Another learning curve

The future Social Worker/ Goat Wrangler Age 6 with J.D. Watson

Well it has been quite a week. The paternal unit came cross-country to get a sense of what was going on and to help with caprine housing and truck stuff. We visited the goats out on Vashon Island - which is the temporary homestead for them at this time. He got to see some retired Rent-A-Ruminant goats as well as both of us meeting my 2 new goats - a girl is added to the mix! Check out pictures of the herd and get updates on all things Amazin' Grazers at www.facebook.com/amazingrazersllc. That took up most of Thursday. Friday we tried to fill up the tires on the truck and had less than optimal success. We then went out to look into a bed mat for the truck to prevent goats from slipping around (no luck on the first try), looked at a potential home base, and managed to pick up some POWER TOOLS! The chainsaw is on hand and the hedgetrimmer is ordered and paid for. Woohoo! Being the dad as well as major financial contributor, he purchased the bright orange protective chaps to be worn when using said power tools. Oh I will be so attractive to the boys now! We also did some tracking down of where to get a mat from and that is now in at one of the stores we were at. Another issue was the tailgate which we couldn't get to come down and that was critical to tomorrows operations. We bounced around to different Chevy dealers looking for a screw that apparently no one carries and it wasn't a sure thing that it would fix the situation. Time constraints prevented us from solving this dilemma today.
Saturday was the BIG DAY! I had persuaded a couple of city boys who work out to help with putting the very heavy enclosure on the truck so that I would be able to transport goats on my own. It was POURING rain here in Seattle and we got up to where the enclosure was being stored and added another helper. The tailgate issue ended up being solved without a lot of to-do, thankfully, although there isn't a permanent fix. After a lot of measuring and huddling and wherefore and whatnot, we came to the conclusion that the enclosure that I had bought prior to the truck was not going to fit on the bed of the truck without some significant reconfiguration with tools and skills none of us possessed. Such as welding. While it was amusing watching 4 adult men debate the possible strategies for dealing with the situation, I very nearly had a melt-down at this news. This was supposed to be DONE. This was a main project that is critical to the operation of the business, without this - no business happens. I really believe the only thing that kept me from losing my shit completely was that dad seemed calm. Seeing as nothing could be done - we loaded the parts into the truck (where they still are) and we went our separate ways. The sun came out later and after getting some food dad & I headed out for more tire dealings. Apparently the local gas stations are less equipped to handle the air pressure needs of large truck tires. Went to one tire & service place and got them filled but were advised to get a new valve for one tire. Went to 2nd tire place and they didn't have the valve either and advised to go down the road to the chain tire store that was the sole retailer for these particular tires and that they would likely fix it for free. Which they did, and it took and hour. Keep in mind, we are solving a problem I didn't know I had previously and this has taken many hours over 2 days. This appears to be the pace of this venture. I had to make a list before the dad left so that I can track the things I am now supposed to follow-up on or track as a result of his visit. Not that it's bad, it's just more.
Sunday (the last day) is spent picking up miscellaneous things that I need like ground rods and a battery etc. Which of course takes us all over town and involves me trying to manage my dad trying to get me to buy things I don't think I need - like a box to keep the battery in out on the job. The damn battery weighs a ton and I am going to put it in a plastic box? Where is all this going? It's a MARINE battery for crying out loud! I thought all i need to know was that I needed a 12v marine battery when I went into the store and then I am asked all these questions about output and stuff I can't remember. This is when I should mention that I keep getting on the phone to Tammy of Rent-A-Ruminant as she is trying to gather her stuff and get to the airport to fly to Australia to see about starting an affiliate there! Thank goodness she only has me right now getting up and going....and as I tell her regularly, it's all her fault that I am doing this. Not really. But she has been very encouraging of all this which is good and muchly needed at times. Like when trying to buy a battery.
And the rack business...both dad and I spent some time looking on the internet for possible rack solutions. Most of the racks are slide in deals that don't seem sufficient to me for 15 goats (another call to Tammy suggests that it might be ok). I find one place that makes an aluminum one that sits up on the rails of the bed and is more enclosed and email away for information. Today I find out that for only $3,065 I too can have this beauteous thing made to fit my truck. Seems a little pricey especially since I am down to under a grand and have insurance, internet, bed mat, and a vet kit to get still - oh and gas for the vehicles I am using. Driving the car as much as I can since gas prices are high. I forwarded the info to the dad for perusal. We'll see what comes of it all. Modifying the existing thing seems much more reasonable now. But where to find the right worker for this job??
So now I hang loose. It is raining like the dickens and I will be out checking in on about 150 goats in 2 locations this weekend and then mucking about at New Moon on Sunday. I need to finish writing up an estimate for one job and have another site visit planned and another in the works. Gotta get the truck signs ordered, an ad placed in an upcoming publication, the vehicle insurance paid, an accountant found, biz insurance dealt with, the bed mat picked up and flyers made.
One of the last things dad said to me as I dropped him off at the airport in the pre-dawn of Monday morning was "I think this is going to work." And that is the best encouragement this city girl can get.

The beginning

This is where it all starts. I am creating this space for several reasons: 1) to document my own journey into livestock, 2) to give the woman I am learning from a place to see my progress and 3) somewhere that other potential affiliated can come and see my journey from a no-nothing to a serious something!

I have been doing Social Work for 20 years and I am only in my early 40s. I got my MSW in '95 but have been working in edge of the mainstream jobs since before graduating college. Currently I have been doing social work with injection drug users in Seattle through the public health department. It has been by far the most stable and best paying job I have ever had. For the first few years I was convinced that I would never leave this job. I love working with the homeless, mentally ill, disenfranchised drug users. The systems are what have been dragging me down. And the cumulative effect of witnessing the trauma on people's lives. I have lost several people that meant a lot to me in my personal life as well as some clients, and after finally getting another SW to work beside me - she had to take off 6 months for a pregnancy and with all of the drama of funding cuts etc.; I was completely drained by the time she came back in June of 2010. But decisions were already stewing by that time.

I have not been so good at managing my own self-care and at some point late last year or early this year I can recall saying to myself that all I really wanted to do was to hang out with goats all day. I believe I had already "friended" Rent-A-Ruminant on Facebook. In March, a conversation with my boss enlightened me that my current job was never going to significantly change from what it was at this time and I realized that although I was perfectly competent, I no longer wanted to do this job in this way and knew that changes had to be made.

I started setting goals - like to have some decision made by the end of 2010 re: the job. I started looking for a job/life coach. I talked to people I knew about my frustration and started writing some things down...never mentioning goats. In late May there was a post on the R-A-R page about a new venture to have Affiliates. It was as if a freakin' light bulb went off in my head! What? Someone will train me to hang out with goats? Seriously? So I emailed for more info. I read it and thought about it. Why do I have to pay money to start my own business? Oh yeah...training and a link to a respected person in the business. Duh. Like going back to school for a certificate in something or another. Ok but I have no savings at all, debt from a life of Social Work, and I live in the city. So off I go to hang out with Tammy - Chief Goat Wrangler - and pick her brain about all this. She's on a job and only half-there due to some medical issues with a couple goats who found some poisonous rhododendren that she hadn't seen. But we talked a bit and I got to hang out and pet healthy goats. It was a calm I haven't felt in a long time.

She moves the goats to another site and a friend from out of town is visiting and I want another opinion on the whole thing and she has time so we head out on a weekday and visit again. Some more chatting with Tammy - more answers to questions. Lyn gets a good feel from her (as do I) so that is encouraging. I send Tammy more questions by email, which she answers. And a week or so later my father is in town so I bring him by yet another site - a smaller site. He gets to see the goats in action and meet Tammy and ask questions. He knows I am thinking about this venture but he doesn't know how serious I am. I am also prepping him because I know that he would get a kick out of this business idea and he wants me out of my current job badly so I am softening him up to possibly get a loan from him at some point.

I think at this point I am about to start with the coach - someone from NY who has worked with a friend of mine and even though I am moving closer to this goat rental affiliate business idea - I still haven't committed anything yet. This is the beginning of July. Every time I see the goats I get a huge grin on my face. They crack me up. My family had a goat when we lived in New Hampshire and I was very young. All my cousins in one family raised goats for 4-H. It is not unheard of in my family to love livestock. One of these same cousins works for a barn that houses racing horses for folks in western PA.

Mere weeks later I once again find Tammy and her goats under the viaduct by the Pike Place Market in Seattle. It is Tuesday. I tell her that I am done stalking her and I want in on this thing. For real. I am hooked. I have no idea how I am going to pull this off but I want to very badly. I can't stop thinking about the damn goats. But I need some financial information to move forward. She needs to get it together for others as well and will get in touch with her small business guy who works through SCORE and it is a FREE service! She will also find out is he will work with me as well. She lets me inside the electric fence and once again I am overwhelmed with the goat love!

Friday that same week. My dear friend Juliet meets me after work and I bring her along to see the goats there on the urban hillside. I am amazed at how much work they have gotten done in just a few days. There has been a lot of press about them as well. Tammy isn't there at first but shows up as we are leaving...so we stay a while. Then the SCORE guy shows up with his wife and son. Tammy is regaling us with tales from previous jobs. I am so sure that this is what I want but I also know that I will not be leaving my current job soon - I need the security and health insurance. But Tammy keeps saying that it's possible to do part-time. I still don't have the financial information from Tammy but shortly after this I am invited to a meeting she has with Ed (SCORE guy) and that helps get some perspective.

Where tha hell am I gonna keep 15 goats? How much will it cost? Am I crazy? Am I going to look to rent a place to live that has enough room for goats? How do you search for that on Craigslist? What about boarding goats like people do for horses? Goats are sneaky though. Will I be able to find a place that's close enough to the city so that working isn't a humongous commute? A woman from college I re-connected with at our 20th reunion is doing a similar chnge of life around horses and she is getting a degree in FL as I write this. We are talking about the crazy shit we think about - saving the world through farm animals! Really. I'm not kidding. We are both doing it for our own mental health and to make the world a better place.

I have my own meeting with Ed. I need to get more info from Tammy. She still doesn't have anything "official" for me - I am the guinea pig for the Affiliate program she is still developing. I have gotten "Raising Goats for Dummies" from Amazon; I take Goats 101 through New Moon Goat Rescue and Sanctuary and provide an initial link for Tammy and Ellen. I am also hearing from others at the class about the bad reputations of other rental goat grazing outfits - official businesses - not just random people on Craigslist. I should mention that in this process I have also called Craig of Healing Hooves out of eastern WA. He is often in the papers with Tammy on big jobs and seems to have a good reputation as well. He also gives negative feedback on the other outfits and positive to Tammy. I keep feeling more confident that going with Tammy is the right decision. What Tammy tells me concurs with the book concurs with Ellen. And a thumbs up from Craig. That is a good sign.

I go to Vashon in early Sept. to meet up with Tammy so I can get some stuff done for Ed. She still doesn't have anything official for me but I give her a small check as a token of my intention to keep the ball rolling. It's all very fluid at this point which is good but also a little frustrating because I feel like I am not "all in." We haven't signed anything and we don't really have a payment plan going on for real yet. I know she doesn't have some stuff done and I don't have the money to pay her yet but....I want to be moving on it. Tammy's sister is excited and thinks we should do something about the whole "becoming an affiliate" using me. I just want to go see the goats. She does take me to her herd. I get to hang with the goats and again am filled with the peace that comes from animals nuzzling and munching and playing. 120 of them.

I have volunteered out at New Moon and gotten a suggestion for how to find land. My father has offered to be an investor and we are now working out how much and what involvement he will have. I may have a line on another possible place to keep the goats. And I am further working on stuff for Ed. It's challenging to keep on top of all this while working full-time but I do believe it's what is keeping me at all sane at work. Knowing that in about 6 months I will be taking my own goats out to clear brush and get paid for it. It is surprising to me that it really only took me a little over 2 months to get sure about doing this when prior to the post about the Affiliate program I was fishing around with no thoughts of goats. For me I usually think about stuff way more before jumping in (which is what this feels like), and my only explanation is that I have been working on getting to this place for about 2 years and had finally opened my myself up for seeing what appeared in front of me. And my gut tells me it's right.