Spring's a comin' y'all!

It was beautiful yesterday. But still too wet to get in the garden, since it rained all day Monday. I walked around the yard to see what all was popping up. The day lillies are. We've had daffodils for over a month already. I picked some to put inside. Then I noticed my Red Maple tree that I got last year. It didn't look too good toward the end of the year. But now looks like it'll be ok. We've had tons of rain.

The azaleas all looks good too. I have 3 Crepe Myrtles that are later to get leaves. I had 4 blueberry bushes, but the dogs, when they get to playing real rough, have broken one of them. So the 3 are getting little buds now. I'll have to get more because they like where I put them this time. I have tried for years all over this place, to get blueberry bushes to grow and they've all died. They are back by the fence in this picture. I need about about 5 more.

I also have 4 fig trees, 9 apple trees and 3 pear trees. I have yet to get pears from those trees. There have been a few though. Also have 6 grape vines.

But the plant I am most excited about is the elderberry. I have about 4 on this farm. And they do get big beautiful berry clusters. Then, before I know it, they're all gone. because the birds love them more than I do. But this year, I am ahead of them. I'm going to put netting over them when they start to show the flowers. I found a recipe for elderberry lemonade that is SO good that I want to make more of too.

I love this time of year, when all the new life starts popping up all over. The thing I don't like is all the things I am allergic to. For over a month now, my eyes have been so itchy and watery and horrible. And it will only get worse. I don't like this part at all.

Home made toothpaste

I know there are a lot of posts out there about this toothpaste. But I love it and want to share the recipe for those who haven't tried it yet. Even my grand kids like it.

I have this really good coconut oil from Whole Foods, some good baking soda, and some peppermint and spearmint EO. I use 3 tablespoons each of the oil and soda. Mix it up real good and then add about 20 drops of either EO or both and mix well. You can taste and see if it needs more EO. I like a lot. It works so good at keeping the teeth nice and bright and my mouth feels fresh for hours after using it. I love it. My grand daughter Kansas used some of my husbands toothpaste the other day and said it was way too sweet for her. I guess she's just used to this now. And it's SO much better than that other stuff. Which says on the label to not swallow. Well, this you could eat. I will never go back to store bought toothpaste ever again.

I hope y'all will try it. And this in the picture will go a long way.

My weekend

I got my Book of Bees today! I saw this on Taryn's blog woolymossroots, last week and went ahead and ordered it and got it today! (Look at that dirty dog foot.) I can't wait to read it. I like it already though. the very first thing I read was a little sentence that says, Beekeeping is a business that requires the greatest amount of attention to small details...The good beekeeper is generally more or less cranky. I LOVE that! I think I just might be a good beekeeper then. Because I am a bit cranky, more or less. I cannot wait to get my bees. And a friend wants a hive too but wants me to keep them and we'll go in half on all the equipment. I can do that. I just hope I can get another hive now. He's selling out pretty fast.

So I have had a busy weekend. Saturday, I cleaned out the milk room. And what a mess it was! It's been a year or so since I last cleaned it out really good. So it sure needed a good cleaning. And since I am milking again, I needed to get organized. So got that all done. Even put up a strand of colored Christmas lights for some ambiance. The girls love that!

Sunday did some outdoor work. I joined a farming group called CRAFT which stands for collaborative regional alliance for farmer training. It's based in Ashville, N.C. I went to the first meeting in Chatt. last Sunday. There were several other farmers and wanna be farmers. Some have a few rabbits, some have huge farms. So we set up farm tours for the season. And mine will be the first farm tour, along with my friends up the road. Oh my goodenss, I am so nervous already. My farm is a mess! I mean really. There is SO much to do. And I haven't even started my gardens yet. So, we went around the room and introduced ourselves and had to tell a little about ourselves and farms. I said I have dairy goats and sheep. So when it was time to decide the order of the tours, they said we should start at my farm. Ugh! And I should talk about goats and sheep. I almost said no. Because I don't know a whole lot about what I'm doing here and there are so many people who do. BUT, the more I think about it, the more I want to. Because, everyone does things different, right? I am NOT an expert by any means. I learn something every day. And I can talk about what NOT to do. And things that have gone wrong. And why. And what my plans for this farm are. So, we shall see. I did get an email from a photographer in Chattanooga who saw my FB page and wants to come out and take pictures of my animals! How cool is that? So maybe I can get her to come after the tour when the farm will look good.

Then Sunday afternoon, my friend Sarah called. She was supposed to have come out Sat. but stuff happened. Her and I went last year to buy pullets from a guy in Ringgold who I saw on CL. She bought 15 and I bought 5. Well, of my 5, i was a rooster. But of her 15, 10 were roosters. So you can imagine how crazy she's been. She only had 12 hens. These roosters have terrorized those poor hens for so long that 4 of them have just died. It was horrible. So I brought my double cage to her house last week. She caught 10 of the roosters and just kept one. Put them all in cages. And yesterday she brought them all here and we butchered them all. I could see the relief in her face when it was all over. And her remaining hens are so happy now.

This morning, I gave all the older lambs and the 2 kids their CDT shots. And wormed 2 more ewes. I could NOT get Leelah or Gracie to hold still to give them shots of the Dectomax. I did with Darla though. But I had to go get Cydectin and give it to those 2. So 7 shots and 2 wormers. Done!

Then later this morning, the phone rang. It was Betty, who stays with Mrs. T Monday til Friday morning when I go for the day. Her blood pressure was sky high and she was shaking. She was going to the hospital and could I come stay with Mrs. T? Of course. And it's raining. So I called another lady who had stayed with Mrs. T before to see if she could stay this week. While I was talking to her, I looked out the front window and all the sheep were in the front yard. I would love for them to be in the front yard, but I have azaleas, blueberry bushes, little trees and flowers coming up. And really nice lush sweet green grass growing. So had to run outside and get them all back in. Stayed with Mrs. T til Jan got there, ran to the store for a few things, went to look at an apartment for my daughter, got home and could hear baby lambs crying and mammas calling them. Ran to the house and got boots on. Ran out there to see what was going on.

Those silly sheep. They can tear down a fence to get where they want to be, but let a little gate swing across the path, not even attached to anything, and they can't figure out how to get through. So there are all those sheep, minus a few lambs, out in the pouring rain, crying for their lambs. I got them all together again. had to take Bridget and Bonnie's wet shirts off and dry them in the dryer. Poor babies. So it's hard to eb gone all day.

Now to read about bees.