Toy Story

We have three new inhabitants at Stonehouse Farm.  The first, Jessie, arrived a bit unexpectedly a couple weeks ago.  She has been healthy and strong from the get-go and, boy, can she eat!  (Sounds like some other youths we know). 

Jessie's compatriots, Buzz and Woodrina, blessed us with their presence yesterday morning.  These are Thane's lambies, and please don't refer to Woodrina as a girl.  Nope, Thane wanted two black rams, and he steadfastly refuses to acknowledge Woody's gender.  We have wisely acquiesced to Thane's view.  (YOU try explaining gender mechanics to a 3 year old!)

If these names sound familiar, that's intentional.  The kids decided that the theme for this year's names would be "Toy Story."  As long as it sticks to names only (i.e. we decidedly don't want anyone "poisoning the waterhole"), we should be fine.  Oh, and um, we definitely don't want to keep adding more lambs to infinity.... and beyond!

Happy Spring from Stonehouse Farm!

Enjoying the View

Like the rest of the country, we are eagerly anticipating the arrival of spring.  Judging by the amount of wild geese that are racing overhead, spring might actually be imminent.

Last Sunday morning was gorgeous here.  The sun was brightly shining, and their was a touch of warmth in the air.  After spying 4-5 robins pecking at the few bare spots in our field, we decided to take a hike up the hill beside our place.  How invigorating!  The scenery was spectacular,

and it was fun to see our house from a new angle:

Thane went hiking with us, and we are proud to report that he walked almost the entire way.  That was 3 miles in knee deep snow in spots!  He was a trooper, and I think that we just might have created a new hiking partner.

We can't wait for milder weather so that we can go again!

The Grind

I apologize for the silence on our end, but we've had a busy winter!  First of all, I have been working my tush off at H&R Block doing taxes.  Yes - you read that right - I'm doing taxes.  This is definitely NOT anything that I thought I'd ever do, but the work fits for our little family.  I work 3-5 days a week (depending on how busy we get), but I'll only be working for about 4 months each year.  These 4 months just so happen to coincide with the months in which Jordan generally doesn't have any jobs.  It sure has been nice to have a little extra cash during the long winter.

While we have had to hire a babysitter occasionally, most days Jordan gets to play Mr. Mom.  He's done a great job, and the kids (Thane especially) love helping him work on construction projects around the house.  In addition, Jordan has been on a mission to clean out our freezers, where several years worth of old chickens, beef bones, venison roasts and pork bones & hamhocks have been contracting freezer burn.  Over the past few weeks, Jordan has been making and canning meat stock & soup.  I can't begin to describe how cozy and delicious my house has smelled the past few weeks, and the stock has such a nice, rich flavor (and it's kinda pretty to look at, too!)

Jordan has also been busy thawing out and grinding up pounds and pounds of old scrap meat.  His mom came over one day last week, and the two of them ground, weighed and bagged over 80 pounds of homemade sausage.  Fresh sage, breakfast, maple & Alsatian flavored sausage - YUM!!  They even managed to pressure can a double batch of chicken stock, 1 batch of beef stock and 11 pints of pumpkin!  THANK YOU MOM!!!

Ya - I'm thinking that I should have gone back to work years ago!