Wednesday, January 9, 2008

First Addition to the Farm

It has actually been very relaxing going back to work this year - 2 young kids at home during the day sure makes for lots of messes over the holidays. But I must admit there are days I’d rather be at home.

This is our newest addition to our farm - he is actually 2 weeks old, born on December 22nd, 2007. I know, a little out of season for cattle, but his mama (Snowball) belongs to a friend of ours who needed a place to keep 3 cows (yes, bad picture, but I was messing with the settings on my camera - I'll have to take a better one when it's sunny and not raining :):



I must admit though, our cow herd is a lot more colorful with these Brittish Whites mixed in with all of our Maine/Angus cross cows:


This is only a small portion of our cows - they all did not want to group together. Currently we have 8 cows (of our own), 3 brittish whites of a friends, a registered Maine bull, and 4 yearling calves for replacement heifers or meat.

My current quilty project is this quilt:


It was pieced by my great-grandmother 50+ years ago for my mother when she was born. It has sat in someone’s attic for the last 40 years or so (including mine) and I have decided to finally finish it. I’ve been working in the evenings on pin basting it - it was pieced using a Singer featherweight, so I don’t feel too bad planning to machine quilt it. I had originally thought (in a brief moment of insanity) to use it on my daughter’s bed - but wisdom prevailed.

I have also been spending some time making bar soap and laundry soap. Yes, we live in the 21st century, but my daughter has horrible eczema, and all soaps (including Dreft and Tide Free and Clear) cause her to break out within hours with a bleeding, itchy rash. Amazingly enough, the only soaps that work are homemade, as we know exactly what goes into them - or doesn’t go into them (I can’t even use fragrance oils). So I’m back to pioneer days making laundry soap and bar soap. I must admit, the work is definitely worth it when you see her eczema clear up after just 2 baths/showers with the homemade soap!!

Isn’t life wonderful???

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good words.