Mountain Home Quilts is all abuzz about bees

http://mountainhomequilts.blogspot.com/   check out the bee keeping book give away!

Food is love and love can be food and sometimes my food has a name!

My husband brought me a bouquet today. Not your usual bouquet and not your FDA vase.

A lovely arrangement of ? You guessed it carrots and delivered in a very stylish kid milk replacer bucket. I love a guy who thinks of details to fit the recipient! 

And this lovely bouquet became quart jars number 21 of homegrown organic carrots. When I think of carrots I think  of so many things. Pot Roast, soup, salad, goat treats. But I also value carrots for their eye appeal, the interesting shapes that veggies grown in such as the couple below.

Locked in sweet embrace as if they were in a movie say Casablanca, Titanic or Sleepless in Seattle. Yup chick flicks gotta love them. 

My food has names. I frequent two local Farmers Market Ukiah about 10 miles to the south and Redwood Valley about 3 miles east of me. I love knowing the folks who produce what we don't or can't but love. For instance tonight we are on round two of these lovely Yukon Gold potatoes who were grown with love and sweat by Jessie and her crew at Inland Organics. 

When cut for cooking they crackled and sputtered moisture as if they were pulled from the earth at Jessies farm this morning. And as so many of the veggies Inland produces they are wonderful! 

The green beans to the left are Geoffrey. Planted from seed, nurtured and loved to the hilt. Geoffrey's vegetable garden is to him what the goats are to me. Beans picked only 30 minutes before cooking and eating. As intended.

And then there are items. Things I have used daily from friends. And every time I use them I smile because it reminds me of my friends. Friendship a scared ground. A place you can go an be accepted, not judged, supported not turned away. And loved and to give love back. A comfortable place each time it is visited be it in real time or in memory. 

The basket above keeps important daily used items in one spot. I love it, the shape, the size , the handle. And I love the family who gave it to me several Christmas's ago. Tim, Pamela, Krista, Mariah and Jessica. They began us buyers of goats when their daughters were but wee and over the years have become treasured friends. 

Take a look around your kitchen you might be surprised by who you find!

I am naughty

I find I am able to keep everyone up to date with my Facebook Page quicker and easier then the blog. It is just that busier than busy time of year. So for now if you don't see a current update here you can go to my facebook link on the right. I have a wealth of photos stored for when time and life slow down.

Support needed

Please go to my Facebook page (link to the right on home page) and send your positive thoughts, energies and prayers. We are not in the habit of shouting out to the world to help us help ourselves but we need all the help we can get on this! Thanks.

We aren't in June anymore Toto!

Time just keeps on keeping on. We had our last doe of the year kid on Saturday last with two does Liberty and Justice. They are most certainly lovely but then I am barn blind .Liberty is on the bottom with the white belly band. Topside is Justice a bit dirty white but as she grows will have more of her sisters caramel coloring I think. They are both quite spoiled (that is their job) and adored!

 

We had a bit of an interesting time span with Tawny who freshened in mid June with twin bucks not a week after kidding had a infection of some sort. We treated her with herbals and some traditional and she finally came round. Two weeks after recovering from that she decided to give her best impression of the HMS Titanic and had a whooping case of bloat. Crusty old girl she is recovered and has gone on to be fine. The one draw back is the back to back events left her milk poor so I am supplementing them several times a day. That is just fine as it gives me a break and some fun watching them be boy goat kids doing boy goat things.

The days are getting cooler after a week plus of high 90's to l00 degree weather. It does cool off at night nicely. Which never happened in Fresno so when it was hot it was hot. In fact we are to be in the 80's in the next few days . Which will be a treat for us and our three oldest granddaughters who are coming up to visit next Wednesday for a week.

I am so looking forward to it. They are growing up so fast with Aubrey being 13 now , Emily 12 and Claire 9. I don't know where the time has gone. But it went! We will have a trip to the coast and entertain ourselves with small things. Like swimming at the river, trips to local parks , making ice cream, eating ice cream and feeding baby goats! The girls can work on their knitting skills and I have dusted off the board games.

I will leave you with the photo above of Helen. Doing what cats do best. She fell asleep on the mantel right under the sky light. Looking quite angelic but she is a calico so don't let that fool you. 

Soggy Sunday This was 6/5 post got lost until now.

Someone , somewhere has my Spring. Could I have it back please? In the big picture weather wise I should be grateful that all I have is endless rain. But I am having a minor pity party over my goats ready to revolt due to "barn fever" from not being able to leave the barn for days. You may not know this but goats don't care much for water that isn't in a bucket. So the inside of the barn is beginning to look, despite our best efforts, almost the same as outside-wet and mucky.

Then there is the baby goat factor. 20 baby goats times 4 the number of hooves they have equal 80. That would be 80 little hoof prints on me at least twice daily. I didn't know designer clothing was a beni   of raising goats in a wet climate. Now I do and probably should be grateful I own a unique wardrobe.

Now the goat below is not only lovely to look at but also an easy keeper!

And I love the mini roses that live not too far from the goat and cart.

Now you why it is called a "cat tree". Top to bottom Chole, Boot Scootin Boogie, PT (patient termination - wait not a grim nasty name- I saved her from exactly that when I worked at the Central Cal. SPCA as a tech.) Helen who also came to us from CCSPCA. Missing are Monkey and Molly who are otherwise occupied.

We are suddenly having a break in the rain so I am dashing out to the barn to see if I can talk the a fore mentioned goats into stepping outside so I can put down more straw.

Have a wonderful Sunday and HAPPY 34TH BIRTHDAY to our baby girl Annie.

Mid week check in.

Busy week beginning on Monday with late night kidding. Then a wonderful thing happened - Spring returned! So we got busy outside again with this , that and the next thing. But the first thing was the oak tree that came down Monday night in one of the goat pens. We are thankful for it having been dark so all goats were tucked inside the barn, no fences or shelters were harmed either.

 As you can see the pruning crew arrived spot on Tuesday morning! Followed by the playground testing technicians below.

 

Followed by back up. And dear Raz-a-ma-taz our Nubian princess who took her work most seriously. You know Nubians all business when it comes to  good, fresh browse.