Harvesting the Blossoms
So far on the farm what we've managed to do most is harvest flowers. Lots of calendula, and lots and lots of delicately pink, sweet Cecile Brunner tea roses. Yesterday I managed to get a few of the seedlings we started back in March into larger pots -- some nasturtium, tomatoes, a couple of Thai basil babies. Today I imagine it will be more of the same. All of the witching herbs I started from seed were eaten by birds as soon as they popped their wee heads out of the soil. Those that didn't get gnawed on were beaten to death by the drying wind we've had in the past few weeks. It's been brutal. We're to be subject to another storm this coming weekend but are trying to see it as an opportunity to not have to water rather than as a setback. I replanted the witching herbs yesterday and will be much more diligent to their needs than before. There have been many successes too. We've got tomatoes, squashes, and beans coming out of our ears. The boysenberry and blueberry bushes are throwing fruit (duck!) and most of the orchard pit fruit have nice, fat, unripened fruit hanging from the branches. We did get one distillation done, but there are much more that we can do. There's just so much to do that it's reached a point of becoming overwhelming, and that's not where we want to go with it.
Yesterday I purchased a truckload of raw materials for soap making mostly because I'm too disgusted to dig through the boxes in the garage to find what I know is in there (more raw materials). Every time I locate shop items, they become lost again when the folks around here decide to do a bit of housekeeping -- in the garage. I'm still looking for the stuff I had out during the holidays that I used to make soap. That was all sorted back into the wall of confusion. Anyway, enough of that. The point is -- soap's on! I got mango butter and cocoa butter to add to the usual shea/coconut/olive blend I use. On a different note, I'll be forced to pack all of this up after the next soap making foray as our house is nearly complete. We're due to move in sometime in June. Not sure the exact date yet. Initially, we were told April or May, but thanks to the much-needed deluge of rain we've had this year, those plans were delayed. Yesterday the house was given color and all the doors are on and locked, which is a good sign the interior is getting close to being finished. Just a few houses down from ours, people have begun moving in. The first four houses on either side of the street are now occupied, and most of the homes are near completion. There are a few here and there that are still just frames, but the neighborhood is filling up quick. I think the last time I looked at the little street map in the builder's office, there were only three or four in the entire development that hadn't been sold yet, including the big monstrous one right next to our house. The only part of this that I am not enjoying is the moving -- again. That makes five times in five years. I am so over it.
Yesterday I purchased a truckload of raw materials for soap making mostly because I'm too disgusted to dig through the boxes in the garage to find what I know is in there (more raw materials). Every time I locate shop items, they become lost again when the folks around here decide to do a bit of housekeeping -- in the garage. I'm still looking for the stuff I had out during the holidays that I used to make soap. That was all sorted back into the wall of confusion. Anyway, enough of that. The point is -- soap's on! I got mango butter and cocoa butter to add to the usual shea/coconut/olive blend I use. On a different note, I'll be forced to pack all of this up after the next soap making foray as our house is nearly complete. We're due to move in sometime in June. Not sure the exact date yet. Initially, we were told April or May, but thanks to the much-needed deluge of rain we've had this year, those plans were delayed. Yesterday the house was given color and all the doors are on and locked, which is a good sign the interior is getting close to being finished. Just a few houses down from ours, people have begun moving in. The first four houses on either side of the street are now occupied, and most of the homes are near completion. There are a few here and there that are still just frames, but the neighborhood is filling up quick. I think the last time I looked at the little street map in the builder's office, there were only three or four in the entire development that hadn't been sold yet, including the big monstrous one right next to our house. The only part of this that I am not enjoying is the moving -- again. That makes five times in five years. I am so over it.
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