Cheese!

Made a batch of mozzarella, a batch of cottage cheese, and a batch of ricotta cheese today.
Used the ricotta and mozzarella  in some lasagna...can't wait to try it! :)

Homemade Honey Shampoo

I love my homemade honey shampoo...

3/4 c honey

3/4 c castile soap

1/4 c apple cider vinegar

10 drops Rosemary EO

10 drops Cedarwood EO

10 drops Peppermint EO

10 drops Lavendar EO

Stir all of that together. I then dilute it 1:1 with water. This is a runny shampoo, and it doesn't get really sudsy. My scalp feels so fresh and my hair feels clean and it is relaxed and not coated with gunk.

I've just spent the last couple months or so using store bought shampoo and it always makes my hair just frizzy and tangled and I need to use product if I want it to hold any of its curl or wave-which just leads to more frizzy and just frumpy looking hair...

Cheese

Have a batch of Derby cheese that I put to age on Sunday. Have started a batch of chevre.

8/11/15

Chicks showed up today! Not ready AT ALL for them...but that is how things have worked this summer. We ordered Rhode Island Reds, Pioneers, Black Australorps, and Araucana chicks. We've raised all of these breeds before, except for the Pioneers. Only ordered two dozen this time. But we have a broody hen setting on another dozen. And we will keep at least one rooster out of the Pioneers, so we won't have to order chicks for a while.

We have turkey chicks too-we are down to only 9 of them though...gosh they seem to like to die... :( Started out with 15. They are about 2 weeks old now, so hopefully we are past the worst of it.

We picked up 7 ducks the end of May. 6 Mallards and one Pekin duck. They were about a month old when I got them-so they are about 3 1/2 months old now.

Our pigs are coming along well. Tripp and I went over to Judith Gap and got 3 feeder pigs June 3rd. They fit in our dog kennel, like three sardines, so were about 30 pounds. We make nightly trips out to Roundup-living only 4 miles from town helps! We pick up food waste from the Grand, the Youth Center, and one of the assisted living places.

So...

Horses-3

Pigs-3

Goats (does)-3

Goats (doelings)-2

Goats (bucks)-2

Goats (bucklings)-1

Goats (wethers)-4

Sheep (ewe lambs)-3

Sheep (ram lamb)-1

Sheep (wether lamb)-1

Chickens-5

Chicks-26

Turkey chicks-9

Ducks-7

Fertilized eggs-12

Cat-1

Dog-1

8/9/15

Mushrooms are growing! We have about a half a dozen of them so far.




These are wine cap mushrooms planted in a bed of compost, topped with hard and soft wood chips.

8/5

We've had a broody hen the past few weeks. We are, however, short a rooster...so I went in search of some fertile eggs. Was able to get some yesterday and tucked them under her. She was on them still yesterday evening and this morning.
She seems happy as a clam!

8/4/15

Well, we got a dozen fertile eggs today to hopefully bring contentment to our broody hen, Henrietta.

We didn't candle them or anything, from my (limited) experience candling brown eggs is difficult.
I keep forgetting to ask the lady I bought them from what chicken breeds she has-although it is readily apparent that she has Easter Egg chickens (aka Araucana) and then a brown egg layer.

So 21 days from now we should have some new chicks!...in addition to the ones that we bought from the hatchery that are supposed to be delivered next week... I wish that I had realized how broody Henrietta was a month ago when I ordered chicks!!

http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-incubate-hatch-eggs-just-21-days-from-egg-to-chicken