a word of thanks for seed and soap

Getting nice things in the mail box is a sure way to cheer up my day.

...and by way of the blog, some nice things have arrived...

First, thanks goes out to Allison Rooney. Allison was kind enough to contact me to ask if I would allow her to use one of my blog photos.

Now, I've seen my photos yanked from my blog in the past..only to wind up in a description from other (and they WILL remain un-named) seed catalogs, so Allison restored my faith in my fellow man, and reminded me that people are still kind enough to ask permission to use my photos!

Allison told me that she came across my blog by way of Google. She was searching for photos/info regarding Whitney Crabapples ...that could be featured on the Marketday Foods website.

Allison is from Cloud Nine Farm (Wilsall, MT) Cloud Nine Farm was established in 2008 by Allison and Seann Rooney. They are using permaculture design principles to transform an over-grazed and barren patch of ground into an integrated, biodiverse, and fertile food production system. They never use toxic chemicals or GMO seeds, and instead use crop rotations, cover crops, mulches, and composts to build the soil. They also raise pastured laying hens and ducks, feed them certified organic feeds, and rotate the girls around farm fields to assist in soil building. They are currently experimenting with a combination of plantings of perennial herb/clover/grass pasture, a mobile poultry, and water-capturing earthworks as part of a mixed orchard building project. - Located 35 miles northeast of Bozeman.



Among other things, Allison designs and sells a really beautiful cold and drought tolerant pasture seed mix called Synergy West, with 17 different species of useful perennial plants suitable for poultry, goats, sheep, and cattle.

She offered me some of the seed to sample, and I cannot wait to plant it this spring! I'm sure it will be useful.

BTW...Cloud Nine Farms also sells Bare Root Fruit Trees and Plants..and my photo of Whitney Crabapples can be found here: it is the one with the eggs in the background.

Another big thank you goes out to Sara Dunham, from Punkin's Patch. If you have not visited her my favorite sheep blogspot, you should.

Sara takes wonderful photographs of sheep, and her captions always make me smile. She is woman of many talents, and there is always something interesting going on at her farm. Earlier this month, her blog featured a post about the life saving milk from the goats at Happy Goat Hills Farm.

The photos that were featured in the post were extra special, and I left a comment for Sara to let her know. My comment was randomly selected, and I won a bar of the lavender and lilac soap! Thank you!! And please extend my thanks to the good folks a Happy Goat Hills Farm. I didn't find a website for them, so if you are interested in getting some soap, you should contact Sara. It smells so fresh and clean, and is silky smooth!