Queen Anne's Lace Chronicles

Babies!

2009-03-25T08:47:00.000-07:00

The baby goats arrived last week with a bang!

Icy kidded with triplets - aren't they adorable?? :)

Fall Pix

2008-10-07T12:08:00.000-07:00

The goat's just looove acorns. Our neighbors bring tubs of them and many years I'll save old feed sacks full to feed throughout the winter

Preparing for Market

2008-09-05T17:35:00.000-07:00

No Market and Honey Updates

2008-08-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

I won't be at the Urbana Market this Saturday due to a conflict. We're planning on attending next week though!

I've had a lot of requests for honey. This year we're selling glass jars of fresh honey for $6.50 each. Creamed honey will be available later in the season. There is a *very* limited quantity of bulk honey available, if you are interested you will need to contact Linda at (217) 832-8200.

Our honey is not mass produced or medicated with pesticides, antibiotics etc. so it's only available in limited quantities. Before any honey is harvested, each hive is inspected and assessed. We believe the bees come first, and honey is only harvested from hives that have produced more than their winter supply.

Honey Soon!

2008-07-16T18:26:00.000-07:00

Ben took a couple honey supers off the hives the other evening. We should have honey ready to sell very soon!!

2008-07-06T18:30:00.000-07:00

Here's my Market display at the Urbana Farmer's Market! I'm on the third row facing east.
My lovely Mum! :)
Goat's Milk Soaps
Beeswax Candles

Bath Bombs

2008-07-03T07:04:00.000-07:00

"Only 50cents each! Made with sweet Almond oil and pure essential oils these bath seltzers are aromatherapy in your bath tub. Choose from Lavender, Lemon, Grapefruit, Peppermint or Spearmint"

Thats what my description says.... but I just love making them! :-) Here they are ready for Saturday's Market.

Update

2008-06-30T05:40:00.000-07:00

I've been really bad about updates here recently, am trying to get back on track. I've changed my work schedule so I'm only working Monday, Wednesday and Friday in Champaign and have Tuesdays and Thursday to devote to soaping and candle making (amoungst other things of course!).

We've enjoyed a wonderful spring and early summer. I don't ever recall having such moderate weather. Usually we jump from snow to smothering humidity so I'm not complaing at all. The downside is its made all the plants etc much later than usual. This spells delay for the bees as well. Generally we expect our first honey "flow" late May. This year it was mid June, almost a month later. We are expecting we'll be able to take honey off our hives this week and will possibly have it at Market this Saturday!

The goats are doing very well. Babies are growing like weeds and the does have settled into the summer routine very amiably. I'm now milking all four and we are awash with milk. Time to do some serious soaping! :)

I'm happy to have a more relaxed schedule for summer and hopefully will be able to devote lots of time this week to making candles for Market Saturday.

Strawberries!

2008-06-17T19:45:00.000-07:00

I made some yummy strawberry jam with these! The flavor is unparalleled, the only drawback is that with the cooler spring the berries aren't very sweet. Doesn't matter in jam though!

Wrapping Soap

2008-06-14T12:45:00.000-07:00

We wrapped lots of soap in preparation for Market.

The heart shaped bars are very popular

My favorite soap. So of course its blue.... :-)

Urbana Farmer's Market Blog

2008-06-13T08:26:00.000-07:00

I was really pleased to see the Urbana Market now has a blog! This is a great idea and hopefully will be well utilized. Here is the info about the Farmer's Market from the Market at the Square page:

Ready: May 10 – November 8, 2008
Set: Every Saturday morning
Go: 7 AM-12 noon, rain or shine
Located: Corner of Illinois & Vine Streets in Downtown Urbana
Market at the Square is one of the largest and most diverse farmers’ markets in Illinois, and helps demonstrate Urbana’s firm commitment to sustainability.
This gateway into Lincoln Square Village and historic downtown Urbana has enjoyed steady patronage since its inception in 1979, and a recent surge of interest in farmers’ markets nationally has translated into enviable growth for Urbana’s market.
Market at the Square showcased over 150 registered vendors in 2007, and patron attendance reached into the thousands each weekend.
Patrons can choose from a wide variety of made-in-Illinois goods at the Market, including fresh produce, meat and dairy products, prepared foods, plants, and flowers to jewelry, pottery, wood workings, candles, bodycare products, garden décor, clothing, and more!

This is a very impressive Market really by all standards and I'm not saying that because I'm biased but because it's reality. I've been to other markets both in the US and overseas but thoroughly enjoy the other vendors and atmosphere here.

This is the market I sell my soaps, candles and whatever else I make during the week. Tomorrow's forecast doesn't include rain so I hope to attend! :)

More Rain

2008-06-09T05:45:00.001-07:00

I didn't end up going to Market this past Saturday either though I really missed it. I had to get the goats sorted out - the floods and constant rain have made everything so difficult. Water levels earlier in the week forced me to bring the male goats up to the doe's pens but they have quickly trashed it, reducing the pens to muck and mud. Friday night yet more rain was forcasted so I made the decision not to attend. In the end I was glad! Although we only got a couple thunderstorms for a few hours early in the morning all the water up stream hit us and water levels rose to such an extent the town was blocked off again. What an odd year! In my memory we haven't had flooding like this so late in the season. Goats are somewhat sorted out, I took the two bucks (males) out to a neighbor's farm and shut them in his barn. They're unhappy to be there but at least they're safe and dry. The does have discovered how to open their gate to my great chargrin. Its making the whole housing issue dicey. I'm sure I will work it out somehow! :-)

Rain Rain Go Away

2008-06-04T06:56:00.000-07:00

Our farmer neighbor informed us in January that this was going to be a drought year. Um, yeah about that.... when is the drought supposed to start?

This has been one of the wettest springs in a while. Usually our crazy IL weather will have about a week of spring weather and then jump directly into smotheringly muggy summer. Not this year! Most of the plants are aproximately a month behind in growth. The farmers are still trying to plant the rest of their crops. Its unreal!

Personally I love rain. But for my animal's sakes, I hope it stops soon. We had to run out at 5:30 this morning to pull up the goat pasture fence so it wouldn't get washed away by the rising flood waters. Everything is so over saturated, even though the rains have stopped for now the water will continue to rise as we get run off from the fields and larger cities where there's concrete instead of earth. Our pond has overflowed its banks and is creeping up to the pen where the male goats live. Unless it stops I'll have to move them in with the females - NOT ideal. The bees are on a raised platform so they should be fine unless it we get a substantial storm.

In the meantime the poor goats are cooped up in their shed. The mud is unreal and I seriously hope the rain at least holds off for a while now.

Goats in May Pasture

2008-05-30T03:46:00.000-07:00

Icy and Sadie with her babies Jane and Annie

Sadie with Jane and Annie

Moon and Annie playing "King of the Mountain" while Pirate and Ellie look on

Star chewing on a stick while Annie and Jane come and investigate!

Angel relaxing under the fir trees.

Elsie's Chickies

2008-05-29T03:55:00.000-07:00

Elsie loves chickens. She's been begging for some for the past couple years. This year she was finally allowed to get some. These are the 6 half grown pullets that arrived home yesterday. They were shipped as tiny chicks a couple weeks ago but since mum and Elsie were in Canada I didn't feel like taking care of them as its pretty intensive when they're small. So they stayed with a friend until Elsie came home.

Um, yes they are in our bath tub!

They are "Barred Plymouth Rock" chicks

Elsie very carefully taking them out to the "chicken tractor"

Happy Girl!

MayBees (Bad Pun)

2008-05-28T08:25:00.000-07:00

On the way to the hives

Some of the hives, I couldn't get too close because they kept "zinging" me to chase me away. They don't like their photo taken. :)

Across the pond. The black locust trees are blooming and the bees are working them furiously.

Black Locust blossoms

The hives under a black locust tree. I LOVE black locust honey - its light and so delicately flavored. Usually the trees bloom at the end of April but with all the cool weather we've had they're only just now in bloom. These are one of the bees favorite trees and studies have shown that the bees can make 16,000 pounds of honey from an acre of the mature black locust.

So now, hopefully, we shall have a honey flow!

Gardens in Bloom

2008-05-27T15:15:00.000-07:00

Update

2008-05-20T05:51:00.000-07:00

Market started two weeks ago - yay! I didn't attend last week but plan on going this next Saturday unless it rains. It was *so* nice to be there again, looks like it will be a great Farmer's Market this year! I'm working on candles, though I don't know how many I will have ready by Saturday. Life's kinda been throwing me curve balls recently so I haven't got as much completed as I had hoped.

Goats are doing really well. Since the babies were all born within a week of eachother they all are virtually the same size. They play together constantly, forming a "goat gang" racing around the pasture, trying to butt eachother off of tree stumps and high places. The recent rains have made everything a little muddy but it will probably all dry out soon and it brings the grass along really well so I'm not complaining.

I noticed the Black Locust blossoms are almost ready to open so we should have our first honey flow soon! Yay! The hives are doing very well considering how cool it's been and they are behind where they'd normally be this time of year.

Happy Pasture

2008-05-03T08:20:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from last night. The goats are out on pasture and very happy. Yay for new grass!

Annie

Jane

Waiting to be brought up to the shed for supper.
L-R Sadie, babies, Icy, Ellie and Angel

Ellie's newborns are just so sleepy. They were curled up in the shelter.

Ellie's baby pix

2008-05-03T08:14:00.001-07:00

As I posted earlier Ellie kidded, I've added a couple pictures.

Aren't they lovely? Such wild markings too!
On a side note, I'm still using my sister's camera which has a strange smear on the bottom of the pictures. I haven't got my camera back.

Ellie had Kids

2008-05-02T05:44:00.000-07:00

The last of the goat kids for this season were born last night. Ellie is a proud mother of twins - a buckling and a doeling.

My little sister Elsie and I were home by ourselves and I knew Ellie was in labor. Elsie is almost 7 and loves the goats like they are her best friends. She spends hours each day playing with them and is heartbroken whenever one is sold, so you can imagine how tremendously excited she was about this birth. Kid number 1 was born relatively easily, I had to assist a little as he was a huge buck kid and got a bit stuck. Elsie has dubbed him "Pirate". First she wanted to call him "Patches" but now it's "Pirate". No idea how that evolved. The second kid was born 10 minutes later. There weren't any problems but I allowed Elsie to assist. As you can imagine she was estatic.

Both kids are large, very healthy, strong and WILD colored. Oh my, I will post pictures tonight so you can see for yourself, but they are black with all sorts of white patches and stripes.

This concludes the goat births for this year. All four of my does have had twins, 3 males and 5 females total. I'm not complaining at all. Everyone has been born healthy and the does didn't have any major problems giving birth - I'm happy!

Planting Berries and More

2008-04-28T05:40:00.000-07:00

A family friend's mother passed away last fall. She had 5 acres of fruit trees and berry brambles, most of which are over grown or died out. Since the house is to be sold soon I was told I could go find and dig starts. So guess what I did Saturday? :)

I now have 10 more thorn less blackberries planted along the east edge of the property. I hope to save up and put a fence in for them to climb later this summer. I also got 7 red rhubarb starts and planted them in a swathe by the pump. However, I'm most pleased with the red raspberry starts I dug. Tonight I need to prepare an area for them and get them in the ground, but I would say there are almost two dozen little raspberry plants - Yay! I LOVE raspberries. Hopefully all my new fruit plants and brambles survive the move!

I've finally got my four apple trees pruned! They're blooming now so maybe we'll have a couple apples this fall. I planted them two years ago as three year old seedlings, so this will be the first year they produce.... *if* they actually do. Some nasty little rodent was chewing the bark off - I almost didn't notice in time as one of the trees was nearly circled. I got them all wrapped now so unless the deer come munching they should be safe.

My camera is still being repaired, so unless I can steal my little sister's again there won't be many more pictures until I get it back.

More Babies!

2008-04-23T17:28:00.000-07:00

Sadie had a surprise waiting for me as well when I got home! Sadie is very proud of her two babies! R - Annie Oakley, L- Calamity Jane
Little "Jane"
Here are Icy's twins - no names yet!

New Hives

2008-04-23T16:56:00.000-07:00

We finally got our new bee hives set up! We're up to eight right now.

This one needs to be moved. We're just not brave enough to actually do it!
Our neighbor brought some apricot prunings - the blossoms are spectacular!

Surprise Baby!

2008-04-23T06:09:00.000-07:00

Icy wasn't due until next week but guess what I found waiting for me this morning when I went in to feed her?! Aren't they lovely?? My camera is broken so these are just some pix from my phone - please pardon the very poor quality.

Goat kids - More Pix!

2008-04-16T07:48:00.000-07:00

Soap pictures

2008-04-11T07:08:00.000-07:00

My soap "curing" rack is full!
Fresh mint soap still in the molds - makes the whole house smell so good!

Soapy Weekend

2008-03-17T10:08:00.000-07:00

The flow of time is unstoppable of course, but to me it always seems to run faster on the weekend. I had a very busy one getting work done in preparation for the Farmer’s Market that will start in May. I’ve been soaping like a maniac. Not that I know how a maniac soaps, but anyway.

The whole house smelled lovely from all the essential oils in the soaps! I love soap making, it’s truly something that relaxes me and creating the various soaps is very enjoyable. There are so many new soaps I want to create! I have lots of new ideas for this season and it’s hard to focus on making the old favourites first. :-)

Batches that were made:
Lavender and Oatmeal - a creamy bar soap with organic Scottish oatmeal and lavender essential oil.
Clove and Oatmeal – another bar with the organic Scottish oatmeal, this one has ground clove and a spicy blend of essential oils.
Prairie Sage – my personal favourite! So of course it’s a blue soap with my special blend of oils…. Mmmmm.
Patchouli – a deep earthy soap that’s very creamy, this bar is either loved or hated – no middle ground.
Garden Mint – lots of mint! But as Pliny said “Mint reanimates the soul” so it can’t be a bad thing. I made this in the characteristic cream and green soap again, but couldn’t do layers with this batch. Maybe next time.
Lavender Luxury – the heart shaped luxury soap. This time I have a bunch of “broken hearts” where the mold didn’t fill completely and I’m missing corners etc. Still smells wonderful though, there’s a reason this is called the luxury bar!

Now, I only have about 50 more batches to make and I’m ready for market!! :-) I’ll post pictures soon.

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See How We Grow!

2008-03-10T07:30:00.000-07:00

They've Arrived!

2008-03-06T16:48:00.001-08:00

After a long labor and a very difficult birth we have two babies! They are the first of the season and I don't know who's more excited, Elsie or Meg the dog.

The End of Winter Vacation!

2008-03-05T09:43:00.000-08:00

Winter time is a bit of a lull. The market ends at Christmas, the animals require minimal involvement, life is quiet. I've really enjoyed my break, but its ending this week!

Despite the cold weather, Spring is here. How can I be so certain? I'm awaiting new arrivals! The 4-legged sort of course. "Angel" was due Monday 3/03 and has still not delivered yet. I think she's taking great delight in making me wake up two or three times a night and drudging miserably bleary eyed out to the goat shed to check on her. Its all worth it though, the sleep deprivation will be over soon and we'll have beautiful baby goats to care for. I can't wait! Oh and we'll be awash in fresh goat's milk!

On the down side, with the warm weather last weekend we were able to check the bee hives. We've had a higher winter kill this year than usual, which is really dissapointing. Two of the hives are very strong though and we will be able to split them, creating four total.

I'll post pictures as soon as I'm able. Finger's crossed for the safe arrival of Angel's babies!