marla, the tourist.

in the words of chuck palahniuk, "marla, you little tourist."

that's what she was. just here to visit. to grace us with her presence. to enrich our lives. to give us the greatest gift... life. the twins.

marla passed away suddenly this morning. a postmortem determined she suffered from an acute case of liver flukes. a parasite derived from snails and not common in this part of the country.

we are all at a loss here on the farm. there is not a being here that does not miss her presence. the dogs, the goats, even the turkeys are in mourning. and i am heartbroken. it's hard being an organic farmer. loss is the biggest challenge. you are aware that loss is a possiblity going into it, but it doesn't make it any easier when confronted face to face with fatality.

we have decided to give our goats a preventative wormer from here on out. this will, of course, be chemical in nature and therefore not be considered purely organic. but knowing that this parasite is found on our land, i can not stand back and let innocent animals suffer.

so i suppose our mohair won't be considered certifiably organic, but it's damn near close.

and now for a pictorial memorial...

marla & the twins

tree leaves... it's what's for breakfast

marla and her BFF bernadett

a lovely lady

happy halloween!

what else would you expect from a goat farmer?

meet patrik.

patrik (hungarian for nobleman) came to join our flock a few weeks ago. it's hard to believe this little goat will one day be our herd sire. he just doesn't seem to have a clue.

patrik doing his jane fonda workout

patrik doing a fish impression

i think it's finally spring.

it was 70 degrees here today. lovely weather. all is quiet on the farm. we have a new addition, marla. we adopted her yesterday. she's an older goat. she's going to help train the pups to be comfortable around livestock. she has protected status (i.e. not for consumption). she will live out the rest of her retirement here in belgrade. i think she likes it so far.