Catch Up Time Again.

It is now 6:07 in the morning.  Been missing from the blog for a while.  Lots happening on the farm in the Ozarks.

First, the weather has settled in and it is going from very cool spring to summer temperatures....up to 80° with the accompanying severe storms in  some areas.  We have escaped so far and we are grateful.  We have been lucky to receive almost an inch of rain per  week.

The most wonderful  news  is my dear Sis and her husband from  Iowa came for a two-day visit!  I was shocked when she called told me their plans.  For a couple of years now she has told us they wouldn't be traveling this far again.  It is a 6-hour trip. 

We had the best visit.  She is a cook (as I have mentioned) and a gardener.  One day we cooked a new chicken recipe together; never cooked a meal together before and one morning as we were touring the yard, she said "get me a pair of gloves and get the tools together.  Let's clean a flower bed!"  I tried to talk her out of it but she persisted.  We completely cleaned the Kerria Bed.  She has severe macular degeneration and gardens (weeds) mostly by touch.  What  a picture we made:  her crawling around on her knees and me chopping with a hoe (I can't bend down because of my right knee).  It reminded me of pictures of Grandma and her sisters all garbed up to go gooseberry picking in the wilds of the Ozarks (a bluff above the James River if I remember correctly) so I had Max take some 'candid'  photos of us.  What a laugh.  I sent copes to her and  threatened her life if they ever appeared on Facebook..........she promised me.  We both treasure them.  I was wearing a very loose gardening apron (which I  may never don again!) and the wind  was blowing very strongly.  I look like a gray haired 9-month pregnant old lady.

Farm

Same  old; same old.  Grass is finally growing with the warmer temperatures.  We have had to graze  some hay fields but at least we didn't have to buy anymore of the very expensive hay.

Here are the cows we keep up close in the west lot:  The Jersey is my temporarily retired milk cow and the horned one is her daughter.  Not sure if the darker red one is Willow my permanently retired milk cow who hates me.  The black heifer's heritage escapes me  at the moment.

Food

My cooking has been uninspired except  for the honey-garlic chicken recipe from Facebook or Pinterest (not sure which) that Sis wanted to try.  Everyone liked it a lot except for my DH who isn't very open to new dishes (to say the least).  Yesterday was bread baking day (you know I love those days).  This was a mixed recipe.  I had about a cup and a half of white wheat flour and oatmeal flakes.  I ground this fine using the food processor and then used a mix of bread flour and AP flour, a mix of olive oil and butter, honey for the sweetening. and it turned out nicely.  It toasted well which is a prerequisite for me.