Chicama Run Family Farm

The one thing I like about the winter months is the fact I get to spend a little more time on things I have fun doing.  Joe has now called me the "Voodoo Woman" as the kitchen is once again filled with experiments.  Best part is my son is now going to start doing it as well.

Ferments are so easy to get started - but you do need to keep up with it.  I'm not a purist in any sense of the word for these things - I do what works for us and that means (ack) cheap sugar.

Here is my view point - though many will disagree that's ok this just works for my family right now - the kefir grains or kombucha SCOBY eat the sugar.  Neither one seems to be picky about the type of sugar they eat, so I am working within my budget.

Right now, I have water kefir going (1 gallon a day - yes a day) which is happily being drank with the ice tea mix I have (nope again nothing special here - I can currently afford Lipton natural green tea with honey mix so that's what they are drinking).   Instead of plain water I am using the kefir water to make the tea and the kids all drink it without any issues.  I also have a second ferment going with some 100% Cranberry/Pomegranate Juice I found at the store which is being discontinued.  With that one I am making "soda bottle" to drink.

Next I have 2 different ferments going with whey: first one is a Ginger/Lime "Soda" and the second is a Ginger/Orange "Soda".   I'll bottle them up for a second ferment in a few days.

Recipe:

Juice of 1 orange (or 2 limes)
2 TBSP Sliced ginger root
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup whey
enough filtered water to fill a 1 liter jar (or 1/2 gallon)

Mix sugar, whey & water until sugar is dissolved.  Put juice & ginger in the container you will ferment in.  Add water/sugar/whey mixture.  Lightly cover for 2-3 days on your counter.  Strain ginger, rebottle and let ferment a 2nd time for 2 days.  Put in the fridge and serve cold (I know the lime/ginger one does not taste great warm!).

I am using 1 liter Pickl-It jars for these so they have the airlock at the top to help with the carbonation pressure (these actually are pretty on my counter!).  If you don't have these or don't have an airlock system, you might need to "burp" the jars.  You can also cover with a coffee filter and rubber band on top!

I'm also in the process of rehydrating my milk kefir grains - only 3-5 more days to go on those.

So as you can see - winter is a fun time to play!!

...we seem to re-evaluate what we are eating and how we are living our life.  At least that is the case for me.  Not a 1 or 2 day illness - that's nothing.  But for the last 3 weeks I have been sick.  That's right 3 LONG weeks.

The first 2 Joe had to take off work from his regular job so he could do the basic stuff around the house I really couldn't do.  Heck, getting out of bed wasn't happening at all!  By the end of week 2, they switched my antibiotic because the first one only got rid of 1 of the bacteria in my system.

So what have I been doing wrong?  It's actually quiet simple..... I was eating crap.  I was running off sugar and cheap carbohydrates that were slowly killing my wonderful immune system so when it was presented with an opportunity I got every bacteria around.  I was over-tired, eating garbage, and was at the ER because my daughter popped her knee out.

Now, where to go from here?  I read.... that's what I do.... it's amazing WHAT I read though sometimes.  I have migraine headaches so I started reading about magnesium and so much made sense and actually added up.  Most people are deficient in magnesium, plain and simple.  So, I have started supplementing magnesium.  I haven't been on it long enough to make any difference, so that will come in later.

I went back to making stuff that's good for us for dinner.  Even trying new things - and I was my own guinea pig and found out fried sweetbreads taste like fried oysters so this will become a favorite for me!

The cultures need to be going.... so I made some kefir today (along with some cheeses!! YUM).... yogurt needs to be more of a staple... and sadly - the hardest thing for me will be to stop drinking sodas, but I'll get there.

Even before the new year - reaffirm to yourself what you need to do to take care of your body.... why wait?

Nah - don't worry..... no one has walked up and offered us money to buy our place.  It's just time to move animals.

This might sound easy - but it's not.  We need to separate the goats we are breeding, goats that need to go to the butcher, goats that just need to go to a new home and goats that aren't ready to do anything yet but sit around and eat.

What this type of separation does is allow us to put bucks in the pens and leave them with their "girls" for months until it's time for them to start having babies, then we pull them out again and deal with birthing (which is an entirely different stress-er).

Today I counted 7 goats are ready for the butcher, 6 just need to be pulled to wait around, and 2 are going to a new home tomorrow (hopefully).  Then the buck can go in - but we have to move them around first because of farm tour plus all this rain has made the barn a nasty mess.

It's a season of cleaning, preparing and figuring out the future.  Funny, Joe said yesterday that this isn't our busy season...... but it is in it's own right a busy season because it's planning for the future and next year is always busier than this one.

So, last week I get an email from a publishing person from the Weston A Price organization.  I'm a big fan and believer in a lot of what they promote so it's always exciting when I hear from someone asking me if I want to be a part of their publication.

However, here is my issue.  I was asked if I shipped my products so that I could then be included in the 2012 Shopping Guide.

Ok - don't they promote buying and eating local?  Why would I ship meat?  I know people do it - but still.

Maybe I a little of an idealist in this respect.  I get calls on occasion asking if I ship - and I always refuse.  This is not the direction small farmers are trying to go (at least from what I read and from what I understand).

I still will support the foundation - but it does make me think a little.

It was a sad but needed moment this morning before 8am - we loaded one of our dairy cows for the auction.  6 years, this is the first animal to go to auction vs the butcher.

As much as we love our cows, this is something that needed to be done.  First, she did produce a wonderful little bull calf (who will soon be veal) - but she never produced enough milk and was actually a pain to use the milking machine with!  She would make a great hand-milking cow, but then one day she decided she just wasn't going to give any more milk.

It's sad when they walk right up onto the trailer without a problem and just look at you.  It's a hard thing - but to be honest, I think my kids are thrilled (they couldn't stand her), and I'm not THAT heart-broken.

The funds will be used to find another dairy cow or to pay a feed bill along the way.

So goodbye 'Tilda!!

I was just going to post pictures of lunches up on Facebook - however, it occurred to me this morning the different size lunches I make for each kid and people might not always relate - especially with seeing the bento boxes vs the ziploc divided containers.

First up is Alexis's lunch.  This is a standard 2-tiered bento box. Bottom level are grapes, chocolate wafers, celery w/peanut butter & her daily vitamin gummies.  The top level is Jambalaya I made this morning with smoked beef sausage.  It's from a box which is fine - and it works.

Back to planning meals and I'll share whats going on this week!

Dinners for the week are:
Sunday - Lasagna & Salad
Monday - Stuffed Chicken
Tuesday - Tailgate Wraps (Spicy Chicken wraps) - we have a football game to attend
Wednesday - Vegetable Casserole
Thursday - Turkey Burgers
Friday - Chicken Salad Pitas
Saturday - Joe's Choice

Every night would have a side salad and/or fruit :)

The new thing I just finished is planning my bento box lunches for the kids for the week. Since Monday is a holiday, I'm not planning anything for then - plus I expect we will have some of the lasagna leftover so they can eat that.  If they were going to school, I would have included the lasagna in their boxes!

Tuesday - Meatballs, rice w/season-salt, zucchini fritters (Joe's request for me to try to make), grapes, & a dessert jelly (like jello - but really small package)

Wednesday - Cold Soba noodles (these are japanese buckwheat noodles) w/dipping sauce, crab meat & cabbage salad, cherry tomatoes, kiwi, hard boiled egg

Thursday - Chicken Wrap, apple wedges (I might get creative and try to make apple "bunnies"), broccoli & salad -- on this one, I might add the salad to the wrap and instead add carrots on the side

Friday - Chicken Kijiyaki (from the Just Bento book), Rice, pickled cucumbers & cabbage (this is just shredded cabbage and sliced cucumbers massaged with salt the DAY OF the lunch!), sliced peaches

Everyone is getting each of these lunches this week. To save on time, Monday I am cooking some of the chicken thighs I have (Thursday lunch & Friday dinner), cooking the soba noodles, and baking meatballs.  Monday night I will also put a pot of rice on to be ready in the morning - I'll make extra to freeze or even make some fun shapes with the rice!  I also make vegetable sushi rolls for myself, nothing fancy - usually just some sliced vegetables in the rice.

I can't wait for some of my "fun stuff" to show up from http://www.allthingsforsale.com!  I have cute food picks coming in, some bite size rice molds, and things to make lunch more interesting.

My daughter told me today that her friends are now always checking to see what she has for lunch every day - they all wish that their parents took the time to make them lunch.  These are teenagers WANTING their parents ;)

Anyone have any other lunch ideas to share?

A lot of people have been asking me what I am serving the kids for lunch - especially with 5 kids I am packing for - then I have added Joe into the mix (mainly because he didn't think I could pack a full lunch in one of those boxes)

Today:

2 kids got: leftover chicken thighs (cut off the bone), rice crackers, lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, cherry tomatoes, jelly dessert

2 kids got: ham/cheese roll up, rice crackers, jelly dessert - then 1 got lettuce, cucumbers, carrots (the other one is taking medicine which affects the appetite so doesn't get a full box)

1 kid got: peanut better & honey, salad with cucumbers & carrots, rice crackers & the jelly dessert

Joe got - chicken thigh, salad, goldfish, pineapple

Next week I am hoping to get a little more creative.  I plan on making stuff this weekend which I can add in - such as meatballs, soba noodles (these are like ramen noodles but better - they are 100% buckwheat), and whatever else I can come up with depending on what is at the market this week.  I saw some super easy recipes to add in (such as pickled cucumbers & cabbage - where you just and salt and massage it, let it sit, drain it out and that's it!)

It takes me an hour to get all the lunches done - once I have a plan.  Just Bento has a bento box planner I plan on using this week.  It's a free download (http://justbento.com/weekly-meal-planner-with-bento-lunch) and I think it will work for me.  I have been doing well with my weekly meal planner for dinners and this will help me for lunches.

For things like salad - I grabbed those big boxes from Costco of the spring mix and 1 of baby spinach.  That way I see it and I have no excuse not to give them each some salad.  If you "mush" the salad in the box - it does spring back up by lunch time!

I also plan on making some wraps ahead of time.  Yes, I want to sleep an extra 15 minutes!!

Yesterday I spent at least an hour wandering around the Global Food Market in Ashburn.  I got lost, couldn't find things - yet had a lot of fun!  I did eventually find the things I was looking for (all except 1).  I checked everything though because a lot of items have MSG added - and I was working on avoiding that if I could.  I was able to find the rice seasonings I wanted (MSG free), a soup base for a dipping sauce, even some things I didn't plan - such as these meat filled dough creations where you steam them... they sounded good!

The hardest thing right now is making sure I take care of everyone - everyone is different.  I have a couple of kids who aren't eating a ton right now, 1 that is STARVING, 1 who would probably rather eat the school lunches, and 1 who is just excited to have the cute box :)  Funny thing is that I pack them all up nice and neat, then they all come out and start going through them to see what they got!

I'll continue this some and hopefully will take some pictures if I remember to bring my phone/camera out that early in the morning.

So with school starting - I packed all my kids great lunches thinking they would be STARVING by the time lunch rolled around.  Every single one of them came home with stuff they didn't eat.

Now, I'm back to bentos.  What are bentos?  Japanese lunch boxes!  They actually are very special in Japan - if you like someone a great way to show it is to pack him a special bento box :)  Cute huh?

I was asked today for some ideas for lunches and I will keep you posted and maybe post pictures - because most people do seem to want to know this type of thing.  Understand though - you will see store bought food in some of them!  However, what I buy is still usually better than the "chicken nuggets" they serve in schools.

With a bento, the idea is to make it appealing - not only food wise but visually!  For kids to open it and see what fun stuff they get today is a big treat.  Yes, even my tween to teens get a kick out of some of the stuff I have come up with.

I shop for boxes on eBay - but a Ziploc box (or even a left over lunch meat box!) would work just as well.  I also shop for the little accessories on eBay - honestly because they have some cute stuff.  Also though - I have 2 teen boys who still need to be cool.  So I was able to find bento boxes with a skull on them (that's cool right?) which should keep them happy.

Here are some sites though that I look at:

http://lunchinabox.net/
http://justbento.com/ (I have the book coming in and I'll let you know what I think!)
http://bentolunch.livejournal.com/
http://www.laptoplunches.com/bento-menus/

Now a trick I did learn was to not tell them WHAT some of the stuff was!  (The black stuff you see on a lot of the cutesy things - well that's seaweed)

I plan on heading out to the Global Food Market in Ashburn this week to see what goodies I can find to stuff in their boxes :)

I think this question is asked of me a lot.  HOW DO YOU DO IT?

Answer... I don't always do it and believe me, I screw up a lot!

However, if I can remain consistent in planning my meals for the week, my week goes so much more smoothly.  It doesn't eliminate the "What's for dinner??" question that everyone seems the need to ask multiple times throughout the day... but it helps me figure out where we are.

This year is a little different.  2 kids are playing sports.... this means I don't pick them up until 6.  Then there are meets and games after school - some which we need to attend! Some days we are butchering chickens and I really won't want to "do dinner" after that... you get the idea, dinner is hectic.

I use (and pay for) meal planning services.  My newest favorite is The Fresh 20 which gives you a week of menus that have 20 ingredients.  I'm hopeful this will help my budget out!!  Granted, I have the ability to grab meat from the freezer - but I have had situations where this is not possible.

Then I don't always like the menus for the week or with games and practices, I need something already in the crock pot.  One of my favorite right now is the one from Allrecipes.com - Slow Cooker (100 Best Recipes from Allrecipes.com) This one is an eBook so it's on all my electronics (including my phone).

Lastly - I love freezer meals.  I use Once a Month Mom which is FREE!  They are great recipes and perfect for those days you really don't want to cook.  They have a "Whole Foods" version which is really good as well.  I like these because you can also use these meals to pass on when a friend (or stranger) is in need.

Next I print out what I am cooking for the week.  I am using a basic template from Microsoft Office this year.  Last year - I just printed a list I made up in Word.  After I finish, the list gets posted to the fridge.

This week's menu:

Sunday - Chili with corn bread (one of those recipes in my head for years)
Monday - Carnitas with rice & side salad (from the slow cooker cook book)
Tuesday - Parmesan crusted chicken, new potato salad & apple wedges (the fresh 20)
Wednesday - Balsamic glazed cod, broccoli gratin, steamed potatoes (the fresh 20)
Thursday - Italian Beef Sandwiches, mac & cheese, mixed greens salad (slow cooker)
Friday - Tailgating dinner (I found some wrap recipes on The Food Network that I might try)
Saturday - Joe's Choice (usually something on the grill)

See how knowing what is for dinner takes a huge weight off your shoulders?  It's amazing how that works!  From what I have heard, The Fresh 20 is also going to be doing a LUNCH menu debuting the 5th of September and I can't wait for it because it will be nice to know what's going in the kids lunches every day - especially since school lunches are now $3.10/day and with 5 kids... yeah you get the idea.... and I have yet to meet a teenager that told me they were satisfied after eating one of those lunches!

Hope this helps 1 of you :)

With so many people out there, there are so many different attitudes.

First, we have the people who are easy going, don't expect a lot as long as you talk to them and are honest. They understand that even though this is a business, this is also our home and our family (which comes first). Believe it or not, though this is the majority of our wonderful customers, this is not the majority of the people we actually deal with. Why? Because, you understand! We talk, you listen ask questions and continue on. We have a relationship with you - and you with us. Many of you know our entire growing family and share out excitement and our losses.

Then we have the high maintenance customers. We still love them - but they can bring our defenses up because they feel we should do more for them. We should deliver, we need another building, we need to be open more hours.... Etc etc etc. We can't make everyone happy! We argue about this all the time - should we be open more? Should we add this? Should we add that? Then we get burned out from trying to do everything and we find ourselves exhausted and our family suffers.

Funny thing is we listen to everyone! We hear what people ask - and yep - we feel guilty we can't do more, but we don't want to lose what we've got and we are proud of what we have going....

I will say that we are blessed with an incredible beautiful piece of property.  Sometimes however, we don't get the time to just sit back and enjoy looking at it - we are constantly going or doing something.

Early in the morning though I left to take a child to one thing or another and saw across the road a momma wild turkey and her babies.  She's been in the field for the last few weeks and it amazes me every time I see her because she still has the same # of babies with her!  This is actually a huge task (the canadian geese that brood in the pond up front loses all of hers each year!) - so I have to be impressed.

It's not the fact that there are wild turkeys out..... it's the fact of noticing the wild turkeys.  Many people drive up and down the road and never look to one side or the other - never seeing the beauty around them and that's a sad thing.

Did you know there are bald eagles around this area?  I've seen them on occasion and THAT is another amazing site to see.  Yet would you or your child even know what you are looking at if you looked up?

Just take a moment - notice what's around you - stand in awe at the beauty of it all and smile.

This past week we were "at fair."  Though a lot of people shook their heads in understanding - I'm not sure what people think it means.  Some were shocked we weren't open, some thought it was for 1 day, others just looked at us clueless so I thought I would type up a brief description for you.

First - 4-H starts in October so the kids are already planning what they are doing.  Every month they attend 1 meeting per club (our kids did swine, poultry, sheep & goat - so that is 4 meetings per month).  Aside from going to the meetings (which are educational and fun all at the same time) - each club does fundraisers during the year to help pay for things such as prizes, plus they all do community service!

Second - it's time to pick out your animals.  Now my kids do a class called "bred & owned" - so they start having baby goats being born in December/January, which means they are breeding their female goats now (August).  However, many animals aren't picked up until April or May.

Now the animals are on the farm and the kids get up before school to go feed and water all of them.  When they get home from school they go right out and feed and water them again.  On weekends, pens need to be cleaned out and extra barn chores may be thrown in.

Starting in summer, in addition to just feeding and watering, they now start walking with their animals (goats & sheep) and training them so they show well at the fair.  Every week we start weighing the animals - making adjustments in feeding schedules as needed.  It's stressful not knowing if your animal will "make weight" - because if it doesn't then you can't auction it off and you will have to find someone to buy your animals through a private sale at a fraction of the cost you could auction it off for!

The Loudoun County Fair runs for 1 week - Sunday through Saturday. Usually the week before we spend a day on the fairgrounds setting up pens and cleaning up the fairgrounds. On Sunday we bring in all the animals and set them up in their temporary home.  We also need to bring in all OUR stuff we may need for the week.

Monday - weigh in of sheep & goats.  If your animals doesn't make it, you need to figure out what you are going to do.  Monday night,  our kids showed dairy goats.  They had to have them ready and walk them in the pen and have them each judged.  We didn't leave until almost 10pm Monday night. Tuesday 6:30am we are back at the fairgrounds taking care of the animals - hog weigh in is at 7am. While the pigs are being weighed in, at 11 the kids show their meat goats.  Now one didn't make "grade" even though it made weight so it cannot be sold in the auction.  All the work put into this animals since January is finished and there is nothing you can do but go on.  The goat show ends, but is followed by Sheep Showmanship at 2 where the animal is not being judged but the kid is being judged on how they present the animal and knowledge of their animals.  Wait - we aren't done!  6pm we now have to do Swine Showmanship!!  So the pigs were washed on Monday and they are now ready to enter the ring.  There is no real training for the pigs - and with this heat they are miserable and don't want to behave at all.  We make it back home by 11pm only to head back to the fairgrounds at 6:30am to get ready for the Swine Market show which will determine how they will place in the auction (the better your hog does, the higher up in the auction it will go).  That goes on until 12 or 1pm.

In-between all these shows, the kids have "trash-duty" or "ice-cream shack duty" or even help out with a club dinner.  Everyday a specific club is scheduled to empty all the trash cans and put in new liners.  For the ice cream shack, they need to help serve ice cream and then for the club dinner they are to help serve it and clean up!

Back to showing (remember we are only on Wednesday).....the sheep market show starts at 6pm and runs until 8:30 - so we feed everyone and head home early knowing we have to be back early to get the cages ready for the poultry show on Thursday.  Thursday morning we sleep in and don't show up until 7:30 to get everything ready.  The poultry show starts at 9am and luckily we don't have to actually show our bird until later that day - they are judged in the cages. 4pm starts the poultry showmanship and they kids get ready.  Since we only brought meat birds this year, they borrow a bird from a friend to do this.  The oldest start and go through the showmanship process, then quickly change and go up to help with the Sheep club dinner.  We don't get home until around 11 because it's Rodeo night and the kids want to see it.

Friday is semi-relaxing, but now reality is setting in and school sports need to be handled - so we finish the morning chores and head over to the high school to pick up football gear.  Then we come home for a couple of hours to wash clothes and get ready for the market.  We head back up to the fair grounds around 1 so they can get ready to auction off their animals starting at 6:30.  We look at the program and start planning who can help who move animals up to the ring.  Our family is auctioning off a total of 14 lots of animals - 3 goats, 4 lambs, 3 hogs (1 didn't make weight), 4 sets of 2 chickens.  The auction keeps us moving as a lot of the kids go in back to back - but we finish around 10 and breathe a sigh of relief.

Saturday is a fun day for the kids.  Everything is sold - we handle who is coming home and who has been sold in private sales.  The kids play and also help out for that night's dinner.  You can actually feel the difference in the tension of the fair.  We head home at 8:30.

Sunday - we head back over to pick up animals that are coming home and to load up all our stuff then come home and relax.

In a few days we might be back in full swing and back to normal - who knows.  I know most of the kids are still sleeping but 1 is already at football practice.....they are all already planning and discussing how to change things for next years fair.

I have done something amazing - ingenious and so much more.

I hired someone to clean my house!!!

I know - shocker... a country mom is supposed to clean house, bake bread, sew clothes and so much more.  Well that ain't me (don't tell my kids I used that word - which isn't in my opinion an actual word)....

I placed an ad on Craigslist - stated what I needed done and what I was willing to pay.  Sure enough there are a lot of people who want to clean your house for a reasonable fee!!  I supply the equipment and cleaning supplies - but I like it that way - and my toilets are all clean, sheets are washed.... floors are mopped - all in 1 day a week.  She'll even do the windows :)

Now I have heard from people "That's what kids are for".... it's not like ANY of my kids are lazy.  They work their behinds off in my opinion compared to other kids I know.

First - they get up in the morning before school and do chores (feed & water animals and let the chickens out).  Second they come home from school and do more chores (feed, water and milk animals).  They aren't usually done until about 5:30-6 depending on the day.  So they put in a good 12 hour day including school!!

Of course we play just as hard (can't wait to go camping!!)

However, the housecleaning has relieved me of feeling bad my house is dirty.  I can't stand a dirty house.  Disorganized, messy and cluttered - well that's different.... I have piles of "stuff" all over the place (I promise to go through them - I swear I will).... however, dirt is just ick.  I can't stand the dog hair (next dog will NOT shed) or sticky stuff on my floor (no idea what it is - but with 4 kids I'm not sure I want to know).

A housecleaning service wanted to charge me $365-450 to clean my house 1 time!!  Ummmmmm....... can we say forget it??

My house will never be a show-room type house.  My house is......a home.

Joe and I have been talking over the last few weeks.  We love what we do - we are amazed at how it has grown.... but then we get back to asking ourselves "Why did we start this farm?"

Answer (besides our usual "to get away from people"): To provide great products to people and for our family.

Nothing huge there - nothing profound - nothing about making a million dollars..... just to show people it can be done and to do it ourselves.

We both believe our minds have gotten away from that over the last year.  With an increase in new customers - we are always striving to please everyone.  Well, though we will always strive for that - we are getting back to basics.

Now you will see me offering classes for free (huh? what's that?)  We will work on some demonstrations for everyone to see and provide more education and hopefully talks.  I've learned a lot in 6 years - which does not make me an expert by any means - but I might know something you don't - and I'm sure you know something I don't!

Believe it or not, we might tell you we are sold out of something as we make life manageable.  We never aimed for this to be a "big business" with tons of employees - but a FAMILY FARM.  We do the work ourselves, the best we can and go from there.

We LIKE being able to offer our products as we do think they are the best out there (since we eat and drink everything we sell we have to like it - if ever in doubt, ask us about the nitrate-free hot dogs we got once and will never do again)

Our mission is not only to farm and provide food for our family (gotta say it's nice being able to walk down to the freezer because I need ground beef for tonight's dinner).... but to educate as we learn and share our experiences with you.

My garage might become more like a store front - but it's to be able to provide you with products we believe in completely and have tried ourselves.  You might get a different review from each one of us (not everyone loves everything - and all my kids will tell you their favorite steak is the Delmonico).... but with 6 of us, someone is bound not to be thrilled with something.  Yet everyone HAS to try new things :)

Keep on the look out for more down to earth business and a slower pace (at least perceived).

So I tried to start on Friday - and I failed.  Seriously, I went half the day and was done with it.  But, being determined to give this a go... I restarted on Saturday.

I had a bad migraine very early in the morning so was up from 2-4am then finally fell asleep only to re-wake up at 5:30 to get ready for the market.  Made it through the market on only water as I was still a little fuzzy headed.

Came home had a strawberry smoothie, more water and a small piece of bread just to help with the still there headache.

Had a normal dinner (smoked ham steaks, steamed broccoli, cauliflower & strawberries).  More water and passed out at 8:30pm.  Yeah I was tired.

Woke up this morning and started with water and now a strawberry smoothie.  Different from yesterdays as I used coconut milk in it and an egg.

Since I'm heading out today I figured I would need a little more "stuff" in it to keep me going.  I'll be taking water with me and maybe have a salad for lunch.

I have figured that with the detox - you just make it easier for your own system to digest food in whatever way you need to.

My daughter (studying to be a nurse) said her teacher told them detoxing wasn't good for you.  I would retort with asking how having yogurt with sugary substances that are low fat and full of chemicals a "good lunch" for so many women?  Having real food makes such a difference!

After 2 weeks of rushing around and working on the farm - it's time to seriously detox.  I personally ate so much garbage in the last couple of weeks, I'm a little ashamed (but not so much I feel bad I ate 2 pieces of cake!).

Starting today I am detoxing.  A friend put that buzz word back in my ear a few weeks ago when she was going to do a 7-day detox (need to find out how she did when I see her this weekend).

So I'm making a tea to help flush some of these toxins out of my body, drinking a lot of water and eating lighter foods and drink smoothies a lot this weekend.

What triggered this?  Swollen feet and I'm tired constantly.  For the past few days, by the end of the day, I have no ankles.  It doesn't even take that long actually as I look at my feet right now.

I'm not going to follow anyone else's set plan - I've honestly never found one that I liked.  So I'm making it up as I go.

First off - lots of water!!  This will naturally help flush everything out of my system.

Second - Swelling Relief Tea from Bulk Herb Store - this again will help with the swelling and flushing out toxins

Third - Berry Smoothies or even "berry sorbet" which is just frozen berries through a blender or with a hand-blender

Fourth - Detox+ again from Bulk Herb Store.  I've actually had this for awhile and last time I used it, it was amazing how much was pulled from my body.  I know this because of the way I immediately felt!  Well, I backed off it quickly and now am determined to follow it through.

Fifth - Light dinners.  It's hot out so I'm thinking of stuff like that anyways.  I'm going to try to go with a Primal diet for dinners - gotta have some fat and some meat :) of course salads.

My plan is to take it 3-days at a time.  When 3-days is done.....see where I'm at..... then aim for another 3-days..... then see where I am at and continue if needed.

In the meantime I need to start my kombucha tea back up.  Over the last 2 weeks I "forgot" about it and now it tastes awful so I will be almost starting completely over.  This will give me something else to add for a drink which will help fix and restore all that gut flora everyone talks about.  Until I get it back to where I will drink it (it really tastes nasty now) - I will be taking a probiotic.

We can damage our bodies pretty quickly just by life happening.  The key I am finding out is seeing that your body has had enough and take the time to fix it.

It's funny how life works all the time.  I always just shake my head.

This weeks multiple head-shaking events:

#1 A goat who didn't even LOOK pregnant gave birth to 3 babies (all are healthy) - she was skinny as a rail to the point I just looked at her and didn't think she was going to give birth this year at all!

# 2 Of course as we get ready for the Loudoun Spring Farm Tour this weekend, we have a lot to get done and as I need to run out of the house, another goat is giving birth making me 30 minutes late...

Sunday, I got the privilege of learning how to castrate a pig!  Again, you never know what to expect around here..... the way it happened.... a new customer came up who was a long time older farmer.  Apparently, Joe talked to him and found out he used to have a large hog farm and had to castrate pigs all the time and would be thrilled to show me how!  I know, it doesn't take much to thrill me - but I loved learning how easy this is to do since I will have to do it more often as we have more pigs.

Off to continue getting ready for the farm tour this weekend!

A lot of people look at farmers markets as a quick set up because of the tents and the lack of a "store front."  Quite a few have evolved to accepting credit cards and using a cash register even since we started (honestly the first year we were at 2 I never saw a cash register!).

So what does it take to get to market day?

I'll go with us.......

Thursday afternoon/evening - we butcher the chickens.  This past week Joe & I butchered 31 birds.

Friday - load up the trailer.  Pick out the meats that we want to sell this week and what will fit in the freezers.  Load up the eggs (note that we have been washing eggs every day during the week so we don't have to do it all on Friday).

Saturday - Wake up early to do the morning chores before I leave at 6:45.  In order to get there - I need to be milking the cows by 5.

The market opens from 8-12 now.  So at 12, we load everything back into the trailer, drive home, unload everything that didn't sell and continue selling here at the farm.

Now all of this stuff is in addition to the normal every day farm routine.

* Wake at 6 (though I'm trying to do a 5am thing to milk the cows earlier - I'm not doing too great at that yet)
* Kids wake up and take care of their 4-H animals and/or let the chickens out before they get ready for school.
* 1st kid to the bus at 7 (other kids are starting to come back out of their rooms around 7:30)
* 7:45/7:50 - rest of the kids are out the door to the bus
* 8am - hey I think I would like breakfast!!  Maybe an extra cup of coffee!!  Answer emails and go over the rest of the schedule for the day.
* Things never go as planned - such as this morning - I was milking until 9am - I was tired last night and just couldn't get up at 5!
*  Print invoices - see where we are with milk etc. (ie paperwork)
*  Make deliveries if needed or other errands
* 12-2 lunch, more paperwork, emails etc
* 2-6 afternoon chores, milking, gathering eggs, making dinner, things like that
* 6-??  Depending on the week, we usually have 1-3 meetings to attend for 4-H, or other appointments in the afternoon for the kids.  We try and have family time - which sometimes gets mixed in with dinner and TV (catching up on American Idol together)

Now these are just every day standard things...... many things can and do go wrong (or right depending on how you look at it!).... babies being born (this can screw up my entire schedule).... an animal going down due to illness or eating something they weren't supposed to (again - my schedule can get screwed up)..... the ever present "MOM - I need this TOMORROW and I FORGOT!!" (that one doesn't happen often as I have now told my kids "tough" enough times for it to have sunk in :).... fence breaking......picking up the meat from the butcher.... hauling animals to the butcher.... all these things can really change the schedule.

There is NO typical day.  My calendar is color coded and if it isn't on there - it doesn't exist in my world - and all my kids can tell you.... don't mess with Mom's World :)

Believe it or not this was asked this past week.  Do we actually do what we say we do...... well - look around and I think you'll see animals and such..... so yep we do.   If you go to a farm and there are no animals or gardens you might want to think twice.  But also ask the farmer - some contract farm, some lease land etc.

This brought on a thought - probably because I had CSA stuff on the mind today.... and while waiting for the cows to milk sometimes its quiet and I get to think - nothing to do but watch the milking machine :)

There is a HUGE difference in a CSA and a CO-OP.

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture.  You are taking a risk by buying a share in the farm.  When we first started - neither of us was comfortable with offering that type of risk to people by doing a vegetable CSA.  Joe's lettuce has never tasted "right" and we don't know why - but it's not a product we would have been comfortable offering to a customer.  We chose to do the meat csa - because unless we have a very serious disaster happen - we will have beef & pork.  We took down the chicken option because last year we felt bad.  We had weeks where there was no chicken - 40 birds died within a 3 hour time frame because of the 100 degree weather - it was awful and sudden.  It was part of the risk people took - which meant they should have gone without chicken - however we felt bad about it and extended it and added some extra chickens.  We aren't able to do that, so we took off that option so we can be a little less stressed about that.  Just to put it in a money perspective - 40 chickens averaging 5 lbs each at $3.99/pound = $798... which covers the feed cost.  See why we took it off?  Anyways, back on track..... a CSA is supposed to be provided by that farm alone - that farm grows it, raises it....whatever.... and provides it to you, the customer.

Now - onto a CO-OP.... this CAN, and frequently does, have items grown and produced by the farmer running it..... HOWEVER the biggest difference is that they incorporate other farmers and their products plus sometimes even buying off the big truck to supply you with certain things each week consistently.  Nothing wrong with this at all.... as long as they are saying CSA... it's misleading to quite a few people.

This all turns back around on knowing your farmer.  Talk to us farmers - believe it or not, we know what we are talking about and are usually thrilled to talk (if we have the time right then) - we LIKE to talk about what we raise and grow - we are proud of this.  Don't be put off if we are dirty and messy - heck I know I usually get up and don't get to take a shower until 10 or 11..... or even only at night..... we do clean up pretty well - but we don't usually chose to do that every day (could you imagine milking a cow in a skirt??)

This is actually a very hard thing to do... yet as I sit with my new set up of Quickbooks Online open, it occurred to me how much of a business this is.

I love what we do - don't EVER get me wrong on that one.  I love living here.  Joe and I were talking last night about being able to make it work after he retires and being able to stay here.  This is a very expensive place to live - on a farm or in the suburbs - so this was a big conversation.  My favorite amazing tree is in bloom (it's a 2+ story Dogwood - if you can come and see it do so - it's worth it) and I can sit and smile at it.

BUT in order to stay here it has to be more than sustainable - it has to provide income.  This is my full time job.  It might seem some days that I just sit around - but hey you guys get a weekend most of the time or a day off right?  We really don't - so I get my "sit around" days because in a few hours I will need to milk cows, or check to see the new babies, or clean a stall.... well you get the point.

Can it be "profitable"?  Well nope.  I don't really think it can to the point most people would ever see it as a true "income".  Farming will NEVER be a late night infomercial promising you thousands in a few easy steps.  I know, we've all seen the ones about alpacas - but honestly, they are a lot of work too (and don't get me started on the price of each one of those animals!).

What we need to do is be business people as well as customer service as well as ..... well everything.  It's draining, especially when we need to put our foot down and say enough and be the bad guy no one ever wants to be.  We've done it before - Joe & I.  Running a computer store successfully for 12 years is an accomplishment and it was a lot of work - though honestly I can't say it was as rewarding.

Today I went and sat with a new "inventory" item - our new baby bull "Stretch."  He was laying out in the sun and I sat and hung out with him and scratched his head and said Hi for awhile.  Then I played with another "inventory" item (who sadly will one day end up in the freezer).... and had him follow me around for awhile.  4:30 this morning though I was putting in invoices and working on Quickbooks and trying to get the accounts correct.  Don't EVER think that's normal for me though - I'm not a morning person.

So we look around and see this entire thing differently.  It is our home, it is beautiful...... and it is our business.

So that milk you have doesn't smell too good anymore?  DON'T TOSS IT!  Make it into yogurt instead!

• Take 1 gallon of milk (souring is just fine)
• Heat it to 180 degrees (this does NOT make it raw yogurt - it does pasteurize it - but this is a simple recipe)
• Let it cool to 100 degrees (you can do this in an ice bath or let it cool down naturally - depends if you are in a hurry or not)
• Add 1 container of yogurt with active cultures (I used Dannon's Greek Plain Yogurt this time and it turned out really thick.  You can continue to use your own yogurt after this initial inoculation!)
• Mix it well with a whisk, then leave it covered overnight (or at least 8 hours)
• The next morning you will have yogurt!  Put it in jars and refrigerate - it will continue to thicken while it cools.

This morning proved it.  Forget the feed - there are WORMS on the ground!  Poor worms didn't know what hit them.

First I let out the ducks and they haven't eaten feed in a few days while it is raining.  Why?  Would you if a tastier dinner kept presenting itself from the ground?  I move the feeder, the ducks are there waiting for the bounty underneath..... move the water dish - the ground is cleaned up in a minute.

Next, I go let the chickens out from the coop.  This is just funny anyways because it always reminds me of those little clown cars where the clowns keep coming out, even when you think they are all out.  However, slightly rainy days are PERFECT!  Usually a bunch of worms are right outside the door - so that causes a MAJOR traffic jam (and you thought route 7 was bad).... then I open up the rest of the doors and no worm is safe.  Everyone ignores the feeders and just stands around eating worms.

Mind you this doesn't happen with just worms.  If a little field mouse got into the coop - heaven help it as ALL the chickens will chase it.  The chickens are worse than cats I think in that respect.

They have no qualms about eating their own either.  Sorry if this grosses you out a little - but while we are butchering chickens, there are other chickens just waiting for scraps!  On top of that, they are as bad as the dogs about the blood!  I try and tell them "that's not right" but they don't listen at all.

Why my little rambling about this?  Ok, besides my amusement this morning watching my birds... it's the new Perdue commercial they are running which states that their cage free birds are fed a vegetarian feed.  I laugh every time I see it, it's that funny.  Vegetarian chickens just aren't natural so don't force them to be!!  I know and understand about marketing and honestly, I am always amused by commercials that have chickens in them no matter what (I even make Joe rewind commercials sometimes so I can watch it - hey he gets to rewind the Victoria's Secret commercials!!)  but this commercial and I guess Perdue is now certified in some fashion by the USDA.  Good grief.... I've seen the land that some of these chicken farms are on... I see no reason NOT to let them outside to run around!!  But that's a different soap box and I'm done for this morning :)

Whew!

So it's 8:25 and I figured today would be a typical morning.... get up.... get 1st kid off to school....let out chickens... get the other 3 kids off to school....do barn chores with the addition of milking the cows in the morning to see if we can get production up some.

Everything went as planned until in the barn I notice that a dairy goat is FINALLY giving birth!  Well, one was still born and she seemed to be having issues with the next one.  This required me to reach in and help.... HOLY CRAP there was another head!  She was having 3 at least and the head that was out was NOT the head attached to the legs that were out - those belonged to the head in the back.... and the sack was broken meaning the little goats are now breathing....

5 minutes and a lot of screaming from both our ends.... the 2 babies are out.  I had to come back inside for a few minutes to clean up and get the medicine.  This is one of those instances we need to use an anti-biotic as my hands reaching inside her were FAR from sterile, but by me doing so, it saved the life of all 3 (fingers crossed).

Deep breaths......

No, I'm not a miracle worker.... no I'm not a vet (though I wanted to be one)..... no I didn't study this.... you just see something happening and you have no choice but to help if needed.  That's part of being a farmer apparently - and I never read that in the job description.

One of my children said a kid in the class said "farmer's are stupid" - I believe by meaning their intelligence.  I would like to see the kids of today have ANY idea of what to do if they were faced in an emergency that needed immediate action, without a cell phone or computer... give me a farmer any day of the week - they might not have an Ivy League education... but I would be able to count on them not to back down from anything thrown at them at all.

When a couple gets married, they think about "putting down roots".  It doesn't happen right away - but you think about it.

Joe and I were no different.  16 years ago we wanted a place to call our own.  Our journey started in Winchester, VA with our first "real house" we bought (we lived in a town house first).  1/4 acre which backed up to a farm - perfect.  Then after a few years, and 2 kids, the commute became difficult and it wasn't working for us.

Then, we moved to Leesburg.  Honestly, we thought this was it.  We custom built the house in a great neighborhood, good schools, and lots of kids.  We were there awhile - and we liked it a lot - however, it wasn't what we wanted.

We started house shopping - and fell into this property.  It wasn't perfect - the house is definitely 30+ years old.... and the property needed a lot of work.

However, here we are.  Some days we would trade it..... but not for a long period of time I think.  We like that we are here.  It's opened up so many doors we never knew about or never seriously considered.

Our house is now becoming, after 5 years, a home.  So we aren't just planting vegetables and raising animals, we are planting our roots and raising kids.

Many people know we are foster/adoptive parents.  We are able to now open our doors to the permanency we are striving to have.  This in itself is a blessing and giving kids the opportunity to share "getting dirty" with us - experiencing losses, seeing the joys in births, and so much more.

We are here........ and we are home.

Some things make you think twice and look back further...

I made fermented ketchup a few months ago.  My family wasn't thrilled - and I have now decided they will get over it and I will start making it again.  How did I come to this conclusion?  Easy..... and believe it or not - I have my own mom to thank for this memory.

My mother didn't make ketchup (that I remember) - it was always store bought.  But she did cook all the time - and I don't think a ton of it was from a box as "instant".  Anyway, she bought the ketchup.... then one day we switched to a "new brand" - THEN we went back to the other brand and we all said "EWWWWWW"

Guess what?  The new "improved" brand was probably some sort of high fructose sugar loaded type of ketchup which we readily ate.  The older brand was probably something without all the additives!  How can I tell?  It took me awhile, but I figured out where I had tasted REAL ketchup before - my mom's kitchen!!

Amazing how a taste can take you to a strange/weird place in your past.  I guarantee my mother doesn't remember about this change - why would she?  It wasn't significant in anyone's life - yet it was.  This change was the moment I now associate with a noticeable change from traditional type foods to the HFC variety that have become such as staple in our households today.

BTW - in case you are wondering - no the ketchup in my house no longer contains HFC per my insisting (though this is still a HUGE battle - and yes it is over ketchup)....

I don't like numbers.  I don't care that I got an 'A' in Algebra or that I got another 'A' in accounting (to Joe's amazement)  - I don't like to run numbers at all - I give that work to Joe.

Last night I went to look at the pricing at the grocery store to see what prices are for meat.  I was astonished.  Sometimes I wear blinders as I can't tell you the last time I had to BUY my own beef or pork.  If we didn't raise our own meat, no way would I ever have a Delmonico steak - why?  I'm feeding 7 at this moment.

Our goal when we decided to start raising animals was to have meat for our family - period.  I wanted it to be the best we could give to our family....THEN as we grew I wanted to offer the best we could to our customers.

However, we need to do the best we can and keep it at prices people can afford to pay.

Then we have to go with our beliefs.  I don't think that "organic" is best - it's definitely not cost effective for that special word.  (3x the cost for the feed)  I think that seeing is best and knowing who you are buying from is worth a million bucks.  THAT is the backbone of knowing what is best (remember the hardware stores where the people knew you and actually KNEW what you were talking about? I remember that when I used to go with my dad to the store - they knew him and could actually help him find various items).

This is what I stand by and I know my husband does to as we look at this as our business - if we will not offer it to our family - we will not offer it to yours.  

Today we de-horned the baby goats.  This is one of the most unpleasant things I think we have to do around here - but we got it done.  Pretty much, the de-horner heats up to 500+ degrees and burns around the area of the horn which causes a scab and it falls off and the horn doesn't grow back (hopefully).

Why do you get the right stuff to do this?  Easy - this STINKS (burning hair etc).... 3-5 SECONDS is all it takes per side if you have a good piece of equipment!  If you had something that didn't heat up fast enough or reheat fast, didn't hold the temperature well this can take forever.

13 goats..... 1 hour including clean up and also the fixing of all the male goats (now they are all walking funny and will for the rest of the day - but they survive)

Fingers crossed I did it right as this was my first time ever doing the de-horning thing. I was pretty proud of myself and even my daughters who hung out there with me grabbing goats as we went and tolerating the nasty smell right along side me!  Got to give them an A+ for that one.

So our first round of goats is done...... now we just wait for the rest....

So yesterday I made butter from our raw cream - awesome if I do say so myself.  A secondary product of making butter is BUTTERMILK.  So what do I do with this stuff?

My first thought - BREAD.

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking is one of my favorite books of all time.  I LOVE the bread recipes in this book.

So the main recipe which is super easy and yummy was my trial.

Buttermilk Bread

3 cups butter milk
1 1/2 TBSP Active Yeast
1 1/2 TBSP Coarse Salt (I used Himalayan Sea Salt)
6 1/2 Cups Unbleached White Flour (I'd like to try this with a sprouted flour but I didn't have any)

Preheat oven to 450 with a pizza stone inside and a tray with a little bit of lip underneath.  I suggest the middle
rack.

Mix all ingredients together then let rise 45 minutes
Pull off a piece (recipe makes 1-4 loaves depending on the size you want) and shape into your loaf.
Let rise for another 45 minutes
Put on the pizza stone along with 1 cup of cool water on the bottom pan and shut the door quickly

Cooking time is approximately 35-45 minutes

The water in the bottom pan creates wonderful steam which will cause the outside of the bread to crust!

Since there was no bread leftover - I'm going to say the reviews from the family rocked.  It didn't even last long enough to take a picture of!

We had a really good weekend and enjoyed everything about it.  Some thoughts popped into my head though as I had many conversations.

#1 - All because something is "Amish" it doesn't mean it's organic.  Joe took me to Lancaster the May before we moved in here 6 years ago.  Our goal was to find a farm and "see how it's done".  Well, we found a "free range egg" farm and headed over there.  Walking on the property we didn't see or hear 1 chicken.  They took us to a barn (still no sound), opened up the door - and sure enough 3000 chickens were in this building.  The eggs were being sold to larger operations as "organic free range" but from where we stood we couldn't see any way for them to be outside!  However, they gave them access to the outdoors so they qualified.  People pay higher $$ because the eggs come from an Amish farm - yet even though no power was being used (though they had an incredible conveyor belt system to collect eggs!) these chickens in my opinion qualified as a commercial farm.

#2 - It costs a lot to live in Loudoun County.  I think this is a given. But, it comes into play when people are talking to us and want the same prices they can get in other states as they can here.  I know my products and can't speak for other products - and the amount that goes into farming in general - I applaud everyone who does it.  I talked to someone the other day who purchased 170 acres in Southern Virginia for $129,000!  If you live up here you will look at that number and wonder if I am missing a 0 or 2 - but I'm not.  Go an hour north into PA - and the prices are lower there as well.  No, we aren't "raking in the money" with this operation - I don't think we are even breaking even out here when you have to pay taxes and such.  Our goal is, and has always been, to cover our cost and help pay for food for our family - I'll let you know if that ever takes place.

#3 - By supporting out of state and out of county people, you really aren't contributing to the "local" economy.  If you pay someone in PA, guess where that revenue goes?  Not into VA - they probably grocery shop in PA and of course they pay PA taxes.  I'm more frustrated with the out of state vs out of county - but you get the idea.

#4 - I enjoy this.  I don't like mornings and I don't like the cold (come ONNNNN Spring!)....but I like the farm.  I find a lot of it relaxing if I don't have somewhere to run off to later and have to rush through it all.  I enjoy taking my time with the animals and looking at them all.  I like giving them treats and talking to them.  They might not talk back - but they never argue with me or yell or fuss (too much).  I enjoy looking out my window in the morning and seeing peace - I think it's as simple as that.

#5 - I still have a lot to learn.  No amount of school can teach you what you actually need to know.  Experience counts - and through mistakes you will achieve success.

That's my rambling of the morning!

Just my quick thought of the day.

1) Went to milk the new cow (doing this by hand until we get the machine parts)
2) Cow knocked over the feed and got grumpy about it
3) Cow kicked my arm
4) Cow stepped on my leg and foot
5) Cow knee'd my head *twice*
6) I swear she laughed when I came up and just looked at her

Got my milk - let her back out - she followed me to the gate then promptly pushed me in the butt....

Yep - I love my job :)

On these cold days I sometimes just have random thoughts - yeah I'm sure that if they had a diagnosis when I was growing up I would have been "ADH....oooooo shiny!".... but they didn't so I don't have a label.... Joe just sits and shakes his head at me 1/2 the time.

So - I was supposed to be on vacation down in St Thomas this past week..... by myself...... on a beach...... in the sun..... and 70+ degree weather.... that didn't happen as life changes and things happen.  Instead I spent the last week watching baby goats be born, then die and then more born and survive.  If I hadn't been here - the loss rate might have been higher or it might have been lower - who knows what will happen when the temps are in the single digits!  So I was meant to be home and that I can deal with (but I still wish it was warmer).

Another thought was that a person can only do so much.  Though it seems to a lot of people that I do everything... I know what my limits are and I know when to quit (at least some of the time)....but then at the same time I am always up for a new challenge - which seems to always come (remember the oooooo shiny aspect of my character).  I drop one thing and move right into something else.... something new.... something.... well - SHINY ;)

Patience.  Yes, I seem to have a lot more lately.... strange how it's just come over me the last year.  This doesn't mean I don't yell.... but I believe it takes longer for me to get there.

Food.  This one was an eye-opener for me.  It started with a book report on "The Whole Soy Story" (which I did finish but I haven't written my report yet).... though the book didn't say that soy itself was the evil but the processing - it made me look at what I bring into my house a little closer.  I'm not perfect about food - but I'm getting better I believe every day.  I can slowly introduce stuff to my family - to the groans and whining from Joe that comes along with it ;)  But, as what happened with our eggs, it took Joe over a year to actually admit that our eggs tasted better than anything he had tried before - so maybe it will be that way with food.  Same with the kids and food - they have been fed a pretty Standard American Diet for years...it takes adjustments and it take them learning about real food and how to decide what they want.

So as you see - I am a great random thinker :)  All that took place in a couple of minutes when I finally got a shower so I no longer smelled like our goats....

I made this for dinner last night and there is none left (I was actually hoping for some leftovers but I guess it was good!)

2lbs ground beef
2 cloves garlic minced
1 medium onion minced
1 can tomato paste
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup beef broth
salt & pepper to taste

Brown the meat with the onion & garlic. While browning - mix together the rest of the ingredients.  Add the mix to the browned meat and stir.  Add more broth if needed (if it's too thick).  Cover and cook for 20 minutes

Make enough rice for your family.

Serve meat over the rice.

This served 6 last night for dinner.

Well, we might get a cow or 2!  I am seriously excited about this.  I always get excited when we get a new animal and start a new adventure - but I am really dreaming of this one.

Why?

MILK - ok 5 kids drink a lot of milk.  I refuse to buy the cheap brands and $6/gallon can really cut into my budget if they decide to drink a lot.  Raw is definitely better from cows I know and handle on a daily basis.  We love our goat milk - but we always seem to need more and always run out.

CREAM - I think that one speaks for itself.  Unlike goat milk (which is super rich and yummy) cow's milk is not naturally homogenized so it separates.  That means I can just skim the cream right off the top.  What can become of this fat yumminess? BUTTER!!!  Yep - I love fresh butter.

Oh - the honey?  Well that won't happen right now.  I am personally allergic to honey bee stings and don't risk want to risk it.  I find it annoying because I like honey :)  However we have a nice friend who keeps giving us some and we may talk them into putting and managing a hive or 2 on the property.

Back to the cows - I think everyone needs to see a cow close up, especially "city kids and adults".  They are actually really cute!

Off to dream of the cows again.....

So my new juicer came in yesterday.  Being new to juicing - honestly it scares me.  Questions pop into my head... "Will I like the taste of the juice?", "Do I have time?", "Too messy?"


Things like that which I am sure that everyone else goes through as well.

So I had an older Juiceman Jr and tried it.  Ok - I was a whimp - I did only apple juice and well I don't think you can go wrong with just apple juice.  However, it didn't have a big enough opening so I was cutting the apple into little pieces.... talk about a pain!  Now I needed something within the budget of the gift cards I was given on Christmas.  Thank goodness for Amazon!

I got this one:

Hamilton Beach 67650 Big Mouth Pro Juice Extractor

Now - make sure you look at the Amazon price which is $59 vs the $94! Plus I paid $49 from Amazon (so watch for specials!)

It's amazing that we start planning now for spring and summer.  The seed catalogs filled our mailbox this past week and over the weekend we went through "What do you want?"....

Now for veggies we try to keep it simple YET interesting.  Such as finding an orange sweet bell pepper.  Yep that was not easy to find a big one.  We could find red, green, "white", and even purple -- but me being difficult chose orange. I like to add orange to my foods as I think it makes it more interesting (a green on green salad is just boring).  Purple might be interesting - but for some reason purple also can scare people off - no idea why but it can.

Do I want a yellow tomato?  No I do not.  I don't like the looks of them.  Frankly - I make most of my tomatoes into sauce - and yellow tomato sauce just doesn't look appetizing to me at ALL.

Beans - I want the flat italian green beans..... simple and straight forward.  I freeze these (ok last year was a complete waste because of time - but we are planning better this year) since I'm not a big fan of canned beans - but I might try some dilly beans this year as well :)

Cucumbers - pickles and salads.  Nothing is better than a cold cucumber salad on a hot day.  Then there are the pickles - well I think that says it all there.

Squash - yellow and green and we are set to go.

Herbs - basil, dill, rosemary, chives, cilantro - those are my staples

Then we move onto the animals.

We already have butchering dates set up for the entire 2011 year starting in February when we will say a final goodbye to our breeding stock of Large Black pigs.  Sad but much needed moment in our lives.  I love my pigs - but she hasn't gotten pregnant the last 4 times she's gone into heat.  PLUS the babies take a year to grow to butchering size.

Over 1000 baby chicks have been ordered as well for us to butcher!  That doesn't include the ducks we will be trying.

We bought goats to butcher and also for breeding so that starts now actually (if they would be nice enough to give birth).

Then we may be in for a new adventure with COWS!  That's right - I am talking Joe into getting a dairy cow that is only 36-40" at the shoulder so that the kids can walk around with them as well and you can see them close up.  Fingers crossed this will work - but we shall see......

Onto more planning :)