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| Teddy Bear Sunflower |
It is pretty typical these past few years to go swiftly from drowning, holding up the white flag of surrender to draught and begging the rain gods for their wet blessing. We tend to curse our heavy clay soil from April to June then praise it from July to the end of the season and this year isn't much different though the praise seems to be a little slow in building. That is where we are right now-always at the mercy of what we dearly refer to as Upper Management. "That's farming".
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| Me "blogging"-(Photo by Sir Arlo Tormoen) |
We are very grateful for the relationships that we have built over the years with some of our farming friends. We have frequently highlighted
Sunny Sky Farm in out CSA boxes over the years and this year we are so happy for his sandy soil and an overabundance of produce. This box is mostly produce from Sunny Sky. The produce that we lost in the spring would be ready for harvest here now so instead of giving a light box, it will be heavy with Sunny Sky abundance.
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| Solar and raised beds |
Batch #2 of chickens is growing fat in the field. They are loving the pasture and the non GMO feed we are giving them this year. We have had some predation problems this year but that is a normal risk with pastured birds-it is better then keeping them inside like conventional methods. Feral cats have been a problem as have predatory birds.
Speaking of cats, one of our master mousers "Flapjack" is now a well known weasel killer! FJ used to be an indoor cat and was declawed in the front until allergies acquired during one of my pregnancies forced her to become an outdoor farm cat. She brings me "gifts" almost daily. Usually a mouse or a mole is delivered to the front doorstep so a young weasel was quite an excitement. This is concerning though, because where there is one young weasel, there are usually more and it was probably caught somewhere near our hen house (weasels are known to like chicken and eggs-the fresher the better).
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1/3 cup washing soda:1/4 cup borax: 1/4 baking soda(If you have hard water):2tbspDawn ultra dish soap:1gallon water
using a gallon container, fill halfway with HOT water, add all above ingredients and swirl to dissolve, then fill to top with cool water. 1/4 cup per regular load, 1/2 cup for filthy farming garb :) HE SAFE |
Through the years I have experimented with various ways of making my own self care and home care items. One of my FAVORITE ways to save big $$$ is to make my own laundry detergent. A sample of my recipe is in this week's box. You use 1/4 cup per load and it cleans EVERYTHING. You can also use it as a spot cleaner. I usually add doTERRA essential oils to mine but this batch is plain so it is also great for newborns. There are no added chemicals, hormone disruptors or other nasty stuff plus it costs pennies per load for real. I purchase a box of each ingredient and make enough soap to last the year and then some (we do about a load of laundry a day for our family of 5). Let me know what you think and if you are interested in learning more about essential oils give me a call!
