Snow Day Pretzels

March 26, 2014 by WoolyMama

Yesterday we got a late-season snow day. It wasn’t a whole lot: maybe 4 or so inches before it was all said and done, but it was a sloppy, wet snow that mixed in with the already-present mud and was just……..meh.

I am still optimistic, however, that all of the polar-vortexing and snow that we’ve had this winter will make this summer’s bug population less than explosive.

But back to yesterday’s snow.

I spent extra time out with the ewes in the morning, making sure they had enough good hay and a little extra grain. I wanted to be sure no one was shivering or hunchy-looking from the wet snow. They continue to look fine, though, and if the weather continues to be dry I may just put them back in with everyone else today or tomorrow.

Once I was back in the house it was clear that everyone’s motivation to do any school work was below zero. Neve and Oona were playing nicely and quietly by the fire (and that in itself is so unusual I was loathe to interrupt it). Emily was reading. I just wanted to knit and catch up on The Walking Dead.

In the end, Emily watched some video lectures from The Khan Academy and the younger girls and I made soft pretzels (hooray for home ec!).

Because who doesn’t love a nice, warm soft pretzel on a cold and snowy day?

The recipe we used comes from Sweet Paul Magazine and can be found HERE.

It’s one of the easiest and quickest pretzel recipes I’ve tried.

The dough consists of water, yeast, brown sugar and flour. It sits for 45 minutes after mixing, and then it gets rolled out.

The raw pretzels get bathed in boiling water with baking soda for ten seconds and then sprinkled with salt and baked.

Simple!

This is the third time we’ve made them, and they’re always a hit.

Afterwards I parked myself in the chair by the fire with my knitting (and Gulliver, who insisted on being on top of me all day) and enjoyed the view from inside for a change.

Finally, The Equinox

March 20, 2014 by WoolyMama

We’re spending the day enjoying the (actually appropriate) weather.

Happy Spring, y’all! Lambs, ducklings and flowers can’t be too far behind!

SnowPatrick’s Day

March 18, 2014 by WoolyMama

For our 18th wedding anniversary, Paul and I got a snow day.

We had all been thinking we might be done with winter (especially with the first day of spring in just a few days!), but nope!

The nice part was that Paul’s office closed, and even though he was still working, he got to be home for the day.

And it WAS a very pretty day. It was my favorite kind of snow; the kind that sticks onto every part of the trees and weighs them down (I know, this is bad for the trees and power lines, etc). This is the kind of snow we wish for in December but never seem to get.

Left to right: duck, goose, chicken. The snow didn’t slow down any of them.

Nor did it slow down Lucy or stop her stream-loving adventures. This is how you know these dogs are built to withstand extreme weather. She enjoys the stream no matter the weather (or the snakes, to my extreme concern). In the summer, her favorite thing to do is lie in one of the shallower spots all day and stay wet, occasionally splashing at the minnows and tadpoles.

The kids had a day of crafting and coloring pictures for school – mostly things they came up with themselves. I tried putting on a documentary about the history of Ireland and St. Patrick’s Day, but it very nearly put ALL of us to sleep.

This leprechaun beard idea came from Pinterest (it’s just scraps of paper, rolled and glued onto a beard-shaped piece of paper).

Dinner was perfect for the snowy, blustery weather – our traditional Steak, Guinness and Cheddar Pie. Comfort food at its best! Everyone loves this – even Oona!

And for dessert:

A Guinness-Chocolate Cheesecake. I have to say, this was my first real attempt at cheesecake and I’m thrilled with how it came out. It makes me want to try a plain one. The thing is, plain cheesecake (with a smidge of fresh fruit on top) is one of my favorite things on this planet, and I’m afraid if I make it I will EAT IT ALL. And really, who needs that many calories? Not me!

We topped off the evening, as always, with Darby O’Gill and the Little People, and I worked on my Shepherd sweater by the fire. All of that cabling being worked into a natural-colored wool just seemed so right to accompany the day’s theme.

I’d say it was the prefect way to close out winter, just in time to welcome spring. I hope Mother Nature agrees.

Worming Day! (Part 1)

March 13, 2014 by WoolyMama

The beginning of this week was just extraordinary in its loveliness. We had wonderfully mild temperatures for several days in a row, and we all felt the itch to get outside and stay there.

It seemed like the perfect time for worming the flock.

Since it’s been a wonderfully cold winter, we’re pretty optimistic that parasite levels will be lower over the warmer months this year. Even still, with most of our ewes likely bred we want to make sure they are not carrying an overload of them in their gut, as the hormones and stresses of pregnancy and lambing tends to exacerbate the condition, and then things just get ugly.

Now, worming has always been a bit of a tricky chore; you want to make sure you catch it early enough to be effective, but you don’t want to overtreat them and build up resistance to the drug. However, to our great relief, a miracle seems to have been discovered in the use of copper. You give one dose of copper to each sheep roughly every 6 months and the parasites (hopefully) never build a resistance to it. It simply makes the sheeps’ guts too inhospitable to the critters.

In the past when Susan and I would use copper we had to break out the scales and empty capsules and very carefully measure out copper particles. You can imagine how excited we were earlier this winter when we discovered THESE over at Jeffers.

Hello easy coppering!

The only drawback to this is that I can’t seem to get a solid answer on whether or not we can copper our ewes that are bred. We decided, therefor, to err on the side of caution, and the ladies all get a dose of the chemical wormer we’ve always used until after lambing. All the boys and goats get copper.

So, with copper and wormer in hand (along with hoof clippers just in case) Neve and I set out into the winter pen to get down to some serious work.

Neve’s a pretty big help for most of the flock; it gets a little more difficult with the big sheep like Alabama. She is my shepherd-in-training though, and since she is responsible for evening feedings every day, they know her and trust her.

Wren!

We managed to get about half the flock taken care of, when Jerry and Alabama combined forces to knock the temporary fence panels over and everyone streamed out of the holding pen. They knew better than to fall for coming into the worming pen again, so we had to knock off for the day. We’ll finish the rest up on Saturday, and everyone who got copper should be satisfactorily protected until September. If it works like it’s supposed to, Susan and I will be happy shepherds!

In The Kitchen With Oona

February 21, 2014 by WoolyMama

With all the cold weather we’ve been having there’s been a lot of us craving comfort foods like soups, breads, and cookies.

Fortunately for me, my kids are all interested in learning how to bake, and since we homeschool it was a no-brainer to bring that learning into the kitchen.

Neve has been the break-out chef around here, making all manner of things for us and for herself (she makes great panini sandwiches!), but both she and Emily have been taught how to operate the espresso machine so we can always count on them for a caffeinated creation (smartest thing we ever did, right there!)

This week it has been Oona lending a hand with the baking and learning how things go together. We made brownies and Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cup cookies using recipes from King Arthur Flour.

She’s pretty keen on the stirring part.

We’re still working on cracking eggs in a manner that doesn’t end in disaster (not quite there yet). She’s pretty proud of her accomplishments, though, even if mama is the one measuring out the ingredients.

We have not yet found a recipe from King Arthur that we haven’t liked, but these cookies are among our favorites.

It’s pretty gratifying to know that by the time my kids are off in the world on their own they will be able to feed themselves (and well, at that!).

Art Day

January 16, 2014 by WoolyMama

For Christmas Paul and I got the girls painting sets modeled after the Great Masters’ most iconic works. They’re called “Master Kitz”, and each one includes some information about the artist and his work, plus instructions to make your very own version.
Emily got Hokusai’s “The Great Wave”, Neve got Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” (thanks to a very soft spot for a certain Doctor Who episode featuring said artist), and Oona got Monet’s “Water Lilies”.

Today the younger girls decided they wanted to break out their kits and work on them for school (Emily was deep into The Joy Luck Club and I wasn’t going to complain).

Thankfully Oona’s kit used chalk pastels instead of paint. Less mess for me to worry about!

Oona had fun shading with her fingers and tracing the water lily stencil.

Her finished product!

Neve’s project looked like a lot of fun.

Neve’s Starry Night!

They had A LOT of fun making these. Each kit came with two heavy pieces of paper along with all the paint/pastels and stencils you need, plus super instructions.

No, I am not getting paid by Master Kitz! I just love how much fun they are!

Nice Shootin’, Tex

January 8, 2014 by WoolyMama

There’s a whole lotta shooting going on! Photo shooting!

(And Susan’s from Texas, so it’s funny, see? No? Sigh…..)

Today was day one of the Juniper Moon Farm Yarns spring/summer photo shoot. It was also 18 degrees when we left the house this morning for it. In years past we’ve always always shot the pictures outside, no matter what. There is one photo of Emily wearing a light blue springy wrap that we shot while it was sleeting. Let no one say we haven’t suffered for this art.

This year Susan was very, very nice to us and rented some studio space indoors. I know, she’s a saint.

Actually I am pretty sure it’s because we don’t have the big farm anymore and here it is just all muddy and icy and gross. But we’ll take it either way!

As usual, we put Emily to work. She’s getting better and better at taking direction and she and Susan found their rhythm pretty early today.

Maddie also came along to pose, as did her friend Gabi. Neve and Oona brought up the rear and kept everyone ~~annoyed~~ entertained.

Lauria is seriously photogenic.

I can’t wait for everyone to see the stunning pictures Susan took of Emily.

This is the reality behind any fashion shoot. Clothes are pinned to fit each model perfectly. All of the samples are one size, and since people aren’t one size, we have to make each garment fit as though it was made for that person. Emily happened to be a bit too small for this sweater.

Yes, they absolutely do this in your favorite catalogs/magazines. Your clothes don’t fit you the same way because they aren’t pinned on you just so.

That’s the beauty of knitwear like this, though. You can pick your pattern and your size, and adjust it while you knit so that it fits you properly.

We’ll be doing this the rest of this week, and I hear tell that we may be doing some sock yarn dyeing as well.

Should be fun!

Wrapping Up 2013

December 31, 2013 by WoolyMama

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Laziness All Around

December 29, 2013 by WoolyMama

I can’t even believe Christmas is over. It hasn’t quite sunk in. The day itself came and went in a flash; the season itself never quite had a chance to find the right “feel”.

It was still a quiet, lovely holiday, with our traditional pigs in a blanket and chocolate cream pie. In the evening we watched the new episode of Doctor Who with my friend Jessie’s family.

Since then I have been struggling to do as little as humanly possible. A staycation of sorts. It’s not always easy, or even possible, what with animals and children. But I’ve certainly spent more than my fair share of time on Pinterest and Twitter, and even more time complaining about the awful unseasonable weather (rain, rain, more rain).

I may get some sewing or knitting done this week; more likely I’ll download some books and glue myself to the couch.

I’ll also try to soak up as many scenes like this as I can before the lovely ambience of the tree goes away for another year.

Everyone was happy with their gifts (and I can’t wait to try some recipes with Emily).

Neve and her twin, Grumpycat.

I may make another pie later. If there’s one thing that can rouse me from my extreme unwillingness to move, it’s food.

Nearly There

December 23, 2013 by WoolyMama

It’s December 23. I cannot believe how quickly we’ve gotten here. I wish we had a few more days to linger in this “it’s nearly Christmas” glow, where everyone is home (or on their way home) with friends and family in joyful anticipation and excitement (unlike the nasty holiday crowds in the bigger stores today).

We may not have accomplished everything I’d hoped in time, but we did do quite a lot. Holiday stories were read. Gingerbread houses were made (and eaten).