A Couple of Cute Kids

Connemara, Carl Sandburg's home in North Carolina is one of our favorite nearby places to visit. It is a lovely place, with hiking trails and huge rocks; a place of tranquility and beauty.

The goats at Connemara are almost as famous as the place itself. Lilian Sandburg bred award-winning goats and the herd is still maintained.
http://ncmountainwoman.blogspot.com/2008/07/lilians-goats.html
Each spring we visit to see the new kids at Connemara. We went last week on an absolutely gorgeous spring day. It was such a nice day that we weren't even disappointed that only one kid had been born so far.

She is Bella, a Toggenburg goat and has quite a pedigree. She is a direct descendant of Jennifer, the champion milk-producer in America in her day. Jennifer averaged 2.5 gallons of milk every day and was the world-wide Toggenburg Champion goat. While the current goat herd is much smaller than Lilian Sandburg's, all the goats are descendants of Lilian's careful breeding. They are lovely.

This lovely doe is Bella's mother. She is brought into the barn several times a day to nurse Bella, although at only a week old Bella is munching grasses (and anything else she finds).

This buck is likely Bella's father, although I did not verify that.

This view of the front lake gives you an idea of what the awakening spring looks like around here.

Visiting the Carl Sandburg National Historic Site is a new and inspiring treat every single time I go. It is so moving to walk and sit in places where Carl Sandburg walked and sat; to stand near his favorite rock where he worked outdoors; to be surrounded by his books and letters. There are echoes of both Carl Sandburg and his wonderful wife Lilian all around.

This post was titled a "couple" of kids, yet there was only one little goat at Connemara. This is the other cute kid with whom I fell completely in love. She is participating in the White House Easter Egg Roll. The very polished shoes behind her belong to President Obama who helped her with her egg. You just have to love her determination. I also loved the outfit, especially the great boots.

Photo from the Associated Press

Swallows at Connemara

When we visited the Sandburg home, we were delighted to find swallows nesting in the goat barn. The volunteer said this is the first year they have nested there, which seemed very strange to me.

The nest looks unstable, sitting above and overlapping an electrical outlet. Full of little ones, it looks as if it might crumble at any minute. It shakes with their activity. The nest isn't nearly as neat and trim as the ones at our community cabana, but it appears to be holding up so far.

The resident cat is temporarily excluded from the barn. I don't think she likes it very much.

Yes, Laura Bush visited Connemara Monday afternoon. Here she is with some of the Junior Rangers. Senator Elizabeth Dole is on the left of the picture.

Picture downloaded from the White House Website.

[I'll bet they wouldn't be so happy had they known I didn't get my invitation.]

Lilian's Goats

Carl Sandburg, noted biographer of Lincoln, poet, lecturer and Pulitzer Prize-winning author was already famous when he moved to Flat Rock, NC. He and his wife Lilian lived on a farm in the Blue Ridge mountains for more than 2o years, until their deaths.

It was Lilian who found the farm, already named Connemara. She was searching for the ideal place, large enough for raising her prize-winning goats and sufficiently secluded for Sandburg's writing. Lilian Steichen had married Carl (then called Charles) Sandburg in Milwaukee, WI. Both were active members of the Wisconsin Social-Democratic Party, a party whose platform included uniform suffrage, free textbooks for schools, worker benefits, and child labor laws. They met at the Party headquarters.

While a writer and poet herself, Lilian's legacy was a prize-winning goat herd. She became famous in her own right for her goats which she started raising in Michigan. Seeking a better climate (as well as a place where Sandburg could write) she chose Western NC. She improved the herd and had a thriving milk and cheese business. She became well-known for her ability to genetically select and produce improved goats.

The goats living at Connemara today are descendents of the very goats that Lilian Sandburg raised. There are three types of goats: the Toggenburgs (which are tan and white); the Saanens (which are all white), and the Nubians (which are multi-colored with long, floppy ears). Guests are allowed to visit the goats in the pasture and barn. They are indeed wonderful creatures.

[No, I am not an expert on goats. The three types of goats are listed in brochures and pictures. In fact, I didn't even know that a female goat was a doe; I always thought "nanny goat" was the proper term.]

Here are some photographs of Lilian's goats. The kids are kept separately in the barnyard, while the adults are free to roam the pastures.

Carl Sandburg died in 1967, at home. Lilian died in 1977. The Sandburg family sold the farm to the National Park Service and donated all the contents of the home. Last year, additional acreage was purchased to preserve the quiet serenity of Connemara. The home, a National Historic Site is open to the public daily, except for Christmas Day.

Oh, and it won't be open to the public tomorrow afternoon. Laura Bush is coming for a visit. Funny, I didn't get my invitation. Must have been lost in the mail.