A Lot to be Thankful For

A Lot to be Thankful For

Trulee and Brett had Leia! But before she came, we helped them finish their floors.

We (really Brett because he was the best at it) took up the laminate, and then we nailed down the staples. 

Dad came in behind us and laid down all the laminate. It looks so good now!

We had our first snow! The field next to my parents' house looked magical. 

I bundled Rylee so we could go let the chickens out. She looked adorable. 

The puppies were able to run in the snow for the first time. The only time they've been able to play in the snow was at a rest stop on the way back home to Georgia after a visit with family. 

Jacks liked the snow!

And even Pippin didn't mind. We made a little heated shelter for him and Albus on the front porch since he and Albus aren't allowed in the house (they fight with mom's cats and eat all the food). 

After the snow melted we decided we needed to do something about the chickens. They have never had this cold of a winter, and I was worried about them freezing. Sam bought a meter that measures the temperature and is able to give power to a device accordingly. We hooked up a heating lamp to it so that when the temperature drops below 40*F in the coop, the heat turns on for them. 

The heating lamp itself, we placed into a cinder block and covered with fire bricks to prevent the chickens from hurting themselves. We used a ceramic bulb which means the lamp will produce heat but not light. We didn't want to mess with the chickens day/night cycle. 

I borrowed the pressure canner from Nene and learned to pressure can. We canned chicken broth. 

We also took all the leftover pumpkins and canned them. Apparently, you can't can pumpkin puree (only freeze it) because pumpkin is so dense that pressure canning does not successfully kill all the botulism spores. 

I scraped out all the pumpkin guts and cut the pumpkin up into large sections. I then prebaked the pumpkin for 10-15 minutes. Just long enough for me to be able to get the peels off and cube the pumpkin. 

After washing the jars in hot water, I filled the jars with pumpkin cubes and then poured in hot water. 

Each jar has about one cup of pumpkin in it. All I have to do to use it is drain the liquid and then mash the pumpkin! Easy! And convenient because most recipes call for 1 cup of pumpkin. 

Taylor and I made baskets for the Christmas Bizarre at church. While she chose a Christmas theme, I decided to do a gardening basket. I picked out uncommon varieties of vegetables and herbs that I thought would be fun to grow. I also included a huge wild flower mix packet and a Japanese weeding hoe. Lastly, mom and I picked up rocks from the creek, and I painted them before spraying with an enamel so they could be used as plant markers. I thought they turned out really cute! 

Rylee's been going through a growth spurt, so she's been super sleepy lately. She was also teething and got a cold. So she's been a little grump butt--though, a cute grump butt.  

Rylee's hair is now long enough to put in pigtails! Look how cute! 

And drumroll...................WE BOUGHT THE HOUSE! 

Finally, finally, finally we were able to close on the house. We officially own the farm, and we are so excited to get in there and get to work. The sellers still have 30 days to get all their stuff out of the house, so no demolition yet, but we've still found plenty to do. 

The pool had a pool forming above it in the cover (pool-ception), so we bought a pump to drain it, and then started to re-drain the bigger pool. It's rained several times, so it was slowly filling back up with water. Eventually, we will get in there with shovels to remove the pond gunk and expose the drain so that we can unclog it.  

We also spend 2.5 hours scooping horse poop and hay out of the drive way so that Sam could pressure wash. I don't have any pictures of the pressure washed driveway, yet, but believe me when I say it looks like a new place. 

Before: 

After. This was the cleanest we could get it without a pressure washer. Can you make out the 3-4ft tall piles of poop and hay on the side of the driveway?  Yeah, I was sore for days.

Though we forgot to do Rylee's 11 month pictures (whoops), I have videos of her walking for you! 

Attention all new parents or future parents. After your kid takes their first steps (and then refuses to walk for the next week), try putting some squeaky shoes on them for motivation. 

A few days after wearing her new shoes, she was starting to venture further and further. She is a pro at walking now! 

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, here's a few recipes for you to enjoy! 

CANNING PUMPKIN

Ingredients: 
pumpkin
jars
lids and rings
pot
pressure canner
spoon, knife, cutting board
cookie sheet

Instructions:
1. Remove the "lid" of the pumpkin and cut vertically into large panels.
2. Using a spoon, scrape the innards off of the pumpkin panels.
3. Place the pumpkin skin down on a cookie sheet and bake at 350*F for 10 minutes.
4. Wash the jars in hot water then fill with hot water and set aside.
5. Put the lids and rings in a pan with water and bring to a boil.
6. Cut the cooked pumpkin into 1" strips.
7. Cut off the peel from the pumpkin strips.
8. Cut the pumpkin strips into 1" cubes.
9. Poor the water out of the jars and fill with pumpkin cubes to the neck of the jar.
10. Refill the jars with hot water leaving 1/2-1 inch of head space.
11. Put on the sanitized flats and lids, screwing the lids until finger tight (do not over tighten).
12. Put jars into pressure canner, trying to be symmetrical.
13. Fill the canner with 3 inches of water on the bottom.
14. Put the lid on and tighten the screws in a symmetrical fashion.
15. Make sure the pointy part is up and wait until there is steam coming out of all the holes.
16. Flip the pointy part down so that the pressure will start to build.
17. We want to can the pumpkin at 10 lbs of pressure for 55 minutes. Once the canner has reached pressure, turn down the heat and keep an eye on it to maintain the pressure. Increase of heat increases pressure whereas a decrease of heat decreases the pressure.
18. After 55 minutes, remove from heat and wait until the pressure gauge reads zero.
19. Flip the pointy thing up to release any remnant water vapor and pressure.
20. Unscrew the lid screws in a symmetrical fashion, then remove the lid.
21. Set the jars on a flat surface and leave for at least 12 hours (24 preferably).
22. After 24 hours, tighten the rings and label the lids. Done!

YEAST ROLLS
From: The Cozy Cook

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup of milk
1 tsp salt
4 tbs melted butter
1 egg
1/4 cup honey
4 cups of flour
2 1/4 tsp yeast

Instructions:
1. Bring the milk to a boil before removing from head and letting it cool down to 80-90*F.
2. Mix the yeast and honey into the pan until well combined and let sit for 5 minutes.
3. In a large bowl, mix 3 tablespoons of melted butter, the milk mixture, the egg, and 2 cups of flour. Mix on slow with a dough hook until smooth. Gradually add the remaining 2 cups of flour.
4. Add salt, and knead for 8 minutes or until smooth.
5. Cover the bowl with a towel and place in a warm place to rise for 1 hour.
6. Scoop the dough out onto a flour surface and roll until 1/2 inch thick. Fold in half and roll back out to about 3/4 inch thick.
7. Cut into squares and place onto a cookie sheet. Cover with a towel and let rise for 1-2 hours.
8. Bake on 350 for 12-15 minutes until the top is a light golden brown.
9. Brush the top with melted butter.

SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE
From: The Chef in Training

Ingredients: 
Casserole
3 cups of cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
2/3 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup of milk

Topping
1/3 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour

Instructions:
1. Peel sweet potatoes and cube.
2. Boil sweet potatoes until soft and mash.
3. Beat in sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla, and milk until smooth and creamy.
4. Put into a casserole dish.
Topping
5. Grate the butter and mix with sugar and flour until crumbly.
6. Sprinkle mixture onto the top of casserole.
7. Bake at 350 for 30 mins.


HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!

Pax Domini cum spirito tuo temper sit,

Torey, Sam & Rylee

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