Finally a decent moon shot!  I've tried to get this right so many times that I finally gave up.  

A good camera makes all the difference.

Loving the way it captures the sparkles on the snow.

As far as clarity and true color in my photos, I couldn't ask for more.

We've been trying to get outside everyday, so CC and I make a cup of coffee or green tea and hit the road to see what we can photograph.

When moose fly!

I captured this first thing in the morning.  I loved the way the mountains were "pink" while everything else surrounding the photo was gray, black and white.  It's just about the only color here this time of year.

Looking Back on 2016

2017 is here and as usual I'm late getting a "Looking Back" post or any post for that matter up on the blog.

Better late than never!

So the little man on the left joined us in February during the Super Bowl half time show, and made us Grampy and Grammy for a second time! 

He's such a cutie! 

This guy moved back to Maine!  Woot woot!!!

On Easter this year, they announced they were expecting their first baby!

It was such a wonderful surprise!

Miss Ella Rose arrived early to celebrate Thanksgiving with all of us.  

A happy and healthy baby girl! 

They are amazing parents!

She arrived on CC's birthday! 

An awesome birthday gift of becoming an aunt to this sweet baby girl!

Their first Christmas with Ella 

CC, David, Scott and I headed out the last weekend in November to cut down our tree!

It was our first Christmas in our new home!  We absolutely love where we live and I haven't any regrets! 

Ready for Christmas!

This was Timmy's first Christmas!

He was so much fun! 

Ben turned three this year and was so fun to watch.  His squeals and excitement made everyone laugh!

This was Ella's first Christmas too.  She loves her mommy and daddy so much. 

She is just a joy to look at, hold, and talk to.

My heart is full!

Living in our new home here in town, I'm finding I actually enjoy snowstorms.

There is hardly any wind here and makes going outside so much more bearable. 

This is our biggest storm yet! 24 inches at once!

Happy New Year!

A New Beginning

I've tossed the idea around of ending this blog and starting a new one or just adding to this one.  After much thought, I decided to just add on to my existing blog here at 4 Arrows Farm.

A lot has changed since my last post!  Too much to catch up on in just one post.  So let me be brief! We've sold our Farm and moved to a different town and downsized drastically!  We no longer live in the country, but right in town!

I love it! Smaller house, walking distance to town, and we have even downsized our van to a tiny car!!  Much easier to clean :)

I'm no longer homeschooling.....my children have grown up and graduated! 

I have two daughter in laws now!

I have two grandsons!

I have a granddaughter due in November!

One son lives in Texas, but is on his way home the end of October to attend the University here!! :)

and

My husband is full time in Real Estate, no more rooftops for him!! 

I'm settling into this new chapter of life for me and my husband.  It's been an adjustment but one that has been very welcomed and easy to make.

More pictures and stories to come!!

My one weakness…...

I've never been good at journaling.  "It's my one weakness", to quote Dorcas Lane in Lark Rise To Candleford. I love the idea of it and I love notebooks and journals, but I just can't seem to form a habit of it.  I guess that is why there has been such a long absence here on my blog.  It's an online journal. So the past several months have been filled with gardening, canning, freezing, baking, preparing meals, and hunkering down for a long winter! It has been a horribly long winter! Freezing temperatures, lots of snow (or as I sometimes mistype "snot"), and freezing rain.  I started my seeds today just to lift my spirits and get a jump on our short season.  45 different varieties and 460 seeds!! I loved the looks of our big farm table, all covered end to end with the different packets of seeds promising me what is on the front! They are good seed and certainly produced a good crop last year.

My son's girlfriend has new puppies! So adorable and they come to visit often! Lola is white and her brother Nacho is brown.  They are little balls of energy and we are enjoying watching them grow and play.

My cowboy is off in Oklahoma, at Oklahoma State Horseshoeing School.  He's having a blast and learning a lot.  Dean and his wife are expecting their first baby (Benjamin Thomas) boy in June.  TJ was hired at a Toyota company and is loving it!  He graduates in May.  Acelia is doing great in her studies and will be raising a few pigs this summer along with tending her goats and caring for the horses.  She is in hopes of getting a summer job this year.  

We've all kept pretty busy and this spring promises to be busy as well!

Dexter Cows

 Susie Q and Buffy

Maude before she had Black Jack

Billy (In the freezer)

Little Black Jack 2 weeks old

Madeline 

Itty Bitty and her calf Katie

That completes the new herd of Dexters!! We really do love them.  They are easy to keep!

Catching up

WOW!!! I've been gone a loooooong time! Since February my blog has been silent!  I'm so sorry.  I'm not really sure if I even have any readers left or had any to begin with! I'm a bad blogger.  I blame Facebook!  So I guess it's time to catch up!  So let's go waaaaaaaay back to February..............

• My son Dean started dating a wonderful girl, Rachel in January.
• Dean and Rachel became engaged around Easter. Yay!!!!!! Very exciting! (Photo's above)
• I started my journey on having 12 amalgams removed in April, and what a process!! I'm glad it is done and that poison is out of me!!!
• We bought a herd of Dexter cattle.  7 of them to be exact.  I'm not sure if that qualifies as a "herd" but it does around here!
• We bought two new piglets to raise and sent the three from last fall to the butcher. Love having organic/nonGMO pork, beef and chicken! 
• We had a wedding in June! Dean and Rachel!
• Our third arrow, David, started interning at a local vet clinic.  He is doing what he loves and is awesome at it!
• I had my garden planted by the end of the first week in June and it has done amazing!!! I'm so thrilled with it.
• The first of July I started my detox to rid metals and other toxins from my body.  It ended in 21 days and I made it the whole 21 days without cheating!! 
• We received 153 freedom ranger chickens, raised them and processed them ourselves with our own equipment.   
• Our 4th arrow, CC decided to raise Nigerian Dwarf Goats and bought her first little buck....Hudson, named after Rock Hudson of course!
• We bought her, her first little doe.....Fran, named after "The Nanny".
• She then bought Fran's mother, Fern and we are currently milking her.
• We bought Fern's sister, Onyx and are waiting for the arrival of her twins!!
• Somewhere in the middle of all this we took on two adorable little kittens, brothers, Harry and Marv, named after the two hooligans from Home Alone, one of CC favorite movies! They are a hoot to watch! Aptly named!
• We currently finished putting up hay! The most wretched job of farming as far as I'm concerned!

I've canned a few quarts of beans and chicken broth and froze some peas, pea pods, zucchini, blueberries (bought), and some parsley.
So that is it in a nut shell!

The daily doings....

I have been finding organic baby kale at the local grocery store and it's now one of my favorite things to use!  I think when I grow Kale next year I am going to pick it early! I put it on and in EVERYTHING!

I make kale and parmesan cheese omelets quite frequently around here.  We usually eat them with some fresh squeezed orange or grapefruit or some of the summer peaches I canned last year.

I put one of our Freedom Ranger chickens in the crock pot this morning.  I added a sliced lemon, lots of pepper, salt, and garlic!

I love the crock pot!! Kitchen stays clean all day and I don't have to think about dinner again until I put it on a plate!!

I made another 2 quarts of yogurt today! I am getting ready to try a GAPS cheesecake!

This is what I use to make my yogurt.  

Two new products I picked up at the health food store yesterday.  The carrots are AMAZING!

I juiced again!  I would really like to say I do this everyday, but I don't! 

This is our cleanse/detox juice!

Daily detox

As part of our eating plan, we drink carrot/parsley juice almost everyday.