What did you do today?

[Taffy]

The bells sounded just like Santa Claus bells! I'm with Nanno, Charlie. I hate polishing silver and brass. Were you chasing those poor goats? Why were they in such a hurry?

Nice gaggle of geese, Dave!

[Charlie Horse]

Frankly I think duck is yucky. I don't know about geese. I've had plenty of fancy Peking Duck when I was in China and it was nothing compared to some of the other stuff on the table. Its funny how they acted like it was a big deal though. I'm just hoping the sweet/sour pork really was pork, because wow. And the cashew chicken. And the Mongolian Beef. I tell you what, if you ever want to go to Beijing I know the place to eat in the old district not far from Tienanmen Square. Then when you're done you can go to the "freak out the tourists" food vendor street and get a snake-on-a-stick, silkworm stew, or grasshopper lollipop.

[michael]

The best jingle of silver is in my pocket, then it sounds cheerful. For bells, I doubt I can here them anyway .

[Dave-Trinity-Farms]

No, geese are just as nasty. They dont call em water fowl for nothing If you intend to eat em need to salt brine em for 24 hours. Or just do what most do and make jerky outta em.

[Taffy]

I agree, goose tastes yucky and so does duck. However, my husband, sons and their wives all love it. When the guys bring home geese they strip it out, bread it and fry it. It smells delicious when it's cooking but the taste and texture - yuck.

[Nanno]

I guess my mom just knew how to cook those critters. We ate goose and especially duck all the time in late fall/early winter when I was growing up. Mom always cooked it a long time with mandarin oranges to make it sweet.

[deschutes dawn]

I've cooked lots of duck and goose and the taste difference is like venison and elk. I like both but actually prefer goose over duck and elk over venison. It's all in how you cook it.

[Dave-Trinity-Farms]

For texture I hear if you let it sit out or brine it, it will get rid of the chewiness of it. You know for things like quail, they used to hang em by their feet in a cool place. When they fell off their feet to the ground, thats when they new they were tender and ready to cook... not something Id practice though

This goose tasted heads and tails better then the duck. But Id guess that has to do with the geese eating outta the crop fields more often then ducks. Still, not a meat I prefer.

[Taffy]

Today I loaded up the goats and took them to one of the new fields we bought in November. My husband and I were taking down a field fence fenceline so the new pivot we're installing can pivot around the entire field. I unloaded the goats and headed to the fenceline. My job was clearing tumbleweeds off of the fence so when we took it down it'd roll up easily. The goats "helped" me clear weeds. When we had the fence down my husband began rolling it up. When he stopped rolling guess who had to investigate the potential new toy?! Bourbon walked into the center of the roll checking it out as he stood there. Banjo stood up against the roll mouthing and smelling it. There's never a dull moment with goats!

[Nanno]

Ugh... Lilly came back into heat today. It's too late in the season for me to want to breed her now. It would mess with my summer too much. I can't believe she didn't take at that last breeding! She wasn't quite in standing heat, but she did get bred several times. Needless to say, I'm quite disappointed. Oh well... perhaps it will be better for her udder to have a rest this year anyway.

I'm also worried that Delilah was flagging today when I put Pac-Man in the pen to confirm Lilly's heat status. She bolted from him when he tried to touch her, so hopefully it was just some hormones and not a proper heat cycle. I was watching for her to come into heat a few weeks ago and she never showed a sign, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she settled ok. I'm going to put Pac-Man with her again tomorrow and see what happens. It would be very unfortunate if only two of my does got bred!