mother lode
Written by Sweet River Ranch owner, Susan Long
Even after five years, we both will find ourselves stopping whatever the chore, standing up, looking up, filling ourselves with the beauty and peace that is our small ranch, Sweet River Ranch, in Tuolumne County. We are blessed and we know it, yet if anyone had told us during the first part of this decade that by the end of this decade, we would own 40 acres, four dogs, three cats, and 22 fiber pygora goats, we would have laughed!
In our community and culture, who wouldn’t have laughed? We had always been white-collar workers, living in beautiful Danville, living the “good life”. Then the reality … the time when we would retire was looming closer. Whatever would we do when we didn’t have to go to work everyday? People say “find your joy” … what was our joy?
My family always had multiple dogs and cats, mostly rescues, so we talked about fostering, bringing rescued dogs into our home to re-train and help find permanent homes. We tried to figure out how to have two more dogs in suburbia, but after considerable thought, realized it wasn’t practical. I then made what is now between us an infamous remark: “well, I guess we have to find a bigger piece of land”. So began our search.
It took nine months, but we finally found the property that had been waiting for us in the beautiful Mother Lode town of Sonora. We bought a 40 acre parcel that sits on a bluff overlooking the Tuolumne River. Words cannot describe the tranquility of this place and the lift in our hearts whenever we drive over that final ridge and see our home sitting on the hill. But in 2004, we had a long way to go before that house was sitting there!
There are many good stories about our journey from then until now. We lived in a 5th-wheel while our home was being built and had to share the outhouse with the construction workers. Although not funny then, we laugh when we think about the times the outhouse was knocked over during storms. I took pictures the day the truck arrived to take our little turquoise outhouse away. It was a celebration! As was the day PG&E put up our power pole and we actually had electricity! Good times!
We live in a high fire danger area so we knew we had to find some sort of grazing animal to keep the weeds down. Cows were out, too many cow pies! Horses were out, too big and too expensive. What about goats? So I looked at pygmies, but then found pygoras!! I remember the day I first saw them on the internet, a medium sized goat, registerable, a good selling point for kids, and … oh my gosh!! … they have fiber! How fun!
We brought together 22 kids from four different ranches, after fencing our first one acre pasture and building eight A-frames for shelter. I had done a lot of reading, bought lots of supplies, visited three pygora ranches and tried to learn as much as I could. However, there is nothing like true hands-on experience!
Over the past five years, we have run another 4500 feet of fencing creating five additional pastures. We’ve added a workshop and put up a barn. We eventually brought in two pygora bucks and started breeding. We’ve learned how to give shots, trim feet, shear fiber, and the best way to catch up a buck. We’ve learned the nasty job of disbudding and felt the empathetic pain of banding. We’ve also learned how hard it is to lose a doe during kidding, to have kids die in our lap. But more so, we have experienced the absolute joy of these animals who are curious, playful, and sweet. We have learned to love that good bucky smell during rutting season and the laughable noises the bucks and does make to each other. We have experienced the euphoria of kidding, beautiful babies born who are up and nursing within minutes. We have sat in the dirt and laughed out loud while baby kids jump and play all over us.
Soon after the house was done, I joined the Mother Lode Weavers and Spinners Guild in Sonora. I joined to learn about fiber and to understand what hand spinners want in a fiber. I found so much more, a group of people who are talented, creative, and friendly. They’ve shared their talents and taught me to hand spin, an activity I’ve come to enjoy. It’s quite exhilarating to create something with yarn I’ve handspun with fiber from one of my own goats … how cool is that?
The rescue kennel? We did build it along-side the house. It’s a really nice building with a sink and cupboards. Dogs? No, there aren’t any rescue dogs. It’s a cattery at night for our barn cats and a storage room for all the 40 pound bags of dog food, cat food, COB, sunflower seeds, and minerals for the goats.
The direction life can take is wondrous. We love sharing our experiences and all we’ve accomplished along the way so we welcome visitors to Sweet River Ranch. Come play with our goats, feel their fiber, experience the beauty and peace of our new life: Ranching in Tuolumne County.
Check us out at www.californiapygoras.com.