Category: Latest From High Reaches

Succession Planting in My Garden

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date July 10, 2026
No Comments on Succession Planting in My Garden

I read gardening articles and books. I talk to other gardeners. Many of them mention succession planting.

Every year I read about how long onions take to mature. Every year I plant the onions in a place where I think they will be ready to dig before the next crop grows over the top of them. So far it has not worked out.

What Is Succession Planting?

There are three distinct seasons in the garden: spring, summer and fall. Different vegetables grow in each season. Each of these matures in, supposedly, a certain time.

The idea is to plant one crop, harvest it and plant another to succeed it. This sounds like a great idea. What could go wrong?

Planting Onions

This past fall I bought sets for Colorado sweet onions. They are planted in the fall and mature in late spring. These sets went into the bed the sugar pie pumpkins would go in about that time.

The onions did all right. The crazy ups and downs in winter temperatures killed off a few.

Spring arrived and the onions took off. Onions from sets do put up flower stalks. I fed these to the goats so the plants would form bulbs.

Late spring arrived. The sugar pie pumpkin seeds went in. The onions continued growing. They are now buried under the vines and finally ready to dig.

Fall Crops

I like spinach. It grows best here in the Ozarks as a fall into winter crop. The time to plant it is mid to late August.

Most fall crops need to be planted about this time. Except the summer garden is growing and producing and will do so for another month or so until killing frost arrives.

Succession Planting in My Garden

The only such planting done in my garden are in beds where I grow spring crops, then put in the fall crops. Any bed used for summer crops is not used for spring or fall crops.

This does leave parts of my garden empty for weeks. I use this fallow time to add compost and set the area up.

Now, if only I would learn about planting onions. Last year they got buried by tomatoes.

Tags garden planning, Ozark gardening, pumpkins, succession gardening

Latest From High Reaches

How Long Do Goats Live?

I hear this question from many people. How long do goats live? It must matter to them, although I wonder why.

In my opinion, there are very rarely some goats that live too long in my herd. Most do not live long enough. Sometimes this opinion depends on what is happening that day.

Even at a year old, Nubian doe Drucilla shows the old fashioned Nubian body type.

Drucilla

My Nubian doe High Reaches Silk’s Drucilla looks so old now. This is not surprising since she is old. It happens that way.

When people get old, they start looking old. Of course, some people do their medical best to pretend they aren’t getting older. Goats can’t do that.

Once upon a time, Drucilla was a cute kid. I had to really go back in the archives to find her baby pictures.

By two years old, Nubian doe Drucilla has filled out. She is nearing her 130 pound final weight. Her belly hangs low because she is expecting her first kid.

Taking Pictures

Since I first got a digital camera, I’ve tried to take pictures of all my goats several times a year. They are not impressed by my desire to get a picture. There are many times I see the perfect pose, raise the camera and see a goat butt.

Since the pictures are all stored on flash keys, I don’t look at them often. Partly, I suppose, is that looking through them reminds me I am getting old too. And I miss many of the goats in the pictures.

Seeing Changes

Looking at pictures of the same goats over many years, I can see how they change. Bucks and does age differently.

A buck takes almost three years to get to his full height. Another year goes by before he is finished filling out. He lives life in the fast lane after that.

A doe finishes growing in about two years. She fills out the next year. Although many goat owners breed their does before their first birthday, I prefer not to.

Whether or not early breeding affects their growth depends on the doe. My experience is that most does bred early are much slower finishing their growth and don’t seem to quite get as big as they might have otherwise.

How Long Do Goats Live?

Goats get sick. They have accidents. Dogs may attack them. So many things can cut their lives short.

Drucilla is lucky? She has survived to old age. Her teeth are going bad. She has occasional seizures. Her legs are stiff. The herd has moved her down into last place in the pecking order.

She is fourteen.

To answer the question: Bucks usually live ten to twelve years. Does live twelve to fifteen years. If they are lucky?

Tags growing old, raising goats

Latest From High Reaches

Cold Water Stream Project

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date June 26, 2026

When a University of Missouri team stopped by asking to do research on our creek, I had to rethink it. Not the project which was given permission. The creek, now called a cold water stream.

One team member has a long pole that puts out an electric charge to stun the fish in the creek. Other members net the stunned fish and put them in the buckets carried by others.

Just a Creek

Having a creek always running through the property was a plus when we moved here. The source wasn’t an issue. Our little valley is lined with springs. It turns out they are cold water springs.

Fish live in water of certain temperatures. The Missouri University team needed to find out what kinds of fish lived in the stretch of a cold water stream and note how many of each kind to help build a profile of such a stream.

Missouri knows about cold water rivers because trout and bass like cold water. Cold water streams are too small for these fish, so they’ve been ignored. The University project is trying to set up criteria for such streams.

A clear viewing box helps when looking at fish. The top one is a mottled sculpin and can get several inches long. It is a fearsome predator. The bottom fish is a small green sunfish. These are a popular fishing catch, if it lives in deep water and gets much larger.

How Cold Is Cold?

Our stream, one of several in the project, is being monitored for temperature all summer. Luckily for the team, technology lets them put a sensor in the water and it does all the work so no one has to do a daily reading.

Temperature matters as it affects the plants and animals that live in or by the creek. Because our creek has a cold water spring just half a mile up the road and a couple of small ones on the property, the water stays fairly cold. However, the temperature range will help define such a stream.

Fish need fresh water to get oxygen from. The captured fish are poured into live wells, bucket-sized mesh buckets as the project team gets ready to count them.

Who Lives Here?

It’s tempting to only look at the animals, but the plants are important too. Plants like water cress only grow in cold water. Cold water keeps the shores colder too and affects what grows there.

The team checked out all the plants along one section of the creek. Some will be part of the definition of a cold water stream. I’ll look over the list to see which ones I’ve missed.

Small fish live in the creek. I’d looked at some of them when I had an aquarium in my classroom. Evidently, I missed a lot of them.

The team collected fifteen kinds of fish. Some of these are really beautiful. If future creek floods dig some deeper pools, the bluegill might get big enough to tempt a fishing expedition.

Smaller Residents

Fish like to eat. They also get eaten. Invertebrates live in the creek too. The crayfish insisted on getting in on the fish count, even ate a couple of the captured fish. Free food is free food in their world.

However, the team will be back in a couple of months to track down these invertebrates. I’ve seen caddisfly larva, hellgrammites, water pennies, snails, mayfly larva. It will be interesting to see how many I missed.

All of this makes my summer interesting. More importantly, my cold water stream will help set a standard for such places in Missouri.

Tags fish identification, Ozark streams, university project

Latest From High Reaches

Black Snakes Love Eggs

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date June 20, 2026

Years ago, there was an invasion of burrowing rats that moved in under my barn. After black snakes moved in, the rats disappeared. Unfortunately, black snakes love eggs too.

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.

Eggs In Winter

Egg production does fall over the winter. The new pullets start laying in the fall and lay most of the winter eggs.

Hens move into the hen house nests. Nothing bothers them except the other hens. They do have a favorite nest and, when it is occupied, the next hen will stand on the other nests squawking.

I come by in the evening and collect the eggs.

Goat hay troughs are the best places to lay eggs, at least, my chickens think so.

Eggs In Spring

All the hens decide to start laying. The hen house doesn’t have enough nests so some hens move out to other places. Hay troughs are popular.

Now I collect eggs a couple of times a day as my egg bucket fills up each time. The biggest challenge is tracking down the latest nests outside of the hen house.

Snakes are amazing. The egg was bigger than this four-foot black snake’s head, but it managed to swallow it.

Eggs In Summer: Black Snakes Love Eggs

Once the black snakes arrive for the summer, egg production and collection change. More hens move out of the hen house after a snake slides in under them a time or two.

However, one snake was defeated. A setting hen was not about to move or tolerate any interference. The snake had a few peck spots on its head as it left.

I begin a race to the eggs. Every few hours I check the favorite nest sites and collect any eggs in them.

Since these black snakes spend every summer in the space under the barn floor, they are familiar with the animals and me. If a snake is in a nest, I encourage it to leave. If it has engulfed an egg, I can reach in and take the others out as the snake is too busy to bother with me.

Both the black snakes and I get enough eggs every day. The hens get used to both of us raiding the nests. They aren’t happy, but they tolerate us. They sit there for me and leave for the snakes.

Many people would kill the snakes. I prefer our race to the eggs to rats. And someone has to keep the mouse population trimmed down. Poison kills hens too both as bait and as dead mice they love to eat.

I much prefer to find eggs in a nest rather than a black snake. My flock includes Easter Eggers that lay colored eggs.

Eggs In Fall

Sometime in the fall, the snakes leave. The older hens slow down production. New pullets start laying. Everyone settles in for the winter.

Tags black snakes, raising chickens, rodent control

Latest From High Reaches

New Arrivals: Twin Nubian Goat Kids

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date June 12, 2026

My days in town are packed and long. The objective is to leave for town early enough to get everything done. New arrivals cancelled those plans.

This little Nubian buck kid from High Reaches Spring is already practicing his buck stance: look cool and disinterested.

Watching Nubian Doe Spring

There are signs a doe is getting ready to kid. The kids settle low in the stomach area. Hollows appear beside the tail bone.

Spring had shown both these signs for a couple of weeks. One morning she was pawing at the bedding a little. Yet, her appetite stayed strong. She went out with the herd to graze.

Then Spring started staying in during the day. She didn’t want to get up on the milk stand. I got worried.

This little Nubian doe kid from High Reaches Spring is always hungry.

Kidding Problems

Large animal veterinarians are a vanishing breed. It’s hard and dangerous work. Cats and dogs are profitable. My nearest large animal vets are a hundred miles away.

In fifty years I’ve seen many of the problems common to a kidding doe. The most common is ketosis. The doe stops eating. It can be fatal.

Spring continued to eat. Ketosis was not the problem. That left the most probable problem as one with the kids.

Once this Nubian buck kid has a full stomach, it is nap time.

Kid Presentations

Normally a kid is born front feet first with nose on the legs. The only difficulty would be a large kid, too large for the doe.

If a vet is close, a cesarian is possible. I’m lucky to have large does, so I end up pulling the kid and helping the doe recover.

My first brush with kidding was with tangled twins. Two kids were trying to be born at the same time. One gets pushed back to let the other out. The second follows quickly.

The doe has a normal attitude, pawing the bedding. Feet appear, but too many. That didn’t fit Spring either.

More serious problems are a head back or a breech. Both produce the symptoms I was seeing with Spring. These require pulling the kids.

Nubian doe Spring goes out to graze all afternoon. Her twins curl up together and sleep. At least, that’s the plan. It works until they get hungry again.

New Arrivals

I went out to the barn early Friday morning planning to get to town early. Spring was pawing, but not seriously. She was definitely trying to kid.

Morning chores went on as normal. Town would wait as I returned to the barn after putting up the milk.

Spring’s first kid was backwards. This isn’t a big problem as long as the kid is born quickly. A pretty brown buck kid was soon on the ground talking to his mother.

There had to be a second kid. No kid appeared. I slid a hand in to check and found a big lump. The kid was breech with only the rump showing.

I could only find one back leg to pull up. It was enough. A spotted black doe kid joined her brother.

With both new arrivals doing well, I could head for town. Late.

Tags kidding problems, raising goat kids, raising goats

Latest From High Reaches

Visiting Conservation Areas

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date May 29, 2026

This year I have been visiting conservation areas looking for new plants for my Dent County Flora project. Missouri is special having so many of them.

Since I do my plant research only in Dent County, I looked up the conservation areas in the county. To my surprise, there were seven of them.

Walking along one trail around a lake, The distant dam creating the lake is visible. One of the parking areas where picnic tables are available is in the distance as well. Sometimes there are others walking the trails here at ShawneeMac Lakes Conservation Area, but not on this day.

ShawneeMac Lakes

I have long been familiar with this conservation area. It is on the edge of town and popular for fishing, hiking and picnicking. The parking areas are large, the trails nice and the archery range is used.

There are several plants there I do not find at home. Much of the time the trails are quiet as they go around the two lakes with a loop through the woods.

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.

Gerhild and Graham Brown

I found out about this conservation area by accident. It isn’t very large, but is a nice place to visit. I’ve found some new plants here too.

The other thing I’ve found out is how rarely some of these places are visited or maintained. There is a small parking lot. Sometime this spring someone ran a bush hog down to make a hiking trail. It is now growing up which is fine with me as I find several plants easy to photograph there.

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.

Visiting Conservation Areas

I’ve asked around. Many of these areas have very few visitors. Some have trails, some have rutted roads, some have nothing. Most have visitors only during hunting season.

Perhaps I understand why few people go visiting conservation areas in rural areas. I spend most of my hiking time near home as I have lots of land to look over. And city people seem unwilling to go off into wild areas unless they look like city parks.

The media is full of warnings about ticks. I pick up a few, especially when I forget to spray up more than my pant legs.

People are afraid of snakes. I rarely even glimpse one. Besides, snakes are our first line of defense against ticks as they eat the rodents supporting the population.

I checked out some of the White River Trace Conservation Area one day. There are supposed to be roads to use as trails. I ended up just wandering across the fields toward a wet weather creek. This is where I found the Confederate Violets. These are a color variation of the common blue violet.

Reason for Concern

This year the conservation/state park sales tax comes up for renewal. It isn’t much, only a penny on eight dollars spent.

Conservation areas are great places to visit. Perhaps, if more of us used them, there would be more trails. But, without the sales tax, there won’t be these places.

Please vote Yes on Proposition 1. Then go visiting conservation areas and find out what makes them and Missouri special.

Tags Conservation Tax, Hiking, Ozark wildflowers, Ozark wildlife

Latest From High Reaches

Two Savoy Cabbages

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date May 22, 2026

I loved the picture, so I ordered the seeds. Alcosa Savoy cabbage is a nice, petite head with crinkly leaves. This year I found another Savoy cabbage and am growing two Savoy cabbages.

Alcosa cabbage makes a nice little head surrounded by crinkled leaves.

Cabbage Is Cabbage, Right?

No. Regular cabbage has smooth leaves and makes a tight head. It has a slight bitterness.

Savoy cabbage has crinkly leaves and a looser head. It has no bitterness I can taste.

Both are very cold hardy and I grow most of it for a fall crop. It survives to about twenty degrees without protection.

Alcosa Savoy cabbage (right) is not that small. When I pick some to take to Farmers Market, I have trouble getting it into a plastic bag. Violacea is on the left, or rather, a leaf that dwarfs the Alcosa next to it.

Time Is Important

The Ozarks has spring. Some years it is very short. Other years it hangs around flirting with winter.

Cabbage likes it cool to cold. All the relatives – broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts – agree. Hot temperatures make them bitter, even kill them.

Time to maturity or harvest matters. Alcosa is 74 days. If I plant it in the garden in March, I usually get a few heads. It is a hybrid, but I plant it anyway.

One thing not on a seed packet is how big a plant gets. Yes, the spacing does give an indication, but I wasn’t prepared for this Savoy cabbage. It is the biggest one I’ve ever grown and is just getting started. A nearby leek is having a tough time. the frilly leaves are dill.

Violaceo di Verona

According to Baker’s Creek, this cabbage is from northern Italy. It matures in 120 days. That makes it a fall crop in the Ozarks. However, I did want to see what it looked like, so one is growing in my garden now.

Supposedly this makes a medium-sized head. It dwarfs my other ones. The leaves are huge!

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.

Two Savoy Cabbages

Summer is blowing into the Ozarks. My Alcosa cabbages are ready for harvest. The Violaceo has two months to go.

I did plant it in the shade house and will put the shades up within the next week. That may help a little.

Now I have to plan where to plant my two Savoy cabbages in September. Perhaps I will have fresh cabbage all the way to New Year’s.

Tags growing cabbage, Ozark gardening

Latest From High Reaches

Mule Jumping Competition

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date May 15, 2026

People love to compete. Who is better? Whose car or horse is faster. The mule jumping competition tries to determine which mule can jump higher.

Bonita is a little under 52 inches at the withers. This jump at the mule jumping competition is a bit over 40 inches high. Her owner is leading her up to it.

Missouri Mules

A mule is a cross of a male donkey and a mare. They vary a lot in size from miniatures to big and tall. Height is measured in hands (four inches) to the withers or top of the shoulders.

Mules were popular for work in pioneer days. They were strong and didn’t need as much care and feed as a horse. Missouri bred many of the finest mules.

Stubborn as a mule is quite true. If a mule decides to not do something, it doesn’t do it. But this is also a bit of temper on the part of the owners as mules are smart and many of the refusals were because the mule thought a path was too dangerous or had another good reason.

Bonita looked at the barrier at the mule jumping competition as she listened to her owner and the crowd urging her on. She decided to try jumping over the barrier.

Mule Jumping Competition

Horses have riders as they race to a jump and over it. Steeplechases are popular races around a jumping course.

Jumping mules are not ridden. The owner walks them to the jump and urges them to jump over it.

There are several classes for the mules. One is for little mules. Another is for those thirteen hands (52 inches) and under. The third is for the tall mules.

A clean jump at the mule jumping competition is one that does not knock the barrier pole down. Bonita has cleared it with her front feet. Now she is tucking her back feet up to get over the jump.

The Set Up

Two poles are set up, each with a moveable bracket. A third pole is wet in the brackets. A cover is over this pole making it look like a solid barrier.

If a mule doesn’t clear the cross pole, it will fall down. This way the mule isn’t hurt.

Many people came for the mule jumping competition. This was new to me and I went down to watch.

Watching the Competition

A crowd gathered at the Rendezvous at the River to watch the mules jumping. We sat around on hay bales or in chairs set up in the shade.

A mule was led over to the jump. It stopped and looked at the barrier. Then it jumped over this two-foot high pole. When all the mules in the class had jumped, the bar was raised two inches and the mules jumped it again.

As the barrier got higher, one by one the mules refused to jump it. The winner was the last mule that would and did jump over the pole.

One little mule was fun to watch even though the owner was very frustrated. It decided not to jump that day. However, it needed to go over the barrier to make the owner happy. It walked up to the pole, knocked it over and walked over.

There are only a few of these mule jumping competition events. The next big one will be at the Missouri State Fair.

Tags Author event, Mule Jumping, Rendezvous at the River

Latest From High Reaches

Cabbage Loves Cool

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date May 7, 2026

Ozark springs used to be warm and short. This year, like last year, is cool and wet. Cabbage loves cool and wet.

Garlic is another plants that likes cool weather. This patch was planted last fall, started growing over the winter and is now getting ready to send up flower stalks called scapes. These are edible and should be removed.

Cole Crops

Broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and cabbage are all cole crops. When we lived up North, these crops grew big. They tasted great.

The summers up North were cool by Ozark standards. Frost could happen most months and did. That was one reason we moved to the Ozarks.

Although okra is grown for its edible pods, the flowers are large and beautiful. Okra is a member of the mallow family like hibiscus. This plant loves hot weather.

Garden Experimenting

For several years we tried growing many of the crops we were familiar with. Cole crops taste bitter when they grow in the heat. In the Ozarks, these crops became fall crops.

New crops moved into the garden. Tomatoes are a real challenge up North as they love heat and need a longer summer. Peppers and okra joined the tomatoes. All of these are good summer crops in the Ozarks.

Surprisingly, summer squash doesn’t like really hot weather. It is frost sensitive and likes it on the hot side of warm. This is Zephyr squash, a hybrid between yellow and acorn squashes.

Squash

Everyone thinks squash loves heat. It is frost sensitive. Up North squash grew big. Winter squash got huge.

World record pumpkins come from places cooler than the Ozarks. You can grow giant pumpkins in Missouri, but they are not world record sizes.

Still, squash, both summer and winter varieties, do grow well enough to give good crops. The winter varieties store well. But the summer varieties are soon over producing and the gardener’s neighbors quickly learn they need lots of squash recipes.

Alcosa cabbage makes a nice little head surrounded by crinkled leaves. In hot weather, they can turn bitter and the heads can rot.

Cabbage Loves Cool

I started cabbage seeds the end of January. The little plants moved to the garden in March. Now there are small heads forming.

When the cabbage first moved to the garden, I had to water as the Ozarks, like much of the country, was in drought. Rain does fall every week now. Most storms only drop half an inch, maybe an inch. It’s enough

Each storm brings in cool weather. The last one brought light frost at the end. Cabbage doesn’t mind.

Frost is a worry now. My tomatoes have moved out into the garden.

Tags cabbage, Ozark gardening

Latest From High Reaches

Spooky Goats

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date May 5, 2026

Last night I went out to milk. The chickens were glad to see me. Only one of my spooky goats was in the barn.

My Nubian goat herd is coming in. Wait! What is going on over there?

Where Are the Goats?

Rose was most unhappy. Goats are herd animals and her herd was missing. She stood in the doorway calling. No one answered.

The herd had been in the front pasture a short time ago. They were not there now. And, why was Rose alone?

The old bridge is in sorry shape, but the goats can still use it to cross the creek. When they get frightened, that is what they do. After crossing the bridge, they head up the hill.

What Happened?

There had been a truck parked in front of the house. People were around the truck.

Our creek is part of a research project this summer. A student working toward her master’s degree is studying cold water creeks, ones resulting from spring water.

Nubian doe High Reaches Rose evidently didn’t notice the other goats ran off. She was probably in the barn and didn’t see them turn a race off. Rose is about twelve years old.

Spooky Goats

When my herd came into the barn lot, they saw and heard these strangers. The herd went back out the gate and headed up a nearby hill. Somehow Rose didn’t notice and stayed in the barn.

I have defined goats as perpetual two to three year olds with a double dose of orneriness at a hundred plus pounds. Like young children, they are afraid of strangers.

Years ago, when I took my goats to the county fair, my goats weren’t spooky goats. They were used to noise and people.

None of my present herd has ever left the property. They rarely see anyone other than us. Everyone is a stranger and strangers are run away from.

The truck and the people left. The goats wandered down into the barn. everything was back to normal in the morning when sun basking and napping are the best occupations.

Now What?

I knew which hill the herd went up. Spring is usually the ringleader.

It was near dark. This is a very steep hill and loose gravel covers the sides. I am not about to go up this hill with a flashlight after these spooky goats.

Instead I went out and called. Usually the herd will come back when I call. They didn’t.

Poor Rose was left alone to have her dinner and wait. The herd did come back before morning pretending they had never been gone.

Tags raising goats