Archive for Farm Stuff

Natural Mosquito Repellent – Do You Use it?

Re-posted from July 2013.

I don’t know what it’s like where you live but here the mosquitoes are horrendous. We don’t like to use chemical laden insect repellents. We tend to rely on a natural mosquito repellent, like our essential oils. I’ve taken to putting the essential oil Purification on at the beginning of my paper route and while it does not work 100%, it does deter many of these pesky creatures. We have also used cedarwood, peppermint and lavender.

Rural Countryside

Mike the Gardener had a little article on what to plant in your garden to repel mosquitoes and I sure wish we had got our lemongrass and marigolds planted! Our daughter did plant a pot of catnip for the cats, which has sprouted. That was more to keep the cats down at the barn rather than at the house – they think they are house cats and try to get inside! But they have a job to do down at the barn – rodent patrol – so we want them to stay down there. Our children love those cats and started feeding them at the patio door and guess where they camped our and hung around? Yep, the patio door! Or any door for that matter. We nipped that in the butt by telling them to stop feeding the cats at the house or the mice would take over!

So do you have a natural remedy to combat the mosquitoes? Have you ever grown your own natural mosquito repellent?

P.S. If you happen to sign up for Mike the Gardener’s Seed of the month, please use our referral code: https://www.averagepersongardening.com/seedsclub/step_2.php?node=R28D4WDCHM so we can get credit for it.


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Haying with Horses – Wordless Wednesday

FFR Haying with Horses

I am barely getting much blogging done lately. It’s been busy here on the farm, plus we are homeschooling through the summer and I’ve just been enjoying life too much to sit very long in front of the computer!


Haying with Horses

Yesterday we went to a fellow farmer’s to learn how he farms with draft horses. It was very interesting. He owns two Percheron horses, along with two Morgans which is is also training to work like his Percherons.

We actually got to see Farmer L hay. He had already cut the field so we got to see him use his hay loader (which he purchased for just $90, if I remember correctly) and a hay wagon he built himself.

The reason Farmer L farms with horses is because of his dislike for the use of petroleum. He is self-taught and very good at what he does. He teaches driving lessons (learning to drive a team of horses) to another farmer friend of ours and she is enjoying the lessons a lot.

As crazy as it sounds, I’d love to farm with horses. It would give me an excuse to own horses because it would give them a purpose on the farm. Not sure I could convince hubby though as he is very much a tractor man.

What do you think of farming with horses in this day and age?


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Sheep – Wordless Wednesday

Couldn’t resist sharing more lamb or sheep photos!

FFR Sheep 052014

FFR Sheep and Jr. 052014


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Can You Guess What These Are? – Wordless Wednesday

This post should be a Guessing Wednesday, not a Wordless Wednesday, and since when am I ever wordless?! Ha!

So can you all guess what my son is holding in his hand?

FFR WW Guess what these are


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Week #22 Saturday Top Five Laughs

Saturdays Top Laughs dentistmelsbbutton-11

Can’t believe another week has come and gone already! But it’s time for Saturday top Five Laughs with Mel over at The Mommyhood Chronicles for week #22 (for us) in our Saturday Top Five Laughs of the week.

5. This one happened when we went mini golfing a few weeks ago. I only remembered it when I posted the photo yesterday. Mini golfing as a large family is hilarious! Especially when half our children had never mini golfed before. They start out by hitting the ball like it’s a puck in a hockey game and you know what happens then! The children loved it and can’t wait to go back. Next time though, we want to go when the go-carts are open!

4. Lokie is fun to watch, though this week I haven’t had much time, but the children have. He even climbed the manure pile only to roll down it, lay there and wait for his mother to fawn over him!

3. I told O to plant shelling peas at the end of the rows already planted, meaning the last bed, but she planted them at the end of the tomato beds after the tomatoes. Tomatoes and peas cannot be planted together because of the negative affect one will have on the other. Another Amelia Bedilia moment in which she took me quite literally. I also think she didn’t hear part of my instructions because she was heading down the hallway to the door.

2. Jr. and JAG (our 10 year old) were running around outside. JAG was doing this super hero run and paused with his arms in a pumping motion. What does Jr. do? The same thing. Too cute!

FFR Padfoot drinking from Dixie cup

1. We went to the park yesterday afternoon after the children worked hard planting in the garden. They wanted to take Padfoot, our dog, so I let them. Well, we forgot to bring him a water dish so he got to use a Dixie cup like the rest of us!


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New Kid on the Block

FFR Hazel and Lokie 051914

There’s a new kid on the block! B’s goat Hazel had a male kid on Saturday late in the afternoon. We just missed the birth as he was pretty slimy and slick when we found them. B named him Lokie. He got into trouble within the first hour after birth by getting stuck in between the pallets of the stall. We completely forgot about “kid” proofing since we are slightly out of practice. He’s cute even if he is troublesome!


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Meet Atlas Our Babydoll Ram Lamb

FFR Atlas_2_042814

Atlas, our Babydoll ram lamb and third lamb (we still have our loaner Oopsie), arrived on our farm on April 28 at eight weeks old, which is the recommended age of weaning and going to a new home. We brought him home in the back of our “truck”, like we did the other lambs.

Processed with VSCOcam with f2 preset

We already got our papers for Atlas, since he is a registered Babydoll sheep. We are still waiting on Juno’s, her breeder sends all her lambs in at once.

FFR Atlas Babydoll Certificate

It has been fun watching our son and all our children fall in love with our sheep.

FFR B and Atlas.052014

FFR Gould children, sheep, atlas down


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Stonyfield Greek Yogurt

FFR image for posts

I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again, our family loves yogurt. We recently tried Stoneyfield Greek Yogurt. It was delicious.

stonyfield greek yogurt-logo_0

Did you know Greek yogurt has 20% of the recommended daily allowance of protein? And 30% of calcium? Greek yogurt also contains half the carbohydrates compared to regular yogurt — 5 to 8 grams per serving compared with 13 to 17! (Source: US News)

The store we where bought our Stonyfield Greek Yogurt only had Super Fruits, Blueberry, Strawberry Banana and I think that’s it. I can’t wait to try the other flavors. The night my husband brought the yogurt home everyone was hungry and I didn’t even get a chance to take personal photos! If we get to the store this weekend for more, I’ll try to take photos and add them!

super-fruits-0-fat-greek-yogurt-5p3oz_0


Super Fruits ingredients:

Our Family Recipe Yogurt (Cultured Pasteurized Organic Nonfat Milk), Pomegranate, Raspberry, Acai Fruit Preparation (Organic Sugar, Organic Raspberry Puree, Organic Corn Starch, Organic Acai Puree, Organic Pomegranate Juice from Concentrate, Natural Flavor, Organic Fruit and Vegetable Juice Concentrates [For Color]), Organic Guar Gum).
Live Active Cultures S. thermophilus, L. bulgaricus, L. acidophilus, Bifidus, and L. casei


About Stonyfield Greek Yogurt

Facts:

  • 0% fat and twice the protein of other yogurts
  • Made without the use of harsh pesticides or GMOs
  • Ingredients are bought from farmers Stoneyfield trusts
  • Certified USDA Organic
  • Their cows are not treated with artificial hormones or antibiotics and their cows are treated humanely.

Greek flavors:

Super Fruits
Black Cherry** newest flavor
Blueberry
Cafe Latte** newest flavor
Caramel
Chocolate
Honey
Lemon
Peach Mango
Pineapple
Plain
Raspberry
Strawberry
Vanilla

Our Review of Stonyfield Greek Yogurt

We really loved it! The flavors were great. The yogurt was thick, yummy and tasted delicious! I loved the blueberry.

What Stonyfield Greek Yogurt flavors appeal to you?


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10 Things I Love About Spring

Inspired by Mama Kat’s writing prompts.

FFR Spring Tulips Long Grove 2013

10 things I love about Spring:

1. The sunshine.

2. The green grass.

3. The appearance of flowers and colors after a seeing dull brown after the snow melts.

4. The ability to work outside with ease. No winter weather to hinder us.

5. The chirping of the birds.

6. The beauty of new life everywhere.

7. Having our own eggs again after going all winter without.

8. The change in flavor of our homemade butter now that Miss Moo is out on pasture again.

9. Spring fever in the animals. Watching Blaze (our horse) canter across the pasture is a sight to behold, as is the cows, goats and sheep frolicking.

10. Planting our garden and the ability to grow our own food.

What do you love about spring?


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Babydoll Lambs – Wordless Wednesday

FFR Oopsie and Juno 041314

The above photo is of Oopsie, a Babydoll Katahdin. As his name denotes, he was a mistake. The breeders Katahdin buck got over the fence to one of her Babydoll ewes and voila now there’s an Oopsie! Juno is our son’s first Babydoll lamb, Juno, who is a pure bred Babydoll. The funny thing is both these lambs were born the same week! Because Oopsie’s father was so much bigger, Oopsie will be larger than a standard Babydoll. They came home on 4/13. Oopsie is suppose to go back to the breeder as he is just a loaner companion until our son’s ram lamb is ready to come home. All the children want to keep Oopsie and at the time of this writing he’s only been here a day and a half! So we’ll see.

Just discovered a photo of Juno just after she was born with her twin sister, Jellybean, in an email from the breeder. Aren’t they sweet?

Juno and Jellybean 02-2014
Bottom photo compliments of Hillbunker Farms.


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