What a Crazy and Wonderful Day!

Mondays are usually days that bring a bit of rest since the weekends are such busy times with farmers markets and shows. This past weekend was the PA Energy Fest, one of my all time favorite shows! This was the sixth year for this festival in gorgeous Kempton, just north of Kutztown and we have been selling soap there since the very first one! One would think this fest would be on the small side but one would be wrong! People flock to this event from all over the country and attendance is probably around 20,000! This fest is educational and just plain fun! While there, I spoke to a gal about our felted soap. She asked what kind of sheep the roving came from and I told her Karakul. She then told me she raises Karakul and was looking for a new ram! About an hour later, here comes Candie, the gal I bought the roving from so I introduced them. I am now known as the sheep pimp! If my mom were still alive, she would not be impressed. My grandmom, however, would LOVE it! I take after my grandmother! LOL Great fest, wonderful people!

Now it's Monday morning and there is no rest for the weary, not to mention tired feet. I am taking my husband to the hospital for a procedure and we are walking out the back door at 8 and there is a young good looking man in my backyard. I say hello and he introduces himself as Jeremy Hess, the photographer Kimberton Whole Foods has hired to take pictures of us all! Holy crap! Superwoman here has this on the calendar for next Monday! I have yet to figure out how to be in two places at once! Briana from KWF arrives and we decide I will take Larry to the hospital and be with him until they take him to cat scan and then I will return to take some pictures milking and hanging out with my goats. So, I leave them with my goats and with boxes of product to photograph. If you have met my goats, you know they think EVERYONE is here to see them!

I returned about 10:30 for pictures milking Rachael and Morella and it was fun! Thank you, Jeremy! I really enjoyed it! Winnie, the potbelly pig, fell in love with Jeremy and insisted she get her picture taken! The sheep had their noses out of joint as they couldn't imagine why anyone would want to take a goat's picture! Beau, the horse, tried to get in the background of every picture!


And here is the best news!! You can now buy our products at Kimberton Whole Foods!! I am so fond of all my friends there, Briana, Julia and Kirsten!


What a great day. Maybe I am a little like Superwoman.......... And Larry came through his procedure fine. I was back to the hospital before he came back to his room.

Life is Truly Good

Sometimes, when you think things are going wrong all around you, all of a sudden, life turns rosy again. Not like those silly 'Life is Good" shirts that someone has made millions on but more like that ahhhhhh moment when you realize all is well in your world. My husband has had some medical problems of late and we have been together for more years than I can count on my fingers and toes so when he was hospitalized for 8 days, my world was less than rosy. Downright lonely and sad. But thankfully, he was released on Wednesday! Still not sure what is going on with him but he is home. He is feeling better than he felt last week and still has more tests in front of him but he is home.

Life is good and I don't need a t shirt to remind me!

Sometimes, it is not meant to be.....

In my previous post about my Bare Naked Ladies, there is a picture of our three black Finnsheep ewes and one little fawn boy, Brown. He was rejected at birth by his mom and came in the house to be bottle fed. Oh, it was hard work, almost like having a baby! He and another bottle lamb lived in a large dog crate and seemed to be quite content to have meals whenever they wanted and clean sheets! While it was a lot of work, it was also great fun to have these little creatures indoors with us. The larger bottle lamb went on to his new home at 8 weeks, stronger and much larger than Brown.
When the time came to return Brown to the great outdoors and the three ewes, I worried so much about this little boy but he did just fine. While his mom didn't remember him, he made friends with the three ewes and got along just fine. He was the first one out to greet me at feeding time always 'talked' to me in his tiny baaa anytime I went past. What a little character!

Well, yesterday was very hot and when we went out to do the evening feeding, Brown had passed away. Both of us were very saddened by his loss as there were no symptoms he was ill. Sometimes, when we humans attempt to fool Mother Nature, it can backfire. Our little fragile Brown was here for almost 4 months and in that time, he made many friends, human and four legged.

We were so glad for that four months and will miss our little brown man for a long time to come.

Bare Naked Ladies

Well, the sheep shearer was here on Sunday around 7:15 pm. Katara, Rosita and FireFly went from extremely fuzzy with some lovely fleece to being........ Bare Naked ladies!! They are looking much smaller than their previous selves but it is nice to see they are of good weight!

Look at their faces, do you think they will ever trust me again?

And poor Brown, the fawn lamb boy who is now neutered or wethered. He is none too happy with me for that! He was a tiny bottle lamb who we almost lost at birth. But he has a strong will to live and is now a fiber pet. I hope he forgives me....

Have a wonderful week! Stay cool!

Rainy Sunday

Well, today is off and on rainy. Not much to do but catch up on inside work with the occasional outdoor garden foray. I am still working on my garden little by little and it is so much easier to dig in the damp soil. It is also easier to pull weeds, too. So, getting a little done here and there is a good thing.

The tomatoes in my garden are old faves, Beeksteak, Lemon Boy, Roma and grape. I have a couple of new ones, a Japanese black (love the smokey mellow flavor of the black maters), a jelly bean tomato and a green one from France. Have some marigolds as the tomatoes love them, or at least that is what I have heard. Some cucumbers climbing the fence around the garden due to our new rescue dog, Sammie, loving to unplant everything I plant! LOL Some basil and flat leaf parsley, broccoli and cilantro and some microgreens round out the menu. Hopefully, the nasty blight that killed every tomato plant last year is a distant memory.

Finally found a plant I had been hunting for at least the last couple of years! It is a laceleaf peony plant and it has some buds on it. Will get that in the garden in the next few days. Also have to plant a native wisteria, Wisteria Frutescens 'Amethyst Falls', more beautiful than the Japanese wisteria! I hope to get pictures for you soon.

A lazy spotted dog at my feet and some homemade popcorn in the bowl. It is turning into a wonderful rainy Sunday!

Rainy Monday

Welcome to the first posting on our blog! I am excited to have finally figured this out!

So many new things here on the farm! This winter was snowy and we are glad it is behind us. It used to be perfect back in the suburban days when I could watch the snow and other than letting the dogs out, stay in the warm house and enjoy. It is totally a different thing here as we had to shovel snow, schlep water and feed a lot of 2 and four legged ones. The four legged ones are a load of miniNubian goats, two potbelly pigs and a horse who thinks he is a puppy. The two legged ones are lots of chickens, four turkeys and 4 guinea hens.

The first new thing is we had a nice article written about us in Grid Philly magazine. I am so excited about that! Our first magazine article! Just when my head swells a bit bigger, I go out and shovel some manure and that keeps me humble! Here is the link if you want to read it!
www.gridphilly.com/grid-magazine/2010/3/10/local-business-soap-dish.html

More news! We now have some lovely Finnsheep. We brought home 3 cute bred ewes last Thursday. Firefly, Katara and Rosita, three gorgeous girls! My friend, Kim brought her pony sized trailer over and off we went! It decided that I needed to ride in the trailer with the sheep on the return trip. Well, that is one more thing to cross off my 'bucket list'!! I rode home with Firefly's butt in my face and it was a little bumpy but other than that we all made it home in one piece! The wooly girls are settling in nicely and getting used to their new humans.

Big news! On May 15th, we will be hosting the first and hopefully, annual Spotted Hill FarmFest! This will be a fun day and will be a combo of a farmers market and a craft show. There will be educational displays and all the animals to meet and see. Hours are 10 - 4. It will be a very exciting day and fun for everyone! Oh, and did I mention pony rides for the kids? Yes, we will have pony rides. And kids (baby goats) and lambs!

A rainy day, good for getting inside work done. Even the goats feel that way!