To Do:

Here is the latest draft of our 'To Do' list.

The list of stuff to get done this spring/summer/fall -

Grain bin turned Chicken house - get ready for summer, install false ceiling, electricity, and heater before november
rebuild front porch
remove bees from front porch column
new roof on both porches
repair main roof
repair/replace gutters
paint house
weatherize addition and basement
cut enough firewood to last through next winter
line chimney
fix enough fence for us to get a bred milk cow next spring
clean out haunted chicken house and make sure it's in good enough shape to use as shelter for the cow when necessary
rock driveway (and the casbah)
clean up trash and get a big brush burn done - (last on list since ground can be frozen when we do this)


tentative list for next year (spring/summer/fall 2010) -

Get Bees
replace main roof
change the opening for the old basement garage into wall with exterior bulkhead door and storm shelter
prepare fence and housing for bred sow to be purchased spring of 2011
fence and shelter for sheep in spring of 2011?
expand cow facilities?
prepare for brooding hens to hatch spring of 2011
finish junk cleanup

Bread

I love the 5 minute artisan bread thing. I love that I no longer feel like an idiot who can't make bread. 

I used to have a friend who was a whiz in the kitchen and often mocked me for my fumbling incompetence. Bread, I thought, is only something master bakers can do. There is something magical about the yeast, salt, flour, water combo turning into bread, rising, and then singing. 

And yet, the peasants of France could make it daily. It has been a staple in the diets of humans from the ancient times. Why can't I get this mass of goo to be more than playdough, I often lamented.

Well, now I can make bread. Simple bread. I love this book. I love these recipes. I love that I can share it with others. 

The picture above is the calzone I made last week with the boule. I tried to use the recipe in teh book but it had some problems: my ricotta was spoiled and the recipe used no meat. So I improvised. The stuffing for the calzone is as follows:

1 block of feta cheese

3/4 lb of ground pork, browned and seasoned with black pepper

spinach leaves

2 eggs

Mix eggs and cheese

Roll out floured boule to a large flat circle, layer ingredients on one half, fold over, cut three slits, and bake at 450 until browned.

Today I experimented with size because the complaint at dinner was that it would be easier to eat if made in individual pockets. It is not working in smaller pockets. Today's filling I am using chicken meat and red peppers with the cheese and using pumpernickle bread instead of white boule. Mmmmmmm. I don't care if the cheese busted out of the side. Yum.

* edited to add. Lunch turned out more like a quiche. I am not sure why, but it is still tasty.

Farm Sunday

Mucking out the chicken house. Chicks arrive in three weeks!

Planting shelling peas and sugar snaps. We re-purposed some loose cattle panels for the trellis. 

Lily took it upon herself one afternoon to remove all the corn stalk nubs from the garden beds. I didn't ask her to, as I was going to use them as markers to plant beans by. I like that she decided to do this intense chore, did it, came in and cleaned up, and it was no big deal. Just something that she saw needed to be done, so she did it. 

Diaper Stash, a confession

This lovely dresser is BUILT INTO my bathroom wall. Awesome. 

This is almost my entire pocket diaper stash. Yes, all of it. I am embarrassed to say, I found the missing diapers, clean, at the bottom of a laundry basket of clean clothes that I hadn't processed (folded, put away). I found them about 3 weeks after I posted that I lost them and forgot to update the status. The lovely Tattooedmama gave me the pretties on the bottom right hand side to offset the loss during those 3 weeks.  Thank you J B-B! 

This is my stash of contoured inserts (gifted to us by Laurie B, from park day- Thank you!) and covers: 3 fleece Wallypops, three Thirsties. I also keep the BumGenuis newborn insert soakers in this drawer (on the left). I've started to use a cover with two inserts for overnight because it is less bulky and doesn't leak. To stuff a BG leakproof for overnight (since she sleeps right on through, though still stirs to eat) it is 1 reg + 2 newborns and that is just too bulk for comfort for her, yet still sometimes leaks.....

This is the changing station, at a right angle to the toilet and the dresser. Little can is for poopies and big for just wets. I have not gotton the hang of our new front loader yet for diapers and separating the poops for rinsing in the potty (we are in the sticky poo, soilds+milk transition) and a rinse in the washer before adding the wets to the wash, is helping right now getting them all clean in just that rinse + wash cycle. Other wise it was wash +wash + rinse and diapers take ALL FREAKING DAY TO WASH. Not so good. 

This is the blue drawer in the station. Dry wipes on left, pink wet bucket on right. The station is just too far from the sink to make wetting a wipe each time practical. Only a few go in the wet or it can get musty. Bag balm is in here too, that's what we use if Blueberry starts to get yeast build up in her folds. Works very well and we don't get build up on the diapers. 

So that's the tour of my diaper station! TMI? ;)