~ Case of the Missing Crocs ~

The first week of Sept. my youngest daughter came by with the boys on Fri. afternoon. As soon as they were in the house , the boys took off their shoes. Little Froggy took off his new camouflage crocs that he got when they went to the beach back in August. We talked for a little while , then headed outdoors to let them swing and visit the animals. Little Froggy didn't put his shoes on when we went outside , he likes going barefoot. When they were ready to head home , we came inside to get his shoes , but we couldn't find his crocs. We looked everywhere , under the chairs , couch and under the cushions of the couch , in the corners. We looked in the bedrooms , under the beds , in the toy box , but we couldn't find those crocs. I even looked in the bathtub , we asked Little Froggy and he just had a puzzled look on his face. So I told my daughter I would keep searching for them , they would surface sooner or later.

I looked that night and the next day , but no crocs. The next week I searched while I was cleaning and doing household chores , but I still didn't find them. I was starting to get a puzzled look on my face too. Last week Curious J got out of school early one day , we were in the grands bedroom looking at the keets and I decided to move the night stand that the keets are sitting on. I had to pull the bedroom door open and move the play stove to move the stand. I pulled the stove out and a croc fell out , he had placed them on the bottom shelf of the play set. We had a good laugh about the case of the missing crocs.

~ Peaceful Blessings ~
JoyceAnn

Hot , Hot , Hot ..........................................

and I'm not talking about the weather (LOL). I'm taking care of the cayenne peppers today. We love hot and spicy foods around here ..........

So I string some to hang in the kitchen , we love cooked cabbage spiced up with red peppers .............................


I dry some for grinding into red pepper flakes , I love to sprinkle it atop my spaghetti or other pasta dishes ........


I also freeze a few of the cayenne peppers to make a thai hot sauce that calls for hot pepper , we love that sauce with rice and stemmed cabbage.

I'm planning to tincture some dried cayenne and jalapeno soon. I've never made cayenne tincture , but after reading about the benefits of cayenne peppers , would love to have some on hand. If you're interested in the benefits and the making of cayenne tincture , check-out this link
~ http://www.ehow.com/how_5240463_make-herbal-tinctures_-recipe-uses.html ~.


Cayenne is also good for your heart , check-out these links for more information about cayenne and the heart.


~ http://www.all4naturalhealth.com/cayenne-pepper-and-heart-health.html ~
and
~ http://www.thewomenwarriors.net/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=220 ~.





~ Heart Blessings ~
JoyceAnn

A Rainy Monday ...................................

We had rain yesterday and it's suppose to rain more today , I'm so grateful for this rain. It's been a month or longer since we've had enough rain to really wet the ground. I spoke to soon about the keets , we've lost 3 since Fri. I'm hoping the rest will be o.k. , there's not much you can do for such tiny birds. I'm trying to make sure they warm enough , other than that I'm not sure what to do.

These photos are from last week , I finally got the girls a collar.

Ms. Jazz liked the garden bench !

The girls and Goatee thought my pants tasted delicious (LOL).

How was your weekend ?

~ Many Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Autumn Blessing ~

May this Day bring You Peaceful Autumn Blessings !!

JoyceAnn

Luigi and Poo Poo .........................................

The keets are doing well , they're starting to get their wing feathers.

My youngest daughter and the boys having been coming over each night this week to take a bath , they're remodeling their bathroom. Curious J and Little Froggy have choosen a keet for their own and given them a

name.

Curious J named his keet " Luigi " and Little Froggy calls his keet " Poo Poo ". Although we can't tell them apart , we just get a keet out and tell them it's their keet (LOL).

~ Peaceful Autumn Blessings ~
JoyceAnn

Potatoes & Tomatoes

Well , the end of the summer garden is upon us. We've been busy harvesting the last veggies. I made another batch of spaghetti sauce over the weekend. I found another spaghetti recipe and decided to give it a try , you can check it out here if you're interested ~ http://thechickenkeepers.blogspot.com/2010/09/pizza-spaghetti-or-lasagna-sauce-for.html ~. I had one jar that didn't seal when I canned them , so we had spaghetti last night for supper , this sauce is delicious.

Dh and I dug the first 2 rows of red potatoes Monday , they look very good considering the rain we've had. We still have 2 more rows to dig , so it looks like there will be plenty of potatoes to feed our family this winter.


I love finding the funny shaped potatoes , this one looks like a hippopotamus to me (LOL). I also found a muddy guinea egg in that wheelbarrow of potatoes. I'm thankful it didn't bust , because I'm sure it was rotten.


I graded the potatoes , they are drying out , tomorrow I'll store them. We have several potatoes that will need to be canned , due to bad spots or plow hits.

We have a root cellar of sorts under the back porch , today I raked and cleaned out from under there. There were a few potatoes from last year that had went bad that were still in the cellar. They were dried up , but several had sprouted and tried to grow a few new potatoes before they died. I gathered those up too , I see no reason to waste them , they'll be delicious cooked atop some green beans. I left the door open to let the root cellar air out a bit and the hens decided they would check it out :o)

These are the volunteer potatoes that came from under the porch. They're small , but still edible.

So , how's your week going ?

~ Harvest Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Meet Buddy ...................................

aka the " Spirit Cat ", he's the eldest pet around the farmette. Buddy has an eye infection , I think it's pinkeye. I made an infusion with plantain leaves , I've been wiping his eye with it and his eye is looking much better.

Hope everyone had a great weekend !

~ Meow Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Blessing ~

May your eyes find delight in the simplest beauty today !

~ Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ 11 Keets ~

Dh and I gathered all the keets up yesterday. It took us an hour , yep they're fast little newborns. He ran them out of the pen and I tried to catch them , boy was it a sight. The keets ran straight out of the holding pen into the goat pen , when I went into the goat pen to try and get them , they ran through the fence into the chicken run , when I went into the chicken run they ran out in the high grass or back to the goat pen (LOL). We finally gave on that idea and I decided we needed a net. So I went to the out building and found 2 butterfly nets , we've never used them to catch butterflies , but they were perfect for capturing keets. We waited for them to come back to the holding pen and scooped them up quickly and put them in a bucket. The adult guineas didn't know what to think , but they didn't attack us. They just ran around trying to keep an eye on the keets. There are 11 little keets , they're doing well. I'll keep them in the house for a couple of weeks , then move them to the chicken coop for a month or so before releasing them with the others. I felt so bad taking them away from their mother , but I knew they wouldn't survive if I didn't. I kept telling the mother guinea , she would be getting them back in a couple of weeks. She did an excellent job of getting them hatched , the mother is one of the guinea keets that were hatched by our chicken last year. Need to get off computer and go clean the aquarium , give them food and fresh water , so they can get settled in for the night.

~ Many Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Goatee and the Proud Mommy Guinea

He's so cute , but he must feel threatened by the kids. Curious J stayed with me yesterday , he's having allergy problems. We walked down to check on the goats and the guinea before lunch.

Goatee started trying to butt at Curious J through the fence. I'm beginning to think I might not be able to keep him around if he continues to be so aggressive. Are bucks always this aggressive , he's only 3 months old , so I'm sure he'll probably get worse. I would love to hear from you goat owners , what do you think ? Is this normal or is he just aggressive ?

Curious J threw him a sunflower stalk over the fence and he decided to ..............................

dance for his lunch (LOL).

Here's the proud Mommy Guinea , if you look closely to the left , you can see a keet. You may need to enlarge photo , the keet blends in well with the grass.

Hope you've had a great day !

~ Many Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Yesterday .........................................................

was another busy day around the farmette. I separated Goatee and Jazz , cleaned the goat shed out and put Jazz and Jo back together. As I finished cleaning up the shed , I decided to take a peek over at the guinea that is nesting beside the goat lot. As I was peeking I noticed some movement and upon closer inspection realized the eggs have hatched. We have keets , I think there are at least 8 little ones. Today we'll take them away from the Mom . I really hate to do it , but know from past experiences that they do not raise their young well. It'll be a fight with her , but she'll get them back in a few weeks , which makes me feel better about the situation.

The morning glories looked beautiful , I spotted these vines growing over some equipment Dh has setting in the field as I was heading to the blueberry bush.


I mulched the blueberry bush with the goat waste. After finishing up outside I headed inside to peel pears , as I was peeling pears I noticed the yard was full of ......................................


blackbirds. I remembered Peggy over at Hidden Haven Farm mentioning seeing lots of blackbirds a couple of weeks ago , I think they're migrating south.

I finished the pears , had 5 qts and 1 pt. After finishing the pears I washed the dishes and had lunch.

My oldest daughter , Little Missy and Little Time came by yesterday afternoon. We enjoyed time outside , swinging ..................

and riding. Boy , he sure does look like his Pa , but sometimes he looks like his Dad too. I think he has his Dad's facial expressions.

Little Missy is the animal lover , she has to go see the chickens and goats every time she comes over.

They had to check-out the garden bench and pose for a pic .

It was a wonderful , productive day , so glad the weather is getting a little cooler. It makes doing chores outside a lot more pleasant.

So what are you doing this week ?

~ Be Blessed ~

JoyceAnn

Farmette Happenings .......................................

Well , Goatee and Jazz seem to have hit it off well together. We'll probably have kids around the first week of Feb. Teresa , you hit the nail on the head with your comment last week (LOL).

My uncle brought my Mom and I some pears last week. I made 7 pints of pear preserves this weekend and will be canning the rest tomorrow.


I finally got around to turning these bell peppers and some of our tomatoes into 5 pints of mild salsa for Little Froggy on Friday. I have more tomatoes waiting to become spaghetti sauce one day this week.

The sunflowers have dried out , we're saving these for next years seed.

Saturday morning , Goatee was checking Little Froggy out. But after this cute scene he decided he needed to dominate Little Froggy , so he backed him into the fence and pinned him against it. He didn't hurt Little Froggy , but it scared him. I pushed Goatee away and told Little Froggy he needed to stay outside the fence , because he was being a bad goatee. I'll be keeping the Grands away from him from now on , they'll only be allowed to pet him through the fence.

This is were Ms. Crew is hanging out now , it's off to the side of the chicken coop , so she can keep an eye over the chickens and goats. Hopefully she'll help keep the wild critters away.

~ Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Blessing ~

Hope Your Day is Blessed with Wonder and Unusual Beauty !

JoyceAnn

Eskimo Kiss !

~ Sweet Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

It's been busy around the Farmette ...................................

over the last week. I've been cleaning and getting the garlic ready to store. I've also been deciding which heads I'll keep for seed to plant next month.

Hubby and I spent all day last Thursday getting a separate pen set up for the little buck , we thought the small dog lot would hold him until we got ready to introduce him to Jazz and Jo. But he almost beat us to the house that night (LOL). So we had to put him in the lot with the girls , hoping they don't make babies to soon.


We had several small boards leftover from the shelving we built the goat shed from , but they had lots of nails in them. So I spent several mornings pulling nails out of those boards. I'm planning to cut them in half and re purpose them for tomato stakes next year. Some are starting to rot , we'll burn those this winter , they'll be great to use as kindling.



The broody guinea is still on her nest in the coop , but the date for the eggs hatching was the 3rd ................................................

all the guineas gathered in the coop on that date , but they didn't hatch.

I'm giving her an extra week on the eggs , but I don't think they're going to hatch. So if they haven't hatched by Thursday , I'll toss the eggs out and block her out of the nest. The other guinea is still sitting on her nest , but I'm not sure on her date for the hatching of her eggs. It should be this week or next , we're hoping they'll hatch and we can get to the keets before a predator does.

The garden has almost dried up , it's been so hot and we haven't had rain in about a month. We're still getting a few small tomatoes and peppers.

I let Ms. Crew retire for a few days , but I decided she might make a good decoy around the chicken coop. So now , she's keeping a watch over the chickens , goats and the other broody guinea.

That's what I've been up to over the last week.

What have you been up to ?

~ Many Blessings ~

JoyceAnn