Highway Robbery

Yesterday morning I had to make my daughters PB&J with one regular slice of bread and a crust (gasp). We were out of her awful white bread. I wondered if I'd her complaints after school or worse yet find a sandwich with just one bite out of it when I emptied here lunch bag this morning. Neither happened -maybe hiding the crust side face down in her sandwich container worked? Don't doubt the devious mind of a Mom in the morning.

I didn't get out all day so when I picked her up from school I needed to get bread. There is a cute little restaurant/store right near here school so I stopped in to get bread. No bread. They don't sell it. They had canned drinks and snacks but didn't stock bread. So I had to take a slight detour to the local convenience/gas stop. You know the kind, shelves stocked with beer of every flavor, coolers full of pop, aisles of chips and snacks, and oh yes, one little shelf with bread on it.

Have you ever noticed that in this kind of store, most of the grocery items don't have prices on them? They're not fools. They know that once you mosey up to the cash register and they ring it up they've just about got you. How many of us have the balls to say the thoughts racing through our mind at that point, such things as "highway robbery", "scandalous" or "what a rip-off"? Not me. I dutifully shelled out my $2.79 for my loaf of white bread. You better believe my frugal mind was calculating how much fuel I had saved by not driving to Walmart (I figured it to be about $1.00) and that my time was worth ever so much, that it certainly justified not spending the additional 25 minutes it would have taken to drive there, park and get the bread.

Oh what a price we pay for convenience. I just can't believe how many people make these kind of stores a regular in their day - the place was packed. Can you imagine how much money these people waste each week? And then they complain about not being able to make ends meet?

You better believe I'm buying two loaves of bread when I do my groceries this week, I'm going to keep a spare loaf in the freezer!

And just for the record, here's what a $2.79 loaf of bread looks like!

2012 Bucket List

The year of 2012 will be a year of change for my family. When I started this blog I mentioned that we were looking for a new place to settle and put down roots. After four years of searching high and low (literally), driving from the bottom of the front range of Coloardo to the top, making several offers only to have them turned down, we finally found our new "neighborly place". We made an offer on it in last June, and after enough paperwork to wipe out a whole forest, at the end of October it became ours! Our plan is for my daughter and I to move in May and hubby to come as he can (being a horseshoer he can't just pack up and come with us or he'll be unemployed!).

We purchased approximately 16 acres in Bailey, CO. It has beautiful 1920'ish log buildings, a pond, a stream and adjoins acres of national forest. Each time I type a description of our property, I almost have to pinch myself -I consider us so fortunate to be able to own it!

Here's some pictures taken last summer when we first saw the property and fell in love...

A view of the house and it's view

Pasture by the pond

There is a greenhouse!

A view of the shop and outbuildings

The stream complete with waterfall

And the long bucket list that goes with a new property:

• Move (first my dd and I)
• Secure the fencing -happily most of the property is fenced, we just need to fix/improve it.
• Set-up dog kennel
• Make sheep shelter
• Move the livestock to property
• Research what fruit trees do well at 8800' altitude (no that's not a typo -this property is located at some serious altitutude! Plant test trees.
• Research and plant berry canes
• Plant vegetable/herb garden
• Fix greenhouse
• Remove fallen tree from pond, remove beaver dams where they are changing water flow
• Fence bottom pasture.

This doesn't look like a huge list but I bet it takes all summer! I can't wait to start work on it.

First Egg of the Year

Last year, I was a chicken failure . I previously posted about my two hens in my post entitled Chicken Run . Chocolate (the runaway chicken) after a day or two of coming back to the coop decided she was a wild chicken. She hid in the cedar trees for about a month. I'd occasionally catch a glimpse of her when she'd come to clean up the grain from under the horse feeders, and then finally we saw her no more. I lost my other hen in the intense heat of July.

That left me with the one chick I hatched out in May -but as fate would have it, she became a he, so I had a Brahma rooster with no girls.

Sydney the Brahma Rooster

A friend of mine had some excess young ducks at the time and being the enabler she is, pawned a pair off on me. Welcome Harriet and Carter.

Harriet & Carter

I then purchased another hen from fellow North Texas blogger the "Modern Day Redneck" a pretty Brahma/Orpington cross. One day while I was working I heard a big ruckus, a looked out my office window, and around the corner of the yard came Harriet and Carter a squawking followed by the Rooster but no hen. I went outside to see what was going on, but there was nothing, except one thing was wrong -the hen was missing. I went back to where the birds free range every day, but there was no sign of the hen. She had vanished. I don't know if a stealthy coyote had sneaked up in the middle of the day and snatched her or if her attacker came from above. She was gone without a trace.

With no hens and winter coming I placed an ad on Craigslist for my rooster and happily someone wanted a breeding rooster, and so he was rehomed.

That left me with the two ducks Harriet and Carter. They were supposed to be a pair but I'm pretty sure I have two females. When they hit five months of age back in November, I was hoping they might start laying. I'd read threads over at Backyardchickens each day of peoples ducks laying their first eggs, but every day I checked my ducks, there were no eggs. My welfare chickens must have rubbed off on the ducks.

With the days now getting a little longer each day, I"ve been on a mission to get these ducks to lay. I've been encouraging them with alfalfa in their nesting box, feeding them freshly picked Dandelions, treats from the house, and adding laying pellets to their grain. Each day I look in the tractor and in their yard, no eggs, that is until today.

Hubby came in this evening and said give me your hand. I did as I was told and in it he put a nice creamy egg. Yippee, our first duck egg. I am so excited you'd think that I had the goose that laid the golden egg!

The "Golden" Egg (I guess I should have cleaned it better for it's moment of glory)

Are they bred?

My hubby is teasing me everday telling me my ram Brennan is "gay". He sniffs at the ewes and makes faces but we've never seen him mount one. He's just about a year old now.

The first ewe I purchased last March, Gypsy is definitely pregnant (she's started developing a milk bag) but she did have a ram lamb Otis last June, could it be possible that the lamb did the dastardly deed before he was sold? He left my farm when he was 4 months old.

I have three other ewes who are of breeding age, one Bella is about a year old, then there are two younger ones, one 10 months and the other 9 months. I would hope the yearling is covered.

I keep having to look up breeding information for lambs -when are they old enough to breed, how long are they in season etc. I found this nice chart at Sheep 201 and thought I'd post it here for future reference.

Reproductive characteristics of ewes

Characteristic	Average	Range
Age at puberty,	5 to 12 months
Length of estrus cycle, days	17	13-19
Duration of estrus, hours	30	18-48
Timing of ovulation	20-30 hours after start of estrus
Gestation, days	146-147	138-149

Rams are sexually mature at between 5-7 months old. If I follow this guideline I should be safe, Otis left at the end of September when he was 4 months old ( or at least I think that's when he left, I don't seem to have recorded the date) . However other sources say that a ram can breed as young as 3 months old!

I'll be watching Gypsy and checking the calendar and counting back days when the lamb is born. Perhaps Brennan is just shy and did the deed in the dark of the night?

Homemade Soap

I ran out of "gift soaps" the other day. You know -all those fancy bars of soaps that come in gift packs received from friends and relatives? For some reason, I never open them and use them so I had quite a stash -probably a years worth. I enjoyed some nice luxurious soaps I would never buy for myself. Then I ran out. So I snagged a bar of soap from hubby's shower, a bar of "Irish Spring" with moisturizers it said. I had my shower and soaped up my face, and gasp, this stuff just sucked all the moisture from my skin. My face felt like sandpaper after using it. No more of that I said. I decided it might be time to start making soap. After all I had a bottle of Red Devil Lye under the kitchen sink which I was never going to use for anything so what better way to dispose of it?

I researched on the internet and wow there are a lot of soap making sites out there, the information was overwhelming. After a whole lot of reading I found what I was looking for, a pretty basic lard based soap recipe, with ingredients I could easily find at the grocery store so I could get started straight away. I opted for a blender soap recipe as the quantity was smaller so if the soap was a failure there were be less waste and minimal financial outlay.

Basic Olive Oil/Lard Soap Recipe

Ingredient List:

Lard: 10 oz
Olive Oil: 3 oz.
Water: 5 oz.
Lye (Sodium Hydroxide): 1.8 oz.

Making the soap:

First thing I had to do was gather all the soap making implements so I could be ready to mix and pour without running around like a chicken with its head cut off looking for things while my soap needed blending.

Implements needed:

Kitchen Scale ( digital scale is great)

Pot to melt lard

Jar to measure lye, measuring cup for water

Jar to mix lye and water ( I used a container out of my recycle bin -HDPE #2 plastic or glass is recommended -I used a HDPE #2 plastic container as that's what I had)

Spoon to stir the lye water (I used disposable plastic spoon)

Blender

Mold for soap -I lined a cracker box with waxed paper

Spoon to scrape soap out of blender

Gloves and eye protection for mixing lye (I opted out of these safety items because I find with gloves I"m more apt to spill/drop things and I wear glasses and find safety glasses over the glasses cumbersome. I wanted to be able to see what I was doing)

Let the soapmaking begin:

1. First thing I did was weigh my lye, handling it like it was an explosive (it's not an explosive but can be very corrosive/toxic), keeping well clear of the jar with my face. I then measured out my water in a separate measuring cup and took both outside to mix. I poured the lye into the water and stirred. As per my recipe directions, the mixture became cloudy and heated up. I left it outside to cool. Note you don't have to go outside to do this you can mix in a well ventilated kitchen I just opted this route and I could be sure to keep the area pet free.

2. I measured out the 10 oz of lard and melted it in a pot. No need to get it boiling hot, you just want to melt the lard.

3. I poured the melted lard into the blender, measured out the olive oil and added it too.

4. Now it was time to add the lye mixture. I retrieved the lye water mixture from outside and stirred it as per directions. The mixture should be almost clear now and happily mine was. I poured it carefully into the blender being sure not to spill and immediately put the container and spoon into a sink full of soapy hot water.

5. Now it was blending time. Instructions were to blend until "trace". What is "trace" you ask? Trace is when you take a spoonful of the soap mixture and then pour it back into the blender, and the soap stays there on the surface for a few moments. I covered my blender with a towel just to be sure no lye mixture sprayed out and blended for about 2 minutes. I tried the trace test and my mixture wasn't ready so I blended for about another minute. This time I drizzled some soap back in and wow -trace happened. Pretty exciting I thought!

Soap in the blender

6. I wanted to add some scents to this soap. Since this was Christmas soap (if it was successful I hoped to give it to friends/relatives as gifts), we opted for cinnamon and mint. We added about 1/2 tsp of each essential oil and blended for a few seconds.

7. The next step was to pour the soap into the mold. I poured handling with care as the lye soap mixture is still corrosive. I left just a little soap mixture in the blender and added some cocoa (just a spoonful) to it and then blended that for just a few seconds to blend the cocoa into the soap. I then drizzled this mixture over the soap in the mold. This step can be omitted. I wanted a visually interesting soap not just a plain white bar so decided to do a cocoa drizzle.

Soap in my ever not so fancy mold prior to cocoa drizzle

Soap after cocoa drizzle, it looks yummy!

8. I covered the soap mold with cardboard and wrapped a towel around the whole thing and then put it in a safe place where it wouldn't be disturbed (I put it in an empty bird cage I have sitting unused -great to keep pets from upsetting the soap as it cures).

9. Next was clean-up. Since the soap mixture is still corrosive at this point I chose the method of filling up the blender and all utensils with soapy hot water and then letting them sit overnight. This neutralizes the lye somewhat and then you can clean up as normal.

10. After a day if your soap is firm you can take it out of the mold and cut it. If your soap is not firm after a day, just wait a day or two longer. I cut my soap with a knife being what I had but it is recommended to use a pastry scraper. Once cut into bars the soap needs to cure for at least another two weeks. I let mine cure for three weeks as I got sick and didn't want to mess with it - the longer the soap cures the better.

11. After the curing period it's time to test the soap before using/giving it away. You can use a ph tester or if you'r like me opt for the simpler methods of trying a tester soap. If you wash you hands without tingly feeling the soap is ready. You can also touch it to your tongue -if you get a bit of a zap or tingle, the soap needs more curing time.

The End Result:

The end result -not half bad if I do say so myself!

I am very pleased with the look of the soap, though I erred some in cutting the bars. I made them just a bit too large. I cut a couple of the large bars in half and that yielded bars that were just a little too small. Next time I'll measure the bars before actually cutting.

Today was the physical test of the soap, I showered with it for the first time. I was happy with the lather. The fragrance is bit odd, I think we should have opted for cinnamon or mint as I don't think the fragrances really mixed that well. It doesn't smell like either fragrance. The soap lathered well, but didn't feel too moisturizing while using it. After my shower I can say it's better than the Irish Spring but next time I"ll look to add an oil that has more moisturizing traits such as Sweet Almond Oil or perhaps I'll try the "superfatting technique" of soapmaking. My skin doesn't feel sandpaper dry, it's soft but I feel it just needs a little more moisturizer.

All in all I think this venture was a success and can say that I'll be making more soap in the near future. I enjoy knowing exactly what is going in the soap and hopefully I'll be able to come up with a nice scented moisturizing soap. I have an apple spice recipe that I will try next.

The New Additions, new additions

The ewes I bought a couple of weeks back have both lambed. First to go was Santana Sayen. On the morning of December 13th we went to feed, and there she was proud as can be with a gorgeous ewe lamb.

This lamb has gorgeous markings and nice structure

And then last week on the 22nd we were blessed with twins -a little ewe and ramling who look like polar opposites! These guys got off to a bit of a slow start -I don't think Mama had quite enough milk for two and then went off of her feed.

I was quite concerned that evening since Mama still wasn't eating and a sheep not eating is not a good thing. She had passed her afterbirth without problem so I knew that wasn't an issue. She was standing alert and looked fine, but she just didn't want to eat. I gave her a shot of Oxytocin in hopes of getting her to drop more milk and also a dose of probiotics to give her some energy.

We gave the little ramling some milk replacer since he was looking a little peaked and Mama didn't have any in her bag for him. I checked on them a couple more times that evening and could see the little lambs were trying to nurse but just not getting much out. I offered them some milk replacer again but they weren't interested. I stuck my finger into each lamb's mouth and they seemed warm enough so I left them be for the night.

I was a bit fearful to see what I would find the next morning when I went to check on them, but happily they had made it through the night and were looking brighter. Mama however was still not eating -not good.

Hubby decided she should go out with the flock to see if that would pick her up. I had my doubts as the little ones were so little, but out they all went. And sure enough what happened? Mama stuck her head in the hay and started eating. She was just missing her buddies. I'm learning something all the time with these sheep.

The Twins

Ramling, he's white with just a little brown on his legs. He's a real doll!

Ewe lamb, marked like a barbados but with a white spot on her head!

These painted dessert sheep sure are a lot of fun -you never know what you'll get for lambs. It's amazing that two twins could look so entirely different!

New Additions

The texas drought has really put a damper on the livestock industry in this state but there is a bright side - there are some great opportunities to build one's flock, herd or what have you. With skyrocketing hay prices, quality livestock that normally wouldn't be offered for sale, is being sold to feed the rest of the herd.

Yesterday I made a pleasurable drive out to Yantis TX to Brent Neighbors, Tejas Barbados Ranch in search of a couple of new additions to my painted desert flock. I was nicely surprised by the 120 mile drive -it goes through rural towns but most of the way was 70 mph so I was able to make good time and enjoy the scenery which was surprisingly picturesque. The trees are still displaying beautiful fall colors, and with the recent rain we've had the winter wheat is greening up the fields.

Brent had my list of prospects with him when I arrived along with pedigrees and papers (he really knows how to organize his records). No this sheep might be by so and so or maybe it's that one with Brent.

I was in search of just one or two ewes and one for a friend. It wasn't hard to pick out a few nice prospects -what was hard was deciding which ones to bring home. Even harder was picking out one for my friend -she had narrowed her choice down to two based on pictures. Both were nice but I opted for the Yearling ewe lamb of one of her two picks hoping she'd like her as much.

With no further ado, here are the new additions:

I fell in love with this champagne and white ewe, Tejas Ranch Aleshanee Tiponi when I saw her. She wasn't on my list I'd picked out to see but one look and I knew she was coming home with me. She has all the qualities I like in an Ewe (built like a holstein cow, soft eye and strong legs) and to boot she is heavy in lamb to a lovely ram of Brents "Kachada" .

Tejas Ranch Aleshanee Tiponi

My other pick was Tejas Ranch Santana Sayen. Her dam is a really good producer and she is tri-colored, and also a twin. She's a little smaller than I'd like but judging from the triplets nursing on her dam there is potential for some size in her offspring. She is also heavy in lamb to Red Cloud who I really like.

Tejas Ranch Santana Sayen

And last but not least is Taksi Wahinhe, the young ewe I bought for my friend. Funnily enough -I bought the wrong ewe. She had told me to pick between Totsi and Hiawatha and somewhere along the line I changed Totsi to Taksi...It's so hard to pick for someone else. I like this ewe, so home she came! Of course when I arrived home with the three sheep my daughter peared into the car and says " I oh I like that one" meaning Taksi, the only one that's not supposed to stay!

Taksi Wahinhe