More Ducklings and Goats, and Pillowcase Dresses Too!

She greets them with open arms.

Pondering the Horns

Looking at the herb garden of my dreams.

Crossing the stone bridge.

Violet Eating the Duck Food

Pen choking down her sandwich (Steve forgot she doesn't like jelly).

Playing Hide and Seek with Violet. She hides and then giggles so that Violet can find her easier.

Yes, more pictures of ducklings and goats, it's true. They seem to be showing up in the photos I take as often as the girls. But they seem to be everywhere we go these days. Penelope and I long for goats of our own. I have wanted them since I was a child, and I still want them. I'm starting to feel like we need to figure out how to make it happen. I would love to raise them for fiber, and Penelope just wants them for pets. And ducks too, and chickens. Strange animals to want to keep for those who eat a vegan diet, yet they have other uses. I have no problem using the fiber from animals that are loved pets, and ducks and chickens are wonderful at keeping the insect population down, especially ticks, and they are all good at keeping the weeds and grass under control. And if we kept happy, free range chickens I don't think I'd mind if we ate the eggs.

The goats in these photos live at Simmon's Farm in Portsmouth. Long ago Steve and I used to buy our eggs from this farm, and we also buy organic produce from them at the farmer's market. They raise beef too and people can buy a share of a cow, half a cow, etc. It always makes me a little sad to see the cows that I know will be food at the end of the season, but they are beautiful and healthy, roaming about on huge, green pastures, living a peaceful life, all seeming happy, so although I feel a little sad about what is to come for them I also know they have it way better than most animals whose fate it is to be eaten. And the goats are kept for their growing goat cheese business. They have a petting zoo, and for a quarter you can fill up a cup of food and feed and pet these sweet goats. Penelope saves her money (which all comes from change found on the ground or change Steve empties from his pockets and gives to her) in her piggy bank, and she uses it to buy food to feed the goats with.

The pictures after the goats, of the girls feeding geese and playing in trees and looking at gardens, are from another place right across the street from Simmon's Farm, called Perscott Farm. Nobody lives there, but there are beautiful gardens maintained by U.R.I.'s Master Gardeners and a pond with geese and ducks to feed, and an old windmill, and the old house is still there. I want my gardens to someday be exactly like the gardens here, one is dedicated to herbs and it is huge. There is a culinary section and a medicinal section. The other garden is a vegetable garden, and around the outside of the fence are planted beautiful perennials. It is all exactly what I would do if I had the land to do it on.

And the pillowcase dresses, I bought the material last year with the intention of making the girls completely different dresses for their birthdays. It never happened, and so I rediscovered the sweet print in my stash, along with just a bit of yellow left from something else long ago, and I whipped up two simple pillowcase dresses. Along the bottom trim I sewed buttons from my button collection.There are some beautiful antique buttons in there, along with some interesting and unusual choices and some that are bright and cheerful. I love pillowcase dresses. You don't need a pattern, they take no time at all, and you don't even need a pillowcase to do them (although you can make the most beautiful dresses from antique pillowcases if you can find them at thrift shops or flea markets). I think they are super cute too.