Invited to the King's Table

Saying Goodbye.. but just moving to a new location.. see my previous post!

noreply@blogger.com (Lynnie S) — Mon, 03 Mar 2014 20:00:00 +0000

been away too long...

noreply@blogger.com (Lynnie S) — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 02:04:00 +0000

So I have been away for months, two shy of a year actually. Wow. I have loved blogging, story telling for years now, it is hard to believe that nearly a year has passed since I have sat down to post.

Just like your days, weeks, months have been full of change so have ours. I did finish the beautiful pink/black/white quilt in time, the kids (goats) have either been butchered or off to a new home, Rudy, our sire has been sold and the turkeys and chickens... are taking over and out of control. Oh, and we have another dog!

I have been super busy lately crafting, gardening and taking care of animals!

This past week I have been giving my hand at sketching on old book pages to make banners for our mantel, and for the barn. Here is what I came up with..

The one in the barn is very similar too this one. I have been having fun saving this discarded book for something useful and fun! I am not the original author of such cute crafting, I search Pinterest for inspiration and I am usually not disappointed.

I am looking forward to getting back in the swing of blogging!

*opposites attract

noreply@blogger.com (Lynnie S) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:51:00 +0000

You may remember me telling you before, this year I have a number of young people in my life who are graduating and a quilt is in order for many of them. I have started one. Sigh. I was on a roll and moving right along there for a while, but sort of hit a brick wall. All of my blocks for this one quilt are pieced together but not yet sewn together so I can start on the outer borders. Soon! I wanted to share with you the amazing things you can do with this one block. The pattern is called True Blue and it can be found here at The Fat Quarter Shop

This is in the individual block...

These are 4 of the ways you can lay this out, there were more. I stopped at four and this is not all the blocks, but was enough to get an idea of how the quilt would look in each lay out.

This one is my favorite and it just so happens that the sweet young lady getting it chose this as her favorite layout too! So it shall be!

This week it is my goal to get these all sewn together and get some outside border on it, or at least sewn together!

*an afternoon in the life of two kids

noreply@blogger.com (Lynnie S) — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 01:00:00 +0000

Our precious Bodie continues to show what a great dam she is to her sweet kids. Early each morning when I am finished milking Bodie, those kids act famished and run as fast as they can to the stanchion to get to their breakfast.

Last week I started our milking routine and feel pretty settled in at this point. I have to admit, that getting up at 6am on a weekend, is putting a cramp in my style. But I also cannot lie, I am totally loving this blessed life that I am living out! To date, I am only milking her once a day, as they kids will continue to nurse her during the day up until 7pm each night. We have gotten about 15 lbs of milk since we began on the 7th of January, that equates out to about 4 gallons of delicious milk!

*keeping it pure

noreply@blogger.com (Lynnie S) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 15:27:00 +0000

Last year we started our rafter of turkeys with Spanish Blacks, Eastern Wild and Narragansett turkeys. We were hoping to have at least one tom and one hen of each breed, however we are short just one of the breeds being perfectly matched. So the Narragansett hens will live alongside the Spanish Blacks. Up until now the turkeys, all 8 of them (our breeding stock) have been living amongst our 40 chickens. Over all this has not been a problem, but we want to keep the turkeys lines pure, so as Spanish Black toms are fertilizing Spanish Black hens, etc. So this week Eric and Henry made a covering on the right side of the barn for one of the turkey breeds to have shelter from rain and wind.

This bench was given to me by a dear friend from NC some years ago. It is now a part of the turkey's area, you can often find several of them perched up on the bench. They also claimed this wagon that attaches to our lawn tractor, so in order to make them feel like this was home we gave it over to them. We know where it is if we are in need of it.

All finished, a bit of rearranging and voila!

Narry, has a twin sister (just another of her breed) named Carry, and they seem pretty content.

The two Spanish Black toms showing their stuff before the transition of the move from one part of the barn yard to the other. I am sure the chickens will be happier to have their WHOLE barnyard to themselves.

Billy, one of the two Spanish Black toms has just gotten done making his gobble noise... look at his snood flinging in the air. (the snood is the flap of tissue off the front of his face that lays down over his beak - when it is not flying)

This is Scab and she is our Eastern Wild hen. Strange name, yes indeed. When she was a young poult she was very high strung, well she still is, but she would race up and down the fence line and one day when coming out to check on the animals, we noticed she had wore a sore on her crown from trying to get through the fence. It took weeks of loving care, close monitoring and some applications of meds to make sure she made it back to her normal (or not so normal) self.

This is her mate, Lurch, our Eastern Wild tom. He is a beautiful bird to be sure. They seem quite happy together, just the two of them in their little abode created just for them during the mating season.

For some odd reason, our Eastern Wild turkeys do not have snoods. Neither of them have any show of a snood at all.

Elvira, a Spanish Black hen is on watch for hawks or other predators over head. They are simply fascinating to watch. Their habits, their calls, and how the interact with each other.

One of our hens has started laying, we hope all of them pitch in soon and take a hint. For now, we are eating the eggs, or selling them. But as soon as the others get on track we will start hatching some out. Spring will be here before you know it and with that comes new peeps!

*chickens here, chickens there, chickens every where!

noreply@blogger.com (Lynnie S) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 01:07:00 +0000

One of our beautiful Australorps, this is one of the first chickens we added to our farm just a few years ago. They have produced nicely and are a beautiful addition to our flock with their gorgeous
blue greenish black feathers.

We started out with three Barred Rocks, but have been reduced down to two. They are two years old as well and have just feathered back fully after months of having gone through a molt. She looks like she has a major attitude, but she is pretty friendly.

Another one of our beginners, Lucy one of the three Delewares. She is a talker, with a distinctive voice which will be heard.

To the left is one of our Buff Brahmas whose feathers are totally different since she has gotten feathers back since her molt. She looks totally different now. Strange. To the right is one of our Welsummers, such a pretty read head. So.. apparently we don't have enough nesting boxes for our flock. With 20 boxes to choose from they fight over about 3, silly chickens.

Oh, how I love our Americaunas! They not only are gorgeous to the look at, but they also lay beautiful blue green eggs. They can be a bit flighty though.

And this little charm, Fritter. She is our Buff Laced Polish hen that is spoiled. She might occasionally be found on some one's shoulder while they walk around the barnyard. She too, has a distinctive voice that is captivating.

Our flock is doing well, we currently have about 40 hens and will likely have to do some culling later this year because some of our girls are going on their third year. We just want to make sure we keep a flock that is productive which will continue to be a benefit to our farm. Since the days are still short, our egg count is not at its max. Daily we are bringing in about 20 eggs from the coop, which is good, but 35 would be better! Patience! As the days start to lengthen, we will have that increase I am looking for. Last year we used a timer on the lights above the coop in order to artificially stimulate the endocrine system to produce more eggs, but this year we have decided to let the hens take that natural rest that their bodies need in order to produce the rest of they laying season. It only makes sense since we are trying to do all other things in their natural habitat.. why wouldn't we do the same with the chickens. Live and learn...

*front and center

noreply@blogger.com (Lynnie S) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 01:14:00 +0000

Rudy is the sire of our herd, and he is what made it all possible, and he is quite tired of all the oohs and awes of the babies as well as the special treatment that Bodie is getting. Bodie gets treats every morning at milking time, thing such as raw sliced potatoes, apple peels, broccoli, etc. The kids of course just get all the attention without even trying! So, it is his turn to shine...

Nice "goatee" you got growing there Rudy.

He is really handsome. He is starting to show more and more aggression which is a bit disappointing, but that comes with the territory.

I am gonna fly away....

Just kidding, goats can't fly!

He has mature enough to get his nasty goaty smell. He had a slight smell months ago, but it is much more pronounced here of late. The smell however is not as bad as some post I have read about, but we do not have a number of bucks that we are keeping to raise a herd of goats for selling or showing. Our goal is to have a quality buck that we can breed our does to, in order to supply milk for our family.

*strawberry fields

noreply@blogger.com (Lynnie S) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 00:03:00 +0000

Our first spring here in Florida we bought and planted about 18 promising strawberry plants. They produced very little that first year but sent out many runners which in turn resulted in many new plants for the following year. Our small strawberry patch grew exponentially. This second year harvest was better than that first year. Late this fall, after having ignored the strawberry patch I realized that I had a LOT of work to do. The strawberries had produced and each of the 100 plants had sent out 4 or 5 runners per plant. OK. You do the math. Yeah, so we had 500 plus plants that needed to be transplanted into their new permanent strawberry patch.

This is the new location of the strawberry patch. Grass and weed ridden throughout. I started the work of getting the plot ready, and thankfully later in the month my mom came to visit. She helped me finish it up! So grateful for her help, honestly I don't know if I would have gotten it finished without her. I was about to run out of steam.

This is part of the area, the plants have taken well to the soil they are now planted in. Unfortunately this crazy warm weather (even for us here in Florida), has gotten the plants a bit confused. Over half of them are now in bloom.

My beloved is awesome at getting things like the water sprinkler system done for our gardens. I feel so spoiled by his awesome skills! This year we will be making sure to keep the water on the plants as recommended, about 1 inch a week. We will also be adding some of our organic fertilizer (aka rabbit droppings and goat droppings) throughout the growing season. We plan to mulch the rows with straw, hay and a mixture of leaves to keep the moisture in and the weeds out.

I am looking forward to picking strawberries for eating as a snack, making strawberry jam, strawberry short cake, and maybe even dehydrating some if the harvest is big enough. We have along way to go before harvest. I can assure you that much hoeing, weed pulling and watering will go on before I pull the first strawberry from a plant.

*sauerkraut update

noreply@blogger.com (Lynnie S) — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 02:52:00 +0000

Remember this, I wrote about our first time making kraut weeks ago.

Beautiful shredded cabbage fresh from the garden, a little salt, caraway seeds and some water.... and time will produce a tangy delight!

The crock has been placed in a cool area of our home to sit undisturbed until perfection is met! If you like sauerkraut or if you have never tasted it.. you have got to make some. It is super easy!

The small glass plate you see to the left is what we put on top of the cabbage to push it down under the water in the crock. You do not want any of your cabbage exposed to air, so this worked well. Look at the beautiful color that is part of the end product. We have already had some of this tasty kraut with several of our meals. We have decided to just leave it in the crock and use it as we desire. The longer it stays in the crock, supposedly the tangier it will get. In addition, canning causes you to loose some of the wholesome goodness that is available as it is fresh from the crock. Freezing would be a better option, if we need the crock before it is all gone. We do have several other cabbages that are almost ready to pick from the garden, so I will get another batch going in the next few weeks or so. There are many sites that give more details on how to make the kraut, but it is so so simple. In the short this is how you make kraut: cut the cabbage thinly, put a layer in your container (non metal) sprinkle with some salt, add a layer of onion if you like, or a few cloves of garlic, caraway seeds, keep layering til you get to the top - sprinkling some salt on each layer, then add water until it covers the cabbage, put something on top to keep the cabbage submerged. Wait. Enjoy!

*and again I say rejoice?

noreply@blogger.com (Lynnie S) — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 22:48:00 +0000

There are few shows on TV that I give my time to, but one of the things I like to watch is Parenthood. It is real. Real life is acted out as if it might be in my home or your home, of course it isn't a real life family.

Today I want to share with you a "real" life moment in our family's lives. I normally share with you all quilting projects, farm related post or maybe a recipe but today will be a little different. If you have ever been deeply hurt by a Christian friend this may (or may not) be helpful to you.

A few months ago our entire family was effected by the reactions, words and actions of a long time friend and several members of their family. We have known each other for a long time and bonded in friendship years ago as well as attended the same church. Christians are not perfect. Right? I am bound to Christ Jesus as my Lord and Savior but I know that I am a miserable sinner only saved by Grace. As are my friends, I mean, I guess we are still friends.

Something happened between our families, something harsh. I will not go into all of the details because that is not my purpose in sharing today. I have loved these people for years. I longed for a friendship with this person for a while, and one day (many years ago) we did develop a friendship that ended up being very sisterly like. Even though some very harsh things took place, accusations were spoken about one of my family members, deceptive behavior that portrayed friendship, acceptance and egging on of a particular situation only to reveal later that it was all backwards and then later some very cruel accusations were spoken. OK. I know all of that probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Let me just say, my family has been effected by this in some most hurtful ways. I decided early on that I still loved these people very much. After all, we are all fallen people saved by grace. First I was terribly confused, terribly. My first reaction was that I wanted to forgive. I forgave. I am continuing to work on forgiving. Since I am being very transparent with you, I must confess that on some days I feel such hurt and pain as do my other family members that I am not sure how we will ever get past this. I continued to send text messages and commented on FB post as I normally would have - until just this past week when I got an error message stating that I had been BLOCKED from sending text messages or calling this line. I am sure you can imagine how heart broken I was. I mean, if anyone should be blocking anyone it should be me - that is me just being honest. Of course blocking never even occurred to me, never crossed my mind. And since I have now been blocked it is apparent to me that they wish to have nothing to do with me or my family and I can't imagine that they would be interested in reading our family blog either.

I am a Christian and I am human. I am sure you can imagine the pain and shock that I was going through when I sent a text that got a return message automatically stating my text couldn't go through. I immediately chose to try and understand. I started to work out reasons why this might have had to take place. No one ever asked me not to continue to converse with them. I went from mostly being at peace, trusting God that He would work things out for the good of all involved to being confused, a bit angry - OK, a lot angry to back now trusting God in all of this. I am even beginning to come to a place of praising Him in the midst, trusting that He has worked it out for the best of what concerns our family members. It is not easy but I want to walk in peace, I want to give up trying to figure this crazy mess out and on some days I do better than others. It is a daily decision.

I will not lie, this dear family is on my heart and mind every single day. Some who read this may say, whoa, that is a problem. Maybe. I believe that I am called to forgiveness maybe reconciliation wont come- that I am not sure of just yet, but forgiveness is what I am called to and with me renewing my mind every day before Christ I am able. It is only when I get distracted, allow words I read or heard replay in my mind that I get off track. One of these family members at one point during all of this told me that even believers would be at each others throats based on prophecy - well not this believer. For me that is just not acceptable.

No matter how much pain, hurt, suffering we walk through, whether it be from an unbeliever or a believer the only way to make it through to the other side is with Christ by our sides. How other do we get through such turbulent times? I ask you, how? Find someone who you can count on to turn you back to Christ and His promises when you are in need of refocusing when you are struggling. My someone has been an reflection of the Rock to me, encouraging me and pointing me back when I get off track.

I suppose I find myself with a sorrowful heart but continuing to keep rejoicing in my spirit. I have to believe that He (God) has allowed these actions to take place to reveal things that would have otherwise been unknown. Honestly, since this family will not converse with ours, I have to really trust my heart to seek Him to understand. I realize that hearts are deceitful above all and I also realize that understanding may never come. I don't know how this part of the chapter in our lives will end. I can't begin to tell you what will change in our lives because we make vows not to do.. dot, dot, dot ... based on our hurts. I can't being to tell you how it is that God will use this because we will choose well and not make those vows. I would hope and do pray that at some point the wounds and scars that have been made will receive a healing balm to bring full cleansing. It may be that an apology will come or an explanation or it may be that neither will never come. Either way we have to choose for it to be well with our soul.

This is what I want me, my husband and two wonderful young men to experience....

I will not quote scriptures that have ministered to and spoken to our hearts during this time, for I know that as you seek God , He will be faithful to speak to you personally as well. If you are walking through a similar situation, it is my hope that you too will be able to daily say, It is well with my soul!

*puuuurrfectly finished

noreply@blogger.com (Lynnie S) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 02:46:00 +0000

I started piecing this quilt together about mid August for my mother-in-love, she is a big cat lover! This pattern is simply adorable and you can get more information on the pattern by visiting HERE.

The quilt turned out queen size and I have quilted a number of queen size quilts under the needle of my Janome 6600. However, I decided to take this one to a quilt shop in a nearby town, A Quilters Place. You can rent one of Dawn's machines by the hour or by the day, I had a blast and I was done in an hour and a half- can't beat that.

The whole quilt top besides the borders is all done in batiks, which my mil loves.

I didn't have the perfect match for binding and as I searched through my fabric I still could not come up with a fabric I loved to finish this up with. I was in a crunch and really didn't have time to drive to a quilt shop in the neighboring town to buy binding fabric. I had to get creative. I started looking at the backs of fabrics and I found one that worked perfectly. So the binding is finished up in a lovely "gilded colored" fabric which is the backside of some yardage that I had on hand.

This is the only picture that I have of Mom with her new quilt. They have made it back home now and she said the quilt looks just lovely on their California King sized bed. So glad for the way this project turned out. This border fabric, that I found at A & E Pharmacy (which oddly enough.. has an awesome fabric selection)works PUUURfectly!

*better late than never, right?

noreply@blogger.com (Lynnie S) — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 23:48:00 +0000

It was more than a year ago that my dear father-n-love brought this awesome quilt to our house for some repair. This quilt was originally put together, well many years ago, maybe even before he was born. It may have been someone elses before it was passed on to him. The binding was torn, tattered, and had been used until it was becoming thread bare all the way around. When it first came to me this is how it looked. The outside borders were made of a thicker greenish blue strip of fabric. But the center was covered with some thinner fabric that had began to wear through.

Last week when I was making our guest rooms ready for Eric's parents and our nephew I saw this on the shelf in the closet. I had not looked at it much since that first month that Dad had brought it. With a week before Eric's parents were to be here for Christmas, I found myself sitting on the guest bed with this quilt spread out. Looking at it. Thinking. Trying to give birth to some awesome remedy. As I shook it out so I could spread it on the bed, the lights over head shone through the quilt to reveal that there was more than was meeting the eye. I could see patchwork, like a crazy quilt or scrappy quilt below that quilt top.

When Dad first brought it to me, I had no idea what to do with it. I love articles that have been passed down through the generations, I love the history that lies within, the memories that have been made with it and the love that was put into making it. The idea of touching this and trying to repair it was more than I wanted to take on, because at first I had NO IDEAS at all on how to fix it. As I tossed it up by its corners to spread it out and saw the patchwork somewhere in those layers, Eric and I decided to rip the "quilt top" off. What was below was another quilt top. Many of the pieces had holes like the ones in the pics above.

There is a small hole in the stripped pink fabric that actually went all the way through to the other side. I used one a small piece of fabric to make a patch over this area. It turned out great.

I have to admit that I love the way this quilt looks, as it is right now in this picture. I love the tattered fabric, the loose threads that are pulling away from the well worn fabrics in the quilt. I love thinking about what the different fabrics might have been: drapes, clothing, cotton fabric from the fabric store, old clothes or feed sacks (which is what Dad said most of them were).

The quilt got an over haul. New top. New layer of batting. Totally new backing and binding. LOVE!

The quilt originally had a wide binding, which I fell in love with. I will be using this wide binding on some of my quilts in this future as well

This is the two pieces of fabric that was taken off the top of the quilt, which revealed the beautiful piecework underneath. This is the fabrics that I used to make patches for the large and small areas that needed some mending. This project was one of the most rewarding I have given my time to. We started just a few days before Mom and Dad arrived for the holidays, but I finished it in time to surprise Dad with it!

This is the finished quilt, everything on the front side is original fabrics.

The backing fabric as well as the binding was some that had been given to me by Mom a few years ago as well as some from my stash. It was pretty neat to add that fabric back into the quilt too. I know this meant a lot to Dad, and it really was an honor to have been the one to add a little life back into this beautiful quilt!

*overload maybe?

noreply@blogger.com (Lynnie S) — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 23:11:00 +0000

So I was just looking in my album on my phone and um.. perhaps I have taken a few too many pics of the newest additions to the farm.

Can't imagine what it will be like one day when I have a grandkid, a real live human grandkid!! haha!

*a new beginning

noreply@blogger.com (Lynnie S) — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 04:15:00 +0000

Yes, this is the last day of a passed year, and tomorrow starts a bright new beginning, but that is not what this post is all about! There are a number of young people who will be starting a new journey, a new beginning of sorts come this fall. Graduation with both mark an end and a beginning in these young people's lives. It is an exciting, frightening time for these young folks. I have a son, a nephew, an "adopted" daughter, an "adopted" son, and a handful of other young people (who are friends to our family) who will be graduating this summer.

My most favorite gift to give to graduates is a comforting quilt to carry along with them where ever it is they should go. I am sure these students might at first be more content and happy to have been given the hundreds of dollars that goes into make a quilt, but in the long run I hope they will end up treasuring the quilt for years to come. For those loved ones mentioned above, who have never received a quilt from me, will be getting just that, a hand crafted quilt just for them!

A new beginning...

The young lady this is being made for doesn't normally read my blog, hopefully that is the case today as well. I love this quilt pattern, by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. I have always loved opposite attracts type quilts but never completed on thus far.

This is the individual blocks laid out but not yet sewn together. I think I am going to go with this layout, which is one of many different ways to create a quilt with this one block. Think log cabin. For me, making a quilt from high quality quilting cottons that will last for many years when taken care of properly is the highest gift I give, it may not be on the top of the recipients' list, but it is on top of my gift giving list!

*trying to seal his fate

noreply@blogger.com (Lynnie S) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 04:48:00 +0000

It takes everything I have each day not to just eat these little cuties up! They are so flipping adorable! These pics were taken on their third day of life in the barn (and on planet Earth).

This is our little buck, Stew or Kabob, seriously though, if we do not find a buyer for our little buck, he will be meat for the freezer. Nubians are considered a dual breed (milk/meat) because of their body structure. I am already totally attached, so I am not sure how making stew or shish kabobs would go.

I think he must know what is potentially in store for regarding his fate, just look at that precious face. He is doing his best to win me over. Done. Won over. Oh my!

Just one last look, "Momma Lynnie", aren't I cute?

We are so proud of our sweet little Nubian kids! They are just perfect. Bodie is continuing to be a very good mother to her twins. They are feeding 24/7 on demand, they kids will continue to stay in the stall with her until she shows signs of trying to wean them which might be sometime in 6 to 7 weeks based on all I have read. They have started to eat some hay from the pail alongside their mother on occasion. They are certainly growing by leaps and bounds.

I started our milking schedule just a few days ago. We are enjoying the delicious milk and boy, talk about timing. I would say that Bodie's conception date, her deliver date are both right on time based on the latest news reports. We made an order for some enzymes and other supplies that are needed for cheese making, we can hardly wait!

*binding tips I have learned

noreply@blogger.com (Lynnie S) — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 05:58:00 +0000

We hope you and your family had a great Christmas this year. We sure did! I did manage to get some time to get some Christmas runners stitched out for our home this year! Since I have learned how to sew binding on with this method shown below, I always love the way my projects finish up. If you don't already bind using this method, I hope this tutorial can be of some help to you. Happy Sewing!

Do you see the creases from the pressing? This is where you will be doing your stitching to connect the two pieces of binding.

Your going to pin the binding pieces together right sides facing right sides. You will line up the pressed marks and that will be the place you stitch. You may use a ruler and pen/pencil to mark that pressed mark so it is more visible when you start to stitch it.

Simply pull the project together that you are working on, whether it be a table runner or a large quilt, you will want to pull the binding and under the needle of your machine so you can stitch the line that is marked over the pressed spot on your binding.

Almost done. You will need to trim the "tail" off, leaving about a quarter inch of fabric behind. Press and then you will finish stitching the binding to the back of the project.

As you can see, I finished stitching the binding down to the back side of the project.

I also stitch the front side of my bindings on using a decorative machine stitch.

Merry (belated) Christmas and a Happy New Year!

*peeking outside the stall

noreply@blogger.com (Lynnie S) — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 03:59:00 +0000

Narry, Henry's turkey has just realized both Thanksgiving and Christmas have passed and she has survived! Whew!
(she is going to be part of our breeding stock)

This is the first short trip outside the barn for a bit of sunshine! They little goatlings seemed to enjoy the ability to frolic around and nibble at fallen leaves like their mother. After a short while they were escorted back into their stall in the barn where safety and shelter welcomed them!

*we have grown in number by TWO!

noreply@blogger.com (Lynnie S) — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 12:00:00 +0000

I have been waiting for this day for months and months, and preparing for it for just about as long! Today we added to our numbers by 2! Our sweet Nubian doe, Bodica gave birth to two (a buck and a doe) seemingly healthy kids this afternoon around 1:30PM.

I have read website after website, posted on several different "goat groups" online, read several books and learned so much in order that I might be prepared for what I was a part of today. While we were over the top thrilled to figure out that Bodica was pregnant, we didn't have an exact date as to when that happened. I must say that all of the signs that the books, websites and blogs that I read was all spot on. Not that I doubted any of them. If you have a doe that has conceived on a date that you are unaware of, if you keep close watch you may still be able to recognize her delivery week.

I have been checking Bodie's ligaments daily to note when I feel a change, the ligaments near her tail are tight and pencil like right up to the day of her delivery. Approaching the delivery date the ligaments start to soften and totally give way on the day she is to deliver. The last few days she has eaten very little of her hay, which was another sign that I checked off the list.

Today I had my alarm set for church, but I woke earlier in the morning with a headache, so I turned the alarm off and stayed in from church. I am really glad that I ended up at home today. I walked out and picked up the paper, went back to the barn and sat on the floor of Bodie's stall and read the paper. Earlier in the morning I had rubbed her tummy for a long while, which she really seemed to enjoy. I felt that her delivery date would be soon, but I had no firm clue that it would be today. I look at today's events as a gift from God. I so wanted to be in the stall with her when she birthed and I was. So grateful.

As I sat with her reading the paper, she got up a few times, stretching but ignoring her food completely. This is not normal. The last time she came back to sit down on the big hay pile near me she stretched out, and elongated her neck along the strong wood in front of her and began to moan a bit. Shortly there after she grunted loudly, pushed and her water broke. I was like holy cow!!!! I immediately phoned my beloved who was in his workshop and gave him the news. The next thing I did was fly out of the stall, ran like the wind to the house to get the "birthing basket" and ran back out to the barn.

I sat down, got my camera ready, and within 20 minutes she had issued birth to her sweet little baby girl. She pushed several times with such force that her whole body rocked. The little doe had a textbook delivery - two front hooves and a nose appearing first, then after a good push - flop.. she was out on the barn floor. As I started to wipe the little doe off and clean her up some, Bodie was starting to push again. This time around the next one up was showing signs of some possible difficulties. There was only one hoof present with the head pushing through. She labored heavily for several minutes pushing with all she had, but to no avail, not much was happening. I chose to intervene by reaching in with my gloved hand and pulled the other leg out and forward. Then with one little slight push (or so it seemed at this point) out came out little buck!

We did our best to get them started with nursing so they have a good start with the colostrum they are in such great need for at this point. The little goats need to get as much colostrum as possible in the first 24 hours, as their stomach lining changes after that first day. So they do not absorb and take in the colostrum as they would have in that short window of time.

We went out to check on momma and kids one more time before bedtime. They were snug as a bug in a rug. Bodie has been bonding with her kids nicely and is showing signs of a great momma!

It seems every other creature in the barnyard was wanting in on the action that was taking place in stall No. 1. Bodie was showing signs of protection over her little one, pushing Lucy (the chicken) around with her head and she would not let Zeke (the cat) get very close either.

More to come, you can be sure of that. Good night!

Some of these photos was taken with my Android phone, so.. the lighting and images aren't the best but still captured some great moments!

*zy·mol·o·gy

noreply@blogger.com (Lynnie S) — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Cabbages grow so beautifully in the garden. The grandness of the outer leaves are just beautiful, actually quite ornamental. Of course, the outer leaves are very useful here as rabbit food and do not go to waste.

This year we planted 15 or more heads of cabbage over a course of a month, so we have some coming ready at different times. Our first 5 heads were harvested just a few days go in order that we could make our attempt at sauerkraut!

You not only need cabbage to make sauerkraut, but you also need a crock. OK, so you don't NEED a crock, you can make the kraut in a glass container, a food grade plastic pail but not in reactive metal containers. We found this 3 gallon crock at an awesome hardware store ( Halls Hardware of Milton, Fl) in a neighboring town in our area. Hall's had crock as large as 5 gallons available as well, but I felt like the 3 gallon was sufficient.

We ended up using only 3 of the large cabbages that we picked before the crock was full. The other two heads of cabbage will go in a gift basket for two of our neighbors along with other veggies and some fresh eggs as an early Christmas gift.

Shredding with a knife as fine as we were able, then layering half of each cabbage head with a sprinkling of salt and caraway seeds until we reached the top. We also added some onion about mid way through the crock.

Now we just wait. I hope to be able to report back to you on how delicious our kraut turned out! We will likely freeze some of the finished kraut as well as can some. We visited many different websites before we proceeded with this exciting venture. Yes, I said exciting. It seems anytime I have something new to embark upon, I feel excitement.

Real Food Fermentation by Alex Lewin is actually an excellent book on fermenting foods.

zy·mol·o·gy (Source: Dictionary.com)
[zahy-mol-uh-jee] –noun Biochemistry.
(formerly) the science dealing with fermentation and the action of enzymes; enzymology.

*happy birthday to me from Magnolia Grill

noreply@blogger.com (Lynnie S) — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 00:52:00 +0000

The Magnolia Grill of Ft. Walton Beach Florida (built in early 1900's)

The charm to the outside of this dated building gets even better as you walk through the front doors.

This past week my sweet husband took me to The Magnolia Grill for my birthday. The quaint restaurant was all dressed up for the holidays.

Isn't this mantle just gorgeous! We sat for lunch at a little table just in front of this fireplace. I love how they have used the crystal dishes to be the centerpiece of the decor adorning the mantle.

Each little nook and corner was dressed with small taste of things from yesteryear. It was not too much, the areas were not clutter, but rather tasteful displays done to perfection.

There is an upstairs area that is dedicate to a "museum" of the past. It was fun to look at all that was on display. Many things from my own childhood years, and other things dated from years before.

This lamp of course caught my eye and reminded me of The Christmas Story. That ridiculous lamp!

Merry Christmas!

I don't think this picture looks that appetizing.. but truly both the fries and the shrimp were delish. Their menu is very versatile and has anything from burgers, to seafood, to Italian dishes to suit your pallet!

More of what is on display upstairs...

Wow. We had one of these in our house when we were growing up.

I loved looking at all the cameras!

These are the plans for the house that is now known as The Magnolia Grill, this house was ordered through Sears Roebuck, and was delivered in parts.. and built onsite by the owner (back in the early 1900's). To get all the correct facts about the establishment known as The Magnolia Grill of Ft. Walton Beach, go HERE

This is one of my new favorite places to go for a nice calm atmosphere that serves good food, fair prices and great care by the server.

*christmas table runners to give

noreply@blogger.com (Lynnie S) — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 19:52:00 +0000

Each year I pack up our fall decor and put it away in order to pull out the Christmas boxes. We have three or four different fall table runners for the various tables/side tables throughout our house. Once I pack up the fall decor the tables look naked! I give some thought to quilting some runners each year about the same time - first of December when I put away the fall runners. It hasn't happened yet. Sigh.

When talking to my BFF the other day we both realized that we had tons of fall runners and decor but no winter/Christmas table runners. Funny thing is, that we both love autumn and all that season holds We are usually together at some point during that season, quilting. Thus one of the reasons we both have numerous fall runners.

With this info in my arsenal, I set out to make this situation remedied! I went shopping through my wonderful stash of fabrics to find just the right shades of greens and reds to make some Christmas runners. My dear friends birthday is coming up and I am thrilled to be making these for her. Her love language is not gifts, not at all. Her love language is quality time, so when she gets them this week, it is my desire that she will just imagine that she and I were working alongside each other sewing away when these were made. I know she will love them just the same.

The first one up was to fit a round dinner table. I gave a quick look through several quilting magazines, but was not able to come up with a pattern. Then I remembered that I had bought the Nifty Notions, Cut for the Cure ruler set a few years ago which had several wedge rulers. I pulled out my 22.5 Wedge ruler and cut 16 slices out of my chosen fabrics. This ruler is so versatile (as most are of course) that I could choose how big I wanted the circle to end up being by the size of the wedge I cut. I am so thrilled with this table topper that will fit nicely on top of my BFF's dining room table there at Hawks Nest.

In my BFF's home they have a large oak sofa table that also needs dressing up for the season. I had to put in a secret text to her youngest daughter and have her measure the length of this table as well as one other one. The sofa table has rounded ends and I thought I could use the same ruler (cutting a smaller size) and make half circles to connect to a rectangular length that would fit the measurement of the table. It worked out perfectly! I love it. I did machine applique the words "Merry Christmas" onto the center of the runner. It was a bit difficult to get the two words lined up, but it is good enough. Binding on all three of these was really fun and easy.

The last runner to be made was for the cute little chunky oak table that sits in the beautiful foyer of their home. I continued using the same fabrics so the runners have some kind of continuity throughout their house. I am even sending her the left over fabric just in case she wants to whip up something else. For this one, I simply sewed strips of fabric together, sliced it up, sewed it back together and then I added a border. Again the binding was fun and easy.

Once again, all of these fabrics were pulled from my existing supply of fabrics from the shelves. For backing I chose some unattractive fabric that would have likely never gotten used for anything else but backing on a runner of some sort. The only time you will see the back is putting out time and putting away time. I can't wait to hear what she thinks about them!

*quick bread

noreply@blogger.com (Lynnie S) — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 23:00:00 +0000

Have you ever had beer bread? My beloved's mother made beer bread when he was growing up and it made a huge impression on his taste buds. I have tried and tried to make beer bread over the years and it is always a FAIL. The loaves of beer bread I have mixed up have ended up as bricks. I had even began to grow weary of even trying to make this particular bread successfully. Some how we weren't able to track down the recipe Eric's mom used.

Eric made a challenge to me that he would master this bread thing, so I took him up on it. After he tried 5 different recipes over a course of several days we narrowed it down to one modified recipe. We make a loaf of this bread a week, it is so moist and chewy. It is considered a quick bread and it truly does mix up and bake up in right at an hour, from start to finish.

Beer Bread

3 cups of self rising flour (very important that you use SELF RISING)
1/4 sugar up to 1/2 cup (we prefer only adding 1/4 cup)
1 can or bottle of flat beer of your choice (we experimented with stouts, lite beer, flavored beer)
optional additions : dill, cheese, or what ever suits your fancy!

Mix the ingredients together, pour into loaf pan and bake at 375 for 50 minutes. Take out brush bread with 1/4 cup of melted butter then put back into the oven for 5 more minutes. Then voila.. your done!

Our favorite of all the loaves we tried was the lite beer and the lower amount of sugar. We even swapped out the sugar in one of the mixes and used molasses instead. The bread had a stronger flavor and it was a bit heavier than had hoped for. If you want to add a delicious bread to your meal, but don't have time to wait for the gluten to develop in a yeast bread, choose this beer bread.

We even baked Frayja some "bones" which she happily consumed in record time.

*my knight

noreply@blogger.com (Lynnie S) — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 01:02:00 +0000

Years ago we lived across the street from a very sweet young family. Some families are DIY families, some aren't. It doesn't make one better or worse than the next. Ang herself use to say, "we are the family who buys the service agreement with each purchase." (this post is all about how awesome my husband is.. just sayin) My dear husband grew up in a home with a father who was and still is, a fixer of most anything! He didn't fall far from the tree!

We stay pretty busy around here, don't get me wrong - we have ample down time as well for leisure too. It does seem like there is always something that needs to be done with this blessed property whether it be tree maintenance, fence mending or building animal shelter of sorts.

There isn't much that my dear husband can't do and for that I am truly grateful! He really amazes me more often than not. If we were to add money back into our budget based on the repairs, work etc he does for our homestead, it would be huge. This ability to do most things or to research to find out how to do things and have the precision to carry it out really is a gift that has been instilled in him. Trust me. I have ~~built~~ tried to build a nesting box for our rabbits in the past. I measured. Marked. Cut carefully but somehow I just don't have what it takes to produce a nice looking end product.

Whatever it is that your dearly beloved excels in, praise him for it. It may be that he is the chief handler of your finances for the family or perhaps he is a great help around the inner working of how your household operates, or maybe he is the master gardener, whatever it is make sure you don't take him for granted. When you are reading folks blogs, looking at their FB or the old fashioned talking to a friends who are sharing about their husbands strong points, don't compare. I think comparing is a huge NO-NO, this only leaves us with a feeling of coming up short when that is not the case at all. Unfortunately I did it for years because I wanted my husband to "look" like other husbands and fathers "in the church", this was not productive for either of us. Shame on me. Bottom line is those people you are comparing to aren't who and what you think they are. While they are probably fine people, they too have flaws - some you may not see. I couldn't be less concerned with what other people think of my husband now because most don't "know" him, so shame on those who judge him. It isn't that my husband has developed into a different person although as time has passed he has grown and changed, it really is more about me having changed. Whatever it is your husband lacks, or is bad at there must be a number of redeeming qualities you can put your focus on, so you can see your knight in shinning armor through a different pair of lenses.

He is not perfect, but he is perfect for me. The Lord has really blessed our marriage and we make a great team!

*getting to the root of it

noreply@blogger.com (Lynnie S) — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 01:36:00 +0000

When you buy a property with a large number of beautiful old trees like the ones that have grown here, you are going to have to prune, trim and cut down at some point. Since moving here a few years ago, we have had several trees to loose LARGE limbs and there are others that have needed to come down due to the dangers they pose to surrounding buildings. Back in the hot summer months we cut down a number of different trees but we were left with the stumps here and there.

One of Henry's projects around the property has been to work at getting some of the stumps out. Some of them were easier than others and he did successfully get two uprooted with the help of his pick ax and several other tools. However, there were some that weren't coming up with elbow grease alone.

No more root, no more stump! Now on to the next one...

And so it begins...

Eric and Henry has been working on this one for a while. They first used the tiller to cut the top layer of small roots up in order to get down below. There was one other root prior to this one that Eric was able to put a chain around the base of it and pull it out with the truck once he had the roots cut away.

So grateful for helping hands, shower will be provided!

Aren't good neighbors like gold? After noticing that Eric was working at getting this root out, our neighbor came over with his front end loader and helped him get it finished! I however didn't get any pictures of that because I was on the road that day! After getting the stump out and the dirt back in, there was quite a bit of settling, so Eric borrowed our neighbors front end loader to move more earth back to where it had settled so that area would be leveled out. Job well done!

Frayja is disgusted by all this root pulling, wood burning, nasty mess. She likes it better when her owner's hands are free, free to pet her and throw her toys!

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” -Jeremiah 17:7-8

*one day soon

noreply@blogger.com (Lynnie S) — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 19:38:00 +0000

One day soon we will have a little kid! Since we do not know the projected week of delivery we are continuing to keep close watch on Bodie. She is really growing and changing almost daily it seems.

She gets her grain up on the milking stand every morning and then again in the evening in order to help her get into the habit without any problems. It is amazing what you can get a goat to do for grains! I am so blessed to be able to raise these animals, they are the sweetest.


Before the clip...

After the clip... Rudy didn't want to get left out of this photo session.

This week she got her pregnancy trim. I can't say she enjoyed the clipping but she was a good girl about it. She has some skirting on her front and back legs so it was necessary to get that clipped so it will be easier for her to stay clean during the birthing process. Her udders and teats are not that hairy and for that I am grateful, because I had read where it is recommended to shave those as well so hair does not fall into your milk bucket when milking. We should be fine on that front and Bodie couldn't be happier!