We Have Chicks!

...and they're so darn cute when they're just so little!  Here's a few pics of them, just one day old...

Just the layers and guinea keets

103 cornish cross meat birds, 25 layers, and 5 guineas!

We're Ready for Chicks!

Here's a few pictures of our brooder setup!  Tomorrow morning we will be getting 100 cornish cross meat birds, 25 layers, and 5 guinea fowl.  They'll be sharing brooder quarters to begin with and move to their different "permanent" housing in several weeks.  This brooder is an updated and improved version of the one Dan built last year.  It easily accommodates 100+ chicks for at least 2 weeks.  It's 4'x8'.  The main difference this year is the taller sides to allow for deep bedding.  It has a board inserted on one end that allows us to start with a smaller space and open it out further as the chicks need more room.

I plan on posting more pictures tomorrow (or soon after that!) once all our chicks have arrived!

We use only organic feed for our meat birds!   We are blessed to have a local farmer in our county that is certified organic and grows nearly all the ingredients for this ration on his own farm.

Born-Again Farm Prayer Day

Hi everyone!  A full-length post will (hopefully) be coming soon to update you all on our progress!  I just wanted to pass this along to you so you can all take part in this great movement with us.  It's called the "Born-Again Farm Prayer Day".  I plan on fasting and praying during one meal tomorrow.  The focus of this prayer day is on Christians who run small family farms, whether as a business or just as a means of providing for their own families.  Here's a link to the blog post...please join us!

Summer Highlights, In Photos

I've been a bad blogger again...I could tell you a whole lot about the summer, but instead I'll just give you some pics of the highlights!

At the Battle Creek Air Show--so cool!

Our first chicken...yum.

My birthday present:-)  Isn't it so pretty?

Some dune jumping at the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore.

Sleeping Bear Nat'l Lakeshore.  This place was voted "The Most Beautiful Place in America", and for good reason.  Who  would ever want salty sticky oceans over this has got to be out of their mind.

The kids preparing for our group photo on our annual family camping trip--quite a crew!  Hoffmaster State Park, right on Lake Michigan, is one of our favorites.

Ezra got to celebrate his 8th birthday at the campground!!

Our first GORGEOUS tomato from the garden...a Bonnie's Best weighing in at almost 1 pound!

The monarch caterpillar...we got to watch it make its chrysalis!  Still waiting on the butterfly!

Heavenly Grilled Chicken!

Alright, I'm not trying to toot my own horn here but...last night I think I made the best chicken I've ever tasted.  Of course I can't really take all the credit.  Google might have had something to do with it!

Have you ever tried grilling a whole chicken?  Not a whole chicken cut up...really whole!  If not, you absolutely must try it.  It's fabulous.

Here's what I did.  I hesitate to call this a recipe because many of the steps are open to interpretation, but you'll get the idea.  It's super easy and so remarkably delicious!  Sorry there's no picture, but we ate it up too fast.

1.  If frozen, thaw your chicken (a pastured chicken from The Family Farm would be best, haha!).  I used 2 chickens about 2 lbs. each.  (We had a number of really small ones from our first batch).  But the method will work for larger birds, too.

2.  Brine chicken in salt water for about 2 hours.  Don't get all worried about amounts here.  Just dump about 1/2 cup sea salt in a freezer bag along with your chicken and add enough water to just cover it.

3.  Rinse chicken and pat dry.  Brush with olive oil all over.  Sprinkle with your favorite herbs and put a few in the cavity.  Again, this is open to what you have on hand.  Here's what I used:

On the outside:
-olive oil
-sage
-lemon pepper seasoning
-Alderwood-smoked sea salt (wonderful stuff, from a local lady who makes spices!)

And the cavity:
-1 sprig fresh rosemary
-3 sprigs fresh oregano
-about 1/4 onion

4.  Preheat grill--gas is best for this.  Light just one side on high.  When grill is hot, place chicken breast down on the unlit side of the grill.  You are essentially making an "oven" with the grill.  Grill with lid closed for about 90 minutes for an average 4-5 lb. chicken (ours, of course, went a little faster!)  Rotate chicken (don't flip it over; rotate like a clock!) halfway through cooking.  Resist the temptation to keep opening the grill lid to peek!  This lets all the heat out of your oven!  Test for doneness with a meat thermomete inserted in the meatiest part of the thigh--you're looking for 160 degrees.  When done, remove and let sit for 10 minutes before carving.

Simply delicious.

Factory Farm vs. Pastured Poultry: a Side-by-side Test!

We just had our first batch of pastured poultry processed this morning, and I was eager to try one side by side with a store-bought, factory-style chicken.  I must say, I was shocked at the difference; not so much in appearance, but in taste and texture.

I bought the smallest chicken our local Meijer store had, which was over 5 1/2 lbs.  Ours was about 3 1/2 lbs.  For the sake of giving you a true side-by-side comparison, I did not edit these photos in any way.

Store-bought on left, ours on right

In the roasting pan.  A little butter in the cavity along with some celery.  Sprinkled with salt and pepper...that's it!  Wanted to really taste the "chicken" flavor.

Our chicken, done!  Notice the beautiful, even browning on the skin and nice proportion of the legs to the breast.

Store-bought, done.  This bird has such huge breasts that the skin was split, leaving it to dry out during roasting.  Also notice how the whole bird seems puny compared to those giant breasts...I have no idea how that poor bird could even walk.  

I shredded a bit of breast meat from each bird to show the difference...ours on the left, store's on the right.

I think the most shocking difference to me was the difference in texture between the two birds.  The only way I can really describe it is that our pastured chicken had substance, where the factory-farmed bird was...like mush.  See the difference in the photo above?  Now don't get me wrong...ours was not "tough" in any way.  Just a very satisfying meatiness.  The mushiness of the other bird struck me as seeming really unnatural.

And how about taste?  Ours was, once again, far superior.  About the only flavor present in the store bought chicken was the salt solution they get bathed in before packaging.  In fact, the breast meat closest to the bone in the middle of the bird pretty much had no flavor at all.  The pastured chicken, on the other hand, had a rich "chickennish" flavor all the way through, in both the white and dark portions.  

Hands down winner?  Our organic pastured poultry!  We'll be running another batch starting in August, so give some a try!

Get Personal With Your Food

Listen to this while you read this...it's what I was listening to as I wrote it!

Yesterday I was listening to an interview on NPR (yes, I listen to NPR.  Quite a lot.  Another one of those things that GCCRs* are not supposed to do).  They were talking with a lady who is passionate about teaching people how to grow their own vegetables.  Sorry--I didn't catch her name!  She said something to the effect of, "How to grow your own food should be common knowledge; something parents teach their children along with things like learning how to swim.  I have never been in a situation where I was in water over my head and afraid of drowning.  But I have been so low on cash that if I hadn't known how to grow my own food, I would not have had anything to eat.  It's far more likely for most people to have a financial crisis than to be in danger of drowning."  She wasn't saying that everyone should go out and become master gardeners...only that the knowledge of how to do it should be given a higher priority in our culture.

This got me thinking about what happens in our attitude towards our food when obtaining it gets "personal".  I already find myself placing a higher value on what I eat after experiencing the amount of effort it takes to get it from the field to my stomach.  Moving a chicken pen every day, although enjoyable, is pretty hard work.  Our cows plow through impressive amounts of grass every day to get to the size we want them to be to make great steaks.  Our neighbor, Rose, is in her garden every day with her garlic, veggies, and herbs before she takes them to the market.  When I realize what it takes to produce good, fresh food, I take a lot more care with how I prepare it.  I want it to taste its very best...I don't want to embarrass it--haha!

Now, I'm not knocking grocery stores because grocery stores are obviously important!  But when I buy meat there, all precut and shrinkwrapped, I'm not thinking about the farm or the animal it came from.  And I could buy virtually unlimited amounts of any particular cut if I wanted to.  If I take my New York Strip steaks home, cook them, and don't like how they turn out, I can just go back to the store and get more to try it again.  All I'm really out is the cash to buy them.  Did you know that one steer doesn't produce an unlimited proportion of New York Strips?  When our beef cows are done, we will have limited amounts of each cut and we'll be planning meals accordingly.  When it comes time for me to cook that filet mignon, you can bet I'll really be thinking it through first!

All of this is to say...try getting personal with your food, to whatever extent you are able.  Go to the farmer's market and actually talk to the producers!  Get to know them a little bit!  Find out why they do what they do...chances are they're pretty passionate about it.  If possible, visit their farms.  Stop by The Family Farm while you're at it!  Take a walk with us while we move the cows and chickens.  Or best of all, turn a little corner of your yard into a garden and experiment.  Some things will work, some won't, but I'll bet that you'll have a new appreciation for your food if you give it a try.

*Good Conservative Christian Republicans

Farm/Music/Art/Life

Last weekend I got the special treat of having a few hours to work in my garden kid-free.  (Those boys are good helpers, but sometimes a girl just likes to go at it alone!)  The day was warm and sunny and the strawberries desperately needed to be transplanted to their new raised bed, so I clipped on the ipod and went to work.

Now, for those of you who don't know me well...music is a huge part of my life.  I find myself remembering and even defining certain seasons of life by the songs that went with them.  As I worked away in the strawberry patch I began to realize that I get the same feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment from creating a nice garden as I do from making or listening to great music.  And then it occurred to me that it's also the same to me as decorating my home, finding beautiful art, or watching healthy cows and chickens in the pasture.  Perhaps this sense of satisfaction comes from something very fundamental in us as creatures made in the image of God, as stated so plainly in the Westminster Shorter Catechism...

"The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever."


When we view our occupations as gifts from God; as means to bring Him glory and to give us enjoyment only He can give, our "work" takes on a fuller, richer, more satisfying quality.  Even mundane things like pulling weeds or sifting rocks out of garden soil can be a joyful experience (albeit a reminder that we are definitely not living in the garden of Eden anymore)!  Have I completely "arrived" with this attitude?  Absolutely not.  Just last night we were moving our first batch of chickens out to pasture.  The boys helped me load them up 12 to a crate.  As I was carrying a stack of three crates (which was surprisingly heavy) out to the pasture, I felt the warm drippiness of chick poop trickling down my pant leg.  Then on the next load the stuff landed right on my foot, which wouldn't be so bad except that I was wearing flip flops.  I was grossed out.  What began as a fun family work activity turned into a burden to me, not because of the circumstances, but because of my attitude.

We probably all need a constant reminder from 1 Corinthians 10:31: "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."


With that, here are a few little bits of music/art/poetry that inspire me (or at least makes me want to sing along!)  What inspires you?

Happy Thought by R. L. Stevenson
"The world is so full of a number of things,
I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings."

"Cutting the Weeds" by Daniel Ridgway Knight

And lastly, a few of the tunes that were keeping me singing (with headphones on!) during my afternoon of garden work...

Diamond in the Rough--Jennifer Knapp

Long Time Gone--Dixie Chicks  (yes, yes, I know...good conservative Christian Republicans aren't supposed to like them anymore since their little incident with GW Bush but seriously, this is one of THE best sing-along songs.  Ever.


War in My Blood--Fiction Family  From an album that should have gotten a lot more attention than it did...a collaboration of Jon Foreman from Switchfoot and Sean Watkins from Nickel Creek.  Stellar combo.

Why Pastured Poultry?

I'm sure you're all wondering why it's worth spending double the cost of supermarket chicken for our pastured poultry from The Family Farm.  We encourage you to do your own research, but I'll highlight a few of the biggest reasons for you here, just to get you going...

1.  Health.  Chicken from the supermarket is raised on a grain ration almost entirely made of corn, which is high in energy but low in vitamins and minerals.  According to poultry expert Joel Salatin, "When animals are fed a high energy, low vitamin/mineral diet, they tend to have more saturated fat (cholesterol) in their meat, milk, or eggs, just like people.  When these same animals consume a large percentage of green material, the saturated fat of their animal protein diminishes."

2.  Organic.  We debated whether to give all organic feed or not, since organic feed is nearly double the cost.  In the end we decided to go all the way, both from a health standpoint and to make a deliberate point of supporting local organic farmers.  We will be getting our feed from a local farmer who has been certified organic for over 20 years.  [For pricing reasons, we would consider doing a separate batch sometime in the future that is not organic, but still raised on pasture.  If you would be interested in that, please leave a comment!]

*as a side note, we are not Certified Organic, nor are we seeking certification at this time.  We encourage you to come visit us, see how we raise our animals and get to know us.  We would much rather have our customers trust their farmers, not a government label...but that's another whole story!

3.  Humane animal treatment.  I'm sure you've all heard the stories about how poultry is raised on "factory farms"; overcrowded, reeking of ammonia from their urine, no windows, etc.  Our chickens will be outside in the fresh air all day, every day.  They will have fresh green grass every day and be able to peck at all the bugs, grubs, and worms their little chicken hearts desire.

4.  Local.  You can have the peace of mind of knowing who, where, and how your food was raised, and the satisfaction of supporting a business in your own community.  Our chickens are raised right here in Columbiaville from baby chick to broiler.  They are processed nearby at a local meat processor.  (In the next year or so we hope to begin processing our own as well!)

5.  Taste.  Pastured chicken just tastes different...more "chickenish"!  It's delicious!

Now that brings us to the final question...is it worth it?  For our family, the answer is yes.  We hope you'll give it a try...once you do, we're pretty sure you'll be hooked!

So, what's the main reason you want to try pastured poultry from The Family Farm?  It can be one of our reasons, or a reason of your own!  Leave a comment on this post and we'll randomly choose one winner to receive 10% off your first order!

We're On Facebook!

The Courser Family Farm finally has a home...on facebook, that is!  Take a look and give us a "like".  We'll be posting all the need-to-know farm updates there (like what we have available, prices, specials, all that good stuff).  See you there!

p.s.  I will write a real blog post again...sometime...I promise.

Basic Berry Smoothie

Sometimes the best things in life are the simplest!  I've been trying to use up our frozen berries from last summer since spring is coming soon.  It looks like we'll have an early strawberry season this year considering the ridiculously warm weather we've been having, so I need to make room in my freezer for a new season's harvest! The smoothie I made for lunch today was a hit, so I thought I'd share the recipe.  (Keep in mind the amounts here are "suggestions" because I wasn't measuring anyways!)

Basic Berry Smoothie


2 cups frozen strawberries
3/4 cup red raspberries
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup raw milk (or more, to desired consistency)
1/4 cup raw honey
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla


Blend well.  Makes about 4 servings.

Behold, the Triumphant Loaf!

That's the bread I made today.  Seriously.  A new light has shone like a beacon of promise into my world of homemade carbohydrate delight.  And just what was it that evoked such a rapturous response?  Get ready for it...

Whole Grain Bread.

Yup.  The name does not do justice to the glory of this loaf.  But I've been searching for about ten years for a whole wheat bread recipe that met my expectations for excellent, healthy homemade bread and folks, this is it.  The secret?  "Soaking" the dough overnight.  Basically you combine the ingrediets (minus the yeast) and let it sit overnight.  The dough develops an ever-so-slight sourdough-like tanginess, but it's the texture of this bread that really blew me away.  No more dry, crumbling whole wheat!  This bread is chewy, soft, and "stretchy" much like white bread.  Soaking whole grains also has nutrition benefits as well.  According to Sally Fallon in the cookbook Nourishing Traditions, "Soaking increases vitamin content and makes all the nutrients in grain more available.  This method has the further advantage of so softening whole meal flour that the final product is often indistinguishable from one made with white flour...not characterized by the heaviness that can make whole grain products so unpalatable."  I couldn't have said it better.  (That cookbook, by the way, is mind-blowing.  At least if you get excited about that kind of thing...)

I can't wait to try it sliced and toasted for grilled cheese tomorrow for lunch!  I'm not going to give you the complete recipe here because, well, it's not my recipe!  Go check out the recipe, Soaked Whole Grain Bread at one of my very favorite blogs, Passionate Homemaking.  I would recommend doing 1/2 a batch unless you have a professional sized stand mixer (or very strong mixing muscles).

I am realizing as I write this that I must be some kind of bread nerd.  I mean seriously, who really gets this worked up over a slice of bread?  Well, I do.  And maybe once you try this recipe, you will too!  We're supposed to get a bunch of snow today, so go ahead and make yourself some homemade bread while you're snowed in!

See where I poked it?  Soft and spongy, not dry and crumbly!

Why I Love the Library Book Sale...

Seven great books for $1.75, that's why!  Here's what I scored last night...

Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson.  This is a wonderful book.  Lawson ranks right up there as one of my favorite childrens' authors.

A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park.  Never read this or any of her books, but it's a Newberry winner and on our history curriculum's supplemental reading list, so I picked it up.

Aster Aardvark's Alphabet Adventures by Steven Kellogg.  Here's my favorite page, letter "I":

"Infatuated with Iris Ibis, the illustrious ice skater, Irving Iguana inquired at her island igloo, but an intern icily insisted that Iris was indefinitely indisposed and an interview was impossible.  The iguana ignored this information and impulsively introduced itself to Iris, who was inspired by its invitation to indulge immoderately in ice cream."

Now that's my kind of alphabet book!

The Magic Fishbone by Charles Dickens.  I didn't know Dickens wrote any short stories for children.  Judging by the first page, it's going to be a fun one: [the king and queen] "had nineteen children, and were always having more.  Seventeen of these children took care of the baby; and Alicia, the eldest, took care of them all.  Their ages varied from seven to seven months..."

Bambi by Felix Salten

Where Was Patrick Henry on the 29th of May? by Jean Fritz.  If you have elementary-age children, you must check out Fritz's books!  Great little historical fiction books, most of which are short chapter books.

Otto of the Silver Hand by Howard Pyle.  For my oldest son.  I read Men of Iron by Pyle to him when he was about 6 (yes, 6!) and he fell in love with the world of knights and chivalry.  I hope this classic will be as much of a hit!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone--love on those kiddos and read a book!  And of course, give some lovin' to your sweetheart too...

The Name Game Giveaway Winner!

The winner is...Shawna!  Congratulations!  Thanks to everyone who entered!  Nobody guessed our farm's name, but you all had some great ideas.  I would have to give the "most creative" credit to Matt, who suggested "From the Ground Up".  Sorta like that one...

Since I'm sure you'll all wondering, the name of our farm is...

(drumroll please.............)

"The Family Farm"!

Simple and easy, and it doesn't limit us to a certain aspect of farming, like if we chose "Courser Meats" or something like that.  But best of all, I hope lots of conversations in the near future will go something like this:

"Wow, this chicken tastes amazing!  Where did you get it?"

"At the family farm."

"Oh, I totally didn't know your family had a farm..."

"We don't!  It's the name of the place where we buy our meat.  They have such great products and they're really friendly.  They always welcome visitors, so you should check them out."

"Great!  I think we will!"

Catchy, isn't it?

The Name Game!

I told you in the last post that we would be announcing the name of our farm in the near future.  Well, I thought we would have a little fun with it!  We're going to do a short giveaway!  Take a guess at our farm's name and leave it as a comment.  Be creative--who knows, it might earn you extra entries:)

You can also earn extra entries a few other ways:

1) Post a link to the giveaway on facebook (2 entries)
2) Tweet about the giveaway (2 entries)
3) "Follow" our blog with Google FriendConnect (2 entries)  If you're already following, just say so and you'll get your entries
4) Share the giveaway on your blog (4 entries)

Please make sure to leave a comment stating each type of entry you completed.  And sorry to some of you who already know our name...I got ahead of myself last night and sent a message to some of you about it!  So, unfortunately you not elligible...

So, I'm sure you're wondering just what the lovely prize will be, right?  How about a bag of homemade Cranberry Almond Granola and 2 sample bars of soap?  Can't wait to hear your responses!

The giveaway will end Friday night at midnight.  Yup, just 2 short days to get it done!  We're eager to get our facebook page set up and all that, so this will be quick!

And, just for fun, here's a clip that I kept thinking of in regards to "saying our name".  Couldn't resist!  One of my favorite movies..."Call my name!!!"

An Agrarian Home-Based Lifestyle, Part 3

Or, "How is This Ever Going to Work"???

Here I'll be getting into the nuts and bolts of our homestead operation, or "the nitty gritty" as our son would say!  How exactly do we plan on being able to live off our 20 acres, you might ask?  Well, from a combination of factors, which I'll list here, in no particular order...

1.  GET OUT OF DEBT!!!  Being debt-free will be so wonderful!  We are very aggressively working on paying off our loans.  Thankfully, we are finally done paying off our last house, which we had to sell as quite a large loss due to the sorry state of the housing market.  The good side to the real estate situation is that we were able to get our house and 20 acres for an amazing price last March.  We are blessed that Dan has a very good job right now, so our plan is to be very aggressive in paying it all off.  Our goal is to be debt-free in under three years.

2.  Grow/raise as much of our own food as possible.  This summer we'll be experimenting with several things, including chickens and possibly beef, primarily for our own use.

3.  Garden like my life depends on it.  When I think of the pioneers (the true "homesteaders"!) I know that they had to have a successful garden, or they didn't eat any vegetables for the whole year.  If I'm going to be serious about making this work, I have to look at it that way.  It used to be that if my garden got overrun with weeds by July or burned up by drought, I would just say, "Oh well, I'll try harder next year."  While I'm not really interested in running a market garden for profit, I DO need to work at learning to plan better and be more diligent tending our "food supply"!

4.  Pastured Poultry.  Assuming we do ok with raising chickens this summer, we anticipate this being one of our primary sources of income.  Quite a few people are already doing it, but I really don't believe the market is saturated yet!  There is such a huge difference between the quality of pastured poultry and factory-farm, mass-processed poultry.  I want to feed my family the best and enable as many other families as possible to do so as well!

5.  Courser Deer Processing.  This is another major source of income for us, and could be even more when we get to the point where Dan can be at home full time.  As you've probably already read from previous posts, we will be moving our deer processing operation from Dan's parents' house to ours.  This past season we processed around 320 deer.  Through some advertising and marketing, we're hoping to push that number to 400 next season.  I'm also planning on experimenting with making sausage.  Currently we send it out to have sausage made, but our profit margin could be much higher if we did it ourselves.

6.  Soap and candles...which is still in the "experimental" phase!  I'm playing around with making some different blends of deer tallow soaps.  We'll see how this goes...if you would like to be a "product tester" please let me know!

7.  Other value-added products, such as all-natural jams, jellies, preserves, granola, baked goods, and the like.  Unfortunately, without a licensed kitchen I cannot sell these items online.  I'll have to stick with word of mouth, local food co-ops, and maybe selling at the Farmers' Market.  We'll see.  That sounds like a lot of work.  But I am a little compulsive when it comes to preserving things...I can't stand to see resources go unused!  So, I may as well make a little money from it too, right?

8.  Pastured beef and/or pork.  This may still be a little ways down the road, but would be a great compliment to our farm.  And I really love to eat beef and pork:-)

Well, there's the gist of it!  I'm probably forgetting something.  Of course along with all of that is just being generally thrifty.  Dan and I feel an increasing sense of urgency to be out of debt.  Maybe it's the economy, or political state of things, or just our itch to be truly free in regards to our resources.  At any rate, we would love to hear your suggestions and comments!  Have a brilliant idea for us?  Let us know!  And watch for an exciting post coming soon, including an unofficial "launch" and announcement of our homestead's name!

Just for fun...some nature study artwork from last summer!  Clockwise from top left: mine, Percival (age 3, impressive, right?), Lancelot, age 8, and Galahad, age 6.  (I change my kids' names on here to protect their privacy!)

...and the inspiration for the artwork above!  Did you know that those teenie little hooks were the inspiration behind Velcro?

Yes, I Am Still Here.

I'm probably about due to win the bad blogger of the year award for my negligence!  It's been a full couple of months!  Let me take a moment to fill you in on what's been happening around here...

1.  Wrapping up deer season.  Our total count at the end of the year was nearly 320 deer, more than we have done in a long time.

2.  Christmas!  The celebrations felt a little strange this year.  We are at a new church, so we weren't quite sure what to expect and ended up missing the week that they do the big Christmas program because we didn't know about it soon enough.  And at that time we were still running back and forth every day to the meat shop, so we didn't have much time to enjoy the season in our new house.  I didn't bake one single Christmas cookie.  And there was pretty much no snow.  But, Jesus was still born over 2000 years ago and we celebrated that with all our hearts, which is what really matters, right?

3.  Settling into a "normal" routine at our own house (if there is such a thing as "normal"!)  We've been rendering lots of deer tallow and I made my first attempts at tallow soap.  It looks good--still curing, so I haven't actually gotten to try it yet.

4.  Spent a night in the emergency room about two weeks ago with my heart feeling like it was going to pound right out of my chest.  To make a long story short, don't take heavy doses of echinacea and then drink multiple cups of very strong coffee in a short amount of time.  Turns out they don't do so well together.

5.  Took a trip to Ikea for curtains, bedroom storage, and the like.  Love that store!

6.  Planning lots of big projects around the house.  This weekend is a wall of bookshelves for the living room--yay!  Also planning a trip to Florida in March...double-yay!

7.  Hitting the books!  Our school pace really slowed down during deer season, so now it's time for us to step it up.  Ever hear about Charles Martel and the Battle of Tours?  Fascinating story--go and look it up!  I don't now how I got to be 31 years old and never learned about that.  This is why I love homeschooling--I keep learning new things too!

8.  Dan and I took our CPL (Concealed Pistol License) training last Saturday.  We had a wonderful instructor who gave us SO much more information than just what's covered in the typical NRA class.  Plus, I got to shoot several different handguns, which was great for me since I had never fired one before.  The instructor said I'm a natural shooter and that with some training I could do it competitively.  But I think he was just flattering me because I was the only girl in the class:-)

9.  Repairing the hole in our kitchen ceiling.  Yup, the hole.  About a month ago our son took a bath and left the water in the tub (no big deal).  Except that it turns out there was a teenie little hole in the tub...so all that water slowly leaked onto the kitchen ceiling for about 4 hours.  We had to tear out a section of drywall about 4' by 5'.  Last night Dan and I finally were able to get new drywall over the hole...

10.  Working out at 5:30 am every day.  Dan and I started Insanity last week and yes, it is insane.  We're both looking forward to losing the "extras" we acquired through the fall months!

So, things are happening around here!  We're really excited about what's to come.  I will write soon about some of that in my next post in the Agrarian Home Based Lifestyle series.  If I don't do it within the next week, someone please come and kick me.  Thanks!

New Years' Anticipation

Resolution.  Anticipation.

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fulness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!  Amen! 

Ephesians 3:14-21

This year I am not making any resolutions.  According to Webster's 1828, 'to resolve' means "To fix in opinion or purpose; to determine in mind."  And you know what?  If there's one thing I've learned, it's that my opinions might be all wrong, my purpose selfish or misguided, and I know a lot less than what I thought I did.  Sounds like a setup for failure if I ever heard one!

Two Sundays ago our pastor gave a great sermon with the general idea of anticipation.  He referred to the verse above from Ephesians.  The beautiful truth is that, no matter how weak our minds or flesh, the power of Christ is able to do immeasurably more than we could ask or even imagine.  In Pastor Burger's words, our lives can be transformed to the degree we are willing to be surrendered to Him.  The word anticipate literally means "to take before".  Did you know that God has plans for you this year?  Instead of resolving to accomplish some certain goal this year, I want to live in anticipation of the fulfillment of what the Lord has already planned.  Guess that sounds a lot like living by faith, doesn't it?

Of course, this doesn't mean I'm not going to plan anything or set any kinds of goals.  To sit around and wait for things to happen would obviously be foolish.  But I want for my attitude to be one of surrender, not selfishness.  Watch for upcoming posts about our thoughts for our little homestead farm and some ideas we've been tossing around.  We continue to pray about where we are headed and surrender daily in faith to what the Lord would have for us, both in the small daily tasks and the "grand scheme", that we may be "filled to the measure of all the fulness of God".

I'll leave you with a song that really got to me this morning...
You Have Me by Gungor

First Snowy Day Recipes

Hello!  In honor of the first day of snow (a few days ago now!) I decided to post a few recipes.  I made both of these a few days ago, inspired by the fresh snow.  Something about cold winter days makes me want to cook things...

Snow Ice Cream
Big thank-you to Cherith (at Ebenezer Acres) for sharing this idea with us last year!  It's so easy, and the kids absolutely love it.  A first-snow "must".

1 Gallon clean snow (just fill a big bowl)
1 cup sugar

1 T. vanilla extract

2 cups milk

Stir well and serve immediately!

Now, this next recipe is not for the faint of heart.  I love experimenting with bread recipes, and this one is a winner in my book, but it might not be for everyone.  The resulting flavors are earthy and complex.  We ate it with ribs for dinner, but all the while I was thinking that this bread was crying out for a nice dark, malty beer to go with it.  In fact, with some ale and roasted rabbit or something this would be the makings of a great medieval feast.  That's the kind of bread this is.  Your kids probably won't like it very much (mine didn't!) but I thought it was delicious.  There, you've been adequately forewarned!  With that, here's the recipe.

100% Whole Wheat Herb Bread
(modified from an Herb Bread recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, 1973 Edition)

1 package (or 1 T.) active dry yeast
3/4 cup milk, scalded
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 T. honey
2 T. butter
1 egg
2 tsp. celery seed
2 tsp. dried tarragon
1 tsp. ground thyme
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 cup oatmeal
3 cups whole wheat flour (I've been having excellent results with whole wheat pastry flour)

Soften yeast in 1/4 cup warm water and a little honey.  Combine hot milk, sugar, salt, and butter, cool to lukewarm.  Mix in yeast.  Add egg, herbs, oatmeal, and 1 1/2 cups flour, beat until smooth.  Add enough remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough.  Knead on a lightly floured surface about 8 minutes.  Place in a lightly greased bowl and turn once to coat.  Cover and let rise until nearly double.  Punch down and let rest for 10 minutes.  Shape into round loaf and score an "X" on the top.  Sprinkle a little flour on a flat pan (with no edges), cover and let rise again until double. 

Now here comes the fun part: place a flat baking stone in your oven and preheat them together at 400 degrees.  When your dough is risen, carefully slide it off your "peel" ( your flat pan) and onto the hot stone in the oven.  Then carefully splash 1/2 cup water into the bottom of the oven and shut the door quickly to trap the steam.  Do this once more after about five minutes.  Bake the loaf about 30-35 minutes.  Remove and let cool completely before slicing.  The steam in the oven creates a hearty thick crust, giving it that gourmet artisan bread look and taste.  It's a great little trick!  Enjoy!

Letting the Cat Out of the Bag.

This post is mainly for my family and friends...those of you who know us well and are around us regularly (although hopefully the rest of you find it interesting too...)  To be honest with you all, I have been really nervous about telling everyone about our plans for the future.  I have this feeling that everyone will think we've gone off the deep end, are turning into hermits, or that we're becoming health nuts.  I hope that by reading my latest posts you'll see where we're coming from.

I also apologize that you're all finding out about these things via facebook and my blog.  It's not that I don't want to talk to you all in person...it's just sort of a weird thing to bring up out of nowhere.  I feel like I'll be able to explain myself much better by writing it out than trying to do it in person.  As you'll see from reading my other posts, much of our plans and dreams are still developing, so for me to try to convey our feelings in conversation could end up a little muddled.  We've just been doing a lot of thinking, dreaming, and praying lately and feel we need to move in this direction, and we really want our friends and family to know where we're coming from and share your insight with us too!  So go ahead and read my two previous posts: An Agrarian Home-Based Lifestyle, Parts 1 and 2.  Preferably in that order:)  Part 3 should be on its way soon.

Other things of note...P90X is still underway!  I've lost about 6-7 lbs. so far, but the most notable thing for me is that I now have triceps!  The diet side has been a little rough...but tomorrow is another day, right?  A bunch of ladies at my church have committed to cutting out sugar until Thanksgiving, and I think I'm going to join them.  I'm generally a believer in moderation, but with the glut of Halloween candy still lying around, I really have to go all or nothing...

Courser Deer Processing is booming.  So far we have taken in 95 deer--well ahead of where we were last year.  And I love having a business where our kids can really participate.  They're learning to work hard, relate well with customers, save money, and to be careful with sharp objects:-)  Not to mention that seeing three generations of Courser boys working together makes my heart feel happy.

Have a great day everyone!