A Day in the Strife of...

I woke to breakfast and a cheerful husband who made the breakfast for me. Lucky girl tis I.
After checking all the VITAL social media outlets, I headed for the great outdoors.Come with me, it's been awhile since I dragged you out there isn't it?

As a reminder, Keith does 75% of the outside chores, I do 75% of the inside chores which means we are in the average day doing 150% of the farm work every day. No wonder we are tired...

My outside work in the winter is a nice break from the rest of the year, no grass to cut (mow is me), no garden etc..My inside work is intense and consists of many hours doing bookkeeping, talking to customers, marketing, keeping items ordered for the store, etc...

I prefer the outside work, unless I prefer the inside work, it all depends on the color t-shirt I am wearing and the amount of essential oil I sniffed the day before. No, I will not explain.

So outside work goes like this. I amble out around 10am to feed calves. On the way I am greeted by the big calves closest to the house. I bottle fed them for several months and it is obvious they still miss me.

I pass the chicken house and drop off some grain and water to them. I am greeted in a weird and unnatural way by Sunset our Blue Slate Turkey.

We were gifted him as a 3 day old turkey-ette and he at first thought I was his mother, now he thinks I am his very own Patsy Cline, that is why his feathers are all in the upright ruffled position. The bird is just plain Craaaaaazy....

Next we have the calf hutches, all lined up in a row because I like rows.

They are all looking at me cause I'm the one with the milk and the Pavlov wagon.

Since the calves milk comes from real cows and not a powdered mix or a vending machine, I have to wait until Keith milks the cows first. He saves the calves milk for me in a big steel bucket set in hot water to keep the milk as close to mother cows internal body temp as possible.

I fill buckets (for the older calves) and bottles for the younger calves and wheel them out to the mooing babies.

After all the bottles are filled, I take them out to the calves , eleven now, but have to stop and remind the pigs, rushing out of the barn, that Keith will be out to feed them soon.

Always nosey, the pigs had to investigate my activities

After calves were done and fresh hay given, bottles and nipples washed ,(careful now) I headed to the north end of the property for equine awareness day (The donkeys constant braying made me aware I needed to feed THEM)

And there she is, Nora, staring me down. Why can't I look this good when my hair is uncombed and all wild?

A few pads of hay to them and across the lane I toddle to the BIG pigs, Mad Max and his harem of lovely breeder stock. They too think they are starving. Waa waa waa.

That's Leopard on the right, a 1/2 breed if ever there was. Born with a bad toe but a great personality we decided to keep her even though she was only half Red Wattle. She makes a great mama. Out of a huge litter our GK Allana picked her out telling us she would be a good one to keep and she was. Standing just to her right, your left, is the awesome Dot. Both weigh in at around 450 pounds. A little father down the line is the king of the farm...Mad Max

Mad, unlike his name, is sweet and kind, unless you get between him and his grain or his girls. At 600 pounds we NEVER get between him and his grain or his girls. He is full bred Red Wattle .

Off in a nearby paddock is the petite Sophie, due to farrow (deliver) any day now. What ? did someone say contest?!?

Yes lets! It's been awhile has it not? So OK here goes.

Via the comment section of this blog send me your guess for the date (official due date is Feb 18),
number of  live births (her last litter she had 10) and ..tell me how many will be boys and how many will be girls.

Whoever gets the most right answers of the three questions (date, number,sexes) WINS !

The winner will receive your choice of the following, hoof roll please; four bars of all natural handmade soap OR Two South-Pork-Ranch T-shirts mailed to you , OR if you live locally $20 worth of product in our Farm Store , (bacon, steaks, popcorn, eggs etc..)

Ready , Set. GO !

Saponification Sunday

Playing arund with the greys this week, maybe because we have had so little sun this winter in our area. Made several more batches of soap this week due to increased orders, (nope, no ETSY, no web store, just word of mouth) and the fact that soaping is very relaxing and comforting for me.

Have I told you a friend of mine is getting a whole SOAP ROOM built for her ? Did I tell you I was jealous? Well she is and I am but good soaping rooms come to those who wait...and wait...and wait.
My soap area is my kitchen for all the melting, mixing and pouring while the dining room is for bar curing, labeling, packaging and storage of all supplies. It's not perfect but it is very adequate and the two rooms now smell good all the time.

This weeks featured bar is my first attempt at coloring with charcoal, other than the usual line technique to separate layers. I used just 1/2 teaspoon of charcoal powder mixed with a little almond oil.

After mixing my soap of 25% Babassu, 25% Coconut, 25% Olive Oil, 15% Sweet Almond Oil and 10% of Castor Oil, I scented with Star Anise EO only. adding a 1/2 teaspoon of Titanium Dioxide for whiteness. Then I separated them into two equal portions adding the charcoal mix into one.

The Little Crystal Biscuit Jar?
Crafted by Genius Sean Daley of Dingle Crystal
http://www.dinglecrystal.ie/

With an  in the pot swirl and some more swirling with the handle of a spoon after it was in my mold I let it sit in the Frig for 24 hrs, room temp for 24 hours in the mold then cut into 7 bars weighing about 5.0 oz each.

I took 312 pics of this soap and the ones in this post are the only ones 1/2 way decent. So give me your recommendations for a new camera. I have a birthday coming up in May.

Why Farmers MUST Blog

I have been blogging for nearly years. But enough about me. One of my goals this year is to get YOU the farmer to start blogging. Yeah yeah yeah, I hear you. "I'm too busy, I have better things to do with my time, I don't understand computers, I'd rather be pulling calves." The excuses are endless but today I want to tell you why you MUST.

But first a disclaimer. The idea for this post came from another post. A hardworking "Farmerette" in the South East of Ireland has a well done blog that I have been following for some time. Her post Why Farmers Should Blog nails the reasons farmers need to blog in order to save their farms. If you visit her blog you will note that Lorna, the blogs' author, is a busy mom, chef, writer, book reviewer, farmer and business owner, and yet she manages to squeeze in blogging. Be sure to visit her at http://irishfarmerette.com/why-farmers-should-blog/ Tell her I sent you.

But...I am not as sweet as Lorna, which is why the title of this post is Why Farmers MUST Blog.
So, from across the pond, from the viewpoint of a pushy farmer babe in America ,here are my reasons:

1. If you depend on your farm for income, people need to know you exist. Wishing it will not make it so. Ads in newspapers cost big money. Ads on radio cost big money. Billboards cost big big money. Blogging is FREE.

2. Small Farms are nearly extinct. Oh sure we have new small farms cropping up all the time but the likelihood that they will still be around in 5 years is very small. Why? Well besides the financial issues, they get little emotional support and encouragement. Blogging generates feedback and encouragement.

3.Mega farms are worried about farm bloggers. In the past when laws were passed under the table and over our heads because we were buried with work, we had little recourse to affect change. But now we can voice our opinions, challenge the makers of ridiculous laws which benefit the large factory farms but bankrupt the family farm, confront our representatives publicly and inform others of actions that can be taken to protect our farms. Blogging is essential for the building of strong farmer relationships.

4. "Buying Local" is hip and popular yet many farmers complain that their own surrounding community, doesn't even know they exist. Through regular blogging you can tell your neighbor what breed of pig that is they see in your field and why your baby pigs sometimes get loose and end up on the neighbors porch. (Sorry, we are really really sorry) Blogging is informational.

5. Today's children are being rapidly removed from farms. Soon they will not even have grandparents who farmed. Blogging is a cheap and effective way to talk to kids about animals and show them pictures so at least they will know a cow does not have wings. (From time to time though our pigs have been know to fly. Usually on the same day my husband remembers to take out the garbage.)
Blogging is educational.

6. Although our farm is generally all sweetness and light there are days I'd like to load up all the animals in an Ark and send them down the river. With my blog friends I can share my frustrations over broken meat freezers, Boars who would rather sleep than procreate and crabby customers who complain about there being fat (of all things) in their bacon strips. I can post pictures that make us laugh and send words of praise to those who have done great things. Blogging is stress reducing.

7. So there you have it. The reason I feel farmers (or their wives or husbands or paid representative)MUST blog. I also think other professions should blog but I am not here to speak for the whole world...only the whole world of farmers. There are many resources to get you started. Start with any 9 year old in your family. Most of them have more than enough computer skills to help you. If they are too busy helping another geriatric member with basic 21st Century technology then I suggest these web sites. Remember: Blogging is fun.

www.blogger.com
http://wordpress.com/
http://blog.com/

"Jardin indésirable"

Yes, that's me speaking (typing) in French. What does it mean ? Well it means Junk Garden of course and that is my newest nuttiest goal for this spring. Like I said, until the farm is sold we are just going to act as if we are going to be here here forever. And since I have been dreaming of a very special garden for..forever..It's time to get crackin' with the junk, I mean "inventory."


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But first...Welcome back to FARMHOUSE FRIDAYS  Just click here to join the fun
http://www.therenegadefarmer.com/  Yes, I'm aware this post was put up yesterday on Thursday but you'll give a hardworking Midlife Farmwife a break won't you?

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I really do love rustic, vintage and recycled, but it must be orderly. For years I have had my eye on some of the husbands collections and this year is THE year it will evolve into something gorgeous. The spot I have selected looks like this right now

On the right running parallel with the trees on the left will be a "wall" of very tall densely planted sunflowers with red zinnia planted alongside on the inside. To the left we will build a fence made a 100% of old fencing materials just lying around the farm. On the inside of that wall I will plant climbing vines, annual and perennials. (Suggestions for vining flowers for zone 5b are very welcome)

Another gate/wall combo will run right to left across the bottom of the photo, again made with recycled stuff. The back wall is as yet undecided. Within the now rectangular shaped garden will be pathways made of 100 year old slate roofing tile and bricks also 100 years old from the houses original chimney. A huge collection of small boulders will be relocated inside somewhere for a rock garden. I also have ac law foot tub, metal milk cans and old brass beds. In addition, items like these

will be tastefully arranged throughout the garden as lovely focal points. Yes, these are real items currently decorating our yard. Even the moss on the bricks is authentic. My mother-in-law gave us the coolest metal chair with a unique back..

I have no idea how to utilize it YET, but I will. So there you have it, the big plans for my first formally informal totally recycled and re-purposed garden. If it evolves as I have planned it should look like this at the time of completion.

Unless it ends up like this. One never knows

In the meantime tell me about the cool stuff you've done in your garden (veggie or flower) with recycled items. If you have a blog or know of a blog/website with photos or such please share

the link(s).

Meat Broker by Day, Exhausted by Night

Recent warm weather begat fog which begat ice

So here we are...still in limbo. We broke up with our realtor about a month ago and then started dating the new guy last week. I like the new guy better, probably because he's a little  like me, well, to be truthful, he's a LOT like me...oh OK,  he  IS me.

 For Sale By Owner is the new guy and we're getting along pretty well. No sale yet but at least I can check my account as often as I want and see how many people have looked at out listing. Sure, it's probably just some guy with his finger on the "number of times listing viewed" button but it makes me feel like action is being taken.

Vampires, witches and werewolves are nothing
compared to the
dreaded Cow Ghosts of Central Illinois

The actual MLS listing won't be in place for a few more days but we did get our big FSBO sign in the mail today. Complete with a plastic box for your flyer's to be grabbed by any drive bys, it all looks very official.

In the meantime it is still business as usual except that like here is never "usual" or "routine" or "stable" It is in fact chaotic and unpredictable. Several months ago another farmer in our area , one who does not raise all his animals on his own farm, and has been known to feed his all natural livestock some very suspicious meals, began undercutting the restaurant business of reputable farmers in this region. Offering his meat for a much cheaper price, the restaurants we had been selling to for a number of years stopped ordering from us.

This could have been disastrous for us but as that door closed another opened rapidly; our farm store business took off. Yes, we could've fought for the restaurant business we worked so hard to build but
why? Driving so often to Chicago was wearing us down. Being gone all day making several deliveries exhausted us and then caused us to get further behind on all that needed to be done HERE.

So, we decided to accept the gift that was being given us. The gift of time, the gift of improved finances (our profit margin is slightly higher with store sales as compared to restaurant sale) the gift of improved customer relations. (More time at home meant more time to visit with our direct farm visitors)

It's not that we have quit the restaurant business, its more that they quit us about the same time we needed to be quit upon. In the last 3 months our farm store sales have increased by 30% , not just in new customers but also in repeat customers who keep showing up...repeatedly. Some days we only have 1-2 customers so we have lots of time to do work in between. Other days we have 8-9 customers and I start fantasizing about hiring a part time person for the store duties.

We are also thinking about starting a bulk buyers club (thank you Doug D. for the idea), building a petting zoo (liability issues be damned, kids need to be able to TOUCH animals) , planting a cutting flower garden around the farm store (I blame Miss Effie for this idea) and maybe taking on some interns. (Spence Farm, you know this one is your fault.)

Sure enough, once we get all this in place the farm will sell.

Mark my herds.

Saponification SUNday

My day starts out with my four year GK waking me by saying "Yaya, the sun is setting up." I open my eyes and there he is next to me watching the sun rise with absolute wonder. When was the last time I ever did that?

Fortunately my camera was not far away.

The rest of our day only got better with lunch out with all three of the GK's and an hour trip over to my sister Teresa's to see her new house who by the way is the YOUNGEST of we O'Shaughnessy gals and yet she is the FIRST to get to live in an open plan home design. Oh how I could just ...

do nothing but wish her the very best. Yes, I do. And now onto the soap of the week.

You might recall the problem I have with experimentation. It started in the 70's and has progressed into the 21st century. At least now my experimentation is not likely to put me behind bars, unless I hurt someone who gets in the way while I am hurling my crock pot against the wall.

I made a couple batches this week following a tried and true recipe until I broke my own promise and started playing around with the whole lye-water-oil-plant additive thing. Once again it got too thick and dried a little crumbly on the bottom and a few major cracks on top which meant it got too hot. This is amazing science -wise since I popped it into the fridge immediately.The colors were very nice as the blood orange essential oil turned the soap a creamy yellow and the alkanet was a handsome blue. The pink was French Red Clay.

Man, do I need a new camera

Why is it always the bottom I have problem with and yes this is a rhetorical question isn't it always?
7/8 of the bar was beautiful and well scented but not good enough for Soaper Dearest who by the way happens to LOVE wire coat hangers.

I tried to live with them but knew I could not pass them onto others with good conscience. I mean two minutes after unmolding these bars were hard enough to crack skulls so I did what I always do...I sacrificed looks for quality. My mother apparently did the same thing in regards to me.

I like rebatching my cold process soap via the hot process
 method in a base of new cold process soap. Just call me Sybil

Chop chop and the bars went in looking like Marilyn Monroe and came out looking like Pee Wee Herman, but the smell was better than ever and the texture and lather was oh so Adele. Do you know Adele? She is the perfect bar of soap, glittery, slightly soft and fluffy with the most angelic and slightly edged lather. 

Au gratin potatoes ? No, my bloggy friends , it is rebatched soap.
Now we know why it is called "rebatched" don't we?

Yes I rebatched the bars via Hot Process which has its good points and its good. What is good about it is the scent. I add the Essential Oils right before I glop it into the mold so it really holds its scent well. HP is also good as you can use it just a day or two after cutting and the lather is great.

Negative points? Well if you picked your husband based on his ability to say...oh I don't know...build a barn instead of his skill at modeling Eddie Bauer's latest leather jacket, then you will never appreciate the RUSTIC quality of HP soap. The colors are more muted and the texture is very Rocky Mountain High.

Now don't get your Cold Process Loving Panties in a bunch, I happen to think smooth and lovely serves a purpose in this world as well, I'm just not a purist. I am more of an "impurist" which is a fancy word for lazy when it comes to saponification.



Anyway ..once again the before and the after.
 You be the judge.

And please someone donate
me a new camera.

And on Tonight's Menu...Crow.

It is safe to say that over the years I have eaten most of the strange things, being the "adventuresome" one. It is also therefore safe to say I have eaten far more crow than my husband has, being the "mouthy" one.

And now a message from our sponsor. Once again it is Farmhouse Friday on The Renegade Farmer. What to play? It's great fun and FREE. Go here now  http://www.therenegadefarmer.com/. Click on the Farmhouse Friday Picture on the right side and you are set to go.

And we are back, and I was talking about peacocks, no chickens, no CROW, yes crow and how shall I prepare it tonight.

It all started 8 months ago when we decided to sell our farm and live naked in hippie land. Ready to survive off the land and be 100% sustainable was our common ground. Agreeing on a plan to get there...and the ground turned rocky. The husband said "Sell it ourselves" The overwrought, too busy farm wife gently suggested, "ARE YOU NUTS ? I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT! NO WAY ON EARTH!" or something equally sweet.

So we listed the traditional way, with a local realtor and it got us no where, as in no where, no how. And I think I'll just leave it at that.

Last week we ended our contract with the realtor, and I dished up my first plate of black feathers and beaks. With a sauce of buckwheat honey, it wasn't all that bad. The feathers did make me though. Immediately after dinner I looked into For Sale By Owner.com and satisfied that it couldn't be any worse than listing it with a real estate agent, we paid our fees and posted our farm.

Only one small problem, I had many pics of the outside, lots of farm building and livestock, but very few of the inside of the house. And VERY VERY few of a clean house. I decided to do one or two rooms each day and just add them to the sight as progressed. Yesterday was the kitchen. Following the info I learned years ago when I used to watch HGTV, when we had satellite TV, when we had time to watch TV...I stripped the kitchen nearly bare.

Here is the result

And here

                    and here

So there you have it, my first real attempt at "staging."
Now I could use some help "un-staging" I have a few items to return to the kitchen. Help Wanted