Busy Weekend

Friday my brother got here from Colorado Springs. He's riding his Harley to New York and stopping all over to see family. He stayed with me Friday night then with our parents Sat. night. Left for S. Ga. to see our Aunt and Uncle in Metter and a cousin there too. Then off to New York to see a NasCar  race and meet some friends. Then he's taking off back to Col. Springs. I think he'll be getting a bit wet on the way to NY because the whole way up there is raining on the weather maps. But he's got good rain gear. Have fun, Mark!




                This is my brother's Harley. He's got everything he needs in there. Even a little stove.

This is my husband's bike. He took Mark up to Desoto Falls near here in Alabama. It's a beautiful place. They had to get some riding in before going to our parent's to EAT! Mom had all kinds of good food. She always feeds us good. Thanks Mom!

Then Sunday was the Sherrill family reunion at Cumberland State Park in Crossville, Tn. Lots of the family lives in Indiana and come down for this. It's a 2 day reunion. And ends up at this park. This was my 34th since joining this big family. These are my in laws. My husband's brothers and sisters. He's the youngest of 9 and the biggest! He's the guy in the red shirt. I would say the guy with the white head but they are all white headed and have been forever now. He has 2 other brothers but they died several years ago.

                           Patricia, Liz, Yvonne, Marylou, Clarence, Charlie and Jim. The Sherrill clan. 

Mt husband rode his Harley and our daughter and husband rode their Honda. I had our 2 granddaughters so drove the car behind them to the reunion. It was nice all the way there. My SIL found some really back roads. Windy almost one lane mountain roads I had never been on. Then at the end of the reunion as everyone was leaving, it started raining.And it rained the whole way back home. Poor hubby was soaked. He does not have any rain gear. Chloe is in the front seat wrapped in towels. It was a bit cool. Coryn is in the back seat asleep. Good day for a nap!

We had a fun weekend. And now it's just me again. Hubby had to leave last night for Ohio. So I will be working in the gardens and mowing this week. I am going today to get a garden shed!! I have wanted one for so long. Now I can get one. Also want some water faucets IN the gardens and sheep and chicken yards. I am so tired of dragging water hoses. I do stay in shape though from all the walking I have to do around here. But those are 2 things I have needed for a long time. We will add a lean to on the garden side for tiller and mower and a sheep shelter on the other side for the far pasture. There is no shelter over there. Well, there is a barn way over on the other side of the pasture. But do you think a sheep would go way over there away from their shepherd? No.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Farmer's Market

These are some of the farmers that come to market every week. These are the neatest people. True farmers, all of them. Some have been farmers all their lives. Some just starting out. I learn a lot from them. And they all love what they do. Some have stands on their farms. Some raise grass fed beef. Some have honey bees. And some like to can what they don't sell and bring it back in jars. Very clever folks, these. And some play guitar and sound like Johnny Cash too! I love my farmer's market. The last picture is mine. I like taking pictures, not being in them.

Finished Soaps

                       And here are the soaps I made yesterday. All cut up and on the drying racks.




                                                        The top soap is the peppermint.

                                                 The bottom is the tea tree castille soap.






                                     The top in this picture is the cedar-saffron. It smells so good!


                                    Then in the middle is the clarey sage-rosemary goat milk soap.


                                                               Then the plain goat milk.

 And these are the little tiny clarey sage-rosemary soaps from the candy tray mold. They look big but they aren't at all. They actually look like white  fudge. I'll have to make sure no one tries to eat these!

            Not I have to wait at least 4 weeks for all to dry except the castille. It takes up to 3 months to dry.

Around the Gardens Today

I forgot to turn this one around. But these are Blue Lake green beans that I planted 5 days ago. Look at them already!

And these are the field peas I planted the same day!  Now the cucumbers that I planted last Monday are not up yet in the North garden but the ones I planted in the South garden last Thursday are popping up.

 And I picked about 3/4 of a bushel of Kentucky Wonder beans this afternoon. That's THE most I have ever picked off these vines yet. I thought they were all goners after that drought. Then I watered. Then we got lots of rain. And I left them alone for a few weeks. Then I picked for over an hour today. I also picked a half bushel of Blue Lake beans too.

 On the last row of the runner beans I  noticed 2 little round things in the vines. I looked closer and they were on top of the nest. I turned it over and put them back inside. They were cold so I guess the nest is abandoned. It looks like maybe a hummingbird nest. The eggs are very small.

 And what is this? I have a few of these growing in the South garden. Is this wheat or oats? I sure would like to know.

                This is an empty spot waiting for something to be planted in it. I might plant more peas.

 And I have to show my zinnias. They are just beautiful. The dirt row is the Italian Roma beans. I saw some of them popping up too.

And this is my haul for today. Tomatoes, peppers, and beans. I'll pick kale and more peppers tomorrow. Then off to market. I hope I do well tomorrow. I'll go pick up some cucumbers from my friend up the road too.

                            Here's one more pretty flower for you to enjoy. That color is amazing.

I hope everyone's gardens are doing as well as mine are right now. I am really excited about this second planting of summer veggies already. And in a few weeks I'll be planting for Fall. So fun!

Making Soap

I had a pretty productive day today. I made 5 different batches of soap. This is the first one. A tea tree castille soap. I have never used tea tree oil so I hope it works. It smells good. I met a lady last week at market who makes soaps and her husband said she makes a tea tree oil soap that he uses when he gets in poison ivy and it really helps. So I'll try it and see.

This is the mold I used for that soap. It's an old chicken feeder. It makes really pretty soaps.

                                                          Getting ready to wrap it up.

 This is some goat milk soap that I put clarey sage and rosemary EO and fresh chopped rosemary leaves. It's a candy tray. I thought that would make nice little soaps for a guest bathroom. Or just for someplace that needs a good smell.

I also made a plain goat milk. I am getting better at adding the milk to the lye now. I read on Mucky Boots blog where she learned the hard way not to wrap goat milk soap. And now I know why my last batch had so much oil on top. I wrapped it. She said she even puts hers in the freezer. So I did. And it's nice and hard already. I learn something new every day.

                                                 These are some other molds I use too.

 And this is the peppermint soap. I love this one and it was a very good seller. Already sold out of the last batch I made. It smells SO good and is so refreshing. With dried crushed mints leaves too.

Also made a manly soap today. I have been thinking I need to make some soaps for men since there are a lot of men that like home made soaps. So I made a cedar saffron that smells very manly. I used Pringles chips cans for the rest of the goat milk and for the cedar soap. 

So I feel good that I did so many soaps today. I need to order more lye and also more oil like coconut. Then I can make more. I want a lot for Fall and for Christmas.

Udderly Rediculous

 This looks crazy but I am going to try it. One of the girls on Mary Jane's Farm Connection told us about taping her doe's udders so she wouldn't have to separate does and kids. So I am trying it today. If it works, it could be quite pricey. Medical tape isn't cheap. And that's what this is. 2 rolls for about $4.00 at Dollar General.

                                                             So this is Abby's udder.



                     This is Abby looking at me like I am mean to her. How could I do such a thing?

                                                             This is Sandy's udder.

                        And she doesn't care, apparently. Just leave her alone and let her eat, ok?

                              And this is Iris Josie. She is not impressed at all. She won't even look.

And I couldn't get a picture of the other little doe kid, Brie. She wasn't impressed with all this either. But I bet she'll find a way to those teats. I betcha she will. She's good about getting to her momma like that.

And here are some of the cats, waiting for some milk. Not this morning, guys. Hopefully tonight you'll have some. If the tape isn't pulled off by ornery greedy goat kids anyway. We shall see.

50 Chicks

When I went out to check on the Freedom Ranger chicks, one of them was dead. And it's not the little bittiest one either. I was expecting that little one to be dead any time now but it's hanging on. I'll make it drink some water then put it down in the feed so it can eat. I'll also try to warm it up. It's wings are just about bigger than the body. I hope it makes it.

Seeds!

Look at all these seed packages! My friend"s husband works at Tractor Supply and they were going to throw all these seeds out. So he got them. Now Isabelle is going to let the teens at church sell them for .25 each to raise money. There is everything from beets to zucchini in there. I will have fun looking to see what I can plant right now and save some for next year too.

Chicken Nipples

I had heard these things were great. "You won't have to change dirty water for a week at least." "Chickens learn how to use it in just a few minutes." " It's the best thing ever." Well, my chickens must be DUMB! I ordered 10 of them. My husband figured out how to get them in the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket. We hung it in the chicken house at about 12". Filled it with water. Stepped back for the stampede. That never came. Because the chickens have YET to even see the red nipples hanging from the bottom of the nice clean water bucket. And I am using the water from that bucket to fill up their very dirty water bowl a few times a day. What a waste of money. Well, they weren't that expensive, but still. I ordered 10. Used 4. I was going to use them for my meat birds too but I guess I'll be filling up more water bowls for them too.     

Double Rainbow

I went outside after it quit raining and I just knew I would see a rainbow. And there it was. And a double at that! You can barely see it, but it's there. Look how green everything is here. It's just amazing and beautiful. And almost cold.

                                                 Miss Darla says hello. Right in your face! 

It's raining

After all my planting the past few days, God is watering for me!! Thank you!

Abraham, again

The vet finally called this afternoon. I told him what all I had been doing with for Abraham. He said stop the worming. They are probably all dead by now. He said these worms feed on protein. So I need to give him some B Complex for a few days and no grains right now. Just hay and grass. Also something called Red Cell. I'll look for that tomorrow at Tractor Supply. Abraham seems to be doing better.

And I am supposed to bring in some manure in 2 weeks. I'll bring some from a few of the other sheep and some goats too. Just to see what I am dealing with here. But so far he's still alive so something worked.

I will get the other 2 rams probably next week.

Thanks for all the great advice and comments about Abraham. I am learning so much.

Starting Over

This is why I stay so dirty and sweaty and nasty these days. That dry red Georgia clay soil. And it's dusty right now. It can start raining again after tonight. This is the South garden. Isn't the view great? It's so clear and pretty right now. Even though it's nearly 97 degrees out there, in the shade it feels so good, with a cool breeze blowing. But it feels better inside!

This is a very odd shaped garden. And I make the mistake every year of planting the outside rows first, then ending up in a V shape. Next year I will plant from the grape vines over, that way I might have striaghter rows ending with small rows up against that fence. 

This top picture is where I planted cucumbers in the left row all the way to the end and around the corner. Then zucchini in the middle to the right of the cucumbers. I still have one row after that to the right. Then I need more Swiss chard to finish that row. To the far right is the Blue Lake bush beans next to the fence.

Down this long row I planted 2 rows of Italian Roma bush beans. To the left is empty right now. It will have beets soon.



This bottom picture is where I will plant beets too. I could go ahead and plant the seeds now because August is just next week, right? And if you can see to the end to the left, there are 2 rows down there that I planted straight neck and crook neck yellow squash.

I just came in from the North garden, tilling some rows for field peas. I'll go out when the sun goes behind the trees. It's hot! I think we are in for some rain probably tomorrow. We need it again.

I was looking at the McCasslen running beans and I see lots of little ones coming on. So I hope by next Wednesday, I'll have some to take to market.

Freedom Ranger Chicks

 They're here! And early. They were shipped out yesterday from Pa. The lady at the post office called at 9:45 and said I had a box full of little peepers. I was expecting that 6:00 am call tomorrow morning. I thought I still had tonight to get the brooders ready. So had to hurry up and cut the 2 holes between the 2 boxes and put down shavings and mix their vitamin water and get their feed in the feeder. Got it all done and went to the Po. They were very loud. There was another lady there that came in after me and she just had a fit over them. They are cute little chicks.

 Here they are now all tucked into their new home for a few weeks. There are 51 of them. All differnt colors. I dipped each of their beaks at least 5 times in the water to make sure they got some. Then plopped them down into their feed trough.

 Then they took off! Some of them were a little slower and had to take a power nap. But after that, they were all on the run. Back and forth through the hole, from one side to the other. They look like little ants.

 But I think they have all been to the waterer and to the feeder now. And have all been through the hole several times. There is always one chick that's the loudest of them all. And I have one.

 This is a little video of them zipping around. The PO lady said these guys are bigger than any she's gotten there before. So hopefully in a few weeks I can put them outside. And they might not take the 12 weeks I had planned on waiting.

These little guys have not been vaccinated. They don't usually do that unless requested. So I got the vitamin and mineral additive to put in their water for the first few weeks. And the chick starter is unmedicated too. So they should be pretty natural healthy birds. Already have at least half sold. I'll post pictures every few weeks for my records and for others to see how these guys are growing.

Hard Work

You know you've been really working hard when the water in the shower is brown. And there is dirt after the water's gone down. And the white wash cloth is no longer white. I feel like I have been working harder the past few days than this whole summer. I have been mowing down old rows and tilling to make room for new things. I planted Blue Lake green beans this morning. Cucumbers a few days ago. I will plant Purple Hull field peas and squash tomorrow. I couldn't find zucchini so will look tomorrow. I also got some more beet and radish seeds. It seems like I have so much room for more things now.  I'll wait til about the middle of August to plant fall greens like kale, chard, collards, turnips, spinach and lettuce. It's almost August already!!

Here is some of the produce I took to market today. Not much. But I sold a lot of tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. I love all the colors of the peppers. And the little Lemon Boy and Pink Girl and Valencia tomatoes. So pretty and colorful. I sold a lot of soap today too. I just need to get motivated to make more. I just got my order from Brambleberry so I have lots of new essential and fragrance oils to play with. Peppermint seems to be a favorite right now. I only have 2 bars left.

So has anyone been playing out in the gardens, replanting or harvesting?