more Pictures...

I was able to get the old camera working! so... here are the flat breads:

the shank with rice:

And... My socks! My nålbinded socks! they are done. I'm thinking of adding a tassel at the top.

I am going to make something to go on the sole, David makes traditional indian brain-tanned leather. So that is what I will put on them. So then I can wear them out side. Like what peasants wore.

Well, I hope you all have a good night!

I am missing Hannah...

Her and I always have a nice time together staying up late and reading other blogs and such and or just laughing about stuff 'cause we're really tired! :)

But I am sure her and Rebecca are having a nice time...

I would have went with them if I did not have to milk animals... I could have given the milking job to one of my brothers but I am a little particular on how it is done. And I had cheese and bread going to day... so I think everything worked out just perfect!

pictures from the past days...

I started the kombucha I am so excited to try it in several days!

Here is the skirt that I got from J&N

I liked it so much that I made one out of some pieces of cotton fabric we had laying around. It turned out smaller because when I made the pattern I did not put any seam allowance. I think it turned out nice for a first, Like I said before I do not do much sewing but I like to do it.

Yesterday evening I made another skirt. This time I added seam allowance. I copied the pattern on paper so I can remember what shapes to do next time.The picture was taken at night so that is why it looks the way it does.

(and I am twirling around)

I have been making feta, It is turning out really good! Here it is in the cloth just before I hang it up to drip out the whey.

and this is it sliced and ready to age for a few days, the recipe that I use is: HERE

I am just about finished with my socks, I will probley finnish them by tonight. I will not be able to take a picture of them until tomorrow because Hannah took the camera with her to Rebecca's. I made some flat breads today and goat and pork shanks for dinner. The shanks are still in the clay oven so I better go and check and see if they are done. I am going to serve them with Wehani Rice. If you are ever trying to find a good rice that is the rice to get!

well better go...

Oh no! I did it again!

Ok, Mama mixed up some bread dough and I stared the fire. She did all the pats and folds and got the bread up to the bake. I had to bake the bread. I put it in the oven when the oven was way too hot. I had to bake 12 loaves I was able to fit 10 in the oven. Just as I was putting the last one in I smelled a burnt smell. I thought Oh no! Mama said no burnt bottoms! I looked at loaves. They were all white. The ones in the back had a slight bit of brown on the sides and smoke coming from the bottom. I quickly flipped one up and what my eyes saw was black, burnt to a crisp! I tried to take the loaf out. It flipped over on it's back and got smashed on the wall. That happened because the top was still dough like. I left it there. Checked on the other loaves and found them in the same condition as the first. I got those out with not a little difficulty. They were all burnt on the bottom except two plus the two that did not fit in the oven. I put all the partially baked, partially burnt loaves on a table with a rack. I ran inside the house and got a bread knife. The younger brothers were close by. I started cutting off the burnt bottoms. I said to Nathanael. "Nathanael I think I am the most embarrassed as I can get". He says "what happened". I says "I am not going to say". He comes up to see. And then he runs to the back door and calls " Mama Grace burnt the bread!" Mama comes and sees what happened. she says" well there are two that still have to bake so thats good".

I let the oven cool down a bit while I sat on the white swing and did some nalbinding on my sock that I have been working on for the last couple days. When I thought the oven was cooled enough I put the cut-off loaves +the two that did not burn back in the oven. The two that did not fit in the oven at the start were still in the house, waiting. After putting them in, I went in the house and did some more nalbinding on my sock. I was in there for while then went out and checked on the bread. It was fine so I came back in. After a while David comes in starts reading a book. Then He says " Have you checked on the bread?, I smelled a burning smell when was out there". I said "I better go check it out". It my mind I said "He probably smelled the burnt parts that I cut off. (they were right by the oven). But No, When I got out there they were burnt again. I took them out. They were not all burnt just some of them on the bottoms. This is the second time that I have burnt bread by putting it into the oven when it was two hot. This time I did alot better attitude wise. Last time I went up in my room and bawled. Last time I let someone else finnish the loaves. Last time I was terribly tired, Last time none of the loaves turned out. This time I was not tired, I could have baked 12 more loaves if I had them. This time two of the loaves turned out great. This time I laughed about it right away. This time I finished them even though they did not turn out. I wonder what the next burnt episode will be like!

Now here are some pictures that I took yesterday.

The clay oven

My nalbinding

A lamb that was born a few days ago

our buck

These are the lambs that were born. She had two rams

Auddie and her kid. We named all our kids.

Here are the names that we named them

Nymph

Luppy

Hendery

Giddin

Bella

Parmesan

This little brown kid is Nymph, I think Enoch named him.

His mothers name is Autumn. I call her Auddi for short.

Here in MI we pronounce our Ts as Ds so... If you were wondering how I got the name.

We pronounce autumn as auddum

Here are some lambs that were born at 1:00 am yesterday. She had a ram and a ewe.

David making a nalbinding needle.

Here is is when it was done. I think he did great.

A robins nest in the apple tree

seedlings

This is how we have it set up in the barn for the seedlings

These are my marigolds that I started. I grow them to put on salads and sell them at the market. they are miniature marigolds.

These are my flowers that I started about a week ago. There is Calendula, Babie's breath, Dianthus, and woad.

My zinnias

Well thats all. I am glad I was able to do a post! I was not able to do one all week. I think this is what I will be doing from now on. Is a post a week. It works out so much better for me and what goes on here. I woke up pretty early this morning 5:40. So that is why I was able to do such a long post. Plus I had already put the pictures on yesterday. But now I must go for a busy day is ahead of me. At 9:30 my sister is coming to pick up me an Hannah and we are going with her into TC. She has to go to the dentist and me and Hannah are going to take care of the dear little nephews. I am happy and excited today. I am looking forward to what the Lord has to teach me today. He has been teaching me alot lately and I am thankful and full of Joy and Peace. I am Believing in Him and trusting and rejoicing in time to come!

Today's doings/pics

I got up early milked the goats and cow. I mixed up two batches of dough one rye/wheat and one all rye. Then I quickly ate some lentils and a glass of fresh warm milk. I hopped into the waiting truck and me and mama and Rebecca were off to her house. Hannah stayed home to take care of the household duties and do the pats and folds on the bread dough. Daddy got the clay oven going for me. I took care of my nephews while my sister Rebecca went to the dentist.

I had a lot of fun with them. Izzy is one year old now and he is trying to do everything that his older brother does. But then it's kinda funny because then Buddy sees the babyish things that Izzy does and tries to imitate them so I then will give attention to him. For example: Izzy tries to push a cushion of the couch (They were trying to make a house) and he does not have quite enough man power to do it, so he whimpers for me to help him, so I help him. Then Buddy does the same thing and imitates all the little baby antics that his younger brother does. So then I help him in the same way. Then he gives me a big smile. It is funny! The younger one trying to be big and the older trying to be little! They are the most adorable little children that I know! I love them so much. I made tortillas with Buddy. He really enjoyed rolling them out. We had them with scrambled eggs for lunch. He calls eggs "eet-eets" that is his name for chickens, you know the sound that chickens make? He does not call animals by their name. He calls them by their sound that they make. It is so cute. Cow is "moo", Pig is a sound that I do not know even how to write, he makes this sound deep in his throat and it sounds just like a pig grunting maybe like this "Roughuufgh". Horse is "eeEEEeee", cat is "Eeeeeeeew!" Dog is "wuhwa! wuhwa!" and the funny thing is the only animal that he will say the name is rabbit he says it like this "ravit". Rebecca brought me and mama home and she stayed for awhile and visited with us all. When we got home Hannah had the bread ready to be shaped and put into the baskets. I did that and looked at the fire in the oven to see when it would be ready. Then I helped the Enoch &Nathanael wash eggs for the market tomorrow we washed 15 dozen. David left early this morning to go to a class in T.C. I am sure he will be posting about that in the near future on his blog. You can get to his blog on my side bar. It was a class about holistic farming. He is going to go tomorrow on a farm tour and a cookout on one of the farms while we all are at the market selling stuff. After we got the eggs washed and my sister left with her family, I baked the bread. Then just as I was getting the bread out of the oven David came home. He had hitched a ride for there and back with one of our friends who works in T.C. so that turned out real well for him. After baking the bread, Oh and one of the reasons why I baked bread today is because last week on saturday someone at the village market asked me to baked them two loaves. And when I bake, I a bake for my family too, so I baked 9 loaves today. Ok, so after baking I heated up some soup that I made the other day and we had that with fresh bread and a salad from the garden. After that I went out and milked the goats. They were in the barn because it was raining today so Hannah brought them in there. Goats don't really like the rain, Sheep don't really mind it. We like to bring our goats into the barn when it is raining a cold and wind driven rain. After milking I strained the milk of course then I put the chevre in a cheese cloth.

I started some chevre last night, I can't have bread with no cheese if there is fresh milk around. Then I clear, rinsed, and stacked the dinner dishes. Came into the living room and read a few chapters in a Mr Tucket book to Nathanael. Loaded some pics onto blogger. Then prayed with my family. And now writing this post. and now publishing it and now Good night!

For tomorrow is another early rising day. I like market day! I look forward to it ever day of the week. I am going to bring the spinning wheel and ply the yarn that I have been working on.

Buddy

Izzy

washing "eet-eets"

rye/wheat

rye

close up of the rye

this one is going to be so yum with cheese!

I had hannah take these bread pics with the chalk board for the background because the numbers on there are my morning figures for the mix of the dough.

Good night Folks!

I hope you enjoyed this post!

birth announcement, my morning thoughts, and spring pictures...

Three more kids joined the herd. On sunday Hopli had triplets and they are so adorable! Two does, one white and one grayish brown with dark brown markings, and a big white buck. The buck weighed seven lb. and eight oz. The brown doe weighed five lb. and four oz., and the white doe weighed six lb. two oz. All together Shneahopli was carrying nineteen lb. and four oz. I think that would be alot to hold! They are doing very well. They already want to run and play outside. It is a little cool out this morning so I am going to wait till it warms up a little and I will bring them out in the sunshine today. I took Hopli out to get some grass this morning. It was so pretty out there. The morning sun shining on the dewy grass as she ate. I sat on a stump and sang while out there watching her. One of my favorite songs to sing in the morning is Morning Has Broken. When I sing and give thanks and praise to God, everything that seems so big and overwhelming in this life melts away and I know it no more. I think this has been the most pleasant of springs ever. It is so beautiful and nice outside. David has been getting the fields ready for planting. Lambs and kids are running all around the barnyard. Robins hoping about the garden. Busy birds finding nesting materials. Freshly wash wool drying in the sun and wind. Clothes on the line. Wild flowers in the meadow and woods. Leeks and morels sprouting up in the woods and orchard. Geese trying to set on eggs. Ducks trying finding good nesting spots. Daffy-down-dillies a blooming in the ditch along the road. Crisp frost in the morning covering the freshly plowed earth. Beautiful little pink blossoms on the peach tree. Bright green catkins on the birch trees. Golden dandelions popping up there cheery faces everywhere. Barefeet running everywhere. Buds on the lilac bush. Compost piles steaming in the morning sunlight. New leaves on the rose bush. Bright new leaves on the maples. Forsythia bushes in full bloom. Wild cherry trees clothed in white blossoms like star clusters. Bunches of new onion plants to plant in the garden. Chickens scratching everywhere. Wooded hills covered with new growth. Rivers and streams flowing down where they are directed. Lower and lower still,ever singing, giving water and life to every thing they touch. This is my Father's world! A place that He has made for His pleasure. May every thing that we say, do and think be pleasing to Him. He has made us for His good pleasure.

(I wrote the above at 8:24 AM this morning)

Here are some pictures from today:

my nephew's flowers

planting peas

pounding in a stake

smiling sisters

Fun!

Big Smile!

This morning me and Hannah visited with Rebecca. Daddy,David and the boys had to go to a farm and pick up some bees for David. Hannah and I were going to go to the library but it was closed so we had Daddy drop us of at our sister's. We helped her plant peas and onions in her garden. It was very fun. Then Daddy came and picked up some bales of hay that my sister's husband said we could get. We visited for a little longer then we left. Went to the library and checked out some books. Last night I finished the book "The Meeting Place" by Janette Oke ,and I had to get the sequel. If you are a book worm like me then you know just how it is. When you finnish a good book and it says at the end that there is a sequel to it and that sequel is 9 miles away on a library shelf you just have to get it in the fastest possible time that you can. Then when we got there I saw that there are even more sequels to that sequel so I got three more books all in the same series. On the way home we stopped and got more hay from a neighbor. We are still feeding our animals hay as the grass is still growing.

When we came home I got the clay oven started and mixed up a batch of natural leaven dough. I had taken a little brake from baking bread on the clay oven. The reason why? Well go to this link HERE and you will see something that I made. I was so mad I could not even blog about it at the time. At least someone was able to laugh at what happened! The oven was too hot and I was getting tired as it was getting late in the evening. I put the bread in too soon and that is the result, burnt dough!. In that picture you can see Daddy in the kitchen. He is scraping off the burnt part of the other charred lump of dough.

I hope this time it turns out very well.

I am going to do chicken for dinner. So I must go and get stuff ready for that.... enjoy the spring!

a picture Tag from....

My friend Miranda did this tag on her blog.

Your Favorite Shoe Brand:

I wear all kinds of foot wear, including my birthday shoes. I don't really have a favorite brand of shoe. But the boots I have right now are an army boot made by BILTRITE. My dream shoes are the old fashioned button up kind!

Your Favorite Clothes Brand:

I go resale shopping for just about all my clothes. I really like White Stag, and Croft & barrow.

Your Two Favorite Days of the Week and why?:

Sunday,because it is the start of the new week.

Friday, Because It is just friday! Sometimes we will have a clay oven pizza night on friday and invite friends over and that is always fun.

If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be:

The Ukraine. My great grandpa immigrated from there when he was 18 years old. He and his family had a potato farm. I want to go there and maybe live their for a time. If I ever have a son I want to name him after his great-great grandpa.

Favorite Hobby:

Spinning

both ways!

Favorite Memory:

14 years ago we went camping on the shores of Lake Superior . There we took a five mile walk to Pictured Rocks and swam in the water and collected rocks.

One word that descripes you:

Thoughtful

One of your favorite songs:

"As The Day Approaches"

As The Day Approaches I am wakened with a start

I cannot see it but for the eyes of my heart

There's a sound of victory and battle in the air

And the Captain of the host of heaven's there

And the Captain of the host of heaven's there

And the territory of God that's in our hearts

Will be fortified to quench the liar's darts

The day's upon us when the standard shall be raised

And Babylon will burn in a fiery blaze

And Babylon will burn in a fiery blaze

As for me and my family we choose to serve the Lord

And like Peter we step out on the sea

Looking to the Holy One who brings a brighter day

And the courage to say Count on me Count on me

Great wars were never won without sacrifice

So let us count the cost for we know He paid the price

The weapon He has formed is sharpest when We're on our knees

It's the contrite ones who'll slay the enemy

It's the contrite ones who'll slay the enemy

So love your children and cherish your family

Pray for your parents and take the victory

Mighty men of valor have longed to see this day

When the host of hell are chained and led away

When the host of hell are chained and led away

Favorite School Subject (recess doesn't count):

Reading!

Favorite Season:

Well,right now my favorite is

Spring!

What a wondrous time is spring,

when all the tree are budding,

The birds begin to sing,

The Flowers start their blooming,

that is how it is with God's Love

Once you've experienced it.

You want to sing, It's fresh like spring,

You want to pass it on.

One word/phrase you use all the time:

Clattery

What is one of your favorite foods:

flat bread,meat,,olives,yogurt, lettuce, tomato,rice,legumes...

Favorite Color:

Green

If you are a reader of my blog I tag you with this tag. You can put your answers either in a comment or on your blog if you want to do it with your own pictures. I really want to know your answers. It will let me know more about my readers. And who they are. Leave a comment below. Waiting for you to comment!