On This Memorial Day ~ Remember Our Fallen Warriors

~ When I'm Gone ~

When I come to the end of my journey

And I travel my last weary mile,

Just forget if you can, that I ever frowned

And remember only the smile.

Forget unkind words I have spoken ; Remember some good I have done.

Forget that I ever had heartache

And remember I've had loads of fun.

Forget that I've stumbled and blundered

And sometimes fell by the way.

Remember I have fought some hard battles

And won, ere the close of the day.

Then forget to grieve for my going ,

I would not have you sad for a day ,

But in summer just gather some flowers

And remember the place where I lay ,

And come in the shade of evening

When the sun paints the sky in the west

Stand for a few moments beside me

And remember only my best.

Mrs. Lyman Hancock

10 Eggs ??

from 8 hens , how did that happen ? I got a surprise when I went to gather the eggs yesterday. There were 8 eggs in one nest and 2 in the other nest , but one of those eggs is a plastic egg that I keep in the nest. But there were 9 eggs , apparently Ms. Iris the hen that lays white eggs laid an egg Tuesday night or she had her egg hid under the straw when I gathered them the day before , 2 of the eggs were white.

I did a little gardening yesterday , the spinach bolted a couple of weeks ago and the leaf lettuce was drying up. I pulled it out of the small garden bed and fed what was left to the chickens. I planted a small patch of leaf lettuce and cilantro , then added a Tommy Toe tomato plant and some basil. I hope it will be dry enough to get some seeds and plants planted in the main garden tomorrow. The weather has been strange this year , lots of rain and moisture in March , very hot and dry in April and the first two weeks of May. Then came the heavy rains , so it's to wet to plant the main garden.

As I was working on the garden bed , I let the goats out to roam for a little while. They don't stray very far from their lot , but they did follow me , then they spotted Lilly Belle aka Fairy Bell. They started creeping forward , trying to get close but not to close. It was cute , they didn't know what to think about her. Curious J has been calling the cat formerly known as Lilly Belle , Fairy Bell. He has away of renaming the critters , he just starts calling them by the name he likes , until the name sticks . I've told him a few times her name was Lilly Belle , but he insist on calling her Fairy Bell , so Fairy Bell it will be from now on (LOL).

Thank-you all for the wonderful comments you left on yesterday's post , he was a special friend ~ kinda like a brother. The dream left me feeling weary and sad , your comments helped make the day a little better.

~ Many Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Last Night ................

I dreamed about my friend who was murdered last month. He and his little dog were walking across my backyard , then we were sitting on the ground talking. He wasn't talking , but his friend was talking to me. I don't remember what the conversation was about .................. but my friend was just sitting there listening and he had a weary look on his face , that made me sad.

This morning his Mother called and while we were on the phone , someone called her and said there had been an arrest in his murder. The same person called again later and said he was in jail but hasn't been charged with the murder , but he is the prime suspect. Hopefully there will be an arrest soon , it's already been over a month. Each day that goes by , it seems less likely they'll find whoever did this. I wonder if the dream was preparing me for this news.

Last month I posted the pic above , my friend painted the star. We were getting ready to open a new business at the time , there were some problems with the lease and we didn't get the business started. I hope that painting is packed away with some other stuff we have stored away. He was an artist , eccentric by nature and his heart was big. I miss him and his crazy schemes , he was always up to something.

Next month on his birthday , I plan to have a costume party in celebration of his life. He loved costumes , he was a clown for my oldest daughter's 2nd birthday and played Santa for her and my nephew that Christmas. I told his Mom as I was going through my pics , he was dressed up in most of the pics I have. I did have a few of him and his little dog , his dog was ran over and killed the first of this year. He had been depressed about that and called me soon after to discuss what he wanted when he died. He said he didn't want anyone to cry , he wanted us to have a party and celebrate. I told him I couldn't promise I wouldn't cry because it was human nature , but I would have a party and celebrate his life , as we were talking I never thought it would be so soon. He was the type that lived each day like it was his last , so although it was a short life , it was a full life and I'll think of him each time I see a twinkling star !!

~ Starry Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Yummo Cherry Topping ~

My sister-in-law brought me some cherries this weekend , she and her boyfriend picked them from her boyfriend's grandmother's tree. Yesterday I attempted to make cherry jam , but I got ahead of myself and added the sugar to the cherries first. You're suppose to add the sur-gel first , boil 1 minute , then add sugar and boil again for 1 minute. Since I added the sugar first , it didn't gel , so now we have cherry ice cream or pancake topping (LOL). But I'm not about to let it go to waste after all that work , it takes time to pit cherries , chop them and go through the canning process plus wash up everything you use to process it. We may get some more cherries this week , next time I'll think before I leap (LOL).

~ Cherry Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Wet and Wild Weekend ~

We finally got some much needed rain , we had storms off and on all weekend. Curious J and Little Froggy stayed Saturday night with us. We went outside to let the chickens and goats out for a little while so they could forage and get some exercise. After the critters were out , Curious J headed back to the house to play with the water hose , while I was trying to get him to shut off the water , Little Froggy found a mud puddle. When I turned around he was in the middle of it , jumping up and down. Since he was already wet and muddy , we just let them enjoy the puddles and Boy ....... did they ever !

Look at Little Froggy's face .......... that look says I can't believe they're letting us play in the mud ...............................................................

After jumping up and down , splashing all the water out of the puddle , it was time to get real messy ...........................

wallering like a pig .....................................

then the mud ball fight was on , Little Froggy was chasing me and I was trying to get away and get a pic too (LOL).

Curious J trying to get " Pawl " with a mud ball !

Afterwards Dh sprayed them down with the hose and I made them strip off those muddy clothes before they headed inside for a bath. Curious J wanted to know why they had to take a second bath , he considered the spray down a shower I guess. I told him it was because he was double dirty (LOL).

Hope you had some " Simple Fun " this weekend !

~ Rainy Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Enjoying the Pinks

Flowers are for our souls to enjoy.

{ Ojibway }

~ Be Blessed ~

JoyceAnn

* Honeysuckle and Mullein Cough Syrup *

Yesterday I made honeysuckle and mullein cough syrup , hopefully it will not be needed anytime soon. But I'll be ready for next winter when cold season hits. Although I'm pleased to say I started taking my dandelion/yellow dock tincture back in the winter for digestive woes and apparently it helped my immune system too. I didn't get sick at all this past winter , no allergies or major sinus problems this Spring. I told my hubby it was a miracle , considering all the snotty noses I wiped this past winter (LOL). But I thought the cough syrup would be great to have on hand for the grand kids. Since the honeysuckle is blooming , decided I would go ahead and make the syrup. I plan to dry some honeysuckle blooms in case I need to make more syrup next winter. If you're interested in making this cough syrup , click here ~ http://www.ehow.com/how_4732153_honeysuckle-cough-syrup.html ~. This is the first time I've made this cough syrup , so I'm not sure how well it work. I'll let you know when we use it.

~ Happy Herbal Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ ~ R.I.P. Ms. Buttercup ~ ~

Yesterday afternoon something very freaky happened , the goats seem to prefer sleeping off the ground. I was looking for another plastic box , small table or something for them climb up on until hubby has time to build them a small platform. There was a small black plastic box near the dog lot , the grands and I had used it for a table while playing outside , as I was lifting the box when I smelled a horrible stench and discovered the missing hen from a couple of weeks ago. I'm not sure how she got under the box , but I feel terrible that I didn't find her in time. I can't believe she couldn't get out , the box wasn't that heavy and apparently she didn't make any noise. I feed the dogs each day and never heard a thing , but maybe she was hurt when she got trapped underneath. Anyway , thought I would warn those of you that have free range chickens , if you have a chicken that disappears , be sure to check up under things around the yard. I gave her a proper burial yesterday , may she rest in peace.

~ Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

It's Raining ..................................

and I'm soooo happy ..................... it's been very dry here during April and most of May. I haven't planted the main garden because it's been so dry , so hopefully now we can get some beans , corn and tomatoes in the ground as soon as it dries up a bit. We really need to dig a small pond , so we'll have a way to irrigate the garden.The garlic looks like it's ready to be dug , but it won't be as big as the past few years , due to no rain.

Saturday , my oldest daughter and I took the grands to the lake. They enjoyed the water , it was a beautiful day. I didn't take any pics , afraid I would get sand in my camera and I really didn't have time with 3 toddlers in the water (LOL).

The goats spent their first night in the new goat shed Saturday night , they weren't to thrilled. They cried liked babies when I left them to come to the house around dark. I went back later to check on them and they had pushed the hay cart out and snuggled up behind it and settled down.

The chickens had to enjoy their breakfast inside today since it was raining. They had sunflowers along with their feed as a special treat.

Hope Your weekend was Wonderful !!

~ Be Blessed ~

JoyceAnn

Wishing You ....................................

Blessings of a Beautiful Day !!

JoyceAnn

Scenes from the Week ............................

We loss another guinea this week , not sure what happen to this one. I found it laying between a barrel and a piece of hubby's equipment. It didn't look like it had been attacked , so I think it might have flown into the metal and broke it's neck. We have 6 guineas left , they're thinning out quickly. Dh and I have been busy this week , we got the fencing up for the goats. We're using chain link and hubby had to make the panels , it was a pain , but it was free and made a great goat pen. We'll be adding more panels as we find them at bargain prices.

You gotta love this pic , Jazz was standing at the door of the new goat shed , looking at me and apparently thinking I'm not sure about this place , it took her awhile before she decided to come in (LOL).



Jo ran in and started exploring right away ...........

she found the hay and began eating. I have an old pull around grocery cart that I'm reusing as a hay rack , it works fine and I'm happy to find another use for it .

Jazz and Jo enjoying their sweet feed in the new goat shed.

Thought they wanted to ride , but when I started pulling the wagon , they jumped out (LOL).

The chickens are happy campers , I cleaned their coop yesterday. They're using two of the nesting boxes now.

Ms. Dandelion lays the blue/green eggs .

This is Iris , she lays white eggs ..............

look at the egg she laid yesterday. It's huge , almost 3 inches long , it maybe a double yolker.

We've got a new guest at the chicken coop. I have this old pot hanging outside the coop , I use it to dip water from a barrel to water plants with. But some little birdie decided it would make a great home , guess I'll have to find another dipper.

These brown bananas ..................................

made wonderful banana bread , it tasted delightful after all that work this week.

So , what was on your agenda this week ?

~ Many Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Goat Fodder ~

The girls have found a new play toy , each afternoon I let the chickens and goats out for about an hour to free range while I keep an eye on them. One day last week I let the chickens out to free range for the day , that afternoon I realized I had a hen missing , Buttercup was gone. I think we have a fox sneaking around , about three weeks ago there was another guinea attack. It was the first night she stayed on her nest , whatever got her , also took all the eggs. The nest had about 50 eggs in it , there wasn't a shell or anything left. It's hard to believe a fox would take all those eggs , but from what I've read they're the only animal that would carry their kill back to the den , so I believe that's what happen.

A part of trying to be self -sufficient not only includes growing your own food , but providing food for the animals that provide food for you. I've been busy gathering red clover and other fodder for the goats. I had red clover dried from last year that I had dried for the rabbit , the goats loved it. I just gather bundles and hang it to dry.

The goats enjoy following me around when I'm gathering clover. I only gather the red clover , Storey's Guide to Raising Dairy Goats says white clover is toxic to them , although I wonder why.

This burlap bag contains dried turnip green stalks , the goats love them. When hubby plowed the greens down and they dried out , the goats would munch on them when I let them out in the evenings.

I have comfrey starting to grow , it will be part of the winter feed and used for its medicinal purposes. Living the Frugal Life has a great post about drying comfrey , you can click here to read ~ http://livingthefrugallife.blogspot.com/2010/05/drying-comfrey.html .

What wild forages do you feed your goats ?

~ Many Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ ~ Mother's Day Herbal Hike ~ ~

My gift to myself on Mother's Day was a hike through the woods and nature was feeling the " Love ". I saw a tree with this heart shaped hole , although it was upside down , with a little rotating of the photo , you can see it's form. If you look below the hole , you can see what appears to look like another heart etched into the tree.

As I strolled on I found this vine with heart shaped leaves , I believe it is a wild potato-vine. I'll be watching for the blooms to see if I can make a positive i.d. soon.

Shadow went along with me on the hike , he enjoyed the stream and found an herb to enjoy himself. He's eating some grass that grows along the bank of the stream.

The Jack-in-the pulpits are blooming , I found several patches of them.


Shadow got a whiff of something and started digging in this spot , but he gave up and moved on quickly.

The Oregon grape has fruits that are ripening. You can read about this plant here , if you're interested ~ http://herbalspirits.blogspot.com/2010/03/oregon-grape-holly.html ~ .

I'm not sure what this plant is , plan to watch it and see if it blooms.

Does anyone else know what it is ?

False Solomon Seal


A beautiful Jack-in-the-Pulpit , this plant was in a sunny location and about knee high tall.

This is why it smells so delightful around here , the blackberries , honeysuckle and multiflora roses are blooming.

And remember this plant ..............................

Thanks to Flassie , the plant has been identified , it's a Carolina Geranium also known as Crane's Bill because of it's fruit.

~ http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/gerca.htm ~

This photo shows the Crane's Bill , Thanks Flassie !!

Hope Everyone had a Great Mother's Day !

~ Green Blessings ~

JoyceAnn