It's the Little Reminders

It’s the little things that make a difference in each day.  Saturday, this came by blowing off responsibility at home to enjoy the day visiting friends not seen in nearly a year and laughing with my husband, and just in general remembering that it is okay to not work once in a while.  It isn’t that we don’t spend time together – just that we don’t get to spend much time together just playing.  Those are moments that are so precious and dear!

Sunday, we took care of things around the farm.  Our potatoes in the box have grown tremendously in the last week and it was time to add more soil to help them develop more delicious potato goodness.  Our garlic is growing and the cilantro looks like it really will survive.  Seeds that I thought weren’t going to make it are now sprouting!  And since the original basil (from seeds) didn’t make it, we have planted new starts along with rosemary.  This coming weekend, we’ll be getting other plants in the ground and looking setting up the watering lines for the plant beds. 

To top it all off, last night my dear husband was inspired with the cheeses. In addition to candied habanero chevre, and our basil pesto with pinenuts and sundried tomatoes chevre, he came up with a raspberry chipotle chevre that is intriguing with it’s sweet and smokey flavor.  Mmm!!   I

Yes - little things, but the happy impact is huge!

A Sad Society

This isn’t about the animals, nor is it about soap or lotion making or even about cooking.  This really makes me a bit sad. 

Yesterday, after work and doctor, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a couple of items on my way home.  It was raining pretty steadily, and as I waited on a car to pull out of a parking spot so that I could park I watched an elderly woman, easily in her eighties, wandering through the parking lot with her cart.  She had only a thin jacket, no hood and no umbrella. She had obviously forgotten where she had parked her car.  She found it, just a little bit closer and diagonal from my own parking place.  As I parked my truck, she was moving her items into her car but had a few left.  I put my hood up, and walked up to her and asked if she wanted some help so that she could get out of the rain sooner. 

Keep in mind I was still dressed for work in heels, slacks, and a nice black rain jacket.  She looked at me like I was going to attack her, and said she would get it.  I smiled and asked if I could at least take her cart, so she wouldn’t have to stay out any longer than necessary and then she smiled and said I was speaking her language.  She thanked me kindly and sat down in her car as I walked off with her cart and put it away on my way into the store. 

This entire event bothered me.  Not that she wouldn’t let me help her, but that we live in a time that a simple act of kindness that any decent person should offer is viewed with concern and an amount of fear. 

It is an unfortunate type of society that we live in, when we cannot be considerate for fear someone will take it the wrong way.  I don’t believe in a perfect society, but surely we should be doing better than this right?

Posts on Posts

It's springtime in our area, and my garlic is planted and already has growth of about four inches above ground.  The potatoes are in their box and starting to show a bit of growth.  It's time.  More than time.

We are ready to get other plants in the ground - and for us that is going to mean sectioning off a small bit of the north pasture so that it's A) readily accessible to water and B) keeps the animals away from the pear trees.  (They really did a number on the one near the fence last year - the tree in this post http://zentopiaacres.blogspot.com/2012/07/success.html had nearly its entire back side consumed by the donkeys and goats.)

Since the garden will be such a temptation to the animals we are doing this one up proper with  all wooden posts across, plus 2x4 no climb wove wire fence, and at least top and bottom wooden rails.  They should not be able to get through this at all!   Leftover posts and wire will become part of the kidding pens.  This is so exciting for us! 

FOOD!

Just a couple of quick food notes -
A banana, gone a day past when I would eat it, was entirely perfect for satisfying a serious sweet tooth.  Mash it with about 1/2 cup sugar, a spoon of molasses, a half teaspoon of salt and vanilla plus an egg.  Add in about 3/4 cup fresh goat milk, 1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts, one dash (really - just a dash) of cinnamon powder and just enough self rising flour to create a stiff batter.

Pour it into a greased and floured loaf pan and bake at 375 until golden and a toothpick comes out clean, and you have deliciousness of epic proportions!

That preceded my favorite soup of all time!

Make a trip to your local Asian grocery store and buy a package of Pho Ga.  Bring it home.

Or Faux Pho with curry J 

This only took about 15 minutes to prepare.  Ingredient list:  Pho Ga powder, rice noodles, water, curry powder, coconut milk, onion, chili paste, shrimp, crab, carrots, sweet potatoes, fresh cilantro leaves, bean sprouts, jalapeno. 

(If Pho Ga powder isn’t available, you can use 6 cups of chicken broth to which has been added ½ tsp fish sauce and 1 tsp. soy sauce)

Make a trip to your local Asian grocery store and buy a package of Pho Ga. 

Cook and cool flat rice noodles (pho noodles or pad thai noodles) per package directions.  (usually simmer for 4-5 minutes, then drain in a colander and rinse with cool water)  Set aside.

In one pan, simmer salted water then add peeled carrots and sweet potato, peeled and cut into similar sized chunks.  Simmer only until just tender, then drain and set aside.

Boil 6 cups of water and add
2 tablespoons of the Pho Ga powder. Then shred in
1/2 of an onion - I use the tiny little hand mandolin for fine slices.  Then add about
1 and 1/2 tablespoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon chili paste (depending on level of heat desired)
1/2 can of coconut milk. 

(Save the cream to whip for a dessert topping, just use maybe 2 tablespoons of the cream, and the coconut water in the bottom of the can)  Simmer lightly then add

1/2 cup fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined and
1/2 cup crab meat, sliced.  (It's ok to use fake Krab for this since it's soup)

Cook until the shrimp is about done, and serve over cooked Rice Noodles with some of the carrots and sweet potatoes added in, and thinly sliced jalapeno and fresh cilantro leaves and fresh bean sprouts.  The shrimp will finish cooking in the hot liquid. 

Oh MY Goodness!! 

What a Sight!

I came home the other day to find all of the animals laid flat out in the pasture.  It looked like a sudden case of narcolepsy had taken over in the field... but no, they were all just enjoying basking in the sunshine of a warm spring day!

Lulu was perhaps less than thrilled that I had disturbed her

 peaceful afternoon amid the early grasses

Yep. Definitely annoyed.  

Goat Breeding

We are indeed late in breeding the girls, but the job is being done.  We brought home their new love (Ha!) a few weeks ago, and poor Neville is being shunned by the girls.

So what that he's a little smaller and a little younger, he's more than happy to do his job!  Gerie was a downright pill, actively preferring the useless wonder that is Chester the Molester.  Through much ado, Ms. Gerie was finally convinced that Neville was a perfectly good male and now her due date (provided all "took") is July 19th. 

All of those hormones, though, through no fault of their own have infected Balvenie and brought her into heat a week early.  It's another randy few days in the barnyard while Neville works hard to win over this blue eyed beauty.  Neville and Balvenie will get to spend some quality time alone together in the small separate pen, so if all goes well she should be due about a week after Gerie. 

Adventures in goat breeding - never a dull moment!

It's All A Choice

I have been extremely remiss in writing lately.  I started writing this blog for me, and if anyone else happened upon it and enjoyed it or learned something from it that's a bonus.  It has been very therapeutic and lately the lack of writing is evident in my daily life.

There are no excuses - just a fast "catch-up" on what's been going on.  In December I had bronchitis for the holidays, and recovered just in time to have sinus surgery on January 9th.  My activity is still somewhat limited and recovery is slower than usual, but recovery so it is.  The chicks moved from the closet to the barn in a mini-coop, and then into the back coop with their mini-coop inside of it.  They are gorgeous girls and we are sure they will be a fantastic addition to our pastures.  A week ago we bought and brought home a mini-lamancha buck named Neville.  He's perfect for Balvenie and Gerie, but he is working on earning his place in the herd. 

The real reason I logged in to write today though is a bit more introspective. 

We raise our goats and sell our soaps. We raise our own chickens for eggs and meat. We bake our own bread and cook from scratch.  We make our own beer and wine.  We set our own fences and are building our own garden. We make our own cheeses, and we even make our own laundry detergent.  We work hard at our day jobs and on our farm that we consider our real job.  And we are often asked "Why?" from folks who work at the same type of day jobs and go home only to regenerate enough to do it again the next day.  We often hear "How do you have the energy for all of that?" 

The answer to the question of "Why?" has so many layers. More and more often as I go to my day job and work to the best of my ability I find myself asking what sort of way is this to live? We spend our time working in jobs we do not love to go home exhausted and try to cobble together what we do want because it is all a step in the direction of achieving our goal.  That goal is to some day be off the grid and sustain ourselves from our own land. We want to reduce our negative impact on mother earth. We want to feel that what we do makes a difference in our own lives and in the lives of others.

We choose a simpler life. That means in the meantime is that we work toward the goal of having no debts, and building a means of supporting our desired lifestyle.  My favorite work is always with the animals and the land, even when it's blistering hot or freezing cold. It matters. 

That is a worthwhile choice.