Easy granola recipe, the woods are green and the Baby Goats are Here!

Time marches on and we've made it through the holidays and into the New Year.

I think we had record rainfall for December but there was a break long enough for a lovely walk to the valley.  The creek was high and the fields were flowing with water making me glad I walked in rubber boots.





The new trail didn't have a chance to grow any grass before Old Man Winter set up residence.  It's actually quite a hill, though the picture is deceiving.

Our woods are always green, even in the winter.

 Two roads diverged in a.....well, a very green wood.  I took the one MORE traveled by, and it made the difference as the more traveled one leads back to the house!

 The days have been chilly and my Oval cookstove is doing an excellent job heating the house, as usual.  It is not an antique, but a fairly air-tight and pretty efficient stove.

The power has only been out once this Fall/Winter season, but I whipped out the percolator and made a pot of coffee....just because I could!

 This is a lovely gift from my DH.  If you heat with wood, you KNOW that NO ONE wants to be the one to have to step outside, split kindling, gather little tinder, and crunch up paper.  My man left this for me so I wouldn't have to!  Love that guy!

 Fruitcake.  It's what's for Christmas.  We have a favorite family recipe and make it faithfully every year.  This year we had raisins my daughter had picked & dried herself.  Also, she candied orange and lemon peel, some of which she grew on a lemon bush in her room!

 Ready to bake and...............

 .....ta da!  Fruitcake.  It is delicious.

 I also made granola.  SUPER EASY RECIPE:
Mix together:
10 cups of oats
1 cup chopped nuts or sunflower seeds
2 cups coconut
1 1/2 cups maple syrup (yes, real)
Bake @ 350* for 30-45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes until golden brown.  Makes a decent gallon.

Just do it.  When you serve it, you can add whatever strikes you - raisins or what have you.

 You can also cook it like oatmeal, if you can tolerate such stuff.  Many years ago, my mother sat me in front of a bowl of hot oatmeal.  I gagged and sat there.  She made me sit for ages, telling me I HAD to eat it.  I couldn't and gagged some more.  She finally relented and let me escape.  I've never been able to tolerate the smell of cooked oatmeal since.  And I loved her anyhow, lol.

 Primitives continue to fly out of my sewing room (pun intended).  These birdies were no exception and they have flown off to new homes.

 I sew and paint every day and still the ideas continue to pop into my head.  I keep notebooks and sticky pads everywhere so I can jot them down!

 SURPRISE!!!  Look who arrived on December 23rd!  It's MarvelAnne!  Then, about 3 days later she was followed by Schultz and then just yesterday, Ellie.  I'll get pictures of them on the next blog post.

Now, twice daily we trek to the barn for milking chores.  I stop by my daughter's place on the way to the barn and she comes down to help milk & feed.  Younger daughter does the evening milking (less milk in the evening since we don't milk on a 12 hour schedule....)

 Merrieanne, Shiloh and E-Goat are all milking fabulously.  Fresh milk every day - my coffee is greatly improved, once again!

Do you keep YOUR goat milk in canning jars?

Well, my Christmas tree & decorations are still up.  We're enjoying their cheery lights and warm glow.  We all caught a rotten cold that lasted for over 3 weeks in mid-December, so we're sort of stretching our holiday out to make up for it.

Our holidays weren't the same without my Mom, of course, but God is gracious and my heart is healing.  I'd give anything for one more conversation, one more hug, one more day with her but I'm holding on to the knowledge that she's whole and healed, waiting for that glorious family reunion we'll have when the Lord returns.

The sun has set on another day so I'd better sign off and go get my rest.  The weather has been below freezing here for the last several days, making it difficult to keep the rabbits watered since their bottles freeze, even inside their greenhouse building.  Makes for long & chilly chore time!  My fingers get so cold that I can't stay out for very long at a time.

Tomorrow I need to clean rabbit pans, do milking & bottle feeding baby goat chores, and bake bread.  I've got about 5 primitive orders to finish up as well, so it'll be another busy day on the farm!

(Don't forget - you can click on the pics to make them bigger!)