The coyotes seem to have given us a break recently. Between permanently moving Thornton outside and doing a better job making sure the electric fence isn’t shorted out, we haven’t lost any animals to predators in a few months. So what do we do to celebrate… get more animals I guess.
Nippa the milk machine had a pair of very nice kids last March. Rex, the boy, has found a home with Linda’s (the lady we got Nippa from) neighbour, but Linda figured Nippa could use some company and sent Cocoa our way rather than continue to spend money to … Read the rest
This was the most dramatic northern-lights display I saw in Alaska. It happened on Valentines day 2012. The kids and I spent almost an hour outside at 30+ below zero watching this because it was so beautiful.
Can’t sleep tonight, so I’ll upload a few older pictures from the time-frame when we weren’t updating the blog. These are from when Isaac and Sydney tested for Green-Belt in Tae Kwan Do. The instructor frequently had them spar each other until Sydney learned to fight back instead of just try to run away from her little brother.
Nippa, the milk machine, generally produces almost exactly the amount of milk we tend to drink every day as a family. However, when one or more of us aren’t here, the milk can begin to pile up in the fridge. Recently I spent several days out of town for work, and Sydney had spent a week at summer church camp. That translated into a couple gallons that were threatening to go bad if we didn’t do something useful with them. To add to the problem, Liz had bought a half-gallon of cream from the dairy down the street, but had … Read the rest
Liz has never really liked the idea of an “inside dog,” coyotes were wreaking havoc on our chickens, and we were planning on going on a family vacation for two weeks and leaving the Dog outside to “protect” the other animals and to make it much easier on the family who was going to be feeding and watering the animals. The dog would need somewhere to get out of the weather. Because the barn is behind the back pasture fence and I don’t like the idea of the dog hanging out in the chicken coop I decided the best option … Read the rest
I love bread. However, with the nutrition approach Liz has adopted you’re supposed to soak all grains overnight in an acidic liquid before consuming/cooking them to break down phytic acid. The conventional (if you can call it that) method is to add a few tablespoons of cultured whey to act as a starter and get lacto-fermentation going to generate the acid. However, I don’t like the flavor the whey adds. To make it worse, most of my recipes for homemade bread don’t include an overnight soak/rise.
Sourdough, on the other hand, essentially is an overnight soak because it can take … Read the rest
I thought things were getting pretty bad a while ago when our collection of animals grew from ONE dog and three children to a gaggle of chickens, the dog, and a series of feral cats (never more than two at a time). One thing I’m learning though is that if you are willing to accept responsibility for an animal, someone will be willing to give one to you. Thanks to the wiles of the coyotes we were down to one cat and had cut our chicken flock substantially, so of course we needed to fill the void with something… Enter … Read the rest
It never fails… the best fun always happens when I’m not around. I happened to be out of town this last week for work. Were Liz and I to trade places, I’m pretty sure I’d go crazy with her on the road from time to time and me left at home to manage all the affairs. This week though, she gave me even more evidence of her outstanding ability and my unworthiness in comparison.
As I was boarding my plane early Friday AM to come home I noticed a voice-mail that must have come in while my phone was going … Read the rest
Liz came home the other day with a new definition. I doubt it would show up in Webster’s or any other authoritative dictionary, but anyone who has ever had boys will almost certainly recognize it.
One of the blessings of this life is that every day presents some form of opportunity to learn. This week, among other things, I got a somewhat painful lesson about the wisdom of wearing gloves when trying to wrangle sheep, and a reminder that you shouldn’t wear your good sunglasses when painting a barn.
We have a good friend a few miles from here who is single and somewhat elderly. When her husband died of cancer a little over a year ago, she was left to run the 10-acre homestead on her own. She’s quite capable, but when it comes … Read the rest
