American Way Farm: No Kidding? Yes, Kidding!

Tuesday, April 2, 2019

No Kidding? Yes, Kidding!

Well, folks, it's that time of year again—kidding season is officially underway! The first arrivals came on Monday, April 1, and trust me, it’s no joke. Meet our adorable new arrivals: triplets! They’re mini-Nubians, born from a Nubian mom and a Nigerian Dwarf dad, and they are seriously too cute for words. Two girls and one boy—because who wouldn’t want a goat gang of three?

These pictures were taken just hours after their grand entrance into the world, and while they might not be holding still for their glamorous photoshoot, you’ll get the idea. More pictures to come, as soon as I can chase them down long enough to snap a few!

As for the mama and her little ones, they’re all doing great. Mom’s handling motherhood like a pro (even though she looks a little worn out from the whole giving-birth-and-raising-kids thing), and the babies? Well, they’re doing what babies do best: nursing, cuddling, and being ridiculously cute.

Now, how am I holding up, you ask? After spending the day crawling around the milk room floor, making sure these little guys got their first meal, drying them off, and making sure they were nice and comfy, I’m exhausted. But hey, there are still five more does left to kid, so no time for naps! I can do this! Deep breath. Only a few more to go, and I’m sure I’ll have enough stories to write a book about the chaos.

Stay tuned for more updates (and probably more hilarious pictures of little ones causing havoc)!

Stanley - male

Mona - female

Melody - female

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When my husband, Jim, and I moved from southern New Hampshire to way, way up north in the fall of 2001, we thought we were just “getting away from it all.” You know—peace, quiet, maybe a moose sighting or two. We weren’t planning a major lifestyle change. We certainly didn’t think we’d be trading paved driveways for muck boots and birthing kits. But life (and nature) had other plans. The thing about the North Country is that it’s very good at growing trees. Tall ones. Fast ones. Persistent ones. Left unchecked, they’ll take over faster than a toddler with a jar of peanut butter. We were starting to lose our view—and not just a “I think the horizon looks a little hazy” kind of loss. I mean, we were being reabsorbed by the forest. So we came up with a brilliant plan: let animals do the work! We figured a couple of pigs and sheep would chew down the underbrush, fertilize the land, and maybe keep us entertained along the way. A few goats joined the team, because apparently we thought chaos was missing. Chickens showed up next, mostly for fly control—but also because they’re hilarious, not to mention that farm eggs are the best. And then, of course, a dog. You need a dog to guard the animals from the coyotes and the goats from each other. Before long, we had an entire ecosystem going. And then the questions started rolling in. “Hey, could you raise a pig for us?” “Do you sell your lamb?” “Got any extra eggs?” “Do you actually drink the goat milk?” And just like that… we were farmers. Not the bib-overalls, pitchfork-wielding kind (well, okay, maybe on Mondays), but full-on livestock-managing, early-rising, hay-in-our-hair kind of farmers. And honestly? We’re loving every minute of it—yes, even the goat-wrangling, fence-mending, rooster-escapes-at-5AM parts. We never saw it coming. But sometimes the best things in life are the ones that sneak up on you—preferably not in the form of a loose pig, but you get the idea.