Archive for the ‘pasqualina’ Category
Love Thursday: Have You Hugged a Goat Today?
I’ve written about finding goat zen in the goat pen before, and although I normally keep the goat-related posts over at Goat Berries, I just had to share some photos from this morning over here for Love Thursday.
Pinters Magooch
My baby Pasqualina all grows up.
Pretty Pinta
I've got my eye on you.
Can I have some Maaaaa?
Is it normal to tear up with joy when looking at your goats?
Eh, who wants to be normal anyway?
Happy Love Thursday!
P.S. Hug a goat.
Calabrian Peas Fresh from the Garden
Remember when I shared Judy Witts Francini’s recipe for Piselli alla Fiorentina from her wonderful cookbook Secrets from My Tuscan Kitchen? I had to use frozen peas for that dish because ours weren’t ready yet . . . but then they got ready. And man do I love fresh peas from the garden.
Peas are even gorgeous as plants, aren’t they? Such pretty flowers!
I know the goats agree, and although I’m sure they’d love to munch on the peas at any stage of growth, they usually just get the pods once we’ve removed the peas.
And they love ’em!
If you’ve been following along at Goat Berries, you know that these photos are from a few weeks ago as we no longer have the goats pictured above. *sigh*
But we still have Pasqualina and Pinta, and they both love the pea pods too (and fava pods if you got ’em) . . . as I also wrote on Goat Berries, we now even get gift bags of pea and fava pods left in front of our door just for the girls!
I don’t have to tell them twice to eat their veggies!
Come back Wednesday for another great fresh pea recipe — this time with pasta!
What’s growing in your garden right now?
For All Goat News, Subscribe to Goat Berries!
I love writing about my experiences as a goat maaa because I find myself learning something new every day, especially as we’ve gone on this goat pregnancy journey.
From your comments here, I know a lot of you love to read about our goats. On the flip side, I do realize that not everyone cares *nearly* as much about them as I do or understands my obsession, so instead of interspersing goat posts here (not as often as I’d like!), I’ve done up a new site — just for goat news from our pen and elsewhere.
Some of you already know about my new website, Goat Berries, but for the rest of you who care to read about the kids, do head on over because woooh boy, there’s some big goat news around these parts lately.
And be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a single post! You can also follow @goat_berries on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.
And in other “new site” news, you can also now find me at MichelleFabio.com, my professional writing website with samples, testimonials, and more; if you know anyone who needs a writer or editor, feel free to direct them to MichelleFabio.com!
Yes, I’ve been *very* busy with CSS lately…and I’m not done yet. If you’re a Bleeding Espresso fan on Facebook, you may have noticed that my logo has changed. Or maybe you’ve noticed the new favicon in your address bar? Hmm….
Have a great week, and as always, thanks for reading!
One Year with Pasqualina
Today marks one year since our kid Pasqualina came to live with us. This was then:
And this is now:
And just for fun, another from about a year ago:
And today:
I guess I can’t really call her a kid any more now that she’s ready to have kids of her own. Yes, that pink you see up there on that second photo is our Pasqualina filling up with milk. We expect kids in mid-March or so, but we’re not quite sure of the date of spermination (the buck was in the pen for a month).
What a year it’s been…can’t wait to see what this next one brings!
Goat Zen in the Goat Pen
After compiling my part of the World Nutella Day round up and finishing some work assignments early in the week, I decided to enjoy the sunshine this afternoon and spend some time with my girls (of the caprine persuasion).
I never would have imagined how calming and reassuring just being in the presence of these goats can be. It’s really hard to be worried or stressed about anything when these sweet faces are looking back at you.
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Right now I’m reading Goat Song: A Seasonal Life, A Short History of Herding, and the Art of Making Cheese by Brad Kessler (recommended by a reader and native of Calabria, just down the road from me; grazie mille Anthony!).
Kessler describes the connection with nature, history, and yourself that raising goats provides, noting that throughout time, goats have been the subjects of many legends and stories, always “helping humans or leading them to unexpected places.”
“If you follow living beings assiduously in the field, or through the lens of a microscope,” writes Kessler, “they lead you to an understanding of their lives, and all life. They usher you into a kind of Eden.”
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Margherita and Carmelina usually don’t care *too* much if I’m in there with them–they often come to say hello and then just go back to eating, unless they’re not hungry, in which case they’ll stay for petties for a few minutes.
But my Pasqualina, who you might remember, I bottlefed, rarely leaves my side when I’m in the pen, even when I’m clearly disturbing her nap time.
There’s just nothing like goat zen in the goat pen.
Michelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived.
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