Elanee finds a tomatoe cutie

In that giant mound of tomatoes Elanee came across a cute little freind. We gave the cutie - named Tom of course- lots of lovin before she lopped him to bits and turned him into soup. :)

Tomatoes in August

After a big round of canning and sewing we ended up falling behind on the garden. It seemed that every tomatoe out there ripened all at once. The girls and I got out there and picked everything. We filled an entire wheelbarrow!

The chicks are here.

Three cute chicks! ;)
Here is Vayda with one red meat chick and one yellow laying hen.

On Friday we got our shipment of 30 chicks from Ideal Poultry in Texas. All are tucked in neat and tidy in a Tupperware tub on a kitchen shelf. They are chirpy and fluffy....just the way they are supposed to be.

We will have the meat birds for 6 weeks and the hens for 2 yrs or so.

Hummin for Hummus!

Yummy Hummus!!!!
This weekend we made Hummus! Lots and lots of hummus. 61 half pints to be exact.

Here is Elanee grinding up garlic and Maya Rae blending all the ingredients together.

This is the chick pea mush.

This is the Tahini (Sesame seed + olive oil mush)

This is lil ol me loading the hot hummus into a 1/2 pint jar. It stinks when its hot. PU.

Here are some loaded jars.

This is Ms. Elanee posing with the coveted hummus :)

Ok- Hummus at Wegmans costs about $3.95ish. At that price we would have paid $241 for 61 containers. I bought all the stuff needed to make this at Sauders.....chick peas, sesame seeds, olive oil, lemon juice. I bought the garlic from the local farm stand. I spent $27!!! Thats just $0.44 each jar. I saved $214!

Queen Anns Lace

Queen Anns Lace

Maya, the Spud (thats the dog) and I went out for a short walk this morning. It turned into a nature walk. We saw butterflys, crickets, milk weed, butter cups, burdock, wheat grass, some pretty purple flowers and lots of Queen Anns lace.

We picked some QAL and brought it home with us. Maya cut the stems and placed each in a little colored water. We are waiting to see how long they take to change color. Fun.

Ahhhh Soup!

Lordy Lordy- Look at all the soup!

Its done! Done! Done!

44 Quarts of Beef and Barley and 42 Quarts of Chicken. Thats alot of soup. This is my photo shop version of what that looks like. Wo!

We ended up doing a x12 version of the chicken recipe. The last 4 put the girls over the edge. Yikes. The attitudes took a dive when I put those birds on the table for picking.

We did find a good way to pass the time while we each pick the meat off a boiled bird though. We played ABC games. We even made one up. "I married a celebrity (you have to name the hotty) and we named our beautiful child ________". You take turns. The first one names their kid a wacky name starting with A and the next one starts their kid off with B. Of course celebrities have an unfortunate knack of staining their children with horrid insane names so the game is a blast. Good practice for Maya too with ABC order and beginning sounds.

Anyway- now we are all rejoicing.

HURRAY!!!!!!

MORE soup ALREADY !?!?!?

More Soup Already!?
This is what the girls shouted when I said today was the day for chicken soup.

This soup is alot less work than the beef and barley.
All the girls chipped in with the cutting while I worked on the soup stock.

Again, I bought the veggies but we had the chickens we raised last year on hand. We are just starting with a X8 batch. Not sure how many quarts that will get us. We will make more as needed. Shooting for around 35-40 quarts. This is the 3rd time doing this soup. I like it because you can just chuck in a little rice, noodles, potatoes, or even dumplings- whatever- and you have an instant meal.

Wonderful hand me downs.

When Grams,

Great Aunt Judy and Aunt Rae

came to visit for the wedding they did a great thing. They brought a big ol bag of hand me down clothes for the girls.

Not much delights the members of this family more than a black garbage bag of treasures.

Vayda was inspired by this pair of mossy green vallure over-alls. I thought the look rocked and made her pose for some snap shots.

What a cutie!

Puppet Show.

We had to stop the canning action to view a fabulous puppet show written and directed by Maya Rae and neighbor Saige and performed behind our couch. It was titled- "The Hunt" and had alot of critters eating a lovely couple...? Hummmm. Anyway- it was cute enough to grab the camera for ;)

Beef and Barley Soup.

I have wanted to make beef and barley soup since last year but never got to it. Well, we have now!


I found a great recipe on the internet. We spent an entire day cutting veggies. 50 carrots diced is no small feat!!! Yikes. The girls survived the great effort. Everyone kept a good attitude too. We made a total of 44 quarts in all. It took 3 days of presure canning.

I had to purchase the carrots, onions, garlic, celery and seaonings but we had the 4 roasts on hand.

In the end they cost .89 cents each!

The soup tastes great. Yum.

Wedding Day!

My second step son, Aaron, married his long time girl friend, Shelley on Sunday the 15th. It was a lovely Baha'i wedding. We all had a nice time. I will add pictures when we get them back. In the mean time- this is what I made for the wedding gift.

New Moo!

Jody and I himmed and hawed about getting a cow again this year. It was tempting to think of not hauling hay and water all winter yet again.
But, then we looked in the freezer and saw the dwindling supply of beef and realised it is well worth the effort.

I thought maybe I had kinda missed the boat as we are looking at the end of June and I usually get a calf by May.

Soooo- on Thursday, I made a call to Goods Cattle Co. They are the middle man between the local farmers and the big beef growers in the south. I heard that they sometimes have left over calves and local folks can get them.

Well that is the deal. I made the call and Vayda and I swung over and picked out a little red head cutie. Our first cow was a black jersey cross and the second is a black and white Holstein. This is our first little red guy. He is also the biggest one.

Upon our return Vayda, Ben, and I spent 2 hrs in the rain and thunder....and lightning....building a tent and pen for him. I didnt exactly plan ahead. Once he was tucked in bed all was well. He is healthy and spunky.

#'s..... Our first cow was $53 counting gas to and from (he was scrawny though), the second was $65 and this one was $71 (he is big AND I didnt have to drive an hr + to get him).

We saved our left over milk replacer so thats starting him out of the cheap. I wont be keeping track of all the calf starter, grain and hay that goes into him over the next 18 mo. That with the butcher price still comes in under the cost of grass fed beef (he will be finished on grass alone) at about $6 per lb. The quality of the beef is outstanding! And- its so nice to have 200 lbs of hamburg, a hill o steaks + roasts etc etc etc in the freezer.

Back to the cuteness.....I forgot how nice it is to have a baby on the home stead. Hes sweet with his red head and freckled pink nose. :)

JAMMIN!

Strawberry Jam! YUM!!!

Its just not possible to be unhappy while canning jam.
The entire house smells of sweet berries and sugar. Every kid who enters the house comes bouncing to the kitchen for a sweet taste of the good stuff.


Elanee, Vayda, Maya Rae and I went to
Cassim farms and did the U-Pick thing. We brought home over 40 lbs of berries. Then it was to Sauders for a 50lb bag of sugar and a load of powdered pectin.

The girls and I, with help from neighbors, Saige and Ravyn, removed all the tops from the berries. Vayda washed and measured them into quarts. I spent all day yesterday canning. It was a perfect day with bright sun and a cool breeze through the kitchen.

In the end we had 62 pints of jam.

Here are the #'s rounded.....sugar $20, lids $10, pectin $22, berries $43, Lemon $3 for a total of $98. Sounds like alot but.....thats just $1.58 per jar for a top quality jam with no toxic waste in it. Sauders sells a comparable jam for $3 ish. Thats a savings of $1.48 each or $91.76 total! Not too shabby!!!

I would make this jam even if it cost more than the store. Its just TOO good. mmmmmm :)

The Bag Lady

A few weeks ago I sat down and sewed 20 fabric bags. I used all recycled fabric. Most of it had been handed down to me from friends.

The striped bag was once a sheet turned curtain....now bag. The black bag was once a bathroom sink skirt. There are several flash backs to the 70's. Some cute plaid. A rooster picture. All are fun.

We are getting into the habit of bringing them shopping with us. We have had some nice comments.

It feels good down size the piles of fabric and to stop the flow of plastic bags from coming into the house.

Letchworth State Park

Jody and I took a trip to Letchworth State Park for our 10th wedding ann.

We spent 3 days camping, biking and hiking. We had a great time. We ate at the Glen Iris our first night in the park. Fancy dancy!The park was beautiful and we enjoyed lots of interesting wild life including baby deer, beaver, 3 colors of skunk, and even an otter!

Nice time with the spouce. ;)

What my beautiful daughter did today.

Today my lovely daughter did an amazing thing!

Ms. Vayda made an appointment with her school principle to discuss a problem.

Vayda has been struggling with the fact that students in her class and others in the halls use racial slurs, derogatory terms, distasteful slang and hate talk as a regular part of each day. This is done to her, around her and in front of teachers and no one ever addresses it.

So on this day she sat with the principle and discussed this issue. She brought up specific terms including "Stupid Jew", "Beaner", "Mulotto","Shut up and eat your rice and beans" and "what color do you think I am?" She even presented the principle with a printed definitions of certain terms.

The principle was stunned. First that this was happening and second that a 13 yr old would have the interest in this topic and the bravery to open this discussion. She took notes and was very respectful and grateful for the meeting. She asked Vayda to speak to the student council and suggested an assembly to set things off in a better direction.

I am so proud to have a daughter who is appalled by this type of talk and who is brave enough to take steps to better her world.

AFRICA

Africa!

This was fun. We studied Africa by learning about several countries there. Maya made an elephant out of an oatmeal container and a Kenian drum from a dowl and circular craft box.

We read
"Africa for Kids" and learned about traditional African garb. I had an acutal piece of fabric from Zambia.
This frabric was a gift from Becky Dibble. When Vayda got home she also got into the dress up thing. We were able to create a 'chitangi' for Emma. Funny stuff. Elanee worked hard to create a
family dinner of an South African meat pie, bread and hummis.





That got rave reviews.

To finish off our study we watched several documentaries on the African safari.