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

There's not much going on around the farmette except for the extreme summer heat. Buddy has found him a cool spot though , he spends the early morning hours on the pool deck , then he moves to the concrete pad as the day heats up.


Dh finally dug the waterline and put the spigot up near the chicken coop and goat pen. That is a big help with taking care of the animals during the heatwave we're having.

The echinacea looks beautiful ............

and the first sunflower has bloomed.

I moved my milking wagon ( LOL ) to the shed were the garlic is drying. It's cooler there and less flies to deal with while milking. Hope we get some rain soon , the garden isn't doing so well with the hot and dry weather we're having.

~ Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Blackberries and Honeysuckle ~

The blackberries and honeysuckle have bloomed ..........

the berries have emerged. Waiting and anticipating those delicious berries ripening and making the first fresh blackbery cobbler of the season !

~ Natural Blessings ~
JoyceAnn

Farmer's Market ..........................

I've been wanting to sell at the Farmer's Market for a few years now , but I've been so busy helping with the Grands , that I just didn't have the spare time. Now I'm only helping out 3 days a week , so this year I'm going to give it a try. I've been busy potting up herbs ......................................



bushes , shrubs and trees. Over the years , we've had plants self spreading all over the place , so instead of destroying them , I hope to sell a few of these volunteers.



We have English Ivy , Forsythia (Yellow Bell) , Nadina , Oregon Grape Holly , Vinca (Periwinkle) and Sweet Violet just to name a few of the plants. There are also many small trees growing around here that will be smothered out if not removed.



I'll also be selling wild herbs that are freshly gathered , excess garden veggies ....................................






and garlic , if it produces well this year.


~ Many Blessings & Happy St. Patty's Day ~

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

Yesterday's Barter ..........................................

A dozen of fresh eggs .................................

for a huge bundle of fresh rosemary from my neighbor !

Have you did any bartering lately ?

~ Simplest Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Let's take a walk .......................................

today. That's Lame Lucy in the back near the woods , she's the guinea my friend gave me a few weeks ago. I call her Lame Lucy because she has a slight limp. That's her new man , they hang-out together during the day , but come nightfall , she heads for the chicken coop. She also lays her eggs in the nesting box inside the coop. Dh ran over a guinea nest one day last week while mowing , he didn't break any of the eggs , so I gathered them up and put them in the nesting box. I hope she'll go broody soon and hatch those eggs.

There was a cute little spider web on the zucchini , I didn't get the best photo. But maybe if you enlarge the photo , you can see it better.

I walked over to the edge of the field to check on my blueberry bush , was surprised when I saw 7 blueberries on the bush. I had checked it a few weeks ago and saw the berries , but since there were so few I hadn't bothered to go back to pick them. I thought the birds would take care of them , they were still there , ripe and waiting for me. I planted this bush about 5 years ago , it never grew in the first location I planted it. So 2 years ago I dug it up and replanted it , it lived but still hasn't grown much. I was beginning to think I was going to need to move it again , but it has finally taken growth as you can see from the pic above.

I'm so happy , this blueberry bush is very special to me because it's a grand baby bush to some blueberry bushes my late Grandma grew long ago. My sister got a few sprouts from the original bushes and she gave me a bush that sprouted from hers. I picked the 7 blueberries but ate one on the way back to the house , the other six were added to my cereal , they were delish.


I found some wild grapes , I've had my eye on a couple of vines , but I've never seen grapes on this vine before. I want to gather enough to make some wild grape jam.


While I was walking and checking out the edge of the woods for herbs , I spotted this black walnut tree. It has walnuts this year , we had a black walnut tree in the back yard when we first moved here , but years ago Hurricane Fran brought a huge oak tree down on the walnut tree. Black Walnuts have medicinal properties and I want to learn more about them. We talked about them in the herbal/wild foods class I took a few years ago.

The elderberries are ripening , but the birds have been snacking on them. I wish I could find enough to make elderberry syrup , but I didn't see that many.

There's a plant growing in the garden bed among a patch of violets that I'm going to try to i.d. ~ Click to enlarge , do you know what it is ?

This little spider was hanging out by a patch of blackberries , quite beautiful.

Hope you enjoyed the walk , I sure did !

~ Natural Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Happenings Around The Farmette ~

Jazz and Jo are doing well , eating and playing all day just like kids. Joy has became known as Jo , the name just flows better.

We decided to build the goat shed off the backside of the chicken coop.


We used recycled boards for the siding.


The goat shed is completed , we haven't started the fencing since we've had so much going on. Hope to get the fencing completed this weekend.

The hens are laying well , we're getting 8 or 9 eggs almost everyday.


The herb bed has been cleaned and I planted several new herbs , some of the plants growing outside the bed are wild herbs , so I let them continue growing.

I've been gathering , cooking and drying several wild herbs. Also trying to i.d. new plants I've discovered , more about this tomorrow.

Hope everyone is enjoying Spring's bounty !



~ Green Blessings ~
JoyceAnn

Thankful for a Beautiful Day & Blogging Friends

The snow has finally melted with all the rain we had Friday , Saturday was breezy , so things dried out a tad. Yesterday we had a beautiful day and I just had to get outside for awhile. Geronimo and Chief Little Roo are starting to venture out with the hens now , the guinea fowl were enjoying the sun too. As I was walking around I saw some chickweed that had survived the snow and bitter cold , I decided to gather some , so I headed back to the house for gathering baskets. Unfortunately the hens had found most of the chickweed and cleaned it out , so I headed to the north side of the garden and found a patch they hadn't found. I gathered the chickweed in my basket , then I gathered some pine needles for tea and 3 eggs from the hen house. When I came back in the house I did a google search for chickweed recipes , a recipe came up that was on Herbmentor.com and it caught my eye because Leslie over at Comfrey Cottages (http://comfreycottages.blogspot.com/) had mentioned that website to me on her blog. The recipe was simple enough , so I made it for lunch and it was yummo! I've posted the recipe on my " Herbal Spirits " blog , if you're interested , you can find the link on the sidebar.

I was reading some other blogs yesterday and found 2 other recipes I had to try. Jeanne over at ( http://wildwoodsartstudio.blogspot.com/2010/02/cornbread-one-mans-trash.html ) had a cornbread recipe posted that I made to go with my pinto bean soup last night , it was very tasty. We also had fried apple pies for dessert , thanks to Patrice who had a link on her blog for " Fried Peach Pies " click here to check-out the link ....................................................( http://frugalgravy.wordpress.com/2010/02/05/found-a-website-that-will-make-your-mouth-water/ ) , I didn't have any peaches , so I used my homemade apple cinnamon applesauce to make some fried pies and they were delish. They didn't look as pretty as the ones pictured on that website , but it's the taste that counts and hubby gave them a thumbs up , so that's good enough for me. I very seldom fry foods , so they were a real treat. Thank-you Jeanne , Leslie and Patrice for the links and recipes you shared. That's why I love blogging , every one's so giving , always sharing and there's so much to learn from each other.

So , What's cooking in your kitchen ?

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend !

~ Be Blessed ~

JoyceAnn

Eight Weeks ...........

have passed since I gathered , chopped roots and tinctured my echinacea. I didn't have any cheesecloth on hand to strain the tincture , so I cut squares from an old sheet and used a piece to strain it. The sheet squares actually work better , so I'll be using them from now on. I plan to cut about a dozen squares and use them for herbal straining only , the great thing is they can be used , washed and used again , much better than cheesecloth and so much easier to work with. Yesterday I was browsing the internet for info about herbs and I found info on making garlic tincture and cayenne tincture. I definitely plan to make these tinctures soon to add to my herbal medicine cabinet. If you're interested , here's the link http://www.ehow.com/how_5345994_make-garlic-tincture-recipe-dosage.html. It tells you how to make the garlic tincture and what it can be used for. If you look to the left of the article , you'll see a link to making cayenne tincture and it's usage.

~ Herbal Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Bluebird Hill Farm / Lavender Harvest ~

~ Bluebird Hill Farm ~

~ Clipping the Lavender ~

~ Lavender bushes after they've been clipped ~

~ Bundling the Lavender ~

~ The Barn were the lavender is hung to dry ~

~ Raised Bed with Herbs ~

~ Tepee Garden ~

~ This raised bed had lambs quarter growing in it ~

~ More Herbs ~

Awhile back I was on the Local Harvest website ~ http://www.localharvest.org/ ~ , looking for local farms in our area , I found an herbal farm that's about 15 miles from me , called " Bluebird Hill Farm ". The farm was having a lavender harvest this past weekend ~ http://www.localharvest.org/event.jsp?id=24074 ~ , so yesterday I packed my bag with clippers , gloves , water and headed out to the farm to learn about lavender. It was a wonderful experience , the farm was beautiful and the owner was friendly.

I arrived at the field before they were ready to start , so I sat by the pond enjoying nature and having some Prayer time. Norma , the owner came out to greet me , then a guy name Kevin showed me how to use their electric clippers and how to bundle the lavender so it could be hung in the barn. I helped clip and bundle lavender for about 3 hours. But before I headed home I went to check-out the gardens and herbs. I was so impressed , I've never seen so many herbs in a garden , there were common herbs , wild herbs , garden veggies , fruit trees , grape vines. As I was looking around the garden , Norma came out with a small jar , she was chasing bugs , said she needed to catch them before they mated (LOL) , ahh ...... the life of an organic farmer. I asked about a herb that was growing near by , she gave me a piece of it and told me to take it home and put it in vinegar , it's called Perilla and makes a great flavored vinegar , she said. She also sent me home with spearmint to plant in my herb garden.

So I came home with a bundle of lavender for helping with the harvest , Perilla to make a herbal vinegar , spearmint for my garden and a small jar of lavender honey I purchased. She sells her herbal products on the local harvest site , you can check-out her store here ~ http://www.localharvest.org/store/M17728 ~. I had a great time and will go back next year for the harvest , or maybe before then.

~ Lavender Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Sunday Blessing ~

May Your Sunday be Beautifully Blessed !

JoyceAnn

Garlic & Rosemary Potatoes

My BIL shared this recipe with me a couple of years ago. This is the first time I've made it with homegrown potatoes and fresh herbs , it was delicious. Thought I would share it with you , I did add my own extra touch. I sprinkled them with parmesan cheese when I removed them from the oven.

Small Potatoes ~ Red or White

Fresh Minced Garlic

Fresh Rosemary

Parmesan Cheese

Olive Oil

Salt & Black Pepper

Wash the potatoes and cut in half , place in large bowl. I minced my garlic with a press and toss it in with the potatoes. Wash and chop fresh rosemary , add to bowl with potatoes. Pour a little oil over potatoes , salt and pepper if you like.

Toss it with your hands until oil and herbs coat potatoes. I also greased my baking dish with olive oil to keep them from sticking. I used my pampered chef stoneware to bake them , bake at 450 until done/browned. When I removed them from the oven , I sprinkled them with parmesan cheese. I only had the parmesan cheese in shakers , but next time I will grate some fresh cheese for this recipe. I'm not giving measurements , just adjust to your taste. We love garlic , so I added about 6 to 8 large cloves but your family may not like that much garlic , so add to your taste.

~ Blessings ~

JoyceAnn