Dec 27, 2011

Show and Tell

How was your Christmas?  I feel so blessed.  Not just because of the wonderful presents that I recieved, but because the gifts I recieved were so thoughtful.  My honey bought a used woodstove with a cooktop.  I need to refinish it, blacken it.  I'll so some before and after shots when I start this one.  My mom did a Lehman's Christmas this year.  Thought I'd show you pics of things I didn't even know existed. 
This is a plastic bag dryer, which is so cool because I do wash out my plastic bags.


This is a do it yourself oil lamp.  Just add olive oil, tallow or lard.
But here is the one that I truly appreciate.  This is something I've been wanting to get for a couple years, but just never had the spare change.  It's just like a Mehu-Liisa Finnish juicer, but not that brand.  It's wonderful.
Looks like a pretty "Back to Basics" Christmas.

Be blessed.

Dec 24, 2011

Christmas Eve


It's late here, Christmas Eve.  My youngers are in bed and my honey too.  Our two older girls are on their way back from Grandma and Grandpa's some 70 miles away.  They opted to spend Christmas Eve there because it's something they've done every Christmas Eve of their young lives.  The rest of us are recovery from a virus and decided not to inflict our misery on others, so we stayed home.  We are also used to spending every Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa so this was a strange Christmas.

We're used to lutefisk and ham and rice pudding with one prize winning almond hidden in it. We're used to the torturous time it takes to get the dishes done after dinner before we can open our presents.  Then there's coffee and more eating.  Finally we all pile in the car and head for home, drowsy, stuffed and too tired to think about Santa coming.

You know what?  We had fresh salmon, instead of lutefisk.  Steak fries instead of boiled potatoes.  We read Luke 2 and prayed together.  We still had the torturous time after dinner getting the dishes done before we could open presents.  (Couldn't resist :).
We only had each other and it was still Christmas.  I didn't expect it.  I thought Christmas traditions were so important that without them it would seem like any other night.  But it was CHRISTMAS!  How wonderful the gift of heaven. 

I found out for myself that it truly is Christ that makes it Christmas.  What a wonderful Saviour.

Merry Christmas.

Dec 1, 2011

Let's Make a Christmas Wreath

Wreaths are easy, fun and frugal.  At least the kind I make are.  Counting ribbon, wire, and a clothes hanger, I spend about two dollars on each wreath.
So first we head out to the woods to pick a bevy of greenery.
We picked about two garbage bags full and I make three wreaths from this.

Here is the equipment you'll need.  A wire coat hanger, thin gauge wire, and a nipper.

Shape the hanger into a circle.  You could just buy a wreath form, but this is cheaper.  A form will hold more and be more uniform when you're finished.

We gathered mostly balsam boughs, they work the best.  We also collected Scotch pine, white pine, cedar, some cones, red twig (for a little color), and tag alder cones.  This is what's available in our area.  Use whatever you would like to see in your wreath.

Next, I lay the form in my lap, attach the wire and start wrapping the ends of the boughs onto the form with the wire. 

I continue wrapping, layering boughs over each other and work around the form.

I insert various pines and branches between the balsam boughs to make it more interesting.

When the wreath is full, I wire the cones on and put a ribbon at the top.  Very easy. 
So, my first Christmas project of the season is finished.  If you make wreaths, let me know.  I'd like to see what you do.

It's Farmhouse Friday so don't forget to go over to http://www.therenegadefarmer.com/ and check out the farming links there.

Nov 22, 2011

Grandma's Bread Bowl

Have I mentioned that I now have an oven?  A gas oven!  Today I finally got around to baking some bread.  It's been almost four months since I've baked bread, I think my flour's gone bad. :) 
So today I took out my grandma's bread bowl.  This is the first time I've used this because my mom just gave it to me a couple of months ago.  I remember my mom making bread in this and she'd knead it right in the bowl.  That bowl would roll and move around the table.  The table would shake.  Now it's my turn.

My whole wheat bread dough ready to rise.  This bowl has a cover with a vent in it.

I'm not cooking it on the stove, just set it there to rise.
The finished product rose nicely and is soft and yummy.  I made rolls for Thursday's dinner, a couple of loaves of bread and way down at the end is a dozen caramel rolls-minus one. :)

My bread products don't always turn out like they should.  After 30 years of baking bread, I'm finally learning a couple of things that help.  One is to add the salt with the flour and not into the warm liquid.  Another is to make sure that the oven is preheated before I put my breads in.  Sifting the flour first has helped a lot too.  And maybe using Grandma's bread bowl will be the thing that finally gives me good bread every time.

Nov 19, 2011

A Work of Art

It can be said of many vocations,  to do something well is a work of art. With painters, sketchers, sculptors, everything is a work of art.  The well shot goal at a hockey game can be a work of art.  The perfect burger off of the grill, a work of art. Given that intro, I would now like to show you one of many things that my honey can do well.  Loading trailers, especially with scrap, is one of his specialties.  So I present his latest work of art-
Involved in this masterpiece is an old Blazer, on top is a pick up box loaded with all kinds of treasures, and the piece de resistance is the old grain binder on the end of the trailer which almost decapitated more than a dozen mailboxes on our way home.  It sticks over both sides of the trailer by four feet. 

It's a good day's work.  Lord bless.

Nov 17, 2011

Bucket of Chicken(s)

A balmy 12 above 0 this morning.  Must be winter.  No one told this little lady.
Son came in the house carrying her under one arm and a bucket in the other.  The bucket full of little chicken "nuggets".  Fourteen of them in all.  Here's hoping that they're a hardy bunch.  The weather is only getting colder.  Mama has her job cut out for her.  She has a heat lamp to  help.

These little ones could be giving us eggs by March.  Seems a long way off. :)

Don't forget it's Farmhouse Friday.  Stop on over at http://www.therenegadefarmer.com/ and see what's up on the farm.

Nov 16, 2011

Wonderment




I so seldom use the word I had to look it up to make sure it existed.  What has happened to me? 
Remember when you'd see the first snow and beg Mom to let  you go outside?  The knowing that Christmas wasn't far off once the snow stayed on the ground.  So how do you feel now when you see that snow coming?
The snow is here and I look out my window with trepidation, not wonderment. When did I change?  I want my wonderment back.  I want to wake up every morning and look forward to all that the new day has to offer.  Jump out of bed and be in love with life.
Lord this is my prayer.  Make me excited about all that You have planned for me.

Nov 14, 2011

Kitchen Cabinets

Slow but sure, that's how our four year old addition to the house is coming along.  We tore down the old kitchen and put up the new one four years ago this month.  We still need to finish the sheetrock, but at least it's all up, put in floors, the tongue and groove ceiling, and cabinets.  Meanwhile, I figured I'd do what I could for the cabinetry.  I have a wonderful hoosier that I've been using for a couple of years and was blessed to pick this up for $2 at a rummage sale a year ago-
Now that shabby chic is all the rage, refinishing this beast was a lot easier.  :)  A bit of sanding, a couple coats of paint and viola!

It's missing a drawer pull and I haven't be able to find one to match, but I'm still looking.  I painted it to match my hoosier-

I'm excited about having more space.  Now I'm looking for even more old cupboards.  I may just do the whole kitchen in them. 
Anyone have ideas for this gem?  My honey picked it up for my birthday.
It's a bookcase without the shelves.  I think it used to be part of a room divider between dining room and livingroom.  It stands four feet tall.  I love it, I just don't know what to do with it.

Nov 3, 2011

Cleaning Stovepipes

My grandma cooked on a woodstove all of her life.  She would have that stove going year 'round.  She would also need to clean out the stovepipes once a week to get rid of the creosote.  I have a wood furnace and also need to clean out the stovepipes so I thought I'd show how Grandma did it. (It's how I do it, too.)
Let your fire burn down, or go out.  If you have two identical stovepipes, you can put the clean one on and take the dirty one off.  I only have the one pipe, so I let the fire burn out and then cap the end of the stove.
Haul the pipe outside.  Stuff the pipe with newspapers, and light.

Let it burn out.  The fire will harden the creosote and it will fall out of the pipe with a bit of persuasion.  I stand the pipe up and tap it. 

Here are some of the chunks of creosote on the lawn.

Here's my stovepipe cleaned out.  I only clean it out every couple of months, or when the draw on my woodstove is very low.

Check out http://www.renegadefarmer.com/ .  They're having Farmhouse Festival Fridays.  Join up and tell us about your "farmhouse".

Book Review-The Ultimate Guide to Homesteading

I've never done a book review before, but I am so impressed with this book I had to tell you about it.  I just received it in the mail today and have only read bits and pieces, but it is an awesome book.
There is so much information in here and it is so practical.  How to make biodiesel, how to weave, buy a homestead, dig a well, train oxen, tan hides, etc.  The information is presented in a user friendly manner and is very easy to understand.  I love it!  If you like Carla Emery's book, you'll like this one as well.

Oct 31, 2011

Horehound coughdrops

Hey-one more post.  This is a record for me, four posts in one day.
I made a batch of horehound coughdrops last weekend and thought I'd share the recipe with you.
1 cup boiling water
3/4 dried horehound-I used 2 cups of fresh horehound
2 cups sugar
1/3 tsp. cream of tartar
Pour boiling water over horehound and let steep for 1/2 hour.  Strain the infusion into a saucepan.  Add the sugar and cream of tartar and stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved.  Then cook the mixture over high heat, without stirring until it reaches 300 f. or when drops form brittle threads in ice water.  Butter a cookie sheet and pour mixture on the cookie sheet and let cool a bit, score with a knife and then when cool break along scored lines.

These coughdrops do not tast like candy.  Horehound soothes sore throats and coughs.

And the Winner is...

Nancy and Tara.  With only two entries, I can send you both fiber.  One will be the spring shearing from Darcy.  So just click on my profile info and send me an email with your snail mail info.

Thanks for entering!

Caramels....

We're still milking our cow and getting a little extra cream for butter and such...such as in caramels.
Here's what's left of our caramels.  I melted some today to eat with my apple-

So if you're interested here's the recipe from my old Betty Crocker Cookbook.
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup butter
2 cups light cream
Butter square pan.  Combine sugar, corn syrup, butter and one cup of cream in large saucepan.  Heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly.  Stir in remaining cream.
Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, to 245 on candy thrmometer or until small amount of mixture dropped into very cold water forms a firm ball.
Immediately spread mixture evenly in pan to cool.  Cut into 1-inch squares.

Eat!

More on the Barn

Just thought I'd post pictures of the barn now.  We've been working on it, but it's not done yet.  The barn itself is up but still needing more bolts in it.
Here's a shot of one of the end walls that's just about up.

We're putting in a sliding door and a window on this end and a roll up door for the other side with a man door with a window in it.
Still hoping to get this done before the snow is here to stay.  lol

Oct 24, 2011

A Contest for Felters and Spinners

I'm going to have a contest.  I've been trying to think up some clever new way to do this, but-clever, I'm not.  So this contest is pretty simple.  Comment on this blog to get your name into the drawing once.  Blog about the contest to get your name in a second time.  I don't have Facebook and I don't Twitter so I guess I can't do that.
Anyways, the prize???
It's a kind of specialized thing and probably not appreciated by a lot of people--
Remember Darcy from the last post?  Well, this is her fall shearing and it weighs in at about 2 1/2 pounds.  This mohair is skirted, but not washed.
So that's it.  I'll draw the name next Monday.   :o)

Oct 22, 2011

Meet My Herd

Okay, this is getting frustrating.   This is the third time I've tried to post this and I keep losing it.  I'll try one more time--
I'd like to introduce you to my small herd of Angora goats.  They provide us with fiber for our mittens, socks, sweaters, etc.  They also satisfy my spinning addiction.
This is Bear.  He's the buck to my herd.  This is his last year with us, he's moving on to bigger and better farms.  He has a very nice caramel color.

Here is Big Mama. She's been with me since I started this endeavor.  She's four years old now.  She is a silver/gray/black color.

That's Darcy on the left.  Can  you tell Big Mama is her mother?  Wonder how they can see where they're going?

Lydia, this year's doeling.  She is only 1/2 Angora.  She has fiber a bit different than the others.  Hers is more kinked and not so curly.  Very soft, though.

And here's Sassy.  The last one in the herd. She's also been with me since the beginning.  She's Lydia's mom and my only white goat.  White fiber is good as it can be dyed to whatever color you'd like.

I'm expecting to have a mess of new kids this spring, Lord willing, and will take lots of pictures.  Is anything as cute as a baby goat?

Oct 17, 2011

Third Day

I'm a country girl.  I don't get out much. :)  That's why my trip to the Cities is such a big deal that I'm going to blog about it. 

My dear daughter invited me to a concert down in the Twin Cities and I accepted.  She knew I'd probably never take the time and money to go see my favorite band on my own so she got the tickets and away I went.

My favorite band?  You can tell by the title of this blog-Third Day.  It was a great time of worship and a lot of fun.  We actually got two concerts for the price of one.  We were invited backstage for a continued jam session after the regular concert.

This is a picture of the backstage concert.

Guess who?  The pretty one is my daughter Beth.  :)

Oct 10, 2011

That's Farm Life

Life on the farm isn't always pleasant.  Things happen.  We had one of those things happen last Friday.  One of our cows went down.  She appeared to have a spinal injury.  We treated her with an anti inflammatory and waited.  Well, she never showed any improvement and today we put her down.  No, I'm not particularly attached to these cows.  They're pretty cows, nice, friendly cows, but they're our income on the farm.  We had this girl butchered today and it looks like she's going to be good hamburger.  I am so thankful that she's not going to be wasted.  We had no cattle to butcher this year and now we do.  Thank you Lord.

You should  have seen my children out there with the butcher as he showed them the organs and explained his findings.  Seems our cow had a heart problem and had some calcification causing a large blockage in her heart.  So went the biology lesson today.

 Later, after the butcher had left, my children went out and cut up the gut pile and hauled it away into the woods.  My son said he doesn't thing anything will ever gross him out again.  Way to go guys. 
So, no pictures today, and I'd be pretty thankful for that.

Oct 4, 2011

A Day in Pictures

I like pictures.  I got up Saturday morning,((COFFEE)) grabbed my camera and decided to document my day.  My life isn't exciting, so you're not required to read the text, you can just look at pictures.
First thing after breakfast, I headed down the road to a farm I'm taking care of.  They have a batch of collie pups there right now.
Not a good picture.  Puppies are hard to get to sit still.  You'll just have to take my word for it, they're adorable.
Next, Honey and I pull started the grader for a friend who had to grade his driveway.

Nice grader, eh?
Went home,((COFFEE)) jumped in the pick up and started loading bales off of some of our fields to bring them home.

This is one ugly load.
Time to get home for milking.((COFFEE))  My view. :)

Thought I'd show you the bright trees around us.  They are rapidly losing their leaves.

Back to the house to get the raspberries trimmed and the fruit trees pruned.
Next pumpkins ready for the cellar and corn hung to dry.

((COFFEE))
Back to the collie farm to do chores and then down the road to take care of someone's cattle.  These ladies didn't have any water and I spent awhile trying to figure out why not.  Finally got my honey and he was able to get the water out to the trough.

This was my view as the sun went down.  Time to get home and get supper.

Honey said "Let's go out to eat."  Yeah! 
Told you it wasn't exciting.  It's just life.

Dec 27, 2011

Show and Tell

How was your Christmas?  I feel so blessed.  Not just because of the wonderful presents that I recieved, but because the gifts I recieved were so thoughtful.  My honey bought a used woodstove with a cooktop.  I need to refinish it, blacken it.  I'll so some before and after shots when I start this one.  My mom did a Lehman's Christmas this year.  Thought I'd show you pics of things I didn't even know existed. 
This is a plastic bag dryer, which is so cool because I do wash out my plastic bags.


This is a do it yourself oil lamp.  Just add olive oil, tallow or lard.
But here is the one that I truly appreciate.  This is something I've been wanting to get for a couple years, but just never had the spare change.  It's just like a Mehu-Liisa Finnish juicer, but not that brand.  It's wonderful.
Looks like a pretty "Back to Basics" Christmas.

Be blessed.

Dec 24, 2011

Christmas Eve


It's late here, Christmas Eve.  My youngers are in bed and my honey too.  Our two older girls are on their way back from Grandma and Grandpa's some 70 miles away.  They opted to spend Christmas Eve there because it's something they've done every Christmas Eve of their young lives.  The rest of us are recovery from a virus and decided not to inflict our misery on others, so we stayed home.  We are also used to spending every Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa so this was a strange Christmas.

We're used to lutefisk and ham and rice pudding with one prize winning almond hidden in it. We're used to the torturous time it takes to get the dishes done after dinner before we can open our presents.  Then there's coffee and more eating.  Finally we all pile in the car and head for home, drowsy, stuffed and too tired to think about Santa coming.

You know what?  We had fresh salmon, instead of lutefisk.  Steak fries instead of boiled potatoes.  We read Luke 2 and prayed together.  We still had the torturous time after dinner getting the dishes done before we could open presents.  (Couldn't resist :).
We only had each other and it was still Christmas.  I didn't expect it.  I thought Christmas traditions were so important that without them it would seem like any other night.  But it was CHRISTMAS!  How wonderful the gift of heaven. 

I found out for myself that it truly is Christ that makes it Christmas.  What a wonderful Saviour.

Merry Christmas.

Dec 1, 2011

Let's Make a Christmas Wreath

Wreaths are easy, fun and frugal.  At least the kind I make are.  Counting ribbon, wire, and a clothes hanger, I spend about two dollars on each wreath.
So first we head out to the woods to pick a bevy of greenery.
We picked about two garbage bags full and I make three wreaths from this.

Here is the equipment you'll need.  A wire coat hanger, thin gauge wire, and a nipper.

Shape the hanger into a circle.  You could just buy a wreath form, but this is cheaper.  A form will hold more and be more uniform when you're finished.

We gathered mostly balsam boughs, they work the best.  We also collected Scotch pine, white pine, cedar, some cones, red twig (for a little color), and tag alder cones.  This is what's available in our area.  Use whatever you would like to see in your wreath.

Next, I lay the form in my lap, attach the wire and start wrapping the ends of the boughs onto the form with the wire. 

I continue wrapping, layering boughs over each other and work around the form.

I insert various pines and branches between the balsam boughs to make it more interesting.

When the wreath is full, I wire the cones on and put a ribbon at the top.  Very easy. 
So, my first Christmas project of the season is finished.  If you make wreaths, let me know.  I'd like to see what you do.

It's Farmhouse Friday so don't forget to go over to http://www.therenegadefarmer.com/ and check out the farming links there.

Nov 22, 2011

Grandma's Bread Bowl

Have I mentioned that I now have an oven?  A gas oven!  Today I finally got around to baking some bread.  It's been almost four months since I've baked bread, I think my flour's gone bad. :) 
So today I took out my grandma's bread bowl.  This is the first time I've used this because my mom just gave it to me a couple of months ago.  I remember my mom making bread in this and she'd knead it right in the bowl.  That bowl would roll and move around the table.  The table would shake.  Now it's my turn.

My whole wheat bread dough ready to rise.  This bowl has a cover with a vent in it.

I'm not cooking it on the stove, just set it there to rise.
The finished product rose nicely and is soft and yummy.  I made rolls for Thursday's dinner, a couple of loaves of bread and way down at the end is a dozen caramel rolls-minus one. :)

My bread products don't always turn out like they should.  After 30 years of baking bread, I'm finally learning a couple of things that help.  One is to add the salt with the flour and not into the warm liquid.  Another is to make sure that the oven is preheated before I put my breads in.  Sifting the flour first has helped a lot too.  And maybe using Grandma's bread bowl will be the thing that finally gives me good bread every time.

Nov 19, 2011

A Work of Art

It can be said of many vocations,  to do something well is a work of art. With painters, sketchers, sculptors, everything is a work of art.  The well shot goal at a hockey game can be a work of art.  The perfect burger off of the grill, a work of art. Given that intro, I would now like to show you one of many things that my honey can do well.  Loading trailers, especially with scrap, is one of his specialties.  So I present his latest work of art-
Involved in this masterpiece is an old Blazer, on top is a pick up box loaded with all kinds of treasures, and the piece de resistance is the old grain binder on the end of the trailer which almost decapitated more than a dozen mailboxes on our way home.  It sticks over both sides of the trailer by four feet. 

It's a good day's work.  Lord bless.

Nov 17, 2011

Bucket of Chicken(s)

A balmy 12 above 0 this morning.  Must be winter.  No one told this little lady.
Son came in the house carrying her under one arm and a bucket in the other.  The bucket full of little chicken "nuggets".  Fourteen of them in all.  Here's hoping that they're a hardy bunch.  The weather is only getting colder.  Mama has her job cut out for her.  She has a heat lamp to  help.

These little ones could be giving us eggs by March.  Seems a long way off. :)

Don't forget it's Farmhouse Friday.  Stop on over at http://www.therenegadefarmer.com/ and see what's up on the farm.

Nov 16, 2011

Wonderment




I so seldom use the word I had to look it up to make sure it existed.  What has happened to me? 
Remember when you'd see the first snow and beg Mom to let  you go outside?  The knowing that Christmas wasn't far off once the snow stayed on the ground.  So how do you feel now when you see that snow coming?
The snow is here and I look out my window with trepidation, not wonderment. When did I change?  I want my wonderment back.  I want to wake up every morning and look forward to all that the new day has to offer.  Jump out of bed and be in love with life.
Lord this is my prayer.  Make me excited about all that You have planned for me.

Nov 14, 2011

Kitchen Cabinets

Slow but sure, that's how our four year old addition to the house is coming along.  We tore down the old kitchen and put up the new one four years ago this month.  We still need to finish the sheetrock, but at least it's all up, put in floors, the tongue and groove ceiling, and cabinets.  Meanwhile, I figured I'd do what I could for the cabinetry.  I have a wonderful hoosier that I've been using for a couple of years and was blessed to pick this up for $2 at a rummage sale a year ago-
Now that shabby chic is all the rage, refinishing this beast was a lot easier.  :)  A bit of sanding, a couple coats of paint and viola!

It's missing a drawer pull and I haven't be able to find one to match, but I'm still looking.  I painted it to match my hoosier-

I'm excited about having more space.  Now I'm looking for even more old cupboards.  I may just do the whole kitchen in them. 
Anyone have ideas for this gem?  My honey picked it up for my birthday.
It's a bookcase without the shelves.  I think it used to be part of a room divider between dining room and livingroom.  It stands four feet tall.  I love it, I just don't know what to do with it.

Nov 3, 2011

Cleaning Stovepipes

My grandma cooked on a woodstove all of her life.  She would have that stove going year 'round.  She would also need to clean out the stovepipes once a week to get rid of the creosote.  I have a wood furnace and also need to clean out the stovepipes so I thought I'd show how Grandma did it. (It's how I do it, too.)
Let your fire burn down, or go out.  If you have two identical stovepipes, you can put the clean one on and take the dirty one off.  I only have the one pipe, so I let the fire burn out and then cap the end of the stove.
Haul the pipe outside.  Stuff the pipe with newspapers, and light.

Let it burn out.  The fire will harden the creosote and it will fall out of the pipe with a bit of persuasion.  I stand the pipe up and tap it. 

Here are some of the chunks of creosote on the lawn.

Here's my stovepipe cleaned out.  I only clean it out every couple of months, or when the draw on my woodstove is very low.

Check out http://www.renegadefarmer.com/ .  They're having Farmhouse Festival Fridays.  Join up and tell us about your "farmhouse".

Book Review-The Ultimate Guide to Homesteading

I've never done a book review before, but I am so impressed with this book I had to tell you about it.  I just received it in the mail today and have only read bits and pieces, but it is an awesome book.
There is so much information in here and it is so practical.  How to make biodiesel, how to weave, buy a homestead, dig a well, train oxen, tan hides, etc.  The information is presented in a user friendly manner and is very easy to understand.  I love it!  If you like Carla Emery's book, you'll like this one as well.

Oct 31, 2011

Horehound coughdrops

Hey-one more post.  This is a record for me, four posts in one day.
I made a batch of horehound coughdrops last weekend and thought I'd share the recipe with you.
1 cup boiling water
3/4 dried horehound-I used 2 cups of fresh horehound
2 cups sugar
1/3 tsp. cream of tartar
Pour boiling water over horehound and let steep for 1/2 hour.  Strain the infusion into a saucepan.  Add the sugar and cream of tartar and stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved.  Then cook the mixture over high heat, without stirring until it reaches 300 f. or when drops form brittle threads in ice water.  Butter a cookie sheet and pour mixture on the cookie sheet and let cool a bit, score with a knife and then when cool break along scored lines.

These coughdrops do not tast like candy.  Horehound soothes sore throats and coughs.

And the Winner is...

Nancy and Tara.  With only two entries, I can send you both fiber.  One will be the spring shearing from Darcy.  So just click on my profile info and send me an email with your snail mail info.

Thanks for entering!

Caramels....

We're still milking our cow and getting a little extra cream for butter and such...such as in caramels.
Here's what's left of our caramels.  I melted some today to eat with my apple-

So if you're interested here's the recipe from my old Betty Crocker Cookbook.
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup butter
2 cups light cream
Butter square pan.  Combine sugar, corn syrup, butter and one cup of cream in large saucepan.  Heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly.  Stir in remaining cream.
Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, to 245 on candy thrmometer or until small amount of mixture dropped into very cold water forms a firm ball.
Immediately spread mixture evenly in pan to cool.  Cut into 1-inch squares.

Eat!

More on the Barn

Just thought I'd post pictures of the barn now.  We've been working on it, but it's not done yet.  The barn itself is up but still needing more bolts in it.
Here's a shot of one of the end walls that's just about up.

We're putting in a sliding door and a window on this end and a roll up door for the other side with a man door with a window in it.
Still hoping to get this done before the snow is here to stay.  lol

Oct 24, 2011

A Contest for Felters and Spinners

I'm going to have a contest.  I've been trying to think up some clever new way to do this, but-clever, I'm not.  So this contest is pretty simple.  Comment on this blog to get your name into the drawing once.  Blog about the contest to get your name in a second time.  I don't have Facebook and I don't Twitter so I guess I can't do that.
Anyways, the prize???
It's a kind of specialized thing and probably not appreciated by a lot of people--
Remember Darcy from the last post?  Well, this is her fall shearing and it weighs in at about 2 1/2 pounds.  This mohair is skirted, but not washed.
So that's it.  I'll draw the name next Monday.   :o)

Oct 22, 2011

Meet My Herd

Okay, this is getting frustrating.   This is the third time I've tried to post this and I keep losing it.  I'll try one more time--
I'd like to introduce you to my small herd of Angora goats.  They provide us with fiber for our mittens, socks, sweaters, etc.  They also satisfy my spinning addiction.
This is Bear.  He's the buck to my herd.  This is his last year with us, he's moving on to bigger and better farms.  He has a very nice caramel color.

Here is Big Mama. She's been with me since I started this endeavor.  She's four years old now.  She is a silver/gray/black color.

That's Darcy on the left.  Can  you tell Big Mama is her mother?  Wonder how they can see where they're going?

Lydia, this year's doeling.  She is only 1/2 Angora.  She has fiber a bit different than the others.  Hers is more kinked and not so curly.  Very soft, though.

And here's Sassy.  The last one in the herd. She's also been with me since the beginning.  She's Lydia's mom and my only white goat.  White fiber is good as it can be dyed to whatever color you'd like.

I'm expecting to have a mess of new kids this spring, Lord willing, and will take lots of pictures.  Is anything as cute as a baby goat?

Oct 17, 2011

Third Day

I'm a country girl.  I don't get out much. :)  That's why my trip to the Cities is such a big deal that I'm going to blog about it. 

My dear daughter invited me to a concert down in the Twin Cities and I accepted.  She knew I'd probably never take the time and money to go see my favorite band on my own so she got the tickets and away I went.

My favorite band?  You can tell by the title of this blog-Third Day.  It was a great time of worship and a lot of fun.  We actually got two concerts for the price of one.  We were invited backstage for a continued jam session after the regular concert.

This is a picture of the backstage concert.

Guess who?  The pretty one is my daughter Beth.  :)

Oct 10, 2011

That's Farm Life

Life on the farm isn't always pleasant.  Things happen.  We had one of those things happen last Friday.  One of our cows went down.  She appeared to have a spinal injury.  We treated her with an anti inflammatory and waited.  Well, she never showed any improvement and today we put her down.  No, I'm not particularly attached to these cows.  They're pretty cows, nice, friendly cows, but they're our income on the farm.  We had this girl butchered today and it looks like she's going to be good hamburger.  I am so thankful that she's not going to be wasted.  We had no cattle to butcher this year and now we do.  Thank you Lord.

You should  have seen my children out there with the butcher as he showed them the organs and explained his findings.  Seems our cow had a heart problem and had some calcification causing a large blockage in her heart.  So went the biology lesson today.

 Later, after the butcher had left, my children went out and cut up the gut pile and hauled it away into the woods.  My son said he doesn't thing anything will ever gross him out again.  Way to go guys. 
So, no pictures today, and I'd be pretty thankful for that.

Oct 4, 2011

A Day in Pictures

I like pictures.  I got up Saturday morning,((COFFEE)) grabbed my camera and decided to document my day.  My life isn't exciting, so you're not required to read the text, you can just look at pictures.
First thing after breakfast, I headed down the road to a farm I'm taking care of.  They have a batch of collie pups there right now.
Not a good picture.  Puppies are hard to get to sit still.  You'll just have to take my word for it, they're adorable.
Next, Honey and I pull started the grader for a friend who had to grade his driveway.

Nice grader, eh?
Went home,((COFFEE)) jumped in the pick up and started loading bales off of some of our fields to bring them home.

This is one ugly load.
Time to get home for milking.((COFFEE))  My view. :)

Thought I'd show you the bright trees around us.  They are rapidly losing their leaves.

Back to the house to get the raspberries trimmed and the fruit trees pruned.
Next pumpkins ready for the cellar and corn hung to dry.

((COFFEE))
Back to the collie farm to do chores and then down the road to take care of someone's cattle.  These ladies didn't have any water and I spent awhile trying to figure out why not.  Finally got my honey and he was able to get the water out to the trough.

This was my view as the sun went down.  Time to get home and get supper.

Honey said "Let's go out to eat."  Yeah! 
Told you it wasn't exciting.  It's just life.