Winter Workings

We finally were able to pick up the wood cook stove I talked about a while ago. It is very hard to wait for a place to be built to use it in! It is in very good shape and is the one that they used before they got their present one. It isn't an air-tight one so we won't be using it to heat (well, maybe a little bit) the house as well as for cooking.
It was so beautiful to see all of the teams hitched to the wagons with snow on the ground because everyone was busy cutting ice to fill the ice houses with. The ice had gotten five inches thick and there was a break in the weather so it was time to cut! I really appreciate the men that stopped working right away to help load the stove.
Things are very busy this time of year celebrating Christmas. I really do love Christmas and don't want it to end too quickly.
We weren't able to see the lunar eclipse last night because it was cloudy. Disappointing! Interesting that it was a blood moon.
Hope your days are going well and that you are also enjoying the holidays.
Nancy

More Turkey Details

Here's how we were able to fit the turkey in the oven: Fortunately, in this oven you are able to put the rack down just above the bottom coils. The rack bowed down from the weight of the turkey which enabled us to barely pry the legs into an opening in the coils on top of the oven. Pretty funny, huh? We were hoping to not have to cut the legs off to get it in and it worked! After it cooked for a while the legs shrank down just enough to pull it out of the oven to baste without touching the coils. The men took turns getting it out of the oven because it was so heavy. It was a lot of fun and after Thanksgiving everyone we or family members talked to wanted to know how cooking the turkey went. :-)
Yes, we have eaten a LOT of leftover turkey (even though 13 people ate here for Thanksgiving dinner) including turkey sandwiches (my favorite!), turkey dinner leftovers, turkey casserole, and turkey soup, AND we sent turkey home with family members AND we put some in the freezer for sandwiches later. It's been a tremendous blessing.
Nancy

Latest Goings-On

It took a little doing but, we were able to fit the turkey in the oven. Fortunately, fresh turkeys don't take as long to cook. Otherwise, it would have taken a mighty long time! The meat was exceptionally moist and delicious. It was one of the broad-breasted whites but, raising it the traditional way from spring to fall, resulted in a bird that was very well-proportioned with plenty (and I do mean plenty) of white and dark meat. Interestingly, the heirloom breed Spanish Black turkeys that we have raised this year are much smaller with different eating habits and most of their instincts intact. We enjoyed raising this batch of the broad-breasted ones more than any of the others, probably because they had to be herded into an inside shelter each night and then herded out to pasture each morning. We really got to know them! (We had more problems with predators this year than ever and lost some in the pasture pens in the beginning.) Unfortunately, the broad-breasted ones are a hybrid breed and are unable to mate so we will be keeping some of the blacks for that purpose.
We have been having some frigid weather lately and I'm having a hard time adjusting. It seems like we just jumped into winter and there are so many outside things that I want to work on! Good thing that the Lord put the seasons in place because I wouldn't know when to quit! I have been able to do some sewing and other indoor projects and am hoping to be able to gear down and enjoy more of the inside things soon. We really should enjoy each and every day and season, shouldn't we?
Nancy

Here Come The Turkeys

We butchered four turkeys last Saturday and here is the weigh-in:
Drum roll please....
1 at 34 lbs.
2 at 36 lbs. and
1 at 40 lbs!!!
We are cooking the 40 pounder tomorrow. I'll let you know how fitting it in the oven went! :-)
Truly hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Nancy

Farm Stuff

We borrowed a boer buck from a friend to breed our does with. We have Alpines and have always had Alpine bucks but this time we are using the boer buck and will sell the offspring for meat. We had to take the pygmy goat, Enna, otherwise known as "the tank", out of the goat pasture so she didn't get bred. The baby would be too big for her to have. I would really like to breed her with an Angora. I used to have a pygora and she was so pretty! And the children would LOVE the tiny baby goats!
The grandchildren are loving riding Ruby. She is such a sweet horse and so easy to ride.
We'll be butchering turkeys for the holidays this weekend. I am so looking forward to Thanksgiving even though I can't believe it's that time already. It's such a wonderful holiday and it's so good to think about everything we have to be thankful for. The down side is that our youngest son and his family won't be here for dinner this year because he can't get off from work. That makes us very sad but we hope they have a wonderful time together.
Are you cherishing those loved ones and each moment?

Busy Times

We have been taking advantage of the warm beautiful weather lately. We finished the barrel stove and before we could move it a gust of wind came through and knocked it over and it broke a handle on our horsedrawn plow. A friend picked up a pair of new handles for us at the buggy shop and saved us a trip. It's one more thing to do having to replace them but it will be very nice having new handles next spring.
It dawned on me that it would be a good idea to make soap while it was warm in the house so I made two batches; a plain castille that is a wonderful bath soap and the same soap with oats and honey added. When I cut the oats and honey one into bars my little granddaughter kept saying, "that smells so good!" It made me hungry for oatmeal cookies! I planned on making a batch with lavender but didn't get around to it.
Today we rendered a lot of beef fat into tallow, cooking it outside in three very large pots over propane burners. It was good to get it done and just in time before the rain started. This is the first rain we have had in several weeks.
Wanted to get spinach cut yesterday but we had to make an unexpected trip into town. It is supposed to be quite a bit cooler the next couple of days.
Yesterday we sent two of our cows to be with a friend's bull. I can't wait until they're back.
We have a new little horse that is just the right size for the children. She has a very sweet disposition and is very easy to ride. They are having such fun! There was rain close by today and our grandson came riding up on her and stopped with a beautiful rainbow behind him. It was quite the sight.
I hope you are enjoying fall. It is a wonderful time of year.

Cold Frame Reminder

Here's your annual cold frame reminder. We have spinach large enough to eat now but the lettuce is coming on slower. If you still haven't tried a cold frame, you might want to consider it. It's pretty great to be able to eat fresh lettuce and spinach in the winter and LOTS of it in the spring before anyone else even has their seeds in the ground. And, it's weed- and insect-free gardening.
We got the garlic planted yesterday and covered it with a thick layer of straw. I love growing garlic! You don't need much room to give it a try. Plant your garlic cloves pointed-side-up spaced about 5 inches apart and cover with straw. Next summer you will have your very own fresh garlic!
Millie is doing very well and getting used to the place. She is very sweet and so beautiful!
There is a freeze warning tonight so we harvested more comfrey leaves and blackberry leaves to dry while we could! Sure hate to see everything go. Well, there is a time for everything.
How are your fall activities coming along?
Nancy

Meet Millie!

Blogger could do people like me a BIG favor and not ever change how to do something. Like posting pictures, for example. If you scroll down to the bottom of this page you can see a picture of our new beautiful Belgian, Millie! :-} (Yes, I'll keep working on it.)

Autumn Harvesting

The weather has been so wonderful. After the very difficult weather this year it is all the more enjoyed and appreciated. It is so fun to be outside looking at all of the Fall beauty.
We gathered black walnuts for the hulls (I give the nuts away) and I will strip them off of the shells and dry them. We also located a large maple tree to tap next year (exciting!) and we found wild rose hips. They are so very sweet when ripe and loaded with vitamin C! We also found some persimmons and that was good for a laugh! (As soon as I could use my mouth again!) I tried them once before and my mouth puckered like crazy so I thought maybe they just weren't ripe enough. Well, that's not the case! It was very ripe and it dried up my mouth immediately so that it was hard to swallow. That's the last time I'll try them! (I hope.)
We talked to an Amish man that has a wood cook stove for sale. It is in very good shape and at a reasonable price. It would be good for a summer kitchen because it isn't an airtight one that you would want to also use for heat. Someone with us asked me why I want one. I was kind of caught off-guard because I hadn't thought about "why" in a long time. I gave all of the standard sensible answers (good in power outages for back-up cooking and heating, cheaper to use because you provide your own fuel, food tastes better cooked with wood) but felt like something was missing. When we got home I thought about it and realized that all of those things are very good reasons but there is more:
It takes more time and attention; involving me in the work, and slowing me down. It brings me to a place where simply living life becomes important again. And enjoyable. Living life becomes enough. Again. Does that make sense?
Nancy

Journey To Simplify-Part Eight

Unfortunately, we found out that the owner of this farm didn't want to sell after all. (We weren't the first that he had told this. The previous tenants had done outside work on the place thinking that they were buying it and we met several others that had had dishonest dealings with the man.) We knew that Jack's job would be ending soon so we thought it a good idea to try to find other land that we could buy with his severance. We began looking around the state and just weren't having any luck. We had the idea to ask Jack's dad if we could buy a piece of his farm and he said yes. It was a relief that we wouldn't have to move to a new area. We had so many wonderful times at that place and really wanted it to be home, but we felt good that we were moving close by and would be able to help take care of Jack's dad who had emphysema.
After totally renovating the old farm house that we lived in, I had thought to myself that I never wanted to do it again. Well.... Jack's dad said we could have the part of the farm with the original farm house on it, and it would save us a lot of money to fix it up instead of building a new one. We thought that made good sense and dove in. Yep. Here we go again......
Nancy

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Barn

We have had an incredible amount of rain the last three years and so, have had an incredible amount of mud.
Jack was trying to get the gate open while carrying the new calf to the barn and his foot got stuck in the mud. When he lifted up his foot it came out of the boot. Now he's standing on one foot while juggling a very heavy and awkward to carry calf. Not wanting to put the calf down he put his bootless foot down in the deep mud. Then he had to put the calf down anyway to pull his boot out of the mud, take his muddy sock off, put his bare foot in the boot, open the gate, pick the calf up, carry it in, put the calf down, close the gate, pick the calf up and continue on to the barn.
Phew!
All in a day's work....
Nancy
P.S. You've probably already figured out that I'm married to one great guy.

New Calf!

Our Jersey, Clara, had a little heifer calf tonight! She is SO cute! Jack is moving her and mother to the barn right now as we are expecting thunderstorms tonight. I'll have pictures on here soon. A very amazing thing happened with a butterfly when she was being born and I can't wait to share it with you!
Hope all is well with you!
Nancy

Journey To Simplify-Part Seven

I had been making my own bread by hand for years but had kind of slacked off when we were busy living today's lifestyle. I had always purchased the flour, but now I started grinding wheat for flour and making bread again. I had learned that most of the nutrients have been lost within just 72 hours after grains are ground and I wanted my family to get all of the nutrition and the fiber from whole grains. I sewed clothes for my family and myself and planted a garden. The man that owned the property saw that we were digging a garden spot and said that we would never be able to grow anything in "all that sand". We brought in river bottom dirt and aged turkey and chicken manure and dug it in. We used the double-digging method so we dug it in two feet down. He was pretty surprised when he saw the garden. I also planted an herb garden with medicinal herbs and edible flowers. I dug a garden pond to sit by and stocked it with water plants and pretty fish. We planted some apple trees, including a Wealthy apple tree. I had bought this kind of apple years before from an older man that had an orchard, and had made LOTS of applesauce, pies, jelly, turnovers, and anything else apple. That kind of apple makes the BEST pies and applesauce! It used to be very popular and was Minnesota's state apple.
We made our holiday celebrations more home-centered and held boat races in the irrigation pond. There were different rules for the races each time but they always had to be homemade. It was amazing what people came up with! Everything from robotics and model rocket power to rubberband power. At times we would put a limit on how much could be spent on materials and other times the boats had to be made from materials that were already on hand. It was such great fun! In the winter we would build a bonfire by the pond and go ice skating. I remember jumping in the pond to swim in the summer and feeling all of the day's stresses and pressures fall off of me. We enjoyed watching the Kildeer pretend to be wounded to lure us away from her nest, the Blue Heron that would come each year, and the white Pelicans that were oh so beautiful as they flew over together in the most graceful patterns.
To be continued.....
Nancy

County Fair

The county fair started off with bull riding last night. That is one dangerous profession! I noticed that many of them kneel after a safe ride and give thanks. That was very good to see.
Our granddaughter won a fiddle contest again recently. She did so well! She had to wait two years to be in this one because of other commitments, but this is the one that kind of started the whole thing. She is getting ready for the State Fair contest right now so she and the young man who is accompaning her brought their instruments to the fair last night and practiced. That was a highlight for me! I could never tire of hearing her play. This young man won the banjo contest at the same gathering the other day and is self-taught. He plays the guitar when accompaning her.
I read that the garlic seeds are like miniature cloves (you can tell when you take a close look) and take two years to make a regular clove when planted. I have lots of them and want to try it. They were very easy to take off of the flower. We'll see what happens!
Hope you're enjoying summer!
Nancy

Green Beans And Garlic For The Pickin'

Put 8 quart bags of green beans in the freezer last night and picked that many more again tonight. I also dug the garlic. I always get SO excited about the garlic! It is such a blessing. I love smelling it when I'm digging it. I'll clean it up and then hang it in the laundry room to dry. There were some cloves left in the ground last year and they went to seed so I'm trying to find information on saving it. Does anybody have experience with this? I don't knoww if you can grow garlic from seed or not.
I apologize for the lack of pictures. I have tried to tranfer them from my camera and for some reason it's not working. I won't give up, though!
Hope you're finding joy in your work today!
Nancy

Unusual Sighting On The Homestead

I looked out the livingroom window and saw the dog chasing a very large white bird full speed ahead up the road. It was a peacock! There are two of them and we don't know where they came from. I gave Duke a good scolding and told him to leave it alone, so we'll see if they come back. :-)
You just never know, do you?
Nancy

Journey To Simplify-Part Six

Our plan was to do a major cleaning on the house in the country and some painting and drywall repair. Instead, we had to replace walls, floors, and ceilings, completely renovate the bathroom, and move some doors, walls, and windows. Everything but the foundation was rotted. It was a tremendous amount of work, but our young sons learned how to do a lot! It seemed like we would never get to the end, we finally did, and moved in. We had some of the very best times of our lives there.
It was so exciting to raise our own meat and eggs! I can't even describe to you the feeling that we had when we picked up our first homegrown meat.
We watched a mother hen hatch and raise her little ones. (She was a very good mother. Jack built a little house in the back yard and fenced it in so that we could watch the whole process. It is one of the most amazing things that I have ever seen.)
Our daughter, who was against moving to the country, laid on the grass the first day to read a book, and felt the peace wash over her. Our sons built a blind in the pasture to watch and film wildlife, cooking their breakfast over an open fire. Our oldest son would climb up to the top of the windmill and gaze around at the countryside and ponder. (That was his thinking spot). We bought a young colt for them to raise. A friend named him General and people would stop on the road to look at him because he was so beautiful.
And, all the time, our hearts were turning closer and closer to home.
To be continued....
Nancy

Journey To Simplify-Part Five

I had heard about homeschooling on the radio a few years before when Dr. Raymond Moore was being interviewed by Dr. James Dobson on Focus on the Family. I knew that what he was saying was true. I inquired about it and was told that it wasn't possible(not true) and that I would go to jail (also not true, although there were people going to jail in other states). I then found a very small parochial school in the city that we eventually moved to, and enrolled my children. They went there for two years and, unfortunately, there wasn't much difference between it and the public schools. I met a woman who was homeschooling at the same time that I was trying to remember what our dreams had been, and God moved in a mighty way for us, and we began homeschooling. The vision that we had had for our family in the beginning was coming back.
At the same time, the electric power plant that Jack had worked at for over ten years announced that it was going to close. It would take a while to shut it down, but their hours would be shortened right away. We heard from a relative about someone that had a house in the country that we could fix up for rent-with-an- option-to-buy and we decided to go for it.
Nancy

Latest News From The Farm

We were blessed with some great weather last week and were able, with the help of wonderful neighbors and family members, to put up over three hundred bales of hay. That's about a fourth of it. The temps were in the 80's (I know. Who ever heard of doing hay in anything other than high 90's or up?) with much lower humidity and no rain in the forecast. A wonderful blessing. If you're new to doing hay you might not realize that the weather has everything to do with it. You go through and cut it (we have grass and red clover), then you let it dry. When it is dry enough, you rake it and then bale it. The worst thing that can happen is to have it rain. High humidity can be a challenge, also. If it rains and gets it wet you could lose all of it. Now you know where the saying "you have to make hay while the sun shines" came from. If you don't have any hay your animals won't have anything to eat in the winter when the grass is dormant. If you bale wet hay it will start to decompose and compost and catch on fire. If your hay is in a barn you lose your barn as well as the stacked hay and anything else in there! That's part of the science of doing hay.
If you scroll down you'll see the two pictures of garage sale finds that I tried to post the other day. A cute painted box to plant flowers in and the jar for fresh flowers. Some other treasures were two pairs of bib overalls in good shape for a dollar a pair, a handmade old-fashioned full-length dress for fifty cents, a set of blue enamelware dishes still in the package for two dollars, a cast iron bell, and something I was very excited about; a box of square nails for twenty-five cents. We don't go garage-saling very often but the small town we live near was having a community-wide garage sale weekend. We had fun and found some great stuff!
There are many treasures in life if we will take the time to notice them. I hope you're finding lots of them!
Nancy

Catch-Up

Sorry it's been so long. Things have been mighty busy around here!
I tried to put some pictures of some garage sale finds (treasures) on here but blogger isn't working right. I'll try again later.
We have had heat indexes of 110 degrees lately and that has made gardening very challenging. But, then, the weather the last three years has been challenging. I picked my first handful of green beans a few days ago and that was exciting! We have large green tomatoes that we are keeping our eyes on, just waiting for them to start ripening!
We'll be taking a steer in tonight. Remember Marty? I hate to see him go, but will enjoy the meat. After eating homegrown, chemical-free, hormone-free, pasturefed beef, we really notice the difference when we eat the other.
I hear thunder in the distance so maybe we will get some much-needed rain and, hopefully, some cooler temperatures.
Hope your day is going well and your gardens are flourishing!
Nancy

Journey To Simplify-Part Four

Jack worked for a local rancher for a year, which was a wonderful experience. An opportunity then came up for an excellent job and he got it. We lived like everyone else for the next eight years (Yep. Eight years.) and in that time forgot about our vision to live on the homestead. We were so far removed from it, in fact, that we bought a house in the city. Things didn't go well there. One day a woman that was at our house, who I barely knew and Jack not at all, said to me, "You two need to remember what your dreams were in the beginning." Just like that. Out of the blue. After she left I started thinking. What dreams? Did we ever have any dreams? I honestly couldn't remember. But, that was the start of a process that led us back to the right track.

Nancy

Journey To Simplify-Part Three

We began to explore small towns and different areas of the countryside and decided on the area we were interested in. Our plan was to buy land and put a moble home on it to live in while we built a house. Someone recommended a place to buy a moble home and we went to look. After looking at the used ones, we ended up buying a new but inexpensive one. The payments were $160 dollars a month. We then set out to purchase the land. The only problem was that this particular county didn't allow you to put a mobile on anything that wasn't a huge piece of land and then only with the neighboring landowners' permission. Oh no. (I think it is pretty funny that it never occured to us that such rules existed. We were following our dream.) Now we had to find a place to put the moble home. We found a nice park (as far as parks go) that actually had yards in a small town of 1300 people. We had it set up there and we moved in. (As it turns out, just about everyone on our street had tried to do the same thing that we did. :-} )
Jack and I stood on the steps and looked around and he said, "A year at the most ........"

Nancy

Goat Bandits

I looked out today to see this:

If this is a hold-up, Emily, you need to adjust your kerchief.

That's better.

Nancy

A Few Blessings Of Simple Living

I bought this fabric in a bundle at a thrift store for three dollars. Here it is washed and dried!


Baby turkeys!

Hiding places for kittens!

Nancy

Journey To Simplify - Part Two

We were told about a place that gave loans to people wanting to move to the country so we applied and were approved. We began to look at small towns and house-building. At the same time, though, we had a desire to live close to relatives and when the mention of income possibilities came up we loaded up everything we had; I mean everything, including a freezer full of food that I had put up, into a moving van and off we went. It was a difficult task moving over a thousand miles this way. The moving truck was slow and even broke down at one point, and we had to plug in the freezer each night when we stopped to make sure everything stayed frozen. To do that we had to unhook the car that we were towing behind the truck so that we could back it up to the room we were spending the night in. Our little ones were four, two and ten months old and did so well! They and I were in the station wagon and Jack drove the truck. We stopped at an older relative's on the way down and she said, "If you were twenty years older, you would never attempt this." Hmmmm...... Because the truck was so slow it took several days longer than what they allowed, and we ended up owing more money for the rental when we got there.
We enjoyed seeing the relatives and had many good times there. Catching crawfish in traps, blue crab in nets, swimming, boating, skiing, and visiting the many historical sites in the area. We ended up living in a suburb of a large city again, though, and home was calling us, so six months later we loaded up everything (not quite everything; I gave away all of the frozen food this time and the car that we had towed behind the truck) and headed back. We went with a different rental company and the trip went very well.

Cow Patties In The Yard

Ahhhh.... nothing like morning on the farm. Jack pulled the blind open on the kitchen window this morning, as he always does when he's the first one there, and scanned the pasture, then the hay field, the trees along the creek, up to the back yard, and Marty..... Marty???!!! There was Marty (short for Martin), the Angus steer, lying by the back steps. Closer examination revealed that he wasn't alone. There were four Jersey cows with him.
The gate to the upper pasture was open and they had roamed around the farm free. No harm was done and we won't have to fertilize the yard for a while.
Things do have a way of working out, don't they?
Hope things are working out for you today!
Nancy

Journey To Simplify - Part One

Our journey to Family Circle Farm started many years ago. We both grew up in suburbs of large cities but spent a lot of time outdoors. I climbed trees, hiked around cotton fields and pastures that lay behind the subdivision, and spent much of the time swimming, while Jack explored creeks, and climbed mountains, and fished in crystal clear water. Because we lived in the city, though, we experienced everything that goes along with that. When we were married we were very home-centered (we didn't have a television!) and enjoyed creating things and doing things outside. When our children were born we had a strong desire to leave the city, not wanting them to grow up as we had.
We would escape the city on weekends whenever we could by taking drives in the country, fishing, or camping. Our youngest son was only two weeks old the first time he went camping! We continued to be very family-oriented and began to pursue paths that would lead to the country. As seems to be the way, though, when you begin to go in a definite direction; we found ourselves taking quite a detour. One that took us half-way across the country and then back again six months later.

Picking Strawberries

We have been picking strawberries for a few weeks now. The heavy rains held off for a while this spring so the flavor of the berries has been wonderful! We have two varieties of berries and both are June bearing so we are getting to the end of them. Look at this cute little berry!

And look at this sink full of delicious berries! What a blessing!

I hope you are enjoying strawberries this spring!

Nancy

Fiddle Contest

My granddaughter Ashley was in a fiddle contest Saturday. She was the second to youngest person entered and she took FIRST PLACE!!!! She worked so hard and played BEAUTIFULLY!!!! She is an awesome young woman. Congratulations, Ashley!!!!

Filling Herb Capsules

Did you know that it is very easy to fill your own herb capsules? I bought The Capsule Machine a few years back and it was about twelve dollars. I don't think they are much higher now. I powder the dried herbs in a coffee grinder saved just for herbs, and then fill the capsules, which is very easy to do. I rarely buy herbs already powdered because they don't last as long as the cut and sifted. The empty capsules are also inexpensive and are easy to find.

Dairy Things and Simple Life

I added 1/4 tsp. lipase powder to two gallons of milk for mozzarella cheese this time and it does have more flavor. Now I need to have people do a taste test and tell me if they like it better with or without. I'll let you know how it tastes on pizza!
Someone asked why their homemade butter doesn't taste good and it is because the buttermilk wasn't rinsed out well. Easy to fix! The butter has to be rinsed thoroughly after it forms to remove the buttermilk. Otherwise, it will not keep well and will taste sour. Be sure to save that buttermilk that you pour off of the butter before rinsing; it makes the most wonderful biscuits, pancakes, muffins, etc.!
I've been giving a lot of thought as to why a person simplifies their life, after someone made an observation as to why we might be doing it. There is a lot of talk about this subject these days because of the economy and other things going on. As soon as I get my thoughts together I want to explain what led us down this path and why we pursue it.
Stay tuned and have a great day!
Nancy

Making Cheese

I added lipase powder to the mozzarella cheese this time to give it that extra flavor and it was good. I put an 1/8 of a teaspoon in just before the rennet. Next time I'm going to put in a little more and see what happens. I ordered my cheesemaking supplies from Hoegger Supply. Their prices are good and they had the last order here in two days!

Greenhouse

This has been one busy month! We had several days of rain this week, but the sun came out today. We wanted to get the plastic on the greenhouse because they are forecasting wind for tomorrow. When they say windy, they mean it. Unfortunately, some of that wind decided to visit today while we were attempting to put on the plastic. You've never lived until you have tried to cover a greenhouse with the wind blowing. I won't go into the particulars, but there was a lot of looking at the ground while hanging on to the covering and talking to myself about the virtue of patience. Good practice. I'm happy to report that we were able to get it covered, except for the front that will take some cutting to fit. We had to stop for milking. This is going to be a huge blessing and it looks like there is enough cover left to do another one. Thankyou Kitty and Steve for giving us this! It has made a dream come true.
How are your spring plantings and preparations coming along?
Nancy

Red Buds

It amazes me every year when it seems like overnight things begin to bloom. The whole length of the creek is lined with flowering red bud trees right now. It is such a joy to look at.
We got the potatoes planted yesterday and cut lettuce and spinach in the cold frame and a BUNCH of chickweed for tinctures this time. The salve I made a while back works very well. I'll probably make more and then dry some of the plant, also. The onions are up and the chives' flower buds are about to open. We cut some yesterday to use with meals.
Our Jersey that hurt her foot is doing well. She is such a sweet cow. We were able to apply the bandage that day and then another one the next day. I also sprayed the cut with calendula to prevent infection and help with healing and put dried echinacea root in her feed.
Jack and our grandson are building benches for the greenhouse today. Then I think all that is left to do is to cover it with the plastic. How exciting! I started the tomato plants indoors again. I started 72 of them and they are all growing well. The clear plastic egg cartons that they're using now make great little greenhouses and the plants were up in a couple of days. I have to hurry up and start the pepper plants now. I'm going to make pots out of paper to plant them in because they seem to do better that way and I won't have to transplant them as they get bigger. I was given one of those mini greenhouses on wheels as a gift several years ago and it has worked very well to start seeds on. It has four racks for the seed trays and then we hang flourescent light fixtures over them from the rack above. You can start a lot of seeds in a small amount of space.
Hope you are enjoying all of the many spring activities!
Nancy

Things Happen On A Farm

Things took a lot of time this morning so it was 12:30 before we could think about eating. Nothing new and not a problem. Then Jack came to the back door and said those words I hate to hear, "We have a problem." Oh no.
One of our Jerseys had cut her foot and scraped the one behind it. The front one was bleeding pretty good and she had sliced a chunk of flesh loose. We had more rain last night (yep, again) so there was a lot of mud in the pasture where she was at. Jack wanted to bring her up on grass to clean the wound and then put her in a higher pasture. O.K. First, get a rope and make a halter, put it over her head, and start leading (pushing, pulling, and coaxing with a bucket of feed) her through the front yard to the other pasture. Slow going until...... she decided to take off with Jack hanging on to the rope. Now, we've got a rodeo!!! YA-HOO!!!!! (Was it the swats I was giving her behind?) Tie her to the fence and wash the wound, pour hydrogen peroxide on it, and, because there was some blood stop powder handy, we used it for the bleeding this time instead of cayenne pepper. I like to use cayenne because it numbs the pain and I know it's good for them and it works well. We haven't had much experience with the powder but it worked, anyway.
I made a comfrey root decoction and then added comfrey leaf to it and let it steep while we ate brunch at 2:45. Whew!
Jack will be milking her by hand in the goat barn until her foot is better. We are going to (hopefully) use a fomentation with the comfrey tea and wrap it with a bandage to hold it in place to help with healing. I'll let you know how that goes.
I think dinner will be late tonight.
Nancy

Spring Planting

I planted 138 onion sets along the inside of the new bed today. Then stood back and thought, "Is it enough?'' :-) Does it ever seem like enough? We'll see. We got the horseradish roots planted, also.
Took the covers off of the raised beds for this warm weather and the lettuce and spinach growing in there are so mild and tender!
It is a tremendous blessing to be back on the land and able to plant. We waited a long time.
The inside extreme "Get Organized" project is still going on but we are down to the last details. Hanging hooks and such. What a difference it has made already and should make things run much smoother. When you live in a small house it can take some doing! I'll try to post pictures soon.
Hope all of your planting is coming along well!
Nancy

Signs of Spring

Not only are the garlic and chives up but the lemon balm, Santolina, and lavender all have green leaves.
We were able to get one of the raised beds mostly done. It is 3 ft. by 30 ft. Having it only three feet wide will enable us to work in it without walking in it. We're going to mulch the top well to keep the weeds down. We hope to build two more and plant the rest of the garden in rows. We've had so much rain the last three years that we have to plant in raised beds or it's not going to work. A friend gave us boards from an old fence that was torn down in the city and they are cypress! What a blessing that was! We are using them to build the raised beds. It is so hard to find untreated wood to use so this was great! He also gave us some 2x4's taken out of an old apartment building that are really 2 in. x 4 in.! Not like the 1 1/2 in. by 3 1/2 in. boards that you get today. They are so old that they have square nails in them. That was also a huge blessing and we are putting them to good use!
Hope you're able to get in the garden! ( I have onion sets to plant as soon as it quits raining again!)
Nancy

Birdsong

Yesterday morning as I was making breakfast I heard a bird singing the sweetest little song and looked out the window to try to spot it, and saw either a sparrow or finch, I couldn't tell which, sitting on the herb garden fence post singing away. Such a welcome sound.
A few weeks ago, when we were still in the throes of a long winter, I would notice birds singing as if it were Spring. I heard other people commenting on the same thing; even my little five-year-old granddaughter who walked out of the house one very cold and dreary day and said to my daughter, "It sounds like Summer out here." Amazing. I wondered if the birds were letting us know that Spring was surely coming.
There were green garlic sprouts sticking up through the straw when I was cleaning up the garden area a little bit yesterday. The sunshine has made me so very anxious to plant something! Unfortunately, the ground is mostly frozen and the nights are still cold. But, the lettuce and spinach in the cold frames should take off soon!
I was standing at the fence watching the goats this morning hoping to take some pictures, but they wouldn't stay still long enough. Too energetic early in the morning and too determined to get to me first, in case I had brought some kind of treat for them, as I often do. While standing there, a bluebird landed on the fencepost and was chirping to another one while I got a good long look at him. Beautiful.
It's undeniable. Spring is on its way.
Nancy

The Thinking Spot

I walked down to the creek today to visit the "Thinking Spot". There's an old tree there that is probably five feet across the trunk. It has a very low branch that you can sit on and watch the water trickle by. Because almost all of the snow we've had melted on one day, it was more like rushing by. The sun reflecting off of the water was beautiful and the sound so soothing. There's a rock wall with a ledge on the opposite side of the creek that had icicles hanging from it. It's a beautiful spot. One of these days I'm going to take some string with me to measure around the trunk of the old tree.
Do you have a "thinking spot"?
Nancy

Giveaway

Marci over at Amazing Graze Farm is having a giveaway on their blog site! Check it out! Be sure to take a look at their store. They have a great selection and great prices!
Nancy

More Pictures

I'm trying the picture thing again!

Here are the bread and sandwich buns, then a picture of a pound cake that I made with a new recipe. If you ever find one of these cast iron bundt pans grab it; Lodge doesn't make them anymore and they are wonderful. I found this one at an antique mall after passing one up at a garage sale. I really kicked myself for that one! I found one for my daughter at a hardware store in a small town. Same thing for the bread pans. I wonder if they would start making some of these pieces again if enough people asked for them. I took the next picture not for the snow, which is definitely NOT unusual this year, but for the sunshine! We have had TWO days of sunshine! Everything is glazing over so it is like a Slip n' Slide around here! And finally, here is part of the chicken path I told you about that my husband cleared to get them out of the coops. They stayed right on the path for days, so it worked! Pretty funny!

I must say this picture thing wears me out. I'm so afraid I'm going to blow the whole thing sky high! I'm sure it will get better with time.

Hope all of your times are wonderful!

Nancy

Productive Day

It was gray and snowy outside yesterday, but inside it was a productive day! I was able to make four loaves of bread, hamburger/sandwich buns, butter, and mozzarella cheese. (We have homemade pizza on Friday nights.) I ran out of time before I got to roll oats, but I did that this morning. I made oat muffins with cultured buttermilk. It is amazing how soft and moist everything made with buttermilk is. And it is SO easy to make! Just warm a quart of milk to 72 degrees, add the culture, and let it sit on the counter for about 24 hours. That's it! You can buy the dry culture or use 1/2 cup of cultured buttermilk as the starter. I haven't taken the time to put my butter in a mold lately, but yesterday I put it in the round one and it was fun. I soaked the mold in cool water for 1/2 an hour before adding the butter and then refrigerated it until the butter was firm. (I know I need to improve in the picture taking area and add them to the post, now that we have a camera.)
I couldn't believe it when I looked at the weather report today and we have ANOTHER winter weather advisory! We could get up to 5 inches this time.
I took pictures the other day of the paths that Jack cleared for the chickens in front of the coops so that they would come outside. It really is funny. They were all standing on the paths and nowhere else.
Hope you are finding the time to enjoy these days!
Nancy

Chickweed and Snow

I was so excited to find chickweed growing in my cold frames! It is such a cute little plant but, oh so noble. It has so many uses. I put some in the food processor to chop it up, put it in a jar, and covered it with olive oil. Each day I shake it and after a couple of weeks I'll strain the oil off, melt a little beeswax in it, and have a salve! (I also treated the chickens to some, thinking they would love having something green to eat right now.)
We got about 4 1/2 inches of snow from the last storm so it makes for some interesting walking around the farm. There is another storm due in tonight that we might get 6 or more inches from. But, for today, the sun is shining!
Hope you are enjoying the days no matter what the weather!
Nancy

Pictures

We got a camera for Christmas so here goes a test.
Well, wouldn't you know there would be a problem.

Thanks to Ashley's know-how she got it working another way!

Lessons Learned From The Barnyard

Lesson learned today: Let the first step of cleaning out the "little" (we have the "Big" and the "little" coops) chicken coop NOT be gathering an egg out of the nest box and putting it in your sweatshirt pocket.
Hope all of your surprises today were pleasant!
Nancy

Cold Frame Dimensions

Here is a description of the cold frames that we are using right now. There are two of them and they are the same size. We made them out of what we had, so yours might vary in size. They were built according to what we were going to cover them with. At first, we used old windows that were given to us for the tops, and now we have two sides of a glass sliding door that are much heavier and less likely to get broken! We have used clear plastic with a wood frame around it before, also, and it worked great. From back to front, they are 3 feet, sloping from 19 inches heighth at the back to 9 inches in the front. We used 2 X 10's for the back so that is why the 19 inches. (Why do they call them two by TENS???) You have to have enough of a slope to get sunlight in there all day, or as much as possible. They are 79 inches long. We plant three rows in each and you get a surprising amount of greens. Especially when they take off in the early spring! Ours are out in the open and they are facing south. I hope this answers your questions! If you need more information just let me know. Also, if you try it, let me know how it goes!
Nancy

Cold Frames

We had some nice weather today with the sun coming out this afternoon and the temperature around fifty. I opened up the cold frames to cut some lettuce and spinach and I thought I'd try planting some more seeds. A lot of them washed away after I planted them last Fall so there was quite a bit of open space. I figured it couldn't hurt to try! I'll let you know how it goes.
Hope your day went well!
Nancy

So Very Precious

We have had several big reminders this past week of how very very precious life is. We have a friend that had just returned after the holidays to Haiti. She had come home for doctor visits because she had become very ill while there. She was VERY heavy on our hearts and minds, wondering what was taking place. She managed to get a message through to my daughter telling her that she and her family had survived and asking for prayer. They were living outside with children from an orphanage because their building was unsafe. We haven't had an update since. Our elderly neighbor's son stopped in to tell us that his dad had fallen and cracked some ribs, one of which punctured a lung, and he is in the hospital with pneumonia. Yesterday I went to the memorial service for a friend's husband who passed away. They were married late in life and were only married a little over three years. So very sad. While on the way home my husband called (he had to stay home and milk) and told me that a friend of the family, who is also the father of one of my longest and dearest friends, had had a heart attack. He is being sedated and on a respirator while they try to address the problems.
In the message that our friend sent from Haiti she said that it was too horrible to describe, there were dead bodies lined up everywhere. Most people will NEVER have to witness such a thing. I am very sad that she has. In all of these things I feel incredibly humbled and hugely grateful for all of my blessings. I DON'T want to take them for granted! All of the little things in life that seemed like problems are NOTHING! My desperate prayer is that we can all focus on the things that really matter, put all differences aside, and embrace (physically and in our heart of hearts) those dear ones that the Lord has given us. When it comes right down to it, NOTHING else is important.
Nancy

Day Three of Second Arctic Blast

Whew! Here we are in day three and the sun has come out and the wind stopped blowing! YAY! It's one degree below zero with a wind chill of minus eleven but this is great improvement! Everything has gone well thanks to my husband. He has done an amazing job. He has had to be outside much of the time, milking, keeping water troughs open, unfreezing faucets that are the kind that aren't supposed to freeze, etc. And through it all he has kept a great attitude! I'm very impressed! And thankful!
And thanks to all of you for your prayers!
Nancy

Preparation

What do you do when the weather report says the second Arctic blast is due in this afternoon and with 3-5 inches of snow and wind gusts of up to 35 mph that will drop the temperature to from 15 to 25 degrees below zero and cause drifting? You shove a pitch fork and garden fork down through frozen hay and muck to move it away from the big goat barn door so that it can be closed up tonight. You get the emergency propane heater down from the loft and bring it into the house in case the electricity goes out and you don't have heat. You bring another large round bale of hay up from the bottom pasture for the calves. You fork extra bedding into the barn for the animals' warmth. You bring the Alpine buck in from the outer limits (its o. k., he isn't smelly now that he isn't in rut anymore) and put him in a warmer stall. You prepare to lock the dog up in the barn for the night instead of him sleeping in the dog house. You think about what it is going to be like when the water in the troughs freezes over again shortly after you broke it open with a sledge hammer and you have to go back out already and do it again. You make a trip to town to buy kerosene for the emergency heater and the heater you have been using in the milking barn to keep the milk from getting so cold it won't go through the filter before you put it in jars. You go to the grain elevator and buy extra feed for all of the animals because they need to eat more when it's cold and in case the roads are icy and you can't get out. You fill water jugs in case the electricity goes out and the well pump won't work. You stop by the grocery store for extra toilet paper :-} and antifreeze for all the vehicles and anything else you think you might want if you can't go anywhere. And you do all this in addition to the regular chores you do every day. And you say a prayer, and you count your blessings, and you thank God for letting you live such a wonderful life.
Do me a favor. If you see a farmer today, thank him or her.
Nancy