Louise the big brown cow.

Louise in the stall. She takes up the whole 10x10 area. She's HUGE!

I put her over here on this side so she could start eating all the tall grass. Then I'll bring the sheep and alpacas over in a few days.

I was putting the chickens up for the night a little early, because I was getting ready to plant my kale, collards and radish seeds. I had tilled this morning. I wanted to get the chickens put up so they wouldn't go in the garden and start scratching up what I'd just done. BUT, Black Bart and 2 of the hens would NOT go inside the coop. Louise was still laying in that same spot and I guess Black Bart was just a little scared of the big ole furry monster. I don't think he'd been this close to her. And right next to his coop now! So he and the other 2 hens took off in the opposite direction. So I had 1 hen in the garden while I planted. I could tell they'd already been in where I'd tilled. I had to go get Louise up and away from the coop so I could get those bad chickens in. I did finally get them in. Where they will stay for a few weeks, til the seeds sprout and start growing.

It was HOT out there! I was thinking how the end of August heat is so different than the end of April heat. Like April is new and we welcome a little heat. But by the time the end of August rolls around, we are ready for some coolness again. I am anyway. A nice cold shower helps a lot!

We have to go to my mom's in the morning. She's getting a dog from McCamey Animal Shelter and they want her to get her yard completely fenced in. Because this dog is very strong and she kind of pulled mom while she had her on the leash. So they were concerned about mom. So we will be putting up 3 sections of fence in the morning, then going to meet Abby's foster family. Everyone at the shelter is so happy for Abby. She's been there the longest of any of the dogs. She will be a good dog for my mom.

Hope y'all have a great weekend.

So that was fun!

 I had to spend the day with Mrs, T. today. So I brought all my wool I had just washed, along with my carder, so I could work on that while I was there. It took me all day to hand pick and get just that one pink tote ready to card. I got 4 batts done later. I'll start making wool dryer balls with this wool.

I found a lady to come tomorrow to meet Mrs. T and check things out there. She'll stay all day and then get to meet Mary, who will be there at 5, so she can tell her about night time stuff. So hopefully she can fill in or take a few days a week.  Had a call from Betty, who was really shaky and her daughter was coming to take her to the ER, Which she has not been to yet. Really frustrated with her. So she can't come to work tomorrow. Which I want her to be well before she comes back. Or get on some kind of wellness plan and take a few weeks to get it all worked out. She may not be able to come back at all. So this lady will be a fill in for her. Emily still has this awful migraine going on too. So enough of that already. Between me and Mary, we'll get through the week. And I love Mrs. T and love hanging out with her.

So got home and got all my ingredients together to make this charcoal facial soap. I was so excited to make it because I have never swirled before. Like had 2 different colors and all. I have watched a lot of videos and kind of had the procedure down. SO I was ready for it.

Got my lye and water mixed up and in the sink. Got all my oils measured and in the pot on the stove. Measured my EO's. I used rosemary and peppermint. Got the charcoal measured up. Then re read the instructions real good again, just for good measure. Got the lye and oils to 100. Got them stirred up together. Added the EO's. Then stick blended a bit. Got the soap separated into 2 containers. Added charcoal to one and French clay to the other.

Then the fun part: layering the 2 soaps! I wish I had just left it like this now. But there will be more later on.

It ended up like this. Too much black. I should have had the lighter color on top.

  '
And this is what it ended up looking like. Now I have to wait til when I get home tomorrow evening to check on it and unmold it and cut it up. I can hardly wait to see what the swirls look like. You know I will take pictures and show it off. It was really fun. And not at all as hard as I was thinking. Or complicated. Thank you, Youtube video soap people! I am so much a visual person so it helps to actually SEE something being done first.

And had to get my little soap drying rack over to the studio to put all these new soaps on to dry. The top is the pumpkin spice, then patchouli, then the chamomile, then the peppermint and then on the bottom is the coffee-oatmeal.

The re milled soap I made is still soft. So IF it ever gets hard enough to take out of the mold, it could take months to get hard enough to use.

More soaps being made

  This morning, I went over to the studio. I got 2 more soaps made. A coffee-oatmeal for taking odors off hands. Good for the kitchen. And a peppermint. I love this recipe. It only takes a few hours to harden and can be taken out of the mold and cut. I used an ounce of peppermint EO and dried crushed mint leaves. It's really pretty. The other soap recipe has to stay in the mold 2 days.

  I also got all the ingredients to make an activated charcoal-clay facial soap. I am so excited to try this soap. I get to do swirls! I've been watching videos on how to do this. So hopefully either Wed. when I get back from Mrs. T's or Thursday, I can make it.

  I am also hand picking all the wool I got washed the other day to get it ready for carding. I'll make wool dryer balls with it. I need to start getting some needle felting started too. So much to do and not so much time to do it all!