49th and 50th bound!!: January 2013

Sunday, January 20, 2013

A GOOD FARMER ALWAYS HAS A SCOOP OF GRAIN IN THEIR HAND. Eva's very helpful words of wisdom haha. It's so true! Why was this brought up? We actually got rain! And not just a little bit of rain...a lot. Maybe this year we won't be in a draught after all. After a smooth evening shift Erin had gone in the dairy to make dinner and I was wrapping up the shift when all of a sudden down pour. The good news is everyone was already tucked in for the night and in good sheltered pastures...bad news...we have 4 ladies who are in Pond which doesn't have enough space in the shelter for them. Goats HATE water. So I rushed out to Pond to go grab them to put them in the barn. I wanted so badly to just pop them in one of the two nearby pastures with shelter but they were occupied by the teeny boppers and dennis and friend so I tried to get them to go all the way to the barn to be put in stalls. They came rushing to the gate no problem but then they got freaked out and started running to house (another pasture) all confused. Meanwhile the dogs got excited and were running in the rain not listening. Luckily Teo saw I needed some help and we pulled and pushed the reluctant goats into the dry barn. Yikes! I wish I had used my head and grabbed a scoop of grain to begin with haha. Here I was thinking they'd be happy to follow me willingly to a dry place. A few nights later it rained again. This time I grabbed the scoop of grain and it worked like magic. An Eva lesson I will never forget.

Ramses hanging out on the tourist's cars as always

It's been pretty cold and windy for here. Which probably makes you all want to punch me in the face because when I say cold it's in the 70s. Eva and Thomas have left for Whistler for their son's wedding so it's nice they get the vacation but boy do the dogs sure miss them. Especially Ghira. You can really tell the difference between when mamas home and when she's gone with him. He does get to have his daily job of herding the teeny boppers in the orchard 2 hours a day so that's good for him. Below is a pic of life from Ghira's perspective haha. Us interns take turns daily taking the yearlings into the orchard with Ghira and babysitting them. You'd think this would be relaxing but often I'm worried they're going to far over to the rocky area or making risky jumps off the cliff area. Jeez...they act just like typical teenagers. Below Juicy Fruit gave me some loving so it was worth it ; )

Strikey has such a hard job...

Munchin on the lemon tree!!

The best thing that happened since I last blogged is more newborns!! Don't get too excited...the second round of kidding season hasn't started but we did get a couple of new babies. Shannon has been SUPER full of milk and slow moving and swollen so Eva induced labor so she wouldn't end up giving birth while she was gone in case it was a difficult one. Shannon is a very hairy and adorable goat who is one of the "golden girls" as we call them. Below is a pic of the four of them. There's Sassy (yup, she only has one eye in case you were wondering by the picture), Tessy, Cashew, and Shannon. Shannon had the most adorable white and fluffy babies...a boy and a girl. Christi named them About and Time haha. They're really active little guys. I've been spoiling them and cuddling them daily. The other babies look so big next to them!

That has pretty much been the excitement around here. Tonight we're having a fake birthday party for Alicia since she's leaving in March and her birthdays not till April...haha any reason for us to have a little fun on the farm I guess : )

Cassandra that rebel...she just won't stay in the pasture haha

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Where are the babies?! Work has been pretty slow around here as the holiday craziness has settled down and kidding season is at a standstill. As someone who loves to keep busy I'm anxiously waiting the arrival of more newborns. I find the hardest part of a job is to constantly take that initiative and find big projects that need to be done around the place. It seemed easier at the center what with the variety of animals and work flow but here I'm still struggling with that. Eva said it's something that comes with time and I can imagine that with your comfort level and knowledge of the farm and how its run it becomes easier. Anyways the work days have been filled with milking, feedings, caring for thinner goats, hoof care, and farm maintenance. Andrew and I were on the phone and he was wondering what exactly I do on a day to day basis. I think I may have blogged this before but in case you guys wonder what a "typical" day at surfing goat dairy is here's what we ALWAYS do on the farm no matter who's up to some shennanigans (like the golden girls or soho teeny boppers (teenage kids) escaping) or who's giving birth. We have two main shifts...6-2:30 or 10-6:30. I've become primarily an evening shift person with Teo and Erin but I do get to work mornings on Tuesday before deliveries. I absolutely LOVE mornings. It's still dark out and the moon and stars are out and I'm milking and spending time alone with the goats and all of a sudden before you know it the sun is rising and the day has started. There's also something to be said about the evening shift and working as the sun sets. My favorite moment of the day on the farm is herding the golden girls down, saying hi to Teddy our buck, and walking back knowing everyone is tucked in and watching the beautiful colors of orange, yellow, pink, purpe, etc. of the sky as the day comes to an end. It's one of the most peaceful times of the day. Below is a pic of Teddy our billy goat.

A picture Eva sent to me in an email titled "work with benefits" haha the babies LOVE playing with the bins while you fill them with hay...such adventurous little ones.

So the "typical" tasks of the day would include milking/feeding, cleaning around the milk stand, mixing grain (instead of buying grain we mix on our own), sweeping up goat walk (the "loading zone" for the milking herd before they come on the stand), herding, cleaning kennel, sometimes taking the teeny boppers to the orchard for a couple hours to browse, caring for sick goats/kids, hoof care, cleaning/checking waterers and giving out hay, and more milking, feeding, and herding. It's your average list of daily farm chores. Some days we also go inside where you pasteurize, make cheese, pack cheese, or clean. So there ya have it!

So like I said not a whole lot is happening here lately...makes it hard to blog sometimes. But I always try to take pics throughout the week. I received an awesome package from my alaska cousins Bethany and Amanda. THANKS SO MUCH!! LOVE YOU GUYS! In the package they sent me "Snickers!" the porcupine from the AWCC....or at least a stuffed animal version of him haha. So I took a few pics of Snickers enjoying the Hawaii and some sun as well as making some goat friends. I sure do miss that state...but I'm pretty sure the beach and sun are more enjoyable than all the cold and snow so I'll have to live through them and Andrew ; )

I've been spending a lot of time at the beach lately on my off time. Last Sunday I took the bus to Lahaina and people are so open and friendly here. I just hung out on the beach and met a nice older couple on a cruise in the water, met a "happy hippie" as he calls himself while eating lunch and watched the hard core sand volleyball players play with him, and on the bus ride home met a young woman from Kihei who gave me her number to hang out sometime. I've never met people just going about my own day as I have here. Must be the aloha spirit. The bus ride home was amazing...I saw probably 6 or 7 whales spout and show off their big flutes. I've been seeing some whales breach from far off in the distance at the beach too. I can't wait for February and hopefully dad will come and we can go on a whale watching tour. That's supposed to be the best time for sighting them as the moms have their babies and they seem to be everywhere. Before I leave here I really want to hear them in the water too. When I went to the beach on Thursday after deliveries I walked up and saw they had a whole area roped off. There was a Hawaiian monk seal sleeping on the beach! These guys are endangered and need their space so they have volunteers who go out to wherever one is sleeping and monitors them and keeps people at a safe distance from them. I guess they like to feed and then when they get tired they go to the shore of the area they're in and pass out for 48 hours or so. I never thought I'd ever say this but it was actually really cute! Looks like all this marine life has forced me to get over my fears haha.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

O BOY...it's been over a week and I've been a terrible blogger. So apologies to everyone who actually reads this pretty regularly. The good news is I have lots more pictures. Last I blogged I had watched Kisses give birth and we only had 3 babies. A little over a week later we now have over 40!! The day after Kisses gave birth I was excited to be working outside and ready to deliver some babies. And guess what...the whole day went by with nada. Erin and I got to evening milking and we were missing a goat. I went to look for it figuring it was a goat that got left behind and there were the babies I was hoping for...two little cute nuggets with mom (Jacqui) in Little Italy. I'm now extra careful when counting goats when I let them into the goat walk for milking haha. So Eva came out to help me and we slowly brought mom to the barn by carrying the baby and setting it down so mom could see her (goats don't recognize their babies when your holding them) and lick her and then pick her up again and walk 20 more feet or so etc. So I missed my chance of seeing the birth AND a mama had her kids in the pasture allowing them to suck from her on my watch...fail.

That next Wednesday I helped deliver my first kids by myself. I wasn't working but I was sticking around the farm and Ice Bear had been in a stall for days with what we think may have been pregnancy toxemia. She was so uncomfortable so it was a relief for her to finally have her babies. I happened to be ichatting Kevin and Eva delivered one baby but she had two more. Eva left for a few minutes and I was there (after blowing Kevin off to watch haha sorry Kev!) and nature doesn't wait as Ice Bear had one which I helped take the sack off her face and then helped mama with her third (we help pull the babies out when mom's pushing once you see the two hooves and head). The third was SO tiny!! I was afraid she hadn't made it. Once I got the sack off her face she sneezed a few times (which they all do trying to breathe) and she was an adorable healthy girl. I got to name her and decided on Little Bit (very fitting for her size). Naturally since it was the first goat I helped deliver I feel pretty attached to her and I may be spoiling her more than the others ; ) 15 babies total were born that day.

The following day I went on deliveries and when I got back Alicia and Elijah had helped deliver 18 babies in one day! The next day 19. Needless to say we've been doing a lot of kidding over here. Bottle feeding, bowl training, delivering...it's been a tiring week for all. Especially Eva who starts the day super early and ends at night...I don't know how she does it! We've been covered in colostrum, amniotic fluid, and grabbing placentas by hand...welcome to kidding season! And I have to say even though it can be tiring and stressful I'm absolutely loving it. Now that we're into this week the big groups of babies have graduated to drinking milk from the pipe and going to Hansi and we have successfully gotten over the kidding peak. Watching them in Hansi has been so adorable as the tiny kids run back and forth and jump on surf boards. It's definitely the best time of year to visit...some tourists witnessing the first hours of a kid's life.

Not only has the kidding season kicked off and hit the peak in a matter of days but the holidays are coming up meaning FED EX FED EX FED EX! Christi, Nalani, Eva, and I have been packing many boxes of cheese, truffles, and more to send for gifts around the country. We also had our surfing goat christmas party on Sunday. We all went to dinner at the hideaway and then went to the maui arts and cultural center for a willy k christmas concert...he was wonderful!! Nalani even made us all christmas leis out of tea leaves I think. Before I leave I'm going to learn to make leis : ) It was a fun and relaxing evening that I think we all needed.

Well its my day off and I'm off to the beach with Alicia and Jasmine. Erin comes to visit tomorrow!!

O MY LORD!!! THE BLOG ABOVE IS FROM WEEKS AGO AND I JUST DIDN'T UPLOAD IT!! haha it's official...I'm the worst blogger. BUT one of my new year goals (yes I said goals, not resolution ...why set myself up for failure right??) is to be better about blogging.

So it's January...HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I hope you all have had a good year thus far. I have a good feeling about this one. Last year was pretty great between my senior year at MSU, living with my sorority sisters, graduating, going to Alaska, and then here but this is just the start. I've come to realize this is the most exciting time in my life. A wise person once told me your twenties are the time to be selfish. At first I wasn't sure because hey, who ever wants to admittedly be selfish...but it's true! This is the time to do what you want for you, make mistakes, learn what you like and what you don't like and grow. It's so thrilling and scary at the same time to have the option to go wherever and try new things. I also feel really blessed. Anyways, enough about that....here's to a good year!!

First morning of the year!! I got to milk the herd : ) I love milking the goaties <3

Unfortunately I didn't have the most exciting new years eve but I did watch the ball drop live on my computer after work. It was actually pretty lonely. I got christmas off so I had to work 6-6:30 new years day. All the girls went out and had plans so I just cleaned my room, wrote some new year goals, and watched glee. I know...nerdy evening. The exciting thing about working was I worked in the dairy alone the whole day for the first time! I was nervous and couldn't sleep the night before worried about messing something major up but I did it and everything went well. I've never felt fully confident in the dairy since Cody and Monique (my security blankets) are always there haha so it's nice to know I can handle it.

SOOOO much has happened I don't even know how to blog the whole month of december. Well....we now have 84 babies! That's a lot of babies! Luckily they're all on pipe feeding now. Little bit is getting so big! But she still has her teeny little waddles. Sadly all the kiddies have upgraded to kennel or hansi so we don't have any cuties to play in the barn with. But we did have a sick kid (the one I named Dennis) and he got better and is super playful and adorable and we've been hanging out with him a lot and spoiling him since he's in the barn. Today he upgraded to a pasture though : (

My sweetheart little bit!

Snuggling Dennis after a long day of work

My new year's kiss!!

So not only did we have kidding season happenin but Erin (the head intern from Alaska) came to visit and then the boys (Kevin, Alex, and Dave). It was SO weird having people I know here visiting but comforting. I've had some homesick days so it was just what I needed...especially for the holidays. Erin stayed in this awesome hostel in Wailuku and I actually got to spend quite a bit of time with her going to the beach and some dinners. We tried our first coconut. I have to say I'm not the biggest fan of coconut water but it was fun to try. Having people here to visit made me realize how much I haven't done here. The boys stayed in Paia and were here for a little over a week. I felt like I was on vacation too getting an extra day off for christmas and staying overnight at their place. Kevin's brother Colin and his girlfriend, Danielle, were on vacation here as well so we all got to spend some time together. It made me soooo homesick to see the O'Connor boys! Kevin and I spent a day exploring the marine life here : ) we went on a snorkeling trip (my christmas present to him!) and it was great. We went to Molokini (a crescent shaped little island) and it was fun because Kevins never snorkeled before. On the way out to Molokini we saw a whale breech, my first one! and some spout. The unfortunate part was that we both obviously weren't pirates in our past life. He was feeling sick the way there and I thought I was fine till we slowed down and were close to the island and I got an overwhelming wave of nausea and lost it. Yup...I barfed in my very own beach bag. How embarrassing!!! But I didn't let that stop me from snorkeling. It was so cold but we saw a lot of fish, urchins, and a fat sea cucumber. On the way back we were more smart and sat on the bottom deck and saw some sea turtles. We also saw a mama whale and her baby. After snorkeling we went to the aquarium. The tunnel was so cool! And we saw Kevin's favorite...sharks haha. After some good beach time and many a mai tai (Dave's fav!) it was really sad to see the boys go : ( Can't wait for dad to make it out here in february!

Below are some pics from the past month. I'll try my hardest to get better at blogging more...so many funny things occur throughout the day! And it's hard to remember it all when it's been so long. Till next time...