Our House

Friday Night

2011-12-30T19:55:00.001-08:00

Friday night pizza, is there anything better?? Pizza, popcorn and scary movies. Friday night camp out in the living room. As far as the dogs are concerned, it's nothing short of Shangrila!

I learned to make pizza early in the married years from my mother-in-law. Through the years, tweaked recipes and pure trial and error I have a combination that wins every time. I like having flavor in the dough, eat the center, dip the crust!

My recipe for pizza and movie night!

Pizza Dough
2 pkg dry yeast (just shy of 2 tbl if you use bulk yeast)
2/3 c warm water
2 tea sugar2
c cold water
3 tbl corn oil (or oil of your choice if you like)
2 tbl sugar
1/2 tea BOTH garlic and onion salt
2 tbl dry oregano (more or less to taste) OR italian seasoning, my preference is the Tuscan Style Costco sells.
6 1/2-7 c flour

Toppings of your choice, and lots of cheese! Generally I use 1.5 lbs shredded Mozz cheese per full size cookie sheet pizza.

Method:
*note* I use the kitchen aid and get to skip the bowl and spoon. :)
Sprinkle yeasst over warm water and stir in the sugar.
Let stand about 5 minutes or until very bubbly.
Combine the remaining ingredients with about half the flour, beating to a smooth batterbeat in the yeast mixture and then with a sturdy spoon, work remaining flour.
Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until it feels elastic, stretchy.
Not too stiff, not stick and gooey, it will be a bit tacky to the touch.
Place in a large plastic food bag or oiled bowl and let rise until doubled, cover so the dough doesn' t dry out.
When doubled, punch down and shape it to fit two 15" round pizza pans that have been oiled and dusted with cornmeal (I just use cookie sheets)
Add the sauce and toppings
Bake at 450 for about 20-25 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

You can freeze the dough if you like, just freeze before the rising process.

Pizza Sauce
1 (8oz) can tomato sauce,( usually I take a can of diced tomatoes, drain and puree in the blender with the herbs)
1 tbl Italian seasoning
Mix together and let chill in fridge for about 3 hours or more. If you want to short cut the spices, I've used Costco's Tuscan Style Italian Seasoning most of the time and it turns out great.

"Please??!!"

Following removal from the oven, allow the cheese to set just a bit to make the cutting easier, start the movie night!

Depending on the genre for the night, this may also include a blanket large enough for everyone to duck under...only to peek out again.

Big floor pillows, blanket piles, sleeping bags are a must! Don't worry, the canines will always manage to find a place to squeeze into and drift off into a blissful slumber....

Update

2011-08-03T11:52:00.000-07:00

You know, growing up I would hear the adults talk about how quickly the years went by. As a child, I thought they were nuts, perhaps it was the memory loss they kept talking about as well. In any case, the years dragged on as I made my way through school. Years dragged on as I spent years carrying children, pregnancy is a sure way to make a year go by slowly. Diaper changes, late night feedings, it seems that somehow these things add hours to the day, even when you feel like you could use a few more.

At some point, maybe the retirement of the diaper bag, the years started to speed up...to somewhere around the speed of light. There's nothing worse than something that actually marks this change in velocity. Blogs that you post to...well they do that. I'm looking at my last entry, almost a year ago, and I'm left wondering just HOW did all that time go by.

Summation Update:

Life (aside from breezing by so quickly) has a way of changing. Sometimes when you least expect it, in directions you may not have thought possible or probable. So life has gone here. In these last few months, farming has changed it's face here. Last spring I sold Amy, her steer will soon go off to the butcher to fill our freezer and the many assorted animals have decreased.

This spring brought the passing of Dougall the Duck. At the age of 5, we were expecting it, but it's sad none the less.

The sheep are still wandering around in the pastures, the old gray mare, some loaner horses to mow the pastures. No garden this year, no canning that I can foresee unless it's chili or stew. Some of the steer will find it's way into jars, you just can't beat that flavor it gets from sitting sealed in it's juices for a couple of months!!

There are reasons, but one of them being that I've battled varying decrees of depression for almost 2 decades. Last winter, I finally saw (yes it's possible to not see what's in front of your face) and started getting it managed. In the process, downsizing was not just practical, but necessary. Everything was downsized, I went on a clutter purge that rivaled any other in my life. That is still continuing, but the initial burst was...impressive.

So what is new? Starting back to school, looking for a job (HA! do NOT get me started on that one), regaining health, strength and stamina. Living healthy, being healthy. How is that different from a farm life? Isn't that about as healthy as you can get? Sure. It's also amazingly demanding and the more people it supports, the more important it is that everyone carries a share. When you barely have the energy to get your own chores done, it's hard to be a drivign force for the rest.

Fiber. My life still includes fiber!! I can't imagine livign without it. Mr. Methuselah is still head shed out there, he's even bossing around the steer. Seriously? One little sheep, one large steer...not exactly the outcome one would expect. I would love to pasture some woolies. For the time being, I need to track down a person that can decoat my woolies on a regular basis, so the flock stays where it's at for the moment.

My Etsy shop is up and running! That felt great. The grand state of Washington saw fit to close some loop holes when it came to online selling. Oooof course they did. In any case, it's there, it's open and there are things for sale. Sweet!!!

I know some of you, my readers, enjoyed the farm life insights. To experience, through my experiences. Part of me wishes that could continue, maybe it's held in the future, there's no way to know.

There are different experiences to come! I learned a lot through that experience and it effects how I see so many things in the modern world! It's made me a smarter shopper, a more eager cook, above all, it's brought a deep appreciation for some of the convenience I find in life now. Like....sleeping in. Yeah, you heard me...sleeping in is one of those little sweet things in life.

Football games without the hustle, grumpy cow and so on. Less stress.

I do miss the morning milking. When the world is quiet and nature is just waking up. For all the discomfort, winter morning milkings were probably my favorite! Ice forms very quickly in all those tiny crevices in your hands when it's 10 degrees outside, no parlor heater is going to ease that. The burning stops after a while, then there's just the rhythms of the barn and if you're very lucky, the light sound of snow falling. I think for me, that will always be the epitome of quiet solitude.

(Now of course, for the insertion of reality, this is about the time when the cow decides she's really unhappy with you for some reason, poops and smacks you upside the head with a warm gloopy tail!....end special moment)

Now, I have my spinning wheel. A couple of very lazy cats who will supervise when they see the need. My daughters are learning to spin, much easier now that there are two wheels. (story to come).

So what is life now? Life is life with a twist. ;) That's part of farming too. Sometimes things come down the road out of nowhere, you just gotta roll with it all.

Socks and Yarn, Yarn and Socks!

2010-09-27T08:33:00.000-07:00

So how's the marathon posting?? It's amazing how much one can accomplish when there are no distractions. Does this mean I'll be better about blogging on a regular basis? I make no promises, that's a sure way to entice life into going utterly upside down.

The garden didn't go well this year, so what I've been putting up has been what I can get in bulk. Apples are on the list this week, but it's given me more time to indulge in other things.

Like socks.

No, I don't spend my afternoons lolling around in large piles of socks......it does paint an interesting picture though, doesn't it?

I'm talking about the knitting of socks. Currently there is a box on the other side of the country, it's waiting for some wool that I sent over a couple of weeks ago. There are some very nice people (okay, I'm paying them to do it) that are going to turn said wool into fluffy roving. However, that means I need to keep myself occupied until my box comes back. In other words, I need to find ways to not pester the nice people at the wool mill.

This could take an additional outlay of monies. In fact, it did! For the first time, I indulged in sock yarn. (do you know how hard it is to justify buying yarn when you can spin it?!)

Disclaimer

To make this clear. I'm slightly obsessive about knitting socks, when I sit down to do it. They can be fairly addictive in the best of circumstances! Usually fine until I get half way through the leg, then it's just a ways to the heel, of course once the heel is finished may as well turn it. Then it doesn't take that long to work the gusset, that would be a good stopping point...yes? Once the gusset is finished, however, you're just about finished with the foot. After all, the foot is half stockinette and it goes very quickly. Well since you're just about finished with the foot, may as well just put a fork in it and work that toe really quickly. Since sock A is finished, you really should at least work the cuff of sock B, this will help prevent second sock syndrome. Before you know it, it's been a couple of days laundry is starting to morph into a new life form and the family has decided that self-sufficiency really isn't all it's cracked up to be. So, while I'm usually pretty good about working socks into life instead of the other way round....there are those days and those patterns.

Off I went to websites. Online is my only option for this since I have become a yarn snob. I wouldn't say this is a bad thing, I know for a fact I would get in more trouble if I were able to walk around a store.

First stop, Paradise Fibers. They're "local" for me (local has become a relative term) and I like that they support many of the fiber people in the area. A hot cup of coffee, slippers and dinner in the crock pot ('cause I've learned sometimes it just doesn't pay to fight it). One of my reasons for looking at sock yarns, is superwash wool.

Huh?

Oh, let me enlighten you. Machine washable.

Yes, wool that you can wash, cold water please, in the machine and it's not going to shrink down to super midget size!

*Pausing for the sunbeams and heavenly choir scene*

(No, I've stopped worrying about my mental state, it's easier to just sit back, relax and go with it)

Okay, back to my mouse clicking fun and coffee. I'm downsizing my standard sock needle size again and have decided to play with size 1's. For those of you unfamiliar with knitting needles, these are perhaps a micron larger than shaved toothpicks. That's a possible exaggeration of sorts and it probably doesn't help that my current set is only 4" long. Never fear! I have another set coming in another box (here today maybe?) that is longer, that box also contains Sock Innovations....I'm digressing slightly, just slightly.

That means that I'm opening up options with yarn. Oh the joy! Now, remember I have that box waaaay over in Michigan. Right? So, straight up wool, well I've got that covered. Why not play with something new? Can we say.....silk? Of course we can, in fact, lets! Yes, silk content would be wonderful.

An hour ambles by without much notice. Shhh....I'm doing my best to drown the monitor in drool. It would give Justin a reason to buy a larger monitor, I do my best to be an accommodating spouse you know. I've played at Paradise, KnitPicks and a couple others. The result of my daytime clicking?

Sqee!!!!!!

What?! It doesn't make you do that? Pfft. Okay, so here's the run down and what's happening so far.

From Paradise Fibers:

Jojoland Melody Superwash in Blues and reds & Red, Green and More. Straight up and down superwash wool.

Here's the Red, Green and More working up in the Pomatomus pattern.

Yarn: Definitely a yarn for size 1s. Varigated over all, but the strands are also varigated. Soft, fine, just a pleasure to knit with IMO.

Pattern: Knit on the recommendation of a friend. Love it! This is not a pattern to work when life is distractive. However, it's texture rich and hypnotic.

KnitPicks:

Imagination Hand Painted - Lullaby color way, 50% Merino, 25% superfine Alpaca, 25%Nylon.

This is the Imgainiation Hand Painted, working up Froot loop for a KAL (knit a-long) on Homesteading.

Stroll Tonal - Kindling and Foliage - 75% Superwash Merino and 25% Nylon.

Stroll - Merlot Heathers - 75% Superwash Merino, 25% Nylon.

Gloss - fingering weight - Parsley (on clearance) and Jade - 70% Merino, 30% Silk

That is the result of my foray into the online sock yarn world. While there's not much silk in that box, the Superwash is going to help make life a little simpler.

Shameless KnitPicks people just sent out another magazine and I have spied a couple of color ways that I would really, really like to play with. Fortunately, the holidays approach. I don't need to keep it all, it's the playing and watching how it works up that I really enjoy. The Jojoland yarns...well those will stay in my sock collection.

Amongst all the sock play, I went to retrieve the leavings of the mailman one fine fall afternoon and found a package. It was squooshy, with a familiar hand on the front and a llama. (I knew she'd find a way to send me her llama!) Children swarmed, packages always cause this reaction and knowing from whence it came they were eager to see.

The pattern is Jeeves. The yarn Sensations Bamboo & Ewe, Turquoise Multi.

This is a woman who can knit socks! They fit like a dream and have been keeping my toes toasty in this new fall chill we've had. Such a wonderful, out-of-the-blue surprise!!

There's my latest fiber fix. Now if I could just learn to read while I knit! There are those out there, who can do this. I'm not one of them. Yes, I've tried, no it wasn't pretty.

Off to play with Pomatomus!

(I think it might be a good idea to back off the coffee just a smidge as well.)

Are words necessary?

2010-09-27T08:31:00.001-07:00

Nope...I think the tongue says it all.

Catching up

2010-09-27T08:21:00.000-07:00

The days are turning crisp, apple harvest is coming in and it's time to start bedding the farm down for the winter. Justin had vacation the end of August which helped this process immensely!

The tractor was sweet talked into running. The pastures mowed into submission. The weather was just beautiful! Ah! We also found most of the irrigation heads again! This....is a good thing.

"Heeeeellllppppp!"

Bossy here, thinks the tractor is going to eat her. Not really, but it's a fun game to play! Personally I think it looks painful the way her udder flops around while she's frolicking, but she sure does have a grand time. This was also the day we discovered that she's NOT bred. Made a mental note that the full moon heat cycles are the ones to aim for.

Fall is in the air

2010-09-27T07:45:00.000-07:00

With Fall comes fair time! I love fair, it's the most crazy, hectic, "which way did he go, George?" time of the year. This year, however, it was not meant to be. Wednesday is the night that life begins for fair. It's the night that animals and exhibits arrive. On this night I had 4 children draped, curled or huddled on the various seating areas with glassy eyes, moaning voices and high fevers with no sign of breaking.

The inanimate entries were taken down, the living and their respective humans stayed home.

We did make it down Saturday to walk the grounds, see the results, etc. Lars did score a Sumatra cockerel for next year. Very pretty boy at that.....and he knows it.

So here they are, the entries requiring nothing but viewing.

Leif's Pelican.

Youth, non-kit division. It's a space troop transport ship. He's already working on his design for next year.

My entry, hand spun, hand knit division. Not the best display, but the sweater is super warm and comfy! This is yarn that I worked with earlier this summer from Huck.

These were my mom's entries. Grand Champion, can't beat that! No...really....you can't. The beads on that necklace are paper beads that I played with earlier this summer as well. I'm glad she worked them. They turned out the most interesting color combination, but it had me baffled as to what to do with it!

Next year's plans are in the works. It's good!

Invisible Children

2010-08-14T10:45:00.000-07:00

As I was dashing through my first caffeine hit this morning, the pieces finally fell into place. For years now, the clues have been there all along and yet somehow I failed to see. Perhaps because it's difficult to believe that which we cannot see. The only evidence of existence is subtle (or sometimes as subtle as an atom bomb) change. I can't really say why this dawning is so slow in coming, only that it is come.

I have two other children. The only information that I have of them is their names and the change that they create. From the information and clues that have been left, I believe that they are twins (one of each). Their ages, place of birth, etc are all unknown. So without further ado, I will introduce them to you.

Nautmi and Idano.

My other 5 have been fully aware of them for some years now, I can't say why no one really clarified this point to me.

"Who left the lego mine field in the hallway?"

"Idano."

"Who left the peanut butter mess on the counter?"

"Nautmi."

"How did that sweater and hanger get 20 ft up that tree?"

"Nautmi."

"Why is it up there?"

"Idano."

(Now I'm not sure why Idano wanted that sweater and hanger up in the tree like that, or how Nautmi got it there or looking for all the world like it belonged there, but I would really appreciate an explanation....took me forever to undo their work!)

I also realized, I really can't be too hard on them for causing such mischief and mayhem in the house. No birthday cakes, no Christmas presents. I'd raise a little cane too if I were them! They're highly intelligent, of that I'm sure. It takes quite a feat of engineering to get a wad of wet toilet paper that probably weighs a 1/2 lb to defy gravity and stick to the bathroom ceiling like that! You'd need just the right force and momentum. Too much and it splatters, not enough and it will simply fall to the ground again.

The one that neither Justin nor I have been able to figure out was how they managed to get the Winnie The Pooh figure THAT far down into the toilet S. It took all our strength and cunning to get it out again. You really need to admire feats like that.

They play well with the other children, have good appetites, good hygiene practices and really are the quietest of the bunch, albeit a little messy. So all in all, we proceed as normal. It does feel good to have this settled though.

(Don't worry, I've been concerned as well about my sanity for some time now. ;)

Do you think the hubby and children would think I've completely lost if I asked them to tell Nautmi or Idano to come see me so we could discuss their misbehavior?)

Animal Cornucopia

2010-05-21T09:40:00.000-07:00

We're getting fairly varied (say that 10 times fast) these days in the animal department. The farm cycle is running very well, now it's down to fine tuning for optimum performance. I hadn't really thought of all the critters that come around that aren't part of your standard idea of a farm, until this morning that is.

This winter brought a little mouse to the barn. Why do I mention the mouse? Well because for about a week, he'd pop his head out of the hole and get a milk squirt or two...thus Milk Mouse. Do I really know if it's the same mouse, have no idea....but it's Milk Mouse and probably always will be. I hadn't seen MM for some time and figured Fluffy had, had herself a nice milk raised mouse for dinner. Come this morning...MM shows up, gets a couple drops of milk and is off running back to it's hole. There's a nice smile in the morning (I realize it's a rodent, but I like mice, not rats, mice...and not in the house, I realize I'm being picky). Milking finds it's rhythm, Amy starts dozing, calf is snarfing for any missed bits of grain. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a bird staring at me. I peek under the boards and there's a couple of birds scratching around to see what there is to see. MM comes out to see what's afoot and starts doing the same. So there I sit, with a barn full of critters, wild and domestic, on a warm, sunny morning...just enjoying the show.

You have to love moments like that.

Natural Beauty

2010-05-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

I have an affinity for naturally colored wool and fiber. While adding color and the dyeing process is very enjoyable, the natural colors have a beauty all their own. If I wanted to analyze this, I can probably trace this back to the fact that my first fleece was a Jacob. On a recent rabbit excursion, some wool (sans sheep) managed to jump in the Suburban and come home with me! One woman willing to travel, one woman with a generous spirit and enough cargo space to accommodate has started my Private Reserve.

That ostentatious title is how I'm tricking my brain into being okay with not giving it all away. So, shhh, so far it's working. Aside from the color, there's a nice new range of breeds I haven't spun before. This will in turn help me decide which direction to go with animals....should I choose to accept the mission (hmmmm...what do you think?)

Back to the wool that followed me home. 100% fun.

I can't be certain, but I'm pretty sure this is from a sheep named Jill. This was an introduction to spinning in the grease.

Igor

Shetland

It's a family tradition to have issues with chocolate....so I'll blame it on genetics. He's next on the play list...I think.

Huck

Montadale cross/Jacob

I'm biased, I'll admit it. It's a first love thing.

I spent almost 2 weeks basking in the heathery pleasure of this wool. My free time was dedicated to it.

Carded (there was a wool explosion in the kitchen while I accomplished this) and turned into roving.

All spun up! This just tickles me. There's the color for one, but it's bulky weight. I spun fat yarn that isn't going to take a lifetime to work up into a sweater. It came out pure sproing and squoosh.

May Day!

2010-05-01T10:36:00.000-07:00

Bad, bad me for not keeping up with the blog. In playing the catch up game, I'm splitting it up into a couple of entries.

May Day!

I can't believe it's here already! Spring has arrived in all it's green and color. Garden beds are ready for planting when the time comes. Amy is back out on pasture and the steer is weaned.

Recap start:

I was able to get some gifts knitted this year with some of the handspun I've done. These two scarves are a pattern called Column of Leaves, the top was for Great-grandma Weigel, the next for my mom.

Christmas also started off a tad early, 5 am to be exact, due to a vocal little puppy. Jager is a red Golden Retriever....who retrieves very well, whether you want him to or not.

After a fun and food filled Christmas Day.

Seamus was less than pleased for a time, but figured out we don't love him any less...even if he has a stinky ear.

Amy decided to play ping pong with her abomasum again and we ended up having to tack it down surgically. She's now giving 4-5 gallons of milk a day, we're happy, pig is happy, chickens are happy...calf is unhappy that he was cut off.

January also brought the rebirth of the green Suburban and a conga line of trips to the car doctor. You know you've been spending too much time there when they start giving you price breaks out of sympathy. It's a place best left unexplored if at all possible.

It also brought Lars's birthday and mine. His last pre-teen year, I'm going to ignore the ever present shadow camped out under his nose...for one more year.

He's having a great year, has a teacher that likes to play Big Band during study times in class. Sweet!

March brought the death of my dryer. It had a good run, but did not go out quietly...it sounded possessed. So we have a pretty new dryer, that has no idea of the endless toil it's been sold into.

I'm being sent to retrieve caffine, so it's a good time to wrap this up for now!

Last of the births for a while

2009-12-19T21:54:00.000-08:00

Amy calved this morning! One little bull calf. So her record to date is bulls-3, heifers-0. Lars was the lucky one to bring the news, she'd calved just before he dropped the morning feed. Dang he's cute, he's also destined for the freezer. He's been out exploring, trying to romp and keeping Mama busy....I guess somethings never really change. Amy's proving to be a good mom, with the way she kept those two steers groomed we weren't too worried about it, but you never know. So, here we go! My year is starting a month early, whether I'm ready or not. I was sitting the other day thinking it's kind of like being excited about someone dumping a pile of paperwork in front of you and going crazy with anticipation. Another reason that I question my sanity on a regular basis. Yep, I do it every Spring with the garden....oh yay! Can't wait to get it all planted so that I can stand over a steaming canner while it's 105 out with no a/c and firmly convinced that winter can't get here soon enough.

.....................................yeeeaahhh...................

This morning was filled with the flurry of our first calf, I'm not sure where the afternoon flew off to, probably somewhere less chaotic. So this evening was catching up on the Christmas baking (I learned a few years ago not to start this too soon). My first couple of batches of gingerbread disappeared mysteriously within 2 days. Amazing, there must be a gingerbread vortex somewhere in the kitchen. So I was off to get dinner in front of the masses and bake. I still have "one" batch left, but I now have 100+ gingerbread men sitting on my counter. Yes, I counted, I'm also keeping track of the how many have been authorized to report to duty. Phase 1 is almost complete, but I ran out of steam. Phases 2-4 will begin tomorrow and continue on through the afternoon. That should have me well placed for the end of the week, provided I can fend them all back for a couple of days.

How time flies

2009-12-10T08:55:00.000-08:00

I do think about getting posts to the blog, really. Life keeps getting in the way, pesky life.

So what's new around the farm? Cold. It's cold. We've warmed up last night to a balmy 6 for the day's low, I think it got up to 24 yesterday afternoon. There's a slight dusting of snow, so I'm enjoying that....of course more would be nice (hopefully the powers that be are listening). Yes, I know that winter hasn't even officially arrived, but Christmas falls just a mere 4 days after said "official" date and I do love a white Christmas. Besides, if I'm going to become a living icicle it would be nice to have Cousin Snow to hang out with.

All the animals have been heat lamped, tucked in deep straw, tank heatered all the fun of the wintertime that comes with living here. The young rabbits are now all weaned, moms are getting a winter break. I have fingers crossed for baby Angoras this next week. Amy is bagging up, so there will be a calf soon.

Christmas decorations have been up for some time, still a few to finish but all will be in place for the holiday. I finished a couple of outside projects this last week, so now it's time to settle into the house and start baking. Oh yum!

Justin has been in New Mexico for the last couple of weeks for training, will be nice to have him home soon.

There's the news, time to stoke the fire and get the day in full gear. Maybe today I can foil the pigs so there's no out of pen romping...maybe...

Sickness and such

2009-11-09T22:43:00.000-08:00

It's got to be flu if Leif sleeps all day and I lay there not operating knitting needles. I dislike sick, but it does give me time to be crafty....I abhor sick if all I can do is lay there. None the less that's pretty much how I spent my time, that and checking Leif's fever. I do wonder though, if you're running a fever, can you reliably check someone else for a fever?

*If you're wondering where the thermometer is, cause that would make sense, join the club. It beeps you see and said above sick child gains endless amusement from making it beep while healthy and feverless....which of course means an issue arises when he is sick and with fever.*

Luckily, Justin was able to take that first day off and part of the second to oversee the household. Of course he'd had a run with some kind of creeping crud the week before. Although his was more of a hit you over the head and drop you to your knees kind of crud, didn't really creep up on him at all.

Now I'm just waiting for the rest of them to fall. It's going to happen, it's just a matter of when and this season is like some kind of sick and twisted pick a path for illness. There all manner of sickness, all of which I'd rather avoid but they seem to be very vigorous.

Rabbit trail: I loved those Pick-a-path books when I was a kid! They were fantastic, since you could read the same book and have a different story line each time. Can't find them, I've looked. I would love to get some for the kids though.

Well the beef and goats are in the freezer. No more Boyos for the moment. A word to the wise, be careful about what you use to call the bovines in with. If feels odd to have to call "Hey Boyo" to a cow.

Very tasty. The kids really enjoyed the goat, wasn't sure about that one. There's pepperoni cooking at the butcher now, so we'll have 25lbs of goat-a-roni soon as well.

I have more yarn spun up, playing with dyeing, some I'm liking more than others. Life threw a curve so I haven't gotten my shop up and running as soon as I'd have liked but I'll get there. I'm also trying to knit up socks and holiday stuff....oh the life of the insane.

Still haven't butchered the chickens, you have to admire my procrastination technique on this one though. I'm fairly sure I've out done myself with this one. I'll be canning them, now that's going to be great to have my own home-canned "dump and cook" in the pantry! Beef is on the list as well, figure I'll just settle in and pick a week to can meat...at which time I'll butcher the chickens...makes sense.....right? I could in theory stretch this out another few weeks since it would make sense to butcher when there's rabbit to can as well. Yes I've thought of that, no I probably won't do that.

Well....I'm not planning on it at the moment.

Easing up

2009-10-27T23:41:00.000-07:00

As it always seems to happen, life looks like it's going to ease up a little. I have (most days) stopped trying to understand how this works, but one day I look around and it's calm again. Now this could be the calm before the storm, probably since Halloween is on Saturday. Talk about chaos:
(5 kids+candy+knowledge of community bowl coming)vortex sugar consumption=H.
The math is pretty basic, the outcome never varies, the day after is always ugly.

I do love the equation though! Today the kids and I spent the afternoon putting up "The Webs". These were a request by Leif and his excitement and enthusiasm made it so much fun. The thought did run through my mind that store bought cobwebs are much whiter than the homegrown variety. It also occured to me that I was putting up cobwebs...on purpose...when I already had plenty to begin with! Mine aren't as pretty, I admit. The younger three then spent the evening drawing spiders (mostly black widows) for the webs.
Okay, you might ask me how much I'm loving it on Sunday. For right now, it's wonderful. Yes it's time for me to break out the "You could climb Mt. Everest in your underwear and this" coat, layering my fleece pj bottoms under my jeans, I have that nagging knowledge rattling around that very soon my nosehair will start to freeze when I go outside (I hate that by the way). From November to March I'm not like an onion, I am an onion.
My layers have layers.
If I'm not layered, I'm stuffed between the woodstove and the wall (this area is now referred to as "Mom's spot" by the kids). So why should I be looking forward to it so much?? Like today, the house smells of pumpkin spice muffins, a ham bone simmering away to make soup and woodsmoke. Snow.
Soon, I'm going to have a day where I can sit and watch the snow fall. To go outside and hear a muffled world. A full moon over crystalized snow is one of my favorite things to see. It makes not being able to bend my knee past a 35 degree angle and knowing Congress can come to a decision faster than I can get dressed in the morning, for 4 months worthwhile....for 3 months at least (that last month I'm ready for Spring to show up).
I guess I should get started on those thrummed hats!...and the socks....and scarves....or I should get started spinning so I can get all those things made.

Update

2009-10-25T10:53:00.000-07:00

"This is...hey, hey! Jim Neville from Belmont"
Yes, I'm quoting lines from The Black Stallion, do you have any idea how many times I've seen it lately? This is pay back, I just know it. When you add how many times I tortured my mom with this movie growing up plus what I'm watching now, I probably hold the world record for single movie viewing. I do still love this movie, but could do without the daily viewings. There are movies I'd rather not add to the "Thanks! but oh isn't that sad, I have chickens that need decapitation and eviceration....maybe another time." The Black Stallion movies should not be added to this list.

Butchering time! Steers and goats had dates with the knackers. This makes three animal types I've watched and still stand firm that I'd rather pay them to do it than fumble through it myself. Sure, I'd do it if I had to, but I don't so I won't. Besides, you can't beat driving across the road and picking up neat little bundles, freezer ready.
The rabbits are growing nicely, oh are they cute little buggers. They're eyes should be opening over the next few days, they are getting fur, and their ears aren't plastered to their heads anymore. Yes, they're still going into stew.
I just took a canning meat and seafood workstop, that's got me thinking of all kinds of canned goodness when the meat comes back from the butchers, the rabbits and chickens. While I was there, I had the lid checked for the canner as well. Go figure, may not look it, but it's still spot on. She even tested it twice. The needle doesn't sit in the zero anymore (this is one of Justin's Grandma's canners), but tested true each time.
I had to sign a release for before she did it, can you believe that?? Right, I'm going to sue the WSU if we all die from food poisening or botchilism. It does make me wonder if I can hold Revereware responsible for all those failed dinners over the years. Yes, I'm joking, yes it's a pet peeve.

The flue has descended upon our house. To date, Justin has had it the worst (probably the flu that no one wants to admit is here). He took 3 days off, considering it's a 4 day work week, that's amazing for him-who-does-not-take-sick-leave. It's settled in his chest, but I have something in my snake oils cupboard for that. Malina has had a head and chest, far different from what her dad had. I'm fighting something, not sure which, hit me last night out of nowhere. Doing better today, but still feeling sluggish. Figure I'd rather fight it than get it, watching my hubby over the last week has kept me firmly planted on the couch not willing to chance it. The rest of the kids are all doing just fine. I'm not sure what the hibernation time is, but I figure if anyone is going to catch the mutant strain from their dad it will show this week sometime.

There's what's new with us for now!

New Addition

2009-10-25T09:46:00.000-07:00

So can you figure it out? Radar believes (I think as most cats do from their very narcissistict view of life) that I've provided him with a very nice cat domain.

"While I appriciate your efforts, I know there's still liver in the fridge."

There you have it, a loom. Yay! I can start weaving now!! I've always wanted to have a stab at this and I'm loving it. Like spinning, it's very relaxing. This is a single heddle and from what I've been (trying) to read on the net, just what I want to start with. Going up from here, there are charts. Hmmm. I'm sure it's easy once you get started but right now it's making about as much sense as immitation cheese food.

Rabbit trail: Really, go check it out at the grocery store. You have cheese, cheese food (imitation of cheese) and then you'll find immitation cheese food. So it's an immitation of an immitation, which makes me wonder just what is it made from? If cheese is made from milk, cheese food has some milk product it in somewhere and some other unknown product....it begs to wonder what the immitation is an immitation of? Talk about a brain bender, better than chickens and eggs.

For now the loom is living in the living room (good place to live). I was feeling like a troll when it was in the basement, much easier to interact with everyone when I'm where they are.

This is what's on there currently, well one of what's on there. They're scarves, a bit wide, but will be great doubled over. Hopefully (flu and cold bugs floating around the house) I'll have these finished today, the one in the pic is finished, working on #2 right now. Then of course, it's on to warping it for the next project. ;)

First Farm babies!

2009-10-18T12:42:00.000-07:00

I guess it's not too surprising that the rabbits win this prize, but our first farm babies are 2 litters of New Zealand/Californian cross. All are doing well at the moment. Stats:
Olga: 8 with one death, 7 live
Hildegard: 8 live
So the rabbitry has grown from over night! Amazing how that works. These are both first litters for the does. All the babies are good sized, moms made great nests. Yay! Yes, we've officially gone from having rabbits to a rabbitry.
Rabbitry. I find that word mesmorizing for some reason. It sounds so very British in my head. The i, t, r and y just kind of roll into eachother, isn't that right old boy...hmmm?! ah, quite right, quite right. It's such a good thing that my internal dialog stays internal, for the most part.
I'm very excited! First births on the farm, it's a milestone. This is going to be a year of firsts for us, those big firsts. First "big" meat animals going off to butcher. They're supposed to be big, but I think a Dexter (no not the cartoon character, the bovine breed) jumped a fence somewhere. First breedings and births. It's going from starting up to operating and replenishing the livestock, feels good to have hit this stage.

When they're older, I'll get some pictures of the litters up.

Overcast and rain

2009-10-14T22:47:00.000-07:00

Fall has definately arrived here in the valley. Ask me in the mornings as I'm rolling out of bed sans fire and I'll tell you it's Winter. Yesterday afternoon the skies clouded over and the rain came, there's been some form of moisture descending ever since. I've noticed that I don't mind this kind weather when it's not a constant for months out of the year. Actually, today was a good day to sit and knit during the afternoon...so I did! Justin's second sock (considering he's got two feet this is really necessary) is almost finished.
Tomorrow I need to gear up the great laundry battle again, I'm starting to win. I can start to pack away the summer things and get out the heavy winter items (more laundry, egads!). We've hit mid October, it's time to start decorating for Fall!
I can't believe it's already mid October! Where did this year go anyway? You know, I try to follow my Great-Grandma's advice and live a day at a time, but I'd really like to ask her if they're supposed to go by this fast or not. I always think of her this time of year. Maybe it's the baking, the memories of a fluffy white head drifting around the kitchen and the smells that wafted out of that room when she was in it and her whisptles. She never did learn to whistle, although she did love it.
"When I was a girl, it wasn't lady like to whistle. That was something boys did, even after it was acceptable, I just couldn't get the hang of it."
In almost a century, she never did learn how whistle but she did whisple with style! You'll find that somewhere between a whisper, hum and a whistle. Sometimes, you could hear the song in it and recognize it. I can still hear that sound. It's funny but I've caught Lars whispling on occassion, caught myself doing it a time or two.

Rainy days are good for so many things! Of course as with all else in life, moderation aides appriciation.

Just Chillin'

2009-10-14T09:37:00.000-07:00

We had a bit of a name issue, so Chong became Jeebs (reference Men In Black).

Yesterday was musical rabbit for the kids. It was wet and dark out, good day to just chill with a bunny.

Bruce and Jeebs (I don't think either of them moved much for 30 minutes)

Lars and Jeebs
Jeebs parked out here for almost an hour, had a nice little nest going.

Fall on the farm

2009-10-11T13:15:00.000-07:00

It's definately fall here on the farm! Justin turned off the irrigation last weekend, the PUD calls it off this Thursday. While frost has been calling a visit over night, we had a low in the teens the other night, yeah that was just a bit chilly to say the least.
The steers will go off to the butcher this week, the cow will go into the small pen for the winter and we'll move the horses over for easy keeping this winter. The goats will be going to the freezer and the goat project put on hold for a year or two.
The angoras have furred out nicely! It's time to start keeping them groomed, although Cheech made a Great Escape attempt the other day. They're look less like chop jobs and more like fluffy bunnies again.
We've been burning fires the last few days, the stove pulling it's duty well. Getting into the hallway is getting to be a grand adventure some nights! Between Daisy the hound with no undercoat, the cats who are willing to call a truce to sprawl and Seamus who fits himself into the mix on the cold nights, it's a jumble of bodies. One misstep causes a feline-canine chain reaction that while vastly entertaining, is not something you want to find yourself in the middle of. I have my place in the mix, right between the stove and wall.
I love Fall. It's a wonderful time of year, everything winds down to a close. It's a time of year to take stock, make notes, close the books and start gearing up for holiday baking. The earth seems to slip into it with ease each year. It's not a season to hit you upside the head without warning. The lighting is warm, even if the weather is cold. It's the time of year when coffee and hot chocolate taste the best. They aren't defenses against the cold as much as they are accompaniments.

Well there are the updates, for now at least. I have a good 6 loaves at least rising next to the stove so it's about time to get them into the oven. Then I think it's time for some popcorn, yum!

Kids' News

2009-10-11T12:56:00.000-07:00

Ahh, the time of year for the first mid terms. Do you remember those? Lord I do. The time of year you got to find out how many more hours a night you were going to be spending hunched over your books like Gollum.
They're all do well! Bruce has achieved a first and currently holding the highest with all but one B in a sea of A! The rest aren't far behind and doing well with getting their work finished after school.

Lars has finished irrigation duties for the year. As Justin delivered the fateful news last weekend.
"Boys, I have good news and bad news for you. Good news, no more irrigation duties for the year.
*much smiles and cheering*
Bad news, since the irrigation is off, you need to start hauling water to the stock.
*Bruce from the backseat "oh yeah, I forgot about that."*"

Malina is loving school, usually ready by 9am, bus gets here at 11:50 and she's off to her learning. She's doing very well! Homework time is getting more complicated, but the older ones are pretty good about filling in when needed.
Anna is plowing through books like she's getting paid. I've lost track of how many books she's gone through since the beginning of the school year.
Leif has a great teacher this year and he's making progress by leaps and bounds.

The two older boys are doing very well. Lars is adjusting to Middle school, not as scary as he thought. Bruce is making the most of his final year outside of high school (okay that's just not right there) and really enjoying his woodshop elective!

There's the kid news! I need to sneak pics of them soon.

New Yarns and My News

2009-10-11T12:41:00.001-07:00

These are the results of my last mad farmer's market dash.

Autumn Meadow

Vintage Rose

Okay, it's not comletely true, I'm developing a serious issue with dyeing yarn. Every skein a surprise, I love seeing how they turn out!

My other news? Well me and my new and daring self (notice the plural usage there) have opened a shop on Etsy.
Yes, I have.
Hand me a paper bag please.

Curious? Here's the link Lazy Squirrel Farm

I'll be setting up the shop and getting things listed over the next couple of weeks. This idea has been hovering in my mind over the summer and Justin's been giving me poke between the shoulder blades about it every now again. I had two runs at the Farmer's Market, with some success and positive reviews about the yarn, so I'm taking the next step. I'm also taking the next step because 3 hrs in the frigid Fall weather was a good incentive to find a way to do this in closer proximity to my woodstove!

I need professional help

2009-10-06T20:38:00.000-07:00

So, I spent a couple of days, picking, flicking and carding. Spent today spinning. Why? I wanted to experiment in the kitchen with dyes. What happens? Not what I was aiming for, but I like them better than my original plan.

"There's no such thing as mistakes, only happy accidents."

Thanks Bob.
I'm now looking at two skeins that I'm planning on taking to the farmer's market this weekend. I'd rather not, but that's their purpose.

Introducing:

Harvest Moon

Autumn Wood

It seems to true when taking pictures of yarn, they never do them justice. Harvest Moon, while vibrant isn't glow in the dark. I love how Autumn Wood came out!

I'm still debating, it may not make it to the market, there's a pattern called Elvish Leaves....doesn't look like it's just begging to be knit up into a scarf called that?! *sigh* I wonder how may dilemas like this I'm going to have.

The problem that I'm facing now, I can't spin fast enough to keep myself in skeins to dye! I have a wonderful diversion from housework, it's fun to watch how the colors change as they dry. Ah well.

That's the latest! There'll be more to come, I'm doing housework at lightening speed (it's amazing what a little incentive will do) tonight, so that I can spin up another bobbin or two. Ugh! It's all just so addicting.

"Houston, we have a problem"

2009-09-26T22:20:00.000-07:00

How can you tell that you have lost all hope, you are addicted to fiber and your family unsure of what to do (or maybe unwilling to give up the products of said addiction) supports you.

Scene: peaceful living room, calm inhabitants, whir of a wheel going in the background.

All of a sudden there's a thunk. The wheel slowly comes to a halt, treadle is laying on the floor and everyone looks up stunned.

My ever faithful footman connector has died after 20 yrs. It gave up with no warning, unable to continue it's essential duty any longer.

*moment of silence*

No problem, figuring that it had limited life left I had bought a replacement when the wheel came home. Can I find it??? Noooo. It's 9pm. Stores are closed. My family is getting that deer in the headlights look.
Justin takes the peices out and examines them, I'm looking around, where did that fish tank tubing go? Glue stick? Something, anything for a temporary fix until a new piece gets here.
I stand there staring at the partly plied bobbin that is to be socks for him. I just need to finish plying, then I can knit and I'll be fine until I can reconnect my footman to the treadle.
Do I have a cupboard full of yarn ready to go? Yes, of course I do. What kind of fiber addict do you take me for anyway?? They're all for different projects, or I haven't decided what they're for, but I'm pretty sure J. won't go for lilac Kool-aide socks...even if they'll be hidden in boots.
Dear man quietly asks if I have some knitting I can do? No, nothing on needles at the moment.

"What about my socks?" Calm and soothing, I think he uses that voice to calm down hysterical people at work.
Well that's them, on the wheel.
Inside, I'm hysterical. My wheel is out of commission, this is clearly a time for panic and a VERY good argument for getting another wheel...for...you know...backup.
Outside, I'm calm, I'll come to a reasonable solution...just give me a minute to finish my internal hysteria.

Okay, I'll spin the wheel by hand, if it takes me all night I'm going to get that bobbin plied. At this point Bruce sits on the floor, grabs the footman, Justin cheers him on "If Mom says slow it down, slow it down, speed up, speed it up son." So for the next 10 minutes my son sits and spins the wheel, bobbin is plied, he even directs me when it's time to change hooks.

Meanwhile, as I'm watching my son watch the yarn wind onto the bobbin, I'm thinking maybe I have a problem and God Bless'em my family is suporting me all the way.

A picture is woth a thousand words

2009-09-24T08:37:00.000-07:00

Or so they say, but pictures just don't do these guys justice.

Angoras of the Lagomorph variety.

I've been looking at pictures for years, snagging a quick peek at the fair. It just can't compair to getting up close and personal.

All of our working animals are here and getting started. So my first "fun" animals are here. That's not to say they aren't working, they'll provide this oooooh so wonderful fiber, great fertilizer and the kids love to sit with them and pet (judging from the sprawl, the rabbits don't mind either).

Yes, I bought my first Angora rabbits last weekend. There's a breeder, Sue, over by Colville at Daisy Hill Fiber Farm. I crossed paths with her via a friend who raises different breeds, but rabbits none the less, at Two Hunnyz Rabbitry. For the last year I've been waiting and drooling over Sue's website. We started the meat rabbits, last of the for sure work animals and I started the ball rolling on the fluffier version.
I had a wonderful late summer morning drive over Hwy 20, a little on the drizzly side but this time of year that's refreshing! I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon wandering her rabbitry and farm, listening and talking, fondling very soft rabbits. It ended with a testing of a couple of wheels I've never sat at before, seeing some of her yarn and roving.
A complete Mom day. Quiet, wonderful, full of fiber and an espresso. I'll be feeding off that day for a long time to come.

So here they are in all their glory.

Neferteri

She's a German/Satin Angora cross. Yep, she's that fluffy. Justin thinks she looks more like a disembodied head than a rabbit. LOL

Chong

He's a German/Satin cross. He'll be our new house rabbit. His other eye is a bit off, but he's a doll! During his hair cut, he spent it sprawled on my lap watching TV. After he was sprawled on whoever would let him.

Not pictured: Cheech

German/Satin Cross.

Yep, Cheech and Chong. He's a little more active than his brother, but still more than happy to lounge. Every time I go out to his cage, he's got this look like he's been up to mischief. He's currently sans coat at the moment.

They're all from the same litter and I have plans to go over in the Spring when she has Satin Angoras availible. Everyone has since had a haircut and pedicure.

Satin Angoras have a gloss to their coats, they look like they've gotten into my bottle of Shine Drops.

I'm working on a batt that's 25% Angora and 75% Targhee. As much as I'd love a 100% Angora, I'm going to wait a little while. Maybe next fall when I have more.

Me and mine

2009-09-14T13:50:00.001-07:00

My entry.
It's filet crochet, vintage size 30 thread, size 10 steel crochet hook, 200 hrs for those curious about the details. The pattern is from an Elizabeth Hiddleson book and about the same era as the thread. It's backed on a very dark green velvet.

It's now over the couch, I've had that spot for it for the last two years. I'd taken the ribbons off, but the kids put them back. ;) What to do for next year? I'm not sure, I'm working on socks at the moment. I have another filet project that I'd like to do, two actually, but they're both going to take me a long time to finish.

Lars and Dougall

2009-09-14T13:41:00.001-07:00

Lars and Dougall, doing their thing.

Lars demonstrating penning.

The bird swap and Lars getting to handle a smaller bird. If you look down the table you'll see Dougall doing his best to enforce is evil duck image.

Lars and his blue, with Dougall standing there very please with himself.

Yes, Dougall is hiding behind his ribbon. He and Lars did a great job for their first time at the showing table.

Anna and Starlight

2009-09-14T13:36:00.001-07:00

Anna and Starlight in the spot light (say that 5 times fast)

Anna and her hen, see how well she's staying on the table?!

The bird swap, Anna had fun handling a different bird.

Ta Da!! She got a blue, not bad for first time out.

Adventures in Fitting and Showing, a novel

2009-09-14T09:26:00.000-07:00

I'll start off with saying, no clue. Had no clue. Consider yourself warned.

Easy enough, right? You take your disease, bug free animal down and enter them into the fair. Sure I know that 4-H does more, we're an Open fair though. So I figure we put the birds in, hang around the barns and figure out it all out for next year. HA! Wroooong....soooo very, very wrong.

Then evening before the children catch up their innocent, unsuspecting birds, get them caged and wait for Dad to arrive (he's gone off to get hog panels.) I finish up in the kitchen, listening to one very peeved drake, the hen has settled down in her carrier. She's got no worries, food and water all to herself, it's cool, she's takin' a nap. The drake, well....he's not impressed.
Dad gets home, the children pounce, they're all ready to get this ball rolling! Animals get loaded, Dad gives the order to
"Load the Birds so we can get going."
"They are honey."
"oh....well come on, what are we waiting for?!"

We join the throng of entrants, vendors and families getting ready for the fair. It reminded me of the movie "The Greatest Show on Earth". The birds get settled into their pens, watered, fed and we find the Superintendent of the barn to find out what comes next. There's a fitting and showing clinic the next morning, hadn't planned on doing that but she'd like them to try it out. So, the kids are skeptical, Lars more so. He needs to what with his duck? Dougall, stand on a table? Riiiight. He's going to do it, not going to do it, going to do it, not going to do it. Finally he settles on a take it as comes basis. We all pile back into the Suburban and head for home.
I'm left wondering if entering is that chaotic, what are the next four days going to bring?!

Thursday morning dawns early! First day of fair, the children bound out of bed (they need to be there before 8am to clean out pens, water and feed their birds), eager to get to the barn. I need my coffee. At the gas station I opt for the supercharged caffine blend, long ago I learned the wisdom of planning ahead. The morning progresses, animals tended at the grounds, back here to get everyone else off to school, make sure Justin is ready for his day (work intruded on his vacation), morning chores, housework, feed the rest an early lunch, back to the grounds for fit and show clinic.
Hmmm.....confidence is waning. Okay, well we have the information, now to get Miss Meena to school, back home to get Justin, more house stuff, load everyone up that's back from school and off to the grounds to get some hands on time with the animals.
Starlight is doing well, Anna's wandering around asking if anyone wants to pet her chicken. Okay, now it's Lars and Dougall. The lady with years of experience proclaims "He's a handful." Oh dear.
Long and short of it, Dougall got hung upside down...after which he behaved quite well. Lars worked him and we decided to call it a day at about 7:30pm.

Friday, it's the big day. Fit and Show, 9am. Justin took the kids down to the grounds, I stayed at home to milk, do farm chores, just about needed a block and tackle to get Bruce out of bed, housework, packed the two coolers for us to eat out of, got everyone ready to spend the whole day down at the grounds, Justin picked the rest of us up while Lars and Anna stayed behind to get some last minute handling and instruction in. While they're waiting their turns, they're getting last minute tips, listening to the judge's comments, Lars's arm is getting tired. Dougall is all tucked in under his arm and has, at this point, resigned himself to his fate and getting a doze in.
Anna is up first, it's going great until the judge put a pen on the table and wants them to demonstrate how they put them in and take them out. Anna, I tell her to watch what the others do and follow suit, Lars has turned a greenish white....just watch son....and breath. Then another surprise, the judge switches everyone's birds. Anna took it in stride, does very well and gets her hen back. Lars is calming down some.
This goes off well, Anna's doing great until the chicken next to her decides it doesn't like her hen. It jumps her, they both go off the table.....and again....Anna's flustered at this point. A group is asked to leave, Anna in them. She puts her hen back, very disappointed. I go with her, talk, tell her it's okay and she and her hen both did fantastic for being first timers! Come on, her hen stood there like she'd been doing this days out of the egg and she's a working farm hen. Good dispositon on behalf of the hen and Anna's been packing her around for the last day. I know that Anna doesn't understand, but I was really impressed with both of them. Sometimes you just get bad luck with the line up.
Everyone is called back up and she gets a blue ribbon. Ahh, she feels better but I know she had her eye on that purple ribbon. Maybe next year. ;) Off she goes to put on Starlight's pen and back again to see how her brother does.
Lars is called, I know he's dreading putting Dougall on that table. Dougall has some surprises of his own though and stands there like a gentleman. He fussed a bit at first, but settled down to grooming...or trying to at least. Lars completed the penning excersize perfectly, the Superintendent was very impressed. Neither he or Anna really had any instruction in this. He was starting to calm down, the worst part was over.
Now for the bird swap, Lars got a Phoenix pullet, while the poor girl down the table looked like she'd just been handed Daffy's evil twin. Dougall may behave for Lars and the nasty lady that hung him upside down....but he was going to eat this girls buttons for breakfast! He did try too.
Lars also took a blue, put Dougall back and the two of the, Anna and Lars, put in their request for next year's birds. Lars has decided that this will be Dougall's only year at the fair. He's best suited to the life of a guard duck and is retiring to said life. Next year, he wants to do a Call drake...they're tiny little things. Anna has a range that she's considering, but has it down to Frizzle, Call duck and Silkie. She wanted to try geese...but Mom's not doing geese, no.
Bruce voiced that he would like to consider it for next year, Malina wants to, Leif was pretty oblivious...he had a germ on the end of a string that he was flying through the air.

Big breath. Done...nope. Saturday brought Poultry Judging. They didn't have enough of one breed to do a line up so we supplied a line of Speckled Sussex cockerals. Lars took Reserve Champion in this for Juniors. Listened to why the chickens were judged the way they were and knew which ones he got wrong.
It was a lot for Anna to take in all at once, people everywhere, she did listen but she's reading up some more now that she's home.
Friday and Saturday were the marathon days, stayed all day, came home did the housework, got dinner for everyone and collapsed.
Sunday, was quiet until 4:30pm. We'd made rounds during the previous 3 days and Justin talked with the people in the Rabbit barn. The result is that we now have 2 Californian does for free and a very nice New Zealand buck (he's just a little narrow through the shoulders, but for a first buck he's great) for $10. We bought the does cages and one of the nest boxes. Okay, I have a Suburban and 5 kids, a duck, a chicken, 2 does, 1 buck.....I ran out of room at 5 kids. I spent a couple of hours running animals and accessories home, doing a little connecting of my own and finally finished up at 7:30pm.
As for me? My filet crochet piece took Grand Champion *grin*. When I went to pick it up, there was excitement to see what I entered next year. Don't know, but I'll figure something out.

Next year is going to be crazy too, it just is, but at least I'll know what to expect, what I need and be able to line up my time better. There's always the proverbial monkey wrench but hopefully it won't be too bad.

Today, I have a date with the couch, remote and a pair of socks. Sounds like heaven.

Fair Time!

2009-09-11T18:10:00.000-07:00

So the fair comes to the Okanogan Valley again! I love fair.
This year we took the plunge and entered. Lars and Anna entered animals, I entered a crochet project. It's been a lot of fun, grueling, but fun. The kids are down at 7am to clean out pens everyday. Today they had their first taste of Fitting and Showing, more on that later, so we were there all day....oh boy. Two more days.
I'll know what I'm doing next year, so that should help. It's been a lot of flying by the seat of my pants the last couple of days and I do that soooo well *insert sarcasm here*.

In any case, I have to admit that I've really enjoyed just hanging out at the fair for a change! We've had the time to really look at the exhibits, split them up over the days and just meander. The kids have been able to watch their friends compete, congratulation them on their winnings, run around and just enjoy. Small town county fair, couldn't think of a better way to end a summer!

Bald Eagle on exhibit

"Mom take a picture of the Bald Eagle!" Granted, we don't see them this up close and personal, they're usually up high riding the wind. Of course I took the picture. These are rescued animals that are unable to sustain themselves in the wild.

Leif. He's been running around all day, so much to see, so many people to recongnize and he's stuck waiting for his siblings to finish their 1st tour of barn duty. We've been at the grounds since 7 this morning, it's almost 4pm now.....Dad and Mom are just about wiped. True to the 8 yr old, he's still got energy to spare.

Justin actually managed to sneak a picture of me. I'm working on a pair of socks I'm making for a knit along sock exchange on Homesteading Today. We were taking a break, catching some shade and waiting for Justin's parents to arrive.

HA! I caught him. This took some doing, but I caught Bruce being goofy with his brother.

Miss Meena, not to be left out adding her own silliness to the day.

So we're still in the thick of it, but that's fair! I'm not sure however, if I'm going to be coherent by Sunday evening.
I think that Monday I'm going to make the couch my best friend, say hello to the remote and find something brainless to watch on Netflix.

The kids are very excited for next year. The Superintendents of the Poultry and Rabbit barns were very helpful. On the poultry side, they spent most of yesterday working with the kids and their birds, crash course in showing. Lars has plans for a Call drake next year, Anna did but she's thinking about doing rabbits instead. Bruce hasn't quite made up his mind, although the thought of selling a market hog has his mental calculator going.

More to follow on the entries, but it's been a long day and I'm beat. Time to head off to a prone position.

Bee Happy??

2009-07-26T13:42:00.000-07:00

Ooooo, so bad, I know. Really though, never thought I'd be happy to see bees. I was looking at needing to hand pollenate the plants. After the orchard hives were moved, we were sans bees. The girls and I had collected our feathers, courtesy of Dougall the Duck, when I saw some very nice girls doing the job for us! We're now all on produce watch. The green beans are about a week out. You know that first crop, takes forever to mature and then before you know it you're sick of picking every other day. The cukes have gone insane, for the first time I have a very impressive crop. I'm so excited! The melon bed, well it's a jungle in there. The watermelons are turning out to be very prolific, will definately be sharing these.
Amy is far enough along, that I can see the calf moving around in there! Yay!

So we've decided to keep the Berkshire gilt for breeding. Thus, she recieves an actual name, not menu listing. Are you ready??
Mrs Seaman Hornsby.
Why? Have you ever watched Operation Peticoat, Cary Grant, Tony Curtis.......yes? no? If you have, it makes sense, if not watch it and it will. ;)

Summer is progressing nicely! Before long I'll be up to my ears in the canner, taking daily steam treatments and really wishing for winter. Today apricot picking is on the to do list. A friend has a tree that I'm going to harvest from, I'm thinking that I'll be drying them.

High note. Goats got loose and ravaged my berries and plants. Happy side, the blackberries, grape, butterfly bush and moss roses are all coming back. Raspberries are gone, gone. Goats also don't like Petunias or Lilies....at all. It's time for new stake out stakes.

Kids are busy running around doing the summer is fun thing! Life is good. I'm focusing all my creativity energy on the filet project I started a couple of years ago. I'm almost finished with it and it will be entered inot the fair this year. Justin has been busy with work and is working on permanent hog pens. One more month and we're back to school fun and fair!

Whoa!

2009-07-18T17:16:00.000-07:00

This evening as I was getting ready to get dinner started, Lars walked in with a jar covered in seran wrap.
" Mom, say hi to Dragon."
"Who??" as I walk over to see what they've picked up this time. I'm expecting the usual, frog, grasshopper, maybe a praying mantis.......and then my eyes get very large once it registers. My son was very pleased with my response, which brought various other offspring galloping into the kitchen as well. It's always good when Mom makes that sound, whatever it is. There I stand staring at the largest moth I've ever seen in person. I'm also double checking the holes to make sure they aren't too big. While supressing the urge to start yodling, I grab the camera. I found it online it's a Big Poplar Sphinx. Big is right.

Wing span :
5 1/8 - 5 7/8 inches (13 - 15 cm).

More info here: http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=3416&chosen_state=53*Washington

For the record, that's a quart jar.

Finished!

2009-07-17T11:40:00.000-07:00

It's finished and looks so nice in the kitchen! The measurements are: 2ft 9in long x 2ft 1in wide, 12 yrds of fabric and took about 20 hrs. The top photo is the side that my mom likes the most, the bottom is the side that I prefer although I like both sides. The green and yellow mottled section, I tossed the strips put them in a bag and didn't look when I took one. I found I was thinkng about it too much. I do have another one planned for the living room, but there's orange and blue wool waiting to be spun up for winter wear, so that's going to need to wait.

Yay! A rug that I can change with my moods, it's like reversable clothing for my floors. I can hear Justin groaning now. To give me credit, I haven't changed my cupboards around significantly since we moved here, that's 4 yrs folks! It's a record. I have rearranged the living room several times, but that's what living rooms are for and out of consideration, if I happen to do it while he's working the night shift I always leave the lights on so he doesn't fall over the furniture.

Happy Birthday Leif!!!

2009-07-17T08:07:00.000-07:00

He's now 8........wow. Thinking ahead, he made sure the cars had wheels before he chose, it's the cake that keeps on entertaining! :) The bakery gals were just a tad nervous when he started inspecting the prospective cake, but really what's the point of getting a cake with cars that don't have wheels. That makes no sense at all.

Enjoying his day, while siblings wait silently wishing him to hurry up to the cake and ice cream eating part.

Group shot! All smiling and not from mischief.....okay Dad was being goofy in the background. I thought I'd take advantage of the moment, having lured them all into one place with the promise of sugar.

Do you ever hear the whispering wildlife show narrator start talking about your life??

"and here we have the fortune to witness a most rare event. All the
members of this pack, gathered together, enjoying eachother's company. This
occurance, so brief in duration, has only been captured on film a few times
over the last decade.........astounding."

*soft pretty music in the background as the picture fades and they cut to a loud obnoxious commercial*

Leif (at reminding his mother) got a new lego set, bike helment and a brand new bike, red. There's something to be said for a bike who's scratches and dings are all yours. (He was up at the crack of dawn the next morning, on with the helmet and riding as fast as his legs could peddle. )His brothers handed over the controler to the X-box for the whole day, watched his movie and let him choose the games to play (even the "we're going to just run in circles for 30 minutes and laugh our heads off"). The day closed out in about 30 seconds, snuggling on the couch with me and declaring he had a good birthday this year.

Officially a farm?

2009-07-11T09:24:00.000-07:00

What? When did that happen anyway. Could this be the reason behind the nagging fatigue, random moments of vague anxiety, my obsession with weather and the feeling that someone somewhere has change the 24 hr day to 12 which causes the place to look like the aftermath of the Apocalypse??? Okay, so I've always been obsessed with weather and at the last head count there were still only 5 progeny running around so I know another one hasn't snuck in without my knowledge.
Justin ran a list of the various animals running around about the place and it kind of took me back. Here's the list:

Bovine for eating
Bovine for milking
Poultry, including one duck (because Lars has held fast since he was 3, it's not a farm unless there's a duck)
Caprine for eating
Caprine for milking
Equine
Porcine for eating and a possible for breeding
Feline for catching the Mus musculus
Okay so in English this time:

Cows, chickens and duck, goats, horses, pigs, outside cat for catching mice. Check. Huh. Guess that explains a few things. I think the Apocalypse tryout is simply the result of having 5 very active children running around. Feed 10 cats, 1 gallon of pure caffeine each, put them in a 10x10 room filled with feather pillows and string one small fish from the ceiling, leave for 30 minutes.
You know that when you return, there will be nothing to allude to the existence of anything remotely resembling a pillow, there will be feathers in places Albert Einstein couldn't reason out how they got there, the fish and all evidence of it will be gone (including the string) and all 10 cats will be calmly sitting there, looking innocently at you with that "What?!" look on their face.

Don't forget the garden, at least I think it's a garden. I have a faint recollection of planting corn in there with Lars. I can get back to you on that, right now the weeds are winning.

This year was my trial year for the pea variety "Wando". Always makes me think of the Where's Waldo cartoons. Touted as heat and cold tolerant, heat was my main concern. They win. Surviving a late frost and pulling through high 90's heat that would have made my other varieties wail in agony and die, they got a little droopy but after a good evening watering bounced back and are still spitting out peas. Nice and sweet, even after the peak pick time. I would suggest not picking them early, the early peas taste great, but at maturity they have a wonderful flavor. They've run the gammit of weather this area offers with flying colors. Definitely a keeper.

Cantaloupes, Burpee's Ambrosia. These were the first that I planted and plant no other. Their flavor is beyond compare. Mine are flowing at the moment and it's going to be hard to be patient while they ripen on the vine.
Everything else, I'm still trialing. I have decent cukes for the first time in 3 yrs, time will tell if they do well for pickles. The new beds are doing wonderfully! That's the spot for growing the veggies. The boys don't disagree, it means less yard to mow. ;)

This years flock, Speckled Sussex, is growing well! I've been noticing some early sparring, and iridescent tail feathers are starting to show. Their size and growth have been impressive. They'll reach a nice size by butchering time. Something I really like seeing is their personality, very friendly without being obnoxious, accepting of other breeds. They're also turning out to be fairly hand tame, not adverse to being picked up and snuggled. If I can't find the girls, they're usually to be found out in the chicken yard with 2 or 3 chickens roosting on legs and shoulders while the rest mill around looking for a spot.

Well that's the news for now. Enjoying what's left of the maintenance time of year. Soon the produce will start flying and it will be time to start preserving. Ugh. Love eating it, but does harvest have to come at the hottest time of the year??? ........... Don't answer that, it's a rhetorical complaint. Ah well, such is this life. One guarantee though, no one will bug me while I'm in the kitchen and canning. Of course I don't want to be in there with myself either.....but I'll let someone with a degree figure that one out.

Little Pig, Little Pig

2009-07-11T08:22:00.000-07:00

Here they are in all their porcine glory! Finally, finally found someone with weaners. They were over by Spokane so my mom graciously brought them over for us (thanks Mom!). I usually like to have them earlier in the year, but this is what this year had to offer. Oh, I know...so cute! Wait, just wait. They get big, very big. Then they start to stink, then they'll figure out how to get out. They're smart, very, very smart. I'm not sure why calling someone a pig is an insult really. Pigs are by nature (unless defective and yes, we've had one of those) relatively clean animals, interactive and highly intelligent. Example, if you have the feed bucket and said pig is outside their enclosure, they will deduce that you plan on putting them back in there and will go the opposite direction....preferably in the direction of the nearest heavy traffic roadway. Downside. Upside, if you have a pasture containing horses and those horses have already tried to kill said pig, chances are said pig will not try to go into the pasture again. So of the two choices, the one they'll most likely choose, playing pig pong with high speed vehicles.

Picked up a new skill

2009-07-03T08:36:00.000-07:00

As I was browsing through a forum at Homesteading Today the other day, a thread title caught my eye. It was about "Toothbrush Rugs".
.........................

Huh?? Never heard of such a thing, so off to the web I go. Google is my friend. I love Google. Google reminds me of Tony Curtis's character in "Operation Peticoat", you need it, it will find it. It will find things you didn't know about, things you'd probably rather not know about.......rabbit trail, but they're fun.
Anyway, 3 minutes later I'm watching videos and reading up. Cool! I found a site with pictures of a lady named Maymee (I'm a poet and don't know it. I've got feet and they're longfellows.....and my childhood out in Bayne strikes again.) and how she makes hers. Looks like fun, looks useful, I love braided/rag rugs, looks like a good way to spend the hot, hot hours of summer when breathing sucks your will to live. Now is the time for that internal dialog:

"You need to learn a new pastime like you need hole in your head.."
"Sure, but I've always wanted to learn to make braided rugs."
"Again, repeat the last thing I said. You're already running an hours of the day deficeit."
"It's not a pastime, it's a skill! If I can make them, I won't have to buy them and they'll be the style and color I want. It's affordable, I can start by using up all that fabric we've been packing across the country for the last decade or so."
"................dang it."

Ha! I just won, or lost depending on how you look at it. That gets too confusing and my brain starts hurting, so I don't think about it too deeply.
The battle has been fought and I'm off to find an old toothbrush and fabric. Found both, defiled Justin's tools to craft my "needle". The kids told on me when he got home, little tattle tails. :)
So are you wondering what these things are?? Just what the name implies, you fashion a needle of sorts from an old toothbrush and use torn strips of material to make a sort of braided/knotted rug. I've included a link at the bottom to the page with instructions.

Here's my needle. I used a Dremel and a sander, finished off with sand paper. You can whittle it down then finish with sandpaper, but then you don't get to use power tools. ;) It took me about 20 minutes to make this way. I used an old child's toothbrush, but the traditional style would give you a larger/thinner needle. I'll make one of those next. This part was fun all by itself!

Here's the patterned material. I was never going to use this, so into strips it went.

I found a sage green knit fabric, bulkier, but hey I'm experimenting. Remember that nightmare dye job??? Can't find out new things unless you experiment. ;)

Here's what I have so far. This went very quickly! I worked on it during the heat of the day and again in the evening, a little this morning. I will say it took me almost 45 minutes to figure the directions out! I was ready to start talking to the walls (they're very good conversationalists though) and then it clicked. It reminded me of when I was learning to tat, couldn't figure it out, then it just clicked into place. I like the look of it! There's a hint of braided rug, without the worry of the braid sewing coming undone. The underside has a raised pattern, I'll need to get a picture of that later.

And the close up.

If you have some scraps, unused clothes, etc. I would give this a try! There are a couple of other methods out there, but I think this is my favorite.

Info site: http://thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org/lochist/periodicals/bittersweet/sp81g.html

There are also some tutorials on youtube, just run a search for "toothbrush rugs".

New Venture

2009-06-27T11:23:00.000-07:00

Yeah, yeah, I need a new venture like I need a hole in the head (ever wonder how that saying came to be?? It's mistfied me since I was a kid....rabbit trail, but good scenery.) Anyway, these are something I've been thinking about making for a while. Beads, creativity, simple, fast....perfect. So here's the first set, my muse seems to be taking a holiday so they're pretty standard, nothing unusual really, I do like them though, very summery. :)

Kermit and more

2009-06-26T13:34:00.001-07:00

As said, I finished plying "Kermit" up last night. Specs: Navajo 3 ply, 239+ yards, 14 wpi. There are another 3 batts waiting in the wings, so there should be a good amount of yardage when I'm finished.

Next that proverbial list comes the dyeing for winter warmness. I'm having the kids help in this process. They're helping to pick, dye and card. I'll do the spinning and knitting. :) I'm still doing the Wilton's and still learning at that. This is Lars's color choice, orange and royal blue. One thing about the food colorings is the blues tend to seperate and this batch has unfortunately. I think I'll move to commercial dyes for some colors.
The orange is a mixed color to gain a deeper hue. Now to see how they turn out.

Dye Ratios 1 part=1/4 tea Wilton's food coloring

Kermit: 2:0 Kelly Green

Orange: 2 no-taste Red: 1 Golden Yellow: 1/2 Brown

Royal Blue: 1 Royal Blue: 1/4 Black

Summer has begun

2009-06-25T20:34:00.001-07:00

The gardens are growing! This is the first year that I've had decent cucumbers since we've lived here. The tomatoes, watermelons and peppers are all blooming, the berries are forming up nicely. Unfortunately, the corn is turning out to be sporadic. Oh well, it will all come together one of these years! Maybe I should dig up some more lawn for the corn patch since it seems to be working so well for everything else. :)

A sure sign of summer is a tent in the back yard. They've all been sleeping out at night, with a dog or two. :) Of course the night's outside have begun a new pastime for the children, "Night Games". How are they played, well much running, laughing and shrieking are involved. They're great for getting the heart going. A firm must to is to try to raise your siblings fright level above your own, without making them so scared that they don't want to sleep in the tent. That of course would mean that you would have to sleep out there all alone, which is "no fun" and won't be done...even if the dogs are willing. ;)

The highlight of my summer, the stay of the Hummingbirds. I haven't seen the variety this year and I have in the past. My favorite is the Calliope and I haven't had one. This year it's been Roufus and Ruby Throats. There were a couple of others, but I haven't seen them lately. I decided to give Fuscias a go again this year. They were a must for years, but they didn't do so well for a few years and I stopped buying them. The back patio has a nice amount of shade with a little sun. They seem to be doing better, one more so than the other. In years past, the Hummingbirds played with the fuscias, so I hung the feeders on the bottoms of the baskets. There has been a lot more activity with this than previous years! I'll keep doing this, even if it's not fuscias.

So the rest of life? Same kind of crazy! Amy is giving 2 1/2 gallons of milk steady. Now that the chicks are hitting pullet/cockeral stage they are doing a good job of eating up the excess milk. I'm letting it clabber and they really like it. Next on the list is using that clabber to make hard cheese.

I'm starting to dislike my list, never seems to get any shorter. The 80's weather is coming back again so more wool washing is on that dang list too. I have some dyeing ideas for more of this fleece I'm working on (it's on the list too). That California Red fleece is beckoning from the closet as well. I'm thinking a nice thick, comfy sweater is it somewhere. Oh and the filet crochet project that has to make it to the fair this year, I have 17 rows left on that.

The kids, aside from camping in the backyard, are enjoying their break....or so they tell me. ;) Lars has had a break from his irrigation job, 1st cutting just came in off the fields. We're settling into our routine finally, so it's calming just a bit.

Latest Fiber Fun

2009-06-25T20:08:00.000-07:00

Kermit

I've had this dyed for some time, but finished the first bobbin today. There were so many ideas going through my head while I was spinning this! Beading yarn is something that I want to start playing with, in fact I beaded a small portion of this to see. I used light translucent beads, thinking of daffodils. Still, it just wasn't quite right. The thought that it reminded me of something kept running through my head. It hit me yesterday. Kermit the Frog! So, this will stay bead free and Kermit green.

Last Day of School!

2009-06-11T18:19:00.000-07:00

They're all mine for the next 2 months. Mine I tell you!....Bwahahahahahah. Oh dear, either the heat is getting to me or 16 yrs with Justin is finally beginning to have an effect.

Yes! The children are officially on summer vacation! So it begins. They've all gotten their teacher assignments for next year and very pleased with who they'll be getting. The 4th grade teacher has gotten Anna, that means so far he's taught/will teach the oldest three....and he keeps asking when the next one through is due. Anna is very excited to have him next year.

Lars recived the Principle's Award again this year. Big doin's. He recieved it his first year at this school and his now his last in Elementary. He's pretty thrilled about that. Needless to say we are very proud of him.

Lars recieving his award

Bruce and Grandpa went boot shopping! He's got his boots. Now, we'll get him fitted for a hat and he'll be set.

There it is, summer begins. This fall we'll have all 5 in school, one in Junior High, another middle schooler making his way through and still have three in elementary. Wow.

Finding a moment

2009-06-06T09:29:00.001-07:00

Moments seem to be getting lost in the larger picture lately. I can't believe that June (and with it the end of the school year) has arrived already!! We've been super busy here, so as I sit here in the company of my morning coffee cup I thought I'd take a moment to share what's been going here.

Lars would like to enter Dougall the Duck into the fair this year. However, this means being able to handle...or at least catch said victim. Bruce has become our resident winged creature wrangler. He can round up chickens faster than anyone I know, apparently he's branching out to ducks. ;)
Here we have a clash of wills, can you feel The Force????

"You are no match for me and my brother, Darth Dougallous."

Like so many stories, they all live happily ever after...in some form. In Dougall's case, it was getting a new pool to play in. I think that's the most duckish behavior we've seen in him! Dougall suffers from species confusion, I guess it was bound to happen. The sole duck in a flock of chickens, we really should get a hen or two for him. I'm sensing a summer of trauma for the Dougall.

June has arrived and it heralds it's own kind of insanity. The end of the school year, beginning of summer vacation and a child high that surpasses any sugar known to man. Children and teens across the nation evacuate their houses of learning with shrieks of glee and in the background you can hear the quiet sigh of parental groans.
Okay it's really not that bad. I'm looking forward to having them all home, come the end of August I'll be really happy to have them all back. The timing works out well.
There is one thing, however, that I always seem to block from memory until it's upon me. The last two weeks of school. There are more events, picnics, field trips, just-because-we-don't-want-to-be-here happenings and to dos than the whole year combined....and they're all crammed into a just shy two week time period.
I guess I've started humming the circus music, unaware. Malina asked me the other day if I really liked the circus "Cause you sing circus music all the time!" I guess that must be the case. Life will settle into the summer routine and it will be better.

This house came with all kinds of wonderful little surprises. One of them being a built in ironing board. I don't know why this tickles me so much, but it does. I found that it's a great set up for the drum carder though. A few days ago, while I was getting some wool through and ready to spin, I just let it set up in the kitchen. I'd been cleaning up and discovered Nani, I guess she found the perfect napping spot.

"Don't disturb me, can't you see I'm engaged in highly important research?"

The summer fun has started for the kids. Malina has been busy searching for "Tadapoes" or tadpoles. We don't have as many this year since the pond is dry. Last year I had a couple of 5 gallon buckets filled with them, the kids believe in catch and release, catch and release....much to the chagrin of various life forms here. Leif is awaiting the frog hunting season. Anna has taken up beading and is working towards being able to sell some items at the Farmer's Market.

Lars is contemplating band, drums.........oh dear.

Bruce is looking at Football this season. He's also starting to count down to his driver's permit. *gasp*.......how did that come around so fast????!!!

Justin is still pretty busy at work and the summer celebrations are going to be coming up soon. We'll also need to think about fertilizing the pastures again next month, possibly if Potash has come down in price any. He's finished the lawn system! Yay! It runs twice a day for 15 minutes on each section. No need to worry about it, well unless you're out wandering around checking plants and it happens to come on. There's still the backyard to finish, but the kids talked me into a copper butterly sprinkler when we were out flower shopping. It works, it gets moved around to water back there and the kids and duck play in it.

I'm still engaged in the wool battle. The Cotton Candy yarn is almost finished and I have an interesting green that's sitting next in line. Other than that, it's that wonderful down time between planting and harvest. Putting some finishing touches on the recovering the house. Bruce, Justin and I all worked and finished cleaning out the barn after winter (some wonderful compost in the making there). So the big Springtime jobs are wrapped up finally! Ahh, big deep breath.

It's looking like a windy day here in the valley, good day to catch up on some laundry and get those sheets on the line. Mmmm, gotta love the smell of line dried laundry!

Busy days!

2009-05-25T13:01:00.000-07:00

May is coming to a close and the season is starting to pick up! Nothing heralds "Work, Get your Work here!" like the first truly warm time of the year. No, not the "point and laugh, thought it was goinig to warm up didn't you...fooled ya." warm, the nice "okay, summer is coming" warm. Yes, there's a difference.

Winter brings a lot of things, snow, crackling fires, crackling hands and an increase in coffee consumption. Of course, with that increase the coffee can population in the house sky rockets. There's nothing like a coffee can, a good tin coffee can. Their uses are endless and usually so is the supply. This year, however, either we drank more coffee or there are no more small tidbits to be stored in a trusty, rusty coffee can. It's possible they bred, the laundry and dirty dishes do, maybe they decided to join in the fun. In any case, my waiting to be used coffee can storage was bursting at the seams by the time Spring arrived. Hmmmm.......

I hate to throw them out, so there they sat, multiplying by the week. Well with Spring comes flowers, with flowers comes a need to plant them in something (can you see where I'm going?), with those needs comes my yearly hem'n haw session in the garden centers. Containers are spendy, I'm sure I could manage flower beds too.

Oh now just hold the phone there missy! Shall we revisit the not so distant past of last year??? Coming back to you is it?? I thought it might. Just for the record, last year.....everything died. Irrigation died, plants died, only the weeds survived . No, not right now, no time to manage flower beds unless they are artistically wild......they aren't, soon, but not just yet.

It came to me in an epiphany! I'm sure I saw something similar years ago, kind of a "duh" moment really. The equation is simple.

Coffee can + spray paint + plants + hanger = Cute, finished, retasking, clearing out some room and completely me.

Better yet, I can make more throughout the season and have my little planters barfed all over the place. No weeds. I wander around watering with the kids and I can have the pretty.

Yay! I are smart. ;)

End result? They're a little thin yet, there's nasturtiums planted in there so they'll fill out during the summer.

Nothing is safe from them. ;) The one above is by the chicken yard, the one below is on a fence post by the pasture. I have more of them up, more that are drying and more that will be made.

Anna and Malina helped plant, Lars helped pick out, Leif was busy chasing baby grasshoppers and Bruce, well.....he's 13 now, come on! He helped paint actually.

Lars and Anna helped get half the corn in yesturday. I'll put more in next week, got a little too much sun the last couple of days and I've been banned. It seems that I've developed something of a sun allergy, so I need to ease myself into the sun. Biig problem. By the time it shows up, I'm really ready for it. Too much all at once and I get a rash. Anyway, apparently I wasn't sneaky enough with the itchy, or it could have been that it was kind of hard to miss....but I've been banned. Argh! Ah well, I've been washing wool and planting on the back patio, hanging up the laundry, all things I can do with minimal exposure.

Justin has been busy working on the lawn irrigation today. It's going fairly well, the children are familiar with most of the words he's used so far. Upside (yeah me and that upside), when he's finished it will be automated, and the heads will sink down. No more snapped off irrigation, well atleast on the ones that have been replaced.

Color Yarn

2009-05-14T12:53:00.000-07:00

Wonders will never cease! I made some time yesterday afternoon to ply up the extreme cotton candy dye job from the other day. It hasn't stopped me, I currently have a very vibrant green drying in the kitchen. On the upside, the vibrant colors are really helping to combat the weather! Today is really reminding me of my childhood and my Aunt's kitchen. Something about quiet rainy days, wood stoves and all the smells that go along with it.

This is a very interesting yarn. I could take pics of it all day and pick up the different colors in it, depending on what the light is doing out side. The riot of color has been tamed, but not broken. Still have more to spin up, but I'm thinking I'll have about 400-500 yds of this when I'm finished. I haven't mastered guesstimating this yet.

Some Color!

2009-05-13T08:19:00.001-07:00

Au Naturale has it's place, but you really don't want to see it walking down Main street right? Same goes with yarn, while I love yarn in it's natural hues, there are those times when life needs a little color and sometimes you get a little more than you were prepared for.

Do you ever have those moments in life where Bob Ross goes floating by the edges of your consciousness saying "Remember, there are no mistakes, only happy accidents."??
Well I had one the other day and all because I thought I'd dye some wool. Keeping in mind I've played with Kool-Aid (people really drink this stuff???) and had wonderful results, but the spectrum is limited and they go and change them all the time. Off to the internet/web (depending on how much your inner geek is speaking up) I go. Food dye, frosting dye, oh joy. Due to the gregarious and curious nature of the young offspring roaming free about the house, I'm keeping the dye stuff to the semi-toxic at this time. Wonderful people in cyber land have provided instructions by the ton. Okay. How hard can this be? Just follow the directions. Check............oh wait..........directions??.......me..........riiiiiiight. Have you never watched me cook?

It's getting late (by mother of 5, farm wife, starting to feel on the ragged side of young terms), but I'd like to have something to play with the next day. I decide to e-x-p-e-r-i-m-e-n-t. This is how I trick my perfectionistic voice into keeping quiet...er. Soak the wool for about 20 minutes in a vinegar/water bath. Get the dye bath ready. Drain the wool and stuff in said dye bath. Now I'm thinking, some parts are going to be more saturated with the vinegar than others, more color variant, fun. I'm experimenting right????? So I let that stew away on the stove top, plenty in there for a project. Oh, color. I specified to my darling husband that I'm playing, what color should I choose??? Playing? Try violet. Sure.
Wool is simmering away. Yay? P-brain starts whispering.
"You did not soak for specified time."
"I know, I'm experimenting, either way as long as it's not mud colored (I'm sure I could find something to make with that anyway) it will be fine."
"The water is still blue, you didn't soak it long enough, you need more vinegar."
"It will be fine!!! Be quiet."

About this time of my self-arguing, my helpful husband came in and started stirring the wool. Did I over react? Yes, judging from how high everyone jumped. Oh dear.

Well, I get curious and gently scoop some out........uhhhh.......
"Told ya so."
"Shut up P-brain. Where did I put those paper bags?"

The night has worn on, P-brain is chirping in one ear and I keep my mantra up. "This is a learning experience. I'll be able to take something away from it, I'm learning and HAVING FUN!" It's entirely possible that I was foaming at the mouth slightly, maybe a little wild eyed. The rest of the family had evacuated to the living room and I think they may have even had an emergency exit strategy in place.
I'm tired now, officially tired. The last of my energy has seeped from the marrow of my bones and breathing has become akin to climbing Mt Everest. I drain the wool.....................

No one should underestimate the power of adrenaline.

That's not Violet. It looked like cotton candy from the 3rd dimension.

"Told ya so."
"Bite me."

Maybe it will look better in the morning. In any case, I'm tired and P-brain is happily chirping away. Ugh.

I get up the next morning and I'm greeted by the spawned wool. I need coffee.
Apparently P-brain and Bob don't. They both start in. Now there's two of them twittering and chirping away in there.

Fan-flippin-tastic.

Now, apparently (said sarcastically) I'm a bit stubborn. IF and I say if, that's true I would prefer to think of it more as persistent. That has such a pleasant ring to it, don't you think? At this point in the game, you've already jumped off the metaphoric cliff. So there are two options, close your eyes and scream in terror....or......keep your eyes open and hope you spot the road you were looking for in the first place, may as well enjoy the view too. I'm persistent and an optimist. ;)

Well the caffeine hasn't quite woken me up and Mutt and Jeff are still chirping away. I start teasing it all out, noticing though (oooo this is where all that persistence and optimism starts to kick in) that not only has the whole batch been dyed in a wide variety of seemingly unnatural colors (if they are natural, Mother Nature is keeping them well hidden), but the locks themselves are sometimes multi-colored.

Well, well, well. This puts a new twist to things (oh dear, spinning and puns). So as I spin, I'll have a guaranteed variation because the locks hold different colors. This could be fun. Miss P just stammered a bit. Of course she quickly points to the blinding shade of magenta.
Sending it through the carder, set me back a little, but I'm still seeing promise. At least the heathering has toned some of the more obnoxious shades down a bit.
No time to give up, keep on going. What's the worst that's going to happen? It doesn't look nice? Live and learn, at least I'll have learned what NOT to do.
Time to get it on the wheel, within the first few drafts I can see that this is going to turn out well. Bob, sensing that his work here is finished, ambles off to find some happy flora, Miss P huffs off into silence with a trailing "I still told you so." and I keep filling the bobbin.

The end result is violet in appearance, in that I was successful....kind of. There are, however, shots of very vivid colors. I left the nubs in (oh, come on it's what I spin) and a bit larger than single than normal. I'm thinking a nice cool summer night wrap for one of the girls.

Wool gathering isn't so bad after all

2009-05-11T19:32:00.000-07:00

Oh, I know, ha ha.

I have a growing addiction to fiber and it all started so innocently! Firstly, I've been crocheting longer than I can remember, honestly. I've always crocheted. My great-grandma taught my mom, and in turn, she taught me. I do remember getting pointers from Great-grandma, "Keep your tension even, don't rush." Crochet doesn't always translate well into clothing however, so at about 10 I started my (unknown at the time) very long battle with knitting. At 13 spinning looked like something fun and my bought my wheel. An Ashford Traditional, unfinished, some practice fleece and a Jacob's coat fleece. I wanted the finish to age over time and with use, so I finished it with a linseed oil finish. I still remember the days I took doing that! To a 13 yr old, it seemed to take forever and I had wool to play with! You know, someone should have seen the signs right there and stopped me, for the sake of my future children and husband. Of course, little was known about the symptoms and signs back then, I guess they can be forgiven.

After what seemed an age, my wheel was dry and assembled (yep, did that all my own self too). Ha! Darn, you know spinners make it looks so easy. Time after time, the wheel just sucked the wool in. I don't think you could even classify my first attempts as super bulky, they made super bulky look like laceweight. Anyway, I hung in there and started to see some results. My mom signed me up for a beginners spinning class, she was probably tired of all the 13 yr old female weeping I was doing at the time. Over time I found my groove, then I found a husband. Mom had started spinning by that time and the wheel stayed with her for the next 15 yrs. The Jacob's coat sits in splendid heathered skeins she's made along with a couple that I did all those years ago.

This last winter, the wheel followed her over during one of her visits and has stayed. The last 15 years have witnessed my battle with knitting and my victory. My crochet has been allowed to park in the "fine" department, and has no other obligation than to create visual beauty for my home. In wanders the wheel. I love my wheel. I'd also like another wheel, I've had it picked out for almost 6 yrs now. ;) Of course with the arrival of the wheel, has come the arrival of the need for fiber to feed the wheel. Spinning Wheels seem to have large appitites, just a warning in case you were thinking of buying one. Luckily, Mom brought over some fiber she'd had kicking around for some years. It lasted about a month, it bought me a little bit of time at least. I did buy some roving to hold me over until the Spring shearing.

Spring arrived and I asked at the feed store if they knew of anyone in the area that sold fleece. That's how I met a very nice man. He did have fleece, lots of fleece actually, which he ended up giving to me. I filled the Suburban, and while entertaining the thought of a second trip...Justin, very nicely, told me no. I don't hear that very often from him either. I'm so glad he said that. I'm still processing it. There's enough here to feed that wheel for some time. I have enough to experiement with dyeing, which I've started already.

So for all those curious, I have pics. :) These are Targhee X Suffolk, Targhee or California Red. The fleece in the following is one of the "lesser grade" and a Targhee/Suffolk. I put quotes, because this wool drafts and spins like butter. It just melts into yarn, oh so wonderful!! Well now, onto what I've been playing with for the last month.

Not the best picture in the world, but this is the dirty just sheared fleece. At this point, little did I know.
I wash my fleece in Orvus, and weather permitting dry it outside, otherwise it dries in the kitchen, which my very wonderful husband is permitting.

I spent a couple of days washing and drying. It's been 15 yrs since I've done this and chose a culled fleece to practice on, the top fleeces are still waiting. Here, it's time to flick the locks. I use a dog brush, it works and is less expensive than official Flick carder. This helps seperate, fluff and get out any remaining matter in the fiber. This is one method, my mom usually teases, then there are combs, nasty claw looking things. Honestly, this is my least favorite step in the process.

So it's all flicked and picked, time to send it through the carder. This is a drum carder that my mom picked up, fairly soon after she started carding wool with the hand carders. ;) I really appriciate this device! The purpose to this step, get all the fibers pointing in one general direction. Usually any little bits that have survived will come out in this step also. I'll send the wool through at least twice or three times, depending on how it looks. This is also a fun step from the aspect of blending colors. There's all manor of things you can do once you enter into the world of colors, fiber and carding.

As I said in the beginning, this all started so innocently!

Oooo, yes, I've been having fun. The penny is for size reference, but these are fairly standard singles for me at this point. This is the bobbin that I have on at the moment, will be plying it as soon as I'm finished writing this up, chest cold permitting. I don't weigh my yarn, I probably should start, but I do measure. On average I get about 200-300 yards, plied. This bobbin took me a few days, Spring prep and all that. A cold has decided to vacation in my chest, so I spent yesterday filling up the last half. If I stay in the habit and spin an hour a day, my speed picks up and I can fill one up in a few hours. I'm still not a speedy spinner though. ;)

....and now it's yarn! Here it is, three ply. Okay I cheated, this is the last skein I finished, but the singles are similar. This one came out 320 yards. Again, penny reference. There's still a lot of twist left in this one, I'm working on getting that figured out. Right now, I let my yarn relax in the cupboard. I'm not washing them to relax them since I'm not sure what I'm dyeing and what I'm keeping natural. They do relax over time, so either way it works....for now.

Here's one of many ends. I made a mobius head scarf. It's a quick project, I love the twist and watching it knit up. This was out of a skein I did quickly and the yarn is slightly thicker than what I'm doing right now.

There you have it in all it's wooly goodness!

I do love this craft, more than I thought I would really. It's very practical, which appeals to my "multi-task, make the need feed the want" philosophy. Beyond that, oh there's so much. During the winter and the cold, the sound of the wheel going with the crackling fire in the background, they combine and create a very comforting atmosphere. It relieves the days stress and worries like nothing else, better than a hot bath some days. There's also the deep sense of satisfaction, of looking at something that I've taken from dirty, sticky fleece to (fill in the blank).

I will draw the line at raising sheep (if I didn't, Justin would!). I don't really care for sheep, okay I don't like sheep past the lamb stage. While I'm entertaining the idea of keeping an Angora goat or two, maybe some rabbits as well, they aren't sheep. There are sheep people in this world, who love to raise them. I'm perfectly comfortable with the fact that I'm not one of them.

Catching Up!

2009-05-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

A pair of ducks that showed up and hung around the other day.

April proved to be a very busy month! We finished cross fencing the pasture for the cows, so Amy and the beefers have been happily munching on the new spring grass. Justin caught a break in the weather, work and...work to fertilize the pastures as well. This has been sitting on the back burner since we moved, it feels good to have at least started on it!

This was also the month that I started getting some things in the ground. Yeah, I'm behind on my timeline, but I had an inkling this might happen so my pea variety has better tolerance for the weather here. Seriously, these guys were still trying until last Thanksgiving! I should have enough time to pull two crops out this year. Hopefully I can get caught up in this area soon, but I do have lots of help! Malina and I spent the whole day in the garden beds. She helped put the peas and strawberries in! She has since planted apple seeds in the backyard. We can always move them if they sprout. :)

Of apples, we have apple bloosoms this year!! Tip, spend the money and buy the older trees. :) We're all looking forward to apples of our own. Last year gave us one small pear, poor bee she traveled far to make that happen!

April is also the traditional chick month. I'd rather get mine earlier in the year so they aren't molting in the winter, but they were sold out of the Speckled Sussex until the end of April this year. So April 27th brought the arrival of these guys,

It was time to replace chickens and this past winter was hard on my flock. We decided to go with Speckled Sussex when the girls were free ranging, but I like their look and pullet size anyway so there didn't seem to be a reason to change. There are 25 of them right now, straight run, so not all will be around to see winter. I do have a reason for it, the last time I picked out chicks, there was one rooster out of almost 30! I also know that if I'd ordered hens I wouldn't have butchered them. This way is easier, and I'll get a rooster. LOL As a reward for spending so much money, we also recieved a free exotic. ;) It looks to be a White Crested Polish. Everyone is holding out for rabbits, but I think one of them will enter it in the fair this fall. Maybe once the feathers come in all the way, someone will change their mind.

Here's Bruce modeling the chicks for me. ;)

Speckled Sussex

White Crested Polish (????)

They are currently residing on the back porch, quickly out growing all the containers. I'll be moving them to a box on the floor soon. The cats are just waiting patiently. :)

Life has been interesting here to say the least. Plant starts in the windows, fleece drying in the Kitchen (the fleece more on that later), chicks on the back porch, buckets of beet pulp plumping for feed...it's a good thing I have a large kitchen! Depending on the time of day you catch us, it looks less like a room and more like a Mad Hatter processing plant. One more month and I can take a break...sort of.

Cheese and Yogurt

2009-03-29T10:23:00.000-07:00

"Success!!"
*said in the best Dexter voice*

That was the first thing that ran through my mind yesterday as I looked down upon 2 gallons of well coagulated milk. Hmmm, that sounds fairly disgusting doesn't it? Allow me to explain. About 2 weeks after Amy showed up, I discovered that I was going to need to find a way to use up milk, not a problem I've run into up to this point. Ice cream was a natural first, I've made it before and it's a nice treat to have around. Yogurt was a second, but I ran into the problem of incubation so I had to ruminate on that for awhile. Cheese....okay....cheese. That's a good one, stores longer and you just can't deny the comfort factor of anything containing cheesy goodness. So off I wander into the expanse of the internet to find my information. Oh dear. Hours of video, reading and learning later, I'm thinking that pigs would be a good idea. However, I'm not one to be put off by a challenge and so enters my Mozzarella Frustrations.
I've figured out that hard cheeses are going to need to sit on that proverbial back burner. I have the molds, just need the pressure gauge....of course I do. Fresh cheeses are my only option on short notice. I start with a vineager cheese, super simple but not up there on our list. I move on to cream cheese, great only I'm running into the same problem I have for yogurt.
"Next, please..."
Mozzarella shows up.
Little did I know, so naive, that this cheese would turn me into something akin to a mad scientist, hissing and snarling in the spot lighted recesses of my kitchen during the late hours of the night (and at times the daylight hours, but I prefer to not scare or worry the children...much less my husband.)
They (all those wonderful people that have posted instructions so graciously) make it sound so simple! I read about people with great results first time out, I read cautions, I read trouble shooting......I was not one of those fortunates. All of the problems I read about stemmed from pasteurized milks. Mine isn't, shouldn't be having problems with raw! Aarrgg!!!
It was the curd you see. I couldn't get a "clean break".....basically, my milk wouldn't cooperate with me. It didn't want to set right. Too soft, one batch just simply refused to anything at all...just sat in the pot staring at me, quite content to remain, well...milk, liquid. That just defies the science of it all! Introduce acid to milk, and what do you get?? Curds. Then you put in the rennet and it solidifies into a curd mass, the glue to get all those little curds into one big one. Riiiiiiiiight. No, not here, not at my house. I'm still harboring feelings over that pot of science defying milk.
I had minor successes, meaning edible successes. We ate them, melted over pizza, and what we didn't eat the chickens were more than happy to gobble up, so I probably shouldn't complain too much. Still, it wasn't right and me carrying those perfectionistic genes, slowly started morphing...Jekyll and Hyde syndrome.
Finally, yesterday, born of frustration, fatigue and a slight glimmer of hope from something I'd read that morning, I achieved a "clean break".
The clouds parted, choirs of angels sang, I'd swear a beam of sun shone through the windows down on my pot of fully, beautifully coagulated milk.
I took a knife and started cutting (very apprehensively), solid all the way down, smooth all the way through (those angels were really belting it out by this time). The rest is history. I separated the curds from the whey (can't say that without thinking of Little Miss Muffet). Heated and stretched a wonderful batch of cheese, reheated my whey and have almost a full quart of Ricotta....yeah I'm thinking lasagna too. The chickens had the leftover whey with their feed that night and I'm feeling a little more sane.
So the tally from those 2 gallons of milk?
6 oz of butter, cream skimmed from one of those gallons, and from the gallon of drinking milk for the day.
2 lbs of mozzarella
1 lb 10 oz of ricotta
Now the fun part, can I do it twice??? ;)

Yogurt

So now I arrive at yogurt. Well I put off yogurt, even though it's purported to be the easiest thing to make from milk, for practical reason as well as others. Namely, plain yogurt...what am I supposed to do with plain yogurt? I know all the cools kids are using it, but I'm coming to the realization that we really are at the core, non-conformists. Passive, but non-conforming none the less. For those of you in my life that have figured that out already, quite laughing.
This came last night when Justin asked how the deliciousness of smoothies had escaped our household until now? They were all the rage a while back....oh....that's probably why. It was one of those light bulb moments.
Moving on, yogurt came into our life, last week, mostly because I need to find alternate sources of protein and amino acids for myself and a couple of the kids (no I'm not vegetarian, just don't really like most meat forms, bacon, I could eat bacon all day). Knowing this, then came the searching for ways to get the yogurt into the system. Fruited yogurt is a natural conclusion, but eating can be inconvenient at times, drinking works better and so I found smoothies. I should have figured this out faster, it was a trick my mom used when I was growing up to sneak all kinds of nutrients into me. Hindsight is always 20/20...that should read 30/30 it's usually better than perfect.

Making the yogurt was simple enough, until it came to the incubation part. A yogurt maker is out of the question, I'd need at least three of them to make enough for a couple of days. There's the cooler method, but I don't want to go buy a cooler. Light bulb in the over, right but that means a trip into town, and I've forgotten the last couple of times. That leaves me with a heating pad. I'm smart, I can figure this out.
Heating pad and lots of blankets, what do I have to loose? A gallon of milk? It doesn't sound like much, but I don't like to waste things and there's at least 45 minutes of my life in 1 gallon of milk. Failed yogurt could go to the chickens I suppose, but I'd rather not, it just seems wrong to feed them a failed bacteria growth session. On the other hand, they'll eat mice, snakes, all manner of bacteria infested things...makes you start to look at eggs differently.

I finally settle on my method, heating pad, infrared thermometer (I love shopping the tools section for possible kitchen gadget candidates), towels and blankets to keep the warmth in.

Check
Check and

Check.

Follow the steps, pray the store bought yogurt is live, pour into jars and don't peek for 6 hrs. The not peeking just kills me. I hate not peeking. At the end of 6 hours (we don't like tangy yogurt, more hours, more tang), things are looking pretty solid! Into the fridge and now I have to wait til morning.
Yay! I made yogurt! I'm so easily amused and pleased. Frozen strawberries await, a little bit of honey or sugar, a little bit of vanilla (eventually, when I remember, a little bit of flax seed), a touch of milk and a nice long whir in the blender and I have a wonderful strawberry smoothie. Yumm! They do get more complicated, I'll keep it simple.
The only problem I have now is keeping enough yogurt around to make them, or that I can't turn the blender on without having half of the household appear in the kitchen instantly to see if smoothies are in the making.

Captain Von Trapp, he had a whistle...me...I just flip that little switch. ;)

Stomach flu and Twisted Stomach

2009-03-18T20:47:00.000-07:00

I'm guessing that March is to be the month of stomach upsets.

Bruce came down with an awful case of stomach flu this morning, here's to hoping and herbs that it stays away from the rest of the house. In all fairness to the stomach flu virus, it's been a couple of years since we've had a nice little tete a tete, maybe it's just making sure we aren't feeling ignored. :) Still, that was one sick boy! Just laid on the couch and slept until this afternoon, ignoring the marathon of UFO shows (well he did watch a couple, but only half heartedly) and X-box. He's looking better this evening and had a bit of dinner, so now we'll see.

Amy's displaced abomasum, or Twisted Stomach. I mentioned it briefly before, but not with much detail about the situation. That was an interesting, induction into cow ownership and happened, of course, in the middle of a couple other life insanities. It went something like this.

We'd been getting Amy ready for AI, Lutalyse shots to make sure we had the ovulation day right, when I went out for evening milking to find Miss Amy looking...well she was off. She'd settled in nicely by this point, even shown a little sass. Attacked her food with a healthy dose of gusto. Well there she is, just looking at her grain, nosed a couple of mouthfuls, pushed the alfalfa around but not even breaking the flake open, for the entire milking. Her head was down, something was definitely off. So I wrapped up, and started checking her over right side first...since I'm there already. No cuts, no change of breath smell, eyes look dull but good, her tongue is always dark, gums look good. Over to the left side. Same deal (working head to tail this time), until I hit the pins...she seems a little bloated. Now I did a goat with bloat, I don't like bloat, so now I'm starting to get to worried. So I double check the udder for anything more unusual than her norm, check under her tail and she kindly offers up a stool sample. Normal cow flop, but I've been listening and watching. No burps from either end, well there's something to take note of.
Nothing more that I can really do out here for the time being and it's best to call the vet and see what he has to say.
I wrap it up out at the barn and get back up to the house, talk to J and grab the phone. I'm straining the milk as I dial, no use in wasting it..."Waste not, want not" those old sayings pop up more and more with the face of my Great-grandma. I'll hold it in the fridge until I know whether or not it's safe to drink.
The conversation goes something like this, keeping in mind, our large animal vet doesn't move or talk very fast. I'm sure he can, I just haven't seen him do it yet. He's a fantastic vet though.
"Hi Doc, Amy's not acting well, she's off her feed and well...off ." (such oratory skills I know)
"Yaaa..h..."
I list off what I've noticed, nothing new she's been eating this batch of grain for about a week, hay is good, in short.....nothing new but the shot. I'm sure I blathered, I blather when I'm out of sorts or worried. I'm also starting to think I'm sounding like a worried hen.
"Yaaa..h.........(oh man, worry levels are going up).........weee..ll......"
We discuss her feed rations.
"Okay, well I'm thinking....she's a dairy cow an'all....sounds to me like a, well commonly known, twisted stomach...
(oh that doesn't sound good, can I not do this right now?! please?)
it's a displaced abomasum..
(that sounds worse, thank you for giving me the other name first).
Odd though, usually we see it in cows on a higher concetrate diet.
(well doc, I hate to break it to you, but 'usual' doesn't hang around here very long)."

The conversation goes on from there, no she's not down at the moment, okay we'll watch her and have you check her in the morning. I'm okay until the word Surgery comes up. My brain climbed into the basket for the rest of the night.
Through the night I check up on her every so often, J stops by and checks on her in the early morning, still not eating and mopey.
I head out at morning milking time, don't see her (please can I not do this right now??), take a breath and walk in. There she is, only now she looks like she should have "Goodyear" painted on her sides. I milk her out, not much there and I'm trying to keep a level head at this point. I brush her a bit and now she's got diarrhea, vet asked about that last night.

At this point I'll add-I worry (probably bordering on paranoid) about being over-reactionary. Am I going to sound like a fretting mother hen?? I'm really worried though and starting to wonder what's with me and milkers??

Another call into the vet, he wants to see her.
We get her up there (it's about a 40 minute drive from here, I'm sayin', he's good). He "pings" her. Thumps her sides and listens with a stethoscope. A displaced abomasum makes a sound similar to hitting a beach ball, it's what he said.
What it is: that part of the stomach normally sits towards the right. Sometimes, usually from diet, it swings itself over to the left and you get a traffic jam in the gut.
Remedy: open her up, put it back and tack it so it stays where it belongs. (Breathe, breathe)
About this time, she pitches another nice little fit. I guess I can't blame her, she looks like the Goodyear blimp, that's got to be uncomfortable and here's this guy who keeps thumpin' on her. So she stepped off the end of the trailer and emits this smell......I can go my whole life without smelling that again (but really, what do you think the odds are?).
He's keeps at his "pinging".
I can't help it, every time he says that I see Cary Grant, making the pinging sounds in a scene from "Operation Petticoat". I probably look like I've lost my mind, I'm trying really hard not to giggle, oh yeah, I also giggle during times of stress (I've hit my stress load by this point)....boy did that get me into trouble when I was a kid!
Verdict is in, it was a displaced abomasum (wait a minute "was" ), but she seems to have put it back herself. Ruling, when she stepped off the end of the trailer, it was enough jog to swing everything back the other way ("Like the pendulum doooo...." my brain goes into a odd place during stress).
He went on to add, cows will do that, sometimes a nice bumpy trailer ride will joggle things back in place. If they ran across a cow that kept at it (displace, place, displace, etc), they'd tack the stomach anyway.
All that and I still got the potato salad made for the Saturday potluck. I was rather proud of that accomplishment, considering I felt like I'd been drug through a knothole sideways, then hit by a mack truck.
"When it rains, it pours."....there goes Gramma again. Maybe I should find a nice, big umbrella.

Well there's the first time for Displaced Abomasum and that's always the worst. ;)

Update that's almost a novel

2009-03-17T12:39:00.000-07:00

Well judging from the large gaps in posts, you can gather that last year was a bit on the hectic side. So here's an update and summation on 2008.

Spring saw the arrival of our first goats. Justin gave up his anti-goat campaign and I bought two SaanenXOberhasli does, well one was a doeling. Becca, the milk goat and Gretta the will be milk goat. Becca is the one with bells on. ;)

Sadly, we lost her a couple months later to a stroke. We enjoyed what she gave, learned a few lessons and Justin learned that goats are actually fun. As goats don't do well without companions, I bought a BoerXNubian, Mildred, doeling to keep Gretta company. The two girls last summer.

Justin found a goat bell at the feed store, so Gretta has become our bell goat. Rightly so since she is the herd queen. That bell is a handy thing to have! If there is upset (had some strays come through last summer, or if it starts raining) that bell and her voice will let you know. Some days I hear the bell before I hear her though.
We didn't breed them last fall. Mildred wasn't born until April and they were both slow in growing. So we decided to play it safe and give them a year. My FIL just bought a very nice little Boer buck that I'll breed them with. I'm unsure which way I'm going with the goat herd at the moment, but there's always room in the freezer for more meat. Gretta, I'll keep in milk when she kids. Anna likes goat milk and I want it for soap, plus I could always make cheese. I'll be training the kids to milk on the goats as well. They aren't as demanding or difficult to milk as the cow, it's a good fit.

The two misfits, yesterday...just in case something edible was in the cards.

August saw the arrival of our first bovines. There are three of them, one we lost to scours, the black we almost lost. The remaining two are hale and hearty, destined for the freezer this fall.

We named them Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.

Got milk?!?!

Left to right, back to front.
An amazing milk/cream ratio, butter, this morning's milking (pitcher (gallon size) and half gallon jar)

Another bovine wandered her way over to our insane corner of the world. Maybe if she'd known, she would have run the other way, as it is...she's here to stay. Her name is Amy, short for Amaryllis. She's a Jersey and we bought her this last January, late in her lactation her production isn't full right now, but she's still giving an average of 1 1/2-2 gallons a day. She has a dry cell (there's 4 on the udder), so I'm guessing that she'll freshen at 3 a day...maybe just a hair over. This month she threw in a curve and ended up with a displaced abomasum, 4th chamber of the stomach flips over to the left side where it isn't supposed to be. She fixed it by pitching a fit at the vets and stepping off the back of the trailer, better than surgery, I guess pitching a fit can work in your favor sometimes.

Here's a close up of that cream. This was a milking, between the displaced abomasum, AI and the full moon she made sure I had a week of interesting events.

You can barely make out the cream line, it's just below the counter top line on the wall.

The one who supplies us with our milk, along with one of the steers. Take note of that "cow lick" on top of his head! She keeps those two little guys very well groomed, the locks on their heads are always standing straight up. LOL

We also had a couple of new additions to the family along the way. Seamus, is a Chocolate Lab, who adores fetch and anyone willing to play it all day. He was dropped off at the Tribal pound one night, we agreed to trade for Loki...who had aggression issues.
Then there's Sparky. Poor Sparky. Sparky is a Siamese who was set on fire just before last Halloween. Justin took the call and ended up taking the cat as well. A local vet volunteered to help his initial recovery, if there was going to be one and we ended up with a great small animal vet and a new cat. He lost his exterior set of sphincter muscles, so...well...his butt fell off. The interior set survived, no noticeable tail nerve damage (that was a big concern, as the nerves that control the bowel double back through the base of the tail), and aside from slightly spastic moments (unsure if these are breed or trauma traits) he's done well in his mending! There are some spots where I don't think he's going to grow hair back. He's a bit mangy looking on the back end, but a cat that can still find it in himself to purr and love while still smoldering and in pain...well how can you not try to do something?!

Our chickens took a hit this past winter. In talking with others, we weren't the only ones to end up with chicken popsicles this year either. We'll do some work on the coop this summer to try to avoid this in future. I think that between the cold winter and fewer bodies to keep the temp up in there, it was too much.
Last summer I had planned on replacing much of the flock to begin with. I've found that the Rhode Island Reds are prone to frost bite on their combs, they're really obnoxious and pushy and J would like a more traditional looking rooster breed. So I finally settled on Speckled Sussex. They're a good duel purpose breed, have great marks for foraging (I can't free range because of strays, but may do a traveling yard one of these days) and have mild temperments. The barred Rock (Zebra chicken) is also another I'll keep a couple of, as the Americuanas. Oh, I've thought about Buff Orpingtons, rare and exotic and if I'm really honest with myself, I'll probably end up with a raggle, taggle looking chicken mob when it's all said and done.
Anyway, the chicks are showing up the end of April and we're all excited about it! Nothing says Spring like chick peeps.

My garden last year was a dismal shadow of food production. Our season was late, took a while to get started once it showed up and then ended on time. My melons never even bloomed, the pumpkins didn't get much larger than table ornaments and tomatoes didn't ripen. The earlier crops did well. I also found the perfect pea for us! Wandos. They can handle the heat and love the cold. I should be able to pull two crops out this year, something everyone is looking forward to.
So, alas, those canning jars I collected last year sat mostly on the shelves, empty and upside down. It was just a depressing sight to see. We're putting in raised beds for everything but the potatoes and corn this year. We'll also be bringing in topsoil for them, since anything decent that's already on the place is growing grass. The big garden space grows things like onions, corn and potatoes very well, it's everything else that really suffers. On the bright side, it puts the veggies up by the house! While a lot of lawn can be pretty, it's a lot to take care of for no input. The next addition project is going to be Jerusalem Artichoke in the flower beds. Great for animal feed, people, decoration and is a good source for fuel grade alcohol...if J decided to do that for the farm (need licenses and all that). The beds around the house are raised cement, so invasion won't be an issue. 'Course if it turns out to be such a helpful little plant, invasion may not be an issue either!
I've been putting the stall muckings into the garden spot, that will be worked in in the next few weeks and then I really have to pick a spot for compost! Next winter, between the cows and goats I'm going to have a great booster for that.

Oh wow, this is turning into a novel.

Okay for the family side of things......well they're getting bigger, even Malina! Here's Bruce snuggled up to Daisy for family movie night

Both of the dogs curl up into these little balls and the kids have found they make excellent pillows...the dogs think it's fantastic as well.

Bruce's feet are now bigger than mine, he's almost as tall as me now. Lars isn't that far behind at a men's 6, Anna...well she's growing steady and Leif is keeping pace. Malina is still no bigger than a minute, complete with a Keebler elf voice.

There's the year in a not so small nutshell. This year, goals are woodshed, hayshed, pigs, a rooster, milking room at least (I need something I can heat just a little), raised beds...looks like it's going to be another busy year. One of these years, we'll be down to just running the farm....maybe. :)

2009-03-17T11:30:00.000-07:00

A Product of my Milking Musings

As I sat here this morning, wishing there was some way to hard line myself to the coffee pot, an odd sound kept registering in the foggy edges of my mind. Once the caffeine had hit my auditory nerves, it hit me. Bird song. It's different than the little Juncos hopping around all winter, varied bird song. We've had a pheasant cock that has wintered over here (it's been fun watching him get his colors) and he was out scolding Fluffy the farm cat, I heard robins in the mix and a song bird of some kind...with the Juncos joining in. This was a 7 in the morning though, until now, nothing has been singing before at least 10. Well there's a pick me up right there.

So as I'm pouring the hot water over Amy's beet pulp pellets, I realized how routine life has become. Lars has gone out and put them in the bucket for me, somehow he morphs out of his pajamas into his clothes instantly.......it's a little unnerving, truth be told. Bruce is stumbling around trying to find his feet, he's got his shoes, but his feet seem to have wandered off. He's working for his Dad to buy a laptop for himself and morning feed is one of his jobs. Much like his mother, morning is not a good time and if it were possible it would be completely eliminated from the day. Anna's just come flitting through the kitchen with her standard round of cheerful good mornings to all present, Bruce and I are thinking the same thing "......honestly......it should be illegal to be that sunny first thing out of bed", we don't say it, think it maybe. Even if you don't like it you can't help but enjoy it on some level. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since her name means Gracious and Bright.
Bruce heads out, I help Leif finish getting dressed, there's one child you definitely don't let leave without an inspection. Everyone gets loaded onto the bus and morning continues.

I grudgingly let go of my lounge pants and don the work jeans, my coffee cup is floating near by and, I hear it, three bellows. You could almost set your watch by that cow. Her bellows are followed by calf bawls and goat maaas and as I pass the back door I see Amy's hind end lumbering into the barn. I grab the milking supplies, the feed bucket and cut up some carrots.
Out the back door, the goats who don't have nearly the faith the cows do...or maybe they're just more impatient, are now madly calling for breakfast. The chickens have all run up to the fence and I grab the grain for the cow, corn for the chooks and head out.

I get out to the barn and every morning it's the same, the hens are clucking over the fresh corn, the steers are lowing and the goats by this point are just flat out obnoxious, Gretta is the worst. I pour the feed into the bin, grab the hay and "Katie bar the door" I just opened the gate for Amy. You'd think I never fed her, or that she's put on weight, or doubled her milk in the last month. The goats are snorting, everyone is munching and everything settles down for a while.
She's munching merrily, nice warm food after a cold night. I brush her off, and start cleaning her udder off. Wash and dry her teats, give a good massage to help with let down and time to grab the pail.
Milking starts and I can feel my blood pressure drop to comatose. It's still cold enough that steam rises out of the pail as I go and after awhile there's a good little foam on top. Amy usually gets impatient towards the end, which usually means I get hit in the head with her tail. The guys chuckle that I keep her tail brushed out and clean.....it only takes getting hit in the head once with a nasty, soppy tail at 8 in the morning and one cup of coffee into the day, to figure out why. Not my fault they didn't figure that one out back when they were milking.

I have two times a day where life slows to a crawl, morning and evening milking. You can only get the milk to come out so fast and there's a rhythm to it that either empties your mind or gets you to thinking.
Over the last couple of weeks, my thoughts have been leaning towards all that going on in the world around me. The good, the bad (seems mostly bad these days), the conversations I hear snipits of in the grocery store, the fact that Bruce has lost another friend because they've moved away to where there are, hopefully, more job opportunities. Then there're the dairies that are closing their doors, sometimes after generations of operation, because they can't maintain. I wonder about ways that I can feed the animals come next winter, that aren't as reliant on feed stores and companies. Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't be worrying about something more significant than struggling farmers, but then if they aren't growing food or dairy, where is it going to come from? I think about what an alternate fuel/electric hybid combine would look like? Makes me giggle to think of farmers across the nation plugging their massive equipment in at night.
I wonder what this is all going to look like in the end. I'm not a fatalist, the world will keep spinning until, it either quits or the sun dies. Even if we destroy it, it will keep spinning. I've heard the comparisons of now and pre-Depression, but people didn't live on credit like now and there wasn't an attitude of entitlement. People still gardened and canned, they could provide much for themselves and that was how life was lived for many instead of the few. I've been sitting and watching fingers being pointed every which way, but when it comes down to it fewer would be in a bind if they'd been responsible in their own finances and choices. You can't stop loosing your job, you can't help it if your company folds and you can't always forsee a time when a seemingly secure, good income will just vanish. There have been a lot of responsible people who have gotten a raw deal, there have been a lot of irresponsible people who've gotten slapped upside the head with it. Life isn't fair, find a way to deal with it. J and I have had our share of both, some of our discomfort has been of our own making, some through no fault of our own. Tomorrow has no guarantees either, loosing his job is a possibility as much as anyone else. So we make do as we can, plan as we can and hope for the best.

Usually by this point, Amy is just about finished milking out and it's time to get that funky teat worked out. I don't milk that one into the bucket because.....well it's hard to aim the sucker. I dip her teats, put on the bag balm, strip her gently and dap a bit of balm on the tips as an extra precaution. She's still chomping away, so I brush her out a bit, put her back......chase the goats back in, toss the rest of her hay over, grab all the pails and buckets, dump the teat wash and tromp back up to the house. Grace is a hard thing to pull off in barn boots by the way.

Fluffy is waiting at the end of the yard, she figured out about three days in to the milking business that there's warm milk after this, so she'll lead the way.....thank you very much. The snow is starting to melt and fast, the last couple of mornings it's been raining or drizzling. This morning? Sun and birds.

I get inside and strain the milk, weigh and record it and the day just unfolds from there. Every day is the same, every morning takes the same course. There's part of me that thinks it should feel stifling, some days it can be. Funny thing about this life is that just when you think nothing ever changes, it does. I don't like surprises anymore. LOL Change is a cow down, unexplained drop in milk or the water doesn't turn on. Breaks in routine are like when we had a calf go down with scours. For reference, an animal going down and not getting up is always bad and usually means you have a small window for action or risk loosing them.Out to the calf every couple of hours, even through the night to drench him (give fluids through a syringe with no needle) for two days straight. I didn't walk straight for a week after that. Doesn't matter though, the rest of life goes on. It doesn't care if the calf is down, or whether or not you're standing to loose an investment, it just keeps going. Kids still need breakfast, laundry still needs to get done, J still has to go to work and can't always help out. I've since learned other tactics, picked up information, but I still saw double while I was doing it....maybe next time I won't have to. Live culture yougurt, by the way.

With all of that, there's a pay off. Take the calf, I'll never forget how it felt when I went out there at 3am on day 2 to find him standing up and have him moo at me. It wasn't a guarantee and he wasn't out of the woods yet, but he was up and that meant hope. I gave him his water and electrolytes and ran into the house to call J. Then there's the perspective. To a rancher who deals in 300 head, one calf down doesn't mean much. To us, it means meat in the freezer for almost a year. That perspective can really carry over to a lot of areas and I'm seeing parallels in life right now. The higher up the ladder you are, whether or not the ground at the bottom is muddy, well it just doesn't matter as much. If you're down towards the bottom, well it's a big deal...unless you like mud.

I guess the last couple of days, I've been amazed at the fact that although life has gotten busier but that the type of busy I'm doing has given me more time to the entertain the contemplation I'm so fond of. It's not harried, just busy.

Some days I wonder about whether or not I should be questioning my own sanity. I really questioned it when it was 9 degrees out and I was dunking my already chapped hands into water again, only to watch it freeze in the cracks (Amy I wipe and dry so that doesn't happen on her teats). Opportunity knocked a little early, so the nice warm milking parlor isn't quite finished yet.

The signs of Spring are showing all around, namely I can see the ground again and I'm getting itchy to go play in the dirt. My early crops will go in very soon, peas, potatoes and onions, then another period of sit and wait. Then comes the fretting of whether or not anything is going to come up, just when I can't take it anymore, Justin goes and gently digs around to ensure that indeed they've germinated and "if you can be patient for another couple of days the plants will start breaking through".
Hopefully, this time next year, I'll have a nice little calf, maybe just maybe a heifer, on the ground and a couple of kids (of the caprine variety, not homo sapien) running around.

Summer Vacation!

2007-06-11T13:53:00.000-07:00

We've started summer vacation at last! Bruce will be moving on to Jr. High, that's hard to believe right now. He's also moving irrigation for our neighbor in exchange for 1 ton of hay for Isis (mostly his mare).

After all the hot weather the last couple of weeks of school, we've gone back to more appropriate weather for the time of year. Of course this also followed getting the pool, which is set up and ready to go...and it's a bit too cold to use at this point. The heat will come, it always does. The boys have been busy sneaking rides (usually when needing to get chores done, the horses move out earshot faster than they can run....handy!), running around, helping out with fencing, the girls are busy helping out with weeding and being girls.

The garden is coming along nicely! The peppers and tomatoes are already blooming, which is amazing. The rest is all coming in very well and we'll have fresh cantalope and watermelon this year!! They didn't do so well last year, so we're very excited.

Justin is on his last vacation before the summer insanity starts for the year. We're all enjoying this time, before the heat of the season sets in, harvest and putting up from the garden is a ways off, big Spring chores are finished. It's a good time to just sit back and enjoy for a while. :)

Updates!

2007-05-23T09:49:00.000-07:00

I guess I can start out with an update. We've come to that time of year that's crazy and lazy all at the same time it seems. Time for getting gardens in and time for the school year to come to a close. This year we've extended our garden out another 30' along with a new potato patch and added a fence to keep the girls out. ;) Lesson learned very well from last year.

The next big news would be our two new additions to the family, Isis and Beauty. No one is exactly sure of their breed, but they are kids horses and love attention. They are older, 17 or so, but they'll travel around the pasture in nothing but a halter and lead for reins. A perfect pair for a quick ride in the summer, or for just laying around on. In any case, they've been here for a couple of days now and already taken the kids (including me) for a few trips around the pasture. They're just about spoiled completely on horse treats and they're making great weed eaters. ;)

On the rest of us, Justin made Sergant in March, that's come with benefits as well as more demands. We've almost finished another round of birthdays here's the last tally: Bruce-11yrs, Lars- 9 yrs, Anna- 8 yrs, Leif- still 5 and Malina is still 3. I hit 31 this last January and Justin is 33. Everything still works the way it should, although I've run across some mornings this Spring where getting out of bed was a slower affair than it was a few years ago. It's funny, but I don't remember bareback riding having this many sore muscles as when I was a teen. Bruce has done more and is still running around without missing a beat.

We've lived here almost 2 yrs now and I've managed to sneak in another cat, 2 dogs (1 we lost to Parvo), 3 horses, 1 rabbit (Holland Lop, Oreo) and a manic mass of chickens and a duck that thinks he's a chicken. I bought my first horse last January, he's a maroon and is being sold however. Amazingly I've only painted one room in that time, there's just too many colors to choose from! This would probably be due to the fact, truth be told, that I have a bunch of garden beds to play in outside and I'd rather be doing that. One rose garden has been relocated, the side beds are being gutted of what's not thriving and replanted in wildflowers. This year I've started draping the house in Honeysuckle and Trumpet Vine.

Kids...well they're alive. Somedays I find that fact astounding in and of itself! We've become the house to migrate too, so there are generally a couple of strays around after school and during the weekends. The older three are all doing very well with grades. Bruce is going into middle school next year....please wait a moment while I pick myself up off the floor......luckily this is a short chair. They want to enter their animals in the fair this year, so we're working on that. With the arrival of the two mares, we'll be hitting a couple of the Junior Rodeos next year (hopefully). Their days are filled with riding bikes and getting dirty, just the way it should be. They're all very excited about the garden, something they don't mind...yet. ;)

The two little ones, well one's little and one isn't. LOL They're busy, busy, busy and in the dirt every chance they get. Malina has a thing for monkies right now, everything Monkey. Leif is Spiderman. There are days that I've lost him, only to find him up at the hall ceiling. He's learned to climb the walls and door jams, I guess it's a good place to be when you feel like getting away.

Bruce is busy being an 11yr old. I'm not sure how to describe that. He's learning to rope right now and pretty good at it! Lars, well when he's not contemplating why something that's made by a woman is still called 'man-made', he's entertaining us with Jim Carey impressions (honestly he rivals him in what he can do!). Anna.....she's just tenacious! She attacks life full on and loves every minute of it. Whether she's trying to power slide her bike like Lars or singing 'Opera' she gives it her all and keeps on going.

So that's where we're at for now. Hope everyone is fairing well!

New to this

2007-05-23T09:18:00.000-07:00

I've just set things up around here so, still working it all out. I'll post a catch up once I find my way around things. ;)