Catching up

Wow, how to catch up from an 11 day blogging block? I've had 596 things running circles in my mind these last couple weeks to write about, but everytime I've sat down to actually do it- nada. I have, however, enjoyed reading all your blog updates! Keep 'em coming. :)

I will start by saying that a dear friend of mine is promoting our products on her blog! What a sweet, special, gifted lady she is. With a brand new, fresh little baby in her arms to boot! Number 10! Stop by her blog at http://www.septembermccarthy.blogspot.com/  and you're sure to be blessed! Also, if you have checked out our products pages and are discouraged to find that many of them are out of stock, take heart! They sit curing as I type and will be ready in 2-4 weeks. Check back, please! If you'd like to reserve a bar or 10, leave a comment, or send me an email! I'd be glad to set some aside. This is our first foray, if you will, into the small business world and I never really imagined that the original 200-some bars would sell out in the first two weeks. :) The soaps must cure for 5-6 weeks before use, so it takes a bit of time to make up for such a quick sell-out. Thank you to all who have ordered so far! Don't forget about our wonderful salves. Scrubs and goat's milk lotion are in the works :)

The past couple weeks have gone a little something like this:

Our sweet Charlotte turned 1! Here she is loving her cake. Really, what child of mine doesn't love cake?

What a treasure.

And what to my wandering eyes did appear?

Garlic! Spring is here :)

Trampoline jumping, mud-crawling, nature hiking, wheelbarrow lounging, school with pull-ups on our heads...

you know, the usual.

For my birthday two days ago, I requested from Joe a grow light system. Cause really, what 33 yr old woman doesn't want her some grow lights? More on that later... :)

And, our Connor will turn 12 this weekend. Birthdays really are wonderful things, even so close together!

I know I must be leaving some things out. So we'll catch up later.

Be blessed and have a great weekend!

Elizabeth

Soup and Snow Castles

We cooked up a chicken in the crockpot a couple days ago. Usually, I make broth from the remains and freeze it to be turned into homemade chicken soup or stew. Well, after doing this about once a week over the winter, this family has grown tired of homemade chicken soup and stew! In trying to figure out what to do with all the broth from Monday's chicken, I remembered that we use a lot of condensed soups for casseroles and such. Perfect! I will find a recipe for homemade cream of chicken soup to cook with! Have you ever read the ingredients list in those soups? Downright scary. So it did me well to find this recipe: http://www.tammysrecipes.com/homemade_cream_chicken_soup and whip up a bunch of my own. Not to mention, it was a great way to help use up all the goats milk we are fortunate to have a surplus of right now.
I quadrupled the recipe and wound up with about 8 cans bags of soup. It is an easy and relatively quick recipe. Took me only about an hour. Take away babies at my feet, helping the 6 year old with math, and emptying out my spice cupboard (3 times!!) looking for that darn bottle of paprika, and I probably could have it done in half that time. It was tasty, though next time I will add a bit more spice and a little less flour. It thickened up real quick and I had to take the stick blender to it. Used it for Mom's chicken broccoli divan casserole tonight. Yum. I will file this recipe away and will undoubtedly be pulling it out at least a few times a year.

In other news, Winter is here. Well it seems it never left. Never mind that it is Spring. It is most definitely NOT Spring. I was quite enamored by this unexpected snowstorm as I walked out to milk this morning. Everything was glistening white, magical. I thanked God for the beauty of His creation. However, later today I learned that temps will be in the 30's for the next 7 days and that has me a little perturbed. Suddenly the snow is not quite so pretty. Because it will be around for at least a few more days, and we have reached the end of March. Sigh. So human of me. I am ready for green.

Ava, who embraces every new opportunity with glee, who has been counting down the days until Spring sinced mid February (because to a 6 year old, it just magically becomes warm and green again on the first day of Spring)and who- just 2 days ago, was making mud pies in shorts and a tank top (when it was 60 degrees), wasted no time getting out there and making snow castles... I love that girl.

And no, she does not have really huge hands. She just happens to grab the gloves that are closest :)

Until next time,

Elizabeth

Checklists

Playing with Brenna this morning. A sweet sight, if you don't count me deep breathing and counting to 10 in my head as I think of all that needs done as I take time out to play with her.

Oh, the mudroom is a muddy mess and needs mopped, both the bathrooms need cleaned and the laundry is piling up. There are emails to respond to, phone calls to make, appointments to schedule, a blog that doesn't write itself, seeds to order, a garden to plan, brochures to design, soap to package, salves to create, bread to be baked, and the poor baby is still in her pajamas at 10:30 am.

If someone were to randomly stop by at this moment, I would be embarassed by the sight of my house. I need to get over it. There are 5 little children doing a whole lot of living here today and every day. Sometimes I just can't keep up with it. Sometimes I need to accept that I won't be able to keep up with it.

Confession: On days like today when there is so much that needs done, I leave much of the homeschooling to the children. I require just reading, writing, and math. They may choose the form in which those 3 are completed. And other than a little one on one with Ava, they are able to do this on their own. In fact, most days it works out splendidly. Today, they began the day (after chores) playing baseball out in the snow and then spent an hour designing and competing in their own Olympic competitions. They then sat down with Ava to help her count coins and then had (yet another) competition to see who could read the fastest. Connor just made everyone a lunch of peanut butter toast and chocolote milk. There is talk of cookie baking this afternoon. They are well aware that they will not be able to have screen time until their formal math, reading and writing is complete, but for now they are happy to be living and learning with freedom. And I am happy to get a chance to write this blog. Check.

Oh, and design the label for our soaps. Check.

Elizabeth

Snow Ice Cream

Fresh fallen snow heralds celebration around here. As in, "Ok, we can do school later- go out and play in the snow!" celebration (which happens to also be a spelling word for this week).  I do believe children learn best when given ample play time. Time to use their incredible, God-given imaginations and use up all that coveted energy. And honestly, if they're all out playing in the snow at 9am rather than moaning through school, Momma and baby get a nice quiet house to themselves for just a little longer. So that's exactly what we did here this morning.  Of course Brenna ( hates to be cold) only lasted until her glove came off and her little bare hand was plunged into the snow, Ava (hates to be hot) would not keep her outerwear on, and kept coming in exasperated because she just couldn't cool off, the boys noticed a pile of scrapwood in the garage and decided to construct a ladder for their treehouse rather than play in the snow ("No Connor, ~for the 5 hundredth time~you can not use the power saw!) and I managed to brush my teeth before 10 am. Ahhh.
And speaking of celebration, we had ice cream for lunch. I didn't even serve carrots to go with. Ice Cream. Snow Ice cream!
 

Snow Ice cream:
8-12 cups fresh fallen snow
14oz sweetened condensed milk
1 TBSP vanilla

Mix together and enjoy.
We used 8 cups of snow, but I would definitely recommend at least 12. It was sickeningly sweet with only 8, and, in my opinion, just tasted like slushy sweetened condensed milk. I saw another recipe using regular milk and sugar rather than the sweetened condensed milk. I think I'll try that one next time. I bet it's great with raw goat's milk (wink).

And tomorrow morning, we get to meet that Alpine goat and her two (8 day old) kids (a buckling and a doeling). A little nervous about this meeting. Got a call from the owner that one side of her udder is feeling hardened. She believes it is not mastitis, just the fact that the kids have only been nursing from one side and she has not been milking out the other side. Still, a glitch. Glitches make me nervous. We shall see...

And here is our sweet Charlotte, just this snowy morning. I think she liked the snow :)

Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, the One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing .. Isaiah 40:26

A Girl Can Dream...

Saw this advertised today: 10.6 Acre Farm with Spacious 3 Story Farmhouse Spring Water, Views ~and it sure got my mind reeling with all sorts of excitements.
"Plenty of space for gardening and self sustained farming.
3 Post clothesline" Yes, even a 3 post clothesline is exciting to me. It goes on to say how the property is fenced, with a 108 stall barn and milk room!! Possibility for 8 bedrooms in the house! It just got my heart a-pounding. Pounding because unbelievably it is ~almost~ in our price range. But almost is not enough today. IF it were mine and IF I had a bit more time, money and know-how, it would be turned into a goat dairy with a few angora goats and sheep thrown in for fiber. Oh, and let's not forget some pleasure ponies for riding on the trails of the state forest it borders. Oh my. While I DO have faith that someday this may all be quite possible, and I realize it is OK to dream, today the only thing I need to concentrate on are the responsibilities I am currently endowed with. And they are many.  A wise person once told me that if I want to go big someday, I must first perfect small. Working on this... And so, my plans for this humble acreage in the year 2011- however long it takes us to find our "real" farm, include: 1. growing a garden large enough to actually have a considerable amount leftover to can, freeze, or dehydrate. And to be able to can, freeze, dehydrate enough to last throughout winter. This may be somewhat ambitious as I've only been able to can and freeze mere scant amounts in the past. But nonetheless, a goal. 2. To acquire more dairy goats and have them pay for themselves in what they produce for us. A profit would be nice in future years, but realize that is not realistic at first. 3. A weanling pig or two to grow for meat? (Shhhh, don't tell my husband, or my neighbors for that matter ;)) Plan to help grow them with excess goat's milk (excellent for growing pigs, I've heard). 3. Raise 2-3 turkeys and approx. 10-20 meat chickens. Which would mean- 4. Learning to butcher turkeys and chickens . 5. At least get the darn hens to start laying for us again. (a very short term goal, I might add). I think that is plenty 'nough to keep me busy this year. We'll also be constructing either cold-frames or a grow light system to start our garden plants with. Any advice on which you prefer?

I'll leave you today with a few pics of the country kids (sorry for the weird format, still figuring out how to do this) and one of my favorite verses (which was a good one for today):  "I have learned to be content." Phil. 4:11

That would be the "farm toad" Cricket on Charlotte's head



Brenna with our first buckling "Theodore"

 

I love this one. Brenna is such a good helper :)



 


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Our First Egg '05