Abandoned kitten adopted today!

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Yesterday, friends of ours rescued an abandoned kitten left under their bedroom window.  It is unknown what happened to the momma – but what was left was a VERY sad and hungry (not-to-menti0n ADORABLE) kitten.  They brought him here…

…and we took care of him yesterday through this morning.

The level of commitment necessary to nurse kittens this young is HUGE, and the thought was a bit daunting to all of us as we considered our overflowing plates right now.  But, his tiny cries were enough to melt our hearts to do our best to take care of him. 🙂

Then, this morning, some other friends of ours were over and FELL IN LOVE with him!  He is now a new addition to their very large family, lol! 🙂

What a blessing that You sent us help, Lord!  While we do not know how long this little guy will be around, what we DO know is that he will bring many moments of joy and laughter to this loving family.  We pray for patience, endurance, strength, and wisdom for this family as they do their best to take care of this kitten.  AMEN

Musical chairs…

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We were gifted 2 very nice recliner chairs last week.  🙂

This was completely unexpected, so that made it really exciting!  It also created a little game of musical chairs… 🙂

Right after Mike & I were married (almost 16 years ago) we purchased an overstuffed chair and couch.  Over the years, they have racked up many hours of use, but the older Mike & I get, the less comfy an overstuffed couch feels to sit in.  Actually, it’s the getting IN & OUT of that’s been trickier, lol… It’s also been very difficult to move things around for a change of scenery once-in-awhile, because they are just soooo large, and we have just a tiny space.  We had often daydreamed about replacing the couch with some-type-of chairs, but that thought never went beyond a thought – until last week. 🙂

So, we removed the couch, re-arranged the room, and added the new chairs.  We have really been enjoying it! 🙂

What to do with this ginormous couch now that doesn’t fit ANYWHERE else in our home…?

Well…

As of yesterday, Mike’s sister & her husband are the proud owners of an unfinished rental house!  Isn’t that fun?  Today, Mike & the boys are taking our well-loved couch over to this new house.  What a blessing that because we were given a gift, we can also give a gift!  🙂

Lord, I thank You for the gift of our two new chairs.  I also thank You for the many years of activity this couch has endured in our home.  I pray for the new home it is now joining.  May it serve as a haven of rest for many, and may this couch be a comfort for each person who uses it.  As they sink down into those overstuffed cushions, may it remind them of the enveloping love You are always willing to surround us with.  Bless Jenny & Matt, Lord, as they begin this new chapter in their lives.  AMEN 

Homemade Ricotta Cheese

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Now that we have 37 pounds of “dry” cottage cheese frozen for the year for our family…

…I’ve switched to making ricotta cheese.

Here’s what I do:

In my large *THICK BOTTOMED* canning/stock pot, I add the milk. The reason I say *THICK BOTTOMED*, is because this is REALLY EASY to burn, as it gets heated to 180°. I have burnt several batches in a thinner pot, even though I whisked it the entire time… 😦 So, hence my advice to USE A THICK BOTTOMED POT and WHISK CONTINUALLY, lol! 🙂

Once it reaches 180°, remove it from the heat. I add raw apple cider vinegar, slowly. I stir with a large metal spoon, and once I can feel the clumpiness of the curds forming, I stop pouring in the vinegar.

Next I scoop the curds out with my hand-held strainer and allow them to drain in a bowl lined with a large colander.

I weigh the strained curds, and for each pound of curd, I add 5 oz. of whey back in, and process until smooth.

Then, I freeze the whey for future uses like in whey soup and to cook noodles & beans in, etc.

LOTS of wonderful, probiotic benefits to liquid whey…NOT-TO-BE-CONFUSED-WITH the powdered stuff you can buy at the store.

The Weston A. Price Foundation is a wonderful place to begin researching that… 🙂

Most of the whey I freeze is in 1 cup “ice-cubes”. This is the amount needed to make 1 serving of whey soup…Michael’s favorite! 🙂

Sometime, I’ll get that recipe posted, as well.

6 calves for sale…

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These 6 calves (5 heifers + 1 bull) are now available for sale:  heifer-Bondini,  heifer-Macadamia, bull-Romeo, heifer-Snickers, heifer-Peekaboo, and heifer-Butternut.  Click on their names, and you can read about when they were born. 🙂

**CLICK HERE FOR OUR CRAIG’S LIST AD**

We weren’t planning on selling any of our calves this year, but with the drought, and a very real possibility that our cows will be dropping in milk production much sooner as a result, it seems as though we should at least investigate the possibility of selling some….  Mike posted the ad this morning and we already have someone coming out tonight to see them!  🙂

They are fed 1-1/2 gallons of fresh, raw milk each/day.  They run in a large fenced in pasture with trees for shade, and we’ve also begun giving them some hay as well.  They have not been fed any grain.

THIS WOULD BE A PERFECT “MINI-HERD” FOR SOMEONE TO GROW THEIR OWN GRASS-BASED DAIRY WITH…  LIKE PERHAPS SOMEONE MOVING TO A NEW FARM IN MAINE, LIKE CHIOT’S RUN, LOL ??!! (wink, wink)  🙂

A homerun’s coming, Mom…

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It’s been kind of an overwhelming week here – still trying to handle this drought, this phone’s been dying after only minimal use, and a TON of tasks have been started, but nothing completed… 😦 Ever feel like you are going backwards??

As I was trying to get breakfast this morning, it seemed like I just kept hitting road blocks – no clean counterspace to work on, pot I wanted to use was dirty, favorite spatula was missing – I let out a big SIGH & Michael heard me. “What’s wrong, Mom?” he asked. “Well, Michael – it just feels like I keep ‘striking out’ with everything today!” He didn’t “bat” an eye – looked at me and said, “Don’t worry, Mom, a homerun’s coming!!!” Lol, lol 🙂

Wasn’t that a nice thing to say?

Thank You, Lord, for sending me encouragement from my son – a quick & fun pick-me-up! 🙂

Still was a rough day, but I had that moment to reflect on, and it made me smile. 🙂

Oh – and my “homerun”? It DID come: An evening walk alongside my best friend. Mike & I admired the beautiful sky, the cooler temp, cleared fencelines, & spent time lovin’ some calves + my favorite old cat, Blake.

Beautiful. 🙂

I think it was more like a “grand slam”!
AMEN

Grass-fed Beef 2012

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The 12th of July, we had 2 large freezers go from empty to full!!!! 🙂

In all, we took 8 beef in to get butchered the 2 weeks before. The 12th was the day we picked our 2 up from the butcher shop. Ohhhh were we excited! 🙂

Our FAVORITE is ground beef…in fact, we’ve been known to grind up our steaks when we run out of burger, lol! 🙂

Eventually, I hope to get a bunch of our recipes blogged that we use our ground beef in – like “salami”, “pepperoni”, “bacon”, jerky, “breakfast & italian sausage“, & meatloaf – just to name a few…  I’ll add the links to this post as I get them up. 🙂

This year, we have enough to “budget” four pounds of ground beef each week for one year.  And because I’m a control freak perpetual organizer/planner, I created a chart so we can keep track & HOPEFULLY not run out 3 months before we butcher next, (like we did this year), lol… 🙂

So what did we make that very first night??  MEATLOAF! Mmmmmm

Homemade cottage cheese with freshly ground sea salt & pepper, tall glass of raw milk, steamed dragon tongue yellow beans from last year’s garden with LOTS of our butter, and meatloaf…it was a WONDERFUL meal! 🙂