Over 10 years ago, I learned how to make my own mayonnaise. Ever since learning, I will never go back! All it takes is for simple ingredients. Once you have the basics down you can customize it to pretty much any recipe you’re going to use it for. Once you try it, you’ll thank me. There’s a few things that I’ve learned that help my success first, I like to make in small batches so it gets used up faster. I make it in widemouth pint size jars so that my immersion blender fits in it perfectly. I find this helps less failure in the emulsification process. Room temperature eggs just seem to work better since your oil is also room temperature. The kind of salt you use doesn’t matter. I tend to use sea salt some recipes call for mustard sometimes I use it most times I don’t. I like to have a more bland base and add seasonings based on what I’m using it for at the moment. I typically use within a week always store within the refrigerator.. Ready for the recipe?

Homemade Mayonnaise

This recipe yields 1 cup

3/4 Light Flavored oil (I like to use avocado, but you can use olive oil or any other light oil)
1 Room temperature Egg (I use our farm eggs since they’re already room temperature)
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
​1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon mustard (if you choose to use)

​Place all ingredients in a wide mouth pint jar. Place immersion blender at the bottom and turn on low until pretty much completely emulsified then you can move around at this point to get remaining ingredients blended. Now you’re done! Time to enjoy your efforts or place in the refrigerator for future use. Have fun and be sure to tell me how you like it and how you intend to use it. I’m sure once you’ve tried it, it will become a staple for your family like it has mine. Until next time…. Peace, Love & Light

Well I know, it’s been a hot minute again. What’s new right?! But seriously I am working on getting better about posting. As I do, I really want to know what you want to hear about. The last couple of years have been a real roller coaster to say the least, my oldest son graduated college, my fiancé of nearly 7 years passed shortly after after my last post, I’ve had 2 grandbabies, gained and lost a business, gained some wonderful friends and found support in those I never imagined, lost those I thought supported me, as a result of all the ups and downs it’s been hard to figure out where to start again. Until I get some direction from my readers, I’ll probably just go with whatever is on my mind at the moment so I might be all over the place but I figured the best way to start is to just start. I look forward to sharing our farm adventures with you all soon. Please let me know what you would like to read about. ~ Peace, Love & Light

It’s been nearly two years since we decided to try out putting our products in a small shop in town. It was exciting and a stepping stone to wonderful growth. Our little bookshelf was neglected however for quite awhile and we kept letting life’s excuses get in the way and it was easy to do. Why? Because I broke the golden rule, “growth doesn’t happen inside of your comfort zone”. At a simple $20/month I knew I couldn’t fail. I was comfortable in knowing I could easily sell enough to cover my rent and if not I wouldn’t miss it if it came out of pocket. Then Covid happened and sales kept coming because soap is essential in keeping germs at bay. At the time we were doing dog boarding and business got S.L.O.W. so I had to evaluate my income streams a bit. Well fast forward to November 2020, I went to pay my rent and noticed a spot opening up. I knew I was quickly outgrowing my bookshelf and inquired about the rent in that space. It was definitely a lot bigger and more rent, without much income from the dog boarding I was worried I wouldn’t be able to make rent if sales didn’t go well. But after much debate and support from my other half I decided to go ahead and make the move with a growth mindset. I knew there was no room to fail, I HAD to make it succeed or I’d be in hot water. We worked our tails off to get the space filled and with a new baby that was HARD! Here we go out of our comfort zone for sure but one year later I’d say it was the best move ever! However even with all the determination and the right mindset we struggled, life has its ways of really stretching your comfort zone and that’s when you need more than just the mindset but you also need a good support system and cheerleaders! If in those hard times I didn’t have that I would have quit. From learning to be a new mom again, raising teenagers (I’ll leave it at that), running a farm, sending a child off to college, fighting for time space to make products, losing a baby, several deaths on the farm and in the family, the birth of a granddaughter and many more of which are too much to list, I probably hit way more than my share of challenges. That’s when my biggest cheerleader helped me up and pushed me forward to meet my goals. Growth is sweet. Growth is bitter. Growth is, blood & tears. Growth is accepting your limits and being genuine with your goals. Growth is more than a mindset because no matter how bad you want something you need your cheerleader. If you’re trying and can’t get there on mindset alone find a mentor, coach or cheerleader to help you grow because life happens. We are now getting out of the comfort zone again and signing a lease on a second location and working on a third in just one year later. We’re looking forward to see what the next year brings. Do you have an area in life or business we can help you grow? We want to help cheer you on! Stay tuned for what’s coming. Meanwhile if you’re local or traveling through stop in and visit our little spot at the Roadrunner Emporium on the corner of 10th and New York in Alamogordo New Mexico. 928 New York Ave to be exact.

Join us as we experiment with growing pomegranate trees from seed using old fruit! If you like our videos you can support us by subscribing to our channel and sharing with your friends. Thank you and have a blessed day❤️

One thing thats new on the farm is that last year I got a fish tank to breed guppies. Why? Guppies breed easily and have a ton of babies. My initial thought was to cut feed costs while providing a sustainable source of protien and other nutriants to my poultry by feeding them the fish. I thought I'd sell a few from time to time too. I could use the tank water for my plants (this started my aquaponics adventure but that's another post). It seemed like a win no matter how I looked at it but then reality hit. At first it felt like an epic fail. I lost several batches of fry aswell as some of my best adults. But after a couple of months I had to buy another tank to provide enough space for everyone while the fry grew. From time to time my boyfriend would suprise me with beautiful new males. My stock grew. My boyfriend got a little more intrerested and suddenly over night we now have 5 tanks, 1 is divided for the guppies and 4 betta bowls. Oh and a 30 gallon trash bin for the feeder guppies for my birds which has yet to be set up. TJ has ordered in some rare breeds of guppies and is in the process of setting up a website and facebook for that. I have decided to try my hand at breeding bettas! Keep watch to see how it goes.

So this morning I woke and instantly started to reflect on my intentions for this year. One of them are to be more active here on our blog and website, so be prepaired for lots of action. The past year was a year full of change here on the farm. One of the best things ever was that I finally get to focus on the farm full time again! I love being able to work from home, care for my family better and animals too. I also intend to cook more for the family. I've been pretty lazy about it because my boyfriend is such a wonderful cook and he enjoys it! However his schedual makes it hard for him to cook like he used to and now it's time for me to pick up the slack since I now have more time freedom. Plus I want the family to eat more healthy meals so for this to happen I have to cook instead of him. This is just a jump on what's to come. It's been awhile so I wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year! I just know 2019 is going to be epic! Stay tuned for more. Let me know some of your intentions for the year ahead would ya? I'd love to hear from you!

Recently we where contacted by Tractor Joe about our ideas on marketing. They have a great post here if you'd like to read it https://www.tractorjoe.com/market-your-farm. They list ideas such as:
​
Increase Sales Direct From The Farm
Selling From Farmers Market
​Sell Direct To Restaurants
Try The Internet
Look For Ways To Increase Google Reviews
Use PPC With Google Adwords
Build And Optimize A Mailing List
Always Update Your Website Regularly
Give The Customer Several Ways To Communicate With You
Let Local Media Know About Your Farm
Use The Post Office System
Utilize Local Organizations
Have Yourself Listed On Localharvest.org
Churches
Wellness Centers, Gyms, And Even Yoga Studios Are Potential Clients
Established A Yelp Listing Online
Use Facebook Advertising And Boosted Posts
Sell To Chefs
Workplaces
List Of Everyone's Mailing Address In The Neighborhood
Use Your Farmer Markets Stand For Advertising
Billboards At Coffee Shops

To read more in-depth on these topics go to the Tractor Joe post.

Aside from the ways listed how do you get your products out there?

We personally do most of these things. One thing we discovered recently though that has been huge for us is the use of Facebook groups that run on raffles such as this one Raffle the Country Bucket. This particular group offers an outlet for homemade/homegrown farmers market style products. The concept is for a group of people to share the total price of an item for a chance to win it. Along with this benefit you get your product out there and often people will contact you to buy directly becoming a faithful customer. Another benefit is catching great items for a fraction of the cost potentially saving you a lot of money if your that lucky winner. So if your short on funds its a bonus. Groups like this have been a game changer for my handmade business. In 1 months time I have nearly matched my income from my ridiculous job. You see I work 7 days a week, 365 days a year, starting at 230am along with running my farm and raising a family. All of these outlets are bringing me closer to my goal of quitting that job as it takes its toll on my family and farm as a whole. I don't want to get rich, I just dont want to get up at 230am very single day and be able to have a day off or be able to travel home more often.  Besides what could be better than doing what you love and making a living at it right?!

​Another avenue we have done is offer services, classes and have been guest speakers for business and ag groups.

I hope this jogs your thinker into gear and helps ramp up your business. We'd love to here your ideas too!

​With temps like this in the shade what do you do to keep your critters cool? Here we freeze milk jugs and put in the water tanks as well as change out the water mid day or a few times a day to give cooler water. I also go out and spray everyone's living space down some and them too depending on needs. Chickens not so much but pigs and horses yes. The birds also get frozen fruit and veggies and the pigs get frozen chickens or something of the sort. As for me, I'm hiding in my bedroom with my doggies as much as I can between trips outside since it's a cool 78 degrees.

In my area it is very common for goats to be deficient in copper. Why is this important you ask? Copper helps keep down parasite load, improves fertility, helps skin and coat just to name a few reasons. How do you know if your goat needs copper? Your goats coat may become coarse and have a copper tinge in color. Another sign is the fishtail. The tail hairs split in a Y shape. The most common way to bolus is with a plastic tool called a bolus gun that you place the capsule in and shoot it down the goats throat. Sounds simple right? NOT! It's very hard if working alone and personally I don't find it a pleasant experience. Some goats need this every quarter or so, some twice a year and most only every 10-12 months. Our herd is fairly large and many times I am working alone so needless to say I dread this chore. That is until I got a bight idea to stuff them in bananas! Do goats even like bananas? YES! It's kind of like crack to them.  I keep the peal on until I feed that piece and after I feed the peel as that is their favorite part. They nearly run my over for their copper now! I do have a few picky critters that will only eat it if I am on the other side of the gate. I guess they feel like they are being naughty ;) Also just a couple I have to bolus the traditional way. But doing a couple this way sure beats fighting a whole herd especially the stinky bucks. Try it. You'll be so glad you did. I did my whole herd in less than 10 minutes on today! Here Penny and Quarter and begging for more! Even after they got 2 doses. I buy kid doses since most of my herd are mini breeds so the larger goats do get a double dose. I have read it's best to do this bolus with an empty stomach but have you ever tried to stop a goat from eating? Hahaha nice try. The idea is so that the bolus doesn't get pushed threw the system before it can settle in the walls to be time released. I don't find much difference in results either way. Anyway happy bolusing! I hope this helps your chores go a little faster next time you have to do it. Need to know where to buy copper bolus? I keep a fairly large supply since it's not easily available near me. I sell them for $1.00/Capsule.