I finally caught the subtleness of a cow in heat!

A great day today as we welcomed two new wwoofers, Jesse and Mike, and the "old wwoofers" Therese and Isabel  did most of the training! I got to sit back and watch and be very proud of these girls whose tentative grasps of a teat have turned into confident squirts! While looking around I also was lucky enough to witness Xixi trying to mount Vicky. If I had had my back turned I would have missed it entirely! Then Xixi tried to chase down Dodie, our wonder volunteer from Edmonton (formerly Ottawa) who was just trying to pass her to get at the new gate she was building! That's when I clued in to what was happening, called my AI friend with Canadienne and Jersey semen in his tank and set up an evening date with the "tickler". Robert was great at explaining exactly what he was doing and why and the parts of each implement. Each of the cows had "proud" sides to their uteruses (how do you pluralize that word??) .... meaning that they would be ovulating imminently and a "bulling string".... the mucus that hangs down. So, if they take, they should both have their calves together again, around May 5th, 2013.

 We also managed to finalize where the Pich/Clay/Pizza Oven will live and shoveled some gravel and leveled it with the help of Rigel, Jackson and Samuel Corry. Its been a big decision and now that its started it should move along more quickly. I'm looking forward to having it as part of an outdoor shade area and community summer kitchen. Our current visitors have only the shady side of the house to lounge on and that's where we remove our muddy (putting it mildly) boots. Any who would like to help with this project, just email me or call, K?

I sold two goats: Zippity-Day (now known as Fonzi) and Zither (now known as Fuji). Still have nine to go. We will be keeping only one this year: Zelda. Its kinda sad to see them go but these two left on a young girl's lap, while her mom drove them all home to Entwhistle. My kinda people!

I'm making cheese a lot these days: Cheddar, Mozza and Chevre. We even had thirty local day campers come for a Milk to Mozza workshop. They love pulling the cheese and thir leaders did a great job of keeping them entertained whiel they all took turns at a goat or cow. I love watching how all the different personalities approach touching a teat! Humans are so amazing! Great quotes from that day " what's manure?" and "Is this garlic?" (after I gave her the scape.) This teaching people about where their food comes from thing is kinda really really rewarding!!!!