I made my first batch of  goat's milk soap!  This was after searching thru recipes to find just the right one and I decided to try Oats-n-Honey Castille soap.  It was supposed to be a very mild soap and had rave reviews.
I was able to get it to the trace stage, and then to separate and then to rise and turn on itself, but what the heck does a vaseline/mashed potato mixture look like?  At some point, I decided enough was enough and went to the next step which was to add honey.  Sure enough, it did just what is was supposed to ... which was turn brown.  BROWN.  Well, that looks real attractive. Jay had his own ideas about what it looked like. Hopefully it will redeem itself after it's done curing.  Tomorrow am hoping to try another recipe.  It sounds like I will be the only one here and everyone else is working.  (or trying to escape my honey-do list!)
Happy Memorial Day!
 
It's official, son Jakeob is graduated!  After a somewhat hectic week of in-laws, rain and work, I finally let go and enjoyed myself.  And that was hard to ignore the weeds in the landscaping around the rocks!  Hard to believe, but I'm still ignoring it!  I'm so very tired.  Who knew that this was so much work!  But am ready to get back to the "plan" and am planning on making my first batch of goat milk soap this weekend and maybe some chevre cheese. It's probably time to wean the goats so we also need to go back to the fencing project and I need to tape them (measure around their girth) to determine how far they are from slaughter (sniff) weight and getting a buyer lined up.  No sign of slowing down yet!
The goats discovered an open barn door last night so they had a very exciting night exploring all the nooks and crannies including getting in the old silo.  I didn't hear any goat echos but that would have been kind of fun.
Picture
And here's the very dapper Jakeob with his beautiful cousin at prom.

 
Yea...it's my turn to RIDE in the carpool.  I can read 90 minutes a day!  It's not uncommon for me to read 2-3 books during carpool week.  And then I picked up Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan.  It took me almost two weeks to read but I finished in the Shopko parking lot.  In my defense, I only had a handful pages left.  It took me most of the rest of the night to collect myself.  The book's premise is about the amazing resilience of children to survive in difficult situations.  It's a series of short stories set in different African countries.  But there is no promise of happy endings in this book and you read holding your breath that this child can outlast the horrible situations they are faced with.  And when they don't, you run out of air and it takes a while to catch it again.  Literally.  Next book won't tackle such a serious subject, but this one was worth reading.  Have a good read ... tonight!
 
Great weekend.  It blew and was cold but in spite of that, we did a lot that after it was all said and done, we were able to have a sense of self-satisfaction.
We cleaned the barn, got rid of two 'junk' vehicles and one 'junk' lawn mower, and made a milking station.  Of course, I crossed off the major life milestone of "milking a goat".  
DH was very good about helping me all weekend with the milking including holding the goat while I milked.  In spite of that, the goat got antsy and tried to go her separate way.  So DH did what was necessary to calm her down including singing an original tune to the goat.  Very funny.  The goat just stopped and stared into his eyes and they've been champs ever since.  The milk looks absolutely yummy, creamy and pure white.  I haven't tried it yet but will this week.  The goat milk soap is going to have to wait until after graduation but am looking forward to that too.  The other noticeable thing is how empty the corrals are.  We're going to need lots more goats. :) We did completely change the plan and won't be putting the goats in the south corrals so I think our fencing project just got a whole lot smaller.  We are instead getting the old barn ready for them.

So now back to the to do list --
THIS WEEK'S AG VENTURE TO DO LIST:
1.  Complete the "Dreams" section on business plan with Jay.
2.  Plant onions, potatoes, and work on the landscaping.
(Not very business minded but we have to get ready for graduation for the next three weeks.  Bear with me)