Relief

Well, the chickies are still alive. It would be my luck to decide to put them outside during the one week that a weird front moves through and makes it cold. Two week of beautiful weather and then freezing.

Ok, not actually freezing, but it feels like it after 90 degree temps for a week.

But, they are moving around and eating so I think they are going to be ok. *breath sigh of relief*.

On another note, I spent lots of money yesterday on two splurges. I ordered a large amount of kefir culture from Leeners. What is kefir?

Kefir is a milk product made from cultures. It is similar to yogurt. Now I could also say it is fermented milk, but to most American palates, fermentation just doesn't sound good.

But Kefir is very very good. And it is very good for you. My favorite way to drink kefir is in smoothie form in the morning. I blend it with strawberries, bananas, a little honey and ice. Yummm! I haven't had it in almost six months but I placed an order with Leeners yesterday and I can't wait til they deliver it.

Of course, I won't be able to drink it right away. What I buy from Leeners is the live culture. When I get it, I take a gallon of milk. I use store bought milk for now but I'm hoping that will change in the future. You could use any type of milk (cow, goat, even coconut I'm told,even though it technically isn't milk). I then heat the milk up to 86 degrees. Once it's there I take it off the heat and pour in the powdered culture. Once the culture is all mixed in I pour the milk into half gallon ball jars and wait.

It's really up to you how long you wait. I'm told that the longer it sits the more sour it gets. I let it sit between 18 and 24 hours and then stick it in the fridge.

It can last for a couple of weeks but mine never make it that long. The really beautiful part about kefir is that you can re-batch it. Theoretically, you can re-batch as many times as you want but the taste does change. I usually re-batch once and then start over with a fresh culture.

You can use it in baking as well. Just replace any buttermilk with kefir, I think on a 1:1 ratio. Although if you're going to try it I would do a little research. I've never baked with it, I just like to drink it.

So, that was one splurge yesterday. My second splurge was from Brambleberry.

I absolutely love to make soap. I started almost a year ago after doing an embarrassingly large amount of research. Now I make a large batch ever other month or so and it's all we use. We don't buy shampoo or conditioner either. The soap I make works so much better than any shampoo bought in the store. For conditioner, I use a mixture of water and apple-cider vinegar. No, my hair doesn't stink.

I buy all of my soap making supplies from Brambleberry. The stuff I bought yesterday is mostly for the soap I am going to be making for my sister-in-law's baby shower next month. After I make everything I'll post pictures. Or maybe that will be my first tutorial! I like that idea.

Internet and Pictures!

We finally got internet here at the house and I gotta say it has been a relief. Not only can I get the news and the weather updates(which is good considering the devastation that has been going on in TN) but I can also research more about the adorable chickens and make sure I don't kill them.

Aren't they just too cute. In two weeks I would say they have more than doubled in size. We have let them outside a few times to try and harden them up and when the nights get a little warmer we will be able to put them outside permanently! I'm told that after having chickens for several years, that the cuteness will become irrelevant, we'll see.

I mentioned before that I had lots of pictures to share and I do. Some of them are relevant to the farm and some are just for fun.

Isn't this neat?! I had just gotten out of the shower and was trying to make sure I didn't drip on anything that wasn't supposed to get wet when I noticed this. How cool! A heart in my footprint.

We planted a total of maybe 12 rosebushes early this spring. In lots of different colors too. White, pink, red, blue, purple, and yellow. This is the fist bloom!

I've posted pictures of fire here on the blog before. And I'm going to do it again. Maybe I'm a pyromaniac and don't know it. These pictures were a result of us burning off some of the rubber from the wire we had collected. I had seen different colors of flame before but never so many all in the same fire.

                                                    Just another picture of the pretty flames.

And another.

Just one more.

Ok, last one. Promise.

This year is a very important year for Middle Tennessee. 13 years ago the cicadas came. And this year they are coming back. The closest I ever came to a cicada was seeing the shells stuck on the trees. I mean, 13 years ago, not only was I not in middle TN but I was 12 year old. Bugs were gross.

While I'm still not too terribly fond of them. I'm also not 12 years old anymore and I can see them for their usefulness and yes, sometimes for their beauty. 

I cannot take credit for these pictures. The Farmer took them. They are his. I was sitting in the living room, reading when he came rushing inside and then back outside saying over his shoulder, photo op. Well, ok. Then he came back in and showed me this picture. It begins.

 A few hours later. It's kinda cool.

 The next day. Isn't it pretty? The new one, not the shell.

Our garden has started. We've had so much rain though, I think our peas have rotted. We'll have to replant them.

We didn't plant this tomato plant from seed because we are impatient for fresh tomatoes.

And here is our first one!

The lettuce is coming up nicely even with the weeds that we haven't pick because we haven't had a dry day in ages.

This is only a few of the potato plants, but they are coming up great. I'm so excited!

We also have carrots, beets, and three kinds of peppers. We have a whole box of seed packets that we have yet to plant. We just haven't had a chance, but hopefully if it stays dry we can get some more plants planted. It's still kinda hectic around here. We are living here but we are sleeping on an air mattress in our closet. We don't have a washer/dryer, so every week the Farmer has to go to the apartment after work and wash clothes. But it'll get better. 

He did bring most of my baking supplies to the house for me so I can start baking again! I love it and I've missed it. I'll even do tutorials!

For the rest of the day I'm going to paint the master bedroom. Once it's done then we will move on to the guest room. Then we'll carpet! 

Thanks for reading!

Melissa

Revelation

A few days ago I found out that I had become dependent on the internet. Not for work or anything but just addicted to browsing. How did I find this out?

We moved.

That's right. We moved into our house and left a lot of things behind at the apartment. For now. Things like my computer. And of course, for once, I had my camera and was taking pictures of everything. These wonderful pictures will come into the next post.

So, posts might be few and far between for a week or two until we get internet connections set up. Since we are so far out in the country we are going to have to go satellite, which is new for both of us.

For now, I will post when we visit the apartment to pack up boxes. They might be a bit on the short side and I apologize for that but I will try to make as frequent and as jam packed of news as I can.

In the meantime I will leave you will the most exciting news of the month: we got chickens!!

Nine of them to be exact. Three Plymouth Rocks and six Rhode Island Reds.

So cute! We bought them as pullets so we can get eggs faster. We should be able to put them outside in a few weeks.


Well, back to the house!

Thanks for reading,
Melissa