Sunday Night

I have honestly been thinking about what to write since Tuesday last week.

But, I've got nothing...

Pathetic I know.

But I realize I've been procrastinating about a few things, so I need to write them here so maybe I'll get them finished up.

1. DE-CLUTTER. I bet it's on most people's lists. (I just did a cabinet declutter, I'd show you, but then you'd be depressed about the lack of kitchen cabinets in my home.) I need to declutter a few closets, my office, freezers & fridge, my bedroom (which means my closet) and heaven knows my garage...And devise a plan so it doesn't become so overwhelming.

2. Paperwork. I need to catch up on paperwork. I have A LOT!!!! Farm records and stuff, I'd like it done before Jan 31, but let's be realistic and say Fed 15. Again...I need a plan that I will follow so I don't keep doing this!

3. Farm store-I need to get the stove fixed out there, clean it up, take an inventory on the remaining cuts of meat that I have, and where they are, and promote them as specials (so I can get them out of the freezer...)

So there's my post. Crap I need to do...

Peanut Butter Cookies

OK. I have the EASIEST EVER peanut butter cookie recipe. 3 ingredients. Yeah that's it!! 3! (Are any of those even really sentences?) Best cookies ever and they make a perfect amount, not too many and not too few (unless you are like my girlfriend who has 21 12 children! But still everyone would get at least one... It makes 21ish cookies depending on your judge of an 1 inch ball. (Ok so I'm a grammar nerd. But "a 1 inch ball" sounds better than "an 1 inch ball" all though technically since it's a number under 100 I'm supposed to type it out...) Wow that's a long ramble for a parenthesis.

I Digress

Picture:

Simple Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup Peanut Butter (creamy)
1 cup sugar
1 egg

Place all three ingredients in a bowl. Mix all three ingredients with your hand!!!!  Very important, they will not turn out if you use a spoon or a mixer or a fork....I am telling you use your hand! And keep mixing until you get a "good cookie consistency." Roll into 1" balls and place on your cookie sheet. Leave about an inch between, these cookies don't spread too much. once you've got all the balls on the sheet :) create hash marks with a fork. Bake at 350 F for 8-12 minutes. Remove from pan when cool(er) and enjoy. Yeild: 24 cookies (depending on your 1 inch judgement)

I make these for lunches. Because with only 3 people in the house they last about 2 days (just enough time for you to want a different variety). And they are cheap. I mean 3 ingredients. So let me do some math really quickly....

1 c sugar $0.22
1 c peanut butter $.21
1 egg $0.13

So for $0.56 I have fresh homemade peanut butter cookies with no preservatives and I know what's in them.  Yes I know refined sugars...(I'm working on that!) and I also know that the peanut butter is also not homemade. But the egg was... so there!

New Year

The New Year pledge for this family is a spending fast. We are lucky in that we have almost no debt (except for my school loans). Our house is paid for, and we have no credit card debt. But this past year we have gone through some extensive changes. One is that I lost my full time town job. So now we are living off a farm income in the winter months (not a prosperous time for a farm). But I had money saved, and we are OK. I start a part time job off the farm next week so that will help some.

I figure that by cutting our budget (which was already slim) we will be able to save for next years winter months and put some away for our MAJOR projects. Major projects include city water, my MAIN focus this year. So on top of saving for winter months, I will be saving an additional $4,000. We live off the main road and will have to lay A LOT of pipe to the houses. So until then we live with water soluble iron. Lots of it! Lots! I think it can be done, I just have to be hardcore about it all. But I am either getting new water, or else!

I'm sure the rest of this year you'll see me pout about stuff...stuff I want. I know this farm will produce all that I need, but I know there will be stuff I want and can't have. But we are going to try to meet our goals. I'm going to be excited about this project...I probably will have to repeat that SEVERAL times this year.

Christmas

Aren't they cute? This is a picture of my grandfather on his birthday. He turned 92. 92!!! Yeah that's right. I think he's pretty awesome, and he loves to hang out with his great grandson. (The kid likes it too!)

Grandpa got several good presents this year for his birthday, but my cousin gave him a toy helicopter. Really it was for both the kid and grandpa! They had way too much fun playing with it during the birthday party.

I love to sit and listen to my grandfather, he has so much knowledge. Stuff I can't even imagine he knows how to do, and can even explain how to do it to someone else. Really he's forgotten so much more than I will ever know. I think our elders have such a wealth of knowledge, we just need to remember to ask them for it!

Back in the saddle

SERIOUSLY!!! I am trying to get better at the whole blogging thing. Currently I'm not so great remembering to blog something, but they say a habit takes about 7 weeks to be a habit...so my goal is one blog post every seven weeks, every Thursday.  I am even going to put it into my calendar with a reminder to actually post something...

Week 1 of 7

This picture is from September, and may be one of my favorite ones from the farm. Jack is probably complaining about the radish crop and I was probably in a great mood because I wasn't listening to him.

Out of this this garden we got radishes, turnips, cabbage, and mixed greens this fall. I enjoy when he is out there in his garden. I really think it's his therapy. I enjoy making jewelry, him-vegetables! Fun combo uh?

This winter we are enjoying our cold weather veggies with our dinners. No radishes were saved (my dad ate every bit we didn't sell at the farmers markets. Turnips are used in lots and lots of soups. Cabbages, what few we ate due to a lack of rain, were used immediately. And mixed greens were sold all over the county to customers and restaurants.

It is nice to know that my family is nurished with good fresh, local, raised on our farm pork and venison, and veggies we stored or canned. It allows me to have a grocery bill of around $100 a month (if I meal plan and stay creative).

Happy next few days!

I HATE FLIES

I know you shouldn't use the word hate. But I HATE FLIES, obviously since I have stated it twice already!

I have waged my own natural war against them. At least in my own home. I am trying to keep with our all natural low processing, no pesticides lifestyle in my battle so below are some of my solutions.

I have tried the fly flap (aka the fly swatter) front. I've won a few battles on that front. 

I am doing the hang a bag of water over the door with pennies in it. It is supposed to help persuade the flies not to come in because the bag is supposed to look resemble a hornet nest. Apparently flies are afraid of hornets, and this keeps flies out.

Picture via http://www.commonsensehome.com/

My next attack will be the bait method. Cut a 2 litter bottle at the bend. Set the lid off to the side. Place a piece of water soaked meat in the bottom of the bottle. Put the lid (without the cap) inverted into the bottle. Tape around the edge of the lid and bottle "sealing" it down. I'm not sure if you have to hang it or not, but I'm going to try both ways (which means I'll have 2 of these traps).

Do you have any methods you've tested to be good?

Events

As we continue to grow and work on our farm we are participating in more events throughout the 

area.

Seeds to Silverware was a local foody dinner that was FABULOUS! we donated all the meat for the main course and the soup. Super good!!

We then designed the display you see below. Man the food was good. And so was the company!

One of those events was the Cleveland Co Fair. The largest county fair in the southeast. We had a booth on display about the benefits of grass fed meats.

 Then we also did the Grillin' to Chillin' demo in Rutherford County. I did not get to attend it, but had to "send" my dad (as Mr. Cowboy was wandering along the Appalachian Trail).

All were successfull and fun and we are thankful for the opportunity to participate in all.

New Project

Jimmy has a new project. This baby calf is about 6 weeks old. He is so excited (for now) about him. Bottle feeding in the pouring rain is no fun though. I'm sure we'll get to do that soon as a monsoon has set in for the week.

Secret Cup-cakes

Do any of you have family that really isn't blood relations, but people you know whom you got to choose that you loved them more than as much as your own family? You know, your "Aunt Betty" who is your mom's best friend, and whom you can talk to NO matter what!!! Someone whom knows everything about you, but whom you don't have to love, but you do. Yeah, me too.

I was over at my "Aunt" Judi's house the other weekend. She made these crazy good cupcakes and I  helped! :)

 

 We made a regular box cake. Obviously it was a chocolate cake mix. We filled the mini muffin tins about 1/3 of the way with mix. Then we added the mini Reeces Cups and topped them off with a little more cake batter. Bakes as directed. Decorated and...

BAM!!!!!!!! That's about all I can say. They were super yummy and held a fun surprise for the people who didn't help with the baking process. :)

Fresh food

Now this looks delish, right??

 

 IT WAS!!!!!!

It was super yummy. Our meat was featured at Pleasant City Wood Fire Grill in Shelby, NC. They create a wonderful new specials menu each week based on what is available at the Foothills Farmers Market. Jim, the restaurant manager, does a wonderful job of creating new and innovative recipes each week.

The picture above was of the Pork Chop sandwich that he created. Did I mention it was good? IT WAS!!! Jim pan seared the pork chop. He cooked the apples and onions until they were caramelized. The cheese was made by a local creamery. The bread was also locally baked! There was also mustard on there, and really I think that the mustard added the nicest of twang to the sandwich. Again GOOD!!

Market Day

Just a normal day at the market. We are selling meat and jewelry. I know odd combination,r right? But you have to what keeps you sane. It's been a rainy week at the farm. And supposed to rain all day today too. But hat helps the 500 cabbage plant we have set out.

Let's get this party started!

It's the first day of second grade for The Littlest Cowboy. We always take a picture of the first day of school and put it in that years' folder of saved art projects and report cards. That way one day I can look through it with his children...sorry I'm getting a little teary eyed.

What a weekend. We celebrated Mr. Cowboy's birthday this weekend. Our merry band of three along with the folks from Nature's Barn Natural Products, Ken and Lauren Mooney, had a great time. We traveled up to the Catalooche Valley in the Blueridge Mountains to see the elk (Mr. Cowboy's favorite!), then some hiking and historical lessons about the area, lunch and a trip to REI (also his favorite!)

I honestly don't know many friends who'll get up at 4am and meet us at our house at 5am to drive 2 hours to go watch some humongous animals with a seven year old flopping around in the back seat with you then go hiking, and shopping with you. We had SO much fun!!!

I mean who could resist this awesomeness.  This is a shot of one of the many houses in the Cataloochee Valley, from inside it's neighboring barn.

Fall season

Well, since I am now (at least for the next while a work from home mom) I feel the urge to blog again. Maybe I'll get in such a routine again, that I'll actually keep it up correctly. I'm going to blog about this crazy place I call home. Farm life, rodeo, the farmer's market, and the constant struggle to remain sane in it all. A few pictures here and there, dinner plans for us (sometimes) and money saving wanna be hopes. Maybe if I can make enough cash from my little farm a few renovations.

So without further ado...

Mr Cowboy

Myself---Mrs. Cowgirl

 

The Monster---AKA Littlest Cowboy

That's us one small and slightly productive farm/rodeo/loving family. Honestly these are some of my most favorite photos of us. The two boy shots were taken by me, and mine was taken by a good friend of ours.

Tomorrow will be a post about dinner. Did you know you can write all your posts in a day and have them post on their own!!!!!! Crazy Awesome!!!! So I'm hoping to jump on a few incase I need a few to fill in when I'm having a stressful non creative day.

Dinner

The other night we enjoyed a yummy quiche. It was good for so many reasons. Some of which are that EVERY ingredient was fresh, I baked it myself, a from scratch pie crust, and there was 2; all for under $4 a quiche.And these guys could easily feed 4-5 people. So that works out to $1 a person. 

Please ignore the horrible looking pie crust...Somedays are just not pie crust days.

Poverty Creek Farm's Manly Sausage Quiche

2 Pie crusts (recipe to follow)

12 farm fresh eggs

1 cup milk

8 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 lb Poverty Creek Farm Hot Breakfast Sausage, loosely cooked

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a medium sized bowl whisk together the eggs and milk. Stir in the shredded mozzarella cheese. Once thoroughly mixed fold in the sausage.
3. Pour mixture evenly between the 2 pie crusts.
4. Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes or until the top of the quiche is browned and firm.
5. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Pie Crust

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1 cup shortening, chilled

6 tablespoons ice water

  

1. Whisk the flour and salt together in a medium size bowl. With a pastry blender, cut in the cold shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Drizzle 2 to 3 tablespoons ice water over flour. Toss mixture with a fork to moisten, adding more water a few drops at a time until the dough comes together. 
2. Gently gather dough particles together into a ball, divide dough in half and reform into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 30 minutes before rolling. 
3. Roll out dough, and put in a pie plate. Fill with desired filling and bake. 

I am telling you this stuff is AWESOME!!!! My family eats it up! Even Mr. Cowboy remember him?

 

Not a rodeo night

Well, usually Biggest Cowboy takes a group of teenagers to a practice pen in the central part of NC on Thursdays. He didn't tonight. It has rained for a few days and he decided to cancel this weeks' trip. We had a cookout here at the house tonight instead. In the rain. yes, i know that's a fragment sentence, but sometimes it's necessary. It was so wet that we couldn't burn the brush pile we have. So we made a very small fire on the concrete (not a smart thing to do btw). At the end of the night, after we put the fire out, I took some shots of Littlest.



He was "heating" the horseshoe up in the "fire" so he could "work" on it.

Night everyone.

Heart

OK, so I didn't post the last 2 weeks. The first time I didn't post. Biggest Cowboy didn't go to Concord for that rodeo. So I didn't get to use the computer (he's addicted to Facebook). The second Thursday I didn't think about it. We had to go down to Gainsville, FL to deal with a sudden death in the family.

So. I don't think I've posted my laundry soap recipe. It must be one of my favorite things I make. I got tried of buying the name brand soap for $8 a bottle for 26 washes which last me about...2 weeks. We wash a lot of clothes. Biggest Cowboy has a very dirty job, and Littlest Cowboy is just a boy. So I jumped online to find a nice alternative. It costs me less then $2 a run, and last me over a month!

Laundry Soap

1 bar Ivory Soap, grated
1/2 c Washing Soda
1/2 c Borox Powder

In large saucepan add 6 cups water and grated soap. Heat until soap melts. Add Washing Soda and Borox. Stir until all is dissolved. Remove from heat.

Pour 4 cups hot water in bucket. Add your soap mixture and stir. Add 1 gallon water plus 6 cups water and stir. Let sit 24 hours. It will gel up. Use 1/2 c per load.


i think this stuff cleans better then store bought soap. I will throw in OxiClean if they have been in a lot of mud. Or I might add baking soda instead. (We have red clay here not dirt. It's tough to get out of a 3 year old's pants.)

New blog rule

OK, here's the new rule. A once a week posting on Thursday nights. This is usually the night the Biggest Cowboy takes a bunch of kids over to a practice pen of bulls in Charlotte. So I have some free time. I stold this post from BlueRidge Mnt Girl

Love ya

Here's the rule: Bold the things you've done & post on your blog!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band- As long as Recorder's in 5th Grade Counts!
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity-
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris- Our school's dog? Does that count ;)
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning-while pregnant!!
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb-Too many to count
26. Gone skinny dipping-with a boy at that!
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse-the most memorable one happended while I was in elementary school (K-8) and we went out side. we had made special "pieces of paper" (ie: paper with a hole in it) to watch it happening.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors-does Florida count?
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke-every night in Japan. Man those people loved to hear an American sing the Beetles.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erup
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma.
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone-Does a fracture count?
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book-working on that
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year's Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Been swept off your feet

NEXT!

What? No comments on my last post.

So I have no comments. That's OK. I understand. You all 2 readers are not reading anymore now that I'm a working farmgirl.

Chicken pictures tomorrow. It's supposed to be nice in NC on Saturday!!

Man- I slacking again.

I really have been thinking of everyone here in blog land. I have been working 12 hour days. Craziness. I get home. Deal with helping feeding and go to bed. I know, it's ridiculous. We have eaten horribly during this time. Yucky heat up pizzas, have fueled us poorly through this time. But hopefully we will be on track next month. So, please accept my apologies.

I will tell you about mine and cowboy's date this weekend. We went to the Japanese steak house this Friday. It was wonderful. The food was good and the entertainment distracting from a week of work. Then...I know you are all waiting with baited breath. we went to Wal-mart. nice uh? But we did. Then we came home. I was asleep by 10:30.

That was our date. Um...maybe I should work on that.

A follower??

Coolness. I have a follower. How awesome is that?

I really don't have anything important today. i really wish I did. I haven't done any cool projects. I have really cooked anything great. I have just worked and slept really.

but I will post an original painting of my sister's. She gave it to me for Christmas. I really love it. I can't decide if I want to frame it or not. I think I like it unframed on my office wall.