Deep... Nope, not deep enough.

Actually this entry has nothing to do with deep/ profound thoughts although there are always an abundance of those with Natureman - but it does have to do with the reality of living on a hobby farm where we grow our own food and not just plants. OK I 'll eventually get around to the real reason I am sharing this story...

Where there's life, there's also death. It's just more in your face when you live surrounded by Nature.
Well, last week one of the three goat kids, Crouton, born this spring died. (he's the one on the left- the black one) It was sad because I don't know if we could have saved him, and then that's just a temporary reprieve if you catch my drift.

Unojo, this particular kid's mother had had problems feeding since the birth of her twins, Crouton and Sally.

(We didn't realize that she was so old when we bought her from the Amish last summer or we never would have bred her)

Anyhow she must have slowed down lactating and Natureman wasn't milking her for milk for his coffee so the kids could have enough. With the extreme heat, the water, hay and pasture weren't enough nutrition. I returned home after my 3 weeks away and I found an ailing Crouton. Natureman thought Crouton was on the mend but the poor kid couldn't even stand up. I suggested supplementing the milk so we made up a bottle that evening and he really seemed to perk up but we must have been too late. I had hopes of nursing him back to health but the next morning we found him curled up looking at peace,but not breathing. Natureman buried him. That pastureland is becoming a real 'goat' graveyard as this is not the first hole dug outside the barn which is the real reason I am writing...

You may remember we lost another kid due to tetanus about 5/6 years ago. (By no means a pretty death but my indoctrination that farm animals die due to natural causes.) Apparently once you have had horses in a barn, tetanus can live in that soil for 50 years. Well, the kid must have had an open wound and one day she was 'down' with labored breathing and outstretched legs. "Tetanus" says Natureman assuring me the kid would be dead by the time I returned home from work. I asked him to please dig a hole before he left so I could bury her upon my return. BUT she was still alive upon my return and, frothing at the mouth. Awful...

I called around to my farm neighbors as they all have guns and could take her out of her misery. Nobody was home. AND I later discovered that they made fun of the city girl who just didn't club the kid to death. Seriously! What I did do was place the kid in the back of my car and drove her to the Vet's where after a lethal injection, she stopped breathing within 20 seconds.

I returned home ready to bury her only to discover that Natureman had not considered the 4 stiff outstretched legs. Candid Camera should have been filming. What was I going to do bury her with legs sticking straight up out of the ground? No matter which way I turned her, she didn't fit. You can't bend an appendage that is frozen stiff. All this time I had an audience as her Mother, Louise, was watching me. I knew she'd never forgive me for taking her baby and bringing her back dead. Talk about pressure. I started digging fast and furious. Deepening and widening that hole until it was big enough for the burial and bidding her farewell after which I refilled the hole with dirt and a prayer.

Fast forward to Crouton's burial... Yesterday Natureman mentioned that one of Crouton's hoofs was protruding from his burial spot. I swear we are going need a digging code depth requirements for Natureman in the End of the Rainbow Valley...