TRIPLETS!!!

Finally! Our first baby goats of the year have arrived! I was sitting at the kitchen table earlier this afternoon and heard the goats hollering. So I went to the back door and stepped out to see if anything was going on. All the goats except Marshmellow were out in the front field. Then I heard a baby goat cry. So I grabbed my hat and coat, put them on, and stepped into my rubber boots and hurried off to the barn. When I walked into the stable, I saw two baby goats on the stable floor. Marshmellow was laying down, but got up to see me. When she stood up, there was a third baby goat between her and the stable wall!

Marshmellow has always produced plenty of milk, so hopefully after a week or so, we'll be able to drink goat milk again, as long as the babies get what they need first. Then I can make soft cheeses, kefir, yogurt, and freeze more milk for my goat milk soaps.

And the fun of playing with baby goats will commence very soon. I enjoy watching them run and literally bounce across the field or off the stable walls. And they love to play follow the leader with whomever comes out to the field to play with them.

Sprouted Grains

Continuing on the bread theme, I've learned about sprouting grains recently. Right now I have sprouted wheat berries dehydrating in my oven. After they dry and then cool, I will put them in a jar until I have time, in couple of days, to grind them into sprouted whole wheat flour. I'll use the sprouted flour to make biscuits, or tortillas, or bread, or pancakes....anything I want with whole wheat flour added to it.

But what's the big deal with sprouting grains? One reason is sprouted grains produce Vitamin C and increase some of the B vitamins. Sprouted grains also neutralize enzyme inhibitors and aids the good enzymes in our bodies' digestion process. Another interesting thing I've read about sprouted grain flours, is that it is easier on diabetics' blood sugar levels. I'm a fan of several nutrient-dense food pages on FaceBook and have several books on healthy eating and that's where I have found my information, plus various food websites. However, don't take my word for it, I'm NOT a medical professional. Do your own research, talk to your medical professional, and decide for yourself.

Next week I will sprout rye berries for flour. And also next week, my free order from Gardens Alive should arrive. I ordered a seed sprouter and some sprouting seeds. I want to try sprouting various seeds to steam and eat, add to breads, stir fries, casseroles, salads, soups, sandwiches, etc. Want to try something different and healthy? I recommend checking into sprouting grains and seeds. Some nuts can be sprouted, too.

Raisin Walnut Bread

After blogging yesterday about baking bread, I had to share with you the new bread I baked yesterday afternoon. From the title you can see it's Raisin Walnut Bread. I used an Oatmeal Bread recipe from the book "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day." I made a few substitutions, like using honey because I didn't have maple syrup. And I used a whole cup of sprouted whole wheat flour and left out the oat and wheat bran. Then when the dough was ready, I took out a 1/3 of the dough; and after lightly flouring the bread and the counter, I rolled it out, sprinkled on raisins and walnuts, rolled it up and put it in a loaf pan, let it rise, and then baked. OOOhhhh my!!!! It smelled so good! I also used Black Walnuts I bought at one of the local farmers' markets in my area. If you've ever tasted Black Walnuts, you know they have a stronger flavor than English Walnuts. We had this bread this morning with breakfast, toasted, with cream cheese. This bread was absolutely delicious! I bet it would make good French Toast, too!

Home-made Bread!

I love to bake bread! I love everything about making bread! I can't remember when I last bought a loaf of bread in the grocery store.....very few times since we've lived here at Patchwork Acres and that's been since September 1998!

I remember Mama baking bread occasionally when I was a little girl. It smelled so good while it was baking and then she took it out of the oven and let it cool a bit. After Mama sliced it, my sisters and I might get a piece of fresh, warm bread with butter and home-made jam for a snack, instead of having to wait until suppertime!

Maybe it started with play dough. Mama made play dough for my sisters and me when we were young. We would play and make pretend food that we "ate" or "fed" to our dolls. I liked the feel of the play dough in my hands. Now as a grown up, many years later, I enjoy kneading the bread dough and feeling how it turns smooth after several minutes.

There are several ways to make bread. There's the "traditional" way of mixing your ingredients and kneading the dough and letting it rise once or twice, shaping, another rise, then baking. Not hard to do, but it takes some time.

An easy way to bake bread is to use a bread machine. My husband bought me a bread machine for Christmas many years ago (I'm on my second one now). He liked home-made bread; and with a bread machine I couldn't say that I didn't have time to bake bread. Basically, you put your ingredients in the loaf pan, put it in the machine, close the lid, and push the button or set the timer and later you have fresh baked bread!

Another wonderful kind of bread is sourdough, which I've been making quite a lot of lately. Sourdough breads keep better than other home-made breads. Sourdough bread is made by using a portion of the sourdough starter and adding salt, water, and flour. After mixing, let it set for at least a couple of hours. Then add more flour, knead, shape, rise, and bake. If you know about sourdough, you may also know it's good for baking muffins, dinner rolls, cakes, and sweet rolls/breads.

I've also been making no-knead artisan breads. I have the book "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. I highly recommend this book. And, no, I do not receive any compensation by saying I like this book. I don't even know the authors. I have made a LOT of the recipes in this book. For folks who want delicious bread with minimal time invested, this is the way to go. The only thing to remember is that the dough is a slacker dough than most breads. These breads are similar to sourdough in this way: water, yeast, salt, and flour (and whatever else the recipe calls for) are mixed up, covered, and left to sit for 2 hours. Then the bread can baked right away or the dough put in the fridge to bake later. The book explains that the bread can be baked right away, but the dough is easier to handle once it's chilled. Take out as much dough as you want at a time, shape, let rise, then bake. A pan of water in the oven with the bread makes a crispy, artisan crust. And the aroma is heavenly!

You can make your breads unique and tasty by using different flours and/or adding other items.....raisins, cinnamon, and nuts for Raisin Bread; cheese and herbs; various seeds, other kinds of dried fruits....whatever you and your family like. You can shape your bread in a variety of ways, as well.....a braided loaf, a round loaf, a long loaf, a traditional loaf in a bread pan.

Are you hungry for home-made bread now! Well, get going! Put on your apron and get baking! Your family will love you for it!

Cheese Making Demo, Etc.

Oh, my!!! I haven't blogged in quite a while. My daughter and I are spending the night in a motel because she has an Orientation Day tomorrow at the school she will be attending this Fall. It has wireless internet and I'm having fun with the faster access, so I thought I'd catch up on my blogs.

Several weeks ago some 4-Hers from my County came to my house to watch and help me make mozzarella cheese with my goat milk. First I heated the milk up and explained the process to the kids and their parents. While the milk was coagulating, we went to the barn to see the goats. The kids enjoyed the babies goats and our new litter of kittens. Then we went back to the house, washed hands and stretched the mozzarella. And of course, they got to sample the cheese, plus the pineapple cheesecake and some feta that I had made for them. Everyone who tasted the cheese stuff liked it.

I'm in the same boat this year as last with my garden. It's either been raining or I haven't been home or had something else that had to be done and I'm behind in getting my garden planted. I do have peas, carrots, and lettuce up. And I did get a few tomato plants put in the ground, but I'm no where near finished yet. It's time to plant everything now! Guess I'll have a busy week next week. It's supposed to be warmer as well.

And I still have lots of soap to make to fill an order, plus soaps for all my markets. Three are open now and next month my fourth market will be open. Can you say B-U-S-Y?

I did finish the red, lacy, cotton sweater for my younger daughter. I'm currently working on a beautiful lacy, cabled baby afghan for my nephew and his wife. They are expecting their first baby later this summer. After I finish it, I have some hats and scarves to make my younger daughter. She wants several to choose from, not just one for the whole winter season. I am also going to make some wool mittens for a friend whose hands stay cold, unless it's above a certain temperature, because of the meds he's taking.

Until next time!

Farmers' Market 2010

Today was the opening day of one of 4 farmers' markets where I am a vendor and the one where I am the Market Manager. The morning started out cool, but quickly warmed up. A few vendors had arrived earlier than I did. We hurried to set up and the rush of customers started. Hubby and Daughter decided they'd better direct traffic and show the market customers where to park. The Market purchased 2 parking signs and I believe that helped. Parking did go better today than last year, but still had a couple folks try to drive out the wrong way. And a couple folks didn't like being asked to move their vehicles and drove off in a huff. Oh, well, we don't need customers like that. I've decided to write/print some type of a newsletter explaining the customer parking situation. I'll have copies made and then my son and other kids at the market can pass them out to the customers.

Now to study my Sunday School lesson...it's my turn to teach tomorrow. Then off to work in the garden.

Spring is Here at Patchwork Acres

Haven't posted in quite a while...again! Too much going on. We're getting lots of delicious goat milk and I have been making lots of mozzarella and ricotta cheeses, only because they are the quickest to make. I did make cottage cheese last week and it's almost gone. I also made some mild feta cheese because a couple of folks at church asked me to. I'm hoping that once the farmers markets start (next Saturday is the first one!!!) that I will pick up a few more milk and/or cheese customers. Will make more mozzarella, ricotta, and some strong feta this week.

Spring is finally here!!!!!! And it's been rather windy lately, but at least it's warm now. I've been working in my garden in between making soap, slicing soap, wrapping soap and my regular chores....laundry, cooking, baking, trying to clean house. I had to replant my peas because the first ones didn't come up. Probably because I planted old seed; so I bought new and hopefully they will be sprouting up this week. The spinach mustard and the radishes are up, as well as lettuce and Chinese cabbage. Still have lots of gardening work to keep me and my family busy all summer. If you garden, you know it's an ongoing job.

A funny thing happened last week. I've always heard that calico cats are only female and sterile. But the vets office told me that calicos can have babies. Well, our calico cat had her first and last litter of 5 kittens on April Fool's Day! I say last because after her babies are old enough, Cali will be going to the vets to be fixed and the kittens will get new homes.

The red lacy cotton cardigan I knitted for my daughter is finally finished except for weaving in the ends and sewing on 2 buttons. I'll have to take a picture and post later.

A couple of weeks ago, I set up with one my farmers' markets at a Home and Garden Show. We met lots of folks and sold a lot of soap. I'm looking forward to the farmers' markets starting again.

And since today is Easter Sunday, I hope everyone had a blessed day in celebrating, remembering how our Lord Jesus died for our sins and the best news: He ROSE from the dead! The tomb is empty! Jesus paid the price for our sins and some day we'll be in Heaven with Him! Jesus is Risen! Alleluia, he is risen indeed!

Until next time!

Armani the Goat

Would have posted sooner, but Patchwork Acres was having some internet problems, which turned out to be our phone line that plugs into the wireless Airport. Hubby took care of it, and we're back!

We welcomed a new member to the Patchwork Acres family this week...Armani the Goat! He's a beautiful little Nubian buck from registered stock that we got from our goat friend, Julie. (Hi, Julie!) Julie also took the picture that I've included in today's blog. Look at those long ears! Just what we like on the Nubians. Poor little guy cried so much the first day here that his voice was only a squeak for the next couple of days. Armani has adjusted well to his new home and now he just "talks" a lot, something else Nubians are known for. He drinks his milk as fast as our goat babies, who are 3-4 weeks older than him. And he loves attention just as much as the rest of our goats. Right now, the "big girls" don't pay much attention to Armani, but they will come this Fall/Winter because Armani will be old enough to do his part to increase the goat herd here at Patchwork Acres. :) We're hoping for spotted babies since Armani's sire is spotted.

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! Hubby took the family out to lunch at a local Chinese restaurant. While we were there, a young man proposed to his girlfriend. She said, "Yes." :)

It's been a while since I last posted. Busy making cheeses and soaps. Last time I wrote that I was going to make a strong feta with the lipase powder. It turned out wonderful!!! Really good on salad! It's now my favorite cheese that I make. The mozzarella and ricotta are great, too, and can be used in so many foods or just eaten by themselves. The lasagna I made with these cheeses turned out delish! Next, I want to try a cheesecake recipe and use the ricotta rather than the store-bought cream cheese.

The weather is still cold and dreary and it snowed again last week. The kids were out of school for a couple of days. It was snowing earlier today, but has stopped for now. Weatherman said we could receive an inch or two by tomorrow. But this is MO and you know what "they" say. "If you don't like the weather, just stick around 'cause it'll change again." I am so ready for Spring!!!! Saw a humongous flock of geese flying north on our drive home from church and town. I've been seeing geese heading north since the middle of January, which I thought was a bit early for them. So maybe Spring will be here before we know it.

I have still been knitting away on my daughter's red, cotton, lacy sweater. One and a half sleeves to go, sew up the seams and it will be finished! And I've already got my next couple of projects decided on. Just have to order yarn.

I have a busy week coming up. I will be substitute teaching 3 days and making soaps and cheeses the days I'm home. The Master Gardeners Seminar is a month away and the Home and Garden Show is a little over a month away. I want to make sure to have plenty of soaps for folks to choose from. Then before I know it, it will be time for the Farmers Markets to open. I encourage everyone to support their local farmers markets. And remember this bumper sticker, "No Farmers, no food!"

Cheese, Yogurt, and Kefir

Yesterday I was heating milk, cooling it, and then trying to put the container in the yogurt incubator when, I don't know what I did, but I dropped the container and spilled milk everywhere!!! AAhhh! I didn't have any more dried yogurt starter to start over, so I called hubby and asked him to pick up a box at the local health food store on his way home from work. He surprised me and also brought home a box of kefir starter. I've read about kefir and thought about making it, just never got around to buying the starter. It's supposed to be even more beneficial than yogurt and is made similar to yogurt. Heat the milk to 180 degrees F., but cool to 72-75 degrees F (a lower temperature than yogurt), let sit on the counter in a glass jar with a lid for 24 hours, then put in refrigerator for 8 hours. Then shake the jar, pour a glass, and drink. I'm curious to see what it tastes like.

Last night the kids had their monthly 4-H meeting. We went to a woman's house to hear about recycling in our county. This woman is the driving force behind this project and is working very hard to educate people and encourage recycling. Her dream is to have a recycling center in our community, which will benefit everyone. Less trash going into landfills and more jobs for folks to run the recycling center. I look forward to her dream coming true and I have no doubt it will.

And after I finish blogging, I will make more mozzarella and ricotta cheeses. I made ricotta for the first time this past Tuesday. It's even easier to make than the mozzarella and has a nice taste. I'm going to make lasagna later this week, using both the ricotta and mozz. Last night I mentioned to our County's 4-H Youth Education Coordinator that if any of the 4-H Clubs wanted to learn how to make cheese, to let me know. We have plenty of milk right now and I'd be happy to have them over. Both she and our guest speaker said they'd love to come make cheese. Told them all they had to do was give me a call and we'd pick a time. And with that, I'm off to make cheese!

Remembering Joy

I just wanted to take a few moments to remember a friend that I've never met face-to-face. Her name was Joy and she left this veil of tears on January 3, 2010. She was an elderly lady, whose younger brother and his wife have been friends with my mother since they were in school. She saw my email address in emails her brother sent to the both of us and sent me a message one day several years ago. We began corresponding back and forth. She forwarded lots of interesting emails to me, too. She was a weaver and spinner and had owned Angora rabbits when she was younger. That's how we got to visiting...because I had Angora rabbits years ago and I still spin, and do some weaving, and I love to knit. She was always interested in hearing about my doing spinning demonstrations, attending craft shows, and making cheeses and soaps. She told me just a couple of months ago how much she enjoyed reading my blog to catch up on all my "doings." Even though Joy and I never met each other in person, I'm glad our paths crossed and I know I'll met her face-to-face one day.

There's More!

It's so very, very cold here in Southeast MO! I don't like it and am so ready for late Springtime to arrive.

Hubby goes to barn yesterday morning and then calls the house. "Hey, Honey, you need to bring molasses water to the barn for Fawn." "Why, did she already have her babies?" "Yep, but she's only got a single." No wonder she didn't get as huge as the other does and made us think she wouldn't deliver for a while yet. So I fix a pan of warm molasses water for Fawn, put on my insulated overalls, hat, scarf, hooded barn coat (my daughter's), and gloves and head for the barn. The new baby is up and moving, nice and dry and Fawn almost inhales her sweet water. After we finish all the chores and eat breakfast, I call the doctor to make an appointment for our son later in the morning. He's been sick most of the week and now has a really bad cough and was still having fever off and on. Our younger daughter stayed home to feed the baby goats at lunchtime and take warm water to all the animals.

A few hours later, we are back home. I take hot water out to the animals and get bottles ready for the babies' next feeding. When I get to the barn, I can't find the oldest baby goat and the brand new baby is laying down and shivering. Bring the newest baby goat to the house and tell hubby I can't find the oldest one. So he gets dressed for the cold and goes out to the barn. He found the little goat outside, not too far from the barn, cold and shivering; so he brings him back to the house. We lay them both on towels with hot water bottles to get them warm. Both of the little goats' ear tips were frozen. Now today, the youngest goat's ears are fine, but we're not sure about the other one's. He may lose the ear tips. After another night of having baby goats in the house, they are back at the barn. Hubby shut all the new babies in one stable, so the other goats don't bother them and they can't escape under the sliding barn door.

I made a batch of mozzarella cheese last night. Yum, yum! I have yogurt incubating this morning. Next time I order milk filters, I'm also going to order some lipase powder and try my hand at making a strong feta cheese. I've made lots of the mild, but want to try a new recipe. Now it's lunchtime, but afterwards I'm going to make some more mozzarella. Too late to do cottage cheese now. Should have started it first thing this morning, as it has to sit for several hours.

First Snow Day of 2010

Today is my kids' first snow day of the year and they are glad. We have a little over 2 inches of snow here today and the weatherman says it's going to turn bitterly cold by this afternoon and will be through the weekend.

Ended up bringing another goat kid to the house to get dry and warm. He wasn't eating much, but now he is. He went back to the barn yesterday afternoon. Keep the oldest one in the house overnight, but this morning I asked hubby to take him back as well. He's not eating as much as I'd like, but he is doing fine and I'm tired of cleaning up goat pee and poop. His mama had "adopted" the other does' baby that remained at the barn. How funny for the baby goat to have 2 mamas fussing over him. Hubby rubbed the kid on his mama so he'd smell like her, but if she doesn't take care of him it's okay. We always bottle feed all the baby goats anyway.

I have sourdough rising to make a loaf of sourdough bread and sourdough pretzels. Promised hubby I'd make pretzels over the Christmas break and haven't done that yet.

Because of caring for the new baby goats, I only made 2 batches of soap this week. So much for that New Year's Resolution! I made Castile soap on Monday and coffee soap yesterday. This afternoon I will wrap the Oatmeal & Honey, after I bake the bread and pretzels.

But first, it's time to heat up goat milk for the goat babies and take warm water to the rest of the animals and gather eggs. We aren't getting many eggs right now and hopefully they haven't frozen.

Baby Goats!!!!

Lots of excitement at Patchwork Acres today! First of all, it's my eldest daughter's 23rd birthday. Next, one of the mama goats had twin babies to show my husband when he went to the barn for morning milking chores, in the COLD! The high for today was the low 20's. Anyway, by the time I went to the barn 2 hours later to do my morning chores, one baby had died. The other didn't seem to be doing very well and wasn't up and walking around yet. So I brought him up to the house and put him in the laundry room with a baby gate across the doorway to keep our Scotty dog from bothering him. I laid him on a towel and dried him off more, then covered him with another towel. I sat with him thinking about what I could do to try warm him up and a light bulb went off......hot water bottles! So I filled a 2 liter soda bottle and two 20 oz. bottles with hot water and laid them next to him under the towel. I also was trying to get him to suck on a bottle of his mama's colostrum. In the meantime, after lunch I had to go out and take hot water out to the rabbits and goats and replace the chickens' water bottles, which were all frozen. I heard a baby goat cry and I thought, oh, more babies! Another mama goat had twins babies, dry and moving around! Yeah!!! By late this afternoon, the first baby goat was wobbly, but finally on his feet!!! He's peed a few times and pooped, which is a mess I have to clean up, but good news that everything is working properly. And after supper, he finally drank 4 oz. of colostrum. I am hopeful that he will go back to the barn tomorrow. Before hubby and I go to bed tonight, we will feed all three babies another bottle and they should be good until the morning, where it's 4 times a day bottle feeding for the first week. After that it's 3 times a day until weaning time. We have three more does to kid, but I think it will be a while yet before they arrive.

Happy New Year!

It's been almost a month since I last posted! And that's the last time I've made soap. That will change come tomorrow morning. My New Year's resolution is to make a lot of soaps now so I'll be ready for the spring shows and the farmers' market season starting. Then when it's time to work in my garden, I'll have more time to devote to tilling, planting, and caring for it. Last Spring, it rained so much that the garden was too wet or it was raining so that I couldn't work in it. Or I got a call to substitute teach on the "nice" days and I hated to turn them down. So, I was late in putting in half of my garden and the other half didn't get planted because I was busy making soaps and attending all of the markets. But don't think I'm complaining. I had a very good year with my soaps. I gained more customers and regulars came back to for more of my goat milk soaps and I'm looking forward to more of the same this year.

Back on the gardening topic, I usually start receiving seed and garden catalogs around Christmastime. This year I actually received one the week of Thanksgiving! Received a couple of new ones this year; however, I'll probably only order from my 2 favorite catalogs and buy the rest of my seeds/plants at the local feed store and from some of my market vendors.

Backtracking a bit....My family and I had a good Christmas. My sister and her family, who live in GA, came home to visit. My other sister lives in the area, but I didn't get to see her over the holidays. We visited over the telephone. Watched my kids and their Sunday School perform their Christmas program, which was very nice for a small group. Spent Christmas Day with my in-laws for the first time in many years. In the past we celebrated Christmas at their house on a different day because we've always had to pick up my oldest daughter from her father and it was too late in the day to drive for 3 hours, eat Christmas Dinner and leave right away so we could get home to do the evening chores: feeding animals and milking the goats. Last year my father-in-law said he wanted Christmas on Christmas Day this year, so that's what we did.

I did finally finish my Christmas sewing projects. I had bought Christmas fabric to sew aprons for my mom and sisters' gifts. I have enough leftover to make an apron for my oldest daughter, when I get around to it. She'll have to use it for next Christmas.

The temps here are COLD!!!! Have to go out several times a day to thaw the chickens', rabbits', and goats' waters. Hubby will not be riding his motorcycle to work this week! Weatherman says there's a chance of snow in middle of the week. I'm tired of winter!!! I'll have to remember this cold when I'm sick and tired of the heat and humidity in August.

Well, the kids go back to school tomorrow and hubby goes back to work. And I'll go back to making goat milk soaps, with Lavender, Castile and Coffee soaps at the top of my to-make list.

Rainy Day Today

It's a rainy, dreary day today here at Patchwork Acres. The craft shows are over for this year; but I have to continue making soaps to get ready for next year, which isn't that far off. Today's soap making will be of Oatmeal and Honey Goat Milk Soap. I don't add fragrance to this one and it always smells good.

I haven't put up the Christmas tree yet, but will get to that this week. I have to clean the living room first and re-arrange some items to make room for the tree. This will be the first year that my oldest daughter won't be home anytime over the Christmas Holidays. She's living across the country from us now and and still looking for a job. She has an interview today and she's very hopeful that she'll be offered a position as a permanent substitute teacher for a high school history class.

Hubby did some repair work on one of the chicken houses and we finally moved the chickens, who decided the barn was their house, back into their "real" chicken house. Silly birds! Don't know why they have to hang out down there. Then we get to "hunt" for eggs instead of getting them out of the nest boxes.

Hubby also got his motorcycle put back together and running again. He rode it to work yesterday, but not today. Even though the temperature is up, it's raining and feels colder than it is. And he won't ride it tomorrow because there is a high wind advisory for the area.

I bought supplies for another project....a new purse. I've never sewn a purse before, but I don't think it will be too difficult. I bought extra fabric, which I usually try to do, to use for rag strips for rugs or for patchwork quilt blocks. In fact, I need more rag strips because I made two rugs recently and used up almost all of the strips I had.

I finally, after several weeks, got to play my dulcimer yesterday. Worked on several Christmas songs. Oh, that reminds me, I need to send a web page to Hubby. It's Dulcimer song books I would like to have. He's going to "surprise" me with one or two. Well, it will be a surprise, because I won't know which one or two until Christmas. LOL. I also practiced a very short time on my harmonica. Would like to play again today, but after I make soap, I really need to bake some kind of dessert for the family and get that cleaning done so I can put up the tree. Oh, I should make some fruitcake, too, though it should have already been baked by now. I LOVE fruitcake! My kids don't, but Hubby and I do, so that just leaves more for us. Haha!

Off to get busy now. Later!

A Cool November Day

Yesterday it was raining and foggy all day.  Yuk!   And I baked a delicious Sourdough Chocolate Cake with chocolate frosting.  It's very tasty!

Today is cool, cloudy, and damp.  Another "yuk".  I made a double batch of jalapeno pepper jelly this morning.  It looks like there's still enough peppers to make another single batch, but I have to buy more jelly jars and liquid pectin first.  Later in this afternoon I'm going to make Sourdough Pecan Sticky Buns.  The sourdough "sponge" is doing it's thing  right now....sitting and bubbling away.  I haven't used my sourdough in a while, so I decided to make several sourdough recipes over several days.   When the cake has been eaten, I'm going to bake a Friendship Cake.  It's easy and I haven't made it in quite a while. 

I ordered 2 Christmas Dulcimer songbooks, but sent one back.  It wasn't in the same tuning as I play my dulcimer.  Since I'm a new player, I don't know yet how to rewrite the music, nor do I want to retune my dulcimer.  But hey, the company shouldn't mind that I sent the book back because I ordered another book, more expensive than the first one.  Anyway, the second songbook arrived yesterday and I can play most of the songs.  Just need lots of practice to play smoothly.  I had to laugh because on the front cover it says something to effect of "small hand friendly".  Ha! Ha!  I have small hands and I can't play a couple of the chords.  I have no idea how I'm supposed to reach them.  Luckily the author had a new tip for me:  If you can't reach the bass string in any chord, don't.  The music still sounds like it's supposed to.  That makes it easy and still enjoyable for me to play.

I have a new soap to wrap this afternoon:  Citrus Sage.  This coming weekend is one of the "Big" craft shows of the year.  My younger daughter and I are looking forward to it.  We meet LOTS of people and, of course, sell soaps.

So it's off with me to practice my dulcimer, bake the sticky buns, and wrap soap!

CATS

Last Saturday my younger daughter and I were vendors most of the day at a local church bazaar.  It was late and dark when we got home.  After the evening chores were finished and since it was still warm outside, Hubby and I decided to sit on the front porch and play with our 4 House cats.  (They are called House cats because they hang around our house, as opposed to the Barn cats, who hang out at the barn.)   Earlier when I was unloading the soaps from the vehicle and carrying them into the house, the cats were meowing at me, trying to rub on my legs and walking between my feet---whatever they could do to get my attention.  However, when I sat down and wanted to hold one of them, any of them, they had other things to do!  The barn cats had come up to the house to see if they were missing any fun.  All of the cats were either wrestling with other, chasing a spider or a moth, or chasing each other.   No one wanted to sit on Mama's lap to be petted!  Not a single cat!  And I kept fussing to my husband that my kitties didn't love me anymore.  Finally I got a hold of Bandit, a pretty black and white cat (one of 3 black and white cats), and set him on my lap and started petting.  He decided it was lap time and he stayed right there, purring contentedly, until I was ready to go in for the night.  That's all I wanted, to hold one of my kitties for a little while.  But they were fun to watch while they were playing.  

What's up at Patchwork Acres?

Well, we've had quite a lot of rain last week, actually a lot for the month of October.  It caused several accidents last week, one of which included my husband and his motorcycle.  Thank God, he's okay!  He didn't get a scratch, but his bike is out of commission for the time being.  He's waiting to get a repair estimate from the shop so he can turn it in  to the insurance and then decide what he's going to do.  Either repair the bike himself, which is most likely what he'll do, or buy another used bike or buy a new bike.  Because of his accident, I was unable to do the spinning demonstration at an area elementary school last week.  We only have one other vehicle and hubby needed that to get to work.  

The new baby goats are doing well.  Since it's stopped raining, the goats are going outside to the fields or the woods.  They don't particularly like getting wet; so if it's raining, they're hanging out in the barn.  

One of my younger daughter's friends has taken some of the barn kitties to his house.  That will help out on the cat food bill.  I like cats, but we had too many.  Now I only have 2 more females to get spayed before this next spring.  

I washed and hung a load of clothes outside on the "solar dryer" this morning.  I had to use the electric dryer last week because of the rain.  I prefer to hang the laundry outside as often as I can because I'd don't like using the electric dryer.  I keep seeing the dollars adding up on the utility bill.   I even hang the laundry out when it gets cold, as long as it's not below freezing or raining or snowing outside.  I have to hang it out first thing in the morning to give it plenty of time to dry before dark.  

All of the regular farmers' markets are over now until next spring.  The winter market we joined that's located  St. Louis will open next week, but I won't be able to go because I'm already committed to craft show that weekend.   And I'm still busy making soaps for the craft shows that are coming up.  This morning I made a batch of Green Irish Tweed Goat Milk Soap.  MMMmmm, smells good in my house!

Some really exciting news about my younger daughter.  She received an invitation to apply for admission at the Missouri Academy of Mathematics, Science, and Computer Science.  If she's accepted (of which I have no doubt she will be since she's an almost straight A student), she'll be attending the last 2 years of high school there.  She'll receive a high school diploma and a 2-year Associate's degree and have a head start on her regular college career.  We are already familiar with this program since my older daughter graduated from this school several years ago.

I've been busy knitting baby socks from leftover sock yarn.  I'll have them for sale along with my soaps at the craft shows.  I've almost finished a 2nd pair this week.  I'm using a wonderful bamboo, wool, and nylon yarn.  It's very soft and comfy on the feet!  I'm still working on the lacy, red cotton cardigan for my younger daughter.  I had hoped to have it finished already, but now my goal is to finish it by this spring.  I have too many irons in the fire right now.

I really need/want to finish sewing a skirt that I started quite a while ago because my daughter is ready to learn to sew.  She's been checking out patterns for dresses that she wants to make.  I think she'll first sew a few aprons for her older sister and for me.  Then she can tackle a dress.

My dulcimer lessons are going well, when I can find the time to practice.  I can play the melody fine, just have to work on moving my fingers faster on the chords on the faster songs.  I'm sure that will come with lots of practice and time.

Well, it's time for Y&R, so I'll go watch that and finish that pair of baby socks.

What's Happening at Patchwork Acres?

Our last pregnant goat finally gave birth yesterday to twins!  Seems like the poor thing was pregnant forever.  Mama and babies are doing well and we'll start bottle-feeding in a couple more days.  

It's been so rainy, cold and chilly this last week!  Last Saturday my family and I left the Saturday morning farmers' market early because of the cold.  There were only 5 vendors and about that many customers.  Three more weeks to go and the markets will be over until we start going to the once-a-month winter market in St. Louis, which we are looking forward to.

I do have Christmas shows that will be starting soon, so I have lots of goat milk soaps to make and wrap.  In fact, next week I'm attending a planning meeting for one of my Christmas shows.  I have a new scent, Magnolia Magnifique, to add to my list.  If you like florals, you'll probably like this one.  I have shaving soap in the molds that I will take out once I finish blogging and checking email. 

Speaking of blogging, I attended an Agritourism Celebration this week and one of the speakers talked about using social media for advertising.  She said that blogs are supposed to be updated 2 or 3 times a week.  I guess that means I'm a bad blogger because I don't update my blog that often.    Anyway, about 95%  of the meal was locally grown foods and the chef did a wonderful job preparing them!  Delicious!!!!  Go local foods!

I have a new passion!  I bought a mountain dulcimer yesterday from a local man.  His price is so reasonable.  Better than buying on the internet and again it was from someone local, who I'd rather support any day.  It was the last one he had in stock.  So now he'll have to make more for the next customer(s) who want one or two.  Oh, it is so gorgeous! It's made of sycamore wood, which is a light, multi-colored wood.   I could hardly wait until after supper so I could sit down to start learning how to play.  It is so easy and so much fun!!!!  I used an electronic tuner to make sure it was in tune.  Let me tell you, that was so easy to do.  Traditionally, mountain dulcimers, or lap dulcimers, are played with a quill.  Since my son has a stash of feathers from one of our farmers' market vendors, I asked him for one.   It works as well as a plastic guitar pick, which my daughter is loaning me until I get back to the music store to buy some picks for myself.  I'm eyeing several (5 or 6) dulcimer music books on internet, so once I buy them, I should be set on PLENTY of music to play.  The only thing else I could really use is a music stand so my music can be directly in front of my at about the same height as my dulcimer on my lap.  This will make it easy to look back and forth between the music and the dulcimer.   Hhmmm, will have to add that on the list next to the guitar picks.  

My daughter and I have also joined the local Cat Ranch Art guild.  I know some of the members and 2 in particular have been trying for while to get us to join.  We attended their Cat Ranch Round-up two weekends ago, where we sold soaps and I demonstrated spinning on my Babe production spinning wheel.  People were amazed that I was spinning wool on a wheel made of PVC pipes and a wheel chair wheel.  So since my daughter and I are both artist, creative types, and we "caved"  haha! and joined the guild last week.  The folks we have met so far are really nice and very encouraging of everyone's talents.  And the Guild is already planning on next year's Cat Ranch Round-Up.  It's going to be bigger than ever, with lots of activities and music, and most important, the members artistic creations will be on display and for sale.  Stayed tuned for more info!

I have to go now and wash dishes and then I'm going to make mozzerella cheese because I have lots of goat milk now.  I made mild feta cheese for my husband and yesterday it was ready to eat.  However, he likes marinated feta, so I put in several jars with Italian dressing.  Once it sets for several more days, it will be ready to eat.  As long as it stays covered with the oil, it will keep indefinitely.  As least that's what my recipe book says.  Marinated feta never lasts long enough around here to know for sure how long it will keep!  

Until next time.