Homestead Kitchen Adventures

I have been making my own yogurt for a few years now, from the raw milk we buy. And it is so easy and good. I also make yogurt cheese by straining off more whey and spicing it up. Well I came across how to make sour cream and cottage cheese on Pinterest, and I had some milk that had started to go sour already. It was so easy and the taste is so much better. I used one gallon of raw milk at a coast of $4 and ended up with 8 oz of cheese spread (ranch flavored) 10 oz of sour cream and 24 oz of cottage cheese. And a lot of whey (that's the liquid in the bowl) which I can use for other things like ricotta cheese and baked goods. I usually spend $1 (when on sale) for 8 oz of sour cream, $3 (on sale) for 24 oz of cottage cheese and I don't buy cheese spread it's not in my budget. So for a better quality and health benefit I think I made out well.  42 oz @ $4 to 32 oz @ $4 (only when on sale) . 

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Cave Mountain Hike

Took the boys on a hike to Cave Mt.. Nice day, not to hot for a hike and this one is easy till you get to the top. 

At the bottom all smile. Oh if it would only last.

Still toward the bottom. See, smiles.

We finally get to the top and are I little disappointed the cave is not really a cave. That's because we needed to go up a level. And that is were it got steep.

It was so cool. Michael was a little scared and David and Maverick are all over the place. Jonathan was a little of both. So now how do we get down?

Why on our rears of coarse. Nothing like a dirt slid. Well, we made it down and still had smiles.

Tech Kids

It's amazing how quickly kids learn how to use tech stuff. After speech Jonathan asked to keep playing one of his speech games in the van. I said ok, unsuspecting silly mommy move. So here I am on the phone driving home from the laundry mate, when I hear Jonathan say,

"Look at me mommy, so I can take a picture of you.". 

Huh, what!! Click click click and more clicks.

Jonathan had taken over fifty pics before I knew what was happening. I deleted all the driving home shoots and the back of my head shoots too. But I had to show off a few. Here are some of my favorites.

And the winner for best "Selfy" is Jonathan.

Garden Update

Wow I am loving the hay mulch. Wish I had learned about this one years ago. So it's been almost a month since I planted with Elizabeth and I have only watered a few times and weeded once. Weeding is easy and clean. I think next year I will make some of my rows a little wider tho.

Above you can see my peas going crazy. I love peas they have to be my garden favorite.

Only five tomato plants got in. I had made room for more but time just got away and I ran out of funding. That ok tho I will have lots of cherry tomatoes to make up for it. Yummy!

Here's some rows of onions, carrots, lettus and I think arugula, oh and beats. Doing well, I love the lettus for cutting. Want a salad with dinner? Go to garden, snip snip, and a few cherry tomatoes and there you have it! Love that.

Over all I am very please. I have lost a few things due to a neighbors naughty chickens but otherwise I am looking forward to a good harvest.

Why I March

Every year I dig out my uniform, iron it, and shine my boots.  Hurry down to the Parade field and form up with other Vets. We step out and march down Main St. The flags wave, the band plays and people line the street. Waving, saluting and clapping. Do I march for the claps, for the "thank you for your service", for the chance to get my picture in the news paper. No! I march for a different reason.

Sadly the Patriotic vien that ran throughout this counrty is dwendeling. Parades that would once over take a town filled with men and women proud to live in the USA have shrunk. What saddens me is a spares parade and how less and less people come out to see them. People forgetting what the 4th of July really is about. It's remembering the fight.

I remember the day I got my uniform and put it on for the first time. I called my mom and said I felt a foot taller. I was proud to wear that uniform and to be serving my country. I spent close to ten years in the Army and even thou I am no long attached to a unit with an active millitary status, I know I'm not done. I continue to serve in this small way. Not leaving the marching to the older generation, but to following in their footsteps. Hoping the site of soldiers in a parade reminds people that freedom came with a cost and the the 4th was not peace, love, and "whatever", but a battle that needed to be fought. Freedom always comes at a price and we can never forget that. 

So the next time a parade goes by think about what those people in the front are trying to do. Reminding us that the battle was fought, won, and still goes on. Freedom is never free!

Testing 2

Now I got it

Do They Ever Stop Being Your "Baby"

Oh Christmas Tree

So another Christmas come and gone. I thought I would share some pictures from what came out from under our tree. This year we opened the stockings first, weird right. It felt so backwards, but I got out voted. See the white hates on David and Michael. They are sleeping hats I maid for all the boys and they opened them on Christmas eve.

 We got these shirt and hats, nothing spectacular, but I love the faces they made as they held them up for me to see. Michael's is my favorite.

 And on too the big gifts. We don't get the boys a lot, but I like to get them each one big gift (by way of, they really wanted it, not so much in size).

 Maverick got an MP3 player with the accessories. Head phones,  speaker, Sim card, things like that.

 David got a (real) compound bow kid sizes, with arrows. 

 Michael wanted a keyboard. I guess it was getting too cold out to practice on the piano on our deck.

And Jonathan wanted so badly this red "Banjo". He saw this Ukulele at the music shop and he kept calling it a Banjo. 

It was a quiet and wonderful morning of thanking God for the gift of Salvation with the Birth of Jesus Christ, gifts to each other and of course pancakes.