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.

We have fresh morel mushrooms at the shop...this weekend only!!!

We are ready for our open house! We're stocked with herb plants. We have gorgeous roving from Abi. We have jams and jellies to clearance out (so we can make new this coming harvest season). We have TONS of popcorn, and, are ready to go!

We took the morning to help a friend burn her 10 acre restored prairie (with wetlands area in the middle). it was FUN!! here's a few good pics. :)

We've got some scent blends marinating to test both in candles and for our new "Guy line" (men's products)....we'll keep you posted! :)

Some days, we have more office "help" than we know what to do with. Mo (black and white kitty) loves to lay right in front of the printer, so we have to scooch him over every time an order needs to be printed (every few minutes). Violet (calico) loves to sit on top of the printer and attack the papers as they come out. They are a very effective duo!

Here are a bunch of pictures, in no particular order, from our Soapmaking 101 Class last Saturday. We had 6 people - 3 guys, and 3 girls, which we thought was really cool (we usually have far more women than men at our classes!). I think they all had a really good time!