Bits and pieces of our Thanksgiving Day

Our plan was to get up and feed the cows at 5:30am, stoke up to wood cook stove and put ole' turkey in around 6am. The turkey weighed approximately 22 lbs, so we calculated that, we'd be ready to eat around 2pm. I made the whole wheat rolls the day before, when I made our weekly bread and yesterday I made the jello salad, apple blueberry crisp and the stuffing. This left only the relish tray, turkey, potatoes and gravy to really get ready today. My parents brought relish tray items and a sweet potato hot dish.

This was a stash of dried sourdough bread slices from the freezer reserved for stuffing. My parents, Cortney and myself are the only ones who eat stuffing, so a small pan is plenty.

The stuffing is not from a recipe but rather, just a bit of mixing  and playing. So every year the stuffing is something different. This stuffing was sourdough bread, chopped walnuts, celery, onion, garlic and finally I decided to throw in some dried cranberries, salt, pepper, chopped sage and rosemary from our herb garden. Added 1/4 c. butter and turkey broth until slightly moist. The smell of the herbs, garlic and onions was divine. I don't stuff this into the bird, because it is just a small batch, so instead place it in a baking dish.

I forgot to get a picture of the turkey before we cut it up, but you still get the idea and boy was it tender and juicy. My Dad likes the legs so he got the one missing in this photo.

This was the overflow table, as there was so much food it wouldn't all fit onto our smaller dropleaf  table. Everything but the, celery, sweet potatoes, green and black olives and the blueberries in the dessert came from right here on the farm.
                     
A table full and everyone enjoyed our Thanksgiving Day feast. It was just my Dad, Mom, Cortney, myself and Mike. After everyone ate, the men meandered out to the living room, where they watched the Dallas and New Orleans football game(Mike and Cortney are Cowboy fans) Mom, Cortney and I cleared the table and collected up the leftovers.

The view from my side of the table, see how full my plate is and let me tell you it was all delicious!

Our weather was still quite cold, it was the windchill that made it so. Tomorrow is supposed to be well into the high 20'sF and Saturday is forecasted to be 34F, it's going to seem like a heatwave, YEAH!!!!!

I like to make pies, but because of lack of time I opted to make Apple Blueberry Crisp, topped with whipped cream. I was actually to full (I still am*sigh*) so passed on dessert, but everyone else said it was good. It was made with apples that Cortney and I canned the year before and I added walnuts to the crumble topping to dress it up a bit. It sure smelled good while it was baking last night. :o)

The table all cleared and my favorite candle lantern burning . Praying your Thanksgiving was blessed. We were Thankful not to have to travel, many of the roads in and around Montana were closed due to poor visibility, blowing snow and black ice.

All of our animals got their Thanksgiving Day goodies and all gave it two paws, hooves or feet up!*wink*

Now we're simply enjoying the remainder of our evening, watching a movie, enjoying hot tea( me), hot cocoa( Cortney) and a fresh hot cup of coffee( Mike). Our home is toasty and warm and our stomachs full . I also love that now we'll have leftovers for the weekend, so I don't have to cook :o)

Happy Thanksgiving

We just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. May your day be filled with good company, good food, many memories shared, and much love!

May your stuffing be tasty

May your turkey be plump,

May your potatoes and gravy

Have never a lump.  

May your yams be delicious

And your pies take the prize,

And may your Thanksgiving dinner

Stay off your thighs!  

 

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

On a side note, we'll be glad to see this Arctic cold front move out. Last night our low was -17F and with windchill it was -24 to -30 below. I was up stoking the stove every two hours and the house temperature was holding at between 60F and 58F. It's just miserable for the animals, so we make sure they have warm water to drink, plenty of grass and alfalfa hay and their barns are bedded thick with straw. This is supposed to move off to ND and we're fore casted to warm back up into the low 30's F, which will feel like a heatwave, YEAH!!!!    

We just have to remind ourselves it's will only last for a few months and then it will be Springtime again :o)
Blessings,
Kelle

Kraut is finished!

 Literally down to our last 6 qt. jars!  I do have some old mayo jars in the garage, but really hesitate using them for canning, we typically use them for  storing dried foods and seeds.

 After removing the plate, this is what it looks like and I wish you could smell it, Ummmm, Ummmm! Now Mike and Cortney don't agree that it smells good, LOL!!!!   It's an acquired smell and taste I guess.

 Simmering on the wood stove to heat up for canning with jars sterilizing in the pan behind.

 Here are some of the jars of oven roasted tomatoes, milled and cooked down into a paste and 5 of the 6 qts. of kraut. One of the jars went right into the refrigerator for eating ASAP!

One more batch of tomatoes and we'll be all through canning, I just hope and pray we empty enough jars in time to can the last batch of sauce*wink*   Such a problem to have*wink*

It's still snowing here, we have approx. 12-14" of snow and it's due to get bitter cold tonight, -4F and will stick around for the next several days, clearing out by Thanksgiving. Day.

Whoot, Whoot! we just sold our last turkey, making 7 sold this year! We're hoping people will like them enough to want one ever year! If our hens don't have better success setting and hatching, we'll purchase poults and let them raise them( sneak them under them on the nests at night)

I think we'll concentrate on marketing our turkeys and garlic and the rest we'll just raise for our own uses. Both the turkeys and garlic seem to be a good selling products for us.  :o)

Well, it's time for evening chore, since the time change it's dark here by 4:30pm*sigh* 
Blessings for your Sunday

The forecast was true!

The snow has arrived, now awaiting the bitter cold!  Sunday's high is supposed to be 21F with a low of -2F Monday and Tues. aren't much better and then by Wednesday we'll be warming back up into the mid to high 30's F. As I've said before I don't mind the snow, but the bitter cold is hard on the animals, the vehicles and well..... not much fun to be out in period.  

 This was taken at 6:30 am this morning, we'd already shoveled the walk and patio once but it is still snowing. We're forecasted to receive 10-14" of snow by tonight. All I can say is we need the moisture and it's a good wet snow( high moisture content, of course snow is WET! LOL!!!!)

 Everything looks so clean and crisp, glad everything is tucked in for the winter. Well, not 100% true, we still need to cut back the asparagus and mulch them with compost but we can do that this weekend.

 The sunflower heads are already picked pretty well clean buy all the little birds, but I like the look of them with snow on them, sort of a redneck winter flowerbed*wink* Plus the stalks and heads make excellent fire starters. :o)

 Oooppps! Cortney's sheets are all full of snow, nothing a good shaking won't get rid of and then we'll opt to bring them inside to finish drying on the wood racks by the stove.

The Mum a friend blessed us with, we thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful flowers and now it's time to plant it in a big pot tote of soil in the hoop house, for a long winter's rest. Next Spring I'll figure out where to permanently plant it. 

We milled and processed down approx 20 qt of tomatoes, down into a nice thick sauce, canning into 7 qt jars. Their destiny will be decided when the time comes to use them.We still have approx. 15-20 qt of tomatoes ripening yet!

 I hope to can the kraut this afternoon. I have to round up jars and get them sterilized first.

Mike is still enjoying his job, even working in these conditions. He has plenty of good winter clothes, insulated bibs, really good snow boots, good heavy winter gloves, and a stormy chromer hat!  They are finishing up a 20x 24 x10ft shop building, being totally wrapped up on Wednesday and, moving onto their next job. He is learning new techniques for building and has been a great value already to the foreman.
The nice thing about this job, even though weather plays a role, is that they have jobs set up for building sheds and small buildings and they can build the walls and floor in their big shop and haul to be assembled on site, placing the trusses, roofing( all metal roofing now, it's to cold for shingles at this point) and siding on them a the site.  So we're hoping they'll keep enough work to get through the winter weather and into Spring.

Well ...... I need to get a load of firewood hauled and some other misc. outside chores done.
I'm thinking the left over pot of vegetable venison soup and homemade biscuits sounds good for supper.

Blessings for your day :o)

I am thankful for.....

This story below, shared via an email from a friend today, really touched home for me. Sometimes we all get so caught up in life that we loose track of how we spend our time. Below explains the best way to spend our time.

I'd like to say "Thank You" to each of you for your time

A tissue may be needed*wink*

A young man learns what's most important in life from the guy next door. It had been some time since Jack had seen the old man. College, girls, career, and life itself got in the way. In fact, Jack moved clear across the country in pursuit of his dreams.

There, in the rush of his busy life, Jack had little time to think about the past and often no time to spend with his wife and son. He was working on his future, and nothing could
stop him.

Over the phone, his mother told him, "Mr. Belser died last night The funeral is Wednesday." Memories flashed through his mind like an old newsreel as he sat quietly remembering his childhood days.

"Jack, did you hear me?"

"Oh, sorry, Mom.
Yes, I heard you. It's been so long since I thought of him. I'm sorry, but I honestly
thought he died years ago," Jack said.

"Well, he didn't forget you. Every time I saw him he'd ask how you were doing. He'd reminisce about the many days you spent over 'his side of the fence' as he put it," Mom told him.

"I loved that old house he lived in," Jack said.

"You know, Jack, after your father died, Mr. Belser stepped in to make sure you had a man's influence in your life," she said

"He's the one who taught me carpentry," he said. "I wouldn't be in this business if it weren't for him. He spent a lot of time teaching me things he thought were important...Mom, I'll be there for the funeral," Jack said.

As busy as he was, he kept his word. Jack caught the next flight to his hometown. Mr. Belser's funeral was small and uneventful He had no children of his own, and most of his relatives had passed away.

The night before he had to return home, Jack and his Mom stopped by to see the old house next door one more time.

Standing in the doorway, Jack paused for a moment. It was like crossing over into another dimension, a leap through space and time The house was exactly as he remembered. Every step held memories. Every picture, every piece of furniture....Jack stopped suddenly.

"What's wrong, Jack?" his Mom asked..

"The box is gone," he said

"What box?" Mom asked.

"There was a small gold box that he kept locked on top of his desk I must have asked him a thousand times what was inside. All he'd ever tell me was 'the thing I value most,'" Jack said.
It was gone. Everything about the house was exactly how Jack remembered it, except for the box.. He figured someone from the Belser family had taken it.

"Now I'll never know what was so valuable to him," Jack said. "I better get some sleep. I have an early flight home, Mom."

It had been about two weeks since Mr. Belser died Returning home from work one day Jack discovered a note in his mailbox. "Signature required on a package. No one at home. Please stop by the main post office within the next three days," the note read.
Early the next day Jack retrieved the package. The small box was old and looked like it had been mailed a hundred years ago. The handwriting was difficult to read, but the return address caught his attention. "Mr. Harold Belser" it read. Jack took the box out to his car and ripped open the package. There inside was the gold box and an envelope.
Jack's hands shook as he read the note inside.

"Upon my death, please forward this box and its contents to Jack Bennett. It's the thing I valued most in my life." A small key was taped to the letter. His heart racing,
as tears filling his eyes, Jack carefully unlocked the box. There inside he found
a beautiful gold pocket watch.

Running his fingers slowly over the finely etched casing, he unlatched the cover. Inside he found these words engraved:

"Jack, Thanks for your time! -Harold Belser."

"The thing he valued most was...my time"

Jack held the watch for a few minutes, then called his office and cleared his appointments for the next two days. "Why?" Janet, his assistant asked.

"I need some time to spend with my son," he said.

"Oh, by the way, Janet, thanks for your time!"

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away,"

Look at what we received in the mail!

I got an email early last week, to be expecting a package from our friend, Irene. We had no idea what it could be, but we anxiously awaited it's arrival. She thought it might come on Wednesday, if not Friday, because of Veteran's Day on Thursday. Well it did come on Wednesday. but our postman didn't deliver it but rather put a notice in our box. When I went down to the Post Office, the post lady informed me he had the package with him and wouldn't be back until after the she'd be closed, so... now we had to wait until Friday.  Below is what we received and was it ever worth the wait.......

Here is the picture it was taken from, one of my very favorite photos of Cortney riding Mo!

Irene does beautiful oil paintings, which she's shared with me via email photos but never in our wildest dreams did we think she'd ever bless us with an original and especially one so near and dear to our hearts. I had share some photos of Cortney with Irene months back. This painting is so near and dear to our hearts because....... I haven't share this until now, when it happened it was simply to hard to tell. A little over three months ago, we lost our beloved Fjord, Mo. He seemed fine the morning Cortney put him out for his grazing time, but when we went to get him in he was obviously not feeling good. I was worried it may be colic and had Cortney walking him, while I got in touch wit the vet. Mike came home and was busy working on a cylinder repair( an emergency situation) for a friend. I told him about Mo and that we needed to haul him ASAP to the vet. While Cortney was walking him, he tried to lay down several times and was very sluggish. Mike got the trailer and we loaded Mo and headed to the vet. To make a LONG, hurtful and complicated story short, Mo's spleen was swollen to double the size it should be, creating a blockage of his colon( not a twisted gut, but very similar).  The vet talked to us about options, such as surgery, which is VERY costly and not often successful. We told her that wasn't an option at this point. She continued to work on Mo until she called us at 2am, explaining that he was no better with the treatments she'd given him and he  was in a great deal of pain. Mike and I had already discussed with Cortney that we may have to make the choice to have him put down and we all agree if he was suffering that that was the best choice. Well, as painful as it was we opted to have Mo put down. The loss was almost more than any of us could bare and it still hurts deeply today.  So Irene knowing of our love for Mo and captured him in a painting for us all to remember. Thank you again Irene, we just LOVE it and have hung it right in the living room.  It's taken this long to share the loss of Mo for several reasons but with time and healing we wanted to share our loss with all of you. There will never be another Mo, but someday maybe when we've healed and are no longer mourning Mo, we can love another horse.  Until then we have this gorgeous painting to remember Mo.

What we've been working on....

Breakfast at 5:30am with Mike

Plum jam, made with honey and no commercial pectin Ummmm, Ummmm

It's cold enough that Mike decided it was time to don on the Reds (long johns) and a flannel shirt. He's enjoying his new job and working out in the fresh air sure makes him sleep good, snore too! LOL!!!!

It's raining and today is laundry day, so.... we'll improvise

Wooden drying rack in front of the wood stove for drying clothes. Jeans and heavy items take a couple of days to dry the rest dry within 10-12 hours. One thing about living a simpler life, sometimes you have to air your laundry right in the kitchen*wink* 

Mike welded up some brackets last weekend and we got all the hoses drained, blown out and hung up for the winter. Another "To Do" before winter item checked off.

The raspberries I transplanted this spring did well behind the garage. I've gotten them all dressed for the winter with composted manure and straw. Praying next spring the really take off and fill in this area.

The strawberries that we transplanted didn't fair so well this summer, but those that did survive and thrive I wanted to protect, so mulched them with straw and leaves for the winter. We'll be praying that the survivors will grow and produce runners, so we can fill in the areas where the others died off.

Closest to the hoop house is our Fall garlic, over 100 cloves planted and the rest are the raised beds we build up this Spring, all dressed and ready for a long winter's rest. I left some millet for the bird over the winter( tall clump standing in the background). I still have my asparagus to cut back and dress for winter, but will hold off until we freeze again.

The garden looks lonely now. There is Kale, Chard and Spinach( the green in front of the hoop house) still in the garden, we are feeding this to the poultry and how they love it! :o)  We still need to dig some of the sun chokes and get them cut back. It seems I always have good intentions of getting all this done, so Spring clean up is lessened, then the time just seems to slip away*sigh*

Stove ash, good garden dressing as well as a good dust hole additive for the chickens and turkeys.

We haven't forgotten the Kraut, in fact it is literally days away from being ready to can. I didn't take any pictures of the skimming process, I thought maybe it might turn some of you off a bit. The skimming is a mix of a sliminess and frothing and isn't in the least bit appetizing. Mike hates the smell and is always glad for Kraut making to be completed, LOL!!!

We also butchered three of the remaining Tom turkeys on Saturday. One of these is sold and the two remaining birds will go into our freezer. Our turkey flock has been downsized for the winter and we'll be downsizing the chickens as well. With feed cost rising and our need for eggs decreasing we'll add several of the older hens to the freezer for soups and casseroles and a few younger ones for fried or baked chicken.

Our weather is supposed to take a turn for the worse by this coming weekend, with temps. only being into the low 30'sF for day time highs and the evening lows into the single digits, Brrrrrr........ Sure glad we have plenty of wood and the animals all have nice shelters and plenty of bedding, food and water. I'm betting, we'll see the stock pot filled with poultry grain mix and water with a touch of molasses and kelp added, cooking on the wood cook stove, Cortney truly spoils her birds*wink*

Starting to think of our Christmas projects and taking inventory of items needed to complete them. So far we seem to have plenty of needed items and if we do come across something, we'll first look at secondhand shops before resorting to buying new. 

I was blessed with some clothes, several very nice pairs of sweatpants( which I love in winter), some really nice sweaters and slacks as well. I think we're all set for winter, just a few last minute details and we'll be ready to hunker in for a long winters rest. I'm looking forward to slower days. :o)

Blessings to you all. :o)

In Honor of our Veterans, Past and Present; THANK YOU!

Please remember to hold our military personnel up in your daily prayers.

Looking back, maybe juicy new wasn't a good choice of words.... Here's the update!

 This past week Cortney attended a Workforce Skill seminar  and she received this certificate as well as one of two award given out for Most Professionally Dressed. In this seminar she learned how to create a resume, a cover letter, the proper way to fill out an application, interviewing techniques and practicing interviewing . Then they worked on follow up skills such as; follow up phone calls a few days following an interview and writing a Thank you for their time involved in interviewing you. She did very well and we are proud of her.

Now for the interesting news and the blessing of how God works in our lives.....  You may or may not know that Mike is the manager of a Farm and Ranch Coop, has been for a little over 3 yrs, and this store is in the midst of a building a new facility, so currently the store is in a temporary location. Over the course of the new building being constructed Mike and his employees have been asked about the arrangement of the new store, what will be new, how many gas pumps, etc..... Well... this is where the story begins; Mike passed on some of the questions to the main store and asked how they should answer the questions, because they hadn't been told, in fact during this whole process neither Mike nor any of the 3 employees were asked for input of their ideas. Two weeks ago the Farm and Ranch boss and the main store boss were up meeting with contractors and stopped in to fill in Mike and his crew with some of the news of the new store. After everyone asked their questions and made comments the two bosses informed the crew that they needed to submit resumes and what job they'd like to have in the new store. Mike was then told that he too would have to re-apply, submit a resume and interview, as they were opening up his position via an ad in the local city newspaper. This caught Mike totally off guard, especially when there was never any complaints with his job performance, in fact quite to the contrary and the company had just shelled out over $600 to send Mike to a management training seminar, a two part seminar with the last week being completed just a week earlier. In fact, Mike did so well he received an award ( see below)

That Saturday the ad in the city newspaper came out. Of course Mike was barraged by all the local customers, asking if he'd resigned or been fired. He could only say neither applied and if they really wanted to know they'd have to contact the main office. It was very humiliating for him though. When he submitted his resume, he was told that the interview would be set up the following week, all of this was handled in a very cold and distant manner. The interview was scheduled for Wednesday at 9am, upon his arrival he was informed he was the first of 10 interviews being held that day for his currently held position. They also informed him they wanted to act as if he were a stranger to them in the interview. Many things didn't feel right and the interview ended with the question," If you don't get chosen for this position how will you feel?"  Well, really! how do they think he'll feel, he will effectively be demoted or possibly even laid off. Mike refused to answer that question. They then informed Mike they'd notify him by Friday of their decision( which they did not do). When he came home that evening we discussed this for hours, prayed about it and discussed it some more and prayed some more. You see when Mike attained this job, he wasn't looking for a job, but rather was approached by the company via a friend's suggestion. We'd always prayed to find a job closer to home but most local town jobs didn't pay enough to make our mortgage and other monthly expenses. Thursday morning a friend came in and out of the blue offered Mike a job, knowing what had been happening over the past few weeks. The job is a family owned business, working from 7am to 4 pm with weekends off, unless you so choose to work if weekends are needed to finish up a project. The pay offered is approximately the same as he's making as manager of the Coop. So once again God provided a job before it was even needed! Mike will give his notice, Monday being his final day. Considering the circumstances of how poorly this whole situation was handled, he would typically give a two week notice as a courtesy, but he considers the last two weeks his fulfillment of that courtesy. He starts his new job Tuesday morning :o)

    Herbs and millet drying on the front entryway.

More herbs drying, many have been taken down, and prepared for storage, stored in glass jars.

This week, we'll be canning pickled carrots........ After we stored all we could in the cellar we still had several gallons of carrots to do something with, so.. we'll store some in the refrigerator for immediate use as well as make pickled carrot sticks. :o)

 and canning tomatoes, they've ripened up nicely on the front entryway.  The salad crops in the hoop house are coming along nicely and have withstood several freezes. I'll be glad to enjoy fresh greens well into Nov. and possibly even Dec.

Blessings for your new week. :o)

I haven't quit blogging, just......

It's been an incredibly busy week!  We have been running to and from the city everyday for some classes and when you don't get home until 1pm and have a whole days worth of chores and supper to make, well..... I've just been plain ole' tired and have been hitting the hay early. This leaves little to no time to blog or even read blogs.

We do have pictures to share and some news, really juicy stuff*wink* but it will have to wait for another day, sorry, as we're off to the city for our last day of class. Until then, many blessings to you and yours this weekend.

BTW! PTL, we're still canning tomatoes, probably a half bushel this afternoon and still have at least a bushel more to go, YEAH!  I love my hoop house!