Wild Moon Cottage is a small working homestead in the pristine Ozark Mountains. We have dairy goats, poultry, organic herb and vegetable gardens, a start of a tiny fruit orchard, several black walnut trees, wild berries and fields of wildcrafting goodness. We raise our own milk, our own eggs, much of our own medicine and food. I do laundry by hand, make my own vinegar, candles, soap, bread, cheese ........ For a living I am an artist and herbalist. My goal for myself and our homestead is to be as self sufficient and self sustaining as possible.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

1.28.14 Seeing Red

We were without water for a little over 3 weeks but have had outside water since last week and, hopefully, will have inside water by this coming weekend. Followed shortly thereafter with hot water. It’s been a challenge but could have been much worse. The cold has made it a bit more difficult to deal with but at least we could deal with it.

Even so, I can’t wait to have water in the house again! And the thought of finally having hot water on demand makes my head spin with delight  : )

Yesterday I finished two lovely red skirts for a friend. I had them almost completed and just had to finish them off but then had some strange problem where suddenly the needle would not penetrate the fabric. I actually ended up breaking a needle on one. It was very odd. I put them away for a few days then got them back out yesterday and all went well.




I also quickly made myself another flannel skirt out of some very old red and black plaid flannel that I’ve had since my late teens. When I received this fabric it was already very old. I was told it was purchased when my Grandfather was a young man. My Grandfather crossed over at 99 years old around 15 years ago. So it’s pretty old fabric. I used to use it as a cover for my horse blanket, under the saddle in winter, for a Christmas tablecloth etc.. I loved it dearly and never wanted to cut it up. But last night I did cut it to size and now I can love it dearly as a favorite winter skirt  J

3 lovely red skirts finished yesterday and hung out on the line today to air in the breeze. As I watched them dance on the line from my desk window I thought of Cardinals and the meaning of red. To me red is the warmth of a fire, passion, rosehips on an otherwise bare winter cane, the setting sun.

I am now sitting down with a bowl of supper. Wild rice with grilled mushrooms and carrots, onions, peppers and other good things. The mushrooms are a mix of Honey mushrooms from the yard last spring and portabellas I bought. I bought a lovely wheat bread from the discount bakery at T&C in Ava last week. A buttered slice or two goes wonderfully with the rich dark rice.

Dehydrating mushrooms is very easy so that you always have some to add to whatever. But to give them an exceptional flavor boost try grilling them before you dehydrate  :)

Nik is stilled laid off from his job but we’re hoping he will be called back in March. But I’ve been back to work on hammocks since the 1sr week of January, thank goodness! This has been a very hard winter for us. I still have my business but sales dropped to nothing for a time and lack of jars hurt salve sales greatly.

A friend gave me what I believe I needed for the salves and balms tho. For me, as far as containers go, the first most important thing is that they be in glass. The second is that they be earth friendly containers. That’s what led me to reusing glass babyfood jars. Anyway, she suggested that I use what ever near size I can get and not worry about the look of consistency. So that’s what I’ve decided to do  J.  I’ve never charged for the jars (I get them free) and only charge for the salve or balm by the ounce. So, I will continue to do that and offer a discount for exchange jars that are clean with good lids and allow for refilling old jars as well.

I’m also planning on getting back to selling eggs and poultry again by the end of this year. I’ve sold a few eggs since the move but haven’t raised poultry to sell in years. I traded a buckling for cash and an incubator early in the month and it’s working perfectly. There are 10 Pekin duck eggs in it now and a dozen each RIR, Barred Rock and Ameraucana are going in when the Pekins hatch.

To those we have 4 young Buff Orpingtons we hatched out in a friend hove-bator last year. 2 roos and 2 hens. I’ve done some trading and will do more to ensure unrelated roos and hens.

We’re working on a new poultry pen and brooding pens. They won’t be finished for quite some time but hopefully by next fall.


Aside from that I have my ever growing list of 2014 Goals and warm dreams of seeds and gardens and sunshine and warm showers ....


2 comments:

Madison Woods said...

Love the repurpose of your flannel cloth :)

Unknown said...

Juli! We miss you on the forums. Please visit our new forums @ http://www.homesteadforum.org when you can. I hope all is well with you.

- Tobit