Goat Babies anytime soon?

Raising goats on our little farm has been interesting.  There is always something new to learn and things don't hardly ever go like planned!! We decided to breed 2 of our does.  We love goat babies around here!  First up, we put Calliope with Crusoe.  He's still quite young, but we were hoping she would be bred.

Several months prior to that, we put Jenna with Sherlock.  (Since then we found a new herd for Sherlock and decided to only keep one buck)  We thought for sure she would be bred!  I even thought she was showing signs of labor.....but still no babies.

We decided to stop the guessing games and go ahead and do some blood tests to determine if either were expecting. 

The verdict???

Both were negative.  BOTH!!  I couldn't believe it.

So, we decided to try again.  We put Crusoe with Calliope and with Tiger Lily too.  

Don't you just love all the dapples?? Can you imagine the babies colors??

Let's just say we think this time might have worked.  Hopefully we'll be having springtime babies!!

Then we noticed that Jenna may be in heat.  The problem?  She's a bully!  She's our biggest and oldest goat.  She's also a nubian, which is a bigger goat compared to the rest that are Mini Nubians.  She definitely thinks she's the queen of Storybook Farms.

When we put her with little Crusoe, she would pick on him and try to hook him with her horns.  (Oh the joys of having horned and dehorned goats together!!)

So Patrick came up with the idea of putting pool noodles on her horns.  

We went out to put the noodles on.  We were hurrying because clouds were gathering and we could hear thunder in the distance.

Then....

Kapow!  Thunder was close and it started pouring.

Silas, Micah and I were stuck in the goat stall for just a bit.  So thankful for my Prince Charming and Knight in Shining Armor (AKA Expedition) that came to pick us up!

We believe our little plan may have worked!

 So far we believe Jenna and Tiger Lily may have been bred.  We are waiting for Calliope and Winnie to go into heat.  Wouldn't it be so cool to be on goat watch for 4 does!?!  Spring is going to be exciting around Storybook Farms!

Storybook Farms Goats Milk Lotions

I have been enjoying my new hobby so much lately! It has been fun creating new scents. My favorite by far has been Ma Ingall's Peach Cobbler. This one smells like a Peach Pie with a fresh vanilla crust right out of the oven. I love it!

I also created Pooh's Honey Cake. This one smells great too! It has a light vanilla and honey scent.

In honor of my favorite season that is now upon us, I created Kanga's Autumn Pie. Oh I love it!! It has the scent of apple, spice and vanilla. So nice!!

 And in honor of Beth's book I made Elaina's Waterfall Mist. It has a nice outdoorsy and fresh scent with a touch of mint. I put some on this morning and it was a great way to start the day!

I think part of the fun has been to name these scents too. 😊 

You can find all these at our Etsy shop StoryBookFarmsFl. 

A well deserved celebration

It was so nice to be able to surprise my mother-in-law for her 70th birthday!

We invited a couple of her friends from Fort Myers as well as some friends from church.

She received many wonderful gifts!!

 She is loved for sure 😊😊

Trying to Walk More

Wow it's been hot around here!!  Our family loves to walk down our beautiful road, but it has been quite hot this summer for that.  Last week the temps didn't dip that much, but the humidity did!  That meant gorgeous walks down our road.

I decided to do a 3 month subscription to 99Walks.  Has anyone ever heard of it?  You set a goal of walking and if you reach your monthly goal they send you an inpsiratonal bracelet.  It's not to count your daily steps, but it is to count the distance when you on purpose go for a walk.  I set a monthly goal of 25 miles.  It's going great so far!! 

 It's amazing how much my kiddos open up and talk while walking.  I love this time with them!  And Peaches loves it too.

Fall is right around the corner and we are ready!!

She did it!

Its been years in the making. Elisabeth has put in a ton of work into her book. And now it is published on Amazon!!

We all gathered around her when her "Proof" came in the mail. It was surreal to see the title of the book she had talked about for so long, and then to see her name on the cover. It really brought me to tears.

Once she had looked over everything carefully, she was able to have her book go live and be available for purchase. 

 When my copy came in I was so excited!! And so proud of my girl. 

The book is so very good! If you are looking for a wholesome, pure, Christian fiction book, you can find it here in Amazon.

Have I mentioned how proud I am of her? 😊

Hurricane Idalia

What a roller coaster ride this past week has been!! Last week about this time we started to hear of a tropical system that could be moving our way. 

Patrick met with some of the leadership at our church to discuss plans for our Tuesday night service and what to do about our building.

The plan they decided was to board up the church. Without windows and doors there was a fear that wind would lift the building. We don't want that! Our windows and doors are still being fabricated, so they chose to board the building up. 

On Monday we had a bunch of our guys come out to help. Its always so inspiring to see how many come out. They have a love for our church and we really are a family. 

They also decided to keep our Tuesday night meeting. The forecast was for the weather to not get very bad until late Tuesday night .  I'm so glad they chose to keep our services, it was exactly what we all needed!! Bro Hopkins is one of our favorite preachers. But especially that night it was a God ordained sermon on being a servant. He had humor at the right times and we all laughed so hard!! Then, there was much conviction as the Holy Spirit pointed to areas in our lives we need to work on. It was truly a blessing to be there. 

We went home and finished up the prep work. We boarded some of our windows and made sure our animals were safe. We filled up the bathtub and lots of water jugs to prepare to be without power. When we went to bed it was forecasted to be a Category 3, possibly a 4, and for the eye to pass over us just before noon. It really was in the Lord's hands.

I'm amazed at the sleep we got that night. We were sooooo tired from the work the past few days that we slept well. When we woke up the next morning, the wind was blowing good, but we saw the storm had moved to a more westerly track. Then our power went out.

We did get some wind, but we were really spared the brunt of the storm. We have branches down, but that's about it. 

Everyone in our church is safe with only branches and trees to clean up. Praise the Lord!!

Patrick made me a coffee warmed by candlelight....it tasted so amazing as we sat there and thanked the Lord for our safety. 

Micah kept busy with his tanks and army guys with just a flashlight. 

The next couple of days were very very hot. That's not water on the girls, that's sweat!!  That cantaloupe tasted so refreshing though!! We laughed at the hundreds of beads of sweat on Micah's nose. 

Patrick has been running here and there helping where he can. I fall more in love with him everyday. He's still just as handsome as ever, but his servants heart is attractive too. I just love him.

The kids and I helped pick up a neighbors yard. We were quite warm!!

After 3 days our power is back on. God protected in so many ways, and we are so thankful!!