Howdy :)

hat a busy couple of days its been around here! Finishing up the last round of flu-bugs before summer hits. Of course mommy's are the last one to get sick... Anyways I'd like to take a minute and show you around our little farm here and introduce you to the occupants!


Meet "skippy john jones" she's our beloved mouser and source of much entertainment! It's interesting to live with a siamese cat let me assure you... never a dull moment!


Next up is "Morgan Dorf" our stubborn dog. He has a tendancy of visiting the... well basically the whole county. What can I say he's social :) He does a good job running secruity detail around here though!


Next we have "Dash" also called "pooh bear". He's always paitent with us and enjoys getting the girls on the bus in the morning :) I'm happy to have him here with me! And I'm pretty sure he enjoys all the attention family and friends lavish on him when they visit! The wonderful old man of the farm Mr. Dash....



Last but not least our ladies of the farm yard!! The hens.... Only a few have names so far, the girls and I work on names as their personalities become more evident. So far we have named Roxanne, Henny-penny and Nermal. The ladies live a quiet life here they are free range and eat a varied diet of organic feed and garden scraps. I enjoy listening to them squak around the yard chase bugs.



Well thats pretty much the grand tour ladies and gents. It's not much but I enjoy it! I'll leave ya with a few other random shots from life on the farm... Blessings to you and yours from all of us!

No more lawn. And dandelion salad.

So last fall a thought occured to me. Why do I have so much lawn? What good does this stuff serve? I can't eat it...well I can eat the dandelions but then technically I'm supposed to kill all them. (Notice I say technically....I gave that fight up years ago) I was spending 6-7 hours mowing the lawn per week and about 3 gallons of gas per mow. (Someone stop me if they find logic in having a lawn.) Yes I'll admit that it's nice to walk around the yard and feel the soft grass under your feet but beyond that I see no purpose to it. So this year I have set out to reduce my lawn size. I've given back about 30% of it to the field for crops and the remainder is still being turned under for gardens, fruit plots and cut flower beds. I cut out a portion for the chickens and anothre for the dog. Now I'm down to a manageable area about 40% of what I had before, which can be maintained in a matter of 2 hours! I plan to let the horse graze on the open areas and help with the mowing as well. (Can't get much more green than that!) I'm happy with my little yard and I still have my dandelions only...a lot less by design! I encourage anyone out there to take a hard look at their prized lawns and decide does this benefit me or my family? If not then till away my friends!!!!



Dandelion Salad Recipe...(From the Miller Family Cookbook 2nd Edition)



4 c. fresh dandelion (washed and shreded)
3 Hard Boiled Eggs (chopped)
6 slices Bacon (fried until crispy and cut into small pieces)

{(Dressing)}
2 T. Flour
2 T. Sugar
1/2 tsp. Salt
Mix together then add:
1/4 c. vinegar
1 1/2c milk or water

Add the dressing ingredients together in a skillet and bring to a boil. Cook until thickened then cool and toss with dandelion greens, bacon and eggs.

Dandelions are rich in protein, iron, calcium, phosphorus and insulin.

Quiet Day at home

The snows falling and it seems the whole world is quiet! I love these days, and even more so when I don't have to go to work! I have lots of stuff I could be doing like finishing my crocheting, my knitting, my quilting. I could make some soap for the family (we are getting low), or a could backe some bread (again we are getting low). But so far the most I have accomplished is laundry. Which isn't really an accomplishment. The first load is spinning away and soon I'll have to get to hanging it up. It's winter and snowing as I said so the clothes line outside is pretty much not an option, I need to pick up another drying rack cuz the one I have gets pretty crowded. I'm sure my house looks pretty funny to city people when it's laundry day but we don't mind. All the clothes hanging up around the house add's to the hummidity which is badly needed since the corn stove REALLY drains the moisture and I'm pretty sure the cat is going to move out if I static shock her again! It's still early in the morning so I may surprise myself yet today! Ya never know I might just get the ambition to finish some of my projects! I better get it done soon spring is around the corner and then I will be to busy.