Another Rainy Week!

It has been a busy week. It has been a rainy one too. I think it rained about three times this week, and we are grateful to the Lord for all of it! We have been getting used to the humidity returning too. This week Michael's father came down and helped us run some of the extension cords, we have running outside, underground. It's good to have them out of sight now and out of the elements.

We have also been trying to get the chickens to lay more eggs. The egg numbers have been going down lately. The number usually goes up when the rains come after a long drought, and we have cooler temperatures. We cleaned the chicken house thoroughly and put lots of hay in the nests. We have also been checking them more often to discourage "egg eaters." Some chickens get into the habit of eating the eggs in the nests, but I don't think we have any of those this time.

After we got everything on the porch rearranged from the work Michael's father did, I made some Mequite bread. It was really tasty! I substituted 1 cup of ground up Mesquite pods for one of the cups of white flour in a wheat bread recipe I had tried in the past. I also partially roasted the pods because raw pods have sugar that gets "gummy" in the grinder. The partial roasting helps solidify the sugar. Here is a picture of the ground mesquite pods in the freshly ground wheat:


Then I mixed all the ingredients together and had to let that rise for about an hour:

I placed about a pound of batter in each bread pan. This bread recipe is different from any I have ever tried because it makes a stiff batter in stead of a stiff dough. So the loaves are actually spooned into the bread pans. Which tends to make the loaves look different from ones you can knead and makes smooth on the top.


I also use smaller bread pans now because the propane over never thoroughly cooked the pound and a half larger pans I used to use. They were actually more of a standard size whereas the ones I use now make small loaves but they are cooked all the way through. My first attempt a 2 loaves kind of failed because the loaves fell before baking. I think the fact that the children were cleaning the motorhome at the time has much to do with it. My oven is in the motorhome and it moves around a bit when people are moving around in it.:

I got up early Saturday, put some in to rise, and baked them. The children were still asleep so the motorhome was still, and this time the bread did not fall! I was able to get a picture of only one of them since we ate the other one for breakfast:



I am hoping to make some more this week since I have to bring a bread to fellowship next weekend.

I hope you all are reading the posts on Country Mom and Debylin's blogs. They have had some thought provoking ones lately. Country Mom also has a store opened up that has some really cute stuff she has made.

You all have a blessed week,
Danielle

Bunkies

OK, here are my nominations for the coveted Bunky Awards . Everyone get their acceptance speeches ready!

1. Best All-Around Agrarian Blog. This is the blog you read every day, no matter what. This is the blog you would miss the most if it were gone. This blog out to be a stand-out blog in the Christian Agrarianism field, so we want to recognize a blogger who is standing out in his field. A Process Driven Life, he was standing out there last night shooting at varmits!

2. Most Educational or Informative Agrarian Blog. If you have a proper education and the right information, this blog award title ought to be self-explanatory. The Deliberate Agrarian

3. Best Newcomer Blog. Also self-explanatory. Sifford Sojournal

4. Blog most likely to make you look up words in the dictionary and to challenge your brainal functuosity. This award will go to the blog that most makes you have to think. A Process Driven Life

5. Best Looking Blog. Given for overall aesthetics and attractiveness. R&V Farmstead

6. Best Blog most people have probably never read or heard of. A great way for a great new blog to get some traffic! Darkwood Farm

7. Greatest Agrarian Posterboy Blog. This award will go to the blog that is most likely to make industrialized city people chuck it all and move to the country. A Process Driven Life

8. Best Children's or Young Person's Blog. For the chillens. Growing Up Agrarian

9. Blog most likely to have its owner and author arrested and/or summarily executed by the Government. You know what I'm saying. A Process Driven Life

10. Best Feminine Blog - A great blog many fellas may not read or know about. This blog ought to be one that celebrates Christian femininity. Country Mom

And a thank you to Brandi over at Mountain Morning Homeschool for hosting the giveaway that I won! I look forward to getting my hands on Quilts From Lavender Hill Farm: 12 Projects Inspired by Life in the Countryby Darlene Zimmerman.

In Christ,
Danielle

New Growth, New Tricks & New Books

Hello finally. I hope everyone had a great week! All of us here at the Ranch had a wonderful week started out by the blessed rain! It was a blessing to have to put up with all of the mud! And just a few minutes ago I killed my first mosquito! Sadly though it was INSIDE the cabin! It was a big one too! The rain stopped early in the week but I always love to see all the new growth caused by the rain. Flowers getting ready to bloom, trees growing new leaves, and plants sprouting up right out of the barren soil:

As I was walking around the land I came across the funniest thing. Our Longhorns have obviously been eating a good number of Mesquite pods because in a few of their "cow pies" there are many tiny seedling sprouting out of them. I assume they are Mequite seedlings but, who knows, I guess they could be some other plant! I hope you all can see them in this picture:

One of the many things I have learned while living the agrarian lifestyle is how beneficial rain water is to the plant life. I never really noticed before how everything comes to life so well after a good rain especially after a long drought. I knew it was beneficial but not to the extent that I notice now after leading a simpler lifestyle and seeing the spiritual lessons behind many things. Noticing these small things and slowing down enough to allow the Lord to teach you and bring you closer to Him. Appreciating His government, His commandments, and His love. All of this is so much more of a blessing than pondering the things of the world.



Sugar is doing well and getting bigger everyday. I have taught her some commands too. They are sit, shake, lie down, stay, speak, and crawl. She is a pretty smart dog. One thing I learned when I was a teenager is a trained dog is much more pleasant to be around than an untrained one. It was then that my family got an ex-show dog. He had gotten into a fight and a cut he got in the fight kept him from being in shows anymore because it was on his nose. He was a well trained dog and a joy to have in the house and take on walks. Since then all of the dogs I had were taught "dog manners". It is sort of like kids. Most of the world today does not know how to train the kids and so no one wants to be around them most of the time. Usually though, once someone sees how it is done the right way they are ready to learn how to do it the right way. But there are some who think they are just fine. I saw that this week as I got a few moments to read some other blogs. It amazed me how people were attacked when they talked about doing things the Lord's way. Stepping away from the world's ways got you accused of not having a brain, being uncultured, abusing your children by making them work and so on. And if you want to do things more simple you better not go and eat some fast food you hypocrite!

I started a book called Female Piety by John A. James. It is really good so far. So many lessons to learn that were not taught to me as a young woman. I also just finished a book called Darcy's Story. It is Pride and Prejudice(a book by Jane Austen) from Mr. Darcy's point of view instead of Elizabeth Bennet's. It was a good read too.

Shabot Shalom,
Danielle
PS Michael and I have been married 16&1/2 years today!

Quilts and Blessed Rain!!

Hello all! Computer problems have prevented me from posting but my friend told me about a book giveaway that peaked my interest. It is a quilting book! It is on Mountain Morning Homeschool . Here is a picture of my favorite quilt that my daughter & I made for a quilt show:


And the ribbon she won in the junior division:

Brandi your quilt looks great! She did a wonderful job. I like quilting when time permits but right now all my sparetime is spent on a cross stitch project. Thanks again for the giveaway!

And praise the Lord for the great amount of rain we have been getting in the last few days!

In Christ,

Danielle