9.8.10 Rain & New Beginnings

5:00 am and the air is cool, with a crispness I haven't felt in awhile. But there's also a mugginess, headlights of the coming, much needed rain. We've had rain a few times over the last week or so but still, more is needed to heal the still open wounds left from the summers blistering heat.

I've woken right at 3:00 am for the last 3 or 4 mornings. I've always had spell of doing that but it's been awhile and I've missed it. There's something very different about being awake and about when most of the Turtle Islanders are asleep. I can imagine, or remember, what it was like when the world was less crowded.

I hear a bit of thunder in the far distance, it's supposed to rain and storm for the next 4 days.

I'm down to milking once a day now. I had dried Thistle off right after we got her because she was sick but she has continued to produce so I started milking again when we returned from Virginia. The plan when I traded for her was to have two being milked, one for us and one for animal food. Now that Thistle is well I'll probably see if I can get her back up to two milkings a day for more milk. She's giving about 2.5 cups each morning and if I can get her to 4 cups (a quart) a day, that would be perfect for us.

Ivy should be ready to mate in a month or so, and I think she's mature enough so I'm going to try and find a mate for her. Funny that we seem to be starting over completely on many things here.

We'll also be starting over with chickens. I don't know if I can actually do it but I plan to turn at least 5 of them into meat leaving the younger ones and getting a few Buffs later on.

I never heard back on the Wasola house so I've written again to see. My offer might not have been worth considering but I still have some hope. It's a wonderful little stone cottage on 3 acres, not to far from where we are now, still in my beloved Ozarks. Nothing fancy but perfect for us.

Yesterday and today we've had leftovers for breakfast. Yesterday was taco salad made from taco leftovers and today is leftover pizza for breakfast. For dinner will be meatloaf, baked potatoes and corn. Supper will be cornbread and chili.

Awhile back I got to do a very cool thing ... a neighbor who uses a government food card asked me about menus and shopping and I offered to make her a month menu and shopping list based on how and what they like to eat, how much she could spend and how she cooks (on the cooking part I talked her into trying more things from scratch so I was worried about how it wouldn't work out for them). I got the results back yesterday, it's been 3 weeks since she shopped and she's been following the menu and they love it ! :) :) :) I really, really enjoyed doing it for them as well.

For now I'm off to make soap, Oat & Honey and Rose Hip & Green Tea. I'm hoping to be able to afford our mechanic to look at the Blazer soon so I can get back to the Farmers market before the season ends.