New meat chicks, meet Otis baby goat, and quilt treasure

We got out new meat chicks yesterday, Cornish Rock hens.  We have always had great success with them.

Our set up.

This is the pen for the teenagers - Lavender Orpington and Olive Eggers. We have them up in the greenhouse for now.

Then our Americana Layers should be laying any day now. They are in the coop and yard.

Meet Otis. He is one of Running Water's son. He is mischievous, happy, loves to take long naps and spends time in the sun with his mom. Yes, he has blue eyes like his mom.

Crafts and sewing - A lot of times people send over a box or bag of fabric.  Someone is usually retiring to a nursing home or has died.  I was going through one such bag yesterday and found this gem tucked away in the bottom of the bag. Joy!

Meet Milo, bottling detergent from yesterday and more ideas for Lent with boys

This is Milo.  He is one of Running Water's sons born on Sunday 2/21/16.  He is the smallest of the two, loves hugs and kisses, long naps and is not afraid of Papa Skippy (aka Mountain Apache's Warrior). He loves his mom and hopes to live on a farm in Texas someday.

 

Oh, and he has blue eyes like his mom.

The detergent is ready to bottle up. We left it over night to thicken. Stirred it up good. I used juice jugs from work that were going to be thrown away or water jugs.  Fill half way with detergent and half way with water and shake, shake , shake.  At this point I did add lavender to a couple of bottles and some I left plain because even that smells great.  Be sure to shake before each use.  Man, I love this stuff.  Made 10-12 jugs.

I love it when our friend and neighbor raises pig!

Teaching sons alms-giving.  This one I learned from my mom. When we were kids  saved all our change during Lent, well, really, all year in a big gallon jar. I think we assumed it was for some trip. But one Saturday before Easter mom told us that giving should be done without others knowing and we were going to give the jar of money to someone else. So, she had us sneak into church way before a Saturday mass and put the jar right inside the vestibule. The goal was not to let anyone see us and we must never tell anyone.  This was a good lesson to teach my sons. We saved our change mostly by collecting cans on our walks.  It got to be a joke in our family because my sons were embarrassed to collect cans.  But they didn't mind going to the can bank to have the cans be put on the conveyor belt and up and over to be crushed. It was sad, though,  most of the people there were poor mothers and homeless people, but it was what we did.  Anywhoo... we collected the money most of the year and then came time to give it away...it was our turn to put it in the back of the church, in the vestibule, without anyone knowing or seeing them. We got together -me and four little boys. Strategize.  And came up with a plan.  You must be covert like the military!  They must sneak in, not be seen, drop off the money and rush back to the car.  They did it but always came back running and laughing... announcing that no one had seen them. Success.  I am not sure they understood the whole idea of almsgiving but they did know we were doing something for someone else and unconditionally .  A lot of churches are locked during the day now.  But maybe during adoration some day, don't be surprised if a jar full of change appears out of nowhere for someone less fortunate.

Oh, and your jars don't need to be plain. Here is a nut jar I covered in fabric, glitter and a Smurf.

Hope you have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by. I am heading to see a new generation of boy...my grandson before going to work. Fun!

Making fabric detergent and baby goat lessons

Well, I have run out of fabric soap.  I stopped today to make some.   I LOVE this stuff and this coming from a hard-core Tide user.  The house smelled wonderful as I made it.  My friend, Sunny, another farmgirl taught me how to make it and here is her recipe. I love that it is in her handwriting.

I got a workout grating the laundry bar!

Keep an eye on this when it is on the stove. This stuff can have a life of it's own and boil over if you're not careful!

Half-way there. Need to fill the rest of the 5 gallon bucket with hot water and let stand over night. Tomorrow I will add some lavender oil and bottle up.  Man, the house smells wonderful !

Goats - one of the baby goats saw the ice on the water trough and tried to jump on top of it. Good thing we were out there. We rescued the little guy and took him inside to warm up with the hair dryer. He loved that.

Dehydrating onions and carrots.

Busy morning . Got the two dehydrators going. One with onions ...out in the greenhouse.  The other with carrots.

I love it when you haven't used it in a while and something is stuck to it.... a picture of one of my sons and my mom.

I hate marshmallows but Dude loves them . When we swapped out the refrigerators I found a bunch of marshmallows and I have no clue where the Rice Krispies came from... So made some quick treats for him.

Dinner last night was amazing. Three cheese grilled cheese, homemade tomato soup, and orange cottage cheese salad -cottage cheese sprinkled with orange jello, mandrins, whip topping, and pineapple...ohso good. I don't think we will go back to buying tomato soup. Need to grow lots of Roma Tomatoes!

 Oh and I wanted to share a great reference book:

Time to hit the road.

More babies

Running Water had her babies and quickly yesterday. She was way different than her sister. Her water didn't break. I had just gotten home from sewing with friends. Dude was building a new divider for the boys.

I got to the barn to check on her and she is grunting and looking like she is having trouble. I yelled for Dude to come. He hadn't heard her.  I ran to get the towels and rags.  When I got back she was kidding. The two new boys popped out with their separate placentas later.  She screamed the whole time while her sister tried talking to her through the fence.  Thank goodness it was quick.

Here are the new ones.

So happy everyone is extremely healthy and happy. ... well, Skippy, the dad is not happy that he can't go in the nursery.