Making Yogurt: Finally Got it!

I have made several attempts at making yogurt in the past; from using raw milk, to store bought milk, measuring the temperature to an exact science, you name it, I've tried it.  I had reached the point at which those yogurt maker machines looked like a wonderful investment.  Then my office mate found a foolproof recipe online that was amazingly easy.  I finally can make my own yogurt. 

 

To start off with, you put the milk(she uses a half gallon, I have a bigger crock pot and did a gallon) in a crock pot on low for 2.5 hours (mine was actually 3 because I forgot about it).  Then you turn the pot off and let it sit for 3 hours. After that you whisk in a yogurt culture(small container of yogurt from the store works just fine), wrap it in a towel to hold the moisture in and let it sit for 8 hours.  Super easy!

 Little Man wanted strawberries and honey in his. 

 I read that you can freeze yogurt, so I set some aside to place in the freezer to see if it works.  That will make this process even easier if they freeze well. 

There you have it, homemade yogurt and much cheaper than buying it from the store.

  

Working In The Garden

Happiness is when I am working in my garden and it looks like this: 

 

Little Man weeding his garden.

 Some chickens are hanging out in the chicken tractor.

 The ducks are hanging out in the pool. 

And for 15 short minutes they are all content without my attention. 

Amazing Park Challenge: Check One Off The List

As mentioned in a previous blog, I somehow managed to get myself sucked into this Amazing Park Adventure thing by a friend.  Since Little Man and I have 9 challenges to complete by August 11th, I decided we should get moving on our adventures.  Since it really has not been warm enough to go swimming and Little Man needs to prepare himself for bigger hikes later in the season, we decided we would head up Eagle Mountain.  Since we have never hiked here before, I looked all the details up online and found that it is a great beginner hike, 2 miles long with a stunning view.  Perfect! Let the adventure begin. 

 

Upon our arrival at the parking area, I applied bug spray to both of us and checked the park map.  Upon further inspection of the map, I realized that the overlook we are supposed to take a picture at for our challenge was only .4 miles and the top of the mountain a whopping .5; so much for that 2 mile hike.  When we reached the overlook the mosquitoes were apparently oblivious to the bug spay we applied, so it was a quick snap-a-picture-and-move-on stop. 

 The view of the lake was beautiful however, maybe another day when it has not been raining for a month and the bugs are ripe and ready for human blood. 

 The reluctant Little Man let me drag him the extra .1 to the summit.  Now it is at this point I should mention that the overlook and the summit were mere guesses.  Other than a sign at one cross-road we came to, there was actually no indication that we were actually at the summit of the overlook and there were several trails that criss-crossed, so the view and the rock cairn at the top were my only indication that I was actually where I was supposed to be.  It was at this point that it struck me, many people who are doing the challenge have never hiked before.  The friend that convinced us to do this for an example.  Had I not known to follow the blazes on the trees, and that a cairn sometimes signifies the top of the mountain, I would have had no clue where I was and would possibly still be wandering around in the woods.  While the view was great and we did have fun on the hike, I am not 100% sure this was a place I would have used on this type of an adventure.  Oh well, one of our adventures checked off the list.  On to the next one. 

Separation Anxiety

My son's biggest worry about going to Kindergarten next year is that his best friend is going to a different Kindergarten.  To ease this fear, I reminded him that just because they would be at different schools, it does not mean that they can not get together from time to time.  With that, my son wrote his best friend a letter asking him on a play date the day after pre-school was over.  They went strawberry picking and out for ice cream.  Now we are a little less worried about missing our best friend next year (I think the mass quantities of strawberries they ate also helped). 

Huntington River Vineyard

We had a wonderful night of wine, flat bread pizza and a spectacular view on Saturday night. One of the couples at our church owns Huntington River Vineyard and during the summer months they host an evening in the vineyard.   We have been invited several times, however, it always fell on a night that something else was going on.  This year we went.  The vineyard itself is beautiful, although to be quite honest, I don't think I have ever been to an ugly vineyard.   I was hopeful that Little Man would make it to sunset, however mommy slipped up and forgot to bring a drink for him and as he began to grow tired he started pleading for a drink. Alas, only wine is served in a vineyard so we headed into town for a drink on our way home.  Next time I will bring a drink.  The vineyard was a beautiful backdrop though, and a wonderful setting in which to spend an evening. 

 Then, of course, there was the food and drink.  I quickly realized that while we have eaten flat bread pizza before, Little Man has never actually seen a flat bread oven.  Andy and I were actually able to sit and talk with people, while Little Man watched our pizza being cooked. It was a delicious pizza that complemented the wine quite nicely. 

 With our bellies full, we decided to stroll through the vineyard.  Actually, it was more like lug Little Man though the vineyard while enjoying the view. Despite the extra 45 pounds it was a lovely walk. 

 To top it off, I was able to obtain the first stamp in my winery passport.  There will be more vineyards to come this summer. 

A Few Moments of Sunshine

We had our few moments of sunshine for the week, so I decided to wander around the yard and see what was going on in the thoroughly saturated world behind the house. 

 

My first stop was the strawberry plants, and amazingly enough I found a few that are almost ready to be eaten, despite the lack of sunshine the past two months. 

 Next up was the mass quantity of forget-me-nots that have cropped up between the coop and the strawberry bed.  Prior to this year, this area had been consumed by knotweed.  We finally won the battle in this area and have been blessed by flowers. 

Next, I wandered over to the perennial bed where my lupines are in full bloom and my peonies and poppies are just waiting for a little more sunshine to show off.  Each had one early bloomer.  Praying for some sunshine this weekend. 

Over on the patio, I found one tomato amazingly enough.  Despite the over saturation my tomatoes have experienced, one is beginning to bear some fruit.  I might just have a few tomatoes this summer after all. 

 While I was wondering around the yard, checking to see how much the excessive rain and deer have impacted my gardens; Little Man was continuing his battle with the one patch of knot weed we have yet to get rid off.  I am hoping by the end of the summer he will have successfully eliminated this patch. 

Master Manipulator

After five years, you would think I would have figured out that Little Man is a master manipulator capable of making natural disaster work for him.  Due to yet another rainy day, T-ball and a concert in a vineyard we were planning on going to this evening were both canceled.  This presented us with the ultimate problem; what do we do with a five year old who is jumping off the walls by 8:30am, that everyone else in the state of Vermont is not doing today?  We toiled over the decision for 30 minutes and decided that we would run the errands for the day (animal feed, lunch, etc.) and hopefully a solution would present itself.  Throughout the morning, Little Man  kept telling us he wanted to go to the snowflake museum.  Both Andy and I shot this idea down several times, since we have been there more times than we can count and the museum is all of a ten minute excursion that would not fill the day. 

Mid-day, after all the errands had been run, I suggested to Little Man that we go for a walk behind the Mill (the snowflake museum is in the Mill).  Little Man quickly agreed to this and off we went.  Upon exiting the car and heading for the trail, I noticed the bridge connecting the parking area to the trails had been washed away during the last set of storms, and in its place a rather large chasm with a rickety board across it, and rushing water below.  I contemplated crossing the board,but decided against it since I had Little Man in tow and did not want to chance it.  As we stood there looking at the spot where the bridge once stood, Little Man looked at the mill with a smile on his face and suggested we go to the Snowflake Museum.  Admitting defeat, we headed off to the museum. 

In Bloom

Chicken Tractor

When a fox came through  two years ago, we closed the chickens in.  Last year, a raccoon wiped out all of our ducks.  While we now have these great fortified structures for the animals, they do not have access to the wonderful green grass surrounding them and I could really use them to cut down the grass around the perennial beds.  I have been looking for a rather cheap version of the elaborate chicken tractors people make, to put the chickens in while we are working in the yard (the fox took out three chickens when Andy came in for a quick drink of water). I finally found one on Pinterest- of course. 

 

After much convincing, Andy finally agreed to build the chicken tractor for me (Little Man thinks it is his new cage). 

 Once finished, we captured two willing victims from the coop, who were slightly suspicious of the whole thing in the beginning. 

 For today we placed it next to the coop so the other chickens who resisted capture could see the two we caught happily munching on the grass just outside of their reach.  The grass can be greener on the other side:)

Please excuse me while I add to this post; when I first heard the term "chicken tractor", it sparked some interest. I mean, who wouldn't want to have a nifty little machine that the chickens could drive around the yard? Maybe hot rod the engine or hook up a mower behind this chicken tractor and have those freeloading birds contribute to their feed bill.... Instead, I find that a chicken tractor is merely a portable chicken pen that lets the birds out onto pasture without tearing up garden plots or getting eaten by predators. To be sure, I was supposed to build this thing last year, but after searching online for ideas, it looked too complex. Try it - just image search for chicken tractors - what you find are hundred of mobile palaces for birds. Some of those things have wheels, nest boxes, even whole coops built into them. That's a bit nuts to me. This year, the issue was clarified: our tractor just needed to be a small "play pen" for two or three hens to spend an afternoon out on grass. It didn't have to be too secure - somebody would be gardening or doing yard work while the birds scratched up bugs - so no bunker style reinforcement or housing was needed. Easy 'nuff. A look through the supply closet barn found some lengths of wood and welded wire fence left over from the duck project. Two hours later, we now have a chicken tractor.

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Now, to teach those darn birds how to make John Deere sounds...

 

 

 

 

Chicken Love

Prior to living in our current house, had you ever told me I would like chickens for anything other than food, I would have laughed at you.  Then we bought a house; uncovered a chicken coop hidden in the knotweed and decided to raise chickens.  Now I have developed a minor love for my chickens and some chicken paraphernalia.  I never would have bought anything with a chicken on it before.  Much to my own surprise, when one of our Family and Consumer science classes started making recyclable bags from chicken feed bags for the local food shelf, I bought one.  It's official, I have become a chicken lady.