Green Tea Soap

Here's a picture of the new soap I made up last week. I made it using green tea and scented it with sweet orange e.o. It smells so yummy!!

My First Knitted Sock!

Here is the result of my first sock knitting class. I'm liking the yarn much better now that I've started knitting with it. I have a few more inches to go and then I'll start the heel. Next Thurs. we will learn how to complete it!! I'll post another picture or two as I get further along.

My First Scarf Patter- Irish Hiking Scarf

I deciced it was time to move on to something a little more challenging than just basic scarves and dish cloths. I came across a link for this irish hiking scarf and it's coming along great. The first 6 inches are a little "iffy" because I was trying to get used to following a pattern, but I think it's pretty darn good for a first try.

Sock Yarn Swap!!

I got involved in a sock yarn swap through Mary Jane's farm girl's forum and I recieved my package today!! Thank you Susan-I love it!!! Can't wait to use my new sock knitting skills to try out my beautiful new yarn!!

A Beautiful Drive Up The Columbia Gorge

A couple of weeks ago we went for a drive up the Columbia River Gorge. We decided to take the old historic highway so that we could see all the waterfalls. The top picture is at a viewing point and you can see how windy it was that day and very cold. The waterfall is called Briday Veil and we took a little hike to get to that one. It felt so good to get out in the crisp clean air. Afterward we stopped for hot chocolate. We are so fortunate to have so much beauty around us and I get so busy in my life that I sometimes forget to stop and just absorb it all in.

Happy 2007!!

I can't believe it's

already 2007!!! This last year totally flew by and obviously had a hard time disciplining myself to sit down and write.

Where do I start? My husband has been living in Montana since September. Hhe's attending heavy equipment school there and will be done in May. School is going well for my youngest and we made it through the soccer season without one rainy game. That was definately a miracle. I had a breast biopsy a few weeks ago that came back normal. Thank the Lord!! My oldest boy is getting ready to move out in a couple of months and I think we're both ready. He so needs his own space where he can live the way he chooses without Mom's rules. I keep waiting for parenting to get easier, but I think it just "gets different". HaHa.

The animals are doing great. The hens have slowed down with their laying, but it's to be expected with the shorter days. The chickens that we incubated are doing beautifully and I ended up with one Aracauna cross hen. I"m keeping my fingers crossed for green eggs, but we'll see. I bread Molly our Alpine, but it didn't seem to take. I think we waited a little too long to get her together with the buck. I'm just going to go ahead and wait until next year. I have a lot on my plate right now, so it's probably best anyway. The Nubian has gotten huge and she's almost become too much goat for me to handle. She probably weighs twice as much as I do or pretty darn close. I'm thinking of selling her and seeing if I can get an Alpine doe/kid pair.

The seed catalogs are already coming in and the green house will be ready for a good cleaning out in another month or so. We have had so much rain already this year and everything is such a mess. I'm hoping to get the gravel and plants in around there so things aren't so muddy and messy. I'm looking forward to trying some new herbs this year and will be helping my Mom plant a large garden of pumkins and flowers. Someday I'm hoping to have a place where I can have a nice sunny open area for a larger garden as well.

Christmas was very peaceful this year. I made a choice to keep things simple and gave mostly handmade things I had worked on throughout the fall. I gave out some canned goods and home made bath goodies of course. (I have an etsy store where I'm selling my soaps, etc.- http://lamargueritefarm.etsy.com ) I finally got my basic knitting skills down by making tons of scarves. So, of course, everyone got scarves for Christmas. The picture above is all the girls in there scarves at my SIL house. Todd was here for a brief visit so we had an early Christmas with his family.

My soap business went very well over the holidays and today I'm going to start on a few batches of soap that I need to get done. I need to do some brainstorming for some fun spring/gardeny items.

Well, I'm looking forward to seeing what 2007 brings and wish everyone much happiness and many blessings!!