Thursday evening, March 20th, Pat and I were walking to the barn to do evening chores, when Pat says " Blackface has a baby!" Sure enough the sheep we didn't know was pregnant as she was 10 years old and didn't have hers with the others, has a tiny little white lamb. She was a 10 lb. 9 oz. little girl. I named her Snow White. Black Face was just talking like crazy to the little lamb and is extremely attentive to her! It's sweet. But as always Black Face only tolerated one day in the barn and then she kicks like a mule on the walls and gate of the lambing pen so we will let her out. We hated to let her out as we had a cold spell arrive and the lamb hasn't developed a good fat layer yet but we had to. I noticed that mama snuggles her little one up close when they lay down outside so the lamb can stay warm. She is still very verbal and protective of her lamb. I can't wait until it is really truly Spring and warm every day!
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Saturday, March 15, 2014
The Meadowlarks Are Back
Yesterday, I knew it was Spring for sure now; because the meadowlarks are back! It is so lovely to hear them sing. I think it affected us more than we knew. Pat plowed the garden and when he was done I slipped off my flip flops and walked in the dirt and it was really pretty warm. The nights are still dipping quite a bit below freezing, however; so no planting quite yet unless I try peas. I got the front flower bed raked and trimmed down. Next I will need to do the back flower bed where the tulips are coming up thick.
We are going to put a wood stove in the breakfast nook area to help heat the house this next winter. so we had to move Pat's albino deer and case out to the shop for storage and we got that done yesterday, too. Then, that evening we did the elastrator thing on all the little boy lambs. Pat grabs them and I sit in a folding chair and hold them so Pat can put the elastrator band on their testicles, as all of them had dropped their testicles into their scrotums now. They were all very good while I held them and it was amazing how big they had gotten since they had been born! We must have done a good job as none of them laid down and acted in pain when we got done. That always makes me feel better. Because I hate to see my babies in pain!
Now, it's Sabbath and I don't have any functions at church today; so, I am going to play hooky and let my sinuses drain and hack up the drainage when it makes me cough instead of taking cough suppressant and wishing I could curl up in the pew and sleep. It seems to be Spring allergies already! Now, for a little nap after breakfast!
We are going to put a wood stove in the breakfast nook area to help heat the house this next winter. so we had to move Pat's albino deer and case out to the shop for storage and we got that done yesterday, too. Then, that evening we did the elastrator thing on all the little boy lambs. Pat grabs them and I sit in a folding chair and hold them so Pat can put the elastrator band on their testicles, as all of them had dropped their testicles into their scrotums now. They were all very good while I held them and it was amazing how big they had gotten since they had been born! We must have done a good job as none of them laid down and acted in pain when we got done. That always makes me feel better. Because I hate to see my babies in pain!
Now, it's Sabbath and I don't have any functions at church today; so, I am going to play hooky and let my sinuses drain and hack up the drainage when it makes me cough instead of taking cough suppressant and wishing I could curl up in the pew and sleep. It seems to be Spring allergies already! Now, for a little nap after breakfast!
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Butternut Squash Rolls
Makes about 2 dozen.
375 degrees F. for 20-25 min.
1 pkg. dry yeast
1 cup warm milk and 1/4 c warm water (110-115)
3 T. softened butter
2 t. salt
1/2 c. sugar
1 c. mashed cooked butternut squash
5-5 1/2 c. flour, divided
In mixing bowl dissolve yeast in water and milk with sugar and let yeast work about 2 minutes, if yeast doesn't make foamy isles then throw away and get fresh yeast. Now add rest of ingredients and 3 c. of flour. Beat until smooth. Add remaining flour as needed to make a soft dough. Turn out on floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top also. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch dough down and form into rolls on a greased pan and cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 min. Then bake.
These have a lovely color with the flecks of squash throughout. So now you know what to do with extra butternut squash. I package 1 c. of cooked squash and zip lock bag it in freezer and when I'm ready to make rolls, I nuke a bag until it is warm and then add it to the dough.
375 degrees F. for 20-25 min.
1 pkg. dry yeast
1 cup warm milk and 1/4 c warm water (110-115)
3 T. softened butter
2 t. salt
1/2 c. sugar
1 c. mashed cooked butternut squash
5-5 1/2 c. flour, divided
In mixing bowl dissolve yeast in water and milk with sugar and let yeast work about 2 minutes, if yeast doesn't make foamy isles then throw away and get fresh yeast. Now add rest of ingredients and 3 c. of flour. Beat until smooth. Add remaining flour as needed to make a soft dough. Turn out on floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top also. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch dough down and form into rolls on a greased pan and cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 min. Then bake.
These have a lovely color with the flecks of squash throughout. So now you know what to do with extra butternut squash. I package 1 c. of cooked squash and zip lock bag it in freezer and when I'm ready to make rolls, I nuke a bag until it is warm and then add it to the dough.
Sunday, March 9, 2014
First week of retirement over
Well, last week was my first week of retirement. No other jobs than home, supposedly! I was very good and assigned myself tasks for each day and marked them off as I did them. Then Thursday I gave in and had a bit of fun learning how to make cool things with my newest toy, an envelope punch board. Mine is from Stampin'Up (SU). We Are Memory Keepers has one, too. They work the same but WAMK has a blue punch button and scorer. They not only make envelopes in whatever size you need but they make cute boxes and gift bags and other cutesy things. I've been watching tutorials on You Tube and learning lots. I wish I was getting commission on all the ones I've told people about who ordered them! I've been with Close to My Heart (CTMH) for 6 1/2 years and I'm kind of wishing I was with SU. Have been attending some classes for SU in Grand Junction with a friend and I really like the emphasis on tools that they are into. I think CTMH is falling behind. They, CTMH, is into the Cricut (an electronic cutting machine) but I really like the new thin metal dies to use with the BigShot. This probably looks like Greek to someone who doesn't do all this stuff but you should learn, it is FUN! Take classes, and if you don't like the teacher, find a new one. Everybody has different ideas of what and how they are taught. I've also found as a teacher that some students are not easy to teach and you may have to help them find someone else, put in a different class or teach them on a one to one basis or tell them goodbye. As a student, I don't care as long as I get to learn new stuff.
So, I have the grapes pruned, the asparagus bed cleaned and most of the weeds in garden in a big pile to burn. I am once again re-arranging my craft room. Will I ever figure out the right way to set it up so it will function at it's best? I am trying to set up a beading area, plus a stamping, paper area to work with all my various tools and then there is polymer clay and good grief, I need a barn. I have the counted cross stitch in the bedroom and the knitting and crochet in both the living room and bedroom. Then there are the books and magazines I can't part with. My obsession with cookbooks, is getting out of control, but I even like to read them, too, from cover to cover.
Today I had a class with a lady who is sweet and 82 but poor memory. I'm relieved when it is over.
Well, I'll bake buns tomorrow for hamburgers for supper. Think I'll make the butternut squash ones. Need to make cookies, too.
Monday, February 17, 2014
God's promises are for us today
We are having many problems with Pat's dad. He's becoming quite delusional and paranoid. The reason, we moved him over here was Pat's love for his dad and that he was becoming more and more in need of help and we worried that in his declining years he would have no one. In the process of all this we found he was depressed and somewhat mentally ill. But it has reached the place where we can not be around him as he has a long list of litanies about all the things we do or don't do and more and more of it is not true. It hurts Pat horribly. Pat's dad is instead now fond of his son-in-law who's wife is dead and is now openly in a relationship with the woman who he was cheating with while his wife was alive. The wife was dad's daughter! Pat had another episode with his dad yesterday. This morning, I was reading my Bible chapter for the day. II Chronicles 20:12 says "We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You." God informed the king who prayed this that the battle was not his and he was not to be discouraged or afraid, that the battle was God's. I thought that this verse and story was so how we should handle this situation. Then I thought there was probably some of you who could use this verse in your lives, also. Hence the new post. Read the whole chapter to see it in context and to find out what God did. May God touch you today as you read His word.
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Tomatoes in Winter
Monday, Pat and I had our first homegrown tomatoes. They were small but oh so good! You see, I grow them indoors. Each fall I chop off some good looking pieces of tomato plants and bring them indoors and root them in water. They root rapidly and with great enthusiasm. Then I plant them in big pots and grow them in my west window. I seem to have the best luck with Roma tomatoes, but I'll try anything once. They don't do much until the end of December and then something happens and they start to go nuts. I pollinate the blooms with a paintbrush or a Q-tip, pretending I am an indecisive bee. Going from one to the other and back again. Two of my plants are not happy and have just a couple of tomatoes on them and the leaves say, " excuse me but I am weary of growing!"
The Roma tomato though has 14 tomatoes on it so far and 2 are starting to turn. I wish I had a south window but alas I do not. These tomatoes keep our hearts happy until Spring and zucchini time. However, by the time the garden tomatoes are ready, we are ready to be tomato gluttons once again and marvel at the luxury of having plates full of red and yellow tomatoes and 2nd and 3rd helpings, if we desire. We laugh about our winter ecstasy of a tiny tomato cut into quarters so we get 4 bites out of a tomato that could be eaten in one bite. A bit of a good thing is better than none.
Speaking of zucchini, I found a really good fast recipe for zucchini fritters in an Amish cookbook that I only tweaked a little and Pat and I love it.
Cast Iron Skillet Zucchini Fritters
2 c. grated zucchini, skin and all
2 medium carrots, peeled and grated.
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 c. flour
salt to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon)
Cavendar's Greek seasoning to taste (about I teaspoon)
Mix all together and drop by spoonful, then flatten, into hot vegetable oil.
Brown until crisp on both sides.
Serve immediately.
It may seem strange to add all that flour but it soaks up the juice from the watery zucchini and makes a nice firm patty. Since I added way more onion (we love onions) and added the Cavendar's and cooked it in a cast iron skillet I renamed it.
The cookbook I found it in is:
Cooking with the Horse and Buggy People II
from the 207 women of Holmes County, Ohio
We have a lot of Mennonite people in the area and they have a small store where you can buy some things in bulk and others in small packages that they portion out the bulk into at the store. You can also buy a few cookbooks and other interesting things. I bought some pretty cookie sprinkles lately.
For those of you who don't like onions, do like I do with garlic, start out with a tiny bit and then work your way up to more. Onions are known to strengthen the nerve synapses so they can better carry messages to your brain. And garlic has great benefits regarding preventing colds and infections so....I am learning to use garlic.
Funny how if you grow up not eating certain foods you have to make yourself eat them and other foods, you love the first time you taste them. I adore all olives and some say that it is a genetic trait to prefer them. The first time I ate Mexican food I loved it, even though I'm a baby about too much heat. (What's not to like about pinto beans!) And the first time I ate Greek food, I knew I was really part Greek! But, durian fruit, who ever decided that it would be good to eat had no sense of smell or taste, in my book. And why would anyone ever think of eating an octopus! Did they catch one and just think it gross and threw it in the fire and then some brave soul say hey, it smells good, let me taste it? And then they all decided to taste it and pronounced it good? And currently chefs, are using squid ink in their cooking and people are eating it and smiling after a bite with black teeth and lips and tongue! Please! I think durian might be preferable! Anyway. Happy eating what ever you like! Spring is coming!
I think I am going to try more heirloom seeds this year. The best two catalogs I have found are Seeds of Change and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Both are good reading, too. I'm going to place my seed order in Feb. after my old age check comes in. They say you should actually order in January, but in January I'm not quite ready to garden yet. February though, I've had it with winter! Bring on Spring!
The Roma tomato though has 14 tomatoes on it so far and 2 are starting to turn. I wish I had a south window but alas I do not. These tomatoes keep our hearts happy until Spring and zucchini time. However, by the time the garden tomatoes are ready, we are ready to be tomato gluttons once again and marvel at the luxury of having plates full of red and yellow tomatoes and 2nd and 3rd helpings, if we desire. We laugh about our winter ecstasy of a tiny tomato cut into quarters so we get 4 bites out of a tomato that could be eaten in one bite. A bit of a good thing is better than none.
Speaking of zucchini, I found a really good fast recipe for zucchini fritters in an Amish cookbook that I only tweaked a little and Pat and I love it.
Cast Iron Skillet Zucchini Fritters
2 c. grated zucchini, skin and all
2 medium carrots, peeled and grated.
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 c. flour
salt to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon)
Cavendar's Greek seasoning to taste (about I teaspoon)
Mix all together and drop by spoonful, then flatten, into hot vegetable oil.
Brown until crisp on both sides.
Serve immediately.
It may seem strange to add all that flour but it soaks up the juice from the watery zucchini and makes a nice firm patty. Since I added way more onion (we love onions) and added the Cavendar's and cooked it in a cast iron skillet I renamed it.
The cookbook I found it in is:
Cooking with the Horse and Buggy People II
from the 207 women of Holmes County, Ohio
We have a lot of Mennonite people in the area and they have a small store where you can buy some things in bulk and others in small packages that they portion out the bulk into at the store. You can also buy a few cookbooks and other interesting things. I bought some pretty cookie sprinkles lately.
For those of you who don't like onions, do like I do with garlic, start out with a tiny bit and then work your way up to more. Onions are known to strengthen the nerve synapses so they can better carry messages to your brain. And garlic has great benefits regarding preventing colds and infections so....I am learning to use garlic.
Funny how if you grow up not eating certain foods you have to make yourself eat them and other foods, you love the first time you taste them. I adore all olives and some say that it is a genetic trait to prefer them. The first time I ate Mexican food I loved it, even though I'm a baby about too much heat. (What's not to like about pinto beans!) And the first time I ate Greek food, I knew I was really part Greek! But, durian fruit, who ever decided that it would be good to eat had no sense of smell or taste, in my book. And why would anyone ever think of eating an octopus! Did they catch one and just think it gross and threw it in the fire and then some brave soul say hey, it smells good, let me taste it? And then they all decided to taste it and pronounced it good? And currently chefs, are using squid ink in their cooking and people are eating it and smiling after a bite with black teeth and lips and tongue! Please! I think durian might be preferable! Anyway. Happy eating what ever you like! Spring is coming!
I think I am going to try more heirloom seeds this year. The best two catalogs I have found are Seeds of Change and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Both are good reading, too. I'm going to place my seed order in Feb. after my old age check comes in. They say you should actually order in January, but in January I'm not quite ready to garden yet. February though, I've had it with winter! Bring on Spring!
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
The last lambs
Mon the 27th of January, I got home from my job and found Brownie barely dilated but with 2 little hooves and a nose protruding. So I raced to the house and changed into farm clothes (which means I look like the little match girl or worse). I get back to the barn yard and tried to get a gloved hand into the sheep so I can help her and the dog runs over and the sheep jumps up and insists she must have her lambs in that very spot outside but not with a dog. So I run the dog to the house and lock her in. I call my father-in-law to see if he could hold the sheep down while I assist her but he is leaving for an appointment. It's been a half hour now at least with the sheep in this condition and the lamb in same. So as I run back to the barn, I tell God He has to help me because He is all I've got. Well, God was enough. Just as I got to the gate, the sheep stood up and splatted out the lamb. Little arms and legs everywhere (oops, no arms just legs!). I thanked God! Then the ram decided I and the sheep needed attention so I had to lure the ram into the feeder area and lock him in and then grab the lamb and race hunched over with it so the mother could see him and follow to the barn. I get the mother and baby into the stall and start drying the baby off as he is shivering. Used up my barn towel supply so I run to the house to get more. When I get back to the barn, Brownie has had another lamb, a little girl. The little boy is brown and named Mr. Miracle and the little girl is white and is named Cream. Both are doing well. It's like Siberia outside but the lambs dance about like it's July. I notice they keep track of Mom real well. That life giving warm milk is the key to their survival.
Yesterday, Joan (Marty's niece) called us to let us know our neighbor, Charles Marty, died. It will seem so strange without him around anymore. But we are glad he could go. The end of life when you get old is no fun and the last breath is welcome. I guess the government owns the place now. Something about when his wife died and needed a nursing home he got to keep the land and house until his death and then the government got it. Marty (he went by his last name) was quite a character and he decided to give the government some fun when he died so he hauled a lot of junk onto the property. I've never seen so much trash. Pallets to make the city folks that make all that stuff out of pallets green with envy, if they weren't so rotted now. Wire hangers to hang a million tail pipes up in the inner city. Stuff like that. I try not to look too closely when I have to go over there! He has bunches of mink cages lining his driveway on both sides and its a good length of driveway! Well, his hauling is over and now someone else will be doing it in reverse.
Yesterday, Joan (Marty's niece) called us to let us know our neighbor, Charles Marty, died. It will seem so strange without him around anymore. But we are glad he could go. The end of life when you get old is no fun and the last breath is welcome. I guess the government owns the place now. Something about when his wife died and needed a nursing home he got to keep the land and house until his death and then the government got it. Marty (he went by his last name) was quite a character and he decided to give the government some fun when he died so he hauled a lot of junk onto the property. I've never seen so much trash. Pallets to make the city folks that make all that stuff out of pallets green with envy, if they weren't so rotted now. Wire hangers to hang a million tail pipes up in the inner city. Stuff like that. I try not to look too closely when I have to go over there! He has bunches of mink cages lining his driveway on both sides and its a good length of driveway! Well, his hauling is over and now someone else will be doing it in reverse.
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