Desert Song Urban Farm

29/07/2024

Been on vacation? Those eggs you left at home might still be good! Here’s how to check them:

27/07/2024

A quick, unedited video to show the how and why of clipping chicken wings. It’s easy!

04/07/2024

Super super sad about letting this sweet boy go.

https://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/grd/d/phoenix-nubian-buck-proven-intact-adga/7762915678.html

29/04/2024

May means graduations, Mother’s Day, wedding announcements, bridal showers, going away parties, teacher appreciation, and more! It helps to have a collection of gifts on hand to assemble at a moment’s notice.

We’ve got you covered! This box contains items that are perfect for nearly any occasion, ready to be added to gift bags and baskets.

To help you out, during the month of May, take 10% off orders over $100—and shipping is free! Use discount code MAY10.

You can find our May gift collection here:
https://www.desertsong-urbanfarm.com/product-page/merry-month-of-may-regifting-collection

28/04/2024

Mother’s Day is just around the corner! I’ve been busy putting together boxes for the big day, and they are SO pretty! You can make your choices easy by letting me pick for you from items most of my customers like, as I’ve done here— Or, you can spend a little time shopping my website for a special selection you know she’d love.

Gift boxes are available on my website, here:

https://www.desertsong-urbanfarm.com/product-page/mother-s-day-gift-box

15/04/2024

Saturday, April 13, Rose went into labor around 11:00 PM. I joined her at 1:00 AM Sunday morning….This video starts at about 3:15 PM Sunday.

Enjoy!

15/04/2024

Long, long labor. No sleep last night. We are exhausted. .
But—-All is well. 🥰

We got some great videos, and I’ll get them posted tomorrow.

14/04/2024

14/04/2024

It’s just after 3:00 in the morning. I’m sitting in the barn with Rose. She might be in early labor. Or not. But she’s clingy and in a zone, so I’m staying.

People ask me— a lot— if they can be there to attend the birth. I never ever mind being asked, but I always say no, and here’s why:

First—This is gonna take a long time, and it’s unpredictable.
I don’t know if I’ll be here for 18 hours, or for 20 minutes. Or maybe she’ll decide to wait until tomorrow night. Or Monday afternoon. Chances are I’ll be sitting here all night. This is hours and hours and HOURS of just waiting for that cervix to open before pushing can start.

Second—and most important—Birthing puts an animal (or a human) in a very vulnerable state.
I feel her heightened sensitivity to any strange noise or backyard visitor. She wants to be in a safe place with her safe people. She gets nervous easily, and fear isn’t good for healthy labor or for new mama-baby bonding time. I want to respect and protect this space for her.

Third— Things could go wrong.
I’ve buried a deformed stillborn. Had my arm in up to my elbow, crying, pulling a stuck baby out; trying to remember how much antibiotic to give her afterwards. Those aren’t things I want to do while I’m talking to visiting friends—even very dear ones.

I actually hate saying no. And if you invited me to come help with your animal’s birth, because you’re nervous about doing it alone, I’d for sure say yes.

I’m doing my darndest to be here and take videos to share when the time comes, really truly wishing y’all could be here with me in this dark sacred sweet space.

12/04/2024

Have you ever been pregnant? If so, you can probably relate, lol.
Rose is NOT in labor, and she’s perfectly fine here. Clearly her due date was wrong. But —-she sure is funny to watch.😜

31/03/2024

Happiest of days to you!

30/03/2024

Are some of your growing onions forming flower stalks?
Here’s what to do:

29/03/2024

Rose is due any time now. This is how I check for signs of labor. (Sound on!).

Watch closely. Can you see the babies moving in her belly?

29/02/2024

Baby almond tree in full flower. It’s still young and straggly, but the flowers are gorgeous, and the scent is absolutely amazing! This tree is right on the edge of our property in our front yard, so if you’re in the neighborhood, do take a moment to enjoy its scent. Just watch out for the bees—- they will leave you alone as long as you don’t stick your nose directly into an occupied flower. It’s worth a moment or two of your time.

22/02/2024

Garden supper:

Peas, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, garlic, celery, and purple cabbage from the garden; eggs from our chickens.

Rice, soy sauce, ginger, olive oil from the store.

My family devoured the whole huge bowl in less than fifteen minutes.

This cool season is coming to an end and it’s almost time to plant hot season crops here in the subtropical desert.

18/02/2024

Peach trees always have to be first, dressed all fancy in a very early anticipation of spring. I’m not the only one that’s excited— Our honeybees are out and getting the first sips.

I’ll wait until April or May for juicy ripe peaches. My favorite fruit is amazing fresh, dried, frozen, baked, or fermented. How do you best like peaches? I can’t decide!

This past year I added dried peaches to my Lavender-Peach-Basil Herbal Tea. I was amazed at how nicely it turned out, and it sold really well over the holiday season. I’d like to try making a similar blend into mead—- but that one wouldn’t be for sale. 😜

You can find our herbal tea here:

https://www.desertsong-urbanfarm.com/product-page/lavender-peach-basil-herb-tea

16/02/2024

Largest orange I’ve ever grown. Full disclosure: I do have short fingers, so I measured: Circumference was 14 inches.

We had quite a few extra large ones like this, and they are absolutely delicious!

11/01/2024

Happy New Year from all of us at Desert Song Urban Farm!

We had a great holiday season here, and I am busily restocking soaps this week— with the generous help of our goats.

It’s a rush to get it done: Our girls are pregnant, and I need to dry them up next month so they can give all their energy to their growing babies.

Hope your year has started beautifully. We are so grateful for your business, your kind feedback, and your friendship.

24/12/2023

Merry Christmas to you all!

12/12/2023

I’m home alone tonight, working; husband and kids all off doing their own thing, an I’m remembering years ago in college:

I was in a play— a mime play with music— part of a friend’s senior project. We were having some group contemplative time as we worked on plans for the play, and somewhere in there I said, “A candle is actually kind of ugly until it’s lit.” Being college aged kids, we all thought this was extremely deep, and used it in some capacity in our play.

Hopefully these candles, in their blue cut glass containers, are better off— But I did tonight have the thought that they burn prettier over time, as they empty when the wax burns down. More deep thoughts, I guess, and lovely ones for this older woman, burning a life away, working on a quiet evening.

ANYWAY—-
The Lavender essential oil candles are done, and the May Chang ones as well, and posted on my website, if you’re interested. The boxes turned out nicely, doing justice to the lovely gift these tallow and beeswax candles can be.

https://www.desertsong-urbanfarm.com/product-page/beeswax-and-tallow-candle-with-lavener-essential-oul

09/12/2023

Simple ingredients: locally sourced tallow and beeswax, plus high quality essential oils and a h**p wick. Clove bud and star anise available now, here:

https://www.desertsong-urbanfarm.com/product-page/beeswax-and-tallow-candle-with-clove-bud-and-anise-essential-oils

Four more varieties coming in the next few days:

Peppermint and clary sage,
May Chang and geranium,
Lavender,
Lemongrass.

04/12/2023

Confession: I hesitated to even offer this tea for sale, because it’s the one I personally most want to make sure I have on hand. But it’s too nice to keep to myself. 🙂

This is a quiet pick-me-up tea for cold and dark winter mornings. This isn’t particularly splashy — just a simple collection of greens. It’s just what one wants when winter viruses are swirling; full of good things to boost a sleepy immune system and to start the day right. From our gardens: rosemary, peppermint, and sage; and wild harvested, vitamin C rich pine needles.

Limited supply; more available after I get a chance to wild harvest more pine needles from up north.

Winter Morning Herbal Tea is available here:

https://www.desertsong-urbanfarm.com/product-page/winter-morning-herbal-tea

This completes our herbal tea offerings for the winter season. You can find the complete collection here:

https://www.desertsong-urbanfarm.com/herbal-tea

02/12/2023

Grounded Wanderlust Herbal Tea is absolutely gorgeous when it’s brewed in a glass teacup and infuser.

Our Cozy Herbal Tea Gift Set makes a lovely gift for a loved one or for yourself. Choose from our four most beautiful teas, grown on our farm and hand blended, to go with this glass teacup and infuser set. Also included: neighborhood sourced honey and a wood honey stick, and a beautiful handmade card for you to personalize with your greeting.

Shipping is free on this item!

https://www.desertsong-urbanfarm.com/product-page/cozy-herbal-tea-gift-set

28/11/2023

Putting together orders before they get sent along their merry ways:

Might be one of my favorite things to do, getting them all pretty, adding extra touches, making sure the opening of the box is a delight.
Responses, almost always, start with, “Everything smells SO GOOD!”
I only use real herbs and high quality essential oils, and it really does make a difference. Everything is real, and clean, and good. Feels so nice to believe in what I send out, every time.

This time of year is my busy time. Stocking stuffers and things that can be added to gift baskets and bags, plus small gifts for coworkers and neighbors, seem to be my most popular sellers during the holiday season.

Orders over $45 include free shipping!

https://www.desertsong-urbanfarm.com/

24/11/2023

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope you, too, got to eat all your favorite treats today.

I’m so very grateful this life I get to live, and that I get to share a little bit of it here with you.

21/11/2023

Five gallons of goat milk, turned into 30 four-ounce logs of delicious chèvre this morning. The great thing about chèvre is that it freezes beautifully, so I don’t have to eat it all at once.

Getting this done was timely: I desperately needed extra refrigerator room before Thanksgiving day.

I love the flexibility that chèvre offers: It can be used in sweet or savory dishes; added to salads and wraps and tacos and desserts. And of course it’s always a favorite on charcuterie boards.

For today, I’m hoping to tempt my family into finishing up some crackers in the pantry with a plate of fancied-up cheese. I added pomegranate arils from our tree; honey from our neighbor’s bees, sesame seeds and crumbled herbs from the community garden, and applesauce made this past summer from our apple tree.

Frustratingly, I can’t legally sell chèvre for human consumption here. According to the state of Arizona, I’ve got several strikes against me: I’m not a certified grade A dairy; I’m not certified to sell raw milk, I am making this in my home kitchen, and I’m not certified to sell raw cheese.

But people go out of their way to tell me how much their pets enjoy our cheese. I’m just choosing to believe that’s the whole truth 😏

11/11/2023

Seed organization :

Keeping a growing collection of seeds safe and neatly organized can be a challenge as you grow as a gardener. Seeds need to be easy to find, portable from garden to cool indoor storage, and safe from splashes of water. I use two different systems— one for my personal seeds, and one for community garden seeds. My personal one, featured here, is my favorite. Expand the photos to see how I organize seeds with the main boxes, and check out comments under individual photos.

Hope this helps!

I’m providing an Amazon link to the boxes I use. I believe Michaels and Hobby Lobby also offer similar boxes. I’m not an Amazon affiliate, so I don’t make any money if you choose to buy these. Feel free to purchase from whatever place you like best.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N7OVUBM?ref_=cm_sw_r_mwn_dp_3PCR54NVYW2NC7P671R1&language=en-US

03/11/2023

One of my two types of herbal tea gift sets is up on our online store and ready to ship! Contains five of our hand harvested and carefully crafted herbal tea blends, a handmade greeting card, and a snap tea infuser. Perfect for anyone on your gift list.

https://www.desertsong-urbanfarm.com/product-page/herbal-tea-collection

26/10/2023

When I first started making solid tallow lotion bars, I had some really plain and boring molds for forming them. After I’d made a little money, I splurged on five really beautiful silicone molds from Etsy. These Mexican vanilla lotions were just finished and popped out of the molds; I then hand fold beautiful papers into boxes for packaging. My Mexican vanilla lotions, with their warm, sweet, complex scent, are a best seller. By popular request, I’ve now added a creamy vanilla lotion in a 4-ounce reusable Mason jar.

Of the five molds, do you have a favorite? I sure do!

https://www.desertsong-urbanfarm.com/product-page/mexican-vanilla-bean-tallow-lotion-bars

https://www.desertsong-urbanfarm.com/product-page/creamy-mexican-vanilla-tallow-lotion

https://www.desertsong-urbanfarm.com/product-page/mexican-vanilla-bean-whole-body-lotion-stick

25/10/2023

We are absolutely in love with this charming Welcome Baby gift box! We packed it full of good things that have been lovingly handcrafted here at Desert Song Urban Farm: Newborn baby shoes, herbal tea that’s been specially grown and blended for new moms, mother-baby set of Aloe-Lavender Goat Milk Soaps , Chamomile Tallow Lotion, Most Soothing Salve, and a handmade card for you to personalize before presenting your gift to the lucky new mom. This box ships free to the contiguous US!

More information here:

https://www.desertsong-urbanfarm.com/product-page/welcome-baby-gift-bo