Scrubs

You know, I have been searching for a place where I could get the perfect scrubs for the tasks that I have to do.  Scrubs are not just for nursing anymore you know!  They are a big deal!  What more comfortable clothes could you be wearing as a homesteader, to go out and take care of those little baby critters?  Well, okay, I guess you could be considered a nurse when you are helping to clean up a little baby goat and they need to snuggle up next to you.  You will be perfectly at home in your new beautiful, easy fitting scrubs, able to handle the task at hand and know that they will come clean and ready for the next baby!  You can find those wonderful scrubs at http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/categories/Scrubs/Scrubs-for-Women/Original-Scrubs/.

Go check it out!  The prices are reasonable as well!  Truly, if you want a beautiful set of scrubs and some of them look just like jeans!  Then this is the place to get them.  They also carry scrub hats, lab jackets, and many beautiful pieces of jewelry.  You know what I'm thinking?  This would be also a great place to get a gift certificate for a friend or a supervisor that you work with on staff at your doctor's office or at the hospital.  If one of these folks has done something special for you, (like delivered YOUR baby!), what better way to say thank you than a gift certificate to Blue Sky Scrubs.

In fact, Kim, look out!  I'm thinking of you today and you just might find a special card with something special inside for you!  What a wonderful way to say thank you!

Find them on facebook and the internet.  Go check out Shelby's story!  She's the one that created Blue Sky Scrubs!  Pretty neat!

Sad yet okay after all

Today my husband partnered with another pastor and officiated the funeral of one of our dearest friends from the last 7 years.  Jeri Boger.  She was an amazing woman.  She died Tuesday at the age of 88, but fortunately she was a Christian, so dying for her was just moving day.  She moved out of this world and into the presence of Jehovah God and Jesus Christ our Saviour.  How wonderful could that be?  And you know, the even more wonderful thing about it was we truly gathered for a celebration of her life, not a mourning of her death!  Her kids were happy and talking about how their mother was probably once again standing up right (she had been in a wheelchair in the nursing home for 7 years since a horrible car accident put her there).  They figured she was probably preparing a meal in heaven for many folks as cooking was one of her favorite things to do.  This sweet woman, graduated from college with a degree in music in the 1980s, and even was in the college marching band with her French horn!  Can you believe that!  She was a very inspiring woman, and not once, in the 7 years that I knew her, did I ever hear her complain about anything.  Jeri was such a settled person.  She knew what she wanted in life and she went and got it and she knew where she was going after life on this planet, and she was not afraid to go.  In fact, she was VERY ready.  She could quote scripture and she could sing the hymns and it was plain to see, she loved her Lord.  She's with him now and I just know that Jeri is happier than she has ever been.

My wish for everyone that reads my blog is that you too could be that happy.  You can you know!  If you will just ask the Lord for forgiveness of your sins, tell him you know he died to save you and that you are a sinner, and you need his forgiveness, and that you want him to be the Saviour and master of your life.  He will do it!  He will take away your sins, he will save you, and when you die, you will go to heaven where you will meet my friend, Jeri!  And someday, I'll be there and we can talk, and you can tell me that you read it on my blog!

Don't wait folks, if you have a question as to whether or not you are saved, settle the question tonight or today, whatever time you are reading this.  Get saved and know that you are forever saved after that one time.  "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me.  And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man, pluck them out of my hand!"  "He who hath the Son, Hath Life"!  Not will have, not may have, not might have, not could have, not should have, BUT HATH!  Already!  Once saved, always saved, and you can never change it!  It is a signed, sealed, and delivered fact.

Please, for your peace of mind and for your family's peace of mind, ask him to be your Saviour.  I have never heard anyone say they regretted being saved!

The Bible says today is the day of salvation.  You may not have a tomorrow.  Why wait?

Wow, what a hectic season of life it is!

You know, it seems like there is always something that has to be done, and before you can do that something that has to be done, there's always one more thing that has to be done first.  UGGHH!  Seems like my life is made up of just one more thing these days.

Well, I haven't been on here posting lately because I've been busy selling things.  First it was elderberry cuttings, then horseradish roots, now rhubarb crowns, and fragrance oils for candles, soaps, and lotions.  I still have horseradish roots available, if you are interested in any.  Also, I'm going to be ordering the rhubarb crowns on Monday, so if you need some of those, just let me know, I'll be glad to get you some.  Oh, I accept paypal by the way!

Now, friends, if you are into candles, soaps and lotions, have I got a deal for you!  I'm selling fragrance oils now.  In fact, I'm just waiting on my shipment of 1 ounce bottles so I can get them all ready to fill for anyone who wants some.  Below is a partial list of my fragrances.  If you by any chance don't see one you want, ASK!!!!  By all means!  I have more that are not listed here, plus I have a friend who literally has thousands of fragrances so I can purchase from her any time I need to, so please!  Don't be shy!   Okay, here's the list.  Now, just email me at dunroven@netins.net for information on shipping, etc, which of course will depend on how many you order, but you know, we will use those flat rate boxes and the USPS does this neat thing of giving, I think it is, 15% off, IF you purchase your postage on line, and that includes a free tracking/confirmation number!  Now how cool is that????  After all this time of having to pay so much to the post office, they are giving us something!  My husband says the 44 cent stamp is broken down into 2 parts of cost.  They are as follows:  1 cent for mailing the thing, and 43 cents for storage!  Okay, wonder why its called snail mail?????  LOLOL

Here's the list.  Let me know if I can help you with these or with horseradish roots or rhubarb crowns!

Apple Cinnamon

Baby Powder

Banana Nut Bread

Bayberry

Bay Rum

Blackberry

Black Cherry

Blueberry

Blueberry muffins

Candy Cane

Cashmere

Cappuccino

Carmel Apple

Cedar Berry

Chocolate Mint

Christmas Carol

Christmas Eve - Type

Christmas Splendor

Christmas Tree

Cider Spice

Cinnaberry

Cinnamon

Cinnamon Buns

Cinnamon Red Hot

Citronella

Coconut

Coconut Cream Pie

Cookies For Santa

Cool Water - Type

Country Kitchen

Country Spice 

Country Vanilla

Cranberry

Creme Brulee

Cucumber melon

Enchanted Forest

English Rose

Eternity for Men

Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus Spearmint

Evergreen

Festival of Lights - Type

Fireplace

Fireside chat

Frankincense and Myrrh

Freesia

French Vanilla

Fresh Baked Cake

Fresh Baked Bread

Fresh Ground Coffee

Fresh Peach

Fuzzy Navel

Georgia Peach

Geranium

Gingerbread

Gingersnap

Ginger spice

Grape

Hazelnut Coffee

Heather

Hearts and Flowers

Holiday Spirit

Holly Berry

Hot Apple Pie

Hyacinth

Karen's Ocean Rain

Lavender

Lemon

Lemon Pucker

Lemon Verbena

Lilac

Lily of the Valley

MacIntosh Apple

Melon

Mistletoe

Mulberry

Mulled Wine

Ocean Mist

Orange Spice

Patchouli

Pear

Pear Glace

Plum Spice

Plumeria

Popcorn

Pumpkin Pie

Rain

Raspberry Ice

Rose Jasmine

Sage and Citrus

Sandalwood

Sex on The Beach

Spiced Pear

Spiced Plum

Strawberry

Stress Relief Scent

Sugar Plum

Sweat Pea

Temptation

The Outdoorsman

Tobacco

Vanilla Bean

Victorian Rose

Warm Apple Crisp

White Vanilla

My newest cuties!

I want to give you all a chance to see some of the "critters" that we raise here.  Believe it or not, I WILL get into talking about candles and candies, but its spring!  And just like on Bambi, the critters are twitterpated!  Now that has nothing to do with being on Twitter, for those of you who don't know, twitterpated is being in love.  Oh YEAH!  Anyway, it also means BABIES!  Sometimes Lots of them!  Today, my cat Sheeba decided to bless me with her litter of kittens.  She had 6.  I have a waiting list for my kittens because they ARE something special.  I have 17 people on the list right now and the list just continues to grow.  We take a lot of time with these kittens and make sure they are extremely well socialized.  In fact, the last litter I had, one lady came and brought one of those carriers that has netting all around the side, and inside she had a couple of toys, right?  Well the kitten she was purchasing jumped inside of the carrier on its own, and started playing with the toys and while we were talking, it just cuddled up and went to sleep in the carrier.  No problem taking a fearful cat out of my home!  LOL

Anyway, here are the little ones for your delightful pleasure!  Oh and by the way?  My next waiting list is for kittens that I "suspect" will be born in October/November.  If you are interested, let me know!  They are $125.  They are well socialized, as stated, and they have been wormed.  I let you do the first vet trip so the cat will think you are their hero and not their enemy.  Also, I do not take kittens back into my home once they have left.  I don't want to inadvertently bring a disease back into the house with my wonderful cats.  Not that anyone would intentionally let their cat pick something up, but folks bring stuff into the yard or another animal crosses the yard and BLAM, you can have diseases just like that.  Sooo, my cats are protected, even from their own kittens.  Its just a little something I learned............the hard way.  Don't ask.

Okay, here are the little darlings!  (I call them lion cubs).

Ain't they cute???????

WOW, How Easy is this????

Okay you all know the feeling when that pesky check engine light comes on right?  First thing you think is oh no!  What can this be.  How much will it cost to fix it?  Where is the best place to get it fixed.  Can I really trust my mechanic to tell me whether or not this is REALLY a problem or just a light that's on the fritz?  These things are especially true if you are a woman and have not had much experience as far as car repairs go.  I have a little experience since I had a brother-in-law who believed that it was NOT good for a woman alone to be clueless when it came to her vehicle.  He knew his mother had been "taken" too many times when he was in the service.  So when he had the chance, his sister-in-law (me) before I was married was taught a few things.  But again, this little light represents a possible hazard that we are totally unsure of.  Even the most seasoned farmer that works all day long on his huge combines can be intimidated by this little tiny light.

WELL!  I have found a solution!  When you get to a computer, log yourself into this site!  http://www.repairpal.com/ !  I was amazed when I found this site.  It asks you to simply register, give just a very few details about your car, and from there you can track your service, ask an expert a question, or what I really liked, was that I could look at Problem Reports and Recalls for my make and model of vehicle!  Guess what?  The first one on the list was the very problem I am having!  Next, I was able to click on Estimate, again, give just a few details, and it showed me what I should be paying in my area!  Lowest price and highest price!  Click on Directory and voila!  Up pops a listing of the service centers in your area as well as a map to find them!

There is also an area on their site called Encyclopedia.  Don't know what something means?  They break it down for you!  You can find all you need on this website about cars, and in a clear and understandable format so that you don't have a lot of frustration trying to find anything!  http://www.repairpal.com/ will even allow you to make notes about the last service you had so that you can easily track the services you need on your car.  I don't know about you, but I spend a lot of time on my computer.  It is my calendar of events, etc.  Now just by adding this website to my favorites, I can click on it, and see what services need to be done, when I had that pesky check engine light fixed, and what the mechanic told me it was, and what it cost!  I find this site totally awesome and I hope you do too!

My Anniversary! Also warning, pictures of my still born goat. Its for educational purposes.

Its our 17th wedding anniversary!  WOOHOO!  Some friends have invited us to their house for supper tonight, so we're planning on going.  I'm working today and my husband had to make a trip to pick up some supplies that will be going into the new store we will be opening on May 1!  Yep!  We have a HUGE building, and its going to house a candy store (mine, as I make about 50 different types of homemade candy, give or take a few!  (Need candy????, let me know!  I'll be glad to make it for you!))  It will also have an antique store, a tea room, a candle shop, where you can get my custom made candles, scented to your liking and for any special occasion you have including weddings, birthdays, or just a gift.

I can't hardly wait to get the store open.  I type as a medical transcriptionist right now, and have done that for 21 years, but the years have taken a toll on my hands, and I'm very ready to get back to "making things."   I love to see people enjoy the things that my hands have created.  Whether its candy or candles.

This past week has been one of joy and sorrow.  We raise Boer goats and one of my does had twins.  One is going to be leaving me today.  They were premature and she is just not going to make it.  The other one has taken off like a whiz and is doing terrific!  Another doe had 2 beautiful full term babies, and both were stillborn.  I found out my goats now have a problem called Iodine deficiency.  I had no idea, but a weed in the hay that they were eating, is what caused it.  The weed is called flixweed, and it really is a devastating thing.  I have one more doe to have babies, and I'm really worried about what is going to happen with her babies.  The only thing I can be thankful for is that I know what the problem is, and I have now taken steps to correct it, including giving salt, soda, and a block of minerals.  Now most folks give loose minerals, and I'd love to do that, but you can't get them here, so the block is the next best thing, and that is also why I'm also giving them salt.  Some folks also say to paint the underneath side of their tail with 7% iodine, which you have to get from a vet, and with my husband gone right now, I can't do that.  Hopefully I will be able to get it soon and never have to go through this again.

I'll post a picture here, if I can get it to come on.  Those of you who have goats should be very concerned about this happening to you.  The babies were all born with a goiter.  And the big thing about that (besides the size of the goiter), is that according to experts, the does that are born in this condition, generally do not survive.  But, I have at least 1 that IS going to make it. They also say that the bucklings DO survive.  Why that is, I'm not smart enough to know, but I am certain it has something to do with the hormones.

I can't get the picture to post, but if you can click on this link, please do so.  If you can't, please copy the shortcut into your address bar and go look at it.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d57/dunroven/100_1243.jpg

Please, take a few minutes and look at the neck on this baby goat.  I give you this picture and the information above about the iodine deficiency in hopes that you will have a care with how you care for your critters.  This could have been prevented had I been warned about the possibility.  Because even if the goats had eaten the flixweed, if I had been supplementing their diet with the minerals, salt, and soda, they would have been fine.  Now, I'm the loser as well as the mother goats.

Gotta get to work, but I'll be back more often now.  Things "seem" to be settling down a bit.

Breeding Rabbits

You know, before all that happened with me being sick and all the other problems I said we would be talking about breeding rabbits.  So, I'll do a lttle of that here today and elaborate the next time I write.

I raise New Zealands and Californians, and I have one lonely old Flemish Giant buck, fondly named Mr. Brown.  Mr. Brown travels to the local nursing homes where lots of oohs and ahhs are his and, "Oh my, how soft!"  And "Oh look how big his feet are!!"  LOL.  You know there is nothing so pleasing as to watch the smiles on those folks' face when you take some critter in to let them pet them.  My husband has Bible studies in all 4 of the nursing homes in our county and when babies are born on the farm, he's sure to tell them to look for a surprise next week!  Those that are alert enough, will keep him at his word and they turn out just to see the surprise!  We have taken baby chickens, ducks, goats, and rabbits in to see the folks and they love all of them.

Anyway, back to the rabbits.  New Zealands and Californians are considered meat rabbits because they have the best meat to bone ratio, meaning that there is a larger amount of meat than bone as opposed to the Flemish Giant.  They have a much larger bone structure, and are called Mandolin shaped.

Breeding rabbits can be quite rewarding, but challenging.  When you want to breed a doe (female rabbit), you must take her to the buck's (male rabbit) cage.  To do the opposite could result in castration of your buck, and the end of your breeding program.  Now I have met folks who swear they do it the other way, but after having been successful at raising rabbits for 17 years, I'm not about to change this just to "see" if they are right.

This is where the conversation gets a little risque.  When a buck has done his job, he will sort of curl up and fall off.  This pretty well assures you have baby rabbits on the way.  I allow this to happen a minimum of 4 times, and yes, I do watch.  I hate to wait 30 days and then find out I have wasted that time because nothing happened when I thought it might have.  If you watch, you know.  I watch at least the first mating.  If I have several rabbits to breed, I only watch the first mating and then move on.  Within 30 days or so you will have a wonderful litter of babies.  When first born, rabbit babies are hairless, or rather they have hair, but it is so fine, they look pink, like baby mice.  In fact, reptile owners, look for "pinkies" (which are baby rabbits who have died) to feed their snakes.  Some folks will keep the pinkies in a plastic bag in the freezer and sell them.  So there is a market even for those.  I don't do it, simply because I don't have them often enough.

Well, I have to run, almost time for church, so I have to go get ready.  As always, more to come tomorrow!

I'm back???

I have been out sick and busy folks.  Still sick and won't stay long.  Let's just say that the flu bug has hit our home, and actually I'm not 100% sure it is flu, more of a sinus infection and chest cold, but wow I can hear the Atlantic in my ears!  Or maybe its the Pacific????  I don't know, but I hear a LOT of water.

I have been very busy also trying to get a set of displays ready for a custom wedding centerpiece and that too has taken me away from my blog for a bit.  You can check out my candle pictures at

http://s1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff480/cccodebolt/

These candles are all ones that I have made here, and if you click on the pictures, they will be larger and also the title includes the price, except on the bridal centerpieces.  The centerpieces were done with very heavy hurricane glass, and the candles are of various sizes.  This is just one example of the different kinds of things I can do with custom wedding candles.  These candles are ivory and gold, and have the scent of vanilla and lavendar, varying by table set up.

I can do many different candles, and many different scents, so if you are interested in candles, please let me know.  Doesn't have to be for a wedding, maybe you just need one for your home, maybe you want to give a gift?  I will make the candle and the fragrance you want and your cost will be the cost of the candle and the shipping.

Anyway, better get busy doing some other things.  I do appreciate you checking out and following my blog.  I will be here more often now, but sickness sure does knock a person down!  See ya tomorrow!

OOPS, Clumsy me!

I hope everyone following me will forgive me for not writing much tonight.  I had a problem today!  I was breaking up some wax to make candles with and a chunk flew off and hit me in the eye.  NOTE TO SELF:  WEAR SAFETY GLASSES WHEN BREAKING WAX.  Wish I had learned it sooner.  I have a black eye now.  The wax hit my eyelid, but it actually made a huge red spot on the white of my eye near the nasal side of the eye.  IT HURTS, WAH, WAH, WAH.  (Okay, I know, I'm a baby)  Well, I was born the baby of the family, so I can claim honest rights here!  LOLOL

See you tomorrow (well I hope I "see" you tomorrow!).

Rabbits, rabbits, rabbits

So today, after chores, I went out to check my supply of rabbits.  I don't have as many as I need, that's for sure, and you can never have too many rabbits, right??  Okay, well maybe you can, but right now I just don't.  I have folks wanting to buy breeder rabbits from me, so I'm needing to up my supply.  So, we went to work getting some rabbits bred.  I raise New Zealand whites and Californians.  I used to also raise Flemish Giants, but didn't have as much of a market for those.  The rabbit market has been down quite a bit for me; however, in my area, I seem to be the only one that has hung on.  I don't know why that is, but it is.  Maybe folks are just smarter than I am and have figured out it costs quite a bit to keep all these rabbits on hand, when you aren't getting many sales.  A 40 pound bag of rabbit food costs almost $10 and that only lasts me 3 days, and I truly don't have very many rabbits anymore.  We used to have about 150, now we are down to about 25 give or take a bunny.

I love raising rabbits, for many reasons.  They are such easy keepers and don't requite a ton of time.  That said, they still must have fresh water and good food, and feeders must be kept clean.  There are so many different types of rabbit feeders, and it just depends on your preference and what works well with your rabbit.  For my preference, I choose the cast aluminum crocks.  They hold up well through tough winters and lots of ice in them.  We have broken a couple of them, but that's over 6 years, so I don't consider that too bad.  They come in many sizes, so that if you have a large litter, you just put out a large pan, one rabbit, a small pan.  I use them for both feed and water.

My rabbits are fed only alfalfa pellets, of 16% protein.  I have tried in the past to feed hay, but every time I do that, I end up with sick or dead rabbits and I just have decided to stop that experiment all together.  Likewise, unless a rabbit is "off its feed", I do not feed table scraps of lettuce, carrots, or anything else.  Not because I don't want to treat my rabbits, but because I don't want to "mis-treat" my rabbits.  Rabbits have a very touchy digestive system, and the slightest change can turn a healthy vibrant rabbit into a dead rabbit extremely quickly, and rabbits do not do well with vet care.  Again, they are just too nervous.

Now, I'm probably going to offend some folks here, but I need to state this right up front.  We try very hard to eat from our farm, because we just can't afford not to.  In this day and age, I don't see how families are able to make it without supplementing their food from home, which everyone, and I mean everyone, from one point or another, CAN help raise their own food, even if you live in a high-rise apartment house.

Most of the "critters" on our farm are edible.  Rabbits included.  Now please, if you get offended by someone eating "Fluffy" for goodness sakes don't rant on me here.  I have been brought up with the notion that God gave us meat for eating, and with very few exceptions, I am willing to try it all, and have tried more than a lot of folk have, and enjoyed it.  Okay, nuff said about that.  I do butcher my own rabbits.  Yep, I'm a female and it can be done.  Men are not the only ones who can perform this gnarly task.  Its really not so bad, but I heard it phrased exactly right once.  If you get to a point where you enjoy killing the creature, rather than being a bit hesitant about doing it, but still willing, then you should never be doing it.  Anyway, probably more information than you wanted.  However, I just must warn you, at some point I will be talking about butchering and may even show pictures or a video, so please, just be forewarned that this is part of what this site is about.

Okay, all that being said, I went to a homestead site that I enjoy very much, some of you may enjoy it as well, http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/.  I have posted in a couple of places on there that I am looking for some New Zealand (NZs) and some Californian (Calis), does and bucks.  So we'll see if I get any response.  I did do 3 breedings this morning, so hopefully in a month, we'll have NZ babies.  Around March 16, I should have 2 nice litters of Calis.

Well, have to get ready for work.  Tomorrow we'll talk more about breeding rabbits, the hows, the whens, and the what to look fors.

Have a blessed day everyone and thanks for looking at my blog!  :)

Getting started!

Wow, my blog is up and ready to go!  I'm going to use the time here to try to help some folks with making candles, raising animals, and some wonderful recipes.  Spring is just around the corner, and you know there are several things that that means!  Like for instance, green grass, and mud, planting the garden, and mud, cleaning out the barn, and did I mention, mud?  A farm is a wonderful place in the spring.  For me there is no place better than walking around our small farm, listening to all the animals talking to each other, and to me, seeing new buds on trees, and just like in the animated classic Bambi, the animals are twitterpated!  (Gee I hope I spelled that right!).

What I love especially to see, that really makes me know that spring is here, is my barn swallows.  Oh I know, lots of folks think they are just pests, but they keep the mosquitos down, ticks away, and all those other nasty creatures that you really don't want near you, and they just soar and swoop and dive and turn, my goodness, its amazing when you watch them and you think they haven't a care in the world other than flying, taking up residence in the old nests, and producing the next batch of baby swallows.  We have several families of them here, probably 30 or 40 nests in just one small area.

It will soon be time for baby goats to be born too.  How precious they are.  But why do goats always seem to have their babies on the coldest, stormiest nights possible and during the very deepest middle part of that night?  I don't know, but it sure seems that way!  But all is forgiven for keeping me up so late when those little babies BAAAAAAA at me or they stand up for the first time and take that first sip of warm milk from their mamma.  What a wonderful world it is on the farm when these things take place.  I just love all the babies.  Ducks, chickens, geese, rabbits, goats, pigs, barn kittens and house kittens.  Some pictures will have to surely follow one day soon!