Random stuff.

I like this picture. I was walking down the driveway and noticed the forsythia, then the elderberry tree, then the pear tree in bloom behind it. So much going on right now. The honey bees are bringing in pollen like crazy! Loaded down with it. I don't see how they fly with all that pollen on them.

My husband has mowed the front yard twice already. Everything is SO green right now. But Sunday morning, it's supposed to be 32 here. What?! I have figs already on the fig bushed. Blueberry bushes are loaded with blossoms. I am going to put my canopy over the figs Sat. night. Then figure something out for the blueberries. I do not want to lose them. Crazy April!

I have finally started putting the kids in a crate at night, so I can milk in the morning.

This is Olga. Doesn't look to awfully big, but there's a lot of milk in there! I do leave some for the kids. And she is really hard to milk. Very small teats. Like a thumb and index finger small. I figured out if I squeeze up high with my thumbs, it's much easier. So this morning, it only took about 10 minutes! And her milk is SO good!

This is Freya's back end. She has the perfect udder and teats for me. My whole hand fits. She is so easy to milk. I can milk her out in just a few minutes. But her milk still has an off taste to it. The first day is ok, but after that it has a flavor that I just don't like.  So for now I am keeping their milk separate. And I'll use most of Freya's for soap, which I am making a lot of right now.

Silly baby! This is where I find the kids sometimes when I go in to play with them. They are so cute!

Monday, a friend and her 3 kids came to learn about sheep wool. They missed the shearing, so wanted to see what happens after that. I showed them all the ways to card the wool. They got to hand card and turn the handle on the drum carder. They got to see how each thing made different roving or batts. This little sheep was their favorite thing in the studio. Outside, the trampoline was a big hit!

                                   This is Cara's fleece. Oh my goodness, it is so soft! Really long locks too.

                                                       This is Campbelle's fleece. Really nice.

So I am thinking about sending all this year's fleeces to a mill. I just do not have time to process all this wool right now. And the alpacas get sheared the 15th, so I'll have 6 alpaca fleeces too. There's a mill in Tn. not too far from me. I can just drive it up there. I just want it all made into roving so I can spin it myself. It was all fairly clean too, which was surprising. I couldn't use any of Adalaide's wool. It was so matted.

And this is my very first salt scrub bar. It's peppermint. I had no idea how to make it. I just used my recipe and added a lot of salt. I hope it works. It smells good and feels salty.

So now I am off to spend time with my mom and brother. He's still here for a little while longer. Y'all have a great day!

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.