Rainy Day Today

It's a rainy, dreary day today here at Patchwork Acres. The craft shows are over for this year; but I have to continue making soaps to get ready for next year, which isn't that far off. Today's soap making will be of Oatmeal and Honey Goat Milk Soap. I don't add fragrance to this one and it always smells good.

I haven't put up the Christmas tree yet, but will get to that this week. I have to clean the living room first and re-arrange some items to make room for the tree. This will be the first year that my oldest daughter won't be home anytime over the Christmas Holidays. She's living across the country from us now and and still looking for a job. She has an interview today and she's very hopeful that she'll be offered a position as a permanent substitute teacher for a high school history class.

Hubby did some repair work on one of the chicken houses and we finally moved the chickens, who decided the barn was their house, back into their "real" chicken house. Silly birds! Don't know why they have to hang out down there. Then we get to "hunt" for eggs instead of getting them out of the nest boxes.

Hubby also got his motorcycle put back together and running again. He rode it to work yesterday, but not today. Even though the temperature is up, it's raining and feels colder than it is. And he won't ride it tomorrow because there is a high wind advisory for the area.

I bought supplies for another project....a new purse. I've never sewn a purse before, but I don't think it will be too difficult. I bought extra fabric, which I usually try to do, to use for rag strips for rugs or for patchwork quilt blocks. In fact, I need more rag strips because I made two rugs recently and used up almost all of the strips I had.

I finally, after several weeks, got to play my dulcimer yesterday. Worked on several Christmas songs. Oh, that reminds me, I need to send a web page to Hubby. It's Dulcimer song books I would like to have. He's going to "surprise" me with one or two. Well, it will be a surprise, because I won't know which one or two until Christmas. LOL. I also practiced a very short time on my harmonica. Would like to play again today, but after I make soap, I really need to bake some kind of dessert for the family and get that cleaning done so I can put up the tree. Oh, I should make some fruitcake, too, though it should have already been baked by now. I LOVE fruitcake! My kids don't, but Hubby and I do, so that just leaves more for us. Haha!

Off to get busy now. Later!

A Cool November Day

Yesterday it was raining and foggy all day.  Yuk!   And I baked a delicious Sourdough Chocolate Cake with chocolate frosting.  It's very tasty!

Today is cool, cloudy, and damp.  Another "yuk".  I made a double batch of jalapeno pepper jelly this morning.  It looks like there's still enough peppers to make another single batch, but I have to buy more jelly jars and liquid pectin first.  Later in this afternoon I'm going to make Sourdough Pecan Sticky Buns.  The sourdough "sponge" is doing it's thing  right now....sitting and bubbling away.  I haven't used my sourdough in a while, so I decided to make several sourdough recipes over several days.   When the cake has been eaten, I'm going to bake a Friendship Cake.  It's easy and I haven't made it in quite a while. 

I ordered 2 Christmas Dulcimer songbooks, but sent one back.  It wasn't in the same tuning as I play my dulcimer.  Since I'm a new player, I don't know yet how to rewrite the music, nor do I want to retune my dulcimer.  But hey, the company shouldn't mind that I sent the book back because I ordered another book, more expensive than the first one.  Anyway, the second songbook arrived yesterday and I can play most of the songs.  Just need lots of practice to play smoothly.  I had to laugh because on the front cover it says something to effect of "small hand friendly".  Ha! Ha!  I have small hands and I can't play a couple of the chords.  I have no idea how I'm supposed to reach them.  Luckily the author had a new tip for me:  If you can't reach the bass string in any chord, don't.  The music still sounds like it's supposed to.  That makes it easy and still enjoyable for me to play.

I have a new soap to wrap this afternoon:  Citrus Sage.  This coming weekend is one of the "Big" craft shows of the year.  My younger daughter and I are looking forward to it.  We meet LOTS of people and, of course, sell soaps.

So it's off with me to practice my dulcimer, bake the sticky buns, and wrap soap!

CATS

Last Saturday my younger daughter and I were vendors most of the day at a local church bazaar.  It was late and dark when we got home.  After the evening chores were finished and since it was still warm outside, Hubby and I decided to sit on the front porch and play with our 4 House cats.  (They are called House cats because they hang around our house, as opposed to the Barn cats, who hang out at the barn.)   Earlier when I was unloading the soaps from the vehicle and carrying them into the house, the cats were meowing at me, trying to rub on my legs and walking between my feet---whatever they could do to get my attention.  However, when I sat down and wanted to hold one of them, any of them, they had other things to do!  The barn cats had come up to the house to see if they were missing any fun.  All of the cats were either wrestling with other, chasing a spider or a moth, or chasing each other.   No one wanted to sit on Mama's lap to be petted!  Not a single cat!  And I kept fussing to my husband that my kitties didn't love me anymore.  Finally I got a hold of Bandit, a pretty black and white cat (one of 3 black and white cats), and set him on my lap and started petting.  He decided it was lap time and he stayed right there, purring contentedly, until I was ready to go in for the night.  That's all I wanted, to hold one of my kitties for a little while.  But they were fun to watch while they were playing.  

What's up at Patchwork Acres?

Well, we've had quite a lot of rain last week, actually a lot for the month of October.  It caused several accidents last week, one of which included my husband and his motorcycle.  Thank God, he's okay!  He didn't get a scratch, but his bike is out of commission for the time being.  He's waiting to get a repair estimate from the shop so he can turn it in  to the insurance and then decide what he's going to do.  Either repair the bike himself, which is most likely what he'll do, or buy another used bike or buy a new bike.  Because of his accident, I was unable to do the spinning demonstration at an area elementary school last week.  We only have one other vehicle and hubby needed that to get to work.  

The new baby goats are doing well.  Since it's stopped raining, the goats are going outside to the fields or the woods.  They don't particularly like getting wet; so if it's raining, they're hanging out in the barn.  

One of my younger daughter's friends has taken some of the barn kitties to his house.  That will help out on the cat food bill.  I like cats, but we had too many.  Now I only have 2 more females to get spayed before this next spring.  

I washed and hung a load of clothes outside on the "solar dryer" this morning.  I had to use the electric dryer last week because of the rain.  I prefer to hang the laundry outside as often as I can because I'd don't like using the electric dryer.  I keep seeing the dollars adding up on the utility bill.   I even hang the laundry out when it gets cold, as long as it's not below freezing or raining or snowing outside.  I have to hang it out first thing in the morning to give it plenty of time to dry before dark.  

All of the regular farmers' markets are over now until next spring.  The winter market we joined that's located  St. Louis will open next week, but I won't be able to go because I'm already committed to craft show that weekend.   And I'm still busy making soaps for the craft shows that are coming up.  This morning I made a batch of Green Irish Tweed Goat Milk Soap.  MMMmmm, smells good in my house!

Some really exciting news about my younger daughter.  She received an invitation to apply for admission at the Missouri Academy of Mathematics, Science, and Computer Science.  If she's accepted (of which I have no doubt she will be since she's an almost straight A student), she'll be attending the last 2 years of high school there.  She'll receive a high school diploma and a 2-year Associate's degree and have a head start on her regular college career.  We are already familiar with this program since my older daughter graduated from this school several years ago.

I've been busy knitting baby socks from leftover sock yarn.  I'll have them for sale along with my soaps at the craft shows.  I've almost finished a 2nd pair this week.  I'm using a wonderful bamboo, wool, and nylon yarn.  It's very soft and comfy on the feet!  I'm still working on the lacy, red cotton cardigan for my younger daughter.  I had hoped to have it finished already, but now my goal is to finish it by this spring.  I have too many irons in the fire right now.

I really need/want to finish sewing a skirt that I started quite a while ago because my daughter is ready to learn to sew.  She's been checking out patterns for dresses that she wants to make.  I think she'll first sew a few aprons for her older sister and for me.  Then she can tackle a dress.

My dulcimer lessons are going well, when I can find the time to practice.  I can play the melody fine, just have to work on moving my fingers faster on the chords on the faster songs.  I'm sure that will come with lots of practice and time.

Well, it's time for Y&R, so I'll go watch that and finish that pair of baby socks.

What's Happening at Patchwork Acres?

Our last pregnant goat finally gave birth yesterday to twins!  Seems like the poor thing was pregnant forever.  Mama and babies are doing well and we'll start bottle-feeding in a couple more days.  

It's been so rainy, cold and chilly this last week!  Last Saturday my family and I left the Saturday morning farmers' market early because of the cold.  There were only 5 vendors and about that many customers.  Three more weeks to go and the markets will be over until we start going to the once-a-month winter market in St. Louis, which we are looking forward to.

I do have Christmas shows that will be starting soon, so I have lots of goat milk soaps to make and wrap.  In fact, next week I'm attending a planning meeting for one of my Christmas shows.  I have a new scent, Magnolia Magnifique, to add to my list.  If you like florals, you'll probably like this one.  I have shaving soap in the molds that I will take out once I finish blogging and checking email. 

Speaking of blogging, I attended an Agritourism Celebration this week and one of the speakers talked about using social media for advertising.  She said that blogs are supposed to be updated 2 or 3 times a week.  I guess that means I'm a bad blogger because I don't update my blog that often.    Anyway, about 95%  of the meal was locally grown foods and the chef did a wonderful job preparing them!  Delicious!!!!  Go local foods!

I have a new passion!  I bought a mountain dulcimer yesterday from a local man.  His price is so reasonable.  Better than buying on the internet and again it was from someone local, who I'd rather support any day.  It was the last one he had in stock.  So now he'll have to make more for the next customer(s) who want one or two.  Oh, it is so gorgeous! It's made of sycamore wood, which is a light, multi-colored wood.   I could hardly wait until after supper so I could sit down to start learning how to play.  It is so easy and so much fun!!!!  I used an electronic tuner to make sure it was in tune.  Let me tell you, that was so easy to do.  Traditionally, mountain dulcimers, or lap dulcimers, are played with a quill.  Since my son has a stash of feathers from one of our farmers' market vendors, I asked him for one.   It works as well as a plastic guitar pick, which my daughter is loaning me until I get back to the music store to buy some picks for myself.  I'm eyeing several (5 or 6) dulcimer music books on internet, so once I buy them, I should be set on PLENTY of music to play.  The only thing else I could really use is a music stand so my music can be directly in front of my at about the same height as my dulcimer on my lap.  This will make it easy to look back and forth between the music and the dulcimer.   Hhmmm, will have to add that on the list next to the guitar picks.  

My daughter and I have also joined the local Cat Ranch Art guild.  I know some of the members and 2 in particular have been trying for while to get us to join.  We attended their Cat Ranch Round-up two weekends ago, where we sold soaps and I demonstrated spinning on my Babe production spinning wheel.  People were amazed that I was spinning wool on a wheel made of PVC pipes and a wheel chair wheel.  So since my daughter and I are both artist, creative types, and we "caved"  haha! and joined the guild last week.  The folks we have met so far are really nice and very encouraging of everyone's talents.  And the Guild is already planning on next year's Cat Ranch Round-Up.  It's going to be bigger than ever, with lots of activities and music, and most important, the members artistic creations will be on display and for sale.  Stayed tuned for more info!

I have to go now and wash dishes and then I'm going to make mozzerella cheese because I have lots of goat milk now.  I made mild feta cheese for my husband and yesterday it was ready to eat.  However, he likes marinated feta, so I put in several jars with Italian dressing.  Once it sets for several more days, it will be ready to eat.  As long as it stays covered with the oil, it will keep indefinitely.  As least that's what my recipe book says.  Marinated feta never lasts long enough around here to know for sure how long it will keep!  

Until next time.

No Time for Slacking!

Well, one farmers' market will soon be over...one more market day until late next spring.  There will be a market "finale" next week.  I'm taking along my spinning wheel and will demonstrate spinning wool into yarn.  There will be face painting and pumpkin decorating for the kids, an apple pie contest, and strolling musicians.  Should be fun.  My other two markets will continue for another month or until the produce is gone.  

But, that doesn't mean I can slack off.  No way!  Christmas is only months away and I have craft shows/events still to come after the markets close for the winter.   I joined a once-a-month winter farmer's last year and it will be starting soon.   My family and I are looking forward to attending again.   My soaps continue to sell, which means my inventory is quite low right now and I have to keep at it...making and wrapping soaps.

I washed sheep wool yesterday.  The fall brings along several events where I spin wool into yarn.  I haven't bought commercially prepared roving in quite a while since I was given 4 HUGE  bags of wool.  But I have to make time to pick it out and wash it so it's ready when I need/want to spin.  Sometimes I'll card the wool with my drum carder, but lately I've been using my hand cards.  People like to see that, as well as the spinning.

And I need to somehow find time to work in the garden, plant some fall veggies I bought, pick peppers and make pepper jelly.  Not enough hours in the day!  Maybe I should give up sleeping.  LOL!

It's been a mostly dreary, humid, sometimes rainy week.  I washed laundry this morning, but had to use the electric clothes dryer instead of my "solar dryer".  It rained this morning and it's so humid the clothes wouldn't dry anyway.   The humidity hasn't allowed me to wrap any soaps this week either.  It doesn't affect the soaps that are already wrapped, but the ones that not wrapped yet are damp.  That's a good thing in that it tells me my soaps are doing what they're supposed to do....be moisturizing.   Once the humidity level goes down, I'll be able to package the soaps.  Or I could wipe them off with a paper towel and wrap them anyway.  I did that earlier this summer and it seemed to work okay.

This coming weekend I have two events to attend.  Saturday is Marquand's Pioneer Days and Saturday & Sunday is the Cat Ranch Art Guild's Art Show.  I'll be there on Sunday.   At both events, I'll bring along my spinning wheel and sheep wool to demonstrate spinning and my family will sell my soaps.  I hope someone has funnel cakes for sale.  They are one of my favorite treats!

Better go for now.  Have to fix supper early as the kids have their 4-H meeting this evening.

Canning, Soap Making, Baking Bread, and Knitting

Had a busy week last week.  I've started baking bread to sell at the farmers' markets along with my goat milk soaps.  So I spent last Tuesday baking until it was time to leave for the market.  Wednesday morning was another market.  Afterwards I drove to my parents' farm and picked up 3 boxes full of green beans that Daddy had picked earlier in the day.  I put in them in the freezer and finished that job around midnight.  

I spent 5 hours Thursday at the shop where repairs were made on my Durango.  To pass the time, I finished a pair of hand knit socks for #2 daughter and started on another pair.  I have lots of wool socks now, so I thought I'd knit a pair to sell at one of my craft shows this fall.  While at the Saturday morning farmers' market I was telling an acquaintance of mine about this pair of socks and she wants to buy them.  She doesn't care what color or pattern I make them; she just wants a pair of socks that I knitted.

I canned a double batch of spaghetti sauce, as well as a double batch of salsa last Friday.  I didn't have enough spaghetti sauce to fill the last jar, so I made spaghetti and meatballs for supper tonight, along with 2 baguette shaped loaves of artisan herb bread.  The French chevre goat cheese, seasoned with Ranch seasoning, that I made was delicious on this bread.    I ate some on my sandwich at lunchtime, too.  

We're getting lots of goat milk right now, and I have another batch of French chevre sitting until the morning, when I'll drain it and put it in the freezer.  Hubby is patiently waiting for me to make feta cheese.  He really likes the marinated feta.  Timewise, I won't be able to make that particular cheese until later in the week.  I think we need to seriously consider buying an ice cream maker to make home-made ice cream with all the milk we're getting now.  The goatie girls are really producing!!!  Hubby is milking three right now, and we're still waiting for one of the does to give birth anytime.

Tomorrow is Market Day.  I have a batch of artisan herb bread dough in the fridge and will bake it tomorrow.  I have an order for 2 loaves of that bread.  I mixed up another batch of sourdough refrigerator rolls and they are in the fridge until tomorrow morning.  I plan to bake a double-batch of the garlic dinner rolls since they sell out quickly, just ahead of the sourdough rolls....which are wonderful with another vendor's honey spread on top!

I was finally able to make soap today!  Yeah!  I made Smokey Patchouli goat milk soap...not my favorite; and a new scented soap....Magnolia Magnifique.  I wasn't sure what to expect other than it was a floral, but it smells really nice so far.   Have more soap making to go as I'm out of Lavender, Frankincense & Myrrh, plain lye soap, and low on other scents.

Well, it's my bedtime, so I'd better get off of this computer.  I have a busy day tomorrow baking breads and rolls. 

Time is Flying!

Well, here it is September and I haven't posted for over a month!   Hubby and I took #1 Daughter to airport 3 weeks ago and she is now living across the country in the Desert Southwest.  

I've canned lots of pepper jelly, a few tomatoes, and a batch of spaghetti sauce.  Not much else is doing really well in my garden except for the jalapenos.  Speaking of which, it's time to pick them again, and then make more jelly.

My 2 younger kids started a new school year 3 weeks ago.  And  since this coming Monday is Labor Day, they'll have a day off and so will Hubby.  We were thinking of visiting Elephant Rock State Park for the day, but I guess we'll wait and see.  May just grill or smoke something here and enjoy the day at home.

I had a tour at our small farm this past Monday morning.  It was fun!  Four moms and their 2 year olds came out to see the baby goats.  I had the babies' milk bottles ready so the tots could feed them.  First off though, the goats were in the woods and all came to the barn when I called, except that they left the youngest baby goat in the woods by himself.  So I hurried out to find him and he followed me back to the barn.  He was the most playful and the 3 little girls and 1 little boy could hug and pet him; and he followed them all around the barn and the field.   The moms took lots of pictures.

I'm trying something new for two of my three farmers' markets.  In addition to selling my soaps, I made home-made breads and dinner rolls this last week.  I sold everything but 2 breads at the Tuesday market.  Of those two,  I gave one away and the other one sold at my Wednesday morning market first thing before I even finished setting up.  That night I searched the internet and found some sources for bread bags and bought 2 cases.  Guess that means I have to bake breads now so the bags don't go to waste.  Ha, ha!  I recently bought a new Artisan bread book and it has lots of great recipe ideas.  In fact, I made couple of the breads in this book and sold them at the farmers' market.  I have some Deli Rye Bread rising right now and will bake it later to go with our supper.

I've been so busy lately that I haven't been able to spend much time knitting.  However, I had to take my vehicle into the shop this morning and I did finish a dishcloth.  Something mindless to work on while waiting.   

I haven't been able to make soap lately, but I finally made a batch of Black Raspberry-Vanilla.  It seems to be the "It" fragrance this summer.  It will be ready to sell before the market season is over.

The kids are home from school now, so I should go and get their snacks ready.

Dog Days are Coming

The dog days of summer are soon to be upon us.  After a cooler than usual July, the weatherman says it's finally going to be our normal hot and sticky Southeast Missouri summertime weather.

I made 5 half-pints of Jalapeno Pepper Jelly last Friday.  There was 1 large red pepper and it was hot enough that I'll have to label this batch of pepper jelly "Medium hot".  I was able to eat it, but I don't think I'd like it to be much hotter.  I don't like to cry when I'm eating or for my mouth to be numb.

Yesterday my family and I picked almost 2 bushels of sweet corn from my parents' garden and I put 11 quarts in the freezer.  That will be yummy later this fall/winter.  We also picked cucumbers, tomatoes, and eggplants.  Now it's time for me to can tomatoes, salsa, and spaghetti sauce.  I have a recipe in my canning book for Red Tomato Jam that I'd like to try.  I'm curious as to what it tastes like and it would be something different from "normal" jams.  Will post about that later. For now, I'd better start the smoker.  I'm making smoked pork steaks for supper and then I have to pick tomatoes in my garden and get busy canning.

July is Almost Over!

I can't believe that July is almost over and my kids will be going back to school is 2 weeks!  Since I last posted, Daughter #1 graduated from college and will soon be moving across the country to Arizona.  Daughter #2 spent a week in North Carolina with our church's youth group on a Servant Event.  The next week Hubby had to have an emergency appendectomy.  And the week after that the kids spent with their grandparents who live 3 hours away from us.  They really had a great time with them and with all their cousins, who also spent most of the week with Grandma and Gramps.  

While the kids were visiting their grandparents, I picked some wild blackberries to make a cobbler for our son after he and his sister were back home.  He loves blackberry cobbler and blueberry pie!  He enjoyed every bite.

In between all of that, I finally finished making the soap I needed to fill a large customer order.  And my goat milk guest soaps are now being carried by Eggers and Co. Bed and Breakfast near Perryville, MO.  They also have some of my regular-sized soaps in their General Store.  Here's their website:  http://www.eggersandcompany.com/   Now I need to replenish my own soap stock, as I am out of 2 of my more popular soaps.  

We finally received some much needed rain last week and again last night.  Several days ago we picked green beans and put them in the freezer and probably need to pick them again.  Tomatoes are finally coming on and after I go pick them, I should have enough to can a large batch.  Tomatoes seem to be ripening slowly in this part of the country.  At the farmers' market that I manage, one of our regular tomato vendors came to the market for the first time this year last Saturday.  It may be time to pick jalapenos again and make more pepper jelly.  I've almost sold out of what I made for the farmers' markets.  If you've never tried jalapeno pepper jelly, it's really good!  I wasn't sure if I'd like it, but a friend gave us a jar last year and the whole family enjoys it.

The 4 goat kids are growing fast!  They've had their vaccinations and have had their horn buds burned off.  We don't mind the goats having horns, but most people don't want horns on their goats.  Two more does should be kidding in another month or so.  Yeah!  Goat milk to drink and to make cheese, yogurt, buttermilk!

On a knitting note, I bought 2 books from Interweave Press' "Hurt Book" Sales.  I couldn't really see any damage on my books, but I got a great deal on them.  One book is about how to plan and knit a gansey sweater.  There are lots of stitch patters to choose from.  That's on my "next project" list; but first I have to finish the socks, which are almost completed, and the lacy, red, cotton cardigan for Daughter #2 before I start another project.  I usually have a couple of projects in the works, but I don't like having too many going on at the same time.   The other book is about Estonian knitting.  Very interesting with patterns, history, and ideas for knitting projects.  

Well, I'd better hang out my load of laundry and then take a walk through the garden and see what needs to be picked.  Until next time!

Goat babies, pepper jelly, soap, knitting

My son's goat gave birth 3 weeks ago to beautiful twins!  Another buck and doe set of goat babies.  They were born sometime in the early morning hours as they were already clean and dry by the time we made it to the barn for morning chores.  

I picked a gallon of jalapeno peppers yesterday morning and I made a double batch of Jalapeno Jelly.  I made another double batch this morning making a total of 23 half-pint jars.  Mmmm, it tastes delicious on cream cheese and crackers!  Most of the recipes I looked at called for a combination of red and green sweet peppers with a few hot peppers.  I wanted to use all jalapenos.  So in order to do that, I had to use liquid pectin, which I've never used before.  It's a bit more costly than the powered pectin and my canning books said the two were not interchangeable.  Anyway, the recipe was really simple:  jalapenos, sugar, cider vinegar, and liquid pectin.  And if my pepper plants keep doing so well, I'll be making a lot more pepper jelly and selling it at my farmers' markets.

Several weeks ago, my hubby, son and I put together a portable garage for our new hay shed.   It seems to be much better than the cheap blue tarp we used last year to cover the hay.  Hubby decided to put metal screws in at all the joins to make absolutely sure it stays together.  Now it's time to fill it up with hay.

I made a batch of Green Irish Tweed (type) goat milk soap today.  It's one of the scents to fill a customer order.  I have 3 more batches to go and this order will be filled.  One batch of soap for the B&B is ready and the other will be ready tomorrow.

I've been so busy lately that I haven't had much time to knit.  I took the time this weekend to start a red cotton lace cardigan for my younger daughter.  It's going to be beautiful when finished, hopefully in time for school this fall when the weather starts cooling down.  I'm also knitting her a pair of socks made from a wool, bamboo, & nylon yarn.  The Scottish lace shawl that I knitted for most of a year for my older daughter is finished except for sewing a small border seam together, washing, and blocking it.  Hopefully I will complete it before she leaves for AZ.

Hmmm, guess I'd better bake a dessert and get supper started because Hubby will be home before too long.

  

Lots Going on at Patchwork Acres

Gee, I'm not blogging very often, am I?  What's happened since I last wrote.....well, our big news is that we have twin baby goats, a buck and a doe, born the day before we left for Chicago.  I thought they might wait to arrive while we were gone.  They are beautiful and look very much like their sire...black and white with a little brown.  My son's goat is due next.  The poor thing grunts and groans as she moves around and even while laying down.  Anyway, it's great to again have goat milk to drink and to save for my soap making.  In fact, after I finish blogging, I will make yogurt and buttermilk.  Have to have buttermilk to make cheese and my family and I love fresh yogurt with fruit and granola cereal.  

Hubby and I drove to Chicago for our oldest daughter's college graduation.  That is the most memorable graduation I have ever attended.  It was cold and it rained and the graduation ceremony was held outdoors, rain or shine.  I didn't bring a jacket, though we had Hubby's umbrella with us.  University staff handed out emergency rain ponchos for the graduates and their guests.  I bought a colorful, Mexican blanket at a gas station on our way into Chicago that I used as a shawl.   The rain eventually stopped before the end of the ceremony; but we were sitting under a tree and it dripped on us for a while.  We were surprised by how many people were standing up during the graduation ceremony, thus blocking our view.  I was thinking that we drove all that way to see our daughter graduate, then I'd better be able to see her walk across the stage.  Hubby finally asked one woman who was standing up if she'd mind moving because we couldn't see.  She did move, but I don't think she was too happy.  We could hear a few people behind us talking..."yeah, that guy asked her to move.   We can see now."  Hubby and I aren't fond of  big cities and we were glad to see Chicago in our rear view mirror.  We're happy to be back home in rural MO.  And a big thanks to my in-laws, who stayed with the kids while Hubby and I were in Chicago.  The kids don't get to see this set of grandparents as often as they'd like and they all enjoyed spending time together.  The kids will get to spend a week with Grandma and Gramps later in the summer before school starts again.

Last week was very uncomfortable with high temperatures and high humidity.  Heat advisories were out for much of the area for several days.  (I'm not looking forward to seeing our electric bill.)  The first hour of the last Tuesday's farmers' market was miserable until the sun started setting and a few clouds came in.  The breeze would blow a little and that helped a lot.  

Yesterday was nice, though warm, with low humidity.  Hubby, son, and I worked on cleaning up the spot for our new portable garage which will serve as our new hay shed.  It's nice again today.  My son worked down at the barn.  He was supposed to finish cleaning so we can start putting up the new hay shed.  I spent some much needed time this morning out in my garden weeding tomatoes until it was too hot.   I have jalapeno peppers ready, so it's time to get out the pepper jelly recipe!  Yum, yum!

Younger daughter isn't home this week.  She's on a servant event trip with the youth group from our church.  They went to North Carolina this year.  When she called she said the area/mountains were beautiful!

And of course, I'm still making soaps to fill my customer order.  The soaps for the B&B will be ready by next week.   I think I will next make goat milk soap with Dead Sea clay in it.  That is one of my favorite soaps and it's one needed for my customer order.  Plus, my supply for the markets is low. 

My son loves fruit pies and I made a delicious strawberry pie this week.  He and I finished it for dessert after lunch today.  Hmmm, what to make next.....maybe a blackberry, blueberry, and strawberry pie?  Sounds good to me!

So with that said, I should go for now!

May is almost over!

Well, I've been so busy that I've not posted in a while again.  Since my last blog, we spent the weekend of May 16 & 17  at Ironton, MO's Arcadia Valley Mountain Music Festival.  We always enjoy spending time there.  Arcadia Valley is very beautiful and full of history, such as nearby  Fort Davidson, a Civil War site with a museum and the original groundworks.  Anyway, the music festival was great!  There were numerous bands on 2 stages, several food vendors (with funnel cakes!!!!!), and various other vendors, which included me and my goat milk soaps.  Saturday was much colder than I remembered the weatherman predicting.  I didn't bring my spinning wheel on Saturday, but I did bring it on Sunday.  Met a teacher from a school in the area who asked if I did spinning demonstrations at schools.  I told her I did if I was invited.  So we gave her my business card and she will be in touch when it's closer to the time her school has their Fall Festival.  One thing we always enjoy about visiting Ironton is that we eat supper at Bailey Joe's BBQ.  They have the most delicious BBQ pork and their Cherry BBQ sauce is so good we have to buy a few bottles to take home with us!

The next weekend we spent in Cape Girardeau at the Southeast MO Meat Goat Association's Goat Show in Arena Park.  Even though we raise diary goats, we enjoyed watching the goat show and learned a lot.  We sold some goat milk soaps and we got to enjoy goat burgers, goat brats, and smoked goat meat.  Yum! Yum!

Because of the rain we keep receiving, I haven't finished putting out my garden yet.  I have all my tomato plants, but 7 out.  I still need to plant corn, different squashes, pumpkin, okra, cucumbers, sweet peppers, watermelon, Oriental eggplants, more lettuce, and some herbs. 

Tomorrow I will make another batch of  yogurt and then will pick some spinach and an onion from the garden to make fresh spinach dip.  More yummy stuff!  I'm looking forward to our goats having their babies so we have goat milk to make yogurt, buttermilk, and cheese.  I've been using store-bought cow's milk to make my yogurt for now; and while it's good, we enjoy the goat milk so much more.

All of my farmers' markets are open for business now.  And after 5 weeks of attending other events, I was finally back at the Bollinger County Farmers' Market this last Saturday.  It rained, even though the weatherman said it wouldn't until the afternoon.  Attendance was down a bit and most of the vendors left early because of the rain.  

The kids will start Summer School tomorrow.  I will make soap, wrap soap, work in the garden and run to town to buy feed and deliver Avon.  So I'd better get off the computer and bag up the Avon and get supper ready.

I'm Back! What a Busy Week

Boy!  Has it been a busy week and this is the first chance I've had to blog. 

Last Friday I was a substituting at a local school and we had the worst storm!  We were in the hallway, for safety, twice before the day was over.  During the lunch hour the electricity went out, came back on for a brief time, and went out again for the remainder of the day.  One teacher estimated the winds to be 70-80 miles an hour.  The sky was so black, it was like night-time before the first wave of high winds and rain hit.  During lunchtime a second wave of high winds and rain arrived to pound the area.  As I drove home, I saw lots of devastation:   trees down everywhere; electrical lines down; roofs missing from barns, sheds, and garages; and a large camping trailer overturned, but further down the highway another camping trailer hitched to a pickup truck that was fine.  Folks spent the weekend trying to clean up.  Some people still don't have electricity today. 

My family and I packed up goat milk soaps and my spinning wheel Saturday morning and spent the day at the Red House Interpretive Center in Cape Girardeau, where I spun sheep wool into yard and sold a few soaps.  The Red House is modeled after the trading post of Louis Lorimier, founder of Cape Girardeau.  Louis and Clark spent some time in Cape Girardeau before beginning their Expedition.  The Red House is very interesting to visit.

Then on Sunday, after church and Sunday School, we ate at a local Chinese restaurant for Mother's Day.  Yummy!  In the afternoon, I planted some kohlrabi plants that my dad gave me.

Monday and Tuesday I spent working in the garden: weed-eating, hauling goat manure and tilling more of my raised beds.  I planted a few tomato plants, but still have more to plant, as well as other vegetables.  I also planted a patch of green beans.   Should be enough Chinese cabbage to pick today and I'll stir-fry it along with a package of frozen stir-fry veggies I have in the freezer.

Wednesday was market day and again it started out cool and misted rain for a while.  By the end of the market it was finally warming up and the sun was  trying to come out.  However, overnight we received almost an inch of rain (yippee! I have a new rain gauge....last one broke) so it's too wet to work in the garden today.  I started out my day by washing two loads of laundry, hanging them out on the "solar dryer", made a batch of coffee soap, had lunch, and am now blogging.  

So what to do next?  Make more soap or bake something yeasty????  Hubby likes anything with cream cheese filling or drizzled on top.  Decisions, decisions!

Market Day, etc.

Yesterday was Market Day and we had a good crowd of customers, even with the rain and the cool temperature.  It helps that we can set up under a pavilion.  Makes it easier for both the vendors and the customers.  There are geese and ducks in the park and they are entertaining to watch when they wander over closer to where the market is set up.  On nice days some people bring bread to feed them.  I used to bring #1 daughter to this park when she was a toddler, years ago, so she could feed the ducks.  The rain finally stopped shortly before market closing time.  

I bought some wonderful, hydroponic lettuce at the market.  It keeps well, but it doesn't usually last long at my house.  My lettuce isn't quite ready yet and I need to plant more to keep a steady supply ready to eat.  I also bought a pound of rhubarb.  Haven't decided for sure what I'm going to make with it.  I'm looking at a recipe for Rhubarb Dream Bars and one for Rhubarb Custard Pie.  I'm leaning towards the pie since it takes 4 eggs and I have LOTS of eggs.

After the market I took care of a few errands then stopped by my sister's house to drop off several dozen eggs.  My sister, her daughter, and grandbaby had just got back home when I arrived.  My little great-niece was excited to see me.  Made Auntie Barbie's day!  She's the cutest, sweetest, little doll!  She gave me lots of  hugs, showed me some of her toys, and brought me two books to read to her.

Well, the sun is shining today!  Yipee!  So I'd better hang out a load of laundry, and get busy making another batch of soap...probably peach. The Wild Honeysuckle & Green Fig goat milk soap is ready to be wrapped.  After the grass dries I'll be back out in the garden.  I have a little asparagus to pick, weeds to pull, grass to weed-eat, and dirt to turn over.  As soon as the rain is over and the garden dries out more, we'll be planting everything!  The tomato and jalapeno pepper plants I planted on Tuesday seem to be doing okay. If the jalapenos do well this year, I will be making pepper jelly for my family......great with cream cheese on crackers!  And if there's enough, I will sell some at the farmers' markets this year.

So off with me.  I have lots to do today! 

More Soap Making and Garden Work

The Madagascar Vanilla goat milk soap is a beautiful, dark, chocolate brown and smells wonderful as ever. When I finish blogging, I'll go back to slicing and stamping the Lavender Fields goat goat milk soap that I made yesterday.  This morning, after watering the chickens and hanging out a load of laundry, I made a batch of Vera Wang-type (I renamed it Very Wonderful) goat milk soap.  And it smells great, too!  Will wrap the Mysore Sandalwood while I watch my soap opera, "The Young & The Restless".  I also have to fill up the soap boxes for the farmers' market tomorrow morning.  Then this evening the kids have a 4-H meeting.  A policeman and his canine partner are supposed to be visiting our club.  

This afternoon's plans include weed-eating in the garden, pulling weeds, and possibly planting some of my pepper and tomato plants.  The sun was in and out for a bit yesterday and it's out today, but the garden is not dried out yet.  And the weatherman is calling for MORE rain tonight. 

I went out to the garden late yesterday afternoon to check if there was more asparagus ready to pick, but first I had to walk around the garden to look at how the veggies that are already planted were doing.  Well, with all the rain we've had there are LOTS of weeds.  I ended up weeding the broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower bed.  Then I picked some asparagus and went back into the house to fix supper.

My House Smells Good!

Boy, does my house smell good!  Yesterday I took the Madagascar Vanilla goat milk soap out of its molds, cut, and stamped it.  And it smells divine! #2 daughter says the scent makes her hungry for chocolate.  My son thought the soap looked like a brownie or chocolate bar the first time I made it. The cool thing about this particular fragrance is that it turns the soap a very dark, chocolate brown color, almost right before your eyes.  It starts out like any of my other soaps, a light creamy color; but the longer it sets, the darker it gets.  It takes about 2 days altogether, so the color change should be complete tomorrow.  

The other soap I made and took out of the molds was Sun-kissed Currants and I used the sunflower oil instead of olive oil.  It smells wonderful, too!  Will have to wait a month now for the soaps to cure and then I'll wrap and label them.

Tomorrow's agenda will again include making a batch or two of soap.  I'll definitely make lavender (my #1 seller) and something else....maybe the Vera Wang-type, which I'm going to name "Very Wonderful" because it does smell so wonderful.

I had agreed to be a vendor both yesterday and today at a Living History Civil War Encampment.  But since it's been raining and the weatherman was still calling for more rain, we decided not to go.  My soap labels aren't waterproof, and even with the canopy, the rain still gets on the tables and some of the soaps.  If the weather would have been better, I would have really enjoyed attending this event.

Soap Making Today

It's been several days since I last posted.  It's been raining every day, so the garden is soggy and the only thing I've done in it is to pick some asparagus and pull a feed weeds from the asparagus bed.  More rain is to come today and tomorrow.  When the rain stops and the garden dries out, it will be time to plant EVERYTHING I haven't planted yet.

Wednesday morning was the opening day for my second farmers' market and what a nice morning!  The sun was shining and the rain held off until later in the day.  We had 2 new vendors and some prospective vendors chatted with our market manager.  I strongly encourage everyone to shop at their local farmers' markets.  Doing so helps your local economy and helps the local farmers/vendors.  Plus you have the opportunity to visit with the vendors to learn about their gardening practices and you know where the food came from.

I made the Bug Off Blend soap a few days ago and it is now curing.  I had a lot of requests for this one over the last weekend.  I just finished making a batch of Madagascar Vanilla and after lunch will make another batch of soap.  Not decided yet on what scent it will be.

I have to share a goat story.  Our goats don't like being out in the rain.  So if it's raining, they can be found inside the barn.  Last night after supper I heard the goats bleating.  I thought that was odd and looked outside.  Fawn, our newest doe, was standing outside the barn in the rain just a hollering.  So I grabbed my windbreaker and a hat, slipped on my rubber boots and ran down to the barn with #2 daughter.  The barn door was shut and poor Fawn couldn't get in.  Apparently another of the does, Marshmellow, had closed the barn door.  She is known for doing that, as well as rubbing, pushing on the stable doors and closing them as well.  We let Fawn back in the barn and she ran in and promptly shook herself.  I told her that now she was beautiful after having a rain shower.  Ha, ha!   Marshmellow's grandmother, Happy, was famous for turning the barn lights off and on.

Tabby Came Home and more!

My Tabby cat came home!!!!  (Oops!  Sorry #1 Daughter.  I forgot to tell you when you called to day.)  He's been gone since sometime in February.  We think he may have been scared off.   So anyway, this morning I went out to feed Zane, and lo and behold, there was my Tabby waiting for his breakfast, too!    I don't know where he was all this time, but he looks to be in good shape.  Maybe someone out there somewhere had a guest cat for a while.  I'm glad he's back home!

I had two events this weekend.  #2 Daughter went with me to the one on Saturday.  Lunch was provided for the vendors and it was delicious!  Marinated vegetables with pasta served over a bed of lettuce, cream of celery soup, several home-made breads to choose from, and baklava for dessert.  We sold quite a few soaps and visited with a lot of folks.

The Go Green event on Sunday was held outdoors.  The whole family attended this event.  We shared our space with a couple ladies from church.  They had apple, peach, and pear butter to sell, as well as pickle relish.  We walked around to see what the other vendors had to sell or on display.  We got a free 10 minute chair massage.  That was nice!  Met quite a few people and passed on information about the farmers' market's opening day coming up this Wednesday.  And the wind blew hard most of the day!  Good thing we staked the canopy, along with the concrete blocks we normally use.

My soap supply order arrived Saturday, so I will be making soap for the next few weeks.  I still need to order some coconut and palm oils.  Should do that while I'm online.  And this morning I found some sunflower oil at the local salvage grocery store.  I bought one bottle and will try it in a soap recipe I have that calls for sunflower oil.  I think I'll scent it with Sunkissed Currants.   I'd better go order those oils now.

Spent Most of the Day Outdoors

I spent most of the day outside.   After Hubby left for work and the kids left for school and my breakfast and chores finished, I washed a load of clothes. While waiting for the clothes to finish washing, I had to sit on the deck steps and play with the kittens.  They are such cute little fluffy balls of fur and so much fun to watch and cuddle!  

So when the clothes were ready,  I used my "solar dryer" to dry them.  You know.....a clothesline.  I love the clean, fresh smell of clothes that have hung outside!  I especially love crawling into my bed made with clean, fresh sheets that have hung outside in the fresh air and sunshine all day!  My electric dryer should last me until I'm no longer here in this world because it doesn't see much use unless the weather is too cold, snowing, rainy, or freezing.  Even in the late fall and early spring, I would rather hang my clothes outside than to use my dryer.  Plus, my "solar dryer" saves on our electric bill and that's always a good thing. 

 So after I hung clothes out, I drove to our nearby small town to do a few errands, came home and ate lunch; then went back outside.  First I weed-eated in the garden.  Then I got my rake, shovel, and hoe and headed back for the garden.   Spent some time raking up debris that should have been raked up this past fall.  Then I decided that kids could do that.  They started on that job sometime ago, but haven't finished yet.  Took the shovel and wheelbarrow and headed to the barn to scoop goat poop from the composted goat poop pile.  I scared the goats when I went through the barn.  Silly things, I guess I was making too much noise, or maybe they didn't like  my hat.  They ran outside of the barn and watched me for a bit and went back to browsing.  Which is fine because I thought they might decide to "help" me and get in the way and slow me down.  I did take a few minutes to go outside the barn where they were and petted and talked to them.  They're like big puppy dogs and love attention.  Guess what I was doing wasn't very interesting because they went to the woods and left me to my shoveling.  I pushed about 4 or 5 loads of manure up one slight hill and over to my garden.  I can't push the wheelbarrow when it's fully loaded, but it was enough for several of my raised beds.

I have a few veggies planted in the garden already and I enjoy looking at them and watching how they progress from small plants or seeds into whatever they're supposed to be.  My son is in 4-H and gardening is his project this year.   I helped him plant garlic last week and the garlic is starting to pop up now.  He is excited!  He hopes his garlic does well enough to sell at the farmers' markets that we belong to.  He will also be able to enter his garlic in the fair.  

We've  been eating asparagus for a couple of weeks now.  I should say, my #2 daughter and I are eating asparagus.  Hubby and son don't care for it; though my son says it's "okay".  #1 daughter would eat it, but she's away at college.  For the first time ever, I planted my potatoes the day after St. Paddy's Day.  Normally, I don't get them planted until later in the spring.  Anyway, my potatoes are coming up.  Sweet onions are planted and looking good, as well as broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage---both green and red.  Some of my lettuce is up, probably ought to replant.  Spinach didn't come up and I will replant it after supper tonight.  I have tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers (sweet and hot) that I started from seed.  Not all my seeds sprouted, but I can buy what I need from the vendors at the farmers' market or from the Co-op.  

I suppose I've "talked" enough for today.    Still need to slice the soap that I made yesterday and pack up soaps for the Holistic Fair where I will be selling at tomorrow.  Supper will be easy---leftover baked potato soup, salad, and bread.

My new blog

Welcome to my new blog!  (Thanks, Honey, for setting me up!!!)  So what is Patchwork Acres? For those who may read this and don't know, Patchwork Acres is the name of our small farm.  We raise Nubian dairy goats, assorted chickens, some guineas, and rabbits.  We also have cats (any one need an adorable kitten or 2 or 4?) and one Scottish Terrier.   One of the many things I do is make hand-crafted goat milk soaps, which I sell at local farmers' markets (I'm a member of 3 and manager of one of those) and various craft shows, living history days, and events around the area.   In fact, today I made a small batch of castile soap.  Tomorrow I will take it out of the mold, slice it, and leave it to air dry and cure for about 4 weeks.  Also tomorrow I have to get ready for an event I will be attending all day on Saturday, and another event on Sunday afternoon.   I won't be managing my farmers' market for 5 weeks, due to other events that I will be attending.  Busy, busy, busy!!!! That's me.  I can never, ever, say that I'm bored because I always have something I need to do or want to do.   So, I ought to get off this computer and go do something.  My kids will be home from school soon anyway.  Bye for now!