http://www.shopflickerfarm.com/, https://linktr.ee/flickerfarm

Flicker Farm, Placerville, CA (2026)

03/24/2026

Easter Lamb Cake: Black Sheep Edition. 🖤

Some years ago a friend gifted us his mom’s vintage cast iron lamb cake pan from the 1950’s, after her passing. I’ve been making Lamb Cake every Easter since.

Every year is a little different. I’ve done traditional vanilla, toasted coconut, lemon, red velvet. This year a black sheep version felt appropriate, and chocolate is my favorite. To get the black ‘wool’ I tossed some shredded coconut with cocoa powder and a little activated charcoal {about 1 tsp}. I also added a bit of activated charcoal to the chocolate frosting to give it a darker color. Reminiscent of a real life black sheep.

The pans can be tricky as the shape is unusual and it can be hard un-mold the ears + nose without losing any.

The pan must be buttered and floured, spray oil doesn’t really work. Using fingers or a culinary brush, spread soft butter into every nook and cranny. Lightly dust with flour, shaking the pan around to get every spot covered.

I’ve found a dense cake, such as pound cake works the best. It holds its shape and can stay upright. I started out using regular cake recipes and they’re too light- I’d always be reconstructing the face + ears with toothpicks to hold together. Pound cake, any pound cake recipe should do!

Eyes and nose are usually jelly beans. Decorate with spring blooms from your yard or fruit or whatever you like.

Lamb Cake has become a fun tradition, but doesn’t always have to be vanilla!

01/16/2026

Easy, mostly-hands-off sourdough.

The original recipe I started with was Bake With Jack’s Sourdough Beginner Loaf. People will send me their recipes to try and they have 247 steps and I’m not going to do that. Bread is not complicated unless you make it that way.

I do not measure to feed my starter. I add a couple spoonfuls of flour and enough water to make a thick, pancake batter-like consistency. I do not care about hydration levels and all that, but I love that for you if you do. I use my intuition. ✨

Ingredients {this makes 2 loaves}:
•620g lukewarm water
•18g salt
•250-300g active starter
•900g flour {I use organic AP flour with no fortification}

In the evening, mix all ingredients to form a shaggy dough. Rest for 30-60 minutes.

Stretch and fold about 12 times to incorporate into a cohesive dough. Cover with a towel and rest overnight.

In the morning, turn dough out onto floured surface and divide into equal halves. Form the dough into balls and pull towards you, catching the underside to build tension in the dough and forming a taut ball. Cover and rest for an hour.

Final shaping of the dough. I gently stretch into an ‘A’ shape and fold into a ball, pinching the seams together. Place on parchment for baking. I’m baking 1 at a time in a dutch oven.

Just before baking, score the dough.

Bake at 450°F with the lid on for 35 minutes. Uncover and bake for 6 more minutes.

Remove to a wire cooling rack and let cool before cutting {if you can!}.

*Alternatively, after final shaping you can place in a banneton or towel lined bowl and store in the fridge until you’re ready to bake {up to about 24 hours}.

My daughter says I’ve ruined her forever with this sourdough because it’s so good. ♥️🥖I’m not after perfect, I’m fine with rustic yet delicious + easy to digest sourdough.

01/05/2026

Big news! I’m now offering private virtual herbal + holistic consultations! My booking is currently open through January.

If you’re wondering about my credentials and education, let me share:

I earned my Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology {study of body movement + health} + Physiology {study of biologic functions + mechanisms of the human body}.

For some years I held a National Academy of Sports Medicine certification {since expired and not renewed}.

I had a decade+ of professional work experience in sports medicine, orthopedics, regenerative medicine + biologics working with surgeons in the operating room. Including assisting some scientific published studies + awards.

When I decided to stay home to take care of my family, we embarked on a 9 year homesteading/farming journey that included lots of raising + breeding livestock. My prior experience helped so much in caring for and treating my own animals most of the time during illness, labor, routine treatments and even artificially inseminating my pigs! Animal biology isn’t terribly different from humans {overall}.

During our farming journey I also started my Herbalist training. First self taught, then formal training. I earned a Family Herbalist and Bach Flower Remedies Certification from taking classes from a local naturopath in 2018.

In 2022 I earned my Herbal Compendium Diploma {general Herbalism} from Centre of Excellence.

In 2023 I earned my Master Herbalist Diploma from Centre of Excellence and became a Registered Herbal Practitioner via International Association of Natural Health Practitioners.

In the USA there isn’t a governing body that requires registration for herbalists, but they do require proof of education to become registered.

If you’d like to consult and get guidance for using herbs or what herbs may be appropriate for you, book via the link in my bio or on my website. I look forward to working with you. 🌱

*I am not a doctor so I cannot diagnose or treat illness. But I can support you with herbal and naturopathic education

12/29/2025

Top thing you can do to improve your health in 2026? Stop drinking.

This isn’t a judgement thing, it doesn’t matter to me what you do or don’t do. But this will so quickly have you feeling better, sleeping better, waking up feeling great, aging better, performing better, reduce anxiety, help you cognitively, and reduce your stress. Yes, reduce your stress!

Society tells us to have a drink after a hard day, and yes that can be enjoyable. But if you are in a truly stressful stretch, alcohol is adding to it.

I stopped drinking {I do have a glass of wine on occasion socially or with a friend so I’m not 100% sober but pretty close} sometime in 2023 during a tumultuous time. I wanted to at times, thought I really would like to numb this, but it only saves the problem for tomorrow. After a few months I said to my husband “this would be SO much worse if we were drinking!” It exaggerates emotions and clouds thinking.

Physically, it burdens your liver {which is also connected to emotion} making it harder to detox your body- which it can do on its own by the way, providing it has the right environment. Drinking toxins and then buying an expensive detox is not it. This can lead to impairment in digestion and metabolism, sleep cycles + repair, decreased immunity and glutathione depletion. So many other things.

I really think the single most effective, the single most efficient and the fastest way to improve your health is not adding another thing- it’s removing alcohol.

Share your experience below and help others who might want to give it a try! ♥️

12/12/2025

Need a gift for a loved one? Swipe to see some ideas I can help you with. Sometimes a practical and useful gift makes the best gift! ♥️

11/03/2025

Natural V***r Rub for easing coughs + congestion.

Ingredients: mullein infused olive oil, beeswax, food grade menthol crystals, eucalyptus essential oil, rosemary essential oil.

Mullein is a really great respiratory herb, it’s one of my most popular tinctures. For this use, it’s infused into olive oil as the base of this rub to support the lungs with its emollient, demulcent and expectorant {moving phlegm/mucous out} properties.

Beeswax solidifies the rub for easy use while also protecting and hydrating the skin.

Menthol crystals are steam distilled from the Cornmint plant, the essential oil crystallizes when cooled and provides a cooling, soothing sensation while reducing congestion in the sinuses and lungs. It’s also known to reduce bronchial spasms and constriction, working as a cough suppressant.

Eucalyptus essential oil helps clear congestion and soothe the respiratory system and coughs.

Rosemary essential oil is a natural source of camphor, a topical analgesic {pain reliever} as well as reduces coughs and clears congestion.

Together, they make a great natural v***r rub to apply to the back and chest during respiratory illness, calming the coughing and easing breathing to help you rest.

My sinuses are very clear just from making it. ☺️

For use on children and adults over 2 years old. For a more gentle chest rub to use on younger children, I have recipes for this and a menthol free version posted on my Patreon account, you can find the link in my bio.

Available in my online shop and ready to ship!

10/30/2025

Red Raspberry leaves are rich in calcium and manganese. The manganese is thought to promote oxygenation of cells while calcium helps with muscle contraction. This ability to help muscle contraction is why it’s been a go-to labor herb throughout history. Calcium and oxytocin have a direct effect on each other when it comes to labor and uterine muscle contraction: oxytocin releases calcium and calcium can increase oxytocin’s effectiveness. So this might be a good one if you are or know an expectant mom (this goes for livestock moms too! Goats and cows love the leaves).

If picking leaves from a plant, don’t pick more than 50% of the leaves so as to allow the plant to continue to be able to photosynthesize. If drying the leaves, lay them in a single layer to dry to prevent mold.

Find more uses for red raspberry and recipes on my Patreon post {link in bio} 🍃

10/02/2025

Mugwort, the Mother of Herbs’. Have you ever gotten acupuncture and they used moxa? Moxa = mugwort! If you like the green Japanese mochi, it gets its color from mugwort. Before hops became mainstream, mugwort was used to flavor beer.

Medicinally it’s used as a bitter to increase bile flow {maybe a good addition if you’re making your own Digestive Bitters}; as a calming nervine to improve mood + stress; it’s known to promote good sleep, reduce nightmares and increase lucid dreaming. I have had this experience myself of really nice, vivid dreams from mugwort, as well as others that have shared with me.

A small batch of Common Mugwort Tincture is now available in my shop and ready to ship. And a detailed post with all medicinal details and recipes for making your own can be found on my Patreon. {link to both in my bio} 🌱

09/29/2025

Excerpt from my recent Patreon post: Let’s cover what star anise is NOT first. You may have seen claims that it’s nature’s Tamiflu. Tamiflu also known as oseltamivir, is an oral antiviral drug given/taken for Flu A and Flu B. Star anise has the precursor component called shikimic acid, this is the Tamiflu connection. Shikimic acid is processed into oseltamivir, synthesized through a 10-step process of complex chemical reactions resulting in the synthesis of Tamiflu. Some of the steps use potentially explosive azide chemistry therefore handling must be carried out with care. This 10 step complex process is, not the same as a cup of herbal tea, sorry to say. And it’s not something any one is doing in their kitchen. However, that’s not a bad thing.

The pharmaceutical companies use an estimated 90% of the worlds star anise crop. In 2005 there was a major shortage when there was a global bird flu “scare” and restaurants that specialize in pho and curry could not get the spice to flavor their foods in the traditional way and neither could practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine who used star anise for other ailments, because the pharma companies had it all. The pharma companies started trying to find more stable and economical ways to produce Shikimic acid to process into oseltamivir and one that they have started to use is through fermenting the bacterium Escherichia coli. That is so weird to me and this part may seem boring, but important to know the backstory and the truth. So star anise as we buy it from the store or an herb supplier, does not contain oseltamivir which is the active ingredient of Tamiflu. It only contains the precursor, which we have no way of converting.

It still has plenty of great medicinal uses, and can support illness, read the full article on Patreon for the uses and recipes. I wanted to share the truth as that often gets lost in viral videos. 🤎

08/29/2025

Psyllium Husk as Poor Man’s Ozempic? Not quite the same but they do share some characteristics.

You may have read my prior posts on my thyroid, and my only real sign was unexplained weight gain. But I’m also 43 and in perimenopause so that probably contributes too. And guess what else is common in perimenopause? Blood sugar dysregulation. Earlier this spring I was wearing a CGM {continuous glucose monitor} and noticed my blood sugar was too high, especially in my luteal {2nd half} of my cycle, it’s common to have fluctuations depending on where you’re at in your cycle {females, obviously}.

I wasn’t in the diabetic range but I wasn’t in the ideal range either- that was pretty upsetting! For years I’ve eaten mostly homemade {homegrown} whole and real foods, grains as a treat not a staple, whole fruits but not a lot of carbs otherwise so I was really surprised as I’ve never had blood sugar issues until recently.

Anyway…I started using 1 tsp of psyllium husk powder in water before most meals and within weeks I noticed a huge decrease in my fasting blood sugar. I saw 30-40 points less during the first half of my cycle and an average of 23 mg/dl less overall {including my higher 2nd half}! Without even trying I started losing about 1 pound a week just by including psyllium husk for the last 8 weeks as my fasting glucose decreased.

It acts as a prebiotic for your gut flora and can help detoxify as well, so make sure you take meds/supplements away from it. See slides for who should avoid it.

My favorite brand is Viva Naturals Organic Psyllium Powder {$15} and I highly recommend using a milk frother too {$5} {mixing with a spoon/shaking just doesn’t work}. I’ll link both in my stories for the next 24 hours, but if you miss that- they are saved in my Amazon Storefront in my bio, under ‘Holistic Health’.

I also add lots of raspberries {1 cup = 8g fiber}, whole artichokes {1 globe = 7-10g}, steamed broccoli {1 cup = 8g}, avocado {1/2 each = 7g} to my meals.

For more details and resources, see my latest Patreon article about psyllium husk!

08/26/2025

How did I reduce my thyroid antibodies by 77%? Aloe juice! Swipe through for more details.

I’ve never actually been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s because you need to see a doctor to do that {not recommending that you don’t} but by definition with TPO antibodies originally >1000, I’d imagine that’s probably what was going on. But I think I might be able to put myself into remission and that’s really exciting!

I have a previous post on thyroid {and hair} health with other supplements I take, and the study referenced here can be found at PMID: 29527506.

08/21/2025

Inulin fiber in tinctures {see the cloudy bit at the bottom of the jar?} 👉🏼 this is a prebiotic fiber/starch that can be extracted from roots. Commercially, you’ll probably see it sourced from chicory roots but other roots such as dandelion root and echinacea root are also rich in inulin fiber.

It feeds the beneficial flora in your gut and can help balance blood sugar. It’s easiest to identify in clear glass as pictured, but it will often give a milky or cloudy appearance and settle at the bottom of your bottle. This is a great sign that your tincture is full of beneficial plant compounds! Shake it up before using for best results.

Pictured is my Digestive Bitters tincture, a blend of 5 different herbs and their aerial parts and roots combined. Helpful for indigestion, bile, acid, nutrient absorption, bloating, and all things digestion. You can find it ready to ship in my online shop! 🌱

Flicker Farm

03/24/2026

01/16/2026

01/05/2026

12/29/2025

12/12/2025

11/03/2025

10/30/2025

10/02/2025

09/29/2025

08/29/2025

08/26/2025

08/21/2025

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