Just to catch up.

Hi everyone.
These pass two months have been busy ones for me, so I haven't posted as much as I should. The garden has keep me pretty busy as well as animals this year. Add into that two small trips and one big one and I seem to run out of time.

Here is just a small list of things going on. I won't bore you with everything ,but you will get the idea.

I made two wonderful trips to Heidi's ( need to go back, MISS HER and her babies.)

Drove 10 hours to tour a Bio-intensity farm (with Debbie and Rich )

Went to my sister-in-laws wedding in Idaho.( Will be going back in July.)

Made laundry soap, dish soap, and goats milk soap.

Learned how to made dehydrated meals.
Dehydrated onions, garlic, spices, Zucchini, and oranges so far.

Picked cherries ( 14 pounds) and made pie fillings for the freezer and cherry syrup.

Harvested some of my garden.
weeded both side and raise bed garden. Had to put up deer fencing around both.
Made a rug, quilt, and needle work for friends.
Remodeling and painting.
Then there is the every day stuff, cooking, cleaning, wash, and a course entertaining the husband .

How to give your mom a hear attack.

Rick and I had be out getting a new flag pole and doing other errands. Tiff called to say she was on her way to our house. I hadn't seem the girls for a week due to work. So I was real happy to see her car in the drive. I walk in to see her purse and phone on the table. No child ? I looked up stairs to see if she was laying down in the guest room. Nope no child . I yelled for her thru the house, no answer. Looked out front and in the garden no child. I then started to get a little worried. She always takes her shoes off in the house, but they won't there. Plus she would never go anywhere without her purse or phone.  I went back outside to look again. Just behind our huge oak tree I found this.

No wonder she didn't hear me yelling at her. She was sound a sleep .  A bomb wouldn't wake that child. I learned two things that day. One, no matter how old they get you still worry about them. Two when it comes to our kids ,we worry about them at a drop of a hat.  I just smiled  down at her and walked away  letting her sleep. Thankful she was safe.

Got our new pigs today

 Jim ,Debbie and I are raising pig together this year. We got to pick them up today. We were greeted with this cute sign.

 I was really impressed with how clean everything was. There was very little small at all especially with how any pigs he had. The picture shows how clean everything was.

 Poor Rick got the job of carrying them out.

 We transported them in dog carriers with hay.

 He had castrated them two hours before we picking them up. We sprayed them with Blu Kote hoping to ease their pain and stop the bleeding. Debbie volunteered to spray them since I had a wedding to go to and the spray tends to stain your hands blue for about a week. Blue hands at a wedding doesn't sound at all appealing.

They are now in their new home in Jim's barn with plenty room to run around. We are keeping them in  till they heal a little bit. We don't want to take a chance of them getting a infection.  So starts my new adventure in raising pigs. Wish me luck.

PS: I know they won't stay this way,but right now they are so cute.

I got to play with Daddy's toys.

 

 Ever year Rick tills my garden for me. He enjoys tilling and getting the garden ready for me.

This year he even let me do some of the tilling. I was so excited to be able to play with his toy. I tilled about three rows and decided it wasn't that exciting playing with his toys. He won't have to worry about me wanting him to share his toys with me any more. There all his.

Now his truck is another thing ! I wonder what I have to do to get him to share that toy with me?

Tea Towel Crafts ( So much fun )

This is the tea towel I made for our Farm Girl Chit Chat group, we did a tea rowel swap. The picture was put on with fabric markers. I added prairie points to the bottom of it. with a red ribbon. I am really happy with the way it turned out.

This is the tea towel apron I did for Diane's birthday. I used a green and yellow stripped vintage tea towel.  I added the ribbon and prairie points at the bottom. I also added a pocket and a crochet flower at the top.  Diane likes to tie her aprons in the front so I made the straps nice and long.  I had so much fun making these That I am planning to make one for a future give away.

Apple Fritters

Ingredients

Vegetable oil,
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon cardamon
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 teaspoons homemade vanilla extract
2 apples, cored and cut into small dice ( I use granny smiths )
Powdered sugar, for dusting

Directions

Heat 3 inches of  oil in  Dutch oven or deep fryer  until  thermometer inserted in the oil registers 340 degrees F.

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, cardamon  and salt. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with a fork, then add the milk, melted butter and vanilla. Gently fold the dry and wet ingredients together until just combined (don't over mix). Fold in the apples

Drop heaping tablespoons of batter into the hot oil, 6  at a time. ( Don't make them to thick or they will not cook all the way thru ) Fry until golden brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Remove and drain on paper towels. Dust with powdered sugar.

Cardamon is optional. These are still really good with out it,but the spice really puts them over the top.

Foaming Soap Recipe.

I found a foaming hand soap I really like. It's so easy. Add 2 to three tablespoon of liquid Castile soap.Depending on the amount of foam you want to a foaming hand soap bottle(I use Lemon liquid Castile soap) then I added 20 drops of jasmine essential oils. This is optional but the lemon and jasmine smell so good together. Add distilled water to the bottle just till it reaches the bottom of the mechanism . Shake and that's it. I did add a few drop of my soap coloring which gave it a pretty color.

Note : This recipe is for a foaming soap container. Not sure how it will work in a plain hand soap container. You will probably have to add more Castile soap.

It finally .feels like spring

 My raised bed are all planted and ready to go. My potatoes and strawberries are doing great. I also planted peas,carrots, green lions, bush beans, cucumbers,zucchini, tomatos, and baby watermelon.

 Rick got the fencing up for the peas and cucumbers. The only other things we have to do is fix the deer fencing and put in the new watering system.Then it's on to the side garden getting it tilled and ready to plant.

 It feels so good to be out in the yard again. I love this time of year other then the wind. But the weather is perfect not to hot and not to cold.

 I am so excited! This is the first year my Lilacs have bloomed. These have to be one of my favorite flowers.

They make everything smell so good. I won't be needing my Lilac candles this year.

Artisan Bread

I made some artisan bread yesterday for our dinner tonight . It took 8 hours to rise the fist time and 1 hour for the second rise. I love this because I can make up the dough in the morning and not have to worry about it till later that evening.
 This batch I didn't start till closer to noon , plus we went to the movies so it didn't get out of  the oven till about midnight.

Rick couldn't wait for it to completely cool. He had to have a piece even though it was after midnight and time to go to bed. If you look closely at his hand you can see where he was squishing the bread.  The loaf is now almost completely gone since lunch. Looks like I will be making more.

Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do.

For 4 smaller or 2 large baguette or one big loaf.

1/4 tsp dry active yeast (I used Fleischmann's Rapid Rise Yeast)
(Note: if you want to use a traditional bread technique, add the whole package of yeast (2 1/4 tsp) and proceed as usual)

1 1/2 cups water (325 grams)

1 3/4 tsp salt

18 oz by weight all-purpose flour (500 grams), about 4 cups

- Mix dough and let rise 12-14 hours or until doubled

- Punch down and shape loaves, let rise covered with floured plastic 1 to 1 1/2 hr or until almost doubled

- Bake at 550 F. about 15 minutes or until well-browned

- Spray with water before baking, at 5 minutes, and at 10 minutes during cooking time

I found this on you tube under the food wishes channel.  They also have a great blog. foodwishes.blogspot.com

Cleo and Heidi's crochet rug.

 Heidi's kitchen is white,red and black, so these were the colors I went with. I wasn't sure about the black border. But after looking at the picture of it without it I am glad I added it. It gave it a more finished look.

 Every time I laid it now the floor to check that my ends were even Cleo ran to lay on it. I am beginning to think that she thinks it's her's.

 Have you ever tried to crochet while a cat plays with your fabric or yarn. Not a easy thing to do.She loved ever time I  ( tried) worked on this rug.

Now doesn't that look like a content cat. She is going to be so upset when I put this up till I can get it to Heidi.

Dark ages or Millennium ? Let your phone decide.

Went to get a new phone today. The lady asked if I wanted a smart phone .When I responded no, she replied so you don't want to join this millennium. WHAT! Since when is owning a phone make you part of a millennium. She acted like I was  from the dark ages. Heaven Forbid ,I live with out the internet strapped to my side. I went on to tell her I had a laptop and tablet, not to mention a nook at home. I think that was enough to put me in the ball park. Beside I would prefer to live my life in the real world.  Poor thing didn't caught the sarcasm. She went on to say she couldn't live without her GPS on her phone.
All of a sudden I got this picture of her phone dieing  on the way home from work and it taking her two day to find her way home.( Sometime my mind just goes off on it own thought trail.) She went on to tell me how I really need one for emergency. That I didn't want to find my self with out being able to get help. Hello 911 ! I finally made it clear that I only wanted a basic phone. You would of thought I lived in a cave from the look on her face.

This did get me thinking about technology and the world today. Don't get me wrong I love a lot of it, when used in the right way. But we have become a world of lazy people. How many people do you know that can't count back change? I don't even try to read face book post from my daughters friends. I swear they are making up works. And since when is idk or cyl a sentence. Last time I checked it was I don't know and Call you later. This is a real text from a friend of my daughters. "  What dats my movie... if i would bn born back thn i would hope to b so lucky.. lol "   (What! ) Guess I am just as bad about learning new languages, as I was with old ones.We use to call the TV the idiot box. I think were way passed that. At least back then we know the three R'S( reading, writing , and arithmetic )

 Social skills are out the window too.  People now a day have forgotten or don't know how to interact with each other face to face . And this new found freedom seems to give people the illusion that it's ok to be mean and hateful. They don't have to look people in the eye or face the harm that their words may cause.
 How many times have you gone into a restaurant and seen people sitting at the table playing on their smart phones and not paying attention to each other. My husband and were out one night and watched couple next to us not only play on their phones while waiting for they dinner, but thru the whole meal.  They never  even said one word to each other.  I ended up embarrassing my husband before it was done.  As they were leaving ,the gentlemen asked his date if she enjoyed their  evening together .  I just could hold it in.  Come on I know at lest one of you would of  giggled too.
 We waste so much of our life's playing games or living others peoples thru the net. How many times have we looked up from our laptop, tablet ,or phone to see that half the day is gone. I know I am guilty of that,  so why waste the other half of the day with a smart phone. I am not saying very one is a slave to their smart phones. But for me I don't want to take that chance. Just give me my basic phone and I am a happy camper.  Wonder if I can get a handle for that cave door.

May you have a Blessed Easter

This week in my Kitchen

 Come show what's has been going on in your kitchen No words needed just link up your pictures   http://beautythatmoves.typepad.com/beauty_that_moves/2014/04/this-.html

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN

This week in my kitchen.

  I am linking with Heather over at: "Beauty that Moves" for her This week in my kitchen blog hop..

A weekly collection of photos from the center of your  home. The kitchen the heart of the home.  So this hop is centered on  just photos of your kitchen thru out the week no words needed.