The growing season commences

Despite the miserably cold winter we're having with many days below zero and an embarrassment of snow, planting has commenced. Alaska gardeners have to be the most optimistic people in the world. Who else eagerly orders their seeds before the Christmas tree has been put away? Who else readies the indoor lights and planting media when there's barely six hours of daylight? 

This explains the shamble in the garage and pantry, as everything gets shuffled around to make room for the planting racks, and to accommodate good air flow. In just a few weeks, I will have every rack filled and the overhead lighting system running 15 hours a day, with a completely jam packed table underneath it. Which is why, as I look at the varieties of seeds on hand, I find myself dreaming about having a couple more racks, and another track light-lunacy and want can make a person goofy this time of year ;)

Oh heck, if I am dreaming big, I'll just include the big greenhouse, up and waiting for me to light the heat and fill it with starts......that can't come soon enough for me, but without it, I will be (as every year) beyond cramped for space!  With increasing sales come increasing needs-a challenge to be faced and overcome. I have faith we'll manage :)

The New Year

has arrived, at long last!

Goodbye, 2011...and don't let the door smack you on the way out :)

In 2011, I discovered on several fronts, just how wrong my definition of friends, acquaintances, and opponents was.....people I thought were "friends" were users and abusers, people I thought were just "folks I know" turned out to be of both magnitudes better (and worse) character and I learned that opponents (or enemies, if you prefer) will sink to any depth to wound and maim. Boy, that's a mouthful, isn't it? Setting aside a few hours for true reflection every year is not a bad thing.  I'll probably be a little more cautious in the future. A little less trusting. And heaven knows I will try to be a better communicator because that will serve me best, no matter what comes :)

So instead of dwelling on the negative, I resolve to look into the year to come with anticipation.  And really, there is a lot to look forward to if I allow myself. In no particular order then......

First, I am still working. Yeah for me! I may end up laid off for a couple months shortly, but after the initial shock wore off, I am confident I can handle it emotionally and financially. 

Secondly, health is much better. Last year I finally got the diagnosis of excema and chronic bronchial allergies. Thankfully, modern medicine provides relief and I am still learning how to cope with these two conditions. That said, I am oh so happy not to have a constantly runny nose and cough :)  

Third, my son and husband remain the light and the rock of my life. Without their help and love, my life would be a joyless wasteland of struggle and heartbreak. 

Fourth, my tiny business looks to be expanding. Not sure how much it will grow, but grow it will.

Fifth, the barn and how I view it has changed. I don't own Reba any longer (big long fight on my Facebook page about that, but in the end, I sent them a bill of sale) and I've moved into having some turkeys.  The two broad breasted white birds are finally in the freezer-at 17 and 38 pounds dressed, mind you-and the four baby Sweetgrass birds are not really "babies" any longer. I like them, and with luck we'll have some turkey chicks this coming spring to sell. Since I made the firm decision not to board any more horses for any reason, I can work on making the critter foot print up there smaller-and give back some space to my husband too.

Sixth, the Alaska Goat Association. Something positive from the ashes of the Mini Goat Cache!  I am move "involved" than I care to be in some aspects, but I am delighted just the same.  The future is bright and the first clinic of the year is this coming weekend.  It's amazing to me, that all these people came together and made it happen because they knew it would be a good thing. And it is.

Like all of us, I have some big plans, and small ones, for this coming year. I'll be growing plenty of vegetables as usual, work too hard potting up and putting in the gardens, and work at adding to the hard scape here with more edible plants.  As always, my growing son and loving husband will pitch in, just because that's what they do.  (Ok, so my son is drug along for muscle, lol)  

I am sure there will be strife, and disappointment, and fears realized and all that-but I don't expect the world to end on December 21st ;)

Epilog how many?

Since donning the role of reporter for the many machinations of the Alaska Mini Goat Cache, those of you who have followed along with this saga have no doubt been amused, appalled, offended, and affronted as I related the events over time.

I do appreciate the emails and phone calls in support, I truly do. At this point, I'll say that the $20 or $25 paid to the group, has provided endless hours of entertainment...but some sagas continue to have epilogs and thus, my post today.

 It came to my attention that the Alaska Mini Goat Cache published a newsletter. This is only notable for the whining "woe is us" tone and outrageously erroneous statements made by the officers in charge. However, one item of note is that they have established a checking account or some sort of "relation" with their credit union (the same credit union they blamed in court for breaking fiduciary trust, mind you) Well, you'd think they would get their business affairs in order, now that they are having meetings. So far, all they have managed to do is send more expulsion letters out.

Yep, a handful (that I know about) of carbon copy form letters were received last week by individuals who joined in January. "You have been found in violation of blah blah blah by a two thirds vote of the board...." and so on. Looks like they found the missing files for the club, yes? And all the applications that were handed over to then-president Laura Manary at the beginning of that January meeting where the polling took place that no one saw.....are now used to identify and expel people who might have otherwise been wonderful assets of that club. You know, like the doctor? The executive? The breeders? The people who actually show and market their goats?

 Naturally I found this sadly amusing, and on a whim, I checked the status of the small claims suit. On the dockets, I discovered that the judgment which was mailed from the court, to the club, was returned. Evidently their mailing address is in error. Like just about everything else they've done since December of last year. Sigh. Of course, just because you don't have a copy, doesn't mean the judgement is not valid, Alaska Mini Goat Cache.

 They had another meeting last weekend, and according to one snippet I read, there were not enough officers to conduct a meeting, never mind that no one showed up but two of them. Nope, no members at all. Oh woe is the Alaska Mini Goat Cache, persevering in the face of adversity from all the meanies in the world-and all that crap. Not!

 I mean really, how do you know if you are a member, or not? They've had just one meeting since January. They have "opened" nominations for next years' officer positions and I'm pretty sure the same crew will be "re-elected" since no has any idea what is going on or whether they are a member. And if you have paid your dues, you can be booted at any time for no reason at all. And they'll keep your money too. Look what happened to everyone who attended the January meeting....nearly all expelled now.

Look what happened to me, Suz, Margie, and Rachel. The "board" decided they didn't want us in their public club and expelled us the same day we paid. And except for myself (and Margie who wrote the letter) no one has gotten their money back. And I had to sue them to get it, lol

 That's about as neat a scam on the public as I've had the misfortune to witness. Seriously. What a way to build the bank account...you take someone's money, then expel them, then say the bylaws don't allow the return of that money.

 Something to think about if you have any thoughts in your head about joining, or renewing your membership in that private club. Or, you could join a truly friendly club, one that does not hide behind closed doors and make unilateral decisions that go against member wishes. You could join a club where there are no officers, where everyone has an equal voice, where any interaction qualifies as a "meeting" and everyone-and I do mean everyone, is welcome.

 Yep, that includes Heather Fair, Laura Manary, Rayna Fritcher, Tisa Witham and crew.

 The Alaska Goat Association is an open and transparent group. We welcome anyone who has an interest, no matter who you are :)

Busy couple of weeks

Here we are, firmly into the "winter season" already. My gosh, how did that happen? So much has gone on over the past three weeks, I am not sure where to start, lol


Let's see, old business. The Alaska Mini Goat Cache advertised a meeting back in late October. Now they are having another one this coming weekend. Oh, and it's only for "members in good standing". Ahem. Insert rolling eyeballs at the discrimination with me, will you? Because we all know, that a member in good standing, is whoever Heather Fair and Rayna Fritcher decide passes their personal sniff test. Which would not be the dozen plus people who joined back in January (remember your own ByLaws, gals) and who have not been acknowledged. And likely won't be. They aren't out of the woods yet, on what they've done. In fact, they can't seem to get their cornflakes in a pile and do the simple, expedient thing: Take some of that cash that Heather Fair testified she had on hand, and open a new checking account. Then, move that PayPal cash (which Heather Fair also testified she had access to) right into that new account. A half dozen counter checks and voila'! They're in business, woot woot and happy dance and all that crap. Since I have not gotten my judgement yet, I presume that they have not managed to figure this out as yet. When they can finally return my money, I will be happy to be done with them for good.

Of course, I just have to say: They could have avoided all the unpleasantness if they had simply had a meeting, and allowed me to speak-I would have quietly and nicely asked for a return, since I was booted the same day I joined.

Other old business arose last week on Facebook too. Good lord, what a cesspool that place can be-but thankfully, FB provides tools to make life smoother and less stressful. Last week I got a notice from a friend, that said that there was an ad on Craigslist for my horse. Um, what? I checked, and sure enough, there is an ad for the mare that I had leased out to a "friend" and the friends' daughter. I posted a notice that the lessee did not have permission to sell the mare, and then put the two notices up on my wall on FB.

Oh. My. God. 120 heated posts later, here is the result: The daughter has a formal bill of sale. I've blocked them both from my FB experience due to the nature of their comments and one creditable threat I got via PM. And I'm done with the scheming and conniving and gossiping that surround this woman. It took this to have me step back and really think about all I'd heard about the horse community.....easily 90 percent of the negative things I'd heard, originated from this one person.....90 percent! And of course you know she is the "go to" gal when you want or need something from the horse community here.....yikes! All of that negativity was carefully couched in psychobabble worthy of the best talk show circuit hacks-no kidding. So all the financial troubles, bad horse deals, marital problems, drug use, criminal history and so on, that I heard....well, I am happy not to be burdened with it any longer.

And of course, this caused a few people to venture out of the wood work too, and tell me a few of the rumors going around about me. And my horse. And my marriage. And so on. Oh. My. God. She'd probably pop an aneurysm if she realized that she is no better than one other notable she detests. So here is the stupid part: It could have been avoided. All they needed to do was take it to PM or email. Just that easy. And no I won't remove it from my wall, because if people really want to look they can find out just how nasty they both are....it's all there in print. And not only that, they had the use of the horse for two years. Neither one ever asked for a bill of sale. Which I find absolutely hilarious in the context of her self described "expert witness" for the courts....surely she, with her many hundreds of horse sales and deals, would know the consequences of selling something you don't own?

So, we had our first "big snow". Which amounted to nearly a foot at home, and about seven inches at work. I discovered that the guy plowing last year, decided not to do it this year-but did find another company on short notice. They did an excellent job and I'm happy to have that resolved for the season. Work continues on the building next door, which is much larger than my work shop. Now, we can't be seen from the intersection, darn it. I have no idea how all the additional traffic is going to work out-it's a gymnastics place.

Also over the past two weeks, we welcomed a new addition to the family-Zayden, born to my niece Amber and her hub Chris. Congrats you two! And now I am wondering if our family is ever going to have any girls, lol There's my Joey, then Noah and Corbin, and then Landon and Zayden. I am thinking Amber and Chris will have one more, so we might be lucky there. My nephew Rick has a boy as well, isn't that odd?

The AGA is off and running!

I am delighted to share that the Alaska Goat Association is fully functioning :)

As of this morning, there are over 35 members. I am pretty sure that number is larger than any other functioning goat club in the state, by far. People are still coming on board, even if they don't quite "get it" as to its "organization".

I got a call about this just the other day, and so help clarify matters, here is a "no particular order" explanation of the Association.

There are no officers.

No formal voting, or balloting.

No "regularly scheduled meetings" at a physical location.

There is no board.

No one person is in charge of anything.

Now that seems pretty simple to me, but some people are having difficulty wrapping their minds around what this concept really means in practice. In most clubs and organizations, officer positions tend to garner people with time, energy, and a desire for power to some degree.

In reality, the positions saddle one person with specific duties for the term of their office, and many times they burn out or are unable to complete their terms. Just take a good look at what has happened in the other goat clubs in the state, and you will see that the same people tend to hold the same offices, year after year. Some of those offices are abused, and occasionally those offices are essentially abandoned with lost documents or accounting. In this Association, any one person can go forward with whatever project gets the collective, majority vote. No running the idea through committees, no waiting two or three months (or longer) to get things on an agenda, discussed, voted, and approved. Just bring your idea to the group Facebook page, pitch it, and see what people have to say. You can start a poll, ask questions through the Yahoo! group, or simply call people-whatever works. If you have an idea you think is of value to the goat community-it's yours to head up and make happen. Recruit whoever you think you need, and run with it. Now, that's pretty simple, isn't it?

There is no "application", so there is no "application process". You pay your membership fee, and you are a member. Period. You are not required to furnish anything other than some means to contact you. What you chose to share is up to you-as little or as much as fits your comfort level. No vetting, no discrimination, none of that. You pay, you are in and you have a voice-just like everyone else.

Any issue raised and discussed is a "meeting". Members meet every day on Facebook, through email, and the Yahoo! group. If members don't want to participate to that degree, that's just fine with the rest of us.When members have discussions on the Facebook group page, or converse via email or the Yahoo group, they are voting when they make their opinions known. As the Association grows, it will probably need to get a little more "formal" for these things, by using polls or other means to determine the majority opinion.

Since we are spread all over the state (and we have members in other states, too), conducting "formal meetings" where everyone can participate is impractical at best. Thus, the reliance on the tools of modern communications: Email, Facebook, the Yahoo! group, conference calls, and hopefully a new website soon. A bank was chosen that has offices in many locations, and PayPal is the vehicle for most transactions. It is imperative that people understand that this Association is open and accountable to ALL its members. This means, publishing banking activity, memberships, and any activity the members propose to undertake. Everyone has the opportunity to see what is happening with their Association at any time. No guessing what's in the bank account, no wondering when meetings might occur, no bickering behind the scenes masquerading as personality conflicts.

The call that prompted this entry, raised legitimate questions about the Association's relationship with the state. In truth, we chose the simplest one available-cited here as written:

Article 1: The name of the corporation is: Alaska Goat Association
Article 2: The duration is perpetual
Article 3: The purpose is "to promote goats and goat products in Alaska"
Article 4: Distribution of assets upon liquidation: Upon dissolution, the assets get distributed equally among members.

The above is satisfactory for the State of Alaska. They may ask for further information (i.e., formal ByLaws) but this can be easily addressed, if the need arises. The articles can be changed as well, with a simple letter informing the state of the changes.

Yes, indeed...the whole idea is simple, user friendly, open and transparent. I kind of like it, don't you?

The Alaska Goat Association

The Alaska Goat Association was created this week.

I suppose you could say it was due in part to the beyond shabby treatment that the Alaska Mini Goat Cache has given former members, the distrust and anguish it has fomented upon the goat community, and selective use of their offices and by-laws to alienate just about everyone. It seems evident that people here want a club, but they don't want anything to do with the MGC shenanigans, or Heather Fair and Rayna Fritcher as Treasurer and President, or both. But still people want to participate, to join together and enjoy and promote their interest in all things relating to goats.

The solution was brainstormed on Facebook, and arose immediately from discussions on several pages. In two days, the corporation was founded, a bank account established, the EIN (required by the IRS) procured, and a "structure" created. Today, the process will be furthered by application for formal non profit status.

Above all, this will be a transparent and open organization.

There are no officers.

Nope, no board, no formal positions of president, vice president, secretary or treasurer. No position for webmaster, newsletter, fundraising or any of that stuff. Instead, this is majority rule. No balloting, but everyone has a voice. Some people will see this as anarchy, chaos and/or mob rule. In practise, it is not. Civil discussion and consensus are amazingly easy to accomplish, if you are willing to let it happen. Every activity with the bank account is publicized, as is every member as they join.

There is already a slate of events started, with people stepping up to organize these individually. They include shows and clinics and seminars. Since this is a state wide effort, there will be events on the Kenai (an area sadly overlooked) and hopefully the Interior as well as it gains momentum. It is open to anyone who chooses to join-no discrimination at Alaska Goat Association! No "application process", no expulsions, none of that crap. You want to join, you pay your dues, you are in. How much you get out of it, is up to YOU. Memberships run the calendar year, but anyone joining this fall, is good for the next year too.

Here's how you can see what's going on, and join in making the Association what YOU want it to be:

On Facebook, find Alaska Goat Talk, and join. Ask there to be invited to Alaska Goat Association-there is already a discussion thread if you can find it. We won't add you to the group page unless you want to be included! Once you are there, the information about joining is available. Pay your dues, and add your name and number to the list.....and that's it! No showing up at irregularly scheduled meetings, no fumbling around trying to find information....just join, and you're in!

You can also join the Yahoo! Group "AlaskaGoatAssociation", established as an alternate to Facebook as some people are not comfortable with social media.

And, you can contact myself, or others, about how to join without having an online presence.

Electronic participation is being worked out, but already includes the Facebook page, the Yahoo! group, and PayPal.

I'd say that's a start, wouldn't you?

Victory is mine

On Saturday, I appeared in court for my case against the Alaska Mini Goat Cache. Upon arrival, we all sat through a another case, and then were sworn in and began. I was pretty nervous as I had never done that before, and bobbled my opening remarks to start. However, I was able to plainly state the sequence of events to the judge:

I joined and was expelled the same day.
The following day I got my money back through PayPal, and got an email from the President telling me I'd been expelled for cause.
I attended the membership meeting in January, resubmitted my fees and application.
They were accepted by the President (and yes, the Treasurer was present)
The Treasurer never attended any other meetings after that.
In June, the small claims case against the Treasurer was held, the results were:
That Heather Fair was the treasurer
That the election process they had started prior was valid
That the election results were valid with Heather Fair being Treasurer again
That the actions taken by the board in the expulsions were valid.

So, since I was expelled (and was not a member, and could not be a member, and could not reapply for two years) I asked for my money back. A total of five times, via email. I probably was not as polite as I could have been, but truthfully, I was disgusted with the entire club. I addressed all the emails to the President, Rayna Fritcher. She eventually came back with a "write a letter and we'll consider it" response. By that time, the club had held onto my money for nearly eight months, and done nothing to rectify the situation. Of note: The issue of returning money to expelled people are not addressed in their bylaws at all. Their language only applies to people already members. So, when Rayna quoted "members/membership applicants" she was not being accurate. And I'll just point out this, which is aggravating: Their own bylaws say that when you pay your dues, you are a member. Period. They do not say "after processing" which is what Heather Fair used as part of her defence.

They have had held no meetings since January. If they had held a meeting, I would have asked to be on the agenda, and then politely asked for my money back. I knew the club should work within the framework of their own bylaws (and they have, to some degree) and I felt that attending a meeting was the best course for resolution. Instead, their board voted back in April to not accept the minutes of the January meeting. I only found this tidbit in reading through the response to my suit, as it happens.

The judge did not want to get into the two factions of the club, since it did not apply to my case. This did not prevent Heather Fair and Rayna Fritcher from making inflammatory statements about the activities of the other faction, the trouble surrounding the club bank account, and my participation with the other faction. I very wisely did not take the bait because it was not germane to the suit.

The judge found my small claims suit valid, and the club is to return my funds.

I was not awarded expenses because I did not write that letter that Rayna demanded. I find this highly ironic because Heather Fair stated repeatedly that the corporation was unable to function due to not having a checking account. The reason they gave for not giving it back was not having a checking account. Their bylaws state that refunds and expenses must be done by check. A bald faced lie I did not correct. I know that the club has an account with $25 in it, at MVFCU. They also have the $290 in cash collected at the January meeting, as well as the $400 in the PayPal account. They could, at any time, deposit the $290 and transfer a portion of the PayPal account, if they chose to do so. Then it would be a simple matter to get counter checks and take care of business.

But no, instead they call into question the honesty of the bank (the bank itself, no less!), and have done nothing.

I presume this fits into their agenda, since if they "don't have a checking account" they can continue to claim that money has been "stolen". Which, by the way, they have done online already.

The other side of that is, of course, that the club has knowingly retained funds for nearly ten months.

That would be all the money collected at the January meeting, from over a dozen people who had submitted applications. Now, just who is "perpetrating a theft" here, eh?