Thursday, January 26, 2017

Closing Out The Month With a Book Giveaway







Leigh Tate of 5 Acres & A Dream is quite a gal. She wears so many homesteading hats and author is one of them . Leigh's writings are entertaining and informative. You are likely to find little nuggets of subject knowledge in places they are least expected.

Leigh's books can be found on her blog http://www.5acresandadream.com/  and while you are there check out the post B2B ( back to basics) Bundle. That would be all the new low down in books, videos, courses all offered at an incredible price until January 31st. Subject matter is just about everything that deals with self sufficiency and/or homesteading. Pretty much one in the same aren't they?

To make this fun I am offering a chance to win Leigh's Guinea Tales telling you everything you ever wanted to know about incorporating Guinea Hens into your homestead . How to win? Just leave a comment on this post letting me know where you are from state or country would be fine and why you are interested in Guinea's. I will toss all the names into the hat on the 31st of January and pick one out. Please check back on February 1st to see if you are the winner. So simple it almost does it on its own.


Saturday, January 21, 2017

Quilt Shop Visit and Give Away Winners!



We all have happy places and mine tend to center around fiber and fabric. Yarn  and quilt shops to be specific. And with that said after another period of "under the weather*" weather I did just that. Headed down the mountain to my favorite quilt shop the Blue Iris . Always busy around the cutting tables.
 *yup another week long stretch of rain, mud, rain, wind, did I mention rain?



And they have a large selection of fabrics , helpful staff and potlucks! 



Color everywhere including above you.








Lovely scrap quilt offered in a class for eye candy behind the register.










The quilt class to go with the Keffe Fassett newly arrived collection!








Do you quilt and fancy chickens also? This
one is for you! 
 

A cozy seating arrangement if you are needing a time out to contemplate that potential new project or chat with one of the ladies in the shop. 





More color and another amazing quilt!


                                       


                                     And a play on buy local. 







Did I purchase anything? Well yes I did but you will have to wait to see it as it goes in a birthday gift for a year from now. Sorry can't take a chance on blowing my cover. Guess you will just have to stay tuned for a bit.

Now for the business end of this post. Yesterday was the twentieth and the winners were picked for the 3 bar gift pack of hand crafted goat milk soap from The Soap Works on Ash Creek ( a very clean division of Walnetto Farm) and they are Leigh Tate of 5 Acres & A Dream visit her at    http://www.5acresandadream.com/ 

And Mama Pea of  A Home Grown Journal   visit her at http://ahomegrownjournal.blogspot.com/

Ladies I will be mailing next at end of coming week. I will email you each after I mail with an ETA. Enjoy and thanks for commenting on the blog.



Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Walking Tour of the Barn Residents




Mo on the right and Survivor on the left are taking a walking tour of the farm residents in the barns.










Say Howdy to Nutmeg who loves to show off her lovely profile. 








Walnetto-Farm  Sundance Kid  trying to get a better look at Nutmeg.
 Jamboree who seems to ask "So these freckles make my nose look big?"







Willie the debonair wether behind Jamboree











Patience Meg and Jam's doe kid coming up on a year.









Nutmeg's going on two year old doe "Walnetto Farm Meg's Got Trouble" bred to kid in April to Sundance Kid.








Tabby Cat aka Tubby Tabby picks up the tour in the west barn.











Don't let Yarrow's sleepy look fool you. 0 to 60 in a nano 
second if the occasion calls for it! 









Yarrow's working partner Sherman. Picking up a scent always diligent about potential predators.

Walnetto Farm Licorice Twist (who is also bred to Sundance Kid for May kids) on the left and her twin does going on yearling Katz Tracks in a lovely shade of red and on the far right Twist mini me Starry Night. 




Bringing us back to the chicken run and coop in the big barn pictured below from Tabby's vantage  point in the west barn.


Have a wonderful rest of your day and hope to see you again soon!






Sunday, January 15, 2017

Then There Was Sun and Hand Crafted Goat Milk Soap Double Giveaway!

"Yes Virginia there is a sun."  We have been in the most southern line of fire of the "let it snow" in measures of feet not inches here in True Northern California*. Which means in the last two weeks we have had rain, snow, ice , wind and even a dash of fog for good measure. We have had temperatures freezing or below creating not only several hard freezes but ice rinks after days of rain. We have had huge volumes of water running through our seasonal creeks. The only thing we have avoided is flood. And this is because we are about 1000 feet elevation in the most southern Cascades and the water that comes down from higher elevations keeps running down to the mighty Sacramento river on the valley floor. The photo above shows today sun, temps in the mid 50's , calm. But don't be fooled in 48 hours it will be status quo again rain, ice and perhaps according to some forecast maps a bit of snow at our level. It is certainly an old time winter here in the golden state!

Allow me a moment to to first apologize for my photos. My laptop is steadfastly refusing to let me edit my photos. So rather wait another day or more to get back to this neglected blog I am plowing forward. Secondly the asterisk above True Northern California ah yes. You see in the last 15 years or so there has been a great misconception that Northern California begins  at the Bay area aka San Fransisco. Nope sorry there are still many miles of  California after that. And those of us who are in spitting distance of Oregon take great offense to this misconception. So when someone from Lodi tells you they are from Nor Cal not even close. And just for the record Lodi which is in Central California is a lovely fast growing city. No offense intended.

So what to do on a real day of sun and temps which leave me in shirt sleeves for only about the second time since before Christmas? I know lets groom Sherman the boy dog of my pair of livestock guardians.
Sherman pictured her with Tubby Tabby aka Tabby Cat gets a good flicker brushing every two weeks if I can manage it. Sherman is a registered AKC Great Pyrenees and has a "typical" Pyr coat. There is a joke about Pyrs and shedding. They only shed twice a year. January to June and July to December. And he was looking a bit tacky around his edges as we began. I groom my working dogs on the milk stand. You know *that* old joke " where do you groom a 120 pound dog? Any where he will fit. "

 Making progress it seems. I don't usually get him done in one sitting. Partially because he is a good patient boy but even good patient dogs need a break. And then there is my back and other body parts that I know well enough to know that if I am to live to groom another day a break for me is needed also. Especially on a day when I got giddy and decided not only to groom up Sherm but trim some goat feet also. So Sherman and Yarrow got a cookie and yes loosing some of that hair helped to make his butt not look so big!
After trimming feet on Libbie and KC , once again the don't over do because there are ten other sets of hooves to be done . I made the executive decision (it is my farm after all) to take a coffee break and knit. Working on number two of some nice lace patterned fingerless mitts. See the green bag behind the mitts and coffee? First person to correctly comment with what organization this came from and I will happily send you a sample bar of my three hand crafted goat milk soaps.
 OPPS. In my attempt to get this post up and out I failed to finish the thought I had in my head. Therefore I need to apolgize. Any  person to correctly comment with what organization this green tote bag came from will be entered in a drawing on Friday January 20th.  I will announce the winner on Saturday January 21st . Due to my unintentional wording I will make amends by offering a prize to two winners. Yup you heard right two sets of three goat-milk soap with organic essential oils and products in the scents of Ylang Ylang , Wild Hungarian Lavender and Eucalyptus Lemon Fusion will be delivered to the post boxes of two lucky folks. So comment away and see if you are the lucky winner.  In addition to this issue while trying to correct it this morning after the fog (in my head) cleared I managed to totally loose this post but finally found it. Upon which I also learned that the photo editing mentioned above was a technical difficulty due to oh this is embarrassing, dead mouse batteries!   Oh my maybe I should hibernate until Spring 😱
 I am on a roll now and will be back with more photos and tales of Sherman, Yarrow and the  goats soon. Plus a sneak peek of the newest quilt in progress and another scarf on the loom.

And just in case you think that grooming a Pyr is a small job here is today's  contribution and that is from just a quick going over.

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Tuesday, January 10, 2017

To A Most Prosperous and Peaceful New Year!






We are still here at Walnetto Farm. I guess you could consider this a disclaimer post. The Grand Girls have come and gone. The good old fashioned California winter has come with a fury we used to see and it is still here. So I ask patience of you all . With the snow, rain, ice, rain , wind  did I say rain? It has been a bit of a challenge. Just checking in with hopes that by this week end I will have had time to squeeze in a nice newsy post with photos. Until then stay safe, warm and dry!