Oakley

Hello sweet ladies, (I am writing this on Tuesday evening) last night when we got home we had some young men working on our daughter's round pen for her horses. One of the guys was cutting some weeds around the posts. Oakley, our daughter's dog had been running around the farm and wasn't noticed by the guys as they were chopping weeds. She stepped close and was cut across her nose. It was a very deep cut........ everyone went into high gear. The vet is about 9 minutes from our farm...... so into the car the kids went. The doctor said it looked worse then it really was! 

He put in 10 staples across her nose. We picked her up today and she is doing very well. They said that when she would come out that she would probably be very laid back..........wrong!!! When she say Tay she jumped all over her. Good to have her back. God answered our prayers and more! 

Tonight I cleaned out the Milk House again! Moved all the little chicks out of the house!!!!! Put lights on the babies to keep them warm. Today it was 88 degrees.......tomorrow it will be 51 early in the morning and then it will drop down to 41 degrees. Thunderstorms and rain or the day. Snow in the forecast for Thursday. We just can't decide whether we want spring or winter...heehee! Hope you are enjoying your weather!!!!!!!!

Thank you to all who signed up for the candle party and visiting the Regan Family Farm blog and fb!!!  They are a precious family! Glad you got to meet them. I will let you know on Wednesday night who won!!!!!! Can't wait to see who the three winners are!!!!! 

Hugs to all you sweet ladies and God bless,

Linda

A Party.......with Regan Family Farm!!!!!!

Party is closed........we will always have more!

Hello sweet ladies.......... 

I have missed journaling. Work will be real busy with caterings and such for the next two and a half weeks......did you hear that? I can hardly believe the winter work is almost over and farming will be a part of our lives once again.......everyday at HOME for almost 3 months. EEECCCKKKKK!!! The heart of our life is being able to work our land and help feed a "little bit" of the world. We love every bit of it! Even the hard part of farming is good for us. We have always said it is a "job" of faith......you never know what tomorrow will bring on a farm.....but we have always know there is One we can trust......and Him alone....has walked us through the hardest of times.  Jesus has walked with us step by step and always been the One that has been faithful! Anyway to celebrate these last few weeks....it is time for a fun party! 

Remember when I told you all about the wonderful gift I received awhile back in the mail?  A candle and a bar of soap......from one of the "sweetest" families. I say one, because you are all one of my sweetest families also!!!!!!!! When I received the gifts, I just knew I had to tell all you sweeties about their products. The candle smells soooooo wonderful and they last for 60 to 80 hours. The $15.00 for a 14 oz......is well worth it.  The soap smells wonderful also! This is a cottage industry for their family and the whole family is involved, working together on their family farm! Sweetness!

Soooo.....without further ado.........let me introduce you to my friends........

Love love love this header!!!!!!!

Regan Family Farm....we met March 3, 2010........Kathy wrote me  when she found me off the Gooseberry Patch blog when they did a Featured Friday story about Prairie Flower Farm. Thank you Gooseberry Patch!!!!!!! She wrote me to introduce herself and we have been sweet friends ever since. I love this lady....she has blessed my life! They are a family of 11 (one little one in heaven). She has home schooled all of her children.......and still doing so. Love that part about her also! They also love the Lord with all their heart, soul and mind........such an encouragement to many!

Regan Family Home

Can't you imagine sitting on this beautiful porch in the spring thyme.....sipping fresh squeezed pink lemon-aid from a mason jar....... filled to the brim with chipped ice? Maybe they would have us "all" over sometime......heehee! One day I am coming! Kathy and fam get ready!!!!!!!

There family is full of energy and lots of fun!!!!!! When I went to her blog for the first time after she wrote me....... it kept me in stitches........I loved her writings. I was blessed.......a new sweet friend! They haven't blogged for some time, but you can read some of her posts from the past Here.

They raise Alpine and LaManchan goats. Their goats are milked twice a day, morning and evening. Everyone in the family has responsibilities to keep the farm going. That is one thing I absolutely love about farming.  Even the littlest one that is 4 knows how to milk the goats. I want her to teach me! If you follow them on their facebook, you will see that life on the farm is not always pretty as on any farm. Three days ago one of their Momma goats had babies........they were dead when they were born. All the children were there to witness life...... from beginning to end! Yesterday the Momma goat died. Very sad for their family......they would appreciate prayer I am sure. 

Party starts today and ends on Tuesday April 30th at midnight central time. I will let you all know who wins on

Wednesday May 1!

Now for the blog party.........they have a treat for you. There will be three winners. Can you believe they are being so so generous to all you sweet ladies? 

First prize

one 8oz Sage and Lemongrass Candle

Second prize

one 8 oz. Sage and Lemongrass Candle

and 

Third Prize

2 bars of Garden Citrus Soap

We can't wait to see who will be coming to our Blog Party!!!!!

Vote One

Regan Family Farm

you are invited to come over and sign up for their 

emails subscriptions at their New Candle and Soap website!

Vote two

Wile you are there leave a little note on their website under the Candle Scents or the Soap Scents on what would be your favorite scent. 

Vote Three

"Like" their

Regan Family fbook

Vote Four

Tell me if you would be interested if I wrote a book and what would you like to see in it? Farming, cooking, recipes, canning, quilting, stitching, crocheting, raising farm animals....chickens.......if you have any other ideas please leave a comment. 

I will need away to get ahold of you if you win. If you can't leave a comment here on my blog.....please leave me an email at 

prairie flower farm at g mail dot com In the subject line put 

"candles and soaps"

Hugs and God bless your day,

Linda

For those of you who would like to order from the Regan Family Farm you can go Here.

Their shipping amounts are very reasonable, I think. 

$0.01	$20.00	=7.50
$20.01	$90.00	=12.35
$90.01	and up	=26.08

Have a SWEET Day..... Lil' Branch Found Dandelions!

Hello sweet ladies.......rain......snow.....sleet......freezing drizzle.....sunshine......cold......warm......hot? We are not sure what to expect next here on the farm! It is so good that the Lord has it under control and He knows what He is allowing!!!! The rain is much needed, so as a blogger friend said her Momma said, "this too shall pass"! One day it is going to turn really warm.....and then we will be wanting cold! The snow was pretty, but it was gone on the ground as soon as it came. 

On  Monday before the wind shifted, I had Lil' Birch outside.......he was exploring as he does so well. Romping and hopping around! First time for him in finding a dandelion. Captured him! Love this pic. He is a sweetie. Sticks closer than a dog! Under my feet all the time! He loves the cats and chickens.......they are not so sure about him though!

One of our boys (from the college) had an accident and ended up in the ditch because of the weather. My sweet man has a Bible study with 8 young men every week. They were all driving out to the study and were going to help him get his truck out before the study. When they were all sitting around the table the one that had the accident said, "it was nice to have "family" to help me in time of need! PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!! It was precious that the guys all rallied around him and he KNEW that he was being cared for.......he needed to experience this! God has been wooing his heart and he has been fighting! The study was incredible!!!!!! Love seeing the Lord love them...... especially as they dig into His Word!!!! We have only 3 more weeks......then some will graduate.......and they will go out into the world......we are asking Jesus to use their lives to glorify Him and protect them from the world! This Momma will be sad to see them go.......but excited also to see what impact they will make on those they come in contact with!!!!! Thank you for all the prayers that you pray for our kids! We so so appreciate it. It is amazing for us to watch as the Lord unfolds their stories before us! After the Bible study there are guys that will single me out to talk..... thankful I can love them for Jesus and share what He has done for me.... it is truly a blessing! Ooops, forgot to pass the blessing jar around........I will next week! 

Hugs and God bless your day! 

Linda

Blessings To Your MONDAY!

Hello sweet ladies,

It is SONday night and I am putting this post up for Monday. Hope your day was a sweet one. It was for our family. The message this morning was a blessing at church. There was another young man that came for his first time!!!!!!!! He loved it and said he is coming back this next SONday.......answered prayer! God has been giving us a new or person almost every week. We have been praying and the Lord has been answering! It has been wonderful to watch Him work!

Well it is definitely spring around here on the farm........maybe not in weather form...... 3 of my girly hens are setting on eggs. As you can see they are all puffed up and very serious about sitting. I have candled some of the eggs and there are little babies growing inside. 

It is nice to go down to the Milk House and see the girls sitting on their eggs.......they make my day!

Hope your Monday is a blessed one! 

Hugs and God bless your DAY,

Linda

Good Morning.......It Is The Lord's Day!

Good SONday morning sweet ladies,

Lil' Birch came in and checked on his little chicks! He is back to himself and we are thanking the Lord for his recovery!!!!

Last night was a rough night for us here at Prairie Flower Farm. It was Lil's Birch's bottle feeding time........and he was just not himself. Usually he is happy and running and hopping when he comes into the our farmhouse to eat. One thing that changed for him, was he started eating alfalfa yesterday afternoon. I have had the alfalfa before him..........so he could eat it at anytime he wanted to start. Well......he was eating away down in the milk house and his tummy got to full. He is now on a schedule on when he can have it!!!!!!! I called Cheryl and she thought he should have a shot of something.....can't remember what it was called, but I will be getting some. In the car we went!!!! Lil Birch just sat on my lap and was happy doing so. Came back home and monitored him. He also got 2 cc's of pepto-bismol. This morning he was back to himself.

Walking this walk with my sheep has been quite an adventure so far!!!!! I am learning so much and hopefully will be able to do some of the things one day that Cheryl is teaching me at this time. I am journaling everything here on my blog and my hearts desire is to one day put out a book. A dream........and sometimes they do come true..right? Lot's of prayer is going into that also. He will direct my path I am soooooo certain of that!

I have three hens that have gone broody!!!!!!!!! Lots of little eyeballs are being formed right NOW!!!!!!

Hope your day is restful.........He made it for you!!!!! 

Hugs to your SONday, 

Linda 

Waddle!

Hello sweet ladies,

Busy night tonight! A few hours ago I got a call from a friend. Our college boys were over at her son's house to help them move some of their furniture. They called me to see if I would like a convection stove and a big refrigerator!!!!!! Thought I might want it for my summer kitchen!!!!!! They are older pieces, but very nice. Can't wait to get them put into the porch (summer kitchen) that I will be making into my canning area. That way the house won't get all heated up! I will show pic's of the kitchen at later date.........when I get them moved in. 

I moved Waddle outside into a bigger cage. He was getting to big for his cage that I had him down in the little Milk House. He is doing great. Can you see the yellow baby feathers still on him? You can't tell how big he is for real, but he is a big duck! I don't know if it is a girl or a boy yet. 

I just counted how many days I have left until I come home for the summer..........20 days. Can you believe that? I can hardly wait. It is going to be so busy on our farm.......I will love it. The weather was so cold today. 37 degrees and cloudy. Tomorrow will be very nice....in the 50's and Saturday it will be in the 60's. GARDEN THYME!!!!!!!! I have not been able to get my potatoes in yet. Was going to some time back and we got rain.......that will help in my planting though. My tomatoes are growing so pretty inside and my basil too. 

Hope you are all doing well. Would love to hear from you!

Hugs and God bless you!!!!!

Linda

We have a Winner!!!!!!!!!!

Hello sweet ladies,

I have to tell you that every time I have a party, the comments get more fun!!!!!! I love it when you tell me a little about who you are, what you like to do and other little tidbits about yourself. It is so nice that you join in when I do have a party. Thank you soooo much. It is like we are truly family.......and ya know what? We are! Amazing how the Lord just knits us all together. So thankful for each one of you!

We have a winner for the little sewing kit!!!!!!!!

The winner is Sharee!!!!

Her blog is Shar's Stitchin......

you must go over and see all her stitchin!!!!!!!

I emailed her and waiting for her addy so I can send it out!!!

Tonight I took Lil' Birch out for play......thought you might like to see him playing hide and seek in the grass! He is adorable! He was so frisky........running after the guineas, roosters and the farm cats. I wish I could have gotten it on the video for you....I tried, but the wind was so loud on it. 

We are still praying for the tragedy in Boston! 

What a sad sad thing to happen to so many families!! 

Hugs to you and God Bless, 

Linda

Jesus will Be with US!

Hello sweet ladies,

What a sad day for our country yesterday. I trust you are all finding comfort in this horrible act of violence that happened in Boston. Please....... if anyone of you that are from there or in anyway have been affected by this, we here are praying. If there is anything that we can do to help even though we live far, please let us know what we might be able to do to help. May God bless America! I do know that His Holy Spirit will be moving in the lives of believers across our land. 

My little radishes are popping up out of the earth........the rain has helped our garden so much this spring. We are thanking the Lord for the provisions He has given. The drought we have been in for the last two years have made it difficult to grow, even though we saw the Lord work miracles on our crops. We are getting more rain today and the rest of the week we still have more coming. We are so so Thankful!!!!!!!!

Jesus thank you that you are all we need during this time of sadness. Please touch the lives that need healing and comfort. Use your body of believers who have Your Holy Spirit minister the love of Christ to those in need. We thank you for being our strength in time of need! 

I will let everyone know later today who won the "Little Sewing Kit". 

God be with us please.......we need you so,

Linda

A Little Sewing Kit Party!

Hello sweet ladies,

Yesterday we went to the baseball game. Since we have been encouraging the young men on the team, we have attend a lot of the games. Some of them are the ones that come to our home on SONday and also to the Bible study my sweet man has been having. It is a little thing, but the boys love knowing we are out in the stands cheering for them. 

I had some fun at the Quilting Bee!

Yesterday we traveled to Salina to a quilt store that has been one of my favorites over the years. It is located in Salina and it is was one of the first stores we had our patterns and fabric in. Then life kind of changed for us as we were caring for our parents and I started selling our patterns with a company and still do called Keepsake Quilting. I have only two of those patterns with them. I have been thinking a lot on how to get more of our "new" patterns out again and have quite a few ideas on how to do that. I am so busy during the winter months with working at the college, I just don't have theWhen I came across this book, my brain started in again. I have had this book before and didn't know that it was still being published....... 

I bought it!

Easy way to find a quilting store in the USA and Canada. They sell this book at The Quilting Bee! Only $20.00 and really nice for when you are traveling.

If you ever want me to look up a state and city for you I can! 

I am always looking for little gifts to have on hand.......when I saw this I thought of you all!!!!!!!

Thought it would be fun to start the week with a little giveaway! This is a small (2 1/4" x 3 1/4") sewing kit....... in the cutest little tin. It has everything in it that you might need. No kidding it is little.......but practical to have in your purse when you need something real fast! Cute cute!!!!! When I saw it at the Quilting Bee I thought it would be fun for a party!

The party starts Today until Tuesday April 16th.......at noon Central Time!

Invite your friends to join in if you would like.

So here goes.........

Vote 1

the comment will be.........if you could quilt or work on a stitchery what would it be? Please leave comment in the comments......or if you don't have a blog....leave the comment in my email 

prairie flower farm at g mail dot com, 

with Little sewing kit in the subject!

Vote 2 

Have you ever downloaded one of our patterns?

Easy! Anyone is invited........overseas are welcome!!!!!

This is a simple little party giveaway. You know me......I love a party and it just seemed like Prairie Flower Farm has had so much going on. 

As you know we lost Sweet Magnolia........but we did get a gift from her before she died. I miss her terribly......she was a precious Momma!

Lil' Birch is the sweetest and most wonderful little gift the Lord has given to us this last week. Lil' Birch has filled our hearts with so much fun and love! He is so dependent on us for his care and we are having fun giving it to him. Yesterday when we had to leave to travel, we had one of our friends and son watch him for us so we could go. Lil' Birch and Adam (6 year old boy) played all afternoon at their place. Lil' Birch runs and hops now and Adam had him doing that all afternoon! 

Hope your SONday is a wonderful day of worship.

 I have a verse that I pray a lot for my family. When I am praying I always ask the Lord to do the same for you! I love these verses.

Ephesians 3:14-21

 For this reason I knee before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,  may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Blessings on your SONday!!!!!

We are having a cookout with the college kids from the college. It will be a good day. One of our boys is from a very very rough city! He has seen much in his life......shootings and such. He loves to garden.......that's were we will be later today after church! It will be good! Can't wait to show him how to play in the DIRT! One of my favorite things to do in the spring! Hope we have had the last of snow, sleet and ice!!!!!!

Hugs, 

Linda

Sweet Magnolia Died

Hello sweet ladies, 

I know that some of you who follow my fb already know that Sweet Magnolia didn't make it through Wednesday night. Broke my heart. Not sure what happened, but with the bad weather and not noticing that she had blood spots in her shed it made it hard to know what happened. It was so cloudy and sleet where she lived with Lil' Birch we did not notice on the straw that she had bled.Later found that it was quite a lot.  I am so thank that I have her baby. He is doing very well at taking the bottle. He is now up to 10 ounces each feeding and loves being down with the teenage chicks, ducks and Momma kitty with her baby kittens. He doesn't even cry, which is a huge blessing. Thank you to all who prayed. I know the Lord heard them. The transition for Lil' Birch has been very smooth. Life on the farm doesn't always look pretty for sure. I get so attached easily!!!!!! I would rather love then never experience though. I am hoping to buy another Rambouillet Ewe again.....soon!

I have Sweet Maggies wool.....another gift!  I will be seeing about getting it spun and knitting myself a gift. Thinking of a scarf.  

I wish I could put up pic's, but if you would like to see a video please go here to my fb. He is absolutely adorable. Very playful. I will introduce him to the flock when he gets a little bigger. 

Hugs and God bless your day! 

Linda

Momma Sweet Maggie and Lil' Birch

Good morning sweet ladies,

Just a little update. Sweet Magnolia took a turn for the worse yesterday. She is over at my farm friend Cheryl's place to see if she can get better. Lil' Birch is on goats milk for now. Something is going on with her udder and he can't nurse. I will say he is doing wonderful with his bottle. Wages his sweet tail as he drinks. Just thought you would like to know as you follow along with their lives. 

He is living down in the Milk House with teenage chicks, Waddle and Puddles, a momma cat with kittens and the Momma Cochins. He has a lot of friends! 

Hope your day is a sweet one!!!!!!!

Linda

A Birthday Present........Lil' Birch!

Dear sweet ladies, 

It was my birthday yesterday and what made it so sweet was when we got home from the caf. I went straight from the car to go and check on Sweet Maggie.......I quietly peeked into the pen with camera ready......just in case.......this is what I saw. A precious little baby. Only one, but that was okay. I was glad it was finally here.....safe with it's Momma!

He was almost all cleaned up by the time I got home. She was still licking on him....she was very gentle with him. My sis and I talked soon after and she said the names Spruce, Birch and something else. Can't remember the other name......but when she said Birch it was like that was perfect for him!!!!! 

Momma's one side of her udder was huge. My farm friend Cheryl said she would come over today to check on them. In the morning she gave Lil' Birch colostrum. It helped. She gave Sweet Maggie some antibiotics and hopefully she will be feeling better soon. Another dose will be given on Thursday. Poor Momma. Cheryl emptied her full udder, that will help her also.

When I got home this evening Momma Sweet Maggie was lovin on her sweet baby. Absolutely love this pic.....needs to be in my sheep cards!!!!!!! Doesn't he have the sweetest face?

Cheryl came around 5 tonight to bring a bottle, goats milk and some  Lamb Milk Replacer for Lil' Birch for Lil' Birch. He will still nurse on his Momma though. I am so thankful he is doing better. I love watching Cheryl with sheep. She is a real Shepherdess. I will keep you posted as to what is going on.

Tonight we are having a huge storm coming through, hail, winds, lightening, thunder and rain. We have asked for protection for our farm and thanking the Lord for the rain.

God bless you,

Linda

Getting The Sheds Built and A Day With Wool!

Hello sweet ladies.......I have missed posting. Life has just been so full with so many things going on. We are winding down at the college and I can hardly wait until it is behind me. I am so ready for farming.......gardening.......sewing......staying home.......and posting more about Prairie Flower Farm and what is happening around here. I have so many things that I want to do this summer!

This morning I had apple pie for breakfast, what a way to start the day don't you think? My Tay made it for the family. It was delicious. We always use this recipe for our pies. Very very easy to make. I pinned to my Pinterest Pies, called Perfect Pie Crust (photo)

Today was going to be a busy day......thunderstorms are in the forecast starting Sunday night and every day until this next Wednesday. That meant with Sweet Magnolia having her baby soon and Willow already having her babies, we needed some more little sheds in the sheep pen. I wanted them to all be under cover because of the lightening that could be happening each day. 

Vitaliy was with and he was ready to start building. We have a lot of what I call hog panels and some plywood, so we could make two sheds real fast. 

A farm girls best friend!!!!!! Zip/ties.......they are one of my favorite things to use on our farm!!!!!!!

Another favorite is a drill!!!!!!

Ties are great for tying the fence to the plywood. We went through a bunch of them today! Speeds our work up!

We also like to use lots of baling twine. LOTS!!!!! It was neat today.......we were tying the twine and there was a feather hooked on. Not sure how it got there, but I love things like this.......just "simple"!

We made two of these. I am so thankful that we took the time to do this today. 

Later in the day we had to take the girls and babies over to get them sheared. Not the babies though. They went so they wouldn't get stressed. Getting the Mommas in the trailer was not easy. It took us a good halfhour. We were run around the pen quite a few times! 

We got over to the our friends farm around two. When we drove up this is what we saw. The sheep shearer brings his own little wooden trailer. It is really neat on the inside. I kind of stayed out of the way, but I did get a few pictures of the way he does things. This is the lead Ewe. With her being at the head of the shoot, the others will fall in line. She won't be here for long.

The whole family works together. The kids make it look so fun!

The children help by pushing the wool down into the wool burlap bag. Notice the steel ladder on the right hand side of the bag? Everything is so neat! 

I was able to buy 5 extra wool burlap bags. I can't wait to find things to use them for! 

It was time for Willow. It took two to hold on to her. Sweet man on the right. 

Willow had to sit on her backside! That is what the shearer has to do so they won't move. 

Then it was Olivia's turn. My sweet man was stroking her face to calm her down.

You can see what it looks like when the wool is sheared off.

Sweet Magnolia was not "goin' in there"! Do you see her front legs all stiff? She is one heavy girl and with baby or babies inside she is weighed a ton. Vitaliy and sweet man had their hands full!

Sweet Maggie is somewhere in that wool!

We loaded them back up and on the way back home we went.

The one good thing about the girls getting sheared was we could for sure see Sweet Maggies udder. She is ready and I bet this storm that is coming will help her go into labor. She is so pregnant!!!!!!

I kept my wool.........I can hardly wait to learn what to spin it......that will be down the road! My dream. I had to pay for getting them sheared. $4.00 a piece. I could not believe that it was that cheap. It was so interesting watching the process. V really liked watching everything also. I was glad the weather was nice, it would have been miserable had it not. 

I hope you enjoyed the day we had. I love having sheep, they have added so much to Prairie Flower Farm!

Hugs and God bless,

Linda