I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta' My Hair...

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Or at least wash the dirt off some windows.

Sunday was a beautiful day, perfect for washing windows at one of the offices.

Just imagine 70 degrees, a lazy Sunday afternoon, great company, a bit of Fall color, the work is done, and nothing else scheduled til a surprise party in a few hours.





















Sometimes life is simply made up of the little things, and nothing more.

And that's a good way for it to be.

~Faith

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Adventures Take Many Shapes and Forms.

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What began as a beautiful Friday morning...









Quickly took a nasty turn.

The air, when you stepped outside, had that magical quality to it. Michael had gone down to get in some time on the trampoline, "Perfect weather for jumping, Mom". I was chatting on the phone with a friend. I went to hang the phone up and saw a man in the pasture with Michael.





It took me a few seconds to recognize the man I am married to.

I wanted to do a lot of things. But I did nothing except get on my knees and pray. I did make a call to my attorney, to see what my rights were. You see, this man has not been here for 18 months, is completely ignoring a court order of support against him, has not utilized the designated child visitation that was given to him at all, but decided to show up and muscle Michael, alone out in the field.

He spoke to Michael for 20 or 30 minutes, slandering my character and Michael's, and leaving Michael with a feeling of disgust. He told Michael he didn't care what any court order said, even if it meant he had to go to jail, and that he would come here any time he felt like it. Michael was respectful, but told him exactly how he felt. Even through all this Michael was thinking of me. When his dad left, Michael remained where he was standing instead of coming into the house, in case his dad decided to follow him.

I was a bit frazzled for the rest of the day. We had office cleaning and a get-together in town to do that night. Michael in much better shape than I was. But I am learning to let go and rest in the Lord earlier and earlier in crisis situations.

Saturday I would have liked to have taken the day completely off, but since I'd not done the work in the kitchen on my 'frazzled' day, we worked sporadically.

Our spring hens have come into lay. YAY! We have enough eggs to share now. This was two day's worth.





The broom corn vase.





Michael, taking care of worship music business for church this weekend.





How kefired milk looks before you swish it around to mix the curds and whey together and strain out the grains.





Here is three day's worth of growth on the Kombucha SCOBY. The mother has risen to the top and you can see it bumping up underneath the filmy growth of the baby SCOBY. It's doing fine.





Seth, the dog, went nuts and we took this photo of a small equine entourage passing by. Whoever they are, they like to come out in the Autumn, not much other times. Seems like the time of year for it.





No, I don't talk about our horses much, because that aspect of my life is a little frustrating to me, not having time to work with them. But I have them, I love them, and they have always been a formulating factor in the foundation of who I am. I always dreamed of how wonderful it would be to have sets of draft horses. I'd love to ride a Percheron. I even went window shopping a couple of weeks ago online. Google is a lovely place to waste time.

Another office to clean this morning, and windows to wash this afternoon. I hope I can make it to church with Michael.

Better get busy!

~Faith

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Sweet Gifts

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Of friends, and from friends. These two ladies are a blessing. They dropped by the other day bringing the gorgeous horse hay over. But just the visit would have been nice enough. Good times.





Ashlee is just beginning her driving career, so we had to get a photo of her getting into her chariot for the day.





But mom, Elaine, drove down to our little barn while I led the way.





And Michael and Ashlee rode in high style.





"Oh!" the girls say, "Is that for us?"





Practicing the Barbie wave.





Moving the Sukkah lumber out of the way.





Smells like a lovely meadow.





The bales were quite light, but I showed Ashlee how to use hay hooks; a leftover from my days of moving 120-140 pound alfalfa bales in baling wire. These light bales with twine are easy to pick up and move with just your hands.





























Boy, Gary had really packed these in! Took several of us to get one out of the bottom.





Ashlee taking the first hay treat to the girls.









Bye!!





And did you notice?

X marks the spot!





Follow that, and you are home.

~Faith

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Kombucha SCOBY - Fermented Drinks Part 2

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My friend also sent me a SCOBY so I can begin making Kombucha Tea again.

This one looks like it may have been in hibernation a bit long, the front side is mostly good.





The back side is a bit aged.





Here is the bag is shipped in, containing a bit of the tea with it. This feeds the SCOBY while in transit and serves as the starter for the new tea.





I pour it into a half-gallon jar. Again, I'm only going to make a little bit to get this going again. We have a small amount of SCOBY in this case, so I won't ask much from it.





This gives it the right PH for growth. A SCOBY does the same thing for tea that Kefir grains do for milk. Exchange the sugar for probiotics. Plus, this one tastes even better!





Spring water would have been better, but I did not have any, so I'm using tap; one quart.





Bring it to a boil and remove from heat.





Add in 1/3 cup of sugar.





Stir to dissolve.





And add tea bags. For this small batch, four is plenty.





Let cool to room temperature.





The shape of your SCOBY depends on the shape of the top of the container it grew in. This one was in a gallon jar. I simply fold it and drop it into my half-gallon jar. The new SCOBY that forms will be the size of this jar.









Add in your cooled, sweetened tea to the starter and the SCOBY



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Put a thin covering over it, such as this napkin, held on with a rubber band. It must breathe, but keep out bugs and bacteria.





And tuck it out of the way somewhere in a darker place. The cabinet will do fine again. Don't move it. If you do, the delicate film that is the beginning of the new SCOBY will be disturbed and it will have to start over.





This must ferment for about a week or so.

Maybe I will too... yawn....

~Faith

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