Monday , Monday ...................................

I had a rough start this morning as I was toting water to the goats. I dropped my camera in the water bucket , yikes. So no new pics today , had to dig through some old ones.

The pic above was taken a few years ago as we were planting potatoes. We planted potatoes this past Saturday , Dh and I planted 3 rows and we still have potatoes to plant , we'll probably plant them sometime this week or we may wait to Saturday. I also have 8 more broccoli plants I plan to set out today. The weather has been nice , we're suppose to have stormy weather tonight. I sure hope we get rain , we really need some.

I thought Jo was getting ready to go into labor Saturday , but it was a no go. I'm still watching them closely , I'm sure it can't be much longer before they kid.

How was your Monday ?

~ Many Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Feather Blessings ......................................

May this Day Bring You Peace and Contentment.

JoyceAnn

Naaaana .................................

keeps asking us when we're going to kid. We don't know nothing about kids , except those wild grandkids that try to chase us each they visit Naaaana. So I hope she's not talking about that kind of kids. Here lately it seems like we're always hungry , we sure don't have time to worry about kids !

~ Nanny Blessings ~

Jazz & Jo

Busy Week In the Garden ...............................................

I've been busy this week getting some of the cold weather crops planted. It felt great to get outside and dig in the dirt ...............

I planted broccoli , cabbage and cauliflower plants and sowed carrot , lettuce , radish and spinach seeds.


I sowed a mixed leaf lettuce in this small bed ......

and a kale , mustard and turnip green mix in the large bed. I'm looking forward to all the fresh greens we'll be harvesting soon.

What have you been up to this week ?

~ Green Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Farmerette in the Making .........................

Little Missy , my granddaughter loves helping out around the farmette , she never tires from feeding the chickens , goats or collecting eggs. I think she's definitely a " Farmerette " in the making.

~ Farm Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

What's Growing Around the Farmette ?

Look what's blooming outside the front door , they're beautiful !

Hairy Bittercress is popping up everywhere , a blogging friend helped me i.d. this plant last week. I tried a few raw leaves last week and they tasted delicious. I don't know why it called Hairy Bittercress , it wasn't hairy or bitter tasting at all. The leaves will be a wonderful addition to my tossed salads.



The Chickweed is starting to get large enough to harvest soon. I'm looking forward to some chickweed pasta soon.

Wild onions are growing , hope to gather plenty this year to dehydrate. Another blogging friend told me about dehydrating the wild onions last year , I had never thought about doing that. Turns out they're delicious , we've used them in scrambled eggs , sprinkled over baked potatoes or added to mashed potatoes like chives and added to soups. They actually have a sweet taste once they're dried.

Dandelion are starting to come up too , looking forward to those blossoms !

And look at the garlic , it's really taken off. Yep , looks like we are having a early Spring. Although I know we'll have a few more cold days that will probably damage several plants and trees that will be budding or blooming. Unfortunately that's a price we pay for having nice weather this early in the south. But , it won't hurt the garlic , it's very hardy.

~ Green Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Sometimes , No Words are Needed .................

You should just " Enjoy " !!

~ Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

There's been ..........................

lots of gossip around the water bucket this week about our spring like weather. Today it was in the 70's and this weekend is suppose to be nice too , I'm looking forward to it. How's your weather ?

~ Many Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Sunday Afternoon Goat Walk .............................

Sunday evening the goats and I took a stroll through the woods. I finally captured a descent photo of Goatee's Goatee (LOL) while he was eating the cedar tree.


You can't really tell what Goatee's doing here , but he was butting and attacking those yellow dock stems , silly goat.

The girls enjoyed the field , they found some green grass that appeared to be mighty tasty.

We're still waiting for them to kid , maybe the full moon will bring those babies out (LOL).

~ Be Blessed ~

JoyceAnn

Yesterday Afternoon ...................................

the boys spent a few hours here while their Mom and Dad attended a school board meeting last night. The weather was nice , just a little windy , so we headed outside to play. Curious J found a marble and was showing it to Pa , that started a conversation about playing marbles. Pa ask Curious J if he knew how to play and he said yes , he commenced to tell Pa how you play. Pa asked were he had learn to play , he said he had never played , but he had seen it on t.v. (LOL). So Pa decided to teach them how to play marbles , watching them play made my heart smile , it was the perfect Valentine's gift along with the box of chocolates I received : ). The boys also rode the battery operated truck , they had a ball with it , my batteries went dead , so I didn't get pics of them riding. Hope your Valentine's day was wonderful and filled with precious memories too.

~ Heart Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Happy Valentine's Day ..........................

Hope Your day has been Wonderful !

~ Blessings ~
JoyceAnn

May Your Day ..........................

be filled with " Bright Blessings " my Friends !

JoyceAnn

Geronimo ..............

Lookin' Good for the Chicks !!

~ Farm Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Old Man Winter ~

As this day begins ,

Snow has brought stillness.

Snow covered , beautiness .......

the birds chirp , singing for Spring.

Old Man Winter doesn't sleep yet .....

Teaching us Patience.

3-3-2010

JoyceAnn

We had another bout of wintery weather this morning , just a ground cover of snow and it had melted away by noon. The weather reminded me of this poem I wrote last year , thought I would share it.

~ Many Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

What A Day ...............................

Jade , our German Shepherd is sick. So I've been nursing her since Monday , we took her to the vet tonight. But before we left I went out to check on the goats and found Jo with her head stuck in one of the panels you see to the right in the pic above. DH bought a panel with six inch holes , we were afraid they would get their heads caught in it , so he welded a second panel to it , leaving about 4 inch holes. We thought the problem was solved , but she got her head through it and couldn't get it out. When I got to her , Jazz was butting her and her ear was bleeding. Thankfully Dh had just came home from work , we got her head back through. Her head was near the area he cut and welded to the other piece , there was a rough edge there and she kept snagging her ear while trying to get her head out. I cleaned her ear good with peroxide , she also looked like she had blood or discharge on her bottom. We thought she might be going into labor , but after closer inspection ..... I think Jazz had butted her and broke the skin. I don't know why Jazz was butting her , I guess she was trying to help knock her loose. Jazz was extremely upset , more so than Jo and she was the one with her head trapped , she kept butting Jo and making a barking sound. I finally got them in their stalls , fed them some sweet feed and they settled down.

We took Jade to the vet , she has a bacterial infection. He give her an antibiotic shot and some oral antibiotics to take for the next few days. I've also got to worm her and keep her separated from Shadow until she's feeling better. Now I'm hoping the goats don't go into labor tonight , as I'm feeling pretty stressed after today's events. Well , I'm getting off the computer and heading out to do 1 more check on the girls and Jade before I head to bed.

~ Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

No Kidding ......................................

Friday came and still no kids , guess I didn't have an accurate due date for Jazz either. So , we're still waiting .......................

The girls are much rounder and their udders are filling up , so I'm sure it should happen soon. Guess they're waiting for bad weather (LOL) , I've been told they'll kid on the stormiest night. I feel like the first time expectant father , but instead of pacing , I spend a lot of time walking out to the goat lot to check on them.



I've been busy with my herbal studies , added a couple more post about Dandelion over at " Herbal Spirits " if you're interested.




Click Here ...... http://herbalspirits.blogspot.com/




What's keeping you busy these days ?





~ Be Blessed ~

JoyceAnn

Today's Thought ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

May You .............. Walk in Beauty !

~ Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Around the Farmette .................................

it was very peaceful , after ............

everyone had their breakfast.

The goats were enjoying their hay ............

the keets are now adults. Their heads have turn white and they've developed their calls/voices.

This chicken has decided that it wants to be a guinea , it hangs out with the guinea.

We cleaned out the goat pens the other day , I threw the straw in the garden. The chickens have been wonderful helpers , they've been busy looking for bits of sweet feed and spreading it all over the garden.

~ Many Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Waiting .........................

and watching the girls closely !


~ Blessings ~
JoyceAnn

~ Banana Honey-Nut Muffins ~

I made some banana honey-nut muffins this past weekend. The recipe started out as a blueberry recipe , since I didn't have blueberries on hand. I made the recipe my own by adding ingredients I had on hand.

~ Banana Honey-Nut Muffins ~

1/4 cup butter softened

1/4 cup of local honey

1/4 cup of sugar

1 egg

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/3 cup of milk

1 cup of mashed banana

1/4 cup of finely chopped peanuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Grease muffin tin.

Cream butter , honey and sugar together.

Add egg and mix well.

Add sifted dry ingredients and mix into honey and sugar mixture along with milk. Add bananas and nuts , mix well.

Bake 20 minutes.

Makes 12 full size muffins.

I've figured out a great way to heat up honey that has crystallized. I sit it on the heater floor vents. It warms up very slowly , but you don't have to worry about it getting to hot and destroying the wonderful microbes in the honey. I also use the vents to soften my butter.

Do you use your heat vents for anything other than heating ?

~ Sweet Blessings ~

JoyceAnn