Random Thoughts

Hi
It's been a while and I have been thinking of several different topics lately. I'll try to keep this a little organized. I went grocery shopping this past Friday and was heart sick when I got done. I am VERY blessed to not have to buy too much on a regular basis. We like to have corned beef for St. Patrick's Day so we thought we would pick up a good cut of beef not too expensive and pickle it. I haven't looked at meat prices in a very long time. I was shocked - I know I shouldn't be as we keep up on rising costs of feed and other "commodities". It was still hard to see that the cheapest cut of roast that my mom used to buy was now 2.99 a pound. The beef brisket which is the cut that typically gets corned/pickled was 5.99 a pound. The store had a six pound unpickled beef brisket - it was $40!
When I look at this I don't understand how people in similar situations to ours are surviving. It makes what Bernanke says to Congress even more disgusting. Of course, we don't have price inflation due to printing money like nobody's business so that my banker buddies can continue to make a profit and pay out big bonuses. Of course the rise in oil prices won't harm the economy. Right! The fact that butter rose $.35 in one week is not a result of any of this! How stupid are we?? How can you walk into the store and look at the prices and NOT see any change?
So this is an outrage that just hurts my heart. If you can be generous to food banks please do so.

Take care and be safe!

Kate

Attempted spinning

I began learning how to spin yesterday. It is going to take A LOT of practice. I can get the yarn to spin but I can't get it to wind onto the spindle. I am obviously doing something wrong. I just haven't figured out what step I am missing. I will let you know when I have that AHA moment and figure it out. I promise to NOT throw the spinning wheel into the wall. There were points yesterday when I felt like it but I resisted. Wish I could find someone who knows how to do this and lives nearby.
I have a pair of socks almost completed. Sadly the blanket is slow work. I will take pictures as I finish and post them.
We are checking every day for lambs. So far none have shown up. Candy, not our best mom, looks like she may go first and all hopes that she is only carrying one pass at each description that Larry gives me about how she is moving around. VERY SLOWLY.

Enjoy St Patrick's Day this week. We are making our own Corned Beef. Let you know how that turns out too.

Luck of the Irish to you all!

Kate

Baking Day

Baking day is a two-cups-of-coffee day. On the farm we have chosen to bake once a week. This baking includes bread, cookies and this week we added broth, lard, and soup to the list. We’re getting the top hot - we might as well utilize that too.
It sounded okay last week when I proposed it. It sounded a lot easier than it actually is. As I sit here taking a short break, I want to ask – “What the heck were you thinking?!” I chuckle as the sheepish reply comes out – “Gee, I was just trying to maximize wood usage.” Picture the foot scuffing the floor, the shoulders slouched and a quick shrug given.
I am not sure what is more work – splitting wood or baking all day. I spit two tractor buckets full of wood yesterday. While I used different muscles for each task, they both exhaust me about equally.
When I sit down tonight with a bowl of fresh homemade split-pea soup and warm homemade bread, I know that first bite of warm bread will be worth it.
Bon Apetite!