Moooooo!

This is Lucy. She is part of the Cow Share program that we just joined. I'm so excited! A cow share program is when you buy an interest in a local farm's cows. And then you get to regularly pick up your share of the raw milk from the cows each week.

Raw milk is milk that has not been pasteurized (heated) or homogenized (processed to keep the cream from separating). Raw milk retains all of the natural vitamins and minerals, enzymes, and healthy bacteria which are killed during pasteurization. Real milk is naturally very healthy, while commercial processed milk can be linked to dozens of chronic health issues. One study I read recently found that calves who were fed pasteurized milk taken from their own mothers died within 6 months! In most states, it is illegal for farmers to directly sell raw milk to customers. But through a cow share program, non-farming people can get nutritious REAL milk. (see www.realmilk.com or www.rawmilk.org for more information, and different state laws and farms.)

When we go to the farm, we fill our half gallon jars with milk from a huge, silver refrigerated milk tank. The milk goes straight from the cows to the milk tank without ever being exposed to oxygen. Raw milk is safer than it may have been in the past due to modern milking equipment and refrigeration.




This week I made butter from the cream that rises to the top of the milk jars. It's very easy using a food processor.




I went to a "milk class" at the farm last weekend where I learned how to make yogurt, sour cream, cream cheese, butter, and ice cream. All are very easy to make. We may have to increase our share to get more milk each week if I make various dairy products regularly. We're going through it faster than we thought we would! A friend is also gong to teach me how to make mozzarella cheese. I can't wait; I love fresh mozzarella cheese!

Two of our boys, as well as myself, have had sensitivities to commercial milk in the past and could not have it regularly. But all of us are tolerating the raw milk just fine (which is very common). I'm enjoying drinking milk again!

Happy Blogiversary to Me!

I just realized that it's been one year (and a couple days) since I started this blog! It's really been fun for me. I would like to have more posts about homeschooling and cooking, so I'll try to work on that.

If you read this blog from time to time, but have never commented before, could you humor me and leave a comment? I don't really know how many people actually see my blog, and I'd love to know you were "here", even if you only visit occasionally or don't see this post for quite a while. Thank you!

And, just for note, the award for Most Faithful Reader and Commenter goes to . . . my mom!! Thanks, Mom. You've always been a great cheerleader!

(Here's how to comment if you don't know how. Click on the word comment(s) at the bottom of the post. A little window will pop up. Type whatever you want to say in the box under Leave your comment. Next, under Choose an Identity, click on Name/URL and then just type your name in the little box. Last, click on Publish Your Comment, and you're done! If you have a Google account, you can sign in to that and then it will show your name.)

Happy Holidays

The holidays seem long past now, but just so I can feel free to move on, I'll post a bit about our Christmas and New Year's Eve.

We celebrated Christmas with my family in Illinois. After the ice storm on the 24th, several inches of snow came on the 25th & 26th. For once, more snow than back home in Michigan! Saturday the 26th, we traveled with my parents through the snow to my brother and sister-in-law's home in Chicago.


Aaron with chocolate money from his stocking


Isaac, apparently happy with the stash of goodies he found in his stocking


Noah found the hidden pickle ornament!


hanging out with my uncle's sister's grandchildren on Christmas evening, whom the boys had never met before!


driving slowly to Chicago on the 26th


opening gifts at my brother & sister-in-law's apartment in Chicago


My brother's dog Manu being friendly with Aaron!


family picture at my brother's


quiet, snowy residential block in Chicago


a quick drive down Michigan Ave. in Chicago

Back in Michigan for New Year's Eve, we celebrated at home by ourselves. We pigged out on steak (grilled on my new stove-top grill pan!), with cheese and chocolate fondue. Then everybody, even Aaron for the first time, stayed up until midnight playing games, watching TV, and goofing around, as usual.


fondue! Just for Aaron, we tried dipping tater tots in the cheese. It was a hit!

Waiting for the ball to drop, just before midnight:






I crocheted my way into the new year working on an afghan, that looks more like a scarf so far. We'll see if I can get it finished before the end of winter 2010!


Here's to a happy and healthy 2010!

Ice Storm

I'm still getting Christmas photos downloaded and tweaked in order to post about our holidays. And I've been busy getting all of us back into our usual school schedule this week after an enjoyable two weeks off.

In the meantime, here's a few photos of the beautiful ice-covering that we woke up to on Christmas Eve day down in Illinois. Leave it to God to create something that can be dangerous also amazingly gorgeous!

Santa, Reindeer, a Christmas Tree, and The Parsley That Wouldn't Die

(I enjoyed writing that title!)

Here's a bit of what we've been busy with the past 2 weeks, other than finishing up school for the year, and getting ready for Christmas . . .

A week and a half ago, we still didn't have a Christmas tree. So when Rashed had a day off work, we decided that would be the day to find our tree. First, we went to a lot with cut trees set up near a local shopping area. After only 5 minutes of wandering through the lot, with the wind blowing hard, and near zero degrees wind-chill, we found ourselves questioning our sanity and asking "WHY are we looking for a tree outside today??"



The trees were very pretty, but we decided their prices were a bit too high for us, so we hurried back to the warm van and went to Christmas Tree Place #2.

Christmas Tree Place #2 was Horrock's - a local specialty grocery store and garden center that we love. Their trees were outside, but blocked by much of the wind - yay! We quickly found a fair-sized tree that caught my eye for some un-known reason because they were all bound up and you couldn't see their shape. But this one called out to me, and home it came. After thawing out a bit in our garage and relaxing it's branches, we put it up in the house the next day. And it had a great shape!









a growing Snoopy ornament collection, that started with this first one which I've had since I was a child







(sorry, he's out of focus for some reason, but I didn't want to leave him out)

The next day, we went back to Horrock's; this time to see Santa and 2 real live reindeer. I've never seen real reindeer before. I thought they were very cute - like a mix of moose and deer.

We've never made a big deal about Santa at all, and Aaron has never done the sit-on-Santa's-lap-and-tell-him-what-you-want-for-Christmas thing. So after I quickly explained the drill, he eagerly climbed up on Santa's lap and told him he wants Legos and cars and Sponge Bob stuff for Christmas. And then Santa just kept chatting with Aaron for a couple minutes, it was so cute! After Aaron got down from the sleigh, he stopped and turned around and said "Santa? I have a question. Are you real?" Exactly like that, word for word! I guess Aaron was confused because we had told him that the story of Santa delivering presents to kids all over the world in one night, with flying reindeer, was not real. Santa poked his arm and his cheek and pulled on his beard, and said "Looks like I'm real!" Aaron just looked at him for a minute, and then said Okay! and walked away.






(aren't they cute?? By the way, the owner said they have to keep them in an air-conditioned barn in the summer!)

And finally, The Parsley!

Maybe I'm just ignorant about the hardiness and strength of parsley. But weeks after putting our garden "to rest" for the winter, one of the boys noticed that this potted parsley, which had been sitting just inside the gate to the garden, was still green and alive! We brought it up near the house, and I actually used some in November! It hasn't continued to grow, but it certainly seems to have no plans on dying this winter, as evidenced below:

December 4: (after 8 inches of snow)


December 11: (after 14 more inches of snow over 4 days)


December 14: (after several nights of temps in the teens, and wind-chills in single digits)


We're calling it our Miraculous Christmas Parsley. We'll see if it holds up in the new year!

May you have a joyful and blessed Christmas!

It's Christmas Break!

Yay! I'm (almost) as excited as the kids that our Christmas Break from homeschooling is here (as of about 1 1/2 hours ago). We had originally planned to continue on with 3 days of school next week since the boys had already had some time off in November when I was dealing with my depression again. But, I realized a couple days ago that I really needed/wanted the time off. So if the teacher's done with school, I guess the kids are too!

Even though we have taken many days off the past few months due to my health issues, I, myself, spent those days not feeling well. And then as soon as I was up to it, we were back to school and trying to catch up. I don't feel as though I've really had any real time off, so we declared that today was the last day.

Overall, I've been feeling pretty well lately, although I still have to lay down for a short nap after taking the medication that makes me sleepy and I still have to be careful not to get too busy and worn out. The naps are frustrating sometimes because I have to schedule my day around those non-functional hours twice a day (just like a baby!). But the amount of time I'm "out of it" is slowly getting shorter and less intense. And as I continue adjusting, it's supposed to get even better. Where I am now is far better than where I was, so I won't complain!

No pictures today! It feels very strange for me to make a post without pictures. But I haven't had the time or energy to download photos the past couple weeks. We've had some soccer going on, more snow, Christmas tree hunting, Santa and reindeer, and an interesting story about parsley! So lots to post about, and many fun pictures, which I'm hoping to get done this weekend or early next week. Sometime when I'm not trying to get everything finished for Christmas, that is!

Winter Is Here!

Our first snowfall began last night, and by this morning we had around 6" - 8" of snow on the ground, with a little more coming off and on throughout the day.


(looking east toward our neighbors' yards; just after sunrise)


(Our cats love to be let outside immediately every morning. This morning, Hazel was a little confused - what's all the white stuff? Both cats were back in the porch waiting to be let in after just a few minutes!)


(Just yesterday, I was marveling that some of my potted parsley was still growing after numerous frosts. I don't think it will survive this snow cover though! In the background, in a flurry, is our strange dog, Chester, who LOVES snow and races around the yard frantically every single time it snows. I'm actually thinking about asking the vet. if there's something we can do or give him to calm him down; for at least the first hour after bringing him back inside, he kept pacing around, looking out the front window, and whining to go back out. It drives me crazy!)


(heavy snow weighing down branches on the big evergreen tree in our backyard)


(a close up of some of the branches)


Today happened to be the day I needed to go have a fasting blood test done; so I was out and about earlier than usual. Near the building with the blood lab is a walking trail. I had brought my camera with me, in case there was a good shot that I just couldn't resist.








We'll surely be tired of the snow come February or so; but for now, it's always exciting and so pretty! If I ever moved really south, I'd miss the snow. Even though it can be a bother sometimes, there's nothing like the calm, quiet beauty of freshly fallen snow.