Ok, I’m back! I have spent the day with my sister in law this morning flower shopping (which is like second to fabric buying and just as addictive!). Then after we got home, I got to squish on my nephew a little before they left for home. I spent the rest of the afternoon fixing flower beds that got washed out somewhat after our huge downpour of rain yesterday. I’ve been working so very hard outside. I have uncovered a row of 5 Peony bushes burried under Vinca vine (hate that stuff). So I cleaned all of that out and made a wonderful place for an herb garden, which I have managed to stuff plum full of culinary and medicinal herbs. I have discovered that I need another bed! I just can’t get enough of them.
I have a bulb/iris/daylilly garden area as well. I’ve put in about 10 or more rose bushes. Rescued a forgotten Clemantis and trellised him up good and discovered today that it is a lovely shade of purple, my favorite color! I’ve moved rocks out of all the previous owners rock beds and transplanted massive amounts of flowers from my mom’s garden and then bought flats of Impatients and Coleus to put in between. I still have a long ways to go….but boy it sure is looking pretty out there! I’ll take some pics tomorrow…I know it’s been so long since I’ve posted anything pretty!
We have had a lot going on here on the farm. During my son’s recovery, I really didn’t get a whole lot done as he was in a lot of pain. But after the two week mark, that’s what set all the outside things in to motion. I needed that release I guess, something to do with all that pent up energy. But sadly, while he is better, we have another outbreak of sorts going on in the barn. We are sad to discover that our little Boy Blue, the newest addition to our family, is a carrier for a horrid virus type disease called Sore Mouth. It is a hideous cross between cold sores/chicken pox type of a virus that has attacked and now spread through all my goats, leaving them full of terrible sores on their mouths and us wearing gloves to keep us from getting it. Two of them have lost some weight as they are so sore they aren’t eating as they should be. Oh boy, we have quite a mess on our hands with this…but we know that this too shall pass and we know we will have to sell off several of our goats to the meat market, those we feel are either carriers, or are having other issues. It makes me very sad. But such is the livestock business….and we hope that this will never come back again after we get through this outbreak. So say a prayer that once it’s gone, it’s gone!!!!
On a happier note, we have chicks! We bought 4 banty chicks, 9 egg layers, and our sweet?? Azule hatched 16 chicks! Three did not make it, they pipped early…but the rest of them, oh they are so cute! In addition, this week I am purchasing 4 laying hens from an Amish friend to boost our daily egg production to give us more to sell. So we are flurishing in the chicken business at the moment. As soon as we are able, we are buying meat chickens to process for the freezer, but got to get a seperate pen set up for them.
My folks are moving up here officially Monday! We have helped them this past week to get some things done to the place. It will be so great having them close by. We could not be more thrilled! So this next week will be very busy as well. We have baseball games, a home school field day/planning event and a girls get together as well. This coming weekend is a fun herb festival not too far away and so I plan on going to that. I am VERY pumped about this! I am hoping to find some things I’ve not seen yet.
Ok….so this blog is supposed to be about sewing, even if there’s not much of that going on at the moment. I have been cutting out pieces for my quilt and have a table full of them! I still have lots more to cut, and then I need to trace more pieces as it is a paper-piecing type of quilt….oh don’t worry….there’s only like 60 more to do! UGA-MUGA. It is going to be so beautiful though.
We have company coming in June, and I still have things to do around here which include fun things too. When my friend is here, we are going to try to make goat’s milk soap. Oh! I made another batch of my famous Herbal Healing Salve and it’s selling well here, just like in Arkansas. I’m contemplating putting this in my online store, and the soap too….we are going to try to design a website for our farm so that we can link them and maybe get more business. We will experiment with fun scents like: Bergamot, CoCoBaby, Tuscan Herb, Almond, Milk/Oatmeal/Vanilla, Violet, White Chocolate Raspberry and more! I’ll let you know how these turn out….and if at all possible, will consider selling this here as well as the salve.
Well, I suppose I better go. I need to get this place cleaned up a little and get ready for bed. I could really use a shower!!!! We have a busy day tomorrow and I would like to be able to sit down and rest for a short while at least! I hope you all are doing well! We are really busy and accomplishing a lot around here, settling in and making a lot of new friends, spending time with family too. We are enjoying life here and trying to find a new normal. Summer is always a hectic but fun time for us. We have alot to look forward too and a lot to do before fall hits us again, and the possibility of another bad winter is always on our mind. This pushes us to accomplish a lot around here so we will be more prepared. One last thing…I am pleased to say our male Pyrenees pup is finally settling in and we think he might actually be a keeper (we hope!). We also think we may have puppies in the near future….we’ve already got two of them sold if that does happen. New life is inevitable on the farm.
BLESSINGS TO YOU! I’ll try to get some pics on here….thanks for being there and while I wish I had some new pattern to post for you, but I just flat don’t. There are just no creative sewing juices flowing, but lots of life to catch up on. I hope you all are having a wonderful spring and getting lots done too, wherever you are!
Nichole