Something keeps following Shadow!

Silly Shadow gets very upset about this thing that keeps following her.  Sometimes she chases is- round and round the house, in circles,

Then she catches is, and pulls on it, bites it, and shows it who's boss.  As adorable as this is, and as smart a little puppy as she is, she still hasn't figured out that her tail will continue to be attached there, and will continue to follow her!

But it's cute, so I thought I would share!

A new home

This is Bailey, working on a new home for her buttercups.

They had lived with the bantams, in what we were referring to as a show pen, for a few years(at least the oldest hen and the roo.)  But she is wanting to give them more room, and Wyatt got a Silkie roo for his favorite little Silkie hen, Trooper.  This pen, after having been a temporary pen for meat chickens, needed to be relegated to poultry only, no goats.

So we moved the roof from another pen to this one, and she raked and raked to make sure she had all that she could of any remnants from the meat birds, and the night before last, all six buttercup hens and their sweet silly roo, Gallus, moved in.  They must like it, because even after the move, they gave four eggs yesterday!  Bailey might fire up an incubator over Thanksgiving, so she can have babies over the holidays when she can be around to see to them, but she has more than enough on her plate to do that now!  Next up- that barn in the back is having a really rough time this monsoon season, so she and I are planning to tackle that today.  Guess I had best get going!

Weekend Rainfall

Funny, it has been all over the news and facebook about all of the rain the last couple days.  This was our rain gauge Sunday morning, before the big storm hit.

We got a few sprinkles, but nothing measurable, over Sunday and Monday.  So here's to that .3 inches of rain, and I will go use some of what it left in our rain barrels now to keep the greenhouse going.  I wonder what the final tally will be?

Prickly Pear, Part 2

I bet you guessed this one just by the name of the post!

Prickly Pear Soap!

This is a portion of a batch, setting up on the dining room table the other night!  I can't wait to try it!  We are running low on CocoMange and Lavender, so those batches are next on my list, maybe will make them tonight.  Which scents are you excited to try?  Or do you have a special request?

Side by side and top to bottom

I was talking with my Mom today.  She had seen the photo on top in the blog post this morning.  She mentioned that she thought the pullet looked just like the cockerel we had been talking about in the guess the contest guessing the color and whether the chick would be a pullet or cockerel.

So, I promised to put the photos up in their own post, side by side (so really top to bottom.)  Anyway, here they are!

Watching the silver grow.

This is another baby that was hatched this year.  Glad to see a girl in the midst (though she is not the only one)

I am looking forward to watching her grow, and seeing what color eggs she will lay!  She doesn't have a name yet, though.  That will come in time.But she has grown so much recently, I had to share!

New baby!

Our Ameraucauna hatched out a beautiful new baby!

Yes, we have more than one, but this is the only hen we have of this color pattern.

Not sure if this one will be white, a lighter wheaten, or like its mama!  The mama was only hatched this past summer, so we are glad to see her making such a fine mama, doting on her little one and teaching it to forage and use the baby waterers!

Apparently of the two Phoenix in the garden shed, one of them has hatched babies, but only Wyatt has seen them.  She is fast!

Prickly Pear Part One

Tonight, I harvested the first little bit- less than a full plant from next to the front porch.  This is the full stockpot I used.

So I peeled it with a fork and a sharp knife, then cooked it down to release the juice.  I ran it through the blender to release a little more, and then strained it.  Wish I had just the right sieve, so I could separate the seeds from the pulp, though!

This shot shows the juice accumulating in the bottom of the glass measuring cup.  This was half way through the batch.  I am getting pretty tired now, so it looks like making the first round of Prickly Pear Goat Milk Soap will have to hold until morning!

  

Now, to stay fully awake long enough to strain the last of this batch!  Have a great night!

Anybody care to guess why blogger will only upload this photo sideways?  Oh, well, life is funny sometimes. Anyhow, yesterday I helped Wyatt weight his meat chickens for his science fair project.  The kids and the meat chickens have been an enlightening experience for me.

You see, when you buy chickens at the market to eat, whether organic or not, they are almost always the fast white broiler type of chicken.  Bailey raised them one year for 4H.  They were pretty yucky, if you ask me, all poop and no personality.  These things grow so fast, they begin to break down in their 12th week of life, if not before.  Because they grow so rapidly, they are prone to all kinds of problems in their legs and stomachs.  They don't move around much, just sit there close to the feed and eat, drink, sleep and poop all day.  These birds cannot lay eggs or naturally reproduce, they are genetically engineered at a hatchery.  After that, she did some research, and they have been developing a few breeds, a black and a red one, which are similar, but grow a little slower and can live up to two years.  So the next year she tried those.  Some folks were really upset about the color, even though she had gotten the project pre-approved.

So Wyatt had attended some poultry workshops as an up and coming flock owner.  He mostly does chickens for eggs, which go to the farmers' market.  Many folks recognize us right away for the Patriot's Dream Farm label when they see us around doing other things.  He believes in them running around free range, spoiling them rotten!

So this year, his science fair project and 4H project was raising a group of three types side by side- red broilers, fast white broilers, and Delawares, a white feathered traditional heritage dual purpose breed. (In other words, an naturally reproducing heritage breed developed long ago for good meat and good laying in one breed.  So the fast white ones looked pretty good at fair, even won Wyatt Grand Champion meat pen.  The red ones just weren't big enough.  They really needed a couple more weeks.  The Delawares went along as a demonstration project, with a sign explaining what he was doing, so he could work with the judge on the project.  The judge met with Wyatt for as long as Wyatt wanted, and they talked about how his heritage breed birds and the red broilers could be made competitive with the other birds for placing in a meat pen class.  Really, it sounds as though it is all a matter of time and timing.

So here we are, still tracking the weights of the Delawares.  We weigh them almost weekly, watching for them to plateau in weight gain or grow to be as large as the fast white broilers were.  They are still growing.  The one roo in the bunch is almost there, so it has been a great learning experience so far.  We will keep you posted!

Shadow goes to the vet!

Shadow went to see the vet this morning, her first visit, just to get established and get on heart worm preventative.  She enjoyed the ride in with her Wyatt...

Here I wasn't looking, just trying to sneak in a couple pics at the stop light!

Not sure what's up with blogger, this picture didn't need to turn!  Anyhow, the vet bribed her with treats, and she had fun with the very tall tech who had helped when Hopper had been there.  She willing went with him to get her blood draw for the heartworm test!

They decided she will be a good sized dog, and that she is healthy to start with.  She already put on a good amount of weight in her three weeks with us- she is up to 30.2 pounds!

Well, she came home and gave her brother kisses, tried to get him to play with her frisbee, too.  But Vegas would have nothing of it, but wagged his tail at her.  All in all a nice adventure for the Wyatt and Shadow Paws!

A silly black hen, and new photos of the young roo

This is a silly little black hen we call Carmina Piranha. She was named mama when a family gave her to the kids, as they were leaving town and couldn't take their chickens.  She was named Carmina Barana by the kids initially, but she really likes to sit on eggs, and can be tough to get the eggs from, so was nicknamed Carmina Piranha, haha!

This, on the other hand, is the young roo we have been following with the contest.  He is starting to get his color!  I didn't get quite close enough to count the points on his comb.  I will have to try to zoom in on the photo.  Well, you are still welcome to make guesses as to his final color, we will be awarding winners for that over Labor Day!

I think he is going to be pretty, but I am still guessing myself about the colors, as he is starting similar to a couple of the color patterns we have here.  I will be excited to see him mature!

How to be a big dog...

The puppy really wants to be a good big dog, but she has a lot of training to go.  We only let her out with the animals under strict supervision, she is only five months old and hasn't learned self control.

But the other night we were out working, and the chickens were heading to nest for the night, so she ran off on Vegas' heels to be a big protector dog.  They were a good distance across the property from me, so the photos aren't much to speak of, but they were such fun to watch!  

Vegas would bark and alert, and Shadow would watch and do just as he did.  They aren't completely on the same page yet, but she wants so bad to be like big Vegas and do what he does, that I have to have hope for the future of her training.

So, I thought I would share these little photos of the mentor and the student so you could see the little apprentice farm doggie and the old master in action!  Hope you have a great day!

This Week at the Farmers' Market

This week, the weather was all blustery and the dark clouds were overhead of the MHC building when we arrived for the farmers' market, so we set up inside.  Some folks, despite the signs, didn't come in to look for us because they couldn't see us in our usual spot.  Sorry we missed them!

So here is my little inside setup, right in front of one of the kiosks that no one uses at that hour.  It was fun to see the folks who usually don't get a chance to run outside and visit with us.

I took lotion bars along with me this week.  I had been worried about taking them in the heat, but it was a bit cooler this week from the rain, so I took them along.

They were a hit!  With only two scents this week- lavender and vanilla- I left the others at home for this maiden try- I was excited to see the response and the excitement.  Still a fun afternoon with all the great folks.  When we packed up to go home, the skies had turned blue with not a cloud in sight!  Funny how the weather is this time of year!

Watching the world go by

Last night Vegas was sitting on the porch watching the storm and lightning roll in.  Always has been one of his favorite things.  Wish  you could have seen the lightning, too!

Shadow love bones and toys that squeak.  Tried to get a little video for the family to get to enjoy the little goofball, too!

Had trouble getting these to upload, so I hope they work for you!

MY Sunday Nightcap!

While Charlie and the kids were playing high tech redneck, I took on a project on my list...

Agave Nectar Goat Milk Soap!

Some goat milk, some of my fave oils, and mixin' it all up to make something new!  Great for nourishing, but also great for those folks that love all things Arizona.  I am sure it won't be cured for the market this coming week, but likely the week after!  Watch for it, or ask for it by request!

Sunday night fun time!

One of many things we always plan to do, but rarely manage to get around to doing, we had Camille and Jon and Bunky (Charlie's Mom and Dad and Grandma) over for dinner last night.

I stuffed mushrooms, and we marinated chicken and the trout from the last trip, Charlie smoked them all on the grill, along with a nice salad.  We topped it off with french silk pie and ice cream!  Jon has surgery this morning, so we figured we would do it up right before he had to fast for surgery, and in case he has to stay in the hospital because he dislikes the salt free diet!

Bringing the night to a close, the recent rains afforded us the wet climate to set off a few fire works in the open area on the East side of the property.

The camera makes these look much larger than they really were, but the were pretty and fun!

If you look closely at the bottom of this photo, about a third of the way in from the right, Shadow was barking!  She did not like those fireworks, but stayed close to us just as she was supposed to.  Vegas laid by Jon and watched the pretty lights.

When everyone said goodnight, Charlie and the kids pulled out the big couch and played high-tech redneck- Wyatt playing music and reading on his kindle, Bailey working on her math class on her new laptop, and Charlie watching TV with them.  What I did?  well that seems the matter for another post, coming in a minute.

It was a great evening as a family, we definitely need to do that more often!

Just hanging out...

He was supposed to be working on a paper...  I asked where he had gone?

But they were easy to find.  They had been doing some training time, and were sitting on the trailer out front, just enjoying one another's company.

Just a boy and his dog.  Too cute not to grab the camera, too cute not to share.  But not so cute to get out of that paper!

Monsoon Sunday

This photo is actually a couple days old, another .2 inches in the rain gauge for this monsoon. (Yay!)  Yesterday showed no measurable rain in the gauge this morning, but did top off the barrels in back where I had use some water for the greenhouse last night.

This morning I taught Pilates on the Northwest side.  Great group, the regulars for this class love the detail and understand their limitations so I can teach lots of different things.  I stayed to do some cardio, then picked up a few things for tonight's dinner and headed home.

This was the sky as the storm was moving in along Ajo, west of the hill, before Kinney road. 

There was a random thing causing people to sit still, first when the first responders were coming by, then while people were unloading a car at the center median, so I got some photos of the wild storm moving in.

Nature sure has a majestic beauty, even when angry!  The last photo was at home, outside our gate, right before I got out to pull in to the yard.  It was a light rain, really, and not much lightning in the end.  Maybe we will be lucky and get more tonight!

Sleepytime

I took the puppy out late last night, after the rain, before bed.  Silly Jalympics had moved to the front porch again, sleeping on the railing under the window like last Summer.

The puppy wagged her tail at her, but listened to me, and did her thing so we could head in for bed.  Jalympics looked at us, talked a bit, then tucked her head back under her wing as we went inside.

Sweet Vegas sleeps by the TV on the big dog bed most nights, in between trips to Bailey's room to check on his girl.  He completely ignored us.  He looks so sweet!  Okay, he is so sweet, the old goofball.

So Shadow and I went in for the night.  Wonder what the rain gauge will read for morning.

Grab Bag Specials!

When you work with molds, sometimes the last bar out of the batch doesn't look quite the same.  Sometimes I use these bars as samples or as the ones we use here before we sell any of the bars from the batch.  Regardless, I have a few bars of varied scents and recipes which aren't as pretty as usual or are simply the end of the batch and I don't want to carry them to the farmers' market anymore.

Some have goat milk, others shea butter, but are a mix, so I put them into grab bags, of three bars each, and these are available for five dollars while supplies last ( I put a variety of scents together, so also a fun way to try new things).  This is half off of our current summer special of three bars for ten dollars.  These grab bags are limited in quantity, and available first to our facebook and blog followers, so reserve yours today!

Puppy Power- Never Turn Your Back!

Training a new puppy can be a challenge.  Callie Jo was two months old when she came home, and she was definitely a challenge!  I would like to think my skills in training a puppy have improved with the subsequent dogs.  This time, I am trying to help Wyatt do the training, since Shadow Paws is his puppy.

He was sitting on the couch reading, not four feet from Shadow when she did this.  I was packaging soap.  She untied the ties holding her dog bed together, and proceeded to bite out large chinks of the high density memory foam I made them out of, then climbed inside to do more damage.  She was having so much fun, she was rolling end over end in the bed like a rolling glob of fabric when I walked into the living room to check on them.

Of course, I took a picture.  Then Wyatt got to clean up the mess, retie the bed and teach Shadow what was appropriate to chew on. Again.  The photo below is the two of them being silly after cleaning up the mess.  He was telling her if she couldn't take care of her bed, then he would be her dog bed, since he feels he is indestructible! 

Just another day at our house!