Fresh Cream!

I had an impromptu lesson on the art of cheese making and milk separation this morning! Shortly after cleaning up breakfast dishes, unpacking the car from yesterday's excursion, making a quick cup of GML, I loaded up Egypt and headed south. My lovely nanny goat, is about to "meet her man". It's that time of year and in order for me to keep having milk, my girl needs to get with her guy so they can make a baby! I've never considered myself much of a match maker but in this case, I guess I am!

I always enjoy visits to the Double K Ranch. Our friends, The Kaiser Family, are such wonderful teachers and mentors. Elizabeth is my "go to Goat Lady". If I have a question, I call her versus getting on the internet and researching. She is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to the caprine species. When she asked if I'd like to see how she separates, I jumped at the opportunity. (BS is was in pre-school and I am all about putting off tomato canning and pickle making for a few more hours!) She gifted me with this jar of delicious fresh cream to go in my coffee, which instantly earned her a HUGE hug!

I watched in awe as I saw her old separator do its job! Elizabeth takes the cream and makes butter, cheese and yogurt for her family. I was given a sample of one of her hard cheese creations............YUMMM! This is definitely where I am headed. It was delicious. I'm planning to start making cheese this fall. I'll be starting with my favorite, Feta. I think this is a good idea as this costs upwards of $5.00 for a small package in the store. I eat it on everything from toast to pasta. Feta is divine on broiled tomatoes sprinkled with basil too!

It may be a while before I'm in a place where I'll need a cream separator. I eventually would love to make butter but for the time being, I am content to have fresh milk and cheese. All in good time right?! For now, I've stored up a bit of milk in Egypt's absence. I'll miss the cantankerous old bat, simply because I love her milk, certainly not because of her personality. Come March, we'll have an adorable new kid to play with and tame down. I'm really not sure what we will do with it either. I haven't gotten that far. All in good time right?!

At this point, I am looking at possibly expanding my tiny herd. I've had several inquiries about goat's milk. So to the "powers that be" if you are reading, please note, this is INFORMATION, NOT ADVERTISING: Goat's milk can be purchased in Nebraska at the farm site. It cannot be "officially advertised" but it is legal to go to the site and buy it there! Cool. I learned something new today!

I have done quite a bit of research with goat's milk and I very impressed. It is extremely healthy, especially for infants due to the healthy fat content which aids in brain development. I am sure there is a slew of information if any readers are interested about the subject. I'd love to have it neatly posted here, but alas, I will skip that because I have a kitchen full of produce waiting to jump in jars and a house the need to be re-shui'd. (That is a word in my language, a shortened version of hollering at the kids and telling them if they don't put their crap away it will be "lovingly" hauled to Goodwill on my next trip to town, which incidentally is tomorrow!)

As a personal testament to the benefits of raw goat's milk, I can say this. I am now wishing I would have collected more and frozen it! I see my stores are thin and I will be anticipating having my girl, as crabby as she is, be back on the ranch. Previously, I've not been a big milk fan. In fact, my children have NEVER see me, drinking milk out of a carton here! I'll eat ice cream from time to time but drinking milk.......is, well. I'll just keep that one to myself and simply say, I'm NOT a fan. Goat's milk however is very "light" and sweet. I have it in my coffee every day. I cook with it and...........I did something really amazing the other day...........I DRANK IT STRAIGHT UP! *Gasp*  I've had it in so many things and not been able to tell the difference that it actually came from udders in my back yard, that I wanted to try it out. You can imagaine my amazement when I discovered it tastes delicious, absolutely sweetly delicious! I could go on an on but instead, I'd love to encourage you to try it out for yourself. I highly recommend it in peach smoothies, strawberry ice cream, coconut cream pudding, and scrambled eggs! Tasting is believing. I'm looking forward to tasting this rich, fabulous, fresh cream in my coffee this afternoon, while I am canning the final produce of the season.

I'm looking back with nastalgia, as this time last year I was only dreaming about the possibility of having a goat. I now have two. We've enjoyed fresh milk since May. Though I didn't know how all of this was going to go and I certainly was ready to scrap the idea at times, I'm glad I've stuck with it. True, it is not easy to be "tied down" with twice daily milking, but thanks to our fabulous, supportive friends, I've been able to do some traveling. I have no idea where this "project" will go from here and I am happy to relax into the "adventure of not knowing".

If you are in the area, and you are interested in sampling goat milk, please stop in! Taste tests are absolutely FREE and so is the coffee!

Here's to enjoying a brilliant, autumn day!

This Is The Same Table!

This is how the table in the craft look is supposed to look----CLEAN AND CLEAR and ready for action!

I am happy to report that I finally met my goal of organizing and cleaning both top and bottom levels of our home. It is done, which is kind of a laugh because we all know that when it comes to home and cleaning, the work truly never ends. So, let me rephrase, Project Fall Shape-Up is now complete! Just in time to. I am in the midst of a very active month. Tomorrow, I'll be on NTV's Good Life at 9:25 am to talk about Feng Shui. I am thrilled to be sharing about Feng Shui and my passion for creating balance and harmony within our living and working spaces! My life is a testament to what following this philosophy can do; without it, I'm sure I'd be living in a messy pit of a home! Oh yes, my home is subject to that thing we call active chaos and sometimes the active chaos does become passive because some other task, obligation or responsibility has distracted my focus. The difference is that I now MAKE TIME to go back and bring each room into alignment, cleaning, clearing, releasing and rearranging as I go. I do a massive restructuring seasonally and each time I do, I find that I fall in love with my environment even more!

I still have tomatoes to can, squash and pumpkins to pick, and several outside clean-up jobs to be done before fall gets any further along. We have a house to decorate for Halloween, classes to teach, a First Communion, a 12th birthday to celebrate, carpet to rip out, new carpet to lay down, two bathrooms to tile, and  kitchen cabinet and shelves to build. Am I forgetting anything????????????

Chad leaves next weekend to go on an elk hunting trip. He's jazzed. Rodeos are his favorite but going somewhere with his brother, friend and GUNS run a very close second. The kids and I will hold down the fort just fine--we have several appointments and activities (its Homecoming week for the Tigers)!

It's going fast, October is. The days are a blurr. I have several opportunities that I need to sit down with and contemplate. I could be going back to school in January though I haven't make any final decisions yet. I am researching a library/media specialist endorsement. Just researching, not saying this is set in stone. I also have some wonderful invitations to teach, craft projects lining up for the holidays and............a goat shed that is ALMOST DONE! Which means that I have to go move my goats RIGHT NOW! (I am being called, loudly, from outside the house)

More soon!

Time to Roll Up the Sleeves

This is the last and final day of my "Fall Cleanse" I so badly want this room to be restored back to its original  order. Last spring it looked amazing. It was the room I've always wanted and never had. And now that I have it, I haven't been able to enjoy it. That changes today.

I've been on the computer most of the morning. I try not to fire it up every day. Computers are black holes, they suck you in and zap your precious time. Some tasks though are necessary and I've been tending to those for the last couple of days. I do love my blackberry as it allows me to be mobile, you'll note I often post blog "musings" on it in lieu of starting up the computer and getting the mifi to actually work (angry face).

I am in the final stretch now. The boys are due home any minute, they have an early out today. I am hosting a jewelry workshop here tomorrow. Susan Tolley, mother of my friend, Sheri, will feature her beautiful, unique jewelry. Susan has created some gorgeous peices for me and I would love for others to know of her special talents. She'll have finsihed pieces as well as loose beads and stones for those who'd like to make their own "custom" pieces. We'll sip hot cider and much on some yummy fall snacks. If you are in the area please join us, this will be a fun day.

I have a FULL week coming up so it is really important that I meet this last clearing hurdle. Its going to be a doozie, I can tell. To be honest, I'd much rather take a nap. I am dragging today................so here I am rolling up my sleeves to reclaim the craft room. Wish me luck. If there are no further posts after today, you'll know it was all just too much. I will have packed a small bag and flown to an island destination.

My Summer Vacation

Did you ever have a back-to-school assignment where you were asked to describe how you spent your summer?

Mine is a lot different from my school years, primarily because the word "boring" is no longer in my vocabulary. I can't remember what it is like to have idle time.

I'd sum up my summer season with one word......canning. Followed by, goats, foul, feeding pen cleaning, child care (referee), cook, clean, laundry and support staff (to a husband who hit the rodeo trail.)

If I were grading this paper, I'd get a big red F for excitement , a B for productivity and an A for stress! I'm not sure it is actually a paper I'd want to grade; it could, however, be used to induce sleep!

I've been feeling a bit frustrated that I hadn't gotten much accomplished this summer. There was no completion in the basement, the big blue storage unit didn't move one bit. I didn't get the backyard landscaped and we barely got the lawn mowed! I didn't lay in the hammock one time, or sip a glass of wine on my garden bench.

So where did my time go? I canned. I started in June and I'm still going....We have an entire shelf full of green beans. It's deep enough back that I cannot reach. We have bread and butter and kosher dill pickles, dill beans, green beans, tomato soup, chili base, pasta sauce, hot, medium and mild salsa and strawberry jalapeno jelly. I had to completely rearrange my storage room. That's a good thing! I have no idea what the exact jar count.....I'd say a lot!

I tend to be harder on myself than I probably should. I don't know that there is any changing that, I'm pretty set in my ways. I feel better, think better and relax more easily when I know that I've met my goal for the day. In fact, I've started keeping a journal of my activities to help me remember what I've done each day. This is becoming a nice "nightly reflection" ritual.

I have one room left to claim and then I will be writing about something lovely and wonderful....and different than cleaning, canning and organizing. I'm really looking forward to that! And if I have faithful blog readers, then it's likely you are ready too!

If you tend to be an uber-perfectionist, like someone I know, give yourself a little break! It is likely not a question of talent, you've definitely got what it takes. It may simply be a question of timing. I've been repeating this often "Do what you can, with what you have, when you have it and enjoy the rest!!!" Don't forget to......B R E A T H E!

Pumpkin Coffee

I've had a craving for pumpkin lately...which has led me to experiment!

Since I live a distance from any given gourmet coffee shop and the opportunity to buy fancy syrup, I reached into my spice cupboard to see what I could find. Pumpkin pie spice!

Here's my latest concoction: 1/4th tsp pumpkin pie spice in bottom of coffee cup, 1 c. Very black coffee, (my current fav, Dark Magic K-cup), 1 Tbs organic honey. Pour Goat's milk to the brim, stir and enjoy. In short, pumpkin pie spice is a delicious addition. If you don't care about calories, this would be scrumptious with a dollop of whip cream or.....two, or three dollops!

In about 10 minutes you'll feel ready to go clean out the storage room. Which is where I am headed now! I needed a lotta lattes to get me going today.

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Marley the Cow Dog

Well, he's not really a cow dog but he sure thinks he is. I get a kick out of this little guy. He's supposed to be a dainty lap dog by breed but he has the heart and drive of a collie. As soon as he hears the Ranger fire up, he's up on the seat and ready to go. If he were to chase through the brambles and stickers as the Otis and Bo do, it would take until Christmas to get him clean. He is a sticker magnet!

I love that he loves me. He has no clue or sense about cows but he wants to be anywhere I am. That is THE trait I want in my dog!

Marley is adopted. His previous owner was unable to care for him. When his information came up on the screen, I had that instant flash of "he's the ONE"!

We brought home last December. My first impression was the same as nearly everyone else's.....Chewbacca! He was also quite shaggy so Bob Marley came to mind (no offense Bob, I actually like your music). Max was also a name suggestion. I let the kids pick. It took him quite awhile to adjust. He was very timid and hid (then again, I would've too with three kids all wanting to pet me!) He had a few issues with p n p (piddle n poo) but a visit to the vet and a "snip, snip" cleared that right up.

I did take a chance on the little guy and I'm glad I did. He's an excellent companion. He is my third adopted pooch. I'm a huge proponent of rescue/adoption. What's really interesting is just the year before, I was actually looking at buying a Shih Tzu, but had to decline. I had a two week old Otis to raise. (See prior posts on his story!) So when I saw Marley's info, I jumped at the chance to adopt. There are so many wonderful dogs and cats available that are ready for loving homes. If you're looking for a pet, ask around, check your local shelter or contact a rescue volunteer. My dear friend, Ann, is an excellent resource. She helped us locate our first adoptee, Myah.

Well, I'm being summoned. We're in the bottom of the canyon, driving cattle to their new home. We seem to have misplaced a cow? Of coarse she knows where she is, but we do not!

After the trying day I've had, I don't mind chilling out down here. Its calm and peaceful. I am definitely back in my element, with my fam and....Marley! And he's already proven his worth....its starting to cool down and he's keeping my lap nice and toasty!

Ever Have One of Those Days?

I'm late for an appointment. I've been waiting behind this truck for five minutes.

I find it interesting that my timing today could not be any more off. I'm rethinking my choice to get out of bed. Seriously.

It started with complications with my Verizon bill and waiting 45 minutes to get things set straight. Then I found out the carpet I've had picked out is no longer available.

Now, road construction and I'm late. I can sure tell my ki energy number is now "in the center" of the stations. This could be a long month.

Do ever have days like this? What's your best advice for keeping calm and....sane?