Is it cruel and unusual to take your goats out for a walk in the snow? I asked our pampered darlings to give me the lowdown on whether frozen water is as nasty as liquid water and here's what they said:

Abigail: Really? You want me to go out in that. Really?

Artemesia: Sounds like fun! Let's go!

Abigail: Oh, whatever. But you break trail this time.

On the downside, there's not as much to eat in the snowy woods as usual, so the girls beg a bit more. I swear Artemesia sucks in her stomach and lays her hair completely flat when she wants a clementine peel, making her look about a third as wide as previously.

On the plus side, a few inches of snow actually makes it easier to walk on our steep hillsides. Your foot doesn't slide downhill as easily when it's encased by a boot of snow.

I guess I can add snow days to the long list of goat-friendly weather. Thanks for deigning to come on a walk with me, girls!

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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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