Goat-tastic

I am full on with the goats now. I feel so grateful and hopeful with all of the support from people around me for this adventure. This past weekend was all caprine all the time (almost). Saturday night I tended the full herd (120 goats) and Pearl the wonder dog while Tammy of Rent-A-Ruminant went out to play on the town with actual humans. People keep asking me if she paid me for the 5-6 hours I was there....no. She didn't advertise it as a money thing and I saw it as an opportunity to see what it would be like to hang with a herd. I will not have that many goats but once I relaxed a bit - it was cool. Might have liked it better if I could have watched the dog and the goats simultaneously but that wasn't the set-up. Being alone like that will take some getting used to but again....gonna be doing smaller jobs. Being away from people will be kind of a good thing sometimes. I feel very chill with her goats. Zen-like even.

Sunday I got up early and went out to New Moon Farm in Arlington to attend "Goats 101" a 1 day rundown of goat care etc. by a woman who runs a goat rescue and sanctuary. Hands-on hoof trimming as well! The goats we were working with had just come in within the last couple of days and were pretty skittish. It made me think of foster kids and how they have to get used to a new place that will only be temporary and how unsettling that must be. Not to anthropomorphize or anything....The information was consistent with what was in my book "Raising Goats for Dummies." I like consistency. Especially when delving into something I don't really know, I trust the information more that way. While there I also heard bad-mouthing of 2 other goat rental outfits that is also consistent. I feel pretty good about getting hooked up with Tammy and R-A-R with all of that info. Of course I did checkup on her through Craig of Healing Hooves and got his take on the whole goat rental scene as well.

I feel an urge to start collecting things for the business. I keep looking on Craigslist for property, trucks, and goats themselves....some damn cute ones out there. Pictures included. Hell I even saw a livestock truck enclosure for like $200 that I wanted to get my hands on even though I don't have a truck yet. I, or rather my friend Juliet, has a list a mile long of goat names. Way more than I need for 15 goats but it's good to have choices. The super cool thing about all of this now, well a big one for sure, is the excitement from people I know about this adventure. It's not just support for doing something different - it is actual excitement for the whole idea and for me to be doing this specific thing. So many people have told me "I can totally see you doing this," "this is so you." Makes me feel good. Thinking about the goats makes me smile and slow down. This in itself is a sign to me that I am on the right track.

One of my other thoughts about all this is how to combine my social work side with the animals. If goats can calm me down and other animals are used as "therapy animals" why not goats? Goats remind me a bit of the street youth I have worked with. Stubborn, sneaky, inventive, cute sweet, and fuzzy. Ok, maybe the youth weren't exactly fuzzy, but they could have been. Have youth work on the farm like an internship. Do programs like sewing, making jam, making art, anything. Do it outside the city. Be with animals. Chill the f*@k out. Bond with a non-judgemental creature. Get some goat love.

This is down the pike and I have dawdled way too long tonight. sigh.