"Wearing Love Beads and Carrying Shoulder Purses..."

Tomorrow is "HIPPIE DAY" in Braeburn's honors World History class.  They are going to listen to pot-head music and burn incense for the whole hour.  Groovy.  His teacher is offering extra credit to anyone who dresses up for the big event.  

We outdid ourselves.

This outfit consists of Grandma's wig and jewelry, mom's bandana, old glasses from a construction worker who lost them, and a shirt we ironed the woodstock image onto.  I drew the line on peace symbols and black arm bands which wasn't too hard since we were all gagging by this point.

Braeburn is a pretty good actor, and Golden Delicious and I can hardly wait to hear how things work out.  He plans to carry his outfit to the history door, transform back to the 1960's and then reappear as himself when the class is over.

Math - Not Even Once

Our State is currently running this big set of Anti -Meth ads on the radio.  We have now heard them so many times we're starting to get really sick of them.  Braeburn (being the genius that he is) created this rival set of ads in his math class - while still paying attention to the teacher, of course. Speaking out against what is by far the more wide reaching evil. Look at the numbers. Every child in America has to take math.  Is meth that widespread? Math causes hours of pain and suffering for those poor souls who have been afflicted with the curse of homework. A moment of silence please.

(Guest blogger:  Braeburn)

"You're going to see disturbing and even shocking images of what--- does to people. These public service spots don't sugar coat it, because it's just that ugly. And "Hawaiians" need to see and hear the truth about this drug."

Governor Butch Otter.

Goat Kidding 2008 - Part 3

Well, I have done what any self respecting goat farmer would do when faced with a challenge.... I sold both my problem does that have the "edema" problem, and 2 of the babies who wouldn't take a bottle.  So much for perseverance, huh?  

Our 5th doe kidded with a buck.  (My brother says Henry the 8th should have had our problem), and so we only have one more fat momma.  She should kid this week (with 2 does - knock on wood.)

Cabin Colors

Tomorrow is the big day for final color decisions for interior paint on the cabin project.  I think I (finally) have the right colors.  I am constantly second guessing my decisions and collect dozens of paint swatches from Lowe's.  I'll make a decision, change my mind, choose something different, and then a few days later come back to my original color.  My home is a very mellow color (safe creamy yellow), but I want something warm and cozy for the cabin, which means I'm being brave and using more color than I'm used to using.  I finally settled on Laura Ashley, Gold #5 for the walls, and Gold #3 for the ceiling.  Pretty gold looking huh?  I'm excited to see how it looks on the walls.  

Goat Kidding 2008 - Part 2

Our next 2 does have finally kidded.  Dolly and Patsy both had twins Sunday afternoon.  They have looked ready to kid for weeks.  We had all about given up on them.  Patsy had a doe, Pixie, and a buck, Sprite.  Dolly had two bucks - lovely- which we have named Gideon and Rascal.  Mr. Bechtel affectionately calls them stupid and stupid.  They both absolutely refuse to drink from a bottle.  (More on why a bottle is necessary in a minute.)  Theoretically one would think if you offered a hungry animal food, they would eat.  No way.  Instead, the goats refuse to open their mouths, go limp, play dead, and affect this, "go ahead and slit my throat" attitude.  When we pry open their jaws, squirt milk in, let them suck on our fingers, try to sneak the bottle in their mouth, and then pry open their jaws again they shake their heads and bleat and try to escape any attempts at nourishment.  This is where the nicknames come in.

This charming ritual is enacted over and over and over again until we finally give up and decide they must have swallowed something.

Meanwhile their moms want their babies but they have "edema of the udder"  uggh.  Whatever that is.  It means their udders are so swollen they won't let their milk down.  Cortisone shots are supposed to help, but only maybe.  One vet I talked to thought it was mastitis, but the does aren't sick and their udders were like this before they kidded.  It's a mystery.

Happily, Pixie has learned to bottle feed and Sprite is coming along.  Two down and two to go. 

How Does Your Cabin Grow?

Progress continues on our cabin project.  I love everything about it so far.  In fact, if it weren't for the 6 months of winter I would be sorely tempted to make it our permanent residence.  I think it looks traditional and modern at the same time.  The goal is to be ready for an open house over Memorial Day Weekend.  This is the traditional "opening day" for cabin season and we want to give potential buyers a chance to enjoy the cabin all summer.  It will go on the market the middle of May and be the featured "cover home" in the local real estate magazine.  

Aliases

First, I have to thank "Cocoa" and her blog, Chocolateonmycranium, for the idea of Aliases.  I love the extra privacy it gives my family.  Plus, all my children had a riot thinking of "who" they wanted to be.  It reminded me of 8th grade French class when we all got to choose a french name to go by throughout the semester.  My friend chose Bridget -- "Breeejeeet" and I chose Katherine - "Katreeeeen".  We loved it!

Since we are Crabapple Farm we decided to use apple varieties we like as our code names.

So, to decode who we are, here is the list:

Me:  Liberty

Hubby:  Mr. Bechtel.  (his favorite crab apple on the place)

Son #1: Braeburn.  (Because it's so aristocratic!)

Daughter: Golden Delicious.  (Self explanatory.  She is very sweet!)

Son #2:  Nova Spy. (The twins share the spy variety; it's exciting, scientific, and very hardy.)

Son #3: Prairie Spy. (He's going to be a rancher when he grows up.)

Song #4: Granny Smith. (Since he's only 6, I can't explain this one very well, except to say that he is constantly keeping us laughing!)

 

Lentil Soup

"The philosopher Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper.  He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king.  Said Aristippus, 'if you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.' 

Said Diogenes, 'learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.' "

from, The Song of the Bird by Anthony de Mello

Favorite Lentil Soup

This is my mother in law's recipe, adapted slightly, which I make REALLY often.

If you use powdered chicken flavoring then it's salty enough.  If you use real broth (recommended!) then add salt to taste.

Simmer together for one hour:

4-5 cups chicken broth

small forkful of chopped garlic ( 1-2 cloves)

2 carrots, chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 potatoes, chopped

1 cup lentils

U -Milk?

After another long evening in the barn, Braeburn suggested a perfect solution to all our goat problems.  "You know how they have strawberry fields that are u pick, right?  How about if we do U - Milk?"  

We suggested his great idea to our 4-H leader who's comment was, "sounds great.  You let me know how that works out for you...."

Always innovating, thats us.

Goat Kidding 2008 - Part 1

We have Alpine dairy goats.  We started out small with 2 little doelings, and in the past 3 years somehow we have grown to 6 does and 1 buck.  Spring kidding has been beautifully easy up to this point.  Each year nature seemed to take care of everything and we just enjoyed the ride.  That easy ride ended this year.  Part of the problem is that 5 out of the 6 does are first time moms.  I had no idea animals learned how to parent just like people!  I thought they were born knowing how to be great mommas.  Not true.  It has made me really appreciate our one experience doe who knows what she is doing.   

Our first doe, Shadow, kidded while we were gone.  When we got out to the barn, one of the kids was dead and the other one was pretty far gone. Shadow hadn't bothered to dry them off, feed them, or anything.  She was just a scared new mom.  This, of course, happened when Mr. Bechtel was out of town thus furthering our theory that everything interesting happens when dad is gone.  Luckily, we have great neighbors and they came and showed me how to tube feed a baby goat.  I made a little bed on the floor of my room and got up every 2 hours to feed the little guy but he died early the next morning.  

The kids and I were very sad and buried them both with honors.  We didn't have time to mourn long though since our older doe, Savannah, kidded right before school started.  She had a beautiful little doe, Georgia Ann, and showed us how mothering should be done.  The kids were happy because they were late for school, and so all's well that ends well.  As M&M say, "kidding is a life and death experience"! 

Family Home Evening Quiz

Ok, here's your chance to test your church history.  Tonight at FHE, Mr. Bechtel gave us all a quiz.  See if you know the past church leaders from these clues.  Hint:  they were both from foreign countries.

1.  He was a botanist who, after meeting with Einstein, said Einstein didn't know beans...Ha, Ha... He wrote a book called, "Evidence and Reconciliations".  

2.  This man was an educator, taught lots of the early church leaders when they first came to Utah, and the honors building at BYU is named after him.

3. And for the bonus:  name Noah's 3 sons, and order them oldest to youngest.

Answers:  1.  John A. Widsoe  2.  Karl G.  Maeser  3.  Japeth, Ham, Shem.

We were very impressive with our answers.  ( 2 out of 3 is pretty good).  In fact we did so well, we celebrated by having ice cream for treat when we were done. 

"Barney" the Rooster

Our Rooster came to our coop via old friends.  They had too many roosters and we picked out the coolest looking one.  I think that his color is great next to all the barred rock hens.  Some of us think he's a Buff Orpington, and some of us think he's a Rhode Island Red.  Whatever he is, he thinks he's the boss and he definitely runs the coop.

Eggs Anyone?

Now it's spring and we should have lots of eggs.  Do we?  No.  For some reason when it was dark and cold our hens were happy, but not now.  This may have something to do with their "irregular" feeding schedule - as in whenever the kids remember to feed them... We like our animals happy around here, but we also expect them to earn their keep.  Several weeks ago I had so many eggs I resorted to making angel food cake, now I'd just be happy with one or two a day.