Blue Moon

I've been reading other bloggers posts today. Some were reviewing their year, others making some resolutions. One even talked about the blue moon tonight. As for me, I'll relay a mishmosh of things.
It's been a challenging year. Grandma's (my Mother) health overshadowed most of what consumed me for a while now. My wish for the New Year is that for her health to rebound and for her to enjoy life's treasures to the fullest.
I hope for a good economy so that my husband's small business can prosper and grow. I also hope for continued support of the local libraries so we can continue to serve our public to the best of our abilities.
I want to enjoy my family and farm. I want to take fun breaks with my husband and daughters and enjoy our lives together. I would like to add to the farm this year, but I fear that my first year with the bees will be enough for now. I hope to add to the garden and the orchard. We need to look into the fruit trees that are having growing difficulties (eg...deer!) and figure out how to help them be fruitful. I hope to add some elderberries (why do they smell so good when they are cooking?) and blueberry bushes too.
Well I'm off to see if I can spot a blue moon! Until next year....

My new quest...

My new quest is to try to support my local farmers and eat food grown here...in Ohio. I found this fabulous web site...Ohio Proud. This is my new resource in this quest. At this site it lists products, regions and farms that one can search by. I will try to seek out these producers and try their products. I think 2010 may be a fun year!

Christmas Music

Ok, I feel it's time to "chime" in on the Christmas music topic. I love Christmas music. We have several compliation albums that must include Bing Crosby's White Christmas, and a rendition of Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree and Santa Baby. I enjoy the Beach Boys Christmas album...gotta hear Little St. Nick. And for background I enjoy Kenny G and Manhattan Transfer's Christmas albums. But my all time favorite, A #1 Christmas Album for all time is the Muppets and John Denver's Christmas Album entitled A Christmas Together. What's not to love? Miss Piggy is priceless! I guess its the child in me.
My cd slots in my car are filled with the sounds of the holiday. Quoting the movie Elf..."The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear." So as I commute back and forth to work you will see a little woman in her car just singing away... loudly! During that hour...I miss my cell phone calls from my husband and daughters because I'm just singing along. Good thing our windows are up! *smile* Merry Christmas!

Catching up.

I've been somewhat lax in posting recently. My daughter took her camera back and I'll have to wait on Santa and hope he brings me a camera for Christmas. There have been many things I would love to show you, but for now we will have to wait.
I've been reading/lurking in on other blogs from around the world. I have been inspired by these people...mostly women (I truly don't know why that is...huh). Being inspired I have painted my entry door red and decorated the entry way for the season. See the website Front Porch Design.
I have updated my pantry shelves by buying some non-adhesive contact paper. Wow what a delightful update for this cramped space. This little change has improved my harried holiday mood.
(Please note: If I had a camera, I'd show you my pantry shelves). This change was inspired by the Farm Chicks. They painted their pantry shelves... I took the working woman's route and I'm very pleased.
I've been desperately trying to bake cookies for my Christmas table. My family, however, has other plans. They are enjoying the cookies and sharing them with their friends. So it's back to the kitchen next week to bake up a least two batches of cookies for the Christmas table.
The latest books that I've read are Crocodile Tears by Anthony Horowitz. This is a young adult novel that continues the adventures of Alex Rider and Mr. Horowitz does not disappoint! I love that James Bond type stuff and eat his books up!
An adult title that I finished yesterday is The Christmas Cookie Club by Ann Pearlman. You know I'm all over any book that talks about cookies and Christmas cookies are my favorite. The novel delves into the ladies that attend the yearly Christmas cookie club. This is not a novel for the faint of heart as it deals with many issues that occur in today's world. I did enjoy the story and the recipes and the informative little breaks between chapters. The author discusses such things as the history and uses of butter, salt, cinnamon, just to name a few. Now I want to start a Christmas Cookie Club! There's always next year!
I've also become intrigued by the notion of eating locally and trying to buy all local foodstuffs for cooking at home. Ok, I'm on it. I'll start with eggs! *laughs* I was baking my own bread for a while and need to get back to that, however, I started thinking--- how do I get locally milled flour? Hmmm. Now I'm searching around for local flour, butter and cheese. Here's a shout out to all my friends, if you know of any farmer or mill that sells its wares locally, let me know. This is going to be a fun adventure. Tonight my one local food item for the table was my canned spaghetti sauce. Yeah for me... my youngest daughter thought it was delicious (and it was). My inspiration for this idea came from Not So Urban Hennery
Lastly, I would like to host a screening of a movie about farmers entitled Fresh! the Movie inspired by the blog Friend of the Farmer. I think this would be neat.
Off to watch Julie/Julia with my daughters. I love Meryl Streep's performance in this movie!
Until next time...

C is for Cookie

Here is a wonderful cookie --cookbook web site. Thanks to Sue for finding this one.
http://we-energies.com/recipes/2008cookiebook.pdf

Busy weekend

We have moved my mother into an Assisted Living facility near our home. I hope she will come to like this place. It is a beautiful place with an attentive and caring staff. We have moved her bed, chair, tv and brought her one of her ceramic Christmas Trees. Her room is warm and cozy. They posted her memory box outside her door over the weekend too. I gave them pictures of her holding one of our baby ducks (from this spring) and other pictures of our farm and her dog. She loves it!

I stopped by the local Farm Bureau office and registered with them. We are now an official member of the Ohio Farm Bureau.

I have baked a few more cookies. We have baked star cookies (Thanks Allison and Austin) and with Emily's expertise Pecan Tassies. This morning I made some stained glass cookies. I LOVE cookies! The theme for my story times for this week...Cookies! (For those of you who are unaware, I'm a children's librarian in a public library). Before we started baking, everyone selected the apron of their own choosing and we rolled up our sleeves and the proceeded to create some masterpieces.

The girls finished hanging the ornaments on our tree and our tree is a lovely expression of the family and the season.

Critter wise... I had to change all of the water buckets as the water was all frozen. We've had a cold snap come through and I decided that it was finally time to "plug it in"! Dogs, Alpacas and Chickens all have heated water dishes/buckets. I also re-installed the warming light in the chicken coop to keep my girls (and rooster) warm and happy. The dogs got extra bedding too.

Until next time....

Christmas Coookies

Hello everyone. Have you started your Christmas Cookie Baking? I tied-on my Christmas Apron and started last night with a double batch of snickerdoodles and a batch of butterballs. I learned I need to read the manual for my new oven. The bottom rack of the oven is hotter than the rest. I need to find out why. Guess how I know this. Yup, right in one... the cookies placed on the bottom rack were... slightly blackened.
Fast forward an hour, the lights are on- on the Christmas tree, the Christmas music is playing (an eclectic mix of the classics and some Kenny G thrown in.) A beautiful setting accompanied with a delightful cookie/vanilla smell. The family comes home from swim practice and states, "Wow the house smells great!" and devoured the cookies! I'm standing there watching them eat the cookies, and grabbing the milk. I managed to put away two dozen (out of four and a half of the snickerdoodles), although I expect after school today those will mysteriously disappear.
So tonight I shall begin this endeavor again.