When I'm old....

When I'm old I want to be like this sweet lady we met at the Taos Farmer's Market. She was telling us about this New Mexico squash. It is a native wild squash that has been domesticated. People like her have been saving the seeds and planting this squash for decades. You could tell from the way she talked, that she loved her squash - that sounds strange, but she radiated a wonderful feeling when talking about them. The price was based on the size of your dinner plate at home. If it was larger or smaller than your plate, the squash was a particular price. Nancy and I of course had to each buy one :)

So no, I don't plan on selling squash at a farmer's market when I'm old, but there was something magical in the way she talked about her squash. Guess I feel the same about my goats.

Molly the Milk Monster

Yes, Molly is almost 6 months old and yes, she still gets a bottle twice a day, but then the other kids her age are still nursing from their goat moms.

Yesterday Molly came out first thing, had her bottle and stayed in the barn to eat her hay breakfast (it was snowing and goat's hate snow). The cats hang out until I give them fresh milk. Well, I poured milk in the cat bowl and went back to milking then heard a funny noisy. Turned around and there was Molly standing on the hay bale drinking the cat milk out of the bowl! The cats were standing a little way off glaring fireworks at her. Wished I'd had my camera....

Wilma the Welsummer hen

I think Wilma was one of my barn cats in a former life. I don't usually make pets out of chickens, but Wilma made herself a pet....

Knitted items

I've started listing my knitted items for sale. You can go directly to this Etsy website to purchase them (my westfarmgoats website is not caught up yet). http://www.etsy.com/shop/westfarmgoats

More available soon!

Live Abundantly

I read this in Cappers magazine. It really reflects my philosophy of investing in humans.

"Live Abundantly" by Colleen Newquist

My son came out of a sandwich shop to where I waited in the car and handed me a few dollars in change from his purchase. He put the coins he said, in a box for the needy. I had to smile. He's been doing this-giving money to anyone who needs it - for as long as I can remember.

The first time he came home from school and said he'd given his money to a classmate for lunch, I was upset. But I quickly stopped myself. Wasn't that how I'd been brought up? If I needed money, as a child or as an adult, my dad would have his wallet out, no questions asked, regardless of his own financial situation. I'm so glad the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

As I've gotten older, I've come to realize that holding on to money only makes me feel poor, mean and scared. Sharing what I've got-whether it's money, food or time- is freeing. Sharing is a show of confidence in the powers that be, a belief that we will alsways have what we need.

I'm lucky that I've never not had enough. And even luckier that I have a generous son to remind me.

(Colleen Newquist lives abundantly in Park Forest, IL. Find more of her writing and illustrations at colleennewquist.com)

Wonderful yarns!

As always there are gorgeous yarns at the Taos Wool Festival, but in my new mode of simplicity I don't find myself wanting to buy ALL of them. I made very deliberate choices and only bought 4 skeins. These will be knitted into socks and sold through my website.

Taos Wool Festival

Went to the Taos Wool Festival with friend Nancy this weekend. It was a wonderful restful and restorative time for us, as well as being lots of fun.
We admired the Navajo Churro sheep. These are some of my favorite sheep. They have a double fleece - a course outer part and a softer inner coat, although the resulting yarn is usually more on the course side, better for outer garments and rugs. They come in all colors and some even have four horns.
The churro sheep are a well adpated to the SW. They originated from the sheep brought by the early Spanish explorers. They were almost wiped out in the mid 20th century when the government decided that the Navajo should be raising Merino sheep. Only problem with merinos is their soft wool tangles easily in the vegetation of the southwest and then don't do so well eating it either.
Luckily the churro didn't become totally extinct and has had a comeback in the last 30 years.