Here is Mary, playing in the snow. We got 6inches the other day. It was so nice to wake up to a beautiful, white world. You can also get a good glimse of my neighbors behind those trees :( I hate going into the back and seeing their house. Oh well, not much I can do about it. During the spring and summer the underbrush should block out more of it.

I got my tomatoe and pepper seeds today. I got the Heinze sauce and the Oregon slicing ones. I also got jalapeno (sp?) and red pepper seeds. After I'm done writing up this entry I'll go get them started.

I also got my yarn from Knit Picks. If you havn't gotten yarn from them before, go do it! A 110yard (50g) skein of wool costs $1.82. And it is SOOO soft! I got a nice pastel purple for Mary's spring sweater. Here's a link to the pattern http://knitandtonic.typepad.com/knitandtonic/2005/08/draft_7.html . I can't wait till it's done... it'll be very cute :)

Today I visited a fellow homesteader. I was lucky enough to meet her at the Carla Emery lecture last April. You can visit her blog here http://www.homesteadblogger.com/maplegrovefarm/ . We talked about homesteading, cheesemaking, books and tons of other stuff. She also gave me some of her sourdough starter, yea! So, I will attempt to make a sourdough bread :)

I'm off to defrost some steak for dinner and build a fire in the firestove, because I was naughty and spent more time visiting than I had planned and the fire went out ;)

I started 12 broccolli and 12 cauliflower seeds the other day. Mary helped me with them. It's so wonderful to know that she is learning how to do all this stuff. It's really neat to think that all this is normal to her. All that we do isn't so out of the ordinary, know what I mean? To her, grinding wheat, baking bread, cooking from scratch, gardening, preserving food is all normal. It really warms my heart to know that. I want her to be shocked that people DON'T do that stuff. It's funny to hear her talking about going to the health food co-op, or about opening a jar of green beans to other "city folk". Makes me smile :)

I got the cream all seperated for some butter. I let my butter supply slide. So, I need to get caught up. When I freeze it, I freeze it in 1/2c packages, so it's easier to use for baking and stuff.

I also need to make bread tomorrow. I love making bread. It's one of my all time favorite things to do. I go between making 1 loaf at a time in my bread maker (baking the bread in the oven) and making 2 loaves at a time in my Kitchen Aid. Either way is good.

The neighbors got a couple of goats. I don't mind goats, but they better not get out and get into my garden! Their dog keeps coming over to our house and it's really getting on my nerves. I told them that their dog keeps getting out, and that dh cuts up salmon very frequently, so I didn't want it to get sick. But, obviously they didn't get the hint.

These guys are city people coming out to the country. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind newbie homesteaders. But, when they don't read up on what to do or how to take care of their animals and stuff, that get's my goat (ha ha, rolling eyes). These guys pretty much went into this blind.... which is no way to do it, and it's also very a very dangerous thing to do. It's like they have no common curticy (sp?) for any neighbors around. They just barrel in and out (their driveway goes right by our house), ride 2 wheeler all into the night, don't keep their dog locked up, ect...... GGGRRRRR!!!!! I can just imagine what it's going to be like if/when they get poultry or geese. I just know my garden is going to get ruined.

I can't wait till we move to a more secluded space. This place is off the beaten path, but not nearly enough for my taste. I want to move where I can't see, hear, or smell any neighbors! Enough ranting for the night, lol.

I just realized that I havn't blogged in a while! Yikes. Like I said before, I'm not a good blogger, lol.

Things with the dog are going great. She is turning out to be an awsome dog. She's great with the kids and is showing some promising signs of being a good hunting dog. And, dh loves her, so all is good ;)

I bought broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and pea seeds the other day. This year, I went with Seeds of Change seeds. Last year I did mostly Territorial Seed Co. I like that Territorial is a local company, but then, I like how Seeds of Change does more heirloom and organic. Anyhoo, I plan on getting my seeds (all but the peas) started this weekend. I think I'll plant the peas mid March. I guess I should start my tomatoes and peppers now too, yikes. I want to get the tomatoes nice and big by the time I move them to the garden. Hopefully that'll move my tomatoe season up a little bit.

I did a count of our canned goods a week or so ago. Lookin' good. I don't know what I'll do with the pickles tho. Nobody (but me) likes them >:( So, maybe I'll give them away or something.

Our neighbors logged their land besides our place :( Now we can see house, which is a total bummer. They have proved themselves to be very annoying neighbors. They ride their 4-wheelers all over the place. And when it snows, they do it late at night.

Well, off to do some dishes, blech.

The sun has come at last!! We get a whole week with sunshine :) It's 30 degrees outside, but it's not raining!

All this sun has gotten me in the mood to do some garden work, but the ground is way to wet to do anything. I think I'm going to start my tomatoes next month. That's a month and a half earlier than last year. Hopefully this will give them a nice early start, and get some tomatoes earlier in the summer.

I also want to figure out a way to store some potatoes. I think I'll consult my homesteading books for some cold storage options.

The dog is working out great. Tunzing the cat and her seem to get along alright. Lucy knows not to chase Tunzing, or she'll get scratched, lol.

Well, we got a dog. Dh called from work the other day, and said he was bringing home a beagle (from the pound). I wasn't all that thrilled about a beagle. I've heard alot of horror stories about them, especially about how they stink and bark all the time. Well, she does neither :) We named her Lucy and she's about a year old (that's what the dog catcher said). She's an awsome dog tho. We all like her alot. She is totally house trained, kennels up really good, ect... Dh is really getting into the hunting training. I sure hope she does a good job of it!

I just heard on the news yesterday that our area has gotten 50inches of rain in the last month or so. Can you believe that? It's like a flippen rain forest here! Well, I guess we are actually classified as a rainforest in this area, but who's counting, lol. The roads are just awful... all rutted up and a ton of pot holes. They say it's suppossed to clear up after this weekend... I sure hope it does! I want to get outside for a while!

Son is in the Hunter's Safety class now. This is the first step for him to get his hunting liscense. I can tell he's so excited about it. He's grown up with all the important men in his life hunting. So, he sees this as a step into manhood. It's a major stepping block, that's for sure. He turns 12 in a few months, so after that he can get his first hunting license. It'll probably be a bird license or something. Then, this fall he will go out with dh and my dad hunting deer, elk and maybe antalope. I told dh that we'll have to get another freezer if he get's a deer or elk!

Here's the kids, rolling out dough for noodles, that will be made for chicken noodle soup, yum!

This rain is really getting me down. I know, quit complaining, but sheesh! I need a few days on NON rainny weather to dry out a little bit. We've got wood to split and gardens to cover (both of which should have been done months ago!)

I started a new sweater. It's from www.knitty.com. Forgot the name, but I'll post pics later. The yarn is from another sweater that I started without a pattern. I just didn't like the way it was coming out.

Not to much else going on. Dh is getting anxious to go out and fish. He'll be going out this wednesday, salmon fishing and crabbing. Hopefully he get's some of both. We are almost out of salmon. We have maybe a whole fish left. The elk, deer and pig are staying stocked up nicely. I need to go over my canned goods and see what we've used up so far. I've been trying to think of a way to store potatoes over winter. We are just so wet here, that I'm afraid that they'll all just rot. I'll consult my 2nd all time favorie homesteading book (Carla Emery's being the first) Rodale Press Home Food Systems. Wonderful book. It's out of print, but if you can find it, buy it.

Today I'll be making butter. I make it in my kitchen aid, lol. My mom won't let me use her real churn (darn!), so I figured out a different way of doing it.

I've been thinking alot lately about the way we eat. The more households I visit, I realize how lucky we are. Take the other nights dinner for example. Homemade chili: made with dry beans, home canned tomatoes/sauce, elk meat, onions, local cheese and sour cream, also made from scratch corn bread with home ground flour.

We are lucky enough to get raw milk for $2 a gallon. With that we make a little bit of cheese, butter and soon, yogurt. I was looking at the prices of raw cheese and butter... wow! Plus, our kids eat fresh crabs, clams, salmon, catfish at least once a week. And we also eat wild game or home raised pig the rest of the time. Not to many families can say that!

Bad Blogger

Ok, I'm a bad winter blogger. There isn't anything exciting during the winter to report on, so I just don't blog it, lol. Sorry.

It has been raining for about 30 days straight!! I know, I know... I'm an Oregonian, what should I expect, right? Well, even us "swamp people" get tired of the rain! It's so wet, that even our wood, that is under cover, is wet. It just sucks up the humidity. Grrrr.... The other day we had almost 6 inches of rain in a 24 hour period. Now, that's what you call rain!