And no, Brian did not buy me a cow. The lovely folks at Hampshire Farms gave us a call awhile back and announced that they had A)finally started a very small cow share program and B)had a drop off location just down the road from us! I’ve looked in to other cow share programs and even beg Brian regularly for a little Jersey of our own. You can read about all of that in my Real Milk? post. This cow share is truly the best setup possible for us at this time. We got a first gallon 2 weeks ago. I poured the cream off and made butter. Has anyone else tried the trick of making butter out of heavy cream by shaking it in a jar? You know how it takes forever? Well… real, fresh cream doesn’t take forever. In fact, I barely had time to pull up a blog while shaking and I heard a thump. Holy cow, my butter was already done!I’m just going to drink this gallon since we won’t have much time to make anything with it before vacation. In the future I’d like to try yogurt and even cheese.If you’re local and you’d like
Continue readingMonth: August 2009
A Weekend’s Work
This is what I accomplished over Saturday and Sunday… 33 quarts of pears in all. They are chuck full of pears too since I hot packed them, the only one with much free space is that one there in the front since it was my last jar. Yesterday was my Grandma’s birthday so I took 3 quarts back to her (they’re from her tree!). When pears were finally done I literally ran to my knitting…I was having withdrawals. I whipped up this little booty for my friend Maria. One more to go and I can seam them up and they’ll be done. I hope you had a great weekend. Back to work today for me. We’ll be busy getting things done around here all week and then Friday morning we head out for vacation!! Wahoo!
Continue readingPeaches, Pears, Beans, Oh My!
My Mom came last weekend and helped with the peaches, I think we got 19 quarts in all. That was from 1 1/2 bushels of “seconds” peaches and I would guess we lost about 1/2 bushel of them to rotten spots and bruises. I picked 2 bushels of pears at my grandma’s on Sunday. The blueberries in our area are done already but there happened to be a blueberry farm near my grandma’s that was still open so I stopped and picked almost 5 pounds of blueberries. Then I swung by our friends’ house on the way home and picked a 5 gallon pail full of green and yellow beans. They said take all I wanted but that was plenty for me!!Today is the day to catch up on all of this. I might renew our Netflix for the season so I can watch instant movies while I sit here peeling and slicing. Have a great Saturday. Are you canning anything this weekend?
Continue readingThoughts on Marriage after One Year
Can you believe it has been a year already!? That’s what Brian said to me this morning and he is right, this year just flew by. Lately, I’ve had a chance to take part in a lot of conversations with my friends about marriage. We all agree that we get so tired of everyone acting like things are perfect or, at the other end of the spectrum, of people getting divorced after only a few months or years. A lot of us younger couples never get to hear much about those who have struggled through things and managed to stay together. Of course, people say “marriage is so hard” but that doesn’t help much. Without going in to a lot of detail, I’d like to share a few of the things Brian and I have learned in our first year of marriage. Dealing with the hard times…-Don’t just think you’ll never get divorced, you’ll live happily ever after, and that’s that. If you had asked me last year if divorce would ever cross my mind I would have said absolutely not unless there was cheating or abuse involved. Let me tell you, I had serious doubts this year that I
Continue readingIt Has Begun…(drumroll please)
What is IT? Canning season that is. And no, that’s not why I’ve been missing. I’ve been missing because my blogging addiction has given way to a Ravelry addiction which has led me to begin knitting everyone’s Christmas presents now, while I’m still motivated and sort of have the time. I promise to post more soon. My order of peaches came in tonight which will lead directly in to apple and tomato seasons which might clash slightly with the vacation to who knows where that we’re taking the week of Labor Day. That will all keep me busy but it will give me lots of blog worthy material too. I leave you with this. Anyone who can tell what it is gets an imaginary pat on the back from me. 🙂
Continue readingMenu Plan Monday
Okay here goes: Monday: Cornmeal waffles with bacon and fried zucchini Tuesday: Sloppy Joes for Brian, hot dogs for me, with chips and watermelon Wednesday: Baked Rotini with homemade garlic bread Thursday: Steak on the grill with seasoned buttered noodles Friday: Going to my cousin’s wedding – no cooking for me! 🙂 What are you eating this week?
Continue readingToday’s To-Do List
Monday is my day off and I’m staying super busy! This is more for my purposes but in case you’re interested, here’s what is on my agenda: -Can more green beans (they’re on the stove now)-Bake bread-Call the builder-Call the plumber-Call on prices for an automatic cattle waterer-Balance the checkbook/pay bills-Find the title for a trailer we’re selling-Call the orchard to order peaches (Mmmm!)-Scope out vacation destinations online (this is coming up fast!)-Make the weekly menu plan-Make granola bars if time allows-Finish knitted baby shower gift and make progress on wedding gift The bathroom needs to be painted and the landscape worked on but it is incredibly hot and humid/sticky so I won’t be doing either of those things today. I’m hoping to bust through the rest of the list so I can just knit and work on the bread. I’d love to hear what you’re doing today! 🙂
Continue readingBusy Day, We’re tired
So I may not have mentioned it yet but both Brian and I’s moms are moving or planning to move. Brian’s Mom has to be out of her house by the end of August. It isn’t as bad as it could be since she moved out of there and in with her husband quite a few years ago. It has been really tough for her though because Brian’s Dad and brother have both passed away and a lot of there stuff was in the house and had to be sorted through. We also had a lot of stuff left in the house from when we lived there before moving to the farm. If you haven’t heard, Michigan’s economy bites and almost no houses are selling. Someone actually came to Brian’s Mom and made her a really good offer on the house – it wasn’t even for sale. I think this is meant to be and I’ll be so glad when it is done. My Mom is planning to move closer to us next spring. Right now her and my little sister live about 45-60 minutes away from us. My sister will be graduating from high school next year. So far
Continue readingPressure Canning Green Beans
I spent the day with my Mom yesterday and she taught me how to pressure can for the first time ever. I went in to this completely blind and was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was. Now I have a new skill to add to my list! Yay! Thanks Mom! While this is in no way meant to be a guide to pressure canning I’ll share a few pics and the basic process. That way if you find someone to teach you it won’t be so mystifying. The black pot has a strainer in it and boiling water. The silver one is the pressure canner with a few inches of water in the bottom. We snapped the beans in 2-3 inch pieces and removed the ends. Next, we rinsed them under cool water and put them in the black pot of boiling water. Once the water comes back to a boil they stay in for 5 minutes. At that point we pulled out the strainer, allowed the water to drain back in to the pot, and poured the beans in to the plastic strainer in the sink. Then it is time to put the beans in the jars. I
Continue readingCounty Fair Fun!
These pictures aren’t the greatest but I wanted to share all the fun things that happened last week at our county fair! Our niece bracing her lamb.Our other neice, Jill. Her sheep was being very stubborn and holding up the class but Jill handled it like a champ.Jill setting her lamb’s feet in the proper place. She ended up winning her class!Our nephew showing in the Cloverbud class. The little ones are supervised by an older helper and no ribbons are awarded. It is a great way for them to learn.The best part: my caramel apple!!It is hard to tell in this picture but this steer weighs 1800 pounds!Aren’t the sheep cute in their pajamas!We went up on Sunday night to see the animals and exhibits. Then we went back on Tuesday to watch our nieces show their sheep. They did great and I learned a lot from watching. Do you attend your county’s fair? What’s your favorite thing to see or do?
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