Making soap.

 I have been trying to make at least 2 batches of soap every few days now. So far I have 2 of the honey oatmeal, a blueberry oatmeal, honeysuckle, rose, orange patchouli, and another with Nag Champa, bergamot and chamomile with calendula petas. This one has sunflower oil as well as castor oil. The others have castor oil too. I like the way castor oil makes the soap more bubbly.

With these 2 soaps, I tried the way Suzanne over at http://chickensintheroad.com/house/making-perfect-hot-process-goats-milk-soap/ made hers for a whiter goat milk soap. I don't think these are very much lighter than the ones I made before, but they are considerably lighter than they would have been had I not used this method. I did use a few fragrance oils, which usually makes soap darker. I put these 2 molds in the freezer for 2 hours. (my freezer still smells so good! I hope it doesn't affect the food in there.) They have not darkened the 2 days since I cut them. So I think I have successfully made a lighter 100% goat milk soap using some fragrance oils. I will for sure use this method on the Dragon's Blood soap I'll be making soon. It always turns a dark chocolate color.

Almost forgot to say that I use totally frozen fresh raw goat milk too. That makes the soap light anyway. But making the liquid as cold as possible keeps it from burning when adding the lye to it. Especially use frozen when using anything acidic, like juice, wine or kombucha!

I have been making dandelion tea for the past month now. Last year it really helped my allergies. And it's SO good! It's also really good exercise, all that walking and bending and squatting. Just good all around!

And I just have to talk about this dog. Stella always has to have something in her mouth. Always. Lately she's helped bring in wood for the fire. She's so sweet and helpful. But she is filthy and stinky! She so needs a good bath and a shave. Bubba does too. All over the house they leave dog hairs. We sweep sometimes twice a day and still there is dog hair all over. I have a friend who is a dog groomer. I'll take them both to her in April to be shaved and bathed. But they'll come right home and roll in some kind of nastiness somewhere. Just because.

Sheep shearing. Done!

This morning at 10:30, the shearers came. I had the sheep all ready to go. They got all set up and grabbed a sheep.

It was Cara. She did so good too. Her wool is really nice.

She went back in with the other sheep. All was fine.

Then Campbelle left. When she came back in, Cara thought she looked a little different, so she started head butting her. A lot. It was kind of funny that Cara thought Campbelle looked different when she did too. But she didn't know that.

The alpacas hung out with the goats during shearing. They'd check in with them from time to time, just to make sure their girls were ok. When the guys would go in to grab another sheep, there would be a little ruckus and the boys would come running over to make sure no one got hurt. They are such good boys. They love their girls.

This was Darla. Her front hooves were really bad. We had to use Koppertox on them. Poor girl.

                                                                 Now 3 nekked sheep!

Here's Annabelle. She did so good. Just laid there and let them shear off all her wool. Good girl.

This is Adalaide. Her wool had always been really tight and crimpy. Well, it was all matted and I just threw most of it away. It wasn't usable at all. There was a little bit that could be used.  But look at her after being sheared. She's so pretty.

7 down, 1 to go. The little black sheep, Cameron. She might not look black, but she is.

Just look at this. I have got to get coats for these guys. Especially her. Her wool would be totally black with a coat.

All done and back out with the boys. They had to sniff them all to make sure they were their girls. Just in case.

                                                                             All is well!

8 nekked sheep, grazing on the green hill. Happy sheep! They might not think it at the time, but I do believe they like being sheared. And they are all in good health. Did not need to be wormed at all. All had very pink eyelids. I really think constantly moving them from place to place has kept the parasites at bay.

And here are the full bags of wool. That little white bag is Adalaide's. The rest are very full. I am happy with it. Now, to skirt it and then I'll think about sending all this to a mill to be made into roving. Because I still have a lot of last year's wool!

And it just took 5 hours this time!! Matt is getting better. Last year, it took him 8 hours to shear 6 sheep, then had to come back to do the other 6 sheep and it took about that long again. So 8 sheep in 5 hours. And while shearing Darla, he had to stop at least 20 times to change the blade out. She has SO much lanolin. So she took about 45 minutes. And only 1 little tiny nick. Little bitty tiny one. So he has greatly improved.

Kombucha, lilacs, honey and lots of fire wood.

A year ago, when I stopped using sugar, I stopped drinking kombucha. I kept all these scobys though. They never did go bad this whole time and I have never added more tea.

So a few weeks ago I decided to try it again. You can see the scoby hanging down, that's the one I started with. She grew a baby, which is on top.

Yesterday, I noticed that dark stuff at the bottom. I had not seen it until then. Just strange.

This is the new scoby. Looks fine to me. So I went ahead and strained the tea off this morning. That black stuff was just a little bit of "slime" so it's all good.

I made a 2nd ferment, using blueberries and grated ginger. I hope it turns out as good as I think it will. I'll know in a few days.

This is on one of my lilac bushes! Some flowers! I have had these bushes about 6 years now and these are the first flowers. I am very happy to see them!

Last week I went to Hixon to get 15 gallons of honey. 3 5 gallon containers. One of them went to a friend, so we didn't have to pour that. Just 10 gallons. The good part about being the person who goes to get the honey and pour it all into jars is that there is always a little extra. Like a quart and a pint. This and a gallon should last us til I get honey from my bees in June. IF they don't swarm. Which I hope I caught them in time last week. They are still here!!!!

ANd the wood fairy struck again a few days ago! Wood shed is full and the rack is full!! We are set for a few months next winter already. I really like our wood fairy.

I think I have 2 more pottery classes left. Then I called and signed up for a sewing 101 class that starts April 12th for 6 weeks. I am excited about this class. They will teach about my sewing machine and how to cut and read a pattern, which I really need help with bad. So more classes for me!

I was making soap awhile ago and a friend called. Her doe was in labor. Her first kidding. So I got to help birth a kid over the phone while making soap today. How cool! Everything turned out great and she had a beautiful little single doe kid! Just another day on the farm.