Musings From The Farm Comfortable living in your own skin

We introduced Tut’s Soy Free Soap in 2017, so I thought a little update would be appropriate. Tut’s Soy Free Soap is an extra- moisturizing unscented formulation made without any soy oil. It is the brain child of one of our favorite customers, a gentleman from Alabama affectionally known as “Tut” by all his friends.

Tut wondered out loud to us if we could make a soap as moisturizing as our Baby Me soap, but without any soy, which his doctor suggested he might try to avoid. We thought it was a great idea since we know that some folks are trying to avoid soy these days. I made a batch and used more olive oil in place of the soy oil. We were excited with the results.  It is a very mild, moisturizing cleansing bar. When we sent some samples off to Tut, he said he liked it too; as have many of our customers. So much so we sold out in December.

Tut’s Soy Free Soap is great for extra dry, sensitive skin. It has a nice lather that will leave your skin feeling soft and smooth. But take note, it comes to you in it’s birthday suit; no wrapper! We hope you will give it a try, we think you will like it too!

 (3.25 oz) Made in the U.S.A.

Ingredients: Saponiified Olive Oil, Cultured Goat Milk, Saponified Coconut Oil, Saponified Shea Butter, Saponified Cocoa Butter, Saponified Castor Oil.

It’s winter and it’s cold Brrrrrr!  I can’t remember where I heard that little jingle but it rings in my head almost every winter. I sang it to my kids when they were little and now my grandkids. This winter the chickens and our old goat Allie and singing it to me when I go out to the barn.

We are in the middle of a prolonged cold snap, although cold might be an understatement!  I’m trying to keep the critters as comfortable as possible. Our nights have been below zero and some days never rise out of the single digits. For the chickens, I have a heater in their water bucket, it keeps it from freezing but some mornings the lid is frozen shut, making it difficult to top off the bucket with warm water. I have to open the door to the outside pen to help remove moisture from their coop or they could get frostbite. If the sun is out they enjoy basking in the sunshine in their pen. I also give them a sunflower seed snack at night to help keep them warm.

Our old goat Allie has been showing signs of being cold, so I bought her a custom made goat coat just before the temps really dipped down. It is nicely made but just not warm enough for her. I saw the same company sold fleece belly bands and neck bands for added warmth. I new I wouldn’t be able to get them here before the weather got even colder. I had an old fleece neck gator I made for myself but seldom used. It fit her fine and she seemed to like it. Next I went to Salvation Army store and bought an old fleece shirt. I cut off the sleeves, cut them open and sewed them onto the body of the shirt. The result is a nice long belly band for her. I’m not positive but I think she likes the result.

My younger sister lost her short battle with cancer in the middle of October. It was very sad but also very heartening to see so many of her friends and family be there for her and loving her.

Then our son’s family woke up in the early hours of October 31st to banging on their door to ” Get out there is a fire!”. I am so Thankful all the families in their apartment building were able to escape. I am so grateful our kids are safe and for the outpouring of help and well wishes by our small community to all those affected.

But things have a way of piling on and catching up with you. So I have in a bit of a funk ( do people still say that?) with all that has happened. It is so helpful to see our 6 grandchildren getting excited about Christmas. It is quite contagious. Oh did I mention we now have a 2 year old and 7 month living with us? We offered for our son and family to stay with us till they figure out what they want to do next. We are so thankful we still have room in our home for them. Our Little Miss Number Five loves helping me with barn chores, especially the chickens. So amid all the busyness of this most blessed season, we are holding our family a little closer and we are treasuring them all the more.

Wishing you a very Merry Blessed Christmas Season!

Let’s pretend! Oh how I love to hear the grandkids say this. I still remember playing when I was very young, using bricks as houses, little sticks as people, and stones as cars. When we were a little older my sisters and I would go down to the creek and make believe we were indians and gathered leaves for pretend food and caught wild horses.

Our kids played pretend too. They played horses and army and dug tunnels to visit friends far away. One of the things they did was to would get inside an old cable spool and pretend it was their submarine!

So it is so much fun to see the grandkids continue on with their make believe world. But pretending isn’t all fun and games as one might think. It is actually important for their developing brains. Their imaginative play is helping them to learn to solve problems, cooperate and think flexibly. They are learning about their likes and dislikes and their abilities. It helps them to make sense of their experiences. It is also a way to express their feelings and explore scary times, like going to the doctor.

There are lots of ways to help kids have imaginative play. The most important thing you can do is make free time. So much time is taken up with scheduled activities and technology. Some children have no time for this important type of play. When they finally do have unscheduled time, they aren’t used to it and give up and say they are bored. So if your kids (or grandkids) are engaged in pretending, don’t rush them onto the next thing. Maybe instead you should join in and say “Let’s Pretend!”

We have a surprising amount of work to do around here on our little mini farm. We mostly enjoy being outside and working but some chores are not as enjoyable, until you mix in the grand kids.

We had a storm roll through that left some tree damage. There was a large dead tree that fell near our driveway. Dean cut it up into manageable pieces to restock our campfire wood.

I helped him pick it up the logs and move it to the campfire area. We looked around and there were still millions, well maybe not that many but a lot, of small sticks. Dean said let’s leave these and see if the grandkids want to help pick them up when the come on Sunday. Well they did. They all really enjoy when family Sunday dinners involve the campfire and we cook hot dogs and maybe even s’mores!

All helped with this daunting work and they did it cheerfully at least the first few trips! Number Four carried one load and wasn’t a big fan, but she did happily water trees for me, another job that needed to be done. One loved showing off how many sticks they could carry, right Mr. Number Three? Another one took the work so seriously. Little Miss Number Five had heard me sing the first line of “Whistle while you work” and the next load she sang her own little work song all the way to the pile. We were all just in awe and so tickled with this little just 2 year old making the work load lighter. Thank you all our little helpers!