The garden is coming on nicely. We've been harvesting cucumbers, potatoes, zucchini and straight neck squash so far. It feels pretty good to know that the freezers are getting filled again. Tomorrow should be the first pickling day of the season. We've been eating the cucumbers as fast as we can pick them and now are getting too many.  I am actually looking forward to the canning, just not the dragging everything upstairs to pile in the kitchen.
Over the weekend, Dewayne suggested we turn our back patio in to an outdoor kitchen. I am totally and completely on board with that idea! I'm actually very excited about that. It may take a few years to be a reality though. Darn!

We had such an amazing supper tonight, if I do say so myself. Baked rabbit, mashed taters with chive blossoms, cucumber chunks--all from the garden of course, and green beans (canned from last year). To bad we don't have ripe tomatoes yet. The only thing that could have made it better would have been some gravy; made from goat milk.

We brought home the final member of the goat herd today. Abe is a very nice looking Nubian buck. He will be kept busy this fall with having five girlfriends.

You know, I really enjoy the farm life. Most days, I find the critters funny with all the little things they do. This past week though....I NEED A VACATION!! They seem to be driving me a bit crazy. The goats trying to run me over, beating each other up (getting their pecking order) and acting like they have not had a meal for a month....not so funny right now! I guess it's just like anything you do in life, you need to get away from it all to really put things in perspective and get back on track.

Just made some drawing salve. Hubby has a thorn or something stuck in his elbow. Time he finally gets it out:)

Infusing Olive Oil with Plantain and Calendula

I harvested some plantain yesterday. My darling hubby left a patch by the house that nobody walks in. I took some pictures to show how I infuse olive oil to make my salves.

As I picked the leaves, I cleaned each one, making sure to brush off any dirt that may have gotten on them the night before when we got a downpour.

Next, I put them in the crock pot and added some Calendula that we grew last year.

Then I covered them with olive oil.

I set the crock pot on low heat for a little while (maybe an hour?) We had to leave yesterday afternoon and I didn't want to leave the crock pot on, so I just shut it off and left it covered.

When we got home, I strained the plantain and Calendula out and this is what's left.

You can see the difference in the oil on the right and what has the infused oil on the left.

I plan to make several salves with this little bit of oil.

GOATS:
We started working with our new girls today, Zoe and Lilly. They are getting used to their collars and are leading on a leash real nice. They are still a bit scared but are settling in pretty quickly.

RABBITS:
We have a few new litters in the last couple of days. The mothers are still on watch, cause I'm not impressed with their mothering skills so far. Two of them will be culled if this litter doesn't work out.

We also have 23 less mouths to feed. Our freezer is empty and so is the pantry shelf. These will be a good start to filling both. I plan to freeze several for fryers and pressure can the rest.

Lucky I got some plantain harvested earlier before the monsoon started. I need to get some salves made

We brought home two new additions to the goat herd today. We now have Zoe and Lily. This will complete our future milkers. They are both Oberhasli/Sanaan mix and are very pretty. Pictures soon:)

I finally sat down and took the time to update the rabbit records. WOW....two hours later, I'm done. We've been keeping up with them in the barns, but I haven't been doing the computer work. We have a program that tracks everything: litters, breed dates, nest box dates, due dates, weaning time, breed back time....and keeps track of each individual rabbits performance. Love the program since my memory stinks and there are way to many rabbits to remember all the details about....Don't like sitting at the computer to catch up!

Changing Winds Farm suffered a tragic loss yesterday......we lost our sweet Sadie. Rest in peace little girl.

Lucky for Fred , I didn't see him in the barn this morning.

Fred and I met yesterday. I was just done milking Jess and I was sitting at the stanchion with her waiting for her to finish eating. We both heard something, but I thought maybe Dewayne had come out and was running the hose to start chores, or maybe Mudd was rubbing against the outside wall of the barn. Then I glanced toward the doorway, and there he was.....yep, a friggin' snake. Of course I jumped up and screached...loudly! Then I released Jess' head catch and started looking for something to chop of Fred's head. Knowing that I can't do it, I ran out the back of the barn to the house to get my hero. Dewayne was just starting to come outside. We got to the barn, saw where Fred was but couldn't get to him. Unfortunately for me, he got away to scare me another day.