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

Irises Are Blooming

Flower gardens are so pretty, but I don’t have time to do much. One solution is to put in perennials, so my irises are blooming.

Here in the Ozarks, irises have been a popular flower for decades or longer. Lots of them in a wide variety of colors got planted. Like flowers do, these set seeds.

The result is wild irises. Usually these are near some old home site or along roads.

In the guidebooks irises are listed under blue. Wild irises around here are usually pale yellow and smaller than the garden grown ones.

My irises are blooming in mostly blues and purples. Some are yellow. One is white. A friend was separating her irises and passed on the rhizomes to me, so the colors are whatever came. It doesn’t matter as all of them are lovely.

irises are blooming in the Ozarks
My irises are blooming. There is a patch of lovely lavender in one spot. A patch of white stands tall in the flower section of my garden. Yellow is starting to show. Along the road wild irises are blooming here and there. These are often not as big and partially hidden by the grass.

The hummingbirds visit the flowers several times a day. Perhaps they find a meal. Perhaps they pollinate the flowers. Later the flowers will leave behind a few seed pods.

So far, the daffodils, the surprise lilies and the day lilies are happily spreading around the yard and into the woods. Interestingly, the orange day lilies never set seeds, yet still spread all over along the roads. My yard day lilies were dug up by the road grader one year. Their patch has doubled in size in spite of being mowed both by the mower and by the deer.

Although wild irises could be considered an invasive species, they, like the daffodils and ox eye daisies, are here to stay. Therefore, I will stop along the road while the irises are blooming to complete the set of pictures of irises for my botany project.

After the irises are done blooming, the blackberry lilies will open. Like the irises and the daffodils, these escaped from home gardens probably a century ago. We are a country of immigrants.

“Exploring the Ozark Hills” has several Ozark wildflowers among its essays.

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GKP Writing News

Getting Enough Sleep

Writing advice often includes sitting down daily and writing. When I’m not getting enough sleep, forget that.

I’ve been accused of never sitting still, always being busy doing something. There is truth to this. Sitting still makes me feel guilty as I have a long list of things to accomplish.

The entire day is spent moving from one item on the list to the next with a few minutes between to prepare. In hot weather this includes gulping down liquid.

Does this sound familiar? When I read about other writers, they seem to be on the move all the time too.

Orange Cat looks innocent
Cats are opportunists. Anyone trying to take a nap seems to become a magnet for any passing cat. It’s impossible to sleep being kneaded or walked on by a hefty cat like Orange Cat. If that doesn’t work, some object can be shoved onto the floor.

Usually, I do wrap up before midnight and get some sleep. There are times my schedule falls apart.

Some items on my list destroy getting enough sleep. Mucking out the barn is one. It is hard, physical labor even using the tractor for hauling the manure away.

Even with the usual amount of sleep, the next day drags. Being tired makes putting one foot in front of the other a struggle. The mind is hazy. The head is heavy. Time ceases to exist. Hurrying is a foreign concept.

Sitting down in front of the computer is a waste of time. The page is there in front of me. The words blur and make no sense. The eyes close between every key stroke. The head sinks onto the keyboard resulting in half a page of dots.

The cure is a morning nap. An extra hour or two of sleep is the prescription. Filling the prescription is a challenge.

box turtle crashing leaves to prevent getting enough sleep
Three-toed box turtles march through the Ozark woods crunching the dead, dry leaves. Anyone trying to snooze wakes up expecting a monster on the loose.

Knowing I need to sleep, I settle in. The cats thump by. The phone rings. A tick or two start digging in.

The resolution is to get to bed earlier than usual. Getting enough sleep is essential. I cannot function tired.

Then again, maybe I will go for a walk up the hill. I can settle in against a tree and sleep with only the creatures and wind to disturb me.

“My Ozark Home” visits some of my favorite places.

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GKP Writing News

Finding Writing Time

So many happenings occur in spring, I’m having trouble finding writing time. I know, excuses, excuses. Except it’s true.

My does are having spring kids. This year I have four bottle babies. The barn needs cleaning out again and it rains every two or three days.

That makes gardening difficult as the dirt is now mud. The only good thing is the lack of frost. I was tired of putting blankets over the tomato and pepper plants.

The wildflowers are blooming. I do have that ongoing botany project needing pictures. It is tiresome to get out on the hills and have rain start. Digital cameras hate to get wet.

So do I.

rain makes finding writing time easier
Well, the novel I’m supposed to be working on is about a flood and its aftermath. The weather seems to be reminding me. Our neck of the Ozarks has been getting rain every two or three days for over a month. The south pasture has standing water several inches deep along the hill above it which is different. Even the garden with its gravelly soil is getting muddy.

What excuses do you have?

Your excuses are likely as true as mine. At least we tell ourselves they are.

And it is so easy to keep putting off our writing. Until writing becomes little more than a vague dream.

Enough already!

It is Writing Time!

Repeat after me: Finding Writing Time is possible. I will make the time. I will use the time for writing.

What will I write? I have two projects competing for my attention.

My botany project is running hot right now because I am bringing in so many new pictures. This year I am participating in a citizen science project putting up plant pictures.

Virginia bluebells are one of the many Ozark wildflowers blooming
The many Ozark wildflowers like these Virginia bluebells make finding writing time harder. So many of these plants are spring ephemerals, blooming for a short time in the spring, setting seed and vanishing. The botany project makes heading out with the camera valid, but no writing gets done.

The downside is how much time it takes. The upside is the incentive to get out to take the pictures and a chance to have some help identifying some I don’t know.

The allure of the botany project is how easy it is to do the pages. Each plant page has pictures and a single sentence.

My novel is complicated. I’m about half through the draft and it’s getting sticky. It digs up emotions.

Finding writing time is only part of the problem. Tackling the tough parts of writing is part of it too.

Several Ozark wildflowers are essay subjects in “Exploring the Ozark Hills“.

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Latest From High Reaches

Baby Chick Time

Every March I browse the online chicken catalog admiring the various breeds. Every April is baby chick time.

There are so many lovely chicken breeds to choose from. This year I ordered Columbian Wyandotte pullets. The white hens with black heads and necks look good and the Wyandottes are a friendly breed.

Baby chick time needs water jars and feeders
Fresh water is essential for chicks. I have several ancient glass bottoms for young chicks. For a week this needs refilling once a day. At two weeks it is refilled twice a day. By next week the chicks will graduate to a regular water fount. I’m glad my garden rain barrels are right behind the chick house.

Why is April baby chick time?

April is a good month for baby chick time or has been. Spring is supposed to be moving in. Not this year. And the pullets will start laying in the fall for a winter egg supply.

These twenty-two chicks have had a hard time. The temperatures bounce up and down. One day I turn off one light to keep them from being cooked. The next I turn it back on and put blankets over the top to keep them warm.

At two weeks old the chicks are putting on feathers. They belie the breed pictures. These pullets will range from nearly all white to mostly black. The one characteristic most of them have is a black line at the tops of their beaks.

Columbian Wyandotte chicks vary in color
Chickens love to eat. My baby chicks start with chick starter, go to grower, followed by egg crumbles which is later mixed with scratch feed and sunflower seeds, my adult hen ration. All of these pullets are Columbian Wyandottes. Most have lots of white feathers. A number of them have lots of black coloring. A couple seem to have black tipped feathers.

Baby Chicks Grow Fast

Up until now the chicks have been confined to half their little house. It’s easier to heat the smaller area and they don’t need the extra space.

This week the barrier will come down so the chicks have more room. Already they are trying out their wings to fly across their space.

Once the chicks are feathered out, I will open their door so they can explore the outdoors. Bugs beware. In the chicken world, if it moves, eat it.

Baby chick time only lasts a couple of months. My hen house won’t hold all these pullets so most will be sold. The others will move into the big hen house.

And I will start planning for next year.

Hazel Whitmore decides to raise pullets as a 4-H project in “Old Promises“.

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GKP Writing News

Doing Research

Making up a draft is easy when the writer just writes with no regard for facts. The problem with that comes when the book is out to readers who quickly spot all the mistakes. Before doing the final draft, doing research is vital.

That much is obvious, I suppose. My problem is that I spot all the places I need to be doing research while I am supposed to be writing that rough draft. And I don’t get the writing done.

Most people would say doing research isn’t a problem. Just Google it.

Except it is a problem for me as I live in a dead zone which officially does not exist. I can’t ‘just Google it’.

I do have one advantage. I’ve lived in many places and done lots of things. Each place, each job, every person and happening from my past is a source of information.

Memory can play tricks. And times change. So, I may use the past to write the draft. Then double checking by doing research is a good back up.

In my present novel this has come into play. I have one character who carries all his financial information with him in a briefcase. What information needs to be in the briefcase?

My past experiences with finances, good and bad, let me come up with a credible list. I went with that to write that chapter. Then I asked a professional and got confirmation of my list.

The next hurdle will be beyond my experience. I will write the scenes from what little I know to start with. This will let me know what questions and information I will need. Then I will ask a professional.

I suppose I could ‘just Google it’ and get the information. Asking a professional takes the guess work out of the equation. And that is the point of doing research.

Sometimes the research requires drawing a map as for “Capri Capers“.

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Latest From High Reaches

Summer Visitors Arrive

Feeding the birds is great entertainment. Spring is especially so because all the summer visitors arrive.

Our bird feeder is nothing fancy. It’s a platform sitting on four T-posts with a roof structure over it. The sunflower seeds go out in a metal tray. Scratch feed is in a bowl. Water is in another bowl. Suet is in a cage.

All winter the usual crowd is around. Downy and Red-bellied woodpeckers enjoy the suet. Cardinals, titmice, morning doves, chickadees, nuthatches and juncos gorge on the sunflower seeds, milo and corn.

nuthatch and downy woodpecker on bird feeder
Nuthatches and downy woodpeckers are not summer visitors to the Ozarks. They enjoy the bird feeder all year expecially when winter weather sets in.

Blue jays are the first summer visitors to arrive. They are really close to being here year round, only missing a month or so.

After that, things change almost daily. The goldfinches and purple finches show up. The juncos leave as they are winter visitors.

Rose-breasted Grosbeaks have stopped by several years now. They would be welcome to stay for the summer, but don’t.

Orchard orioles are b ack this year. They move in on the hummingbird feeders to the dismay of these summer visitors. They also love the suet cake which was a surprise.

Towhees stay a day or two. Northern flickers raid the yard for ants and ignore the feeder. And the cowbirds move in. They are a rowdy bunch.

orchard oriole, one of the summer visitors, on bird feeder
Orchard orioles and summer visitors in the Ozarks. Most years they visit the bird feeder a week or so and move on. One year a pair stayed to nest. Their brilliant orange makes them easy to spot.

The neighborhood squirrels know about the feeder, but rarely visit. They have a stash of black walnuts to keep them busy.

Raccoons are the biggest problem. They too are one of the summer visitors. The feeder trays are taken in at dark every day and go out with fresh supplies in the morning.

There is usually one enterprising raccoon that comes during the day. It’s livetrapped, relocated and more cautious upon returning in a few days.

Sunflower seed prices have gone up by half this year. They are still a bargain as watching the bird feeder replaces fees for satellite TV, the only kind available here.

And the birds are much more entertaining.

Meet more Ozark residents and visitors in “Exploring the Ozark Hills“.

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Latest From High Reaches

High Reaches Kids

The American Dairy Goat Association registers goats by herds as well as individuals. Each herd has a herd name that precedes the individual goat name. My herd name is High Reaches and has been for over forty years.

Spring is a special time for my herd as kids are being born. So far there are seven kids.

Twin High Reaches Nubian buck kids in pasture
These two livewires belong to Nubian doe High Reaches Juliette. They often stay in the barn lot for the day as there are so many other kids to play with. These two are the ring leaders for all kinds of activities like climbing on sleeping does.

High Reaches Juliette was first with twin bucks. She is polled and so is one of her kids.

High Reaches Spring was next with triplets. One is a spotted buck. Two are does, one spotted and the other not. Goats have two teats, so one is left out and gets a supplemental bottle.

Nubian doe High Reaches Spring with triplet kids
High Reaches Spring loves her triplets, but escapes to the pasture with the herd during the day as they are getting so lively and demanding.

High Reaches Agate and High Reaches Valerie surprised me one morning with their kids. Agate has a pretty spotted doe. Valerie has a spotted buck.

The pasture grasses are just starting to grow. The kids are getting lively, racing around playing. Soon they will want to go out and the short grass makes it easy for them to keep up with their mothers.

Spotted High Reaches Nubian doe kid
High Reaches Agate is proud of her little spotted Nubian doe kid. She is growing fast and out playing at a few days old.

Later on, the grasses go to seed with stalks as tall as the goats. Then it gets hard for even the adults to find their way around. All day they call to each other to keep together. It sounds like people in the grocery store.

My herd gets smaller every year now as I can no longer do all the work involved. And, a question every pet (I know goats are livestock, not pets, but the line gets blurred in a small herd.) owner must face is what happens to that animal if the owner is no longer around.

dreaming Nubian buck kid
Nubian doe High Reaches Valerie spends lots of time searching for her buck kid. He likes to find a quiet corner and sleep. His mother will eventually find him. Or he will get hungry and go looking for her.

I decided to stop adding to my herd. Therefore, all my kids are for sale at three months old.

In a way, this spoils having those fun kids as I know I will be saying good-bye soon. And, in a few years, the High Reaches herd will disappear which makes me sad and wondering what I will do without my goats to start and end each of my days.

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GKP Writing News

Flood Novel Starting

Writing about a flood:

What would you do if you were stranded by a flood for two or three weeks? Your phone, your electricity and water are off. Your road is blocked by fallen trees. Your world is only a hilltop surrounded by flood waters.

Could you survive?

This is the basic plot of the novel I am writing on right now.

Of course, there are other factors involved. Her husband is a problem even though he is off driving a truck. She must face her own insecurities.

As a homesteader, she has livestock and flood damage to keep her busy.

Ozark creek in flood
Would you dare to step into this raging current? In my novel Mindy must do so in spite of the dangers of being swept away and drowned.

The novel is a partially done draft right now. I don’t know how the story ends yet. I don’t have a title yet.

What I do have is another rewrite and edit as I delve deeper into the story and Mindy’s emotions. If I can’t feel the emotions, I can’t make them real on the page. And that makes writing the draft hard as I must sink into the story while I am writing and dig my way out to go on with my day.

Reading:

Those who have visited my site before know I do a fair amount of reading every year. I post reviews and ratings on Goodreads under Karen GoatKeeper, averaging over 70 books a year.

At present I am reading the last Mrs. Pollifax novel, “Mrs. Pollifax Unveiled”. This is a thriller series starring, obviously, Mrs. Emily Pollifax.

Mrs. P was in her sixties and bored with nothing but club meetings and raising prize winning geraniums. Her teenage dream was to be a spy, so she went to Washington, D.C., and applied for a spying job at the CIA.

Through accidental mistaken identity, Mrs. P got her chance and the series was born. It’s lots of fun reading, especially for older women.

My other book is “A Drake At the Door” which is interesting, but disappointing as it is more about raising cut flowers than about the animals mentioned on the cover. The drake doesn’t appear until the last fifty pages.