Busy as a bee.

I think that Maggie (on the right) and JuJu are settling down. JuJu is not so loud now. They have real good hearing (with them ears they better!) and whenever I open the door they both come running to the gate and mmmaaaa mmmmaaaaa at me. I don't go each and every time. I was out with them today. They don't seem to be that worried about Abby now. They keep an eye on her but they will eat and move around. JuJu was stamping her feet when Abby would come up to the fence, now JuJu just opens her nose and tries to get a big whiff of Abby. I see that they are going deeper into the back part of the pen. That's where all the raspberry and blackberry brambles are at. Yum Yum for a goat.

Today I had to go into town and run some errands. On the way back I saw a yard sale sign that was in my neck of the woods. They are my neighbors. I introduced myself and they said " Oh you're the one from Alaska" But what I don't get, I bought my house before they bought theirs! How did they know that? It must be rural life. They had these jars for .25 cents. I think that I will go back tomorrow and get more. I can see the tall ones with long, slender pickled asparagus.

Maybe some spiced pickled cherries in the squat ones? Or pickled watermelon rind? Oh and for sure I have to do some pickled beets. I think that I will do the jars as gifts come winter.

Strawberries are in season here in Wisconsin. Seems like on every corner there is a stand selling them. I, of course stopped and got a big old bucket of them. I might have to get another bucket. I made just one batch of freezer jam. And I froze more then half. I think that they will be yummy come winter time when I want to make a smoothie. I put them on a cookie sheet in a single layer and then put them in a zip lock bag.

I have now made 10 batches of soap. These 4 just in the past 4 days. Here is a picture of them. The darker spot is just the soap curing.

The upper left corner is the Sweet Birch that caused the soap to curdle and seize. Upper right corner is lavender with lavender flowers. Lower right corner is Pink Grapefruit and the lower left is Bergamot (Earl Gray ). I am going to order lemongrass. It seems that the citrus scents lose strength over time and lemon grass is not citrus. We shall see if that will work better.