Puppies, Puppies and more Puppies

Is there life after a litter of puppies?  It is unbelievable how consuming a litter of shepherd puppies are!  At first these little critters are small enough to hold in your hand and you carefully watch over them and Mama to make sure they each get their fill of milk, they are each warm and clean enough and that they are all as healthy as can be.  Even before their eyes open, they begin to make the cutest growling and sometimes little barking noises.  Pretty soon their little eyes begin to open and they struggle to try to focus on your face or the outline of your body.  Their ears open up and they begin to hear you coming and they gather together, tails wagging, waiting for you to love them.

After a few weeks they begin to follow you everywhere, you have to soon jog to stay in front of them or they will get under your feet.  They tackle each other, they tackle your plants, they wrestle in the leaves, they chase after Mama, they chase after you.......and then.....they wear themselves out and gather at your feet for a nap.

You worry about the families that will take each of these precious little pups home and during this whole process you are like a new mother, listening for every little sound and even listening to the silence, wondering if you need to check on them again even though it's only been 15 minutes since you checked on them before.

And so is life at our home these days....consumed with these precious lives that the Lord has blessed us with.  We get so attached, they are like our furry little children.  We wonder what they will grow up to be, who they will grow to love and protect, where they will sleep each night, and this is why we worry......and pray.

But the Lord is good, every puppy we have ever placed has filled a void in someone's heart.  We are rewarded with emails and pictures and gratefulness, we smile and laugh at the tales of joy and amusement that their new families relate to us....and in many ways we all become one united Shepherd family.  We have made some wonderful friends through this journey over the years and to all of you, I thank you!

To see more pictures of this litter click on the Shannons Shepherds button in the right sidebar. 

Feeding Time

 

One thing about living on a farm, no matter the weather, livestock has got to be fed.  Good thing is that most of the time, they make it fun.  It never fails, we will struggle with putting on our muck boots, bundle up in two to three layers of clothes plus coat, hat and gloves, and brave the winter winds and not always have a cheerful heart about doing so, but when they see us coming, their behavior and personalities will always bring a smile.  They continue to remind us why we love our animals, how grateful we are to God for His blessings and with more spring in our step we make our way back to warmth of the fire in the ole' homestead.

How one testy mare puts up with all of the cows and their horns.....well she still isn't sure she's crazy about it, but ever since the heifer was born, she gets to play Mama.  They are inseparable.  She'll come running for her grain and there a runnin' behind her is the little heifer.  Actually the little heifer is almost full grown, but she stays close to her Horsey Mama. 

 These are Scottish Highlands and they have got to be the hardiest cows alive.  Fool proof.  Believe me, if we haven't had any problems with them, they are fool proof!  We didn't know the first things about having cows when we got these and they are a dream.  They withstand winters very well, they don't have the issues that most cows can have and they will clean out the brush if you let them.

Well the snow is gone, although I'm sure we will see at least one more good round of it before spring comes on strong.  Our family made it through the whole winter without getting sick......until now, so here we sit, snuggled under blankets in front of the fire enjoying some Good Earth tea and relaxing.  We don't mind a small cold, sometimes it gives us a reason to slow down, let the world pass by and quietly watch it.

It's been raining and thundering most of the day and the birds have been crowded around the feeders in expectation of the falling temperatures I suppose.  Speaking of birds.....who else likes bird watching?  We sometimes participate in the National Bird Count, ever done that?  It's a great way to involve children and get them interested in wildlife.  Some of our most fun home schooling lessons have to do with nature and nature's lessons.  We have gotten some great help from our local conservation center.  They will send out some really neat packets to classrooms and homeschoolers, free of charge!

Well I'd better get out from underneath this blanket and fix some supper because it's getting close to our own feeding time!

Hamburger Stew

This is the MOST simple and delicious meal our family enjoys and I hope you will like it too!

I always double this recipe to serve for lunch the next day.  This is also a great recipe to make in large quantities for canning purposes.  

Hamburger Stew 

1 1/2 pounds ground beef                                     

1 diced onion

1 cup diced carrots  

 1 cup diced celery
( I slice the carrots and celery up pretty thick since I like chunky vegetables in our stew. )

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth (or a half a quart of your own homemade)

1 (15 ounce) can crushed tomatoes (or a half a quart of your own homegrown)

2 Tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (does not make it spicy, add more if you like spicy)

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup flour

In a large saucepan , or soup kettle, use a small dab of butter or olive oil and melt it.  Add your onion and garlic and saute them until they begin to soften.  Add your hamburger meat, carrots and celery.  Cook over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink and the vegetables are tender; then drain the grease.

Stir in broth, tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce and hot pepper sauce.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

In a small saucepan, melt butter.  Stir in flour until smooth.  Cook and stir for about 4 minutes until golden brown.  Add it to your stew, cover and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring every once in a while.  This will thicken the stew. 

Serve it up in a soup bowl and add a thick slice of fresh homemade bread......MMMMmmmmmm GOOD!!


Be sure and let me know how you like it!!


You can find me linked up at:  Homestead Revival, Nourishing Treasures, Growing Home, Far Above Rubies, Raising Arrows, Skip to my Lou, Penniless Parenting, Titus 2sdays, Raising Homemakers, Frugally Sustainable, Women Living Well, Raising Mighty Arrows, Deep Roots at Home, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Farm Friend Friday, Life as Mom, Farmgirl Friday, We Are THAT Family, The Shabby Nest

Beautiful Winter

We had the great pleasure of experiencing 70 degree weather two Saturdays ago, and then three days later, there were blizzard warnings from Oklahoma to Illinois.  It took us almost two days to make the usual preparations that are necessary when the power goes out, including reserving enough water for several days, baking enough bread for two weeks and healthy snacks like homemade granola, oatmeal cookies, and stew; securing the animals and stockpiling wood for the fire.  When our power goes out, we are cooking over the fire in our fireplace and it's easiest to have food that only needs to be warmed. 

When the snow came, it was beautiful, huge fluffy flakes that came down for hours.  The wind was very strong and bitter cold, but after all was said and done, we still had power!  What a blessing that was!  We were able to breathe a little easier even though we were snowed in.  We didn't even try to go anywhere for three days.  We finally heard that the nearest county highway that leads to the main highway, had been somewhat plowed.  Somewhat plowed, here in this territory, is nothing to fool with, especially when you are faced with six miles of somewhat plowed roads that are wide enough for two small vehicles, deep ditches on both sides, and roller coaster quality hills and valleys.  Needless to say, we stayed snug as a bug in a rug without worrying about going anywhere.  

By today, things are seeming to get back to normal.  We began the day by making a good supply of bread and filling the bird feeders.  I counted nine male Cardinals this morning, four Bluebirds, six Blue Jays, a few Wrens, two Redwinged Blackbirds, several Nuthatches, Chickadees, Titmice and too many Gold and Purple Finches to count.  Oh, and three Yellow Bellied Woodpeckers and a few Downy Woodpeckers too.  I can't forget those!  Wheew! I think that about covers it.  

The chickens seem to be very happy this winter, today there were seven eggs.  Pretty good for a 20 degree day!  I can't wait for spring, we are planning to get some meat birds to raise for the freezer.  I simply refuse to buy anymore of that Tyson mutated chicken to feed our family.  And thankfully, we won't be relying on the E-Coli beef from the commercial feedlots with their disgusting kill floors.  If you aren't sure what I'm talking about, do yourself a favor and watch the documentary called Food Inc.  It has been shown on PBS several times and there is a book too.  It sure changed the way we eat and made us much more purposeful about raising our own food.  

Well....there is a beautiful, cozy fire in the fireplace, dear daughter is curled up with her latest book, dear hubby is curled up around his Mac playing on Photoshop,  the puppies are all cozy with Mama, a pretty relaxing evening compared to last night watching the Super Bowl.  That game was intense.  Go PACK!!!  

New German Shepherd Puppies !!

Our one and only litter of 2011 is now 5 days old!  We have created a new blog to post pictures of the puppies as they grow and develop, pictures of their parents and other ancestors, champion bloodline information and all of the fun stuff that goes on with a litter of German Shepherd puppies!

There is a blog button in our sidebar to take you directly to the Shannons Shepherds blog!  ENJOY !!!

Homemade Bread

The past several days here have been bitterly cold, snow on the ground and frost on every tree.  It makes for beautiful mornings and great days for baking, sewing, plotting out our spring gardens........countless things!  Yesterday we made our usual bread for the week and I finally had the time to take pictures of the process to share it with you.  This recipe is an old Amish recipe that I got directly from an Amish bishop here in our neck of the woods.  For some reason, his still tastes better than mine, but its still the best bread I've ever made.  He hand grinds his wheat, which I am not able to do until we get our mill.....if you're reading this honey....by spring would be nice!  Other than that, I make it the same way he does.

Gather your ingredients...

As you can see, I have been using my bread maker for mixing the dough.  I used to mix it by hand, but my hands don't take kindly to mixing bread dough with a skinny handled wooden spoon.  (Another thing for the wish list....a BIG handled wooden spoon.)  Since this entire recipe will not fit into the bread maker, I do it in halves for the mixing part.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups white flour
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 handful of salt (my handful isn't as big as his so I use about 4 tsp and its good)
• 2 packages of yeast (or 2 Teaspoons but note the picture with the size of the teaspoon)
• 3/4 cup lard (we use pig lard but you can also use oil or shortening)
• 1 quart of warm water
• 3 cups whole wheat

You will add more flour as you go until it isn't sticky, about 3 more cups or so, you have to just figure as you go.

Now the smaller spoon pictured here is a regular table spoon, the larger spoon is the one we use for measuring the yeast.  You don't need a large serving spoon, just something in between a serving spoon and a regular spoon.  

I put the ingredients into the bread maker in the order of the liquids first and then the dry ingredients, yeast last on top.  Make an indention in the top of the flour, big enough to contain your yeast.  I don't know if this is necessary, it's just a habit I have.

If you decide to use a bread maker for half of this recipe at a time like I do, just set your bread maker on the dough cycle, otherwise mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl, continuing to add flour until the dough isn't sticky and then knead it.  

I usually leave the lid to the bread maker open during this first mixing part to add flour about a half a cup at a time.  These next few pictures are a bit fuzzy due to the mixing of the machine, please excuse that.  you can see in the first picture that it is still runny so I'm adding more flour.

Here you can see the dough beginning to form and pull away from the bowl, I'm still adding a half cup of flour at a time.  It mixes in pretty quickly.

Here the dough has formed a firm ball and has pulled away from the edges.  It is still a bit too sticky, but I go ahead and turn it into a bowl.

This dough is still too sticky, I can really tell now that it's in the bowl.

This time I add just one more half cup of flour, knead it slightly and the dough transforms into...

 I let the dough rise for about an hour or so in front of the fireplace with a dish towel over it.  It should almost double in size.  At that time, I'll punch it down and then let it rise again for another hour or so.

Now the dough gets turned out onto the counter and divided, placed into greased bread pans and let rise one more time.  Only let it rise till it is barely over the bread pans, otherwise you might get too much air in your bread.  I know some people poke holes in the tops of the dough to release the air before this rising step, I don't bother with that.

 Bake at 350 degrees for about half an hour or so.

This batch isn't the prettiest batch I've ever made, but it is soft, hearty and delicious with soft crusts even without buttering the tops!  It's delicious smothered in homemade butter straight from the cow!

ENJOY !!!

I've tried to explain my process in detail, but when you do something so often, you tend to forget little things others may need to know.  If I have done that, please let me know and I'll gladly fill in anything I've left out :o)

Back to the Grindstone

The wonderful Christmas season has past, we finally put away all of the decorations today and its back to the books.  It feels good to gently settle back into our regular routine of home schooling even though this month we will add a lot of sewing time to balance out our book work.  Sewing is a nice way to compliment any curriculum, adding to many learning aspects including creative design (art), motor skills, reading, researching, math, history (in terms of historical clothing and home made items), home making skills, and science (what fabrics are made of and where they come from).  We somehow found the time to make several hand made gifts for Christmas, which in turn gave us more ideas of other things we would like to make and/or create.  Isn't that the way it goes though?  Once you are elbow deep in a project, it unlocks your creative mind and many other projects come into existence.

Also, even though our family is not a TV type family, we did discover some wonderful DVD's that are put out by Vision Forum on Creation Science that really compliment not only our learning in science, but our history and Bible study too.  Did you know that it is NOT against the law for a government school teacher to teach creation in their classroom?  They are strongly directed not to do it by most principals and school boards in order to avoid law suits, but by law, it is legal to teach creationism in the classroom.  Most teachers may not even know that.  I found that very interesting.

Another thing I recently listened to and appreciated very much was a CD called "What's a Girl To?"  How to Wisely Invest Your Daughter's Time by Douglas Phillips.  It was very eye opening and affirming all at the same time.  Here is the description of it.....A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. The same is true of double-minded parents. Across America we have met evangelical parents who