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it began like an ordinary day

i was thinking to take pics of the possibilities for Jude's April Boro class

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a jacket i've had since the 70's.  here it's inside out.  the other is a batik that i don't really like.  it has hung in various closets for 40 years.

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a linen shirt from Thrift Shop.  collar and sleeves cut off.  a vest kind of thing?

THEN, comotion on the road.  a truck, FAST,  the kid that rides the Palamino bareback, FAST.  so i find the camera and am just seconds too late.

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CLICK the pic to enlarge:  way down at the corner, the kid on the Palamino waits

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CLICK again:  from the other road,  a black mare…tail arched and flying, her foal beside her,  chased by the pickup.  

THEN:  phone call.  and the rest of the day changes.  it doesn't look like much now, but over the next few days,  a whole little world for a small herd of dairy goats will be created.   how temporary is still unknown.  ALL the does are bred.  it would be nice if we could pull it off and have them here through kidding season, into milking.  ~cheese~

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the wood on the ground marks where the temporary fencing will go.  it will connect to Fiona's Palace where the guinnea hens used to live.  will need to borrow a sawzall to modify. 

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this will be the gate.   i cleaned out half of the shed thing, the Albatros,  to hold the bales of feed.

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reshuffled the stack of pallets and dragged over the metal  sawhorses.  with wood over the top it will be a perfect shade house. 

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this piece of wood was in an arroyo in Snowflake,  Arizona once.  it has waited for Purpose.  now, when the fence is up it will mark this space. 

Daughter will fly in tomorrow.  at the end of the week we will drive back to California,  load the horse trailer and bring the goats here.   from there we will play it by ear.

 

 

 

 

 

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27 responses to “it began like an ordinary day”

  1. Wendy Avatar
    Wendy

    Oh, this is all amazing. I never have time these days to stay very long when I visit, but I have to say today how much I just really love this whole post, that the goats are coming here, that this will all be transformed. And I have to ask, the marks on the grey sheet side of the shed, are the marks real, or are they shadows?

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  2. nemo-ignorat Avatar
    nemo-ignorat

    whoah, goats … I love goats, but a small herd? Well, you will have a lot of fun with them (and a lot of work, too g)
    I am waiting anxiously for Jude’s Boro class as well. Have some pieces of clothing here wandering around aimlessly from place to place. I don’t want to put them back but right now they have no real place to stay.
    I’m looking forward to pics of the goats s

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  3. Michelle in NYC Avatar
    Michelle in NYC

    Oh my you are going goatish….this is a magnificent development. I can hardly wait for the ensuing posts. There will be a lot of work involved but goats leavings are great fertilizer (you probably know) and can feed a garden as a bonus to their presence. You might have greens with your cheese If cheese happens…and goats milk too! The choice of a plot for greens will be important since water can be a problem…but not impossible if it’s near enough the house to take on the drain pipes for help (all the house water from use to re-use). This is exiting and daunting at the same time. WOW

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  4. saskia Avatar
    saskia

    oh my you are a brave person! goats have personalities and you are going to host a whole herd, I too am looking forward to your future goat-posts; have never made cheese, have you? I do like eating it though, well Good Luck!

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  5. patricia Avatar
    patricia

    Hi Grace. Haven’t commented in a while but always look for and love your musings. My husband, sister and I raised dairy goats for about five years. Milking, cheese making, breeding, birthing–quite a wonderful time it was. There’s a ton of online information about goats, nutritional requirements, keeping them free of parasites all that stuff. Your daughter probably knows all about this. I do recall the birthings, though, being some of the most memorable experiences of my life. Such a miracle, new life. Makes me miss our farm more than ever.

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  6. Deb G Avatar
    Deb G

    Oh wow! That sounds like quite the development. One of the guys that works at one of the feed stores I shop at has goats. Last week he brought in his two baby goats. Sigh…so cute!

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  7. Yvonne Avatar
    Yvonne

    Wow how interesting! The only goats I see are at the local petting zoo or fall fair – I love watching hilarious antics of the kids. I remember the goat you made in Jude’s beasts class that captured that perfectly!

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  8. Robyn Ayaz Avatar
    Robyn Ayaz

    Hi Grace, I googled your goats and I love the little turned up ears and you have green in your yard! Biggest bonus is seeing Grace modelling her garments – the linen makes you look tall and graceful which you are and would be nice to stitch on. Are you going to make the fences by yourself? I hope you have some help – the boy on the Palomino?

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  9. ali Avatar
    ali

    Stories galore-what a captivating post, from your modeling boro possibilities (I’m taking the course, too–yea!) to boys racing up roads on horses to goats. Goats! Love them–their wild ways make me crazy, but i do love them. Used to have a few in one of the horse stalls. Baby goats are such cuddle-critters. Oh…longing for the countryside of home in the states.

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  10. Mo Crow Avatar
    Mo Crow

    I love that piece of wood from the arroyo it holds a very special magic!
    ah … about those goats… I was born in the year of the goat & no fence can keep me in! Goats know that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence and are very inventive and creative about devising ways to undo latches or climb over or under or in-between spaces! Goats can be fun and funny and quite sensitive in a wild hearted, clever but not all that sensible sort of way….
    Look forward to seeing what comes out of the boro class!

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  11. helen lee Avatar
    helen lee

    Enjoy the Boro class Grace….I’m missing this one, but I think I’m comforting myself by putting (more) patches on more jeans that are in need of repair…..Jude style :~))
    What goes on with the boy on the palamino, the mare and foal, and the truck chasing???? them?
    GOATS :~))))) with KIDS :~))))) They will love your raft :~))))
    Safe journeys.

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  12. Doris Avatar
    Doris

    I´ve been in a petting zoo with my class of second graders once. The goats even wanted to eat the flowers on a girls dress. This girl is lost for goats for ever, I think. 🙂 I loved this naughty little creatures.

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  13. jude Avatar
    jude

    i am wondering what to say, but i can think only of how direction is a choice of how to look. and goats. and rafts and ripples. sea of change indeed. and beyond.

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  14. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    i am beside myself with Wonder

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  15. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    i’m just glad you come by, Wendy….and the marks are
    real…they are from the very still Kochia weed that i
    sometimes don’t get around to hacking down along that
    edge. that is the motion of Wind

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  16. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    there are 12. 9 does and 3 bucks. she intends to sell
    3 or 4 of the does pretty soon. the only real work will
    be if i decide to milk. i’m not sure yet.
    oh…everyone will be blue in the face from goat pics

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  17. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    i grow a lot…food vegetables, herbs, almost always.
    up till last year, i canned a lot. so, yes.
    have been collecting cheese recipes for a couple years now.
    there’s a woman up the mountain Coon Ridge, you can
    google it…who makes the ultimate cheese. it’s with
    herbs and in olive oil. is magnificant. she sells it
    online and also at the whole foods places in Albuq,
    Sante Fe and Taos.
    goat milk soap is another thing…the best with oatmeal.
    so…Maybe. but they are wonderful just for LOVE and
    their EYES.

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  18. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    what kind of goats did you have? These are registered
    Nigerian Dwarf. really GREAT goats. i had a Nubian
    a long time ago and she was wonderful but really
    demanding and destructive. the temperment of these is
    totally different. and their milk is very rich. if
    it’s a good milker, they give almost as much as the large
    breeds.
    Daughter, Jenny, is the knowledge to the MAX type.
    Pretty much veted her own…does a combination regular
    and homeopathic…heavy on the homeopathic. She belongs
    to the South West Dairy Goat Assoc and all that. She
    took it very seriously.

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  19. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    they are amazing. within hours are figuring out how to
    jump. by day one, they are running and flinging themselves
    all over. they’re kind of like butterflies when they’re
    little.
    i spent a lot of time with them before she moved to
    California last summer. learned a lot. she’s a good
    teacher.
    thing about goat’s is…a good milker can provide a
    family with all the milk and cheese they need. goats
    are browsers, not grazers, so don’t have the demand that
    cows do. much more reasonable for the planet.
    people also do eat them. we don’t but you can. again,
    better for the planet than beef.

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  20. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    thanks for remembering, Yvonne…that was the Daughter
    Cloth that was for her setting out to find her fortune
    in California. last August.
    now it will be for setting out to find her Balance
    back in NM.
    thanks for reminding me. i need to go find that pic
    again
    love,

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  21. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    they are GREAT breed of goats. content. not like other
    breeds that are constantly getting into trouble.
    ….there’s a third thing i might do, i lost that pic
    somehow. but now it’s all changed, so i don’t know.
    i am NOT tall OR graceful am short and kinda “who cares”.
    no…she and i will do the fences this week. tomorrow
    the couple who have the Native Plant Nursery in town are
    bringing by fencing they don’t want….that is a GREAT
    thing.
    i don’t know who the Palamino kid is. there are 3 kids,
    new to the hood, who ride around recently. always
    bareback and they are good riders and the horses are
    beautiful and well educated. my across the way to the
    north crazy neighbors’s dogs don’t faze them. and that’s
    saying something.

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  22. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    yup. Stories Galore. Maybe that’s what i should change
    my name to….
    YAY!, YES! oh GOOOOOOD!
    yes…it is wonderful, but also a real commitment. we
    need to see how the neighbor dogs react to them. if not
    good, she can “farm” them out to women she knows who
    raise them. they are “good” goats…as in people will
    want them for breeding. they have Milking Stars.

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  23. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    isn’t it beautiful????????? it’s been here and there,
    but has never had real “work” before. it will Mark
    the goat space.
    yes. goat stories and boro stories. might be
    a little the same?

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  24. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    the horses…the mare and foal got loose. this happens
    off and on, not with these particular horses, but horses
    around here. and it’s the usual way of waylaying them
    and “herding” them back from whence they came. often
    it needs to be done on foot and then, anyone who is home
    comes out to participate. i love it.
    just LOVED watching her RUN, that tail!!!!! and the
    little one, learning about Escape from its mother…
    i just LOVE it. i used to have a horse…i pretended i
    WAS a horse when i was a little kid. but they take your
    whole life.
    the center of that space where the raft is will be
    fenced off from the goats. it’s where my “trees” are.
    they can have a U shape (inverted) around it. the babies
    might be able to share the raft tho…………..

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  25. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    they just like to see what things FEEEEL like in their
    lips and mouths.
    i have always been lost for goats. now…hmmmmm
    be careful what you love……

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  26. Robyn Ayaz Avatar
    Robyn Ayaz

    Just take tall and grace-full then because that is how you look in the mirror – mirrors don’t lie do they? Usually I kind of wish they did – hugs.

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  27. judy keathley Avatar
    judy keathley

    grace—i feel kinda weird because my question is so concrete —but —
    what is happening?
    why are the goats here instead of you there ?
    did i miss something?
    doesn’t matter really –your answer i mean—
    i get a sense of the larger view–
    specifics don’t matter all that much–
    they are just oh so very interesting to me–
    & i do care.

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