Sharing a video:: Getting Creative and Spreading the Love!

Happy 2nd Day of October

Rise and Shine Everyone! Excuse the language on my cup, but it's getting colder and I'm not ready to talk about that. :|

I wanted to extend my thoughts to those surrounding the Vegas shooting. Why our country continues to experience such hate to our own, I will never understand. May the families effected by this disaster find peace in the coming days.

❤

I wanted to start this post, as a thank you to those who have helped me expand my Simply Earth journey.

I have been able to take a larger look at what I want to accomplish with Simply Earth and reevaluate what I can offer people.

I have decided that I will start to gather inventory for craft shows and hopefully, one day, be able to have a storefront of crafted inventory! That's in the future, so for now, you can expect that I'll be getting myself ready for some craft shows next year!

I appreciate all of the people who have attended my Facebook event, watched my videos, and those who have taken the chance at using Simply Earth and trusted that it was worth it!

I hope all of you have enjoyed your Simply Earth items and can truly understand why I love this company. The support has been wonderful!

As always, if you are loving Simply Earth like I am, spread the love!

Share my code with everyone and I promise to do some things in everyone's favor!

(*More giveaways*) ;)

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

❤Melissa

Follow this Link.

Use this Code: MELISSADRIVERFREE

When Goats Get Ill

While there are many different illnesses that goats can come down with, it's hard to diagnose. Due to the drop in homes having goats, there has been little research done to continue finding what illnesses goats experience and ways to cure it. I finally recovered from a week long runny, stuffy nose accompanied by a sore throat. I've been cautious not to touch the goats, cough or sneeze, blink in the direction of the goats. Following the cold sickness, I ended up with the flu for two days that knocked me right down. No more goat time for at least a few days! Now that I'm on the mend, I wanted to talk about some illnesses that have come around in the past month. Not only had the baby goat become ill, we had a chicken take sick as well. Though, while the goat made a full recovery, we have lost poor Elsa to some parasitic invasion. I'll discuss the chicken in a bit.

FIRST! Baby Goat was sick! She was cowering in the corner. Face smooshed to the wall. Secluding herself from the rest of the herd so she can fight off whatever was giving her grief.

Upon discussing with a family member who works in a vet office, we decided to maybe worm the goats since they've never been wormed before.

It's pretty pitiful if you see how she was prior to this.

Once we discussed what we should do with a family member, we decided to take her temperature before we wormed her. We took a rectal temperature on her to see what her core temperature was. In goats, higher than 105 degrees Fahrenheit is considered febrile (feverish). Our baby goat was at 107 degrees! No wonder she didn't feel good!

After not knowing exactly what to do for our poor baby goat, we decided a trip to the vet was our best option. As an emergent case, we were able to get her into Kern Road Vet office quickly. Matthew left work early, loaded her into the trailer and hauled her to the vet. Matthew said the vet was very nice, super helpful, and really caring.

During the vet visit, the goat was panting and looking real down. Per the veterinarian, goats are really hard to diagnose as there is not much research completed on goats anymore. More homesteads are no longer keeping goats so research is slowing down. This type of illness is common among goats. The vet did a fecal sample as well as some blood tests.

The white blood cell count was high indicating infection.

The fecal test showed bacteria count that should normally be in the hundreds... was in the THOUSANDS!

For 5 days following the vet visit, we gave oral antibiotics as well as increasing electrolyte water since she was a little dehydrated as well.

We are now a few weeks out from the end of the antibiotics for baby goat. She's eating, running around, and being a baby goat!

We are still going to add a dewormer to their schedule as a precaution.

The last sick animal we had was Elsa, the elusive white chicken. For a while, she was picked on by the other hens and she would stand in the corner with her head outside the pen so they couldn't get her head. My last straw was while it was raining, she was standing outside alone as the other girls would not let her into the coop. THAT'S IT! YOU'RE GOING IN THE BARN!

Elsa lived in our barn for about a week before we noticed she wasn't eating anymore.

During her stay in our barn, she had free reign and was queen hen in there!

Unfortunately, she started getting really weak, losing weight, and swaying when she was standing. One morning, I went out to the barn and she was standing near the stalls and had a really light colored comb. Normally, as you have seen from other hens, the bright red comb is what you want. The color was such a light pink, I knew something was wrong. After calling Matthew and asking that if she was still alive when he got home, we would need to figure out a way to end her suffering. Lucky for us, and I'm glad she's not hurting anymore, Matthew found her in the crate when he got home, passed on. He was able to move her out of the barn and on to a life of no more hurt.

Rest easy, Elsa. ❤

Let's get this blog back on happy terms!!

We have been getting about 8-10 eggs per day! Still waiting on one of my little girls to lay!

Our garden is slowly coming to an end. While we are being buried in tomatoes, all of the peppers are finally turning their bright beautiful colors!

Are you ready for updated pictures of the funny farm?!

OH YES, YOU ARE!

The goats got an enlarge pen, too!

I think Georgia likes the new dog house! Fill that bad boy with hay and we are set from the rain!

Georgia Kisses!

All the Goat Kisses!

 



Have to pull the branches down to get some leaves!

Giving Georgia some brushing! They all love to be brushed! Feels so good!

 

Blanche!

"Are you talkin' to me?!"

And of course the boys! Sargent ready for fall!

Chief in his clean room!


Until next time everyone, cheers to October.
May the harvest season be fruitful.

❤Matthew&Melissa

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Yummy Fall Soup::

21 Day Fix Stuffed Pepper Soup

1 Pound Ground Turkey

3 Bell Peppers, I used red, orange and yellow

2 TBSP Garlic, minced

1 medium onion, chopped

1 15.4 oz can Tomato Sauce

1 10 oz can diced tomatoes, I used the kind with green chilis

2 Cups Beef Broth

2 TBSP Honey

1 TBSP Worcestershire Sauce

2 TBSP Italian Seasoning

2 Cups Quinoa, cooked

Salt & Pepper to taste

1. Step 1 - In a large pan, brown your turkey on medium heat.
2. Step 2 - Add the peppers, onions, and garlic to the turkey and saute for five minutes.
3. Step 3 - Stir in the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes (with juice), beef broth, honey Worcestershire sauce salt, and pepper.
4. Step 4 - Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 45 minutes.
5. Step 5 - Stir in the cooked quinoa and Italian seasoning.
6. Serves 10, about 2 cups each
7. Day Fix Containers: 1 Red, 1 Green, ½ Yellow

Hello World... we have some catching-up to do!

Welcome back! Or should you be saying that to us?? It's probably the latter. We have been MIA for a few weeks and we want you to get caught back up on what's been happening around the homestead!

First thing's first! I wanted to share the great reviews from friends about Simply Earth! Thank you to everyone who has looked into Simply Earth, received items as gifts, or have taken the steps to creating your own healthier, simpler home! I appreciate all of the love and support from all of you and hope you will continue to be interested in essential oils and possibly... probably... getting some free items with me in the near future! **hint**hint**

Back to our little zoo...er homestead! Goats are doing well. Here's a goat stall cleaning gaggle of pictures:

Mama Goat



Georgia



Mama Goat is blurry but I had to get a quick pic with her ;)

The chickens are adjusting well to their run. Speaking of chickens! We have some news! While we do have 9 out in the Big Girl Coop, and we had the 3 youngins in our garage (now out in the barn)... in trying not to sound gross and scare people away from eating eggs and such... two of our youngin's are now teenagers! :| Scary image when you think of chickens and "coming of age" but it's what happens and we have dealt with it in a fantastic way. They might have had a party in celebration. (Don't put that past me.)

Look at those little angels!

We are up to 11 chickens of laying age! My little Maxxie will get there in due time.

Getting right back into the animals...

Chief has been losing his summer coat that was super fluffy to begin with. He's getting sleepy in the hot weather but more playful as it's getting cooler.

Such a handsome boy he is! 😍

As for Sargent, he's quite taken by our kitten, Hugo. These two play all day and even wind up sleeping on the bed together. Oh, and share a blankie sometimes! Miss Katie has been at her usual games of staying out all day to catch mice.

The garden has been out of control in some areas. The tomatoes, obviously were obnoxious last time we posted but they've only grown in numbers and size since then. There are still so many green tomatoes and we have picked so many red ones that I don't see it ending this year, maybe spring. :| I'm joking... kind of.



Cherry Tomato City



Green Beans in all pockets!



Beans growing up the cattle panel

Our Peppers!

Matthew has been working hard on getting some food plots down. One for the goats near where their new fencing will reach to and another for deer to be ready for the upcoming hunting season!

 Deer Food Plot

 Goat Food Plot

 This is what we put down on both food plots. As a bonus, Matthew put some forage peas down in the goat plot. Matthew has said that this is growing really well since he planted it two weeks ago (8/17/17).

Hi Katie!

Here's what the food plots look like today...

Until next time, please share and comment with questions! We will do our best to keep this up!

❤Matthew&Melissa

Italian Chicken

4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

16 Ounce Bottle of Italian Dressing (I used non fat)

1/2 Cup of Parmesan Cheese

Italian Seasoning

4-6 Potatoes scrubbed cut in half or wedges (you can peel if desired)

1/2 bag of mini carrots

Spray crock with Pam

Squirt a small amount of Italian dressing at bottom of crock-pot.

Place two chicken breasts in crock.

Pour some of the Italian dressing on the chicken.

Sprinkle half of cheese onto the chicken.

Sprinkle Italian seasoning onto the chicken.

Place next two chicken breasts into crock-pot, if possible not directly on top of the first breasts.

Sprinkle remaining cheese on top of chicken.

Pour carrots on top

Pour more of the Italian dressing on top of chicken and carrots.

Sprinkle Italian seasoning onto the chicken and carrots.

Place potatoes on top.

Pour the remaining Italian dressing on the potatoes.Sprinkle Italian seasoning on the potatoes.Cook on low for 6-8 hours.