Bought maple taps today!

I am so excited!  The hubs agreed to try out maple tree tapping this year.  We have about 5 maple trees in our yard.  I only bought 6 taps, 3 per tree, just to give it a try. 

Maple syrup making facts: which I do not claim to be the expert on by any means.  These are just things I have researched and learned.

1.Depending on how much you know about the process of making maple syrup.  You may or may not know that it takes about 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. 

2.Sugar maple trees are the best because they have the highest sugar content, but you can also use Silver maple, red maple and boxelder tree sap.  With the last three it will just take more sap to make the finished syrup.   

What happens when you decide in the middle of winter that tapping your maple trees sounds like fun!!?  You may run into a small problem, What kind of maple tree is it???  Did you know there were so many kinds of maple trees?  I didn't.  I mentioned 4 there are more than that.  Some produce a milky sap that does not produce syrup.  Some have a higher sugar content than others.  Tell me how does one identify a maple tree with no leaves?  Well I am going to try and if worse comes to worse I we will tap them and find out later.  It will be mystery syrup....mmmmm :).  

Here is the link to the taps I bought.  http://andersonsmaplesyrup.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=65&products_id=464

How blessed am I

My dear sweet hubby went with me to the Indiana Home Educator's Convention.  If you knew how he opposed home education from the get go you would see what a blessing this is.  The end is closing in our first year of home schooling and it has gone wonderfully.  Very rare were the days that I felt like throwing in the towel and many were the days of sheer wonder at my little childrens minds being enlightened.  The hubs agreed at first to allow us to try out one year of home schooling.  I believe now he is really starting to see the wonderfulness of it.  If nothing else he can see that I love it and so do my kids.

Just the thought that he cares enough that he is willing to spend a day going to a conference that I know he wasn't looking forward to.  Shows what a good husband and father he is!  I am overcome with thankfulness!

Jungle Jim's a foodies paradise and much more

First of all I have been remiss to post an update.  Every time I sat down to start typing I have just felt altogether uninspired.  Kind of the theme for the last couple weeks of February for me.  It will soon be over and signs of spring will be near and my spirits be lifted!

Today's adventures after schooling the kiddos.  The hubs stayed home and worked then had to go to Ohio for something and asked if we wanted to go along and go to Jungle Jim's afterward.  I would be a silly woman to pass up the opportunity to go to Jungle Jim's.  What is Jungle Jim's you may ask?  Just the biggest, coolest grocery store you have ever seen.  They discribe it as "the 6 acre food lover's paradise"  I would have to agree.  For any cook it is heaven and dangerous all at the same time.  It is also very entertaining for the kids.  I meant to take pictures but never got around to it.  You know that feeling of walking into Disney World as a kid?  Well it is like that for an adult.  The sounds the smells, the shear biggness is overwhelming and you don't know which direction to go first.  They have EVERYTHING you could ever possibly want when it comes to food.  To name a few; black truffles ($250), chicken feet, pig heads, ham that is $250 a lb, any produce and alot of it at great prices.  The cheese section is as big a small grocery store.  If ever you pass through Hamilton, OH I would highly recommend stopping by Jungle Jim's.

Since the last time I posted I have done OAMC (I know I know I promised two more posts about it and I will I will).  Took my girlies and 3 nieces to a hotel, build a bear, out to eat and gave them all makeovers for sweet Macy's B-day. 

                                     Now that was a whirl wind of girl fun.  Poor poor husband. 

 I made homemade pasta for the first time...

                                                                       All strung up.

Basil fettuccini...mmmm

Chicken sauted in a garlic butter sauce.  Thrown together with some of my sundried cherry tomatoes and parmasean. Served over my homemade basil fettuccine.  Simply Delish!

After a a few learning curves the pasta was a cinch.  I used the kitchen aid pasta attatchment to make it.  

Still waiting on those baby goats to make their appearance.  Mama looks like she could go any day.  I have her penned up in the barn with lots of straw in one of the horse stalls.  I am keeping a close eye on her and impatiently waiting!

Tomorrow is a busy Friday with Coop, theater, library and baking sweet rolls for the freezer with a friend.  Come to think of it I have spent 3 days this week cooking with friends.  There is not much better than spending the day in the kitchen with a friend.  Making good food and have good times.  

The highlight of my day was Macy (who is 5) when she noticed I was picking up some broccoli at Jungle Jim's proceded to shout "YAY, Broccoli!!!" now that is a great kid!

Good night, all!

 

Fess up Friday

Ok I'll play.  Kendra at http://newlifeonahomestead.com/ has started fess up Friday so I decided to play along.  Here are the rules she has laid out.

If you have a blog, and aren’t too embarrassed to spill the beans to millions of viewers, write up a short post confessing that less than perfect housekeeping secret you’ve been sweeping under the rug! Copy the Fess Up Friday logo and paste it into your post, then leave your link below to share with others!

This can be about cleaning “shortcuts”, mommy mistakes, recipe flops, forgetful minds… anything to get a laugh! I do reserve the right to delete any links to crude or inappropriate materials. Please leave a link directly to your Fess Up Friday post, and not your home page.
If you don’t blog, or would rather share your secrets anonymously (com’mon, they can’t be that bad!), you can leave your silly story in the comments section.
I’m not looking for a long post. Just a short admission reminding us all that we are all doing the best we can, and sometimes that just has to be good enough!! It won’t take long, and you’ll feel so much better getting it off your chest, *smiles*. So, you have no excuses!

My Confession

All this week and even now I am neglecting my duties and responsibilities for one reason or another.  Mostly it has been garden related.  With the recent cold frame, seed share planning and seed order I cannot get my mind out of my imaginary garden.  That is sure to be a success come spring(lets cross our fingers).  I have laundry(at least it is clean) that has been on my couch all week.  Something my dear husband HATES.  I have neglected to make dinner more than once this week.  School has been at the bare minimum.  Even now as I type here I should be getting ready for our Friday Science Coop.  What the heck is wrong with me?  I am lacking some serious focus and some major self-dicipline.  In the famous words of Ren (from the Ren and Stimpy Show...LOL)  "Pull it together MAN!"

~Farewell Franklin~ Mixed feelings

                     These are pictures of Franklin at 2 days old.  He is now 10 months and much bigger.

Late last night I finally got the nerve to list my dear sweet Franklin on Craigslist.  Franklin is my so ugly he is adorable, super lovable but oh so stinky buck pygmy goat.  I love him dearly but with his mom and sister on the premesis it is not best for all involved that he be here.  He has already inpregnated them once and that just cannot happen again.  Also when the girls give birth I plan to milk and a buck near by will probably ruin my milk.  Well the girls are due soon!  They are really starting to show the signs of impending labor.  So it is time to find Franklin a new home.

As I suspected it didn't even take 24 hours to find him a home.  Good news is I had a 20 minute conversation with the man coming to get him.  Come to find out the we both frequent the local Amish produce auction.   My guess he was a 65 yr old country man and he had just the sweetest personality and we agreed to be auction buddies come next spring when the auction starts up again. (BTW when the auction does start again you will be getting filled in on the goings on every week.  Last year was my first year.  Not only is it addicting to get broccoli at 10 cents a head but you meet and interact with the cream of the crop of the farm world.)  Max is his name and I am looking forward to meeting him.  Though it will have to wait until auction season since he is picking up Franklin on Sunday and I will be out of town.  I have a friend coming over to give Franklin to him.  He told me his auction number 320 so I could find him, I think I have a new friend!

Bad news is I am going to have to say good bye to my sweet baby boy that stinks like a big ole buck!

OAMC week- Once a Month Cooking-

Once a month I get together with a friend and we spend the entire day cooking up a storm.  This is the week of OAMC for February.  On an average OAMC day we prepare anywhere from 15 to 20 main dishes and 2 side or appetizer type items that will be frozen and used throughout the next month.  I have been doing this for nearly a year now and I cannot live without it!!!  It is an absolute life saver for a busy Mom or a busy anyone or for anyone who loves to cook good food and eat good, home cooked meals on a daily basis but doesn't nessecarily love, have the time  or have the energy to spend 1-2 hours a day in the kitchen making it happen; or someone who wishes they didn't have to eat out so much because of their busy scheduele because it is not healthy or is too expensive; or if you want to reduce the amount of grocery trips you have to take in a month;  or if you spend half of your grocery budget in the frozen food section; or even if you just want to reduce you grocery budget.  Did I mention that we make all these meals for and average of $50 a month!?!  You may be asking but how??  Haha! that is a loaded question than MANY a person has asked me to answer.  I have had MANY people ask if they could come do this with me or just come to observe or could I teach them how to do it.  I have to usually turn them down.  I feel bad but I cannot take the time to teach countless people all that is involved in this.  Some day I may have the spare time but at this phase in my life I do not.

So lucky you I am going to share with you the best I can VIA blog on the ins and outs of my OAMC process.  I will put up a few posts this week walking you through it with me.

First:
Decide if you want to do this by yourself or with a partner.  I personally love to spend time with people.  It adds motivation for me.  Then you also get to have another persons recipes and opinions to help break up the dulrums of the same ole same ole for dinner.  Now there are some KEY elements in picking you partner.  Now if you are unlike me and are a self motivated person then you are probably able to tackle this on your own.

If you choose to go with partner here are the 3 KEYS
1: You need to have similar budget ideas.  If one person like the finest cuts of beef at $6 a lb and you prefer to only buy meat if it is $.99 a lb or less (that is me BTW) then it will probably become an issue.
2: You need similar food tastes.  Again if you just love your grandma's casserole recipes but they prefer filet mingion then there will most likely be conflict.
3: Speaking of conflict that is #3.  You both have to be willing to work respectfully through conflict.  Trust me you put two women in a kitchen for 12 hours month after month, you WILL have conflict.  You will do things differently and you have to be able to let things go and if it is an issue you cannot let slide you have to be able to handle it with grace and love.


Second:

Find your recipes.  Over the past year I have accummulated a decent amount of recipes that are OAMC compatible.  You would be surprised what can be frozen pulled out heated up and taste like you spent all day in the kitchen.  I started by looking through all the recipes that I know my family loves and seeing if they would work.  Most do!  It is just a matter of figuring out the best stopping place for the recipe to freeze.  Then my partner does the same.  After that depending on how many recipes you come up with you can scour the internet for any additional ones you want to try.  From my experience with trying new recipes you have to have an open mind.  Especially with a partner.  I have decided I can try almost anything once and if it is a flop then I don't have to do it again.  There have been a few flops but hey you have to live and learn.

Then you need to look through what recipes you have come up with and decide the final list. A few things to keep in mind when making your final decision.
1.  Sales, what we do is find out what is on sale at the price we are willing to pay usually $.99 a lb or less.  We will splurge on 1 or 2 recipes a month where the meat cost more but still under $2 a lb and rarely $3 a lb.  Then we pick what recipes we will do according to the sale. 
2. Variety.  Do you want to eat chicken 17 times this month?  If not, make sure you pick a variety of meals to prepare.
3. Time involved in each recipes preparation.  It is fine to have 5 meals that require a large amount prep time but you also need to put in 5 that are just marinade type recipes that take minimal prep time and 7 that only require a medium amount of prep.


Ok that is enough work for one day.  Tomorrow I will touch on making the grocery list/layout and shopping day.  Susan and I are doing our shopping tomorrow and cooking on Wednesday.  I will not be posting on Wednesday unless it is late in the evening and I am proping my feet up after a long but productive day. Over the next couple days I will also post a list of recipes that we use, how we decide where we cook and why and money handling.  Then finally a Q and A.  If I have any questions regarding any of this I will answer them on Friday.

Garden lovers check it out: DIY cold frame

I am so excited!  Today we put together a cover for my garden box to create a cold frame.  It cost about $20 and was about 2 hours work.  Thanks to my wonderful, strong and handy hubby.

Step one: Draw out plans

                                  Step two: remove the mound of snow from the top of the garden box.

                               

 

Step three watch my hot hubby cut the pieces of wood.

 

 

Step four: Lay out the frame.

 

Step five:  Screw together frame and repeat for opposite side of box.

Ahhh it all fits perfectly!

Step six: Staple plastic to the frame.

It is a group effort!

Viola!!  Finished!!

This is two seperate pieces with blocks to stablize them on each end.  Both sides prop up in the center for the particularly sunny days.  I am hoping to have some lettuce growing in them soon!!!

Looking forward to learning how to utilize this.  I also received my copy of "Square Foot Gardening" book today that I ordered.  I used Mel's method last year and now I am hooked but I just finally got my own book.  Also got "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" which is awesome considering I returned the copy to the library yesterday.  Now I need to start studing up on how to garden in a cold frame.  If anyone has any tips I would greatly appreciatet them.

Not every day can be bright and cheery.

 Not in this life at least.  I had some tough news today.  Very sobering events that have taken place.  It has all laid very heavy on my heart.  It just reminds me that we are a fragile creation and things can change at any moment.  It also makes me grateful for all that I have.  I am so thankful that I have a God I can go to when I don't see the sense in all of it and the He will guide me through it all.  So not every day can be bright and cheery but every day can be hopeful with joy in my heart that I am not in control and He that is, loves me more than I can even comprehend.

I took this picture this morning.  It is very fitting for the events of the day.  From inside my safe, warm home this scene is peaceful and beautiful. With the frosted trees and snow covered ground God's creation is a wonderful beautful thing.  But with teperatures sitting right around 0 degrees it is not a force to be reaconed with.  If not properly prepared one would be in grave danger battling these elements.  It is peaceful, beautiful, wonderful and powerful this life we live!

Wednesday's words of wisdom.

"Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather is one of those things that give value to survival."

- C. S. Lewis

I was blessed greatly by a dear friend today.  Whenever a friend shows me an amazing act of kindness it humbles me, encourages me and inspires me to be a better friend.  Today that happened and I am overwelmed with thankfulness.

Pita, pita pumpkin eater ;)

In trying to come up with a creative name that is the best I could come up with. Now on to some fresh baked goodness!

As many of you know I have been learning how to bake using "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day".   Haha that first part is a joke refering to the fact that I only have one follower, Yay for Gail!!!:)  Never the less I have been and am really enjoying it.  This is the pita variation of the recipe.  They are so simple, yummy and fun.  I went and picked up some raw milk last night and made some butter today added a little salt and some honey...mmmm.  OH my goodness on warm out of the oven pitas. Wow!  I made a starter for the bagel/soft pretzel recipe today and I can't wait to try it out.  I will let you know how it turns out.

I finally ordered my very own copy of the book.  Since my friend Susan was giving me a hard time and said that if I didn't return the copy I have to the library that she was going to go place a hold on it.  I also ordered a copy of the square foot gardener.  I started using Mel's method last year but am finally getting a copy of my own. 

Snowed in again but no complaints here.  I am loving it!

I am not too proud to admit....

that I haven't changed out of my pajamas all day :) I quite enjoyed it actually. Not even when I went outside to take care of the animals and play in the snow. I still sported my very warm fleece pj pants. That is one benefit of living out here. I can do that without fear of getting strange looks from everyone in the neighborhood.

Flower, thinking no way am I going out there! You people are crazy!




The butter I made yesterday that I shaped into a heart! Made with love :)
btw it uploaded upside down and I didn't know how to fix it.

Kelcie my 3yr old standing in the path from the house to the barn.


Please can I eat your camera! Please, Please Please!!!

I think the final snow accumulation was about 12 inches but that was not the biggest issue. It was the 40 mph wind that created the real problems. Some places it looked like we got less than an inch where others we had 4 ft high snow drifts. You will see some of the fun they were in the pictures. One drift was right over our 4 ft goat fencing. The kids just loved the fact that they could climb up one side of the snow mound and down the other and be in with the goats.

The drift over the goat fence. If you look in the background you can see a semi that is jackknifed in the road. The roads just were not safe.

Can you tell that these two will be buddies for life!?!

Flower following Kelcie to the barn.

Fun in the snow!

Have a great Sunday! Remember to thank God for all He that He is and all He has done for you.

And being that I live in Inidiana...GO COLTS!!!!!!!!

A winter storm is a brewin'!!!

My front yard about 2 hours into it and the worst is still on its way.

A winter storm in the past was an inconveiniece. I mean I had places to go, things to do. Now, however, quite the opposite. I just love them! I mean what better excuse to hunker down with the family and cook, play games, watch movies, have a fire going and watch the snow fall?! So when the weather man called for a winter storm starting last night. I was a bit disappointed when I awoke this morning and not a flake had fallen. So we got ready to head out. Fridays are our homeschool Science Co-op days and then theatre class after that. So we are up and running on Friday's. Just before Co-op end though the snow started falling. Theatre was canceled and thankfully Ryan had decided to stay and work from home today so I didn't have to worry about him getting home. It is here, it is here!! Yay! So for the next 2 days we will be homebound. With no other plans than to: make homemade sausage, cheese, butter and pecan sweet rolls, play board games, play in the snow, drink hot cocoa and watch a movie or two. Well besides the chores of course!

In other news. Flower got me scolded yesterday by my elderly neighbor. I have been letting her roam free. She usually sticks close to home and her Mama is just so mean to her. I feel bad making her stay in the goat pen with her. And if you met Flower she would melt your heart too. She is a tiny, sweet little thing. Here is a picture

Anyways Flower was in the neighbors yard which did not go over well. And while she was over here scolding me about the goat she also mentioned that our turkey's ate her tomatoes this summer. Now the turkey's have been dead since the week before Thanksgiving so she must have been stewing on this one for a while now. I don't blame her for her frustrations and I am working up my courage and beating down my pride to bake her a pie or take over some eggs and appologize. Though I feel the only thing that will make her happy at this point is if all of my animals disappeared. So pray that I can do what is right in this situation. Cause my 4 year old told me "it is bad to not want to appologize." Oh BTW I can guarantee my turkeys were not the ones eating her tomatoes. We couldn't force feed them tomatoes. They would lay in the garden box with my tomato plants and not peck at a one of them. My guess is, it was the same tobacco worms that were eating mine.

On a more upbeat note I went into the local Amish bulk food store and they have finished their remodel and it looked great! This is the best store ever! And they almost doubled their size. You would be blown away by the quality and price on their spices. They also have all kinds of fresh baked goodies. I couldn't resist the chocolate whoopie pies today:) Along with a ton of other stuff that makes this place so great.

Remedy for a cold night.

Homemade chicken noodle soup, homemade bread and garden greenbeans from the freezer. On a cold winter night it not only warms you belly but warms your heart. Especially when shared with my 4 favorite people on earth!! Stay warm

Wednesday's words of wisdom...education in shoveling horse.....

...POO! What did you think I would say?! The highs were in the upper 30's with no wind and even some rays of sunshine peeked through. For this Indiana girl that feels like 60! So after we got in some school and lunch the teacher decided it a better education on a day like this to be outside and learn about good ole fashioned hard work. We headed outside and cleaned the barn and mucked out stalls. Nothing better than exhastion from a hard days work. By the kids enthusiasm you would have thought we were at an amusment park. I couldn't find enough work to keep these eager girls at bay. I realized pretty quickly though that little girls with shovels full of poo are better watched from a distance!!

So I have heard of wordless Wednesday but I think I will go with words of wisdom Wednesday. I will offer one silly proverb and a more serious one.

First in honor of yesterdays stall cleaning events:

The grass is greener on the other side but only because they use more poop!

Next in honor of yesterday being my husband and I's 8th wedding anniversary:

No man has ever crawled out from under his wifes critisism to become a better man.

Horse hoves and fingernail polish!

It was a long awaited and MUCH needed day for the ferrier(person whose occupation is trimming horses hooves) to come. We use an Amish man down the road. Now Amish you may know do not drive cars. It is a bit unreasonable for them to jump into their buggy to cut some hooves for $15 a piece. A decent price but not so decent for him if it took him 45 minutes to get here. Us with not mode of transportation for our four legged friends. How do you suppose we get this done? Well apparently it is only wrong to drive a car not ride in one. So Ryan has been a willing taxi on the many trips to take Jesse back and forth every couple months or so. Though not without a cost to Jesse. Ryan doesn't require money but he is relentless when it come to conversation(the salesman in him). So he has no problem questioning the mans morals in getting into a vehicle or where he came from or why they don't wear deorderant(ok he never actually asked this one but it would not surprise me). One time Jesse's dear wife decided to join him on a trip out to our farm. Much to Ryan's surprise this lady jumped into his car barefooted and ready to head to the barn for some hoof trimming. Her feet made my barn boots look clean!

Anyways I digress. You may wonder why the picture of a sleeping child on the kitchen floor? Like I said it was hoof trimming day! My job for this task holding the wild 4 foot tall beasts to be given their pedicure. It is about 5:30pm and though the day had been sunny with highs in the 30's as the sun started to set the temprature started to fall. I, standing there with my gloves fit for -20 could not help but be concerned for Jesse. Bare handed trimming away. He didn't seemed phased. "OK that'll do 'em" Jesse proclaimed as he finished up with Lily a very impatient participant. You would think that no female on earth would put up a fuss with someone pampering them but she is only a yearling and I have time to fill her in :).

"Thanks alot and have a nice night". "You too". Then Ryan and Jesse jumped back into our SUV and headed out. I put the horses up, fed and watered them and headed in to warm up. Walking into the house, ahhh the overwhelming warmth. 67 degrees feels like 90 when you have been standing in the blistering cold for 45 minutes. Along with the warmth came a faint smell of fingernail polish. I didn't think to hard about it. I went in to look for the girls to see what they were up to and to see if Elaina had finished her English school work I had left her to when I went outside. The good news is her work was done. On the down side I found 3 blissfully happy little girls with 5 open bottles of fingernail polish on my bathroom floor. Elaina with brush in hand looked up with a questioning face, as if to say, will she be proud of the fact that I am pampering my little sisters and the fact that I thought to put down a magazine before painting, OR be angry that I am doing this all together. Considering that it is a well known fact to not be into the nail polish without Mommy.

Well you may not be surprised to know I went with angry. I was very frustrated that they had been disobedient. Especially considering Daddy's Bible lesson just that morning on Proverbs 1 "My son if sinners entice thee, consent thou not". I, obviously upset, thought it better that they wait it out until Daddy got back to deal with it. So I sat the girls on the kitchen floor in there seperate places while I worked on dinner. While making dinner I couldn't help but chuckle though at the irony of it all. Me outside with the horses getting their mani/pedi's and the girls inside doing the same....hehe...under my breath of course. (You cannot show weakness when it comes to dicsipline, so all the parenting books say.) It was about 15 minutes later Ryan returned and I told him of the pedicure party our girls put on while we were outside. We went to look at Kelcie and couldn't help but noticing her motionless body in a seemingly uncomfortable position on the floor. Now I don't know if this was a tactic to get out of the inevitable spanking that was about to occur. Or that if you force a very busy 3 year old to be still for more than five minutes you risk the fact that she may give into her tired body.

Well the evening proceed. The two older girls recieved their punishment with a small amount of drama. Daddy giving them a lecture on not consenting to sinners ;). I finished dinner and Kelcie napped on the kitchen floor (that is in need of a good cleaning). We did wake her when dinner was done and we finished the evening with a nice match of connect four! Alls well that ends well!

If you look closely at the picture at the top of the page, under Kelcie's hair you can catch a glimpse of a hot pink fingernail!

Inspiration

So I have taken a break from the networking mania facebook. Tired of the over abundance of random information spewed out by everyone I know or have ever known. Frustrated by the feeling of obligation to respond to outrageous status'. So instead I have decided to dedicate some of my precious time to my blog. I was inspired by farmer Susan from her blog http://foodiefarmgirl.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html . I have thoroughly enjoyed reading her blog and often can relate to her farm yard mayhem. So I thought "hey, why not blog my farm yard mayhem"! This is it.

I am first a wife! I am madly in love with my Husband Ryan. Madly is the key word here. There is no one else on this earth that can effect me the way he does. Sometime in a not so good way :0 But either way I love him dearly. He though is by no form of the word a farmer. He "tolerates" and even helps out quite often with our farm but he really only does it because of his love for me not animals or farming.

Next I am Mom! To three bright, beautiful, playful, creative, imaginative, curious little girls. Elaina 6, Macy 4, Kelcie 3. I love these girls and they make every day exciting! They too are very unique and you are sure to hear of them often here.

Then I am a homeschooler! I have chosen to have my children be schooled in the best environment possible in my opinion. What better education than growing up on a farm?!

Lastly a farm/animal lover. I dream to one day own a horse of my own to enjoy and ride. Which is quickly coming to fruition. As of now we have two miniature horses Snappy and Blaze. These are toys for the kids and used for riding, pulling a cart and 4-h. We have 3 pygmy goats. Bubbles she is pregnant, Flower also pregnant and Franklin the culprit of the afore mentioned pregnancies. We hope to see some babies come March. Then I have plans of starting to milk. We also have one bunny Buckwheat and one barn cat Pepper. Also come spring we will for the second year be acquiring turkey chicks to raise for food.

This is me in a nutshell I have over the last year taken gardening, canning, bread baking, cheese making and many other things pretty seriously. I am on a mission to learn and provide better for my family. You will get to experience along with me many of these journeys and learning experiences.