I wish I would have known how much fun they are to have around. I would have had them sooner. Not over feeding them grain is important. You can kill them with kindness...and they are pretty convincing when they tell you they are starving. I have a dozen goats of various breeds and ages and mine free range with no problem. They are a friendly group and the first few weeks I stayed with them and walked with them where they were allowed to be. Now they have their own routine. I still need to walk out back with them to get them out of the barn, but once they start eating I can slip away without them following me. They seem to keep the same routine everyday...browsing their favorite spots in the same order....finishing with the pine trees then back to the barn. One thing I do keep in mind now, is that when I am purchasing a goat, I make sure they have been handled and are used to people. They are just easier to handle when you do need to get ahold of one for hoof trimming or whatever. Have fun! Carrie

Like pontyrogof I read this with interest because I'm thinking about getting back into the MG curriculum and I have experienced various behaviors and attitudes and procedures over the years. I guess I'll have to see for myself about our program here to make up my mind. I confess, I'm already starting out with a bit of a thud; I took the course many years ago and before I could do the hours I became ill for a long time. I approached one of the agents a few years ago about how to handle this (did I need to take the course again, just start hours, etc) and... he never got back to me. Fired off an email to our MG coordinator (figured the agent probably would have had to go there himself) a few days ago... and haven't heard back. Now, the coordinator is probably very busy so I may be jumping the gun. It would have been nice to get an 'I'll look into that' response at least, though. Hoping for a good outcome, Ging

Wall cabinets are 39" ceilings are 8 feet. Hardware was all from a place online , we had IKEA hardware picked but returned it last minute after seeing someone's blog and their hardware. Glad we did! Wife did awesome job picking colors, granite ( Ikea's "glacier d" ), drilling and measuring all handle holes. I'll add my dad does construction for an living so he has the know how , its not a true diy you see on diy network and the people know very little. Thanks.

rhome, that sure is true. We all have our desire to share and help others get the most out of their new kitchens . It doesn't matter at all what the skill level, we can all learn and grow and enjoy. I see tons of talent everywhere I look and I keep looking even though I know I can't begin to make or don't want to make what others are able to do. I still love to look. I hope that everyone realizes that it is out of a sense of community spirit that we all post here long after our kitchens are "done", also I am not sure we are EVER done :) Here is part of what we did this afternoon. DH's fingers were still sore but he wanted cookies ! He has perfected his Italian Seed Cookies and wanted to make them. So here are some of the steps and the finished product. shaping the dough: place in water/toasted sesame seeds /parchment finished : These are almost exactly like the cookies from Brocato's bakery in NOLA. We just had 4 bags of them from SIL's visit and it sure was hard to tell the difference. The Brocato cookies are a tad sweeter but I like DH's best :) It has taken him years to get them perfect. He purchased ammonium carbonate as the rising agent and also twice bakes them. It makes all the difference. I wanted to show you Alto and Sax ! They are my starters. They are now about 2 yrs old. WOW do they love me LOL. Here are pics of them before and after feeding and then of the 2 breads I am in the process of making. It is a couple day thing to make bread with wild yeast starter so stay tuned to tomorrow . before feeding - fresh from fridge: after just 3 hrs: San Joaquin Sourdough auto lyse ( I let it set about 30 min) Polish Country Bread ( a light rye) auto lyse - Polish Dough is beaten in the KA mixer for 4 min on speed 2 and then let to rest 40 min. Then you do 2 stretch and folds. Rest 40 min and again. Then rise 2 hrs or so and bake. in KA: First way to do stretch and fold - pat flat : fold like a letter: Here is another way to do S and F. In the bowl with a spatula. Do 30 turns with the spatula around and around quickly bringing the dough up and over a little each turn. Do this every 30 min X 3 times. You will be amazed at the strength the dough acquires with a small amount of work. Here are pics DH took :) Tomorrow I will show the finishing touches and the final product. Hope everyone has a lovely Summer Friday night. c