Who knew you could make THAT?

Well, today I made whey and cream cheese. You heard right. Whey. and. cream. cheese.

Who knew you could make that? Turns out, you can make those two things by taking yogurt, plopping it into a cheesecloth lined strainer over a bowl, and letting it sit on your counter for most of the day. The whey drips out of the yogurt into the bowl and the cream cheese is left in the cheesecloth.

What's whey? Good question. It's what Little Miss Muffet ate with her curds. Also, you can make funky lacto-fermented stuff to eat with it. More on that when I get around to it....

For now, though, I'm just gonna enjoy some cream cheese on a bagel!

Field Trip Wednesday

Been a looooong time since I posted on the blog. Things have been BUSY, but I'm not even going to try to catch up. Let's just move forward with things.

In our new homeschooling schedule, we've set aside Wednesday as our field trip day. Today we were going to go to the zoo (again) since it has been really nice here for the middle of November. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate and it has been drizzly and yucky all day.

Plan #2 - go to the DaVinci Science Center. Unfortunately, the kids were slow as molasses this morning, so we didn't get out in time to drive to the museum, see the exhibits, eat lunch, and drive home in time for naps. Scrap that idea.

Plan #3 - go to Hendricks Farm and check out the pastured beef, pork, chicken, turkeys, cheese and raw milk. I've been learning more about traditional nutrition vs. modern eating and am interested in bringing in healthier dairy/meat choices to our home. Enter raw milk and pastured meats.

The farm itself was less than hopping today. We saw only the chickens and a very friendly turkey. I bought raw milk, a whole chicken and a dozen eggs for around $25. Not cheap, but at least there's nothing funky or industrialized in the products! I asked the store clerk if the farmers give tours - they do, but in the afternoons after they homeschool their children. We'll go back for that experience for sure.

When we got home, we had a taste test on the raw milk. Aubry and Declan loooooved it - smacking their lips loved it. Nola didn't care for it to drink, but she doesn't drink regular milk either. She thinks that she'll like it on cereal though. Greg said the milk tasted creamier and a little different flavor wise - like there was a layer on top (probably the cream). I haven't tasted it yet - I don't drink milk plain so it'll have to wait until I need it for coffee or cereal.

All it all it was a bust of a day for an actual field trip, but our diets may thank us in the long run!

How does our garden grow?

This past weekend we finally got started planting in our new garden. A couple of weeks ago, I got started on creating the bed in a pretty great location in the backyard. It's right up against the house on the south side so it gets sun pretty much all day.

To make the bed, I used bricks that Stacey graciously donated last fall (thanks, Stacey!). Then, I double dug the bed and mixed in compost (free) that Greg hauled over from the township's stash. After a quick trip to Home Despot, we were ready to do this....

the bed is loose, composted, and bordered nicely with brick. look closely and you'll see that clover had been using it as a litter box. guess a little fencing is in order....

aubry helped me make the garden grids recommended by my gardening bible, Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. we used zip ties and each square is 12".

greg worked on fixing the broken outdoor faucet and getting the hose reel installed on a newly dug and flagstoned aisle between the garden bed and the bilko doors.

here i am modeling my new hat and showing off the garden grids and walking pathways. the garden has 3 beds with 16 spaces each for planting. more to come!

Easter Eggs!

It's been a looong time without a post! Here are a few pics of the kids coloring Easter eggs at the dining room table.

Declan wasn't supposed to be involved in this project, but he INSISTED by grunting, pointing and climbing up onto the table. After we gave him his own egg to destroy dye, he was as happy as a clam!

Aubry was very focused

Nola multi-tasked


Declan whined and got his own egg, which he promptly dyed brown.

This is what happens when you repeatedly poke a freshly dyed (brown) Easter egg.

March comes in like a lion.....

Last night we had our first real snowstorm of the year. It was so bad that the school district canceled school before I even went to bed! They do this auto-dial thingy where your phone usually rings at 5:50 AM to announce that school is canceled or delayed. I was grateful to get the call at 9:30 PM instead!

Anyway, we woke to a storm in progress and were just now able to go outside to shovel out the sidewalks and driveway. It's really cold, so we didn't stay out long - just enough time to shovel, make some snow angels and eat really clean snow. Then it was inside for freshly baked brownies!

catching snowflakes on her tongue

making snow angels in the driveway

nola liked doing a downward dog to lick the snow

Where did she come from?

OK. So tonight at the dinner table Nola comes out and says "Can I talk to you about some bus problems, Mom?" She proceeds to tell me that the "mean boys" on the bus have once again called her a name. This time it's "potato head".

Now, being the wonderful mom that I am, I talk with her about her feelings, possible solutions, and what actions to take next. When I asked her what she did about the name-calling, she said "I turned to my friend and enjoyed the ride". Seriously. She actually said that.

She seemed to like the extreme idea of not taking the bus home to avoid the "mean boys", but after thinking about this one for a while she came up with the following:

Nola: "Mom, I think that not riding the bus on Mondays would be ok. I think that I can do 4 days on the bus."

Me: "What do you mean 'on Mondays"?"

Nola: "Well, on Tuesdays I usually ride with xxxxx, on Wednesdays I ride with yyyyyyy, on Thursdays I sit next to zzzz and aaaaa, and Fridays is ALWAYS bbbbb and cccc, since they only ride the bus home on Fridays."

Me: "Huh? You mean that you ride with these kids on the same days each week?"

Nola: "Yes."

What's going on here? Doesn't she know that she's FIVE??? And who has a schedule of friends to ride with on the bus anyway? The best part of this whole thing was that NONE of the kids she named in her bus riding schedule are actually kindergartners! I am constantly amazed at this child's ability to make friends and build social networks anywhere she goes.

Later on this evening, she asked "Mom, can I talk to you about some of my other life problems?"
LIFE PROBLEMS? From a five year old?!? Turns out that she had a bit of a scare from some dogs on leashes while she was walking home from the bus stop. Nothing major, since she once again refused my offer to come and pick her up at the bus stop after school. (She prefers to walk home by herself.)

She's an amazing kid, that Nola....

The Month of Love

OK. Here's the reality here in Herding Cats land. My camera is holding all my recent photos hostage. Seriously. Have no idea why I can't get them onto the computer, and neither does Greg. No photos, then.

However, I do need to tell all 3 of you who read this blog that February is officially the Month of Love in the Dowd house (at least in my mind. Greg mocks me.). What does that mean? Well, for Jennie over at the Squeaky Wheel, it means that there's a lot of great cooking and kind words. For me, the month of love means...GET THE CRAP OUT OF THE MASTER BEDROOM!!!!

If I had a photo of my bedroom right now, you would be scared. Truly. No one in his or her right mind would sleep in this room. There are piles of kid clothes waiting to be sorted and donated/sold, piles of almost filed papers, and other piles of who knows what. You see, I made all these piles in JANUARY thinking that I'd blow through the sorting in time for February 1 (the kick-off day of the Month of Love). Apparently I forgot that I had 3 kids under 6.

I am now praying for a miracle. Valentine's Day is Saturday, and I'd like to give Greg the gift of a clean bedroom. Will it happen? I hope so. I just have to take care of the kids, teach an art lesson to the kindergartners, organize the preschool's 100 day celebration, take the kids to their activities and keep the rest of the house in some semblance of order. Cross your fingers for me!