Two livestreams, one day! See you tonight!
Dr. John Catanzaro was a naturopathic physician in Bothell, WA when the state suspended him on claims he was misleading cancer patients. He owned the Health and Wellness Institute of Integrative Medicine and Cancer Treatment where he was using what he called a "cancer vaccine" to help patients. The DOH alleged that Dr. Catanzaro neglected to tell some of his patients the treatment was experimental. I was a TV reporter in Seattle at the time, assigned to this story at night after his office had closed. We aired the DOH claims without a statement from Dr. Catanzaro and thereby smeared his practice. Later, I interviewed several of his patients who credited him with their lives, and were horrified the state required the destruction of their treatment. But in many ways it was too late, the damage was done.
We survived our coldest night ever in Florida since moving here in May 2023. It got down to 24 but the “feels like” was 16. Florida infrastructure is not built with such cold in mind, and we don’t have appliances like water bucket heaters on our farm because we never need them. It was a great reminder why farming sounds so idyllic until it gets really cold. I am glad we don’t deal with this every day for 6 months like our friends who live near our old home in Washington state. Kudos to the farmers who brave far tougher conditions than this all winter to keep food on our tables.
You think you have drastic hormonal swings? Meet Heidi, our first goat and Peter’s #1 lady. She is a total maniac every 3 weeks when she is ready to breed. Heidi is definitely the alpha female in the herd so she makes sure everyone knows she is in charge. This time she tried to show me that she is my boss and I’m hoping my NO was loud and clear.
Before I got dairy goats I assumed you could milk any female animal that had a baby. Which is sort of true - except I didn’t know that some animals only produce a little milk while others produce a lot, and some have major attitudes and don’t want to be milked at all! Our first goat, Heidi, was on our property when we bought it so she became our goat. I figured, let’s breed her and get milk! That’s how we got Peter. Heidi is not a dairy goat, and so I quickly learned that it was not worth the time and energy to milk her and get 3 ounces. Sundae, the goat in this video, is a mini Nubian, which is a dairy breed. At her peak she gives about 40 ounces of milk per day. However she likes to take PTO days unannounced and runs from the milking stand, forcing me to chase her down, put on the halter, and walk her back to work. I have learned my lesson about dairy animals. If you’re new to this, get one who has done the milking routine MANY times. Think “Ole Bessie.” She doesn’t ...
We might get snow tonight! Sassy is wearing her blanket for the first time since being on the west side of the Cascade mountains in Washington state. I never blanketed her when we lived in eastern Washington. I have pictures of her with icicles on her mane there, with snow up to her belly, and wind howling. But it’s been a couple years, she is acclimated to Florida, and frankly, she’s an old lady. Since I am also an old lady, I know what it’s like to want your warm jammies on a cold night. I’ll have an update tomorrow! (Also I have no idea what the sign on the wall means, the old farm owners had it up. Maybe someone can interpret for me.)