Homemade Wheat Bread

I was searching the net yesterday for a new whole wheat bread recipe and I came across one on TNfarmgirl's blog at http://tnfarmgirl.christianagrarian.com/?s=fluffy+wheat+bread&submit=Search. I tried it today and it was ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!! It will definitely be my weekly bread of choice. If you are a baker looking to try a new recipe, check it out.

It's A Sad Day Here....

Meghan (one of our chickens) died this morning. Earlier this week she started getting sick again, like she did over the winter. She didn't handle temperature changes very well (too hot, like last week or too cold, like the past winter). She couldn't hop up into the nesting box again last night so I placed her into one of the nests and closed the coop up for the evening. When I opened the door this morning she didn't come out. She was usually the first one out of the coop in the morning, so I knew something was wrong. She was still in the nest that I placed her into last night.

I'm Still Around~~~Mostly Lurking

Hi all!!! I know I haven't posted in quite some time, but I haven't been feeling good for a while. All of the rain we keep getting every few days is REALLY aggravating the arthritis. The rain is good for the garden, but not for me. So here's an update of what's been going on here---

The garden is doing well. I harvested some snap peas and then replanted their space with some winter squash when the peas died back. The lettuce is gone and I need to replant something into it's space for the fall garden, I just am not sure what it will be as of now. I have a few tomato plants---Jelly Bean, Little Julia, San Marzano, Mrs. Bensen and Heinz something or another(can't remember it's number) none are ripe yet. The peppers aren't doing too well, I only have a few plants. The cabbages are doing wonderfully as is my lone broccoli plant (out of the 6 that I planted). I have harvested 2 pickings of bush beans even after the bunny had eaten almost all of the plants down to nothing. My pole beans are starting to go gang busters, hopefully I'll have lots to can. My cucumbers are just starting to produce, as are some of the squash. No zucchini yet. I may pull the rest of the bush beans and plant some more broccoli and cabbage as a fall crop in their place. The weeds are growing very well I might add---too many to keep up with.

The chickens are doing well, I still only have 3 girls laying. Big Mama hasn't laid since sometime in Feb. or March. She is still molting and has decided to go broody on me (trying to hatch any egg she has a chance to sit on). Hopefully she'll start laying again soon or she may become dinner! I have a few things that I need to do to winterize the coop---Hang some reflective material inside to help with the heating issues I had last winter. I want to pour concrete over the run area because it keeps getting wet and STINKS badly even though I have cleaned it many times this spring and summer. This will make it easier to clean, but the girls won't have any dirt to dig in then. I also need to rework the nesting boxes and eliminate 2 of them so I have more room for a reflector around the heat lamp this year.

Jacob went to Camp Maverick and had a great time. He surrendered to become a missionary. I am constantly amazed by the way God is working in all of our lives. We took a few months off from homeschooling for the summer, but I told Jacob that we will be resuming our spelling lessons this week as well as spending some more time reading. I am planning to officially start the 2008-2009 school year on August 18th. We are both looking forward to the new curriculum this year.

Well that's about everything new here. I'll try to post more often, once I get the computer software issues that I'm STILL having resolved.