Summer Cuke Salad

If you garden and have any amount of cucumbers planted then you understand the saying "over run." Our cucumbers this year have provided in abundance. I already have 16 quarts of pickles put up, and dehydrated several quart bags full as well. Even after all this i am over run. I have given some away and I have made the typical summer treat of cukes and onions in vinegar and water. 

I finally decided I needed something new to try, and found this recipe on Pinterest (of course).

Super easy to whip up and definitely refreshing on a hot day. 

Mix together these ingredients: 

2 tsp coarse sea salt ( I used one)

1 TBSP Sour Cream

1 tsp finely chopped onion

1 tsp fresh dill

1 tsp Vinegar

1 tsp Sugar

Pour over and stir on 1 large Cucumber and chill.

Easy as that! My mother in law swears this is almost just like the recipe that she had as a child!! I always love new "old" recipes. 

Miss E turns 2!

It's amazing how quickly time moves. It does not seem that our little one can be 2 already! She was just a newborn yesterday right?

The day we brought Miss E home

This year's party theme was Winnie The Pooh. Miss E just loves Winnie, and his hunny! 

My mom had a bear shaped cake pan that I used for her cake, and thanks to my SIL Fancy Farm Chic for her Hot Water Chocolate Cake recipe, the cake was super easy to make! Fine the recipe here. I just frosted the cake and left off the toppings.

The bumble bee cupcakes (complete with chocolate chip stingers) were made gluten free with rice flour. I simply halved my cake recipe and used the rice flour in replacement of regular APF. Our niece, Kennady has been gluten intolerant since birth. The other bonus of this cake recipe is also low dairy content. Miss E can have small amounts of dairy with out an adverse reaction, such as a cake with only butter in it would be OK for her. If there was another add in such as milk, or sour cream that would push her into a reaction. 

I used a store bought  frosting  this year to ensure we had good frosting that was gluten, and dairy free. ( I would have preferred to use less processed, home made frosting, but found myself a bit lazy this year.)

We had a houseful of family and friends that are like family. Unfortunately it was 105 the day of the party (which coincidentally was the temp the day Emma was born), and we were all cooped up in the house including the 4 youngest grandchildren ranging ages 5 to 2. Surprisingly all went well, and a good time was had.

Happy 2nd Birthday Sweet Girl!

Grandma Maurine's Gooey Cinnamon Rolls

My hubby is the type of man who would like to have a hot breakfast on the table every morning. Unfortunately for him, he did not marry the "get up and cook right away" kind of woman. I do however, occasionally feel bad or have an excessive energy and cook something. Other times I make things ahead and freeze them, or just save them for the morning. This is one of those days, and recipes.

Grandma Maurine is my father in laws mother. I never had the pleasure of meeting her, but one thing has always stood out. Grandma loved to cook, and her food is still talked about even years after her passing. My husband's aunt compiled a cook book of some of her favorite recipes. It is by far my favorite cookbook.

This recipe is followed my scores of praise from past students that Grandma cooked for in the school cafeteria to her children's memories of her. Food always taste better with a little bit of nostalgia on the side. 

This recipe can be made super easy by using a quick dough recipe. I used Grandma's which is as follows:

1 1/2 cups warm water ( or part milk)

1/3 cup sugar

4 cups flour

1/3 cup softened shortening

2 packages dried yeast

1 egg

 1 1/2 tsp salt

Put all ingredients together, except for 1 cup flour and beat together. Then add the rest of the flour. DO NOT KNEAD. This is a soft dough. Let it rise for 30 mins. Roll out and spread butter, sugar and cinnamon. Form into the rolls and allow to rise another 30 mins. Bake at 350. (makes 2 dozen)

The Gooey Roll Recipe

Use your favorite roll recipe. In the bottom of the baking dish mix 1 cup cream, 1 cup brown sugar, and one stick melted butter. Place rolls over top of mixture. Allow to rise and bake at 350 for 25-30 mins. After baking turn immediately onto a platter.

If your feeling more health conscious, decrease the amounts of sugar and cream, or sub a different sweetener. There were no actual measurements listed on Grandma's recipe, she just knew how much she wanted.

These were fantastic with a hot cup of coffee in the morning! And didn't last long enough for a good picture :)

Washable bath paints

Have you ever had one of those days, or weekends, or weeks that makes you want to crawl back in bed? We have had that. A drain back up into the basement not once...but twice. Thank the Lord it was only water out of the water softener, or YUCK! And then of course, I have no brain and started to run a bath for Miss E, which of course poured MORE water down in the basement. This wouldn't be so bad, however the previous owners must have filled in the drain, so all the water had to be sucked out with the carpet cleaner. Thank the Lord once again that we have one!!

After all the hooplah, and mess that was and since it was 102 degrees at about 7 last night, I decided Miss E and I needed a bit of extra fun in our lives. Daddy was out at the farm late so it was just her and I  all evening. I found this site on Pinterest and the post about bath paints. Miss E loves to "paint" most of the time she is just mimicking me while I work on other projects, and is always disappointed when Mommy won't let her use the real paint. 

This paint was super easy to mix up. I used just a little of Head and Shoulders with a few drops of coloring like was said. I didn't add much cornstarch because I felt the shampoo/conditioner combo was thick enough.

Needless to say, Miss E had a blast, I didn't take pictures, but she had paint from head to toe as well as all the beautiful paintings on the walls of our shower :)

I left this up for my hubby to see :P

Pretty painter!

Wooden Growth Chart

I'm sure everyone, if your on pinterest has seen a growth chart made in large form to look like a ruler. I thought how easy and sentimental this would be to have. First I thought maybe I can just order one on Etsy, and of course too expensive for my blood. Prices run from 45 to upwards of 90, based on how elaborate the design, or size, etc.

First thing, find a board. Have farmer bring a basically straight 2x8 home from the farm= $0. Next thing is how I should choose to finish the board. I wanted it to be able to be in the main part of our home, so I thought stain. Now we did have some leftover stain from an old kitchen chair project, but not a lot. In fact, not enough to finish it I'm sure.

Then I ran across a pin that led me to THIS sight. Now what better way to stain than with a FREE home made stain, that looks rustic/worn. ( Now I call this free because I already had all necessary components on hand.)

I measured and had my Farmer cut the board to a length of 6'2". This is what would fit best in the area I have in mind to hang this when it's finished. 

2x8 prestain

I mixed up the "stain" a few days ahead of time and it didn't seem to have any negative effect to wait longer than over night to use it. I did discover that I did not think through that I would be staining a much larger piece than Honor at Home Heart Craft and I used up my steel wool poof with the first application. I just cut another section of steel wool and threw it in the jar of vinegar mix while the first coat dried. (Confession: it was cold and snowing when I did this, so I just let it air dry in the craft room, not in the sun. My assumption is it just took longer to dry, a few hours.)

After the first coat. It looks dirty!

Application of second coat of "stain"

Finished Product

Such a cheeser!

Over all, cheap and easy. Looks great! Now to find some liquid chalk or paint pen to mark dates!
On a farm note, just finished up wheat harvest, so it's been a busy 4 weeks! Rain delays, a long with a few broken belts to slow us down. All in all, everything went well.

New Gleaner R67 and the Semi

Unfortunately, no pictures of our Miss E riding along with daddy or mommy in the tractor or combine!

Banana Swirl

If anyone has a young child, and only gets PBS stations, or Netflix you may have watched Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. This is a spoof off of Mr. Roger's neighborhood from when I was a child. Anyway, Miss E LOVES, LOVES, Loves, loves Daniel Tiger. ( Netflix has Season 1 and we have watched all 20 episodes a half a dozen times....)

On one episode that teaches about the importance of trying new foods Daniel's Mommy Tiger makes a new desert called Banana Swirl.  I decided, since E can't eat dairy, to try it out as a sub for ice cream that is a TON cheaper then the lactose free, or coconut ice cream at the store!

All you need is a few ripe bananas that have been frozen for awhile ( I used 1 1/2), a blender, and I added a little bit of E's milk for creaminess. Throw it all in the blender and GO!

banana swirl with a sprinkling of Enjoy Life Dairy free chocolate chips

BRAIN FREEZE!!

Miss E enjoyed her's more the next day when Mommy added blueberries instead of chocolate chips! She sure loves her fruit!!

As much as I despise having to watch/listen to Daniel Tiger, he had a hit with the banana swirl!!

DIY Rustic Earring Holder

I have a lot of dangle earrings that I just didn't have a good spot to keep. I have a jewelry box to keep rings, and stud earrings in that just didn't have a functional spot for these dangles. I've looked on Pinterest and seen ideas where chicken wire, or screening was used with an old frame. However, I had none of that on hand and didn't want to purchase any. It came to me though that an old picture frame that I had painted awhile back when distressed with twine added would be an excellent way to hang the earrings. 

This is what I started out with:

Forgive ugly rag, it's what I had on hand from my next project!!

This old wooden frame donated by my mom (Thanks mom!) I had spray painted black. I thought it looked "too good" so I took a block sander and distressed the corners and edges, which is hard to see in the photo taken in the dark, dungeon craft room!

After adding twine (also from my mom's old craft stash) by hot gluing ends around flat head tacks and hammering them into the back of the frame, here is the finished project. 

Simple, functional and best of all FREE!! 

What do you have in your home you can re purpose into something useful?

Screen Door Project

In our old home (built in the 40's) I used a screen door out of the basement as a baby gate, keeping little E from venturing out onto the enclosed back porch/pantry. When we moved I couldn't bear the thought of leaving it behind to be destroyed by a renter. It isn't ornate, but beautiful in a simple way. That is my favorite part of older homes, they are beautiful in their simplicity.

After bringing the door to our new home, I measured and it was either too big, or too small for all of the available doorways. This means I needed to find another purpose for it (YAY). I love to re purpose items!

I had already painted one side of the door red. ( I hadn't gotten around to painting the other side before we moved.) For this project I only needed one side painted anyway. If you have ever looked on Pinterest I am sure you have seen the old doors or screen doors turned into entry tables, jewelry holders, etc. I listed all of these wonderful ideas off to my farmer, which he then put the nix on. He was obviously afraid that I would need to buy more jewelry or some such nonsense :) I then thought of all the large empty wall space in our basement and how neat a screen door would look hanging by original hinges on the wall while being used to hold pictures or some such.

This is what it looked like prior to any paint/work

This is actually the back side, Shhh.

I then painted a sunflower in one corner and added a saying and twine for pinning the pictures too.

please pardon the extreme junk pile in my craft/storage room

I attached the twine using flat head tacks.

First I hot glued the ends around the tack and then hammered it into the wood.

Then I cajoled my farmer into hanging it on our basement wall and I think it looks great. After being hung though the words were very hard to read, so I mixed some cornstarch into my paint to thicken it and painted over them again, and I am much happier with how it looks now.

It is kinda glumpy looking in places, 

but I think it adds a bit of imperfection that every piece needs.

Mini clothespins for holding on the pictures!

This projected costed me: $0 at present.

I had all the paint, twine, door and the clothespins I borrowed from picture holding shutter so I will have to buy some eventually. Total time was just a couple of hours, plus the 2+ week wait time for Farmer to hang it!

Going dairy free?

Our sweet little E, has not been so sweet the last few weeks to months now. It's been so long since I had a full night of sleep I can't even remember!! Which she is 19 months old, she should be sleeping through the night!!!!! Right?!? Of course she has always been an "off and on" sleeper. She would go weeks or months sleeping through and then suddenly something would cause and upset. Along with not sleeping she would have HORRIBLE gas, some loose stools, with acid burn rashes,  poor appetite and all around increased crabbiness.  I typically blamed it on teething, as E started teething around 3 months, and hasn't stopped since.

 This last bout has been the worst, not as much rash as she is using the potty during waking hours, and only in diapers during nap and over night. However, she would be up by 1:30 or 2 and not sleep again until 4 or 5, I could do nothing to help her. We tried Tylenol, with no success, and gas drops that help some, but over all the poor girl has been miserable. 

I decided that there had to be something causing this, something is obviously bothering her, but WHAT?!? I have/had this feeling that it wasn't "just a bug." On one call to home, I mentioned to my mother E's symptoms and she stated "sounds like lactose intolerance", to which I scoffed until she mentioned that My grandfather was lactose intolerant, as well as my mother, my niece and my brother ( he outgrew it). So after a call to the nurse to see if she and Doc concurred with this line of thought (which they did) we are now trying to keep E away from as much regular dairy products as possible. THIS is NOT easy!

We have switched her to Lactaid milk only, as we feel this is just lactose intolerance and NOT a milk allergy or sensitivity. Other than that (which was the only suggestion the Doc gave) we are just trying to eliminate dairy intake for a couple of weeks to see if this causes the symptoms to go away. If it does we can try to introduce a little dairy at a time to see how she tolerates it. I'm praying in one way that this is what has been bothering her so that she will feel better, and in another that it isn't, it isn't fair that a little one should have to be so careful on what they eat.

If anyone has tips, or suggestions for recipes, or snack alternatives for yogurt, cottage cheese, and cheese in general (all of which E LOVES) please share! I am ready for any advice!

Topic Troubles

I was thinking just yesterday I needed a new post topic. Unfortunately one came to me unexpectedly. My farmer came home with the news that one of our bulls is down with a broken leg. This is not totally uncommon, we had another break a leg a few years ago. At that time the bull was able to get up and walk and we were able to take him to the locker and have hamburger made. This most recent tragedy befalling our bull is not as lucky. My husband and father in law could not get him to stand, and in his own trials of trying to get up, he fell into the dry creek bed. 

This is hard on multiple levels. Number one is we don't want our animal to suffer unduly. Number two it is and unfortunate waste of meat/life. State law is if an animal can not enter a facility on their own feet it is illegal to butcher them. That means there fore we will have to put the animal down and bury the meat that will waste. Of course some wild animals will feed, however it's hard to swallow feeding $2000.00 of bull, of meat to the predators we try to protect our cows from. The third issue is that now we will have to purchase a new bull that is suitable to breed with our heifers. Heifers are first time mothers, only a few years old. When breeding a heifer we want to breed them with a bull who has low calf birth weights. This will hopefully help to ensure easy calving the first time around. 

It is a sad day to see an animal suffer for no sense or purpose. To make it worse it has turned cold again, and we are only one week from official calving season's start. This will be the

 beginning of a busy month!!

Snow day!

Just around 7 inches of snow fell almost 2  weeks ago, with another 2 falling a few days later. Along with the snow came bitter cold!

Pardon the hole in the snow on the table, it was a quick set solution for jello :)

 We all were starting to have some serious cabin fever! E has finally learned to say "snow" it sounds more like "NOOOO" but we know what she means. She had been asking to go in the snow for days when it finally warmed up just enough to go out for awhile. This is how much she enjoyed it or or not....

Upset that she cant move

 Mommy saves the day and carried her to the swing which led to a much happier little girl.

We couldn't stay out long as the wind chill was still in the teens. So, after borrowing this idea from one of my old high school classmates, we brought snow inside! My friend placed a lot of snow in their bath tub and let her little girl go to town. I chose a smaller route, not knowing how well E would play with it. 

Yikes! Only see the cute baby, pretend you don't see the dirty floor! (Does your husband "forget" to take his dirty shoes off too?)

Always got to have a tractor! (Wait didn't I have a little girly girl?)

She played pretty good for a little while. She just wasn't quite sure what she should do with it all. It was good for 20 mins of toddler entertainment, which is success in my book!

Calving Season Begins!

Calving season has started on the McNeal Family Farms. Our first calf was born most likely in the evening of Valentines day. I must admit this is about 2 weeks earlier than usual, however we breed our cows with our own bulls, so to know down to the very day is hard. The first little guy (or gal) was born with out fanfare. In fact, he (she) has such a good Momma, we haven't gotten close enough to see just yet. Soon however (hopefully before a dozen others are born) my farmer or father in law with catch the little one and tag him (her) to match his Momma. 

Here is a picture of twin calves with their Momma from last spring. You can see the ear tags as well.

We use etchable ear tags, as well as plain ones that we write on with a permanent marker type. Placing the ear tags is the same as getting one's ears pierced. It hurts the calves no worse than it does a baby whose mom has its ears pierced. We use the tags to match calf to cow to prevent mix ups. Once there are 80+ calves frolicking around its difficult to tell who belongs with whom. 

I enjoy calving season. It is a joy to see new life born daily and grow and play. However, we always keep in mind these cattle are not all pets. Each calf that is born is a member of our farm, and is there to contribute as such, just as we contribute to it as well. Some of the heifers we save back and add to the heard to help replace older cows, as well as saving back a bull at times. Most of our calves will be weaned this fall and sold at the sale barn, where feed lots buy, or other ranchers buy who wish to enlarge their own herds. We work hard to keep them healthy, happy and as stress free as we can while they are on our farm. We respect our animals.

I hear many horror stories that are being told through social media, television, and all over the internet that all farms are bad. That farmers are out for money alone and care nothing for our animals. This simply is just not true.  In fact, I'll share the story of Midnight. Midnight is a 1400lb cow. She was my husband's show heifer when he was a child. To this day, she allows the grand kids to sit on her back. She likes to sneak up behind you and lean on you until your give her a good scratch. She is stubborn and demanding, but we still care for her. I ask this if an animal is abused, or neglected do they hold affection for the one who has inflicted this on them? I think not. Our animals trust us because we respect them and their role on the farm. We do not take lightly the fact that many times our animals sacrifice their lives to feed not only us, but our neighbors, our families, and people all around the world. We take pride in the care we give our animals. We hurt too when they suffer, we farmers are the ones up every two hours during calving season to check on the cows to make sure they are safe and not having trouble dropping their calf. We bring their calves in from the blizzard and let them rest in the warmth of blankets in the mud room of our very homes. We spend 3 hours a day hauling hay to feed them in the winter. We pay for the 3000+ gallons of water that is hauled to provide for them now that wells are dry. We sacrifice daily to provide for the good of the animals, crops, and for the consumers. Many people do not understand that if we did not sacrifice buying a new car we would not have the ability to move hay for our cattle. If  we did not sacrifice the time spent with family a calf may lose it's life to hypothermia in a snow storm. If we did not sacrifice our sleep a first time mother may die in agony having her calf if we did not help her. If we did not sacrifice a yearly summer vacation there would be no wheat harvested that us used in the food you eat. That if we did not sacrifice birthday parties the soybeans may not be sown, the ones that make up some of the plastics of the containers that are in your cabinets.

Wheat harvest on our home place.

I plead only this. Share with your families and friends. Encourage them to see all sides of a story. Read the book, don't just look at the cover. You may be surprised at what you find is really true. 

Play Dough

If you mommies out there are having days with your toddler like this:

Yes, that is my child pulling stuffing out of the pillows!

With attitudes such as:

Being proud of her naughtiness

Then I have a solution for you! Ok, maybe not a one fits all, gonna work every time, for everyone kind of solution. But hey, worth a try?!

After this little bout of orneriness E and I whipped up a batch of home made play dough. I didn't make the edible kind per say, but if little one chooses to take a taste this recipe is not gonna poison them. The recipe I used is one my momma made for me when I was a little girl.

        2 cups flour ( I used APF, but I'm sure you could sub whole wheat, or whatever you have on hand)

        1/2 cup Salt ( I used Kosher)

        1 TBLSP Oil ( I used Canola)

         2 tsp Cream of Tartar 

         2 Cups Water ( I used the faucet kind ;) )

        Food coloring as desired

Alrighty, I combined all these right in the saucepan and whisked it together, trying to get the lumps out. Next time I will do it right and add the flour mix a little at a time, but hey when your in a hurry.....Cook all this mix over medium low heat until all the water has cooked out. Add your food coloring if you choose before the dough ball starts to form. The dough will be stiff and pulling away from the edge of the pan. (See my empty pan below).

Wouldn't you know I forgot to take pictures during the process!

 After it has thickened throw it on a lightly floured counter and knead until smooth and no longer sticky. As in it should not stick to the counter top or your hands. BE CAREFUL the dough will be HOT to start with. 

This is what mine looked like when it was ready

After it is ready and COOLED let the good times begin!

Please take note of the pink, striped overalls and tractor! She's my farm girl :)

E had so much fun with this play dough, she has asked for it multiple times since we made it! I'll admit it, she even had a little taste, and was NOT impressed :)

** Disclaimer: Occasionally my child does wear matching, coordinated clothing, unfortunately in the above photos this did not occur...MY EXCUSE: we are potty training ( Need I say more??)