Bad Year
It has been a rough Year. Rough Years lead to hard decisions.
- Weather did not cooperate this summer and our hay crop was much less than we would have liked.
- My broken shoulder did not heal properly and I ended up having shoulder replacement surgery. I still have lots of physio to do for my recovery.
- My daughter stayed home from work to assist me after the surgery, and ended up breaking her collarbone and needing surgery of her own.
Because of these factors, we had to make the hard decision to reduce our Kiko Goat herd. We always plan to keep the herd small because we like to give the animals as much attention as we can, but had planned to slowly expand.
In order to get thru this winter we sold two of our breeding aged does, in addition to all the bucklings and two of the doelings. We have 4 breeding aged does left, and 3 doelings, as well as our two bucks.
Wwoofers
Thank goodness we have had the help of a steady stream of Wwoofers since spring. We had the help of so many wonderful young people. They have been a godsend. We would not have made it thru this year without their help.
WWOOF is Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms. It is an organization that matches farms with people who want to work on a farm in a different part of the world, to travel and learn about farming.
We have had the amazing experience of having these wonderful people come into our home, and become part of our family for the month or so that they stay with us. We provide room and board, and some sightseeing opportunities. In exchange they provide an average of about 5 hours per day of labour as well as the joy of their company.
Some of the wwoofers
Ina, from Germany, came in Spring, just after the goats had kidded. She made the most amazing vegetarian meals. I almost didn’t miss the meat.
Max and Sebastian were with us for the Month of July. They are 19 year old young men from Austria. They love building things, so we set them to work building animal shelters. The enjoy rock climbing, so we took them to an indoor rock climbing facility so they could burn off some of their extra energy. The boys even baked for us.
Johanna was with us in August/Sept. She painted all the shelters the boys had built and did amazing things in the garden and kitchen.
Sarah came the day before Melissa’s Collarbone Fracture. I don’t know what we would have done without her! She chauffeured us and did everything that needed to be done.
After Sarah was Julia and Rebekka. They insulated the new chicken coop and provided lots of Laughs.
Our last Wwoofers for 2023 are Caro and Marie, from Munich. They are getting settled in and getting over their jet lag. They are lovely young ladies, and eager to do whatever is needed.
I wish I had taken more photos of all the Wonderful Wwoofers who stayed with us and helped us thru this rough year.
On the mend
Marie and Caro are here until Mid December. Hopefully, by then I will be able to resume the majority of animal chores. I am doing lots of painful stretches each day, and being rewarded with gradual increases in shoulder range of motion and strength. My arm has not been raised above my shoulder in over a year, so it it slow going, Its been a rough year, but things are looking good for the future.
