Farm Girl Birthday Party!

     Miss E has always been quite the farm girl. From the moment she could pull herself up and peer into the brooder at our new chicks at eight months old she has been obsessed! So naturally now that we have a "real farm" with spring babies, I felt that a farm party was in order. Miss E has always been pretty easy to sway as far as party themes go. Her requests are typically quite reasonable and non-specific. For her fourth birthday party she wanted lots and lots of balloons. For her fifth birthday party she wanted to invite only people who like cats, and this year all she wanted was to have a red cake. She also requested that the color scheme be red and pink.

     I always plan my children's parties MONTHS in advance so I have lots of lead time to make the invites and as many of the decorations that I can by hand. I used to scrapbook before I became a mom, so I am able to tap into the creativity that I miss using in that way by hand making these items. I also used to be an elementary school teacher and I must admit that I LOVED putting together units and lesson plans equally as much as I loved to teach them! There is just something so energizing about the planning stage; brainstorming, writing lists, googling images (of course now I have Pintrest!,) making invites, decorations, favors, planning a menu, games and/or activities... I just love it!   

     In fact, I am constantly on the lookout for items for my "party closet" and on some level I am always planning at least one or two of my children's parties in the way back of my head. I have been known to go WAY OVER THE TOP, especially for all three of our childrens' first birthday parties! I have been slowly simplifying things as we simplify our daily lives, so with that in mind I really tried to keep that part of the theme as well. I have also learned that if I do too much I don't get to enjoy the day with my family and friends which is supposed the be the entire point, right?!

One of our four new piglets.

Our first batch of home hatched chicks.

      Before I even began my Pintrest search I had the whole thing pictured in my head. I knew I had an old chalkboard in the garage that used to be in my pretend classroom in the basement when I was a kid, and I wanted to use it for the welcome sign. I also knew I wanted to use our driveway cones (that just happened to be pink) to mark each pen of baby animals, and I pictured simple animal silhouette's to label each pen. I used a couple google searches for inspiration and just free handed pictures onto contact paper to make patterns for the petting zoo signs.

Two of Meadow's Kids, born 3-13-13.

The female kits from Hazel and Ivy's first litters, born 3-3-13.

     I also made a simple garland out of twine, mini clothespins and pink and red bandanna scrapbook paper that I had on hand. I cut the flags using pinking shears and fastened them to the twine with little wooden clothespins from my craft stash. We bought balloons from the dollar store and tied them on strategically placed  bales of hay in and around the garage. This worked out nicely since Mr. J had recently purchased several bales and we hadn't yet gotten around to putting them away. My favorite decoration was the wreath that I made using leftover paper, candy canes, and clothespins from the invites and favors. There were 7 hearts, so I put a newborn picture as well as a picture of Miss E at ages 1-6. We still have this hanging in our dining room and it will most likely make it's way into miss E's bedroom eventually.

     Miss E helped to make the favors. We made bandannas for guests to wear upon arrival and Candy Cane ornaments for them to take home. I had been on the lookout for pink and red stuff and I scored almost all of our paper goods on sale after Valentine's Day. My best find was the pink and white candy canes that we used for the favors on sale for 90% off at Big Lots! you can't beat $.20/ package! Using lace and pink paper from my stash we came up with a cute heart ornament that was easy replicate and put together with the glue gun in one sitting.
To make the bandannas, we used cloths that I had on hand, stuck the contact paper animal silhouette's on them, and used empty spray bottles to spray paint Rit dye onto them. They dye colors were supposed to be red and pink but came out looking more like pale and light pink to me. They still looked pretty cute on our guests who would dare to wear them!

     For the cake I loosely followed the plans for this  Barn Cake and animal cupcakes. I used gluten free graham crackers and candies that I already had on hand to make the cupcakes. I just had to add a goat and a bunny! I also used one of my favorite cake recipes from Gluten Free Goddess instead of a box. YUM!!!

          The party was at 2pm so we served snacks, cake and ice cream. I made Muddy Buddies, Bunny Berries (muddy buddies with Kix cereal instead of Chex,) Chicken Feed (Chex mix,) Farm fresh Eggs (deviled eggs,) and had a "Farm Stand" of fresh fruit and vegetables with hummus and my homemade ranch dressing. Mr. J made the Hay Bales (Rice Krispy Treats,) and Hay Stacks (Cornflake Treats.) My grandmother brought chips and salsa and my mom brought chips and dip. For drinks we had soda, iced water, fruit punch, chocolate milk, coffee and tea.

     My favorite part about the drink station was the cups that I made out of jelly sized mason jars and plastic lids. Mr. J simply drilled a hole in the center of each lid for a straw and I adorned them all with different combinations of lace, twine, and ribbon so that they would be easily identifiable without having to label them with names (think wine glass tags.)

On a whim I set up a rice table to keep the kiddos occupied while we finished getting set up.

Our kiddos greeting guests in the driveway.

Guests of all ages really seemed to enjoy the animals.

Our Farm girls in their element.

Classic "Miss E!"

Mr. J and Mr. T enjoying the party.

     All in all I think this may have been one of the best parties we have thrown for Miss E! It was easy to plan, fun for almost everyone who came (except my poor mom who is allergic to hay and animals,) and ended up being something that truly reflected who Miss E is. She is a true "Farm Girl" at heart and feels right at home on this little farm of ours. 

Mrs. J :)

Miss E's Birthday!

Miss E's present and birthday treats waiting for her to arrive.

     Miss E turned 6 last week!!! I honestly have no idea how that happened. I have been home with her every single day since the day she was born, so it is not like I've been too wrapped up in the hustle and bustle of managing work and home to notice her growing. I have truly been blessed to be with her to celebrate each and every one of her milestones. It just doesn't seem possible for her to be 6 already!

     Looking back on the past six years I can't help but tear up. You see, even though Miss E was our first baby and I was the typical over-the-edge first time mom, I just knew something wasn't quite "right" from the very beginning. I kept questioning some of her little quirks, but for the most part the "experts," friends, and family made me feel like I was just over analyzing and overreacting to things. She was a terrible sleeper. The poor thing just could not self soothe! I swear I broke the binding on our beloved copy of  The Happiest Baby on the Block by Dr. Harvey Karp. We swaddled her, shushed her, rocked her, bounced her, slept her on her side and put more hours on our baby swing in the first few months of her life than we ever would again even with TWO more babies to follow!

Miss D meeting "Piggy."

     She reached most milestones (rolling over, sitting up, etc.) on the very tail end of the typical age range. She never crawled, but I was assured that crawling wasn't a measurable milestone. She took FOREVER to really walk even after making her first few steps. Her first birthday came and went, and she was really not talking at all. We had done baby sign language with her from birth and she could easily learn and use well over 50 signs by the time she was a year. After Miss D was born (the girls are almost exactly 18 months apart) it became even more difficult to help Miss E navigate her world. We were like captives in our own home, unable to comfortably (or successfully for that matter,) go out into public without the poor thing coming unglued. Any sort of deviation from her typical routine was rough on all of us! Long story short, I finally put my foot down at her 24 Mo. checkup and insisted on a referral for a speech evaluation.

     From that moment on we were in the capable and supportive hands of  her OT, PT and SLP. From the age of 3 she attended a wonderful preschool where she had the opportunity to interact with and learn from typically developing peers. She also attended therapeutic swimming classes and Hippotherapy (Therapeutic horse riding) and we eventually got an official diagnosis of Autism from our beloved Developmental Pediatrician when she was 4. Our original goal for Miss E was for her to be all caught up so that she did not require any interventions once she reached school age. She will be finishing up her Kindergarten year in the next couple of months and I must say that while she is still receiving therapies (I'm no longer concerned about that!) and has a shared one on one, she is 100% mainstreamed and thriving. I'd say that she has easily reached and far surpassed our expectations for her since her diagnosis almost two years ago, and we really couldn't be more proud of her!
     If you are like my husband you are probably asking yourself "What does all of this have to do with the blog?" and to that I will answer-"EVERYTHING!!!" Miss E is the first reason we started to simplify our lives. She is the reason I stayed home from my teaching job and have never gone back. She is the reason we decided that it was worth making the necessary adjustments to our budget to live on one household income. Because of that choice I now have the time and energy to be more creative and thrifty. Essentially, Miss E started us on the path that would eventually lead us to having this Small Farm in the Woods.

     For her 6th birthday, Miss E went with Mr. J to pick up our new piglets. She was very excited to be the first one to "pick them out!" While she was gone Miss D, Mr. T and I made her cards, wrapped her homemade present, and put together a birthday snack. We have FOUR April birthdays in our family so I had already made her cake a couple of days before when I made one for my mother. It was a Toffee Bar Coffee Cake that was supposed to be baked in a 9x13 pan so I just made two smaller cakes in pie plates. I am not typically a fan of Toffee, but I have to say it was pretty yummy. The recipe I used for the Toffee can be found HERE. I simply substituted chopped pecans for the almonds. Below is the cake recipe I came up with. It was inspired by a recipe I found on Food.com, but I tweaked it a bit to be gluten free, and we topped it with whipped cream. YUM!
   

After Miss E had introduced everyone to our 4 new piggies and they were relatively settled into the new digs, we came inside for cake and presents. Miss E had asked for a bed for her stuffed animals for her birthday. Plan A was for Mr. J to make one, but as time ran out plan B was to run to the Mill Store to get one. Thankfully, I ended up finding and old planter at my aunt's house while I was helping her move that fit the bill perfectly. I guess God had a Plan C to make our lives even easier!

 I made a mattress for the bed out of the old changing table foam by simply cutting it to size and covering it in some fleece I had on hand. I used the same fleece to make a sheet set for the bed. The pillow is made out of an upcycled prefold diaper and stuffing from an old pillow. The quilt is a work in progress. It needs to be made longer and wider, but for my first attempt, I think it looks okay. I will also make a decorative pillow sham to match once I add on to the quilt in a few days. It seems to meet Miss E's approval and more importantly her beloved stuffed animals seem to love their new bed!!!
     While Miss E and Mr. J were out retrieving the piglets I realized that I had no good way of wrapping the bed, so I whipped up a simple cloth gift bag with fabric I had on hand and tied it with a ribbon. I had plenty of time before they were expected back so I decided to reinforce all of the seams with a zig zag stitch. I also pressed and hemmed the top for a neat finish. In a pinch these steps are not at all necessary but now we have a cool, HUGE, reusable gift bag that is made to last!

     Gluten Free Toffee Coffee Cake

1 1/2 C. brown rice flour                    1. Butter 9 x 13 in. pan or 2 pie plates

1/3 C. potato starch

2 TBSP. tapioca flour                            2. Beat together flour, both sugars, butter and salt until mix. 

1 tsp. xanthan gum                                  resembles a course meal. Set aside 1/2 C for topping. 

1 C. brown sugar                                  

1/2 C. white sugar                                 3. Stir in baking soda and add buttermilk, egg and vanilla; beat until

1/2 C. butter, at room temp                   just combined.

1/2 tsp. salt

7 1/2 oz. toffee, crushed                       4. Transfer to buttered dish(es.)

1 tsp. baking soda

1 C. buttermilk                                     5. Add Toffee to reserved topping and mix. Sprinkle over cake.

1 large egg

2 tsp. vanilla                                         6. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 mins., or until golden brown.

*If you want to make this with regular flour use 2 C. and omit the brown rice flour, potato starch, tapioca flour and xanthan gum.                      

All in all I think Miss E had a good day. It is nice for all of us to have her birthday on April vacation. It really is wonderful to see the young lady that she has become and to celebrate all of her success.

Make a wish, sweet girl. The sky's the limit!

One Proud Mommy, Mrs. J :)

This Year's Piggies

   We ended up getting our pigs from the same breeder as we did last year to insure we get the same quality of pig. The only problem we had was we wanted four and he only had three for us. Luckily for us, I was able to find a breeder that had the same breed of pigs and had a litter around the same age as the three. It was Miss E's birthday and all she wanted to do was go get the piglets with me. So we took the mini-van, and drove an extra half an hour past the breeder and picked up the first piglet. She got to pick which one and decided to name it Piggy. Then we went to pick up the other three, and when we got out of the van the breeder came out with the three little piglets following right behind him. One by one we picked them up and loaded them up in dog cages in the back of the mini-van, and drove away. I must say that the smell got pretty bad in the van and we deferentially had the windows down even though it was cold outside.

   I had spent most of the week prior to picking up the pigs to fix up the pig pen and put up some metal fence behind the electric fence to make sure they would stay in there. So when I got home and put the piglets in their new home, I was sure that they would stay in there.  I was wrong. As they started to test the electric fence they would get  a shock and run around. One of them figured out that if they run fast enough they can fit through the opening in the metal fence. So there I was again chasing a piglet through the woods just like last year. After running all around, I finally dived and grabbed the back legs and picked him up. I put him back in the dog cage and started to make a place for them in the goat barn. Once I  finished closing off one of the pens and I started to put the piglets in. I got three piglets in, and as turned around to get the last one he was gone. Of course it was the brown one, so he blended into the woods very well. Me and the wife walked around and finally we saw him come walking back through the woods. I turn the electric fence off to make sure we didn't get shock. The piglet ran all around and then ran back into the pen. I thought we had him cornered but he was able to get around us. As he ran through the fence one more time I was able to dive over the fence, like an outfielder catching a baseball, and reached out and grabbed the back legs. I put him back with his friends and then took a break. The piglets are happy in there new home and once they get big enough not to fit through the fence, they will go back into the pig pen. The only thing we have left to do is name the other three.

Chicks and Baby Goats

  It's been really busy around here down on the farm, between chicks hatching and catching kids as they come out of goats. A couple of weeks after Leroy started crowing, which means he is sexual mature, we decided to try to incubate some eggs and see what happens. We didn't put a lot of effort in to it because we weren't sure that he was making the rounds. We just grabbed some the eggs that looked like the came from the other Buff Orpingtons and put them in the incubator. Sometime we remembered to flip them, sometimes we didn't, we even forgot when we put them in there. My wife told me to go head and throw them out because she didn't think anything was alive in the eggs, and she stopped turning them three days ago. I never got around to throwing them out luckily  because as she was chasing the kids around the house getting ready for bed time she heard a strange peeping sound coming from the kitchen. A bunch of chicks were pecking they were out of the eggs. 

My wife has a very good maternal extinct, you are supposed to stop turning the eggs three days before they hatch and that's what she did, accidentally  We ended up with thirteen chicks all said and done which we will use to replenish the flock as the older ones pass on.

  When we brought over a buck to breed with our does, we didn't think Aspen ever mated. Then she started to develop an udder to our surprise. We thought she would kid after Montana but on Monday she started acting weird. I was outside doing some work on the pig pen and she was screaming really loud at me and pawing at the ground. She seemed really restless,so I went inside and told the wife to get ready for some more kids. Three hours later I went to check on her and she was lying on the ground with a little bubble starting to come out. I yell for the wife and told her to hurry or she was going to miss it. This time the baby came out front feet first, like they are supposed to, but as the the head started to come she seemed to stop. Being new to this we thought we should help and pull with her. I wasn't come easily, so I put my fingers inside and could feel the head kinda face backwards causing the log jam. I tried to re-position the head a little bit and we both pulled as she pushed. Eventually we got the kid out. After doing some research, I found out that had we just given her time she would have probably pushed it out just fine by herself. We thought she would only have one, due to this was her first time having babies and she looked on the smaller side. As we dried the first kid off one more popped out. She had one buck and one doe, not bad for a first freshener.

   

Three days later Montana started to act like she was getting ready to have her babies. Being pregnant was hard on her due to the fact that she looked like she swallowed a kitchen sink, so she was more then ready to get those kids out. I put her in the kidding stall and let her have some alone time. Nothing was really happening so we put the kids to bed and I did some work in the shop. As finished up at 10:30, I checked on her one more time thinking that it probably wouldn't happen tonight, but I found her lying on her side starting to push. I called the wife out over the monitor and she came running out. We let her do her thing and she pushed out one kid and then another, and then another, and then another. Two does and two bucks, very good for a first timer. We dried them off and got them under the heat lamp and then waited for the placenta  to come out. When I went into work the next day, I told everyone "I was pulling out a placenta at 2:00 in the morning. How was your night?"

The older bucks are starting to get mischievous.

Making Maple Syrup

   Living in the woods does have some advantages, one of which is having plenty of maple trees to tap. This is our second year making syrup and we wanted to speed up production a little bit. Last year we used just to pans over an open fire, but this year I made an evaporator that holds three pans. The evaporator worked great, although the sides got a little bit warped it still kept a lot of the heat inside to boil the sap.

   Instead of using the metal spike and metal buckets we use a plastic tap, vinyl tubing, and a five gallon bucket. The tap and tubing are a lot cheaper then the metal ones and we have plenty of buckets to use. We just drilled a hole in the top side of the bucket, then drilled a hole in the tree. Next we put the tap in the tree, hook up one end of the tubing to the tap and pushed the end into the bucket. We ended up using a scrap piece of wood for the top, because the plastic tops were too hard to keep taking on and off .All we did then was wait for the nights to be below freezing and the days to be above 40 degrees.

   We ended up taping ten trees and most of them gave us at least 5 gallons of sap each. When the time was right we fired up the evaporator. I started around 8:30 in the morning by lighting the fire and then filled up each pan with sap. About every half an hour or so I would pour more sap in as it boiled off. The center pan seem to boil off faster , so I made sure to fill that one up a little higher. Once I ran out of sap, I poured the end pans into the center one and boiled the sap tell it got to color I wanted. At 6:30 in the afternoon, I got the color I wanted. Next I poured the syrup through some cheese cloth to strain out all the particles in it and then put it in our large pot. 

The next morning I fired up the wood stove in the house and then put the pot on top of the stove to slowly bring it to the color of amber syrup  To make sure it was right, I would scoop out a little and put in the fridge to cool. After about ten minutes in the fridge, I would try it to make sure it was the right consistence.  Once I was happy with it, I poured it into canning jars and sealed them. We ended up with about a gallon and a quarter.

   Just like last year, after making the syrup we want to put more buckets out next year, but just like last year I'm sure we'll run out of time.