The Spectacle at Harmony Homestead

The Goats were taken by surprise one recent Sunday evening. A blue truck came into the paddock, unannounced .... what is going on here?

This was highly unusual . The most popular guess was that this was a very abundant delivery of a food source. Perhaps some new hay, or some exotic grains?

It required two strong men to carry. One of them did not look particularly happy about the situation.

Two strange creatures were released!

One had fluffy feet? Are those slippers?

This spectacle was highly unusual. The goats remained in a state of disbelief and wonder.... what are these things?

Their fleece was not like anything they had every seen........

They have since come to know the new barnyard friends... We have added a Rooster and a Hen to our menagerie. The hen is a RI Red, and the Rooster is a mix... A RI Red, with some sort of chicken that has feathery slippers:)

His name is Moe, named by my great niece, Kaylee Rose, aka, Goldilocks:)

We haven't named the hen yet..

Moe....(aka Moe-zart.)

I will have a contest. Name that hen with a musical name, and lucky winner will win an ounce of wonderful pygora fleece, donated by the Harmony Homestead Herd. I will announce the winner on the Harmony Homestead Face Book page.

Use your imagination!

Two Bucks worth.....

We now have two bucks at Harmony Homestead!

Please allow me to proudly introduce Rainbow Spring Acres Zink.

Only another breeder can fully appreciate the value of new blood to add to the mix of the herd. Zink has excellent conformation and comes from a very reputable breeder in NY, Fran Bishop.

Zink means "coronette", like the trumpet type of horn my father used to play.

( We try to name our animals with a musical theme.)

He has type C fleece, although he will be able to throw kids of A and B type fleece due to his lineage. He has gotten the attention of the does here already:)

Our first buck, The Oaks Private Ryan has acknowledged his presence, but until the rut season arrives, there seems to be no serious head butting ! The wethers have challenged his joining the boys side of the fence. Goats being goats, will work out a pecking order, and decide amongst themselves, who gets first pick of the food and personal attention.

Adding another buck to our herd allows us to add variey into the breeding program, and brings more genetics into the pool. This will help us to develop a stronger herd line with the name of Harmony Homestead. We eagerly await to see the kids that Zink will add to our herd in the spring of 2011.

HARMONY HOMESTEAD IN THE SPRINGTIME

Spring is here !

It has been a long hard winter, and we welcome spring with great appreciation for all the new life that is on our little Homestead.

And the Deer let me enjoy my tulips this year!!!

The Deer do not like Daffodils, so we have lots of them!

The goats are lazily grazing on green grass.

A Weeping Cherry Tree graces the yard with abundant and delicate flowers.

Azaleas are in Full Bloom awaiting the humming birds.

A bird's nest was hidden on my potting bench , so I will have to wait to pot my flowers!

A bird house waits for new occupants.

A carving hangs to give whimsical character to a front garden

We are loving life here at Harmony Homestead in the Spring!

A Field of Flowers

My dear friend, Iris Wescott, knit a scarf for me using just a one ounce skein of my lace weight Harmony Homestead Pygora yarn...Iris, is very talented, kind and generous in all she creates!

The details are wonderful to examine.

And the yarn is so soft... here you can see the halo from the pygora.

The pattern is from Ravelry,

called Field of Flowers.... here you can see the pattern more clearly.

I am very happy with the finished product.

It is of heirloom distinction.

Thank you Iris!

A White Christmas in Rhode Island

It was a very

Merry

Christmas

at

Harmony Homestead !

We had lots of snow!

Both Nicole and Julia came to visit us, and it was a very special blessing to

spend time with family we love so much!

Nicole

Nicole and Julia

Cello and Julia

And Santa Claus made a special visit to see our great niece and nephews.

Kaylee Rose had to sit still for a few minutes....

Tommy was a very good boy this year.

Jacob was a bit nervous about the man with the beard.

And so it goes...special traditions

passed over the generations.

We wish our friends and family a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Harmony Homestead kids to Rhinebeck NY!

Bye Bye babies..... off you go to Rhinebeck NY with a new loving family.

We will certainly miss these sweet girls.. Sprite on the left, and Samba on the right.

I know their new family will love them and promises to take very good care of them!

They are ready to leave their mommas and begin their new life with a beautiful young family! New dreams are realized for Dana as she brings these new babies home....

We are happy for them , and wish them many days filled with QGT.... Quality Goat Time.....as they explore life in the Goat Lane!

Allegro's August Adiós

Allegro was a wonderful Abyssinian we had the pleasure to know. love, and care for 17 years.

He was Elaine's momma's boy, and as we watched his health deteriorate from diabetes and old age, we prepared ourselves for the day he would no longer be with us.

We brought him to the West Greenwich Animal Hospital on August 15,2009 for the last time.

His body was laid to rest with Adagio and Liberty under the Apple tree, near the bridge.

Sadness drained our bodies for awhile and we still miss his loving being...

Yet, we are thankful we had time to say good bye, and know we gave his a loving home for all of his long life.

We will always remember his loving purr, handsome face, and loving nature.

We also remember our young daughters, (Julia at 3 years old and Nicole at 8 years old) as they played with him as a new kitten, feeding him bottles and put bibs on him..

He accepted their tender loving antics as young girls with gentle humility.

We remain thankful for the years we shared with our dear feline friend.

Forever in our hearts he will live.

For the love of Liberty

Harmony Homestead Liberty

She was born on Memorial Day, 2008, and named in honor of our Veterans.

My Father was a WWII Veteran, serving in the Pacific. He had passed away the in the autumm of 2007. His last word spoken was "Goldilocks" As young children, our father told us this story many times at our bedtime, and we have very fond memories of these special times.

During his last days, under hospice care, he placed his weak hand on his great grandchild's head Kaylee Rose, and said in a whisper, "Goldilocks".

Kaylee was about 9 months old, and has beautiful golden hair. She was just learning to crawl, and she brought us cherished moments of respite as we waited by my father's hospice bedside.

When Liberty was born the following spring, her color was the same as Kaylee's hair.

We watched Kaylee playing in the goat pen, with Liberty . My mom nicknamed Liberty "Goldilocks " seeing Kaylee and Liberty play together so sweetly.

Sadly and suddenly, we lost Liberty to a meningeal worm infection this week. The worm had done it's damage in the central nervous system, and we decided to have her put to sleep. This parasite is a very hard one to fight with de wormers. With the excessive wet weather we have had, the conditions for this parasite to do damage were grounded.

Liberty was full of promise. She was beautiful! She was only one year old, and I had big plans to use her as my foundation doe for future breeding's with the Harmony Homestead herd name.

I'll admit, most people do not have the pleasure of quietly experiencing "life in the moment " with a goat. Liberty shared her gentle disposition with ease.

She is now buried under the apple tree near the garden bridge my father put together and painted for me. The bridge symbolizes the transition from life to death, and brings honor to the relatedness of grief and hope, the old and young, the strong and gentle.

I wanted to express how an animal can weave the pieces of our lives together in ways we could never predict.

We will miss Liberty but always cherish her gift of helping us live our lives more fully in simple harmony.

It has been awhile....

Since the last post, life has been very full. For those of you I don't see very often, I will try to cut and paste a brief summary of the Happenings...

Philadelphia

In May, a road trip with our family, Sarah, Mary, and Gramma B to attend Nicole's graduation from UPenn School of Veterinary Medicine. We had a wonderful time and were so happy to share this extraordinary accomplishment. It was truly one of the happiest moments in our lives.

Dr. Deegan and Dr. Donahue

Shortly after , we had a very nice catered party here for our RI family to celebrate the occassion with us. Julia visited home for a week, before heading back to Delaware, her preferred state of residence as she nears her senior year at UD.

In June, I attended a 2 day workshop on dying sponsered by the RI Spinner's Guild.

It was informative, creative, and full of color and fibers.

The following week The RI Spinner's Guild came to our Homestead to meet and spin ...We had good food, and newly dyed fleece to spin. The weather cooperated very nicely as we spun outdoors on the deck. I was too busy having fun to take pictures.

Now it is time to get the goat kids ready for their new homes.....Saying goodbye to the little ones is a difficult part of goat breeding for me.

Angelica, the sweetest baby girl we have grown to love.

Fiber, Fiber everywhere!

It is time for the 3rd annual RI Wool and Fiber festival. This means the house and myself are covered with fiber fiber everywhere! Pygora is so soft and fine, it floats around like cotton candy!

I have been busy . The fiber is from 2008's harvest from our goats. It has been commercially  de-haired. 

I dye it in dye pots and dry it on the clothesline

Then it is carded and blended.

The bundles are then packaged for sale....

The colors are amazing! And the fiber is extraordinarily soft!

I love this part of the process.The festival is May 16th.. in Bristol at the Coggeshall Farm. I'll take a couple of goats with me and leave at 0 dark thirty! 

The next day we leave for Philly for Nicole's graduation form Vet School! 

We'll have  a house sitter to mind the menagerie here!

More later..... :)

Last kid of the year

She finally arrived. I was expecting twins, maybe triplets, but a single.. no way! Heidi was as big as a double wide trailer.

 Heidi was just starting to labor when I got home from work Monday evening.  She was clearly having a hard time. After an hour of no progress, it was time to help her. As we in the kidding business say, "it was time to go in... "

So with a gloved hand, I helped pull her out.  She sputtered and cried, and Heidi and I  dried her off. I waited with Heidi for the next delivery, but she started to eat her dinner, and seemed to be finished with her business!  So, after caring for the umbilical cord, giving Heidi a bucket of warm water and molasses, some hay and grain,and tucking the remainder of the kids in,  I left for my much needed shower. 

Another kidding year is over, and we can breath a sigh of relief!  

We have four doelings and one buckling and all are well. 

New life is breathed into Harmony Homestead as only God can do!