The Monsoon has returned to New Mexico.
Last year I was flabbergasted to learn that New Mexico has a monsoon. According to weather.gov, the North American Monsoon System affects New Mexico from June 15 through September 30 every year.
Right now there is mud everywhere, and the goats are cranky. They stay in their shelters - goats hate rain - and bleat, asking me to bring their food in to them, asking me to change the weather. I feel like a pizza delivery girl for goats. We’ve moved all their feed tubs into their shelters so that their food doesn’t get soggy.
The North American Monsoon System is not as strong as the Indian Monsoon System, because the Mexican Plateau is not as high nor as large as the Tibetan Plateau. Monsoons are caused (simplistically) by the temperature difference between a land mass and the adjacent ocean. The word monsoon comes from the Arabic “mawsim” - which means “season”.
Whatever the cause, the goats are grumpy, the humans are muddy, and the dogs are a wet, smelly mess.
A few days ago, while I was milking, we heard a terrible squawking coming from the guard dogs’ yard. Jan went running out. Our new French Copper Maran had flown over the fence and into the dogs’ yard, and they were attempting to eat her. Jan was able to actually call off the dogs, and that little hen escaped into the goat pen, where Jan picked her up and cuddled her and took her back to the chicken yard.
This period in the life of chickens, before they’re fully grown, is the period when they can really fly pretty well. As adults, they’ll weigh too much to fly high enough to get into the dogs’ pen. I hope the hen was frightened enough that she won’t fly into that pen again.
She was a part of the great animal trade that took place a couple of weeks ago. I told you about the goats that were traded, but I didn’t mention that we also got two new chickens. A hen and a rooster. The allure of the French Copper Marans is that they lay chocolate colored eggs. (Not chocolate covered - chocolate colored. I often accidentally say covered, myself).
They look a lot like our old chickens - although they’re a little more svelte than the australorps. I am really excited for when our teenaged hen begins to lay eggs. The rooster is also a teenager. Jan says she heard him crow once, but I haven’t heard him yet. We don’t really want a rooster, but the idea of some new chicks that lay chocolate colored eggs is too cool to resist.
More of our goats have left home this week - off on their adventures in the world. Morton, Mandy, Lucy Rose, and Rowan all departed for the Navajo reservation on Wednesday late afternoon. It’s always such a mixture of happy and sad to see our goats go. I hope they have great lives. Here’s Morton, on the morning of the day he left. (He's the handsome goat in the foreground). His sister, Mandy, went with him - she's the black and white goat looking over his shoulder.
Kat and I have been working on our Christmas soaps. Here’s our first design:
It kind of looks like the aurora borealis, if you ask me. This one has a nice woodsy scent. We’ve also been working on a “Winter Wind” bar. This one is vegan:
We’'ve entered a phase where we go to the Rail Yards Market every week The space itself is beautiful. Here it is before anyone has loaded in:
And the day is just pure fun. Lots of people come to our booth to talk. I didn’t realize, during the pandemic, how much I missed simple human interactions. I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity to greet strangers, hear their stories, and talk about ways to help the environment.
If you’re in need of soap, let our website help you out: https://www.serenasoaps.com/