Getting ready for winter

Starting with the hay for the cattle, I am moving bales today and it looks like I'll be getting a bit of help from Molly my gentle giant. 

Beautiful day for December!

 It was a gorgeous day! temp got to almost 60 degrees, perfect day to get a lot of work done outside.

Jim got a “new to us” tractor yesterday ours had bit the dust and it was either get another tractor or sell my cows, since my ladies are a big part of our farm family I didn’t want that to happen.  So guess what our Christmas present to each other is.  :) it's a 1999 doesn't look like it though was taken really good care of.

I was scraping the ground this morning with it but I didn’t get as much accomplished as I wanted because the cows started playing with the small pile I had made. I sat on the tractor and watched for a bit and they were having so much fun I decided to finish tomorrow.

Stubby is our new addition she is Ellie's calf (Ellie is our Dexter) stubby loves to eat and sleep in the hay ring (so happy she is a girl) This is Ellie's second girl, her first was short britches. Short britches and stubby are half Dexter and half Angus so now I have 2 Dangus's! 

Laundry soap, canning and cookies

I was so busy the week of Christmas getting presents finished, I make most presents months in advance and they usually consist of quilts, lap blankets, embroidered items and also crochet items. I ask for hints this year on what to give  and (surprising to me) most wanted my concentrated laundry soap, jelly, relish and cookies. These items do not take long to make so I made most of these items just a few days before Christmas, yay for me :)
Glad I make my laundry soap concentrated, it was easier to give 2 quarts to each person along with a tablespoon tied with a ribbon than 5 gallon buckets :)
I have had a tiny problem with the cookies though.....my grand daughter and I sampled way to many, I don't think I will want another cookie for a long time:)
Glad I had lots of blackberries in the freezer (from July) ready to be canned. I ended up gifting 7 half pints and 6 quarts of blackberry jelly, 7 half pints of cranberry apple strawberry orange preserves (all made the week before Christmas) and 4 pints of zucchini relish (relish I made in August)

It was funny after everything was made, wrapped and given away the following day was going to be calm so I started to do my laundry, only to realize out of the 12 quarts of laundry soap I made..... I forgot to make any for me......so the next day before I did laundry I had to make more soap! At least the way I make it I only have to wait for it to cool in the jars then whip it and its ready to use :) the way I used to make it I waited until the following day to use.
The recipe I use is:
1 grated bar fels-naptha
1 cup arm and hammer super washing soda
1 cup mule team borax
Heat grated fels-naptha in a pan on stove top in 1 1\2 quarts water, when dissolved add washing soda and borax, stir then divide equally into 2 glass quart jars set aside for about 3 hours until cool then I use my stick blender to whip it up, kinda looks like mayo when finished, it only takes a tablespoon per load. Make sure the jars are labeled it really does look like mayo
Hope everyone had a nice Christmas!

Sids birthday

We put her tire swing up....

And I think the adults had as much fun with it as her :)

We spent most of the afternoon swimming in the lower creek, relaxing on the big rocks beside the water and finding shapes in the clouds. Then when evening came we chased lightening bugs in the upper field for a while then back home for cake and ice cream. When we went to bed that night she said nanny I love my birthday.....made me feel so happy! Life is good when shared with the ones we love!

Fun, Spring and kids go so well together

I was rather sad this morning! I have a routine in the mornings of setting down at the computer with a cup of something and read the blogs I follow, its almost like you all are neighbors that I just set and chat with. I am setting up what I want in the garden (when the rain lets me) and I remembered something that I did not write down from hardwork homesteads blog and now its not there, this is not the first time I have done this with her blog, its just this morning it really bothered me :( its almost like I lost a friend. Do any of you feel like this with the blogs you read, or am I just odd.....hope I'm not odd.....  :D I have learned so many things from others and I store it in my memory, then when I need it I usually just pop onto that blog and find it again.....not thinking the blog someday may no longer be there, well that is what I did again this morning......  :( hope everything is going great for her! :)

These cuties were in the pond when I woke up this morning, I loved it they are so pretty....the cows were not to keen on the newcomers invading their territory though and kept yelling at them  :)

Rosie is never going to let her baby grow up, Callie is now over a year old and they are still inseparable and Rosie is constantly cleaning her, its really cute! :)

We ended the day with another trip to the lower creek, the above picture is of my niece, nephew and grand daughter the three of them have already made plans to bring swim suits and they have already put in an order with my sister and I that they want a picnic tomorrow evening also. To be a child again....sigh..... :)