She came back

My last post was in 2014. I haven’t done a single things since then…

Ha!

I have done a lot of things but stopped documenting them. I was raising kids (the girls are now 11 and 13), running my businesses, spending time with my husband, and so much more, but I stepped away from blogging…and homesteading. I had chickens into 2017, but then didn’t have any for a few years. We still have Nellie the cow but she’s dry and not bred, so she’s mostly a fabulous lawn ornament, and something people in the area like to talk about. I found out a couple days ago that the man who logs and sells cordwood up the street refers to her as Willy, with his workers. I haven’t had a garden in so long the beds were covered over in grass, what a shame really. Our only remaining rabbit has a new name, Cece D’Veena and she’s come into the house as a pet for my youngest daughter. She has been taught to perform a couple tricks , she enjoys frequent veggie treats and as much petting as she will toleate!

But things change and what you set down for a time you can pick back up again, and so I did. I thought it might be fun it pick this blog back up too! I will start to document some of the restart along with many things I’ve learned in my absence from here, including running a business, techniques to help keep women healthy and how to use essential oils for everything!

I have started a new little garden! I’ll share more about that, but here is what I’m using to keep bugs off the little seedlings! I learned about the use of Peppermint for pest control in a garden from a field trial that was done at Spyglass Gardens, a CSA Farm. They had lost 75% of their squash yield due to vine borer lavae one year. The next year they sprayed with the peppermint essential oil I use and 90% of their crop survived. They used 1 drop of peppermint per 1 ounce of water. I added lavender because it is known for supporting healthy plants!

I love this non toxic blend, that is not just non toxic but you could spray it right in your mouth to GAIN benefits to your own health! That is my kind of plant spray!! I also love that it works on the concept of detering pests, not killing them. While you may not want the bugs eating the plants in your garden, they are supporting an eco system that is important in so many other ways! This spray sets up boundaries so the bugs and the plants can live in harmony!

She offered her first webinar February 13, 2014

So we were supposed to have a class tonight on how to use Essential Oils for Valentines day.  It was scheduled for last week, which was snowed out, and today is another snow storm.  In an attempt to share the information with those interested, I’m going to try my hand at a webinar.

If you’d like to join in to this link:

https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/989499453

Then use your microphone and speakers (VoIP) – a headset is recommended.

Meeting ID: 989-499-453

I will mute you as you come on, and if you want to ask questions during the presentation, feel free to type them in the chat box.  Doing this make it so you don’t have to worry about the background noise where you are.  I’m hoping my background noise is minimal.  You can let me know of any technical difficulties during the presentation by commenting in the chat box.

You will need to sign on, and allow the program to load.  We can have 25 people join us, so if you try to log on and it is full make a comment in this post and I’ll offer it again around 8pm.  I’ll post a new link at that time if there are people interested.

Happy Valentines Day!

Fill Your House With Love Handout

This explains how the wholesale membership with doTerra works.  If you have questions I’d love to help.  Email me at Amy @  zooziis.com

DoterraMutualCommitment

She’s been getting behind January 4, 2014

I cleaned my garage and some of my basement.  2 Trips to the dump/recycle center.  Feeling much lighter after getting rid of all that extra.  I have boxes of children items that are being donated.  That will take more that one trip, too, I’m sure.  This stuff is getting out!  coming soon, if all goes well, my organized storage area, and a repaired chair!

She built a wall December 26, 2013

My basement is filled with all the stuff I’ve moved 3 times before landing in this house. Clearly, not necessary in my world. So it needs to go. Thoughtfully, but it needs to go.

In light of that, I built a wall to create a storage nook. I put shelves along the walls that were there and the new one, will go through all the items on the shelves, to determine what stays and goes, then go through the stuff not on the shelves for the same purpose. Hopefully this leaves only stuff that fits on the shelves, but we’ll see how that plays out.

I threw away 7 bags of trash (shhhhh…that is embarrassing…especially since I doubt I’m done), and have the wall built, shelves in place and feeling rather accomplished. No pictures for now, because it’s not at that point yet, but when it is I’ll show the finished project.

She built Chairs December 25, 2013

I have to get back here because I’m drowning in all the things I want to do and am not doing.  I’ve decided to go back to using this as a daily accountability/journal, which is how it started, but then it morphed because I had followers and felt obligated to stick to my homestead sort of theme that had come about quite naturally.  Well then I realized that I was repeating myself, because each year with homesteading is quite similar as the last, at least the rhythm of the season.  Time was hard to carve out, I was uninspired, so it dropped.  I got that gnowfglins gig and really was uninspired to keep up with that too.

So now I’m just going try to keep myself on track with getting stuff done.  Christmas didn’t go as I’d have liked, just it’s fine, but I let a lot of things pass by, and realized that’s kind of how things are going, in general for me.  So time to get back on track.  2014 needs to be more motivated, organized and focused.

What I did accomplish…I made new chairs for the girls for Christmas.  I wanted to paint them, but didn’t get to that…maybe there will be a “she painted chairs” post soon!

I used the plan from Ana-White.com.  I love that site.  I’ve not made many of her projects, but there are several I’d like to make.  The girls are super hard on chairs.  I’m not sure why, they are rather dainty in stature, but they have broken at least 6 chairs.  I do partially attribute this mass destruction to how cheap and throw away they make things these days, but decided it couldn’t hurt to go with super rugged for these petite gals.  The chairs have a storage bin on the bottom which seems practical, as well as adding strength.  Hey a girl can hope, right?  The plan was brilliant, except it does not tell you, in the what to buy list, that you need a 6′ 1×2.  So after collecting all my material, heading home to start cutting, I realized I need all the wood for the seat apron.  It set the project back a critical 24+ hours.  So if you make these, pick up a 1×2 that is 6′ long!  Otherwise it was a great plan and went together well.  Sanding and painting needs to happen, but they got them this morning and Eowyn has used hers while doing a project and Istra sat on hers, declared “It feels good” then ran off to play with all the trucks she got for Christmas!

One of my newest passions is essential oils!  I have become a consultant for Doterra, which is the most amazing essential oil company!  If you’d like more information about this feel free to comment or send me a message.  I had used essential oils before, but was quite underwhelmed and as you know, if  you read the blog, I love making herbal solutions to colds and sniffles.  Not anymore.  I was blown away with the results of Doterra essential oils and have learned a lot about the use, and am totally smitten!

One of the exciting things about Doterra essential oil is that you can eat them!  Yes, they can be used internally, which is due to their high standards of quality and purity.  This is what got me crushing on them originally, and the relationship moved to a swoon and now I’m head over heals smitten for them!  This morning I decided a little ginger spice latte would be fabulous.  Here is my non-dairy creamer creation…oh, non-dairy because my cow is dry right now.  More about that in a later animal update…we are still homesteading!

She was published on gnowfglins August 3, 2013

My first blog post is up!

Love Where You Live Through Foraging

I’m working on my follow up post for August which will be a how to of foraging piece.  So, please, go check out the post, and comment!  Thank you!

As for what is happening here…

We had something like 64 muscovy ducklings hatch last month.  I was really amazed at the ability of these 6 girls, sharing 3 nests.  Halloween weekend will be processing days for this lot!  I’m glad I have freezer space available!

Nellie is not pregnant.  So we are trying to figure that out.  She’s still giving us a bit over 1/2 gallon a day, which is just fine for our needs, but she does need to be re-bred.

The rabbits are doing well…not as well as the Ducks did, but we did a full round of breeding our first timers and have assessed who is staying and who is not, so that will help us get all the breeders into one area.

It’s quieter here on the farm, but it’s a good quiet.  It’s a regrouping year and a time to determine where we want to put our efforts.

 

She Found Muscovy Ducklings July 4, 2013

This year has been a transitional year.  In part because I felt I didn’t have the extra it would take to do things well, so I decided to pull back on the farm this year.  I had 3 trios of Muscovy ducks, gave them each their own space and completely forgot about them…well, we cared for them, food, water, clean bedding, but I didn’t manage them.  Muscovy mama’s are the best mama’s I know, especially in the poultry world.  They need very little management, but they do need a little bit.  Let me explain.

1 Drake + 2 Hens

Should have 2 nest boxes so each girl lays her own eggs, until she deems there are enough, then she will set on them, and hatch them.  ummm… I only had 1 nest box in each space, so 2 girls were sharing.  I planned on moving one hen once the first went broody, but didn’t catch when that happened… So eggs were laid in with the broody girl.  That kind of makes for a mess, really.  Hatching at different times, girls fighting over nests, but once the mistake is done, it’s done…and it was done times 3!  So six hens on 3 nests.  I hoped to have 6 eggs hatch from each and figured I’d be lucky, and pleased with the 18 ducklings.

Today I checked in on the first set of sisters to start hatching and there are 32 ducklings!!  32!  That is one nest.  I doubt the other 2 will match that, but clearly I have more ducklings than the hoped for 18.

I am now glad I opted not to breed chickens this year, because my 11×16 growing pen will be housing some ducklings!

Oh, and you can you tell I learned a new trick with pictures?  Picmonkey.com Crazy cool!  I’m sure I’m late to the party, but better late than never.  This new photo editing option just might help get this blog moving again!

She Wrote about Foraging July 3, 2013

I’m putting my finishing touches on my first contribution to the Gnowfglins blog post.  The teaser…title is “Foraging to know and love where you live”.

I will link when it’s up.

It’s been raining like crazy.  About a month or so ago, one of the local farmers said that from what he had found when looking at weather patterns we were going to be in for a year like we had a few back, where it rained for days, sunny for a day, then rain for days.  That was the year that blight took all our tomatoes, early in the season.  It was horrible.  There were other crops greatly effected.  A local farm lost all their squash that year when the field flooded.  Well, that man knows his stuff, because we feel like we are turning into the Pacific North EAST around here!

Yesterday we had a break in the weather long enough for me to go out and snap some pics for the post about foraging.  While I was doing this, I looked over and snapped a quick shot of our yard rabbit…

Yard rabbit…what is a yard rabbit?  It’s an escapee!  So a few years ago, when we first started raising rabbits, my friend had an escapee, and decided she liked having a happy little rabbit hopping about the yard, so made no attempt to catch her.  I told her that was a poor choice, because it wasn’t a wild rabbit and would surely be eaten by a predator.  I was wrong.  That rabbit lived a year outside, happily, through winter and everything.  She had places to hide, in the farm, and she was FAST!  All was well with the yard rabbit, until a boy got loose.  Knowing the yard rabbit was pregnant, the decision was made to catch her.  That finally happened and she’s been a fabulous breeding doe ever since.

Despite the happy ending, I had no desire to have a yard rabbit.  Until one got loose over here, and as my husband so aptly pointed out, rabbits get faster, exponentially, every moment they are out of the cage.  So this little one is impossible to catch.  We have tried a hav-a-heart trap, not interested.  So for now, I have a yard rabbit.  I really like having one, honestly, I see why my friend enjoyed it.  The happy little rabbit lives in what would be my garden, if I was having a garden this year.  Stays close enough to the house that it seems to be avoiding predators, and despite eating all the strawberries before the girls can eat them, things are going well with our yard rabbit.

 

 

She was Selected June 8, 2013

It’s been quite some time since I blogged in this space, and even longer since I was regularly blogging here.  I started out using this a sort of a journal, and then found myself overwhelmed by unblog worthy things, so let it fall away.  I appreciate the little notes of encouragement that I have received over the past few months.  Thank you for missing me, and thank you for letting me know you’d like to hear more from me.

A friend, and reader of the blog pointed out that if I’m going to be posting over there, with a link to here, I really should start writing over here a bit more often…good point.  I’m not sure if I’ll be as regular as I once was, but I’m going to try to be more regular.  Part of the catalyst for that…well I recently applied to be a contributing blogger with Gnowfglins.  Out of something like 130 applicants I was selected!  I’m very excited.  I have a fun list of blog post ideas for my gig at Gnowfglins.  I hope you come over to read them.  I will post when I have a contribution posted over there!

 

She Made a Fabulous Lunch October 12, 2012

Lunch was so yummy I have to tell everyone about it!

Butternut squash whipped with butter and milk, salt and pepper.  Topped with local goat cheese, and Maple Almonds.

On the side, Sourdough Onion Rings.

Butternut squash was easy, I just peeled and diced the squash, boiled, drained, whipped it with some butter and milk until I liked the consistency.  Added salt and pepper.

For the Almonds I melted butter in a small iron fry pan, added almonds until browned, then drizzled with syrup and simmered until it got all caramelized and gooey.

The onion rings…Melt Lard in a pan, about 1″ deep.  Slice onion.  Take some of your starter out of the container, putting it in a small bowl.  Dredge the onions with the starter and place in the fat.  Once browned, flip, then brown second side and remove.  I place on a cloth, sprinkle with salt and keep making more, piling and salting as I go.

Assemble, admire, be thankful for the farmers who did all that work, and their plants and animals…then enjoy!