Flea Market, Memorial day, My friend is a full deck, getting ready for school out and the farmers markets.

The flea market was fair this year we did pretty good at it and will be able to buy grain and or hay for the goats.  It poured rained on Sunday, I had to miss Church as Booboo was sick and we couldn't go so went down early to the flea market, to sit in the rain.  Funny how the flea market has turned into a way to trade goat milk soap for food to feed the goats.  It is nice that in many ways they are getting to a point where they do feed themselves, well almost.  We get a crop of babies, soap that sells pretty well, the best when people can hold it and smell.  I do have to figure out how to get it to sell consistently on the Internet.  We are changing packaging and the style of bars we make.  I have always liked the rustic cut bars, and probably always will.  Mokie likes the molded bars, but I find them less homemade looking.  We have decided to go with the best of both worlds, I got some molds that you cut so maybe it will appeal to the both of us and others as well.  We are trying to develop 5 to 10 standard all the time scent and exfoliated bars, with a different kind of special or one of a kind bars available as we have them, as a line.  I am making cheese this year for sale, in the past I made the cheese and just used to to make foccacia's or other baked goods, or home use.  We are going to sell the hard style cheeses this year. Soft or semi-soft still only for home use.  I made my first sale of the year at the flea market, a customer from last year, that bought soap again, asked if we would be this year and he was so excited that he could that he came back the next day for a pound of blue feta.  He emailed me later and said he loved it so much it won't age much, and can't wait for a wheel of blue to be aged so he can buy it.  Nice beginning I would say.  We didn't sell any babies really this year, I sold two and bought two does and the rest are all withers, except one buckling, so,  broke even.  The withers will all be meat and be butchered at the same time as the pigs.  I am studying chorezo and other sausage recipes. Casings or not? The possibilities are endless.  Going to can some so can't wait to fill up my pantry with all the meat supplies.

My dear friend turned 52 this last week end.  She is now playing with a full deck.  She heard this from a friend of ours and thought it was clever so shared the humor with you.  She has had a rough year and needs some much needed stress relief and some just plain simplicity in her life.  I took her to breakfast on Tuesday and we had a short time to just talk, we don't get to often enough so it was nice to just be and just be talking.

The girls are done with school on Friday I am so looking forward to it but it seems they are in need of it so much that they squabble all the time.  Poppie has decided that they are going to have a strict routine and chores that will have to be done before they get to play as they are growing up and need more serious time parameters.  I would love that but lets see if he helps with that or not.  I do know they will have to have clean rooms and their mom chores done to be out and about.  We will see how Poppies chores go or if he even remembers.

The farmers market starts on June 16 so hoping to get things read and in order for that.  We are going to make some artisan breads a little different than in years past, maybe a blue cheese walnut or a feta olive.  We will see how that goes.  Our pies will have to go up a bit as the fruit is more expensive than in the past and we use fresh or frozen homemade filling never canned.  It will be nice that they will have more thoughts of what they want to make this year.  We are trying to get the garden planted but it has poured rain so we are still trying to get it in.  It did freeze and Son had to cover so maybe it was good we didn't have it planted ours is larger and would have been impossible to cover.  Hope to get the green house planted this week so will have to go down to Grandpas for plants. 

I hear grumblings of the two Ladies in the other room, can you call them ladies if they are growling? ..... tomorrow.