Goat combing deaux

Here's a tip for you folks planning your future homestead: test-drive the animals before you stock your barn with them. Visit a goat farm or alpaca farm or whatever you've decided on, and touch the animals. COMB the animals, if they'll let you. And if they make your head swell up like a balloon,  walk on by.

I like the little goatlings. They're friendly, only slightly mischievous, and produce lovely manure for the garden. But combing them, or holding them while someone else combs, makes my head swell and lungs wheeze. Good thing C. can comb them on her own, because next year I'm staying inside. A mask didn't help.

Em and Richard came up to help with the sheep and goats. We didn't get tot he sheep, who were slightly damp, anyway. We saved them for next weekend.

And the greenhouse is sealed up tight and ready for little plants. It's 26 degrees outside, 36 in the greenhouse.