Our plants for our garden are growing nicely. Not near as good as last years plants did though. Since we had to replace our furnace, we don't have the intense heat downstairs that we have always had in the past. Though it wasn't at all energy efficient, the old furnace was great for the plants, lol.

Last year we also ordered an organic seed starter from a gardening site. This year we just used Miracle Grow and it isn't doing as good as last year. For next years plant starting, it looks like we will order the seed starter and probably heat mats. Hopefully these plants do good enough to get what we need.

We have some critters going to new homes soon. Changing Winds Barney (Opal mini rex rabbit) will be heading to Chandlerville this weekend.  Changing Winds Jasper (Nigerian Dwarf goat) will be leaving for the Rushville area soon. Sad to see them go, but they are going to good homes.

We had a nice time at the show yesterday and met some new friends.

We came home to a nice litter of Californians too.

Well, that figures....Taking a last look at the rabbits for the show tomorrow and the Creme d'Argent looks like she ripped her nose open. Guess she doesn't go this time, dang it.

Very excited about tomorrow's show. We plan to take three jr. Champagnes, 1 intermediate Creme and 6 Mini Rex jrs.

WOW!! We're gonna be baby crazy in the rabbitry!
One box goes in today, six tomorrow, one the 20th and 3 more on the 21st. Babies, babies, babies....fingers crossed:)

Next week we have about ten nestboxes go in for our doe rabbits. I hope they all have nice big litters!! We have Rex, Mini Rex, Californians, Creme d'Argents and Champagne d'Argents all bred.

It appears that our Nigerian Dwarf goat, Cami is not pregnant since she is now in heat. We will be on the lookout for a Nigerian to breed her with. I am still thinking about keeping our Jasper for a few months as a buck to breed to Cami, then fix him. I'm just still trying to figure out how to make sure he doesn't also breed his mother and his twin.

Beautiful day today! I actually even turned the big water troughs over today and have started adding a little water to them. It will be so wonderful to not pack water several times a day out to the goats.

We got some long overdue things done around here today.

We also looked over several show potentials. Looks like we have three Champagnes, one Creme, one Rex and four Mini Rex that may be going to the next show. We shall soon see:)

Do you ever get the "to-do list" so long and overwhelming, you just don't even know where to start or what to do?? Blah!

I guess it will all be put on hold for awhile today, since our son Davy is visiting:)

The last two days have been full of running errands and being away from home. Tomorrow will be a catch up day around here for sure.

Poor little Jasmine got disbudded yesterday. She didn't seem to be too bothered though, because as soon as she was put back with her mom and brother, she started headbutting them both!

Making Fire Starters from Partially Used Candles

We like to reuse things around here and get as much use out of something that we can. I was getting tired of all of the mostly-used-up candles sitting in my way so I finally got around to making some fire starters.

We have an old muffin tin that we use just for making fire starters. I filled the tins with pine shavings.

Next, I got just a little bit of water hot. Just enough to sit the candle down in. 

As the wax started to melt, I could get it out of the container. Don't get the wax too hot at this point, since you will need to get the little metal piece and what's left of the wick out.

Then I melted the wax.

Pour the melted wax over the shavings in the pan. You can fill these as much or as little as you want to.

I then put more shavings on top and pressed a little. You want some of the shavings to stick in the wax but still be sticking out. (Be careful you don't get burned.)

Let the wax cool and pop them out of the tin. I cut these in fourths. When you need to start a fire, put one or two pieces under your kindling. The pine shavings will help hold the flame, melting the wax and help the fire get a good start.

We have some seeds started for the garden. So far we have cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelons, and zucchini. We will be planting lots more in the next several weeks. Can't wait for SPRING and gardening time.

We're in for another 7-9 inches of snow this weekend. ENOUGH!!!!