Work, work and more work

Plum variety that will likely be the next one to ripen.

I can't believe how quickly things changed for me at my job. Last week, I was searching for things to do to keep myself busy. This week, I've stayed until 8 pm three days so far and worked through most of my lunch breaks! It's good...as I'd much rather be busy than bored, but it's tough. I didn't get in my second commute by bike this week. I wanted to do it today, but after not getting home until almost 9 last night, I just did have time to prep everything before passing out. I was exhausted! So exhausted in fact, that I had trouble falling asleep. Figures.

Working all these hours is also tough on the garden. I was trying to get out there to hand water every day, but this week, that's just fallen off. In fact, I haven't been out there since Sunday! H did get it all well watered yesterday, so we should be ok. I'll spend some time out there this evening, I think. H has a softball game, so I'll have some time to myself and spending it in the garden sounds like a nice idea.

The chicks apear to like the coop. This weekend, we are going to add the sliding door over their opening to the run area, waterproof the outside, and add the perches. We still need to build nesting boxes, but considering that we are still 3 months away from our first eggs, those can wait a bit. Right now we have the brooder heat lamp in the coop. We turn it on at night so that they stay warm, but I unplug it every morning. Once they are fully feathered, we'll stop using it all together. Today marks 4 weeks since they arrived. I'll take some updated photos tonight. They now have tail feathers and are really starting to look like chickens!

Sassafras is doing well. I saw her and buddy playing yesterday morning. She doesn't try to get out of the fenced area anymore. I think she's happier now that she has company. This weekend, we'll get that 'burn pile' out of there so that we can remove the temp electric fence and give them full access to the whole space. We are finding that her milk production is increasing. Happy goats give more milk, perhaps?

Oh, my yogurt maker arrived yesterday!! Big props to Living Right.com for super speedy service and shipping. They had the best price, too. I read all the instructions last night and I hope to make our first good yogurt this afternoon. I also will stop and pick up a bag of ice on my way home so that we can give our ice cream maker a try as well. Mmm, fresh goat milk vanilla ice cream with blackberries, anyone?