Of Cheese and Chickens

Today being a rainy day, we tried AGAIN to make the mozzarella and ..... it turned out great!  This time, we used powdered whole milk and added citric acid and after 2 1/2 hours we had a beautiful hunk of cheese, as well as some more ricotta cheese.  It's a great day!  Yesterday, with no rain, we worked on the chicken condo.  The shingles are nearly all finished, just short a few.  Hopefully, completion of that will be tomorrow.  Also, the condo is caulked (I learned how to caulk) and almost all of the white trim has been painted.  Just one fascia board along the roof over the nest boxes to paint is left.  Weather permitting, the outside walls should be painted this weekend.  Then more hardware to keep the vent cover on and open and close it and also the hardware for the run opening.  The chicks are getting their feathers in really well now and their looks are changing daily.  They eat and poo really good!  They have learned to drink from "nipples" attached to a water bottle - no more poo in the drinking water!  Yay!!!  So far, the four of the ladies have names - Abigail, Dreamer, Splashy and Charlotte.  More to come......

Turkeys and Chickens - Oh My!

Happy April First!  The courting season for turkeys has begun.  This morning, Mr. Tom Turkey was in our yard strutting his stuff .  He was sooo handsome..  Kirby got a really good picture of him.  The chicken condo construction began yesterday and continued today.  The chicken ladies are going to live in style.  We still have about a month to finish it - some final touches like hinges and paint and stuff but the major work is done - Thanks Dan!  The chicken ladies have grown some feathers on their wing tips and are now starting with some feathers at the tops of their wings.  They eat like crazy and nap attacks abound.  They ate their first worms and crickets this weekend. Such a treat.  It was like holding out a chocolate bar to a chocolate fiend....A lot of chasing of the lady chick with the worm by the other seven ladies.  In the kitchen department, I tried again to make some cheese.  This time cheddar, but the stuff just is not cooperating fully.  It did finally curd and it is in the cheese press, so we will see how it comes out.  At least, it should be edible.  Also, ravioli was on the menu this weekend.  The ricotta did turn out and the ravioli was really good.  So, some success in the kitchen - we'll have to wait on the cheddar!

Spring continues

Spring work continues here in Cowland.  We have been very busy the past week with weeding all the lovely spring weeds and removing the last of the leaves from fall.  Some painted daisy seeds have been planted under the front fence and green onions and basil in the herb garden.  Also some lettuce seeds in a small patch with the rosemary.  The first till of the newly enlarged garden has been done and four or five wheelbarrow loads of grass roots removed.  The Bradford pear trees and the cherry trees in the front are all but done blooming as well as most of the azaleas.  The blueberry bushes are looking like a good crop for pretty new bushes this year, lots of leaves and flowers for berries.  The daffodils are hanging on a little and other bulbs are coming up.  It looks GREAT around here.  We even had our first lawn mowing already!  The baby chicks are growing; we've had them a week now and some feathers are coming in on their wings.  They are almost outgrown the box they are living in.  We hope to have a new box tomorrow - much bigger!  Chicken Condo work begins this weekend - should be a very lovely place for them to live in.  We now have all of our seeds for the garden but we have more work to do before planting!

The Chickens are Here!

Our new chickens arrived yesterday.  However, instead of the six we were planning on, we upped the number to eight.  They are all so cute and tiny.  It makes the 50 pound bag of chicken feed look a bit to the extreme.  They had to be taught to eat and drink which only took about an hour.  They are pooping machines!  So far, three of the eight have names and they are Charlotte, Splashy and Zelda.  Our granddaughters will be naming the rest.  Their home is a lovely really large cardboard box in the garage with a "red light" district to keep them warm.  They seem to like about 82 degrees.  So, next up is building them their chicken condo.......

Spring Has Arrived!

Today is the first day of Spring - although spring weather has been here for a while.  We have started cleaning up the yard from the "winter" winds and old foliage.  The cherry trees, Bradford pears, azaleas and forsythia are in full bloom, as are the daffodils.  The crocuses - both purple and white are already finished.  It is beautiful here.  Temperatures have been in the low to mid 70s and mostly sunny with occasional showers.  Perfect!  We have most of our seeds purchased for the vegetable gardens, pretty much we just have to get the tomato plants, peppers, sweet potatoes and patty pan seeds.  It is still too early to plant the gardens, but we are having just the weather to get the soil worked with Black Cow and peat moss.  Canning has already begun, though.  The Florida strawberries are so sweet, so today we made 4 1/2 pints of strawberry preserves.  We hope this will be a good summer!

Inside Projects

After a wonderful Christmas and New Year's, we have been BUSY with some of our inside projects.  I received a beginner's cheese making kit for my birthday and we have tried, unsuccessfully, to make Mozzarella cheese - only to find out, it is probably the hardest cheese to make.  It looked easy, but we couldn't get the curds to join up right to make the stringy cheese texture.  So, we're going to try some cheddar next.  Curds stay curds, just pressed together tightly.  Will keep you all updated!  Then on to home improvement projects.  Mom's bedroom has been painted a really pretty light green shade and it looks GOOD!!!  The last week and a half, we have been remodeling our guest bathroom.  New tub, new tile in the tub area as well as on the vanity and a paint job of the old vanity.  (Plus plumbing, rebuilding the shower walls, sanding and all the stuff you don't see by just looking).  It turned out pretty good looking.   Husband is SO GOOD and talented to do all the destruction and reconstruction.  In the meantime, in the evenings when we are exhausted from all that construction, I have been working on more sweaters; one for Kirby and one for me, just have to get that last skein of yarn for Kirby's and it will be done.  The back of mine is about half done.  Should be finished by summer - so we'll probably not get to use them until next winter.  Sophie is glad we are done with the remodel - she's tired!!  No naps in her afternoons as she felt she had to keep an eye on what we were up to!!  Superbowl was fun.  We made flat bread chicken bacon ranch pizza, semi-spicy wings and fried up a few "nachos" from our low carb wraps - all turned out pretty good.  Go Giants!

Happy Holidays!

We have been busy here in Cowland.  The holiday baking is almost finished and the neighbors' cookie plates will be going out soon.  Fudge, raspberry truffles, snickerdoodles, almond cookies, Italian holiday cookies, toffee bars, zimsterne and I forget what else......  Still have chocolate whoopee pies, black walnut cake and pecan rolls to go.  The rest of the Christmas Day menu - savory stuff - is all planned out.  More cooking to go!!!  We did have a couple of brief visits with children - very nice!!  We did find time to come down off the mountain and go to Dolllywood to see the Christmas decorations - the last visit on our yearly pass.  We took this lovely picture of Dad while we were there.  Hope you enjoy it!  Our Christmas shopping is 99% done, just two little items to pick up. Our Christmas tree will be up soon, just have to wait to decorate it until Mia and Elizabeth get here.  That will be great fun!  So, Merry Christmas!!!!!