Meet Kirby and Betty, a lovely pair:

Don’t tell Pocket, but i think i enjoy felting Cardigans even more than Pemmies! I really think that our next dog (already named Boudain) should be a Cardi – what do you think?

This first post features our one little Ameracauna pullet. She’s a bit “flighty” and nervous, but is coming around the more we play with her. I can’t wait to collect her blue eggs when she grows up!

They love testing those little wings when they’re small! Pocket sure loves her chickens.

Does your dog have a furry or feathered friend in your family?

I hadn’t set out to make cheese yesterday morning, but my broken refrigerator decided it would be a good idea to curdle the milk i’d intended to become yogurt. It was still sweet, but heating to yogurt temp was just separating the curds from the whey – which is the first step to making cheese! So, i went for it. Farmer’s cheese is a fairly bland cheese, can get too dry and crumbly and doesn’t melt…. but it can be really delicious especially when you spice it up some! I like to add finely diced garlic, lots of salt and ground hot pepper and rosemary. The combo is delicious! You’ll end up with way more whey than cheese, so if you have hogs or chickens they’ll be your best friends for a day or you can save some as a sipping drink that packs a protein punch. I always freeze a ice cube tray full of it as well to use in lacto fermentation projects. No waste!

Farmer’s Cheese

• 1 gallon milk – raw or pasteurized, skim or whole. *Whole will make a much tastier cheese.
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• T each salt and ground herbs of your choice
• 2 Large pots
• Cheesecloth or old bandana
• Colander
• Something heavy

No thermometer required! Heat your milk to a rolling boil. Turn off the heat and add vinegar. The milk should begin separating right away. You want t0 fully separate the whey from the curds (whey should be yellowish clear, not milky looking). Once separated, pour the whey and curds into your colander lined with cheesecloth over another large pot (you could do this over the sink, but why waste all that useful whey??). Stir in salt and herbs to the curds, then tie up the cheesecloth with a twisting motion to press out whey. Place your ‘something heavy’ over the bundle and allow to drain. Don’t over drain or this cheese will be TOO dry. I almost always over press – do some experimenting.

Yum! This cheese makes a lovely appetizer and fries well for some extra fun. Don’t be intimidated by cheesemaking – try it out! Have fun with it!

Have you made cheese before? Were you nervous your “first time?”

Above: February | March | April

May!

The most obvious improvement this month: we have a fenced yard…. and we even MOWED IT! hot dog!

Above: February | March | April

May!

The pasture, i am happy to report, is greening up and has some good species still in tact… though heavily out numbered by weeds and wildflowers. I have a few hundred dollars worth of seeds in my pantry that i’m trying to figure out how to plant (without a tractor or tiller – guess the 50 lb bag of oats wasn’t the best decision…) that will be overseeded on the pasture and in the back yard area which is heavily compacted. I have a mix of daikon radish and some other soil busting cover crops, plus some chicory for forage. The best addition to the pasture is our new mobile coop. I need to tweak some things: put a better barrier on the nest boxes to prevent hay loss and re-do the entry door for easier opening on high grass, but overall we’re happy with it! I’ll post about our coop building and grazing/rotation strategy next week, but here’s a photo of the finished product (nest box side):

Spiffy, ay? The chooks seem to like it and are enjoying kicking about under the hoop house in the taaaall grass.We miss having the chickens up near the house and mingling with us, but not missing the fresh poo scattered everywhere. We’ll probably let the new pullets hang out in the yard for a while before we move them out with the big birds, to help further assist in their taming. I do, so love chickens – but it’s nice to look at them from far away too.

Another development on the homestead: DUST and lots of it. We were aware that we lived on a dusty road, traversed by frequent logging rigs. That doesn’t mean we were entirely prepared. I’ve planted a hedgerow to help combat the dust, but it will be many years before it will be truly helpful. I have plans of planting many trees: willows, fir, oak, ANYTHING along with tall native shrubs and tons of sunflowers in the summer. I may resort to irrigating the road and will investigate the costly ‘lignen treatment’ available in our county to be sprayed on the road. This aspect of our homestead is quite the downer: it’s finally sunny and warm but we’re coated in dust at the end of every day. Le sigh.

April wasn’t quite as epic as previous months with giant roof repairs or tree felling, but here’s a list of some of our April milestones:

• Put up a yard fence! The yard is now secure (minus 2 gates needing to be built) and we did a fairly aesthetically pleasing/ structurally sound job. Not bad for newbies!
• Mowed said lawn.
• Developed a pastured broiler plan using a Salatin style broiler pen and a CSA style cost sharing model. Then decided to hold off until later in the summer. We need a few hours of summertime left RELAXING not just building things. Go figure.
• Bred my rabbits! (technically in May) What fun to finally be a ‘real farmer’ and help implement the ‘miracle of life.’ I hope to have 4 nice litters of kits on the first of June.
• Designed, built, implemented our new pasture shelter/ mobile chicken coop.
• Butchered the rooster.
• Bought 14 chicks, who are all doing great (and who seem to include at least 2 cockerels, whom we may decide to keep)
• Bought the power drills of our dreams.
• Accepted the fact that i will not get a veggie garden planted in earnest: joined a local CSA.
• Pretty swallows are populating the boxes we built for them (though still also trying to re-populate their old mud nests in the eaves).
• Heat wave: dust. Pray for rain!

That’s all i can think of! Hopefully i’ll get a bit more time in May to do some more educational/useful posting on this here blog instead of just progress reports.

How’s your spring coming along?

Sheep take me a surprisingly long time, considering i’m felting a woolly animal out of actual wool. Wensleydale locks are NOT the easiest to work with. Cute results, though! I hope someone commissions a Jacob Sheep some time soon, as i’d really like to felt one of those. Heck, i may just have to felt one anyway (especially since we may be getting a pair in a few years!)

What’s your favorite type of sheep?

Along with our new mobile coop, we’ve been using some scrap lumber from our roof repair to put together some very “Scottish countryside-esque” gates for our yard. I can’t wait to show photos of them! I must say, that although the cost savings of using ‘on-hand’ materials is great, the frustration of working with 35 year old splinter boards is also high. I would not recommend building anything structural with 1x3s – but we have only spent about $30 on materials (screws and bolts, etc) so i can’t complain – as long as it last a few seasons!

AND the most exciting news, that may come along with an explicit video later in the week: my rabbits are mature and i’ve begun breeding my first litters! Bring on the baby bunnies (just in time for grilling season!)

How are your home and garden projects progressing?

Welcome to this month’s Eat Make Grow Blog Hop where you share what you have been eating with your family, growing in your garden or making with all your creative impulses. Eat Make Grow is a collective link party that is shared across three blogs and runs every first Thursday and goes for 20 days. Whichever blog that you choose to link up your post, it will show up on all three sites! Eat Make Grow is a way to share with many people posts about your domestic doings, whether that’s growing veggies, hosting parties, sewing, mixing up cleaning supplies, or trying out a new recipe. We want to learn about it! Every month, we will feature the most popular link, one chosen by the the host and a group favorite.

Your Hosts:

Miranda from Pocket Pause

Foy from Garden. Cook. Write. Repeat.

Marigold from Hideous! Dreadful! Stinky!

We’re not big fans of rules so there are just two of them:

1. Link up posts telling us how you cooked it, made it or grew it with your own hands. Eat Make Grow is about sharing our projects. Please no advertising, propaganda, corporate giveaways or information-only articles. We may remove links if they aren’t on topic.

2. Please link your posts back to one of the hosting blogs.This is a common blog hop courtesy. This link helps build the Eat Make Grow community by sending your readers to all of the other participants’ posts.We will feature three posts each month and we will only consider posts that have a link back. A text link is fine, or you can grab our button and put it anywhere on your blog (html in my sidebar):

This month your host is Foy from Garden. Cook. Write. Repeat.Hi, everybody!It is finally starting starting to look like spring here in Indiana.  Our weeping cherry tree is laden with pale pink blooms and the rhubarb seems to double in size daily.  I’ve heard a couple people have found morels and I’m ready to go out and harvest the wild onions known as ramps!  When the weather is nice it seems a shame to be indoors any time you don’t have to which is why picnics are the theme for this month.  Share any crafts, recipes or projects that work for outdoor dining!

Last months April fails were excellent reads.  I learned a surprising amount and even found myself calling my husband over to check out some of your antics.  I even got distracted for a good long while looking through Pinterest Fail websites.  This list of 20 Pinterest Fails from Bored Panda was by far the most entertaining.  Some of your blog posts surely could have made this list.

The most clicked post was:

photo: www.betterwithjune.com

The Great Cookie Bowl Adventure from Better with June

June recounts her attempt to make cookie bowls.  The worst part was the magnificent mess.  At least she made the best of it by using the cookie crumbs she pried off the pan to make an inside out cookie bowl.

photo: www.budgetfairytale.com

I’ve been eyeing these Mod Podge glitter shoe tutorial showing up on Pinterest.  It sounds like such a perfect way to rejuvenation a shoe that’s too scuffed up to be presentable.  Or in Mindy’s case to make her wedding shoes!  Although as she points out in her post When Good DIY Goes Bad – Glitter Shoes, you might not get it right the first time.  It had not occurred to me that the color of the soul of shoe doesn’t get podged so it had better be a color you want.

I appreciated learning along with you guys.  If you aren’t failing you aren’t trying, am I right?

Is one of these featured posts yours? Grab our “Featured Blogger” button to post on your blog and show off how cool you are. (Html in my sidebar) You can also visit our Pinterest Eat Make Grow Featured Bloggers pin board to see some of our past favorites.

Link up your posts about Picnics here:

Steel Wool is Tim Mueller, Nel Applegate, TR Kelley and Randy Hamme who are all “upbeat and happily serious” about their music – both playing it and giving it to the people. One look at this motley crew of musicians and you can tell there’s only one thing that could have brought them all together: their love for their craft (and, of course their shared passion for silliness, rainbows and perfect harmonies). Fairly recently formed, Steel Wool is a beat driven band with exceptional bass guitar, well placed drum beats and no-nonsense rhythm guitar paired with well crafted harmonies and plain and simple joy. The group knew each other as friends and had the opportunity to jam at a Kind Tree – Autism Rocks retreat and right away “It was pretty obvious that there was chemistry.  Tim’s playing style is very funky and solid, but he leaves enough space in the music for the rhythm section to really round out the tunes.” – Hamme  “Besides, if you put four accomplished musicians  in proximity,  a band will usually happen.”  – Kelley “I believe the energy we create together along with the music is what keeps us going.” – Applegate

The compatibility of this group is a great testament to the group members’ ages. Each musician is skilled, experienced and less incline to the “flighty” or ego-driven nature of many artistic/musical (younger) folk. “Age is to our advantage; Time has shaken out a lot of the stones from our personal and professional shoes, making it far easier to dance.” – Kelley   Each of the group’s musicians cited their experience with their craft starting as early as elemtary school with stints in groups, as solo musicians or music students. Their music, too reflects their maturity and influences. Tim, the principle songwriter and guitar player, is heavily inspired by the great classic rock/folk music men Neil Young, Steven Stills, the Beatles, Eric Clapton, Toby Ben, Ritchie Havens. Tim kids: “Can you tell I’m old?” Perhaps its the group’s age, too that inspires all ages of listeners.

Steel Wool’s music is approachable, danceable, fun to sing along to and suitable for a wide audience. Not totally G rated, there are a few ‘naughty words’ mixed in here and there along with some somewhat controversial or political statements – but they couldn’t very well call themselves a rock and roll band without a little spice mixed in, could they? When asked to describe their music and audience, Tim says:

We’re pretty damn funky, intense, playful, danceable, smart, pretty. Lotsa harmonies. I think we bring new songs to a group of folks who remember CS&N and the Beatles. These folks like to dance, like to hear real songs about contemporary issues and feelings, feel resonance with what we do. Once more folks hear us, our audience will expand to include younger folks enjoying the “Americana” genre. Lots of rhythms and acoustic sounds with soaring vocals. We’re not Pop or Rap, but most other styles can be heard in our set – everybody could be our audience!

I’m looking forward to celebrating the release of “All The Love In The World,” the debut album from Steel Wool at their family friendly CD release party this coming Friday, May 3rd (2013) at the Vet’s Club Ballroom in Eugene, OR. I do hope you’ll consider stopping by to enjoy the music, light refreshments and of course, the album (which is available for sale online, as well). “Like” Steel Wool on Facebook  and find “the woolies” at a gig near you. More info about the band, plus a comprehensive schedule (and gig rates should you want to bring the woolies to your shin-dig!) can be found at www.SteelWoolBand.com.

I, personally like to always be productive and working to achieve our goal: a self sustainable farm that nourishes the soil beneath as well as the bellies above. So, i love being busy. I’m self employed, am trying to become a farmer and work off site for reliable income. I’m always busy. But i’m also observant and know how to stop and sit down next to a soft corgi who needs a hug or a gorgeous daffodill that rose from the ashes of this abandoned property.

Isn’t that the most beautiful thing? I know how to stop when it’s dusk and enjoy a good sunset with a good glass of wine. It’s important to slow down occasionally! Don’t forget to slow down and acknowledge the beauty around you folks. Get busy if that’s your thing. Take it easy if that’s your preference. Spend your time the way YOU want to spend it, not the way society pressures you to. We all run at different speeds. I love being busy. And i love taking a moment to reflect on what that busy has accomplished. So far it’s a whole lot. I think i’ll go lay down in the dewy grass and watch the birds.

How about you? Do you fall pray in the ‘must be busy’ mentality of your community, or can you chill out and smell the flowers on occasion?