These sunflowers were actually accidents...just spilled birdseed, really, but they're one of the most cheery things on the farm right now! I was trying to explain to Toby, my 6 year old nephew, that these big yellow flowers will make the black seeds that both he and the birds like to eat. He was skeptical. :)



Here's Toby mowing! (with a little guidance from John). He sure has been enjoying helping on the farm lately...pulling weeds, digging holes, mowing, and just generally messing around. Ahhh, to be six again!



Here is Beaker! My gosh, he is SO big! He honks now! For a few weeks, his voice was breaking...he'd say "weet weet HONK" :) Now he can do "big goose" honks just about anytime! Also, he is starting to *think* about flying....he will run a few feet, then sort of take off and glide a bit, then touch down and run some more. But you know what? We think he thinks he's a dog. But our dogs think they're people, so really...it's very confusing. But if, say, Donna leaves in the car with a dog or two, the other 2 dogs, AND BEAKER, will run after her as she drives away. And when I drive to work in the morning, I usually am greeted by 3 dogs and a goose running towards the car, full speed, to say hello! It's really all very amusing. :) But Beaker is quite happy to go into his pen with the ducks at night (He thinks they're boring, but they keep him company well enough at night). By the way, even though I refer to him as "he", we have no idea what sex he, uh, she, uh, it?? is.



Speaking of grandpas, my grandpa (Donna's dad) is here, and has been here for a few months, helping out and hanging out. (I call him Bakka, by the way, so if I refer to him as such, that's just my name for him). Anyway, he's been doing an *amazing* job of going through our back land and old farm buildings and finding old, interesting stuff to use for decoration and/or landscaping. He totally landscaped the front of our classroom using some rocks and old "stuff" we had laying around the farm. That, a bit of mulch, and a few plants, and all of a sudden it looks like someone came and professionally landscaped the barn. it's wonderful! I'll get some pictures of the other side of the classroom when he gets it finished.

SAMPLE SUNDAY!!! Sunday, July 15th, from 12-4 PM. And GUESS WHAT?!?!

TEMPLETON RYE IS COMING! I could NOT be more excited. I have loved their micro-distilled rye whiskey (made just down the road from us, in Templeton, Iowa) since I discovered it earlier this year. We could NOT be prouder to have them come visit us for a Sample Sunday! They'll have merchandise for sale and, hopefully, will be sampling a bit of their wonderful, smooth, delicious whiskey!
I strongly suggest you check out their website -it's wonderful!

We will also be giving away samples of our Herbal Healing wands (perfect for summertime bugbites, scrapes, and sunburn!), and will of course be sampling our very own Prairieland Popcorn - grown in our backyard, popped in our kitchen, and flavored with fresh Picket Fence butter and a bit of sea salt. YUM!

Picket Fence Creamery and Northern Prairie Chevre will also have vendors, activities, and sales, so please come out and visit all 3 farms!

Prairieland Herbs products now available at Chit and Chat coffeehouse in Waukee!!! :)

Our (still unnamed) boy duck now has a girlfriend!!! She's very quiet and laid back, and REFUSES To get into the pond. Silly girl! But, she's been laying eggs for us!! And they are very good company for Beaker (our rescued Canada Goose).



Donna has been nurturing this buckeye tree since it was a tiny sapling, and now it has it's first buckeyes! We're very excited. :)



OMG, the cuteness! Why hasn't anyone taken these adorable kitties home yet????

Happy Midsummer, everyone!!

The wet spring has messed things up a little bit here at PLH. Normally, our St. John's Wort and our Lavender would be blooming on midsummer, but not this year....both plants are kind of scraggy and struggling. They're "late bloomers", haha. :)

The roses and thyme, however (as you can see above) are blooming like mad! That's why we LOVE to plant them together...the thyme makes a beautiful carpet of blooms all around the roses. It takes a few years, but I think the effect is really nice.

In other news - we still have room in our fabulous fiber classes!
We have 2 classes on Saturday, June 30th. In the morning, we're going to have fun spinning with exotic fibers - alpaca, silk, wool, mohair, etc. In the afternoon, you can learn to play with color and roving, to create gorgeous and unique yarns! These classes are taught by Abi Hutchison, from High Prairie Fibers, and they are *always* fabulous. These classes are informal, fun, and wonderful! You'll learn alot and take home a TON of fiber.



On Sunday, July 1, we're also having a fun Spinning Clinic, also taught by Abi. If you're interested in spinning but have never spun before, come on over! We'll get you started. If you're a beginning, intermediate or advanced spinner, this is an excellent time to "play" - share ideas, try other people's wheels, explore new techniqes and fiber types, etc. Abi will be providing fiber to play with...just bring a wheel, drop spindle, or any other type of equipment or project you want, and we'll PLAY! Show-and-tell encouraged, and I will make sure to have some fun snacks on hand too!

We certainly know who is in charge around here! (This little fella is *still* looking for a home, by the way!)



Donna, weeding, in her famous red hat (That's what happens when you let the grandson pick out your weeding hat!)


Plants destined for the still! Lemongrass, lemon verbena, rosemary, and more...


Popcorn!!! (Those of you who have visited the farm on a recent Sample Sunday have had the pleasure of tasting last year's crop, which is delicious!)



Our patch of sweetgrass (destined for the still - I hear it makes a lovely hydrosol!)

Goose Update! Here is a picture of Beaker, our rescued-and-now-thinks-he's-people Canada Goose. He's probably about 6 weeks old now, and is fully into his "geeky teenage" stage! The furry cuteness is gone, and he's getting all his feathers in, and changing colors. (By the way - we refer to him as "he" but we actually have no idea what sex he is!). He still loves people and wants to be around us ALL the time. He doesn't really like to be touched our petted, but he is constantly at our sides, and will even "groom" us if we let him (nibbles to the legs and feet).



There are few things funnier than sitting alone in the shop...all is quiet, cats are asleep, door open, filling orders....and then hearing the "slap slap slap" of big goose feet, as he comes in to see what you are doing. :) He trys to eat the cat food every chance he gets, but we don't let him if we can help it!



We did get Beaker an adult male duck for a friend, and they do tolerate each other, but dont' seem to have "bonded" very well. But this adult male duck (who still needs a name...got any suggestions? and NO we are not going to name him Donald!) was getting picked on by another male duck at his old home, so he's going to stay here with us...we hope to get him a "lady friend" very shortly. He is free to come and go in our farm pond anytime he likes, but he seems very shy and reserved, so we gave him his own mini-pond in his pen, and he really likes it!



Here we are building a bigger and better pen for our fowl. They get out to roam around the farm with us while we are here, but we wanted a bigger outdoors area for them to enjoy on evenings and weekends. Are they spoiled, or what??

OMG, is there anything cute than a sleeping kitten? Yes! A kitten sleeping in a pile of roving. :) Isn't he adorable? We have 2 kittens available for adoption here at the farm. All of our shop/house cats are spayed/neutered, of course, but this is a farm, and we occasionally have feral cats that come here and have babies. So this fella and his brother (or sister....we're not really sure) are 8 weeks old, litter-trained, used to kids, cats, and dogs, and looking for good homes!



Donna has a small fetish for cacti, and this is one of her houseplants that is blooming. isn't that a gorgeous, and bizzare, bloom??

Prairieland Herbs Customer Service Department. :) (Aka Toby! Donna's grandson, Maggie's nephew, and all-around good kid).

Farm cleanup continues...as does the rain! We actually got some things planted last Friday, and had hoped to do some tilling today (wednesday), and a bunch more planted. But we got DUMPED on (random 5:30 AM thundershower), and it's raining again this morning, so....no tilling and planting today. *sigh* Maybe we'll get the garden in by the 4th of July!!

But the farm cleanup is going well. We hired a fellow with a beautiful John Deere tractor (shown above) and he spent a few hours at our place digging out HUGE rocks that we couldnt' get with a skid loaded, pulling out trees and stumps that were in the way of mowing or were too near out buildings, and removing old fenceposts that were no longer in use. Then he tilled our back pasture area (behind the barn, for those of you that are familiar with our farm). That machine is amazing! Even though we spent 2 weeks in May digging out rocks and old concrete, the back area is still loaded with rocks. that tiller was just spitting out rocks the size of volleyballs - it didn't even slow it down. incredible! We hope to seed that area to pasture really soon, so we can care for it ourselves from now on.

Fowl update!!! Beaker, the fellow shown above (who used to be yellow and fuzzy but is not getting his feathers!!!) is a Canada Goose - thanks to all of you who called or emailed to help us identify him! He is, I think, the world's most spoiled goose. He has his own huge and comfy pen in the barn for at night, and during the day he wanders around at will, eating just about anything he can find (grass, dandelions and bedstraw are favorites, as are worms, ants, and crackers) and getting lots of attention from us and our customers. He gets in our little pond several times a day and has a good swim, and eats the water lily leaves. he sure is handsome! He chases the cats and will even snitch their food - he is one onery goose!

Sadly, we lost his duck brother, Stu...the neighbor dogs came over and, well....we never saw Stu again. Our dogs are fine with the fowl, but the neighbor dogs...not so much. We are keeping a very close eye on the situation. Our most fabulous neighbor and postal-delivery guy has offered us a few of his ducks to keep Beaker company, so we think we are going to take him up on that offer. We'll keep you posted on their progress!

The other day when Donna FINALLY got to plant a few things (it's been so wet here, we haven't even gotten our garden in....can you believe it?), Beaker discovered very quickly that when she digs up soil, there are worms....here you can see just how eagerly he is awaiting each turn of the pitchfork. Aahhh..gardening with a goose. Every day is a new adventure around here!!

Sample Sunday! Come on out to the farm this Sunday and see what we have to offer!
+++++++++++++++++++++++

3-Farm Tour spotlights Dairy month...
3 Woodward farm families
offer 'A day in the Country'
You are invited to bring the kids to see the dairy calves, baby goats, and sample some of the finest local foods available at a 3-farm tour near Woodward, Sunday, June 3, from noon to 5 p.m.
Admission is free to this "June is Dairy Month" event.
The three farms, Picket Fence Creamery, Prairieland Herbs, and Northern Prairie Chevre, invite you to enjoy a day in the country, complete with live animals, kids' activities, wine tasting, guest vendors, and the enjoyment of fresh air and wide open spaces!
At Picket Fence Creamery, 14583 S Ave., the kids can see the new calves, make their way through a hay maze, decorate cupcakes, and get free posters and pencils. There will be local food samples galore, including orange-pineapple ice cream, swiss chocolate milk, fresh white cheddar cheese curds, elk sticks, Russ 'n' Franks BBQ, and wine tasting from Rosey Acres Winery, Runnells. The country store offers local meats and foods from 85 Iowa families.
Prairieland Herbs, just up the road at 13505 S Ave., will sample handmade herbal luxuries as visitors browse their line of milk baths, shampoo bars, natural baby care, organic chocolates and teas, jams, and more. Check out their summer schedule of classes as well!
Northern Prairie Chevre will offer a glimpse of a goat farm including the kids, and sample cheeses, confections, dipping oils, jams, and other local foods, and crafts. The Onion Creek Cloggers will perform from 1 to 3 p.m., and there will be barn tours

Just some pretty pictures from around the farm!

So....the last 2 weeks we have been engaging in some MAJOR farm cleanup. Why are all farms filled with old junk, cars, stuff, cement, bricks, and just general JUNK? We rented a rolloff box....



And some major equipment, because we needed to dig up some random, huge, HUGE chunks of concrete....



and pretty much filled the rolloffbox. I'm going to be REALLY interested to see how heavy that is! but it feels good to get rid of that junk. Now we can till/plant a big area behind our barn - we'll probably just seed it to pasture for now, as we don't really need any more space for herbs at the moment. (Maggie's secret plan to get some alpacas or other fiber animals is one step closer to fuition, hee hee hee!!!)


Stu and Beaker "helped" us clean up the farm...mostly by sleeping in the shade and watching us work. They're hysterical, and growign like CRAZY. Stu (the duck, the brown fellow) is getting his real feathers in! I'll try and get a picture. He looks sorta ratty right now, pooor fellow - I bet it itches when those feathers come in!

I'm working on our new website and shopping cart....and I've got ALOT of help!!!

So apparently...Beaker (the yellow fellow - the one we rescued from a busy town highway) is NOT a duck. let me preface this by saying we know NOTHING of birds...especially farm birds. But one of our great customers (thanks Hanna!) clued us in today to the fact that Beaker is NOT a duck. So we think maybe he's a goose...or possibly even a swan?? Any bird people out there that can help us out..let us know! But, let me tell you - these guys are a hoot, and they're growing like crazy. More blogging about them over on Maggie's personal blog! (In this picture, btw, they're like 2x the size they were last week, and they're hanging out in our herb shop. Yep, they think that's where they should be. *sigh*)

We had a GREAT class today! About 20 people showed up for Herb Gardening talk given by Donna. Here we are before class...chairs set up ready to go!

And here we are during class - Donna is up front in the green t-shirt. We had a perfect day! Mid 70's, sunny, with a light breeze. Lovely!


Then Donna led everyone around the garden and showed them our perennials coming up...and last but not least, everyone chose 3 herb plants to take home and plant. I know Donna had a great time - I hope everyone else did too!



Speaking of classes - we still have 4 spaces left in our Hot Process Crock Pot Soapmaking class coming up next Saturday!

Also, in actual PLH related news: We're cleaning up the farm (pics coming soon), and....we have loads of new classes to sign up for! Our June/July/August class schedule is ROCKIN. Online (non-local) customers - we have at least one online class for you scheduled for this summer....I've been busy, busy, busy adn haven't been able to get the info online but I WILL Do it this weekend at the latest, and I'll post here when it's on. It's gonna be soooooo awesome....

Local folks - wanna learn to knit, crochet, dye, spin, play with lavender or sage, garden naturally, or do a bunch of other fun stuff? Take some classes!!!!!!!!!

So, the other day, I found a baby duck. So we got him a friend (ducks need friends) but, in the intervening 4-5 hours where we had just the one rescued duck (during which we hauled him around tucked into sweatshirt hoods and pockets, because he didn't want to be alone), he apparently imprinted on humans because...now he thinks we are his parents! Beaker is the yellow fellow - the one found running, all alone, on a busy highway in Adel. The brown one, Stu (I call him Disco Stu - simpson's fans will get the reference) was purchased at a local farm store (for $2 - he was on clearance!). Beaker loves people and follows us around, and gets most frantic when he can't. Stu loves BEAKER and follows him around. It's a whole thing. Anyway, I have loads more pictures to follow but for now - aren't they adorable??

Its' a tough, TOUGH job to be a prairieland herbs cat....
especially on a warm, sunny summer day.