The Walden Effect: Farming, simple living, permaculture, and invention.

Artemesia's unborn kids

Goats in the winter sun

Artemesia is still getting better, very slowly but hopefully surely. In the meantime, I've had a lot of questions about her hypothetical kids, so I thought I'd give you all the dirt.

According to the vet, if Artemesia lost her kids at this point (halfway through her pregnancy), we'd probably lose her. I assume that means there would be blood and other obvious signs of miscarriage, of which there have been none.

So, presumably she's still feeding miniature goatlings, which is probably why it's so hard for her to bounce back. If she does make it to term and pops out healthy kids, I'm seriously considering bottle feeding them (as little as I like that thought), so we can dry her off immediately and let her finish recuperating in peace.

In the meantime, I'm stuffing my favorite goat with as much honeysuckle as she'll eat and am thrilled that she's finally strong enough to consume hay out of the manger once again. Maybe by this time next week, a walk around the yard won't wear her out?



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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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You're a plant expert and I'm sure the vet considered poisons, but I read that honeysuckle seeds are somewhat poisonous. Maybe in the search for nutrients she has ingested too many?
Comment by Anonymous Tue Feb 14 11:51:41 2017
I'm so, so glad Artemisia is recuperating, even if slowly. I'm also relieved the babies are likely still with her. Remind me when she's due? I need to clear my calendar so I don't miss a single post. 😉
Comment by Jennifer Tue Feb 14 20:49:18 2017
I just realized your picture looks like Aurora is miniature and standing on Artemisia's shoulders.
Comment by jennifer Fri Feb 17 18:36:43 2017





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