New soap and pottery...

 Been busy making soap and pottery.

Today I made a plantain-lavender-oatmeal goat milk soap. With lavender buds on top. I hope it's a good one.

Tuesday I made a rosemary-mint with fresh rosemary and mint from my garden. It smells amazing! And I've had people asking for eucalyptus soap, so I made a lemon-eucalyptus soap. It smells really nice.

Got the handles on the mugs and little pitcher. They are ready to go get fired. I'll take them next week.

These are some things I picked up yesterday from the studio.

I really love these bowls. I made 4 bowls and 4 mugs, all glazed in 2 blue glazes. When I got the yesterday, I was told to not do this again. Because the top glaze ran down and they all were stuck to the shelf in the kiln. Not a good thing. But I think they turned out so pretty.

If I can get them sanded down enough, I might be able to sell them. I shall see.. If not, we will use them.

This is my first vase. I finally got to use a glaze I love but that's non food safe. It's so pretty. I glazed a few yarn bowls with this too.

And my first ever yarn bowl. All glazed and ready to use. I have 4 more ready to fire too. It was fun making these. I hope to make many more.

I'm trying to stay inside as much as possible. In the 90's. And I need to get ready for the 2 farmers markets tomorrow. I got in the Erlanger hospital market! It's from 11-2 inside the hospital. I can only use a small 5' table and will have to condense all my stuff. Gonna be fun! Then the St. Elmo market from 4-7. And it will be in the mid 90's tomorrow too.

Listening to cool cello music makes all this look so pretty!

Birds and garden...

 The babies are back! This is where they roost at night now. Under the open garage door. We can't shut it now. Because the babies are more important, ya know?

Here's Sally, with the biggest mouth full of big ole bugs! Looking for her babes.

Just had to show my breakfast a few days ago. On a plate I made. With eggs from my hens. And the best cheese ever, from Sequatchie Cove Creamery. I LOVE their cheeses.

I just glazed 6 bowls in these same 2 glazes, nutmeg and oatmeal. They will probably not look like the plates though, as it's a different clay. We don't know what kind of clay this is. David had a note on the plates when I went to pick them up last week. It said "not our clay" . Well, I don't know who's clay it is but I bought it there. We never could figure out what kind of clay it was. But I liked the way the glazes looked on it.

And my flower-herb garden is growing like crazy! I just love all the insect activity out there. Except for those darn Japanese beetles. They are everywhere. I have been going out a few times a day with a little bucket of gas and knocking them off into the gas. I have a lot of weeds though, so they are mainly eating those right now. But they will not get it all!

This is Cosmo the cat, in front of cosmos the flowers. She is my garden companion. She follows me all around the garden while I water.

I am loving all the bees and butterflies all over these flowers right now! Always busy out there. Little legs full of pollen. I am so glad I planted all this for them. If it weren't for all the bees and other bugs, I would not water out here. But I do, for them. A few times a day. It takes a few hours too. Our water bill is pretty big. But it's all worth it.

Before and after...

 the alpacas finally got sheared today!!!!! I am SO relieved and I know they are too. It's been so hot here. And I've been afraid to get them wet, thinking the other guy would be here any day and they'd be wet and couldn't be sheared. So now, they can get soaking wet if they want to. And they sure did, right after they were done.

And look at these poor little skinny guys! They are so happy to have all that 6" of fiber off of them! They were not happy at all while it was happening though. Poor guys. But it was ALL worth it.

They got their   feet trimmed. CDT shots. Eyes checked. By the way, they were both bright pink!! So no sings of parasites!

But man, are they little now!

And Sugar is wet. He lays down like this when I spray them down.

And the sheep kept looking at them and sniffing them. It was quite funny! But they are all back together again and doing great. SO glad this is over. And I met a lady who lives in the area who shears alpacas who said she will do mine next year! So, this will not happen again.

Market booth

 This was my booth last Saturday at the Catoosa Market. I borrowed all these wooden crates from Susan at the feed store. She's so sweet. I just think pottery looks good in wooden crates.

I also brought my hand spun yarns and dryer balls. I sold a skein of yarn! And a lot of dryer balls.

And sold a lot of soap too. It was fun. But really hot. And a long day.

I'm an empty nester. Again.

My baby barn swallows grew up too fast. They were just hatched a few weeks ago. Harry and Sally are just really good parents. 

This was a few days ago. There were 5 of the babies. But 1 fell out. There was not a whole lot of room in that little nest. And they got big fast!

This was yesterday morning. They were getting ready to fly. I put the cats in the cat room, so they couldn't get any of the babies while they were trying to fly.

Just look how big these guys are! They are all so sweet. I talk to them all the time, so they were never afraid of me.

This was yesterday, after I got done milking the goats. The first baby flew out to the wire. I had to be gone all day, so was going to miss all the fun.

When I got back home, I went to check on them. This is what I saw. The only one who flew out, flew back in to his siblings. Couldn't get back in the bed though. It was too full!

And this was later this morning. I went back out after milking, and saw 6 birds on the wire. Then they all took off flying around. It was so pretty to see.

But then a little while later, I went in to get the milk out of the freezer. I looked up and saw one of the parent birds on the wire in front of the nest. Then it flew over to that board to the right. I didn't even see the little baby over there. Can you see it?

It was just sitting up there, being really quiet. The next time I went in, it was gone.

So I am now an empty nester. I will miss those birds a lot. It was so fun to have them there, for such a short time though. I worried about them too much though. And I am so sad that one of the babies didn't ever get to fly.

But there will be more again. And they will come back next spring.

Around the yard...

 this is my new mint and rosemary garden. Because I needed more things to water right now. And I want ALL the mint and rosemary!

                         My old Bubba, in the window, guarding the house for us. He's a good ole boy.

                                                      Some of the day lilies, all blooming all over.

I tell ya what, there's nothing like going out in the mornings now and picking a hand full of juicy ripe blueberries out of the front yard!

Another little flower garden. The honey bees are using this bird bath for water. I'm trying to keep it clean and full for them all. I also finally got some humming birds again! They were late this year.

And an elderberry popped up in this little garden.

My little tire garden, planted with bee balm and red pineapple sage. A few of the Russian sage I planted last year came up.

And I forgot I had put this little pot of Hens and Chicks outside. So I got it all cleaned up and re-potted.

The rock garden kind of got a little out of hand. It needs weeded. I've been watering it a lot.

The front of the house and yard. I love these big trees for shade, but they sure are scary in a storm!

I have planted a lot of sunflowers for the honey bees. They are loaded down with all the pretty yellow pollen.

And the elderberries are blooming too, so the bees and lots of other insects, are taking advantage of them.

The bees are very busy right now. I am thankful for all the plants and trees and flowers that provide food for them and their brood. I hope these hives grow and grow!

This morning, when I went out to water and fill up water troughs and buckets for the critters, there was a snake in the big trough. I was wondering when I would see some. It's so dry here, I figured they would be around. Scared me to pieces! I do like like snakes and don't want them here at all.

I am getting ready for a big show in Ft. Oglethorpe tomorrow. Making more dryer balls. I'll get the car and truck loaded after the sun goes behind the garage. It's HOT out there.

Have a great weekend! And happy father's day to all you men out there!

Bees and birds

Last Thursday, I decided if I wanted honey, I better do it then. Because that was the last day of semi decent temps here. It's been in the high 90's since. And dry.

So went in and got the only shallow honey super. The bees were good that day.

This is all I got. And probably will be all I get all year. Since this is the hive that swarmed, I won't get any more. Or any from the other 2 hives.

Friday, when I came home from the market, I noticed the 1st swarm hive had bees bearding on the front of the hive. I thought, poor hot bees, I will try to help you. Ha! Do not ever mess with a hive of hot bees!!!

I went over as soon as I got out of the car and opened the top so I could put a stick under the lid for ventilation. BAD IDEA Kris! As soon as I opened the top, a very mad bee came at me and stung me right on my right index finger. Dang, it hurt! Got the huge stinger out and ran to get plantain salve. It was so swollen in just a few minutes. And I had goats to milk. Ugh, it really hurt.

So I learn as I go around here. Can't do anything nice for hot bees.

And these baby barn swallows! Goodness, they are growing like little weeds. There are 4, maybe 5. And they are already sitting on the edge of the nest. I keep telling them to get back in or you'll fall out. And there will be a cat right there as soon as it does. But so far, they are all still there. They are SO cute! And Harry and Sally are such good parents. All day long, they are in and out, feeding those hungry babies. They'll be gone soon.

So, I am watering my gardens every day. Even fruit trees and bushes. My beans that I planted back May 22nd are still just a few inches tall.  It's bad. And to top it off, we have Japanese beetles. All over everything. But I am so glad I leave weeds in with the actual plants, because they are all over them first. And the wild grape leaves. So when they are all gone, they will be on the food. And I see lots of grass hoppers too.

But I am getting squash and zucchini! And selling it at the markets! And the tomatoes are looking good. Maybe some ripe ones soon.