The chickens are out again...

and back in the garden.

I did get the electric netting fence around most all of the kale and collards, so I hope the rest will be ok. I tried to block off all the holes around the fence too. But Black Bart is the first one out there. And he clucks so the girls follow him. Darn ole rooster.

I got more collards and turnips planted Tuesday and watered in really good.  Today I planted 2 rows of carrots to the right of the radishes. I think I'll plant a few more rows of radishes later.

So far, it's looking good out here in the garden. Buckwheat has flowers already. The bees are bringing in lots of bright yellow pollen right now. So I hope they'll have lots of honey to make it through the winter. I hope I don't have to start feeding them for awhile.

I am feeding the humming birds about every 4 days now. They come let me know when the feeder's about empty. I added a full cup of sugar this morning for them. They are getting ready for their long flight soon. I see them all over the place, in the window box and the flowers. I was sitting out under the cedar tree in the garden the other day knitting and I heard them all in the tree. I love them.

What's going on in your gardens right now? Anyone planting fall crops?

Cardigan and old rocker.

I started this cardigan a few weeks ago in my knitting class. I hope to have it finished in a few weeks. But it sure is boring right now. Purl a row, knit a row. Boring. And I have some pretty noticeable holes in a few places. Don't know how that happened. But last night, I thought about just embroidering some cute little flowers over the holes when I'm finished. Good solution, I think! I can't wait to get this done now.

I also got my very favorite magazine a few days ago. Taproot. I love it. There is a pattern for a Cicily shawl I want to make. Just about every issue has some knitting patterns and lots of other crafty things to make. This issue also has the instructions for how to make a cloth basket out of clothes line rope. So looks like I will have plenty to do.

 And this is my new old rocker. I took it down the road to the people who made my farm sign to make a new rung for it last month. Christina brought it back yesterday and it's now back on the front porch of my studio, where it's been for years. It came with this house, so I know it's pretty old. I love this rocker. And now it rocks so much better. I will get a lot of knitting done out here now.

I just need to stain the new rung now and it'll look better.

In the garden.

Can't really see it too good here, but this is some of the buckwheat I planted a few weeks ago. It's in front of the bee hive, so I hope when it flowers, the bees will  get what they need. I also planted a few other little patches.

This is the kale, turnips, radishes, lettuce and more buckwheat. It needs rain bad. Really dry. We had a good rain Saturday, but not enough. I could stand out there all day and water with the hose, but it doesn't do a thing like rain water does.

There is a row of green beans to the left here. And I had planted collard greens in the right bed but all that came up were tomato seedlings. All over. And hardly any collards at all. So I tilled it back up and will have to get more seeds tomorrow. I want a lot of collards!

I also need to plants stinging nettles and garlic soon.

I walked past the hive the other day and got scared. There were no bees at all in the entrance. But we had a cold night and they were all still inside, where it was warm. Today, they are all out working, bringing in lots of yellow pollen, from the goldenrod, I think. They should have plenty of good honey to get them through the winter now.

I was trying to find some pants to wear the other morning, but I have none. I have lost so much weight, none of my old pants fit me. I will have to make a trip to the thrift store for winter clothes now. I still have 1-2 pounds to get under 200. I rode my bike through the battlefield park Sunday with some friends from church. Ended up riding 9 miles. It was fun. I thought surely I'd lose a few pounds. I am not giving up.

Around the farm...

Hello! I feel like I haven't posted in a long time. I just haven't had much to blog about. This morning, I took a lot of pictures. So here goes.

We had a lot of Japanese beetles this year. They ate all the leaves on all the apple trees. So not many apples at all. But I started to notice the leaves growing back on the early June apple tree and then it got blossoms. I have never seen this happen before. Then, last week, I saw these little tiny apples. How cool is that? I don't know if they will actually make bigger apples, because we are already getting cold at night here. But we will see.

And my very first elderberry syrup. With my own elderberries and honey!!!! It's SO good too. It's not deep purple like the dried berries I've used before. But it's amazing! I will have no sniffles this winter!

I made 3 more batches of soap last week. No more til I can make some money and order more lye. I am out.

The top left is Dragon's Blood. It's a fragrance oil. I have noticed the FO turns the soap way darker. But it smells really good.

Top right is Blackberry Sage.

Bottom left is Lemongrass.

Trying to get ready for a show Sept. 26th. I need to make more needle felted sheep and dryer balls.

My dread-locked lamb, Cara. I love her bangs.

And her twin (not really, but they look so much alike) Buttercup. She has the same dread-locked bangs. So cute.

Misha, the alpaca. He always looks like this, with his ears straight up.

This is the way Sugar always looks. Ears down and that look on his face that just kills me. He is letting me get a little closer all the time now. But still won't let me touch him. Funniest animals ever, these alpaca boys.

Now I am off to my knitting class. I am knitting myself a sweater. I post pics later. But I love it already. And I hope I can get it done soon. It's cold outside!

I hope you all had a great weekend and a good week.

Fall is already in the air...

Just look at all the leaves on the ground here. It already looks and feels like fall and we still have a few more weeks of summer.

Freja is so pretty. I am only milking once a day now and just getting a little over a quart. I have 2 people who get a half gallon each a week, so it takes 2 days to get that. The rest is ours. And it's so good. I am making lots of goat milk soap now too. I'll milk her as long as she has milk.

I'll be getting the buck Odin back the end of September, so will start the breeding then. I'll just breed Freja and Olga this year. Inga and Alva are too young and small right now.

I think I have talked myself out of breeding the sheep this year again. I just don't want to have to separate the ewe lambs, wethers and alpacas. That would mean 2 round bales of hay for each of those groups and we just can't afford it right now. So I will wait til next year when I can just breed all of the ewes. That's 10 ewes. I keep thinking of all the lams they had last year. 20 of them from just 8 or 9 ewes. And I have nightmares of a lot of bottle babies. I don't want to do that! So we will wait.

Had a little scare this morning.

And I don't really remember putting the tea pot on the stove or turning it on. I remember thinking about a cup of tea. But then thought I better wait till after I come back in from milking the goat.

Then my mom called. I was standing outside and told her I smelled smoke and that I hoped it wasn't a brish fire somewhere close by. It's been really dry here.

Then went inside and saw the tea pot on the stove with smoke pouring up and some flames. Then realized I had put the almost empty tea pot on the stove and turned it on.

This is what it looked like.

Bottom melted off the pot and on the eye.

And my husband sitting in the living room in his recliner, watching tv. He said he didn't smell anything but heard the tea pot whistling.

Yeah, house could have burned down all around the husband and he would have just sat there. And the house was just about full of smoke.

And while I was outside, I heard the smoke detector go off. For like 5 minutes. When I came back in, he was trying to make it stop.

I'm going to have to be more careful. That was scary. That's how my sister's house burned down a year ago. She left something on the stove and forgot about it.  Pretty scary for sure.

Tie dye fun.

 These are my 2 oldest grand daughters, Chloe and Coryn. They stay with us sometimes on the weekends. Last Sunday we went to the Chattanooga Market and they saw a few booths with tie dye tee shirts and wanted one. I said we could make them a whole lot cheaper.

So I got a few white tees and some Rit dye. And today, we had a tie dye party! I was also inspired by Soulmomma's blog a few weeks ago.

                                                          Their shirts turned out so cute!

                                                                            This is mine.

I had so much fun that I started going through the house looking for more white things to dye. I found this white material and made these 3. Don't really know what I'll do with them. But I think I see a few skirts and another shirt in there somewhere.

Just something fun to do on a Saturday. I think we might go on up to Cloudland park tomorrow and go down to the falls. I haven't been there in a few years.

I hope you all have a nice little holiday yourself!