First semester of senior year over and in-between seasons

Oh my....if anyone is still reading this, you're probably wondering if I've fallen off the face of the

earth.  Not to worry....I'm still here and have survived the first semester of my senior year in the Early

Education Program.  Whew....it's been busy this last several months.  I've been in a classroom

placement twice this semester for three weeks at a time.  During those placements, we have several

assignments and projects to keep us busy just in case we thought we were in charge of our lives and

time .....ha!   Then came the final two weeks of the semester....we were back in our classroom with our

instructors and then came the finals!  But you know what I realized after they were all done....those

should be the last finals I ever have to take as this next semester is interning and I don't know how you

could give a final over that...but I'd better not give anyone any ideas either!



Now I'm in-between seasons.  I just got finished washing one of my pumpkins that I had used for a fall

decoration.  Then I chunked up what would fit in the pressure cooker and it's doing it's thing right now.

 I hope y'all haven't wasted a good thing like that.  You can use it anywhere pumkin is called for in a

recipe or stir it into soups, cakes or cookie recipes to fortify them.  Pumpkin is one of the super foods!

See the little bowl off to the side.....be sure and save your seeds to replant for the next season.  Wash

them off and let them dry before storing them til spring.  I save old pill bottles to store seeds in.  You

can write on them with a permanent marker so you'll be sure to know what you have next spring!

After you've pressured the pumpkin about 15 minutes, check to see if it's soft enough to scrape from

the rind or peeling.  Scrape it all out and then store in plastic bags, jars or freezer boxes in the freezer.

Uhm um good!

Now that the Thanksgiving decorations are down.....I can begin the Christmas candy and cookie

productions!   Last night I dipped the bon-bons and have started the chocolate dipped ritz crakers with

peanut butter between them.  Tomorrow it will be the rolled sugar cookies and white chocolate dipped

chocolate sandwich cookies!

Long time, no post!

Sorry for being gone for so long!  School is taking a lot of time so far this semester.  This is week

number two of our first field placement.  I'm in a 3rd grade classroom from 7:45 til 2:30.  Then it's home

 to do a little work on one of 5 lesson plans we have to teach sometime during this placement, and work

on supper, clean a little house, maybe do a little laundry....you get the picture.  There just isn't enough

time in the day to get everything done!

But just keep watching....I'll be back!

Canadian Fishing Vacation

Every so often, after working hard for an extended time, we like to reward ourselves with a vacation.

 We're not beach people, so don't look for us there.  It's been extremely hot for an extended period of

time here where we live and we love to fish, so, where else, but Canada for us!   About 5 years ago, we

found a resort in Sioux Lookout, Ontario that we fell in love with.  We looked and searched around and

couldn't find anything any better again this time, so we made reservations once again at Fireside Lodge. 

Alan and Audrey have such a wonderful place and are such wonderful hosts!  Audrey is a wonderful

cook and we ate way too much good food and  Alan has all the info for the lakes so we caught a lot of

fish.  Another plus was it was cooler than at home.  Now don't think that it was coat weather, but at least

it was a good 25 degrees cooler than at home.  We wouldn't even be able to go out and fish at home, but

were able to stay out all day there on Vermillion lake.   We were hoping to be able to see a moose this

time, but they just didn't show themselves.  We were still though rewarded with the awesome beauty

of that area.  If you ever get the chance, be sure to travel there!

This is a picture of our last evening we got to fish.  We  had fished all day, then gone in for dinner. 

There is enough daylight to get about 3 hours of fishing in before dark, so we like to take advantage of

it.  After all, we did travel quite a ways!

The Story Goes On....Finding the Perfect Farm

Have you read the post   5 Pine Knoll: Continuation of story.  That would be a good place to start so that

today's post will make a little more sense.   Now  I want to tell you how we finally found the

"retirement farm".  After purchasing the 80 acres at Almartha, which is for sale now, we began the

search again for   the retirement farm.  
    
     We were always checking the internet, picking up the local real estate papers and reading the 

newspaper, looking for that perfect piece of property.  We found one that fit our requirements in the

size as it was 160 acres.  It was listed with a realty company and we made an appointment to go look

at it.  The real estate agent took us to the property and gave us the tour.  It was totally fenced and was

mostly pasture, which was good.  The bad was that it was on a highway, so you get the noise from the

traffic....not something we wanted to listen to the rest of our lives.  So the hunt was on again.  We

went down the highway to another real estate office and told the agent that greeted us what we were

looking for.  Low and behold, in his hand he had an refused offer on a piece he thought would be just

what we were looking for.  When we originally began the hunt again, and we had realized how far

away from the lake the other piece is, we added that as one of our necessities.  This time, I didn't even

ask how close this piece was to the lake, as it was getting pretty hard to find what we were looking

for.  As we drove up to the place, we could already see that it was pretty overgrown, but we can see   

past that....that's a problem that can be fixed.  The agent walked some of the property with us and tried

to point out the corners.   We were already pretty impressed....it was large enough...it was gently

rolling.....it was a mixture of woods and pasture, although very overgrown....it bordered the lake......it's

lookin' pretty good.  We thanked him and told him we'd be in touch.  We planned to come back the

next day and hike the property so we could get an up close and personal look at it.   We came back the

next day, hiked it and  found most of the corners.  It's not a straight edged piece of property as it

borders Bull Shoals Lake and the government take like or Corp property follows an elevation mark so

we have several zig zags and   lots of corners.  We made an offer and it was accepted....yeah!   Closing

happened about a month later and we were then the proud owners of 180 acres!  Now the work could

begin!

Homemade Yogurt

I'm making yogurt again this morning.  I've been making my own off and on for the last couple of months and it is so easy....I don't know why you wouldn't make your own.  You can control what is in it rather than eat  something that you wouldn't ordinairly put in your body!  A lot of purchased yogurts have extra ingredients that I just don't want to eat, so....

You will need a 2 quart saucepan, 2 quart jars and some way to keep your yogurt warm for about 4 - 6 hours and 2 tbsp. of live culture yogurt...check on the container....it will say live culture yogure..  After you make your own, you'll not have to purchase it again....you'll have your own live culture.

Warm 2 quarts of milk (I use 2%) to 180 degrees.

Then set if off the burner and allow to cool to 115 degrees.     At this point, stir in 2 tbsp. of  live culture yogurt.  Maintain your yogurt now at 110 degrees for the next 4 - 6 hours. 


This can be done several ways: in your oven, on the very lowest setting, in a bath of warm water (to help the heat from varying too much)-and some people report being able to achieve 110°F with just the warm bath and the oven light on-or in a very well-insulated cooler.

Another method I tried this time was to use my slow cooker.  I put the jars in, added warm water to about half way up on the jars, and chose the “Keep Warm” setting.  After I had stirred in the starter yogurt, I poured the mixture in to two quart jars.  I monitored the temp for the next 4 hours and would sometimes have to turn the cooker off so as not to get too hot.

Pour hot water (115°F) into a cooler, put your jars of almost-yogurt in there, and shut the lid, checking every now and then that the internal temperature is still 110°F or so, and replace the warm water as necessary. No matter which method you choose, take care to keep the temperature as close to 110°F as possible.

Your yogurt is done when it's firmed up (though it'll come together a bit more as it cools). Once done, refrigerate your new yogurt and enjoy, ad nauseum. Stir in granola or oats and allow to sit a spell.   Add fresh fruit just before you eat it or, for maximum freshness, and rejoice that you'll never have to buy yogurt at the store again.

Coffee Give away!

You need to go visit dtr-in-love's blog at http://www.mrs-adventure.com/2011/05/me-coffee-love-giveaway-awesome.html

She's giving away some fabulous fair trade coffee...good for you, good for them.....good  for the world!

This has been a terrible week for bad weather.  We have seen so much destruction in such a short amount of

time.  Your whole world can be blown away in seconds!  With all of these tornados happening, please take

the time to think about where you would find shelter if the need arose!  When the tornado siren is going off is

not the time to be deciding where to take shelter, you should evaluate your dwelling when you have time to

rationally think about where the safest area of your dwelling or work place would be. 

Ozark 80 Acre Farm for sale

As I was looking through old posts, I found this one.  It definitely needs to be brought up to date as THE FARM FINALLY SOLD!!

This farm took 5 years to sell, but we and the real estate company finally did it!!

So, if you are trying to sell a piece of property don't be disheartened...it can happen!


Update!!   The farm is still for sale.....but the price has been lowered to $110,000.00!!




In the previous post, I told you I would be giving you more information about  being able to acquire

your own little piece of heaven here in the Ozarks.  Now don't think that this is the retirement farm

that we're talking about selling, because that farm is definitly not for sale!  This is the 80 acres that we

bought before we found THE FARM!

 We had begun the search for THE FARM and ran across this 80 acres.  It had everything that we

wanted.  It had a nice mixture of grass and woods, 2 ponds, fenced and several beautiful views.  There

are deer signs and is peaceful and quiet.  And there are some beautiful views!

The only thing it was missing is a close access to the lake.  We love to fish, so off we went in search

of a farm closer to the lake.  We found it....it's the one where we spend all of our spare time working! 

So now, we really need to sell this other farm.  It really needs someone to take care of it and appreciate

it!  There is lots of good grass on it and is currently leased to the neighbors so they can graze it.  The

taxes are low....$23.  That's right, you read it right.....$23....you can't get much better than that!!

All this can be yours for the low price of $120,000! 

Contact me if you'd be interested :))