Halfway through kidding and the Shepherd is hanging in there

Craig came into my office tonight at just past 11pm with an update from the barn. To date 59 does have given birth to 111 kids and we’ve only lost 2 - a blessing indeed! We have a few more “smallest-of-triplets” we are supplementing with a bottle, but no bottle babies living in the mud room this season.

Folks often ask when do goats give birth, and the answer is five months after we put the bucks into the pasture with the does. In past years we timed fall breeding for kidding to start in mid-March because the kids needed to be ready to travel with their mothers over the mountains on vegetation management projects by May. Now that the Healing Hooves herd is staying close to home, we can take advantage of warmer late spring weather for kidding season.

There are perhaps 50 does left to kid which means we should be half way through. A tired Craig declined to be photographed as he headed out to the barn for a pre-midnight check for any does in labor. That’s a picture that would have illustrated a real slice of life on the farm – it doesn’t matter how tired you feel when you’re the rancher responsible for the well-being of your livestock, you do what has to be done. He’s warming up the bottles to take out to the barn now.

No grubby shepherd pic to share, but these pictures from last week’s visit by the local 5th grade class are more attractive anyway :-)

5th grade kids meet the kids, with Luna hanging around for the affection

Miss Larsen enjoys the annual visit as much as the students :-)

Looking forward to welcoming guests to enjoy time at the ranch and goat watching at our Just Kidding Open Barn event on May 9th

Baby goats poppin’ like kernels of corn in a kettle

Kidding is well underway, and they’re popping out like kernels in a corn popper!

Lots of twins and one set of triplets. We started supplementing the smallest of the triplets tonight, it is the doe’s first time kidding and her milk production isn’t quite up to feeding all three. Her instinct is to push away the smallest one, so that’s where we step in. We’ll keep him with the herd as long as possible for better socialization and offer a bottle with goat kid replacer milk formula three or four times a day.

On the positive side, bottle babies are always the friendly ones and eager to meet guests. They’re always sure those two legged goats in the blue jeans might have a bottle with them!

Oakley keeping his eye on Craig with a kid

Welcome to the new kids in the barn

First baby goats of the 2026 spring season were born yesterday! New mothers will often have a single their first time, but twins are commonly expected for our more mature does.

Welcome, kids!

Both twins were up and ready to go within 20 minutes of being born, and their mother patiently stood for them to nurse. Early colostrum in essential for good health. This is what we hope for from our does. We’ve been selecting our breeding does for good mothering instincts for over 15 years and it pays off in healthy kids.

With the 2026 season underway, it’s time to share our Just Kidding! invitation to visit the ranch and see the kids cavorting. By May 9th there will be dozens more. No charge, we simply like to share the experience. Hope to see you there!

Bird watching and doe watching

Heading out to church this morning, Craig caught sight of birds in the puddle just across the railroad tracks. The ducks spooked and noisily flew off as the car rolled to a stop for a photo op, but another little bird with long beak remained, standing still. It was a killdeer, described by one birding website as “a shorebird you can see without going to a beach.” In this case, the “shore” was the edge of a generous puddle left courtesy of yesterday’s rain showers.  Can you spot it?

How about in this closer view?

Here’s the killdeer visiting an ephemeral pool (otherwise known as a puddle)

Ducks, hawks, owls and even an occasional eagle have all been spotted on the Cloverdale Ranch. Our houseguests in the downstairs studio for the summer just added a small flock of chickens with their rooster. Haven’t heard Mr. Rooster crowing in the morning yet, but I expect that’s because it’s still too chilly for us to have the windows open.

Craig is out checking the barn we call the Big Top, an extra large hoop house we use for our pregnant does over the winter. Kidding is expected to start some time this week. Every time he goes out these days he has his ear tuned listening for the bleats of the first kid. So far all he’s heard is the soft grunting of the does indicating they’re about done with this pregnancy gig and are ready to go!

Ladies in waiting

First Signs of Spring

First flowers have bloomed in the garden! These tiny white flowers I call Snow on the Mountain are always followed quickly by the purple blooms of vinca.

Then there’s the daffodils planted many years ago in the west windbreak near the Shepherds Camp, announcing warm weather coming.

And soon, very soon, the first kids will be appearing in the barn. Craig is busy with preparations, making sure the mothers (does) have had necessary vaccinations for healthy kids and monitoring access to nutritional salts in their diet. One thing surprising me as a city raised girl when we started raising livestock 25 years ago was how much attention a responsible rancher pays to the nutritional quality of hay and forage. We try to pay the same attention to our own. Food is not literally medicine, but poor food is a major contributor to poor health for both man and beast.

Be sure you know the condition of your flocks,
    give careful attention to your herds.
Proverbs 2:23

A new season of life

For over twenty years, Craig shepherded our herd of goats through urban communities to manage overgrown or invasive vegetation. On the road for four to six months a year meant little time to enjoy our own place in the country together.

Now the Healing Hooves herd is inviting campers to visit them at the ranch and enjoy the wide open spaces and dark night skies of eastern Washington.

Tonight is a full moon, sometimes considered a harbinger of good luck and good fortune, a great day to launch our newest enterprise. We tried it out as a pilot project in 2025 and had about a dozen guests traveling with Harvest Hosts. This year we’re hoping to double that number with additional opportunities through the Hip Camp network.

The internet is unsure who said it first, but I agree with the sentiment: "I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it."  Seeking good luck, I spent most of April Fools Day sending out media releases, social media posts and emails getting the word out about our new website for this new season of life.  

Hope to see you on the ranch this summer!

March 12, 2026

We have our first booking for 2026, a traveler with Harvest Hosts. She was excited to learn that her visit in late April is perfectly timed to enjoy baby goats cavorting in the barnyard. We except the first kids to be born about April 15th and kidding will continue for about two months. While Craig is busy preparing for kidding season, I’m excited at the progress we’ve made with Square Space Experts help to transform our Healing Hooves website to feature our Country Skies ag-tourism venture as well as our goat sales, targeted grazing and soil health coaching services. Will be sharing my 2026 Life on the Ranch journal for our initial blog posts. Almost ready to go live!

March 7, 2026

Took a walk to get the mail on this beautiful spring day. Marvelous opportunity for walking prayer and taking time to purposefully notice my surroundings. There is beauty in the landscape just beginning to escape dormancy, in the weathered rocks, in the big sky arching over rolling hills.

March 4, 2026

First sign of spring at Cloverdale Ranch is I'm not wearing long underwear today! Sparing everyone the pic I took of the bare knobby knee behind my jeans, adding pic of pansies that made it through the mild winter instead.

February 26, 2026

Just finished the project installing tubing for radiant heat into the joists under the living room. At one point as Craig was drilling overhead while I was holding the ladder, I thought to myself "maybe I should grab that hard hat off the shelf." Then I got hit on the head with a falling piece of wood. Yup. Wore it the rest of the day. Should have paid attention to the US Coast Guard sweatshirt I was wearing and remembered the motto Semper Paratus. Always Ready.

February 21, 2026

Today's project - install two 300 foot lengths of radiant heat tubing. We're not "done" done but we're definitely done for the night. And googling advice we probably should have googled before starting.

February 9, 2026

Life on the Ranch: With Craig off to a symposium on alternate cropping systems, I had to get my own firewood and it's like playing Jenga, or at least it was the way I did it. I pulled the wrong piece and got a cascade at my feet. Checked the water troughs, relieved to find they were all full and the heaters were working, so no ice to break. Spotted Gigi out at the edge of the crop field positioned for maximum sun and minimum wind. She was okay with having a big pen to herself for a vacation from being on duty for awhile, but got bored and let herself out while we were on vacation. She's not going anywhere, she's a "homing" breed of LGD (Livestock Guardian Dog) and not a "roaming" breed. Still well supplied with wreaths from the cemeteries, they will provide goat treats for the next few months until the pastures green up.

All in all a quiet day, with a skiff of snow this afternoon to remind us it's still winter.

February 4, 2026

Even after 30+ years as a rural EM, there’s always something to learn. Attended Pediatric EMS class hosted by Airlift Northwest at their Davenport base. Gorgeous sunset, eh?

February 1, 2026

It was a crisp, sunny Saturday afternoon on the last day of January. I was just about finished with my writing assignment when Craig came into the office. "Would you like to go for a walk?"

"That would be lovely," says I, turning to see a slightly different smile on his face. One that said this was not just a romantic stroll. "And . . . ?"

"We need to walk the goats back from the meadow to the barn, and I need your help."

Afte hitting publish on Substack, I dressed appropriately for a walk involving ranching and we headed down the driveway. It really was lovely, always delightful to take time to enjoy the view together.

Then the work started. I had Oakley on leash and waited. One false start, the goats wouldn't follow without Oakley's help, but Gigi came so I swapped dogs. Gigi and stood in the driveway between the gate out of the meadow pen and the county road. Our assignment - to pretend to be a fence so they'd turn towards home instead of the open road. We did our assignment well. I took pictures.

Oakley, however, is the most frustrating border collie we've ever had. He brought the goats across the meadow to the gate nicely bunched together, out the gate, turned toward the barn and headed up the driveway and then . . . he decided there wasn't enough action. He does not have a slow speed. He disobeyed commands, ran at them, split the herd in three groups and had a grand old time doing four times as much work as necessary.

His humans were not amused. We got 'em all moved in the end, but there are no after pictures back at the barn, we'd almost lost daylight. Darned dog.

January 20, 2026

There was a time when I would have adamantly and perhaps just a bit angrily insisted I can do anything a man can do and don't you dare be stereotyping me. These days I volunteer to be in charge of washing dishes because I can soak my aching hands in warm water and incidentally duck being too involved in chores like finding and fixing broken pipes in the barnyard in January. Speaking of the barnyard, these wethers are looking pretty satisfied with their winter quarters. And much more pleasant to contemplate then a broken pipe!

UPDATE: One day and three trips to the hardware store later, what started out as a one-man job turned into husband and wife
DIY. Good news is finally got the pipe repaired and the goats have water without hauling buckets.

January 15, 2026

Life on the Ranch: We were blessed to share the Cloverdale Ranch with Pastor Katie and the Reardan Presbyterian Church youth group for a Friday/Saturday mostly off-grid overnight. Time for one last party before taking down the seven Christmas trees we splurged on putting up in December. Instead of a Friday night movie, they were invited to dig into the board games in the entertainment center after a hearty spaghetti dinner. A giant checkboard the size of the Twister mat came out, then the actual Twister mat gave one group a workout while games of Uno, Sorry and others popped up. Christina had also prepared a special Jeopardy competition for the group and Oakley prowled the living room looking for anyone who wanted to pet him.

Then there was a hilarious and uproarious game of Five Second Rule played on the large area rug. I totally spaced out the rug was located right over the sleeping quarters downstairs, where a young missionary couple is staying as our guests. Even our careful soundproofing was not up to the task for a dozen rowdies, and we got a gentle request for quiet hours at 10pm (sorry about that!). A quieter game of Mafia closed out the evening. You were right, Lydia, when you said judging by the noise they must be having a good time!

And just have to share this gem from conversations over breakfast pancakes and sausage. As the kids discussed whether each of them was Gen Z or Gen Alpha by their birth years, one young woman remarked "2009 is the cutoff, hard to imagine anyone older than that."

To which I replied "If you think 2009 is old, then 1955 is going to blow your mind."

And my Boomer advice to the young whippersnappers? If we'd known we were going to live this long we'd have taken better care of ourselves. So watch yourselves and take care of those bodies!

January 10, 2026

Picked up about a hundred wreaths at Pines Cemetery in Spokane Valley as treats for the goats, and of course whenever we drive off the ranch we have a list of errands. Also visited Mom's place for lunch (our favorite "restaurant") and pinochle, North 49 for livestock salt and parts for the watering system (also for the goats), haircut for Craig, diesel for the pickup, and groceries for us. Oakley came along for the ride. We left him in charge of the groceries while returning the cart, something that would have been impossible with any other dog we've ever owned, especially our favorite flat-coated retriever named Herbie, infamous for his appetites!

January 1, 2026

Happy New Year! Craig and I (Sue Lani here) started agri-tourism last summer on a small scale and decided we enjoyed having visitors on the ranch to share our journey. It’s a blessing to us to see through our urban guests eyes what we too easily take for granted living every day in the glories of God’s creation. Looking forward to what’s in store for us in the new year as we seek to bridge the ancient rural/urban divide!