Butter

This fall I have been reading Little House in the Big Woods to Lyddie every afternoon. I was a little hesitant since I thought it might be over her head still but after reading it again myself thought she would enjoy it.
She loves the stories Pa tells to Laura and Mary and giggles each time. She is also fascinated (as am I) with the self-sufficiency of their lives and the detailed descriptions of all the tasks. Making butter, for instance. She said " I wish we could make butter like that." And though we don't have a butter churn, I had seen several things online in the past about making butter in a mason jar from cream.
So we did. It was a fun experiment and the girls both enjoyed watching the cream thicken. I was surprised at the sudden transformation when it separated into butter and buttermilk.
Lyddie was just disappointed that we don't have a butter mold like Ma, but I was able to form it into a stick shape and salt it and it tastes...like... butter from the store!

Full Swing of Spring

 Spring is officially here around our little haven and we're having fun and working hard.  We have 13 chickens, one of which appears to be a rooster-in-training, named Eustace.  Eustace the Rooster... I felt way too clever for that than the name actually deserves.  He is going to be beautiful, I think!

 Jesse (with Lyddie) is working hard in his spare time to get our chicken coop finished.  Yesterday the poor man was coming down with a cold that has hit full-strength today, but he is so determined to get the project done that he pushed for a little while to make some progress.  Our summer ministry time is fast approaching and I can tell he's feeling pressure to finish up some projects around the property before summer hits.  He designed the coop himself and it is looking SO great!  I am so proud of him!  Lyddie loves to be out helping him by handing him nails and mostly by talking his ear off with her sweet chatter.  

He designed nesting boxes that open with a hinged and latched door on the backside, making it easy to reach in and collect the eggs.  

 

Jesse named this sweetheart Aretha.  I wasn't going to name the chickens, and I wasn't even sure I'd be able to tell them all apart, but I am starting to be able to tell each of them apart by looks and names just naturally sprang to mind.  So far we also have Gladys, Sylvia, and Marilyn.  Aretha is our biggest pullet and she is one of our most mild-mannered when being held.  She loves to roost on top of our waterer... so clearly we need to get them in the coop with real roosts!

Britt, our sweet red pup to match our sweet redheaded daughters.

This is Gabriel, our Maremma shepherd.  I am so in love with him, can you tell? 

What's going on around your home with spring in full swing?