Lamarguerite Farm

My New Calendula Label

2007-06-26T17:59:00.000-07:00

Here's my new label for my calendula soap. Just thought it needed something bright and cheery!! I'm also switching to a glass jat for the salve which will have the same label. My calendula isn't blooming yet, or I would have gotten a picture of it, instead of the lavender.

The Bean Teepee

2007-06-26T17:56:00.000-07:00

Latest Pictures From The Garden

2007-06-26T11:08:00.000-07:00

I went out last week and took some pictures of the garden. Things are coming along very slow this year because it has been so cool most of the month. I included a picture of the bean teepee that I made for my son. It'll be really cool once the beans make there way to the top. The arbor is one that I made from branches around our property and it has a hops vine climbing on it that I bought on the way back from farm fair last summer. My lavender is about ready to be cut. It think it just needs a few more hot days. I love the long stems on the plants that I have now.(anna louisa, lavender grosso) The green house was finished last year and made from mostly recycled materials.

It's strawberry time!!

2007-06-12T10:58:00.000-07:00

I went for my first wander around the garden since my surgery a week ago. I was surprised by a few ripe strawberries. All the u-pick places are open now and I hope I feel better by this weekend. I'll just have to bring something to sit my hiney on while i'm picking. The herbs are already so lush. My oregano is beginning to take over and will need to be divided this year. I cut three big bunches. Last night I made a tuna-pasta salad with some of my fresh flat leaf parsley. oh, it was so good.

We've had a lot of rain this last week and the weeds have begun to take over again. I'm usually out there every day pulling a few, but haven't been able to to that. I guess it's one of the downfalls of organic gardening, but I wouldn't do it any other way. Even the flavors of the veggies and herbs are better when they're grown organically. I added some composted manure to a big pot of organic soil and started a small tomato plant in the green house. (I"ll post a picture later) I've never had any luck with them outside, so thought I would experiment and do it this way. Between the compost the the heat, that plant that was once 6" tall is now 3 feet tall or more in a matter of about 6 weeks and is full of blooms. I also put a green pepper plant in there and it's doing just beautifully. The foliage is a rich green and looks so healthy. So far, so good!!

I started to poop out a little so gathered up my little harvest. As I was walking up the driveway with my arms full of herbs, the breeze blew the scent of oregano, lavender and strawberries into my face and it was like heaven. What was even more heavenly was the tase of those fresh ripe strawberries. I wish I could share them with you!!

Spring on the Farm

2007-06-12T10:36:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I shared any news from the farm. It's our third year here and the "third year it leaps" saying is so true. My flowers have gone absolutely crazy this year. Everything is so lushe and full. The iris just finished and I just enjoyed the last bouquet of peonies. I got 14 blooms from one bush and they were so gorgeous and smelled heavenly.

The animals are really active of course and the chickens are laying like crazy. I'm getting a dozen or more a day right now and actually having a hard time keeping up with them. I walked in to collect eggs one morning and found a perfect round nest with some feathers and two pretty brown eggs. It's those little moments that are as fullfilling as the big ones. The girls are outside right now working hard and I can hear them anouncing there eggs. One of them sounds like she's chuckling to herself. I wish there was a way that these moments could be wrapped up and put in a box and then opened on a dreary day.

No baby goats this spring, but I'll try again next fall. God is a pretty smart guy though. I've had health issues the last couple of months that have left me pretty dependent on others and then had surgery a week ago. All went well and I even took s stroll in the garden today. It's a gorgeous and sunny day.

My 8yr old had a play this morning. I love when he looks up and finally spots us in the crowd. He gets the biggest grin and has to do the little wave. At the end of their play the teacher had the parents take the place of their child and did the play a second time with the parents playing some of the roles. It was a hoot and Christien got so tickled over me playing his part.

My 19yr old text messaged me last night and forwarded a picture of his new eybrow piercing. Oh, my. I suppose if it makes him happy. He's a great kid and loves the lord. I'm so glad he opted not to do the lip! yikes!! I text him back with "OMG, I forgot you were doing that. Did it hurt?" He called me back and apparently he and his friends were quiet humored over his mom texting in abbreaviations. His words were, "Mom, your so cute. You make me laugh". I love to make my boys laugh. Kids love to see their parents show their silly side.

Patricia's Birthday Gift

2007-04-22T11:47:00.000-07:00

This is a painting I did for Patricia from a photo that I took on our way to Farm Fair in Idaho last summer. Just as you come down the hill it looks out into the valley of rolling hills, farms and wheat fields. I wish I could have captured how magical it really is. The hills remind me of pictures in a story book and just looking at them creates a peaceful feeling inside.

Some Yummy Yarn From The "Yarn Garden"

2007-04-22T11:45:00.000-07:00

I found this great hand painted cotton yarn that will soon be a scarf!

My Thrift Store Finds

2007-04-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

Here are the things that I found at the thrift store in Portland!!

A Day Out With The Girls

2007-04-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

We got to spend the afternoon with our sweet friend Patricia and celebrated her birthday with her. We started out our day visiting a great thrift shop in Portland that Patricia visits frequently. If I lived near this thrift shop I would be in big trouble. It's exactly what a thrift shop should be. The prices were great and they had tons of treasures. For 20.00 I got an incredible embroidered tunic in the perfect red head color, a bracelet made from vintage beads, a large cotton embroidered table cloth that just needs the finishing touches and a vintage type set that will be great for my vintage paper crafts.

After that we went to a chinese resteraunt that made everything home made and fresh. It was the best chinese I've ever eaten!! I had the beef and broccoli in a brown sauce and fried rice. The egg drop soup was wonderful and perfect for the cool rainy weather we had yesterday.

After lunch we decided to make our way to the button and ribbon store that we've heard so much about. We did however get sidetracked by the Yarn Garden store. This place is an entire city block!! There were so many choices of yarn I could hardly make a decision. Patricia had to come and find me and drag me out. (not really, she was very sweet about it)

We were on our way again turning and winding through all the one way streets of portland and through all the traffic to get to the one place we were most looking forward to seeing. We finally found it only to see that it was totally dark inside the store. No! It couldn't be!!! It was closed!! Yes , Patricia, we should have listened to you and gone there first! Oh, well. It's a perfect excuse to plan another "Girl's Day Out".

We were pretty pooped and a little cold and soggy from the rain, so we headed back to Patricia's for the pajama party. She opened her gifts and then we though we should get the movie going before it got too late. We put on our jammies and curled up on the couch together with our munchies and watched a movie in front of the fire. Before we left we had some home made angel food cake with fresh strawberries. We couldn't have asked for a nicer day and I'm so glad that we got to share Patricia's birthday with her!!

Green Tea Soap

2007-01-13T18:06:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-01-13T18:01:00.000-08:00

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

2007-01-13T17:58:00.000-08:00

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!!

2007-01-13T17:53:00.000-08:00

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

2007-01-13T17:46:00.000-08:00

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!!

2007-01-03T09:22:00.000-08:00

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!!

Life's Been Busy

2006-08-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

I hadn't realized how long it had been since my lat blog. Things have been kind of a whirlind since the nicer weather set in. We put in a raised garden this year. There are 8-4x4 raised beds wit vegetables and herbs. I've put up about 10qts of green beans and we have zuccini coming out of our ears. I've been playing around with all the different herbs especially the basil. I'ts doing just wonderful with all the heat we have had. I'll include a picture later.

We had a lot of clean up to do from our down pours and storms this winter and had to prepare for my oldest son's graduation. We had a wonderful party with about 30-40 people through out the day. We had a BBQ and played Bolo outside and then sat around the fire in the evening and roasted marshmallows and visited. It was such a surreal time for me. I knew my little boy was becoming a man, but now here he was getting ready to enter the real world with endless opportunity in front of him. I have strongly reccommended that he go to college, but I told him that whatever he does, do something that brings him joy. I told him not to live his life according to what others have planned for him. Whether it be ministry, music, or whatever he chooses, I'll be there as his biggest fan.

My husband got laid off earliler this year

A Glimpse of Spring!

2006-02-03T17:13:00.000-08:00

I was outside waiting for my Mom to pick me up so we could go into town and meet a friend for lunch and I got to looking around at my flower beds and realized that some of my flowers are sending up little shoots and I have little violets blooming. It seems that when you feel you can't stand the dreariness of winter one more day you are given a glimpse of renewed life through nature. When I saw those pretty little violets today it was as if God was smiling at me and it eased my spirit and gave me the hope of Spring.

2006-02-03T17:10:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of our barn. As you can see things look pretty dreary from all the rain. The barn has moss all over the side from being so water logged!

2006-02-02T09:16:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been busy working on some new soaps and finally got my foot balm done. It's a hit so far and it smells good enough to eat. I had to do my first soap rebatch the other day. I tried a recipe that I found on line that is basically unscented and came out smelling kind of different because of the combination of oils and the cocoa butter. So, I grated it and put it in a roasting pan in the oven for about an hour and mashed it down every 15-20 minutes. When it was melted, I added sweet orange oil and then smooshed it back in the mold and covered it with plastic wrap. The texture came out fine and it smells wonderful. It ended up with kind of a marbled look. It's kind of cool looking. I'll post a picture of it later.

The rains have been terrible here this year. It has rained @ 35 of the last 40 days and we have lots of tributary rivers that are flooding and small landslides. If you have ever lived where it rains like this, you know what it means to CRAVE the sun. We sometimes don't realize how important the sun really is to our overall sense of well being until we don't have it for long periods of time. The lack of bright light kind of drains the life energy out of you and I have heard from so many people that they have a case of the "blues" right now. I suppose the upside is that all of this rain is what provides us with our beautiful green landscape and wonderful gardens. I have been planning my herb garden and a butterfly garden and making seed wish lists. We will hopedfully be working on the green house at the end of the month and I will definately be posting pictures of the progress. We have three walls framed right now.

I know my poor chickens and goats must be feeling water logged right now. I try to keep straw down for them, but with in a couple of days it turns to mush. My eggs always have splotches of mud on them because the girls walk on them when they climb in the nest. The ducks are in their glory though. It will be pooring down rain and all the animals will be inside except my little George and Anna running around chattering about their excitement to one another.

It's almost chick time again and my husband and I are thinking about getting an incubator. If not, we will just get a small batch from the feed store. We are thinking of getting a few more of the barred rock. They are so pretty and they really have nice personalities.

I was in the chicken coop the other day and one of the reds were in a nesting box and a buff was on the ground hollering at her because she wanted in. Finally she decided to climb in anyway and actuallly wedged her way underneath the other one from behind and went between her legs and out the front so that on hen was litterally sitting on top of the other. It was several minutes before one of them finally gave in and hopped down. I wish I would have had my camera. My 7yr old and I got quiet a chuckle out of their antics. They both just sat there stacked on top of each other and looked at us as if to say, "what, you got a problem with that?!"

The goats are doing well and all fattened up from the extra feed and the winter fur. I call the nubian "Fattty Patty" because she has gotten so round. We are hoping to breed her this fall, but only if we are able to get an appropriate milking area set up for her. We may have to wait until next fall. All in time I guess!!

Well I'm off to start on some Valentine's today. I have some new paper and stickers that I'm anxious to play around with.

Have a blessed day!!!

Handmade Soap

2006-01-12T11:32:00.000-08:00

My Mom and I wanted to make soap for years, but I guess we were a little intimidated by the whole process. Well, about six months ago we decided to step out of our comfort zone and go for it. We spent some time collecting supplies and doing lots of research on the internet and in books as well as talking to more seasoned soap makers for advice. We found a great site full of detailed instructions and lots of recipes that was very helpful. www.millersoaps.com.

The first batch of soap that we made was quite an adventure. My mom was pretty nervous about using the lye and right before we got ready to start, she looked at me and said," I don't know if I can do this!" But, we did it and I think it turned out beautifully and we had a great time laughing at ourselves and each other. We looked like the two mad scientists with our goggle, masks, and rubber gloves on. I'll never forget asking Mom a question and she turned around a looked at me and she hadn't realized that her glasses had gon wackadoodle under her goggles and the goggles themselves were all steamed up because she was having a hot flash. I totally cracked up!!!

Well, six months and about 12-15batches of soap later I am feeling ready to get the Lamarguerite Farm name out there. I am going to sell my products in some stores in our area and there is a local tea room that wants to carry it. During the spring and summer I will open our place to the public to sell handmade soaps, herbs, and fresh eggs. You can see more of my product at http://LamargueriteFarm.etsy.com.

All of my soaps are made with natural and organic products. The scents I have made are Rosemary-Mint(most popular), Lemongrass and clary Sage, Lavender Flower, Soothing Oatmeal, and Vanilla Lemon. For spring I am going to add a rose infusion soap, peony, garden scrub bar, and farmgirl garden. I am also working on a rich peppermint foot balm made with shea and cocoa butter.

I have also added a line in honor of my Granny. It's called Granny's Country Kitchen. It was created after the women before us that used everday items from their gardens and pantries to make simple skin care and basic rememdies. The first aid ointment is wonderful. I had a customer tell me that it helped clear a cold sore and is great for minor burns in the kitchen.

One thing I have decided with the life experiences I have had is that I won't let things that I'm afraid of or intimidated by stop me from making the best of every minute of life that I am given. If you are afraid to take that first step, that's all the more reason to do it anyway. Whether you succeed or fail, it's what you took from that experience while you were there!!

Happy Holidays

2005-12-13T14:10:00.000-08:00

I have been a busy farmgirl and also have had some computer problems so I haven't been able to do any updating, but wanted to sent out lots of blessings and a big farmgirl Merry Christmas!!Remember to take time out to focus on the importance of the gift we were given through Christ's birth. Focus on loving each other and being thankful for even the tiniest ways that God blesses us throughout the year.

chicken/duck cuddling pictures

2005-10-25T09:26:00.000-07:00

Chicken Cuddling

2005-10-24T20:48:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of me holding one of my chickens which was prompted by someone on the farm message board that I belong to. (www.maryjanesfarm.com). One of the members asked if any of us that raised chickens ever "cuddled" them. I admit it, I am one of those!! I'm also a duck cuddler as you can see from the other picture. The chicken is one of my newer ones and I haven't come up with a name yet, but the duck's name is Anna after one of my Great Great Grandmothers. I have another duck that we named Cally after the other Grandma, but she turned out to be a he and now goes by George. They are both kakhi campbels and have the sweetest personality. We have our animals for the obvious practical reasons, but I absolutely love each and every one of them. I love to hold the chickens and hear them chatter . They each have their own individual personalities.

We love to sit and watch our chickens go about their daily activity. They are actually pretty funny at times. It's hilarious to see a chicken stand in place and jump straight up in the air to catch a fly and the way they verbalize with one another and establish "pecking order" is so interesting. If one finds a worm then all the others will chase her around the run. We call it "chicken football!" I'll never forget the day my landlord came by and said he walked up to the chicken run and was shocked that every last one of them were sprawled out dead on the ground until they stood up when he got closer and started walking around. I reassured him that they were just sunning them selves and I thought the same thing the first time I saw them do it.

I have found that the hens are very particlar about their nesting boxes and for some reason all want to lay in one box. The first few days the newest batch of hens were here, they decided they wanted to use the same nesting box as well. One would be in the box and one would be on the ground telling her off. This went on for several days until they got their egg laying schedule down and go in shifts now. One day I walked in to see three hens crammed in one box together. All you could see were two heads, chicken fluff and one legg. You gotta love 'em!

Nature Walk

2005-10-22T21:10:00.000-07:00

Today my six year old and I decided to go on a nature walk on the way to the mailbox. I did this a number of times with my older son when he he was in grade school. We always had so much fun and everything is so beautiful this time of year.

We collected different types of leaves, sticks, rocks, moss, a fir branch, pine cones and a few remaining wild flowers including one lonely little white daisy along side the drive. We got home and pulled out the construction paper, markers and glue and put together a wonderful nature book. He titles it "Fall is Here and Halloween". He included a picture on the cover that I took of him playing in the leaves in the infamous red rubber boots. It is the same one I added here. He was so proud of our work and after everything dries we will put the pages together with jute twine. He plans on taking it to share day at school. When he got to the very last page he looked at me and said," I know, I'll give this to my teacher so that she will always remember me." He has the such a sweet spirit and a loving heart. Both my boys amaze me every day!( and challange me of course! ha ha)

Here is a story about the goats that he wanted me to include:

Molly went Baaa Baaa. Bubbles goes Baaa Baaa really loud when she is hungry and when we leave home. They love bananas and alfalfa. Written by: C. W.

Our kids

2005-10-22T20:11:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of our goats Molly and Bubbles. They are both around 6mos. old. Molly was the first that we brought home. Being new to this we started out doing pretty much everything the wrong way. We had done some research and got lots of advice. It's amazing how you can talk to five different goat owners and they will all tell different ways of caring for goats. I was kind of stressed out about the responsibility and wanting to do everything just right, but over time realized that other than the basics it is really a matter of personal preference and your own situation and environment.

Molly was sort of a quick decision at an auction that we had attended. We were there initially to sell a couple of our roosters and decided to stay after to see the larger animals. We had decided to go with Alpine Dairy goats as we loved their temperament and wanted a good milk goat. I was sitting their with my children and out comes about 6 alpine kids. They started going quickly and there were only a couple of does. The first one went quickly and my boys were both sitting there begging to have this goat and all the while I'm sitting there thinking, " my husband is going to kill me!" I decided to just go for it. We went to take her home and when we got a closer look, realized that she was quite thin. On the way home I was looking at this sweet little goat thinking, "what in the world did I get myself into?". We got her home and got her stall all set up for her and gave her some time to rest.

That day also happened to be my husband's birthday so we decided to call her his birthday surprise!! My Mom and sister came over that evening to join us for cake. They new about the goat, but my husband still did not. After cake we told him we had a surprise for him and had to take him outside. I really wasn't sure how he would react. When we opened the door to the barn we discovered that we hadn't goat proofed her pen very well and she was standing at the door to greet us!! My husband was actually excited about it!! Thank the Lord.

Molly had scours very bad and was very thin. I was frantically researching and found a wonderful sight for beginning goat owners. He told his story about how they got started and how they did everthing wrong as we did. From this experience we learned, never buy a goat from an auction, because more times than not they are sick and never buy just one goat as they need companionship in order to thrive well and not be completely dependant on your attention. It can cause a noisy goat with a lot of behavior problems. We were able to get some wonderful immune boosting herbs for her and I immediately put her on probiotics. We made sure that she was able to browse, have plenty of hay and gave her a good grain with a lot of protein. In the beginning I wasn't sure if she was going to make it, but we pulled her out of it. A majority of her problem was worms and not being fed properly. It also looked as though her feet had never been trimmed. When we got our second goat "bubbles" a couple of weeks later she showed us how to trim her hooves.

She has gained weight, her hooves are in good shape and she has her buddy that she loves to antagonise into playing with her. When we first brought her home, I was a little frustrated and wished we had gotten the healthier doe. But I know now that she was meant to be with us. If she had gone with anyone else, chances are she would have died. She is our little rescue goat and has the sweetest spirit of any animal I have ever been around. When I kneel down to love on here, she looks into my eyes and I know she's telling me she's grateful.

My Girls!!

2005-10-20T19:47:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of one of my 18 happy hens! I don't know what it is about this picture that just makes me smile. Raising chickens has been quite the adventure for my family and I. It is something that I dreamed about for such a long time and was so excited when we were able to rent a home with property and lucked out with a land lord that really likes us and lets us have our animals. I started out visiting the feed store with my kids many times and just browsing the isle with all the poultry supplies. I also bought a book called, "Raising Chickens In Your Backyard" that was wonderful. It was very practical and geared towards those that are just starting out. We bought a little at a time in anticipation for delivery of our chicks. The first thing we purchased was a chick feeder that my 6yr old picked out. He left the store feeling as though he had quite a treasure. There is a smaller section to our little barn that we turned into quite a large chicken coop and only had one outside wall when we moved in. We were lucky enough to purchase some old barn boards from a man up the road. They call him "Barnboard Tom". We spent weekends off and on for a couple of months. I had gone on a trip to illinois to visit relatives and when I got home my son and husband surprised me with a finished chicken coop!! They were so proud of themselves. They used materials we had on hand such as old crates and wooden dresser drawers for nesting boxes and the roost was made from limbs they found on our property. They did a wonderful job. It felt as though we were preparing to deliver a child with all the book reading, planning and purchasing we had done. My husband was as excited as I was and picked up five free ckicks from a feed store in Oregon and surprised us with them. The kids were ecstatic! The picture of the chicks I posted were four of the first five we brought home. The white one was named Peeps by my 6year old. Peeps grew up to be a beautiful rooster and I will add a picture of him later.

Over the next few months, we added seven buff orpingtons including on rooster, six rhode island reds, and two sweet little khaki campbell ducks(that's another story!). Just a few weeks ago we purchased six full grown laying hens from a local farm that are a barn yard mixture. My favorite of that bunch is a barred rock hen that lets me pick her up and then sits there and chatters at me. They have all been such a joy and we are now getting about 5-7 eggs a day. The rhode island reds were the first of the ones we raised from chicks to lay. They were about 5mos. old when I found the first egg laying on the ground in the corner of the coop. I was so overjoyed it almost brought me to tears. My girls and I had worked so hard and the first egg was finally here!!

My First Blog!!

2005-10-18T09:28:00.000-07:00

Well, as computer illiterate as I am, I decided to join the blog "band wagon". My plan is to share my experiences and photos as I experience rural living and small live stock raising for the first time in my life! I am also delving into organic gardening and my goal is to have a self sustaining farm. My future goals are to expand on dairy goat raising, chickens for eggs, raising our own beef, a large organic CSA garden, and the ability to teach others of the importance of eating organic foods, avoiding anything processed, and buying locally and when things are in season. I have only canned jam at this point and plan on doing some applesauce, but next year I hope to can and freeze alot of fruits and vegetables. I'm trying to take it in baby steps though to prevent myself from becoming completely overwhelmed.

I'm so thankful everyday at how much God blesses our lives. There are always struggles in life, but it is through these struggles that we gain knowledge, understanding, and perseverance.

Many blessings to you!!

Missy