’s still miserable.  I think because I’m just sick to death of it.  No rain in sight which is equally miserable.  I haven’t done any new planting in the garden and really need to get down there and finishing cleaning it out.  Wally is off for a long weekend this weekend, probably the last full weekend we’ll have together for a long time and we may spend some time in the garden then.  The goal this weekend is to repair the fence that Merlin destroyed and get the cross-fencing done so I can put the goats and Spot (weaned calf) down there during the days I’m working.  I put Gwen and her two calves down with the horses and that’s going well.  Trophy doesn’t chase livestock and Al Bin seems to have lost his interest in doing so.  I’ve been letting the pigs out during the day when the goats and Spot are out and that’s going really well.  It may not go so well when it rains and the ground gets soft again, but until then, it’s nice to let them out.  I don’t know how much longer we’ll keep them before having them butchered, but I expect at least another month.

I am looking forward to starting at Mellow Mushroom.  It’s exciting to think about being a part of a new restaurant opening and to be doing something very different from what I’ve done over the past 10 or 15 years.  A long time ago, I worked as a serve at a Pizzeria Uno restaurant and I did enjoy that work.  I may see if I can get scheduled on four or five long days, even if I have to do a split shift as a server.

Until later …

Orientation is September 10 with an intensive week of training after that.  Not exactly sure when they are going to open yet, but soon.  It’s pretty exciting to be part of the opening of a new restaurant.  I expect I’m going to be much happier handling food than I ever was money, cigarettes and the like.  It isn’t even September and they were already pushing the flu shot at Walgreens.  Please!!!

The chestnut horse didn’t work out.  He was simply too green for my current fitness level.  I took a bad fall off him on Monday.  I was lucky that I wasn’t hurt worst than I was.  Luckily the horse wasn’t hurt either.  He needs a lot more miles put on him by someone with more skill than I have at this time.  The fall set me back both physically and mentally.  I rode him again on Wednesday, but it wasn’t a good ride so I contacted his owner and told her that it wasn’t going to work out.  It’s unfortunate because I really like the horse, but my safety is important.

So, back to the drawing board in the horse search.

I started milking Gwen Tuesday morning.  I put her up in the poultry pasture and the two calves in the goat pasture.  It’s a bit dicey getting the trio separated and then reunited, but we’re getting it done.  So far, I’m only pulling a gallon and a half off her during the milking, but in time it will increase.  I’m pleased to say that I can milk easily now.

Milking the goats … I’ve been putting it off long enough.

Until later …

Until later …

I need to make it a point to drink more of this milk that we all work so hard to get.

You just can’t please a lot of people and I need to learn to stop trying to do it.

Until later …

Well, such is the nature of raw milk.  My goats are not confined in a dry lot fed only high protein pellets and alfalfa hay.  Sure, they get grain when they are being milked and have access to alfalfa hay, but during the day, they are outside browsing and grazing.  What they eat is going to change the flavor of the milk.

I think a number of these people thought the milk came from faucet and that they could call any day they wanted milk and either have it delivered or come and get it.  I’d tell them that they didn’t understand that I had to milk these goats, on a schedule, and when I did milk them, I’d only get two or three gallons.  How can I keep milk on hand when they are complaining about the freshness?

Do you know how much room six or eight half-gallon jars of milk takes up in my refrigerator?  Even just keeping that number of jars in the refrigerator overnight is a hardship.  We did consider buying another refrigerator to keep the milk in, but we already have three freezers chewing through electricity, why add another refrigerator?

So, I sent an e-mail to all of my customers telling them that I would no longer be selling milk.  I can hear the pigs jumping up and down with glee because they’ll get the excess milk.

I can see why small farmers can’t/don’t stay in business.  Pleasing individuals who are spoiled by what is available in grocery stores is difficult, to say the least.  It’s a good thing I didn’t commit to selling vegetables this year because my garden is toast from the heat.  At least we are getting a good amount of rain today, but it’s too late for the garden.  It’s the pasture I’m worried about now.

Yesterday, I looked at a horse that was available for free lease for a year.  Oh, he’s nice and I think his owner is going to let me take him with the option to buy him at the end of the lease.  What a difference between this horse and Merlin … he stands still when you put a saddle on him!!!!  I’m sure there will be some things about him that are difficult to put up with, but hopefully it will be minor.  He is a purebred Arabian, has been well started under saddle and a really sweet boy.  The girl who has him is a very accomplished rider and trainer.  She’ll be a good resource.

Until later …

Towards the end of our trek, Wally met us on the ATV and ponied him back home off the ATV and he did well with that too.  We’ll saddle him up and I’ll pony him off the ATV again today.  I can get a lot more miles on him that way.  I was sweating like a pig when I finished yesterday.  It was so bloody hot and humid.  Please make this crazy weather go away.

Our small cow herd is doing well.  Don’t you know, when I didn’t want Spot to nurse, I couldn’t put him in with Gwen because that’s where he’d bee-line to, her udder.  Now that I want him to nurse, I haven’t seen him nursing.  Hopefully the two calves will keep her milked out enough to prevent mastitis.

Am I ever beat!  I worked from 4 until 10 last night and then didn’t get to bed until after midnight.  You’d think I’d be able to sleep in, but no, I’m up at my usual time and I am so going to pay for that because I have to work the same hours tonight, then I’m off tomorrow.  That will be a good thing, but of course, I’ll have a million things that need to get done.  Working isn’t all it’s cut out to be.

Off to milk, do chores, then drive out to get my special grain mixture.

Until later …

I’ve decided to sell both Addie and Fennel (goats).  I have daughters and granddaughters from both does so it’s time that they go on to help build another herd.  I want to work towards having a herd of goats that I’ve bred and raised. Once they are sold (I’m waiting on the check to be delivered), I plan to buy another Jersey cow.  I’ll still keep goats, but it doesn’t make any sense to milk seven goats twice a day for the amount of milk that you get from one cow in one milking.   The problem is getting a cow that I can milk by hand.  Apparently, the dairies breed for cows with short teats and short teats are not easy to milk.  The local dairy had several cows they want to sell before winter so I can pick and choose the right one.

After we have breakfast, we are going to go out and put a saddle on Al Bin.  I sold a saddle that I dearly loved with Merlin.  Not sure what I miss more, the saddle or the horse.  Probably the saddle, but it was just too damned heavy to lug around.  I found a comparable saddle, it isn’t as nice as the other, but it’s much lighter.  It needs a lot of cleaning and oil and a little bit of repair, but it will be fine for now.  I’ve put some feelers out to find another horse that I can ride.  While I can probably get Al Bin going again under saddle, but to get him to the point where I could go somewhere with him and ride, I don’t know.  He’s been a pasture ornament for most of his life.

Work is going okay.  There is a huge learning curve and a lot of the learning is done through trial and error.  They loaded me up on hours this coming week.  I guess it will be a good thing when the paycheck comes.

Until later …