Milk Training!!

I was outside shooting another video for the series I'm doing on milk training and I got a really good video of Bonnie's calf rolling and flipping inside of her. I've never seen or felt it so distinctly.

~Pam

The rest of the month...

I intended to post the meals each day but... best laid plans of mice and men. Okay, here they are, again, missing a few because I forgot to take pictures.

Hasenpfeffer, Spaetzle and Blaukraut


Two showshoe hares, thawing. I cooked a chicken leg for my mother since she doesn't like rabbit.




Blaukraut is braised cabbage.


Maybe it's the German heritage, but I really liked this.

Spetsiota and Salad




Onion, olive, cucumber, tomato and feta salad. It's your standard, Big Fat Greek Salad and is a staple in Mediterranean countries.


Spetsiota (Halibut and Tomatoes)


Yummy!

Chicken Poutine

I spent hours trying to find the best way to make my fries crispy. I settled on blanching them in sugar water. The water's brown because I use succanat, instead of white sugar.


Brown gravy, made from scratch.


This was FABULOUS!! And so very worth the wait.

Meatloaf, baked potatoes and green beans


This is the only picture I took of this meal and it's the ingredients for the meatloaf. My bad!

Bao and egg noodles


I made my own five-spice mixture. I forget what's in it but it's an easy recipe to find.


The dough was really, really soft and very sticky.


I put them in this pan to rise, intending to steam them, as the directions call for but they stuck together. I put on an egg-wash and baked them instead. They still turned out wonderful.


If I'd had snow peas I would have used them instead but, anyway. I started preparing this meal at noon and had it done around 6:30. The dough needs three rises.

Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes and corn


Dad's birthday meal.


I ate too much and hurt myself so badly. But, I remembered to make enough potatoes for leftovers!! I'm always bummed when there's no more potatoes.

Bouillabaisse


Get started about two hours early on this cause there are a lot of steps. Almost as many as the Bao.


I ate a couple pieces of toast, dipping it in the Rouille while I was making the toast.

Jerk pork, rice and peas

Sped steaks. That's the color of them!


Marinating overnight in the fridge.


Dad was the only one who liked this meal. I might try a different recipe for the marinade if I made this again.

Well, that's all so far.

~Pam

Last Week's Food

This is going to be very picture heavy and yet it will be leaving out a few meals cause I forgot to take pictures... oops. Enjoy!

Two packages of halibut and a package of black bass, thawing in the sink


I decided to make thick fries. They were thicker than this picture makes them seem.


My super, duper favorite fryer. I use it a LOT.


This is Dad's favorite fry mix. We can't get it here so a friend of ours (Jason) gets it from his mom in Michigan and brings it to us.


Fish and chips, Alaskan style. The dip is honey mustard since Dad dislikes vinegar and we didn't have mayo or sweet pickles to make tartar sauce.

Next, was Matzo Ball Soup, again, Alaskan style

I mixed the dough about four hours ahead of time and set it in the fridge. When I do it again, I'll make it the night before and mix it better.


Chicken, carrots, green beans and broccoli simmering away in stock.

When the carrots were nearly done I added the matzo balls and clapped the lid on for about half an hour... they were big matzo balls!

Yummy!

Next, is Hasenpfeffer, Spaetzle and Blaukraut but I'm having issues with the mouse so it may be awhile before I get those pictures posted.

~Pam

Ribs, Potato Salad, Corn

Since Mom fixed chicken strips and french fries last night I just couldn't bring myself to do the fish and chips. So, I did the ribs that were scheduled for tomorrow. Enjoy!


Thawed ribs, ready for rub


Homemade BBQ sauce. I didn't care for it but everyone else said it was good. I didn't follow a recipe, just threw stuff in from memory.



Potato salad, ready for mixing

Yummy! I ate one rib since they are so big. Uncle Dave walked into the kitchen sucking BBQ sauce off his fingers, lol.

~Pam

February groceries

I managed to stay within my budget this month and I even have money left over! Not much but it's there so... there.

First stop was IGA for meat. It's not organic or free-range but since Dad has to have meat with every meal and prefers it red I do what I can.

Beef Burger, fresh, buy one, get one free- $29.62, for 16 packages of meat, when broken down.
Bay Scallops, frozen-$3.42 for a 1lb package
Shrimp, frozen-$1.80 for 8 oz. tub
Sea Scallops, frozen- $14.39 for 1.44 lbs
Mussels, frozen- $7.99 for 2 lbs
Chicken leg portions, frozen- $17.80 for 20 lbs

Total+ tax= $77.27


Save-U-More was the next store and I am more impressed with it every time I go in. A few years it was bought out and revamped. Their organic selection continues to get bigger and might rival Fred Meyer some day.

Balsamic Vinegar, organic- $5.39 for 18 fl. oz.
Coconut Milk, organic- $4.78 for two 14 fl. oz cans
Brown Rice Macaroni- $3.69 for 16 oz package
Chinese Noodles- $7.09 for 5 lbs
Mushrooms, sliced- $9.39 for a case of 12 cans
Decaf Coffee, organic- $6.59 for 1 lb
Olives- $8.91 for nine cans
Oysters- $22.32 for eight cans
Feta- $7.39 48 oz
Butter, organic- $8.29 for 2 lbs
Tomato Paste, organic- $6.79 for a case of 12
Diced Tomatoes, organic- $8.79 for a case of 8
Mozzarella- $12.99 for 5 lbs
Cheddar- $11.89 for 5 lbs
Corn, frozen, organic- $6.99 for 3 lbs
Almonds, raw- $11.99 for 3 lbs
Misc. animal foods and paper towels- $87.15

Total+ tax=$237.83


Fred Meyer was our last grocery stop.

Olive Oil, organic- $10.99 for 17 fl. oz
Potatoes, fresh, organic- $23.03 for 21 lbs
Pine Nuts, raw- $3.85 for 4 ozs
Cucumber, fresh, organic- $1.79 for one
Matzo Meal- $5.49 for 16 ozs
Cabbage, fresh, organic- $2.59 for one, green
Bell Pepper, fresh, organic- $2.58 for one, red
Hot Dogs, organic- $12.98 for 2 packages of 8
Chicken, organic- $20.72 for one, whole
Bulgur- $1.99 for 1 lb
Salad, organic- $3.98 for 10 ozs
Oranges, organic- $3.82 for 4 lbs
Garlic- $5.69 for 32 0zs, chopped
Onions, organic- $2.99 for 3 lbs
Carrots, organic- $2.99 for 2 lbs
Poblanos- $1.07 for 2
Clam Juice- $2.69 for 8 fl. oz.
Peanut Butter- $2.50 for 14 oz
Misc. pet items- $48.47

Total+ tax= $165.44

Total for the trip- $480.54

I have a line on a CSA just down the road for the summer and hopefully we'll get some moose. We get 5 doz. eggs, $4 a dozen, a week from a lady in Nikiski who pastures her birds and does not feed them soy. I refuse to buy milk anymore since I am sooooo close to having all I need. I think I could get raw milk in Homer but I refuse to pay $12 a gallon for it.
Well, there's the grocery list for perusal. Next, is our first meal of February.

~Pam

February Menu

I decided to post the really nice menu for February, finally. I've been meaning to post this stuff for many months but am just now getting to it. I think I finally got a handle on the "out of control budget" so I'm going to try some new dishes this month. I get $500 a month for groceries. For those of you who don't live in Alaska this may seem exorbitant but this is just barely enough to make it, and it's even more tight since I buy mostly organic food. I got tired of the same old food so, in the interests of accountability and comparisons, I'm posting the menu, the grocery list, the receipts, what ingredients are local and I'll post directions and pictures of the dishes as they get made. Enjoy this gastronomic journey through the month:

1- Coming from England, it's the classic Fish and Chips. We eat this at least once a month but we use halibut that was caught during the summer.
2- Ribs, Potato Salad, Corn The ribs come from the pig that Dad got in Ninilchik and the eggs are pastured, soy-free form Nikiski. I'm going to made BBQ sauce for the ribs.
3- Matzo Ball Soup I don't make this exactly right. I make a chicken noodle soup and use matzo balls instead of noodles. I'm not Jewish so I don't really care if it's kosher or not I just love the taste of them.
4- Spaghetti, Green Beans, Mozzarella Bread I started using buckwheat noodles last month, even though they have more phytic acid than rice spaghetti. The buckwheat noodles are cheaper and organic where the rice ones aren't either one. I use sausage from our pig. I am going to make the bread for the mozzarella bread.
5- Hasenpfepper, Spaetzle, Braised Cabbage I'm using snowshoe hare that my father harvested... with the van. Eggs for the Spaetzle are from Nikiski and the flour is fresh ground at my kitchen table.
6- Pizza It's UFC night but I'm thinking I might make a couple pizzas instead of going to Papa Murphy's.
7- Corn Dogs, Tater Tots I found recipes for both of them and they're really easy to make in a healthy way.
8- Fried Macaroni, Peas Classic dish from my childhood
9-From Greece, Spetsiota, Tomato, Cucumber and Olive Salad I'll do the bread crumbs myself and use halibut that was caught during summer.
10- Salmon Lasagna, Corn I use home-canned salmon from my own pantry to do this and it's better than it sounds.
11- French Canadian fast food, Chicken Poutine I can't wait to have this!
12- Meatloaf, Baked Potatoes, Green Beans Standard fare at our table
13- Bear Stew, Sourdough Bread We have some black bear left that the neighbor shot and this is a really easy thing to do with is.
14- I talked Mom and Dad into going out for Valentine's Day so I get to scrounge this night!!
15- Chinese Bao, Egg Noodles Steamed dumplings I'll stuff with some sort of pork product. I'm not sure if I can find the egg noodles. Stay tuned for a menu change if I can't.
16- Dad requested Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli for his birthday. I'll also make a mayonnaise cake, with home-made mayonnaise.
17- Chili, Cornbread I'll use bacon from our pigs and maybe sausage, maybe not. Eggs for the cornbread are from Nikiski.
18- Jamaican Jerk Pork, Rice and Peas I can't make it as hot as genuine because Mom can't handle hot but I think I can get close. I'll use our pork.
19- French Bouillabaisse, Gratin Dauphinois(maybe, maybe not, depends on what Dad wants) Using chunked halibut from summer, and maybe some rock fish. I might get scallops, oysters and shrimp from Homer if they aren't asking ridiculous prices this time of year.
20- From the Middle East, Musakhan, Tabbouleh I'll probably have to make bread for this dish.
21- Crock pot Pork Chops, Green Beans this is for Sunday and Mom requested something easy. Again, the chops are from our pigs.
22- Omelets This is the start of our GAPS week. We decided to do one week a month on GAPS since we can't really afford to do it all month this time of year. The eggs are from Nikiski.
23- Bacon, Scallops, Wilted Salad I can't wrap the bacon around the scallops cause the bacon's too thick but they still get put on the same plate. The bacon is from our pigs.
24- Stuffed Cabbage Will probably use sausage form our pigs
25- Salmon Salad Similar to tuna salad but with home-canned salmon. Salmon was caught last summer and eggs for mayo and egg chunks in salad are from Nikiski.
26- Lentil... Something Lentils are allowed on GAPS and I have a lot of them that I need to do something with them. Any suggestions?
27-Hungarian Chicken Paprikash, Csipetke, This is the end of GAPS week.

We will shopping for March's menu on Saturday so the last day of February is blank, depending on what's left over at the end of the month. I hope you enjoy this journey and get some ideas from it. If you have suggestions or ideas please feel free to tell me.

~Pam

100th post!

I decided to devote my 100th post to my greatest passion... Bonnie! I know, I know, "You have a cow! Get over it ya weirdo!". Bonnie is a frequent subject for this blog but I've been very heavily involved in "cow stuff" lately so it's on my mind.



For those of you just tuning in to this saga, Bonnie is my Scottish Highland/Shorthorn cross, family cow. I bought her to be our beef/milk cow. She gives birth to the beef and provides the milk, in case you couldn't figure that out. This journey did not start with the purchase of my cow, it did not start with the Craigslist ad I placed, looking for a cow. It didn't even start the year before when Dad said I could have one if I could find one. This journey started when I was 3 or 4 when my parents started buying raw milk in Montrose, Colorado. I believe it's illegal now, but it wasn't then. I remember watching my mom skim the cream from yellow milk in a gallon, glass jar. It was the coolest thing. I remember not liking the taste of fresh butter since it tasted nothing like Country Crock. Margarine was our spread up until that time and I was not used to the creaminess and slight tang of real, fresh butter.
My Grandpa and Grandma Arndt always had horses, they still do in fact! I associate the barnyard smell with my grandparents. Not in a bad way either. That smell is the smell of my childhood. I loved being with the horses, not riding them necessarily, but just being there with them.
The first five years of my "adulthood" were sprinkled with failed diet after failed diet. I had spent many years learning to enjoy sweets and sugar highs and it was showing. Five years ago I first learned of the Real Food movement. I decided that nothing else was working, I might as well investigate this too. It was a revelation to me! Real food held the key to my out-of-control weight. I'm not blaming food for my issues, it is all about me and what I choose to put in my body. I had been breaking my own body down by not providing the nourishment that it needed. And something had to change!




Two years ago, a local ranch put a sign out, advertising raw milk for sale. Kathy jumped on it, in the hopes of helping her grandson and his wife with their autistic son. Unfortunately, Jadrik's digestive damage was too extensive and he was reacting to the milk. So... She gave it to us and a passion was born. I had converted my family to organic milk, from the store, some months earlier but that milk, fresh from the cow, was the elixir my starving body was craving. I didn't skim it for the first few months, as all of us needed the full compliment of fats, vitamins and minerals it had to offer. About this time I found the Weston A. Price Foundation and my passion for Real Food was renewed. But, six months after discovering the wonders of raw milk, the ranch dried their cows, in preparation for freshening and our raw milk was gone. This was a big blow to our health, as we went back to store bought milk. I went from a quart of milk a day to nothing. I can't stand the metallic taste of store bought milk anymore. I decided to do something about this situation. I asked my parents for a cow.
My mother is not an animal person. She did not grow up with anything but a family dog. No horses, no fish, no birds... nothing. She never has gotten into the farming thing and she never will. She was very reluctant to plunge into the time and expense of a cow. I did a spreadsheet, charting our dairy product usage and our beef usage. The expense of a cow, when lined up, was significantly cheaper. With my parents' grudging permission I turned to my main source of research, the Internet. I spent a year searching, comparing and researching the different types of cows. Almost immediately, the dairy breeds were out as well as the beef breeds. Jerseys, Guernseys, Holsteins and Ayrshires give way more milk than we need and it takes forever to beef up the steers to butcher size. Herefords and Angus are not milking animals, are enormous (Herefords are bigger than Angus) and that cancels them out as milk cows. I needed a dual purpose breed. I discovered a wealth of them too... Outside. I settled on the little-known Dexter. They seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. Unfortunately, I could not find a single one in the state of Alaska. I looked for almost a year before giving up on the idea of Dexters. It seemed as the the Lord was not in this plan so I was not going to keep pushing and get myself into something that He was not in. I almost gave up hope. I decided to give one more try to find something, anything that would work as a family cow. In stepped the Highland. I had never really considered them as I had always thought of them as a rare, beef breed. Remember, I didn't want a beef animal. I did a little more research and discovered that THEY were the animal that I was looking for.

Scottish Highland cattle are uniquely adapted to rugged climates. They were developed in the windswept, barren-ish Highlands of Scotland (duh) to be easy keepers, self-reliant and tough as nails. The shaggy hair provides weather-proof insulation as well as contributing to the fine marbling of the meat. Highland cattle do not put on a thick layer of subcutaneous fat, like other cattle. They have hair for that. Every breed of cattle needs more calories to survive when the temperatures reach 32 degrees. Highlands are the only breed that can hold out until -18 degrees. Only then do they need more and better feed. In fact, my Bonnie is so rugged that she loses body condition when her food is too good. She needs large quantities of average hay rather than good hay. Her body is so efficient at ringing the last vital nutrient from her feed that she can't eat enough good hay to keep her rumen working. Her brain shuts her down before she gets the quantity her ruminant system needs. This was one of the major selling points for getting an Highland. Average hay is much, much cheaper than the high quality "horse" hay.
Second, Highland milk, while not abundant, is very, very rich. Jersey milk, the most butterfat for the dairy breeds, is about 4%. Highland milk is 10% butterfat. That makes is just a tad lighter than half and half. I don't know about you, but that sounds so wonderful. Especially for my fat-starved body. I was concerned about the calf though. I don't want to feed commercial milk replacer as it contains huge amounts of soy and GMO ingredients. Those are two things that have no place on this property. My father, in attempting to dissuade me, and with an air of doom, kept reminding me that I HAD to milk twice a day, every day. First of all, so what! Second, no I don't! Many people only milk their cow once a day. Many other people leave the calf on the cow and only milk when they need to. Highlands give an average of a gallon a day. Three gallons a week is more than enough for us and even may be too much at times. I only need to milk Bonnie, provided the Shorthorn blood doesn't make itself known, three times a week. That's Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning! The rest of the time I can leave her baby with her. The baby will grow more and stronger, the maternal instincts of my Highland cow are fulfilled by being able to mother her baby and we still get her milk. If the Shorthorn blood comes through then she should have more milk. Shorthorn is a dual purpose breed. Some would say that there's two breeds of Shorthorn, milking and beef, but they are the same breed with the same genes so milk production it greater than the Highland. I'm kind of hoping for a little bit of Shorthorn break-through in the production department, though I'm not holding my breath.



My biggest reason for wanting a cow is the current administration. Our president is going to do his level best to destroy the hope of small farms and pave the way for the monopoly of agribusiness. I know he's saying the opposite but, as they say, actions speak louder than words. With his endorsement of NAIS, GMO's and big government the small farm is on it's way out. My cow is my rebellion against the system. She is my declaration that I know what's best for me and my family, not the government. I neither need, not want it's interference in MY farm. I refuse to pack up and move to the city so I can collect a welfare check. I can do it myself, thank you very much. It's harder to be self-sufficient in Alaska, admittedly, but I am going to do what I can to become less dependent on the grocery store.

Now the health benefits of milk, specifically raw milk. I know that the USDA claims pasteurization does not destroy any of the nutritional benefits of milk but I don't buy it. The USDA HAS to say that since the law is, you must pasteurize your milk. I choose to be skeptical of government claims of safety and I'll drink my milk raw, thank you very much. I know how pasteurized milk makes me feel and I know how raw milk makes me feel. Raw milk doesn't make me react the same way as pasteurized. I get nauseous and grumpy and sneezy when I drink store milk, even organic. My milk will be raw and my eggs are soy-free, free range. Woohoo!

When I bought her my mom was really unhappy about her being so young. She was nine months old. I had her bred when she was almost two years old. It's been a long year and a half but the culmination of this dream is due in three months. Everything seems to be going really good and she is bagging up quickly. Not really quickly, but her udder is bigger every day and her teats are getting longer, in preparation for nursing her tiny calf. Her calf, if it's not twins, should be between 50 and 70 pounds. That is a small calf, for those of you who don't know. A typical Holstein calf is between 80 and 100 pounds at birth. With a wide pelvis and a small calf she should have no difficulties birthing, even if the calf is breech. Hopefully, there won't be any problems and I am not borrowing trouble in thinking about it too much. I have the vet's number and I know how to tell when she's having trouble so I'm prepared as well as I can be.

I am completely in love with my cow and my arctic farm. I want to get a garden in, with vegetables that do well up here so I don't have to baby them so much. I hope you enjoyed my Bonnie post and if anybody has a question or two, I really do like comments from people!

~Pam

Random...Stuff

First and foremost I would like to say that Rishon is a very cute and content little boy... And that's all you get to hear about him. If anyone wants to know who I'm talking about, go to the Hoffmans blog, on the right sidebar.

I saw a new commercial today that made me hackle faster than anything I've seen lately. It is for Plan B Emergency Contraception. Or rather, Oops, Forgot That I Didn't Want A Baby Abortificent. You have 72 hours to take this particular product to prevent a pregnancy, not, prevent a baby from being conceived but making sure your womb is unfit for life. And that's not even the part that made me the maddest. The first "woman" that they showed, grinning from ear to ear as she steps up to get her prescription is sixteen if she's a day. First of all, that is NOT a message that young teens need to have. I trust I need not write a sarcastic, hypothetical conversation so you get the picture here? Second, if my trusty birth control had failed during my latest drunken "sleep-over", I would not be grinning at the pharmacist unless it was accompanied by slightly hysterical and panicked cackling. Third, IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO GET PREGNANT THEN KEEP YOUR CLOTHES ON!!!!!!! Tried and true, 100% effective, and severly underrepresented in our society. I have no qualms telling anyone who wants to know that I use this particular brand of birth control (the latter, not the former), and so far I have yet to make a mad dash to the doctor for this prescription. I understand that assaults happen, but those women were not the target of this commercial and that is a whole 'nother can of worms that I don't have the time, tonight, to get into.
On a similar thread, I heard something that needs to make the headlines somewhere. In the state of Alaska, it is legal for girls as young as thirteen to have an abortion without parental notification. However, it is illegal for anyone under sixteen to engage in sexual intercourse. Huh?! Most of the people I know are currently working to get the first law changed though I'm not sure how successful it will be. We'll see.
Again, another similar thread... Bonnie is still doing great and I felt the calf move the other day. She was really agitated and I saw her right side rolling and flipping like crazy. It was like there was something alive in there! I put my hand on her side and the calf pushed against my hand, hard. Hopefully, it'll be that strong when it's born. I can't wait!!!
Okay, that's all my random stuff for this evening. Hope you all have a very merry Christmas and a happy (boozeless) New Year.

~Pam

It's a boy!!!

Jason and Jo had their baby last night and it's a very large boy. I talked to one of the aunts this morning and I guess the midwife said he's over nine pounds. That makes sense, considering the size of his parents. (They are both tall, for those of you who have never met either of them). He was messing around with his cord and tied it in a knot so they had to take him by emergency c-section but he and Jo are fine today. Her mom is going to be here for two weeks I think and I would imagine the rest of her family, or most of it anyway, is going to be coming down soon. I thank the Lord that he safely delivered another baby to our extended family. He's not a replacement for our precious Raisa but he is a reminder that even with loss, great joy comes with the birth of a baby. That is something that my heart had forgotten. I was dreading them having a girl but I am glad they have a healthy baby in any case. They are using some of Raisa's paraphernalia and I wasn't ready to see a baby girl in the carseat the Raisa wasn't done with yet. I'll take pictures, lots of them and, for those of you that care, you can stare and drool to your hearts content.
In other news, I am back home now. Kathy made it back from Colorado on Friday and resumed residency of her home. I hadn't realized just how nasty my house had gotten! It's a shame that two grown adults can't keep four rooms clean for three months but there you go. My plans for renovating the upstairs are kind of in limbo until Mom decides if she wants to redo the whole house. She would like it to be ranch-style, instead of two story but that is a major renovation and will take some money and time. I'd like for her to be able to do it next fall and early winter but it might not happen that quickly. In any case, I don't want to put time and money into finishing the upstairs only to have it be torn down in six months... We'll see how things progress this year.
Bonnie is still pregnant, our Thanksgiving turkey was delicious, even if he infected my dad's finger and Mom's knee is healing still. I went to the dentist last Monday, to have an impacted wisdom tooth pulled and I still have a huge knot of... something, in my cheek, causing pain. I don't know if it's a blood clot, a bruise, unused Novocaine or what but with warm compresses, Ibuprofen out the wazoo and time it seems to be going down. The socket and my jaw are fine now but since the maniac who pulled it jammed a needle into the joint of my jaw and rotated it around without pulling it out I can't open my mouth very far yet. On the plus side, it's a great diet plan.
Dad has cellulitis in his right middle finger. He was gutting our turkey and he nicked his knuckle while inside the cavity. I swelled up and we pestered him into going to the ER. He's on a general antibiotic until they can identify exactly what is in his finger. If it's sensitive to the one he's on then they'll just leave him on that one. If it isn't sensitive then they have to switch them until they find one that is. He said that it's feeling better today so hopefully it's healing and he won't have any permanent damage. He's just amazed that he reacted that way since it's never happened before with elk or moose. I reminded him that we didn't slaughter this bird, he died from hypothermia and he was gutting him hours after it died. The bacteria load in this bird was decidedly higher than in a freshly killed animal. And don't lecture me about the dangers of eating such a bird. He was skinned, cooked very well, and none of us got sick, so there! And, he was delicious.
Charlie made it down for Thanksgiving this year. He's still at GCI, working tech support for wireless internet and loving every minute of it. He's kind of thinking about looking for a house. A buddy of his is willing to go in with him on a large parcel, build two houses, (or one if there's already one there), and subdivide later. It's what we did with Jim and Kathy. He's putting down roots in Wasilla. At least he's still in Alaska. He's four hours away from us but that's not too far that it's a major hurdle if we need him for something. Hopefully, he'll be able to help put up the barn this spring. I really, really, really, really, want a sheltered place for Bonnie to calve, now that I know for sure that she's pregnant. It was nice of her to start bagging up this early, just so I can stop wondering and hoping. The other day, Dad came in and told me to go check on her since there were a dozen ravens ringing the corral. Usually, there's something dead for that many to come. I grabbed my coat, just knowing in my heart that she's miscarried and my dreams for milk this year were dead. But, there was no calf and Bonnie was standing in the middle of her corral, gazing around at her new friends while they eyed the chunk of pig intestine that had brought them in. Nanook had laid it by the corral and they were trying to find a way to get Brandy to quit chewing on it so they could have it. I hung onto the fence for awhile, waiting for my heart to stop pounding before yelling at them and my dogs. Stupid critters anyway!!!
All the turkeys are together now. We have to pick a new breeder tom since we ate ours for Thanksgiving but I get to pick him this time and I want the dominant one. Like I wanted the first time, but was outvoted. We sold one of the older hens to some friends and I keep forgetting to ask them how it was. Now we just need to take care of a hen and a tom and our turkey killing will be done for the year. I might ask Uncle David to help with it when he gets here in January. I can't stand being part of the killing. I'll pluck and gut all day though, that doesn't bother me.
Okay, this is getting crazy long so I'm gonna tack a cute picture of Riley and Phaedra on the end and then call it a post.
~Pam

They were watching Tony and my parents put the trusses on Kathy's porch

Wow, I'm really falling down on the blogging job. Sorry about that.
Nothing is really new here except the things that naturally happen when you live on an arctic farm. It's cold, finally snowy and the critters are wishing they lived in Florida. Honest! I saw the three breeding turkeys perusing a pamphlet for Disney World the other day. I think it came by airmail... get it?
We finally got some snow last week. It's not nearly enough to last the entire winter but at least it's something. It gets cloudy and snows a bit then clears off for a couple days then gets cloudy for a few hours and then clears off, etc. It's very weird.
Sped, our crippled piggy, meets the butcher in two days and the four butcher turkeys, I think, are getting butchered on Saturday. It's not too soon for Thanksgiving but they will have time to come out of rigor. I can't imagine trying to cook a turkey that is in full rigor. YUCK!!!
In happier, less gory news, I milked my cow tonight! No calf yet but she is bagging up. She's only half-way through her pregnancy but it's pretty common for first-calf heifers to bag up four months early. I was freaking out, imagining her going into labor around Christmas and trying to save this tiny, premature calf but I guess it's normal so I can quit panicking. As for the milking, I was checking to feel the progress of her bag, since I'd noticed that it was loosening up last week, and felt a hard, dried thing on one of her teats. It came right off and she was leaking a little so I squeezed and out came a drop of milk! Cool huh? She doesn't have any problem with me messing around with her udder, so long as she isn't eating. When she's got food in front of her then she wants to be left alone. So much for distracting her with grain or something while she's being milked. She even moves her leg back to make it easier. Hopefully, she'll be a great milk cow.
I've decided to move out, or up rather. We have two bedrooms and a bathroom, unfinished, upstairs and I've decided to turn them into a suite for me. Mom hates the idea of taking her sewing stuff upstairs and I can't fit in my room anymore, (hahahaha!!! I'm not that big, but I have a lot of stuff). It'll be nice to have a room for sleeping and a room for hanging out, doing crafts or goofing around on my laptop while Dad is watching tv downstairs. We already have a toilet, it's just not installed and a shower and vanity don't really cost that much. I can't wait to get started!! Mary Beth quit her job so I don't watch Kelley and Riley anymore but she is going to try to get hired on when WalMart opens in February. She stilll owes me a couple hundred and I think Bonnie is pretty much set for hay so, yahoo!!!!!!
I was going to post pictures of my mayonnaise making but the pictures are on my camera still... which is at Kathy's... down the driveway, sooooo, maybe next time.
Nothing new is going on with anybody else in the family so far as I am aware. Except, our van is paid off so Mom and Dad's medical bills are going to start getting paid off and when they are, Dad is going to get his shoulders looked at by the same guy that did Mom's knee. Dad doesn't realize it yet, but that's the plan. Mom's knee is still a little sore but healing great. Hopefully she can refrain from injuring herself further for awhile.

~Pam