Since I had a special request, from my friend over at Living in the Land of Oz, I am sharing my meatloaf recipe with all of you. It really isn't anything too fancy..since we fix food for a bunch of people, it's about quick, easy (preferably cheap...but with the cost of beef going up and up and up...)
Meatloaf
Ingredients:
3 lbs. Ground Beef
2 lbs. Sage Sausage
2 Eggs
A dash a milk
Italian Style Bread Crumbs
Optional: Dice a small onion and green pepper and mix with other ingredients
Directions:
Mix all ingredients together. Separate into two loaf pans. Cover with the sauce below.
Meatloaf Sauce
Ingredients:
6 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
½ C. Ketchup
2 tsp. Dry Mustard
¼ tsp. Nutmeg
Mix all ingredients and pour over meatloaf, prior to baking
Place in the oven at 350 degrees and cook for about an hour - hour and a half...until the center of the loaf is cooked through (remember there is pork in there).
***Many times, I will double the sauce recipe...because frankly we are BIG fans of the sauce.
YUM!!!
Serve up with either mashed potatoes or macaroni and cheese, a veggie (fresh green beans) and some fruit.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Seeds and Poo
Last night, we placed an order for the seeds that we need for this season. These aren't the only things we are going to plant - either because we have left over seeds from previous seeds orders, or were able to save some of our seeds from last year's harvest...and today, I received a notice that they were already on their way to us! Exciting!!! I can't wait to dig my hands in the dirt, ahem, poo and get some seeds started.
So let's talk poo - not necessarily the most fascinating subject; however, a necessary one. Yesterday, we were able to take a five gallon bucket and fill it approx 1/3 full of pure rabbit poo (uncomposted, fresh from the cage), 1/3 full of alpaca poo (partially composted, mostly fresh, from the "dung pile") and 1/3 full of toward the bottom of our compost pile. Digging into the compost pile, we weren't really sure what to expect. When we were at our apartment, we attempted composting, using an Earth Machine composter (that we earned attending a composting/vermiculture/recycling class)...it never seemed to really do anything. Just more of a container holding our compostable goodies and never transitioning into actual compost. Did we do something wrong? Can you compost...wrong? I mean it's just letting your compostables break down into "black gold"..right? I don't honestly know the answer to that. However, now that we live here, we've been keeping kitchen and barn waste in an area of our back yard, near where the chickens will live. Soon, (by soon, I mean that I'm hoping this year, but likely next year) we will be building compost bins - where we can separate the pile into three separate sections (new, cooking, almost ready/ready), but for now, one...fairly large..pile of cooking compost. Mark grabbed a few shovels worth of uncomposted straw and poo off the top of the pile and then...GOLD! Did we make compost??? We sure did! There's beautiful, dark black compost gold under that pile. Awesome! Today, we mixed the three components together by dumping back and forth between two larger buckets - I took a shovel and chopped up some of the "bunny berries" and "alpaca jelly beans" and it is actually beginning to look like rich potting soil. We'll give it a few more days of mixing and churning and I think we'll have some pretty nutrient rich goodness to help our seedlings get off to the right start.
Alright, enough with the poo talk, for now! Come on seeds, hurry up and get here.
Oh! Thought you might want to see the planting calendar that we are going to try to stick to this year. We went through and tried to determine the best dates to plant (either set directly in the ground, starting the seeds inside or transplanting seedlings) - these are specific to our (estimated) frost dates and I'm sure we'll find out that some will work out and others will be a bust. I'm hoping to take better garden notes/photos this year...we'll see.
Alright, enough with the poo talk, for now! Come on seeds, hurry up and get here.
Oh! Thought you might want to see the planting calendar that we are going to try to stick to this year. We went through and tried to determine the best dates to plant (either set directly in the ground, starting the seeds inside or transplanting seedlings) - these are specific to our (estimated) frost dates and I'm sure we'll find out that some will work out and others will be a bust. I'm hoping to take better garden notes/photos this year...we'll see.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Celebrating Life
This weekend we celebrate a few things, but the most important celebration is Mark's 49th Birthday. WOOT! For 49 years, my handsome hubby has made this world a better place and we celebrated him by never letting him get his own cup of coffee, extra snuggles, great presents from the kids (Gage gave him a Science Game, Cora made him an awesome frog out of her very cool and colorful duct tape, Drake hand knit a case for Mark's pocket knife, Kait/David gave him a Spider Man Comic from 1979 and a gift card to Pizza Hut - his favorite eatery :-)), and yummy food. In our house, the birthday boy/girl gets to choose if they want to go out to a favorite place or if there is a special homemade dinner that they would like. Mark chose to have meatloaf (I make a mean meatloaf), macaroni and cheese, green beans, strawberries, rolls and for dessert - homemade Carrot Cake (the recipe follows). It was a long day, but a day of comfort foods and sharing so much love for Mark. I hope he realizes how awesome we think he is.
Mark’s Carrot Cake
Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped pecans
Icing:
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans. Frost the cooled cake.
SO DELICIOUS!!!
Celebrating Spring...I've definitely got a case of Spring fever - being cooped up in the house is never good for me. It's cold and snowy outside. The water is often frozen in barn and we (by "we", I typically mean Mark) need to carry out heavy pails of water when we go out. Our fingers are painfully cold, by the time we come back in. I don't get to visit with our animals as long as I would normally like...I miss them.
I miss green things too - everything is sleeping outside - although the silhouettes of the naked trees look beautiful against the sky on sunny days, it's hard for me to go several days without seeing the sun...gray skies...UGH.
I'm trying to counteract the winter blues/cabin fever with planning and dreaming about spring. We have a lot of projects planned for the spring - most I've already mentioned here (the bees, the chickens...) but I haven't talked garden planning. We went through and evaluated our gardening from last year. With all the stress that happened last Spring, we really got a late start on planting. Most of our seed starts outgrew their containers (and unfortunately died), before we could get them planted in the ground. We had our neighbor till the garden very late in the year and really didn't get a good crop of anything. Sure, we enjoying homegrown potatoes, peas, onion, cucumbers, beans and zucchini - but not nearly on the scale that I was hoping for. Also, I realized that we really left our zucchini on the plant longer than we should, making the skin tougher. We also used a green bean seed that I wasn't very happy with - very stringy. Now, we have a lot of leftover seeds - some to get into the ground for this year and others we will hopefully be able to trade for other seeds or provide to someone who needs them more than we do (maybe we will plant some of the green bean seeds for donation??).
Seed starts - soon we'll need to move from the planning what to plant to the actually seed starting. Last year, we put our seeds on a table in front of our dining room window - which unfortunately also acted as a cat bed (Grrr) - they would actually lay on the plants to look out the window (brats). So this year, we are going to set up an area in the basement with a couple of grow lamps overhead - this should hopefully keep the animals away and provide sufficient lighting. In another exciting/different move, we've always purchased potting soil in the past - but this year, we are going to be able to take advantage of our "homegrown" potting soil. This week, we'll be digging out some of the bottom of the pile compost mix that has been baking in the back yard since we moved here. There should be some pretty good compost under there - we are also adding bunny and alpaca poo (which we have PLENTY of around here) to the mix. The GREAT thing about bunny and alpaca poo is that they do not need to be composted (aged) to put on plants, as long as they haven't been mixed with too much urine. I don't know if any of you are aware of this - but bunnies and alpacas will set up a restroom area - the poo berries are typically piled up in one area, easy to find, easy to shovel off a bit and the pee is fairly separated. We also have Cora's worm garden this year and perhaps we'll be able to make some compost tea to put over our seedlings as they grow and as we transplant them outside. SO we should have FREE soil/fertilizer for our plants!! Awesome - this helps us in two ways
1) We don't need to pay for any of this awesomeness
2) We don't need to figure out how to dispose of any of our compostable waste
The perfect solution.
Things I am looking forward to this Spring/Summer:
1) Peep Peep Peeps of baby chicks
2) Shearing our animals
3) Cleaning and spinning the fiber and creating a masterpiece from them
4) Buzzy bees and warm honey
5) Eating homegrown food, right off the plant
6) Goat milk - making cheese, soap, lotion
7) Oh! Goat babies boinging around the barn and back yard area :-)
8) Our first egg (...and every other awesome egg)
9) Eating backyard raised chickens
10) Making our yard cute/pretty again - plants, gardens, chicken coop
11) Seeing which of our fruit trees produce fruit this year
12) Seeing our finished, big, red, barn
13) Sitting on the porch with a glass of sun tea.
I'm sure this list will grow, but for now, that's a pretty good start.
Celebrating Football???...Finally - today is the Super Bowl...49ers vs. the Ravens. In honor of Mark's 49th birthday, I'm rooting for the 49ers. Honestly, I do not care about football - we only watch one game a year, this one and it is more for the commercials, the snacky food, the razzing each other about who is going to win etc.
Soooo Go NINERS!!!!
Mark’s Carrot Cake
Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped pecans
Icing:
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans. Frost the cooled cake.
SO DELICIOUS!!!
 |
| Ta Daaaaaa! |
I miss green things too - everything is sleeping outside - although the silhouettes of the naked trees look beautiful against the sky on sunny days, it's hard for me to go several days without seeing the sun...gray skies...UGH.
I'm trying to counteract the winter blues/cabin fever with planning and dreaming about spring. We have a lot of projects planned for the spring - most I've already mentioned here (the bees, the chickens...) but I haven't talked garden planning. We went through and evaluated our gardening from last year. With all the stress that happened last Spring, we really got a late start on planting. Most of our seed starts outgrew their containers (and unfortunately died), before we could get them planted in the ground. We had our neighbor till the garden very late in the year and really didn't get a good crop of anything. Sure, we enjoying homegrown potatoes, peas, onion, cucumbers, beans and zucchini - but not nearly on the scale that I was hoping for. Also, I realized that we really left our zucchini on the plant longer than we should, making the skin tougher. We also used a green bean seed that I wasn't very happy with - very stringy. Now, we have a lot of leftover seeds - some to get into the ground for this year and others we will hopefully be able to trade for other seeds or provide to someone who needs them more than we do (maybe we will plant some of the green bean seeds for donation??).
Seed starts - soon we'll need to move from the planning what to plant to the actually seed starting. Last year, we put our seeds on a table in front of our dining room window - which unfortunately also acted as a cat bed (Grrr) - they would actually lay on the plants to look out the window (brats). So this year, we are going to set up an area in the basement with a couple of grow lamps overhead - this should hopefully keep the animals away and provide sufficient lighting. In another exciting/different move, we've always purchased potting soil in the past - but this year, we are going to be able to take advantage of our "homegrown" potting soil. This week, we'll be digging out some of the bottom of the pile compost mix that has been baking in the back yard since we moved here. There should be some pretty good compost under there - we are also adding bunny and alpaca poo (which we have PLENTY of around here) to the mix. The GREAT thing about bunny and alpaca poo is that they do not need to be composted (aged) to put on plants, as long as they haven't been mixed with too much urine. I don't know if any of you are aware of this - but bunnies and alpacas will set up a restroom area - the poo berries are typically piled up in one area, easy to find, easy to shovel off a bit and the pee is fairly separated. We also have Cora's worm garden this year and perhaps we'll be able to make some compost tea to put over our seedlings as they grow and as we transplant them outside. SO we should have FREE soil/fertilizer for our plants!! Awesome - this helps us in two ways
1) We don't need to pay for any of this awesomeness
2) We don't need to figure out how to dispose of any of our compostable waste
The perfect solution.
Things I am looking forward to this Spring/Summer:
1) Peep Peep Peeps of baby chicks
2) Shearing our animals
3) Cleaning and spinning the fiber and creating a masterpiece from them
4) Buzzy bees and warm honey
5) Eating homegrown food, right off the plant
6) Goat milk - making cheese, soap, lotion
7) Oh! Goat babies boinging around the barn and back yard area :-)
8) Our first egg (...and every other awesome egg)
9) Eating backyard raised chickens
10) Making our yard cute/pretty again - plants, gardens, chicken coop
11) Seeing which of our fruit trees produce fruit this year
12) Seeing our finished, big, red, barn
13) Sitting on the porch with a glass of sun tea.
I'm sure this list will grow, but for now, that's a pretty good start.
Celebrating Football???...Finally - today is the Super Bowl...49ers vs. the Ravens. In honor of Mark's 49th birthday, I'm rooting for the 49ers. Honestly, I do not care about football - we only watch one game a year, this one and it is more for the commercials, the snacky food, the razzing each other about who is going to win etc.
Soooo Go NINERS!!!!
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Recipes :: Sloppy Joe and Macaroni and Cheese
So I've never really considered myself much of a cook. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy making food for my family...cooking delicious meals, baking yummy sweets - but I've never been one to create something on my own. Having a large family, we tend to find comfort in foods that we know we love and that people will be excited about - rather than working to convince our children how good the next meal is going to be. Over time, I've been making a Word document/cookbook to hold all of our tried and true recipes..Note that not all of the recipes are mine...they are versions of ones that I find online or old family recipes...but I thought I'd share some here with you.
One of our family FAVORITES are the combination of Sloppy Joe and Macaroni and Cheese. Sometimes the kids eat the Sloppy Joe mix on a bun and other times they just mix a scoop right into the Mac and Cheese.
Sloppy Joe
Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard
3/4 cup ketchup
3 teaspoons brown sugar
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
Directions:
In a medium skillet over medium heat, brown the ground beef, onion, and green pepper; drain off liquids. Stir in the garlic powder, mustard, ketchup, and brown sugar; mix thoroughly. Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
**All of these are "to taste" - if you like more green pepper, add it. If you don't like mustard, remove it...SO EASY.
Macaroni and Cheese
Ingredients:
1 (16 ounce) package macaroni
1 stick of butter
½ cup flour
2 cup milk (we've used goat milk in this and it's amazing)
2 cup cream
1 teaspoon salt
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese, good quality (or if you like other cheese, go for it)
In a separate bowl, beat two eggs together
Small squirt of mustard
Sprinkle with Italian style breadcrumbs
(**For cheese, you can switch the 4 C. cheddar to 2 C. cheddar, 2 C gruyere (shredded), and ¼ C. Parmesan Reggiano)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Cook and drain macaroni according to package directions; set aside.
In a large saucepan melt butter.
Add flour mixed with salt and pepper, using a whisk to stir until well blended.
Pour milk and cream in gradually; stirring constantly.
Bring to boiling point and boil 2 minutes (stirring constantly).
Reduce heat and cook (stirring constantly) 10 minutes.
Add shredded cheddar little by little and simmer an additional 5 minutes, or until cheese melts.
Turn off flame.
Add macaroni to the saucepan and toss to coat with the cheese sauce. Add two eggs and small squirt of mustard – continue to stir until mixed well.
Transfer macaroni to a buttered baking dish.
Sprinkle with breadcrumbs.
Bake 20 minutes until the top is golden brown.
(You can also freeze this recipe in zip-lock bags for later use - once you have mixed the macaroni along with the cheese sauce allow to cool to room temperature before adding to your freezer - I generally pull it out the night before and allow macaroni and cheese to reach room temperature; I then add the macaroni and cheese to a buttered baking dish, sprinkle with bread crumbs and then bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until golden brown on top and bubbling.)
SO SO SO delicious and very easy and feeds a crowd. We actually triple or quadruple the Sloppy Joe recipe. Try it out!
**Our children will actually request this for their birthday dinners.
One of our family FAVORITES are the combination of Sloppy Joe and Macaroni and Cheese. Sometimes the kids eat the Sloppy Joe mix on a bun and other times they just mix a scoop right into the Mac and Cheese.
Sloppy Joe
Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard
3/4 cup ketchup
3 teaspoons brown sugar
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
Directions:
In a medium skillet over medium heat, brown the ground beef, onion, and green pepper; drain off liquids. Stir in the garlic powder, mustard, ketchup, and brown sugar; mix thoroughly. Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
**All of these are "to taste" - if you like more green pepper, add it. If you don't like mustard, remove it...SO EASY.
Macaroni and Cheese
Ingredients:
1 (16 ounce) package macaroni
1 stick of butter
½ cup flour
2 cup milk (we've used goat milk in this and it's amazing)
2 cup cream
1 teaspoon salt
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese, good quality (or if you like other cheese, go for it)
In a separate bowl, beat two eggs together
Small squirt of mustard
Sprinkle with Italian style breadcrumbs
(**For cheese, you can switch the 4 C. cheddar to 2 C. cheddar, 2 C gruyere (shredded), and ¼ C. Parmesan Reggiano)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Cook and drain macaroni according to package directions; set aside.
In a large saucepan melt butter.
Add flour mixed with salt and pepper, using a whisk to stir until well blended.
Pour milk and cream in gradually; stirring constantly.
Bring to boiling point and boil 2 minutes (stirring constantly).
Reduce heat and cook (stirring constantly) 10 minutes.
Add shredded cheddar little by little and simmer an additional 5 minutes, or until cheese melts.
Turn off flame.
Add macaroni to the saucepan and toss to coat with the cheese sauce. Add two eggs and small squirt of mustard – continue to stir until mixed well.
Transfer macaroni to a buttered baking dish.
Sprinkle with breadcrumbs.
Bake 20 minutes until the top is golden brown.
(You can also freeze this recipe in zip-lock bags for later use - once you have mixed the macaroni along with the cheese sauce allow to cool to room temperature before adding to your freezer - I generally pull it out the night before and allow macaroni and cheese to reach room temperature; I then add the macaroni and cheese to a buttered baking dish, sprinkle with bread crumbs and then bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until golden brown on top and bubbling.)
SO SO SO delicious and very easy and feeds a crowd. We actually triple or quadruple the Sloppy Joe recipe. Try it out!
**Our children will actually request this for their birthday dinners.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Hoping...Planning and Dreaming
Hoping...Planning...Dreaming...Hoping...Planning...Dreaming...
I feel like we are doing a lot of hoping, planning and dreaming and not so much on the doing. Doing takes time and money, both things that are hard to come by when I work full time, Mark substitute teaches full time and we are just a few weeks past Christmas...meaning the after Christmas catch up has begun. Not to mention, we've been struggling to keep our heads above water for a bit. I'm hoping that we'll be getting a decent income tax return (it won't be as much as last year, nor am I getting my bonus this year *ahem, another story) - if so, it will likely be enough that we'll be able to breathe a little bit. That, along with Mark's long term teaching job should allow us to start getting some of our simpler projects. So we've transitioned into actual planning. we went through our catalog from Dadant (a beekeeping supplier) and put together a wish list (set into different phases of ordering) - below represents the first round of ordering. I'll print out this form and bring it, along with the catalog to our next beekeeping meeting. We'll walk through it, together with the group leader - to make sure we have all the necessities. What is amazing, is that the beekeeping association that we belong to supplies everything necessary for the extraction of honey (for free) - we'll need to sign up to use it, but totally worth it. Since our beekeeping school is scheduled for March 23rd and our bees our scheduled to arrive April 17th, we'll put the order in for our supplies and request that they bring the order to the school and we'll save a bit in shipping. WOOT!
The baby chicks are scheduled to arrive between April 9th and 11th - so next I will make a supplies list and make sure that we have everything necessary to keep them safe and warm. I'm hoping that our income taxes will help get these two things prepared - if the coop isn't quite ready for the chicks, we'll be able to keep them in the basement for a bit until it is ready. I'm not too worried.
I look so forward to getting the barn completely done - we need to put up some additional siding and then paint it. We have the paint, just need to get the siding pieces, get them installed, make the doors and windows and it's done. Slap on some paint and WaaaLaaa.
This weekend, we fixed the plastic that we put up on the barn to shield the insides from the snow. It's been pretty windy here and it pulled up one full side. So, yesterday we put a 2X4 up that would hold a good portion of the plastic down and put tons of staples in the rest. I'm hoping this will keep our flock nice and dry...well dryish :-)
Drake's English Angora rabbit should be delivering her babies some time between Feb. 1 and Feb. 8th - I'm hoping for a nice, calm, happy delivery (for Luna and for Drake to experience). He's really hoping to make a business out of this and I hope he can make it happen.
Mark's birthday is coming up on Feb. 2nd - YAY! Time to celebrate the birth of one of my favorite people in the universe. Hmmmmm....what cake should I make him!?!?!?
We've been working to keep up with oil this winter...but boy, I cannot wait for the wood burner - just to have that extra warm space in the house to warm your soul by.
We're needing another delivery of hay - hopefully we can get that ASAP.
In addition to everything else we have going on, we've decided to start tracking farm costs and keeping notes about what we do when. We think this will help us track the highs and lows of small scale farming.
On that note - I will leave you with photos from the farm...
I feel like we are doing a lot of hoping, planning and dreaming and not so much on the doing. Doing takes time and money, both things that are hard to come by when I work full time, Mark substitute teaches full time and we are just a few weeks past Christmas...meaning the after Christmas catch up has begun. Not to mention, we've been struggling to keep our heads above water for a bit. I'm hoping that we'll be getting a decent income tax return (it won't be as much as last year, nor am I getting my bonus this year *ahem, another story) - if so, it will likely be enough that we'll be able to breathe a little bit. That, along with Mark's long term teaching job should allow us to start getting some of our simpler projects. So we've transitioned into actual planning. we went through our catalog from Dadant (a beekeeping supplier) and put together a wish list (set into different phases of ordering) - below represents the first round of ordering. I'll print out this form and bring it, along with the catalog to our next beekeeping meeting. We'll walk through it, together with the group leader - to make sure we have all the necessities. What is amazing, is that the beekeeping association that we belong to supplies everything necessary for the extraction of honey (for free) - we'll need to sign up to use it, but totally worth it. Since our beekeeping school is scheduled for March 23rd and our bees our scheduled to arrive April 17th, we'll put the order in for our supplies and request that they bring the order to the school and we'll save a bit in shipping. WOOT!
I look so forward to getting the barn completely done - we need to put up some additional siding and then paint it. We have the paint, just need to get the siding pieces, get them installed, make the doors and windows and it's done. Slap on some paint and WaaaLaaa.
This weekend, we fixed the plastic that we put up on the barn to shield the insides from the snow. It's been pretty windy here and it pulled up one full side. So, yesterday we put a 2X4 up that would hold a good portion of the plastic down and put tons of staples in the rest. I'm hoping this will keep our flock nice and dry...well dryish :-)
Drake's English Angora rabbit should be delivering her babies some time between Feb. 1 and Feb. 8th - I'm hoping for a nice, calm, happy delivery (for Luna and for Drake to experience). He's really hoping to make a business out of this and I hope he can make it happen.
Mark's birthday is coming up on Feb. 2nd - YAY! Time to celebrate the birth of one of my favorite people in the universe. Hmmmmm....what cake should I make him!?!?!?
We've been working to keep up with oil this winter...but boy, I cannot wait for the wood burner - just to have that extra warm space in the house to warm your soul by.
We're needing another delivery of hay - hopefully we can get that ASAP.
In addition to everything else we have going on, we've decided to start tracking farm costs and keeping notes about what we do when. We think this will help us track the highs and lows of small scale farming.
On that note - I will leave you with photos from the farm...
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| Moo says - hey! what's going on in there? |
 |
| Nom nom nom says Jester |
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| Mabel wondering why I keep pointing the camera in everyone's face. |
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| Mabel and Jester sharing a bite. |
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| I love Lockhart. |
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| Snuggles for Jester |
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| I love that although he is really just trying to eat my zipper, Jester looks like he's smiling. |
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| Steve getting in on the action. |
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| Winchester - my new bunny. LOVE him |
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| Another view at Mr. Handsome |
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| Aww - look at Steve's handsome face |
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| Jester has very sincere eyes. Cutie! |
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Is it the weekend yet?
Over the weekend, we had a few nice days of 60+ degrees. It is days like that that make winter nearly bearable...nearly. We sat on the front porch and dreamed about what our spring would look like...and how different our winter looks like this year, than last. It really is amazing. Last year, at almost exactly this time, we had just brought Blossom and Josie home. Isn't that crazy? Since then, we've added all the others, we've moved them from an oversized shed to a mostly done barn, that we have built with our own hands.
I'm so excited to see where this next year takes us.
We've had some other, very recent, changes here at the homestead. Our daughter, Kait, and her boyfriend, David, have moved in with us. It was their intention to move back in when their apartment lease was up; to save money for a wedding/house/children etc.; however, David unexpectedly lost his job and they were pushed to move in with us, sooner than expected. We love having them here, but it also means a busy last few days of cleaning out the kids' bedrooms and swapping rooms around. Kait and David still have their apartment and need to finish packing and moving - Did I mention that their apartment is an hour+ away from us? So there is a lot of back and forth for them over the next few weeks. Did I also mention that with Kait and David comes a dog (a rambunctious border collie) and two cats (oh boy!)? So now, this house holds four adults, three kids, two dogs, six cats, three rabbits and fish, inside. Did I also mention that I'm allergic to cats and dust mites - which means now that I've been kicking up dust for the past three days and housing two additional cats, my allergies are through the roof. Nothing a little Allegra-D can't help.
In other news, the company that I work for is really booming. We are in the process of bidding for yet another program (we've already done a pilot program and are working to transition it to a full blown program) if the client signs on, then I've been tapped to manage that program, as well as my existing program. I'm really excited - it is a HUGE opportunity. I really hope that we can move this forward. It does mean some additional travel for me and that means time away from the farm; however, I'm willing to do that from time to time to help get us to where we need to be, financially. Additionally, I can use this as an opportunity to build up some frequent flyer miles and hotel points and potentially let it be a big benefit to our family. Now that Kait and David are living here - perhaps Mark and I can take that vacation we've always wanted to take (you know, the non-children, non-family, romantic vacation...maybe a cruise or just a flight to some place warm and beautiful?!) Hmmm...Wish me luck.
I'm so excited to see where this next year takes us.
We've had some other, very recent, changes here at the homestead. Our daughter, Kait, and her boyfriend, David, have moved in with us. It was their intention to move back in when their apartment lease was up; to save money for a wedding/house/children etc.; however, David unexpectedly lost his job and they were pushed to move in with us, sooner than expected. We love having them here, but it also means a busy last few days of cleaning out the kids' bedrooms and swapping rooms around. Kait and David still have their apartment and need to finish packing and moving - Did I mention that their apartment is an hour+ away from us? So there is a lot of back and forth for them over the next few weeks. Did I also mention that with Kait and David comes a dog (a rambunctious border collie) and two cats (oh boy!)? So now, this house holds four adults, three kids, two dogs, six cats, three rabbits and fish, inside. Did I also mention that I'm allergic to cats and dust mites - which means now that I've been kicking up dust for the past three days and housing two additional cats, my allergies are through the roof. Nothing a little Allegra-D can't help.
In other news, the company that I work for is really booming. We are in the process of bidding for yet another program (we've already done a pilot program and are working to transition it to a full blown program) if the client signs on, then I've been tapped to manage that program, as well as my existing program. I'm really excited - it is a HUGE opportunity. I really hope that we can move this forward. It does mean some additional travel for me and that means time away from the farm; however, I'm willing to do that from time to time to help get us to where we need to be, financially. Additionally, I can use this as an opportunity to build up some frequent flyer miles and hotel points and potentially let it be a big benefit to our family. Now that Kait and David are living here - perhaps Mark and I can take that vacation we've always wanted to take (you know, the non-children, non-family, romantic vacation...maybe a cruise or just a flight to some place warm and beautiful?!) Hmmm...Wish me luck.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Bee School and Beautiful Sky
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| The view off our front porch, when you step out of our bedroom door and look to the right. This is without photoshop - it was just a gorgeous sky and give me a really positive outlook for the night. |
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| Same sky, in landscape - I love the way the silhouettes of the trees look against the pink,orange and reds of the sky. |
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| Bee School Registration form and payment - how cool is that?!?! |
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