Cornerstone Acres Farm 

Well, as usual lots going on. 

Spent almost all day yesterday canning some jams, jellies and sauces.  Specifically: Dandelion jelly, Strawberry/Cherry/Serrano pepper sauce, Rhubarb bbq sauce (both"regular" and "spicy"), cherry jam, strawberry/jalapeno jelly and rhubarb/cinnamon jelly.  All of it turned out tasty, but I'm afraid I'm having a problem with everything but the cherry jam setting.  I'm thinking I'll leave the Serrano and Jalapeno as more of a dipping/marinade sauce anyway.  I did try and redo the dandelion, we'll see if that sets this time.  The BBQ turned out as deliciuos as last time. 

Been waiting impatiently for Penny to have her little one(s).  I swear she's been observing the does code of honor (copied from GoatBeat - see links page for link to site).  She looks like she is so ready to pop and showing signs of labor - but nothing yet.  Our Lily is due too, but she looks to have some time to go yet. 

The Doe's secret code of honor is as old as goats themselves and is ultimately the species best kept secret. No Doe shall kid before its time. Its time being determined by the following factors:

1. No kid shall be born until total chaos has been reached by all involved. Your owner?s house must be a wreck, their family hungry, and desperate for clean clothes, and their social life nonexistent.

2. ?Midwives? must reach the babbling fool status before you kid out. Bloodshot eyes, tangled hair and the inability to form a sentence means the time is getting close.

3. For every bell, beeper, camera, or whistle they attach to you, kidding must be delayed by at least one day for each item. If they use an audio monitor, one good yell per hour will keep things interesting.

4. If you hear the words, ?She?s no where near ready. She?ll be fine while we?re away for the weekend.? Wait until they load the car, and then begin pushing!

5. Owner stress must be at an all time high! If you are in the care of someone else, ten to fifteen phone calls a day is a sign you?re getting close.

6. When you hear the words, ?I can?t take it anymore!? wait at least three more days.

7. You must keep this waiting game interesting. False alarms are mandatory! Little teasers such as looking at your stomach, pushing your food around, and then walking away from it, and nesting are always good for a rise.

8. The honor of all goats is now in your hands. Use this time to avenge all of your barn mates. Think about your friend who had to wear that silly costume in front of those people. Hang onto that baby for another day. Oh, they made him do tricks too! Three more days seems fair. Late feedings, the dreaded diet, bad haircuts, those awful wormings can also be avenged at this time.

9. If you have fulfilled all of the above and are still not sure when to have the kids, listen to the weather forecast on the radio that has been so generously provided by those who wait. Severe Storm warning is what you?re waiting for. In the heart of the storm jump into action! You have a good chance of those who wait missing the whole thing while searching for a flashlight that works!

10.Make the most of your interrupted nights. Beg for food each time someone comes into the barn to check you. Your barn mates will love you as the extra goodies fall their way too.Remember this code of honor was designed to remind man of how truly special goats are. Do your best to reward those who wait with a beautiful doeling to carry on the Doe Code of Honor for the next generation of those who wait.

Found this not-so-little fellow in my herb basket.  He was quite a neat looking inchworm.

And finally I figured I'd put this on the very bottom of this post as well, I'm hoping nobody gets far enough to read it.  My garden this year is the most embarassing I've ever had.  The weeds by far outshine the vegetables.  I will have to say that perhaps it is serendipity, for this year there was an invasion of rose chafers.  Although they started in and did some damage to my green and purple bush beans as well as my peas, most of the time they concentrated on a couple of the weeds that were in the garden.  I'm afraid had my garden been weeded properly they would have headed straight for the vegetables.  The invasion this year was very intense all over our area.  I think I managed to save my new sweet cherry tree but the little birch tree is more than likely beyond help.  At this time, the beetle numbers are dropping significantly, so today I did start weeding the garden in earnest.  GOAL: one to two rows every couple of days. So no, this picture is NOT a pasture, it is my vegetable garden.  You can see a volunteer sunflower towards the top left of the picture and the zucchini plants to the right of that. near the rain barrels.  Believe it or not though the vegetable plants are doing quite well (except the pepper plants which seem a bit stunted).