The Never Ending To-Do List

                This weekend I got to take in the High Plains Quilt Festival and it was fantastic!  It is a smaller quilt show but the talent that comes out for it is always amazing.  The variety of quilts and the level of handiwork that comes from our rural area is just fabulous.  I was so sad that I didn’t have as much time as I usually do to look around and take in all the beauty but even in the short time I was there I was inspired.  The miniature quilts were unbelievable and I was pleased to see all of the seasonal quilts that were there this year.  I don’t remember there being that many seasonal quilts in the past and since I want to try a Christmas wall hanging this year it was great to see!

                I did slip up and buy a jelly roll pack in beautiful batiks and also a panel that gets assembled into a quiet book.  The upside to this is that neither of these must be done or used right away so at least it doesn’t add to my immediate to-do list.  The only way it has taken up my time so far is me researching different jelly roll quilt ideas on pinterest.  I suppose it could be a lot worse though! 

                I don’t know if anyone else has this issue but when you go to events like this it can make for an overwhelming few days following.  It makes me want to try new projects and new things but I still have a list a mile long of other projects that have been started that I need to complete.  I had a killer to-do list going and finally took the time to prioritize it yesterday.  It was a seriously difficult task to even prioritize which is never a good sign.  There are some projects I feel must get done before the baby arrives and others I want to get done before the baby arrives.  Then there are the Christmas gifts.  Every year I have the intent of making gifts for family and friends as I think the sentiment is so nice but I usually fail at this.  This year I feel my determination is even greater than normal but that could all change in a hurry.  There are 17 items on my “to-sew” list and I hope to knock out a few a week and have things under control in no time!

                How do you organize your projects and prioritize your to do list?

Mom/Daughter Sewing Project

My mom and I are about to embark on a new adventure.  She will be arriving in a few weeks to help welcome the new baby but also so we can have some great mom/daughter time before the baby arrives.  One thing we are wanting to do is to do a quilt together.  Let me be more specific, each do our own quilt but do the same pattern and process.  I simply can’t wait for this project!

My mom and I have very different styles when it comes to sewing/crafting/creating/organizing.  She is very precise and methodical.  I tend to throw stuff together and hope it all works out in the end.  This really can make it fun to work together as we tend to balance each other out really well.  When I have something that calls for a pattern (my worst nightmare!) she is always there to help me actually follow the rules so things turn out as they should.  When she has something with limited directions I am there encouraging her to “just wing it” and see how it ends!  That is why I am so excited for this project.  This project comes from www.dontcallmebetsy.com and we are going to do one of her quilt-a-longs that she did a few years ago called Kaleidoscope.  The fun thing about this is that the trial and error stage is already over and we can see others designs and finished projects for inspiration. 

Mom has been throwing around a lot of color ideas and I still haven’t heard what she has settled on.  I have a huge stash of red fabrics and some wonderful beige fabric that would be perfect for a background (think camel colored lightly tooled leather) so I think that is what I am going to try.  There are so many variations that can really change the look of the design.  It will be fun to see how this all ends up!  I can’t wait for her to get here and for us to get our projects underway!

 

Finished product from www.dontcallmebetsy.com

Meat Processing

A couple of weeks ago Michael took some friends and their family out to the ranch for prong horned antelope hunting.  They were interested in the hunt as a family adventure and in the mount.  This worked out perfectly as I was wanting to add variety to our freezer so we got to keep the meat.  They went out early in the morning and were successful in their hunt!  They did all of the dressing work (and I am not talking about dressing dolls) out in the field so all we had to do was process the meat how we wanted once it was cooled properly. 

This past weekend we got to finish that processing.  I am fairly familiar with the butchering process but I had never done anything with game meat.  Michael did all the major cutting and then we worked together to process the meat.  Antelope is a tasty meat but can be very dry as there is almost no fat.  We kept about 6 pounds of meat for stew and then kept the back strap and a few other pieces to have in their entirety.  The rest we ground for hamburger.  Because the meat can be so dry we made our own blend.  We bought pork fat and Boston Butt pork roast to add to the mix.  First we ground everything separately in a coarse grind.  Then, we mixed everything together and ground it again in a finer grind.  The ideal ratio for us turned to be about 50% antelope, 25% pork fat and 25% pork roast.  After grinding the meat we packaged it into 1 to 3 pound packages and vacuum sealed everything so it will stay fresh as long as possible.  With the cost of the sealer bags and the extra pork we added we figured it came out to less than $1.00/pound.  After all of that we ended with about 70 pounds of ground meat.

Some people are game meat purists and think mixing different meats isn’t necessary as the flavor can be great on its own and for some meats they are exactly right.  For us and our liking though mixing was what we wanted to do.  It would be crazy to do a blend that we knew we wouldn’t enjoy and let all that meat go to waste!  Anyways, this process was very time consuming but was worthwhile.  Call me crazy but there is something rewarding about knowing that I am consuming something that we processed and came off of our ranch.  We have already used some of the meat for burgers on the grill and they were delicious.  The biggest thing I learned from the experience was how much work it is.  It was a good sized antelope but after all the trimming and processing we really weren’t left with that much meat.  I know for sure I will appreciate the food I make with this a little more than normal after being a part of the process!

Just getting started - putting our meat grinder to work - coarse grind was the first step.

 

Michael was very excited to use the grinder attachment.  It worked fantastic!

 

Colorado Camping

 At the beginning of July we got to escape away for a little vacation.  My parents flew to visit us and then we drove to Fort Collins, Colorado to visit with my mom’s sister and her family.  We left my parents to stay with them and we continued on the rest of our adventure.  We visited Michael’s sister in Carbondale, CO before heading out camping on our own.  We had such a great time camping.  We only went for two nights as pregnancy was already starting to make things interesting (ie: sleeping on the ground) but enjoyed the experience.  We camped near Redstone, CO along Avalanche Creek.  Our campsite was remote and we didn’t have anyone around us.  We were just a short walk from the creek as well.  It was my goal to get into a body of water bigger than my bathtub on this getaway as living in the desert (at least I think it feels like the desert although technically, it isn’t) keeps me from doing this at will.  Thank goodness I was able to succeed!  The weather was surprisingly warm (in the 90’s) but the streams were still very cold.  It didn’t stop me from getting in though!  All those years swimming off the east coast really got me in prime shape for cold water that I have encountered elsewhere.  It would probably take icebergs to keep me out!  Campfire cooking was also a blast.  Michael was so much fun to grocery shop with as we got to have some great junk food (he said it was one of the best things about camping and he was right!) but we also got to create some tasty meals as well.  It was fun to see what we could invent to get what we needed!

 

After camping we headed towards Crested Butte, CO and spent the night there.  We loved the little cozy town and thought the valley was just beautiful.  After a yummy breakfast in Gunnison, CO we headed back towards home.  It was such a nice getaway that was a perfect blend of visiting with family and having some new adventures of our own.  Here are a few pictures!

Proud of his tent set up.  This was the first location for the tent but it was way to lumpy so it had to be relocated.

 

Still proud at spot number 2!

  

Afternoon shower and rainbow, view from our campsite.

 

Tiny tent but worked well!

 

 Kabobs for supper. Yum!

 

Our high tech, double filtration coffee pot.

Ready to steep!

 

On the drive headed towards Crested Butte, CO

 

 

A New Distraction

I have an addiction to project searching.  I LOVE to travel from blog to blog and see what people all around the country and world are working on.  Many times I see blog writers refer to the website Craftsy.com.  I had never been to Craftsy but this week found myself finally wandering over there.  Basically it is a mecca for patterns, online classes and project ideas for all mediums of crafting.  There is everything from cooking to photography to weaving.  Of course, I spend the majority of my time looking through the sewing and quilting sections.  Many of the items I have come across cost money however, there are many that are free.  By joining Craftsy (for free) I get to try a class for free so I will do that before spending any money on an online class.  Plus, I am one to usually take advantage of the free patterns before going for a paid one.  Below are a few free patterns that I have saved to my pattern library so some day (hopefully soon) I can go back and try them!

“Kissy Fish” Baby Quilt Pattern from craftsy.com

 

“A Walk in the Park” Quilt Pattern from craftsy.com

“Oh My Stars!” Pattern (Part of a Quilt Along) from Craftsy.com

 

"Stocking Advent Calendar" from Craftsy.com

Is it really October?

So, let’s face the music, it has been months and months since I last posted.  To be honest, it makes me sad! I think about posting all the time and have so much I want to share but I just seem to run out of time!  So what has been taking up all this precious time?  Life.  Very simply put.  The biggest event has been preparing to welcome Baby E into the world.  That’s right, the funny farm is awaiting its newest member.  Our scheduled arrival date is November 11^th so we are almost to the end of this stage!  With that being said this summer was spent trying to squeeze in every activity possible before our lives change forever and we have a trio to travel with.  We also have been so blessed to have lots of visitors from near and far and try and have even gotten to escape for a few weekends away.  Our chickens are growing, the orchard is green and lovely (and without a single pecan due to late freezes) and our momma cows continue to raise fabulous babies.  Life has been progressing at breakneck speed and I wouldn’t change it for the world!

                One thing that has been a blast and highlight to the last few months is the amount of crafting and sewing I have done.  We decided to not find out the gender of the baby so along with my mom and mother-in-law we have been sewing up a storm.  Gender neutral items are not easy to find but that hasn’t been a concern for us!  It has been fun searching high and low for fabrics and then creating fabulous and unique pieces.  I can’t wait to share all that we have been up to and I will post pictures soon!

                Hopefully I will be able to give some more regular updates on life as I feel it has been an exciting time but, then again, I am pretty biased.  In the meantime, enjoy some pictures of the latest happenings!

 

We got a new pup for the place.  Meet Rufus (Or Woofus as he is commonly called) our Bassett Hound puppy that was born April 12th.

 

 He loves ice-cream

 

And riding on the 4-wheeler

 

 He even got a new backpack for school!  Clearly, he is excited for school to start.

 

 Then there is Mao.  This girl got out the house and did a little to much visiting with the neighbors.  We had our own episode of teen mom going on.  Here she is shortly before she had kittens.

 

I came home to check her during lunch break and work and when I got home four hours later she was a momma of 7!  She is the best momma cat ever!  She had her kittens the same day Prince George was born. 

 

The kittens have grown like weeds! Meet Peaches!

 

 

 

We were blessed with some rain this summer which brought many wildflowers out.  The ranch was covered in color this summer!

 

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to this guy.  Honcho passed away unexpectedly.  It breaks my heart to not have him around anymore and I still miss him like crazy.

 

But don't worry, Bossy, the chicken who had the  super glue operation this spring is still doing great.  So great in fact ,she enjoys sitting on our front porch furniture watching the world go by.



 

There is so much going on I will post more soon!

 

Chicken Surgery

Life on a farm is full of adventures and occasional mishaps.  Unfortunately I experienced some of these mishaps a couple of weeks ago.  There is always a danger when you have chickens and dogs around that they will collide.  By collide I mean kill each other.  By kill each other I mean the dogs get the chickens.  I don’t envision a chicken ever taking down a dog. 

Honcho, my jack russell had been doing really well and had not bothered the chickens for months and months on end.  It was a nice Saturday so I had the chickens out roaming the back yard and the orchard.  I don’t know what happened with Honcho but he lost his mind.  I looked out of the house and saw that he had one of the top hatters (the ones with the crazy “hair hats”) in his mouth.  By the time we could get there it was to late.  The top hatter did not survive.  Honcho was quickly reminded that we don’t do that to chickens and tied up so that he couldn’t do it again.

Sunday we were outside again and Honcho got loose and attacked another chicken.  This time it was one of the New Hampshire Reds we call bossy.  We were right there when it happened and were able to separate the two.  Surprisingly Bossy was still alive.  It is very rare that a chicken gets attacks and survives.  We started surveying the damage and find that he broke her skin on her back between her wings.  There was no blood but there was a gaping hole where you could see all her insides.  I felt sick and terrible that it happened.  Unsure of what to do we grabbed some antiseptic spray that we use on the cattle and gave her a good spray.  This spray also happens to be bright purple so she really started looking lovely.  The next issue is what we could do to hold her together.  We thought about pine tar that we use for the horses hooves since it is so sticky but it is pretty stout stuff so that was voted down.  The next best thing we could come up with was super glue.  Into the house I ran and came out with a fresh pack of super glue from the dollar store.  I held Bossy while Michael started gluing.  First he glued skin together and then layered her feathers so they created a thick hard shell that held everything together.  Everything seemed to be secure so not knowing what else to do we just let her back in the pen. 

It has now been a month since the incident and Bossy is doing great.  Her wings don’t lay as flat against her body as they used to but she is alive and doing well!  She also still has purple on her from her antiseptic so she is really looking cute.  Overall for a backyard surgery it seemed to go well and we are pleased with our work!  Regardless, we are going to keep our day jobs.

Spring/Summer Buzz

We have finally hit what is hopefully summer.  Or at least spring.  We had been teased with many warm days but had also gotten tricked with very late freezes.  Not just one but multiple.  It has really thrown a loop in some things around the funny farm.  First off our pecan trees took a big hit.  Hopefully they make it through it all ok but so far the signs have not been good and we may be seeing some major damages across the orchard.  We had lost all of the fruit early on which isn’t a huge surprise but the pecan trees being damaged like it appears they are is more of a serious issue.  Only time will tell!  Other with trying to keep up with the weather changes we have gotten in new baby chicks, had a new filly born, planned the garden, worked on the house and in general just stayed busy with our crazy lives.  More about that will come soon!

                With the weather warming up it is very hard to stay motivated with my sewing.  I have fallen behind with my blocks for quilt guild but I finally got sewing again this weekend and am slowly catching up.  Below are some pictures of my most recent blocks, please excuse the cruddy phone pictures!

 

These are all paperpieced blocks that I have done for this project (Maybe I have even posted a few of these before?).  I really enjoy paperpiecing and the crisp and accurate lines you can get with it.  The last block shown that is clearly unfinished has given me more headaches than one can imagine.  The challenge was to find a star block, create it and share it at our next meeting and then create a block that someone else brought.  I thought I would try something different  to bring to the group and wow it has been a trip for me.  Maybe it has just been my time off or maybe I am just not paying attention.  There are a million mistakes but at this point I just want it done.  One of the big mistakes is visible in the picture but I have decided I am not going to change it.  One can only have so much patience for a single block!  Can you spot the mix-up?  I will hopefully finish the last section tonight, sew them all together and be able to call it good for this block and move along!  I can't wait to see what everyone else has done next week and try somebody else's design!

Rigatoni Pie

                I love pasta.  And carbs. And more carbs.  Have I mentioned I love carbs?  I often look for new ways to treat myself to carbs besides the ol’ spaghetti and red sauce meal.  Last night I tried a new recipe called rigatoni pie.  I found the recipe at http://quick-dish.tablespoon.com/2013/02/27/pasta-pie/ and knew from the moment I saw it I had to try it!  Who would have thought to stand up rigatoni in a spring form pan and add tomato and meat goodness on top?  I sure would not have thought about it!  I did make some changes to the recipe.  I used ground beef instead of turkey because it is what we always have on hand.  I also added green chili to the meat/sauce to give it extra flavor and added whatever spices from the cabinet that looked good, not just red pepper flakes like the recipe calls for.  Bottom line: it turned out amazing.  I thought the arranging of rigatonis would take a long time but it really didn’t!  It was a quick meal!  I baked it at 350 degrees for 20 minutes and then had it under the broiler for about the last 3.  I loved it, Michael loved it and we will eat leftovers again today and love it! 

Quiet!

Sometimes life is pretty quiet on the funny farm.  This would be one of those times.  There really has not been much going on and I am ok with that!  Daylight savings time allows for Michael to be outside working late into the evening and me more daylight to do things after work.  The weather has been amazing! Yesterday when I got off work it was in the high 70’s so as soon as I got home I washed the car. I still had plenty of daylight after that to check on the chickens, gather eggs and make it to the grocery store and back all before dark!

                As far as orchard work to be done right now life consists of trimming trees, changing water and cleaning out sprinklers.  At the ranch we only have a few cows left to calve and then it will be time to work them.  Working them consists of branding, vaccinating and castrating all the bull calves.  The calves are just the cutest things ever and I love going out to see them!  We will probably do that in late April.

                I have been getting a lot of sewing done and hope to get more done this coming weekend.  I will set out to travel again next week so I will take advantage of this while I can!  I am up to speed on my blocks for quilt guild so this weekend I am going to work on a burlap and lace table runner.  I may make placemats as well if I have any leftover material.

                Like I said, not much going on so just assume that no news is good news!

Shopping!

                This week my job took me to Albuquerque for a couple days which meant I got to have an evening for shopping.  I love the chance to explore and try new stores and I received a recommendation for a good one this week!  The store is called Buffalo Exchange (www.buffaloexchange.com) and it specializes in “New and Recycled Fashion” and was a blast.  Basically, it’s a consignment store with a vintage and eclectic feel.  It is filled with great finds from clothing to shoes to jewelry and lots in between.  The selection was great and I had to practice extreme self-control in order to not spend every penny in my wallet.  I ended up purchasing a beautiful turquoise ring for a very affordable price.  The stone is oval and a lovely green with some dark striations through the middle.  I am wearing it today and loving it!

It was fun to shop in a store that doesn’t specialize in cattle and horse feed.  Living in a small town it is easy to get in a shopping rut of the same things over and over again.  Adjusting to limited shopping options was one of the more difficult things I faced when I first moved to this desolate area.  I remember a specific shopping experience awhile back when I went shopping in the “big city” about three hours away.  I called my mom ecstatically (who is also my favorite shopping partner) when I found a pair of jeans at Ann Taylor Loft.  I was so excited because it was the first time in almost two years that I bought clothes at a store without “tractor” or “feed supply” in the name.  It is the little things in life!  I honestly don’t mind shopping at the “country” or small town stores as their clothes fit me well, they usually last a long time and they fit my life style.  Surprisingly, my very large collections of high heels and fancy shoes from my college sorority days don’t get used very often anymore!  Living without all of the typical shopping options saves some pennies and also makes going to bigger towns that much more exciting.  I was an avid shopper before and I still am but my purchases have just happened to change! 

The Couscous Incident

The other night while I was making chicken alfredo I was reaching to get some items out of the fridge and knocked out a Tupperware container filled with left over couscous from supper the night before.  Not only did it fall from high up in the fridge (we have one where the freezer is on the bottom) but it happened to explode all over once it hit the ground.  Couscous went everywhere.  There may have been a few choice words that jumped out of my mouth but I grabbed the dust pan and hand broom and started cleaning it up.  There was a pretty wide area of impact so I just swept up anything in the area.  Turned out our floor was pretty darn dirty.  Because the entire container had been ruined I decided that it would be good chicken feed.  This also meant that it didn’t matter that I empty the dust pan into the Tupperware container, it was going to go outside anyway.  I set the Tupperware on the counter to bring out to the chickens later and went on with my supper not thinking twice of what had happened.  Boy was I wrong.

                Yesterday when I started making dinner I opened the fridge and saw the Tupperware container that had the couscous in it was on the shelf in the fridge.  I turned to Michael and said, “You know, we don’t need to keep this in the fridge, it’s for the chickens.”  Michael gave me a confused look and said, “Why would it be for the chickens?  It’s perfectly good for leftovers.”  At this point I got worried.  I proceeded to tell Michael, “No, it is what spilled all over our filthy floor the other night.  I swept it up and had it on the counter to go to the chickens.  Everything spilled and I put all the grime back in the container, the chickens will love it.”  All I was returned with was an even grimmer look from Michael.  The next words out of his mouth were, “Well, I sure missed that.  I ate couscous for lunch!”  My goodness, did this really happen?  I am surprised this man is not dead on the floor.  I have not swept or mopped our floors in… a very long time.  The things that went into the container are indescribable.  I guess I have learned my lesson.  Either feed the chickens right away or make sure the food makes it into our usual chicken scrap buckets.  I guess it is just a strengthening of the immune system!

Spring Chicken Order

                On our snow day Michael and I sat around talking about what we need to do to get ready for spring/summer and some of our garden and animal goals.  One thing we have spent a lot of time debating is what chickens to add to our flock.  We went through the catalog and each marked the breeds we wanted.  We then combined our lists and found out that we selected 18 breeds.  That is a little much considering we already have about 30 chickens at home!  We worked to narrow down our list and finally made our order yesterday.  Maybe making the order after snow-ritas (see “snow day” post below) wasn’t the best idea.  We sort of threw the narrowed down list out the window and ended up ordering A LOT of chickens.  We ended up with about 60 on our order.  There are still 3 breeds that weren’t available for the delivery date we wanted so we will still be making another order.  My goodness we are going to have a lot of chickens! 

                When deciding on which ones we wanted to order we used some strategy.  I am pretty darn crazy about spreadsheets, in fact, I love them.  I assembled a sheet that broke down the breeds into categories.  This allowed us to have a good overview of what our overall flock will be like.  Our categories are: ornamental, layers and meat birds.  Our ornamental list is probably the most fun.  We won’t rely on them to lay eggs and may have to keep them separate from our established group due to the picking order, etc.  We picked three kinds of bantams and a few varieties of top-hatters in addition to some that are just crazy looking.  They will have no major purpose except being fun to watch!  For the layers I ordered a lot more araucanas because they lay the beautiful green/blue eggs and I am down to one layer in my current flock.  I want to increase my colored egg production so this will aide in that.  We also selected some other hardy varieties that will be consistent layers.  As far as the meat group I don’t believe that there is much explanation needed there.  We also selected a few breeds of ducks which I am excited about because I have never had ducks before.  We have selected some that will be grown for food and some that are good layers/setters.  I can’t wait!

                The worst part about ordering was that I got all excited to get them and see what they will look like but they won’t arrive in the mail until the last week of April! I am just not sure how I will ever wait that long!  I have no choice but to wait so this will be a great practice in patience, and also give me time to build a bigger coop and run because I am going to need it!

Snow Day!

Yesterday we had a snow day and it may just go down as the best.day.ever.  With my new job it actually allows for snow days.  I got the call at about 5:30 AM that school was cancelled so I turned over and went right back to sleep.  Fabulous!  I woke up about 8:00 AM to a winter wonderland.  We were one of the least hit areas but still got a good dusting of snow.  The wind really kicked things up so it turned into whiteout conditions.  Thankfully we had gotten all the animals taken care of and ready for the storm on Sunday afternoon so all we had to do is break ice.  By “we” I mean Michael.  He went and fed hay and broke water while I made waffles, bacon and eggs.  By the time he got home breakfast was ready and the relaxing began.  Because we didn’t have to be anywhere or do anything all day we took full advantage of the situation.  

After breakfast we figured the next best step was to make drinks.  Michael went out and grabbed a bunch of snow and made “snow-ritas.”  That’s right, margaritas made with snow instead of blended or on the rocks.  How perfect for a snow day!  There were different flavors that we tried like pomegranate, raspberry and classic margaritas.  All were delicious.  This led to more beverage inventing and cleaning of the liquor cabinet.  There were definitely some bottles finished.  We spent the rest of the day watching movies, laying on the couches and playing with the dogs.

Our dogs usually stay outside and only come in for an evening here and there.  With the snow and wind we decided they deserved a day inside as well.  Let me tell you, those animals got lazy!  We built a monster fire that kept the living room at a live 80-85 degrees and they lounged around all day like it was their job.  They were funny to watch as they would switch from place to place and only get up occasionally to beg for a treat or snack here and there.  I think they were just as appreciative for the day off as I was!

It is so rare that we get to have a day at home.  Actually, we never have had one while we have been together and it was the best thing ever.  I feel rejuvenated and refreshed.  Vacation days are so valuable that I have never taken any to just stay at home.  They are always used to travel or go see family.  I feel as though they have to be made “worth it” by doing something extreme but after yesterday I may need to reevaluate future usage of vacation days.  I have also learned that working in agriculture these days are far and few between.  Animals always need to be fed, watered and cared for.  There is always work to be done and things to be taken care of.  With that being said I cannot express my appreciation and joy for the day that we had yesterday. 

 

Here are some pictures of our day inside!

Pomegranite snow-rita complete with umbrella

 

Watching the snow from the lime tree

The Animals actually up and awake!  Checking out the tractor making sure it was bringing more wood to keep the house warm.

Like I said, they moved from one spot to another.  Here Sadie has taken over the cat bed.

 

If you know Honcho then you know you have just witnessed a miracle.  Living cats don't get this close to Honcho!

 

This was Honcho's stakeout for the day.  The picture on the left was one of the few I got of him awake.

Mao gave up in the plant area once it got dark and retreated to the couch.  This is one lazy cat.

Chicken Alfredo

                With all the milk we have passing through our doors now we also have a large supply of cream.  I was looking for a different way to use it besides making butter and decided to try a new recipe for Alfredo sauce last night.  It turned out delicious! It wasn’t the usual butter, cream and cheese recipe I had used in the past but served to be just as tasty.  Of course, things didn’t fall into place like I had planned and hoped they would but I did the best I could with what I had!  When I got home I realized I had a big problem, I was out of parmesan cheese.  Pretty sure all rule books say you must use parmesan cheese for Alfredo sauce but I was not about to go out in the nasty, cold windy weather so I had to figure out a way around it.  I had bought a block of cheddar/gruyere (yes, a block of both cheeses combined) a few weeks back so I shredded that and also emptied a few bags of whatever was in the cheese drawer.  Those various cheeses combined with fresh milk, cream cheese, butter and black pepper worked out really well.  I sliced and sautéed some chicken breasts, added sundried tomatoes and put it all over spinach and chive linguine and it turned into a delicious meal!  The best part was that it was quick to prepare.  Michael made a roaring fire in the fire place that we enjoyed as we ate our quick and hardy meal.  I usually forget about making my own sauce but tonight was a reminder of how easy and yummy it can be!

 

Some Basic Math:

 

 +

 +

 

 

 

= Yummy!

 

An Update on the Twins

The twins that were both Jan. 8^th are doing great.  We have named them Dolly and Star (Can you guess their future occupation?)  They are growing like weeds!  Blue is also the happiest cow alive!  In a traditional dairy situation she would have her calf and then they would be separated so the cow can milk.  It is like Blue knows she is lucky to have her babies arouund and she is so happy to be able to be a full-fledged mom!  She produces more milk than her calves can handle so we purchased additional baby calves so they are also nurse and benefit from her massive milk supply. 

We also have gone back to cheese making and milk drinking.  I don’t drink the milk because it can pack on the pounds like crazy due to it being so rich but Michael goes to town on it.  He claims that I shouldn’t worry about because he skims the cream off the top once it settles thus making it skimmed milk.  I’m not falling for it!  Tonight I look forward to using some of the cream and milk to make a homemade alfredo sauce!  Pictures of supper to follow but for now some shots of the babies! 

Momma Blue

Star taking a rest in the middle of the hay ring.

Star is a wild girl!

Bedding down for the night.

Honcho at attention, ready to work.

One of the calves we bought - checking out what goods Hooker has to offer.

Dolly ready to play.