Cabin Crafted

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  • Winter’s Roar

    Our winter has been unusual to say the least. Until a couple of weeks ago, I think the temperatures had been above normal with occasional snow flurries, a few barely covered the ground snow falls that didn’t last. Then things changed. We haven’t seen daytime temperatures rising above 20° (-6.7°c) and night time temperatures near zero (-17.8°c) in more than a week. On Saturday, we were expecting flurries and got several inches with sharp temperature drops. We had driven in to town to a nice restaurant to celebrate our 37th Valentine Day and Anniversary and the drive back home was a white knuckle ride.

    Yesterday we took Son#1 and Grandson#1 to the bus to return home from bringing my car home and a weekend visit and it was brutally cold and windy, wind chills in the double digit negatives.
    There were severe weather warnings posted for today and the school makeup day that had been scheduled for today was canceled.

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    We woke to the expected snow. So far about 5″ with the heaviest part of the system due this evening and overnight. We may be looking at a foot or more with extremely cold temperatures and expected to drop to -10°f (-23.3°c) Thursday night. We aren’t used to that type of temperature. Our firewood supply is running low and our heat pump is struggling.
    My chooks won’t come out of the coop when there is snow on the ground and with the temperatures as they are, I didn’t even open the pop door today. I have gone out 3 times to change out the frozen water, twice to throw down a scoop of feed into the straw and collect the eggs before they freeze.
    Our neighbor has two very pregnant cows and we saw her go down to check on them before the snow cover got too deep. Our steep gravel road will be difficult to traverse in a couple more inches of snow. I hope the cows don’t calve before we have a moderation in weather back to around freezing this weekend.
    The grands are playing in the rec room, I am knitting, reading, and cooking stew and homemade bread. A good way to spend a frigid snowy day.

  • Olio – 2/12/15

    Olio: a miscellaneous collection of things

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    Bread day.  Grandson is being stretched each day to a healthier more natural diet.  Fast food is being reduced and the selection less Wendy’s and more Wicked Taco in choice. He has been pretty good about beverages, drinking milk, water, or lemonade if out but he has his quirks.  His favorite foods used to be spaghetti with sauce and cheese or “cheese sandwich all cooked up” (we know them as grilled cheese), but then for some reason, he decided he didn’t like cheese.  He loves pizza and lasagna, even our cheese and spinach stuffed ravoli, but insists he doesn’t like cheese.  The first time I made corn bread he refused to even try it.  Now he asks for it.  The first herb and onion bread I made for them, he went to his room and skipped dinner rather than even be at the table with it. His preferred bread is “balloon bread,” though he will eat commercial Honey Wheat.  In an effort to eliminate more colors and preservatives from his diet, I set out to make loaves of similar texture without the additives.  He also insists that his bread have the commercial shape.  This morning’s results may pass his test.  The Honey Wheat bread I made is light in texture and was allowed to rise well over the rim of the pan before baking.  We are going to make his lunch for tomorrow without saying anything and see how it goes.

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    When they moved here and we purchased twin over double bunk beds for the room, he being the oldest got the top bunk.  To read or write in his journal at night, he had to climb back down to put the book or journal on the night table then climb back up to sleep.  A few days ago, his Mom hauled out her fabrics and snaps and we made him a pouch that holds his book, journal and a couple of pencils that snaps with straps over the side rail of his bed.  He was really excited when he came home from school and saw it.  To complete the idea, his Mom gave him a clip on book light that clips to the rail as well.

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    In spite of Daughter’s Tom Boyishness growing up, granddaughter is a little girly girl and she does not like loud noise, though she can screech like a banshee herself when upset.  She also has had an unnatural fear reaction to the typical bugs found in a mountain house in the middle of a hay field, the occasional Lady Bug, Stink Bug, house fly or little spiders.  I don’t like spiders either, but I don’t run shrieking from the room if I see one. Little by little, we have been trying to help her overcome both.  When I find a Lady Bug alive, I will pick it up in her presence and she has let me put it on her shirt.  She will hold a dead one, but still not a live one.  She now points out stinkbugs, dead or alive instead of screaming and waits for her brother or an adult to remove it.  Flys and spiders are still a work in progress.  I managed to get to her “scoop up” a Lady Bug carcass and some dog hair with the mini vacuum that she had been terrified of.  You still have to warn her that you are turning it on, but she no longer runs crying from the room and she will use it herself now.

    imageMy girls having some quiet time after dropping brother off at his very early school bus.  She wiggled and squirmed on and over her Mom then fell asleep with her head on Mom’s hip and covered in the blanket Mom had draped over her own legs.  They slept like that for about an hour.

    Our spring like days fled overnight.  Our high of 32f (0c) occurred at 6 a.m. and we are falling to 8f (-13.33c) tonight.  It is snowing but not really expected to accumulate much and we are under another high wind warning and wind chill warning.  I’m betting that schools have at least a 2 hour delay tomorrow. The weekend nights are expected to be around 0f (-17.8c).  Monday was to be a school holiday, but is now scheduled to be a weather make up day and we are being threatened with several inches of snow on Monday and Tuesday, so it might yet be a school holiday and the make up day will have to be made up along with another day.

    Son #1 and Grandson #1 are bringing my car home on Friday night and staying for the weekend before riding a bus back home.  It will be good to see them.  The weather will be in the teens so I don’t think we will get the compost bin disassembled and relocated this weekend.  Maybe he will help us build a “dress up” closet for Granddaughter’s dress up clothes.

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    My current knitting project is a 320 stitch Moebius cowl.  The pattern is Gradient cowl and as I don’t have truly gradient yarn, but rather a cake that had 5 equal amounts of increasing darker yarns, I working from lighter to darker using one color, then alternating in the next darker color for a few rows, then using the darker color and so on.  I am on the third color now and will end up with a cowl about 38-40″ long by 5-6″ wide.  I think that there will be enough yarn left to make a hat, though probably not the one I want to make as I would like to knit Wurm on Ravelry using the gradient colors from light at the face edge and the darkest at the top.  The yarn is Green Dragon Yarns Sport weight in Teal.  As David has closed his shop and is no longer dying yarn, I want to use up every inch of it that I can and treasure it.

  • International Days and Borrowed Ideas

    For the past few days, Daughter and I have been visiting other countries through our culinary skills.  We were bored with the same menu repeatedly and decided to venture out, making wholesome, home-cooked meals with fresh ingredients.  On Thursday, we visited Germany, preparing Sausage and Potatoes with Rosemary.

    On Friday, we took a trip to Mexico, making handmade tortillas and using them to make Mexican style soft tacos, with shredded pork or taco ground beef served with fresh cilantro and chopped onion, sided with a salad and guacamole.

    Saturday we traveled to Asia, preparing a pork stir fry with lots of fresh vegetables including some of the ginger I grew this past summer and served it over rice.

    Today we stayed in Asia and made Red curry with Chicken, vegetables and rice.  Tomorrow we will make Ricotto and Mozarella and fresh pasta dough to make homemade Ravioli with spinach and cheese filling, served with some of the pasta sauce I canned last summer and a salad of fennel bulb and carrot.  After tomorrow, we will have to decide where next to visit.

    As for borrowed ideas, we have had an eight year old who in spite of a home library of books, a bookshelf of games, a garage of outdoor toys and two beautiful days, Legos and many other indoor toys, has repeatedly announced, “I’m bored.”  Daughter saw a great idea on Pinterest, a “The Bored Jar,” a jar with tokens each with a chore or suggestion such as “Read for 30 minutes” and we decided that we would implement it.

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    Instead of a glass jar that could easily be broken, we bought a small galvanized bucket with a chalkboard label on the side.  With a paint pen, the label was completed and we bought a bag of 25 wooden disks on which I have been adding the suggestions/chores. Once we have disks all completed, we will fill him in and each time he states “I’m bored,” he will have to draw a disk from the bucket and spend however much time the disk requires or the task takes.  This should teach him some responsibility for entertaining himself and perhaps get a few chores accomplished without constant reminders.

  • Rough week on the farm

    This week has been marked with disruption and illness. There was no school midweek for a teacher workday then a 2 hour delay that turned into a closed day because of a light snowfall and strong wind on Friday. We have been experiencing cold nights and damp cold days and Romeo, our Buff Orpington rooster, a calm gentle fellow had a serious case of comb and waddles frostbite. He may not be such a handsome fellow by the end of winter.

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    This was taken before his frostbite. He is a good guardian to his hens and gentle to them in his ardor. As the days are lengthening, we are beginning to get more eggs, up to half a dozen one day. These are welcomed, with 5 of us in the household now, we use many more than I did before.
    Yellow Cat, a rescued barn cat, obtained as a sickly kitten lived out his life this week. We had been told he would likely only live a couple of years as he had feline Aids and it finally took its toll on his fragile immune system. I found him on his bed on the porch yesterday with no life left.

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    RIP Yellow Cat.
    For a couple of weeks, we have noticed our German Shepherd licking herself more than routine cleaning would require. A vet trip to have her checked out and to get her nails clipped as it takes two people to hold her down while one clips, revealed that she had malformed lady parts that have become inflamed, likely infected so she is receiving antibiotics once a day and pain meds twice. This sounds like an easy process, but she doesn’t take pills, even flavored chewables and you risk your digits to try to force them. She can remove a pill from cheese, peanut butter, meatballs, any trick in the book. Daughter who used to be a vet nurse was going to be the pill giver, but the Vet gave us a can of prescriptive canned food and suggested putting the pill in a small meatball of it and magic, she gobbles the pills right down. A solution to a three year old problem, yay.
    I was to leave on a bus today to Northern Virginia to babysit Grandson #1 tomorrow and return home with my car on Tuesday. Last evening, Son#1 sent a text and suggested that I try to change my reservation for the bus as they had a stomach virus spreading through their region and he had come down with it. Not wanting to catch it myself nor bring it back to our household, my car will have to stay for another bit. I hope they don’t all catch and suffer the virus.
    Another week on our farm, I can’t believe it is February and in two short weeks, Mountaingdad and I will celebrate 37 years of marriage and in three weeks, our baby will turn 28. It can’t be so.

  • Things I don’t buy anymore

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    Tortilla’s for tacos and enchiladas
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    Ricotta cheese
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    Mozzarella cheese
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    Pasta noodles
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    Bar soap, shampoo, laundry detergent
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    Eggs
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    Chicken
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    Tomato products, salsas, jams, chutney
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    Mustard
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    Yogurt and cream cheese
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    Hand and body lotion

    The longer we homestead, the more products have been eliminated from our shopping list, more products are made at home.  As the garden and orchard grow and my desire to be more aware of what goes on and into my body, the more items are removed.  Hopefully, the day will come when we are growing a couple of pigs on our land and at least some of the lard will replace the oils that I buy for cooking and soap making.  If Son #1 or 2 raise bees, we will be able to have honey and beeswax too (I am allergic to bee stings, so I can’t tackle that task.)

    I love being able to make these items, our bread and chicken feed, grow most of our vegetables and have the health and time to do it.

  • Winter Disappointments

    By this time in winter, we have seen several snowfalls.  Sometimes a dusting, others a real snow, but this winter has been mostly rain or freezing rain  We went to bed last night listening to the dire warning being issued in the Northeast USA and a forecast for snow to fall beginning around midnight and accumulating up to 5″ here in Southwest Virginia.  We awoke to no snow on the ground, no snow falling and broken clouds.  Granddaughter hoping for snow later in the morning but wanting to wear her short sleeve, frilly “Frozen” dress, created a most interesting outfit.

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    Her leggings are black and white with zigzags, hearts and other patterns, the boots as you can see are black and pink with multicolored polka dots.  She was ready to go out.

    Daughter has commented that she needed slippers and warmer taller socks to wear, so we decided to venture out early to return something we purchased yesterday on our girls afternoon out while Mountaingdad and Grandson went to a movie.  We also were seeking socks and slippers for her.  Did you know that slippers are an item like gloves that are purchased by stores for Christmas and are not available year round?  We finally found her a pair at the third store we tried.

    While we were out, the chickens were free ranging, but when we returned home a bit after noon, she and I lured them back to the pen so the dogs could wander.  Our dogs don’t mess with them usually, but their Golden Retriever by nature wants to chase them and barks at them even if he sees them coming and going from the coop.  When we went to lock them up and check for eggs, the coop smelled damp and too strongly of ammonia.  My two large round bales of hay that were set aside for coop use this winter and garden use in the spring have gotten wet and moldy and can’t be used in the coop anymore.  The local feed and seed had square bales of straw so I drove in to purchase two.  We are due for more very cold weather and I have already seen some frostbite damage on Romeo the rooster’s comb, so I had to do more cleaning than just adding layers to the coop and stirring up the layers.  Trying to leave at least some of the composting layer in the bottom, most of the hay was shoveled out and tossed into the run and into the compost bin, including the nesting box hay.  About a third of a bale of straw, clean and dry put a nice deep layer in the coop so hopefully the gang will stay warm and dry in the upcoming cold.

    Though I don’t like to put food or water in the coop, I have been tossing a handful of scratch into the coop in the late afternoon to encourage the chooks to keep the bedding stirred up and broken down and the corn they eat helps them stay warm.

    I guess the spoiled hay will be used to keep the run drier and less muddy and in the spring to mulch the garden.  I hate having to buy straw when we harvest 80 to 100 round bales of hay each spring.  Next year, I will find a better way to store it.

    This afternoon, it has begun to rain off and on with a snow flurries expected as the temperature plummets to the teens tonight.  More is expected later this week and weekend, just as I have to ride a bus to Northern Virginia to babysit Grandson #1 and pick up my car from Son #1 who has been using it for a bit.

    I really hope we have at least one good snowfall for the kids.

  • First Meetings

    Early this morning, Son #2 arrived with his family.  The eight year old boy cousins haven’t seen each other in several years and the 3 year old girl cousins had never met each other or the boy cousin.

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    The girls hit it off immediately this morning.  They are about 5 months apart in age.  The boys have been running and playing chess with each other all day.

    While this has been ongoing, I decided to learn to make Ricotta cheese. . .

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    A gallon of milk first made into mozzarella and a second gallon into about 4 to 5 cups of Ricotta.  Two balls of pasta dough made and a pound of sausage cooked and a fresh homemade lasagna assembled.

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    Son rolling out the noodles.

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    A baking and a salad and we will have dinner for 9 tonight with two new lessons learned, Ricotta and Pasta.  Three products I will no longer buy.  In a day or two, daughter and I will make homemade tortillas.  I used to make them when Mountaingdad and I were newlyweds but with kids I switched to commercial ones.  Daughter bought an 8″ cast iron tortilla press so we will make our own.

    The dogs don’t know what to make of all the activity and want to be in the middle of all of the play.  The girls escaped. . .

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    It seems safer inside the dogs cage than out.

  • The Changes

    I have lived in this house for about 8 1/2 years now.  Mountaingdad for about 6.  When I first moved in, Son #1 and his family were living with me, but they moved to the university town after a couple of years and the household was just Mountaingdad and me for a couple of years, then 3 years ago, we added the pups and we had visits by Son #1 and family, Daughter and family, and Son #2 and family from time to time.  Two summers, we kept Grandson #1 for extended periods to help out.

    Almost three weeks ago now, daughter, 2 grands and granddog moved in as her husband tries to sell their home in Florida and moves here with them.  They will live with us for a year or two.  It has been a new experience for everyone.  The children are having to adjust to not having Dad in the house for now, but having 3 adults monitoring their behavior.  Mountaingdad is very good about staying out of behavior correction, I’m not as good, but try to defer to their Mom dealing with issues that arise.  The household experiences the pattering around of children, the dog that barks at our cats, the visiting cows, anyone coming or going on the driveway or walking around in the basement or the loft if he hasn’t seen the person leave the room he is in.

    Since their arrival, we have had only one afternoon that was both dry and warm enough for the bundled up Floridians to play outdoors, but they loved having the huge yard in the midst of the farm on which to run, bike and play without fear of cars on the road or the canal behind their house that was home of “Chewey” the 5 foot alligator that appeared at times.

    There have been times when each adult has had to escape for a bit, to a closed bedroom or to leave the house for an errand or two without kids.  Fortunately, they are okay being left with one of us for a while.

    Granddaughter has had the hardest adjustment at night.  Because our bedrooms are spread out over all three floors of our home, with the master upstairs, two on the main floor and one off the finished basement, the kids are sharing a room with a twin over double bunk.  Eight year old grandson took right to it, getting the top bunk.  Granddaughter has the double bottom.  They each had a double in Florida in their own rooms.  Daughter has been trying to keep Granddaughter in her own bed for naps and at night, but Granddaughter has other ideas and will resist until she is so tired from crying that she finally falls asleep, sometimes for an hour, sometimes all night.  Yesterday was a resistance day and this is where I found her…

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    Curled up with her blanket, stuffed toy and pillow, outside her Mom’s bedroom door on the floor.  She had cried for over an hour before falling asleep there for her nap.  I texted daughter not to come out of the room quickly and sent her the photo.  She slept there for about an hour.

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    Lately, we have been having a nearly daily visitor, Jumper Jr., the ginger cow in the background.  She comes over to graze, I guess our field is more appealing to her than her own.  Yesterday she brought her Mom, Jumper.  They got their name because neither of them can be kept penned up.  Daughter and I decided they should be Ginger and Blondie.  We don’t mind the visits and the kids think it is great.  Granddaughter runs to one of us whenever she spots the ginger cow and excitedly states, “Jumper’s here.”  Now if we can just get their dog on board with this idea too.

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    Today, we are having a winter storm that began around 10 a.m.  They closed the schools 3 hours early and brought the kids home.  When Grandson got home, his Mom and I were both knitting and he decided that he wanted to learn too.  Since daughter is just beginning to pick it up again and is a novice knitter, and since Grandson and I are both left handed, I was nominated to be the instructor.  This is lesson one.  He is excited about learning and eager to make a scarf.  I patiently have had to tink (knit backwards) more than one of his rows this afternoon to repair his work, but he is being persistent.  I think he is going to catch on.  I don’t know if his interest will hold, but it is fun teaching him.  Three  year old sis thinks she is “big and strong enough” to do it too.  I think we may buy her a spool knitter or pot holder loom to start on.

  • OLIO 1/19/2015

    Olio: a miscellaneous collection of things

    This has been the birthday weekend for the 8 year old grandson now living with us.  His Dad flew in from Florida to be with his family for the weekend.  The celebration began with three generations bowling, 6 of us.   I can’t remember the last time I bowled and in spite of sore stiff joints, it was fun.  From there we were off to the birthday boy’s favorite restaurant, Texas Roadhouse for steaks and ribs, then home for a birthday cake that took his Mom 3 hours to decorate while he was in school on Friday.  He wanted a Corvette Stingray cake and she managed it nicely, placed high enough that he couldn’t see it until serving time Saturday night.  Sunday they went out for family time and lunch together and today, his actual birthday was supposed to be a school holiday, but ended up being a makeup day for a weather missed day last week.

    Before he got home from school and while his Mom was taking Dad back to the airport to fly back to Florida, I finally cleaned up the garage from the move in night when we quickly unloaded their trailer into the garage.  Son #1 had left his butchering station cleaned up, but left in place after we did fall chickens in hope of the deer he never got this year.  I dismantled it and put it back in storage until it is again needed. The box of outdoor toys was finally opened, the crate shelf moved to a more convenient place, the bins of balls, bats and helmets filled, bikes lined up until we can get wall hangers for them.

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    Toys are now accessible and I can walk through the garage to get to the outside.

    Also today, 10 gallons of whole grain chicken feed was made and stored.  Before grandson got home, I made 18.6 oz of homemade Mozzarella cheese, solo this time, in preparation for homemade from scratch pizzas, his request for a birthday dinner.

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    In 20 minutes, I can make this cheese with a gallon of milk at a cost of about half of the price of 8 ounces of “fresh” mozzarella from the grocer.

    Winter day_markedIt was a beautiful day for all of these tasks.  This gorgeous sky was seen while awaiting his school bus to arrive. Once he got home, I stayed outdoors with him for a bit of archery practice with his bow and arrows that he got for Christmas.

    The pizzas were made and savored, followed with left over birthday cake and ice cream.  The end of a busy and full birthday weekend for the young man.

  • Snow play

    Today we have a dusting of snow and frozen drizzle from over night. Enough to make the roads slick and close schools again, but not enough for real snow play. Granddaughter’s only other snow was when she was months old and being worn in a carrier by her Mom. After breakfast and chicken chores, we bundled her up and I took her out on the deck for some snow play.

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    The only place we could accumulate enough snow to “play” in was on the back deck. The snow was too dry to pack into snowballs but it stuck to her mittens like it was velcroed, but she had a blast and was so excited.

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    Such fun for this little Florida born cutie.