Win Some, Lose Some

Sometimes homemade doesn't always work out perfectly.  Take, for example, a recent foray into crafting essential oil.  As summer waned into fall I still had an overflowing herb bed.  What to do with all of that basil?  After drying more than I could possibly use, I thought about making essential oil for use as fragrance in a future soapmaking endeavor.  So, I have lots of fresh basil and I have sunflower oil and I have YouTube - what more do I need?

Step 1:

Gather basil leaves and wash under cool water.  Put a handful of your basil into a clean glass jar. Crush them to release the flavor of the essential oils.  

Step 2:

Pour sunflower oil (400 ml) into the jar until the leaves or flowers are completely covered. Put a well-fitting top on the jar and let it stand in a warm (but not sunny) place.

Step 3:

After a week, strain off the herbs and then repeat the process of infusion with a fresh handful of your herbs (but using the same oil).  Do this as many times as necessary until you have a jar of strongly flavored aromatic oil.

Everything was going quite well until Step 3.  Instead of waiting one week, I waited three weeks - figuring that the oil would just be stronger and better.  The time came; I was ready to take nice big whiff of the lovely and calming oil I planned to use in my soap.  The fact that the lid blew off the jar lid with force when I loosened it should have been my first clue that something was amiss.  The minor lid explosion also resulted in a liberal spraying of oil all over me, the counters, the floors etc.  About one second after the spray, it hits me. The stench of death.  Death in a jar and it's all over me.  

Needless to say, I ignored some critical parts of the directions in oil making.  When making essential oil, all vegetation must be completely submerged or it will go rancid.  I had left a few bits of basil at the top not totally immersed.  And rancid is the nice word for what was now coating me and a three foot radius of me.  Learn from my mistake and follow the directions!

So, essential oil fail.  There is a life lesson here, I'm sure.  Perseverance, diligence, something.  And of course, READ and FOLLOW the directions!  Next time I'm in town I will buy real basil oil.  While I'm there I might just pick up a few bars of soap.

September by Helen Hunt Jackson

An all time favorite ushering in fall.

The golden-rod is yellow; 
The corn is turning brown; 
The trees in apple orchards 
With fruit are bending down. 
The gentian’s bluest fringes 
Are curling in the sun; 
In dusty pods the milkweed 
Its hidden silk has spun. 
The sedges flaunt their harvest, 
In every meadow nook; 
And asters by the brook-side 
Make asters in the brook. 
From dewy lanes at morning 
the grapes’ sweet odors rise; 
At noon the roads all flutter 
With yellow butterflies. 
By all these lovely tokens 
September days are here, 
With summer’s best of weather, 
And autumn’s best of cheer. 
But none of all this beauty 
Which floods the earth and air 
Is unto me the secret 
Which makes September fair. 
‘T is a thing which I remember; 
To name it thrills me yet: 
One day of one September 
I never can forget.

Going Green

After a long winter, spring in much of Tennessee was filled with record breaking amounts of rain.  While this rainy spring and now summer wreaks havoc on the annual garden, it certainly made the pastures, woods, and springs beautifully green.

On a farm, spring also begins the busy season, with tending the cattle, managing pastures for cutting and baling, caring for the chickens, planting and tending the garden, canning and so on.  Most certainly  all creatures at SPF are enjoying the weather this far!

Cowbabies!

Zipper  about 4 hours after birth

After a month of watching and waiting, both mama cows have delivered their calves.  And whoever thought that cows could be so cute?!  Both are black bulls, naturally polled.


It was quite an experience for me, but seemed like it didn't faze the cows a bit!  Just a cough and boom, there's the baby.  During the whole process I learned a lot about pre-delivery behavior and presentation.  But I never thought I would get so familiar with a cows backside - I can easily identify both mamas by looking at their back ends.

Watching the snowfall right after birth.  

It was hard to ascertain when a cow was imminently about to deliver.  In fact when the second cow was ready she did a lot of the pre-birth behaviors and presentation.  So much that we started to wonder if there was a problem since she appeared to be having contractions and pushing - the she would stop and go eat hay!  We ended up getting the vet out to check her/ palpate her and he said she wasn't even dilated.    Not our first call to the vet for something silly!

Speaking of palpating - I had been entertaining an idea of taking a few classes in animal science at Tennessee Tech.  I was thinking that the whole thing would be easier if I learned how to safely palpate her myself.  After I saw the vet get  
shoulder deep into the cow I promptly decided that wasn't for me!  Yeah, no.

Warning:  The following photos contain smalls amounts of birthing detritus.  If that will totally gross you out, you may want to skip the next few photos.

Snapper about a half hour after birth - still getting dried off by Mama

Snapper tries to figure out how to eat

Nothing says "farmer" more than handmilking!