Sunday, July 11, 2010

Sorry for the delay...

Well my promise to keep this blog updated definitely wasn't kept. Sometimes life gets busy, too busy to even stop and think. My new goal is to just slow down. These past weeks my oldest son Joseph got his driving permit, I have to admit he is a very good driver. My son Andrew graduated 8th grade another Palmer at the High School. Christian made it onto the honor roll at MJS and Gracee earned her deep water badge at the pool I couldn't be prouder of my kids!

All is well here at the garden, I really don't even know where to start so many things have happened here in the past two month. I did go to Fishawak in Chatham and had a great time and made some wonderful contacts. One lady I met came over to not only interview me for the Madison Patch but has taken the time to teach us how to trim the goats hooves and actually trimmed them twice now. Thank God it's harder job then you think. Check out the article and slideshow at www.madisonpatch.com, it's really cool, the ladies did a tremendous job. This Saturday I went to Maplewoodstock. It started pretty slow, major storms were in the forecast, but once the weather finally broke it was a pretty successful show. The music was great and I'll be back next year for both days if they'll have me. Tuesday I'll be at Whole Foods for the local vendors Farmer's Market from 2:00 till 6:00 come check it out. I'm sending an application out to the craft show at Frelinghausen Arboretum in December, keep your fingers crossed, I think it could be a great show!

Now to my garden, let me just say WOW! My tomatoes have become a great green tomato forest, next year I've got to space them out better. Lots of big beautiful green tomatoes, can't wait to eat them. Cayenne peppers are doing very well and we have found 4 watermelons growing on the vines creeping all over the place. Cucumbers, beans and zucchini have already found their way to our table. The cucumbers are doing so well I've gotten to try the Cucumber Cream recipe, it has grated cuke skin as well as cucumber puree. It's still curing but I can't wait to try it. It will be ready for the first Farmer's Market in Chatham.

I took a chance and bought a mystery collection of container plants from Park Seeds, the window boxes are spectacular, I hope I can make them look like this every year. The whole property looks just beautiful it's really too hard to describe. I'm still bouncing around the idea of a garden party, I think it would be so much fun. Joe & I spend so much time working on the yard we forget to enjoy it. It would be a shame if no one saw it this year.

The chickens are doing so well, we're still getting around a dozen eggs a day. One of our hens has gone broody, which means she wants to have a family, she sits on her eggs and gets quite agitated when you try to gather the eggs. I feel bad for her but with no rooster there won't be any chicks:( Although it is kinda of funny to watch Joe gear up with his beekeeping gloves to take the eggs out. The language that comes out of the coop is not G rated, if you ever got pecked you'd totally understand. With the terrible heat wave that went through here last week Joe installed a fan in the coop to keep the girls cool. I think he's in the wrong line of work he is a natural with all the animals even the ones that attack him hee hee hee.

The bees have again left us... beekeeping may not be in my blood. I have one hive left and will have no honey again this year, very sad. I do see the current hive working away in the garden which is one benefit I will happily take.

The goats are growing so quickly! I have taken away the 2:00 feeding and I'm slowly cutting the other 2 bottles down to ween them completely by September. Kota is a very spoiled goat. After she is milk she chases me to the back door where she waits impatiently for her treat, either a carrot or 3 sugar plums, the plums being my personal favorite too. She is starting to slow down a bit with milk we're getting 3/4 to a gallon of milk a day. Still more than enough for the business right now. The babies and Kota do go together into one pen after the night milking. Kota has taught them to pull leaves off trees and play the way goats do. It's really something to watch.


The soap is doing very well. Lettuce and Lemongrass worked out well. I did get an order for a baby shower and found a great new fragrance that I'm calling Oh Baby, it reminds me of Loves Baby Soft. The other kid scents are Butterfly Garden, Innocence's, & Giggles. All very sweet. I'm making personalized labels for the shower "Baby Palmer", (an example only, no babies here unless they're goats) I was thinking about maybe approaching the local kids clothing store here in town and see if they might be interested in carrying the kids scents. Several of the customers at Maplewoodstock suggested I approach a shop called 165 in Maplewood, who knows maybe I should go more wholesale.

I've changed so many times in my life, always reinventing myself, but this new direction has made me the most content. I love these animals, I love doing these crazy things, like making soap from milk, chasing escaped chickens through the woods, meeting people at these shows and sharing what I've learned with anyone who will listen. I sat with my nephew on my lap and taught him how to milk a goat. A skill he'll probably rarely use, but he was so proud of himself. How cool is that? I wish I could open a camp for kids and let them experience the things I'm doing here. Growing veggies, caring for animals and in turn the animals caring for us with the wonderful food they produce. It's hard work but satisfying. Live simply so others may simply live. Kids should know this, it makes for a more full-filling life and a better place to live for everyone.
Check out the new photos, I'll post when I can, have a good night.

Tracee