Back to the Start....

"Hey it’s good to be back home again
Sometimes this old farm feels like a long-lost friend
Yes ’n’ hey, it’s good to be back home again" ~John Denver

Sometimes, things just get out of control, and you have to go back to where it started. I have realized over the last few weeks that where I was wasn't where I wanted to be. When we moved to this little farm, I had no intention of starting any kind of business. I just wanted to raise our family and some food. Somehow along the way, I got derailed. 
     I said, more than once, that making soap was my passion.  I had even started thinking that I would sell tons of soap and have this huge business and quit my day job someday. I gave that idea up, then I started making clay things, and even started thinking about doing that for a living. But the real truth is, my family is my passion, and my kids will only grow up once. I have spent way too much time at craft fairs chasing a dollar, while my kids opted to stay at grannys house. I am blessed to have an amazing day job that I love and that allows me to work from home, provide for, and spend time with my family. I don't have to be a super amazing business owner. I just have to be me, after all, that is what I know how to do best. 
    So, today,  I'm starting to get back on track. I am letting go of all the should have, would have, could have. And I am breathing in this farm and this farm family. I am passionate about this farm. I am passionate about real food, healthy food, that we grow ourselves. I am passionate about teaching our kids, and learning with them.  There is no place I would rather be than right here on this farm with my husband and kids. So we are starting over, and rebuilding our barnyard. For almost 2 weeks it was completely quiet outside, with no livestock, no animals, except our 3 faithful cats. Today, we have 3 hens, some chicks, a few pigeons (thats a new adventure!), and one little piglet (also new!). This weekend we will hopefully add a few rabbits. We will go back to a slower life, and I won't miss all the trips to the craft store or the Friday night insanity of preparing for a Saturday craft show. Instead, I will enjoy more time with my family, and I will probably even take time to sit out and look at the stars some nights. I will listen to what my heart says, instead of what my head says I should be doing. And I will be the best farm mom and farm wife I can be. 

New Adventures

"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me'."
Erma Bombeck

     I have been making soap for a few years now. I love it. It's the first creative sort of thing I found that I was good at. However, I am burned out. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of soap makers, and more learning every day. It's a great skill to know in that "end of the world" sort of situation. I mean, everyone will still want to be clean right? 

     So, I recently decided to take a break from making soap for a while, and while talking to a friend about what sort of craft I should take up to occupy some of the time soaping usually takes up, she mentioned polymer clay. I went to our local-ish Hobby Lobby the next day, and, like some sort of divine sign, they had a boat load of polymer clay on clearance. So of course, I bought about half of it. I absolutely love this stuff! It is so much fun! And my favorite part? If I don't like it, I can just squish it and start all over again! How great is that?! I have been spending hours making things like this: 

and these:  

And my newest favorite: 

Did I mention how much fun clay is?! I will be having a giveaway soon for a gift certificate to my new shop over at Craft Cafe. I will still be making (and selling!) soap, and some other bath n body products, along with my new clay creations, with more fun stuff being added every day, so keep checking back!

Public School Dropouts...Again....

     Part of my parenting philosophy is that my kids should be able to make their own choices about some things. They are, after all, 8 and 12, and bright enough to realize that there are consequences to choices. So right before Labor Day, they decided they wanted to go back to public school. They had been homeschooled (mostly unschooled) the last 2 years. I think I was as shocked as they were when I agreed to let them go back. 
     That Tuesday, Mr Farmer loaded them up in the van and registered them for public school. The first 4 days were great, the farmer kids were happy and seemed to be doing well. Monday came and Mr Farmer went to school to help the little girl farmer work on her locker, since she was having problems with it. Tuesday came and little girl farmer wasn't feeling well, and didn't want to go, but she went anyway. She came home and told us the teacher wouldn't let her call home to get allergy meds brought to her. Wednesday night her teacher called, and said that she was behind in math and they were working on getting her caught up, and she needed to be better organized at writing down homework and bringing her assignments home and back to school. I mentioned that her attention span still isn't really great, but we would work with her here at home. After I hung up the phone, I said to Mr. Farmer, "You did mention to this teacher that little girl farmer has ADHD right?" He assured me he had.  By Thursday, little boy farmer wasn't feeling well either, but off to school he went anyway. Thursday he comes home and said the teacher wouldn't let him call home for Tylenol, but sent him to the nurse for a cough drop. He brought home an assignment that had a note on it saying he had to stay in from recess to finish it. Then, I checked my email. Apparently little girl farmer had forgotten to bring home a science assignment, and got a ZAP (Zeroes aren't permitted) and was assigned to lunch detention the next day. The teacher had not mentioned this to little girl farmer. 
     So now our kids are public school dropouts, once again. On Monday, Mr Farmer will deliver a letter to both principals stating they will be homeschooled, again. It's not all bad, we have learned a few things from all this. I am fairly certain they will never mention public school again, at least not in the "we might like to try to go back" kind of way. 
     My kids are gonna grow up and do amazing things, and it's all gonna happen in the blink of an eye. I don't want to miss out on one second of it.

The Waiting Game....

Every morning, we wonder, have they had their babies yet? We have 2 doe rabbits, both were sold to us as bred, but neither have delivered yet. Starting to think they weren't really bred. But I guess we will wait till after this weekend to find a buck. That would (should) be the latest they would deliver, if my math is right. 
I suppose I should find a tom turkey, as I have 3 hens now and at least 1 of them is laying eggs. Would love to finally have some turkeys hatch out here. 

Back in the Goat Business

Just like that, we are goat farmers again. Several months ago, we sold all of our goats. We recently decided it was too quiet outside, so today we purchased 2  Saanen does and a young Alpine buck. They seem very sweet so far, and I will get to know them better tomorrow. It was late when they got here today, and we had to do some quick work on the fencing in the almost dark. The chickens are not happy about sharing the barn again, but I expect they will get used to it. Looking forward to sharing more goat adventures!

New Blog

Just a note to mention my brand new blog for my soap business over at http://www.mayfinnfarmsoapandsundries.blogspot.com. So new, in fact, that as of this moment, there isn't even a post there yet. But there will be, later today, announcing FREE STUFF!! That's right, my very first blog giveaway! I love FREE STUFF, and I'm betting y'all do too! So make sure you come on over and check it out!

Visiting

Little Girl Farmer is spending the night at her granny's and Little Boy Farmer is spending the night with a friend, so Mr Farmer and I took some time to go visiting with some local Amish folks. First to visit the Schmidt's to see if they had any buck rabbits for sale. They did, so we bought one, then checked out their brand new Craft and Gift Shop, and bought a pint of honey there. Saw a ginormous ram who was shedding like crazy. If he hadn't started making snorting sounds at me, I was gonna yank off a handful of that wool to bring home and see if I could spin it. Changed my mind about that the second he turned towards me and started those crazy sounds.
Next we saw a sign that said "Vegetable plants--Marked down". Turned down the gravel lane, went past another Schmidt's house, kept going, that lane seemed to go forever, then found another house, with a Greenhouse sign. Bought a pepper plant, some late cabbage plants, and a lemon balm plant. Talked to the lady of that house about gardening for a little bit, found out her sister is married to the Schmidt from the first house we went to.
Then we decided to try to find an Amish house where we had bought some stuff before. Finally found them, just in time too, as they were loading up a truck with fishing poles. They had apparently hired a driver to take them wherever they were going fishing at, so we got a gallon of milk and scooted on out so they could get going. I have heard you can make soap with cows milk the same as goats milk, so I think I will try that.
It started raining after that, so we came on home.  Found the newest outdoor puppy, Scraps, who is an Australian Shepherd all cuddled up in the shed by the cage where we are keeping Sugar and her chicks till they get a little bigger. I guess he thinks his job is to watch after them. We had found 5 tomato plants in the old pig pen this week, and found a couple potato plants by the new pig pen today when I was pulling some weeds to feed the pigs. Those pigs are better gardeners than we are, I think. I do have a couple yellow squash coming on, and several teeny tiny zucchini. Counting the tomato plants we transplanted from the old pig pen, we have 23. That will be a good start. ;)
Lots going on around here, and I am sure tomorrow morning will start like every morning for the last week...checking to see if Flower, the potbelly pig has had her  piglets yet. Maybe tomorrow will be the day. :)

Soap for sale....

If you would like to purchase our goat milk soap, please go to our online store at http://www.mayfinnfarm.com/
If you are looking for something in particular that you don't see there, feel free to use the Contact Us form, send an email to mayfinnfarm@gmail.com, or give us a call at 812-967-1350.


I am currently working on soap for an art fair in Ferdinand, Indiana this weekend, along with 100 soaps for a wedding on April 24.  We will also be at the Washington County Farmers Market opening April 30, 2011. This is a first for us, so hoping it goes well.  More updates to come, just busy, busy, busy here. 

Wordless Wednesday

Soap, soap, and....more soap!

It's official...Mayfinn Farm is an official small business. I am so incredibly excited about this, and terrified at the same time. I know a business is only as successful as the work put into it, and I see a lot of festivals in my future. I actually already have a few planned out. I have set up a booth of a few things for sale here.

Rightnow I have to get prepared for a Maple Syrup Festival here locally in Salem. More info on their website here: http://www.lmsugarbush.com/ourfestival.html. I will be there with my Great Wheel spinning wheel, my ram lamb Ollie, and some hand knit items for sale. Come on out and pet Ollie, or try your hand at spinning on the Great Wheel. Or you can just come buy some dishcloths or a scarf or two. :) We will not be selling soap at this event, as they already have a soapmaker that has been doing this festival for several years. I actually should be knitting now to prepare for this event, but wanted to take a break to update the latest news here.

This is what happens when winter has set in and doesn't look like it is going away anytime soon. I can't wait to be playing in the dirt again, and am praying for more rain than we had last summer. For now, I will make soap...and knit. :)

More fun stuff on the farm to come soon .