FORWARD BY BRENDA LEE:  We've covered a numerous blogs on everything from: Why De-Dudding?; Horns or Not on your goat by Eric Lee Dickerson; De-Budding Do's & Don'ts; De-Budding Re-Do.....Again?; all the way to Tips on Tips & Dehorning Irons; but what we haven't been able to do is provide more information on using non-electric irons.  We want you to have all the information you need to make the best choices for you and your herd.  What better way than letting someone who uses a non-electric iron?  So without further ado, we would like to graciously thank Debby Riddle for her time, experience, and generosity............Read On Everyone!

Windows steamed with moisture, kitchen overly warm even on this cool day. You hear the gently rattling sound in the background as you sit down for a quick break from you endeavors.  A sigh escapes your lips as you lean back in a tired stretch. You roll your eyes at the vegetables still lining your counters.  Your 'war board' thinking swirls around your mind, as you plan out the rest of the day.  Tomorrow?  Maybe tomatoes tomorrow.  Slowly, almost reluctantly you rise out of your comfortable seat, wiping your brow, with so much left to do today.

The familiar sights and sounds of canning season. How they entice you to use your imagination, planning the elaborate meals to surprise your family and friends with.  As you snap that bean, shuck that corn, and dice this or that, you smile that tired smile, knowing that again, your family will be fed.  Thoughts of how that Amish coleslaw will make you feel spring as you open that jar on a cold winters day.......salsa? Why you make the best and you know it!

Many of us can relate to this picture, but what if you haven't canned before?  Canning can cause you to sweat with dread, but oh......how nice would it be if you did!

As the grandfather clock chimes in, ding-dong, ding-dong.........we sigh tiredly.  It's 2 am and we're still awake.  Jolted out of a 'not so light sleep' with every sound the monitor makes. 

We can  hear Naavah moaning as she chews her cud in the barn.  She still has two weeks to go, yet she is near to bursting with baby belly. 

Davi cries softly, not happy with her injured hoof, nor with the wrappings that are keeping it clean until it heals.

We hear the rain on the monitor, sounding like yet another ice & sleet rain.  Mother nature refusing to release us to spring, so jealous is she of winter's season.  And yet we wait.....