The Freckled Farm Soap Company

Tag: Freckled Farm

  • 365 Project Round-up – May

    I have had so much fun looking back at these pictures each month. It’s amazing to go back and see what we have accomplished in such a short amount of time. It gives you a new perspective. I can’t believe how quickly things have come together in the last month, especially with the garden… Thinking back it sure doesn’t feel that way, but looking at the photographs there is visual evidence that we sure have accomplished a lot!

    To follow our 365 project “A Photo a day from The Freckled Farm” follow us on Instagram: Thefreckledfarm

    365 Project - A picture a day from The Freckled Farm - The Freckled Farm Soap Company

     

  • What’s Up Wednesday – April 21st

    We are gearing up to start our farmers market season. We’ve been making lots of soap, cleaning up and reconfiguring our display… and getting excited for a really busy market season! We have been at South of the James through the winter and will continue to be there every Saturday, but this weekend is also the start of the West End Market on Saturdays! Next week starts the Wednesday Aw Shucks market. Then the following week is the big kick off and all five of our 2015 markets will be open! We are so excited to see all of our regulars at the West End Market and bring our goat milk soap to a whole bunch of new people at all of the new markets that we will be vending at this year.

    Tina, our doe who is due to kid in June, is starting to show. Normally she is quite slender but now she has a little stomach that pokes out. We didn’t ultrasound her for confirmation because if she didn’t get pregnant on the first try we weren’t going to breed her again this year. A June kidding is already going to be difficult (with the flies and everything) and I wasn’t willing to put her, or her kids, through a July kidding, so we figured that it would become obvious that she was pregnant and that would be confirmation enough for us. In the last week or so Tina has started to fill out, and considering she has never gone back into heat, we are positive at this point that she is pregnant.

    The Freckled Farm Soap Company - Tina PregnantThe Freckled Farm Soap Company - Tina Pregnant

    The garden continues to grow at a rapid rate. We are barely keeping up and the garden doesn’t exactly look pretty at the moment, the pathways are over grown, and the weeds are catching up with us already, but beds are getting prepped and the plants are making it into the ground and are growing… so that is all that matters. I have been going out through out the day for 15 minutes increments to pull weeds, then we spend 3+ hours in the garden each afternoon. The cabbages are getting huge and the broccoli is chugging along. The potatoes are all over the place and the peas are getting quite tall. One of my big focuses recently has been working on building perennial beds throughout the garden to give the beneficial bugs a permanent home while giving us beds that will provide food year after year without us having to replant. Currently I have a bed (4×25 feet – 100 sq. ft.) half way filled with strawberry transfers from our other garden and from our friend Toni’s garden. We plan to put in a bed of artichokes in the next few weeks, and we will have many perennial flowers, like chamomile and echinacea, scattered everywhere. In the fall I hope to put in a bed of asparagus… my favorite vegetable.

    Well, that’s all for this week! I hope to see all of you out at South of the James and West End Farmers Market this weekend!

  • Llama Shearing

    Every year, when the temperatures start to climb, we shear our guard llamas Afton and Blue Ridge. This keeps them cool during the dog days of summer. Since we do not have the equipment required to do the shearing ourselves the owners of Westerham Farm, where we purchased our llamas, come out each year to do it for us. We always enjoy seeing them, and having them see the boys!

    The pictures below are from our very first shearing in 2013!

    2013 llama shearing

  • 365 Project – March

    The months are just flying by! March was amazing. Between babies being born and the garden we had our hands full. Here is the look back at the March images from our 365 project. Get ready for lots and lots of pictures of baby goats!

    To see the daily pictures from our 365 Project “A picture a day from The Freckled Farm” follow us on Instagram @TheFreckledFarm

    365 Project - March - A Picture a Day from The Freckled Farm

     

    Check back next week for all of the “other” pictures from March.

    January 365 Pictures

    February 365 Pictures

  • January’s “Other” Pictures

    By now I am sure you know that we are doing a 365 Project on Instagram – A Photo a Day from The Freckled Farm, but aside from the “photo of the day” that we are posting each day there are others that get posted… and because they aren’t the photograph chosen to represent that day they get left out of the month’s round up. There are some great images that get left out, so instead of just letting them fall through the cracks I decided to do a round-up of the “other” pictures each month. This way if you don’t have Instagram you aren’t missing out!

    If you do have Instagram consider following us (@Thefreckledfarm)

    Photos from The Freckled Farm

  • 365 Project – January

    Have you been following our 365 project on Instagram (@Thefreckledfarm)? We have been posting at least one photo a day from the farm. If you aren’t following us you might want to consider it… come March there will be a ton of pictures of baby goats!

    Don’t have Instagram? At the end of each month we will be posting a round-up of the pictures that we posted throughout the month. Below are all the pictures from January. Enjoy!

    January 365 Project - Farming - The Freckled Farm Soap Company

  • What’s Up Wednesday – January 28th

    It has been a very busy week. We are still very much in the adjustment period since Kevin left his day job, but we are finally starting to form some sort of routine. I am in the middle of wedding booking season for the photography business, we are working on our new goat milk soap laundry detergent, contacting stores about carrying our products, building up our soap supply, and taking care of the farm. Busy, busy, busy, but we are loving working together full time.

    Last Wednesday we took Tina to have her hooves reshaped. She foundered this past Summer and we spent months controlling the crazy growth and lowering her grain intake to slow it down. I finally felt like we got her back to (somewhat) normal, so we took her to a farm in Culpeper who were going to use a grinder to get her feet back to the correct shape. We didn’t breed her in the fall because we were dealing with getting her feet comfortable again. We honestly were debating whether we were breed her again at all because we weren’t sure if it would be too hard on her, but the farmers in Culpeper didn’t think that her case was anywhere near as bad as others that they had seen and she was cleared to breed again. She went into heat on Monday and was bred to Warner. Her due date will be June 25th, much later than we are used to, but it could set us up for a year round milking schedule. It would be nice to not have periods of the year where we are without fresh milk coming in… We have two chest freezers of frozen milk for soap (it must be frozen to be used in the soap making process), but it’s not the same when it comes to drinking.

  • What’s Up Wednesday – Jan 7th

    Happy Birthday Kevin!! … Not only is it Kevin’s birthday, but it is also his first day as a full time farmer. Yesterday was his last day at his “day job.” I am so excited to finally be in entering into this new chapter. I now get to work side by side with my favorite person every day! We have been working our butts off to get to this point.

    The next few months are going to be an adjustment as we try to get into a routine. Hopefully we won’t be pulling super late nights anymore… or maybe just less of them. I am extremely excited about all of the projects that we will have time to do, now that Kevin will be home and extra 60+ hours a week, like building the green house, greatly expanding our garden (by a quarter of an acre!), and so much more. It’s also going to be so nice knowing Kevin will be around during kidding time in March. The next year is going to be an awesome adventure.

  • Follow The Freckled Farm in 2015

    Now that both Kevin and I are putting a full time effort into the businesses you can expect to see us a lot more! In addition to introducing new products and vending at a lot more farmers’ market in 2015, we plan to really ramp up our social media presence…’ More Facebook, more Instagram, more blogs, and more Twitter!

    Facebook: www.facebook.com/thefreckledfarm

    Follow us on Facebook to keep up to date with where you can find us, new products, see pictures from around the farm, and so much more!

    Instagram: TheFreckledFarm

    In 2015 I am undergoing a 365 project! I will post a picture from the farm everyday! See pictures of cute animals (including baby goats), projects around the farm, the farm through the seasons, the kids, etc.

    The Blog

    The blog is one of the best places to keep up with new products, specials, the farm and farm life, and more! We will have several blog series’ starting in the new year like our “Fun Farm Facts Friday,” and the return of “What’s Up Wednesday” where I highlight that week’s happenings around the farm and with The Freckled Farm Soap Company. We also be posting videos from around the farm… because who doesn’t love videos of goats? Subscribe to the blog so you never miss a post! It’s delivered directly to your email.

    Twitter: FreckledFarm

    Where all of the social media’s will come together! Want to follow the 365 project? Want to hear about new products and specials? What to keep up with what is going on around the farm… Follow us on Twitter!

  • What’s up Wednesday – 2/19

    The countdown is on! Spring is a little over a month away, the girls only have 4 more weeks until their due dates, and we only have 3 more weeks until the baby chicks arrive in the mail. It wont be long before we have precious baby goats and chicks hopping around. I can’t wait!!

    We got around 10 inches of snow, sleet, and ice last week. There is still quite a bit of it on the ground, even after several days of mild temperatures. The bad weather has halted our construction projects, but I’m hoping to get the chicken coop started (and maybe finished… who knows) this weekend. The chicken coop is going in the pasture and I was hoping to have it done by this point in the girls’ pregnancies because I don’t want to cause them any sort of stress this close to their due dates… but there is only so much that you can do. We also apparently underestimated the amount of hay we needed when ordering last August and only have about a 2-3 week supply left. So, this weekend will also be spent searching out hay.

    Overall it’s been a pretty uneventful week. That’s what happens when you are trapped in your house for most of it!

    We will be at the My Courthouse Market today from 3-7pm! I am really looking forward to seeing everyone.