Surprises

Late Friday night, after being on the road for 5 long, lonely days, my husband came home!  And he was bearing gifts! Look at what he brought me:Aren't they gorgeous? And they were a total surprise! He also brought me several items in this bag:But seeing as this a family blog, I won't share any more about that . Let's just say I was VERY glad to have him home

Our oldest son finally made it home for a visit! He got here late Thursday night and just left today after church. It was a very nice visit and for that I am thankful. We all went target shooting yesterday. All the pics of that are on my sons camera so if he ever shares them, I will too . He and my husband had a "marksmen" contest that was fun to watch. My husband won of course! But there was lots of laughter. Here is a pic of us today after church

Isn't he tall and handsome?

Blessings.

Goose Eggs

I've decided to further everyones Egg-ucation today . Let's do a comparison of eggs:

In the upper corner we have a goose egg. In the middle a big chicken egg and last a banty egg. Here is another view. And last but not least:Here is a yolk comparison. The banty yolk (on the right) is only slighlty smaller than the big chicken yolk. The goose yolk is roughly 3 times the size of the chicken. There is a noticeable taste difference as well. Goose eggs are much richer, they are excellent for baking. I like them scrambled but my husband does not. The turkeys haven't started laying yet or I would have included them. Turkey eggs are speckled and just a touch larger than the big chicken eggs. And they have tough shells too!

Did you know that "pastured eggs" (true free range not industry standard free range) have 1/3 less cholesterol than standard factory eggs? And 1/4 less saturated fat? Food for thought.

Blessings.

15 minutes later....

Well, we waited! And now the sun is out (sort of) and the snow is gone. The saga continues.....

I thought it was spring...

This morning, before I got up, I was going over my  "to do" list in my head. I thought this would be a good day to wash our hats and snow gloves and get them put away. Yeah, right. I opened my curtains to snow! My husband is down in Southern California. The Land of Summer. He called and I told him it was snowing. "No way!" he said. Where he is the sky is blue, the sun is shining, there is a nice breeze and it is warm. Not here in the Twilight Zone. Around here people say "If you don't like the weather just wait 15 minutes." I need to go read some "happy" posts and remind myself WHY I live here.

A Bacon Lovers Tale

The other morning I set the plate of bacon on the table while I finished serving breakfast. This is what I saw when I turned around:A minute later it looked like this:And when his brother had the nerve to help himself to a piece, this is what happened:"Hey Man! Gimme back my bacon!"

Never come between a boy and his bacon.

Blessings.

Projects

A while back I was inspired by an entry   Chas made about recovering her dining room chairs. My chairs are fine but I did have a really nasty foot stool .

Notice the  attractive staining. And the background is supposed to be a creamy white. Not brownish tan.  I had been wanting to recover it for quite a while but apparently needed a kick start. So it was off to Purgatory (aka Walmart) to check out the fabric department. I found some fake tooled leather that I liked for a mere $7. Much cheaper than the cowhide I originally wanted for the project. And almost as cool . So I gathered my tools of the trade---staple gun and scissors-- and Voila!Much improved don't you agree? It's always gives such a nice feeling to finish a project and wipe one more thing off the "to do " list.

Blessings.

Good Wife

Last night as we were preparing our Easter dinner, my husband says "What's for dessert?"  Well.....he has been on the Adkins Diet (no carbs) so not wanting to make him stumble, I didn't plan any. He accused me of being withholding . Okay, fine. "What do you want?" I ask him. "Peach cobbler", he says. Okay, fine, I can do that.  "And ice cream", he says. Okay. After a quick look at the cream situation I determine I can do that too. So within 2 hours of his requests my husband had warm peach cobbler with fresh ice cream on his plate.  All homemade. From scratch. No mixes, no boxes, no cans. What more could a man ask for?

A Boy & His Chicken

Here is the photo of the dayMy Little Man and one of his beloved chickies. Isn't that adorable? The only thing he may love more than chickies is horsies. Pronounced "hovies".  Cows are pretty popular too. He's a little farmer boy, for sure.

We had more snow this winter than we have had in the 6 years we've lived here. We still have plenty on the ground. All that snow is melting off into a lot of water. We have standing water everywhere. Fields and pastures look like lakes. I think because of this and the fact that there was very little water in California this year, we have more birds than we have ever seen. Ducks, geese, cranes and swans. Swans are everywhere. We have literally thousands of them all around us. It is like living in a nature show. Just beautiful. And the noise is almost deafening. The swans have a call similar to a cranes. I wish I could figure out how to spell it out for you. We have been enjoying the show so much. They fly over head by the hundreds and we all stop and stare. We have also spent a lot of time stopped in the middle of the road watching them flock by the hundreds in flooded fields. It is a good thing we don't have much traffic around here. We took a few photos but these do not do justice to the true picture.These just show a few swans and ducks. We have seen the field just white with them. We have more cranes this years as well. On our way to church this morning we passed maybe a dozen cranes in a field & they were "dancing." If you have ever seen them on a nature show that is exactly what they were doing. Bobbing and weaving, up and down and side to side. I love living here! Hope you had a wonderful Resurrection Day!

I Did it!

I actually made my order from Gurney's. But it was a bittersweet experience. Even though the catalog said I could order Peach Trees they wouldn't let me order peach trees! For some unknown reason they won't ship peach trees to CA, WA, OR.  Sometimes I really hate living on the West Coast .

But I did get to order blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, asparagus, onion sets, a dwarf pomegranate tree, an apricot tree and I think that is all. I will have to try and find a peach tree locally. I am hoping to put together a few raised beds this week. If I can get them together I will use them as a cold frame. I want to start lettuce, cabbage, onions and spinach. And maybe broccolli. Green food! I am craving real, fresh green food. It is rainy and damp here. I don't like the rain. It depresses me. I can take all the snow you can dish out but not rain. Blah. I am feeling very lazy today but I have actually gotten a lot done. I milked, started a new batch of yogurt, made butter, made bread (which is now baking, mmmm), cleaned out the pots & pans cupboard, started a load of laundry, swept, made the beds, loaded & ran the dishwasher and read a few chapters of our current Civil War book to my kids. Wow. I almost sound productive .

I cleaned out the pots & pans because we got a new set of stainless steel pots & pans! How cool is that? Some of our old stuff was really nasty so it was fun to put away all the shiny new pots. And they work really well, they heat up so much faster than what we had. My son was scrambling eggs and almost burned the oil it heated up so fast!

Well, I'm supposed to be helping with English. Back to the salt mines.

Community Sing

Happy St. Patricks Day! Are you wearing green?

Last night was our Community Sing. It was fun! We go to a small conservative church but last night it was rockin'! Singing, clapping, waving hands, you hardly would have recognized the place . My daughter played her 2 songs wonderfully. I didn't get any pics to share (bad mommy). She got compliment after compliment and her piano teacher shamelessy bragged on her.  Afterwards there were snacks and fellowship which is always good!

This Thursday we are having a Seder(Passover Meal) at church. We've done this before and it is always fun. We have learned so much doing this and so have our kids. Do any of you do this too?

This Friday is my eldests 19th birthday. Can I really be this old? He lives in California but he is coming to visit for his Spring break. I am excited, he hasn't been up for way too long. He was going to bring his beautiful girlfriend but she can't get the time off . Too bad, he's much nicer when he is with her . Hopefully he will be here for Easter and we can have a nice family day. But I am stumped as to what to get him for his birthday. He is hard to buy for these days, his tastes are pretty trendy and I have no idea what is "in". Any suggestions? It was so much easier when he was little and a dinosaur worked for all occasions

Another cool giveaway!

Go visit http://oldredbarnco.blogspot.com/2008/03/giving-away-quilt.html and take part in the quilt contest! And if you mention me I get extra entries  How cool is that?

Spring Nest Cleaning Giveaway

The Simple Woman, http://thesimplewoman.blogspot.com/  , is having a Spring giveaway at her blog. A pretty apron & some nice products. Check it out. You have until the 20th to enter. I hope I win!

It's coming!

Spring! Even though it is still a few months off (we are lucky if we can plant before June) yesterday we saw a true sign that it is coming:Aren't they pretty? Our first flowers of spring! Cheerful yellow crocus's. I so want to get started on all my garden projects but the garden is still under snow. And the parts of the yard where it has melted off is standing water and mud--everywhere! So, alas, I will have to wait.

My children got their first taste of Big Business yesterday. They sold 3 rabbits to our local Grange Co Op. They have been trying to sell to them for months so they were pretty happy about it. All but 2 of the young rabbits have been sold or butchered so it is time to breed some more. The domestic rabbit tastes so much better than the Jackrabbit. The jackrabbit was all dark meat and very gamey. The domestic rabbit is white meat and very mild tasting. Very much like chicken!

My daughter made a patchwork pillow --by hand-- for her grandma.She was quite pleased with the finished product as was her grandma! I wanted her to learn to hand sew before she started to use the machine. I think it is a good thing to know.

Tonight is our "Community Sing." Every few months the churches get together and showcase the local talent. Anyone who wants to sing, play an instrument, read scripture or a poem or just about anything can perform. It hops around from church to church and tonight it is at our church. My daughter is going to play the piano. She has been working on 2 songs: "He Has Made Me Glad" and "I Love You Lord." She is 8 and has been taking lessons for 2 years now. She really enjoys it and it comes quite easily to her. She sure didn't get that from me! I am pleased that she is doing so well. I think playing the piano is a good thing for a Lady to know. It will serve her well in life. She's excited about playing tonight. She has a new dress from her grandma and  I am going to do her hair in a fancy braid. I 'll let you know how it goes!

Kitchen Gadgets

I have always been a kitchen gadget snob. I wrote about my bread machine snobbery in the last issue of New Harvest Homestead Newsletter. (which, by the way, if you don't subscribe I highly  reccomend it) Now you must understand, I don't mean I am a snob in that I have to have a certain brand. I mean I am a snob in that those things don't belong in the kitchen! All you really need is a couple wooden spoons and a cast iron skillet. All those other things--mixers, bread machines, non-stick pans--are for posers .  For years I revelled in doing things the "old fashioned (read that HARD) way."  My escape from snobbery started when my MIL bought me a bread machine. Wow. I soon discovered how fabulous those things are. Freeing up hours of time but still allowing me to bake fresh bread for my family. Way cool. My newest discovery is the stand mixer. Wow. Talk about a cool toy. Now, I have always mixed by hand, always enjoyed mixing by hand and still advocate hand mixing. But in the last few months I have developed arthritis in my elbow. It hurts. It also robs me of my strength and makes something as simple as hand mixing very painful. Major bummer. So for Christmas my fabulous husband bought me a bright red KitchenAid Mixer.This thing is beyond cool. Not only is it gorgeous, but it mixes up everything from bread dough, to pie crusts, to cookies and donuts. With NO elbow pain. Hallelujah! It will also make light, fluffy, whipped cream out of my fresh cream. Which I was here-to-for unable to accomplish. So I think my kitchen gadget snob days are at an end. Except for non-stick cook ware. That stuff will kill you .

Donuts!

We made yummy donuts this morning so I thought I would share the process with you. I will start with the recipe( I got it from Family Circle Magazine):

3 1/2 c. flour

3 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

3 large egg yolks

2/3 c. sugar

3 tbsp. melted butter

3/4 c. milk

Veg. oil for frying

sugar, cinnamon, and/or frosting for toppings

1. In med. bowl sift together flour, baking powder, salt,  cinnamon & nutmeg.

2. In large bowl lightly beat egg yolks on med. speed. Gradually add in sugar, beating until pale and slightly thickened. Mix in butter. Add flour mix alternately with milk.

3. On floured surface roll out dough to 1/2 inch thick. let rest 15 min.

4. Meanwhile, heat oil to 365 (a cube of bread will be browned after 1 min) in heavy saucepan over med-high heat

5. Cut donuts w/ donut cutter (or a cup for donut & a baby bottle for the hole  )

6. Prepare coating(sugar, cinnamon & sugar or frosting) in bowl

7. Carefully slip donuts & holes into hot fat, fry until golden turning once. About 2-3 min per batch. Drain on paper towel then transfer warm donuts to coating bowl & roll to coat. Serve warm.  Makes about 18 donuts plus holes.

For maple donuts mix maple syrup with powdered sugar. For chocolate mix cocoa, powdered sugar & milk until smooth. Mixing, rolling & cuttingRolled & ready to fryFrying.Draining.Maple frosting.Some sugar coated & maple frosted. Does that donut have a BITE out of it?! We must have mice .The finished product.And the all important taste tests.Yummy!

Happy Hens

It was brought to my attention that by showcasing my eggs without showing who laid them, that I was perpetrating an injustice toward those parties. So in order to rectify this situation, the other morning I took some pics of my "Ladies" . Chickens are not the easy subjects to photograph. They tend to not take direction well and move where ever they want to --whenever!  But I managed to capture a few...

Isn't she pretty? Her feathers look as though they are edged with lace.

Another lovely lady...Here are the Banty GirlsAnd just for fun here are my boys helping me do chores

Aren't they cute?