~ Silly Boys...........Trucks are for Girls! ~

I'm not sure when my way of thinkin' about life shifted. I was once a young woman travelling around the countryside backpacking, and working for the Department of Natural Resources, now.....I'm a farm girl who knows how to "buck" hay, and birth lambs.

Outside this afternoon, stacking a cord of wood on the ol' woodpile, a hay truck drove by.  I looked up as it went by, just in time to observe the "quality" of the hay.  It was evident (to a trained eye), that this particular load of hay had gotten wet!  The dreaded curse of farmers..........a perfect day of cutting, then a random rain storm to drench it all.  At that point it becomes "cow" hay cuz only cows can eat it.  I also happened to note how many "squeezes" were on this truck...........that's when it dawned on me that I'm not your average girl!  I had to laugh at myself, because I'm not sure when this transformation happened.

Here's a lil,' "good to know" trivia I have in my head, y'll might want to pay attention to this bit of information...........HOW TO FIT 39 BALES OF HAY INTO A STANDARD SIZE PICK-UP TRUCK!

Bottom 1st Row

9 bales on their sides-4 on their sides on the bottom first row(running front to back direction of truck)

1 on its side between the tire wells(running side to side)

4 on their sides on the bottom last row (running front to back & near tail-gate)

Second Row

10 bales on their bottoms (running side to side)

Third Row

10 bales on their bottoms(one bale running front to back, two bales running side to side, then one bale running front to back again.  Then...two bales of hay running side to side to block in the first four bales.  Then repeat with one bale running front to back, two bales running side to side)

Fourth Row (Top)

10 bales on their bottoms (running side to side)

So now, y'll know how to stack 39 bales of hay on a pick-up truck.  Another lil' trivia:  If you're so lucky as to go into the farmers field and "buck" these yourself (for a much cheaper price) you won't have to "tip" the young man at the feed store.  Because that's another lil' bit of information for you............. it's etiquette to tip the young buck who's loading your hay into the pick-up for you.  Kinda like you would a waitress when she serves you food. 

Also keep in mind that any errand runnin' you might have to do that day (such as pedicures, manicures or beauty parlor), do it before you get your pick-up truck load of hay..........unless you're really good with those side mirrors ladies!  I happen to be one of those gals that's real good with those mirrors!

Somehow, somewhere along the way, my way of thinkin' and livin' has certainly SHIFTED!!

"As long as we are all here, it's pretty clear that the struggle is to share the planet, rather than divide it."

~ Imagine~

IMAGINING the many paths we could pursue in life helps us get up each morning and face the world.  But there's sweeter satisfaction in finding the power to follow through. 

In the country, firsts come year after year---all memorable and most heartwarming.  Imagine your first bite-sized potato from a garden you planted yourself.  Imagine waving your arms frantically at a failed attempt to round up an escaped sheep.  Imagine a scar-covered farmer who tells you stories from his childhood as if they were only yesterday.  Imagine the tiniest breeze as a baby wren attempts its first flight inches from your ear to the calling of its mom--going nowhere fast, but determined to make the journey.  Imagine a place where an owl screeching in the tree next to your window at night is, quite literally, an eye opener.  Imagine a place where the world really does stand still for moments at a time.  So I did...................................................................................... 


  I've imagined this little farm since childhood.  It's always been my dream, to be surrounded by animals.  In my estimation, it is in the presence of animals that we develop a higher sense of ourselves and the world in which we all participate. Animals teach us much, if we would only listen and observe........  I pass through the seasons of a year in step with my flocks cycle.  Breeding turns to lambing and shearing turns to grazing and so on.  I credit my life to my animals for teaching me that we all fit together, that we all hold a place and purpose in the world.

  Imagine a productive garden full of food.........Sometimes I think to myself that maybe, just maybe, a person's time would be as well spent raising food as raising money to buy food.

I pass through these seasons with the cycles of my sheep, the cycles of the garden, the cycles of a country year.... It's hard work, it takes a patient hand, and being satisfied when everything is taken care of at the end of the day, even if it isn't perfect.

Imagine a place.......where your most far-fetched ideas come to play...

A poem by Pat Lynn Reilly:

Imagine a Woman

Imagine a woman who believes it is right and good she is a woman.

A woman who honors her experience and tells her stories.

Who refuses to carry the sins of others within her body and life.

Imagine a woman who trusts and respects herself.

A woman who listens

to her needs and desires.

Who meets them with tenderness and grace.

Imagine a woman who acknowledges the past's influence on the present.

A woman who has walked through her past.

Who has healed into the present.

Imagine a woman who authors her own life.

A woman who exerts, initiates, and moves on her own behalf. 

Who refuses to surrender except to her truest self and wisest voice.

Imagine a woman who names her own gods.

A woman who imagines the divine

in her image and likeness.

Who designs a personal spirituality

to inform her daily life.

Imagine a woman in love

with her own body.

A woman who believes her body is enough, just as it is.

Who celebrates its rhythms and cycles as an exquisite resource.

Imagine a woman who honors the body

of the Goddess in her changing body.

A woman who celebrates the accumulation

of her years and her wisdom.

Who refuses to use her life-energy

disguising the changes in her body and life.

Imagine a woman who values

the women in her life.

A woman who sits in circles of women.

Who is reminded of the truth

about herself when she forgets.

Imagine yourself as this woman.

~ Energy N. 1. The strength and vitality required for sustained physical or mental activity.

Energy, seems to be lacking in many people these days...........hmmm?  I've always been an industrious and hardworking individual.  I don't really know if it's due to good genes or the work ethic my folks instilled in us as young kids (chores galore, including weeding a large lot by hand every summer!).  I've always worked.

The sustenance of my energy is a culmination of a few things: 1. Diet 2. Exercise 3. Living life to it's fullest every single day. 4.  Genes.... we'll give credit where credit is due!

I was a young women once.........I had dreams, ambitions, and ENERGY!  I've hiked mountains and lakes most people will never see, I've rock climbed granite slabs on mountainsides, I've back-packed in Alaska twice, I've river rafted on an Alaskan river (they are huge & ferocious), I've lived off-grid in the mountains of Washington state, hauling my own water with a wee baby in tow.  I've always gardened, eaten well, and taken care of my body. I've never stopped LIVING!

Now that our children are raised and gone, I'm busier than ever.  I still grow a huge garden (because I know how wonderful the veggies are), I preserve what can't be eaten, I'm an avid spinner and knitter, I belong to a weekly, women's group,  I now market my yarns (which is a full-time job of it's own), I handle all the husbandry on our ranch (castrations, dockings, and illnesses), I handle all the breeding (more detailed than you might think), I clean my own house (which gets darn dirty on a ranch w/three dogs and two cats welcome indoors at any time), I maintain the lawns, flower beds, garden and watering on our ranch.  I find the time in the day to meditate, do yoga & walk 3.5 miles most mornings. 

Bottom line: This IS my LIFE.  How can I NOT have the energy to grab it by the horns and LIVE it???  It amazes me how many people I know are awe striken by my "energy."  It's not so much about having energy as it is living life, and being healthy. When you have that, you have the energy.



If you want ENERGY...........get up, get moving, do something new everyday, go for a hike, eat well and be concious of your eating, what you're eating, get plenty of sleep, drink 64 oz. of water daily, meditate for 30 minutes ..............my ENERGY runneth over because of my lifestyle. Anyone can have this, they just have to want it!

If I could tell y'll one thing about "obtaining more ENERGY" it would be to throw out all conventional foods and sugars in your pantry, cut them out of your diet, eat more organic (especially meats!!!), slowly work towards becoming completely organic in food choices.................AND......................dance, hike, do yoga............just move! 

Have a happy, loving heart, and abundant life, it'll do ya good! It will be a life fulfilled!

For The Love of Gardening





Heirloom lettuce



Heirloom Ruby Okra

I was a young girl when I fell in love with gardening, it started with my grandma's garden.  She was not only a fantastic gardener, but she was also a phenomenal cook.  My grandma was originally from Wyatt, LA.  Thus began my love of gardening.

I grew my very first garden when I was 17.  I lived in a lil' house off Oak street in the "big city."  I had a lil' flower bed in front of the house which I tore out to plant veggies.  Along the side of the house, I dug up the lawn and put in peppers, tomatoes, and lettuce. Before I could reap all that I'd sown, I moved to Northern California.  I kept in touch with a few of my neighbors in the area.  Since the lil' house didn't rent out too soon after I moved, my good neighbors took advantage of my garden............they said, "your peppers were HOT, and the tomatoes were sweet."  I knew then, that I would always garden.

There haven't been but a handful of years since that day that I haven't grown a garden.  I'm now into my 33rd year of gardening.  I've learned a lot along the way, in fact, I'm still learning.  I've advanced from store bought plants, to raising my own seedlings.  I've also concurred that organic is better, and heirloom is the BEST!  These days, I start my own seedlings from organic, heirloom seeds that I save from year to year.  After all, gardening is about frugality in once sense and bounty in another.

There is truly nothing more inspiring or loving than tending to a garden........giant sunflowers on their tip-toes, looking up towards the sun, and following it throughout the day.  Heirloom squash, melons, and cucumbers with their long tendrils unfurling outward, reaching into the cacophony of green.  Heirloom beans with names like greasy grits, dragon tongue and rams horn.........one can only fathom what those might look like.  My lil' friends; the toads, lady bugs, lizards, hummingbirds, butterflies, bees (yes, we have lots of bees), occasional snakes, and our bug seeking ducks.  Every breath is a giveaway dance between you and the plants.......for this reason, I garden!

Three Little Purls



2-Pair Woolen Socks

It's taken quite sometime to learn how to spin and knit.  I've also noticed that people LOVE a quality craft.  Everybody wants to learn, but few actually take the time to venture into something this time consuming.  You definately have to be passionate about this craft in order to go forth with it.  Then....theirs the "doing something with all the yarn" aspect, like learning to knit!

I learned how to spin on a wheel approximately 1 1/2 years ago, a 2 hour lesson. I left a mountain town with a wheel in tow, I brought it home, and the rest is history.  Practice, practice and more practice.  I had an incredible teacher, a real sweet lady.  She would email me the first month and ask, "are you spinning, making yarn?"  AND......if I wasn't, I darn sure was reminded that if I didn't, I wouldn't!  Thus began my huge LOVE of spinning and knitting. 

A lot of women knit, but not many make their own yarn.  Personally, I think that when you spin, you become a part of that yarn, wooven into each strand, pulled tightly into that unique yarn!   Thinking the whole time, "just what other fibers would go good with this particular yarn, should I make a 2-ply or a 3-ply, should I make thin or thick yarn or bumpy yarn........the mind is always engaged.  And so, for me, I couldn't imagine going to a store and "buying yarn."

In this process of learning, I've also learned that if you spin well, people want to buy your yarns (with a small commission attached).  Maybe I'm a bit stingy, but when I raise the wool, shear the wool, skirt and scour the wool, spin and knit the wool, I'm not really diggin' the idea of sharing my hard earned profits with anyone! 

So I've decided that since I already like to spin and knit, I will now knit for profit.  I started a business page on Facebook to announce the new site (I'm still working on the construction of it).  This way I only have to share funds with one person, "The Man," and some sweet sheep! 

If any of "ewe" are interested in purchasing: socks (casual and hiking), scarves, hats or cotton dishcloths/washcloths, drop me a line.  In time, I intend to learn to knit baby items and shawls, at the moment, I do not.  If you are interested in socks, I need a shoe size(USA).  If you're interested in hats, I need a head circumference measurement, this is specific so email me on "how to measure the noggin' " info!


As most of you know, my passion's are many, but my biggest is our sheep!  I love these critters like I love "The Man" (DON'T tell him I told ya that!).  Each one has a very unique personality, some are stubborn, some are cuddly, and some are just plain troublemakers.  But each and every one is loved unconditionally.  Once ya love a sheep, then ya love the fleece/fiber/yarn/clothing!!!!  So for me, this isn't so much about earning a buck or two knitting, this is about my passion............


Janet Frame (quoting some of her prose)

And Francie's father would pick at something else, the way someone who is knitting will pull
at the threads to make a hole, but their father tried to pick
and unpick something inside himself that every year of being alive
had knitted, with the pattern, the purl and plain of time gone
muddled and different from the dream neatness.



Why We LOVE Sheep!

Our Sweet "Gracie"

Years ago, when I was a young women, I wanted sheep.  I think it's every girls dream to raise sheep.  I mean, what's not to love about them?  So, in 2006 I was finally able to raise them, I wasn't a young women anymore, but I still had the desire and fortitude.  Thus began my journey with sheep.

I don't want to get into detail about how I purchased my original sheep or which breeds I started with, however it is important to note that I did want to end up with Jacob sheep as my main flock.

Sheep are incredibly smart animals, the bonds they form with one another and their shepherd are deep. People have to earn it though, they have to be trusted, gentle, and willing.  I am one such person, I'm very connected to my sheep.  I talk to them on a daily basis, study them, pet them, and hand feed them.  For a sheep, that entails a lot of trust, for a shepherdess, that entails a lot of love.

My sheep give me so much more than I give them in return.  They give me peace, love, pleasure and joy.  But they also give me meat, wool, compost and dairy.  

Handspinning is my joy.  It's meditative and calming.  When my world gets a bit out of kilter, I turn to my wheel, knitting or carding. It sets my world in perspective once again.  

The barn cleaning is also a huge bonus.  All sheep manure is readily available for use in a compost pile or to be directly sown into a garden, around trees & shrubs or made into manure tea instantly.  Sheep completely digest their food, thus any weed seeds that may be in the hay you feed them, are gone, completely.  The same goes for goats if you happen to raise them.  So, my sheep give me terrific compost which in turn gives me excellent food in my garden.  The better the soil, the more "good" amendments you put into it, the healthier the quality of your food.  I let my girls glean my garden at the end of the season, they've earned it. 

When I have a ewe that is producing too much milk for her one lamb, guess who gets to milk her?  If you've never had sheep milk or cheese, you're missing a phenomenal treat.  In my opinion, it's far superior to goat milk. 

Annually we cull two sheep for our freezer.........lamb is super healthy containing a great source of protein, iron and zinc.  It delivers a healthy dose of B12 and niacin. It is by far healthier for you than beef.  It's a red meat that packs it all!  I haven't had a cut of beef in six years.  I utilize the fat from the lamb for making our own tallow as well.  Ever had potatoes cooked in lamb tallow.............OMGosh!

In essence, we use the sheep "poo" for our own food, the wool for our clothing, the meat for our health.  What we receive in return from our woolies completes the circle.  We give them a clean barn, medical care and vitamins, love, attention and proper care all around.....daily!  Did I mention that I also market some of the fleece?  Yep, I make money by selling fleece to women who also like to spin.  I also sell lambs to good homes annually.

I posted this article to inspire others who may be thinking about raising animals.........sheep are the ultimate farm animal to have.  You reap so much from them..........trust, love, affection.  Also, the lil' lambs are pretty darn cute and so fun to watch!

Sheet Mulching Gardening..........A New Concept?

Since it's Spring and everyone is talking about gardening, it made sense to post a story about my gardening experiences over the past umpteen years!  I have been gardening and canning from my gardens for 33 years........wow!  You'd think I know more than I actually do when it comes to gardening, but sometimes, just getting a garden planted, tending to it, and canning from it, can seem overwhelming....gardening is work, plain and simple.

I've recently learned about a "gardening technique" that our locals call, "Lasagna Technique."  In actuality, the Lasagna technique of gardening has been around since the early 1900's.  Ruth Stout was the originator of this gardening style.  Ruth called it "sheet mulching gardening."  I kinda like that term better, the visual in the name or something. Maybe it's because I'm not a huge lasagna fan, I don't know.

The idea of this gardening technique is pretty cut and dry.  You are basically making compost in your garden beds.  I've always been a "raised bed gardener" until I moved out to our lil' ranch. The previous owners had a large garden area tilled near our barns.  Not having ever really planted in the dirt without a garden bed, I thought I'd give it a try.  I have to tell you, although this garden produced prolifically for me over the past four years, I spent my life out in the garden weeding!  I was losing my love of gardening very quickly.  I turned to "The Man" not long ago and told him, "if you don't help me make garden beds, I'm not canning you anymore pickles, beets, greens, pumpkin or tomatoes"...........that seemed to be his inspiration!  He loves home-grown, home-canned goodies his wife makes him.  I know, I really play hard ball at times! Thus, the "re-vamping" of the Anderson garden.

Our beds are assorted in length, width remains the same.  They are made of recycled and reclaimed materials.  Sandstone, wood, galvanized metal...........it's the "shanty town" of gardens.  We feel good using these materials, I don't care that it doesn't look like Martha Stewart's raised bed garden........I mean, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME???"  So begins the new and improved Anderson garden.

Let me just say here quickly that part of the inspiration for the re-vamping of our garden came from a local tour not long ago, at a farmer's market grower. His explanation and technique of his gardening was my inspiration.  Wish I'd listened to him five years ago when he offered to come to my house and show me "how!"  Such is life.

So begins the work for the Anderson's.  We build the beds out of reclaimed and recycled materials with corner posts sunk in the ground and bracing every 6-8 ft.  We line the beds with chicken wire that is purchased in 4-ft. wide rolls (this process is done to keep moles, voles, prarie dogs and anything else that's a "digger" out).  The next layer is cardboard, a full layer.  We used boxes that we broke down (these are free!).  On top of the cardboard we place a brown or green manure, doesn't matter which one you start with, as long as you alternate the layers.  Brown manures should be twice as thick as the green manures.  We also bought a truck-load of black cinder sand for $12.  I mix one shovel full of sand into three shovel full of mulch (or brown manure).  Mix and use.  Keep alternating browns, greens, browns, greens.  The depth of these beds should be anywhere from 18-24-inches high.  Wet each layer lightly before adding another layer.  You will finish this garden bed with good soil (that may cost you some money).  When the bed is complete and you've  wet the whole concoction for a few days, sprinkle bonemeal over the top (kinda like the icing on a cake), this will give you added phosphorus.  PLANT your heirloom, organic seeds. 

Remember that annually you will have to amend the soil, but from this point on, you have created some incredible rich, humus soil that will give you healthy veggies and herbs.  As you amend this annually, it only gets better, darker, more fluffy, loaded with a lot of microbial growth that will nourish your veggies. 

I'm very excited to be "back into my gardening forte',"  I can grow incredible gardens with gardening beds, they are easy to amend, easy to weed (this won't be a perfectly weed free garden), easy to harvest from.  I'm glad I only wasted four years trying this "other" gardening, let me tell you, it SUCKS!  And it does because it destroys all the microbial growth in the soil, it turns up weed seeds so that sunlight hits them and thus begins your "weed patch."  It hurts the lil' earth worms (if you have any), and it's just plain hard on the soil.  Also, remember to heavily mulch your walk-ways so weeds don't begin growing in them.  Use either a drip irrigation system on this garden, or a bubbler turned down low, or hand water.  Don't over-head water ANY PART OF IT, or you will create more weeds within your garden boundry. 

I had a garden once upon a time, I sold herbs to a local restaurant, I fed other families, I fed my own family, I harvested and dried my own herbs and never bought store bought herbs............I'm back to my roots this year, me and my "shanty town" garden!  Happy Gardening y'll!