pnfcashmeres.com Blog

Well, after having 3 nights of single digit temps, we are now back where we should be for this time of year. All the trees were still green, so now they all have frozen brown leaves. No fall color this year, except in the Tamaracks. The cold didn’t seem to affect them too much.
All the critters survived just fine. Even the baby turkeys. They just stayed under the mama turkey and stuck thier little heads out once in a while.
The garden is now all cleaned up and ready for winter. John is working on his greenhouse. The door and one window are in now.
Today I went and picked up my “boomerang” goats from up by Whitefish. I sold them, and now they are back here, this time for good. They were at a pretty fancy house, but now they are back here. But, they have more company around here, so they will be fine.
Tomorrow we start doing in the turkeys. At least one will go in the freezer, maybe more, depending on the weather. They are really starting to get annoying. Plus, they are eating the chicken eggs! Time for them to go bye-bye.
After the 3rd, I will only have 23 cashmere does and 9 wethers! I think I might have sold too many goats this year. Actually, since half the does are getting bred this fall, there will be plenty of goats again next year. I’ll just have a smaller fleece harvest this spring than I have had for a few years.
We started tearing down the old dairy shed, so now Dottie and Belle will have to sleep in the new barn. Speckles has been in there all by herself this summer, but now they will all be back together. I think Dottie is bred now, so that should make her a little easier to deal with this winter. She was just way too cantankerous this last year. Now it is Belle’s turn to be the one that gets “run through” this year. She should give a bit more milk than Dottie has, so that will be good, since I haven’t froze any milk for us yet this year!
Next week-end I get to take a break from this place for a couple of days! I’m heading for Spokane for the week-end. John is going to take care of things while I’m gone. I am really looking forward to the break. I haven’t been away for more than a few hours in over three years! That is too long without a break. The change in scenery will be good.
The final Farmers’ Market of the year is this Saturday. It’s indoors at the fairgrounds in Kalispell from 9am to 3pm. One more day of getting up at 5am in the total darkness and trying to feed everyone with just a little spotlight. Kind of hard to do. Hopefully a lot of people will be there and buying things.
Well, that’s all for now.

We woke up to 6 inches of snow today! It was down to 13 degrees last night, and tonight it is already down to 11 degrees, and it’s only 9:23pm. So I think it will be in the single digits by morning. I put out straw and extra hay for everyone. I hope the 3 baby turkeys survive. They are staying under the mama turkey most of the time. She has a little space for them to move around in, in a hollowed out spot in the middle garden. That is actually making a fine turkey nursery, not much can get in there, so they are pretty safe.
I still haven’t made up my mind entirely on which goats to sell, so I haven’t got the pictures up yet. I’ll be making a “goats for sale” page on the website this coming week.
A friend of mine who moved up to Alaska last year, but left her goats down here till she found a place to live, came back this week to get them, but ended up having to have her gall bladder removed and was in the hospital for the week. She missed the ship that was going to take them up to Alaska, and now she has run out of time. So she is going to either sell them or find someone to board them for the winter.
So if you know of anyone between Montana and the West Coast of Washington who has room for about 25 goats, counting kids, and wants to take care of them for the winter, please let me know soon. I’m taking her buck and a wether, so the rest are does and kids. It’s a nice herd, good conformation and good fiber.
This snow and cold has put a stop to the outside projects for a while. It is supposed to warm up and melt by next Tuesday, so I hope that happens. I’m not ready for winter quite yet!!!
I was going to do the Farmers’ Market tomorrow, but it will be way too cold! I don’t think there will be anyone there, either vendor or public. So I will wait till the indoor one on the 24th at the Fairgrounds in the Expo building. That will be the last one for this year. I’ll have a pretty good selection of yarns there, plus some some crocheted things and the goat milk soap, as always.
Well, that’s it for now. Going to try and stay warm and hope the critters do too….