Friday, June 8, 2012

Happy Birthday, Lily Goat!

Well, actually TWO Lily goats.

When the Eco-Goats were on the weed-eating job at Adkins Arboretum one year ago, one of the goats (Maggie) gave birth to triplets. Three babies can be a strain on a mom so when Arboretum Maintenance Coordinator Allison Yates told Eco-Boss, Brian Knox, she was interested in adopting one of the triplets and bottle feeding her, he was thrilled for her to be welcomed into a happy home.

Maggie's Triplets (both Lily and Lily visible), June 8th 2011

The folks at Adkins Arboretum named their new kid Lily and over the past year she has grown up alongside fellow goats, Rosie and Puffer Fish, in their goat barn near the Native Plant Nursery.

The other two kids that Maggie gave birth to that day returned to Eco-HQ. The littlest one struggled to grow as healthy as her siblings and ended up in need of a lot of special attention in the recovery suite. Because she was so little, we started calling her "Little," then "Lil" and eventually "Lily," at this point completely unaware that she her sister had been given the same name.

Larry and Lily at the Davidsonville Green Expo

Against all odds (and with a lot of love from Larry, the largest Eco-Goat who took a particular interest in looking out for little Lily), she pulled through and she and Larry have become a popular pair on the road. Had Adkins Arboretum not mentioned that it is their Lily's first birthday in an email newsletter this morning, we may never have realized this cosmic connection between siblings.

So it is with immense joy that we wish the Lily sisters and Happy First Birthday! Do you think we should we start calling them "Lily East" and "Lily West" in relation to their residences?

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