Around the farm today.

 I looked up how long it takes for blue bird eggs to hatch. 12-14 days. This poor momma is hot.I put a bowl of water out there for her. So I think just a few more days. I will be glad when they hatch, because then a few weeks later, they will fly away! I have not been able to use my front porch. Whenever I go out the front door, she flies away. I also read that the father looks for food for the mother while she's sitting on the eggs. What a great guy, right?

And look at this! Baby barn swallows already! There are 4 of them that I can see. 2 on each su=ide. They have the biggest mouths ever. And every time I come in the milk room, they are almost hanging out. I put a box with some hay in it right under the nest, just in case one falls out. Baby birds are just really ugly. These are all mouth.

There's 1 on the right side looking over the edge.

One of the parents. They look alike to me. Most birds you can tell male from female, but not these birds. They are very diligent. One of these days, I am going to have a bird right in my face though. They fly out when I go in the door. But now, when I'm milking Freja, both of them will come on in and feed the babies. I am talking to them the whole time. I just love these birds all over.

                                                My front yard is full of day lilies right now.

This is a pot of flowers I bought last year that's coming back. It was so pretty last year.

More day lilies. I love this color. And the yellow ones.

My harvest today from the garden. I've been getting lots of squash and zucchini. I make zucchini bread and sell it at the market. And these tomatoes are SO good.

I spent all day yesterday washing 2 fleeces. The brown is Cameron and the white is another white fleece, not really sure who it is. The black milk crate on the floor is Campbelles' fleece washed.  And in the red basket on the other side of the crate is half of Annabelle's.

This is Adelaide's from last year. I've been using the evil hand combs to make little bird nest rovings. It's so pretty and soft.

It's just HOT here these days. I made up 2 poems or Haikus about the heat.

I like spring and fall.
That is all.

The parking lot
is hot.

Yeah, it's just plain ole hot now. And all week, in the high 90's.Trying to keep the animals all watered and cool. I forgot the milk bucket this morning in the freezer. I hate frozen thawed out goat milk. It's just not good to me. So I put it out in the chicken coop for the girls. They loved it. I've been getting 7 eggs again! All of them laying again. I hope no one tries to steal my hens, since egg prices have gone up. Crazy.

So, all day Saturday, I was outside. Farmers market til 12. Then hurried home to the first wedding up on the mountain at our friends Wolf man and Bambi. Our friend Rodney got married to his girlfriend. Wolf man married them. Rodney was our best man in our wedding 35 years ago. We had good food there. BBQ smoked in a big smoker. Lots of good food. Saw lots of old biker friends there. Lots of old bikers now! It was fun. In the shade too. So pretty nice. Then down to the next wedding at Mt. Cove Farm, about 5 miles from us. The mountain wedding was just 13 miles from us. This was my husband's niece's daughter. It was outside too, way back at the foot of Lookout Mt.. It was nice and shady there too. Then we had more BBQ! Can never have enough BBQ, right? I had to leave at 7:30 to go milk a goat. My husband didn't get home til about 12:30. They danced and had lots of fun after I left. That's ok. They really did have fun. Both our daughters and Kansas, danced and danced. So a very nice busy day. I was so tired Sunday.

Just a little shower.

I went ahead and picked our first red ripe Rutger tomato this morning! And we had it with dinner tonight. I don't care what anyone says, you just cannot beat a fresh out of the garden home grown tomato. Anywhere. Just can't be done. I had breakfast, or brunch really, today at the Bluegrass Cafe on Main ST. It was SO good and I will be going back there. But they get their tomatoes from Linda's produce. Those are not fresh local tomatoes. Sorry. No flavor at all. But this one, oh my goodness gracious! So juicy and tomato-y. I can hardly wait for more now. But I do love trying out some of the good new places to eat in Chattanooga.

It looked like it was going to rain all day here. So I hung out a load of clothes and got the bad goat back in the back. Olga, the flying goat, went over a low spot up between the back and the back yard. Just flew right on over. I was out there hanging the clothes when she did it. So I got that all blocked up, put her in the milk room, got Freja and the milk bucket. It was just 7. I usually milk at 7:30. But it looked like it could rain.

Well, it did. It poured. For about 10 minutes. Long enough to get soaking wet. I got the goats back in the barn with some hay and I ran back to the house. Soaked! But it felt so good. I got dried off and put on my big ole t-shirt, with no bra. Finished getting dinner ready. Just about finished and a car out in the driveway, someone honking the horn. It's our friends from up the road. So I had to run look for a bra and get it on. We had a little visit outside, they were just driving home and decided to stop. Well, me and Isabelle were getting bit by something out on the driveway. On our left boobs. It was crazy. We were both ready to rip our shirts off! It was quite funny.

My camera battery was dead this morning, so it's been charging all day while I was gone. Then I was too tired to take any pictures of the garden/ Everything's growing so fast. I am so happy to see the corn doing so well. It's almost as tall as me and some already has some tassels! The bees will love this.

Bank to Mrs. T's for the day Friday. Then farmers market Sat. morning, a wedding at 2, then another wedding at 6. I'm tired already!

Happy goats!

 Just about every day, I go around the farm and cut branches for the goats. Then I stick them in the fence so they can reach up for them. If they fall to the ground, these goats will not eat them. They are very persnickety goats. I don't care what anybody says about goats eating everything. Not mine! I have always had picky goats.

I love this one. Olga looks so happy to have some good leaves to eat. I am glad I can be here to serve these 2 sweet girls. Freja gives the best milk too.

I am finally at 210 this morning!!!!!! Only 50 more pounds to go! Yay! Maybe by next March I'll get there.

39...

and holding. Always wanted to say that. But now I'm tired of it. I've been at 211 for a week now and not going down. A little depressing. But I know it will soon. I need to get on my bike again. It's just been too hot. Sweating would be good for me though. I've been getting out in the garden and weeding a lot lately too.

And I just love my walks gathering dandelion flowers for my tea every morning. It's become quite a habit and something I look forward to. I start by walking past the honey bee hive and telling them all good morning. Then I walk all around the garden, hunting that big beautiful yellow blossom. After I walk the garden, I go down one side of the driveway and back up the other. Then I go into the chicken yard and search in the pasture area. After that, it's the side yard, where my studio is and the other side of the fence near the driveway. Then, if the grass hasn't been mowed in a few days, I'll check the front yard. By then, I'll have a huge hand full of dandelion goodness. These past few days though, the supply has been down. I'll add some of my peppermint leaves to the pot and simmer awhile. Then add some of my yummy honey. I just love my dandelion tea. I usually go out after breakfast, between 8 and 10:30. After that, it's too hot and they are all gone, folded back up from the heat of the day. I try to leave some for the bees too. But right now, they are more into the clover and elderberry all over the place.

Walking through the wet grass in early morning, barefoot, is so fun. Sometimes I step on prickly invasive weeds that hurt. It brings back memories if when I was a young teen. We lived on Tybee Island. One day I was walking across someone's vacant lot barefoot, which I always was, and stepped on so many stickery things. It was all through the lot. I cried it hurt so bad. I finally made it out and never went back there again.

So today, I am going to finish my Sunburst Granny square blanket. I might try to sell it, not sure yet. Then I'll start on my skirt. I need pins though. Loaned my box to a friend up the road, so need to go get them. Then I'll work on skirting more wool and washing it. My studio is smelling like sheep. Dirty sheep. So that needs to be done. Then I might send some of the fleeces off to be made into roving to spin. Thinking about it.

Yesterday morning, as I was walking into the milk room, I noticed a little tiny egg shell on the floor. So I think the barn swallows are hatching. I don't hear them yet, but mom and dad are busy birds, going in and out all day. They are getting used to me and the goats and cats now. They used to fly out and wait til we were all gone. Now, they just fly on in. They have too much important stuff to do now!

Around the farm Monday...

It's a beautiful day here in N. Ga. The sun is beating down on us. Hasn't rained in several days, but should some this week. I had to water the garden last night.

The hubby is outside this morning, weeding around the electric fence out back. I moved the sheep back up front to the North pasture this morning, so just goats out back now. I hope they're in the barn, because I sure don't hear that loud mouth Freja. She is the loudest goat I've ever had. Louder than Sandy, who was mostly Nubian. Freja is just half Nubian. She got the Nubian mouth for sure, that girl. She lets me know when It's time to milk her. Or, when it's time for her to eat.

I'm washing sheets today and hanging them out. I just love to get into bed after a long hot day, and smell nice fresh sheets that have been dried outside. I have another load ready to be hung soon.

Bubba says good morning to y'all. He's so sweet. A lady up the road found a little tiny kitten in front of our farm last week. Wanted to know if it was mine. I said no, all my cats are fixed and really old. And no, I do not want another cat please! Because this old sweet looking dog right here, would kill it in no time. He does not let any other animals on this property at all. If they do get in, they don't leave alive. But I asked Heather if it was ok for Kansas to have a kitten. She jumped on that right away! Kansas is such a cat person. She said she'd work for the kitten's food and litter. So This ladies husband is a vet. She took him in for a little check up and de wormed him. We'll take him back in 3 weeks when he's 8 weeks old for all his vaccinations. Then later to be neutered. He's so cute though. All orange stripes and the bluest eyes ever. He will be very loved for sure!

This is the bird house Kansas and her Papa built. I just love it. No birds in it yet though. More for decoration right now. Plenty of other places to make nests around here. Like coffee cans!

My first zinnia of the year! I have a long bed of them here and a lot of others that have popped up in other places in the garden too. I love these flowers so much! I just think a garden without zinnias isn't a garden at all.

And these little beauties are all over the garden now too. I love them as well. In fact, these were in my wedding bouquet. Just happy flowers.

Some of the sheep and alpacas, enjoying the shade in their new pasture for a few weeks. The grass is nice and lush over here now. Might last a few weeks. I will mow the South pasture this afternoon.

See this apple? It whacks me on the head every time I walk under this tree. I forget it's there and it gets me every time.

Whoever is renting the hay fields all around us is finally mowing them. They started last week and are now on the other side where the sheep are. It smells so good! I love the smell of fresh mown hay. But it also means the snakes will be out again.

This is sad. I was out watering the garden last night and saw this gray humpy thing down on the fence. I looked closer and it was a possum. Looks like it was heading out of the garden and got stuck in the fence. It's dead. Poor thing. I don't think it was there in the morning when I was out there getting my dandelions. I think I have some lime, I'll sprinkle on it. Because it's already starting to stink. But I wonder if this is what ate my poor little baby chick last week?

I love this material. I bought it a few months ago, thinking I'd like to make a blouse with it. But now I have a blouse that will go perfect with it, so I'll make a skirt. I just need to go find an easy peasy pattern I can make myself, with no help. I love it. We have 2 weddings to go to this weekend too. One at 2 up on the mountain about 13 miles from us. Then the 2nd wedding is at Mountain Cove Farms at 6, right past our house! How cool is that? The 2nd wedding has dinner and dancing after , so sounds like a great day to me! I'll try to go to the market in the morning, maybe. It's over at 12. I think I can do it.

I did really good at the farmers market Saturday. More than the week before. I need to make more soap. And I suppose I will dye my white yarns. Seems people want colored yarn. And I think I'll start knitting some shawls and scarves for the fall markets.

Bluebirds!

 So here they are, the little happy couple. Bluebirds! They are so pretty. I just hope none of my 5 cats discovers them here and kills them. I don't know what to do to protect the birds from the cats. It's just too easy. But so far, I haven't seen any cats interested in them.

I love this shot, like she's saying hello to me.

The handsome father. Helping out with the nest building. I love watching them.

Here you can see a little bit of wool I had thrown from a fleece I'm working on, in his beak for the nest. So cool!

So I guess I'm going to have to move my fleece skirting station off the front porch, where the bird nest is. They leave when I go out there. And I hate to disturb them. They are so busy. And there are 3 eggs now! I think when they start setting on them, it just takes a few weeks to hatch. Then a few more weeks for the babes to fly.

Now there's 3.

And now there are 3 perfect little teeny weeny blue eggs in the coffee can bird nest!This is so exciting!

I went ahead and put some duct tape around the bottom to keep it from falling. But when I moved it over a few inches, it was really heavy. Like it has sand in the bottom. I don't think it would have fallen off anyway.

So I saw a little tiny brown bird awhile ago. Someone said it's probably a Finch. I just don't see how there's a little baby bird in that jelly bean sized egg. Just amazing. I so hope they make it so I can see them. But I do have 5 cats.

I went to the farmers market this morning. Woke up at 6. I had gotten the car loaded last night. Picked kale and radishes last night. So this morning just had to pick lettuce, which I didn't sell any of. Last week I sold almost all of it. I left it loose, so maybe I should have bagged it up. But I sold some soap, salve, lotion bar, dryer balls, kale and a bunch of radishes.

I had several people come look at my wool yarn. And so many kids today. The first thing they do is run to the felted sheep, pick every one of them up, them slam them down on the table. Ugh, I just want to make them go away! But I want them to be able to touch them and see what wool feels like. I just don't want them to tear them up. And some had dirty sticky fingers, touching the white yarns. I guess I might need to put up a sign. But had a great morning.

I had a message last night from a lady wanting to know if I sell goat milk. She wanted some to make soap. I said sure, selling for soap making is probably legal. She wanted 2 gallons. I ran over to look in the fridge to see how much I had. I had just enough for 1 1/2 gallons. That left us with NO MILK IN THE FRIDGE! no milk! And all I wanted has been milk. All day. So just milked Freja and got enough for us tonight. I've had a few gallons in the fridge now since I started milking her. I have a few people who get milk during the week, but I still have milk for us. It was just strange to have no milk at all today. I love goat milk! But am happy to share it with others as well.

One more thing and I'll stop. Yesterday, I was gone all day. I asked my husband to go get the eggs out of the coop. He didn't. I just had a feeling the snake would be back and get some eggs. So when I finally got around to checking them, there were no eggs. None. I have never had this happen before. I'd at least get 1 or 2. But there weren't any. I asked him if he did get them and he said no. So I figured that darn snake came and ate every single egg. I had gotten 5 the day before. And today, 6 eggs. I guess the darn snake os quite full right now. I'm gonna get that darn snake, sooner or later.

All done. And another egg!

 There's another egg in the coffee can bird nest today! Isn't this the cutest thing? I sure hope they all hatch and they get to live a long happy life out here.

And we're done with shearing for the year!!! This is Cara, she was the first of the last 4. She looks so cute all sheared now.

And next was Cassidy, then Amarillo then Adele. Boy, those last 2 were pure **** to catch and get them to settle down. and they are HUGE! It was quite scary to say the least.

Here they are here, all happy again. It was Cara and Cassidy's first time to be sheared and they did great.

Don't they all look nice and neat now? They all got their feet trimmed. And they all looked great after shearing, nice and healthy. Nice pink eyelids too. So no de-worming to do. I am just SO glad they are all sheared now.

This is the only way I can get a picture of my favorite baby, Campbelle. She;s always right here. She's the sweetest baby ever.

So now to get the car all packed up for the farmers market in the morning.

Productive day.

 I was busy yesterday! It feels so good to be productive and get things done. My husband had weed whacked the whole place a few days ago so I went around and mowed again. It looks so good when all the weeds are cut and beds edged. I also went through the garden rows and push mowed. I have to leave every daisy and marigold that's popped up in between the rows. And some stray zinnias here and there as well. But it looks so good right now!

I found this yesterday on the porch rail of my studio. How cool! I left this empty coffee container on the rail a few weeks ago and forgot about it. Looked in yesterday and saw this. I hope it works for the little bird. Stupid cats will kill it though.

I made zucchini bread for the market in the morning. I'll be at Mrs. T's all day today, then the shearer will be here at 5 to shear the last 4 girls. So no time today. I'll have to get the car loaded in between all this. The studio smells so good now, and I didn't even want to take a bite of it. I am down to 211 now. So close to my goal, I can't stop now.

And I started this fleece in the washer yesterday. It took 5 hours to get it all cleaned. This is Annabelle's wool. It's still got a lot of crap in it that I'll have to pick out while carding. But it's so pretty. It's about 1/4 of her fleece. This will take forever to do 12 more sheep fleeces and 4 alpaca.

Y'all have a great weekend!

Outback Farm honey!

Here it is, the first ever Outback Farm honey! It's so pretty and so good too! I am proud of my girls and myself too. Never would have thought I'd be doing this in a million years. But here it is. And this is just 4 shallow frames of comb too. I hope I can get some more in the fall. I love it!

I will also be making lots of zucchini bread tonight.Look at all this goodness! I tell you what, if you don't go out every day and harvest squash and zucchini, you'll have 30 pounds of it to carry to the house.

The peppers are coming along nicely too. My husband got 5 nice hot peppers yesterday and I got some more today. Are Cow peppers supposed to turn red?

And there are flowers on the bean plants! So fresh green beans in a few weeks.

The weeds are growing faster than the actual veggies right now, with all the rain we've had. We really need to get in the garden and weed. A lot. And I still need to get the running beans planted in the corn soon.

Anyone else getting veggies yet?

Elderberry...

 I really love elderberries. These are some of mine that have just popped up. The big one is at the bottom of my year, by the road. I have yet to actually get any berries though. The birds get them all. So there are some really healthy birds around here! These are also all along the roads where birds have planted them.

This one is pretty tall and wide. The insect population is all over the flowers right now. On a single flower head, there could be several different types of insects. I have noticed my honey bees all over them too.

Mine have from 5-9 leaves on each stem. Some can have up to 11 leaves.

This one just popped up in one of my gardens last year.

This is the big one growing up through the barn in the South pasture.

There are so many things you can do with elderberry flowers and berries. I found a good recipe for elder flower lemonade a few years back. You just take several handfuls of the flowers and cut off as much stem as possible. Slice up about 8 organic lemons, add to a gallon of water with a few cups of sugar. Add flowers. Put some cheesecloth or paper towel over top and place in a warm spot for several days. Stir a few times a day.  After about 4 or 5 days, it should be nice and bubbly. Strain off flowers and lemons. Refrigerate. Add some lemon slices and ice and enjoy! It is SO good. I can't do this anymore because of the sugar. But a friend is making some with honey. I'm going to try some of hers tomorrow and see if it works with honey.

I also make elderberry syrup for fall, winter and spring, to keep from getting sick. I have been doing this for several years now and have not had a cold or flu or any serious illness since. I keep telling people about it. All it is is 1 cup of dried elderberries in 4 cups water. Add 2 cinnamon sticks, 10 whole cloves and about 2 T. chopped fresh ginger.  Bring to boil, then simmer til reduced a little. Let it cool, then strain. Add 2 cups raw local honey. I put this in colored glass jars that I've saved from my vitamins. It needs to be kept in the fridge. It makes about 4 cups and will last awhile.

And I have always wanted to try elderberry wine. One day I will do it. Has anyone else made it?

And if you have any recipes, I would love to see them too. I bet the dried berries would make some good muffins or pancakes.

Bubba...

he hates flies more than I do. He's in the dining room, sitting on the window seat. Then there was  a fly.

This dog is so funny. He hates being outside because of all the flying insects too. Or it's too hot. Or it's too cold. If we leave him out too long, he'll just start running around, barking. At nothing. Just so we'll hear him and let him back in to shut him up.

He's always been this way. When he was a puppy, he stayed outside. Then he got really sick. It was hot that summer. I took him to the vet in Summerville and they did all kinds of tests on him. Ended up being pneumonia. He had to stay there for about a week.He was so thin. So ever since, he's been a house dog. I think he's about 7 years old now. Maybe 8. I guess I should write things down more.

And he's so furry. Him and Stella. Our whole house is nothing but dog fur, all over everything. We sweep and vacuum every day and the amount of dog fur every day is enough to put on a hairless dog.

It's crazy. I have some electric Oster shears in the milk room I use to clip the goats. So decided Sunday, after giving them both a shower, to shave them. Bubba was first,. He jumped up on the stanchion and stood there for an hour while I shaved all his fur off. I had a huge pile. But that dog was so happy after it was all off! He loved it. I will be doing this at least every few weeks now. Stella was not as cooperative. She has different fur. Thicker. It was harder to do hers. And she would not stand up. I did get her rear end area and underneath and her neck, but not much off her back. So they are both lighter. And I have not seen any piles of dog fur all over the house!!!!