Author: Karen GoatKeeper

Karen GoatKeeper loves to write. Her books include picture books, novels and nonfiction for science activity books and nature books. A recent inclusion are science teaching units.
The coming year has goals for two new novels, a picture book and some books of personal essays. This is ambitious and ignores time constraints.
She lives in the Missouri Ozarks with her small herd of Nubian dairy goats. The Ozarks provides the inspiration and setting for most of her books.

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Latest From High Reaches

Ozark Wildflowers Blooming

The race is on. The spring ephemeral Ozark wildflowers blooming now are in a race with the trees. They want to put out their leaves for the summer.

Most spring ephemerals grow on the forest floor. All summer the trees shade this area making it hard for plants growing there to get enough light to photosynthesize. Certainly there isn’t enough light for a plant to make seeds.

Edible seeds on American Elm
Unless the tree has showy flowers like redbuds or dogwoods, people don’t think about trees having flowers. Many trees like elms, oaks, hickories and walnuts are wind pollinated so their flowers are tiny. The pollen clouds are noticed because they cover everything with a yellow film. These elm seeds are called samovars and are edible. I found them a nice snack, if I could reach them.

Trees Race Too

Many trees are wind pollinated. Leaves slow down the wind and the pollen. This yellow cloud coats the leaves instead of the pistils waiting to be pollinated. So the maples, ashes, willows, oaks and black walnuts are busy trying to bloom before the leaves too.

American elms are rare here due to Dutch elm disease. I’d found some down by the river in bloom. One even had branches low enough for me to get a picture or two.

On a recent walk I found the seeds on these trees. Since they were listed in “Foraging the Ozarks” as edible, I tried a few. They are bland, but a nice snack. Elms make lots of seeds so eating a few won’t hurt.

Nearby the green ash were blooming. November’s flood washed out my favorite ones, but I did find a few young ones I could get pictures of.

Ozark wildflowers blooming like Spring Beauty
Spring Beauty is a spring ephemeral. It forms large colonies in moist ground. I have seen it carpet lawns in town as well.

Ozark Wildflowers Blooming

The trees were expected. So many wildflowers weren’t. Beautiful spring beauties lined the road and the path along the river. Rue anemones are just opening. Blue violets are having trouble growing up through the sand leaving their flowers sandy.

Redbuds are blooming. Fragrant sumac is opening. Virginia bluebells are getting ready. Rose verbena has its purple pink bouquets out along the road.

Ozark wildflowers blooming like rose verbena
This native wildflower, Rose Verbena, blooms all spring and summer. It is a low growing plant and would be a nice groundcover. It is one of the earliest bright wildflowers blooming along the roads.

Time Frustrations

Now is the time to go hiking to find, admire and photograph all the Ozark wildflowers blooming. It’s also time to get the garden ready and to start planting early crops like peas, turnips, kohlrabi, mizuna and more.

Trying to do both is frustrating.

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GKP Writing News

Foraging the Ozarks

I am not much of a forager. However, the Carduan Chronicles is forcing me to learn more about foraging. One book to read is “Foraging the Ozarks” by Bo Brown.

Ozark Survival

One of the ships in the Carduan Chronicles lands in a Ozark ravine. Those on board are stranded and must learn to live on this strange, new planet.

An immediate need is food. The Carduans must discover which plants growing wild in a ravine and old pasture are edible and which parts of the plants taste good.

Dandelions food on Carduan world
One of the first edible plants easy to find in the spring is the dandelion. Although it is an import from Europe and occasional near creeks and pasture edges, it could be found by the Carduans. Both the flowers and leaves are edible. The root can be roasted and used for a coffee substitute.

As a Writer

I am a gardener, not a forager. Many years ago I wrote a Nature Note column for a local paper and met an old woman who had grown up foraging. She introduced me to several so-called weeds that were good to eat.

Most of these plants were brought over from Europe and grow wild. But they prefer disturbed places like gardens and lawns. They are rarely found out on the hills and in the ravines.

Most foraging books focus on these common plants. I needed to learn about the others. “Foraging the Ozarks” is a book including many of these other plants.

amazing pawpaw cluster
One of my favorite wild edible is the pawpaw in late summer/early fall. Unfortunately for the Carduans, the pawpaw is a tree. However, sometimes the ripe fruits aren’t eaten before they fall to the ground.

The Next Step

It’s fine to read about these edible plants. The problem is that I must rely on someone else’s opinion about them.

This leaves me looking for and taste testing these wild plants. I’ve found many of them before taking pictures for my Dent count Flora project. Now I’m looking them up again to take a nibble of leaves and fruit. Many do have edible roots, but I hate to dig the plants up.

A final consideration is the size of the plants. The Carduans are only four inches tall. Trees might present very big problems for them.

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Latest From High Reaches

High Winds and Fire

The first phone call came during dinner. “You know you’re under an evacuation order? There’s a fire.” We already had no electricity. Now high winds and fire threatened.

The argument between winter and spring is fierce in the Ozarks. One refuses to leave. The other insists on coming in. This is where high winds happen.

high winds and fire are a bad combination
These flames were creeping across the hill behind the house on the day after the big fire. The winds had died down. What little breeze still blew was blowing against the flames. Burning leaves put up a lot of smoke.

Do We Leave?

There was no immediate reason to evacuate. The fire was on the hills above us. It was driven away by the winds.

If we evacuate, we have goats, chickens and cats to take too. Two friends offered their places for us to stay, but the crowd would be a bit much.

Saving Thunderstorm

Rain arrived behind the high winds. The fire died down. It burned 750 acres, two houses and some other things.

By the next day the fire was starting up again. It was a no high winds and fire routine, only the fire slowly working its way through the fallen leaves. We watched it as it crept across a field and started down the hill toward the house.

Damp ground, dew and killing frost ended this gambit. Or so we thought.

Dent County Fire District truck
The leaf fire had been creeping along the hill toward the house. It was taking its time and didn’t seem to be much of a threat. Then the Dent County Fire Protection trucks arrived as the neighbor had seen the smoke and called them.

Another Round

Smoke rose up from the hill beside the house. I walked down the road and saw a line of fire stretching up the hill. High winds and fire were at it again.

This was still a small fire burning leaves. We watched and waited.

Our neighbor arrived. He’d called the sheriff and fire department. His house was in danger!

His house was not in danger. It was across the road from the fire and almost a mile away.

setting a back fire
The fire fighters were concerned the high winds could blow the fire across the road. They set a back fire to stop the fire line before it got to the road. The winds were brisk, but not full of big gusts, which helped.

Fighting the Fire

The Salem Fire Protection Department arrived. Four big trucks turned into the driveway. Men put on their gear and marched off to stop the fire.

A few hours later, the trucks left to stop another flare up on the hill behind us. This one burned down a house.

Our hills were blackened as though a prescribed burn was done. We were lucky.

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Latest From High Reaches

First Spring Hike

The grass is starting to grow hinting at mower time coming. The wayside speedwell and early cress are blooming in the yard. So I went on my first spring hike looking for the earliest wildflowers.

Disappointment

The upper Meramec River is a short hike away. Usually I find harbinger of spring there.

Not this year. This year the river bank is totally different after the big flood that came through the end of last year.

Debris in the bushes marked the high water mark. It was over five feet up. Fallen logs were swept away through much of my hiking path. Sand was left behind.

Dreams of crossing onto the gravel bar in the center of the river were mostly cancelled. The river had cut into its bank, toppling trees and leaving sheer drops of four to ten feet into deep pools. This summer’s swimmers with their small children may not want to stay here this year. Already the party crowd has gone elsewhere as the far gravel bank is now inaccessible.

first spring hike find: American Elm flower
American elms aren’t doing well in my area of the Ozarks. Those near the house have all died. A few hang on in the river floodplain. My first spring hike was timed well as these trees were blooming. I was lucky to have a branch within reach to get a few pictures.

Only One Flower

A few spring plants are trying to force their way up through the sand. Some of the dirt areas are still clear. However, I found no early wildflowers.

Silver maples grow along the river. They had finished blooming. I don’t worry much about getting pictures of them as the flowers are thirty feet over my head.

The American elms had washed away in the area I had found. There does seem to be others further down and these trees were in bloom. One branch was even within reach of my walking stick-hooked on the end.

Later On

This first spring hike was mostly exercise and looking around. My next forays along here will hopefully find other flowers in bloom.

Some, like Virginia bluebells, rue anemone, false rue anemone, Confederate violets, are nice to see again. Another, Virginia waterleaf, is one I need more pictures of. I’ve found it along here in the past, but my return trips were thwarted by stinging nettle. Perhaps the flood swept most of these away. I can hope.

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GKP Writing News

Finding Plot Holes

Finding plot holes is such a mess. A main character in Life’s rules has a birthday including family party. Except it never happened. Oops.

This is where a good plot outline would help, I suppose. Or maybe not. Sarah’s birthday wasn’t really part of the plot originally.

Finding Plot Holes

I write from a list of bullet points. These are a rough idea of what the plot looks like, but doesn’t really add any details.

None of these points is definite. Some get ignored. Others get added as the plot takes shape in the rough draft.

In Life’s Rules, there are several subplots. Some of these are being eliminated. Others are being expanded on. Keeping track of them is complicated especially as spring brings so many other activities fragmenting my writing time.

My method to keep track of them and find problems is to make an outline as I rewrite the rough draft. It’s not a formal outline, just a list of day events as the novel unfolds in days.

Another Outline

There are many characters in Life’s Rules. Some are families. Parents, spouses, children, grandchildren all need names and an outline of relationships.

Each also needs a few details about each character. The ages, grades and interests of the grandchildren are important.

I didn’t do this outline once. One of the characters changed names over the course of the novel. Catching this mistake luckily happened before the final draft.

cover for "Dora's Story" by Karen GoatKeeper
This story too had a massive plot hole in it. It took several outlines to finally get the plot and timing done correctly.

After Finding Plot Holes

Once a plot hole is spotted, the rewrite begins. Since this particular hole is a major problem, the rewrite is like writing a new rough draft at this point until the other events can be placed on new days.

The frustrating part of this is how I keep rambling on with text full of goings on. Each has a bearing on the main plot, but one goal of this rewrite was to cut the word count, not add to it.

So, I now get to do another rewrite after finishing this one to try again to shorten this massive story.

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Latest From High Reaches

Goats As Pets

People driving by stopped asking about my goats. It seems they want to buy one for their grandson. I cringed. Goats as pets often does not end well for the goat.

Many people think of Nigerian Dwarfs or Pygmies as pets. Perhaps these work out better than my Nubians as they are small. I have no experience with them.

Nubians get big. I have a six-year-old wether. His back is over three feet up and his weight is well over 200 pounds. Yes, he is a pet, although I kept him as a lead goat which role he rarely fills.

Goats as pets can work
Yes, this Nubian wether is called Pest among other names like Big Lug which he is at over 200 pounds. A wether is a fixed buck goat and is better suited as a pet as he will not usually be as aggressive and won’t stink during the fall. Pest was very small when he was born and was raised on a bottle. He is very laid back. Still, he is big enough to hurt me without trying.

Goats Can Be Dangerous

My Nubians are as much pets as livestock for me. Even so, I have one doe who is spooky. If she panics, she will climb right over the top of me. She is at least twenty pounds heavier than I am and has four feet ending with hard hooves.

Long ago I knew a woman with a commercial goat dairy. One of her bucks, a Toggenburg (another big dairy breed), broke her leg is three places. Newly out of the hospital, she tried to stop him from deliberately killing another buck. She went back in the hospital.

I have had a broken hand, numerous bruises and almost lost an eye from my goats. The goats involved were not mean nor did they try to hurt me. But they did.

Goats As Pets

Goats are herd animals. They need another goat for company. People wanting a pet goat often think they can get only one and wonder why the goat cries. A baby Nubian can be heard for a quarter mile.

A goat is not like a dog. Yes, they love petting. Yes, they will follow you around to see what you are doing. Getting shoved can leave you on the ground.

In addition, goats eat fruit trees, gardens, stand on vehicles. They are curious and get into everything.

Horror Stories

Goats take lots of good care. Pet goats often don’t get the proper food or care. They get abused and turn mean. They get sick and die. I know of all of these things happening.

Will I sell my kids as pets? I would rather not.

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Latest From High Reaches

Busy Moving In

There’s nothing like being locked up due to the weather to help a new goat fit in. Huckleberry has been busy moving in.

New Routines

Everything was different for Huckleberry. Of course, the herd was new. He looked them over. They looked him over. An uneasy truce was reached.

Then there was the milk room routine. Huckleberry soon decided this was the place to be. Oats appeared in his dish followed by a handful of alfalfa hay.

The difficulty was getting on and off the milkstand. He finally found he could jump up after climbing half up a few times. It was getting out again that troubled him.

To get out of the milkstand, a goat must back up. Goats don’t easily back up. Huckleberry is considerably bigger than I am. Still, I pulled him out a time or two. He’s a smart buck and does fine now.

The next step is going out of the milk room once you are done eating. He is still working on that.

Busy moving in Nubian buck Terrell Creek Huckleberry
Before the snow and cold arrived, I introduced Nubian buck Huckleberry to the pasture. The herd was busy searching for new blades of grass. Huckleberry wasn’t too sure about being out in a pasture. Once the snow and cold go away, we will try again.

Before Winter Returned

Another new routine was going out to pasture. Huckleberry stood and watched the herd go out, then wondered where they were. Fresh hay in the barn helped pass the time until the herd returned.

I tried taking him out to where the herd was busy nipping off new grass shoots. He stood looking around.

After several times, he has learned grass is good to eat. This is true as long as I stand out in the pasture. As soon as I go back to the barn, so does he.

In Lock Down Once Again

Goats will go out in the snow. They will ignore a fresh bucket of water and eat snow. Sunshine is the true lure as they can stand, bask and get cozy warm.

However, the barn cools down to the outside temperature once the door is open. When the temperature stays around ten, the door stays closed, sun or no sun.

Huckleberry feels right at home this way. He is used to spending most of his time in a barn.

Once the snow leaves again, Huckleberry will keep busy moving in by learning to go out with the herd. Maybe.

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Welcome Huckleberry

The pasture stood empty. Someone was supposed to be there. Now someone will be there. Welcome Huckleberry to High Reaches.

Officially the new buck is Terrell Creek Huckleberry. Unofficially he is Huckleberry or Big Boy.

Finding My New Buck

I started with the ADGA (American Dairy Goat Association) yearbook as I wanted to find a registered Nubian buck not too far from home. However, I also checked out Craig’s List. I am not on Facebook for several reasons, time being one.

Yes, I know I should look over pedigrees, relations etc. But, that came second this time as his pictures told me this was the buck I was interested in. I sent an email about him.

Nigerian doe at R Corner Ranch
This very spoiled Nigerian doe at R Corner Ranch is one of several that wander around. She is very pregnant. Many of the Nigerians have blue eyes here. All are beautiful and milk very well. This is a dairy operation.

Getting the Buck

I no longer load, haul and unload goats myself. It’s one of the casualties of getting older. So, I called a friend. She was free the same day the buck’s owner was free, sort of.

Emily Reed of R Corner Ranch in Silex, MO, works with her goats full time. She is concentrating on her Nigerian Dwarfs and selling her Nubians. That put Huckleberry up for sale. It’s kidding season at her place.

The trip was an all day affair. The weather was winter coming in again, overcast and icy cold. Luckily, Huckleberry would be closed in and out of the wind chill.

Welcome Huckleberry, new Nubian buck at High Reaches
This is Nubian buck Terrell Creek Huckleberry loaded in the truck, ready to move to High Reaches. It took several hours. He wasn’t too sure what was happening, but glad to arrive and get out of the truck.

Welcome Huckleberry?

Sunset was over by the time Huckleberry arrived at his new home. The pen I had spent days cleaning out would be too cold, even bedded with straw. The barn stall wasn’t set up.

Much to my herd’s disgust, Huckleberry moved in. No one is in season right now. He has the company of other goats, something he is used to. Another plus is his easy going nature.

In the morning, I came out to welcome Huckleberry to his new home and routine. The herd is still looking him over.

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GKP Writing News

Writing Unknowns

One of the big annoyances in reading is looking through a book about a familiar subject only to find the author didn’t really know the subject. The book, often part of a series, was written by a freelance writer from research. They were writing unknowns.

Two Nubian goats are loud
Dairy goats have their horns disbudded so they don’t grow. This is safer for the goats and the goat owner. Rose and Drucilla aren’t show goats, but they don’t look like the common caricatures many people draw of goats.

Examples

The library shelved a picture book on goats. Of course, I checked it out. The text was suitable for a picture book. The pictures were sharp and clear. Except the goats.- dairy goats! -in the pictures had horns.

Anyone familiar with dairy goats knows breeders disbud their kids. Horned dairy goats aren’t shown or, if they are, have lots of lost points because of the horns. This goes back decades as dairy goat owners wanted a positive picture of their beautiful goats, not a billy goat gruff caricature.

My friend owned an old John Deere tractor for years. Reading through a book on such tractors no mention was made of a quirk of such tractors. The writer had never owned a tractor and it showed.

Writing Unknowns in Life’s Rules

I have no Facebook account for several reasons. I’m not online at home and don’t have a cell phone. Rural Missouri has reception issues and the hills surrounding my house compound them.

In Life’s Rules, the main character Stephanie must get an email account, a Facebook account, a credit card. She goes to places I’ve never been. She speaks languages I have little familiarity with. I am writing unknowns.

This is when a writer must depend on others to look over the draft. Is the description right? Are the conversations right? Should the names be changed?

In the meantime, I am writing unknowns trying to sound like I know what I’m writing about. After all, I need a draft for others to look over.

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Six More Weeks

January thaw finally showed up with beautiful, warm sunny days trailing into February. So, the back yard ground hog got up to see what was going on, saw his shadow and announced six more weeks of winter.

Big Surprise – Not

This is the beginning of February, still considered the middle of winter. Spring doesn’t officially arrive until the end of March. And, the last few years, spring has been lucky to oust winter by April.

That doesn’t mean the drop from a pleasant seventy degrees to a cold forty was appreciated. It definitely wasn’t.

Disappointment

That ground hog was in for a hard time scrounging for food. The goats have noticed too. A few blads of grass are trying to grow, but the five inches of snow stopped any thought of spring. The snow decided we had six more weeks of winter and green grass.

My cabbage and leek seedlings are hoping the weather will moderate into a semblance of early spring by March. That’s when they are supposed to move into the garden. In the meantime, they would like fifty during the day as they can move out on the front porch instead of sitting under grow lights. Sun is so much better for seedlings.

Early Bloomers

The wayside speedwell started blooming during January thaw. Its cheery blue flowers are the color of a summer sky.

Down by the river, the silver maples are blooming. I’d love to get some pictures. To get these pictures I need to climb up thirty feet. There are lower branches, but the flowers are on the top ones.

During those six more weeks of winter, the garden gets renovated. Barns get cleaned out. Hiking plans will be made. Seedlings will be started and grown.

The endless tasks of spring and summer are on the horizon. Perhaps a bit of extra sleep should make the list too.