Devonviolet Acres

[Devonviolet]

One of the other things we have been doing is collecting Queen Anne's Lace flowers and Elder (berry) flowers. I have made syrup from both of those, and sealed it in 1/2 gallon jars.

This is the syrup from the queen Anne's Lace flowers. I was surprised, when it turned out so pink, because the flowers are white

Eventually, when I have more time, I will make jelly from the syrup.

The top picture shows the field where we picked the Queen Anne's Lace. When we got home, I started itching, so I took a very hot shower, hoping that, if it was chiggers, they would fall off.

Well, it didn't work. I ended up with more than 150 chigger bites! I counted at least 60 bites on each leg, plus many more on my arms & torso.

The itching was pure torture!!! It had me in tears multiple times. Eventually, I made some lotion with anti-inflammatory essential oils, that stopped the itching instantly! What a relief!!! I did have to repeat it every few hours, but with the lotion, the torture ended.

 

[Baymule]

That's great on getting those trees down. It took a little extra yanking on that one tree, but y'all did it! You need the extra sunlight on that part of the yard.

Your Queen Anne's Lace syrup turned out beautiful. What a pretty color. Who knew?

Are you getting rain now? I have been watching a storm up your way that looked like it was dropping a lot of rain, but you say it fizzled out. Boo. I keep watching the radar, but it just ain't reaching us. Phooey. There are places here where you can get stuck in the DRY sand.

 

[Latestarter]

The storm was still full force when it passed over me. Had about an hour heavy down pour, lots of lightning and thunder. No hail though, so good news there. DV, you should take those limbs and drag them into the goat yard for the goats. They'll strip those leaves off clean in no time at all! Free feed!

 

[Baymule]

The storm was still full force when it passed over me. Had about an hour heavy down pour, lots of lightning and thunder. No hail though, so good news there. DV, you should take those limbs and drag them into the goat yard for the goats. They'll strip those leaves off clean in no time at all! Free feed!

I'm glad that you got some rain. I can see it on the radar, but it stops right before it gets to us.

 

[Devonviolet]

DV, you should take those limbs and drag them into the goat yard for the goats. They'll strip those leaves off clean in no time at all! Free feed!

That’s the plan. Now that we have the fencing in, and a burn pile behind the goat pasture, we will put them over the fence, closer to the burn pile.

Actually, there is a tree back by the burn pile, that needs to come down, before we can burn it, or we might end up with a Roman Candle, and we aren’t liking the prospects of that!!! And since we haven’t had much rain lately, it may be a while before we do a burn pile. So, it may be a while before those branches get burned.

 

[Devonviolet]

We did get some rain, but I doubt it was even 0.10”. We continued to get thunder, and wind, through feeding the animals. And there was one big lightening bold, that went to the ground, just before dark.

 

[Latestarter]

Checked the gauge and I had 1.5" in it. I'll take it with thanks!

 

[Devonviolet]

Good for you! I know you could use it to keep those pastures green!

 

[greybeard]

Good for you! I know you could use it to keep those pastures green!

It just means he'll have to mow again..

 

[Ridgetop]

Greybeard - So pessimistic! LOL Better to cut than no graze or fires.

We could use that rain here in so Cal. We have had to cut some of the firebreaks with our sheep penned (breeding and predator load) but we will be turning them out soon during the day. They will eat the cut grass like hay others=wise we have to rake and dispose of the cuttings! I figure the dogs can handle protection during the day as long as we pen up at night again. Once we have our 3rd LGD working (2 years since puppy not even born yet) we can try leaving sheep out at night again. Probably not with their lambs though.