Fall

I know I haven't posted in a reeeally long time. I haven't forgotten about my blog. I'm going to try to be better about posting more regularly.

I want to say thank you to A Sonoma Garden for the Pharmaca gift card I won on their blog back in late August. My Mom and I finally got around to making a trip over to one of their stores. I had a lot of fun picking out my purchases. There is certainly a lot to choose from. I settled on the Flora Udo's oil 3.6.9 , Rainbow Light food based calcium, and a bottle of Home Health castor oil. I have to say I've never used castor oil, but I don't know how many times I have read about the different uses for it, so I figure its a good thing to keep on the shelf.

Anyhooo, my Mom and I gathered up our large bounty of heirloom pumpkins, and winter squash from the garden. Since we don't have anywhere to store them, we piled them all up on the front porch. Some of the varieties we grew are: Jarrahdale, Dickinson, Sucrine Du Berry, Sweet Dumpling, and Delicata. My Mom made 2 pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving, out of a Jarrahdale, and they are sooooo good. I don't know why, but I had it stuck in my head that the flesh of the blue pumpkins is also blue inside, so I got quite a surprise to see when cut open they are bright orange.

The pasture is going dormant, but there is still a little green for the goats to nibble on.

The goats have really been working hard on the berry bush nextdoor.

I really don't know how they managed to push the vines over.

They exposed this young mulberry tree that had been devoured by the vines. I was surprised that they didn't eat the bark off of it. I guess it must not taste as good.

Grazing their way home.

 Violet is ALWAYS the last one home. She gets so sidetracked eating that she doesn't realize the whole herd has gone home and left her. And of course she has to bawl the whole way home. She's so cute and sweet. Each goat definitely has their own personality.

Vicky enjoying some of the 12-row Bantam heirloom corn I was saving. I gave her this piece, and she ate every kernel off the cob. (I guess I need to clean the spider webs down there!)

I strung up some of the peppers my Mom grew. These are a few varieties of habanero's.

Fish peppers

They have such pretty stripped colors.

These is the habanero plants after all the peppers have been picked. They are at least 4 1/2 foot tall.

 Filius Blue peppers that my Mom got from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.

I just picked a bunch of these the other day to save some seeds. They are soooo pretty. They change color from purple - cream - yellow - orange - red. While picking I found a nice big red pepper, and took a nibble off the end. Boy was that a mistake! There hot! I was glad I only took a nibble : ) These tiny little peppers are packed full of seeds. I only had to open maybe 20 peppers to get several hundred seeds.

I have so many pictures that I just haven't gotten around to posting. I will try to get some more up SOON.

Big Dogs, Big Brambles

Lizzy (my Moms Boxer) was out playing in the pasture today with Rhett and Scarlett, while my Mom worked on the electric fence next door. I had to grab the camera. They tower over her! And they are still growing.

They are the sweetest dogs. They are like the draft horses of the dog world. Gentle Giants.

Vicky snuck into our pasture, when I was in the neighboring pasture with the goats. Rhett and Scarlett love her, but the feelings aren't mutual. Their size scares her to death. Look at the size of their paws compared to her.

I need to think of a caption for this picture.

My Mom put up more strands of electric wire in our neighbors pasture, so the goats can work on the enormous wild blackberry bush over there. So yesterday I brought the goats over one by one on a leash, and let them find out what electric wire is. That way they wouldn't run right through it before they got zapped. Then off they went to the bush. It's hard to get a picture that shows just how big the berry bush is.

See the goat eating off to the right. And those are tree's growing out of the top.

I think they will be eating on this ginormous bush for a looooooong time.

Kimberly 

Away

I know, I know. I haven't posted in a really long time.

I didn't forget about my blog. I have been busy getting some things done around here, and haven't really been feeling well. Tomorrow (place scared face here) I am getting 3 teeth removed. Including a wisdom tooth. So I will be away for a while longer. This will be my first time getting adult teeth removed, and I am terrified. PLEASE keep me in your prayers for a easy, and speedy recovery. My Brothers wedding is in less then two weeks, and I have to be in pictures.

I have not worked on the cow hide yet. I haven't forgotten. Its going to have to hold off till fall, when the flies are gone. If anybody out there has any advice for me, please, I am all ears.

I haven't tried this, but thought it was pretty cool. How to peel a hardboiled egg without peeling. http://thehomesteadsurvival.com/tim-ferriss-peel-hardboiled-eggs-peeling/ This blog always has the coolest posts.

Kimberly

Green Beans Galore

My Mom planted a 75 foot row of Provider green beans in the late spring, and today was the first big harvest. We tackled the row together, and it seemed never ending. Our bowls were brimming, so we began dumping them into a large box. Bowl after bowl, we made our way down the row. When we reached the end of the row our box was full. We will have our work cut out for us tonight snapping away.

The breezy weather has been wonderful today in the 80's, but I am not looking forward to the 100's again this weekend.

My Mom with our bounty

Guinea Pigs, LGD's, and The Sun

Sir Locksley

 Ringlets

 He love to have his chin scratched. He was eating some orange, so his face is messy.

Even his whiskers grow in ringlets.

Flower

 Her hair had already been cut when I bought her. I think they said she is Silkie. Her hair is soooo soft, and has a very high sheen. Her colors make it very hard to get a good picture of her.

She has a black face, but white whiskers. So cute.

Rhett, and Scarlett

They sure love the irragation water. 

 It was so sunny it bleached Scarlett out in the picture.

Handsome boy.

Scarlett is a bit more silly. Their tails are giant, you just can't help but play with them.

The Sun

We had 1 day last month, that the sun had this very strange dark ring around it.

It was very hard to get good pictures of exactly what it looked like. The sky was very blue, like the above picture. The ring around the sun looked like a dark cloud. The edge of the dark ring was a rainbow.

Kimberly