MarriedtotheFarm

On Facebook I asked my friends to “GUESS WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?!”.  My Aunt Linda nailed it!  In her words:  <—- I really thought my Aunt Linda was going to guess it but she was way off. Yeah baby, that’s right! Oh wait, that part doesn’t work anymore either.  I really thought someone would guess it right. Oh, the suspense… here it is… I’m not pregnant again if that’s what you’re thinking… But this is a really big deal… Today while running errands Kent and I went through the ATM and deposited a check.  A check for $294.35.  And then this afternoon I logged in to my account at Frankenmuth Credit Union and transferred that money over as the final payment on my student loan.  I didn’t even get the satisfaction of seeing the balance at $0.  The whole loan section just disappeared right off the page.  That’s right, loans and liabilities are gone forever. WE’RE DEBT FREE EXCEPT THE MORTGAGE!!!!!!!!  THANK YOU GOD!!!!!!!!!!  

This is a new feature here at MarriedtotheFarm.  I hope to make it a series but I’m not going to promise anything because, well, we all know how it goes when I commit to blogging regularly.  I thought it’d be fun to update on our chicks as we take them from fuzzy balls of fluff to high quality meat.  We raise at least 100 chickens every summer to provide meat for our own family and several of our customers.  We’ve had excellent feedback and a lot of repeat customers. The birds we raise are Colored Rangers.  They are a mix of old-fashioned breeds selected to grow fast but not as fast as the freakishly large Cornish breed that most people raise.  We have raised this breed exclusively here and are very happy with them.  They are lively and prefer foraging and running around in the grass over laying  by the feeders.  We start them out in a sheltered area under a heat lamp and then move them out to pasture when they have all their feathers.  I’ll attempt to follow along with one batch of birds here starting with the day they arrive on the farm. Even though these birds

M: Hamburger Helper / Spaghetti + Garlic Bread T: Beef Roast + Mashed Potatoes and Gravy W: “Wow” Chicken + Sweet Potato Fries R: Ham Roast + Mac & Cheese F: Alfredo Pizza S: Leftovers S: Shorts Ribs + Rice The Hamburger Helper was in our pantry for Brian to have on nights I was gone but I’m rarely gone and it needed to go.  I made a double batch of it and froze the rest for his lunches.  I’m going to shred up the Beef Roast leftovers for Roast Beef Sandwiches (thanks for the idea Melinda!).  “Wow” Chicken is from Pinterest, it just says 1/2 cup of yogurt + 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese spread over chicken breasts and baked.  The Ham Roast leftovers will get shredded and frozen for Pulled Pork Sandwiches later.  I have a great Short Ribs recipe to post someday.  Can you tell I’m trying to get a lot better about using up leftovers?  I’m tired of throwing them out when they’re molding in the fridge! How do you handle leftovers?

M: Ham & Cheese Macaroni Bake T: Homemade Chicken Patty Sandwiches + Ranch rice W: Beef Tacos R: Pork Loin Cutlets + Roasted Potato Wedges F: Pizza + breadsticks S: Leftover Buffet S: Potluck – take dish! All meals include salad for me, a veggie or two for Kent, and usually a little fruit or yogurt at the end for him. Every Monday is baking day for me.  Today I pulled a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread out of the freezer and made frosting to top it with.  I dished out 8 parfaits for snacking on and I made a double batch of Avocado Chocolate Pudding.  It sounds gross but that stuff is SO good and a little better for you than the regular kind. What are you cooking and baking this week?  

I updated Our Money Story just now.  Check it out if you’re new here or have been following our progress.  We’re not quite debt free except the mortgage yet but we’re definitely on the right track. Goal:  debt free except the mortgage by the end of 2012! As it says in my little disclaimer at the top of the money page: we share this because we hope to inspire you and help you.  When you’re having a rough time look back at how far we’ve come.  You CAN do this, too!  If you have specific questions or need help we’ll be happy to assist you the best we can.

I updated the “Garden” page and hope/plan to do a better job keeping it updated this year.  So far I’ve started 3 flats of tomatoes in the house and planted peas in the garden.  I’ve copied and pasted all the old information from the 2011 Garden page here to archive it. Here’s the garden as of February 2, 2012, long before anything was started.  Current pic to come!   ——— 2011 Garden Archive Harvesting 2010 Various dates: Cucumbers approx. 3# 8/6/10: Potatoes 6.9 oz. 8/6/10: Tomatoes 3# 14.6 oz. 8/9/10: Tomatoes 5# 10.6 oz. 8/11/10: Tomatoes 13# 13.2 oz. 8/11/10: Cucumbers 7.9 oz. 8/12/10: Tomatoes 7# 12.1 oz. 8/14: Tomatoes 7# 2 oz. 8/15: Tomatoes 2# 14.8 oz. 8/16: Tomatoes 3# 6.4 oz. 8/17: Tomatoes 10# 5.5 oz. 8/18: Tomatoes 14# 5.4 oz. 8/19: Tomatoes 9# 11.3 oz. 8/20: Tomatoes 13# 3.3 oz. 8/22: Tomatoes 10# 9.5 oz. 8/24: Tomatoes 19# 10.6 oz. 8/25: Tomatoes 16# 13.5 oz. Running totals: Cucumbers 3# 7.9 oz., Potatoes 6.9 oz., Tomatoes 108# 7.8 oz. Planting 2010 6/20/10: Purple Podded Pole Beans – 1 package (east half) Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans – 1 package (west half) 6/22/10: True Gold Sweet Corn – 1 package

So… last week I asked my dear husband to haul our dishwasher out to the road.  He obliged.  I’m pretty sure someone took it before the garage men came. It wasn’t broken.  Okay, it did have a hiccup where it didn’t always run water when the element got hot so I only used it when I was home, just in case it decided to go dry and start smoking.  That’s not why I wanted it gone though. Truthfully, after being so happy to get that thing, I hardly used it.  I can say with confidence that it hadn’t been used more than half a dozen times since I went down to part-time at work… so for well over a year.  I found myself running it from time to time just so it didn’t start to smell, and we used it when we had guests for Thanksgiving.  Other than that it just sat there taking up valuable space. So, do we have piles of dishes sitting everywhere?  Do we constantly bicker over who’s turn it is to wash them?  Nope and nope.  Our sink is usually shiny, clean, and empty!  Here’s a warning in case I never told you:  if you

For reference, and because tomorrow is the last day so if you’re local you might want to order! Access it at tuscolacd.com. Tuscola Conservation District Spring Tree Sale Order: Concord Seedless Grapes – 5 Fameuse (Snowapple) Apple Tree – 1 Granny Smith Apple Tree – 1 Rubel Blueberry – 5 Heritage Everbearing Red Raspberry – 10 In a few years we’ll have so much yummy food! 🙂

We’ve entered the very last hour of this week so it’s a fine time to tell you about it.  This was the best, most successful week I’ve had since Kent was born.  I stayed on task and accomplished what I set out to do all week long.  I cooked, we ate, we played, we had visitors, we had fun.  It was lovely!  The best part?  It only took me 8 months to get here.  The worst part?  It took me 8 months to get here!! That’s not to say I have it all figured out, obviously.  Just like any other kid Kent changes things up about every 5 minutes.  It was true what my friend Michelle told me – just when you have it figured out they’ll do something different and you’ll have to start all over. Anyway, the point of this post isn’t to ramble on about parenting… I want to share bits and pieces of life from this past week. We had a set of twin lambs born.  They’re the last of this group.  It was fun for me because I was there right after she had the first one.  I went back in the house before the