Lang may yer lum reek

That's an old Scottish saying for "May you live long and stay well".
Scottish? you say.  By the name of our blog, I'm sure you thought we were French...and we are...on my husband's side.  My side is Scottish. 
My children are proud of their family heritage on both sides.  Whenever any family comes to visit, the children love to sit and hear all the old stories and learn all they can about their family history.
My Aunt has done extensive research on our family lineage, tracing all the way back to the Mayflower!  She also owns a family cottage on Deer Isle in Maine.  Deer Isle was the original settling place for my ancestors, the Greenlaws - there and Nova Scotia.
There was a Greenlaw reunion on Nova Scotia a few years ago.  Through letters, my aunt shared extensively with the children, especially Caleb, about the activities, the ceremonies, the games.  A special tartan was even created for the Greenlaw sect. 
Lots of letters are shared between the children and their great aunt.  Caleb expressed on a number of occasions to her that he would very much like to have a kilt in the Greenlaw tartan, but how that seemed a far-off dream!  Because of the many pleats, kilts require a lot of fabric.  In one book, he read that it takes 9-1/2 yards! Our special tartan fabric is rare and quite expensive.  Caleb's goal was to save enough money to be able to buy the yardage needed to have a kilt made.  During the time of the reunion, Aunt Barbara made several contacts and one was with a kilt-maker.  She recently contacted him to find out just how much yardage was needed to make a kilt.  To her happy surprise it required much less than the 9-1/2.  His dream was getting closer.   Caleb had enough money saved for the fabric.  For a graduation gift, Aunt Barbara arranged to get the fabric sent from Deer Isle to Mr. MacIsaac, the kilt maker on Nova Scotia Island and paid for his labor costs to have it made! 

Yesterday, a package arrived for Caleb...from Nova Scotia

 The flashes

   Does he look happy...or what?!

 The Kilt!

The workmanship is amazing.  The MacIsaac's were such a pleasure to work with.  When my aunt first arranged this whole thing, she instructed me to go to their website to see how to measure Caleb and then to call Mac MacIsaac and speak with him about the measurements and how I took them...just to be sure.  I measured, remeasured, and remeasured!  I was so nervous.  There was a lot at stake, but Mr. MacIsaac set all my fears at ease.   You'll have to wait to see Caleb wearing it.  The first time will be to his graduation.  He will wear it with pride.

Day trippin'

Ahh, the bunch is back together again!  It had been a couple of months since they were able to see each other.  One of our goats was on "holiday" at our friends' farm.  It was time to pick her up.  Can you say,  "Road Trip"?  Can you hear the squeals of excitement?

 Hannah brought some piano music to play.  Millie, their youngest plays violin and was able to play Hannah's music by ear.  It really blesses the heart to hear beautiful music played by the children.

 Our Abbie loves to grind the wheat.  Ellie adores to collect the chicken eggs, but I didn't get a picture of that.   :-/

Of course, it just wouldn't be an Anderson-Blanchet visit without a lot of horsin' around!

Thank You!

Just wanted to say, "Thank You!" to all who have served to preserve our freedoms.

Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends...John 15:13

Perfect Popcorn

We really enjoy snacking on popcorn.  It has even been a Sunday evening "supper" coupled with apple slices on a few occasions.
I'm rather picky about my popcorn though! I despise microwave popcorn.  (called "cancer corn" in our home!) 
I'm not a big fan of hot air popped corn either.  Plain popcorn is like, well styrofoam. When I've tried to add butter to air popped corn - I usually just get it too greasy!  
Overly salty is yucky too.  
So - what do I like?

The kids gave me this for Christmas a couple of years ago. It's a stove-top popper.     

It makes the perfect popcorn!  Below is my recipe.

2 Tbsp. coconut oil {organic, extra virgin}

1 Tbsp. olive oil {extra virgin, cold pressed}

1 tsp. salt {himilayan}

2/3 c. popcorn {organic}

As you heat over medium-high heat, you crank the handle.  This keeps the popcorn and oils moving so that they don't burn.  It's that easy!

It's done when the popcorn starts to overflow and you can't crank the handle anymore.  Every kernel pops!

It's nicely flavored ~ lightly salted, not too greasy! 

Otis heartily agrees!

You've gotta try it!

What would you say if I told you that you could enjoy a chocolate shake and not feel guilty about it...not one little bit?  Would you believe me?  Would you trust me? {Ha reminds me of the saying, "never trust a skinny cook."}

Meet the Chococado! 
This is an amazingly yummy shake.  You would never guess the ingredients by the look or by the taste. 
It's DELICIOUS - and you should try it!!  Trust me!

In a blender combine:
1 avocado
1 large handful of spinach
1 spoonful of cocoa powder
a few drops of stevia to taste (I used a bit of agave)
a dash of vanilla
1-1/2 c. of chocolate almond milk
lots of ice

Blend until smooth and enjoy!

Goat Keeping

Several years ago after a very discouraging outbreak of mastitis in our goats (all four in milk at that time) we made two changes that have made all the difference in the world for their health!
The first one was switching from an iodine udder wash to using GSE.  See my post about that here.
The other change we made, at the recommendation of our vet who grew up raising sheep, was to use sawdust for bedding instead of straw.  He explained to us that the bacteria (Staphylococcus strains) sit on top of the surface of the straw.  When the goats lie on top of it they are exposed more readily to the bacteria.  Of course with straw, it requires  frequently pulling off the soiled straw and top dressing with fresh - and then a more thorough cleaning 1-2 times a week.  This just stirs up the bacteria.
Sawdust is used differently.  Twice per week, we only discard the clumps and cover with a layer of clean sawdust.  We keep building up the layers of sawdust which smothers and suffocates the bacteria.  The floor of the barn will build up to about a foot. We only deep clean the pens about once every 3-4 months - taking out all the sawdust (down to the dirt floor), putting a layer of lyme down, then a layer of fresh sawdust to begin again. 
While it does require an extra errand to pick up the sawdust, it's only necessary every other month.* 
We buy a truck-load at a time (in our mini Toyota pick up)  It's a bed-full (and I do mean full) for just under $30.  First, the Mister lines the bed with an extra large tarp.  The man at the shavings/sawdust place loads it full with his tractor, and then Eric folds up the corners and edges of the tarp and secures it for the drive home.  We could have it delivered, but they require a much larger quantity purchase plus trucking fees.  We don't have the storage space for that kind of purchase and this works much better for our monthly budget.
If you choose to use this method, DO NOT USE SHAVINGS - it must be sawdust. 

*We currently only have four goats and are only using one of the four pens in the barn. The pens are 10' x 10'.  When we had thirteen goats we used all four pens, and it was a once per month errand, just to give you an idea.

I'm linking up with Amy's Homestead Revival for this week's barn hop...Monday May, 21

Happy Mother ~ Happy Day!

I just wanted to drink it in - the warm sunshine, the beautiful sea,  the salty sea air, the sweet smiles on each of my family's faces.  That's the kind of Mother's Day I had today.  Perfect!  I could not have asked for a better day! 
Once I heard that the weather for today was going to be sunny and warm, I told my family I wanted to go to a park in Mukilteo that has a beautiful Sound view and take a bunch of pictures of us all.  It's free, it's fun, and I wanted new, updated photos for the frames in the house.  I love when the laughter and joy of everyone just having fun together is captured.  They aren't photographic "masterpieces" because of the bright sun, but in the Northwest....we'll take the bright sun! 

Ahhh, the sun and the sea...{just needs a little goat grazing on the grass
:-) }

 

Matt

Caleb and Matt

Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil!

Mary Anne and Hannah

Hannah with Ellie and Abbie

Abigail

Mary

Daniel and Ellie

Miss Mary

Caleb

Friends!

 

The Blanchet Bunch

My Mister

His Hotty (He made me write this!)