Why do we have goats in the kitchen? This is a perfectly reasonable question. Just like the question, "why did we have chickens in the bathroom?" Looking at this from the outside in, we probably seem to have gone a little insane since moving to Kentucky. But, believe it or not, there is a logic and a method to the madness, even if it really wasn't our logic or method. And the more I observe it, the more I think I'm getting it.
First, this isn't "our" farm. Not mine, not Heidi's, not Cindy's. This is God's farm first and foremost. This is something that we all agreed on when we started. The land is His, the house is His, the barn, the animals, and everything which is on this property belongs to Him, including us. And in a very real way, He's the one calling the shots on this as far as what animals we get and when, and what our actual timetable and layout plan is going to look like. Really, all we've been doing is asking Him to show us when, where, and what.
We could have bought some cheaper adult animals early on, but the Lord led us to not do that. They simply weren't the right breeds of animals, and they weren't really in the best of shape. As particular as this sounds, this is important. We're not trying to set up a meat farm. As an organic permaculture farm, our animals are meant to be for fiber, milk, eggs, and fertilizer. Occasionally, one might have to go into the freezer eventually, but especially not with our starter animals.
For our starter animals, we've purchased all babies essentially. From the tiny chicks of specific breeds we had in the bathroom, to the giant angora rabbit kits we bought, to the Nigerian dwarf and Nigora goats. Yes, the dogs were also acquired as very young puppies, as were our cats acquired as young kittens. Purchasing them as infants meant that we could hand tame them and socialize them early to make them unafraid of us or people in general, get them used to each other (important especially for the dogs), and oversee their development from start to finish. Truth be told, the time table on purchasing them wasn't ours, but we moved as the Lord led us to move to obtain the right starters for this farm.
But, baby animals are just as much work and responsibility as human babies. You have to feed them, clean up their messes, love on them, and make sure they're in a stimulating environment. They also need to be kept warm and safe. As these are the starter animals for our herd and flock, they are also the most important, because they will be the backbone of our farming business, literally our bread and butter, along with the gardens and orchards. The female goats will be the mothers of our breeding program, the same with the hens. We have over forty animals right now I think, but this will expand over the next couple of years, and it has to be good, healthy stock bred for the purposes we want. There is also the matter of the investment of money as well as time which these animals represent. None of them were inexpensive because of their breeds, except perhaps Anna and Olaf, our two shorthair rabbits which are now our main fertilizer producers for the raised beds.
Kentucky's weather is not like California's. It actually has four seasons, and this winter it's gotten down to about 7-9 degrees, well below freezing outside. It's also been raining at least one day a week on average since we arrived, and if not raining, then snowing. Most of you know about the Tornado which hit us, as well as the ice storm, and the power outages. Infant animals can't just be thrust out into this kind of weather and be expected to survive on their own. Many didn't have their coats or feathers yet which would protect them from the elements. It would have been just like tossing a one or two year old human baby outside in the freezing cold and expecting them to survive on their own. Of course they would freeze to death, or, with the storms, at least be terrified and alone. Just being responsible animal owners we couldn't do that, much less being parents. So we have to take these factors into consideration where the care of our animals is concerned.
Yes, we have a barn, but it's not ready yet to receive any of the kinds of animals we need to put into it. Part of this has been because of the weather, part of this has been because of other mitigating circumstances. Will it get there? Yes. It's just not there yet. We intended to have the basement room which opens out to the backyard as our "nursery." But our basement has been torn out and has been under renovations since about May-June because of mold which was found in the walls. It's taken this long, and is still under construction, because of the severe shortage of contractors and electricians in this area due to COVID. All those willing and able to work are overbooked and overworked at this point. Our contractor, Nick, and our electrician, Corey, are wonderful and good at what they do. Nick's wife is pregnant, and has been having some complications with her pregnancy. Of course she has to be his priority over our basement. But this too has factored into the slowdown on the work.
So, in order to care for the baby animals which are the foundation of our herd and flock, we had to bring them into the house and turn a bathroom into a temporary chicken coop, and the middle of the kitchen into a temporary barn nursery. Our garage is currently a makeshift barn as well to keep the bulk of our livestock warm through the winter until they're old enough to survive on their own in the cold and elements.
We're hoping to get most of the animals into the shed and chicken run in the backyard within the next two to three weeks as the weather begins warming up, and they're reaching the age where they can handle it. The four new bottle fed goats will be fully weaned at twelve weeks, which gives us another two months, but they will probably be going into the garage before then once we get everyone rotated. Eventually, they'll be in their proper places in the barn and pasture, hopefully come this summer.
As Cindy has said, we can either do the easy thing now, and the hard thing later, or we can do the hard thing now, and the easy thing later. Yes, it's been nuts. Yes, it's been hard, expensive, and demanding right now. But as they get older, and are put out where they belong, all of this should taper off a bit once we're out of the starter phase of the farm, and get more into regular operations.
In everything, we've been seeking the Lord in what we should do and when. We don't see this farm as just a business, but a mission and an outreach to those around us here in Kentucky, and beyond just this area. This means we have to be doing things differently, seeing things differently, and following, not what is common sense, or what makes sense, but what direction the Lord is leading us.
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