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Publishing Books by Karen GoatKeeper and Dr. Richard E. Rintz

Home of karengoatkeeper.com

Site News

For now all of Dr. Rintz’s botany books, Exploring the Ozark Hills, My Ozark Hills, The Pumpkin Project, Love of Goats, Waiting for Fairies, The Little Spider (listed by a bookseller), City Water Project and Goat Games must be requested through my Contact Page. It is working as far as I know. Payment arrangements are through PayPal.

Books published through Kindle (Amazon) are still available through Amazon. This includes all of my novels and Ducks Love Hats. The eBooks are still available as well.

The Buy Print buttons now link you to the Contact GKP page.

Buff Orpington Pullet
Buff Orpington chickens are a pretty color and grow into a large, gentle hen that lays big brown eggs often. This is a February pullet.

My new Goodreads picture book site is slowly getting put together. Transferring the ratings from the blog to the new site will take weeks. There were over 200 of them and I try to do ten a week plus four new ones.

Politics is not supposed to be on my site. Controversy is not my thing. However: Missouri residents really need to support Proposition 1 in August to keep their Conservation Areas and State Parks operating.

Also in August: There is the proposal to eliminate the income tax and go to a sales tax. Unless you are rich, this is moving you from a tax with deductions and exemptions to one without these. I can’t afford a minimum 13% sales (income) tax. Can you?

one of the new arrivals: Nubian doe kid
This little Nubian doe kid from High Reaches Spring is always hungry.

Spending an hour or so sitting in the shade by the creek let me see the crawdads. It’s hard to get a good picture when they are underwater, but a couple came out.

My Substack account will get set up eventually. I found someone to help with directions. Now I need a profile picture. Using a timer on the camera is a big headache.

At present my Saturday posts on Substack are about writing my books. Each one presented a different problem about writing to solve.

Daffodils
“Exploring the Ozark Hills” is getting a makeover. I wrote the book years ago and it still sounds good. However, I’ve taken many, many pictures since then. This one of daffodils will replace one in the original book.

My Writing

All of the photographs for “Exploring the Ozark Hills” are set up and ready to put into the book. Many are the same, only higher dpi for better printing quality.

All of the nature essays will be read. Typos have a way of sneaking by and I am searching for them. At least one has a major mistake to correct.

Rough Fruited Cinquefoil flower with katydid
Although rough fruited cinquefoil is not rare, it is a pretty wildflower. The flower shape puts this plant into the rose family. The katydid doesn’t care. It smells like food.

The Life’s Rules draft needs to be done by the end of the month. The plan is to publish it this fall and I need to have parts of it read over by other people. Then comes the editing to fix the inevitable mistakes.

The hardest part of writing the Writing News posts is finding pictures to go with them.

Violacea di Verona Savoy cabbage
This cabbage is just starting to form a head. summer is coming along with hot weather, enemy of cabbage. The shade cloths are going up.

General Comments

Weeds are a never ending problem in my garden (every garden?). I fight them using cardboard on my pathways. This helps a lot.

I had just finished putting new cardboard down on all the pathways when the raccoons moved in. They tore it up. Now I am replacing it trying to outrun the weeds.

My tomato plants in one bed are on the third planting. Who knew rabbits ate tomato plants? Peppers, yes. But, tomatoes?

There are now four kids in the barn. Nubian doe Opal had twin bucks the other day. There are three buck kids and one doe. She is the cutest one.

Two other does are bred, but for fall.

I have several writing deadlines. My 2026 goals are to finish Life’s Rules, Ship 18, Ship 19, the gardening essays and two Opal and Agate picture books. Is this doable? At least, I will try.

Garlic, Cabbage loves cool
My garlic is dug. Trays of bulbs are laid out on the front room floor to dry. Even a dry year has given me a big crop.

I am presently reading “Wishing for Crawdads” . There are more picture books, “The Vanishing Sea” and “The Day the Crayons Came Home” this week.

You can keep up with my reading and reviews on Goodreads. As I finish each book, I take the time to write a review on Goodreads. Picture book reviews are on my new Goodreads page. Many reviews remain on the blog as I transfer only a few each week. It would be nice if those reading my books would do the same.

Finding My Picture Book Reviews

The picture book Goodreads page is under karengoatkeeper. As I get it more organized, I will add a link to it here.

I am very hesitant to add any outside links to my website. So you can find me on Goodreads under Karen GoatKeeper.

visiting conservation areas at Gerhild and Graham Brown Conservation Area
One of the first things I saw by the parking lot at Gerhild and Graham Brown Conservation Area was a large patch of sumac. It turned out to be smooth sumac, much less common that the winged sumac near my home. Sumac is one of the first plants to invade a pasture left to grow up.

About GKP Books

I normally sell books through Kindle and Smashwords as their sites are secure. Some books are only available through me for the time being. Please use the Contact GKP page.

Some eBooks (notably “Pumpkin Project and “Exploring the Ozark Hills”) are too large or complicated for the other sites. These are available as PDFs from me. Please use the Contact Me page.

All of the links should be working. If you find one has decided to go on vacation, you can contact me through the Contact Page.

Thank you for Stopping By

Keep checking back as the topics on the two posts change every week, weather permitting. Impassable roads can delay things.

Nubian doe kid
I’m cute.