End of May

Here we are at the end of May and it is hard to believe 2008 is almost half over. It's been a busy year and we have learned many new things. This week we had a ham that we butchered, cured, and prepared for a meal. It was good and what did not get eaten we canned. I canned the ham along with the lard we got off the pig. Here are some pictures I took as I rendered some lard we got from the butcher. First I cut it.



Then I put it in a pot and heated it slowly.




While it heated slowly at a low temperature it was a good time to get some school done with the children.




We don't usually do school on the porch since I have a "schoolroom" but I needed to be on the porch to watch the lard. I had a picture of the finished lard and home ham ready to can but I think my camera ate it. I got 2 quarts of lard and 3 quarts of ham and canned them this week.

We also got some hand washed laundry done. The light summer clothes are easy to do at home and I was able to cut my laundry loads that I do at the laundry in town in half. Everyone got in on the washing fun and did their own clothes even Robert:



The children had fun this week catching a bird that has placed her nest in a place which makes it easy to catch her. The children occasionally catch her, hold her for a while, and let her go.



Sarah's arm, Jennifer's toe, and Michael's toe are all healing nicely. No signs of infection or other complications. Infections were my main concern with the open injuries. And Tracy butchered 3 rabbits this week and, praise the Lord, no cuts(on her at least). It was neat watching her do it. I helped a little but she did most of the work and she did a great job.

Keep praying for rain for us. We need it and so does our garden. Speaking of I need to go get some watering done before the sabbath. Happy trails!



Shabot Shalom,
Danielle

Sarah, Cows, and Flowers

We had another incident with Sarah. She has had a long couple of weeks. The children were out picking Agarito Berries for some jelly we are going to try and for some odd reason Sarah stuffed one up her nose. They are about the size of peas, maybe a little smaller. I guess she was really scared because she screamed like she broke her other arm. I got her to lay down on the porch and be really still while I fetched the berry with a toothpick. So now after a butterfly stitch in the head, a fractured arm, and a berry in the nostrils I hope she is done for awhile!

It has been a fun weekend here at the Ranch. We went to the annual Funtier Days here in Santa Anna. And that is not a spelling error, just a play on words. They had some gunfighters there. The children really liked that. Here are some pictures:





Then today, after another great fellowship, we had to move the cows again. We all pitched in and it took no time. Special thanks to Mr. Sifford for his cow leading abilities. I did not get any pictures but some of the other bloggers in the community did and maybe they will post them. After we got them all moved we had to capture 2 of the yearling calves and take halters off of them. That too went pretty smoothly. Special thanks on that job to Michael and his ever improving roping abilities. He roped one by the horns and one by the back foot. It was just like what you see in a rodeo!

We are all preparing for a hot dry week. No rain possibilities until Friday and the forecast is calling for highs in the upper 90's. We are still hoping and praying that we will get a good amount of rain before the dry season sets in on us. And since I love them so much I will close this post with some pictures of some flowers. The longer I live in this lifestyle the more and more I appreciate God's creation. What a blessing it is!



Have a good week!
In Christ,
Danielle

Sarah's Arm and Some Pictures

Sarah and I went to the doctor today to find out if she needed a full cast. When the doctor came in he first suggested x-raying it again to see if we saw anything different. Then he went out to go check something. He came back in a claimed that if it were his "kid" he would just leave the half cast on and come back in a couple of weeks. I personally think that he went out to check to see if we carried insurance because when he came back in he said he also did not want to run up the bill and in his opinion the half cast was going to be fine. He was a very nice man and even gave me a free pediatric sling. I asked if I could buy an extra one so that when I need to wash it she would have another one to put on her arm. He just gave me another one. A sling on a 4 year old does not stay clean very long! Especially one that is mostly white! I walked out of his office having to pay nothing for the visit. The Lord really blessed us today and now we are just waiting on the ER bill from the hospital. Overall, my experience with a small town hospital was much more pleasant than some of the big city hospitals I have been to as a patient.

I also did not fill out everything on their new patient forms. I have worked in doctors offices before and many of those forms require needless information. Especially pediatric forms that seem to ask EVERYTHING. I figured if they needed some of the information that I left blank they could just ask me and we could decide then if they really needed it for the visit. But nothing was ever asked.

Family and friends are always asking me to post more pictures of the children and I took some good ones last week so here they are:

Sarah, 4 years old, still has a mark from the cut she got last week that required a butterfly stitch.


Robert, 9 years old


Jennifer, 10 years old


Tracy, will be 15 this month


The Lord has really blessed Michael and me with a beautiful family.

Shabot Shalom,
Danielle

Local Nursery Visit

Recently our family visited a Santa Anna nursery. We all had a great time. The children have been planting gardens of their own and they were looking for some more plants to plant. Mr. Woods had also had the lady at the nursery hold a blackberry bush for Michael. So we all got in the truck and after having lunch together in town we went to the nursery. I also wanted to look at the flowers they had there too. I love flowers! Here is Sarah showing me some:

Here is Robert standing by a section of cacti:




This is Jennifer by one of the banana trees:

Robert wanted to buy some plants for his garden. He bought some yellow banana pepper plants that were half price. The lady at the nursery was excited to see a 9 year old interested in gardening. She gave Robert some tomato plants that needed to be planted soon and some nice looking cantaloupe plants. Robert gave some of these plants to Sarah and Jennifer for their gardens. Here is a picture of all the plants we got:



There was a vine growing on the fence around the nursery and one of the children noticed the beautiful blooms. We asked what it was and were told it was a Passion Vine.



Its not a real clear picture but it does show how unusual the blooms are. We really had a great time visiting the nursery. Here is Sarah after the visit:



Thank you Judy for your suggestions about my herb garden. I moved it to the east side of the cabin. Now it gets sun only in the morning and early afternoon.

I,as a parent, am blessed that the Lord has led me to raise my children knowing and loving the Lord and His creation. I am blessed to not have the struggles many parents have and I have the Lord to thank for that.

In Christ,
Danielle

More Ranchfest, Some Herbs

It is hard to think that it has been a week since Ranchfest ended. It was a great time for all. I want to thank all the ladies that helped me chop pork and brown sausage. The day before Ranchfest started Michael brought home about 250lbs. of pork from the two pigs we sent to the butcher. We started up our big freezer to keep all the meat frozen until I got it all canned. The extra room in the big freezer also helped keep the extra groceries needed for Ranchfest cold. Sunday I will be chopping up the fat and rendering the lard.

Speaking of lard I, used some today when I cooked breakfast. We had fried sweet potatoes, link sausage(fresh from the butcher), scrambled eggs(from our chickens), and freshly ground wheat tortillas. Too bad we are not currently making our own butter. But we did get our new dairy cow this week and after she calves we will be in butter production once more. I am looking forward to the homemade cheese, sour cream, butter and the fresh milk again.


This is my perennial herb garden I planted this year. It has Chamomile, Echinacea, Chocolate Mint, Rosemary and Silver Queen Thyme. In the center I planted a Marigold plant because they are known for keeping bugs away and they are pretty! I love flowers anyway. My Echinacea plant has some leaves that look burned and crisp. The information card said plant them in full sun. I also saw some Echinacea at another greenhouse and it said full to part sun so I may have to make some shade for it.

Time to go go prepare for the Sabbath. You all have a blessed Sabbath and a great Lord's Day!

Shabot Shalom,
Danielle