Two Left

I hope you don't mind this picture.  I thought it would be okay since it is more at the "food" stage than the "animal" stage here.  (Ethan says the worst thing about it is the appalling amount of mildew on the table top.)  I was proud of how nicely I had done the quartering and butchering.

Two goatlings in the freezer, Tom and Neroneus  are still on the hoof.  It is nice to get goat milk again.  I was really dreading this, as soon as we had so many boys, but it turned out as well as possible.  Right when we arrived Huck and Sid were out of the fence and had gotten into the barn where they were eating the expensive peanut hay, pooping and peeing everywhere and making it disgusting.  They had also eaten up the banana trees (killing one of them) and the biggest and most beautiful Tithonia bush, along with my calendula and sunflowers.

 So it was easy, in more ways than one, to catch them.  The slaughter part was over quickly and humanely, although we are new to processing goats.  I said a little prayer of thanks for all the nourishment they had to offer our family beforehand.  We are trying to make the most of what they had to offer us - every edible bit being eaten and we saved their beautiful hides.  Ethan made a wonderful Jamaican goat curry with rice and peas and vegetables from the garden.

The goat herd already feels more manageable.  Cricket and Firefly are enjoying being milked and getting their little bit of barley.  There are plans for Capretto and Middle Eastern roasted goat - even some "Mannish Water."  We are so grateful to be able to have this connection with life, the earth, and our herd.