Goating and riding around in 2022 (part 1)

Where to start after more than a year without posting? A look back over the last year, a list of hopes and dreams for the future or just an unstructured ramble as is my habit? 🙂

I should start with the children, yes, they are still here. I haven’t shipped them off to boarding school (in my dreams) or worked them to the point of exhaustion (it’s a struggle to get them to empty the dishwasher) nor have we moved to a new house whilst they were at school, home schooling put a stop to that idea!

Truth be told they have just got taller, more independent, talkative, inquisitive and annoying 🙂 Fortunately, despite becoming grumpier, I have also become more patient as I have got older, I just wish I had a bit more energy, but then don’t we all?

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  I even tried locking them up with the rabbits

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  Hoof cleaning time

Thankfully as they age they are more inclined to play with each other (80% of the time) without fighting too much and they have developed a common love of horses.

Luckily Gosia supplies a nearby stable with soaps which they sell as souvenirs and this has become a handy exchange for horse riding lessons, which is where they spent their summer weekends. Unluckily this love of horses has turned into the new expectation. Try as I might to discourage the idea of getting a horse\pony I fear I am outnumbered, given that Gosia also quite likes the idea.

So this year I will be building a stable.

Now to be honest it’s not all bad, as it fits in with the bigger plans that we have, in fact I don’t mind at all as long as I’m not the one left mucking out at the end of every day. This I have made clear. The thirteen goats that we have, soon to be twenty, provide enough crap for one man to deal with. But it is due to this planned expansion that I had already taken steps to build a shelter for the farm equipment and drying area for the various plants that we now grow to compliment the cosmetics, which in turn freed up space in the barn for the extra goats and potentially a small horse. As with most things nothing is planned around here, it just happens, so I have probably said too much already.

Shelter

One thing I do know for sure is that we will be planting out the top field with more lavender this year after the success of the four rows that we planted last year. I’m hoping I find a picture as it’s hard to describe, but we have essentially set aside around a half hectare (1 ¼ acres) for lavender along with some space for other botanicals for Gosia cosmetics.

Ok, not such a good picture, the four rows of plants are pruned for the winter, but we did learn that red deer do not eat lavender, although our goats do like to rub their horns on the plants, no doubt trying to improve their aroma, so fencing or hedging is also on the cards this year.

I just noticed I’m probably pushing your attention span, so this is to be continued tomorrow….. 🙂