The Fool On the Hill

The "tweaking" of the homestead continues here at Chicken Scratch.  I continue to work to find ways to get it to run more efficiently and effectively.  It has been quite a challenge.

• First, the "babies" have been disbudded.  I HATE disbudding, I think it's a horrible practice.  However, I understand why we do it, as I've pulled quite a few goats' heads out of the fence in my time, and often they're not just stuck, they are woven in it, and the horns are the thing that prevents them from getting out.  Though there's nothing I can do about the goats with horns, I can try to prevent it from happening to future goats.  Hence, the disbudding.  The girl was ok with it...or as ok as one who is having their head burned can be, but the little guy took it very hard.

Little girl

Little boy

Not being the type who likes to inflict pain on animals, I felt horrible and sat with him for hours.  He would just groan and groan and then softly meh, like it was too much trouble to make a big meh.  He would lay down and look like he was dying.  Then I would pick him up and put him in my lap, and he'd stop mehing, but he'd sigh a lot and groan and make a little meh here and there, and generally look like he was dying.  And I thought, "Oh my god, I killed him.  I did something wrong this time".

But he was totally playing me.

And when his mommy came in (Lilly) and proceeded to beat up on one of the other girls, he shot out of my lap like a rocket to watch, ran around and jumped up and down and followed her, cheering her on, and then drank about a gallon of milk from her udder.  ...Then noticed me sitting in the house, so he started to groan and make little meh cries again, and he came and laid down next to me, again looking like he was dead or dying, and I felt horrible and picked him up and held him, and he laid there like it was his last days on earth.

Then the cat walked by, and he ditched me to sniff it and smack it---with his head.

Nicely played, my friend, nicely played. 

So needless to say, he's all right, but yes I did still worry.  The little boy is spoken for already, but will not leave until he is weaning age.  The little girl is not yet spoken for, but since she's a beauty with a mom who is an EXCELLENT milker, I'm not worried too much.  She will stay until weaning age as well, because those two are attached at the hip, and it would be unfair to separate them so early.

Peony "Bowl of Beauty"

• In other news with the goats, my husband and I continue to plan how to expand the pen for the goats so they can graze.  Once again, they came into the spring in rough condition, but now that they are getting fresh forage and fresh hay, they are starting to look better.  I expect them to always have this problem, as winter is winter, but during the spring, summer, and even fall months, I want to be able to better use the land we live on, ie; allowing them more access to the woods, so they can glean what they need and not require so many inputs from us.  So, we create pens that will allow them to go and glean and pig out and be happy and generally take in the nutrients they need--just the way they are supposed to.  This also means that I am thinking about how to use the area to store food for them for the winter months, so I do not have to rely so much on hay.  How to do this is a tough question to answer.  Any suggestions are appreciated. 

Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!

• Animal-wise, the geese have moved on.  This was a decision long in the making, as I really do like the geese, but they are awfully noisy.  Back when we had 70-odd chickens who free-ranged constantly, the geese were integral to keeping the flock safe.  They watched the skies and warned the chickens when there was a threat.  Very important work, and they were good at it.  But the chicken flock is at about half that number or less, and then no longer free range as often or for as long, as the coyotes discovered them and last year many were disappearing.  Geese are no match for coyotes.  So the geese were unemployed, and quite bored.  They were loud, but for no good purpose anymore, so it was time for them to go.  I am happy to say the whole gaggle is now living on a 200 acre farm which is to be a petting zoo for autistic children.  I hope they will have good lives.  It was hard to let them go, but I think we made the right decision.

Happy broccoli

• While the geese are gone, I am working on rebuilding the pond ecosystem.  The pond is small and shallow, and with that many geese, it was difficult to do anything with it.  Either their manure would kill things, or they would eat anything I planted.  But now I can gain a headway, and get some water-loving plants in there to help filter and clean the water, as well as hopefully re-sculpting the pond a bit to stop it from leaking.  The pond has been a thorn in my side since forever, and it's taken years to even get it this far, but I hope to get it sorted out.  It is a valuable resource to have, and one that I need to get working properly.



Happy tomato

• Speaking of rainwater management, I have begun work on a rain barrel system to catch and store the water that runs off the roof and into the gutters.  This is water that can be used to water the plants, such as the annuals all around the property in pots.  It can, in a pinch, be used to water the crops, but such a process will be slow, unless we figure out a way to make it faster than filling a bucket at a time.  I also feel the water can be used to water the poultry and waterfowl, which can tolerate rainwater.  I am not sure about the goats just yet.
 

 
• On the crop front, this year has been rough so far.  Though I am pleased to say that everything that needed to get into the ground got in the ground when it should have (despite the second full time job), the weather has been interesting, and some things are struggling.  Lettuce, tomatoes, pumpkins, potatoes, peas, garlic, cucumbers and the strawberries all seem to be doing well, but other things are not.  The peppers and eggplant are both in their second planting, as the first one pretty much failed.  The beans and corn are limping along, and I have had an outbreak of cucumber beetles unlike anything I have ever seen, and the winter squash have suffered because of it.  I am concerned, but still hopeful.  Last year was a weird one for weather as well, but it still managed to work out.  I am hoping it will be the same again.

The dry beans are pretty much a no-show

• On the meatbird front, the Cornish Cross were butchered a couple of weeks ago, and we got some huge chickens from it.  There were a couple over 8 pounds, and a few that were nearly 8 pounds.  In all, a good harvest weight-wise, but we lost too many birds this time.  I can't point out a reason for it, but it did not go well.  It has made me re-think where I purchase the birds from, as my "go-to" hatchery seems to have failed me.  In truth, I have started to re-think the Cornish Cross altogether, as the price of grain is going up and up and up, and those guys eat a lot.  Yes, we love the birds, but cost of the grain is going to make them infeasible.  Instead, I look at the Delaware crosses we have running around, and I wonder if I'm seeing the future.  They eat very little in concentrated grain.  Instead, they forage constantly and pull what they need from the land.  This will be extremely useful in the future, as the prices continue to rise.  So as a side project, we have started to select the best of the ones we have, and we will breed them to others that we have to see if we can get a really nice chicken out of it.  It will not be on par with the Cornish Cross size-wise, but getting a good tasting bird with a nice amount of meat on it is really all we need.  We just need to rearrange our thinking a little.

The wave of the future?

• Dulcinea is a milk machine, and Lilly is up to bat come Saturday, so it's been a big cheese making time here.  Yesterday I made some cheddar, which is my go-to cheese when I have a lot of milk and a little time.  We eat a LOT of cheddar, so making it is high up on my list of things I like to make and turn out.  Yesterday, though, I decided to use the Anatto extract I had to color it orange.  When my kids were little, and we bought American Cheese (we no longer do), they would BEG for the orange cheese.  And, of course, most cheese in the supermarket is orange.  But when the cheese I was making was being made, I have to tell you that the orange color freaked me out a bit.  It is a really odd color for cheese.  It made me think about who in the hell thought cheese should be orange in the first place, and why.  It seems really strange to me, and the weirdest thing was how I accepted all along that cheese was orange--which of course, it isn't.  I know, odd thoughts.  But sufficed to say, I think coloring cheese orange is really weird, and I won't be repeating it.  And I guess, if I ever need to buy cheese from the supermarket again, I will really think twice about that color.  Point is, did you ever think of how many odd things we accept?  I bet you're thinking about it now!

• And speaking of questioning things and accepting things, I would urge you to read the June/July issue of Mother Earth News.  This time around they wrote articles about the lack of nutrition in the foods we eat and the "Green Revolution".  It gave me a lot to think about.  I have known for a long time that the reason agriculture has tootled along for so long was because of fossil fuel inputs (fertilizer), and that the fossil fuels are getting harder to find.  This, of course, means that food will become harder to find, when there is no "quick and dirty" way to prop the system up.  Knowing this is why I have chosen to do what I do--I have children.  I want to provide for them.  What I never realized was how nutritionally deficient those mass-farmed foods really are, and how bad that really is for all of us.  It gave me yet another reason to redouble my efforts. 

I will also add, that if you are feeling low, Joel Salatin's article in this same issue will give you a boost.  I take a lot of flack from people about growing as many things as I do, and keeping as many animals as I keep.  Whether it's a family member wondering "why I would bother" with all the animals, or a coworker telling me "how much work" this all is, there is a lot of pressure to conform.  I've been called crazy, I've been laughed at.  Mostly people just shake their heads and walk away, discussion over. 

Discouraging as it can be sometimes, I have always just looked at what I do as "opting out" of a system of which I did not want to be a part.  I do not want to contribute to the destruction of our planet as much as others might do (I cannot deny that I use fossil fuels, though I try to minimize our usage).  I do not want to rely solely on others for food.  I do not want my husband or children doing those things either.  So I do things for myself, I teach my children to do things for themselves, and I ask my husband to lend a hand and do things as well.  And we do them as naturally and "low-tech" as possible.  Truly, I always saw myself as sort of a chicken--I opt out and therefore cannot be counted.  I am silent in my dissent.  Salatin suggests, however, that those who opt-out are truly a sort of rebel.  That saying no says a lot, and perhaps more than marching around and saying it out loud for all to hear.  Reading this was kind of profound for me.  Who knew I was a rebel?  Definitely not me.

Icky and Tor is seepin'  :)

So read the magazine, it's worth your time. Don't take too much time, though, it's growing season, and we've got work to do!

Keeping It Light

Oh, it's been a while, I know.  Things have been going and going here, and not left me much time to sit down and write.  And it's funny, but for all the things that have been happening, there just never seemed to be anything to tell you.  But I would like to catch you all up, so here goes:

• On the goat front:  Of course I have to start with them!  Dulcinea is still pregnant, but due in 3 short weeks.  I feel like I'm not prepared, largely because I'm not.  But I will absolutely get there, as it's now crunch time.  The temporary kidding pen will be put up in the garage, and I'll get my crap together.  I am excited for her, and worried the same.  She's a first timer, so nerves all around, you know.  And she tricked me last year, so I am half worried this year may be the same.  However, going boldly forward, we've begun to place bets, as Dulci is a LaMancha and therefore "earless", and Stew is a Nubian and therefore "earfull".  So what will it be?  We are all undecided here:

We have yet to decide what the winner will get.  It's usually ice cream or something like that, so we'll probably keep to tradition and do that. 

• Lilly is also pregnant and getting HUGE, as it's her second go-round, and her body's like "THIS AGAIN???" (....hmmmm....I remember that feeling) and just ballooned.  Unfortunately, it means we're without milk for now, as she was drying up so rapidly, milking her got stupid, so I stopped.  We actually had to buy milk, which made the kids and me very unhappy.  G-ross.  It's obvious to me (which I thought it would be) that more than 2 goats at a time in milk is a necessity, and that if I can stagger them better, then so be it.  I'm going to have to think this through a bit.
• I spent some time with my boys yesterday, which was nice.  It's so easy to just breeze through their yard, and they really love some good petting.  I skritched my walnut-brained Stewart and my handsome Max for a good long time and gave them lots of love.  They are truly good boys.  Now that they aren't stinky, they are such a pleasure to be around.  We stood in the sun and had skritches for a good long time until Stew decided he was in love with me, or Max, or both, and started blubbering.  That's always a good time to make an exit.  A 175 pound goat who's taller than me is never good to turn down, especially when he's got love on his mind. 

• On the chicken front, we had some arrivals this past week:

What you're looking at is 42 meatbirds, the first of the year's batch.  In here, however, and differently from other years, are 16 Delawares in addition to 26 Cornish X.  The Cornish have never steered me wrong, and I am very happy with them--they are a nice bird and finish beautifully.  However, in my search for a more sustainable broiler, I am trying the Delaware.  What I would like is to have some chickens from this batch that will be kept long-term to reproduce and continue to make me more meat birds.  The Cornish X will not breed true.  The Delawares should.  All of last year I thought about this problem, and came up with the following:
1.  That I can't breed a Cornish X, because although I may be able to find the "parts" of the cross, the parents of those meaty guys are specially bred to be so, and it's very unlikely that I'll get very good genetics from what I'm sent from the hatchery, and wouldn't get nice chickens like I get directly from the hatchery.  So that idea goes out the window.
2.  Breeding two Cornish X together will result in who-knows-what, so forget that. Plus, keeping them alive for long enough to breed really seems to be about impossible to me.  By the 8 weeks they go to, they seem kinda tired.  I have no belief that I could get them to 5 months of age with them being happy and healthy.  They're just not meant for it. 
3.  In my travels and extensive research (mostly extensive and exhausting research) and reading this opinion and that opinion, I discovered that the Delaware chicken was the meatbird until the Cornish X came and blew it away.  So maybe there's some hope for that. 

However, there's a hinky in the works here.  The Delawares that I ordered didn't hatch well, according to the hatchery.  So they sent me Delaware x Hampshire instead, which the man insisted was a better bird.  They are also called an Indian River chicken.  What I don't get is that the Delaware is a bird that is a New Hampshire cross to begin with.  So did they breed those crosses AGAIN to the New Hampshire, and this is the result?  Or is this just another name for the Delaware?  The dang birds look exactly the same, so how does anyone know?  I have no idea.  I also have no idea whether or not these birds will work out, but I'm hoping so.  Needless to say, they're in there, and the nicest specimens will be afforded luxury accommodations in the coop to live out their long lives.  The others?  Well, hopefully they are delicious.

• Also on the chicken front, I am incubating eggs with a fourth grade class in my son's elementary school.  This is always so much fun.  In the incubator there are 15 eggs, 6 of which are Leghorns (and spoken for by the teacher's son), 5 are replacement Ameraucanas for me, and 4 of which are Delawares.  Which ones?  I don't know.  Maybe they're "real" Delawares.  Maybe all Delawares are really this Delaware cross chicken, and it's all the same thing.  But they came from a different hatchery, so they may hopefully have different bloodlines.  If they hatch, they will be put in with the meatbirds and I'll watch to see how they do.  All I can say is...I'll let you know!  :)

• On the homefront, the seeds are going nuts and filling up the seed starting shelves I have like gangbusters.  Luckily, my mother bought me this awesome walk in greenhouse that she saw at Tractor Supply.  It is fantastic, and will be a godsend--when it's warm enough to use it.  I am anxiously awaiting that day, because I'd love to have my dining room back.  Come on, Spring!
• We celebrated a birthday.  My son turned 10 this past week:

 

He got Legos and pants.  Pants because he needs them, and Legos because he loves them (can you tell?).  It was a great party. 

• We finally re-did the kids' bathroom (cross THAT one off the list!) after nearly 4 years of just looking at it and sighing and ignoring it.  Best part?  It cost very little to do, and looks like a million dollars. 

We re-used the major things, got creative with some fence posts, and used things that were given to us from other people's renovations, and it looks like new.  I just love it.

• There is still too much snow on the ground, but I can see grass in some spots, so I am hopeful that it will eventually warm up.  I need it to--not only do I have clean up and prep to do, but I need to build those chicken sleds!  This cold weather is really cramping my style.  :)

That's all I can think of, though there may be a million other things.  Until next time, my friends, take care!

Break Out the Snowshoes

........Snapshots without pictures.......

or

A little something different

The 4-6" of snow we were supposed to get turned out to be about a foot or so.
Slogging through to do the chores this morning was interesting
and slow.
The big girl goats were up to their knees,
the little girl goats were up to their butts.
Dulcinea was so covered in snow that she looked like a sheep

---a really WIDE sheep.

Almost.
It seems that she's got a baby bump--finally. 
I hope this time she took.

It's doing something outside right now, but I can't tell what.  Maybe it's ice.
Lots of clothing drying by the woodstove.
Kids went out, sank, floundered, and came back in.
Chickens wouldn't even come out.
Ducks and geese are standing in the one spot of their pond that has fluid water in it.
It is VERY crowded right there.

Now it's snowing again....

There are some seeds sprouting on the indoor rack in the dining room.
Marigolds right now.
Petunias to follow.
We shrank the table to put the rack up.
Little bits of green in the black, under the purpley grow lights.
Lovely to see.  Makes me feel happy.

Seed orders for the year on their way here.
Planning for meatbirds and turkeys this spring.
Figuring numbers.
Counting costs and weighing benefits.

Icky got to the cheese again.
This time, Parmesan.
He ate a hole in one side, so I cut it and smoothed it.
And yelled at him.
He didn't notice.

 

We ate our first wheel of properly aged Farmhouse Cheddar last week.
It was a symphony.
There are no words to describe how good it was.
We ate more than we should have, and would have gone back for more.
I am purposely staying out of the cheese fridge until absolutely necessary.

Saturday was warm-ish, so I let the birds out for a run.
And I sat and watched.

Bliss.

Total recharge, that day.
It was like a big sigh of relief.

Then I sat with the goats. 
And let them sit on my lap.
Especially Cynthia the Small.
Everyone should keep a goat. 
They are the greatest, hands down.
They don't judge, and they like Frosted Mini Wheats.
How can you go wrong with that?
I sat with them and talked,
and they sat and climbed and stood on me
and nibbled my shoes
and listened.
And it was a good day.

Thor sits in the window and meachs at the birds.
Not quite a "meow", not quite an "ach ach ach ach".
A sound uniquely his own.
He hates those birds, when they fly around his trees
without permission.
He tells them off each and every day,
and each and every day they come back.
It seems they're not listening to his authority.
The double-pane of glass
could have something to do with that.
But he is unconvinced.
They are just stubborn.

When it stops snowing again,

in July,

I'm going to run back and forth on the grass, over and over again.
I haven't seen the grass in a month.
I'm going to sit in the front yard and just be.

For now, I will enjoy the snow.
Maybe not the bitter cold.
But the snow is pretty, and here, and not going away.
And it makes the dark mornings less dark.
So I'll be thankful and enjoy.
And wait for spring to come.

It Wouldn't Be Winter Without....

....some sort of farm animal recouperating in the living room.  Now, would it?

I found this little lass huddled up in the bottom of the coop this afternoon when I did the rounds.  Seems she'd been picked on and her comb was bleeding.  She's not putting any weight on one foot, so I'm thinking a chicken splint of some sort may be in order.  However, she did eat a little and drank quite a bit.  She's currently in this old box in front of the wood stove warming up.  I have some hope for her, as she's perked up a little since she came in, but she's still pretty peaky looking to me.

We'll have to see how it goes.

When I found her in the coop, I considered just leaving her be, and letting nature take it's course.  Frankly, I was kind of surprised at myself.  Seems I've been looking too much at the "big picture" lately, and not attending the little things, because if I was, I wouldn't have hesitated. 

She's under my care, after all.  My responsibility.

Seems I may be a little out of practice with compassion. 

Well, time to flex those "muscles" again.  Winter makes me want to hibernate--in more ways than one.  But I think that with this little girl's help, maybe I can pull out of it.  And I can pull her through as well. 

That'd be my hope.  Maybe we'll pull each other through.

Going Carefully Forward

I have to admit, I think this is the first year that I didn't feel like the new year brought a fresh start.  Instead it feels like more of the same.  Such a difference from last year!  I don't know what we're in for this year, but I'm not entirely sure it's anything good.  With the economy in a shambles, the climate doing odd things, and nations getting angrier at one another, I feel like things are coming to a head.  I don't know what will breach first, if anything, but I'm trying to keep my eyes open.

With that in mind, I thought about this year and I think I'm going to make only a few resolutions. "Proceed with caution" may be this year's motto.  My goals for this year are:

• Fixing the goat girls' house a little bit.  They are HARD on the doors, and it needs a little "porch" added to it for the smaller girls for when it rains.  The bigger girls will not let them in!
• Fencing off more "pasture" for the goats.  It's not really pasture, per se, as it's wooded, but that's right up a goat's alley.  This year we're going to buy some lengths of fence and close off some big pieces for them to eat through. 
• Building chicken sleds for the broilers, which there will be more of this year.  I've read that some of the chicken sold here will be processed in China starting this spring.  Ew.  I'm not buying into that, so I think it's time to go from producing most of our chicken at home to producing all of our chicken at home. 
• Trying turkeys again, in the sleds this time.  I'm thinking Midget Whites. 
• We will have to "turn over" our laying population a bit.  Some of my girls are past retirement age.
• More seed saving.
• Prepping for pigs.  I don't know that we'll actually get to the pig itself this year, but it's going to come about soon.  Time to get ready.
• Working on getting a good system for the newly expanded garden.  I'm up to 4000 square feet.  I need to get a handle on how many plants that'll take, and a better idea of how many numbers of different kinds of plants.  This one is a work in progress type of thing.  I refine every year, now I just need to go a little further with it.
• Adding some more berries, like cranberries and Elderberries to the yard. I'm also thinking of nut trees, but they are SO big, and cleared space is at a premium here.

• Having a little tree work done.  My husband has gotten pretty good at chainsawing, but there are a few trees that are too close to structures for my (and his) comfort.  We may need to have someone come on in and take care of some of them for us.
• In the house?  I'd like to get the kids' bathroom done and the pantry sheet rocked, but I've been saying that for years.  :)

And I think that's going to be it for us this year, though many other things will happen that are not planned for, you can be sure.  The big thing for this year?  Building community.  It seems to me (and many others) that in this rat race we all seem to be caught up in for more money or more things, we are not paying attention to those around us, unless they are in our way.  Honestly, I've had it with this.  I've seen enough people standing on top of other people to get what they want.  No one cares about anyone else anymore, and the "I've got mine" mentality is getting very, very old.

So for me, I'm going to be working on changing that where I can.  I'm a big fan of community work, and obviously I grow a useful commodity--food.  I think that I'm going to start by giving whatever extra I may have to friends and neighbors.  I will try to work with the food pantry in the school and see if I can't donate extra produce to them.  I've tried this before with other pantries, but it never works out.  Maybe this time.  I will try to share my knowledge.  In short, I don't know how this will come about, but I feel that it's more important than ever to lend a hand to others, or just to reach out to others to make friends.  It seems to me that we all may need all the friends we can find in the days to come.

Until next time, my friends.  Take care!

Merry And Bright

I've already looked back, but it's not yet time to look ahead.

 

So I think I'll take a couple of days to just be.

 

No worrying over the future.

 

No planning.

 

Just enjoying.

 

I hope you all do the same.

 

The happiest of holidays to all of you.

Slowing Down--Sorta

I was scheduled to work all this week, but with the weather being whatever it is, the schools have been closed.  This causes me not to have to work, but also to have two VERY bored children in the house.  They have hit the ages of "We don't want to play together", and so now come to me individually to complain that there's nothing to do.  When I suggest that they play together, the suggestion is met with derision.  Forget mentioning things like cleaning out their closets or toyboxes no one plays with anymore.  HA!  So....I give up.  Instead, yesterday I did what any good mom would do--hid in the kitchen and made chicken stock.  Oh, and a cake.  Don't forget the cake.

This, my friends, is the ULTIMATE gingerbread cake.  Dark and chewy and spicy goodness.  Not for the faint of heart.  The house smelled amazing while it was baking.

Yep, it seems my little cherubs have hit the "difficult" stage.  Joy and happiness.  On Sunday we went to cut down our Christmas tree, like we do every year, only to have both children cry about it at one point or another as they could not agree on a tree.  My husband and I finally had to declare that this year my son would choose, as my daughter chose last year, and that we would alternate year to year.  This made my son happy, but not my daughter, who cried and cried and cried.  It made for a difficult day, and I declared more than once I was just going to go down to the Agway next year and pull one off the lot, instead of having everyone upset.

Yep, I handled THAT masterfully.

Oh well.  We brought the tree home, and put it in the stand, and then I proceeded to upset the whole turnip cart, because this year I put on clear lights.

Dum dum daDUM!!

We were a colored lights family, my friends--for years.  And I always liked them.  But a few years ago, I looked at the tree and thought "I betcha I would really like that tree with clear lights".  And then every year thereafter I thought the same thing, but did nothing about it.  This year I finally went for it. 

And the kids complained like it was going out of style.

.....At first.

I asked them to wait and see.  I was thinking if they really hated it, I could just unlight the dang thing and start all over again with the colored lights if necessary.  But then the ornaments started to be put on.  And all of a sudden, it was "Oh! The tree is glowing!" and "I can see all the ornaments!"  and "It's so pretty!" and "I'm glad you changed them, I like the clear lights better".  And mommy-o here did an inner smirk and passed out the glass balls.

And it is, indeed, pretty.

The tree was the last piece to be put on.  The rest of the decorating was done last week, and I have to say this for a small house: it may be very difficult to find places to put things, but it is much easier to decorate.

In our last house, which was considerably larger, decorating was a three day affair.  Here?  Ha!  One day, if that. 

 

A couple of surfaces....

 

Put some things in the open bookshelves....

Done!!

And it looks pretty.  The other nice thing about coming from a larger house is that I have SO many decorations, I can pick and choose what I want to use (heh, that rhymed).  It can be overwhelming, but it means I don't have to add anything, and it looks full nonetheless.  Yeay!!

Other than the decorating and work, things have been pretty slow.  The animals are all on "maintenance" right now, as it's too cold or crappy to do much, so it's been the routine of feeding, watering, milking, putting in, taking out, that sort of thing.  Most of my time is spent indoors, thinking of what to do.  I'll be honest--I'm not good at "slow".  Though I can sit with a cuppa and relax to some music (John Denver and the Muppets, anyone?  We are HUGE fans here), eventually I just want to do SOMETHING.  I'd rather be insanely busy than sitting around, that's the truth of it.  But it's the time of the year when we're meant to slow down--look at any cat, and you'll see this is the time of year to just do nothing.

 

Exhibit A--Phynn.
The incidence of cat "deaths" this time of year is particularly high.  Very sad.  :(

 

Exhibit B--Icky

I wish I could take a leaf from a cat's book and just do what they do, as I need to slow down, if only to recuperate for next year.  But UGH!  I'm not going quietly, that's for dang sure.  This year I am having a tough time.  I am trying to find things to keep myself busy, even if it's only a little busy, but it's not really working.  Last year I got so bored, I painted the kitchen cabinets.  This year there are no cabinets to paint.  This will not be an easy winter, I think.

But enough complaining.  While I've been trying to keep occupied, I have whittled away at my project list.  Coming in at number 5, I have that snowman pillow that you saw the beginning of here.  I admit, this one was a softball, compared to that cross stitch.  I simply sat one day for about an hour and did it.  Here he is, sitting with a friend:

 

This is a pattern from the Better Homes and Gardens magazine that comes out yearly, Holiday Crafts.  This one (I think) was from 2010.  I had seemingly cut out the snowman's head, nose, earmuffs, and part of the scarf, and then put it away, thinking I'd remember what the pieces were for.  Ha!  I gave myself too much credit.  I found the bits last month and had no idea what they were--that'll show me.  Only after digging through the magazines I have did I figure it out.  Since I am not leaving any projects hanging around this year, I put him together and here he is!  I've done a lot of those pillows from that magazine.  They are all designed by Bird Brain Designs, which I really like.  This is the first that she's done that's not on a light blue background, and I just love that.  It really pops the snowman, I think. 

Coming in at project number 6, another cross stitch piece:

And before you think that I'm a really fast cross-stitcher, let me just say that I had half finished this piece before I put it away, which is why it took me so little time to finish it.  I had stopped at the blue Santa line, so I had very little left to do.  When I found this buried in my closet, I wondered why I did not finish it.  But let's just say I remembered very quickly why when I started on it again.  What a pain in the rear this project was!  Not only is the linen very difficult to work on because of the color changes and thread blending in it, but the pattern itself was full of fiddly little bits of colors that were like putting three squares of color here, three squares of color there, and so on.  Super fiddly.  I did get through it, but I also cheated because the last line under the wreaths was supposed to be pine cones, and I just wasn't going to do it.  I put some stars in there instead and called it good.  Enough is enough is enough and I just wasn't enjoying myself. 

How old is that project?  Well.....I looked at the chart and the date on it is 2002.  I don't think that I got it then, I think it was a couple of years later.  Either way, this one has been sitting a while.  Oh...and if you love fiddly cross stitch and would like the chart to this, you can have it.  Just shoot me an email and I'll mail it to you.  It's in very good shape and there's no reason to not pass it along.

And last, but not least, project number 7, which was unplanned, but worked out ok anyway.

This one was not unfinished, so it probably should be 6A or something instead of project 7, but oh well.  The little choir ladies were a pattern from this year's Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Crafts magazine.  I liked their little gnome outfits, but didn't want to make just little random people without a setting.  If the cats ever wake up, they'd steal them for sure.  So I dug through my stash and pulled out all these little wood pieces-the base, the house, the birdhouse, the lights, and put it all together.  I think it's cute, and happily it used up many wood pieces that I have been hanging onto for YEARS.  How many years?  Back before I got my first "adult" job in a bank, I worked retail, and one of those jobs was at a craft store called Creativity (now defunct).  They had the best wood department, hands down--I've never seen any other store have anything even remotely like it.  Just amazing little wooden shapes.  That's where this all came from, I just finally took it out of the box I had it stored in, painted it up, and put it together.  So...I want to say 15+ years or so, that's how long I've had those bits.  Not too bad, right?  HA!

Onto the next!  I hope you are all staying safe and warm and will talk to you all again soon!

Post-Thanksgiving Wishes

I'm going to overlook the horrible things I've read people have done yesterday and today all in the name of a "good deal" (but SHAME on all of you) and just say I hope your Thanksgiving was...
.....filled with people you are close to and love

 .....comfortable and cozy

 

......and truly made you happy.

See you in December, my friends!

Looking Back to Move Ahead

Today I get older. 

Ok, ok, we all get older every day, I know.  But today it's "official", as it's my birthday.

I usually spend the day (or part of it) thinking about what I've done this year, how many things I've accomplished, what went wrong, what went right.  And then I'd share it with you.  But I'll be repeating myself on New Year's, most likely, so I think instead of giving you a long, long list of highlights and lowlights, I think I will:

• Have more coffee
• Listen to Christmas carols in the car (because I'm not allowed to in the house--YET)
• Clean the house a bit
• Bake some chocolate chip cookie bars (before my children and husband eat ALL the chocolate chips)
• Go outside and sit with my goats (It's my birthday--just pretend I don't do that every day, ok?) 
• Work on a little quilt that's been waiting
• Scritch a purring kitty or two
• Look back and be proud
• Look around and be thankful
• Look ahead and be hopeful

And I think that'll about cover it.  I hope you all have a wonderful day as well!

Ichabod

Icky

 

Ickers

 

Ickaboo

 

The Ickmeister

 

Cat-I-Found-by-the-Side-of-the Road

 

Yup, this'd be he.

 

 

The Ick himself (well, Ich would be more correct, but it looks wrong--unless you speak German) learned his name by day two and comes when you call.  Odd, because what are the chances his name was anything like Ichabod before we got him?

  ...............Exactly. 

When you pick him up he purrs non-stop, and then sits in your lap like he meant to all along.  Ick has tried very hard to convince me that he's really an indoor cat.  He loves to chase chickens, but you know....really....he's just meant to be inside.  And he shows us all the time by throwing himself at the door and meowing.

And so we've let him in (after a really good flea bath).  Since then he's eaten a 1/8 of a loaf of fresh baked bread and gnawed the top of a monterey jack cheese I was letting dry.  So we've learned to hide food, and he's leaned not to climb on the counters and table--maybe.  And though he fights with Phynn and Charlotte a bit, we're going to let them work it out.  We're hoping the fighting will cease after Phynn and Charlotte are neutered/spayed on Wednesday.  Then, of course, it'll be Icky's turn. 

And hopefully peace and harmony will reign.

But I will still have to hide the cheese.

Oh, Oh, Oh, Who's that Kid with the Oreo Cookie???

I have no idea why that's stuck in my head.  None.  But don't you find it weird that they "discovered" that Oreo cookies are as addictive as cocaine?  Not sure why they did a study on that, to be honest with you.  That was kind of the most interesting part about it.  Hmmmmm........anyway......

Let's get down to it, shall we?  Things have been hopping here, as always.  First, there are the kids.  We are up to the whole "What are you going to be for Halloween?" thing again.  My son knew pretty much right away.  He is a GIANT fan of Minecraft, and wants to be an enderman, which is this thing:

I have no idea what the heck that's supposed to be.  The entire game looks like bad Atari to me, but he loves it, and has bizarrely learned some interesting things from it (like what an ingot is).  It's a building game, it seems, and he loves Legos, so it just works for him.  So he's easy, as all he needs is black clothing and a box for his head.  Love it!  Done.

My daughter, on the other hand, had a hard time.  She always wants to pick what she thinks others would find "cool", but then she's never happy with it.  She 's been happiest when she's chosen something that she would like to be, just because SHE would like to be it, which is really the point in the first place.  So after a lot of deliberation and flip-flopping back and forth, she has decided to be Sam Sparks from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. 

 

THAT one I can get behind.  So we're going with it.  I'm proud of her for picking something (someone?) she wanted to be, not what or who she thought others would want her to be.  Good for her!

In other news, a couple of weeks ago that bear came back again and finished the job.  The bees are D-O-N-E.  I had put them back together, gotten stung, put up a number of "bear preventing" measures, and none of it worked.  The bear guy (or girl) came back and tore both hives apart--there's just no coming back for them.  I am very disappointed, but slightly relieved, only because I had become so allergic it was getting dangerous.  I have begun the cleanup and will salvage any wax possible and then sell the equipment piece by piece.  I guess I'm sticking to maple syrup.  I hope that others will have better success than I did and will keep the bee population up, as it has become so endangered in recent years.  It certainly does not seem that I can help out on that front.

Further on the food front, I have harvested quite a bit of peas from my fall planting--in fact, more, I think, than I got from my spring planting.  I set my son at shelling the last batch I harvested (peeling them, he called it), and it took him over an hour to do it--with help from me and my daughter.

 

Pea peeling boy

Though I can see that the vines are getting tired and thinking about being done, I am hoping that we'll get another nice batch beforehand.  I am happiest that I seemed to have discovered the variety that works best for me here.  I'm hoping it will perform as well in the spring, and then I'll have a winner.  I have been trying to choose varieties that perform fantastically here, and then stick with them year after year.  This is a complete opposite from what I normally like to do, which is try a little of everything to see how it goes.  But, I have come to the time where I'd like to be able to have one or two varieties of a crop that produces very well and that we like to eat so that I'll have more food to put by, instead of lots of little "experimental" crops.  Ahh....the evolution of the homesteader. 

On the cheese making front, things are chugging along.  Can I just stop here for a minute and tell you how MUCH I love making cheese?  I have no idea if I'm any good at it at all, since most of what I've made lately still has a month to age before testing, but OH!  I love making cheese. 

Beautiful curds

Oh my goodness.  I just do.  It's like magic, you know?  Big pot of milk becomes beautiful chunk of cheese. 

“Cheese - milk's leap toward immortality.”
―Clifton Paul Fadiman

 

Sage Derby, before the final pressing

Magic!  It's funny, because I do so many things that are so "old", in a way.  I grow food from seed.  I bake bread.  I make soap.  Etc, etc.  Many transformations from one thing to a totally different thing, and many techniques that are old techniques (of course, somewhat revised for today).  But there are very few things that I do that have the ability to transport me back in time the way cheesemaking does.  Working with raw fiber does the same thing for me--sends me right back in time.  Cheesemaking....well, it's just special.

I have decided on a cheese press, I think.  Despite the fact that I really like stacking 50 pounds of bricks up on top of a homemade mold, it's gotten stupid.  Just ask the couple of coffee mug casualties and the flower vase that have bit it since I started with this.  Playing the "when's that going to fall over" game is getting old.  So, though it will have to wait a couple of weeks, I think I have decided to purchase a Dutch cheese press. 

 

Link

This one, I believe.  I really wanted one of those spring ones, because they are more compact.  However, when I really looked into it, I discovered that the tension doesn't stay the same all the time.  As the cheese compresses, the spring relaxes a bit, and then the weight is off and you're not pressing at a consistent pressure.  Therefore, the spring would have to be adjusted fairly often to maintain the correct pressure on the cheese.  I press my cheeses overnight.  I don't want to get up every few hours to turn the pressure up on my cheese.  Dutch presses are apparently a "set it and forget it" kinda deal.  So yes, they are bigger and kinda oddly shaped, but I think it's the way to go.

Speaking of raw fiber (which we weren't), I am going to the Wool and Fiber Festival tomorrow in Rhinebeck!  Squeeeeee!!!!!  A day to myself!  Just me, no kids, no husband.  I will miss them, but I need a day to myself.  I think one a year is fair, no?  Just me and some sheep and hairy goats and lots of stuff to touch and see!  If you remember, I went last year, had a wonderful time talking to myself all day and just looking, and brought home a bunch of rabbits.  This year?  Still planning on the wonderful time, still planning on talking to myself (can't help that one), but no rabbits.  I love my fluffy bunnies, but I have plenty.  This year I am going to look at yarn and spinning wheels and touch everything, and that's how that's going to go.  I will take pictures.  Stay tuned!

And in closing....

Well, I should tell you that the cat population has increased by one this week, and in an odd way.  Here's the story, which is so odd, it could only happen to me, because odd things happen to me all the time.  I was at work on Wednesday, and was heading home during my lunch break to check on things at the house.  I had 1/2 an hour left, and figured I'd just swing by, make a quick check, and then go back to work.  Ha!  As I was going over a bridge, I saw a cat carrier in the shoulder of the road--a busy-ish road, mind you.  The carrier had the word "free" on it on a card.  I thought "Woo hoo!  A carrier!  I should go get that!".  People chuck out stuff all the time.  A lot of it is junk, but sometimes there's something good.  No, I'm not above picking up someone else's junk, especially if it's usable un-junk.  We could use a second carrier, and this one looked nice.  I pulled over where I could and walked back to it. 

As I got closer, I could swear I heard meowing.  I thought that was odd, but as there are some grasses and stuff around there that are tall, and some houses near, it could have been coming from anywhere.  It was hard to tell through the car noises.  However, I got closer, and through the noise of the traffic, I could hear the meowing was coming from inside the carrier.

Yes, friends, someone had put a cat IN the carrier and left it on the side of the road with the word "free" on it.  Oddly enough, behind it, in the tall grass was a litterbox, a scooper, and a single can of cat food.  I know I'm a sucker. But I'm not going to leave a cat to die on the side of the road in a carrier.  It was only a matter of time before someone sideswiped that carrier and killed the little one inside.

I didn't really think and I had no idea what to do next with the cat.  I picked it up, took a look at the little one, and popped him in the back of the car. When I got to a side street, I pulled over and took a look at him (as I discovered, he is a he).  He's young, under a year old, I'd say, and black as pitch.  That is, except for the little white spot on his tummy. His eyes are pumpkin colored.  He is supremely cool, and seemed to realize I was there to help because he curled up in my lap like we'd known each other forever, and purred like a maniac. 

I eventually got him home and set him up in a very nice, spacious crate in the garage barn, so he would feel safe and not have to compete with the other cats.  He's afraid of all the other cats, but follows people around like "Hey!  Where're we going?  I'm coming with you, ok?".  Like he's known us forever.  Because he's black with pumpkin eyes, and it's near Halloween, his name is Ichabod.  We've been calling him Icky.

Time will tell as to whether he'll hang with us, but I'm hoping so.  Dang boy seems to be magical, because though the crate he's in is wire and fairly open, I don't think he can fit through the bars.  However, I'll see him in there, he'll stay in there for a long time, and then I'll turn my back and he'll be out and behind me.  Realizing he can't be "caged", I opened the door for him, but left the crate as a safe haven.  It is not unusual to see him in one place, however, and then look down suddenly and he's right beside me.  He's very sneaky.

And there you go.  Funny enough, I was thinking a couple of months ago that it was too bad we only have one black cat (a big boy named Percival), when I like them so much.  Then Sarahcat gave birth to a second black cat, and now we have Icky.  Very interesting.  Possibly I should muse on the fact that it's funny that I've never won the lottery?

'Till next time!