Kittens!

Our grandma had a cat show up at her house. Then, Miss Kitty (Grandma's creative name for her), had four kittens, and since Grandma lives in town she couldn't keep them. So now the kittens and Miss Kitty are living on the farm with us. The kittens are very playful and so cute.

Rosie had her baby!

He is adorable! His name is Oliver.

The new evening chore

Dad milking Beatrice

Straining into jars

Ready for the fridge

I got braces!

They are almost a relief after four days of spacers. Alas, there will be no carmel for about two years :(

A Sunday Morning Surprise

Beatrice had her baby yesterday! It's a bull calf and his name is Colin.

He is so sweet.

Meet Beatrice...

our lovely new Jersey cow!

She is due to have a calf on September 5 so we'll have milk, butter,cheese...wonderful.

A trip to the dentist

Ashlyn loves going to the dentist and getting a new toothbrush. But when mom asked her why, of all toothbrushes, she chose one with Sponge Bob on it she replied, "I don't know. I just liked the one with cheese on it." Every one got a laugh out of that. (is it obvious that we don't watch very much t.v?)

sorry I haven't blogged in awhile :0)

Summer Days

As Sweet Pea the parakeet enjoys the nice weather, Henry and Milo become curious. Sweet Pea didn't seem to mind though.

Ashlyn eats strawberries at Grandma's.

Milo watches Dad fix a flat tire on the hay trailer.

Ashlyn is quite fond of catching lightening bugs.

Henry and I sit on the hay in the cool of evening.

Hope you all are enjoying June!

I was playing with making pictures black and white :)

A Few Exciting Days

On Monday, Dad sold two of our cows, Posie and Hannah, and one of the boys, Jonah :( He said that he might buy another cow and, sure enough, who should come home but an adorable little heifer. She is a "fixer-upper". The poor thing has a cold\ear infection. Caleb named her Lulu. I don't have pictures (yet).

Wednesday was Caleb's 9th birthday! The birthday breakfast was doughnuts, lunch was pizza (homemade by Mom and very good), and after lunch was cake.

It's time to cut hay again! Dad took Caleb along.And...two little pigs. They are girls and will one day have piglets!
I don't have a picture of the other girl, but they are almost identical.

Moms, Antiques, and Clover

Happy Mother's Day to all of the wonderful moms who do so much for their family!

Yesterday, Mom wanted to go to a few antique stores. We usually don't come home with anything but after asking Dad, I was allowed to get this book for only 4 dollars.

It is called "Practical Cookery and The Etiquette and Service of the Table". From reading the inside cover, I found out that it was given to someone for Christmas in 1923.

Between some of the pages there were recipes from old newspapers and magazines, and a few recipes written out.

One of the pages in the book explains how to use your coal stove....

and what temperature (roughly) to cook your cakes.

Later, Jasmine got a clover necklace.

A Taste of Summer

Lemon Bars

Crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup powdered sugar

pinch of salt

2 sticks butter

Filling:

4 eggs

2 cups granulated sugar

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

6 tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 x 2 inch pan. Make the crust: Combine the flour, powdered sugar and salt in a large bowl. Cut in the butter to make a crumbly mixture. Press the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, make the filling: Mix the eggs, sugar, flour and lemon juice. Pour this over the baked crust and bake an additional 25 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Mmmmmmm!

Another Skirt

Introducing...

our new piglets!

Their names are Churchill and Knightley. My love for Jane Austen's Emma did not have anything to do with these names. ;) (OK, so maybe it does a little bit)

I can't get too attached to them though, as they'll be ready to join us for dinner around September.

Little Things

I come in the little things,

Saith the Lord:

Yea, on the glancing wing

Of eager birds, the softly pattering feet

Of furred and gentle beasts.

I come in the little things,
Saith the Lord:
Not borne on the morning's wings
Of majesty, but I have set My feet
Admidst the delicate and bladed wheat.


I come in the little things,
Saith the Lord. Amen.


Evelyn Underhill

What I Love About Spring...

Fresh grass for the baby boys, Willie and Jonah...

blossoms on trees...


pansies...


chickens running...


and misty moons.

What wonderful, simple displays of God's handiwork!

A Few Lovely Words...

"I enjoy doing housework, ironing, washing, cooking, dish washing. Whenever I get one of those questionnaires and they ask what is your profession, I always put down housewife. It's an admirable profession, why apologize for it. You aren't stupid because you're a housewife. When you're stirring the jam you can read Shakespeare."

The Private World of Tasha Tudor

By Tasha Tudor and Richard Brown

"There are few moments in life more enjoyable than the hour set aside for the ceremony known as afternoon tea."

The Portrait of a Lady

By Henry James

Skirts!

As promised, pictures of my new skirts...

Adding To My Feminine Wardrobe

On Saturday, my Mom and I went shopping for a skirt pattern and some fabric in an attempt to dress more femininely.

Sewing away.

Ashlyn got a skirt out of the scraps.

The finished products, at present, are in the washer. I'll take pictures later ;)
This week is the Feelin' Feminine week in skirts challenge. Head over to Feminine Farmgirl for more details.

A homemaker in training experience

Yesterday I made my first cake from scratch. It tasted wonderful but it was not without it's trials...

• I attempted to shred the carrots with a lemon zester. When that didn't work I tried the cheese grater (which worked). But then, Mom to the rescue! She introduced me to...The Food Processor...Praise the Lord!

• I baked the cakes in an 8x1/2 inch pan instead of a 9x1/2 inch pan (yes, it matters). They nearly overflowed.

• When it came time for frosting, I thought it was too thick, so I added some milk. But it was only after I started frosting that I realized how much easier it would have been with thick frosting...kinda soupy.

  Dad enjoyed it and that's all that matters.

Is it Spring now?

After two days of snow and wind, today might really be the first day of Spring. The temperature is around 40 degrees! Most of the snow is already gone. This poem by Robert Frost describes much of our yard...

A Patch of Old Snow

There's a patch of old snow in a corner

I should have guessed

Was a blow-away paper the rain

Had brought to rest.

It is speckled with grime as if

Small print overspread it,

The news of a day I've forgotten-

If I ever read it.

( Don't pause at the end of each line or it won't make sense. Mom and I made that mistake.)

Spring?

Yesterday ,at noon, it was 70 degrees...
Today at noon it's about 28 degrees.
Not to mention it is the first day of Spring.

Helen Keller did Nature Study!

"I had my first lessons in the beneficence of nature. I learned how the sun and the rain make to grow out of the ground every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, how birds build their nests and live and thrive from land to land, how the squirrel, the deer, the lion and every other creature finds food and shelter. As my knowledge of things grew I felt more the delight of the world. Long before I learned to do a sum in arithmetic or describe the shape of the earth, Miss Sullivan had taught me to find beauty in the fragrant woods, in every blade of grass, and in the curves and dimples of my baby sister's hands. She linked my earliest thought with nature and made me feel that 'birds and flowers and I were happy peers'."

The Story of my Life
Helen Keller

Noah

Our steer, Noah, went to market this morning :( He was such a baby even at over 1000 pounds. He had a happy life. We are going to have meat for a very long time.

Granola!

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup nonfat dry milk powder

1/2 cup honey

1/3 cup apple juice

2 tablespoons canola oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

3 teaspoons almond extract

6 cups old-fashioned oats

1 cup slivered almonds

In a saucepan, combine the brown sugar, milk powder, honey, apple juice, oil, salt, and cinnamon. Cook and stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved; stir in extract. In a large bowl, combine the oats and almonds. Drizzle with sugar mixture and mix well.

Spread a thin layer in two 15x10-inch baking pans coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake at 375 degrees. Take out of oven and stir thoroughly. Cook for 10 more minutes or until golden brown. They'll turn crunchy as they cool. Enjoy on yogurt, vanilla ice cream, or as cereal.

Variations:

Add 1-1/2 cups dried cherries or cranberries to the oats

Use walnuts instead of almonds

Use 2 teaspoons of vanilla or 1 teaspoon of maple extract instead of almond

Something new

Seasons of Glory is a new nature study blog we are doing as a family.

Handicraft?

Mom got a potholder loom today.

Caleb and I aren't sure how useful this handicraft will be, but they're fun to make.