It has been a bit of a challenge to keep up with dryer ball orders lately.  But I'm very thankful for the business!  And thankful for great help from Sven.  He's always there with a giant smile and a good attitude. :-)    

I love this picture.  But it really makes me cringe. Why?  I see so much work​ and so many problems that need my attention.  To you, most likely it just looks like a sweet photo of a father and daughter.  To me, I see a pot of wilted dying flowers in the foreground and a nice crop of a terrible noxious weed that need many hours and years of pulling, spraying, and burning to eradicate.  Sad but true,  the farm we are caring for here in Mossyrock needs an incredible amount of TLC.   It can be oh so stressful sometimes as we go about our busy days trying to pay equal attention to all the many things that are nearly crying for their lives!  
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This is me, remembering that all the things can't have my 100%.  But that I can give 100% every day, in every area that I am able, and still enjoy the journey.  Which things get what percent of our minutes each day will depend greatly on our abilities and priorities in each season of our lives, and that's SO OK.  I guess for me, the fact that this picture perfectly shows how everything isn't perfect right now just means that we are real, human, and will always have many things to divide our attention between.  And also, it would be easy to miss the most wonderful moments of our lives because...well...something isn't quite perfect in them.

I love this picture, because I see a very busy father giving 100% to a little fluffhead who needs his attention more than she needs the weeds pulled, the flowers watered, or the grass mowed right now. 

I've been making this soap recipe and scent for years, but this has to be my favorite design ever with the light layers and sparkly mica outlines. So stinking pretty and now my bathroom and house smell like fall.  Creamy, bubbly, spicy, sweet!  I only made 100 of these, so better grab them while you can!
​ Cranberry Fir and Citrus 

"Mom, these chickens will be so proud of us when they see their new house!!!"
Nothing better than a 3 year old's perspective on an animal's thought process.  She said this as we were finishing up putting a new coat of paint on one of our three little mobile coops.  And it got me thinking...it's been shown that animals are quite perceptive of our moods and attitudes.  And for me, little things like a new coat of paint on a structure, wearing a dress and makeup for boring chores, or a neatly organized office space do wonders for my attitude.  So, perhaps they WILL notice the paint, as well as my face looking not stressed because I am not worried about their coop rotting in the winter rains.  And perhaps all this combined DOES boost a chicken's morale by making them proud to live here.   I have a smart little kid :-) 

 Here on the farm, and in a home with a toddler and a husband who works with greasy things, we know all about stains.  Back when I was young and had time to worry about such things, I used a stain stick.  Eventually, I got lazy and busy and old and just let stains happen.  Nice shirts turned to work shirts really fast.   Which was ok, because in 2020, we don't go places where other people are, right?  Even before Corona...only the sheep see me most days. 

But then...I happened upon a pin (thanks, Pinterest) for a home made stain stick recipe, and decided to give it a go.  I wanted to use the materials I already had available for soap making, so decided to create my own recipe using soapcalc.com.  LOVE THAT SITE.  And they don't pay me to say so.  But they should, because you'll hear about it in every soap making class I teach and probably lots of blog posts.  Superfat and chemical properties that lay the groundwork for a "cleansing" bar (as opposed to a conditioning one) is a topic for another day, but soap calc explains this nicely for you if you can't wait for me to get my act together and write about it.  Plug this recipe into the site, and you'll se what I mean.  This bar is beyond cleansing, not something you want to be using on your hands  regularly like a bar soap.

Anyway...
I am going to give you this creation of mine...a magical recipe for economical and eco-friendly stain removal wonderfulness.  And if you decide you'd rather just buy it from me, good on you.  It'll save you some time.  And I have plenty to share ;-) 
But first, a few tips on usage:

Step one: Wet your stain with hot water
Step two: scrub stain with bar, let set until next wash cycle.
Step three: Wash as usual. 

Wow.  Super complicated.

You'll be happy to know, this stain stick is THE BOMB for removing makeup from cloth masks.  You can make a pre-soak solution by shaving off a bit of the bar and dissolving in hot water, but I like to use this directly on the makeup smudges and then hand wash. 

Just so you know, this recipe uses lye.  And no, this stain stick does not contain lye per say because of the chemical change it undergoes when combined with coconut oil.  Again, topic for another day.)  All this to say, this concoction will be very alkaline when first created, and will need to sit and cure for a bit to let the pH come down.   So, get going on this sooner than later my friend, and try not to spill anything on yourself for a few weeks. :-)

80 oz coconut oil
27.5 oz water
13.9 oz lye

Treat this recipe just as you would a bar soap recipe and prepare yourself with all of the necessary protective gear and proper supplies such as rubber gloves, eye protection, long sleeves, vinegar in a spray bottle (to neutralize any spills) a stainless steel pot for mixing, stick blender, silicone spatula, molds, etc. 

Very carefully add the lye to your water, stir, and let cool until between 120-130 degrees.  Warm up coconut oil to between 120-130 degrees, and combine with lye mixture,  Stick blend until soap comes to a trace, pour into molds, and watch carefully for gelling/overheating.  It's not bad for this to happen, as long as it doesn't become a soap volcano and overflow your molds.  Do not insulate molds for this reason!   Once hardened, cut into sticks (use gloves while doing this)  and let cure for 3-4 weeks.  If you have questions, feel free to contact me!

 ​My midwife was pretty awesome.  It’s been more than three years ago now, but one of the things I learnt during that season of life stuck hard.  She said that the more I try to control labor, the more painful it would be; but with a more relaxed state of mind and patiently allowing my body to work, less so. 

I’ve often contemplated this idea when a situation that at first wasn’t overly painful became more so with “more effort.”  I’ve never struggled with hard work, for some reason it’s one of those things that comes easily to me.  However, I do struggle with knowing when it’s time to quit...be it a plan, project, or human that really just needs me to walk away.  It's like my suburban that needs an engine rebuild every 2 months. It's literally begging me to let it die in peace, but have I let it?  NOPE!  Knowing when to let go is hard, because...who wants to be a quitter!!!! 

I'm sure you know how HARD it can be to downsize, to walk away from something or someone, to pray, wait patiently, and let God lead.  Downsizing and decreasing aren’t usually applauded in a culture where bigger is better and multiplication = success.   We all think we need MORE of everything.  And it is so easy to let the difficulty of a situation or endeavor that is clearly not working slow us down, or worse, debilitate us mentally, emotionally, or physically.  Especially as moms, business owners, and farmers with very full plates!

On a side note, it's funny how this blog was intended to showcase sheep milk soap, sheep, and regenerative farming,  But I always seem to get sidetracked by the ethics of why we do what we do.   Our worldview has a lot to do with how we operate here.  One of my favorite quotes from Jim Elliot sums it up: 

​Isn't that cool?  Can you relate to this?  Its so hard to understand why we do what we do unless you see the world from this perspective.  If you are wondering what kind of a person would say that sort of a thing, Jim Elliot was a Christian missionary and martyr to the Waodani tribe in the jungles of Ecuador in the 1950's.  And its pretty cool, we have special ties to this story since my husband's great uncle Don served on the team that recovered the bodies of the 5 missionaries who were tragically killed there.  Uncle Don and his wife were also missionaries in Ecuador for many years, and he owned much of the property our family farms here in Washington today.   You can read more about the incredible story HERE
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Anyway, back to my original point.  Labor still hurt like heck.  But I like to think that the reason it was only 8 hours long instead of 20 was my good frame of mind, thanks to my lovely midwife. :-)

It's that time of year again!  Time to start thinking about preparing for spring lambs!  Are you excited?  I sure am!!!!!
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Here are a few tips for making sure your girls and guys are in tip-top-shape for baby making. 

• Minerals -Make sure you have a mineral mix specifically designed for sheep available at all times.  I cannot stress this enough!  There is nothing in their diet that is more important than a proper mineral balance when going into rut.

• Vitamins -If you are breeding and milking  a dairy breed, especially in climates with cloud cover much of the year or where ewes are housed,  it is likely that your ewes will need a week-long vitamin boost with A/D before breeding. Milk production depletes this mineral overtime and can reduce productivity greatly.   August is a great time to do this!  Give 2 CCs of A/D every other day for a week.  Consider giving a 2 CC vitamin B complex to increase appetite as well.  You can not overdose this, excess will be flushed out in the urine.  Alternatively, cod liver oil can be given to naturally replenish A/D.  I find this method to be healthier and likely absorbs much better than the chemically engineered vitamins, although the cost will be higher.  Most sheep will eat it mixed into grain, the picky ones may be drenched instead,  
• Sel/E, BO/SE  -Although we already touched on minerals, this mineral is particularly important and especially scarce in cooler/rainy climates like ours.  A good time to give this mineral-boosting vaccine is immediately after the week-long vitamin regimen.  By giving this, you will ensure that your ewes are completely replenished and none of your lambs will be born with WMD (white Muscle Disease) which is a sel/e deficiency, and one of the leading causes of death at or near birth, right alongside hypothermia.  Trust me, it's worth calling your vet and ordering a bottle of BO/SE (bo-say) to have on hand for your flock. 
• Forage/Feed  -Alfalfa and orchard grass is the best choice of hay for this period Aug-Oct.  Lush pasture, if you have it, is even better!  Supplement with alfalfa even when on pasture.  (I love the Chaffhaye bagged product, easy to throw in the back of a passenger vehicle without mess and highly digestible, and my favorite...no waste.  Sheep will not much of the baled dry alfalfa stems.)  Grain can also be given, a high quality barley/oat/pea mixture is best, but in limited quantities unless your ewes are underweight.  If you believe your ewes are overweight, do not give grain.  In general, you want your ewes to be on the thin side by the end of July (after a year of milking steadily, they should be!) and on a steadily increasing diet from mid August to the beginning of Oct.  That is, if lambs are normally born between early Jan and late Feb.  If you are planning for March lambs, delay the schedule by a month.  As a (very general) rule of thumb, most ewes will naturally begin to ovulate for Jan-Feb lambs, and yearling ewes for March-April lambs.  HERE is a lambing table schedule if you are not sure, or are planning to turn the ram in at a certain time for lambing during a certain time period.   
• Deworming ​-It's very important to make sure your ewes are not beginning a pregnancy with a parasite load.  I highly recommend getting a fecal sample done by your veterinarian and deworming at least a couple weeks before putting the ram in with the ewes. Some chemical  dewormer is not safe for pregnant ewes.  There are also many natural alternative worming schedules that can be safely given during and before pregnancy, and I have had great success with these, used in combination with rotational grazing.  
• ACV Apple Cider Vinegar is a great supplement to add to water before breeding.  According to old wives tales, this will cause a higher percent ewe lamb than ram lamb births.  I'm not sure if it does.  But in any event, it aids digestion and the sheep seem to love it.  I use about a cup to 10 gallons. 
• Marking harness -Now is a great time to get a marking crayon on your ram, so that you will have definite dates for lambing.  And don't forget about your ram's nutrition right now as well!  Pretty soon he will be girl crazy and may even forget to eat.  It is very important to have him at his best in the weeks leading up to breeding.

*If you've done all these things, congratulations!  You're getting your 2021 lambing season off to an excellent start! 

I have been so excited to share this, I can hardly stand it!  We've jumped on one of the latest bar-soap fads...yep...DISH SOAP.  Bar dish soap.  I know it sounds weird, but hear me out.  Bar soap is more environmentally friendly than liquid, both for the way it is made, what it is made with, and how it is packaged.  Bar soap boasts no harmful preservatives or expensive plastic bottle packaging.  Also, you have to figure that much of your bottled dish soap is actually water.  That means, you are wasting $$ paying for water to wash your dishes, and you will struggle to use a limited amount because it squeezes quickly and easily from a bottle.  Yep, that's clever marketing right there. 

Bar dish soap is sounding much better already, isn't it?!

But wait, there's more!  Ours isn't any 'ol bar dish soap...it's FELTED with naturally antimicrobial wool..  You are now free to toss the yucky bacteria-growing sponge sitting on your sink because THIS soap comes with a built-in washcloth that will never allow bacterial growth and can even continue to be used as a scrubby once the bar soap has been completely used up.  

This, folks, is FELTED BAR DISH SOAP with Orange Essential Oil and it's da bomb.
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But wait, there's...just kidding, I'll stop lol

 Now you have sparkly dishes, softer hands, saved money, promoted a family business, and saved the world all with less than an Andrew Jackson.  

Whew, July, where did you go?  It feels a bit like nothing has happened, and yet everything has changed in the blink of an eye.  We drilled for water and came up dry (literally) and the new (old) baler we bought for this year's hay harvest caught fire and is now being completely rebuilt.  Small challenges, it seems, to the affairs of the world right now.  But surely, disappointing!  We hoped to have the farm ready to move in on this summer, but it looks like it will be another year at least.  Usually, I am at peace with this, but I do struggle with the feeling that time is being wasted...wasted in trips back and fourth from home to farm and farm to home, wasted in loss of life and vegetable produce since we are not there 24/7 to "police" the sheep and keep them out of our garden (HAHAHA...SNIFFLE) or keep chickens safe from predators.  Money wasted renting.  Money wasted in burned fuel.  Etc. Etc.  It's hard, because the farm is where my heart is.
Or is it?
Sometimes small scale farming can be a really difficult job to see any success in.  Really long days,  (like, 5:30 AM to 9:30 PM most days) and a lot of physically challenging work.  As a family we love it, are good at it, and thrive on it.  But I can also be very good at putting my nose to the grindstone and plugging along, trying to ignore little feelings of frustration with how little progress we seem to make with our little piece of heaven in the hills, until it all bubbles out in tears one day.  But then, I am so thankful for God's gentle reminders that my heart is His...and therefore I would be remis to put my treasure and trust in two of the three English noun categories (you know, places and things, lol) 

​As much as we may want or think we need something RIGHT NOW, it is humbling and comforting to be directed, and see doors open and shut.  And I hope that with every new development, my heart will stay focused.  I REALLY don't want to be remembered for my hard work, where I lived, how much, or how little I had.  I want to be unmentionable, in that way.  Because honestly, everything good has been given to me by a loving and caring Father.  Not because I deserve it or earned it, but because He is so, so good, and loves to give his children good gifts in his perfect timing.  Sometimes it's hard to understand why things happen the way they do, but in the end, I know there is a reason and a plan!  Matt 6:19-21

She earned the name "Chewie" because she looks a bit like a Wookie .  Also, she chews on everyone and everything, including unsuspecting visitors.  Enjoy this virtual visit--luckily for you--minus the lamb slobber <3