They're Back!!!!

Some of you might remember our dear goats Fiona and Java, that lived with us for several years during our first farming ventures at Lily Spring Farm.
Well, once again there are Goats inhabiting the Sauve farm.
And strangely enough they bear an uncanny resemblance to our last goaty duo.

Please meet......

 Phlox, a full size sweet heart Saanen Doe.

 And a little brown spotted Mini Nubian Doe, named Pansy!

So Hello everybody! We've got milking Goats back!!

~Chs

The Coming of Spring

Spring is coming in slow and steady. Which is actually quite nice. A gentle melt does less damage. :)

Faith has been looking forward to planting her seeds ever since we finished harvesting last fall, so  she tried starting early seeds this year in Milk Jugs! ... but there will be more details on that later.

The first "meltage" began around the trees, making neat little rings around their trunks.

The moss started showing in the bog, the tussocks peeking up through the ice and snow that was loosening it's grip on the world.

Rubber Boots became a necessity as the spring continued to encroach on us.

The duckies were especially thrilled, but not content with their mud puddles, they enjoyed using their water dishes as bath tubs!! :)

Pretty soon there was enough bare ground to let the poultry wander outside of their enclosures, both Ducks and Chickens.

Now I know I'm going to have a hard time convincing you this is a Chicken. I know... half the time I think he is a Rabbit myself. But yes indeed this is a Rooster of the Silkie variety of Chickens... he goes by the names of: "Little Blue Dragon", "The guy in grey sweatpants", "Mr. Rabbit" or sometimes... "Rocky Balboa" (and yes that is an inside joke that I'm not going to explain) 

As the warmth continued and the marsh and bog came into view in all it's mysterious beauty, we found that there are SO many different kinds of moss growing in and around our acre and a half of wetland.

The tussocks that rise out of the water are each covered with these varieties of moss. Some of the "islands" have trees sprouting out of the spongy peat moss.

Another sign of spring are some lovely apple blossoms that are blooming... indoors :) 

We brought in some of the trimmings from the pruning we did, stuck them in a jar of water, and they leafed, budded and bloomed. Sometimes in life, the sharp, hard, cutting back that God gives us, can produce the most beautiful, fragrant flowers.

~Chs

Craft Day

It's been a couple weeks now, since Faith and I had a wonderful time with our church ladies for a craft day.

We all got together on a Saturday with our various projects for a fun day of fellowship.

Faith brought along Josiah's tatted flag for show and tell. 

There was such a large variety of projects going on. Faith was knitting slippers, Miss Beth was crocheting a sweater...

Baby just charmed everyone.. :)

There was a Panda being painted for a wall hanging.

Complex and beautiful beaded bracelets being made.

More wall hangings painted.

Other artistic paintings. 

And of course when you get a group of people together... you must have food! And there was some pretty tasty offerings.

Painting was a favorite occupation among the little girls. And there were some rather pretty pieces of art as a result!

Little Gracie girl enjoyed the pickles that were there. :)

One of the girls brought this impressive purple cake! It just matched Miss Ronda's shirt!

Friends!

The stunning finished bracelet!

We also had some creative embossing being done! So much going on.

But the best part of it all, was the wonderful conversations and sweet Christian fellowship we were able to enjoy!

~Chs

Homemade Saturday: Pie Day

 It's been a long while since I've posted one of our recipes on here, 

and since Saturday was "Pi" day (3-14-15) I thought I would post the recipe for the pie that we made to celebrate that momentous occasion! :)

This is an old Family recipe (I think :) )

Sour Cream Apple Pie.

In a large bowl beat:

2 eggs

add

1 cup of Sour Cream

then stir in

3/4 cup of Sugar

2Tb Flour

1tsp Vanilla

1/4tsp Salt

mix well. Now add

3 Cups of peeled and sliced Apples.

Now pour into a prepared pie shell.

Slide the pie into a 375 degree oven for 15 min. Meanwhile, in a small bowl mix together:

 3 Tb of Butter

1/4 Cup of Flour

1/4 cup of Sugar

Sprinkle on top of the pie, and return to the oven for 20-30 min or until filling is set and the crumbs lightly browned. :)

Then slice up and enjoy!

(Yes I do realize this post is late and that this is Tuesday not Saturday.,... but I did start it then! :) )

~Chs

Remodeling - Indoors (Part 2)

The original Kitchen was a bit too small for our culinary style, and all the other things we do in the kitchen, so we decided to turn the "sitting room" into our dining room, and then expand the kitchen into what was the dining room! :) Just call us the "re-arrangers!"

First we bought and installed some new cupboards.

So nice to have enough space for all our many many dishes!! :)

The reason for the choice of color on our new cupboards was that the original cupboards in the main kitchen were dark, depressing, un-inspiring, brown...

Very much due for a make over!

So in comes the White paint. :) 

This was done in stages over a few days, (Taking off the doors, sanding them, priming them, sanding and priming the cupboards, finish painting the doors..... ) and we kind of got used to not having to open the doors to get stuff out of the cupboards! :P

You see Even with the light green paint and sunny window, the dark cupboards just threw a damper on everything. I couldn't wait to lighten the mood and smile at the fresh clean whiteness!

Down in the cold basement (the only place we had room) was where I conducted my operation. 

Everything took longer to dry, as a result of the chilly air, and to my perturbation, the dark wood soaked up the pain and required more coats then I had hoped. 

Meanwhile up in the kitchen, another step of remodeling was taking place. Removing the dingy, dull and dreary counter, which had seen one too many dishes of food and scrubbing of sponges.

Dad and Josiah were kind enough to lay down a temporary plywood counter, for the intermittent period. (you can't just stop eating and cleaning dishes for 2-3 days!)

After some nail biting decision making, and lots of back and forth, Mom and I chose the counter replacement and we were happy to have it installed neatly for us.

Dad went to purchase a new faucet for the kitchen sink, and I had to smile when he came home with this... :) (for those of you who don't know, that's the name of the Therapeutic Horse Riding Center that Faith and I volunteer at)

It looked stunning in our brand new - yet uncluttered- clean counter.

The extra cupboards looked spiffy too, now all finished off with a top (dare I say we missed just dropping the silverware into the drawer when there was no counter on top! )

Down in the basement, doors and drawers were still being painted, and making their way up the stairs and back on the cupboards.

Here's one of the first finished drawers! So much cheerier!

And here it is completed!! I can't tell you the different atmosphere it makes in the kitchen! I'm so so happy we decided to do it. :)

These photos were taken in the evening, so the lighting isn't the best... but it was a "quick take a picture now before dishes and everything gets piled up again!" :)

We still have a few finishing touches we would love to get done in here (a blacksplash, hanging some decorations etc.) but I'm proud of how much we have done! And now with the nice weather creeping around... I have a bad feeling about many indoor projects.

~Chs