PJ Jonas – Page 80 – Teaching Families to Work Hard Together

Ask a Jonas – Hewitt and Goat Numbers

We get asked lots of questions when we’re doing farm tours, selling soap at craft fairs, or simply running errands. Since most of those answers are heard only by the person who asked, we decided to share some of the common questions here on the blog. And of course you can ask a question of your own! Hewitt, how many…

March 20, 2015

Happy Birthday Mom!

Yesterday was Mom’s birthday! The last time we had a birthday blog post for Mom was in 2009, when she wrote a blog post called “Happy Birthday To Me”. It’s been a while. LOL One of my favorite parts of our birthday celebration is that we get a picture of the birthday boy/girl with everyone…

March 18, 2015

Breeding for Cold Weather Baby Goats

People often question why we breed our goats so that they kid in the middle of the winter when it is usually very cold. We do it mostly because we find it is better for the goats. We raise Alpine goats, which are seasonal breeders. That means the female goats come into heat and the…

March 17, 2015

Tapestry, Tetris, and Tipsy

The first two weeks of kidding season are tough, but very exciting. The overnight shifts and lack of sleep start catching up once the adrenaline of delivering baby goats wears off, but we were off to a great start when Tesla was ready to go. She is one of our quieter, “under-rated” goats and wasn’t…

March 16, 2015

Zap and Zeus

I could write about Zap and Zeus’s birth, or I could just post a link to the video that we got of the birth and let you watch it for yourself! For those of you who don’t want to see what some could call a graphic video (we don’t think it’s graphic – we think…

March 13, 2015

Sashay and Secretariat

Emery came out to the barn at midnight, to relieve me, and started checking the goats as I packed up my laptop, hot chocolate mug, and various cords. “I’ll probably be calling you tonight – Secret looks like she could go,” he warned me. “How soon?” I asked. “Probably in the next couple of hours,”…

March 11, 2015

Naming the Herd

When we first decided to register our goats with the American Dairy Goat Association (ADGA) for the purposes of maintaining a quality herd and continuing to improve its genetics, we had to come up with a herd name. Since we had a history of moving around, we didn’t want it to be geographically tied (like…

March 10, 2015

Zachary, Zeppoli, and Zilla

I was feeding Vashti when someone came running into the milk room. “Zipporah is having her babies!” Vashti’s stomach was full enough that I decided she was done for now, so I set her down and grabbed a stack of towels for Zipporah’s birth. She was in kidding pen A, with half of my family…

March 9, 2015

Baby Goats Playing in the Snow

A couple of weeks ago, it snowed. A lot. And while the humans didn’t really enjoy the snow that made all of our jobs harder, the baby goats had a blast! Aren’t they adorable? Which picture is your favorite?

March 6, 2015

Vashti

When I got the “babies!!” call, I ran from the soaproom – but by the time I got there, our newest baby, a girl, was already being licked off by her mama, Vanish. We took her into the milk room to dry her off and spent the next ten minutes trying to decide a name…

March 4, 2015

What Soap Did You Use Before GMS?

I’m regularly asked if our goat milk soap will be better for someone’s skin than the soap they are currently using. I’m a bit biased, but my answer is usually a laughing, “Of course!” I then qualify it to say that everyone’s skin is different and I can’t predict how their skin will react to…

March 3, 2015

Feeding My Dairy Goats

When I was new to owning goats, I agonized over what to feed them. I poured over the internet finding out what everyone did. I read everything I could and the only thing that everyone agreed on, was that goats need to eat. But it seemed nobody could agree on anything else! Everybody did it…

March 2, 2015

Zaria, Zebedee, and Zilch

I grabbed a stack of towels, leaving Baxter, Bedford, Raphael, and Renaissance in the milk room, and ran back out to the stalls. Zenith was halfway out of one of the regular kids, pushing her head against Colter’s legs. Instead of trying to get around her, I just climbed the fence, landing on the other…

February 27, 2015

Goat Collars

My mom has great ideas. Actually, she has A LOT of really great ideas. So many in fact, that she can’t implement them all. That’s where my dad comes in. Dad jokes that ever since he and Mom have been together, she dreams it – he does it. One of those great ideas was that…

February 25, 2015

Happy Birthday Indigo!

Yesterday was Indigo’s birthday. Yes, it’s true – she’s nine now! We did our normal birthday hugs – one from each member of the family. After that, it was time to get to work. But don’t worry – we spent the whole day celebrating our special NINE year old!

February 24, 2015