What a dreary, cold, wet day! They said it was going to be raining today and tomorrow, but I sure was hoping they were wrong again. On a brighter note, all the girls are bred except one. She's a second year milker, and we're anxiously waiting for her. Beginning to wonder though! All of our available doelings are now sold. That leaves us with three for replacements for next year.

Thank you!!!

We at Northern Prairie Chevre want to thank everyone that came out to our open house yesterday!!! What a day it was!! We were very concerned with the weather first thing in the morning, but it couldn't have been a more beautiful day!!!

It's so rewarding to us to be able to share our little bit of country with you all. We have so many guests go to the barns to visit the girls and babies that also visit with Gary and Wendy while out there. They enjoy showing how loving our girls/babies are and sharing what information we can about how we raise our herd. They all mean so much to us.

Thank you also to all our vendors who give up their Sunday afternoons to come out and talk to our customers about their products as well as give samples. It means a lot to us. And, Milton, your burgers are DELICIOUS!!!!!!!! And we appreciate everyone that comes into our store to help make us successful in what we do! We appreciate all of you who come month after month to see us and the many new faces we see each month as well!!!

We hope everyone enjoyed the singing of Beth and Rick. I specifically asked them to come because I LOVE listening to them at the DSM Farmer's Market. As busy as we were in the store though, I didn't get out to listen to them until 4:20 - and they were just getting everything put away!!! Bummer!!!!!!!! Next time!

I have to share a little story about one of the animals you never get to see out here and that's one of the bucks - Dante. Dante LOVES balls, and I do mean LOVES. He has a basketball and a smaller child's soccer ball. When he has them in his pen, he pushes them with his head and talks to them. Now that it's close to rut season, he's very amorously talking to the ball - tongue going a mile a minute like he's trying to entice one of the girls. What a hoot to watch!

Until next time... Kathy

Next Open House

Wow! This one snuck up on me! Our next open house with Prairieland Herbs, Picket Fence Creamery and Flowers by Donna Jean is Sunday, August 16 from noon to 5.

This month we'll have the band RBJ. They sing the oldies and I absolutely LOVE them!

Karla from KG Photography will also be available to take pictures of you and or your family. Or, if you'd like them taken with "our kids", she's willing to try that too. Getting "our kids" to hold still might be a whole other story, but... She is VERY REASONABLY priced and takes GREAT photos. Purchase $20 worth of merchandise from Miss Tillie's and you can put your name in for a drawing for a free 8x10 and sitting.

Milton Sheeder is planning to have BBQ Beef sandwiches - yum!

Louise will be drawing pictures that may go on some of her note cards for Chicken Chat. She's amazing to watch.

Snus Hill Winery and Jasper Winery will both be sampling their award winning wines. Be sure to check them out.

Mary will have classes on hooping and hoops available to use and for sale.

Cyd's Catering will have some appetizers for sale in our cooler!! They're delicious!

Of course, Gary will have tours of the barn and introduce you to the girls and Honeybump. Ask him to show you how Punky gives kisses!

The babies are growing by leaps and bounds. You won't believe how much they've grown.

Be sure to drop in the store to say hi and taste the samples on the table!

We're Done!!!!!!!!

Much to little Max and Jasper's dismay, yesterday was the last bottle!!!!!! Five months of bottle feeding is a whippin'!

It all started off very calmly (well as calm as it can be in a pen full of kids!) until I started walking out without giving them a bottle this morning. Jasper is the loudest and made no bones about letting me know he wasn't happy!! Hopefully they've calmed down by tonight. Gotta' love 'em!

Open House

Well, the weather didn't cooperate with us entirely, but we still had a good turnout overall. Unfortunately, the entertainment we had scheduled wasn't able to perform because of the rain, but we're trying to get them set up for our October 18 open house. The Onion Creek Cloggers and Band will have a meeting next Sunday during practice to see who all is available and will let us know! Keep your fingers crossed!

We had two boys in particular that fell in love with the kids for the second year in a row. One of them is from Florida and is here on vacation with his family. Last year they fell in love with Skipper. This year it was Max and Jasper. They were very enthusiastic and would've taken them home if they could!!! Of course, OUR kids just ate up all the attention they got!!

If you didn't make it out yesterday, I hope you'll make it for our next open house. Be watching for details.

We had two little girls leave us yesterday and went to Long Grove, Iowa over by Davenport. Delia and Tatiana will become 4-H projects for a couple of young people. My gosh, only two left, but the barn seemed so much emptier!! I know they'll be well taken care of and that helps so much!

A GREAT BIG thank you to my aunt, Pam and Wendy's brother, Gary, for all the help they give us during our open houses. We couldn't do it without them!

July 13, 2009

I'm DELIGHTED to say that Rosco is back home with mom and dad!!! They got a call from someone over by Polk City (several miles away from where he was lost) that he had just come into their yard. They went over immediately and Rosco was thrilled to see them. I'm told he's a little thin, but seems healthy otherwise. He's getting checked out by their vet tonight.

Thank you to everyone who kept an eye open for this special little guy! Kathy

We need your help!

Some good friends of ours lost their dog July 4 during the fireworks. Rosco was lost near Highway 210 west of Slater, Iowa. He's a Blue Heeler mix, shy, but a real lover. "Mom and Dad" are desperate to get him back and have been looking for him every day. If you find Rosco, please call Luke at 515-201-7171 or Lana at 515-669-1160.

Thank you so much for your help! Kathy

July 7, 2009

Well, the heat has finally gotten here. Needless to say, the girls don't like it much at all. We're already seeing a big drop in milk production. The fact that we can't get good alfalfa hay right now isn't helping any either!

We're getting ready for our next open house this Sunday. We'll have the Onion Creek Cloggers and Band, Sugar Clay Winery samples, chair massages, Hula Hoop demos, The Leather Factory will be having mini workshops, and Karla from KG Photography will be available to take family pictures or pictures with our kids!! You'll also be able to put your name in for a drawing for a free 8x10!! So much to sample in the store. And, don't forget the babies and girls will be looking for some loving! Honeybump too!!

SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!

What a shock we had last night! We went to do chores and found one of our does (that we didn't think could get pregnant) in labor and close to delivery!!! We had Lola and her pal Margot next to a buck for nearly a year. The buck got over the fence one time for just a short but, but we didn't think Lola was in heat. SURPRISE!!!!!

She blessed us with 2 bouncing baby boys. One is brown with white on his head and ears, the other is pure brown. Cute as can be! So, instead of being done bottle feeding in two weeks like we thought we were going to be, it will be another two months!

Need names!!!!!!

May 13, 2009

Well, it doesn't seem I'm any better at keeping this current than I was on the regular website. I'm sorry!!! Ok, let's see where to start.

We ended with 39 kids in total from 17 moms. 23 were doelings and the other 16 were bucklings. The last were triplets born to Dotty on March 31. We had one doe, T-Bird, that freshened 11 days early. Only one of the triplets survived. She was 5 pounds and was able to eat and everything on her own with no problems. Just a little smaller than the others. Needless to say, she's VERY spoiled. Her name is Nalla and she loves to be held and rocked in your arms. In fact, she prefers it to walking!

We've been very fortunate to have many of our babies go to very loving, caring homes. That makes it much easier on us to see them go - although the barn always seems empty once some leave. Nearly all are weaned - just 8 still getting morning bottles yet this week and 3 get bottles 2x daily. The rest are eating hay, grain and browsing on pasture great.

We've had two open houses so far this year. The next will be Sunday, June 14 from noon to 5pm. The first one was snowed out - only three brave souls dared to come out. It wasn't fun! The second one was this month and was a beautiful day and a wonderful turnout. We had a jazz band from Valley High School in WDM, which was absolutely great! Also two wineries, Cyd's Catering, Louise from Chicken Chat notecards, Pat from Randol Honey and Larry from Quilted Gardens Nursery. Oh, and I can't forget Mary and her hula hoops! What a great time! Our 4-legged kids were totally exhausted by the time they greeted everybody and received all the attention they got. Bet they slept great that night!!!

I have a piece of bad news. We lost one of our Great Pyr's, Stosha, this morning. Gary and Wendy went to the barn to start chores and she was in the alleyway, but not right. We loaded her up and took her to our wonderful vet, but unfortunately, he wasn't able to save her. I was with her and thankfully she didn't suffer at all. It always feels like a chunk of our hearts have been torn out when we lose one of our loved ones here on the farm.

Come on out and see us June 14 for our next open house. We look forward to seeing you!

Kids are here!!

Well, we're off and running! Caylah and her daughter, Dasani both blessed us with 2 does each on February 11 and we've been going pretty strong since then. I'm happy to say the girls have all been able to all have the kids on their own, and both moms and babies have all been healthy!

Ten does have freshened so far. We have 13 doelings and 9 bucklings so far. Cera is due to freshen this Saturday. I'm praying she's on time so I can attend my great-niece's baptism. We'll just have to wait and see though. She's been pretty miserable for a month now, so I've been trying to convince her that freshening a day or two early would only benefit her!!! :-)

The kids are eating great and romping around the barn like crazy. The last two born were to Pete (Kimberly Pete) Sunday night. We checked her at 7:30 after milking and she was showing absolutely no signs. At 9:00, we went out to feed the little ones in the kid barn and I went to check her again and came back with two doelings in the basket! Surprise!!! We had one little spotted buckling that is already spoken for. Much to my surprise, he had two brown siblings! Not quite sure where that came from. We have a lot of black in color this year. When we first started the business, we couldn't get a black kid to save our souls! All except the last two born Sunday are named. We had a hard time with names at first, so they were #1, #2, #3... Glad that's over.

The girls have been showing they're hormonal with minds of their own right now. All that have freshened so far have had kids before and know the milk stand. For some reason, they're thinking maybe they don't need to get on the stand right now. Sure hope that changes fast! Trying to make it fun for them by giving extra treats, so hopefully they'll get the hint soon.

Freezing January!!

Wow! January in Iowa has been a hum dinger! Lots of snow and this week is below zero temps! Right now we're wishing we were back in Hawaii!!! The girls are all snug as bugs in the barn. They're in deep oat straw and snuggling up to one another as well. Today and tomorrow are to be exceptionally cold, so we're keeping them all closed up and they're thoroughly happy girls!

Hawaii was great and very hard to leave. It was 80s and light rain when we left Hawaii and 20s and snow when we landed back in DSM. What a welcome home! NOT!! Gary and Lana did an excellent job taking care of everybody while we were gone. They kind've snubbed us for a short while when we got back - little stinkers!

The girls are getting heavy with kids. We've had several contact us for kids for this year. Sure would be nice if we had as many doelings as we did last year. Really anxious to see what all we get this year. Caylah is the first one due on February 9. She's our oldest and a great milker. We had hoped to have 25 freshen this year, but they had other ideas and we think we only have 17 or 18 bred. They really DO have minds of their own.

Our sweet Amore' had what we think was a pinched nerve. She carried her front left leg for nearly a week and we saw it kind've twitched as well. We did our home vet work on her with no results, so called our local vet. He checked her out and confirmed he thought it was a pinched nerve and said there was a "chance" she'd get better and suggested separating her from the others so she didn't get bumped for a few weeks. Well, we have her separated (she has the run of the alley way) and we treated her as he suggested PLUS we've been giving her "goat massages" and have really seen a BIG improvement. The leg is no longer twitching and she has begun using it. Thank goodness!!

We lost our 19 year old Kizzy (parlor cat) about a month ago. It's so strange to go in and not see her there. She was healthy to the end - age just caught up with her. She gave so many people enjoyment when we had tours.

Time to sign off for now. Stay warm!