Major Decision Made

Its been along time coming, about 8 months but now it is time. I've played around enough, experimented in areas I had no business (or experience) in exploring, frittered away time that should not have been frittered. Or is it Fritayed ?
Either way, I can no longer avoid the inevitable. I have finally decided...to go entirely natural.

No, you alarmists, I am not giving up clothing. I still need customers to come to our farm store for buying out loud. Once again I beg you to try to keep up.

I am talking about soap.

I call this "Dappled Lavender"

At first I tried a little bit of everything. I believe that is fairly common. How can you decide which treat you want  if you do not dip your hand into more than one cookie jar? I'm speaking literally here. If I had never tried a Double Stuffed Oreo I would still be eating dried out and over rated Fig Newtons. But I have once again slid off the tracks.

Whereas this one would be "Knobby Lavender" since it is sitting on a door knob.

I am talking about soap. (The sentence repetition is for my benefit, not yours so don't be getting all bent out of shape like you think that I think you can't stay focused.)

The customers we had on Saturday were unbelievable. One woman recently immigrated from Russia and was so happy to find raw milk ! She had called several dairy farmers near Chicago but none were willing to sell her the raw stuff. She was shocked it was so difficult to get he....What ?...oh Sorry.

Of course this would be "Garden Angel  Lavender" or just GAL

I am talking about soap. After trying lab colors, evil colors like those from crayons (oh cease with the frowning, if you don't try sub standard materials how can you lecture others?)  I monkeyed around with plant extracts and powders. Once again in my life using a mortar and a pestle but without having to crank in the little windows of my trailer with that stupid handle that was forever falling off into the sink, and then pulling shut the cafe curtains with pink and orange peace signs.

And this ? Well, I refer to it as "Lavender Flower" but its false advertising since
everyone knows lavender has very small purple flowers but the Hosta was blooming

This time all compounding was legal. Imagine my delight that paprika made lovely orange soap and a substance called Alkanet would make 30 shades of purple. And then I played around with the fragrances. They were fun but, I hate to admit this, they scared me. You pour them out of the bottle smelling like cakes and cookies and exotic flowers such as Sturgis Sweet Pea but then you look away and...and...your soap has turned into a clay brick, a concrete block, an entire stone fortress !


Another Lavender soap exactly like the last one except its hot process instead
of cold process, I used lots of Alkanet to color instead of hardly any, and I
left out any titanium dioxide for extra whiteness. Oh yeah, the peacocks liked
this one better.

I also explored the slippery world of fats. I never used bacon grease, Keith would've killed me. Imagine using perfectly good cooking fat for soap! But I did enter the wicked world of Crisco. I didn't want to, I knew it was wrong being it was so cheap, but sometimes cheap is just so attractive you know? The soap came out hard and very usable but I couldn't get myself to put "Crisco" on the label.

What it someone took a bite ? Well they might.

My last area of trial and errer was in the area of photography. Seems soap photos are a specialty all its own. My first photos stunk and then evolved into dull. I've tried the photo box with white foam board which wasn't really a box but just me holding up the board behind the soap and trying not to get my shadow in the way.


Pepples. What else?



How about "Pepple Soap shot in Reverse as an alternating

Black and White Theme Within the evening Sun's glow

on the Back Porch Bench" ?

My shadow is bigger than my soap, thus prompting me to  attempt some outdoor soap shooting. Seems my all natural soap looks best on all natural rocks and plants, well if not best it at least looks better than on the floor of my shower.

So my point is, my niche is, my imprint on the soaping world will be...all natural. Now how about this bunny ?







Foodie ?!?!

My father was the original "Foodie"  He loved food of all kinds. Especially the food my mother made. Every meal she made was wonderful (in his mind) and he was grateful.

"Thank you Beautiful, you sure know the way to my heart"

I'm sure at that time my mother was thinking "Oh great, now I've done it. Irish Lover Boy is in a good mood. Just what I need." As she spooned meatloaf out on the plate of child number 6 hoping the kids wouldn't mind the fact that she had to stretch the 1/2 pound of burger with a box of saltines.

We didn't mind. We were hungry and didn't know much better. Now, a few years later I've fairly entrenched in the world of food. Local, all natural, beyond organic, frozen meat to groceries, fresh carcasses to the restaurants and 100% grass fed in our little farm store, etc... etc... food. Still, I'd give a million critically endangered Red Wattles with their awesome back fat and super luscious loins just to have my mom in front of us again serving  over cooked meatloaf swimming in a bath of watered down ketchup.

Food is love in so many ways. It certainly makes my husband very happy when I cook for him.  Men. Made simple by God to make up for the insanity of all womankind.  I can say those kind of things. I'm an ex-feminist. A couple of mornings ago I made him some of these

These are eggs we sell in our store. Three come from 3 neighbor farmers and one is ours, The different shell colors are a result of the breed of the chicken. Shells are pretty to look at but its the INSIDE that tells the real story

At high noon we have an egg for a chicken who has just started being let outside on grass. Also new to natural feed, only having been fed non-commercial feed for about two weeks. At 3 pm we have another pastured chicken egg from chickens who gets commercial feed. Then at 6pm we have an egg from a nice middle aged couple who let their chickens run all over the free world, chased for fun by heathen grandchildren  and eat only bugs they can find on their own and any leftover organic feed the farmers might drop on the ground. Egg number four at 9pm came from free range chickens fed certified organic feed.

Weird thing was, after I cooked them and fed them all to hubbie, not telling him which eggs came from where, he liked them all and couldn't tell the difference. The moral of the story ?

My husband is happy when I cook for him. Period

Equine on my Mind

See this ?

I'm not sure, but I believe it is a horse. Not sure because its been awhile since I've gotten up close and personal with my herd of three. Ironic isn't it ? The animal I love the most is currently the one I do the least with. Why ? Because I see them as pleasure and how can one waste time with that which is solely pleasure when one has so much else that much be done.?

Last summer I rode often in preparation for the 3 day training I was going to do with Chris Cox, cool professional horse guy. It was one of the greatest accomplishments of my life. Hard, hard, work but so worth it. August 2010 will always be a month of great memories for me.

Now, a year after that special weekend and I realized yesterday that my horse Nora has not been ridden even ONCE this summer. That's  right, not one time. No wonder I feel out of sync and crabby. No wonder Nora is so happy and flabby !

But, change is on the horizon. It started with a serious talk with the equines. I told them vacation was over and we'd all be back in the saddle this very week. It wasn't just about THEIR needs anymore. It was time for me to meet some of MY needs.

Of course, this announcement was received with only utmost respect.

Yeah, he thinks he's funny, until I start selling packages of donkey brats in the farm store that is.

Certified Organic Farm...Still for Sale

6 weeks ago we listed our farm for sale amidst shock, awe and denial. Keith had some feelings about it as well but he doesn't remember what they were.

Folks were frightened when they heard the news. Many had just this year discovered us and did not want to think about having to find another farmer they could trust. In this area of GMO corn, bean and CAFO livestock (confined to concrete bunkers) it is not easy to secure either certified organic meat or even meat just grown on pasture let alone raw milk. No dairy farmer wants to sell raw milk anymore. Too many horror stories about uninvited governmental interference. (Really who ever INVITES the government to interfere?)

We were concerned that by announcing our plans to sell we might harm our business and fact of the matter is, when you have a mortgage and feed bills to pay...we needed business. Instead, a wonderful thing has occurred. We now have more business. Which just clarifies why we need to sell.

Its all outgrown us. Just like our children have. We can't keep up

And just like our children, we look at not just what we have accomplished but we also see all our mistakes, our misguided notions, the things we should've and could've done better. Take that goat barn for example. Please, TAKE IT. Its falling down and won't make it through this winter. Since it looks like we might be here this winter after all what do we do ?

Invest in a new building to house the ever increasing hog herd we have? True all summer and fall they will use the old goat barn which now houses hogs, very little but a good hard windy winter storm will surely knock it over. We can't risk the injury of animals and frankly the loss of income.

What to do, what to do !? Tear down, shore up, build new WHAT ?!?!

Of course the easy answer to this and more troublesome conundrums here on South Pork Ranch is the sale of our farm. Then new owners with all that great first love & enthusiasm will look at that old goat barn turned hog shelter and see a fantastic opportunity for a gift shop, a writers cottage, a chicken coop, (Its original 1910 purpose)  a training center for wilderness survival groups. The possibilities are endless

But for now, the goat barn remains in limbo. Tired, worn. missing a few boards, in need of a new purpose and some TLC.

Not unlike this writer.



Wanted: Folks with enthusiasm, strong backs and vision. Apply within



Its all over.

Summer that is. Even though technically summer is not over for a few weeks yet, in these here parts it end abruptly as the last Carnie leaves town thus bringing to a close yet another Fairbury Fair.

For decades the founding Fairbury mothers, because only a mom could be this smart, decided school would not start until the fair ended. It's a great fair for such a small town and this year I noticed several new things. Like carnival workers in uniform, sporting Australian accents and wearing name tags such as, "My name is Mate." It was all enough to get me to fork over $4 for two GK's to pull a couple of cheap plastic ducks out of a mini-moat. (If Keith hadn't been there I probably would've paid for 2 more ducks just to hear Mr. Aussie speak yank at me.

All in all, a great day. First the goat show, followed by a back stage visit to all the show contestants

A petting zoo stop which always bores the GK's with the exception of the buffalo, one critter we do not house on South Pork Ranch

Of course no fair is complete without a Fun House. Does anyone else see Jane Curtain in the mirror or is it just me ?

Soon after a spin around the inside of a blue dragon. Wes kept telling me, "its only pretend Yaya" My screaming must have concerned him.

And speaking of screaming... this girl could win contests.

Quiet moments were abundant as well. As seen here when Keith and Wes discuss how idiotic the grandmother looks as she crawls thorough the tumbling wooden tunnel with all the other second graders

Eventually one talked the other into trying the big slide. Both admitted they had never done anything quite so risky before.

Its a good thing they did not see Allana's face before they went down or they never would've climbed up those stairs.

See you next year Fairbury Fair !

Bye Bye Mrs American Pie

So, I'm walking out of the restaurant where I had just completed without incident, a lovely lunch with oldest son and youngest grandson. Everything had gone so well.  It was a beautiful sunny day. The cafe's apple motif was somewhat charming. The coffee was FRESH. The waitress had been listening and brought exactly what we had ordered with the tiny mistake of bringing my piece of pie AFTER we were done eating instead of during.

But, being flexible and oh so brilliant I said "Make it to go please." We couldn't loiter, preschool was waiting. So she did, and with my boxed lemon pie in one hand and soon to be four yr old GK in the other, (to make room for the pie, I had just let go of the soon to be 30 yr olds hand. It was difficult but it was time.)I paid, I turned and then it happened.

It hurts even now to think about it. It just happened so fast.

I dropped the pie. Face down. Spilling its contents out all over the carpeted (Carpet ? In a restaurant ?!?)
floor. For one insane moment I thought I could fix it, could scoop it up whole. No one really saw but me, at least that's what I told myself.

But it was too late. I wanted to fling myself onto the lemony goodness. I knew if I was very fast I could lick it up without being noticed. But then  I remembered I was 52, and overweight and still holding onto a child. Back in the days of IHOP Pancake houses I could have easily made that dropped pie disappear, but times had changed. So instead I thought about fleeing, fast like the wind, but my orthopaedic tennies had a tendency to stick to carpets. (Carpet ? In a restaurant?!?!)

I had to do the right thing.

I told the waitress. She glared at me, wringing her wet bar rag in a threatening manner. Hanging my head I left as quickly as I could.

The elderly son jumped at the opportunity to rub salt into my pastry wound by announcing, "I'm telling Keith" knowing full well my husband would never have blatantly wasted food the way I did. I ushered everyone out the door, sniffling at my loss.

I need a vacation, and another piece of pie. What do you need ? How about some free soap by this talented soaper ? Enter her contest today ! http://innerearthsoaps.blogspot.com/2011/08/rosehip-facial-giveaway.html

Poop Scoop

The calves, they are well. Coccidiosis a vexation of the past. Completely organic treatments took longer than conventional as they always do, but all 6 calves are drinking well

and asking for seconds

They would like to thank everyone for all the cards and well wishes and would like folks to also know that their cow pies are absolute loveliness.