Yesterday was a washout with a damp drizzly day. Soap making was at the top of my to-do list and I got busy early. Soap sales have been quite good and so I am trying to make several batches at least every other week.
Today I sliced the bars and now they will be left to cure for the next month. Pretty! and smells wonderful in the kitchen..

Russian Tea, one of my favorites!

Summer breeze, a clean crisp smell.

Patchouli, a customer favorite.

Sowing Fall Fields

This weekend was spent getting winter rye grass planted for grazing through the cold months. The boys were busy disking, dragging, fertilizing and planting.

 A fence line was moved down the hill a bit to make room for the bigger tractor to get across the pond dam.

Luke turned the lower garden that closely resembled a jungle.

And finally the fall garden went in. Spinach, kale, garlic, broccoli, collards,lettuce and spring onions were planted. We are late but hope the weather holds long enough for things to get established. Late has been our motto for the year. So many projects going on at once!

This coming week rye grain will be planted on the new property and come spring we hope to bale it for hay before turning it over to enrich the soil.

Today was barn cleaning day. The hay and manure accumulated over the summer was pushed in a large pile to begin the composting process. Once well rotted, it will be spread over the gardens and used to amend flower beds.

At the end of the day when things had quieted down, the barn kitties came out of hiding to see what had been accomplished. I think they approve!

Boys and Their Toys

This is Doug's birthday present to himself. Luke had to come home from school to see it.

He bought it to pull this enormous disk.

And pull and disk they did. All the fields are ready. Hopefully next weekend the winter rye grass will go in for grazing through the winter.

The new property has been cleared and graded for fall pastures.

And with the several inches of rain we had, a huge bonfire was built and the brush burned.

 The fire took almost the whole week to completely burn out. Now another chore has been added to the list. Splitting firewood!

The Egg Eater

A couple of weeks ago I found a black snake in the hen house. Being that I had been battling mice for several weeks I told him he could stay for a few days. After he had feasted on mice and they had all but disappeared he turn to the eggs. Oh no, you don't.

So for the last week he has lead me on a merry chase as I have tried to catch and relocate him. Today I peeked in the hen house and found him looking quite comfy in a nest box. I grabbed the make shift contraption the boys had fixed that was to loop around his head. Unfortunately it wasn't very tight but did allow me to drop him in a garbage can. Now, the garbage can had a few holes in the lid from the squirrels trying to get to the feed but I figured if I had a second lid on it (also full of holes) it would buy me some time and I would be able to take him down the road.

Uh, no. I had him in the Gator and was headed to the truck when I turned around to find him climbing out. I slammed on brakes and uttered some very unlady like oaths. I grabbed a feed bag and tossed him in it. It too had a hole in it and he shot out but I was able to shove him back in the can and raced to the truck. My plan was to take him several miles down the road but when I got to the stop sign on our road and glanced in my rear view his little head was poking out and he was looking around as if to say "Why am I in this garbage can and where are you taking me?" So I took out the can and chased him away from the farm, knowing it was probably not far enough and he would most likely return. Return he did, but this time my mom found him and when she tried to relocate he bit her.Yes, he left again, but this time in pieces....