Pam's Perusal

As usual, I don’t have long to write, but I just wanted to tell you all “hey!” We have so much going on…you should see all the wonderful goodies that Kayla and I have canned lately - strawberry preserves (two different recipes,) peaches, peach preserves, spiced peach jam, hot peppers, pickles, and green beans. With the extra peaches, Kayla also made popsicles and fruit leather. Praise the Lord, the garden is doing very well! (The strawberries and peaches were purchased elsewhere.)
Our farm seems to ATTRACT animals…one day last week, Titus and Philip were out riding their new miniature horses, and they came home with an extra! An animal that looks like a cross between a mini horse and a donkey followed them home. (I’m calling it a miniature mule!) We have tried in vain to locate its owner…Of course, I think it’s adorable, and I hope it just stays here! I have visions of training it to pull a cart…
Then, Fiona (my dog) tried to catch a baby rabbit, but Dave rescued it…so it now resides in our kitchen and goes by the name of Peter (Rabbit.) It is SO cute and will soon be released far away from Fiona!
Last Thursday and Friday, we put our first round of chickens in the freezer - not a pleasant job, but well worth the effort! We’ve been out of chicken for a while (we don’t do store-bought,) so we are extremely happy to have some now! We have our own feed recipe mixed for these birds, they are rotated to fresh pasture twice a day, and they live a wonderful happy life until they fulfil their purpose. This great care makes for really good food…and I know good food!

The last several days have been so busy and full…I am always thinking about writing to let all of you know what we are up to, but I never can find the time! That’s good, though, because it means that we’re being productive!
I did get the lemon ice cream made…and it was very tasty. But, even Brian (who DETESTS sour things,) said that it could use twice as much lemon juice! We just didn’t get the full lemon punch that we had expected. Oh well, we’ll just have to eat lemon ice cream again soon!
We also got more garden stuff in, and we drove over two hours east to get some new pigs! I have a thing about raising Tamworths (they’re a heritage breed from England,) and they are not widely available. In addition to getting two “feeder pigs,” we went ahead and bought a male and two females to start our own Tamworth breeding program!
This week has been just as busy. Yesterday, we had an “errand day.” We spent all day roaming all over the countryside and got some important errands taken care of; that is always exhausting for all of us! This morning, while the rest of the family moved all the animals to fresh paddocks, I got two batches of sour cream making and started some cream cheese. Then, I cooked up a new recipe for chocolate pudding, which we enjoyed later with lots of fresh whipped cream (of course!) While it rained all afternoon, we played Scrabble and Phase 10!
I put supper together and, then while Kayla milked, I made some brownies to eat with yet more ice cream (vanilla this time!) Kayla says to let you know that we have ordered a new ice cream maker. (Our old one is dying from sheer exhaustion! I don’t think it’s a commercial model; it simply can’t keep up with our ice cream habit!) The new freezer will have a hand crank AND an electric motor (just in case!) You can expect to hear about those adventures soon!

Well, one set of grandparents (Brian’s dad and step-mom) came to visit this week. That was the first of our family to see our new home in Kentucky. We had a wonderful visit; the dreary weather just made the coffee and conversation that much more cozy! As usual, Kayla outdid herself preparing food for our company, but I’ll let her tell you more about that…we are always “stealing” each other’s news!
Speaking of food (!,) I made two gallons of yogurt this past week. It turned out SO good. It is very thick and yummy, and is one of those foods that make me happy…well, OK, lots of foods make me happy! But, I am always glad to produce a really good-tasting food that is really healthy. The probiotics in yogurt are supposed to be so good for you, and my yogurt has all the added benefits of the RAW milk because I don’t heat the milk above 110 degrees. Of course, we have the assurance of knowing exactly what the cow ate and how she lives…does it get any better?
While I’m on dairy…we have so been enjoying all the wonderful foods that we have because of our milk cow! We have recently weaned Minnie’s 6-month-old calf, so we are getting about four gallons of milk a day! What that means (besides lots of milk) is plenty of butter and cream; cheese and whipped cream; yogurt, pudding, and ice cream! All this is, of course, in addition to the milk that I use for soapmaking. The family milk cow is an incredible part of God’s creation for which we all should be truly thankful!
That’s all the time I have for now…but I’ll leave you with the idea of LEMON ice cream. That’s what I want to make next…I’m not really into citrus, but that sounds like it will be so good (like lemonade on a hot afternoon!) I’ll let you know!

A cold rainy Sunday afternoon…the perfect time to pour another cup of coffee (half caff) and blog!
This past Friday, we started our day by going to the home of a lady that had advertised some furniture on the radio. (We are in the market for furnishings for our KY house.) She had a wonderful pine bench that now lives at our place! It turns out she just moved here from GA, just about 30 minutes from our GA home! We really enjoyed talking to her; it seems that we have a lot in common! But, what I really must tell you about is her CATS! Now, I have always considered myself a “dog person,” but I have NEVER seen cats like these. Donna raises and shows Oriental Short-Hair Cats, and they are perfectly exquisite! They are beautiful (tall, slim, slinky, and graceful,) and their personalities are equally incredible - friendly and playful…just adorable! At any rate, I was completely smitten, and I sincerely hope that there is an Oriental SH in my future!
Later that day, we attended a “Farm, Home, and Garden Expo” here in Columbia (KY.) It was a great source of info and was an interesting way to meet a good number of the locals. There were helpful booths from area businesses, lots of friendly people, and even a free meal at suppertime!
That evening, we scouted out a music “jam” that we had heard about at the local music store. (Brian and Kayla feel it is an absolute necessity to visit a music store in every town that we are ever in!) We met more locals and played and sang with them for a while…
It was an interesting experience, but we all left smelling like we had worked as chimney sweeps for a week…it seems that an obscene amount of people in Kentucky smoke!
All in all, we had a full, fun day; it was especially nice because we had decided that we would take the day off from working at our place. The weather was ratty and rainy, but we spent all day inside at some place or the other, so that didn’t much matter! Of course, for me, the highlight of the day was meeting Donna and her impressive cats! (You can scope out these cats online, but websites don’t do them justice…you simply must meet one in person!)

Well, as you can see, I have been really negligent with my blogging…so, here goes! We have internet service in KY now, and I always have a myriad of things to write to you about; I’m just not usually at a place where I can drop everything and get on the computer! For instance, the new clothesline that Brian hung here was a great blogging occasion…it has been a while since I have hung clothes out to dry, so I was excited to get back to it! (Yes, I know that makes me strange!) Anyway, it occurred to me while hanging out the first load, that the work of putting clothes on the line had put me into a very pensive state of mind. Then I wondered…is it even possible to formulate ideas while throwing a load of clothes into an electric (or gas) dryer? I don’t believe that I ever have…that’s just sort of a mindless activity, whereas the physical labor of hanging out the laundry gave TIME to think and stretch and drink in the wonderful fresh air - all while accomplishing a needed household task!
And, lest you think I’m reduced to telling you about laundry because I don’t have any more good food to write about, I will let you know that we have had the best tapioca pudding on the face of the earth! Kayla has, of course, become a wonderful cook and likes to wow us with different things…so, she made some tapioca pudding; I know it doesn’t sound like a dramatic dessert, but by using our perfect fresh milk and our perfect fresh eggs, something as simple as that pudding becomes positively gourmet! As a family, we always comment about it becoming increasingly difficult to get good food when we go out to eat simply because we eat so good at home! There is just no substitute for growing your own foodstuff! I think the satisfaction of doing the job yourself actually makes the food taste better…kind of like hanging out the laundry makes the clothes (and you) feel better!
Gotta run for now, but I have more to tell you about, so, hopefully I’ll be back soon!