Just Found this old post from over 2 1/2 years ago. pretty cool

Friday, November 7, 2008

Farm Life

You know we thank God before our meals, so that we can remember the bounty he gives us, and how he takes care of us. Unfortunately it is hard to remember the rain that grew the crops and the sun that fed the little buds of wheat when you are ripping open a package of (I am embarrassed to say)... cheese filled fish sticks. I know gross. Or throwing some instant oatmeal and a few frozen blue berries on the table for breakfast. We are so removed from the process of our food as we turn more and more to processed food.

I wish I lived on a farm, so I could see the majesty of God's hand in the making of my food.

Our neighbors pecan tree, I love how the tree is going the same direction as the clouds.

Looking Forward

This is Serenity the youngest memeber of our family caught in a sweet moment with the oldest member of our family, my husband. I know the look on his face, his brow is slightly furrowed and that means he is thinking. This picture was taken candid when I saw him staring out over the land. Serenity has a deep serious look about her and in their own ways they are looking at our future.

Have you had your morning coffee?

We love our Cafe La Llave!!!

Angels sometimes deliver Girl Scout cookies, so be nice to them.

This is Netsanet, my daughter and a Daisy Scout. She was born in Ethiopia nearly 7 years ago. Let me say a little something about this girl. She is a ham and loves the camera. All of these pictures are without prompting or posing, except the one I had her hold the thin mints up but she decided the pose. She is a natural beauty and we love her to pieces. Her name is what was given to her by her birth family and it means Freedom. I couldn't have picked a better name for her.

Muddy Shoes

We stopped by the house today to drop off the fig tree I bought and do a bit of cleaning. My kids are wild, they look wild, smell wild, act wild. While I was nursing Serenity they were wrestling down stairs in one of the bedrooms. I didn't know this and I have told them not to, but what do I know? Suddenly I hear screaming and a gaggle of kids running up the stairs shouting words like broken widow, open door, wrestling. I wake the baby in my haste to asses the damage. Apparently Mason was showing Abby a wrestling move and picked Nettie up slamming her into the mirror closet door shattering it to pieces. Thankfully no one was hurt. I was so mad I couldn't see straight. Thirty years those groovy glass mirrored closet doors have been there. They have seen us and several other people through the years. Three days with my kids in the house and they are broken. That doesn't look good.

I just threw a bajillion shoes in the laundry machine, crossing my fingers the mud caked on the bottom doesn't clog the works. This being a mom thing is messy business.

Lasagna From a Box, But Tangelos From My Tree. Transition.

Today down on the farm ette, we got all of most of our trees planted. Well Gary did the planting I did the watching and nursing (hey someones got to do it and it can't be Gary) A few things I decided today. 1. Lemons suck. They have thorns and when you get the juice in your eye or a cut it can make any good Christian girl want to say a bad word. 2. Why would anyone plant more than one lemon tree? I am personally going to chop the second one down. I think. It is so pretty, (Isn't there a song like that?) I feel everything on this little bit of land needs to be in full force productivity. We don't have time or water to waste on food going to waste. I am over the lemon tree. You can only do so much with lemons. When life gives you lemons, call a friend. Anyone need a lemon or 50?

The last thing I realized when it comes to planting our trees is the stark realization that this will take me being home as a full time job to a whole new level. The amount of food I think I will need to learn to process is certainly going to be a challenge. Let me tell you though, there is something so gratifying about seeing something grow, then to pick it, then to eat it. Such a simple concept but we have lost touch with our food and how it comes to us. I cannot wait for the day you (anyone who is reading this) will come to my house and I will pull out some fresh baked bread with plum preserves and just squeezed orange juice, or maybe you will stop by for dinner and I will defrost some yummy chicken soup with veggies from my garden. I know I know. I am a dreamer, but isn't that the fun of it all?

Some other things I learned.

So we found out tonight that there are a pack of local coyotes just a few blocks down in a vacant over grown lot and they love the neighborhood chickens. We also found out that we have to clip our chickens wings if we want them to stay in our fence. I also learned that 3 pound Chihuahua's will attack full grown horses. Bees sting at night. Mud keeps kids busy for hours on end. Gopher hunting is the bomb diggity and possibly a new family sport. Eating Gatorade powder will give a kid stomach aches. And that when you dig holes for trees and the kids are helping you make sure that as you go keep an eye on the kids. Kids like to fill in holes behind what you just dug out. Actually I just observed the after affects of Gary digging like mad and Abby filling them in without him knowing and Gary cursing under his breath when he looked back and saw the aftermath of an over zealous 7 year old girl.

For an update. The house is nearly fitted with AC. Yes a big and proud moment for this ol' house over 30 years in the desert with no air conditioning. That is a lot of sweat.

There is no recipe tonight. We ate lasagna from a box. We did throw the tangelos in the salad to the side and had grape fruit juice. Slightly disappointed in this dinner but it was fast and easy.

Next......

Today as we continued our work on the property shaping it into a nice little farmette, I had the stark realization that my children will be the fourth generation living under that roof. So I sat down with my dad, who built the house and counted how many people have lived there. Lets just say this house and the barn have been home to more than we can count.

Everytime I visit the property and work on it I feel this very deep connection with the land. We lined up our trees to the places where they will be planted and sat back in the sunset looking on our hard work ahead three years trying to imagine what life will be like. I guess this is what it feels like to dream in real time.

Here is a short list of people who have lived on this property
Grandma Mary, Grandpa Jo
Granddaddy Elgie
My parents
My siblings
My children
My siblings children
My uncle
My friend Heather
3 foreign exchange students
foster kids
Keith (family friend)

I am sure the list will grow as I feel we are forgetting some people.

We were inspired to think of all the things that have happened on the property. We have had people get married in our barn, and my sister gave birth to her 5th child when her and her family lived there. I guess in a period of over 30 years there is bound to be some history. I am feeling blessed to inherit the memories and guard over them.

Tonight's recipe will be an easy one if you don't already know it. It is one I recalled tonight as I heated up left over chicken soup in the kitchen. I am sure by now my husband is sick of me saying.... "I remember when......."

Another croc pot recipe. You take a good cut of beef, pot roast, beef bottom round and brown it on a skillet with some crushed garlic and olive oil. Just throw that sucker in your pot with 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup and 1 can of water. You can add more mushrooms if you want. Cook it on high for 2 hours or so and then add baby carrots and quartered red potatoes or russet, celery if you want. I usually let the veggies sit towards the top so they steam nicely and not get to mushy. Then cook for another 2 hours or until it is shredded. That's it. Freeze the leftovers, if there are any. You serve this with home made biscuits to sop up all the gravy and juice and a yummy salad.

I guess we are next in a long line of people who have made this house and this land come alive. I wander what the future holds for the people who will be served by this food we plant and the doors we hold open.

Chicken Comfort Soup

This process of getting ready to move has left me a little frazzled. I guess it isn't just a move but an entire life style change. Realizing that I would have to get up before the crack of dawn to take care of animals leaves me feeling a yawny ( I may have made that word up)

We got our citrus juice press in the mail today so now I can really take down those lemons. Also today we picked out and paid for a majority of what will someday be our little hobby orchard. We are scheduled to have the land graded and AC put in on Saturday. The Lord has truly blessed us through other Christians. We are able to cut some cost of this little farm thing significantly thanks to friends and family.

We are getting friendly with one of our neighbors and he even stopped by today and let the kids take a ride on his champion show horse he was training. Lets just say the horse was worth more than our Suburban.

So in honor of chickens everywhere and the people who have to get up early to take care of them here is my easy recipe for chicken soup. I made it tonight but it turned out terrible because I forgot to bring some ingredients from our current residence to our future residence where we had dinner tonight.

I don't even use a pot just a croc makes life so much easier.

Take one whole chicken throw it in croc pot on high until the skin starts to come off, about 2-3 hours. Sometimes I just throw mine in frozen, it doesn't really matter but obviously the frozen takes longer to cook.

Add about 1 1/2 cups of water or some kind of broth. I use chicken broth.

1 yellow onion finely diced

2 cloves of cut garlic

pack of sliced mushrooms (optional, I like mushrooms)

let simmer for about 2 hours on high in your croc pot

take chicken out, (skin should be falling off,)

debone it on a plate and remove extra fat and skin from remaining broth with skimmer

put the chicken meat back in the croc and add chopped carrots, corn, peas and celery,

Add salt and pepper to taste, a few basil leafs, oregano and more onion if you like

If there doesn't seem to be enough broth just add some more water or broth to your liking.

Let that cook for a few more hours until the carrots and celery are a nice texture, I don't like mine to mushy.

Cook the egg noodles separate and add to the broth when serving. This keeps the noodles from sucking up all the juice.

Serve crusty french bread and butter, mmmmmm, butter.

Make extra and freeze it. This is a great meal to keep on hand. I don't freeze it with the noodles generally but you can. You may just have to add more water or broth when you defrost it.

So there you have it. I am sure there will be much chicken soup in our house this fall. Who knows I may not even feel guilty for eating the buggars.