BS, Bitching & Life

BS & Bitching ...

I’ve had enough. I absolutely loath the chaos and drama and this is not who I am or how I choose to live. I’ve had quite enough.

Life

The day was actually quite chilly with a very cool breeze. My hands got very cold while milking this morning but I was very thankful for the tarp barn. The metal chair wasn’t to cold tho because I’ve been taking an old rag run for a warm cushion.

Thistle is back up to 2 cups a day and some days a little over. According to the people who had her, this is her first year having milk or being milked and she’s done wonderfully. I’m fairly sure she isn’t pregnant now and I believe the signs are just her becoming healthier. She was not in good shape at all when we took her in.

   Thistle  :)

Ivy is growing right along and is going to be a very big girl. If I can, I would like to find her a date toward the end of November, if she’s in cycle.

And speaking of cycles, Kirin will have a date with our vet. in the next weeks or so. He’s almost 7 months and very ready!

We haven’t had an egg in the last 2 days but this is the first time in about a week that they’ve missed laying. The Wyandottes are all still molting, thank goodness because they really smelled bad when we got them. So only the 2 Stars are laying now. Hen and moon don’t lay anymore and Poppy is too young. The ducks, Lily and Lola, are also not laying but maybe soon.

For the last month I’ve been infusing the laundry vinegar with lavender. I’m not sure that it does anything but scent the vinegar and very lightly scent the laundry. It does keep the vinegar from being so over powering, especially on hot days.

 

To make the infused laundry vinegar I poured around a gallon and a half of white vinegar (purchased from the store because I’m getting low on my homemade). I added 1 ½ cups dried lavender flowers and simmered on low heat for around an hour (until all color leaves the flowers). Allow to cool in the pan and then strain into jug. I use an old glass wine jug gotten through freecycle and originally from a recycling center.

I’ve been using vinegar in the rinse for years now. I use between ½ to 1 cup depending on the laundry. I do almost all our shopping secondhand and anything just coming in gets a full cup of vinegar in the rinse.

The Black Walnut Tincture is finished. I let it set up for 14 days to get a good strong tincture. This years is a little over half a quart, I don’t remember how much lasts years turned out to be. I still haven’t found any recommended dosage for treating radiation poisoning but I intend to keep looking and will post it if I ever do.

Black Walnut Tincture after 14 days,
strained into a clean jar

I think I’m going to go ahead and make Echinacea root tincture this year as well. I’ll be digging up my Echinacea anyway and will probably tincture the root rather than drying and powdering. I usually prefer dried root but the tincture will be easy to administer and I don’t have any prepared.

I’m writing this in Microsoft Word instead of aol email because aol has been changing words to crazy things lately. It changed breathe to breath yesterday *~* I actually didn’t even know I had Microsoft Word until today. It seems pretty good so far  :)