Indian Summer Days

Today is sunny and very warm. We took the opportunity to get outside and clean out the barn, bring in some hay, and let my herd browse on the dead leaves and pods.

I love days like this!

 

I'm Inspired

to make cheese again...sigh. If I only had extra time and milk.

This year I only have two does fresh because I knew I wouldn't have the time I needed to devote to a lot of kids and milking. In a month or two however, I will bring a nice little Miniature Nubian buck in from a friend for some new blood lines and get my yearlings bred.

We are driving to Oregon in a week or two to get a very nice Nubian buck kid with nice Remuda lines from a farm that carries those lines as well as SAND-BUR-KIDS, which I'm pleased to bring back in. Humfleet Nubians.

 

I'm really dreaming of having this place spruced up and having classes and tours here a few times a year. I love this place and the critters, soaps, and cheeses, and I'd love to share it all.

THis summer I am going to practice this cheese, a nice raw aged chevre' with a bloomy rind.

 

The photos below are from several  years ago...nostalgia setting in. *U*

 

Seams Unlikely

 

 

 Nancy Online

 

 

I don't sew at all, it's not my gift, but I think it's an amazing skill and I admire it. Having said that, I have actually watched Nancy's show, believe it or not. When offered the chance to review this book I took it, because, like everyone who loves a good overcomer story, I wanted to hear hers.

 

The book was a comforting, if not riveting tale. She tells her story in a matter-of-fact way that I liked. She spends a good amount of time on her childhood on a family run dairy farm. I love agriculture so the familiar terms and the images of farm life and a cozy farmhouse and family appealed to me. Nancy Zieman has a lovely family and grew up with good, solid,  American farmland roots. The book is peppered with nice recipes of foods your mother and grandmother might have made- the kind you still find in church suppers. (potlucks) I enjoyed those.

The rest of the book tells of Nancy's life and struggles, and is inspirational in that what she was able to accomplish was truly something! Her physical impediment aside, in the business world she built something from nothing. From working in her kitchen to a multi-million dollar business. Astounding. Given her struggles with appearance due to the Bell's Palsy, it a wonder that she ended up with a program that ran for decades. In fact, the longest running sewing show. What bravery, determination and fortitude. The woman has good character and faith in addition to her other fine qualities.

This book was inspiring and pleasant to read. It wasn't exactly a thriller or the kind you just can't put down, if you're like me and don't even sew, but for fans of her show I'm sure this book is a treat. It's well-written and interesting.

 

 

In Seams Unlikely, Nancy:

• Shares her life story for the first time
• Gives details of the onset of Bell's Palsy and how it played a part during school
• Reveals the intricate involvement of 4-H in her development
• Tells, step-by-step, how she grew Nancy's Notions from a basement in her home into a multi-million dollar business
• Includes behind-the-scenes information on the growth of Sewing with Nancy from filming in her living room to a long-term partnership with Wisconsin Public Television
• Shows pictures of the people, buildings, and places that played key roles along the path of her life 

Reading of the growth of Nancy's family (she is a married
mother of two, one son by birth, one by adoption) alongside the growth of her show and business is both familiar and instructive to working moms. Nancy created solutions in both the workplace and at home, to carve a niche uniquely suited to her situation and talents. It's a goal to which many of us aspire. And Nancy Zieman's story gives us key insight

 

*I was given this book by the publisher at no charge in exchange for a written review on my blog.

Glass Road Media & Management

 

Thoughts on True Religion

 

Some resources for general orphan care and adoption here

 

Do you know in my state there are well over 5,000 churches. And there are almost 3,000 children who are legally orphans? How about your state? Do you know? Do you want to know?

 

Do you remember what the Lord considers true religion? Pure and undefiled before God and the Father? It's remembering orphans and widows in their trouble  (James 1:27) and keeping one's self unstained from the world. (culture)

What did Job claim as his proof of righteousness when he felt God had turned His hand against Him and his friends accused him? In Job 29:12-17 Job states: " Because I delivered the poor who cried out, the fatherless and the one who had no helper. The blessing of a perishing man came upon me, and I caused the widows heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban. I was eyes to the blind, and I was feet to the lame. I was a father to the poor, and I searched out the case that I did not know. I broke the fangs of the wicked, and plucked the victim from his teeth."

Remember what God said about Job?

"Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?"

 

In this day of various media, it can be overwhelming to read, see and hear about all the social ills and needs in our world. But you know, pray, and ask the Lord to give you one good cause. Take it up and rescue somebody. Even one. Do it with all your might.

For those of you who have been rescued- be grateful and pay it forward. (That would be all of us believers in and followers of Christ- who rescued us from eternal death with His very own blood)

 

Christian Devotions Speak UP!

Would you like to listen in on part of my testimony? I'm the 2nd half of this program. Christian Devotions Speak UP! is a great program and I was honored and inspired when invited on.

Barnyard Photos

~Double D Ranch Critters~

Some of them...

My Bronze Breasted Tom Turkey

My Nigerian Dwarf buck, Blackberry, and Ethel the goose. (she lays beautiful white eggs) Lucy the goose was eaten by coyotes. So there is no more "Ethel & Lucy" darn.

Ethel has transfered her attentions to this poor buck. She follows him around lovingly and thoroughly grooming him. She is serious about it! It looks painful.

One of the many barn kitties. Most don't even have names, but all are loved.

A Recipe for making Cheese Curds

A Recipe for making Cheese Curds

Deliberate Lifestyle Changes...

Today I have been convicted about making some very deliberate changes in lifestyle for my family. I'm going through all my homestead-type books and magazines, articles (even some I wrote) and have come up with quite a list.

We need to get to a place where we are simple, and waaaay more self-reliant.

Here's what I have done today:

started another sourdough starter

Made a list of what to buy in bulk (most I alrady do, but I'm wanting to double or triple these)

beans

lentils

rice

corn

our favorite grains (soft white, spelt, buckwheat)

oatmeal

canned food

dried fruit

oils/fats

sea salt

I also decided to breed one of my dairy goats to a Boer buck, so I can keep "meat -on-the-hoof" around. I'll get two piglets next spring, and I'm hoping at least one calf.

I also want a grain grinder powerful enough to do beans, but non-electric. Everytime I grind grain I think, "what would I do without electricity?" Maybe I'll find out!

I'm going to get more cast iron pans and at least one, but hopefully two cast iron dutch ovens.

I WILL learn to garden. I will. I will.

Somebody help me!

I'm going to get busy with my milkers next year to ensure my family has good, healthy raw milk again.

I'm grateful for my chickens and other poultry...but I have to figure a way to get electricity to the henhouse so I can keep egg production up this winter.

Wild Foods~

Click on the link above to get a whole lotta wild food crafting education on the cheap.

In these hard economic times (and only gonna get worse!) it just seems smart to know...

Turkey Butchering Day/Homeschool Science!

Here's my handsome hubby after hunting, before the back-to-work-mandatory shave.

Since he was gone for weeks, and didn't get an elk, I decided to put him to work...butchering one of the turkey hens. He hasn't done it in a couple years, some of you may remember that tragic story...never mind!

Good man that he is, he was game (ha ha!)

It wasn't that big of a deal until I went out to see about helping, and found that this was the hen who had been laying eggs. Bummer. It turned into a great science lab though, when the little kids came to help, and were fascinated (as was I) with the fact that the hen had dozens and dozens of egg yolks- potential eggs I imagine, not yet fully formed, in her cavity- they were all of various sizes.

Some the size of hen's yolks, some the size of caviar!

This was quite different from the chickens...they had various sizes, but many had soft shells or transparent shells...the hen's had no shells at all.

I thought this was a very interesting thing. The kids did too, so we had to get pictures. Life on a ranch is never dull, and I am so grateful. The fact that we can raise animals makes up somewhat for my lack of gardening skills.

Two more turkeys to go!

I may just let "Tom" live though- he is so handsome and is always willing to fan out his tail feathers and show off for me, much like my darling husband who makes muscles for me to show off *U* I love it!

Eggs, Wonderful Eggs!

I have probably already showed you this picture...but I just had to brag on my poultry (partly to make up for my pathetic efforts at gardening-I'm not bitter)

Right now we are getting eggs from the variety of chicken breeds we keep, the goose, and now the turkeys! Unfortunately the turkeys are all scheduled for the freezer, but in the meantime, we are enjoying the variety of fresh, farm-raised eggs daily.