Each Wednesday, The HomeKeeper’s Journal is led by Sylvia at CHK. You’re welcome to join The HomeKeeper’s Journal, too. To see Sylvia’s entry for this week and/or find instructions for participating, visit Sylvia’s entry for this week.
What’s happening in my home……?
In my kitchen… Pretty much I covered what my kitchen has seen in My Tuesday Twister post.
With the family… Mikah and Naomi have both had a mild cold this week. Naomi has some poison oak rash, too. But everyone is doing very well. Mikah is excited because he and Jeff got a small 4″ survival knife. Naomi got some stick bugs at the library last week. Haniya and Naomi have been great helps to me in filming for my eCourse. They operate the camera and are endlessly patient with all my “takes.” Jeff’s been able to get home early on some days – he still works a full day because he goes in so early. He also took a day off last week when it was sunny to work in the barn.
Around the homestead… The big news is we got a buck – Cosmo. He is almost 2 and just beginning to get the buck smell. For the time being he’s sharing the barn with the does, but as soon as Jeff puts up a simple shelter in the buck pasture, Cosmo and Starle (a Nigerian dwarf wether) will go in there. We are watching the milk, hoping it doesn’t take on the buck odor. So far, so good. We read that the rule is, if you walk in the milking area and it smells like buck, the odor will get in your milk. So far, there’s no odor where we milk. But could be soon as it gets more concentrated – Cosmo’s area of the barn is adjacent to the milking area. I am eager to get him in his own shelter, but we have to wait until there’s time on the weekend to make that shelter.
I forgot to mention last week that we cut down several old madrone trees that were hanging threateningly over the barn. That has left a big mess to clean up, and Jeff is working on it. Poor Jeff. He’s always got some kind of mess outside to clean up. 
Have I mentioned lately how everything is MUD outside?
Nice find, Cosmo is pretty, I like his coloring! And wow, walking sticks, fun! I heard they reproduce efficiently?
Good luck! 
Michelle
Michelle´s last blog ..Tales From The Job Hunt Front
Wardeh, the goat is adorable! I am so glad you were able to get him. Have a great week!
Jen S´s last blog ..Homekeeper’s Journal~February 3rd
Hi Wardeh,
Your goats are so sweet! Sadly, we just sold the last of our goats last Saturday and I miss them. I do want to have some again, but the timing was not right anymore at this point in our lives. We had mostly Kinders for 3 years and I enjoyed them thoroughly.
However, I did want to share with you my experience with bucks and milking. We had 2 adult bucks for nearly 2 years and they were quite smelly. During that time we milked our does, who only had a wire fence between them and the bucks, and we never had a problem with the milk tasting like bucks.
That probably isn’t the final test, but I hope it eases your mind a little bit!
Karilee
Kare´s last blog ..New Date for Book Study
Hi, Kare! That does help. We have been having him sleep in a separate stall from the does. My husband put up a roof-only shelter for him during the day in his own pasture. Hopefully soon this will get some sides. Everything is going well – although we are beginning to feel the cultured milk products are smelling a little stronger. It is not “buck” per se, but it is stronger. So we think it might be a bit too close, but we aren’t sure. We need to stop having him use the barn at all. I am not concerned about sharing the fence (which they do now during the day), as I don’t think that is it. I think it is him in the barn.
I am sorry you sold your goats.
I’m sure you do miss them.