Kelp Tongues

Some friends of ours visited recently with their young sons.  When the kids and I went to visit the goats, I brought out some scratch grains that I feed the chickens, and helped the kids give the goats a nibble.  The littlest boy was hesitant to let the slimy looking goat tongues touch his hand, so I held his open palm in my hand and prevented him from retreating so he could experience the full impact of having an animal lick kernels from his fingers.  While Peaches and the River brothers lapped up the grain through the fence with their long sticky tongues, the little boy squealed with a mixture of glee and repulsion and I could feel his entire body shiver and convulse with sheer grossness of feeling those wet tongues lick his little hand.  Ha!  

I ordered a box of kelp meal.  I can't even really remember what I read that convinced me I need some for my goats, but once it arrived, Brandon and I had fun offering the goats and donkeys a taste from our hands.  

They love it.  They squirmed and pushed each other so they could squeeze their faces close enough to our hands to lap it up.  It smells like the beaches of Maine to me, and brings back memories of a fun hiking and camping trip from years ago.

Our little town has very few commercial establishments, but thankfully it does have a Dollar General store (and a liquor store!).   I'm not sure how the dollar store manages to have some of everything, but it does, including small bags of black oil sunflower seeds for feeding the birds.  You know who loves black oil sunflower seeds?  The goats and donkeys!

Even the Little Buck finds his courage when sunflower seeds are offered, and he will brave Peaches displeasure by sticking his tongue out for a taste.  She pulls hard on his ears if she thinks he's getting more than his share.

They look like mamma goat, papa goat, and baby goat.  But they are not.

How could I resist that funny face?  Okay, Peaches, more sunflower seeds coming right up!

I picked the first batch of big tomatoes from the garden yesterday.  The plants are so leafy that I didn't realize the tomatoes were getting ripe until I got down on my knees and peered inside the leaning and tumbled down cages.  This is just the beginning!