Lambs!

We're lambing!
Belle was first to go and had twins, Juanita and Hermano...

Wendy and Juanita

Then Jesse with a little ram lamb, Juan Pablo (The Bachelor)
She surprised me with a baby in the bushes, but they're both safe and sound in the barn now.

I have three more ewes I'm watching so that means endless trips to the barn all the while crossing my fingers and hoping for more twins.
The barn is to far in decline to lamb again next year, so I'm banding all the little rams.
I'll pick up some used sheep now and again just because I have so much pasture I need to keep down and don't tell me to get goats because I've had goats or should I say goats have had me...
No more goats.

I'm busy building up my soap supply again and have one batch ready and more on the shelf.
If you have a special request let me know, handmade soap is a great house warming, bridal shower and even baby shower gift.
There is nothing better than gentle handmade soap for little ones with sensitive skin.
Also, if you make your own laundry soap my plain and scented bars work wonders in the wash!

Today I'll be listing some Farmers Market.
The scent is light with bibb lettuce, basil and rosemary and no added color.

On the rack is Farm Flowers.
Scented with lilac, honeysuckle, sweet pea and lavender, it smells just like a fresh cut bouquet!
And...
Oregon Blackberry.
Smells like a bowl full of ripe berries with a pinch of crushed blackberry leaf sprinkled in on top.

Next on the list is some mango peach, I can't wait for that one!!

How about some candles...?

Peas.

Ewes Newes

Time for some babies.

Belle and Judy are getting ready to lamb.
This was Belle a few weeks ago.

And this is Belle now...
By the looks of things she will be having somewhere between three and thirtyeleven hundred lambs.

Judy looks like she'll come in with one forty pounder as usual.

Her last baby, Jesse, was so big she came out walking, talking and looking for the feed sack.

We've also had a bushel of baby geese...

And a batch of cats.
We only kept one.
He's brown.
Wendy's baby named him Chocolate and licks him every chance he gets.

I can't call Wendy's baby the Neighbor anymore because they moved one town over.
It was really hard for me to see them go, but our beloved little house finally gave out and it's no longer cost effective to keep it up.
I came home to that little house when I was born, so it has a very special place in my heart and it makes me very happy that Wendy's Baby had a chance to live there.
And his parents too of course.

This is Wendy's Baby on the tractor last summer.

This is him on the tractor a few days ago.

And in deep thought with the dog beside the tractor.

I think Wyatt and I are finally winning the yard wars.

When my sister was here a few weeks ago she helped us get a good start on taming the jungle that was encroaching on us 

And then taught Wyatt how to run the weed eater.

And now the yard looks like this...

All I do is ride the mower, but there's a lot to mow.

I'm making soap today, I'll get back to you on what kind I decide on.

Peas.

Pink Eye and Bikini waxes

What a weekend...
I think I want to start spending my weekends in the Poconos.
Mind you I have no idea where the Poconos are but I've heard a lot of people talking about spending weekends there so I think I want to go too.
Especially if you don't have to do dumb stuff there like cook and clean.
6 got home Friday afternoon and after he got all his work junk done we had to go to town and buy him new pants and new shoes and then we refi'd the loan on the truck because we got our interest rate dropped which lowered our payment so we had to fill out all that paperwork and then get back to town to Fedex it back to the bank and then we had dinner and then it was to late to clean the mother clucking garage!!!!
I can't believe it.
I think he needs to just bite the bullet and go back to work for Safeway.
We figure if he had done that we he got home from Iraq we would be through the hardest part already.
See with Safeway you bid runs based on seniority and when he went to Iraq he lost his seniority so he might only work two days a week but the thing is he can make almost as much in two days as he can in a full week driving for anyone else AND he's home to take care of our falling down farm.
Seriously, there is so much that needs to be done and it seems like every week we don't get one thing done two things fall apart so I think he just needs to come home.
That of course means more cooking for me and having to sit in the uncomfortable chair but I guess I'll just have to learn to sacrifice.

Molly Mule has pink eye.

She has pink eye so she has to have drops twice a day, well I guess it isn't really drops it's a gel, but she loves having it done because she gets a marshmallow afterwards.

Mules love marshmallows.

So do donkeys.

And sheep.

And goats.

Little Judy is growing up before our very eyes.

I decided it's best not to create another monster like Belle, so I send her out with the big kids during the day instead of letting her stay in the house with me like Belle did.

Belle still barks from the barnyard when she wants out and thinks she should have a seat on the couch instead of a bed in the barn and gawd knows I can't have two like her.

Judy seems perfectly content to go out and tag along although I'm pretty sure the other three think she's a real pest. 

Pearl and Nanny both get really annoyed when she tries to nurse on them and Belle won't even let her get close.

We're meeting Wendy for dinner in town tonight.

She's getting really close to being done with her hours at school and has already passed her state boards.

You know it's a proud moment for a mother when her daughter completes the entire beauty school course.

I was just a mere manicurist and always dreamed of a better life for her.

The world is her oyster now and I think she has a very bright future in permanent waves and bikini waxes.

Peas

Happy Days

Sorry I missed you yesterday, Wendy surprised us at 6:15 in the morning.
Wyatt was just getting ready to head out to the bus when the dogs went bananas and Wendy bounded through the door!
What a great surprise and I'm sure I don't need to tell you that of course Wyatt did NOT want to go to school if his sister was going to be spending the day, but I kicked his butt out the door anyway.

I guess the douchebag actually has a job and it's somewhere down the highway past our house and that's why he dropped her off so early.
Wendy say's he's a rigging repairman, but I can assure you I wouldn't want any rigging on my job site that that sfb (sh!t for brains) worked on and anyway I'm sure he's nothing more than a glorified gopher.
No offense to gophers.
But I'm not going to say anything bad about that waste of breathe today because this is all about the good time we had yesterday.

What contributed to our super fun day yesterday was this...

This is Judy.

She's a surprise sheep :)

Her mother is one of the 100 year old ewes that my Grampy had and there are only four of them left.
I guess Dan the Ram took a fancy to one of those old girls and look what they made.

A little Judy ❤

That ewe is so old we were surprised she was even able to carry her and let me tell you, she is one little teeny tiny lamb.

We watched them together for quite a while and then decided we needed to load her up and bring her down and make her a spot in the recovery room with Pepper.

We mixed her up a bottle and made her a nice warm bed and she settled right in

 Wendy is the one that chose the name Judy.
Wyatt and I had decided on Blossom after Wyatt had told me she was a he and we had named him Shaun, but then Wen came out and said we needed to name her Judy since Grampy loved Judge Judy and since she was going to be carrying the lineage of GPK sheep she needed to be named in honor of him.

She's a good eater...

And she's sooooo sweet

In Other News

I think you should probably be sitting down for this.

Today I received child support from that Jackass 4&5!

{Wyatts Dad}

That M'r F'r called on Saturday to tell me that his Captain on the boat he fished last summer paid the money out of his own pocket because the state was so far up his a$$ about paying and threatening him with an audit.

Like that was my fault.

Keep in mind this is the first time we've heard from him since July.

And he's NINE years behind in child support.

He played the injured party card and yelled at me and told me what a terrible person I was for making his boss pay all that money and he hoped I was happy. 

I told him the only thing that could make me any happier was if he were to be hit by a bus.

Then he asked to speak to Wyatt and that's when sh!t really hit the fan!

Wyatt was so calm and so cool and in no uncertain terms told that Jackass just what he thought of him.

He asked him if he knew when his birthday was and of course Jack didn't know and when Wyatt asked if he even knew how old he was that idiot said fourteen!

Wyatt is eleven.

Oh well, at least we got something.

I'm taking Wyatt to Toys-R-Us this afternoon after school to get a new Bionicle to celebrate our financial windfall.

I'm sure it will be the last we see for awhile.

Today I'm making candles.

Life is good.

Peas.

The Duck And The Dog

Welcome to Farm Friend Friday!
Be sure to check out all the other fabulous farm blogs at the Verde farm!



Wyatt is still sick today.
I wish there was something I could do to make him feel better, but I think we're just going to have to wait this one out.

I have a beat up duck in the garage.
I have a beat up duck and a blind peacock in the garage and the peacock is none to happy about having to share his digs with the duck.
Pepper has been blind since we got him so he sleeps in the garage because he wouldn't be able to make his way in the hen house at night with rest of the flock, but the duck is in the garage because of the Bad Baby Buddy.

You see Buddy spends his day taking stock of the livestock.

He makes his way from one pasture to another making sure everyone is doing what they're supposed to be doing, but his favorite stop is the barnyard with Belle, Nanny and Pearl and of course all the birds.

He spends hours down there playing, mostly with Belle because Pearl doesn't really like to play...

Pearl can be a real grouch.

And since Nanny is still getting a feel for the place she isn't much fun to play with either.

But his favorite game is herd the duck.

Not herd the goose, because that game always ends up with Buddy getting goosed, but herd the duck is usually a safe bet but yesterday while enjoying a rousing game of herd the duck the duck made the mistake of going in Pearl's pig house and Buddy played herd the duck a bit to rough and the duck took a bit of a beating and so that's why I have a beat up duck in  my garage this morning.
Don't worry about the duck though, she's living the good life in the garage and probably thinks Pepper is without a doubt the best looking duck she's ever seen.

That's all I've got today.

Oh wait.

Did you watch Idol last night?

What do you think of the new judges?

Ok, that's all.

Still no call about the job.

Peas.

Cupcake Casserole and A New Nanny

Big blog day today!
I have so much to talk about, but first lets start with this...

Nanny

This is Nanny.
As you all know we lost Timber last week to a parasite carried by white tail deer that is deadly to llamas but has no effect on other animals. Losing Timber was not only heart breaking to me but also to Belle our little orphan lamby. I have been trying all week to decide what I could do for Belle.

 Should I put her back in the big pasture with the other sheep? No, they don't like her and the donkeys won't have anything to do with her either. If I just wait a while will Pearl come around and be her friend? No, Pearl is an old egg stealing grouch who wants no part of baby sitting a little lonesome lamb.

Ornery old pig.

I just didn't know what to do and it was looking more and more like I was just going to have to let her run free with the border collie.

Until...

Yesterday was donkey and mule pedicure day and Randy showed up right on schedule at 10:00 a.m.

I noticed him taking a closer look around the farm than usual but didn't think anything of it until halfway through the first horse mule when he asked where my goats were.

I reminded him that I had traded my goats for Molly {the mule} because the goats kept escaping from the barnyard and coming up on the deck and head butting the slider trying to come in the house.

Oh, he said.

Why, I asked.

Well, he said "My parents had two goats, but one died and now the surviving goat is really sad and lonely and needs a friend."

omg.

So, as soon as we were finished with the feet the family loaded up in the old red farm truck and took a drive to the top of Wildcat Mountain to take delivery of a goat, and the goat we got was Nanny :)

We all had quite a laugh when we got our first look!

Here, I'll show you her picture again,

Seriously, what kind of goat is that!

Erin says she looks like an oompa loompa and I think Erin's right.

But Belle loves Nanny and Nanny... Likes Belle and Pearl is free to do her own thing without the bothersome baby following her everywhere she goes.

I really love a happy ending, don't you :)

Cupcake Casserole

Ok, so for a week or so I have been talking about my cupcake casserole and lots of people have been asking for the recipe.

It's a cinch to make and really delicious so here's the how to in easy to follow directions.

First assemble all your ingredients.

Follow the mixing directions on the box and pour the entire mix into this....

Bake at 350 for 35-38 minutes and then let cool.

After it has completely cooled, frost with your favorite frosting, mine is buttercream.

WaaLaa!

Cupcake Casserole!

Ok, last but not least,

Big Blog Giveaway

For the rest of the month of January I will be hosting a blog extravaganza.

All you have to do is follow the farm on the blog facebook page, see that little facebook box over there on the right? If you don't already follow the farm click the "like" option, and if you already follow the blog on facebook you're golden. Keep in  mind, I had to create a new facebook page because I permanently messed up the first one and had to start over, so make sure you're on this one.

http://facebook.com/thefatbottomfarm

Ok, so the deal is, all you have to do is leave a comment on facebook, it can just be a one word comment and you're in.

What do you do if you don't have facebook? 

Why leave a comment here of course!

What will you be recieving?

Let me tell you!

You will be receiving SIX cotton dishrags and two bars of handmade cold processed oatmeal soap!

But wait, that's not all!

You will also receive one six ounce jelly jar all natural soy candle!

Can you believe it!!

Wow.

I was going to post a picture of the loot all together, but I didn't get it all made in time yesterday because of the Nanny Goat mission to the top of the Mountain, but here's an idea of what you'll be winning...

Six glamorous dishrags

Two bars of soothing oatmeal soap

And a candle that I haven't made yet :)

Ok, I gotta go, but remember, you can't win if you don't play!

Peas.

School, Soap And Some Other Stuff

Ahhhh, thats more like it.
The house is quiet again, but I guess it's always quiet in the house before the sun comes up, so I really won't get the full effect of School being back in session until around 10:00 and by then I'll be missing him so really, I can't win.
My favorite days of school are the first days back after a long break.
You know like summer and winter, because there's always new clothes involved and for those first sweet few days my child doesn't look like an orphan.
His hair is cut, his clothes are clean and fit him reasonably well and he smells good.
Speaking of smelling, remember the Axe attack of last spring... Thank gawd that's over.
Of course it's over after investing at least a full months salary into having my son smell like a guatemalan whorehouse, but hey, so long as it's over I'm not complaining.
Maybe that's what I should do with all my spare time, start an Axe awareness group for new mothers of tweens.
You know, just be there to comfort and support them, teach them the art of Ben Gay under the nostrils and how to borrow from your child's college fund to support his Axe habit.
I think I'm on to something here...

Today is the day that I officially begin to consider the idea of taking down the Christmas crap.
I know, I'll feel better once it's done, clean space, it's like a new house blah blah blah I know I've been reading it on every blog.
How after putting away the holiday decor everyone suddenly feels so renewed which I find interesting considering how wonderful and full of love and warmth everyone felt last month after putting all thissh!t out.
I'll let you in on a little secret, my house wasn't very clean before Christmas and it won't be very clean after I box all this stuff up.
Thats just how I roll.

I'm crocheting headband earwarmer things.
So far I think they're pretty cool.
I'll post a picture when I'm finished.
They're super simple. Like me. : )

I made bengal spice soap with a smidge of cinnamon yesterday.
I'm excited to cut it and see if the cinnamon line through the center turned out like I planned.
It's colored and scented with tea so it has a very light "organiky" feel to it.
I'll just go cut it, hang on a sec....

Ok, I'm back and the soap turned out great!

The scent is so light it's almost unscented, so if your a no fru fru kinda soap lover this is right up your alley!

Ok, that's all for now.

See you tomorrow.

Peas.

Look at this...

This is what Wyatt made last night...



This one is made from pages out of a magazine, but he also has one he's working on that is white and he's going to spray the tips with spray paint.

That kid LOVES spray paint.

He's going to make some bigger ones to sell on Etsy, and in his mind he already has his millions spent.

6 made it home with his new truck this weekend and it is SO pretty.

Is a truck pretty?

Oh well, this one is. It's Prius green (color not fuel consumption) and it has the really big retroee kind of gages in white and silver and it is huge.

Did I say it was big?

It. Is. Huge.

 

He went to work for

 

 

and he'll be driving the western eleven states and Canada so if you pass him on the road

 

or see him in your rear view

 

be sure to wave.

Or flash him. He would probably like that too. Unless you're a dude.

Ok next.

Here's a picture of our barnyard boss.

Frick.

 

Frick is a Frizzle and I swear she only has feathers about two months out of the year and is the toughest hen you've ever laid eyes on.

Frick is so tough she doesn't lay eggs, she lays rocks.

Anyway, I just wanted to share a picture of her when she has hair because she usually looks like she's getting ready for a dip in a hot pot.

And lastly...

Here's a picture of the cutest thing you'll see all day and maybe even all day tomorrow.

Astro.

 

I know.

We needed a kitten like we needed a hole in our heads and obviously we must have holes in our head to get a kitten, but I swear, if you saw the cutest thing in the whole world you would probably bring it home too so don't hate.

Happy Monday.