French Bread......Yum!

We are having lasagna tonight for supper so I made some french bread this morning. I've never had much luck with it having that great french bread shape, so I cheated and ordered some french loaf pans from Lehmans. This will be my first time in using them. The bread looks better than it usually does, but I'm still not satisfied with them. Oh well, who cares what they look like, it's the taste that matters! When I put fresh butter on them, sprinkle a little garlic powder and then put them on my cast iron griddle........YUUUMMMY! I also must confess that I cheat by using my bread machine to knead the dough......I know, I know.....cheater cheater punkin eater! I've never had good luck attempting to knead it myself and since I'm currently still on grid and have electricity, I use my bread machine for the knead cycle. I hope to get it figured out this year and be able to ditch it. I've been getting rid of my electric appliances (except fridge and freezer) slowly over the past few years. My favorite purchase this year so far was a cast iron stove top waffle iron that makes heart-shaped waffles.

Don't they look yummy! I was so excited cause this was like my 4th try at making them and it finally worked and they turned out beautiful. There is a bit of an art to making waffles on the stovetop and I wasn't having much luck. Finally everything fell into place and I got nice pretty perfect waffles! They also were the most delicious waffles we've ever eaten! Now my daughter (who is 10) asks me to make "Love" waffles for breakfast!

Now I'm getting ready to attempt making my first ever blouse...........actually my first ever anything! I can knit, hand quilt, bake, cook, scrub, garden, can......blah blah blah, but I've never ever been able to sew! I'm determined to fix this defect in my character this summer! My mom is amazing and she makes all my curtains, place mats, comforters, bedskirts and the like. I just don't have her natural ability to sew. She can look at a picture and create whatever it is without a pattern. I'd just like to be able to make a blouse or pair of shorts for myself or my daughter! I've got a 1930's singer sewing machine and I'm just going to give it a go!

Well got to go, my blouse is calling my name!

God Bless from Goodwife Farm!

We also saw this.........

This poor little baby must have been swept away while his momma had him stashed somewhere. She must not have had him on high enough ground. He was only a few days old at the most and valiantly struggling to get to shore. We had to helplessly watch him as it was much too dangerous for us to attempt to jump in and save him. We followed him down the bank as long as we could, hoping that he would be close enough for us to get him out, but to no avail. This will stay with me for a long time!

Look what we saw!

This picture shows how high the den is. That is my husband standing down on the ground in the white shirt. The circle and

arrow are pointing to where the den is.

We were taking a walk in the timber behind our house on Memorial Day to look at our creek. We had very heavy rains all day Monday and we wanted to see how high the creek was. I took my camera along as I'm always looking for a photo op! As we were walking down in the back something caught my eye, high up in a tree. Luckily I had the camera with me! It was a momma coon carrying her baby back up to the den. I guess they must have been down playing, or else the old den got wet so she was moving them to higher ground. Well she for sure picked high enough ground!

Well I'm a homemaker again...

I got riffed from my job as a cook at a high school. For those of you who don't know, riffed means Reduction In Force (RIF). Basically they cut a position and I had the least amount of senority so I had to be the one to go. I don't really mind as I enjoy being a stay at home wife and mom. God provided the job for me at a time when we really needed it, and now things are better financially so I don't need it anymore and God took it away. I will miss the kids ALOT, but I'm glad to be back home. When you have a homestead like we do, there is alot of stuff to do around home. It will be nice to have a clean house again! I also keep busy with the goats, making butter, cheese, ice cream, and soap. Soon I'll be very busy with the garden as well. I hope to can at least 200 pints of green beans this summer, not to mention all the peas, corn, carrots, potatoes.........well you get the idea!

I have two hens with chicks and two more hens setting that are due to hatch on the 24th. That is always exciting. I was out at the clothesline at 6:30 this morning hanging out the wash, watching my hens scratch around for their babies. Then they cluck to them, and show them how to scratch and peck. It is very endearing and makes me feel so close to God. I wonder how people can be non-believers. I really don't understand how you can see just about anything from nature and not believe in our Maker. I love to be outside at dawn. It is my most favorite time of day. The air is so fresh and I just feel like I can reach out and hold hands with God. It's a good feeling and one that I'll be able to enjoy much more now that I'm no longer working.

We lost a goat to a urinary stone. It was heartbreaking as I suffered from alot of guilt because I caused it. I knew better than to feed grain to a buck, but I did it anyway and he got a stone. It became totally blocked and we had to put him down. Lesson learned.........never ever ever ever give grain to a buck!

I made cottage cheese for the first time with our delicious goat's milk. It turned out pretty good. The curds are a bit "squeaky" but the flavor is really good. I'll try again soon. I've got some ideas about how to modify the recipe that I think will keep them from being so rubbery.

Well I think I've rambled enough for now!

More updates soon! God Bless from GOODWIFE FARM!