An odd topic.

The first time I saw an ostrich up close and personal was at a relative's farm in North Florida. He raised ostriches and emus. The ostriches had huge pens as did the emus, and there was a huge incubator and nursery.

He explained how they would precariouslygo into the pens to retrieve eggs for the incubator. Someone would distract the ostriches as another went in and collected football-sized eggs.

I remember feeding the ostriches snacks and hearing their mouth smack together. I also remembered an old TV episode, Lassis maybe? when a guy had racing ostriches that were kept hooded until it was time to race.

It never occurred to me that people would capitalize on this and offer "ostrich riding" as a tourist activity in Africa. I mean...WTF? Who looks at an ostrich and says "sure I will try that."

You get on a terrified bird that has been hooded, and it runs around until you are pulled off of fall off. Again....WTF. Ostriches are birds, not beasts or burden. You are supposed to hold onto their wings when riding them, and even though ostriches cant fly, how would you like to have someone yanking your arms back with all their weight.

I mean, seriously, people - use your brain.

Struggle.

I call upon them, angels, to keep me free.
I run with the wind: a free spirit.
I lash with the silvery snow during a winter blizzard.
There, when the sun rises like a golden rain of watercolors,
There, when the sun goes down in its prismatic glory of color,
Over the mountains, across the prairie grasses, over man's faces.
Bringing the brooks babbling over pebbles, not wanting to leave the lake, but anticipating the ocean.
The shallow lake ripples, teasing the shore and an eagle passes in flight.

Faces bronzed by a blazing sun.

I call upon them, angels, to watch over me.
I am taken with the wind, and it carries me like an unseen pillow.
I dance with the silhouettes on the trees, leaping with the moonlight.

There, when the mist rises after a summer rain,
There, when the sky splashes gold, bronze, and crimson,
Upon a star suspended in velvet darkness, upon a cloud in a blue abyss.
A rush and a flush like gossamer wings, but not yet, held with pink hands on a purple robe above the crashing, daunting waves.

I call upon them, angels, to guide me.
Guide me not wrong. Guide me straight.
Like a mariner and his stars guiding the ship.


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It's been awhile...

I realize it has been awhile. School started picking up quite a bit; I got a promotion and more responsibility at work; and I've just been busy. Our biggest news is that our diet is now about 99% non-animal. The 1% accounts for the fact that I still love my local, raw honey. There are a few reasons why we opted for the "non-animal diet." I use the term "non-animal" because we may never be truly 100% vegan, but when we aren't, we will only be eating meats that we have hunted or fished ourselves, and we'd eventually like to get dairy goats to make our own cheese. BY doing so, we will not be supporting factory farms, reducing the contribution to the carbon footprint made by factory farms, and we will be healthier altogether.

There wasn't really a defining moment as to why we started this. For example, we both knew about factory farms. We both know about the slaughter process, and we both know the atrocities that can occur due to cutting corners to cut costs. If you're a rancher, we still love you. If you're an omnivore, we still love you. We sure as heck aren't going to go on an animal rights rampage and admonishing all of our omnivore friends.

But what did happen was a kick in the ass that said, "you're not getting healthier. You're not feeling better. You're not losing weight. You're complaining." At the age of 34, I had "okay" blood panels and no (diagnosed) illnesses, but that didn't mean I was healthy. Overweight and realizing I didn't qualify to do some activities I'd like to try because I was over the weight limit is, well, disappointing and upsetting. Realizing that there are people my age who are dying of heart attacks was a bit more......... alarming and terrifying. Honestly, the health aspect of it all is what made me change. I even told my husband, "I can prep my food for us both, and then I can cook a piece of meat for you to add to yours."

I found Forks Over Knives or FOK. I discovered the book first and then the Netflix documentary. I immediately ordered the book, cookbook, and a meal guide: a four week "how to." I was the kid in college who randomly received a PETA DVD, and that moment, I swore off meat and dairy. It took about a week before I walked down the beef jerky aisle, bought some, bought a half gallon of Mayfield whole milk, and devoured both when I got home. Clearly, I did not approach that correctly.

FOK was different. It talked about health first and then animal welfare second. I realize many of my friends appreciate that in reverse, but for me, I knew about animal welfare; I was just attempting to justify it in ridiculous ways. FOK talked about people ranging from okay health to major health issues joining in on FOK and feeling better, getting better, and even reversing some health concerns. It was the health aspect, and it was the number of people who talked about following FOK and saying things like, "I have yet to have a salad since being on FOK." I will say FOK is a lifestyle change and not a fad diet. I had some setbacks the first and second week, but it's gotten much better.

With Week 1, you start with adjusting your breakfast only. Week 2, breakfast and lunch. Week 3, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Week 4, breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, snacks, the whole nine yards. None of that - rush in and fail mentality.

For example, the start of week 4, my husband and I had the following day:

Breakfast
Coffee
Oatmeal with bananas, walnuts, maple syrup, and cinnamon
AND
Breakfast tacos with crumbled tofu, red peppers, onions, seasonings

Hiking / Snacks
Sunflower seeds
Walnuts, almonds, macadamia nuts, seeds, dried cranberries

Lunch
Falafel
Salad
Hummus

Him:
Falafel pita
Tabbouleh
Hummus

Snacks
Nuts
Fruit
Vegan ice cream (yes, it is good!)

Dinner
Chipotle vegan burgers (nope - won't be getting that brand again) with homemade salsa and homemade jalapeno jelly
Mac n "cheese" (made with cashews)

Snacks
Small bit of protein shake

Were we hungry? The only time we were hungry was before stopping for a snack break while hiking. We were hiking, people, and we weren't hungry. AND the food was good!

Now, I have only been 99% non-animal for 24 hours and three weeks prior started FOK, but one thing I have noticed is better skin. Lots and lots of water to flush out my system, and I have better skin.

When you see little things improving, it helps to see the larger picture rather than making a change and having the patience to see it through.

I will create another post when I hear from my husband when he gets home tonight. He works a labor-intensive job so I want to see how his meals today have held up : protein shake, seeds, apple, cherry tomatoes, leftover mac n "cheese", chickenless chicken salad, protein bar.

GA to MT: Why don't we just drive?

Last year my husband and I embarked on a 5,000 miles round trip road trip from our town just north of Atlanta, Georgia to Stevensville, Montana. At first, we had planned on driving our Jeep Wrangler, but when we calculated out the MPG and comfort level, we opted to take our Honda Accord instead (which averages 36-39 MPG on the highway.)  It was my uncle's 50th birthday, and it was my aunt and uncle's wedding anniversary, and we wanted to take a road trip.

I won't lie. I'm a planner. We planned for MONTHS once we knew what we were going to do. I went through and mapped our route (we'd eventually bring a road atlas, printed out directions, and our GPS with us so we knew we wouldn't get lost.) Then we looked at places of interest we'd like to stop. Finally, we booked our lodging along the way and marked spots on our printed directions where ideal locations would be to fuel our vehicle. The entire trip spanned eleven days.

The scheduled spots of interest included Sioux Falls (as in the actual falls,) Wall Drug, Mt Rushmore, Iron Mountain/Needles Highway, The Purple Pie Place, Beartooth Highway, Yellowstone National Park, Philipsburg, Montana, and Skalkaho Pass on the way out. On the way back, we didn't really have anything scheduled other than stopping at a place to eat called "Busted Nut Bar & Grill" (Andrew being a mechanic and all.) Well, after being a bit more realistic, our drive out to Montana consisted of the following stops:

* A lovely rest area somewhere on the Nebraska/Iowa border for lunch
* Mitchell, SD Corn Palace
* Badlands National Park
* Wall Drug
* Mount Rushmore
* Iron Mountain/Needles Highway in Custer State Park
* Beartooth Highway
* Yellowstone National Park
* West Yellowstone
* Yellowstone National Park
* Stevensville, MT

And now it's time to talk about our trip...

Cutting Costs: Cell Phones.

I am sure you've seen the commercials airing in which users from other cell phone providers talk to another provider about what they currently pay per month. These users' bills are normally between $200 and $400 (just for his or her bill, not their family members'.) WOW. $200-$400? There are so many options out there, why would someone ever pay that much for a cell phone bill each month?!

I have used GoPhone for, I don't even know how long. I originally used AT&T when they were Cingular (before Smartphones.) I briefly used Verizon, but the service area couldn't compare to [AT&T] at the time.

I *know* I have been using GoPhone for at least nine years. I use the "pick your plan" option. For awhile, AT&T was preventing iPhone and Blackberry users from using GoPhone. Let me rephrase that: you could purchase an iPhone or Blackberry and use it for calls and texts, but you could not use the unlimited data with Smartphones.

That all changed in 2014 when AT&T decided to allow iPhone users to enroll in a data plan included with GoPhone packages. My bill has fluctuated among $75 and $55 and $50 and such depending on what plan I've chose. But now? Now I am on the $45/month plan with unlimited (anytime) talk and text, and I get 1.5GB of high speed data each month. This does not mean if I use all 1.5GB I don't get any data. It just means when 1.5 GB is used, I get slower data. But you know what? That doesn't really matter.

The ISP at our home offers nationwide hotspots, and several businesses and other locations offer free WiFi. Because of this, I rarely use my data, and that's good because that data now rolls over to the following month if it goes unused.

As a side bonus, when you enroll in autopay (automatic debit from your bank account,) and the payment is successful, you immediately get $5 deposited into your account as a thank you.

My cell phone bill is $40/month. I get unlimited talk and text, and now I get data (if I need if if there isn't WiFi available.)

No one should be paying $200-$400 (or more) each month JUST for their cell phone.

Let's keep this in mind, though....no one can please everyone 100% of the time so I'm sure you will read plenty of grouchy reviews about GoPhone. Like I said, I've used GoPhone for at least 9 years, and I don't see me stopping anytime soon.

The war is here!

My husband and I have been growing container vegetable and herb gardens for a few years now. During that time, we've been introduced to tomato hornworms and the right growing spots for the various plants.

This year we planted a small garden on the side of our house using a variety of containers ranging from one gallon milk jugs to City Picker Patio Garden Kits, and finally 5-gallon HDPE food-grade buckets. As we lease our home, we are unable to plant in the ground, or we could be fined for "improvements on the property."

We planted strawberries and marigolds in one gallon milk jugs and mounted them to our privacy fence. We planted basil, peppermint, dill, and cilantro in window boxes mounted on our fence. Then we planted tomato, marigold, lemon thyme, squash, nasturtium, bush beans, tomato, bush beans, jalapeno, and cucumbers. Of course all of those were in different containers in a line. We made sure we drilled appropriate drainage holes in the containers, and none of our containers sit on the ground (because what would be the point of drilling holes if you're going to cover them with the ground?)

We planted a bit later this year as last year, mid-April, we had a FREEZE...not a frost but a FREEZE here in Georgia that quickly killed our plants (even though they were covered and insulated.)

And the war is here against pests.

Thus far, we have already encountered (in four weeks) spotted cucumber beetles, striped cucumber beetles, ants, leafhoppers, Japanese beetles, dogsbane leaf beetles, and unidentified caterpillars (I haven't found them yet, and the wild birds have been snatching them off our plants for us when they find them.) We've done everything we were supposed to do for pest control, and now we have to kick it up a notch. Last year I read about flattening a piece of aluminum foil around the base of a cucumber plant to prevent cucumber beetles. The cucumber beetles laughed at that. We tried planting highly fragrant marigolds nearby (as in directly next to them) - again, the cucumber beetles laughed. This year, we've continued with the tried and true method of eradication (nitrile gloves and trapping them when we see them.)

Then I remembered that my work uses food-grade diatomaceous earth for one of our products. Not only do we use it, but a few months ago we got some 50 lbs sample bags in of various particle size to test, and there they sit - partially used on our shelf. What's diatomaceous earth? Well, it's basically a powder made up of pulverized fossilized diatoms. Remember the diatoms we saw in slides in school? The little wheels and cylinders that look like glass? Yes, those diatoms. Diatomaceous earth, however, is a respiratory irritant so you should use a mask and safety goggles when applying.

Let's see how this works...

Milk, not milk.

Today, we try something new. While not severe, we have minor lactose intolerance issues. It doesn't matter if we drink factory-farmed cow's milk or organic, small farm cow's milk - it's the same response.

I had tried soy milk in the past, and the flavor was..."okay." Okay as in not awesome, and okay as in not terrible. It sort of tasted like the adhesive on the back of older postage stamps. It was that sort of okay. 

I've seen the commercials advertising coconut milk, soy milk, almond milk, cashew milk, etc., and as I happen to really enjoy almond (read that as - baked goods go from vanilla extract to almond extract in their recipes) I decided to try Silk's Almond Milk. It was on sale for $2.99/half gallon at Publix, and I had clipped a $0.75/off one half-gallon coupon a few weeks ago. My total investment would be $2.24 (plus tax) so I figured - why not? It's one of the least expensive "let's try this" moments I've had. 

Let's get the nitty gritty about almond milk out of the way before I talk about my review on it:

* 60 calories per serving, 118 calories per serving for 1% cow's milk

* 50% more calcium than dairy milk, (cow's milk - 35% calcium; almond milk - 45% : daily values)
* Vitamin E source, no vitamin E in cow's milk

* Cholesterol and saturated fat free, 10 mg cholesterol for cow's milk and 2 g saturated fat

* Free of dairy, soy, lactose, gluten, casein, egg, and MSG (cow's milk - you do the math)
* Non-GMO almonds, some cow's milk may be from cows fed GMO grains (we aren't anti GMO nuts, but it's worth mentioning for those who are concerned about GMO)

Other nutrition breakdown:
60 calories
2.5 g total fat

0 cholesterol

160 mg sodium

35 mg potassium

8 g carbohydrates

1 g protein

10% vitamin A

45% calcium

4% riboflavin

0% vitamin C

2% iron

20% vitamin E

4% magnesium

Milk nutrition breakdown (1%) :
118 calories

3 g total fat

10 mg cholesterol

143 mg sodium

0 potassium

14 g carbohydrates

10 g protein

10% vitamin A
35% calcium

5% vitamin C

1% iron

The one thing cow's milk has going for it that almond milk does not is protein. Everything else? Almond milk wins in my book. 

My review:

The commercials boast almond milk as being silky and smooth "just like real milk" and a "good milk substitute." I poured myself a glass (see the photo above?) Immediately you can see that it is creamy and smooth and somewhat resembles dairy milk. If I showed you the above picture without identifying it, you might say it is dairy milk, but it's not. 

I purchased the original flavor (I didn't want to be biased.) It has a mild almond flavor, and it is a creamy consistency, but it's not the heavy creamy consistency that sits on your tongue like dairy milk. It's creamy, and then it's gone. It is okay - I could drink it.

However, when you do more research into commercial almond milk, you'll quickly find that all of the good stuff from almonds gets lost when it becomes commercialized almond milk (like protein.) If I was to continue to drink almond milk, I'd probably look at recipes for making my own. 

I made fire!

Okay, no. I did not actually make fire. Andrew and I took the last weekend in April off from work, and we traveled to Western North Carolina. First, we drove up to Asheville along the scenic route as Andrew had never been in that area before. We stopped for a driving break along the Nantahala and watched two rafts with paddlers float by us. The weather was amazing: sunny. Spring was popping up with green leaves and a nice breeze. Needless to say, it was the perfect drive.

We arrived in Asheville around 1pm, and we headed to the Biltmore Estate (I already had tickets.) Again, it was another spot that Andrew had never been, and the last time I visited it was 2004. My how much it has changed. I love the architecture of the Biltmore, and I love the iron chandelier hanging four stories with a cantilevered staircase surrounding it. However, it has become much more touristy. First of all, Fridays are not the days to visit. It was packed with school tours of disrespectful kids cussing and pushing people around. It made walking through the house incredibly difficult. Second, the Biltmore herds you into a "chute" between the banquet room and breakfast room for a required picture. It would be nice if this picture had the same conservatory back drop as what is behind you, but it's one of the "pick this up at the end of your tour" pictures in which you are pasted into the back drop of the Biltmore. After walking through the house (and trying to avoid the school tours,) we continued down to the gardens. Sadly, the only thing in bloom at that time were the Azalea bushes in a separate location. Here are some of the photos we snapped at the Biltmore (you are not allowed to take any photos, recordings, or sketches of the inside of the Biltmore. This sucked because I wanted a photo of the kitchen!)

After the Biltmore and checking into our hotel (Holiday Inn at Biltmore Mall - WOULD stay there again!) we headed to downtown Asheville. After making several loops before settling on a parking deck, we began our conquest to find food. Of course we were in sensory overload, but we managed to settle on Carmel's Restaurant. I am glad we did. Our server, Jay, was amazing, and the food was just as good. We chose to sit outside and people watch before finishing our meals and heading to Kilwin's just around the corner to get some ice cream before our trek back to our car. We were so tired or we would have spent much more time walking around Asheville.

The next morning our friends Silvia, Nona, and Mark drove up from Atlanta so we could all head to Fire on the Mountain Blacksmith Festival in Spruce Pine, NC. It is about an hour from Asheville, and it is a quaint and unique town. The majority of smiths and booths there were hosted by Penland School of Crafts in Burnsville, NC (nearby.)

We met up with our friend, Lo, who had been attending Penland for a few weeks. She was participating in a "snake-off" (forging a snake in a designated amount of time.) Unfortunately, she couldn't get a good heat as the propane tanks were freezing, but here she is in action:

We were able to see some awesome demos including one by Elizabeth Brim. You may notice she wears a pearl necklace. She does this because when she started smithing someone told her it wasn't ladylike to blacksmith so she started wearing a pearl necklace.

The festival was so much fun. We ended up spending five or six hours there before heading up to Penland for a pig roast and a tour of Lo's shop. After climbing the winding drive to the school, it was as if the mists parted, and here was this wonderful world called Penland. 

Some of the awesome sights seen around the shop:

And of course, Mark had to get in on some fun, too. Andrew and I were outside standing near the awesome forged gate (seen above) when we heard a hammer ringing on metal in the shop. I said, "I recognize those hammer blows. That's Mark." Sure enough when we walked in, Mark was forging his own snake at Lo's coal-burning (awesome) forge. Andrew said to me, "give it a few minutes, and Mark will have a crowd." Sure enough - he did. Also at the festival and Penland we met Jamie Rogers of Big Giant Swords. She had recognized Mark from an event while we were at the festival, and we had the chance to meet her while we were watching Elizabeth Brim's demo.

By the time we came down off the mountain, it was time to call it a night. After breakfast the next morning, we all headed our ways. Andrew and I stopped at Spring Ridge Creamery in Otto, NC for some milk, cheese, and ice cream, and then we stopped in at a flea market in Mountain City, GA before picking up the dogs and heading home.

It was an awesome weekend, and we can't wait to move up there in about three years.

Flooding you with blacksmithing posts.

Luckily, my husband has been bitten by the blacksmithing bug. After his introductory February 15th class, we headed to Metal Supermarkets - Marietta (ask for "Heinie") to purchase some of our own square stock steel for Hammer Therapy on Friday nights at the Goat n Hammer. We picked up some 1/4" and 1/2" square stock (1/4" hooks, 1/2" fire poker.)

While we were only supposed to go to Hammer Therapy on the 27th, we decided to go on the 20th as well (who am I to argue, right?) The drive down to Atlanta was fun (not! see "omg! snow flurries! panic! pull over!") and we arrived in time for Hammer Therapy. I decided to just work on J-hooks while Andrew decided to work on all three. After a good two plus hours of hammering some steel, we called it a night. Not much to brag about. We made hooks. It was cold.

Instead, we invited any of our friends to come down on the 27th to the 6-8 Hammer Therapy and dinner afterwards at Six Feet Under. I've been arguing with the weather and crossing my fingers for a clear night, and it appears to have worked (thus far. It is Georgia, after all.)

I don't have any new and interesting pieces to share with you, but if you think blacksmithing might pique your interest, I invite you to Hammer Therapy on Friday nights. It is open to beginners who want to see if they might enjoy swinging a hammer enough to participate in the introductory classes.

I enjoy it so much that I signed up for the blacksmithing curriculum class and start on Monday, March 2nd! (which I just realized is not too far away)

Everybody's working for the weekend; I'm working for blacksmithing.

The title about says it all. I don't have many updates to share, but I will say that I forged to finished my first knife last weekend (the 14th, of all days.) I enjoyed it immensely. Thanks to the wonderful instruction by Mark (see previous post,) I have learned a sliver of how metal moves, how to make it move in the direction I want it to move, and how to fix most of my blunders. However, not so contrary to the rest of things I try, every once in awhile, they'll be a blunder that I am at a complete loss as to how to fix, and even Mark asks, "what the fuuuuuuh?" I don't know. I consider that talent!

The culmination of the previous classes (J-hooks and S-hooks, fire poker, and copper spoon) is the railroad spike knife. Everything that had been learned in prior classes is used in the railroad spike knife class. I had some wobbles along the way, but instead of causing a "WTF" moment, I was able to pull it back around and, with the help of Mark's instruction, fix my minor blunders. Looking at my knife NOW, I pick it apart, "I could have cleaned this up a bit more; I could have straightened that out just a bit," but that's how it's supposed to be, right?

And this is my finished product.....

 

__________________________________________________

Riding on the confidence high from my RR spike knife, I then signed up for the Viking Belt Knife class. Now, I could already tell by the finished product that this knife was going to be quite different from the RR spike knife. The fact that it is forged from a piece of curved metal from a coil spring didn't bother me. The statement by Mark earlier in the day was enough to make me go, "oh dear God...." and that statement was, "dress warmly...make sure you eat a good meal before you come...we have a lot of metal to move, and I don't want anyone growing faint." Normally, that'd be a har har har moment. This was NOT a har har har moment.

After leaving work near the Atlanta city limits at 4, I drove home, grabbed good to eat on the rest of my drive home, got home at 5, let dogs out, fed dogs, changed clothes (wear layers,) waited for Andrew, and headed down to Goat n Hammer. Basically my drive went point A to point B to back down to point A and then 15 miles further. Did I mention it was f*%#ing cold? Cold as in....20s (Fahrenheit) with a windchill making it "feel like 8 degrees." Good thing forging = fire. 

We start with the spring coil that has been cut, and for sake of brevity, I will say the steps go something like this (give or take a dozen I am probably missing, and several heats in between:)

* Forge curve to flat piece
* Set down at measured mark
* Set down on horn at original mark and then 90 degree mark until about 3/8" or so
* Flip piece around, and start drawing out the 4" to 7" (lots and lots and lots of King Kong hammering...not with a power hammer....a regular 2 - 2-1/2" hammer)
* Clean up drawn out piece into nice squared piece
* Make octagonals on diamond one side, 180 degrees to other side
* Make octagonals on opposite diamond on one side, 180 degrees to other side
* End up with a nice, almost round shape
* Flip piece back around and put in fire
* Bring piece out, hammer square point on end to draw out to 4-1/2" length (I think...if I remember correctly.)
* Hammer "blade" flat (after turning 90 degrees from the hammer point)
* Hammer the shit out of it until it's the right thickness
* Clean up hammer blows, ensure bottom line is straight, smooth top line to a nice, gentle curve, draw down tip
* Cross peen down the middle of one side of the blade
* Cross peen down the blade edge of the other side
* Repeat
* Ensure blade is cleaned up nicely
* Flip blade around
* Fish tail the end of the octagonal side
* Curve fish tail to match curve of ricasso
* Heat and curve fish tail end into loop
* Fish tailed end should fit nicely in ricasso area

I got the set down portion. I ran through octagonals (because of time and the fact that I can come back and clean them up,) and I started on my blade. That's it, and hey, I'm okay with that. I won't give up on my little knife, but like other pieces I work on (artwork,) there comes a point when you need to set it to the side and give it some time before picking it back up again to continue work on it. I'm not mad at it. I'm not upset at the way it is turning out, but it just needs some time so that I can work on some other things (like hooks and such,) build up more confidence and skill, and approach it fresh in the future.

Got home around 11:30 last night, showered, and in bed for work the next morning. Feel like a cross between a flu patient and a hard-worked older woman.

Essential Oils: Some tweaking.

Tweaking...as in a little bit here, a little bit there,  measure, re-measure, measure one more time, dilute, check any warnings, any contraindications, any health warnings, phototoxicity....

And I will be releasing my first batch of Purity & Simplicity products soon!

This first batch will be cold weather-seasonal (just in time, right? Winter is supposed to officially end in a month and a half.) I won't go into details, but some of the Winter-specific products (available year-round) will include body butter, body scrub, aromatic chews, a soothing cough syrup, and lip balm.

We are putting some final touches on labels, in order to follow proper FDA, USDA, and USDA/NOP guidelines*. HOPEFULLY we will have our first run of products available soon.

* We believe in following the rules and guidelines set forth by product-governing organizations such as the FDA, USDA, USDA/NOP, and the EPA (for our insect repellent.) Therefore, we ensure all of our products' labels include the following information:

1. Name of our product
2. Our name: Purity & Simplicity
3. Net quantity, including net weight for items sold by weight
4. Place of business
5. Ingredients using INCI name from most to least
6. Safety statements such as "not for use in children under the age of 8," etc.

The majority of ingredients (95%) are Organic-certified (by USDA).

Blacksmithing.

Blacksmithing has always intrigued me: intrigued me in a sense of "well that's neat." It wasn't until I had seen some of my friend, Brad's, creations that I became interested in wanting to learn how to do that. When my friend, Nona, had mentioned Goat n' Hammer in Atlanta, I quickly visited their website and saw they offered classes.

Under the guidance of the ever-patient and entertaining Mark Hopper, I have been honored and humbled to explore the realm of blacksmithing with the 4-part Introductory Series of classes: J-hook and S-hooks, fire poker, copper spoon (now steel spoon,) and a railroad spike knife.

After my first class, I couldn't feel my forearms and burned myself in two places. After my second class, Nona couldn't feel her forearms. Mark and Jessica told us about some exercises we could do to strengthen a "teeny tiny muscle" that is a flexor muscle.

If you succeed at other forms of art and hardwork, and you go into trying blacksmithing and apply things you know about whatever, you'll be sorely disappointed. Blacksmithing is quite a bit more than heating up some metal and smacking it with a hammer. There are body mechanics. There are ways various types of metal move under heat and when cold. It's like chasing a herd of cats, and then when you're done, you have this finished piece. This chasing cats activity is even more prevalent in working with copper. There was a point (the first hour and a half) where Nona and I looked at each other and said, "I have no idea what I'm doing, but apparently, I'm doing it right." We just followed instructions and continued from there. Hammer here, hammer there, file here, do this, go here, do that, not too much heat, more heat needed, and voila! A spoon! Okay, it's a bit more than that, but OUR first time? That's what it felt like.

Goat n' Hammer is located off Foster Street in Atlanta, Georgia. It is part of the Goat Farm Arts Center. Classes are offered in the four part introduction series and now a blacksmithing curriculum as well. Mark and John are both very patient with newbies, and they offer open anvil sessions referred to as "Hammer Therapy" and open anvil without any form of guidance sessions called "Church."

And now....pictures....

Gardening in Suburbia

One topic of interest for many people is gardening and specifically gardening in a suburban or urban setting. When we lived in a rental house that had land that just was not conducive to a normal garden, we researched and found City Picker's Patio Garden Kit. That was back in 2011. We purchased one Patio Garden Kit and mistakenly planted three tomato plants in it. I say "mistakenly" because the instructions say to plant that many, but what we ended up with was three, 7 feet tall tomato plants and an over-abundance of tomatoes. (How many friends got dozens of tomatoes THAT season?!)

Here is what our first round of City Picker's Patio Garden Kits looked like:

We had cute little marigolds planted, mainly because they were easy to grow, but also because they act as natural pest deterrents. These three little plants became monstrous tomato plants, and while we did have to hand-pick two tomato hornworms off of the plants, we still had an incredibly successful "harvest." 

That brings us to our growing season of 2014 wherein we purchased three City Picker's Patio Garden Kits. This time we planted two tomato plants in one, a pickling cucumber plant in another, and a straightneck squash plant in the third.

As you can see, this was one week after we planted our City Pickers (by the way, they are very easy to set up, and the instructions are easy to follow.) When we first had our City Pickers, they included small binder clips to use to anchor the black plastic covering. In 2014, large rubber bands were provided. You can also purchase replacement black plastic coverings to reuse your planters each year. 

By June 2014, this is what our garden looked like (with a cameo by Grimm, our German Shepherd: )

As you can see, TWO tomato plants (far left) is also entirely too many for a City Picker. I'd recommend ONE. One issue we DID have last year with our City Pickers was MOSQUITOES. We could not figure out why we had so many mosquitoes in our yard last year when there weren't any bodies of standing water nearby...except for the City Pickers.

You see, City Pickers are self-watering garden boxes. They are on raised casters, and there is a fill tube (as you can see in the April 5th, 2014 photos) where you fill water, and then wait for it to dribble out of the overflows on the side to stop. Unfortunately, this also means there is a small, standing, water reservoir in the base of the City Pickers. THIS was the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes as they would fly in through the fill tube, lay eggs which would hatch, and fly back out...that was even with TWICE a day watering.

When the plants were done growing, we dumped the City Pickers, and small swarms of mosquitoes came flying out of the bottom of the planters.

To combat that this year, we will be adhering pantyhose to the fill tube as well as both overflow holes on either side. Well...I say pantyhose, but we may use some other form of mosquito netting like what is used on rain barrels and such. This *should* prevent mosquitoes from setting up their brothels in our City Picker Patio Garden Kits.

We will also be planting ONE tomato plant in one of the Pickers and probably keep the one cucumber plant and one squash plant. On top of that, we will be planting A LOT of marigolds and sunflowers to help deter harmful insects as well as attract good predator insects.

What is "The Preserve?"

As most of our friends know, we are both animal people. We are domestic and wild animal people. What this means is that we are not stereotypical animal rights activists. We are also realists. We do hunt, and we do fish. We are also respectful towards animals. When we do hunt or fish, we do so for what the animal can provide to us: hide, meat, and bone. No part of the animal is ever wasted or disrespected in any way. We do not hunt for sport. The only time we may end a wild animal's life without using 100% of it is if the animal is clearly ill and suffering.

When we leased our farm in North Georgia, we had several animals that called the farm their home: white tail deer, foxes, groundhogs, squirrels, chipmunks, red-shouldered hawks, grey rat snake, black racer, and even an occasional black bear. It was "our" Wonderland. Well, the groundhog wasn't really part of our Wonderland due to his tunnel systems that my ankle would find, but he stayed. We watched as a mother fox and her kits called our farm "home." Even our hard-core farming friends stopped to take pictures of her as she'd make her way through our fields.

One particular November morning, I remember seeing a doe in our field with a broken shoulder or injured shoulder of some sort. She had been shot. She was grazing in our pasture, but she wouldn't put any weight on her left front. We, at the time, had no way of ending her pain. I called everyone I knew in the area who could come end her life, to no avail. I was incredibly upset as was my husband, but we saw a glimmer of hope when she jumped our fence and ambled up into the woods. We said a silent prayer that she would survive or that whomever had shot her could track her and finish her. It's a sad though, but I'd rather have an animal's suffering ended than prolong it. An animal that is wounded to the point of changing its mechanics normally cannot fend for themselves by fleeing from predators or traveling the distance it needs to in order to forage or find water.

The next Spring, we saw her. She not only had survived the particularly brutal winter we had that year (2011,) but she was of good weight, good, shiny coat, and she was leaping over the fence and grazing in our field just fine even though she still favored her left front. She moved along our pasture, happily nibbling the grass. She continued to flourish up until we moved in November 2012. We also watched as a doe cared for three fawns the previous year: one doe and two bucks. The following year we had two mature bucks that would graze with our horses.

We managed our (formerly-dilapidated and abused) farm as a wildlife refuge and a small working hobby farm. We knew that there could be a symbiosis of sorts between the two worlds. We didn't have chickens, but we had ducks. We ensured the ducks had a safe pen to return to in the evening. It was protected on all sides, top, and bottom. We made sure the holes surrounding the pen were covered in smaller wire weave to prevent raccoon paws from being able to reach into the pen. The girls were happy, and we didn't have any predator issues. We kept the grey rat snake and black racer around the farm (with some easy coaxing to my husband not to kill them since he is not fond of snakes,) and the black racer rewarded us when "she" pulled a copperhead into her hiding place that she had killed for us. Had I known how rare it was to see such an event, I would have snapped a photo. ("Sally" was the black racer's given name.)

We started out with one red-shouldered hawk on the property. Their calls are unique in that they often sound like seagulls. Considering we were five hours from the coastline, the possibility of the sound coming from a seagull was rather low. It wasn't until I had talked to a local bird rehabilitator that we identified the hawks. The following year, we had FIVE on the property. We never saw a mouse or rat after that.

We knew the two worlds didn't have to collide. They could sort of intermingle with one another like an awkward dance between two wallflowers.

When we started creating our goals, we knew we wanted a life in the future that had the same intermingling between the two worlds of domestic animals and wild animals: a place where wildlife could see our property as a refuge while coexisting with our domestic animals. We keep an eye on diseases that can be transmitted between wild animals and domestic animals, and we also know how to keep our domestic animals safe from wild animals. That is why we decided the name of our future property wouldn't be a "farm" or a "ranch;" it would be "The Preserve." "The Preserve" is the shortened form as the formal name will be given once we establish ourselves and use our land to name itself..."The Preserve at Lake Lure," "The Preserve at Black Mountain," "The Preserve at Rushing Creek." You get the idea. "The Preserve" will be a Wonderland between two worlds while also offering therapeutic services to people and animals.