I know I haven't shown our CSA for the last couple of weeks. I suck at consistency. My kids can tell you all about it (but I'm really good at spontaneity - and using big words that I think I'm pretty sure I know the definition to, mostly).
This is our CSA from today:
We have kale (for juicing), lettuce (I specifically picked a small head this week since we have had so much lettuce lately), green beans, cabbage (I want to try this recipe), red beets (not sure exactly what I'm going to do with these yet. I want to try some in juice and I want to try some beet chips), blueberries (they are going into the freezer for cornmeal blueberry pancakes and muffins this winter), yellow squash (some ideas), carrots, and more kohlrabi (I want to try this soup).
I also picked up 2 boxes of peaches. Each box is just under 20 pounds. I will freeze them for this winter. Drop them into boiling water for about 20 seconds then pop them into an ice water bath. The skins slip right off. I cut them in half, remove the pit and line them on a baking pan/cookie sheet to flash freeze them in our deep freezer. When they are frozen they go into large ziploc bags and will keep all year.
What's new with our goats?
I got to learn how to draw blood this week. I have loads of experience! I have had a ton of blood drawn from me and seen it done on animals. I've never actually drawn blood before. So I did the only logical thing, I went to YouTube.
The first try I realized that I did not have the right needles. Hmmm, not so. I did not have the right needles for me, the complete and utter novice. The vet supply store had given me the double sided needles (for those who know what they are doing). I needed the single needle with the syringe. So back I went. Got the right supplies and tried again the next night.
After watching several videos on YouTube (and making my husband watch several with me) we headed out to get Penny. All I can say is, poor poor Penny. It is pretty terrible being the one that is the object of the learning experience for drawing blood. After about 10 needle stabs (really it felt like 50), I finally got blood. Ok, so that makes it sound better than it was. I got blood - twice. I needed 3cc of blood. The first time I got 1cc and she got away (oops). Good thing I got extra syringes! After lots more stabbing I got another 2cc. I combined them into one vial and called it good. Like I said, poor poor Penny. I can say that she got extra love and extra feed so she is doing good now and surprisingly, not sore.
In the process I succeeded in causing my goat to faint (didn't know that was even possible). She is not supposed to be a fainting goat. I'm not sure what I did wrong. Or, more specifically, what of the many things I did wrong that caused her to actually faint. It could be that I stabbed her numerous times in the neck with a sharp needle (that would do it to me). Most likely it has to do with where I was holding the pressure on her neck to get the "vein to pop up". I was either holding on too long and not allowing blood to her brain or holding at the wrong place and not allowing her to breath. Either way, not good. I went back to YouTube to watch the video again.
I did finally get the needed 3cc of blood. Got it packaged, labeled and dropped it off at UPS to go to the lab. Next Wednesday we should find out if Penny is pregnant. I give it a 50/50 chance. She was loosing weight (which she needed to), but now is no longer loosing and seems to be gaining a little bit. So, maybe?
If she is not pregnant she will have a romantic visit with a buck this month. If she is pregnant we will plan on kids around the mid to end of October.
No comments:
Post a Comment