Crocheting

I'm starting on a baby blanket.  This yarn is superwash wool, called Gandalf the Gray!

Three clumps of rhubarb growing well.  Each had a flowering stalk growing out of the middle, which I plucked off, so the most delicious part of the plant can grow.  I made several batches of rhubarb sauce and then a friend gave us fresh locally grown strawberries, which I added to my most recent batch.

We also have strawberry plants in our garden, but no ripe fruit yet.

This is some our favorite cheese, Guggisberg baby swiss.

We wrapped up 1st grade with one child.  Below, are the watercolor paintings the students made before doing a fresco, where they used powdered pigments from Italy to make paint and applied it to the damp plaster:

My sister and her family came to visit last week and we had a memorial service at my father's grave.  It's been 8 years now since he passed away.  

Baby

A week ago, I had the ultrasound done and was so amazed at all that could be seen on our baby!  The photo below shows the baby's nose and 2 nostrils with mouth open!!  Isn't that neat?  Baby is measuring in the 93 percentile for growth.

I got my very first KitchenAid mixer!  Our cow has been producing more milk since we moved her our to pasture.  We get about 2 gallons every morning AND evening.  I use the ladle to skim off the top inch or 2 of cream and put it in the bowl to make whipped cream.

I also tried to make butter, unsuccessfully.  I'll give it a try again.

Two eager helpers!  I scooped the cream on the top of my matcha latte I made.  

Our two old apple trees are blooming.  We got 9 new apple trees that we ordered from Fedco in Maine.  

Hope you have a great week!

Big news

Most weekends we attend church services at the monastery near us.  The magnolia tree on the right is blooming now!  Friday evening and Saturday morning we went for the feast of St. George, namesday for one of our boys.

I forged in the drizzling rain, in the forest for ramps with our youngest on Wed. while our older son was in his church history and art class.  We chopped them up and cooked them with eggs.  I was going to make quiche, but even with scrambled eggs, a delightful flavorful addition. 

So, what are the children doing in their class?  They did printmaking, carved out several designs and printed them.  They just finished making a Liturgy book.  It's the 3rd book they've bound in that class. First, was one about the Kursk Root icon, then a compilation of all the students prints, then the Divine Liturgy. This time they also marbled paper to put in their Liturgy book, inside the front cover.  Next, they will be making frescoes in plaster.

We now have 10 spring lambs!  The oldest two are a month old now, several in between and one was born just 5 days ago.

I just ordered my 1st ever Kitchenaid mixer!  I would've gotten a sky blue one, but Costco has only red or silver and it costs less in the end ($299).  I chose red.  If you have any recipes you use yours for, please share.  I plan to make whipped cream, butter, brownies and bread... I'm considering the ice cream maker ($99) that's sold separately.  We have a lot of milk, from our dairy cow, so I think it would be used enough to make it worthwhile.  When our fresh milk sits, the cream separates and sits on top and so I can ladle it out to use for something special.  Most often, we shake it up and drink it as is.  

The big news is that I'm expecting!  Our oldest daughter is 21, in Oregon, then our 19 year old is in Ohio.  I miss seeing them on a regular basis, but we had a wonderful and quick visit with them in January.  I hope they will be able to come to New York when, or shortly after the new baby arrives.  As much as I liked having a homebirth, this time we live further from a hospital, if there's an emergency mid-labor, and I'm much older, so we'll have a midwife and hospital birth.  Please pray for me.  I have an ultrasound this Wed. 

Pascha

We celebrated Pascha this past Sunday and the Paschal season continues as we greet one another with "Christ is Risen!"  After Bright Monday Liturgy yesterday and came home to see a new lamb had been born.  This morning, twin lambs were born.  Now, there are 5 in all.

Just missing our 2 girls!

We had fine weather this past week, several days in the 80s and lots of sunshine!

A kind woman gave us this beautiful loaf!

Here's a little video of Three of our lambs!  Since three more lambs have been born!!  It's spring time!  Daffofils abound, finally.

Baking

Earlier this week, I made a batch of gluten-free kulich.  After my Lyme treatment last summer, my gut is still healing and sensitive to gluten.  Antibiotics are very powerful.  I put raisins and chopped apricots in these kulich.  The dough is like brioche.  I will make an icing using juice from a lemon and confectioners sugar and let it drizzle down.  

A lamb was born on Wed. April 5th while we were at our Amish neighbor's.  I have to say I really like getting to know the Amish around us and becoming friends with them.  Anyhow, the lamb and its mother were in the pasture with the rest of the sheep, so we brought them into their own stall in the barn for comfort.  The lamb seems to be nursing well.

Today is Lazarus Saturday.  We went to church this morning and heard the Gospel about Jesus coming to Bethany and hearing from Martha and Mary that their brother Lazarus has died.  And Jesus went to the cave, the tomb and said, "Lazarus, come forth."  It prefigures the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The boys and I made Lazarakia, little sweet braided breads with orange zest and cinnamon.

Clothesline

I hung laundry out on the clothesline today, for the 1st time in 2023.  The snow is melting and we have a lot of mud.  Chickens are happy.  We are getting about 2 dozen eggs a day right now.  We're selling them for $4/dozen. 

A few days ago we got a light snow and the sun was out, it was a beautiful day!  We also baked kulich.  I plan to make another batch Monday.  We went on a homeschool field trip to the planetarium this week.  It's been a great week!

Maple syrup season

We went to a maple sugar shack today not far from our house.  This past week we had a few days that reached the 50s, so excellent for the sap.  It was snowing when we arrived here.

A 60 year old bucket that the tree grew into...

The air smelled sweet of maple!  They can boil 100 gallons in an hour.