Butter beware!

We store our butter on top of our microwave-- which means there is always some butter remnants all over my shiny appliance. I used to clean a microwave with paper towel and a blue colored window cleaner! No longer!

The delicious, but oh so greasy, butter hides under this cute container!

This is my original "enviro cloth".  The first Norwex products I ever bought were the "enviro cloth" and purple "window or polishing cloth". They come together in the "basic package."

Here's is my polishing (or some say 'window') cloth! I use it to polish up anything I want to shine (windows, exterior of appliances, glass in artwork or picture frames, stemware, glasses, computer screens...)

Now I clean my microwave with my kitchen cloth, purple polishing cloth and just water. No nasty blue chemicals sprayed in our kitchen and inhaled into our bodies. 

If you want to take a first step toward cleaning your house with less chemicals-- and often using just a microfiber cloth and water... I recommend starting with the "basic package."  

http://www.norwex.biz/PublicStore/stores/KellyKindschi/AM/product/Basic-Package,1933.aspx

See the link above- as Norwex describes their products so much more eloquently than I can!

GOS Farmer

Anyone else have a picture of a pig on their fridge?

Farmer J put this up a few months ago, without saying a word. He is trying to, ever so sneakily, get me on board with the idea of getting a few baby piglets this spring! 

And I must be warming up to the idea because I have this contact in my phone, "GOS farmer."

GOS stands for Gloucestershire Old Spot!  You can see why the abbreviation is helpful.  The GOS is a "heritage" or "endangered" pig breed. (Of note, our Tunis sheep are a heritage breed of sheep; and the goats- once again are just cute and serve no real "greater good" purpose, well, except making Farmer J very happy and driving me crazy with their daily Houdini escapes from their fenced in pasture!) 

Heritage breeds are breeds of animals that were populating this world before commercial agriculture took over.  Think--Noah's Ark!  I'm of course kidding, but you get the picture. 

Just like "heirloom" vegetables are found in many farm to table restaurants- so are heritage breeds of livestock. 

The name pretty much gives it away-- but the GOS is originally from England. And the "old spots" refers to ... you guessed it... A spotted pig!

The GOS is also called "The Cottager's Pig" and the "Orchard Pig." 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloucestershire_Old_Spots

The link above has some great pictures and all the information you could hope for on the GOS pig-- like a farm version of Melatonin -- you'll likely fall asleep in the midst of reading it -- unless you are Farmer J- or married to him!

Some interesting bits of info on the GOS:

- The Prince of Wales has them on his Gloucester country estate--which I do love!

- The females tend to be "devoted" mamas-- which I do love!

- The pigs demeanor is calm and good for small farmettes--which I do love!

- The females can get up to 500 lbs! This is the bit I'm having trouble with- 500 lb animal means 500 lb animal size poo!

- Farmer J tells me the pork is "marbled" and quite tasty! The last time I ate pork was in the '90s- so not sure how much that detail means to me! But... I do realize  a meat animal should taste good, if we ever want to sell it to local, farm to table restaurants. 

And back to the "GOS farmer" contact in my phone- we found a farmer that lives within a few hours of our farm that has this breed! A farm tour is in our, not too distant, future!  Stay tuned!

Our local farmers market...

is coming to a close soon. And that makes me so sad on many different levels.  First off, it means the growing, gardening, fresh produce time of the year is coming to an end.  Second, it means I can't get amazing, inexpensive, fresh, tasty and local produce (see below) every Wednesday night...all while supporting small scale farmers. And third, it means one less opportunity to be a part of our towns community.

$8 for all this produce! 

In Norwex produce bags and into the fridge.

We've been eating these veggies all week-though not as much of the kale as I had hoped!  I'm hoping to make a veggie egg scramble tomorrow night-- once I find where my hens are hiding their free range eggs!

We are still working on eating up all our food to waste less veggies and money-but at least our animals can eat some of what is left over- with the remainder going to the chickens and compost pile.  

The winter is long but come spring- the farmers market will return!  

If you plant it, it will grow!

Planting an indoor herb garden with my Pickle... (and Ciaran) who is wearing flip flops in October-- what could be better! 

Ciaran, aka mischievous goat boy, had to watch from behind the gate!

Fingers crossed we will have fresh basil, oregano and parsley all winter long!

(Thanks Auntie Billie!)

Can you blame the guy?

I come into the kitchen and I see this... (and of course, before I stop him... I grab my phone to take a picture, because that is what blogging has done to me!)

And can you blame the guy for drinking the water out of the green onion and beet bowl ... when his human caretaker (mmm hmmm Pickle) keeps forgetting to fill his water dish?!

I filled up his dish...and that's why he loves me the best (the fact that he sees me clean out his litter box everyday and that 99.9% of the time I'm the one who remembers to give him his food too, well, that doesn't hurt either!) 

Spearmint Sweetness

After a long weekend of feeling sick, tired and just plain ole' run down (Pickle shared his cold germs with me), I was so tired I almost went to bed without brushing my teeth. Please don't judge me! But then, I remembered this!

When Pickle gave me a hug "goodnight", while I was catching up on work from last week, he proudly informed me that he had my (and Dada's) toothbrush all ready for bedtime!

That gem of a boy! He knew I was tired and sick...and he helped take care of his mama! To all the women who have told me I need a daughter to care for me when I'm older...nope...I don't. I have two sons who will do that job beautifully and lovingly! Children show love in so many ways-- we just have to slow down (and stay awake) long enough to notice them all! 

You know you're a farmer when...

You have managed to fit NINE bags of "lamb chow" in your Camry (that you picked up at the feed mill over your lunch hour...instead of getting lunch!) 

Our ruminates didn't like the feed we had been giving them since we moved, so when I was near our old feed mill, I stocked up! Now our lambs, goats and sheep come a running when I call "treat time"!  

When I texted Farmer J that I had 9 bags of feed in my car, he texted back "I've never loved you more!" Sweet...but really...not even after I birthed your 99.9 percentile head sons?!