Make it from Scratch

No, I haven't made the cheese yet. I am shopping for the items I need for that tomorrow. Stephanie over on Stop the Ride has decided to have this contest monthly. It is a weekly carnival with a monthly contest for trying new things. So I am pulling out an archived experience for this one.

Florentine noodles.

With the new dehydrator at hand, I dried out some spinach and made Florentine. You'll be glad to hear that I waited for the noodles to dry, via food dehydrator {these things where invented for impatient people like myself} I ignored the recipes I was given and went with what I thought a good Florentine recipe should be. It worked, and I am happy I didn't blow it.


Do you trust me?

It turned out delicious, and I am willing to share a fresh batch. Leave a comment here and I will put your name in a hat to win homemade Florentine noodles. This will remain open until next Saturday.

uuummmm

The title says it all this morning. For the first time I am at a blank as to what I should talk about. Stress and fatigue has taken it's toll on me.

I will open this up to what ever you deem worthy to discuss. Have a question? Need a recipe? have a blog you want me to look at? or just want to shoot the. . . Have at it.

The Kindness of strangers

My father is a CZ Brat, a Panama Canal Zone brat. He was also a member of the Zones finest.

He was a cop, just as his father was.

My grandfather, photo courtesy of Lieutenant Fred Robinson

He keeps in contact with old friends via a forum for CZ Brats and a yahoo group, and they have been talking about him lately.

Last night I went up to see my father at the VA. He told me that a boy had came up to see him. I of course question this, and it turned out to be a 50 year old boy. The man had never met my father before, yet took the time to print off the ZoneLink conversations and go to the VA to meet and chat with my father. He left his contact information before leaving.

This really touched me. I thank this man profusely. And I can only hope that I can be as kind and generous as he is.

What has been your experience with the kindness of strangers?


Update on my father; he has been moved back into the ICU after a 3 day stay in general Population. Once again he is in the glass cage with an infection that they fear has gone septic. His test have come back poor. There is a fear that if he was to go into surgery that he would never come off the ventilator.

Here chick chick chick

Monica {who my readers should know as the author of Small Meadow Farm} was asked about why she picked the types of chickens she has. She then proceeded to drag myself and a couple other homesteaders into the conversation.

Why I chose the chickens I have?

I obviously have no clue what I am doing, I just know what my goal is. Getting there has proven heartbreaking, but in the end shall be worth it. We wanted eggs and meat, plain and simple, yet had no idea what to buy. I emailed the hatchery and received a catalog, so many breeds to choose from. We decided on the Homesteader's Delight, think of it as a sampler of birds. I discovered my love for Chocolate. Strange that after she died, I didn't replace her.

We were told by many people that standard birds have been bred to not nest. And after much research, I had discovered many experts agree. We had decided that we wanted to try to hatch out our own chicks, so bantams were the next logical step. Just as we had decided on this, the hatchery sent me an email stating that their bantams were on sale. WOOHOO. We placed our order and received a plethora of mini birds. As some of my long time readers know, we had some problems with them, and lost most of them in a storm. The ones that survived prove to be good mothers, thus we are replacing them this spring.

Our last batch of ordered birds were a mix of good layers and meat birds, ones that have proven docile in the past and are not bent on the destruction of my children.

Many will tell you to do your research before deciding what you are going to buy, I say jump in, buy the sampler and discover first hand the types of birds you prefer, eat the ones you don't.The above is a duck

Do you have chickens? If so, why did you choose the ones you have?

Who can we trust? NAIS

An Open Letter to the NAIS Opposition Community
by
Mary Zanoni

Click the above to read the letter. This edit is because the letter had been emailed to me but it has been posted online elsewhere, and I prefer to link to it as it is a long letter.

LibertyArk

FARFA

Read and decide for yourself.

You scratch my back,

There is this one little urban perk that people take for granted. This perk is something that us country folks have learned to live without, yet there are times when it would just make life so much easier.

What is this perk you ask, deliveries. Yes, you read that correctly. Deliveries of pizza, groceries, etc. is something we don't get out here. Topographically we are not that far from a town, yet the distance makes companies cringe. For 5 years now, I always ask a new company that claims to have a delivery service, if they deliver out here. Not that I would necessarily take advantage of it, but just curious, and for 5 years many had no idea where we were or if they did, flat out told us no.

Once and awhile a delivered pizza would be a nice treat. Especially after a storm hits here and we are busy with clean ups. So many of us working hard, tired and hungry, we would be grateful if we didn't have to drive into town to pick up food for all of us. But alas, no one is willing.

The other day my husband came home with a flyer. The locally owned gas station was now serving pizza. Sounds delicious doesn't? However I am one that is willing to give local businesses at least a try, even if they are selling convenient store items and foods. Of course my thoughts on this was that the food was going to taste like all the other fresh from the freezer gas station foods. But hey, life has to be an adventure at times.

I called the number on the flyer to place an order, and once again asked if they delivered out here. They had no idea where out here was and I jokingly said that I would draw them a map when I came in to pick up my pizzas. I left them my name, and then drove into town.

Once I got there I was surprised to see that they were making the pizzas from scratch. No pre-made frozen dough. That in itself was a thrill to see, no matter what the taste might be. They used mini meatball sized meats and fresh veggies, oh my! And I over heard them talking about my order, I had ordered some cheese sticks that turned out to be grandma's calzones. Color me giddy!

I was given my boxes of homemade pizzas and was paying for them. The owner asks if I was the one that told them I would draw a map out of the area I live in. I said yes. There are about 30 of us in this area. I drew out the map and he asked if I would drop off flyers. He was willing to deliver to us! I know that it might seem a mundane thing to be thrilled about, but for us this is a very special treat. Someone wants to deliver out here!

The pizza was good, very good. Grandma knows her cooking. I informed neighbors of this new development, and they are just as happy and surprised as I was. Pizza Hut is about to lose a bunch of customers, and not just because of the deliveries. { and the extra delivery cost is competitive to those that only delivery in town}

If you ever find yourself around Valley Center Kansas {and I know some of you are} Stop by MC's Country Store & Tomettii' Pizza on the corner of Main and Meridian. Show this local business some love. And they also sell by the slice. It's well worth it.

Updates;
The three Year old has a viral infection {what I thought} had nothing to do with the peanut butter. He is doing better now, except now he has an ear infection.

My father is having some lung tests done today to see if he is able to survive surgery. If he passes he will undergo open heart surgery either Thursday or Friday. He will be able to come home when he can do a few required things on his own. Because of this we have decided to allow the company to erect the shell of our home so that it can be finished in a more timely manner and we can get my father in a more comfortable area. He may need to get around in a wheel chair and needs a hospital type bed, something we currently do not have room for.