Thursday, August 18, 2011

No Poo Update

So I posted awhile back about going no-poo.  Meaning no shampoo.  Well, I finally did it and I love it.  Just baking soda and vinegar now.  My hair isn't getting oily like they said it would.  I think because I was just rinsing my hair out most days and then just shampooing it on Saturday nights before church.  The vinegar makes my hair oh so soft too.  So, if you missed it last time, here is the no-poo recipe.

Poo-Free Recipe

I have been doing like she suggested and put about a Tbls of baking soda in my hand and make a paste with warm water and then put it on.  Works great.  And then I do the rinse with the apple cider vinegar once or twice a week.  Feels so good and is super easy.  They say it can take 3 months to get all the oil out of your follicles, but I haven't really had to go through that so far.  Love it!!

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Poppy Purry

Our new addition to the family.  James took these pictures.  They came out really well.  She is about 10-12 weeks old.  She is such a sweetie. 

Thursday, May 26, 2011

The Chickie Nursery

 Hen and chicks.  So cute.  She is the hen that gets along with both Abbey, who is the blue hen in the second pic and the other hen.  She shared chicks with the other hen.  I found this am the 7th chick, the one who we put in the incubator yesterday to warm up was gone this am and when I checked on them early and made their pen bigger the dark hen, a.k.a. by my son as the bad hen, pecked one of Abbey's chicks.  As soon as I saw her do that I made a quick decision and picked her up and we will sell her as a laying hen.  We don't need any mean hen's especially when these two do such a nice job raising babies together, hopefully we can do it again this Fall or next Spring with these two.
Here is Abbey's butt, sorry, they were too busy scratching and 3 of the 6 chicks.  3 of them are on the other side of the fence, they can get through there for now, which probably saved Abbey's chicks when the other hen was attacking, but they always come back through to be with their mamas.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

We Planted the Garden!!!! Yay!!!!

 Trellis where the butternut squash will grow up.  I need to plant some flowers and have the borage in there which is a companion to squash, but you can't see it behind the cement block.
 My tomatoes, basil and tam jalapeno's at the end.  I'm going to do the Florida Weave this year with my tomatoes.  I learned how to do it with the Master Gardener's out at the A&T University farm last week.  So cool and will be super easy.  I wanted to do it a couple years ago and ran out of time.  So excited!!!
 My herb bed, still adding things.  I have borage, parsley, thyme, oregano, and a marigold.  I still need to put chives, marjoram and I'm sure I will find more to add.
 My lettuce is looking good.  I stole one already, need to get more started.  The seeds I planted didn't take.
 My cold crop bed.  Slow going, at the end the trellis will be for some extra rattlesnake beans that I planted there.
 Melons that haven't started to germinate up front, need to plant the flowers, some are there in the container and then further on is the bean tunnel.  I did this a couple years ago and it worked fabulous.  I will probably need James to climb in there for me to harvest green bean.  With all this rain I'm sure all the seeds I planted are going to germinate without my watering them.  It rained all night and has rained at least once a day since Saturday, so freaking awesome!!
One of two snap peas.  Sad I know, but oh well, I think the birds nabbed the seeds I planted.  This one is starting to bloom.  Yay!!!  Can't wait to put them in a salad or stir fry if there are enough.  LOL!!!

Friday, May 13, 2011

Happenings......

Well, we finally found a home for the goats to make room for the new turkeys coming next month.  Yay!!  The doe wasn't producing enough and with the baby coming, I want animals that are easier to wrastle and care for.  We do have baby chickies coming soon.  We have 3 girls on 3 nests hunkering down on about 4-5 eggs each.  We had to divide them so each hen was happy.  LOL!!!  So funny.  We will make a makeshift nursery once they start hatching so mamas and babies can have a safe haven, but still be near the flock and we won't have to worry about baby chicks getting stuck outside because they are too little to get themselves back in the coop on their own. 
The garden is coming along, all the cold weather crops are look great and I'm going to try to plant the warm season crops tomorrow.  Late start I know, but being pregnant has been a little tougher with the extra weight I'm carrying.  Doing what I can this year, although small and behind what I want it to be, we should have a very productive garden.  I'm excited!!  I am also going to leave an area for James to plant.  I think he'll be so excited to have an area just for him to plant and water and do whatever he wants. 
It's been raining so much here and I hope it keeps up throughout the season unlike last year where there was a drought at the end of the season and so dry.  The humidity has started and I LOVE it.  So much better than dry heat, which is just icky.   Bring on the sticky weather, it feels so good. 

Monday, March 21, 2011

We Have Sprouts!!

The seeds I planted on Friday are starting to sprout.  So far I see kale, collards, and radishes starting to sprout.  too small to take pics, but soon I hope.
I just started planting my transplant seeds in winter sowing containers.  Hopefully we'll see some action on them soon too.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Planting Greens, Peas, and Some Perennial Herbs

 My cold crops.  I know its late, but after being so nauseous and exhausted for so many weeks, I'm finally able to get something done AND the weather was so nice.  It did take me years of not knowing that you need to water your seeds in daily if not twice a days so they sprout.  I always wondered why my lettuce wouldn't sprout.   LOL!!  It happens and it takes years of practice.  So, lots of water until they sprout and then taper off once they do sprout.  I'm hoping they sprout before the next rainstorms so my seeds don't get washed away in case its a downpour.
 My lettuce I didn't think was still alive from my experiment from last fall trying out some compost.  Some look sad, but I think they will perk up and we'll have some nice salad greens soon.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Turkeys!!!

I just put my order in for Narrangasett turkey poults.  Yay!!  We ordered them from Sand Hill Preservation Center.  We will keep a breeding flock and then butcher some and sell the rest, either for breeding stock or for butchering.  We won't get them until July 12th, but we will put Abbey chicken in that pen where the goats were and let her hatch some eggs once she starts setting until the turkeys arrive.  She will be a good little Cochin mommy to Ameraucana chicks.  She is so fluffy and blue right now with her new plumage.  Pretty girl. 

We are so excited!!!

Monday, February 28, 2011

2011 Garden

 So, here it is, our 2011 garden space.  Yes, you will notice it was the foundation of a house and we are using cement blocks from said house.  : )  The picture above is where we will put our strawberries (back plot) and perrenial herbs (front plot). 
 This is an overview of the garden.  4 main garden plots, a small square plot in the back right corner and the strawberry and herb plot directly in front of me.
 The garlic up close.  I can't wait.  Yum!  They are definitely looking better after a little rain.
 Close-up of garlic.
 Close-up of main beds and garlic.
 Love that new dirt color.  The house in the background is where we live and then if you look at the step up from the garden, that slab of cement will be where the greenhouse will go.  Our landlord is building it. : )
Another view of the strawberry and herb plot.  We are so excited, as is Wayne, our landlord, he built most of the garden and is putting in the fence around it, I think the fencing will be complete once we get all the dirt in.  We need to keep the neighborhood kitties from going potty in what they think are litter boxes. : )

Monday, February 14, 2011

Meal Planning

I thought, well we grow food, now its time to plan out a meal plan each month.  This might make life really easy and I was reading the Keeper of the Home Blog and came upon the Plan To Eat meal planner.  I was thinking wow, this might make life a little more easy.  It saves your recipes and tells you what you need to buy to make these recipes and seems like a cool life saver.  Then I saw that there was a giveaway.  Shoot, I would love to win a year subscription. 

The giveaway is here.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Seed Ordering Time!!!

Ok, it might be getting a tad bit late, but that is how life is going lately.  I'm ordering from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, since now I live in the South and of course, there are collard greens on my list.  LOL!

Here it is:
Catskill Brussel Sprouts
Early Flat Dutch Cabbage
Erlene's Green and Mississippi Brown Cotton - I gotta try it, lol.
Rosita Eggplant
Arugula
Green Glaze Collards
Vates Kale
Tatsoi
Texas Early Grano Onions
Cascadia Snap Peas
Dark Green Zucchini
Baby Butternut and Waltham Butternut Squash
Small Sugar Pumpkins
Tomatoes:
Homestead
Arkansas Traveler
Big Rainbow
Sugar Cherry
Amish Paste
Roma VF, Virginia Select
Long Keeper

Wild Bergamot
Borage
Echinacea
Lemon Balm
Globe Amaranth (Mixed Colors)
Love in a Mist
Statice
Strawflower
Celosia
Nasturtium

Scarlet Flax
Red Clover
Buckwheat
Winter Rye
Millet (the bird's gotta eat)

I think that's it.  I'm really excited and I was just outside and my landlord is getting the spot ready for putting up the greenhouse.  It's going to be great, besides all of the winter sowing I will be doing.  : )

What  is y'all's favorite seed company?

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Still No Name. LOL!



He ran and ran and ran around the goat shelter for like an hour.  At one point he stopped and was huffing and puffing.  He is such a cutie and loves to be pet.  We really need to get some more pallets and make a play gym for him.  Mama is quite protective too.  He runs off and she starts freaking out and then starts nickering at him if he gets too close to me or Marley goat.  Such a good mama.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Our New Little One

Here he is.  So cute and Yogurt is such a good mama.  He was born this past Monday at 1:50pm.  He is doing well with the cold weather here.  He does not have a name yet though.  I think it will wait until Saturday when Dave can see him in the daylight.  This is a B year so it will need to start with that.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Too Long Again and Some Great News!!!

Sorry its been so long since I posted last.  Lots has been going on.  My son was here for about 7 weeks and I just didn't get on the computer long enough to post.

So the big news.  Yogurt started bagging up this morning!!!!!!!   Yay!!!!!  Can't wait to meet her babies.  If y'all (I can say that now, I am in the South : ))  have some good "B" names for boys and girls share them, please.  We started last year with "A"'s and today starts the "B" names.  So exciting!!!!

I will post more in the next couple days!  Happy New Year to All!!!!!