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Monday, April 30, 2012

A dream...come true

When we bought our property, it was really rugged! Picture a tiny house in the midst of a huge, thick forest of trees.  It was a far cry from the “little cottage on the farm” vision we had, but little by little we have tamed it. Our first couple of years, we cleared many trees away from the house.  What a difference that made by giving us a much more light and airy feel inside the house and by opening up the space outside too. 

Out buildings are essential for a farm.  We needed a barn, a milk-room, and a covered area for the firewood and tractor.   Ahhh, but before we could even begin on those big projects, we needed to deal with the downed trees and giant piles mini mountains of debris that were the result of clearing.  The trees were cut up into rounds and moved to a place where they could be split for firewood.   That summer, the chain saw was my husband’s best friend.  My sons learned how to split wood by hand with a maul and an ax.  (P.E. homeschooling style.)

That literally has taken several summers because there were a lot of trees and because well, it rains here, just a little.  What a blessing, though, to have plenty of firewood each winter.

Next we had to tackle the huge, unsightly piles of tangled branches and huge stumps that clearing leaves behind.  Thankfully, we do have a chipper.  We can push branches through and use the chips on the paths and in flower beds for weed control.  It’s the stumps that are stubborn!  They don’t seem to burn easily, they only char.  With persistence and patience we have tackled two of them. 

After several years, we actually look a bit civilized.  We now have a large barn (10 x 40) with 4 stalls. That has been so useful to have different pens for different situations dependiing on the goats and kidding. We also have a "milk room". It's just an 8 x 8 cedar shed, but it holds 2 milk stanchions, large galvanized cans that hold grain and minerals, and a cute little storage bench - perfect for our use.  We have a home for the split wood and tractor too.  But the thing we've been dreaming about from the very beginning is now happening...now, we will finally have a garden!

My men at work


Matt exercising his supervisory skills

Caleb

Matt

Dan

Eric and the boys have worked hard rototilling, picking out rocks, and putting up the fence. They  added the darling pickets - just for me.  We still will need to put up metal fencing (like chicken wire) on the inside of the picket fencing to keep the voracious, little, cute, bunnies out.


We still need to rototill again and move dirt to level it out, but we are almost ready to plant!




We have a shorter growing season up here on the mountain, but that's o.k., we’ll plant starts. We can’t wait to enjoy some goodies from the garden. We've been dreaming about this for a long time....now it's a dream come true!

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

A dear friend, Zoe International, and soap

It's been said that if you had only a handful of deep, long-standing friendships rather than hundreds of simple aquaintances, that you would be truly blessed.  Well, I am truly blessed!

I have one friend who has known me longer than I have been married.  We met as brand new campus freshmen at CSUN.  She was from my home town, but actually went to the rival high school.  (Boooo, just kidding.) We hit it right off, the moment we met.  She has been there for me in the highs and lows of life, she has a great sense of humor and contagious smile, and has inspired me in so many ways. 

For example, Karen is one of those people who sees something she likes - say candles - and then decides, "I think I can make these." (Think Yankee candles - only waaaaay better.) Her candles are amazing.  Now she has done this with soap too. 

Her daughter, Emma is preparing to go on a missions trip on May 15th to Thailand.
ZOE International Ministries is a Christian organization with the mission to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ and to make disciples of the un-reached people of the world and to demonstrate God's compassion through rescuing and caring for orphans and children from human trafficking. -Mark 16:15-18, Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8, James 1:27  The facts about human trafficking are staggering and heartbreaking. Please take a moment to read some of the information on ZOE's website.  No doubt this will be a life-changing event for her.  Emma is a an amazing photographer and will be serving there using those skills. You can see Emma's blog here.

To offset the cost of the trip, (though Emma was totally willing to pay for it entirely on her own with her photography money.) Karen is having a
super soap and candle sale - on Friday, May 4th 
I wanted to let you know about it because her candles and soap always sell out in just a few hours! 

Mother's Day is just around the corner! Soap and candles make great Mother's Day gifts, shower gifts, and birthday gifts.  It's nice to have wonderful smelling soap and candles freshening the air in your own home too! 

Even if you already know how to make soap and candles, won't you join me in supporting Emma?  It's always fun to try something new and I promise...you won't be disappointed! 





Saturday, April 21, 2012


Why is it that from day to day you don't see the changes?  It takes looking through old photos to see just how much the children have grown in such a short time.

Matthew just celebrated his 16th birthday.  16...ALREADY!  As we were sitting around the breakfast table remembering all the cute things he said and did as a toddler, it felt so surreal.  You know, like in the movies when you see people engaged in conversation and you hear their voices fading into the distance as you are transported to the past.  That's when it seems like "just yesterday".


Fast forward to 2012.
Here are some things you might not know about him.

He was my biggest baby at exactly 8 lbs.
He was my only baby who arrived on the due date.
He is taller than his father and older brother.
His favorite color is blue.
The Ford Mustang is his latest obsession.
He's a bit of a clothes horse.
He loves Husky dogs and wolves.
He would like to have Husky dogs of his own in the near future.
He is a good amazingly good X-Box player.
He is a voracious reader.
He doesn't like creative writing, but likes to draw.
His favorite food is pierogy.
He taught himself HTML and C#.
He loves to wear bolo ties.
He thinks Alaska might be a place he'd like to live.
He loves those sideburns!
He can often be found playing with his younger siblings - especially the baby.
He has accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior.


We are incredibly privileged and blessed to be the parents of this young man of integrity!




Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Welcome

Signs of spring are everywhere.  All the trees have bright green blooms on them and we have had a few sunny ~ even warm ~ days. 

My hydrangeas are budding too.  Saturday I went out to weed the hydrangea bed.  There weren't all that many weeds (too cold for that), but there are lots of dead maple leaves that collect there in the bed.  I just wanted to clean it up a bit and aerate the soil.  It always looks so fresh and nice when I do.  I also had one hydrangea that has never blossomed.  It was a different variety from the other eight I have planted there. 


I dug out the non-producer and replaced it with one that I bought from Costco.  It's blooming a beautiful pink at the moment, but we have acidic soil so next year, it will likely bloom blue.  I love that!   I sure hope it makes it.  We had some heavy rain yesterday and this plant looks a little droopy.


I also added a bit of color at the front door.  My front porch isn't much but a slab of concrete with two steps, and the space is tight.   I love the look of the urn type planter.  I've wanted one for a long time, but couldn't find what I wanted...usually they were just too big.  This one is perfect.



It just says,
"Welcome to our French cottage...pur et simple."

Won't you join me for a cup of tea or a latte?

Friday, April 13, 2012

Happy.happy.happy



Here is a happy young man. Can you guess why?
Could it be because he is over his cold? 
Well, yes, but that is not why he is smiling here.

Could it be that he only has one month until he graduates?  
That is something to smile about, but that's not it either.

Give up?

HINT:  It arrived in yesterday's mail. 




We have another driver in this home. 
{And he took his test on a stick-shift!}  NICE!  We are so proud of him.

Thursday, April 12, 2012


Can you believe it?  Again?...Really?!  All of us at once?  Even Gypsy Cold Care hasn't seemed to help with this round.  This morning as I was sitting and thinking about the last 2 weeks of illness, I started to feel a little pity party coming on.  The sun was just coming up over the mountain and I was thinking...another beautiful, sunny day and we are stuck inside with the sickies. 

BUT the Lord pressed on my heart...
  • Yes, another beautiful day ~ the sun IS shining ~it's not dreary and raining!
  • No one has a terminal illness.
  • This won't last forever ~ it WILL be over soon.
  • We are not all on some expensive vacation trip only to stare at the 4 walls of the hotel room.
  • We have all the comforts of home ~ warmth, cozy beds, comforting quilts, hot tea, movies to watch with eachother.
  • We have friends who call to check on us and even deliver a meal!
Eric had me buy a temporal artery thermometer.  It's a thermometer that you swipe across the forehead. It was the best $40 I've spent.  The regular digital themometers are fine, but I'd always have to disinfect them in between uses. No big deal when it's only one who is sick, but with everybody sick, it would take a bit of time to take everyone's temperature.)I have to take Mary's temperature under her arm and it would take for-ever!  She would get impatient and so would I.  This scan takes all of about 2 seconds!  It reads the body's core temperature (the equivilent of a rectal reading without having to do THAT!)  The other benefit is this - temperal artery and rectal temperatures are normally very close, however, if the temperature is rapidly changing, the temporal scanner will identify the changing temperature much sooner than a rectal thermometer - even on infants.  What a blessing.

So - my chosen outlook for today? 
It's a new day! The sun is shining! God will give me the strength I need for helping my family today!  Today ~ we are one day closer to being well again!

Hope you are all well. :-)

Monday, April 9, 2012

Taste Test Results

So - we made the oatmeal cookies from the Babycakes cookbook.  They did taste very good, but not like oatmeal cookies - more like cinnamon cookies.  I think that I would add more oatmeal to the batter next time.  The batter consistency was on a the runny side so the cookies were flatter than I like, but still yummy. 

We also made the banana bread from the Comfy Belly website.  She uses coconut and almond flours.
My whole family thought this bread was delicious.  In fact, you WOULD NOT KNOW it was gluten free!!! (except that it doesn't rise as high as bread made with white flour.) 
Even if you don't have to worry about gluten, this would be a great recipe to have in your box that you can use when you need to serve someone with a gluten intolerance.
Be sure to store your almond and coconut flours in the freezer.  (These are available from Bob's Red Mill - either on line or through Azure Standard or the local grocery store like Fred Meyer, if you live in the Northwest.)

My personal verdict:  I do think that the Babycakes cookbook would make a good addition to Hannah's gluten free/dairy free library of cookbooks.  I'd like to try a few more things before I buy it.  She states specifically to not substitute or use off-brand ingredients from the ones she recommends. While, I know that she has done extensive research and test baking, I don't know if I have access to all of her ingredients...like vegan sugar (?) What is that?  I just used the organic sugar from Wholesome Sweeteners from Costco.

I will turn to the Comfy Belly website often for delicious recipes!

Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of the cookies and bread.  We ate them too quickly.  ;-)

Here are both recipes for you to try.

Oatmeal Cookies from Babycakes Covers the Classics.
  • 1-3/4 c. Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Gluten free baking flour
  • 1 c. vegan sugar
  • 1/2 c. Bob's Red Mill gluten free oats     (*I used old fashioned oats that I buy in bulk from Azure standard.  They are not certified gluten free, because we don't need to be that extreme.  Oats are a gluten free food.)
  • 1/4 c. ground flax meal
  • 2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon (Yes, that is 2 Tablespoons!)
  • 1-1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 c. melted refined coconut oil or canola oil.  (* I use Wilderness Family Naturals organic coconut oil)
  • 1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
  • 2 Tbsp. vanilla extract
  • 3/4 c. raisins
Preheat oven to 325.  Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, oats, flax meal, cinnamon, xanthan gum, baking soda, and salt.  Add te coconut oil, applesauce, and vanilla and stir with a rubber spatula until a thick dough forms.  Add the raisins and stir until evenly distributed.  Drop the dough by the tablespoon onto the prepared baking sheets, about 1" apart.  Bake for 8 minutes, rotate the baking sheets and bake for 7 minutes more, or until golden.  Let stand on the baking sheets for 15 minutes before serving.
Makes 36.

Banana Bread (using coconut and almond flour)

Ingredients (for one loaf, but this is easy to double for two loaves)

  • 3/4 teaspoon of baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
  • 3/4 cup of almond flour
  • 1/4 cup of coconut flour
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 ripe (soft) bananas
  • 1/4 cup of 100% real maple syrup
  • 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts, (optional)

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 350° F/175° C.
  2. Using a whisk or fork, blend all the dry ingredients together.
  3. Add the wet ingredients together, blend well, and then mix them into the dry ingredients. I use a mixer to ensure the batter is well blended.
  4. Bake for 40 minutes, or until browned and a toothpick inserted in the middle of the bread comes out clean.

Hope you enjoy!


Sunday, April 8, 2012

I thought this a most appropriate thought for this Resurrection Day 2012

O Lord,
I marvel that thou shouldst become incarnate, be crucified, dead, and buried.
The sepulchre calls forth my adoring wonder,
for it is empty and thou art risen;
the four-fold gospel attests it,
the living witnesses prove it,
my heart's experience knows it.
Give me to die with thee that I may rise to new life,
for I wish to be as dead and buried
to sin, to selfishness, to the world;
that I might not hear the coive of the charmer,
and might be delivered from his lusts
O Lord, there is much ill about me - crucify it,
much flesh within me - mortify it.
Purge me from selfishness,
the fear of man, the love of approbation,
the shame of being thought old-fashioned,
the desire to be cultivated or modern.
Let me reckon my old life dead
because of crucifixion,
and never feed it as a living thing.
Grant me to stand with my dying Saviour,
to be content to be rejected,
to be willing to take up unpopular truths,
and to hold fast despised teachings until death.
Help me to be resolute and Christ-contained.
Never let me wander from the path of obedience to thy will.
Strengthen me for the battles ahead.
Give me courage for all the trials,
and grace for all the joys.
Help me to be a holy, happy person, free from every wrong desire,
from everything contrary to thy mind.
grant me more and more of the resurrection life:
may it rule me,
may I walk in its power,
and be strengthened through its influence.

Taken from The Valley of Vision ~ A collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions

Monday, April 2, 2012

Gluten free fun


I was at the library today with Ellie.  Each time we visit, after we are done reading and choosing books for her, we look down the cookbook isle.  Look what I found!! 



Living gluten free-dairy free is challenging, but I have found that breakfast is by far the most challenging.  No pancakes, no waffles, no toast, no donuts, no muffins, no quiche, pretty much nothing baked...until now!! 
Erin McKenna has a cute writing style and this book {Baby Cakes Covers the Classics} is loaded with delicious-looking recipes. I can't wait to try her donuts.  She uses a donut pan, which I don't have.  I have seen them at Target and I will pick one up next time I am there.  I like that the donuts are baked instead of fried, for messiness sake (or not)!  Tomorrow, I will make her oatmeal raisin cookies.  Oatmeal raisin are my favorite - so if they pass my taste test, then I will definitely buy her book. 


I bought this one {Gluten Free Cupcakes} for Hannah for Christmas.  She made the chocolate cupcakes the other day.  They tasted really good and had a nice texture.  They were a tad on the dry side, but when I read the recipe, I noticed that there was no oil in it.  Next time, I think I'll have her add 1/4 cup - 1/3 cup oil or applesauce.

I have a friend who is a total foodie.  She's the type who strolls the isles of Whole Foods looking for unusual ingredients, all the while thinking, "I wonder what I could make with this?"
Next thing you know, she's got some fabulous recipe that she has created posted on her blogYep, she did it again - coconut baked chicken.
I am always in awe of people like that.  Me?  I need a recipe to follow. 

She also sent me a link to a blog she found.  Comfy belly, is now on my blog roll.  She has tons of gf recipes!  :-)

Fun in our kitchen is in our very near future!

Sunday, April 1, 2012



I am sorry, but this just makes me laugh EVERY time!!!