Natural Hair Care

So I have been experimenting with natural hair products. I made my own shampoo. Here is what I did.
1) I picked some rose petals, rosemary and sage. I placed these in a mason jar
2) I boiled one cup distilled water
3) I added the boiled water to the herbs and allowed it to set until the water cooled.
4) I strained the water and put it into a squeeze bottle or you could use an old shampoo bottle with a pump.
5) I added three ounces castile soap, 1/2 teaspoon of almond oil, 10 drops organic tea tree essential oil, 10 drops organic lavender essential oil.
6) Shake it up before each use. I keep mine in the shower. I suppose you could keep it in the refrigerator to prolong shelf life.

This shampoo has kept my hair clean and itch free for about a week so far. I am liking it very much.

Then I needed a conditioner. So upon investigating and researching online, I decided to use a apple cider vinegar rinse after I shampoo. I mixed half organic apple cider vinegar with half amount of distilled water. I wet my hair and scalp with this mixture and allowed it to sit until I was done bathing then rinsed it out. I used Braggs apple cider vinegar. My hair was so soft and manageable after using the vinegar rinse that it beat the hair masks I was using from the store. I would have never thought this would work, but to my surprise it does!!! Happy Washing!!

(This is my opinion and am not responsible for any outcomes to anyone using my recipes. Seek medical advice if unsure of how you will react to certain ingredients.)

OUR NEWEST ADDITIONS TO THE GOAT HERD

This is Ellie. She is a registered alpine milk goat. She is five years old and is a great looking little goat. I am so happy she will be with us. I will hopefully milk more milk to use in my cheese and soaps.

This is Goober. He was given to us recently. He is really stinky, but all male goats are. Hopefully he will do his job and make us some cute kids with Bandit and Baby! I will be hoping for blue eyes.

Our Little Farm

Well we have been busy here on our little farm. Our two new kids are doing great. We milk our does every morning and we are milking about two pints of really rich milk every day. Our plans are to make goat milk soap. I am currently looking into recipes that I can use to begin our journey. We recently went and picked up five new serama hens and two silkie hens to add to our ever growing chicken flock. My friends are starting to call me the chicken lady!

ONE OF OUR SERAMA ROOSTERS

MR.THOMAS TAKING A BREAK IN MY LAP

LITLE PEGGY AND HER MOM BABY

 HI MR.THOMAS

HERE ARE A FEW OF THE MILK BOTTLES THAT I FOUND ON SALE! I THINK THEY ARE COOL!

 MR.THOMAS AND HIS MOM BANDIT

EMILY PEEKING AROUND THE CORNER

Babies Are Here!!!

Our goats had babies!! We did have to assist with the births and we have two new babies!

Fresh Goat Milk!

So we milked our goats for the first time. It is taking a little getting used to because we are hand milking but we are all learning. We built our own milking stand. It was pretty simple to make. We used all recycled materials from wood we had on hand already. We also made our first goat milk cheese. This is a simple cheese made with milk and vinegar. 

First we cooked the milk to the right temperature.

After the vinegar is added the milk makes curds and whey.

Letting the whey drip out through the cheese cloth.

This is the cheese before any seasoning is added. It tastes like ricotta.

This is the finished cheese with added pink salt and dill.

This will go great with scrambled eggs.

Waiting Room.....

This is day 141. Baby did not want us to pet her much this morning. I hope we have babies soon. All of this waiting is killing me! It has been five months now and we are getting more excited every day. I have three days off work so maybe we will have them before I go back to work.

You can help more dogs like Gracie! Updates on our fur babies.

Gracie is doing just great. She definitely beat the odds that were stacked against her. She is well now. She is healed from her leg surgery and spaying. I could not have asked for a better dog than her. Shame on the people who treated her in such a harsh and cruel way. I would hate to have their karma. I am so lucky to have friends that helped out with donations for her care. I suppose if Gracie could she would just look at the people that hurt her and stick her tongue out at them. Go Gracie!! You can see the video that we made in an earlier post. If you would like to donate to our Dog Rescue Fund that helps pay for vet bills for hurt dogs we accept PayPal: whybeanurse@yahoo.com

Even just a small donation can help so many. Our fund is called Gracie's Gifts. (After Gracie of course) Our way of paying it forward. We are sorry you cannot use your donation as a tax deduction at this time. We do not have tax exemption status. If you choose to help us out we will be glad to send updates on the animals that we help if you would like just send us a note when you make a donation. (and no spam from us, we hate the stuff also) We currently are helping with another dumped pit. His injuries are so horrible also. We are just a bunch of nurses that hate to see the suffering caused by others. We try to help where we can. We just pay it forward. 

As you can see this is what I wake up to in the evenings before I pull those 12 hour shifts at the hospital. She is so cute.

The following pictures are of our recent dog that we helped pay vet bills for.

He was used as a bait dog. Also starved and left for dead. We sent him to the vet. And he is now recovering nicely.

The next picture is the day after he came back from vet. Wounds all cleaned and looking much happier.

He just wants someone to love him. Poor thing we really feel like this guy was someone's pet. No microchip though. If you know this guys family please contact us.

nursehelg@yahoo.com

So as you can see we are just a couple nurses just trying to make a difference in this world for a few dogs one at a time.

The Waiting Room!

Ok so our two Nigerian Dwarf Goats are due to kid this week and we are really nervous about the whole process. This will be our first kidding and I hope all goes well. I can't wait to finally see our new babies! I hope for twins for each of our girls. I would love to have just doelings so we don't have to worry about the whole castration thing because disbudding them will be hard enough. I guess this is what urban farming is all about! I will post updates as they happen.

This is Bandit. She kept trying to check out the phone. She is a curious girl.

Shot from above. 

This is Baby. She is much bigger than Bandit.

Back view. You can see the baby bump really good from this angle. Her bag is growing nicely. 

My new dress and shoes!

Ok so I am normally not all girly and have to post about makeup and clothes and shoes but I just had to post a pic of my new dress and shoes. I bought them for a wedding I went to. It was so funny that I bought the shoes and dress at the same store. I think that the shoes are a perfect match.

Ok so my hair isn't fixed yet!

I just love my shoes! I think they will look good with jeans also.

Me and my soul mate for the next 1,000 + years. I'm lucky we found each other in this life and many more to come!

How To Boil An Egg

So people ask me often how do you boil yard eggs. Some people have a lot of trouble peeling fresh yard eggs. This is because well, they are fresh. The eggs need to be a little older to peel well. The eggs you buy in the store are already several weeks old so they peel fine after they are boiled. To test to see if your egg is ready to boil place it in water. If it floats up to the top it is a rotten egg, so toss it out. If it stands up it is perfect for boiling. Then of course if it sinks and stays there it is way too fresh to boil. We like to cover the eggs with cold water then bring to a boil. After the water comes to a boil, I cover the pot and remove from the heat. I let my eggs set for 15 minutes to hard boil large eggs. This is our preference. Then we give them a ice water bath for at least 10 minutes. Then I start the peeling process. It is really not that hard. I hope this helps anyone wondering how to boil the mysterious egg!!

New Members To Our Farm

We have decided to start breeding American Blue and American White rabbits. These rabbits are on the "critical" list for heritage breed farm animals. While raising meat for our family we will also be breeding them to sell to others who would like to have their own herd. Hopefully we will have babies this fall.

Update on chickens

Here is Einstein. He was one of my crested chicks. So now he will be the rooster in our flock. Our chickens are very happy chickens. 

Chicken feet!!

Naked neck chicken