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This may sound trivial to some (even myself) but this is me... I was cleaning the kitchen the other day and "noticed" we do not have a breadbox. Do people not have those anymore? It's a great concept and makes a lot of sense but seems no one talks about them. I do keep my breads and bagels on the counter but we have to be careful of an occasional mouse (we get them here in the woods). I realize right then that I need to have one and want to make one. I go downstairs to the handyman and ask if it easy enough to build a breadbox. He surprised me a little by saying "why don't you just buy one?" - that's not really like him so I (in a determined way) insisted we make one together as a family and then go back upstairs to finish the kitchen. About 30 minutes later up comes Dan with a box and it's sliding lid. He hangs onto used things in case we need them for something (apparently like a breadbox). Long story short - he cleaned it, Camille put the "knob" on (an old game piece) and I load it up with our bread - now we have a family-made breadbox. Go figure...I love it though - it is re-purposed and perfect for the job!  
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Well all the chicks have now been named. Of course this is pending any gender issues we are not currently aware of... There is one that may be a rooster so we have named her/him Chris (easily adjustable once we find out for sure!) and the others are Marti, Snowball, Perky, Domino and Zoe. I will make sure we keep you updated on pictures as they grow!  Well, chocolate of course! But for now it's vanilla; homemade vanilla extract to be exact. I have a great big bottle infusing away. It has been going since the first of January and boy does it smell great so far!!! All you need is a bottle with a tight-fitting cap (you can just use the bottle the vodka came in). People have used vodka, bourbon and rum - you pick your poison! Add good vanilla beans (the more you use the less time it needs to sit but the more expensive it will become as well) and shake it every few days as it sits in a dark cabinet. Four to six months is perfect! It will last a very long time (at least a year or two) because it's alcohol and it makes a fabulous gift when you put it in cute little jars! Everyone uses vanilla extract and homemade is far superior to the store bought junk! My bottle is big because we go through a lot of vanilla in my house but feel free to make a small pint sized jar with one or two beans if that suits your needs!  On Sunday, 2/12/12, we lost 4 of our beautiful chickens to, what appears to have been, a weasel. I drove into my driveway around 8:00 pm and saw little shiny eyes (not belonging to one of our animals) in the paddock. Along with those eyes - 4 deceased chickens. A very sad thing to see because we do raise our chickens in our home while they are little and they are named and loved very much. :( We have lost quite a few birds (including our ducks) to either this weasel or the crazy owl we have living in our woods... So now a new, safer place to keep our birds is in the works! But of course that now leaves us with only two chickens as our flock. Hmmm - not quite enough. Valentine's Day comes and, since Dan knows how much I love little peeping chicks in the house (is that not the most peaceful thing to listen to?!), I get 6 gorgeous babies! Bantam Cochin chicks - the four white ones are 2 weeks old and the two black ones are 1 week old. Check them out! I need to name them all...any suggestions????       Tippy is Lily's aunt and Truffle is Lily's daughter (got that?). So now all three does are with child and are due the last week in April. This will be Lily's 3rd kidding, Tippy's 2nd and Truffles 1st. We are very excited to see how many we get - each could have up to three kids; 1st time kidders usually have one. We can't wait for the milk - raw goat's milk is the best and we use it from every day drinking to yogurt and cheese and also in my soaps!!! I wanted to introduce you to them as I will be keeping everyone updated as time comes close - stick with us! Here they are!!!! The black one is Truffle and next to her is Mom, Lily. Tippy is the brown one with the whitish ears - each are beautiful and we love them all!!! Wish them luck and easy kidding!!!   When you think life is about to give you lemons, what do you do? You make limeade of course! About a year or so ago, Dan bought a lemon tree - a tiny little newbie that he put in a pot and we watched it grow. Then we saw a blossom on it, it's very first one and it was so cute! I got very excited to see a lemon starting to grow because I love lemons and use them often and was really looking forward to having fresh ones at my disposal right in my kitchen! As it grew, it stayed green; I thought it was supposed to do that and then turn yellow when it was ready. Well either it never became ready or it was a lime....it was a lime! It must have been mislabeled in the store because it was most definitely a lime. It was still beautiful and fresh and I love the tree anyway. It is now growing more blossoms and I am excited to see how many limes we can get - salsa and limeade here we come!!!! Maybe this year we can get a real lemon tree... Here are our new blossoms! They smell a lot like honeysuckle and are very fragrant!  |
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February 2024
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