The cat has been in trouble again. Edd came rushing in saying that something terrible had happened. He had started his ute and then saw cat fur stream out of the engine. We lifted the bonnet with trepidation and yes, there was a lot of fur and the fan belt was off its mountings. No cat bits were obvious despite a thorough search, and thankfully no blood or blood trails were in evidence. Much to our relief the cat turned up at the end of the day with a patch of missing fur, but no other damage. That is the second of its nine lives it has used up since it has been here!
The goats that are not pregnant are still coming into season, but we have moved the bucks back into their pens because we have enough pregnant girls for this year. Our big alpine doe, Quetta, has been sold. This time she is went to join other goats we had sold earlier, so she was met by friends when she arrived at her new home. It would be impossible to keep every goat, but we do try to send them to places they will be happy. They often go to smaller herds and get more attention than we give them here, which is nice.
I am trying to dry off the remaining pregnant goats, but we are still getting enough milk to make cheese twice a week. The hard cheeses turned out so well last year that I am encouraged to make more. The vac packaging system worked fantastically. I have now used all the olive oil I made, but luckily Ben and Indi are keeping us well supplied from their trees. Indi and I are planning to use some of their oil to make soap, so I am searching for recipes. I ordered a book that I thought might help but it was so useless I returned it with a killer revue. I hope I might save someone else the bad experience.
The seeds I ordered for dyeing plants have arrived, but I have not yet sorted out the area where I plan to grow them. They will be sown in pots in the spring, so this is not a problem yet. It will make a good task when the school camps start. The book I brought on plant dyes was excellent, much to my relief. This week Edd and I drove down to the Mornington Peninsular with a car full of wool that I am getting spun. The plan is to have yarn available from our own sheep to dye with our own plants. That should make a good learning experience.
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