It is fall on the farm

My farm will be a work in progress for years. but now that it is officially my farm I can start relocating the weeds on the place. It is mostly weeds with a bit of grass. But in the fall the weeds are a glorious site. Yellow flowers everywhere. Broomweed and something bigger and a carpet of yellow flowers. With Monarch Butterflies everywhere. And bees. So you beekeepers can know that I am doing my part.

When I clear the center land I am still going to let the flower weeds stay on the fringe of the farm. I love the butterflies. This year I bought several apple trees, two apricot trees, a pear tree, figs, pomegranates, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, black berries, and raspberries. And I am sure I have left some out. I plan raised beds in the garden. Lots of work ahead.

Stay tuned...

The Roller Coaster of Life

I could get dizzy. At least queasy with all that life has happening now. As far as the farm goes we have lost several long time residents this year and that has been so hard. I miss Beau's bray welcoming me home at night. I just miss him a lot.

My sweet elder poodle is still with us but her health is failing. Her health not her spirit, tonight she took the some-kind-of -hide chewy away from the rat terrier. Which could have been fighting words for the terrier. Have I mentioned the poodle hardly has any teeth? But she was heading to her favorite resting spot with her stolen treasure. Misti is doing a great job of Living with Cancer.

Priscilla is doing very well. Last weekend she and I went to a campout with a group of terrific women that I so enjoyed. Have any of you read the magazine- Mary Jane's Farm? Oh, I love it. I think maybe we were sisters separated at birth! And I am not the only one. Her website is http://www.maryjanesfarm.org/ and on it you can join the farmgirl connection and then you can get lost in all things FARM. I enjoy the connections I have made there. But I had not actually met any of the farmgirls until this campout. Anyway, my nephew tended to the animals here, I dropped mom to visit her sister, and Pris and I escaped. For about 36 hours. But it was fun. Cookouts, moonlight hayrides, laughter...it was great. Jennifer even had speakers who told us about grass fed beef and organic farming. Did I mention I loved it.

This weekend was an event that happens every so often in the little community of Gibtown Texas. Autumn in the Woods. A bunch of crafty local folks set up on Joy's place and sold their goods. I bought some cute containers to use for Christmas projects, some Fire and Ice pickles (which I think I could use for acid reflux demos with enzymes to the rescue!), and some baked goods. Joy sells some of those instant packages that make dips, cheeseballs, and spiced cider things. I have not looked at the ingredients, I just wanted to help Joy out. Mary Jane would have been proud of the aprons that were being sold there.

Oh, and before I forget...we did get a new resident. Mr. McGregor. A few weeks back a client called for help as she had just found an orphaned baby rabbit. She knows I have vast knowledge of these things. I did tell her what I knew of raising orphans including that I did not know of anyone who has successfully raised a rabbit.But Peggy did. And she brought him to me. In the spring he will live in a rabbit hutch in my garden.

I have another blog for my health business. I will post the down side of the roller coaster ride on there. The Above are the good times but hard times have happened as well. There is a link to the other blog on this page as well.

My Favorite-est Cookie Recipe

Windsong Signature Cookies
First let me say I have made these for years and I will give the original one first and then the change I made to make them more healthy. This recipe makes a ton of cookies.

2 c sugar
2 c brown sugar
3/4 c margarine
1 c vegetable shortening
4 eggs
2 t vanilla
3 c flour
2 t salt
2 t baking soda
3 c oatmeal
2 c coconut
2 c raisins
1 c chocolate chips
1 c chopped nuts

cream together the sugars, margarine, and shortening. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. combine flour, salt, soda and mix into the first mixture. Add remaining ingredients and knead into mixture. **Added by me -if you will let this mix sit in fridge for a couple of hours the cookies will be softer** Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart on baking sheet. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 8 minutes or until just browned. Let cookies cool on baking sheet a few minutes before removing to rack. Store in airtight container.
Makes 7 dozen cookies.

I suggest you make these by the recipe a time or two. Just to see what they should be like. I have family that does not like raisins so I doubled the chocolate chips and added in more of the last two things. After I got our parrot and he cannot have chocolate I developed it to have lots of dried cranberries, golden raisins, and nuts. I also changed it to use 1 1/2 cups flour and 1/2 cup soy flour to boost the protein. I also used less oil and added some milled flax seed as it can be an oil replacement. Applesauce can be an oil replacement and I have used this as well. I still use some oil. Coconut oil is good and healthy and it can be added in place of some of the oil and sesame oil. These cookies are always good but if you go too far to the healthy side they get hard. I never add sweeteners other than sugar as I feed these to our parrot.

These cookies have always been a huge hit.

Heavy Hearts

T'was with a sadness that weighed a lot heavier than the oppressive Texas heat that we said our good byes to my Beau today. Some losses hit you right square in the heart. This one did.

Beau was our miniature donkey. Did I ever say how much I love donkeys? They are such great animals and have very special spirits. The donkey was the animal that carried Mary to Bethlehem as she was about to give birth to Jesus. And a donkey carried Jesus to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Little Beau was so special to me. I cannot imagine the farm without him.

Love you, Beau, I will see you again.

That Vet sure has a sense of Humor...

Now if you all remember the two little puppies discovered in the middle of the road in the winter of 09? Yep, that's right. Brother and Sister. Well, in an effort to not have more puppies we took Sister to the vet to have her "fixed." She was not sold on the idea at all. Just looking at her you could tell she had a very heavy heart. Maybe she thought I was going to take her down a country road and dump her out. I told her I would be back for her.

Anyway, when I picked her up the vets instructions were that she would be fine just do not let her get wet. Do not let her get wet. For two weeks. This is the dog that takes a swim in every stock tank on the place several times per day. And I am supposed to keep her stitches dry for TWO weeks.

Of course, I know what I am going to do. I will keep her on a tie out for a few days. Something I hate to do but she escapes the dog run. And I will put Silver Sheild gel on her wound, a little tea tree, and one of those boo boo bags.

Wish me luck because that vet sure has a sense of humor.

My Cutest New Baby

Miss Priscilla Sunshine. She is so sweet and smart. Her Mom is a Shihtzu and her dad is a toy poodle. My brother said there was just no way to clean that name up. Mostly they are called shih poos. I decided to call her a Poo-zu. Anyway she has brought brightness to our home. Sadie likes her and so does Brother and Sister. The poodle and Rat Terrier are not so thrilled. But all are adjusting. We are enjoying.

Springtime at the Farm

Remember last year when someone dumped two little puppies on our county road? They were very young. I had been bottle feeding them for a couple of weeks or more when this picture was taken with Miss Sadie. Sister is the one nose to nose with Sadie.

Sister today.
I hate to admit I did not come up with official names and they are still known as Brother and Sister. A farmgirl friend suggested Basil and Catnip. I think that would be Brother Basil and Sister Catnip. The cats would vote for that. Anyway, the one with the orange collar is Sister and I think she got in all the pictures I made. Except the Irises.

Sister and the Indian Paintbrushes

Even here it is Paintbrushes and Sisters under carriage.



And, guess who is coming to live at our house?

Uh-oh, the picture will not load so we have to wait.

But she sure is cute.

Spring Has Arrived!!!!

Thank you, Lord, for that! We have never in all my days had a winter like this one. I enjoyed the first couple of snows. Hated the night it got to 7 degrees. Do you know how I know it got to 7 degrees? There is a REALLY funny thing about my farm...it is just a short stones throw away from a Naturist Resort. Do you know what that is? Well, it is a nudist colony. And on their website they have a really, really cool weather station reporting conditions there at the resort. When you come to think of it the weather is probably very important to them. Anyway, as I was so cold that night I checked my iPhone which has their weather page programmed in and it said it was 7 degrees.
I was just sure all of the farm animals would be frozen but they were not. I know animals up north get used to it but in Texas in the winter you can have a 70 degree day and a few days later have a 20 degree day. It makes it hard for things to get acclimated to it.

So we are wallowing in the glory of springtime here. Wildflowers are blooming, tomatoes, squash, onions, garlic, peas, green beans, potatoes, and eggplant are planted, Liz's figs are starting to leaf out, raspberries are too. Pomgranates are all leafed out. Doesn't that sound impressive. I bought 6 grape plants on sale at Lowes for 75% off and they are all leafed out. We shall see. So back to the picture I was painting...the wildflowers are blooming, the Oak trees are pollenating and, oh, do I have trouble with that! BUT! I have this really cool homeopathic allergy spray that helps so much. And that is a very good thing.

We did have another death on the farm. I wrote of my brothers kitty Fred in my last post but at my house we lost a 17 year old dog. LONG TIME farm dog. The farmhouse in Heaven got another new resident but it is too fresh for me to speak of much. At the same time our Rat Terrier got really sick and it so looked like she was headed down that path. She was so sick and did not eat a bite for 3 weeks. Three weeks! She really taught me a lesson and I think I will make it a topic on my other Health Talk Blog in a few days. Our poodle is just as energetic as she can be. She can leap tall buildings in a single bound. You would never know unless you picked her up how absolutely huge her mammary tumor is. She has had it for years but it is growing fast now. But it is like she does not know it. She is a great example of living with cancer. With the growth of this cancer I know she could not be around a lot longer. I thought the rat Terrier was leaving us. All of this is to say that soon to come is a new little house dog.

I have three outside farm dogs. Sadie and the two Lab mixes who were dumped as babies on the county road. They are outside 24/7 and they are very good farm patrol officers. The little dogs are to keep Ms. Green Jeans and her mother company. Misti and Millie are 13 and 10 years old. Will introduce the newby when she gets here.

A Farm House in Heaven

There is a lot I am not sure about. And of others I know completely. And one thing I know for sure...there is a beautiful farmhouse in Heaven. **In my Fathers house are many mansions and I go to prepare a place for you** Well, I am not the mansion type so I know mine will be a farmhouse. And there are loved ones already gathered there. Last week I know what the scene was.

There was laughter coming from the porch and loving voices talking in low tones. Out in the pasture there were horse angels grazing on knee deep grass so lush and green. No worry about colic here. In the yard there were two golden girls, one with one tennis ball in her mouth and the other with two in hers. Gracie and Belle Starr. Gracie looked up and saw something...Belle looked too. Up on the porch siamese kitty angel stirred and she too knew. She jumped down and headed to the yard. They all knew that a special day had come. Lucky, Gracie, and Belle Starr ran to welcome Fred home to Heaven. Fred was the first Kitty in the home they had all shared for so long and he had outlived everyone. His old body finally gave up and headed on the same path they had all taken. Now he was restored to his best spirit.

Up on the porch a voice said "oh, look, it is Fred. He has come Home. Fred, you come up here and sit with us a bit. We have been waiting and, you know what, Fred? We have some little pieces of turkey here just for you. We know how much you like turkey. Now, Fred, you just live as you want here, hon. You live here now. You are Home.

This post is to honor a long time family member of my brothers home. Fred was a kitty that came to them sometime in 1989 or 1990. He was just a plain gray tabby that someone threw away. He shared many holiday dinners quietly wrangling for donated pieces of turkey "falling" to the floor. He was a plain gray kitty with a very large personality. He left this home the end of January 2010. He shared the house with many dogs over his life including the two golden retrievers listed above and the other kitty, Lucky.

The sad thing about living in the country is the passing of so many little critters. Belle Starr lived to be 16. Then after Belle died a friend gave Gracie to my nephew who loved Belle so much and grieved her passing. Gracie lived for a long span of time too before Scott had to say goodbye to her. Fred knew them both. Fred actually knew every animal that lived in the farm home in Texas as he moved from the city to the country with the family. While we are sad with your passing, I just want to say...
Welcome Home, Fred.