The Goats' New Home, Part 1

In early August, my goats will be moving to a new home in Agua Fria Village, about four miles down the road from where I live. I am thrilled to be part of a working horse farm, where folks come to do therapeutic work with the animals. Beekeeping friend/supplier Steve Wall keeps some hives there too.

I am in the process of converting a chicken coop into a Goat Dream Palace. This will be the third--no the fourth goat barn I have built or retrofitted, and I realize I now have a pretty good system. I will be posting more pics as we progress, but for today, I received a load of 30 straw bales for insulating the barn (also makes it so pretty and peaceful inside! And is yummy, I think, for the goats to snuggle up against in the winter) and 12 bales of protein-rich alfalfa. The pic here shows the first laying out of the bales inside. I'll snap another pic of the completed interior. Turns out I'll need about 15 more bales to really line the walls to the roofline. There is a sweet little window one wall complete with a shutter that opens or latches shut. I plan to install a feeder within the window, so I can just put flakes of hay right in from the outside. Cute!

I've taken this move as an opportunity to purchase some new tools, like my wheelbarrow pictured here, a rake and a shovel, parts for my drill, a new tarp, etc. I guess these things are hardly worth mentioning really, but they are the tools of the farm, the brass tacks.

Tomorrow friends Janeen (who milks once a week for me) and Claude will help out for a couple of hours. We'll expand the size of the yard a bit, continue cleaning/mucking from the former chickens, and secure the strawbales with fencing.

Look for tomorrow's progress report!