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| Look at that picture. Look at it. Because that milk is just a fading memory now. |
And the milk in that picture is now gone. Like, no more. Non existent. Adios. Bye-bye.
No more hot chocolates, no more granola cereal for breakfast, no more big ol' glass with cookies. I can't even squirt enough out of MamaGoat for my morning tea. We're swimming in a sea of goats, but we don't have a drop of milk to drink.
Well, we don't have a drop of fresh milk to drink, anyhow. I did put some up in little plastic water bottles so Rhiannon can occasionally have a "treat" of hot coco or cold cereal & milk, but it most definitely won't last until kidding time. I would have frozen a larger supply, but the space in the freezers are at a premium and after our hog butchering a month ago, I couldn't get a stick of butter in there to save my life. Seriously. I couldn't fit four quarters of butter in there, no matter how I tried to shove them in. Space is slowly becoming available as we eat our way through the bounty in the freezer, but now there's no milk to freeze.
I tend to lament on and on (and on....) every year when this happens. But the fact is we're darned lucky to have fresh milk for nine months of the year. I've toyed with the idea of having the goats freshen at different times so we can have a year-round supply, but honestly, I'm pretty happy about not having to go out in the freezing cold and milk the girls. Now that they're dried up, I only have to go out there once a day to feed and water them. Of course I'm out there more than once a day, but the fact that I don't have to makes me feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.
And once kidding season starts in April, we'll be back in milk and I'll be lamenting on and on (and on...) again about how happy I am to have milk. And lamenting on and on (and on....) about why I had so many stinking goats bred.
My, my, how you do go on and on (and on...) :) I keep threatening to freeze eggs when I have excess and then don't. I am so glad they are back in the nesting boxes! My milk supply is always there - just down the road. It is the best of all worlds - my cow(s) are well cared for, when they are dried off/up, I still get my milk. Two things I will never eat again are store-bought eggs and store-bought pasteurized milk. So feel free to jump on a plane and come up here and I will stuff your luggage full of eggs and milk. That should make for an interesting return trip through security....
ReplyDeleteEven though a couple (not all) of our last spring's chicks are molting, we're still getting more eggs than we really need. So I'm putting a dozen in a manilla padded envelope and sending them to you when I go to town this morning.
ReplyDeleteWe're still taking the lazy (smart?) way out and getting our raw (cow's) milk from the dairy nine miles from here. They're still having a tough time making a go of it financially so I like to think my laziness (not getting goats of our own) is helping them.
I'm sure you know you could keep some organic milk powder on hand for these dry months . . . but that reconstituted milk just doesn't begin to compare to the "real" stuff you can squirt out of a dairy animal, does it? Hang in there, m'dear.
We are out of goat's milk here too. I have to buy organic milk, which means many recycled bottles.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, your thinking like me. When I have the milk I'm happy. Although I really don't like my day to be planned around milking. But when I have no fresh milk? Well, it just sucks.
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