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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GKP Writing News

Creating Carduans

When the idea for the Carduan Chronicles first occurred to me, all I knew was that a space ship would appear during an ice storm, land in an Ozark ravine and leave the occupants trying to survive. The next task was creating Carduans.

Creating Carduans started with creating their ship
Carduan Ship 19 appeared during an ice storm which forced it to land. On the way down, it had to maneuver between trees in the ravine.

How Big?

There were several considerations. I went hiking through a number of Ozark ravines trying to spot places a space ship could land. A flat area was not a problem as bluff rocks stick out in many places. However, they are small.

Ravines have trees growing in them. The ship had to be small enough to avoid them.

The final size of the space ship was thirty inches long, eighteen inches wide and high. These Carduans had to fit inside. Four inches tall worked.

Ship 19 has landed
Creating Carduans depended on them being small. They must blend in to avoid unwanted attention.

Physical Appearance

I now had a height for creating Carduans. They had heads, arms, legs, feet and hands. Obviously, these were small and fingers would be very slender. There would be three fingers so the Carduans would count in threes and sixes.

Of course, the Carduans could just be tiny people with a few minor changes. That didn’t suit me. How would they be different?

Many creatures on Earth have blue blood. It is not based on iron which is what makes our blood red. If the Carduans had blue blood, they would be blue.

An interesting article about chickens showed up. It seems chickens have retina cells sensitive to five different color wavelengths. Insects often see in ultraviolet.

Setting Up Arkosa

The Carduans come from the planet Arkosa. I picture this planet as dry, hot, bathed in ultraviolet light. Plants would have fall colors as the pigments for these colors can deal with ultraviolet light for photosynthesis.

Seeing ultraviolet would be an advantage. Having a third eyelid to counter intense glare or shield from dust would be another advantage.

My Carduans

So, in creating Carduans, I had to consider the setting and the origins of these creatures. This was for Ship Nineteen. But, the same creatures are also on Ship Eighteen.

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Latest From High Reaches

Snowy Week

This is a snowy week in the Ozarks. We left this behind us in the UP (Upper Peninsula of Michigan) over thirty years ago. It has come to visit.

Snow is pretty to look at. Those flakes drift down dampening sound, making a silent world. When the sun shines again, the snow sparkles and errant bits in the air shine like diamonds.

snowy week buries the garden
My garden tubs have snow mounds on top. There was some wind so they each have a hollow around them. The moisture from the snow will get the tubs ready for spring planting.

Reality

The Ozarks is not prepared for a snowy week. They are so rare, the road department has no real snow removal equipment. Drivers don’t know how to cope with snow and ice on the roads.

My barn was never built for the cold. Now over a hundred years old, it is drafty and too tinder dry to put any kind of heat lamp in.

Slogging through eight or so inches of heavy snow is hard work. Unlike city people, I can’t sit it out looking out the windows. Chickens and goats need attention.

Wildlife suffers too. The squirrels curl up in their nests and sleep. Birds must find food to keep themselves warm.

snowy week means hungry birds
The birds are lining up on the feeder at first light. They mob the place all day. Other food is under the snow and they need food to keep warm.

Double Edged Sword

We feed the birds and have ever since we moved here. This morning a flock of cardinals was waiting for breakfast to arrive. They were trying to move into the tray even as it was being set out. These birds depend on the feeder’s bounty.

If the feeder were to suddenly disappear, these birds would be in trouble. There are many more living around us than the place can actually support. They would have to fly off for miles to find another good food source which is hard to do in the snow.

Snowy Week with Cold

Often the snow disappears in a day or two in the Ozarks. This time the cold is staying for over a week so the snow will too.

It isn’t all a problem. The garlic and winter onions have a snowy blanket. They will be warmer for this snowy week.

“Exploring the Ozark Hills” has a section on winter.

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GKP Writing News

Tongue Twisters

How many times have you called an office or been called and found the receptionist barely understandable? It’s frustrating. I wish I could tell them to get a book of tongue twisters.

Aren’t tongue twisters a children’s game? Children think so. Who can say one the fastest? Who can think of one?

Love of Goats tongue twister
Try saying this tongue twister three times fast. It is a good way to begin with these verbal challenges.

What Is a Tongue Twister?

The key to a tongue twister is alliteration, the repeat of the same sound in a series of words. Such alliteration can be used in various ways in literature as well as tongue twisters.

“The Bells” and “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe both use alliteration. In the first one, the sounds bring out the sounds of the bells. In the second, it forms internal rhymes tying the poem together.

For children, there are some old ones: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickles; She sells sea shells by the seashore; Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers. Can you say these three times quickly and not trip over your tongue and be understandable?

For Love of Goats tongue twister
All the words in this tongue twister may begin with the letter D, but the vowel after them makes you say them differently.

What Value Do They Have?

The big value is teaching pronunciation. When learning a new one, each word must be said slowly, enunciated carefully. Once the words are mastered, speed is introduced.

No matter how fast a child says these, they must be understandable. This is the value of them. And the reason I wish some receptionists I deal with would get a book of them.

More Goat tongue twister fun
As you say this tongue twister, feel how your mouth must change shape to form these words. To say it fast three times, your mouth must move fast too.

Another value is confidence. A child who gets good at tongue twisters has something to be proud of and build confidence at mastering difficult things.

And these word games are fun.

Writing Tongue Twisters

I have loved alliteration all my life. It gives shape to the sounds of words and language. Another aspect and game would be finding homonyms.

A castrated male goat is a wether. The conditions outside is weather. Making a choice involves whether.

The three became a little story about goats. This led to more. My result was “For Love of Goats”. What will your result be?

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Latest From High Reaches

Winter Ferns

Killing frost takes down most plants in the Ozarks. There are some that stay small huddled close to the ground. And there are four winter ferns.

With the warm weather this year in the Ozarks, some of the other ferns are still green. They are not true winter ferns as a harsh winter makes them vanish.

Christmas fern is a winter fern
Over the summer Christmas fern gets fairly big resembling a Boston fern. It will grow as a house plant. Over the winter, the fronds darken and hug the ground, but stay green giving it its name.

Christmas Fern

The name says it. This fern is still green at Christmas. It stays green all winter. The green is darker and the fronds more ragged than over the summer.

This is a bigger fern. I have grown it in a pot where it is much like any of the commercial ferns.

Ebony spleenwort is a winter fern
Ebony Spleenwort is a delicate looking fern with its dark rachis and green leaflets. The winter has been warmer, to it still has the tall fronds. Most winters only the little fronds curl around just above the ground.

Ebony Spleenwort

Unlike the Christmas fern, ebony spleenwort has upright fronds looking a lot like green feathers against the rocks. Especially over the winter there are many smaller fronds spreading across the ground.

It is easy to identify as the rachis or main stem is a smooth purple stalk lined by alternate leaflets with little thumbs. Christmas fern has the thumbs too, but the rachis is much bigger, green and a bit hairy.

Walking Fern
Walking fern doesn’t look like a fern with its long leaves. But, in the spring, the new leaves unroll from fiddleheads and older leaves have sori under them. Over the winter the leaves darken and hug the rocks is likes to grow on.

Walking Fern

Ferns are supposed to have these fronds. This is one fern that doesn’t. It snuggles into the moss on big rocks with its leaves wide at the top and tapering to the end.

Although walking ferns do produce spores like other ferns, it has a faster way of spreading. The long tapering tips of the leaves wedge into the moss and grow into new ferns. The fern walks across the rocks using its leaves.

Cut Leaf Grapefern

Not all winter ferns are green. This one is purple. All summer its single leaf is green. When frost comes, it turns a brownish purple for the winter.

There are two varieties of cut leaf grapefern. One has wide leaflets. The other is lacy. Both turn color.

Winter ferns are much easier to spot now as the competition is asleep for the season. Once spring arrives, taller plants will hide these ferns.

More about these is in “Exploring the Ozark Hills.“

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GKP Writing News

Creating Characters

Some novels begin with a plot. Others begin with a character. But all novels require creating characters.

Where do these fictional characters come from? How does a writer find these characters?

cover for "Broken Promises" by Karen GoatKeeper
This is the only novel I have written that uses a person I once knew. He is in the book the way he was when I knew him. He is now deceased.

Asking For Trouble

Even some famous authors like Hemmingway got into trouble by using their friends, acquaintances and enemies as characters in their novels. If they were lucky, they just had to find new friends. Unlucky writers ended up being sued.

Having written this, I do base my characters on people I know, have read about or seen. But, I don’t use the people exactly. Instead I look at some trait or traits these people have and build a character around them, one that is not the original person.

cover of "Old Promises" Hazel Whitmore #2 by Karen GoatKeeper
When I was doing a practical teaching course, I noticed a student who was extremely shy. Who was she? I never found out. Yet, she became the model for Hazel’s friend in this book.

Creating Characters Exercise

Next time you are out and about, look at the people around you. These people are strangers. You know nothing about them, really.

Pick out one. What do you think this person is like? Do they work? Invent a personality for this person. How would this person fit into a story or novel?

cover for "Dora's Story" by Karen GoatKeeper
Names were a big challenge in “Dora’s Story” as there were goat shows and every exhibitor and goat needed a name.

What’s In a Name?

I hate finding names for my characters most of the time. Now and then a character just has a name, but this isn’t usually the case.

Usually, the name search takes time and persistence. There are online lists. Books, telephone books, old school annuals are all places to look.

Several factors need consideration. One is the time frame of the novel. Names change in popularity or even existence over the years. Nova is not a possibility for an eighteenth century novel.

Plus, the name needs to be one the writer is comfortable with. I tend to like two and three syllable names. There’s no real reason, but I am happier with characters with names of these lengths.

cover for "Capri Capers" by Karen GoatKeeper
As this was a fun novel, the names had to be fun. Roscoe Rascal, Dan Janus, even Harriet Zeigenhert which is German for goat.

Names Can Change

No matter how detailed a writer is creating characters, things including names can change as the plot evolves. New traits will emerge in the characters. They will become like people you know well.

A great compliment was paid me talking with a woman about Life’s Rules. I was describing Stephanie, my main character. The woman thought she was a real person, someone she wanted to meet.

Creating characters is important for a writer and compliments like this one make the effort worth while.

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Latest From High Reaches

Never Ending Repair List

From time to time I find a copy of some homesteading magazine. You know, the ones with the beautiful pictures of neat, clean homesteads and well dressed people. Reality hits when I look at my never ending repair list.

never ending repair list for chickens
My chicken nests are old. I built them over thirty years ago from scrap lumber. This one finally wore out possibly due to the last time I tossed it out the door containing a black snake. The chickens insist it needs to move to the top of the to do list as it is one of their favorite nests.

Do It Right the First Time

How many times have I heard this? There is some fantasy out there trying to make me believe that, if I build something right the first time, I won’t have to do it again.

never ending repair list for the garden
I replaced a narrow gate with a wider one so the former brace no longer reached across. The PVC pipes are over T-posts so I could hang additional wire to thwart a deer. However, the outer post leans and causes the fence to lean.

The Ozarks makes a mockery of this saying. Rain, heat, cold, humidity attack as soon or even sooner than a project is done.

My PVC gates are a good case. The pipes are holding up well. The wire is rusting. It leaves rust tracings on the pipes.

The hinges sag. I’m not sure why they sag, but they do. That leaves the gates scraping on the frozen dirt or catching on walnuts the chickens kick into their path.

Shoring up the garden fences is on the never ending repair list. Perhaps I can get to some of it this summer.

Chicken nest repaired
The plywood may be old, but most of it is still usable. I replaced the bottom and nailed the sides back together. This hen approves my work.

Barn Cleaning

There was a time when I scraped down to the cement when I cleaned the barn. Not now. After all, I will be tossing new bedding down and the goats will be making new deposits almost before the old bedding is out the door.

Chickens make a big mess. They toss feed out of the feeder. Their new roost pole decided to sag and refuses to stiffen up. A nest box needs rebuilding.

garden gate repaired
One thing a homesteader needs to learn is to have a pile of usable stuff. I used the old brace, bent, and a piece of PVC pipe left when the septic tank was replaced and had a brace to straighten the gate post. The metal brace was from an old lawn mower that stopped working.

New Homesteaders

Now and then I meet some people, cheery people, people who are so happy to own a place in the country. They have such big plans and dreams.

I always wonder if I will see them again in a year. Will they still be so cheerful? Or will they have met the never ending repair list, you know, the one that laughs at those fancy homesteading magazines.

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GKP Writing News

Writing Illustrated Books

A lot of authors are writing illustrated books now. Perhaps these books are popular because people love to watch television and movies and find books of nothing but words boring.

Of course, books for very young readers are filled with pictures. Some have no text at all or very little. As these readers get older, they may like to have those pictures.

I came across such a book. “Matilda” by Roald Dahl seems like a typical book and has an interesting story. What sets it apart are the illustrations by Quentin Blake scattered through the text telling the story.

Writing illustrated books like Ducks Love Hats
Picture books are a kind of illustrated book. “Ducks Love Hats” has no text so the images form the story.

What Are Illustrated Books?

Picture books are listed as illustrated books. These books are in a special category as the pictures tell the story. Even if there is text, the pictures convey the story.

An illustrated book uses pictures to augment the story. Usually, if all of the pictures are removed, the text would tell the story.

"For Love of Goats" is an illustrated book
This image from “For Love of Goats” goes with the entry for E for Electric Fence, but the text is needed to explain what is happening. This is an illustrated book.

Graphic novels are a third type of illustrated books. They trace back to comic books, but now tell much more elaborate stories. These use the pictures to tell the story, but have text and dialogue to add details. Removing the pictures removes the story, just as removing the text would. Both must be there.

Writing Illustrated Books

How an author approaches writing such a book depends on the type of book. Picture books are primarily pictures. When I write a picture book, I see it as a series of pictures. Any text is added later, although I may write out the text before beginning to draw the sketches.

In an illustrated book the pictures are an afterthought. As I write about Ship Eighteen of the Carduan Chronicles, I know I want to have illustrations heading each chapter. The pictures aren’t necessary, however, they will enhance the story.

I have read several graphic novels. It is an interesting format, but one I haven’t used.

Instead, I will continue writing illustrated books mostly as picture books.

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Latest From High Reaches

Growing Weeds

Last year had lots of problems and the garden suffered. The result is that now I am growing weeds.

Doing a little weeding isn’t a problem. It can be relaxing sitting there in the garden in the sun letting the mind wander. A few weeds are to be expected.

tools to prevent growing weeds
The weeds are attacked with the potato fork to break up the soil, the soil knife to pull them and the cardboard to stop them.

Weed Overload

What is in my garden right now is a weed overload. There are lots of weeds that start growing in the fall and do their best to take over by spring.

Other weeds are perennials. These are harder to find as they spend the winter as roots hidden in the soil waiting for warm weather before exploding up.

Chickweed
The weeds are solid in the Jerusalem artichoke patch. The scalloped leaves are dead nettle and not edible. The smooth edged leaves are chickweed, an edible green. It has some frost damage on it.

Tackling the Overload

It’s really easy to be overwhelmed by the growing weeds. This is part of their strategy for success. There are so many, the gardener gives up and they can take over.

Unfortunately for the weeds, I am too stubborn to yield my garden to them. So, I have to have a strategy to avoid the overwhelm.

Moth Mullein rosette
This is a moth mullein rosette. Although it is one of the weeds, it is also a lovely wild flower. I leave a few rosette here and there to enjoy the flowers next summer.

Since my garden is divided into beds and pathways, I target a section at a time. When I get too stressed, I focus on places with only a few weeds. Or I do a strip across a bed just a foot wide.

The objective of any weeding strategy is to make enough progress against the weeds each time to feel successful. Then it’s easier to come back the next day.

No growing weeds here
The pathways have cardboard on them. The vegetable bed has thick mulch. It’s ready for spring when tomatoes or peppers will move in for the season.

Growing Weeds for Food

Chickweed is one of the overwintering weeds. It has colonized the Jerusalem artichoke bed along with much of the garden.

This is one of the wild greens filled with nutrition. It has a mild taste and is good in salads, stir fries and other ways. And it is always nice to have some fresh garden greens in the middle of winter.

However, chickweed is a miniature kudzu. Left alone it smothers everything around it and produces thousands of seeds.

Spring will be vegetable growing time. Growing weeds is not part of this. So, some of the chickweed will end up on the dinner table. Most will end up in the compost pile.

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GKP Writing News

Setting Reading Goals

I don’t think much about setting reading goals. Every year seems to be set for 70 books as that is about how many I read over the year.

There is a secondary goal. My home bookshelves are full of books. Out of the 70 total, I like to read at least 40 from my own shelves.

Picture Books

My reading goal does not include picture books normally. If I added these, my goal would be 370 books over the year.

There are so many wonderful picture books available. I do limit my selection to those I can check out of my library. Evergreen expands my library shelves to include libraries all over southern Missouri.

Reaching Reading Goals

As I found out this past year, life can really upset everything. I started last year intending to write several books and read 72 books.

Disaster struck in July. Most writing stopped. Reading stopped. A few months went by.

Setting reading goals helped. I do like to get to that reading total. There were a half dozen picture books to fill in at the end, but I did make my set goal.

January Again

So, here I am at the beginning of a new year of possibilities. Will disaster strike again? Maybe, but I won’t act like it will.

My reading goal will still be 70 books. I will still read those six picture books each week.

This year’s Library Review theme is the states. January is Washington, D.C. and used “First Ladies: An Intimate Group Portrait of First Wives” by Margaret Truman, a book I highly recommend along with some others.

February involves the New England states. The central book is “Of Time and Turtles” by Sy Montgomery, a fascinating look at the world of turtles and turtle rescue based in Massachusetts. There is the Tia Lola series set in Vermont and a new to me mystery series set in New Hampshire as well.

These won’t count for my new reading goal as I have to read ahead to do the reviews. But books on the South, Southwest, Midwest, Plains, West, Northwest, California, Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico (U.S. Protectorate) will count.

Setting reading goals only adds a little incentive to read. The real incentives are all those books, books that look so interesting and appealing, waiting for me to read them.

The Salem Public Library, Salem, Missouri, does put their newsletter online.

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Latest From High Reaches

Raising Goats

I never intended to be a goat keeper. Raising goats never made my wish list growing up. When cold weather settles in, it is not on my list of favorite things at all.

One day, the temperature hit 76 degrees. At three in the afternoon, the cold began moving in. By five, when I went out to the barn, it was only 36 degrees. Winter was back.

raising goats in winter
The grass may be dormant, but my Nubian dairy goats prefer it to hay. Besides, the sun is warm.

Cold Goats

In the morning, the goats were shivering in twelve degrees. They wanted their sweat shirts back on. I considered this and decided to wait.

The sun was shining. One thing about goats standing in the sunshine is how fast they warm up. It is tempting to snuggle into their warm fur, so much warmer than any jacket.

water is popular
When water gets poured into the dish, chickens race over to get a drink. Most of the rush is over in this picture.

Cold Water

When the temperature is only twenty, water freezes quickly. Ice water may be nice on hot summer days, but not on cold winter ones.

One of the raising goats rules of such cold days is: No water is left standing at the barn. Instead, water is carried out in the morning, at noon and at night. Everyone who wants one gets a drink. Any water left over gets dumped out.

Buckets are for drinking
For some reason chickens love to drink out of the water buckets. Even when the water level is half way down, they strain to reach it.

Cold Chickens

My chickens don’t like such winter cold either. They do have nice feather coats to fluff up. So, the chickens race around looking for bugs that have disappeared for the winter.

Chickens are funny about ice. They love to peck it and eat it. But the ice makes them cold too.

The same rule applies: No water is left outside during the day. This is not popular at all.

When I take water out to the chicken yard, all the chickens come running over to mob the pan. I make sure there are several pans as the chickens argue about which one is first.

raising goats on pasture
Nubian doe High Reaches Opal is not fond of cameras. They may be some kind of monster. Everyone else is too busy clipping green grass encouraged to grow by warm temperatures to notice.

Raising Goats and Chickens

Books about livestock don’t mention water in winter cold. It’s one of the things you learn the hard way that first winter. The water freezes solid and must be chipped out of the pails so everyone can get a drink.

It’s easier to go out to check on everyone and give them a drink two or three times a day.