Snowed In, AGAIN

As a Virginian, I would wave a white flag. Except it wouldn't show up against all the snow, anyway.

What a winter. Extra wood had to be bought after the cold came early, and now we are having to pay for a second plowing of our mutual drive. Three of the four houses on our road will split the cost this time.

Meanwhile, I made a resolution to try and create something every day this year. I did pretty well through January then got stuck on a labradorite necklace on Jan 21. But 2 days ago I conquered it and completed the set (earrings and necklace). Labradorite is a grey stone will inner blues and greens, subtle, and I had to find other elements that didn't overwhelm it. I used 3 sterling silver beads that are my particular favorites. Della says she'll help me put a picture on later.

Then the last two days I've been working on some Valentines Day jewelry for gifts. Tomorrow (last snow day I hope!) I'll tackle some other project that's been in my 'works in progress' drawer.

Buried in Veggies

Today Hannah came over to help with the canning, which was a real boost to Esther and me. Even I was feeling a bit demoralized. I was busy enough with my garden, but then a friend brought 7 feed sacks of corn over (which probably hold 70 ears each) and the idea of all that corn sitting there GOING TO BE WASTED was terrible. But, I did give away all but half a bag, felt better, then realized that MY corn was ready. So today we did our own corn (all done! 18 pints canned, and 3 quarts frozen...my freezers are getting full so I'm having to can some of everything). We also baked all the rest of the zucchini in the closet into bread, which Larry was happy about. He likes it in his lunches.

I think I'm feeling overwhelmed because Della isn't here and I have all the cheese making too. I made yogurt yesterday, and tomorrow we must do something with some of the milk. I'm also having to do the laundry which means running up and down stairs while trying to watch the canner and prepare jars...

I have tried some different cheeses and had some successes. We dropped one milking to decrease the amount of milk, and we're drying up one of our big producers. Even so, there is still enough milk for cheese-making. I've told Della we just can't have all the goats milking at once!

Last year we had half milking at a time and that was much more reasonable.

Tomorrow Esther and I have to run errands and pick up a few chickens, then Thursday it's back to canning again...tomato sauce I think. I think this week will be the peak. Della certainly knew when to leave :)

Helping Milk Victoria

Realizing that busy is the word most used to describe my life, next to tired, so I've changed the title of the blog. Not even sure who is reading it! Facebook vs. Blogs...can I keep up with both? Are blogs better for those with a particular interest, like Della with her decorating? We'll see.

And now, it's Sunday afternoon, I'm recovering from a 24 hour bug (I spent all last night tossing with a fever and wondering if I had the flu, and cataloging all the people in the family that I could have infected...). Esther and I have had a quiet afternoon and are about to go out and take care of all the animal chores. Sarge the farm dog has to be tied out by the garden every night to keep the deer away from the second crop of beans. Maybe next year we'll have more fence up. We have to feed all the outside cats and dogs, water the goats and close up the poultry. And maybe pick all those tomatos!

Very Busy Summer
Writing to both boys takes up a lot more time than I would have thought. No wonder I don't write so m