Faith, crafting and dinner

A recent visit to the doctors ...three days in a row, caused me to look at my authentic self. I say I live a natural life , out here on the farm but when I took a deeper  look I found I was fooling myself. Yes, I do lead a dual life working in the city with an hour commute one way but I thought I was living the clean life out on the plains but I wasn't.  Every day on the way to work I was stopping at McDonalds.  I get to work and have a Pepsi. Exercise was the few minutes I could squeeze in on the treadmill and I left most of the farm work to Dude. When I started this blog I said I would incorporate my spiritual life...from the looks of this blog, it is nonexistent.  So, I decided today I was starting over. We are given a brand new day every 24hours to make the most out of our lives.

Over on Blessed is She Blog  I read , Easier to trip constantly on the torn hem of my soul than stop to stitch it back up. Easier to let my skin prickle with the cold that enters through the rips and tears of my heart than to patch them up with new mercies.  Wow. That is so me. God is challenging me every day. People are place right in front of me to help me through my goals yet I resist and trip.

This morning instead of "letting" Dude do all the work outside. I shoveled all the paths. I love shoveling. Plus, being menopausal, the cold morning was nothing for me. *wink*. The pay off? Dude finished with morning chores with the animals early and HE made breakfast. The pay-off tumbled even more and I was able to write a blog and get ready for mass.

Mass ~ The gospel and the sermon resounded to strive eagerly for the greatest of the spiritual gifts. Theological gifts.  Incline ourselves to Faith, Hope, and Love.

So faith, hope, love remain, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.

See things with Faith. Wonder and pray for what God is asking of us. Nothing happens by chance. Nothing.
Hope ~ often people think nothing will change and everything is just passing us by. Take time to see how God is working through us. Be open to change and go outside our selfishness, give of our time, convert to a better and higher way of life...and through this is....
Love~ continually strive for the love of God in our lives. He gives us faith and hope so our lives will make sense.

Live in the light.     Do the plan of God.  Encourage the love of God. 

The rest of the day~ I went Old School on dinner.  I wanted to have leftovers for a few other meals.  It turned out perfect. Pork Roast with veggies.

I melted lard in a cast iron Dutch oven. Took a package of Lipton Onion Soup mix and rubbed it on both sides of the Pork Roast . Browned the roast on all sides. Then add the veggies - onions, potatoes and carrots from the garden. Add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil.  Then place on the bottom rack of a 350* oven and bake for one hour or until it reaches 170*.

 Made a oatmeal cookie bar with chocolate chips and salted caramel chips.  Basically is oatmeal chocolate chip cookies made into a bar.

Had to get some birthday cards made for this week and started Valentines Day cards. I got out scraps, anything I could find and set to work.

It was nice to shut off all the noise of the day.  Time to eat, reading  and evening prayers.

Snow Sunday

Snowed again last night but the big snow is due tonight and tomorrow. My job this morning was to make paths in the snow. We do this every time it snows so it doesn't build up or collect into ice. There are also added benefits - getting out in the fresh air,  exercising -I don't need a gym membership, and an ample supple of vitamin D.  I remember asking my mom, who is in her 80's, why she has never had low vitamin D.  She said because she makes a conscious effort to get outside every day. The quiet after a snow is extremely calming. The Canadian geese were flying over.  The cows across the road were calling out and the goats were screaming for us to get over there and pet them.  Our goats hate snow or water. The noise is more natural than man-made.

During the snow yesterday I came up with a list of what I want to can/freeze/dry  this year so I know what I need to grow.  Salsa, pickles, relish, pesto, spaghetti sauce, jams, chilies, sauerkraut...it's a start.

Today is a crafting day... Valentine Cards, Birthday Cards, Sewing.

Dinner - pork roast, potatoes, carrots, and cabbage wedges with hollandaise.  

New chicks plus this and that

Our new chicks have arrived.  We picked them up from an awesome farm called Honeybadger Farm. They raise hens, turkeys and pigs.  I wish I had brought my camera in because they raise some of the most beautiful chickens I have ever seen. 

We came home with Lavender Orpingtons, Olive Eggers and Americanas. They have taken to their new digs just nicely and I look forward to working with them every day.

We have them set up in the greenhouse for now...nice and warm along with their regular warming light.

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Here is a little bit of this and that we posted on Facebook ...

This little guy bloomed in time for the Bronco Game.

Lou could care less about the game and enjoyed the fire instead.

Pulled a bunch of beautiful carrots last night.

Made spring rolls with them with peanut sauce.

One of Dude's past projects...

Giggle... one of my little projects as a gift.

Time to hit the road. Hope you have a wonderful Monday!

Creating cutting boards and pizza

We had a busy morning yesterday! Dude made a cutting board from scraps from the butcher block island counter top he built last year.  Biscuit jointed, cut to length, routed and finished with food grade mineral oil. He left the oil on for 24 hours and then coated with bee's wax - Clarks finishing oil and finish wax .  He also routed the one he made for the island. They both turned out gorgeous!

Pizza

Friday pizza bug started in the morning with dough rising on the stove.  We start with this recipe at 730am...gotta have this all done before heading to work at noon... it seemed to do the trick and was just right for us.

Dough had risen and been rolled out. Next we mixed some our garlic we pulled up in the fall with olive oil and slathered all over the dough.

Then I went out to the greenhouse and got some salad greens and spinach and gave it a bed on the pizza.  Found some cheese in the fridge... a little mozzarella, fresh parmesan, and cheddar.

Then some dried tomatoes from our pantry -poured boiling water over and it was waiting for it's turn on the pizza- they look wonderful. Sprinkled with our dried oregano and basil. Drizzle the whole thing with balsamic vinegar.  

Bake for 12-15 minutes at 425*.

Second pizza had the same base of all but the dried tomatoes. Add a ton of mozzarella cheese and parmesan. Topped with pepperoni.  Guess who's that pizza is ? Yep, Dude's.

They both turned out very good but Dude ended up liking the veggie one better and ate the pepperoni pizza for breakfast saying, pepperoni pizza is better cold and in the morning.  oiy.

From our garden and pantry - garlic, lettuce, spinach, basil, and oregano...and can you imagine, next time with goat cheese we will make? ohmy.

What do the goats think of the milk stands?

We had to laugh. We took the new milk stands out to the barn... the girls ignored the milk stands but the boys were totally checking them out. They thought they were a new jungle gym.

Goat Milk Stands

Our goats Pepper and Running Water are due to have their kids in a month or so . We are preparing, on warm non-snowy days, for the day they have their babies.  We have been through this a few times with our meat goats and every time it is different.  These are our dairy goats. Dude built our milk stands yesterday. Today he is working on a hay trough and dividing the boys into their own digs but in a way they can still see each other.

The milk stands turned out great. We wanted them done ahead of time to get the girls used to using them.  I have to say I was quite surprise when I got home from work and saw their there were two stands. I have always thought it would just be me milking goats but happy to find it will be both of us to have time together and get it done quickly each morning. 

The stands cost nothing to make. They are solid 2x6 construction.  We used reclaimed wood from the back patio we tore down. That wood has kept use warm this winter, made the milk stands and today will be made into the hay trough. 

Community

When you live in a rural area community is a big deal .  There are a few that are very special to me. Once a month I  make cards with one group... birthday cards, sympathy, get well...whatever but it is time to get together, talk about the community and check in with everyone from here and neighboring towns.  We met one day when someone left a note saying my goat had gotten out and she had it at her farm. A kindness so great , I knew this was someone I wanted to be friends with. She was on her way to make cards and asked if I wanted to join them. Another group is farmgirls . We get together each Monday to share knowledge, can, dry food,  bake, garden, go on field trips together, laugh and bond. We know the struggles of being out here(where closest neighbors are about a mile away) and have helped each other in so many ways.  And last, but surely not least, are my quilting buddies, Threadsisters. We have been getting together for 10-15years.  Once a month we travel to a different friend's home to quilt, crochet, knit, embroider, eat, laugh and share our lives. I laugh now because we used to begin our sewing sessions with a wonderful concoction we called slushies...it was a type of frozen limeade spiked with a bit of booze. Not sure why we stopped that tradition, probably because we didn't get much sewing done. Anyway, the thought makes me smile.   We have become great friends helping each other when sick or after surgeries, sharing children's weddings, housewarmings, family holidays... we are a very special group.  Today, we celebrated the life of one of our own, Betty. She died January 8th.  Betty was born in 1927 and what a gal !  She would share stories of being an editor of a newspaper and the fun she had or the time she had a heart attack and now  had a reason to go to the gym...oh, it wasn't to really exercise but to check out her handsome trainer.  Betty was a kick and we will definitely miss her.

I was late getting dinner on tonight after returning from the city. It was cold out here on the plains. The city was a good twenty degrees higher than out here.  After last night's full dinner of ham and potato salad, and Dude having leftovers for lunch, I wanted to go with something light for dinner. I went with Cabbage Soup. I like to use as much  I have canned or dried from the garden.  Dude actually liked it...thank goodness. It's hard to please a meat and potato man sometimes.

Cabbage Soup

1 small cabbage chopped in small chunks

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 small onion chopped

1 large carrot sliced (or 1/4 to 1/2 cup of dried from the pantry)

3 garlic cloves sliced  (from the fall garden)

1 can of stewed tomatoes

1 small can of green chilies (or 1/2 pint jar canned from pantry)

3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar

4 cups chicken broth (or 2 quart jars from the pantry)

2 teaspoons of sugar

 2 teaspoons of oregano(dried from the garden)

salt

pepper

pepper flakes

Sauté the onions and garlic in the oil.

Next, just dump everything else in bringing to a boil. Then reduce and simmer for 30 minutes.

Top with fresh parmesan. Enjoy.

  It got down to 12* this morning and it is another chilly night. Time to sit by the fire for a bit.

~Peace