Sunday Afternoon.

Oh, wouldn't it be nice to be able to take a little nap..... But i got in to the family room last so there are two little bodies in my chair. I just checked... the are still two little bodies there but now one of them is a dog.

 

The Primary had their yearly program at church today. They all did an amazing job, i can tell you that. And yes I might be a bit prejudice, but truly MY KIDS where the cutest, brightest, smartest. most adorable kids there. They did such a good job and I was very proud of all of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's little preview of what I'll be doing tomorrow afternoon.... Will there be picture tomorrow? Well, it might be a day or two before I have my next post ready for you... because tomorrow is "Harvest day"!

Saving Money by making it yourself.

I see all these really cute hats online that people are selling for anywhere from $25 to $45 and I really don't understand that anyone would pay that much for them. I guess if you have the money, but still... there are other things that i would rather spend my money on, I can tell yo that. 

But you see I REALLY like them and thought the kids would too, so...... 

What to do? What to do? 

Well there is my stash of yarn. 

When people get rid of yarn, I always offer to give it a good home.

Here is what I've made for the kids.

 

3 out of 4 have grape smiles

 One eyed monster

 

Owl

 

 

3 eyed monster

 

Kitty Cat

So if anyone ever has yarn that needs a good home, let me know i will put it to use.

     

My First Little Baby Turned 8

 I thought I better share some more pictures with you all.
End of September Arilyn turned 8, which is a very important milestone. When we turn 8 you see, we can be baptized. Arilyn was very excited and for a special birthday party we have decided that this is the one time in their little lives that we will throw them a party at Chuck E. Cheese. Also she had her ears pierced as you all saw in the last post.

So here you go... the pictures from her party the day before her birthday and pictures from her baptism -on her birthday.

Party at Chuck E's!

Pizza with Sister and friend Nessa.

 Bedste and Grandpa Les

 Oma and uncle Jay,

 Mermaid cake made by yours truly.

 Some of the family gabbing while the kids were playing on the games.

 Cake time.

 Nessa made Arilyn some hair things, she loved them.

 From Oma she got a crystal with a pearl in it.

 Bedste gave her a hot-glue-gun (now I can have mine in peace) and sweater she had made.

Arilyn's Baptism

 Arilyn in her white dress with Far .

 Rhiannon was almost as excited as Arilyn about her baptism.

 Far

 Arilyn.

Arilyn right before stepping into the baptismal font.

Yes I know... I have been missing in action. But no longer.

I am back and ready to get down and share all the things that go on here at the farm What's going on with the critters, the orchards, the gardens, the family, what are we learning about in our homeschooling journey. We have decided to call it "Life-Learning" for the time being. that just kind of explains it, I think.

 

Arilyn got her ears pierced the day before her 8th birthday.

 

Our cow had a bull calf, he sure is cute!

 

We added 2 pigs to the farm

 

Blueberry picking was a hit

 

No that's not a giant berry, it's white rock.

 

Strawberries from our garden

 

Sidewalk paint. Three ingredients: cornstarch, water and food colouring. 

Just a little recap of the last couple of months for you.

 

YOGURT ! ! !

So, yogurt.... I have always had trouble getting the girls to eat the stuff I made.

I use to make it with goat milk as that was what we had. It doesn't get as thick as when you make it with cows milk. And I added a "cheating tool" powdered milk.
I heated up 5C of milk, to 180F then turned off the heat and let it cool to about 110F (yea I do know that at this point I have pasteurized my milk and I'm not as healthy anymore, but oh well) I then added 1/3C powdered milk and whisked it in.

Then I took a 6oz container of plain yogurt (from the store) check on the back that it lists lots of live cultures. I gently stirred it with a spoon (Holli's advice) and then gently stirred it in the milk. I poured the milk into a quart canning jar and put a lid on it, and the rest fit into a pint size jar.
Elm brought in our cooler and I set the two jars in there, and added about 6 quarts of really hot tap water, and left it till in the morning.

And it was perfect! Thick, Thick. Thick.
I added abt 1 tsp of vanilla and 2 Tbsp of raw organic cane sugar (the tablespoons you find in your silverware drawer). It was just right, flavour wise, but the stirring to add the sugar and vanilla turned more runny.

Next batch I make, I will add sugar and vanilla to the milk slurry when I put it in the cooler, so all we have to do is scoop out the yumminess. The pint jar won't be flavoured, as it is my starter for my next batch (yes I will be making a bigger batch. Did you see what the girls left in that container? I had a portion, and they tried to finish all the rest of it).

Mozzarella and a Cheesepress

Here is my Mozzarella!!!! It grated beautifully, and had a nice melt to it.

This even after I tried to mess it up, you see I thought I was making fresh, soft mozzarella. So I tried to do the whole stretching thing and for some reason it just wasn't working... I finally had the DUH! moment.

Then as I was cleaning up and moving the VERY WARM whey from one side of the sink over to the other sides drain board, the bottom of my container hit the divider thingie and I poured VERY WARM whey out over my hand.

I hurried and put it in cool water, but this was right before I had to go milk. I had to take a few breaks while milking so that I could stick my hand into the dogs water bucket.... don't worry i sanitized my hands before continuing to milk.
Not the funnest night.

Was it worth all the trouble? YEP! it's nice and dry and grates really nicely.
I found this recipe on the Junket page. I didn't have any citric acid so I used just a tab over 1/3C lemon juice.

We'll be making a BIG batch tomorrow night as a family activity. Then we'll be taking it in to Oma and Opa's in a couple of days.

I'm going to try out the cheese press Elm just got finished building for me. I've got the bestest Hubby ever!!!!

Isn't she a beauty?

I also have a bigger mold that I got from my brother. It'll be using it for some bigger batches of cheese.

I've been reading up on cheeses. And I will be making some Havarti.... it only takes between 5-14 weeks to age, where as the cheddar is 6 months and the Parmesan is 9 months. I'll be making those too. but I can't wait that long before eating some of my cheese.

Cottage Cheese

I ventured into cheese making. Elm really likes cottage cheese, so I thought to show him how much I love him, I'd made him some. He usually likes to eat it on hot summer days, you know when it's just TO HOT to eat anything warm.

Here's the joke -today is the first day we've had in a really long time that’s been gray and rainy, with BEAUTIFUL rumblings coming from the sky.

But I finished my first batch of cottage cheese this morning, and he had some for dinner, with peaches on the side.

It tastes divine. Elm liked it, he did say it was a bit different…. Well yeah, HOMEMADE :o)

I did some searching online for cheese recipes using Junket Rennet tables (as that was all I had on hand, my cheese order from Cheesemaking is in the mail as I type) I found this site Junket Desserts. Scroll down the page and you’ll find this recipe for cottage cheese.

COTTAGE CHEESE - JUNKET

Ingredients:

1/4 Junket Rennet Tablet
1/2 cup water
1 gallon skim milk
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cream

1. Dissolve Rennet Tablet in water by crushing. Set aside. In a large saucepan, heat skim milk to 70º F. Stir in buttermilk and Rennet Tablet solution, mixing well. Cover with towel and let stand at room temperature 12 to 18 hours until firm curd forms. To test for a firm curd, remove a milk sample at a point near the edge of the saucepan with a spoon. The curd is ready to cut when the coagulated milk sample holds its shape and the edges are sharply defined.

2. Cut curd into 1/2-inch long pieces using a long knife. Heat curd slowly over hot water until temperature reaches 110ºF. Hold curd at that temperature for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring at 5-minute intervals to heat curd uniformly. Pour mixture onto the fine cheesecloth in a colander and drain off whey.

3. After whey has drained 2 to 3 minutes, lift curd in cheesecloth and immerse in pan of cold water 1 to 2 minutes, stirring and pressing with a spoon. Then immerse in ice water 1 to 2 minutes. Drain the curd until it is free from whey and place in a large bowl.

Add salt and cream and mix thoroughly. Chill.

I added sea salt and some of our cream (saving it for butter and ice cream)