Of Trains, Dirt and Robin Eggs...Farm Style!

My little miss decided to put her seed packets in her "purse" and go bye bye.  :)  Her purse happens to be a Tractor Supply plastic bag.  So cute!

I have been meaning for the past 3 weeks to go through our seeds, pick out which ones we want to plant, and then get them ready for Spring.  I finally went through the packets yesterday and set aside the ones we plan on using.  I still need to get them planted so we can have some seedlings to plant in May.  The kids had an absolute blast looking at all the seed packets with me and you will see how they played with the ones I 'gave' them.  :)  Enjoy the pictures because we thoroughly enjoyed our day outside!

Ella still pretending to go bye bye.  Love her!

And here is my precious boy, who used his seed packets to build a train track.  He had so much fun!

He's just so darn cute!  ;)

My son, who is the sweetest ever, has decided that I need to have every flower he is able to pick.  Literally.  And I get about 5 flowers a day average...and then I have to tell him to stop because I am running out of space to put them.  His future wife is going to be one happy woman!

Jude and Ella having soo much fun digging in the dirt.  Jude was pretending he was an using an excavator like his daddy, and Ella was just making a mess.

I saved the best picture for last.  Jude found a Robin egg in the garden and oh, was he proud of his new treasure!  It is now in our outside fridge because he always wants to look at it.  The egg was by itself in the middle of the dirt and nearly got smashed my a tire.  Jude thought it was a pretty rock and was pretty excited to find it was more.  Love my observant boy!

Carob Balls-Gluten Free ;)

Warning-May be habit forming!

   I got a wild hair today...and the kids and I made Carob Balls.  They may not look like much, but oh are they tasty!  I try not to make them too often as I cannot seem to keep myself out of them.  Today, however, was an exception.  Jude has been suffering from terrible allergies and so we need to spend the first half of the day indoors due to the high pollen count and it reduces time for him to be exposed.  Poor boy!  Anyway, I thought it would be a fun activity to do with the kids and they, as you will see, thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

   With the soundtrack of the movie Chocolat playing in the background (which is the best, if you don't have it...get it!), my fellow chefs and I whipped up these...um...beauties?  These are the perfect snack for a hike, on the go, or just wanting a good energy boost.  Definitely not low in calories.  I tend to view them as more of a homemade protein bar than something you'd just mindlessly munch on.  I got the recipe from my mother-in-law and am very glad I did!  If you want to give these a try here's the recipe:

Carob Balls

1/2C Carob Powder*

1C Peanut Butter**

3/4C Honey

2C Powdered Milk

1/3C Toasted Sesame Seeds

-Mix all the ingredients together. I like to use a kitchen-aid, but you could do it by hand too.

-If the dough is too wet, add more powdered milk or carob powder.  If it is too dry, add more honey.

-Roll into balls.

-Enjoy!

*You could also use cocoa powder, but I like Carob.

**If you have a peanut allergy, you could sub the peanut butter with sunflower butter.  I've never tried using soy butter... 

**I like using crunchy peanut butter because it adds texture, but if you'd like I'm sure you could use creamy.

This is what you want your dough to look like.  Not too sticky, but not too dry.

Having too much fun!

Despite the silly face, my Ella was LOVING eating the raw honey.  After her momma's heart.  <3

Jude was not about to be left out of the honey eating experience!

Enthralled watching the mixer do it's job.

They had to make sure it was edible...

...and it was!   ;)

My precious girl trying her hand at rolling balls.  Jude was great at the task...it was too late to take a picture of him in action so...

...can you tell which ones are mine and which ones are the kids? 

I hope you make these and enjoy them as much as we do!  I love that we can make a yummy treat without having to turn on the oven, the kids can join in, and they don't take very long to make.  Let me know what you think!

Goin' Back to My Roots

Well, just as the title says, I am going back to my roots.  Many people that know me may know that I grew up on a farm, but a lot probably don't.  I will admit that I took a lot of my upbringing for granted.  I didn't appreciate the life and the skills that I was learning on a daily basis...sometimes hourly.  Maturity has had an appreciative affect on my life.  I grew up on 20 acres and we raised everything from cattle to pigs, sheep, goats, and horses.  We always had a few dogs and cats, which are a staple on a farm. We never had chickens and I was always thankful we didn't.  Now however, I really, really want them.  So next Spring, Lord willing, we will get some chicks and start our chicken adventure.  Not a huge fan of birds, but I LOVE farm fresh eggs.  Plus, my kiddos will love having some smaller farm animals that they can care for. 

In my growing up years, I didn't have the average kid life.  We didn't go an a lot of vacations and never went to Disneyland.  Our yearly vacation was going deer hunting in the fall, which also required some work, but we LOVED it.  My sister and I would wake up early every morning to go and feed the animals and make sure everyone would be set for the day.  In the Winter/Spring we would get up once or twice a night and check to see if any of our ewe's were lambing, and if they were, we had the task of bringing them into the barn and put them into a lambing jug.  (A jug is a small pen that ewe's have their lambs in.  We are able to monitor/help easily due to the confined space.)  At night we would go and feed animals again.  Our weekends were spent maintaining fences, trimming hooves, giving shots, and etc.  My sissy and I were also in 4-H so our summers were spent showing our market and breeding animals at Shasta District Fair and Siskyou Fair.  I will admit, I loved the fair.  It was kind of like our reward for a year long of hard work.

I loved the animals, but I had the mindset that I would rather be playing.  I now wish that I would have paid a little better attention because I am having to re-learn a few things.   :)  All this to say, I am so thankful that my parents gave me the opportunity to grow up on a farm and learn the meaning of hard work.  I know how to work, and work hard at that.  You don't have the option to be lazy when you have 40+ sheep depending on you, other animals to care for, a garden to weed and pick...you get the idea. 

I am now thankful that the Lord has granted Seth's (Seth grew up in the country too :) and my wish to move back to the country.  We have been living the city life for 10 or so years and we are glad to be back to the country.  I don't think anything is wrong with living in the city, it's just not for me.  My kids are now going to have the same opportunity Seth and I had and I am thrilled.  No, they probably won't have the average kid life either, but that's ok.  They will know where their food comes from and how to take care of themselves and be good stewards of God's creation.  They will know how to work.  They will acquire all the skills that a country kid needs and thrives on. And we can do all this as a family.  What a blessing!

*Here are a few pictures of what I spent time working on yesterday.  I moved our posse of animals from one field to this one.  I fixed some fence, due to Flora, the escaping sheep.  And I thoroughly enjoyed my time outside, in the sun, thanking the Lord for all that He has blessed my family and I with.

The white faced ewe is not mine, but the rest of the posse is.   ;)

Apparently, watching me fix fence is hard work for my Franny cat.  Look at that grass!  It's amazing and we are blessed to have this kind of grass grow here.  It will make for fast growing animals...and hopefully lambies next Spring!

Here is an updated picture of my girls.  Sorry it's not better; they refuse to stand still.

I'm not a fan of self portraits, but I figured I'd add one in since it was such a nice day and it's nice to see a human in a photo every once in a while.  :)