So Much For Resolutions

See how long they lasted? At least the one about blogging weekly?

Well, I have kept going to the gym. We missed the last couple of days because of the icy roads, but as it is better today, we will go tomorrow. I found a new favorite machine there. The treadclimber. A sort of hybrid between a treadmill and the eliptical. Burns beaucoup calories without hurting my back. It can pull on the thigh muscles, though.

I have kept my expenses accounted for. Too many of them, but accounted for. I have started a price book to help me navigate through the stores I usually visit, and to help me spot when a "special offer" is really a bargain rather than a come-on.

I have kept a track of most of my food intake. A couple or three days I didn't write everything down. But it gets easier as it becomes a habit.

I have lost three pounds. Not an earth-shattering amount, but slow and steady helps me feel less "diet-y" I plan on losing around 5 pounds per month. If I don't reach that goal, oh well! I am not going to beat myself up. I am eating healthier, at least.

I have had two new lambs born. They are both doing really well. I had to bottle feed the second one for a day before momma would take over, but the second day she was all over her...

Well, that is about it for this week. Take good care of yourselves!

Wishing You All a Prosperous New Year

I generally don't bother to make New Year resolutions, because I always break them almost before the year begins. However, there are a very few that I need to make this year to make my life easier.

1) I will keep up my exercise program. I have been going to the gym 5-6 days per week for the last few months. I need to do so to build strength and stamina so I won't feel so tired.

2) I will keep track of my calories and carbohydrates. I am overweight. Well - to be perfectly truthful - my BMI says I am actually obese. Part of that is my low thyroid, part my diabetes but mostly it's because even though I don't eat a lot I do eat more carbs than is good for my blood sugar - which means excess insulin, which is part of the fat storage system. I use Fitday.com, a great system that is free if you use it online and only around $30 if you get the downloadable version onto your desktop. I need to record everything that passes my lips. Whenever I keep good food records (3) happens.

3) Inevitably linked to (2) is the "I will lose weight". Not really because I want to be slender and sexy again (though that would be nice!!) But because losing the excess weight should improve some of my health problems - namely my blood pressure and my diabetes. I will post my results weekly as an incentive not to cheat.

4)I will keep better track of my budget. I am pretty frugal, and generally live within my means, but DH is likely to retire sometime in the New Year. That will mean a reduction of income and a need to watch every penny and make it squeak. To this end I have purchased the cheapest version of Quicken and set it up with all the general information needed. I did not give it access to my account numbers and pins - who knows where that information gets stored or sent? Or who has access to it (legally or otherwise)?

5) I have made a sort of plan to help me be more efficient through the day, using the worksheets on the Donna Young website. How well I will keep up to it remains to be seen. One thing you can say about me - I am probably the most disorganized person you know.

6) My last resolution is to keep up my blog this year. I did a really poor job this last year. It is easy to make excuses to not do something. I want to make at least one entry per week.

I wish each and every one of you a Happy and Prosperous New Year
Mary

Who'da Thunk?

Here it is - 27th December. Almost another year gone. So many things have happened this year. My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. We knew that she was getting forgetful, and rather suspected the diagnosis, but to actually have it out there and acknowledged is a blow. She has her good days and her bad ones. But each time I talk to her I can hear a deterioration. It hurts. We expect our mothers to go on and on - perfect and healthy - to have them sick seems an affront to us.

My dad had a heart attack right about this time last year. He has been doing well. He and Mom still live in their small retirement apartment. My brother and sister in law visit and help a lot with weekly shopping, etc., but they still walk to the local shops for day today needs.

I was diagnosed with CLL - Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia - a few months ago. As the name suggests, this is not a dangerous and acute illness. If one were to choose a cancer, this is definitely the one to pick. Painless, and with little effect on quality or quantity of life. About the only current symptom is that I get tired a lot easier than I used to. Just everyday living can get exhausting pretty quickly. But to look on the bright side, I now have a good excuse for being fat and lazy.

My dear grand daughter Krystal had her sweet sixteen birthday this year. Hard to believe that long has gone by. It seems like only yesterday I was visiting with Amanda in the hospital and admiring the tiny brand new bundle.

Stuart and Catherine presented us with a darling baby girl this year - Norah Laine made her appearance on Dec. 7th. I don't think I have ever seen Stuart so totally besotted. I didn't see Norah out of his arms the entire time I visited. He is already wrapped firmly around that tiny little finger of hers...

This year Christmas was very quiet and low key. Ken and I spent it alone by choice. I had a very slow and relaxed schedule, and did most of the work ahead of time so little needed to be done on the actual day. We plan on spending the rest of the week living on leftovers!

New Year. A time for resolutions and plans. My resolution is to continue with my exercise program in order to build up my stamina, and to work harder on my diet. Problem is that everything that I really enjoy eating has lots of both carbs and fat and I am supposed to restrict the former pretty strictly and the latter to at least a reasonable level. I will write down what I eat on my Fitday program so at least I will know where I mess up!

I have also joined a group challenge to cut grocery spending to a dollar per day per person. I have probably got a year's worth of meat in the freezers, and another year's worth on the hoof and I plan on gardening again this next year (hopefully year round this time) so I should be able to do it if we eat strictly what we produce with only the addition of things we can't such as fruit, flours, sugar, honey, etc.

Well, that is enough for today. I will make the resolution to keep up my blog in 2011, even if only once a week.

Until next time - Happy New Year.

Catching up is hard to do...

I know I am supposed to keep posting to this blog, even when there is not a lot to post about. However, sometimes I just don't feel up to it. I have felt that way for quite some time now. I don't know why. So here is a sort of "catch-up" of all that has happened since my last post.

First - my ewes all lambed. I don't have that many - four to be precise. All twinned except Littlest U, who had a singleton. The photo is of Momma U, one of my original girls, and her twin daughters. The colored one is called Fancy Pants and I will be keeping her.

We finally finished the hoophouse. Yes - all that nagging finally paid off. It has plastic on, doors built and everything. I celebrated by planting brocolli, tomatoes, onions, lettuce and beets which are all doing well.

I started off a lot of seeds. I could have started the tomatoes earlier. I was probably about right with the peppers and eggplants. I should have started the beans and squash later. But one of these days I will get it just right. I have a black thumb, but I don't let that get in the way of my ambitions to be a self-sufficient gardener. I am now frantically playing catch-up on the re-potting of the seedlings. That seems like a never-ending chore right now.

I bought some fruit trees - two apples, a peach, a plum, a fig and on a whim I ordered a "five in one" pear tree. I am not convinced that it will actually do well, but it was intriguing so I succumbed. I also ordered a couple of bush cherries. I see a lot of pies, jam, wine and canning in my future.

I hatched some more eggs. I hatched a dozen and all the chickies were doing well. I put them out a week ago, and two days ago one of the LGDs killed 9 of them. I was furious, and he knew it. I suspect that he will be VERY wary of anything with feathers after this. I don't understand why he did it though. He never bothers the three ducks and the several adult chickens that free range. Maybe he had a brain freeze.

I am currently incubating some Black Copper Marans eggs. I am very excited about them as they are a dark, dark brown. They look as if they are made out of chocolate. I also threw in some eggs from my chickens. They will be mixed breed, but meaty.

I have taken delivery of some nice alfalfa to last me till this year's first cutting and have got this year's round bales ordered. Last year I didn't get enough and I was scrambling the last few weeks to find anything at all that didn't cost an arm, a leg and my first-born. It will be nice to know that I won't have to worry next year.

I think that is about it. Up to date. I will have to add some photos later.

Christmas is postponed this year...

Feeling very smug about having all my Christmas shopping done early, I paid scant attention to the weather. Wednesday before Christmas I went to the feed store to ensure a plentiful supply of bagged feed for the animals, and to the local Wally World to get fresh produce for the turkey stuffing. After that I just went about my life in a normal manner. There was mention of snow, maybe colder temperatures, but nothing prepared us poor Oklahomans for blizzards and state-wide road closings! I know that those of you "from up North" find our alarm and snow-storm ineptitude laughable. But when you get 10' snowfalls and below 0F temperatures on a regular basis your local and State officials are prepared with veritable mountains of sand and salt, and hundreds of snow/ice defeating machines of Leviathan proportions. Here, because we deal with this rarely, we have a much lesser ability to cope when Mother Nature throws a tantrum.

So. As Christmas Eve dawned I smoked the Christmas Turkey and prepared the cranberry sauce and stuffing. The heavy rain we had in the morning had turned to sleet when we went out to feed the animals and ensure that they had adequate bedding. The temperature was dropping rapidly, but this is Oklahoma. Nothing ever lasts more than a couple of hours. Only when we turned on the 6 o'clock news did we see the full extent of the snow-storm. Oklahoma City had it's highest Christmas snowfall since they started recording this sort of thing in 1890. Everywhere there were white-outs, blizzards and impassable roads. The Governor declared a State of Emergency and ordered the National Guard out to help the sorely over-loaded emergency services with finding and rescuing those trapped in their vehicles. The travel advisory service had just one word of advice "Don't".

By Christmas morning we had only about 5-6 inches of snow laying on the ground, but the heavy winds that had blown Thursday and overnight had mounded up some drifts that came well up my thighs. Our local highway was closed as were almost all the interstates. Those that weren't officially closed were extremely icy and hazardous with abandoned vehicles scattered everywhere. I called Amanda and found that the major road leading to her house was closed so there was no way we could travel there. It was all very disappointing.

Ken and I hunkered down. We fed and watered the animals, then set up the new DVD player that was our gift to us. We listened to traditional Christmas music and I cooked a piece of ham. It was pleasant but it wasn't the same without the children's laughter, the traditional family games and being surrounded by the warmth that is family.

Despite the disappointment, we are very lucky. We have plenty of good food, a warm home, we can at least call our loved ones on the phone. Our animals are well-fed and safe from the storms. I know there are many out there right now who have none of these privileges and my heart goes out to them. I hope everyone reading this had a warm, wonderful Christmas in the company of those they loved and I wish everyone a happy and prosperous New Year.

A Lady of Virtue

That would be me, in case you didn't recognise my new title. I am feeling particularly virtuous today because not only did I spare Ken the ignominy of eating cold turkey sandwiches yet again, I also have the value-added virtuosity of creating something truly delicious in the process: Turkey and Bean Soup. The beans go particularly well in this because the turkey was smoked, as was the bacon.

I put the turkey carcass - including the unused thigh and the few leftover slices of meat - into the huge roaster-thingy. I added a couple of cans of chicken stock (on sale at Wally World for 48 cents each!) and a couple of quarts of water and left it simmering gently overnight. I soaked a bag of dried beans (the 15-bean soup ones) overnight too. This morning I took out the carcass and picked all usable meat from it and returned that to roaster. I added a couple of good sized onions, a few chopped celery stalks, leaves and all, several chopped cloves of garlic, a chunk of the pepper-cured bacon I made the other day, the beans, another couple of quarts of water and a huge can of crushed tomatoes ($2.50 or so at Sam's). It is now simmering merrily and the taste I just had of it had me going "Mmm, Mmm, Good". It is a thick, substantial soup with a hint of smokey flavor. I will add a grind or so of pepper later and we will have a large bowl of this soup, garnished with grated cheese, along with home-made bread for dinner tonight. As there is at least 10 or more quarts of it, I will freeze the rest in handy portions so that we can enjoy it at a later date.

Learning Curves - A Reflection

This morning we didn't just breakfast - we Dined. Sumptuously. What did we have? you might ask. A spread of gargantuan proportions? A fancy feast such as one would get at a seven-star resort? Some complicated dish that took me hours to prepare? No. We had bacon, eggs and toast. Simple fare for sure. But the bacon was home raised from the time it was a baby piglet, farm-butchered at 200 pounds, and home cut, cured and smoked. The eggs were from our more-or-less free ranging hens. The bread I baked myself last night from my current favorite recipe using some organic flour and home-grown and home-dried herbs. The flavors in this simple meal were deep and complex. I am convinced that this is because each element had the kind of life it was supposed to lead.

The pig ran or basked in the sunshine, wallowed in the mud, rooted in the garden, was fed good food and was petted daily. She had two friends for company, and they got on very well. She had a good, happy life until the very last split second. Even then, she was doing what she loved most - eating. I was very fond of her, and I look forward to getting more piglets next year.

The hens have a large grassy enclosure in the back yard. That is where their coops are and where they are fed and watered. But they are frequently out of it because their wings are as nature intended, and they can fly the fence. They hunt bugs, scratch for worms and seeds, wander around the three field areas - two have found where my garden is, but right now they are not doing any damage, so I will let them be. They, too, have a pretty good life and all I ask is an egg now and then, perhaps a clutch of chicks once in a while. The ducks have their own enclosure with a small pool, though they can actually leave the run they are in and go swim in the creek when they want to - which is most days.

If you had told me thirty years ago that I would be sitting here today writing of butchering and other rural activities I would have laughed in your face and called you crazy. Twenty years ago I would have given you an amused smile and ten years ago I would have told you "I could NEVER do all that". Yet, here I am. My whole life has been a journey that led me inexorably back to my childhood desire to own a small farm.

At that time, of course, I had no idea of how hard the life could be or how unforgiving Mother Nature is. I never thought about getting up in the freezing dawn to go feed animals. Or staying all night in a cold barn to ensure a safe birthing. Or weeding under a blazing sun. Or losing a whole summer's work to a freak storm. It seemed idyllic, always sunshine and sweet animals and bountiful crops in the garden. My uncle Len, who had pigs and chickens and a huge market garden always seemed to have everything under control and worked at what seemed a leisurely pace. My uncle Jim had a small Jersey dairy herd and also seemed to work slowly and deliberately. He moved his few cows down a picturesque narrow lane between their pasture and the milking parlor twice a day. "Cush, cush" kept them moving nicely. (Strangely enough, this doesn't work on Texas Longhorns, but that's another story) He milked by hand and when I was there he would give me large cups of delicious creamy milk still warm from the udder.

Now I know that the pace of work is also a measure of care. Nothing escaped the eagle eyes of these two gentlemen. What I thought of as easy indolence was, in fact, them taking the time to check each individual animal, to ensure that they were in top health, so they could intervene early if they were not. When I started out with livestock I lost a few due to my ignorance. I did not recognise the early signs that could have been treated. My delays cost the animals their lives. I did not appreciate Len's gardening skills until I tried my own hand and failed miserably at producing a fraction of what he did. I am getting better, but how I wish that he were still with us so that I could ask him all the questions I need answered.

Each year I try to improve upon the last. My animal skills are getting quite a bit better. So much so that I can provide us with enough home grown meat year round that I never have to buy it from the grocery store. I have learned to stand, quiet and still, and observe them several times a day. Now I have an idea of how they look and behave when they are healthy, I can recognise if they are even a little "off". I wish I could say the same for my gardening skills. I still have a brown thumb. But I am trying to develop my well-hidden talents in that area. I am pretty good at growing lettuces and baby greens. I can grow radishes. I usually get decent tomato, cucumber and squash crops. Those amongst you who are the gardening whiz-kids will be curling your lips right about now or politely suppressing a guffaw. But to me, every ripe fruit or vegetable I get to the table is a small accomplishment, a small baby-step further than I was. It is my hope that one day I will be able to grow enough to have rows and rows of home canned goods that will get me proudly through the winter.