Fun Weather!

Oh my gosh! This weather is completely AWESOME!!!! I love these late spring storms! These past few weeks have been great with the showers, down pours, thunder storms and hail! The biggest bonus of this weather...I don't have to water my garden! And more of this rain to come...wow, God is AWESOME and HE can do whatever he wants with our weather WHENEVER HE wants!

Now, I'm going to comfort my dog, Roxy...who is NOT thrilled with the thunder.

County Fair 2011

Thursday I had the enjoyment of attending the opening day of the Sacramento County Fair at Cal Expo.  Dad was volunteering that the Sacramento Area Beekeeper's Association (SABA) booth and I just was there because I enjoy the Fair.  Dad had a great time talking to the little school kids.  I walked around the Fair stopping to talk to exhibitors.  I found some Flemish Giants being shown be a FFA girl, it was one of my babies baby.  I love seeing that! 

After wandering around seeing who was there (and who wasn't) I stopped and watched the swine show. I was really impressed with the judge.  He explained to not only the exhibitors, but the audience as well, why he placed the hogs in the way he did.  Then I went over the the Market Lamb show and Market Turkey show rings.  I was really waiting for the market and dairy goat shows. 

While I was watching the turkey show, I had quite a few school groups come up next to me, spouting some very incorrect versions of what was going on.  I heard that they were having turkey races, cock fights, and even one parent asked me if  the animals in the ring were actually turkeys...I really had no idea what to think. 

After the Turkey Show finally ended, the goats came into the show ring!  I was so excited for the goat show because that is the field I'm going into.  The judge for the goat show was also very impressive, explaining his placings and the good points and faults of each goat.  Unfortunately, I did not get to see the Dairy or Nigerian Dwarf goat shows, as they were being shown on Friday.

Before we left, Dad and I watched some of the Market Beef Show.  Again, the judge was very informative and explained his reasons for placing the animals as he did.

In all, I had a fun time at the County Fair!

Strawberry Jammin'

Yesterday afternoon my wonderful Dad bought fresh strawberries for me to make into jam! I came home from work and the 12 baskets he bought for me made the kitchen smell like a strawberry patch! Yummy! Dad made two baskets into sugar coated strawberries (a great snack at any hour) and I made seven into jam this morning!

I don't really know why I like making strawberry jam so much. I never eat store-bought jam, but mine I love the taste! As is my norm, I base my recipe off the one in Ball's Blue Book of Preserving and add a bit of my own twist (which will be even twistier next year).

Strawberry Jam

2 quarts strawberries
1 package powdered pectin
7 cups sugar
Honey (I really don't know how much...maybe 1/2 a cup)

Wash and drain strawberries, remove stems and crush. Combine strawberries and pectin in a large saucepot. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. Stir in honey and sugar. Bring back to a rolling boil and boil for 1 minute or until gelling point (I'll explain that shortly) stirring constantly. Remove from heat and skim off any foam. Ladle into hot jars leaving a 1/4-inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps and process in boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes. Make sure to label and date the jars before storing them in your pantry...it's never nice to eat mystery canned goods. Oh, it make about 7 or 8 half-pint jars of jam.

Okay, as promised an explaination of "gelling point". If you want jam (and not ice-cream topping) you need to make sure you jam is gelled. To do this I put a metal spoon in the freezer when I start. When I think it is getting close to gelling, I pull the spoon out of the freezer, dip it in the boiling jam-to-be and pull it out and away from the steaming pot. If the jam is still syrupy it is not even close. Wash off the spoon and stick it back in the freezer. Keep that pot boiling and constantly stir. I go for about two to five minutes before testing it again. When you've reach the gelling point the jam falls off the spoon in a sheet. You can also use a candy/jelly thermometer.

Just an observation, this batch of jam came out super dark! It looks very cool! And it tastes super yummy!

Granola Greatness!

Last week one of my co-workers brought in some homemade granola mix that she had made for her daughter as part of a "final's week survival kit". That inspired me to try to make some myself. It will be a good snack for me while I'm in college and just in general.

I admit, I didn't scour the internet for recipes. I did however do a few google searches that came up with many granola recipes that called for pure maple syrup. Sorry, I can't afford any pure maple syrup in my present situation. So I continued my hunt. I found a recipe for Honey Granola in a cookbook I already had "1999 Taste of Home Annual Recipes".  I had to, of course, spice it up a little to my own taste (and what we had in the pantry), but I really like the turn out!

1/4 c. Honey (I like local honey)
1/4 c. melted butter
1 tbsp. brown sugar (light or dark)
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 c. rolled oats (Quaker Oatmeal!)
1/2 c. unprocessed bran
1/2 c. salted peanuts (Planters!)

Take a 9-inch square baking pan, mix honey, butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon.  Add the rolled oats and bran and mix together.  Bake at 350 degrees F. for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.  Stir in the peanuts.  Cool.  And ENJOY!  Store in a cover container.

Next time I want to add raisins and maybe pretzels and white chocolate chips or something.  If you have any good granola or other easy to transport snack recipes, send them my way!  God Bless!

Eggbert!

Everyone, meet Eggbert! He is my new pig! Made out of Red Heart SuperSaver yarn. He is about 18 inches long and about 7 inches tall, complete with blue button eyes and a curly tail. I named him Eggbert, because I say that if I were to get another puppy, my dog Arnold would want him called Eggbert.

I had no pattern for Eggbert he evolved as I crocheted. I started with his head, the snout first then the rest. Next came his body with a brown belt around his belly. Last was his legs, ears and tail.

Currently, Eggbert is spending the next week at the Sacramento County Fair and was judged yesterday morning. I have yet to discover his placing, but I'm hoping that he is loved by the judges.

I plan on making a cow, horse, goat and sheep to keep Eggbert company. The next project I work on will be made out of more "natural" yarn. I have decided to move away from acrylic and nylon yarns and focus more on wools, cottons, bamboos, angoras, alpaca, and other "natural" yarns. I'm not a crazy hippie, just a young lady, with a desire to move toward back to our roots.

With my next project-with-out-a-pattern, I will definitely write it down and let everyone in on my secret. I regret not doing that with Eggbert, but there was so much ripping out stitches and trying again, it would have been impossible to read. If anyone out there has any patterns for crocheted animals I would be more than happy to recieve them.

Good Luck at Fair Eggbert! And God Bless everyone else!

Let There Be Yarn!

Despite the fact that I have been actively using yarn for nearly a decade, I still use the cheapest yarn I can find in the local chain craft store.  A few years ago I decided I would raise alpacas for fiber and offspring sales.  But that is still in the future.  So I have taken on the mission to find out everything I can about turning that fiber I will be shearing off my future alpacas (and since then I have added fiber goats and sheep to my dreams). 

I went to the library and checked out three books on handspinning and dying fiber.  I just finished the first book this morning.  It is called  by Judith MacKenzie McCuin.  Now, I haven't much experience actually using this book so at the moment this in purely a "reader's review". 

I found Teach Yourself Visually Handspinning a very excellent and informative book.  There were great pictures detailing each section.  It not only covered spinning on a wheel or drop spindle, but also covered a little on dying and spinning exotic fibers.  There was also a section on how to cable, ply and create different artistic effects while spinning yarn.  I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning to handspin. I plan to use this book when I actually attempt to teach myself to spin my own yarn. 

Now I know what questions to ask the people who are in the handspinning competition at County Fair!   Until next time!  God Bless!

Natural Horsemanship

What do you think of when you hear someone say "Natural Horsemanship"? I admit I was skeptical about it at first. But as I read more and more on the subject, the more I realized it isn't a crazy training method that some hippie dude thought up. It is a logical training method that helps you build a lifelong relationship with your horse. Which isn't that what you want out of your horse? A lifelong relationship?

I just finished reading a book my friend let me borrow Natural Horse●Man●Ship by Pat Parelli (published by Western Horseman). I really loved the book. If you are looking for a tell-me-all-your-horse-training-secrets-horse-training-book this is not your book. It does have tons of valuable information, but not the last educational resource you would buy. I'll tell you what I loved about this book. Parelli constantly reiterates his points. He says the same key points over and over again, so you actually retain what he wants you to retain.
I liked the book was divided into three sections – an Overview, On the Ground and In the Saddle. Each section had the same subsections – Attitude, Knowledge, Tools, Techniques, Time and Imagination. I learned that attitude – both mine and my horses are very important both of us have to have a "want to" attitude otherwise we can't make any progress. I also loved that the tools used in training were detailed out. I never quite understood the different kinds of bits, whether a nylon flat halter or a rope halter was better, or the different types or reins. Thanks to this book I'm beginning to understand!

Pat Parelli makes many valuable points throughout his book. The ones that stuck with me the most are "if you take the time it takes, it takes less time", "ask…tell…promise", "I've got one rule. There are no rules", "do it for the horse, not to him", and I don't remember how exactly it was worded but something to the effect of "don't work your horse, play with him and work on yourself."

I think one of my favorite parts of the book was the subsection on Imagination in the In The Saddle section. Pat Parelli talked about using your imagination to recreate events you would like to do with your horse such as cutting, reining, dressage, barrel racing, pole bend and whatever other horsey activities you and your horse can do without actually having the real equipment. Use your imagination! Be a kid again! Remember playing Survivor in the backyard or lava monster on the playground? Do that again with your horse, imagine there are cattle out there to rope when you're playing, or there are barrels out there to run around. Create the situation in your mind and act it out. In other words PLAY! Have FUN! And who doesn't want to have fun?

Since I read this book I'm extremely interested in Pat Parelli's training methods and am in search of any Parelli educational materials I can get my hands on. I have spent many hours in the past few weeks on Pat Parelli's website http://www.parellinaturalhorsetraining.com/ and on http://www.youtube.com/ learning all I can about Parelli Natural Horse Training. I will probably buy Pat Parelli's entire training kits but until I have a horse of my own and money to invest in that I shall have to be patient.

I highly recommend investing in this book Natural Horse●Man●Ship by Pat Parelli. It was one of the best horse training books I have read. I also recommend check out Pat Parelli's website http://www.parellinaturalhorsetraining.com/ and also if you get RDF-TV check out his tv show "The Horseman's Apprentice" and it can also be watched on http://www.thehorsemansapprentice.com/.
Until next time! God Bless!