Hanging with My Peeps

Amazingly, all seven chicks are still alive & well.  No thanks to this guy.

Summer's Here.

Cupcake

Remember how I just mentioned how odd the weather has been?  How it's been so much cooler than normal?  Yeah, that's over.  It is 109* as I type this.  The sunflowers are more than doubled in size from just a few days ago.
Guess I'll keep pinning cold drink recipes...

Girl Time

Sweetheart took the boys fishing this afternoon.  So, I put the kettle on and popped some special caramel popcorn.  Cupcake and I are watching "Anne of Green Gables" for some serious girl time.  It's getting late enough now that I'm thinking a fish dinner just is not going to happen tonight.  Glad I stashed an extra pizza in the freezer the last time I made pizzas.
I guess us girls are having pizza and watching more "Anne".
And sipping more tea in this lovely violet teacup a coworker gave me years ago.  It had been her aunt's, or great aunt's. She didn't want it and knew I liked tea so she gave it to me.  I love it.  The violets always make me think of my beautiful Grandmother.  

Typical Farmgirl Day

Kill a chicken, do chores, go to tea.
Not really.
But it is the plan for today!
****
BTW~ I deleted both my Kimberly's Cup and my personal Facebook accounts. 
I didn't de-friend you.  (I guess I defriended myself!)
Comments, emails & visiting over at Pinterest are still available.
 I don't follow a lot on Pinterest for the sake of my time,
but I do usually reply to comments or questions if I see them.
 

I am a Cowgirl

Yup. We just got back with Mama and Baby Cow.  Woohoo!

Farmgirl Friday

Huckleberry Muffins

Mooove over goats!  We are upgrading to a cow.  Bella and Eve have found a new home.  The jersey cow we've been working on buying calved last week.  She had a not-so-little boy.  I was even more grateful that he was born at their place and not ours.  We will find out for sure today when we will pick them up.  At this point we are planning for tomorrow.

Someone asked if I had cows growing up.  Hello.  I grew up in Phoenix.  We had dogs.  I don't think I even saw a cow close up until I was an adult.  I have lived in big cities almost all my life.  So, no, I don't really know what I am doing.

I have read a lot and the lady we are buying from is great at answering questions.  She also has an amazing gift for people in this area:  she'll tell you what you NEED to know without waiting to be asked.  Now, plenty of folks around here are happy to tell me all sorts of things I DON'T want to know, usually negative things about other people around here.  But most people don't seem to want to share helpful information, unless you specifically ask.  I think they believe in learning things the hard way.  (Hear that banging sound?  It's my head against the wall.)  Seriously people--help me out!!!  I quite regularly admit to being new to all of this.  I pray that when I am the old timer around here I will share a bit (!) more grace to the newcomers.

Anyway...back to the cows.  I am excited and honestly a bit scared.  I think that is wise.  I've never been responsible for any living thing this big.  The goats were our starter animals and we all survived that experience.  I milked twice a day, every still single day since we got them.  No break for almost six months is a good start, I think.  Sweetheart says he will help with milking her.  I hope so.  I know it will usually be my job, but it would be good to have an extra set of hands available.

The next step is to figure out what I will do with all the milk!  We will see how much we are getting and using and figure out what we have left to sell.  I have my butter churn, ice maker, and yogurt maker all on standby.  The cream separator is set up ready to crank.

All suggestions and advice is welcome at this point.  We are also thinking about names:  #902 just isn't a great name.  Still no name for the farm yet either.  We've been too busy to really decide.

Other other fronts, I have been rushing around trying to finish up some projects before the cows arrive.  Yes, it is a bit like waiting for a baby.  I have been working on preserving food and sewing.  I finished my kitchen curtains and hung the last part up last night at about midnight.

It was then that I discovered that I used the WRONG piece of fabric for the valance.  I had cut a foot wide piece from the fabric that I had intended to use.  However, when I picked up the beautiful fabric to sew it all together, I inadvertently grabbed the remnant piece which was two feet wide. Not paying attention, I sewed all the edges and other fabric pieces to it and attached it all the way I wanted it.  I was so proud of myself as sewing is a newish thing to me.  Pride comes before a fall.

Now, I have to decide what to do with it.  I can leave it as is, but the proportions are all wrong.  I can try to modify is and sort of foof and balloon it up.  Or I can rip apart all those little seams that for once are really straight and nicely done and start alllll over again.  Did I mention we are getting a cow tomorrow?  Ugh.

Which also means I have no more time to write!  Do leave a comment with cow wisdom, name suggestions and tips for what to do in 10 minutes for less with my curtains.  Much obliged.   -Kimberly

I am linking up to Farmgirl Friday.  Stop on over for a visit.

Little Farm Update

I just realized that I never posted about what happened with the little farm. We let the offer expire at the end of last month. Some other circumstances changed that I am not at liberty to write about at this time that made it not the place for us.
Which is fine as it had been our prayer all along that if it wasn't the place for us, we would know for certain. We have not found anything else at this time and we are still in a holding pattern as we search due to some of those changes. :)

Ideabook * Cookbook * Lifebook

I wrote the other day about MaryJane's latest magazine, but I forgot to add a link to it. Here is her website. You can order a subscription to the magazine. It is a lot easier than trying to find it in the stores. I'd ordered a book a few months ago and received the magazine direct, then I found the next issue at Barnes & Noble. The other day was the first time I'd seen it at the grocery store, Sunflower Farmers' Market.

I think I'm just going to do the subscription since she started going to putting out regular issues every two months. It used to be real hit or miss as to when an issue would come out, but now it's being published regularly. It's also a lot less expensive that way.

MaryJane’s Ideabook, Cookbook, Lifebook - For the Farmgirl in All of Us is a book I received for Christmas. I had seen it at the bookstore and enjoyed looking at it. I was overjoyed upon receiving it and being able to read it all. It arrived just after Sweetheart and I decided to simplify our lives and I was looking for the "how" now that I knew the "what" and "why" of it all. This book contains that. It is filled with both the practical how-tos as well as a lofty idealism that colors my world.

There are recipes, gardening tips, sewing projects, cleaning helps, and more all complete with gorgeous pictures that fill each page. I've discovered that I am a Farmgirl at heart, though I may live in the city, and may always. I have a sense of simplicity and beauty and the desire to find them in my daily life, as well as to highlight them for those around me. A Farmgirl isn't afraid of working hard, but also loves being a woman and delights in femininity even in unexpected places.

It's a good mix for me. While I may long for a few chickens and some wide open space, I am content here in suburbia making my house a home and refuge for those that pass my way. Though this latest issue did have directions for making a delightful hen house....Think the HOA would notice?