Penelope

This is such an exciting time for me. I look around each day and give thanks for the blessings I've been given. I have a wonderful family, a supportive husband, a lovely home in the country and I'm living my dream.

We have several animals including horses, chickens, dogs and a cat. Oh, and four pet parrots. Want one? We have all these pets mostly because of me. Without my influence we would probably have one dog. Maybe two.

If you'd asked me five years ago what interesting things would be happening in my life today, I never would have said "Cows!" I probably would have said something about having more horses or raising German Shepherd Dogs or some such thing. Cows just weren't on the menu five years ago.

Today, though, I would like to introduce you to Penelope. She was born August 13, 2009 at 6:30AM right here at Full Circle Farm. The first calf for me. Polly's fourth baby. I couldn't be more pleased. She's a she. A heifer calf to be proper. Dairy farmers hope for heifer calves for obvious reasons. Most bull calves have no future other than beef, but a heifer calf will go on to be a milk cow. My hope for Penelope is that she will be a wonderful family milk cow for us, or some other lucky family.

Welcome to the world little calf.

This is Good? Who Says?

I'm really not a political person....really. I have (had) almost no interest in the political system and politics, government, bureaucracy, big business and agribusiness. But, like that early morning alarm clock that jolts you from your sleep, eventually you have to pay attention to it. With a relentless buzz buzzing the government keeps growing and growing, louder and louder to the point where it's difficult not to pay attention.

Here's what made it's way to my e-mail recently and I felt it was important enough to highlight here for anyone who might also be listening the political alarm clock. Tick, tick, tick.....

just received this. At last we can read for ourselves just what is in this proposed health care bill. There is a link to the copy of the bill so if you want to check it out, you can view every page.




> CALL YOUR SENATORS AND CONGRESSMEN

>
> * Page 16: States that if you have insurance at the time of the bill becoming law and change, you will be required to take a similar plan. If that is not available, you will be required to take the gov option!
> * Page 22: Mandates audits of all employers that self-insure!
> * Page 29: Admission: your health care will be rationed!
> * Page 30: A government committee will decide what treatments and benefits you get (and, unlike an insurer, there will be no appeals process)
> * Page 42: The "Health Choices Commissioner" will decide health benefits for you. You will have no choice. None.
> * Page 50: All non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free healthcare services.
> * Page 58: Every person will be issued a National ID Healthcard.
> * Page 59: The federal government will have direct, real-time access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer.
> * Page 65: Taxpayers will subsidize all union retiree and community organizer health plans (example: SEIU, UAW and ACORN)
> * Page 72: All private healthcare plans must conform to government rules to participate in a Healthcare Exchange.
> * Page 84: All private healthcare plans must participate in the Healthcare Exchange (i.e., total government control of private plans too)
> * Page 91: Government mandates linguistic infrastructure for services; translation: illegal aliens
> * Page 95: The Government will pay ACORN and Americorps to sign up individuals for Government-run Health Care plan.
> * Page 102: Those eligible for Medicaid will be automatically enrolled: you have no choice in the matter.
> * Page 124: No company can sue the government for price-fixing. No "judicial review" is permitted against the government monopoly. Put simply, private insurers will be crushed and everyone will end up on the government plan eventually.v
> * Page 127: The AMA sold doctors out: the government will set wages.
> * Page 145: An employer MUST auto-enroll employees into the government-run public plan. No alternatives.
> * Page 126: Employers MUST pay healthcare bills for part-time employees AND their families.
> * Page 149: Any employer with a payroll of $400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays an 8% tax on payroll
> * Page 150: Any employer with a payroll of $250K-400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays a 2 to 6% tax on payroll
> * Page 167: Any individual who doesnt' have acceptable healthcare (according to the government) will be taxed 2.5% of annual income.
> * Page 170: Any NON-RESIDENT alien is exempt from individual taxes (Americans will pay for them).
> * Page 195: Officers and employees of Government Healthcare Bureaucracy will have access to ALL American financial and personal records.
> * Page 203: "The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax." Yes, it really says that.
> * Page 239: Bill will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors and the poor most affected."
> * Page 241: Doctors: no matter what speciality you have, you'll all be paid the same (thanks, AMA!)
> * Page 253: Government sets value of doctors' time, their professional judgment, etc.
> * Page 265: Government mandates and controls productivity for private healthcare industries.
> * Page 268: Government regulates rental and purchase of power-driven wheelchairs.
> * Page 272: Cancer patients: welcome to the wonderful world of rationing!
> * Page 280: Hospitals will be penalized for what the government deems preventable re-admissions.
> * Page 298: Doctors: if you treat a patient during an initial admission that results in a readmission, you will be penalized by the government.
> * Page 317: Doctors: you are now prohibited for owning and investing in healthcare companies!
> * Page 318: Prohibition on hospital expansion. Hospitals cannot expand without government approval.
> * Page 321: Hospital expansion hinges on "community" input: in other words, yet another payoff for ACORN.
> * Page 335: Government mandates establishment of outcome-based measures: i.e., rationing.
> * Page 341: Government has authority to disqualify Medicare Advantage Plans, HMOs, etc.
> * Page 354: Government will restrict enrollment of SPECIAL NEEDS individuals.
> * Page 379: More bureaucracy: Telehealth Advisory Committee (healthcare by phone).
> * Page 425: More bureaucracy: Advance Care Planning Consult: Senior Citizens, assisted suicide, euthanasia?
> * Page 425: Government will instruct and consult regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney, etc. Mandatory. Appears to lock in estate taxes ahead of time.
> * Page 425: Goverment provides approved list of end-of-life resources, guiding you in death.
> * Page 427: Government mandates program that orders end-of-life treatment; government dictates how your life ends.
> * Page 429: Advance Care Planning Consult will be used to dictate treatment as patient's health deteriorates. This can include an ORDER for end-of-life plans. An ORDER from the GOVERNMENT.
> * Page 430: Government will decide what level of treatments you may have at end-of-life.
> * Page 469: Community-based Home Medical Services: more payoffs for ACORN.
> * Page 472: Payments to Community-based organizations: more payoffs for ACORN.
> * Page 489: Government will cover marriage and family therapy. Government intervenes in your marriage.
> * Page 494: Government will cover mental health services: defining, creating and rationing those services.
>
> Pg 22 of the HC Bill MANDATES the Govt will audit books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self insure!!
>
> Pg 30 Sec 123 of HC bill - THERE WILL BE A GOVT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benefits you get
>
> Pg 29 lines 4-16 in the HC bill - YOUR HEALTHCARE IS RATIONED!!!
>
> Pg 42 of HC Bill - The Health Choices Commissioner will choose your HC Benefits for you. You have no choice!
>
> PG 50 Section 152 in HC bill - HC will be provided to ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise
>
> Pg 58HC Bill - Govt will have real-time access 2 individs finances & a National ID Healthcard will be issued!
>
> Pg 59 HC Bill lines 21-24 Govt will have direct access to you banks accountsts for electronic funds transfer
>
> PG 65 Sec 164 is a payoff subsidized plan for retirees and their families in unions & community orgs (ACORN).
>
> Pg 72 Lines 8-14 Govt is creating an
> HC Exchange to bring private HC plans under Govt control.
>
> PG 84 Sec 203 HC bill - Govt mandates ALL benefit packages for private health care plans in the Exchange
>
> PG 85 Line 7 HC Bill - Specs for of Benefit Levels for Plans = The Govt will ration your Healthcare!
>
> PG 91 Lines 4-7 HC Bill - Govt mandates linguistic appropropriate services. Example - Translationfor illegal aliens
>
> Pg 95 HC Bill Lines 8-18 The Govt will use groups i.e., ACORN & Americorps to sign up individuals for Govt HC plan
>
> PG 85 Line 7 HC Bill - Specs of Benefit Levels for Plans. #AARP members - your Health care WILL be rationed
>
> PG 102 Lines 12-18 HC Bill - Medicaid Eligible Individuals will be automatically enrolled in Medicaid. No choice
>
> pg 124 lines 24-25 HC No company can sue GOVT on price fixing. No "judicial review" against Govt Monopoly
>
> pg 127 Lines 1-16 HC Bill - Doctors/ #AMA - The Govt will tell YOU what you can make.
>
> Pg 145 Line 15-17 An Employer MUST automatiocally enroll employees into pubic option plan. NO CHOICE
>
> Pg 126 Lines 22-25 Employers MUST pay for health care for part time employees AND their families.
>
> Pg 149 Lines 16-24 ANY Employer with payroll of 400k & above who does not provide public option. pays 8% tax on all payroll
>
> pg 150 Lines 9-13 Business payroll between 251k & 400k who doesn't provide public option pays 2-6% tax on all payroll
>
> Pg 167 Lines 18-23 ANY individual who doesn't have acceptable health care according to Govt will be taxed 2.5% of income
>
> Pg 170 Lines 1-3 HC Bill Any NON-RESIDENT Alien is exempt from individual taxes. (Americans will pay for their health care)
>
> Pg 195 HC Bill -officers & employees of health care Administration (GOVT) will have access to ALL Americans financial/personal records
>
> PG 203 Line 14-15 HC - "The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax" Yes, it says that
>
> Pg 239 Line 14-24 HC Bill Govt will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors, low income, poor affected
>
> Pg 241 Line 6-8 HC Bill - Doctors, doesn't matter what specialty you have, you'll all be paid the same
>
> PG 253 Line 10-18 Govt sets value of Dr's time, professional judgment, etc. Literally value of humans.
>
> PG 265 Sec 1131 Govt mandates & controls productivity for private health care industries
>
> PG 268 Sec 1141 Fed Govt regulates rental & purchase of power driven
> wheelchairs
>
> PG 272 SEC. 1145. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN CANCER HOSPITALS - Cancer patients - welcome to rationing!
>
> Page 280 Sec 1151 The Govt will penalize hospitals for what Govt deems preventable readmissions.
>
> Pg 298 Lines 9-11 Drs, treat a patient during initial admission that results in a re-admission- Govt will penalize you.
>
> Pg 317 L 13-20 PROHIBITION on ownership/investmen t. Govt tells Drs. what/how much they can own.
>
> Pg 317-318 lines 21-25,1-3 PROHIBITION on expansion- Govt is mandating hospitals cannot expand
>
> pg 321 2-13 Hospitals have opportunity to apply for exception BUT community input required.
>
> Pg335 L 16-25 Pg 336-339 - Govt mandates establishment of outcome based measures. Health care the way they want. Rationing
>
> Pg 341 Lines 3-9 Govt has authority to disqualify Medicare Adv. Plans, HMOs, etc. Forcing people into Govt plan
>
> Pg 354 Sec 1177 - Govt will RESTRICT enrollment of special needs people!
>
> Pg 379 Sec 1191 Govt creates more bureaucracy - Telehealth Advisory Committee. Can you say health care by phone?
>
> PG 425 Lines 4-12 Govt mandates Advance Care Planning Consult. Think Senior Citizens end of life
>
> Pg 425 Lines 17-19 Govt will instruct & consult regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney. Mandatory!
>
> PG 425 Lines 22-25, 426 Lines 1-3 Govt provides approved list of end of life resources, guiding you in death
>
> PG 427 Lines 15-24 Govt mandates program for orders for end of life. The Govt has a say in how your life ends
>
> Pg 429 Lines 1-9 An "adv. care planning consult" will be used frequently as patients health deteriorates
>
> PG 429 Lines 10-12 "adv. care consultation" may include an ORDER for end of life plans. AN ORDER from GOV
>
> Pg 429 Lines 13-25 The govt will specify which Doctors can write an end of life order.
>
> PG 430 Lines 11-15 The Govt will decide what level of treatment u will have at end of life
>
> Pg 469 - Community Based Home Medical Services=Non profit orgs.
>
> Page 472 Lines 14-17 PAYMENT TO COMMUNITY-BASED ORG. 1 monthly payment to a community-based org. Like ACORN?
>
> PG 489 Sec 1308 The Govt will cover Marriage & Family therapy. Which means they will insert Govt into your marriage
>
> Pg 494-498 Govt will cover Mental Health Services including defining, creating, rationing those services

Here's the full Health Care bill that sits in the House.
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h3200ih.pdf


Somewhere along the way someone felt passionate enough to add some punctuation marks and comments of their own. These are not my comments, but just copied and pasted from an email I received.

If you read this far, wow! I'm impressed. These few lines extracted from the whole bill are enough to make anyone's eyes glaze over.

And yes, I have been in contact with my representatives office to voice my opposition to this bill.

Blueberry Muffins

If you've never gone to a farm or orchard and picked your own fruit, you're truly missing something. There is a connection to nature, the land and the farmer, an appreciation you can't realize when you grab a bag or can from the grocery store. Hearing the birds singing in the surrounding meadows, feeling the sun's warmth on your skin, the cool sensation when a cloud floats by and of course swatting a few bugs along the way. Bring your friends and take the time to share stories and enjoy each others company.

Here's a recipe I think you'll enjoy. This comes from my mother-in-law.

Cream 1 cup sugar and 1 Tbl butter, add 1 egg, 1 cup sour cream, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder and 2 cups all purpose flour. Mix well. Take 1 and 1/2 cups fresh blueberries, and if wet, roll them in flour to coat, then add to batter. Fold gently until berries are evenly distributed. Put in muffin tins and bake 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

( I always put mine in paper liners in the muffin tins. They stick like mad if you don't)

Cherry Time

Around here the sweet cherries are just about done but the tart cherries are ripe for the picking. I don't know about you, but to me, cherries are mmmmm, delicious. Everyone else must love them too. Think of all the cherry flavored things there are in this world. Candy, soda, ice cream, jelly, pastries, popsicles, freeze pops, taffy, coffee and the list goes on. Thinking of cherries just makes you happy. I always picture the two cherries with the little leaves attached. There is even a child's game where you try to collect the most cherries to win.

I collected cherries with Deb last week. I feel like a winner. We each picked over 20 pounds of the luscious fruit off trees hanging heavy with their bounty. This orchard has the best cherries I have ever picked. The picking was easy. The cherries came off in handfuls and in no time at all we had our buckets full and went back to the little store for more buckets.

I had a little thrill though when we came in from the orchard. The young lady servicing the checkout told me no one was available to pit them for us. You see, if you pick tart cherries for canning, pies and jams, you surely know how important it is to have them pitted. I have no idea exactly how many individual cherries it takes to make 24 pounds in a bucket, but I can say without a doubt you don't want to pit them yourself, at home, one at a time!

So, one of the important reasons I chose this orchard was because they offered pitting for free. When the young woman said "no one here to do that right now" my heart skipped a beat. I had a flash of the torture that awaited me at home. I did that once before a l-o-n-g time ago when I was still naive about such matters. It's one of those lessons you learn and never repeat.

With a little pressing we were able to convince her that we needed to have them done right there, right then. Honestly, I was prepared to jump across the counter and press her into service if needed. We were NOT going home with that many cherries with the pits still inside.

Fortunately, the crazy lady inside me got to stay inside, the cherries were pitted and everyone was happy that day.

Fried Eggs

My father once told me these were the best fried eggs he'd ever had. I sure was flattered. He was 77 when he said that and I guess he'd eaten plenty eggs in that time. Funny thing was, I learned how to cook them from his mom, my grandmother.

Choose a heavy pan, turn heat on low, I put my burner on the second to lowest setting. Melt enough butter to generously coat the bottom of the pan. Don't be tempted to heat the pan fast to get the butter melted, it affects how your eggs cook and they won't be as good. Patience is needed for this job. When the butter has melted, crack your egg(s) into the pan. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper if desired. Let the eggs cook uncovered for 15-20 minutes or until done to your liking. If the tops are not firming up, you can cover the pan for the last few minutes or just flip them over to finish.

You will have the most tender fried eggs you've ever eaten. If you can, get them from the farm. They're even better then!

Pickup Truck

Farmer Carl says...

If yer gonna barrie a pickup truk, you shuldnt spect it to be perfickt. Speshly if that pickup came from a farm. Sis needed to barrie my truk cuz hers got drowned at the burthday bash at the fairgrounds on account a the flood from the river. Did you hear 'bout that? A cryin shame whut happend to them folks. Them cars is still there and still soakin in the river water.

Anyways, if'n yer gonna ask to barrie a truk, you shuldn't be wanten it to be a fancy truk! It mighta been fancy a long time back, but it shure ain't fancy now! It's been werkin fer a livin. You gotta fergit its rusty and you gotta fergit the windsheels crackted. And pleeeze, don't spect the air condishinin to work. Man, that quit werkin a long time ago. Farm truks ain't for city folks. They jes don't understand.....

You can set my truck on fire and roll it down a hill but I still wouldn't trade it for a Coupe de Ville...(Joe Diffie)

Recall

Do you recall when the meaning of that word was to remember an event from the past? What came to mind when you read today's title, "Recall"? If you're like me that word now means a food product from an industrial supplier has been pulled from store shelves because it has the potential to make people sick.

We hear about food recalls so much now it's becoming commonplace. We are becoming complacent. Think about that for a minute. It's becoming commonplace in the USA for food to be contaminated and make people sick. People are so used to hearing about bad food they shrug and go about their day. That's scary.

The very system that was created to provide safe food for our nation is no longer reliable. The industrialization of food has taken away the most basic expectation, that the food we eat will nourish our bodies and not make us sick.

There is a new word in the dictionary. It's Locavore. Be a locavore whenever you can. It's good for food. It's good for us. It's good for the planet.

Real Milk, Fresh Milk

I don't remember exactly when I made the decision to go to drinking raw milk. I'm sure it was after reading an article about it and the colorful history of milk in general. Maybe it was that Mother Earth News article about factory farms. Maybe it was after reading about the general decline in the nutritional value of food in this country. It doesn't matter anymore. I made the switch to raw, unpasteurized milk. I prefer to call it fresh milk.

Fresh milk is alive with flavor. The feel of it in your mouth is different, wholesome, better. It's a sensation you recognize on an instinctual level. Your body knows how much better it is for you, even if your head doesn't. When I first started to drink it about a year ago, I actually craved it. A true craving. My body found something in this fresh milk it had been missing and needed. I don't know what it was, but the craving has been satisfied and replaced with simple joy in having this wonderful, living food available to me.

Strawberries

This is what's left of the twelve pounds of berries I picked today. I washed, hulled and vacuum packed 7.5 pounds of berries, made crushed sweetened strawberry sauce for shortcakes, gave 2lbs to my sister and her husband, and left the rest for eating fresh.

We're going out again just as soon as we can.....m u s t

h a v e

m o r e

b e r r i e s!

Git yerself a cat

Farmer Carl says......

You shuld get yerself a cat if'n you lives on a farm. A good cat is gonna help you keep those pesky mice outta yer grain and from messin in yer stuff. It don't matter whether it's a tom or a muther cat, cepting a muther cat will give you more cat's but thats good if you gots lots of mice in yer barn. I got a cat whut lives in the barn. He catches them mice real good. You should see him sneekin up on em. They never knowed what hit em. His little black paw goes "whack" and dats da end of da mouse. Git yerself a cat and git rid of them good fer nuthin mice.

Swamp

The swamp. It's a thing of beauty. It's also a creepy, slimy place. It's swimming with life. We find huge, dinner plate size snapper turtles, rope size garter snakes and black snakes as big around as a garden hose. It's said there are massasauga rattlers around here, but we've never encountered one. There are wood ducks, painted turtles, tree frogs, bull frogs, spring peepers, baltimore orioles and redwing blackbirds. We see salamanders, muskrats, woodchucks, turkeys and skunks. In April there was a pair of Canada Geese hanging around. We would see them in the back hayfield, then on the driveway, then in the swamp. Thought for sure they were going to nest, but they seemed to have moved on.

Ouch?

I collect eggs everyday from the coop.

Sometimes there is a
surprise waiting for me. Most days I get beautiful, fresh, brown eggs from my happy, free ranging hens.

But.....one of them doesn't lay everyday.

I've often thought of dabbing their heads with some paint or some kind of marker when I see them setting in the nest boxes. Then, after a few days, one of them would end up without a mark. I could cull that hen because she's not keeping up with production.

I think she knows what I'm thinking. Look at what she left me this morning. Ouch!

The white egg is a Grade A Large from the grocery store, the brown eggs are from my girls.

I should just keep her shouldn't I?

Hey! I wanted that!

Whatcha got? I want some!

Around here everyone has to get along.









With two horses, two cows, four dogs, a cat and 30 some chickens it's a must.

Tag, the dog, seems to like the chickens well enough and obviously, the chickens aren't too afraid of her, even though she delights in chasing them every chance she gets.

She tried chasing the horses, but changed her mind. She said "Horse feet give me a headache!"

Chicken Dinner

Which one would you choose? Can you believe that 8 short weeks ago, these white chickens were the same size as the yellow chicks?



These yellow Buff Orpington pullets will take 20 weeks to reach maturity and start laying their first eggs. Meanwhile, I could raise two and a half batches of the white Cornish Cross from chick to freezer. Isn't there something wrong about that? No other breed of chicken will go from chick to freezer in such a short amount of time. These birds have been bred to get fat and grow large in the shortest amount of time. This is what you're eating when you pick up chicken at the grocery store. I just grow my own at home.

This is also "Fast Food". Not the Kentucky Fried Chicken kind, but the homegrown kind.

I Got Me a Plow!

Farmer Carl says........

My better half and I wuz shoppin fer a real farm plow fer our traktor what we got. We is gonna put in a big garden so's we kin have lots of vegetubuls and stuff from our own land. We wuz talkin and cided that a plow fer the traktor would be a good vestment. So last night we drove to a place and paid cash money fer one. Now we gots ta plow the garden so's I kin git er planted.

You city slikkers is missin out on the good life.

I loves farmin.

Rain

Rain, rain go away.........

I walked past the rain gauge this evening on my way to the barn, just like I do three times everyday. It was empty! Since it's been raining off and on for the last week I thought it must have sprung a leak. Turns out my husband emptied it because it had reached the top at 5 inches. It's still raining.

The horses are huddled together with their tails to the wind just like you see in pictures. Heads hung low, they wait out the rain. The water drips from their manes and runs down their faces and patiently, uncomplaining, they wait.

The chickens go about their business hunting insects, exoskeleton protein pills. They seem undeterred by the precipitation that leaks from above. I doubt they feel the rain against their skin. Feathers are perfect for repelling rain. Think duck.

Dogs get wet, push their way past into the house before you can react and shake off right in front of the couch, shocking the TV watchers from their stupor.

I haven't seen the cat since Sunday.

Come again another day..................

Blog check

Being fairly new to the blog world I just today realized that there are comments on some of my posts. Thanks for the kind words of encouragement.

Now if it would quit raining, I could get to my garden. In the meantime, I'm off to make cheese, glorious cheese... bwahhahhaaaaa.

Challah

I love to bake, especially breads and fruit pies. My favorite bread books are by Peter Reinhart. This recipe comes from his book "The Bread Bakers Apprentice". This is one of the few breads in the book that can be made in one day. Most of them require two days to make.

It's a simple dough with simple ingredients. Milk, eggs, sugar, salt, butter and bread flour. I use quick yeast and mix it with the dry ingredients. It goes through three rises each taking about an hour. The dough is divided into three equal parts and braided to make an attractive loaf on the table. The beautiful brown color on the crust comes from the egg wash before baking and a sprinkle of poppy seed looks nice and gives a subtle citrus taste to the bread. A very good bread with a nice moist crumb and chewy texture.

A Shot of Courage

I now am the proud owner of four dogs. Crazy, huh? What can I say. I love dogs. My dear husband is such an enabler. I think he wanted the new dog just as much as I did. Her name is Tag and she's a working line German Shepherd Dog a few days shy of 1 year old. She comes with some issues. She is on the timid side and is on the bottom of the pack order, but that's okay. I can help her.

Tag and Maddie, our rescued Rottweiler, were outside catching balls I tossed for them. Maddie wears an e-collar because she doesn't always come when called and likes to go visiting. I got tired of chasing after her. She's a character and has a strong personality. She can get dogs to give in to her with just a "look". Call it the evil eye. People love her, dogs respect her.

I was throwing the balls and the dogs would chase after them. Maddie decided to chase Tag and steal her ball instead of going after her own. She would bump into her and make her spit it out.

I had a "lightbulb" moment. I gave Maddie a shot with the e-collar just as she was about to bump Tag in hopes of stealing her ball. The poke caused Maddie to back off. Tag got her courage up after that. She noticed Maddie had softened up on stealing her ball, so she decided to go after Maddie and steal her ball. Turn about is fair play.

We played for almost an hour with both dogs taking turns and playing fair. We'll see how it goes today. If I'm lucky, I won't have to give Maddie a shot so Tag can find her courage.

Raw Milk Cheese

Having a cow is fun! A real cow, I mean. There are so many cool foods you can make when you have your own. Like butter and cream, yogurt and cheese. So far I've made cottage cheese and mozzarella. The first attempts are just like everything else when you're learning to cook. They aren't the best, but it's what you learn from your mistakes that helps you improve. This time I'm trying my hand at Cheddar cheese. This cheddar won't look like the kind you find at the grocery store. That's because it's made with fresh, raw milk. This milk became cheese the day it was born. That's to say the milk went from the milking pail to the cheese pot. Fresh, unpasteurized milk is full of beneficial enzymes and vitamins that aren't destroyed during pasteurization. You can also see that the cheese is not yellow like the stuff you buy at the store. No added artificial colors. 100% natural, whole raw milk cheese. After seven hours on the stove and 36 hours in the cheese press it came out looking like this. It will dry on the counter for 3 days, then I'll wax it and put it on the shelf to age for 3-6 months. Come on.... who's fooling who? You think I'm waiting 6 months to taste this?

Chicken Hotel

Well, not a hotel really. But a nice, warm, BIG, horse stall with lots of fluffy bedding.

I moved the chicks today. They spent their first two weeks in a small cage in my garage. If you've ever raised meat birds before, you already understand why having 26 of them in your garage is a bad idea. Those little 8 ounce birds really raise a stink. Literally. When I opened the garage door, the smell wafted out like a gaseous cloud. Before you think to yourself "Clean the cage!" let me just say that "I did!" It takes less than 24 hours to acquire the "fragrance" of which I speak. So, with the warmer weather and my nose telling me it's time, I decided to make the big move and put them where they'll spend the night for the rest of their lives. In the barn.

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)

What do you know about it? Did you know that it's in almost everything you eat? What is it? Since the 1980's high fructose corn syrup has replaced sugar as a cheaper substitute. The taste it imparts in food is so similar to sugar that you wouldn't even know it's there unless you looked at the label. I did that a couple months ago. I looked at the labels of the canned and boxed goods in my cupboards. It's in the bread too. I buy the typical stuff you buy. Campbells soup, Kraft Mac and Cheese, Kelloggs cereals, Soft-n-Good bread. Go ahead, take a look in your cupboard. See if you can find some HFCS. I've got twenty bucks says you'll find it in less than a minute.

Like Coke or Pepsi? In there. How about hot dog buns? In there. Fruit juice? In there. Actually, it's in almost everything you eat. No wonder Michael Pollan writes in his book "The Omnivores Dilemma" that we are corn. We are! Corn is an ingredient in one form or another in a huge portion of the food you consume daily.

Here's an article I ran across today about how sugar is making a comeback against HFCS.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/21/dining/21sugar.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&src=ig

Here's another article about HFCS.http://www.westonaprice.org/motherlinda/cornsyrup.html

Half a Nanner and Two Berries

Breakfast this morning was half a banana and two fresh strawberries sliced into a bowl. To dress it up I added a few chopped walnut pieces and some raisins. Topped it off with fresh Jersey Cow cream from yesterday's milking and sprinkled with a pinch of organic raw sugar. Yummy!

Hen Pecked

Little Buff, or Jimmy as I call him, is our young Buff Orpington Rooster. Seems he drew the short stick in the hierarchy of chicken life. Big Buff has all the ladies to himself as his confidence and size wins them over without challenge from Jimmy. Jimmy is content to follow along while BB and his harem search the pasture for tempting morsels. The warmer weather has hatched a few from their winter slumber. Enjoying the mild temperatures, my husband and I sat on the porch and watched the birds as they worked their way toward us. All seemed peaceful in the chicken kingdom. Everyone was scratching and searching, snatching a bug here and there. The boxwood bush near the house was a favorite for its green leaves. Jimmy was preoccupied with the leaves and got a little too close to one of the hens. She gave him a good pecking on the head. He squawked and ran away looking for a place to hide. Haha. Now I understand the true meaning of hen pecked.

Does it get any better than this? March doesn't usually give us such nice weather. The windows are open after being closed tight for the last six months. The grass in the pasture is hinting green and I even noticed a little green on the bushes on the drive home yesterday. Winter has its holdout on the treeline at the north face of the back pasture. If you look carefully, you can see a tiny bit of snow holding on for dear life. So long Frosty. See you next year.