The Beauty Around You

 Finding the beauty in the everyday has become a passion of mine, and with this passion comes a multitude of benefits: peace, joy, happiness, rest and mindfulness to name a few. Looking for the beauty in the day-to-day takes determination at first because of the frantic pace of our lives in the here-and-now, but the results are totally worth the effort.

 This journey, this choice to live our everyday life with intention, requires that we train ourselves to actually be still in the hurry of life. To look for the lovely, the unseen, the unusual. It's so easy to fall into the "same old, same old" mindset that has us believe that every day is just like another; that we're on a never-ending treadmill. I've come to realize that this mindset is deadly! It actually prevents us from fully becoming who God created us to be!

To actually look for beauty and to be still in the busy-ness of life requires commitment to a purpose. One of my purposes is to fill my life with more gratitude. You search out your own purposes or reasons for committing to a more intentional, beauty filled life: your health, faith, personal growth, simplicity and on and on. Everyone's purpose may be different. The point is to find your purpose for pursuing beauty in the everyday and living life more fully.

Today is the Day! Don't let another day pass before you take a moment to be still. To sit in quiet. To contemplate something of beauty. And to be grateful.

 

The Creation Of a Bar

 Have you ever wanted to have something practical, but you want it to be beautiful as well? That's the motivation behind the creation of this beautiful soap! 

I was looking for a soap additive that would be great for absorbing excess oil, would soak up impurities, soothe sensitive skin, and leave a radiant glow. Enter Rose Kaolin Clay. Kaolin clay, although mild, is an effective cleaning agent. It gently exfoliates dull skin, and leaves your skin feeling soft and smooth! It also has antibacterial properties. So with all these great attributes, I knew I wanted to create a soap containing Rose Kaolin Clay. I also decided to add some ribbons of activated charcoal. Activated charcoal has a detoxifying effect, but I love the design interest that it brings to this bar. 

With the additives selected, next came the selection of the scent. I spend a good bit of time researching current trends in the soap world: scents, colorants, additives, oils, packaging etc.  After assessing my research, I decided that a well-grounded but complex scent would be perfect for the lovely bar that was coming to life in my mind. I wanted a bar of soap that allows us to take care of ourselves and find joy in doing so. I wanted this bar of soap to be light and mood-lifting.  Further research yielded a scent combining sandalwood, black currant, pink pepper, berries, jasmine, cedarwood and more. The complexity of this combination is fabulous!

I think you will fall in love with this bar! 

Insta Pot Newbie

I must give credit where credit is due. You can thank my brother and a friend from church for this post. I had ignored all the hoopla about the Insta Pot for years, when suddenly people I know and trust started talking about how their cooking had become so much easier and quicker. I finally listened.

My life has shifted and morphed over the last few years, as all our lives do, and I was searching for new ideas and ways to accomplish all my goals. So when a friend started telling me about how she simplified her cooking, I was all ears. She NEARLY convinced me that I needed an Insta Pot when she was telling me about her system, but I still wavered.

My next point of contact was when my brother, whom everyone acknowledges as a great cook, came to give a cooking lesson. He kept mentioning how often he used his pressure cooker, but all I could think of was the aluminum pressure cookers of my youth. Let me tell you, the memory of an exploding pressure cooker and the days it took to clean turnip greens off the ceiling, cabinets and everywhere you could think of, kept me from taking him seriously..... until he sent me a picture of his pressure cooker.... Yes, it was an electric pressure cooker, not a stove top one!

I decided it was time for me to order an Insta Pot. I spent so long reading reviews and comparing!!!! 

(Glad I had a week off!) I finally decided to order the Duo Evo Plus because it comes to pressure faster and cooks faster than others. It claimed to be easy for beginners (me!) and yet have adjustments for "dedicated cooks," just in case I ever become one of those!  It will be here in a few days, so I'll keep you posted on how it goes!

the one I ordered

https://www.amazon.com/Instant-Pot-Duo-Evo-Plus/dp/B07W55DDFB/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=briarrfar08-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=8c99a9a6a9fca5514ae40e903842cfe5&creativeASIN=B07W55DDFB

Be sure to send me all you favorite recipes to try in my new Insta Pot! 

(if you purchase anything from a link on our blog, you pay nothing extra, but we get a few cents, so thank you!)

Goats Got Parasites? Natural Dewormer recipe

Healthy, happy goats are a primary goal for us. The very first year we had goats, we learned that goats have parasites: lots of them! We were told by EVERYONE that we had to rid our goats of parasites with chemical de-wormers, even though some of these chemicals no longer worked well because parasites had become resistant to them.

That year, we used a chemical de-wormer that claimed to be safe for dairy animals. Since we want to live a more natural life with fewer dangerous chemicals, we began researching options and found an herbal wormer and began using it.

About three years ago we started mixing our own version based on our research. Please note that we are NOT veterinarians. Many people have asked for our "recipe" for our natural herbal wormer, so I'm sharing our current version. It has changed and will probably continue to change as I continue to learn. Our goats are happy, and we're happy with the results we get with this recipe, but I will say that we utilize other wholistic methods for the health of our goats.

VERY IMPORTANT information: There are some herbs that can be given to goats only when they are NOT pregnant. The recipe I'm sharing today is the version I use when the goats are NOT pregnant.

Herbal Wormer Recipe for NON-pregnant goats

1 cup Black Walnut hull powder
1 cup cayenne pepper powder, or about 7 dried peppers
1 cup cinnamon powder
1 cup garlic, minced or powdered
1/2 cup powdered cloves
1 cup rosemary leaves (powder them after measuring)
1 cup sage
1 cup thyme
2 cups wormwood
1 cup ginger, powdered
1 cup psyllium seed, powdered
1 cup dry mustard seed

Dosage: 1 teaspoon every 30 pounds, or 1 tablespoon for every 100 pounds
              You can begin using dewormer on kids after they are 3 weeks old. Give them a three-day                    dose every month until they're 6 months old. Then they should be able to join the regular                      adult dosage and schedule.

Adult schedule: Give to adults for 5 days in a row every month

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Eat Local

      Sourcing local food has actually been more of a concern for us in 2018 than in past years. Typically, we grow most of what we eat. This year, however, we bought an old farm house in January, moved into the house at the beginning of March, and didn't have the opportunity to get ground ready for a sufficient garden. Because we truly believe in eating food grown locally, we've had to branch out into the community to find good food.

   
If you've ever moved to a new state, city, or community, you can identify with the daunting task of sourcing sustainably grown, responsibly farmed, healthy food for your family.  I'd like to give you a few ways to begin your search.

   
  One great way to find local farmers is to be a regular, committed customer at a couple of farmer's markets near where you live.  While the number of farmer's markets is growing, some markets do allow vendors to sell produce that is NOT GROWN LOCALLY, so be SURE to ask questions at several farm booths.

You might want to ask more general questions first, such as, "Do you grow everything you sell?" Then you can move on to the more specific questions about things that are a concern for you. Be sure to spend time researching the farms and farmers with whom you entrust the well-being of your family, and develop relationships with farmers who have integrity.

     A second way to find local farmers is to get connected to national networks such as Eat Wild 
and Local Harvest . One USDA Local Food Directory lists farmer's markets all across the United States: Link
These networks can help you find farmers raising everything from meat animals to mushrooms.

 
 A lesser know means of finding local food is through your state's Department of Agriculture and the Agricultural Market Bulletin. In our Mississippi Market Bulletin I've found farmers selling beef, chicken, eggs, pick-you-own figs, blueberries, muscadines, as well as all the usual vegetables.

  Finding locally grown food and developing relationships with farmers will be time consuming, but this time will be well spent when you and your family experience the health and well being garnered from the fresh, local foods you get to eat.

 

Loved And Lost

There is a lot I could say about these photos...

When you loose something that you've worked on, put thought and care and time into, there's hurt.

Some people suffer loss at the hand of catastrophic events such as fire, flood, or hurricane. No matter the cause of the loss, it always hurts.

I put thought, care, time, financial investment and love into what I do. I receive pride, a sense of accomplishment, and joy from the outcome - or (literal) fruit - of my labor.

Then, in one day, most of it can be literally ripped away from me.

I don't mean to be overly dramatic. I only strive to "keep it real." I spent a great portion of my morning close to tears, fighting back anger.

Things aren't always rosy on a farm. Life is hard. Yes, we receive great joy from seeing and being a part of things that grow, bloom, produce, thrive, and change. But there are times of true trial when we are forced to deal with death, loss, failures, and other inevitable aspects of real life.

When we offer a product for sale, there is WAY more behind that packaging than a simple product, or a way to make an income... We are offering a piece of our lives! We are offering an experience, a piece of our own joy! We pour our hearts and souls into raising good healthy farm products! It is more than fulfilling to be able to get our products to a point of maturity and offer them to people like you!

I can say with certainty that it makes each of us overjoyed EACH time we see our products going home with our customers, because we know that with each of them, we have just shared a piece of our lives, our passion, our joy.

The pot in the first picture is filled with dirt. You wouldn't know anything was missing.... Yesterday it was filled with lettuces and spinach that were growing BEAUTIFULLY! We were looking forward with pride and joy to the soon approaching day that we would be able to walk off the front porch and pick our own fresh salad.


Each of these other pictures represents hours of work and weeks of attention. They were all filled with lovely micro-greens, some nearly ready to harvest. Now most of them are gone.

This was not the results of a catastrophic even, but all due to a bored puppy..... But it's gone, just the same...

They say it is better to have loved and lost than to never love at all... I think it's true. At least I know that I can start over. I have something that I am passionate about, and I can grit my teeth and begin again with patience and a little more puppy training!

No matter what happens, remember what you're passionate about, and that sometimes loosing everything is just a chance to get a fresh start.

....Keeping it real.....