Well, we got the cows over to the new homestead
our neighbor used his truck to help us get them over there
the cows were a bit bewildered by the change in scenery...
but, from what I understand...
they gave no trouble getting up on the truck and doing what they needed to
that's pretty good considering they never had that experience before
I think the secret is taming them from a young age and keeping them that way
less apt to become frightened and be more cooperative
and because the area is more lush than our current location...
Ms. Ruthie Moo Moo's milk is richer
and yeah, when I went to take this photo of my husband milking Ms. Ruthie...
junior bull side stepped from his post and got into the picture
I was happy to see this...
The Fence going up
this ought to keep both our chickens and dogs inside our cottage compound area
you are seeing a lot of bush in there right now...
but, as soon as we get our goats in there after the gates are put up...
they will do the hard job (easy for them) and mow that all down
we will just let them free range in there until we see the dirt ground...
then take them on up to their own pasture grounds
yep, still working on the cottage
soon, soon, it will be completed
the kitchen and den side are completed...
and so, some of the guys walked in with the kitchen furniture
about a half mile walk over the river and through the woods
I gotta hand it to them...
they are strong men
even my hard working husband took something in...
the screen door to the kitchen back door
and while it is a "plain jane" door...
I do have some ideas to spiff it up with
we counted the cost of having a local man make the door...
versus buying an imported one
imported doors cost more than the locally made one...
even while having to put the hardware on ourselves
so, of course, we had our kitchen carpenter make one
so much better to give the job to the local people
and yes, while the painting has been accomplished...
the blue tape on the windows still need to be taken off
and there, you can see some of the kitchen hardware
the one on the far left is for my outdoor kitchen
and yes, we get to do the painting on this furniture
we will not have regular cabinets on the wall
I will talk about that later
so much for that March move in date that is long past
ah yes, so close and yet, so far away
I brought the dogs with me a couple of times to get acquainted with the new homestead
it seems to help settle pets in sooner...
and more comfortably if they are familiar with their new home
they did enjoy the spring creek water
in the meantime at the old homestead...
we harvested a big bowl of coffee beans and got to work cracking the shells open
I used the side of a light weight hammer and gently mashed them open
and there below, you can see the pulp that covers the actual coffee bean
once all the beans are out of their shells...
they are fermented for about a day or two and the pulp washed away in water
I put them on a tray and set them in the sun until they are good and dried...
and the hulls pop open so that the skin can be taken off
then they can be stored until roasted for the grinding into coffee powder
roasting the coffee beans in the pan takes some time and patience...
ideally, they should be a dark brown to almost black
it took about 45 minutes to get there as done in this photo
and it must be stirred almost constantly to keep them from burning
it shouldn't take that long and I'm pretty sure the heat wasn't high enough
next time, I will try the oven method and see how well that works
because I like pretzels and because I must be gluten free...
I made some home-made gluten free rod pretzels...
which turned out good enough to keep the recipe
only I misplaced the recipe and can't find it
bummers
we have so many citrus of all kinds on our trees...
they are falling to the ground
we have grapefruit, mandarins, tangerines, oranges, limes and lemons
we sell some and eat as many as we can...
but, the trees are still loaded
mandarins, anyone?
this used to be where our cocoa beans were drying...
but, this sweet hen decided it was a good enough place...
for laying her eggs
not so sure sitting on cocoa beans is so very comfortable
she obviously doesn't mind because she keeps going back to the same spot
an egg is an egg is an egg
better than traipsing through the bush looking for eggs laid by renegade hens
after this last photo, I took up the cocoa and put a towel down for her
she nestled it into a nice little cushy pile
Except the Lord build the house,
they labour in vain that build it:
except the Lord keep the city,
the watchman waketh but in vain.
Psalm 127:1
May your day or night be kept by the Lord's grace.
