And Then, There Were Five

For the last couple of weeks, just about everyday...

we would think "today the does will have their kids"

and every day...

the kids weren't quite ready for their earthly debut

well, here they are

two on one day

mama Snowflake done us proud

and she is turning out to be a good mama to her babies

these will be her first kids

once she had done a good thorough job of cleaning the kids...

and they were nice and dry and had taken their first drink of mama's colostrum...

I gave her some ripe banana treats

and I couldn't help myself...

I must touch

must they be so cute?

and soft, and sweet, and so wee little?

then, the night fell...

and the rains came...

and frogs came out

and honestly...

I couldn't tell if there is a handsome prince inside somewhere...

or if this is just a big, fat toad with a pot belly

perhaps, just handsome in his own way

well, in any case...

we ran down the hill to mama Snowflake and kids with a basket to put the babies in...

and brought them up to stay under the cottage for the night...

where they would stay dry and warm

when I put the towels down to give them a more comfortable spot...

these little kids naturally chose the soft towels over the rocky ground

and the next day, it rained still more all day, in fact...

and my husband took the good opportunity while babies slept to give mama a nail clipping...

and she kept her eyes on her babies just to make sure they were still there 

a ram and a doe is what Snowflake gave us

and then, there were five

the next day, mama Queenie had her triplets

we knew there were going to be more than one by the size of her...

while she has been a mother a few times now...

this will be her first triplet set

all does

it looks like we will have some future milkers

we've got good mamas and these babies are being well cared for by them

while Snowflake is anxiously careful over her babies...

Queenie acts as an old pro with hers

she knows the scoop

over the last couple of years...

the Lord took and He has also given

so far, all is well and we thank the Lord for His gracious gifts

while we are thankful for God's gifts of the goats...

we are still more thankful for His gracious gift of faith

just as He says...

For by grace are ye saved through faith;

and that not of yourselves:

it is the gift of God:

not of works, lest any man should boast.

Ephesians 2:8,9

without this gift of faith, how could I have believed in Christ?

He alone has done all the work needed to save me from sin and wrath

May your day or night find the grace of God's gift of faith.

Rosemary and Onion Sweet Potato

My intention was to prune my rose bushes back quite a bit

but, when I saw the roses and how they brightened up the patch under the stairs...

I couldn't bring myself to prune

and sure, while I could have picked the roses and bring them into the cottage to enjoy...

I do so like seeing them pretty on the bushes in the yard

after all, with as much as I go outside, it's rather nice to see flowers to greet me...

with their cheerfulness

 so, instead...

I got down and dirty digging up a few sweet potatoes for dinner

yeah, the dirt was wet but, the mud was beside the point

we were going to have sweet potatoes with the meal after some months of none at all

while these are often known as sweet potatoes by many...

here on this island they are usually referred to as sweet yams...

and they carry sporamins (storage proteins) which are key in giving these roots...

an antioxidant property...

which is good for the body in preventing oxidative damage in the cells

the more orange or purple they are, the more antioxidants they have

God thought of that when He put medical properties into foods

once they were cleaned, the sweet potatoes took on a new look

and with a breadfruit from the tree, we eat well

when it comes to potatoes, white or of the yam kind...

I truly like using herbs to rev up the taste...

and, it's a good excuse to add a little herbal medicine to one's food

these sweet yams were peeled and cut into smaller pieces...

then quickly steamed for about 5 minutes just to give them a slight tenderness...

but not soft

while the sweet yams steamed...

a red onion (or any onion) was sliced and sauteed in some butter and olive oil until tender

the sweet yams were cooled and diced into bite size pieces and added to the onions...

and sauteed until they were completely (not mushy) soft; about 10 minutes

once they were done, the rosemary was cut up (I cut mine with kitchen scissors)...

and added to the dish

today, we have a rainy day

that means...

dogs will sleep

and thus, the day has been peaceful

I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep:

for Thou, Lord,

only makest me dwell in safety.

Psalm 4:8

May your day or night find peacefulness in the grace of God.

Pilgrim's Farm Fun Video

When I was hand raising my orphan chick, Pippi...
our dog, Foxie became a bit too fixated on him

that was remedied and Foxie lost interest over time, I'm glad to say

just thought you might enjoy a short video on her fixation of the chick...
and her expressions when I would correct her with my voice...
every time she became too focused on Pippi

Fixation from Jean on Vimeo.

May your day or night find delight in God's grace.

A Pleasant Accident by Nature

In the last few days, I have been experimenting aka hopefully learning...
how to make good eats with clabbering raw milk

well, I can't say what exactly happened here...
but, after 3 days of clabbering a half gallon jar of raw milk...
I got what seems to be cheese along with the soft curds of natural sour cream

I understand that cheese can be preserved in olive oil, so I went ahead and did just that...

and this is what you are seeing in the photo above

preserved this way, the cheese does not need to be refrigerated

although I must admit it does look kind of funky

and this is what my clabbering milk turning into whey, sour cream and cheese looked like...

while I let it sit for a few days to do it's own delicious thing

the cheese floated to the top; the whey in the middle; the sour cream on the bottom

the sour cream is straining into the glass cup to thicken it...

the liquid whey is in a jar to be used for various other things (dogs, chickens, cooking)...

and the cheese is rather a very interesting surprise to me

it came out with a pleasant, mildly tart, cheesy taste...

and a texture between farm cheese and mozarella cheese

rennet is not readily available here on this island...

and if the warm tropical climate is enough to help out with the culturing of cheese...

from my raw milk simply from standing a few days...

I'll take it

as for the sour cream; it really tastes a lot like creamy yogurt and super good with raw honey

awfully nice as a topping on homemade granola

so, the verdict on all this pleasant accident by nature...?

I'm grateful for the freedom to have a cow and raw milk

May your day or night find merciful blessings in the Lord's grace.