So, what has been going on?

Hi pals! This is going to be a picture post big time. I have been taking pics over the past days and have not been posting many and I thought I'd share some.

First of all, I'll post a few pictures from new years eve.

Here is my sweet nephew J. :

Happy little Izzy (as J. has sweetly nick named M. He calls him this because he always hears everyone saying "Where is he?" and J. thinks they are saying "where's Izzy?")

J. waiting patiently as grace dishes up the delicious...

...Homemade pumpkin icecream!!

When the clock struck midnight, Grace, Nathanael, and I all ran barefoot, no nothin outer-where to the stop sign at the end of our road and back. Enoch chickened out (or rather was too smart to race with us!!!) We are the last of two houses on a dead end road, so we don't get traffic at all. To the stop sign and back, it was probley almost 1/4 of a mile.

It was a cold nigh,t and I was pretty brrrrrr by the time I got back in the house!

Now for some more recent pictures...

Our largest icicle. By this time it is already touching the ground...

This is Nathanael. Mama asked him to take all the boots and shoes from the entry to the basement where we will keep them for the winter. He decided to what we call "a lazy mans load". Details of his time getting these boots down a narrow staircase into a very small Michigan basement are not necessary, but I will tell you by the time he got on the basement floor all the boots had fallen off. Oh, and he carried the dolly-cart in his arms most of the way. Him and I had a great laugh over the whole episode!

Cleaning cupboards...

Enoch made Mama a precious wood creation...

Baking biscuits to have with sausage gravy (big time yummers!!!!)...

And more baking!!! Mama mixed up bread dough and then I took it through the hours of pats and folds and the bake. They turned out really nice...

One of the 30 min. pats and folds...

Rising...

Baking...

Done!!

The crust turned out really well.

I just love handling bread dough. I like feeling the gluten sheet developing under my fingers.

I can hardly hardly till the joyous day comes when our certified kitchen is complete. And we can all bake together as a family. I was envisioning it the other day when we where all working together in the kitchen. We had a jumpy song playing on the radio and we danced as we made dinner. It was SO much fun!

Nathanael and I made some cookies together...

Enoch made several candles...

Mama went though some of our knitting and other wool things, and came acrossed the pair of socks that I have been working on for 5 years (I think).

I really want to get them done!!

On friday, we had friends over for clay oven pizza. Here are some photos of that...

Normally we make cheese for our homemade pizza, but our cow and goats are drying up and we don't have alot of milk. So, we bought some cheese!!

Grace and Mrs. S. putting toppings on the pizza.

The oven after David pushed the hot coals to the back...

Mama had a small florist that is in a near-by village deliver a couple bouquets. She gave them to me as a birthday present. I turn 16 on Monday.

They were and are so beautiful!

These are my two favorite flowers out of the bouquets...

The pink striped carnation,

and the lilies!!

I gave some flowers to G. and her little brother J. when they came for pizza. They are such sweet little children and where delighted with the flowers!

G. and J. again...

Grace reading...

David made and still is going to make more yummy corn chips from our corn.

First you boil the corn kernels in water and a little sake of ashes.

Then when they get really soft, he grinds them into a dough.

At this point with the dough you can either make tortillas or chips.

David made chips.

They are SOOO good!

Today, Mama, us girls, and the little boys went to my older sisters for a visit. We had a nice pleasant time. Enoch and Nathanael worked on clearing of their pond so we can go ice skating.

They got half of it cleared. I can't wait till we go skating!! We have to get some skates first. Probley from Jounque and Necessities. I have not been skating in YEARS so I will more than likely crash alot! And, when I did go skating several years back (I was probley 8) it was not really skating. it was more like zooommm....crash.....zoooommm....crash, over and over and over again!

I got a very special birthday card in the mail today from my Grandparents on Daddy's side.

We plan to go and see them on my birthday (monday). It is going to be nice!

A good friend of my Grandpa, who we call uncle Parker lives near them. He makes a famous ice sledding ramp every year that goes out onto a frozen lake where you can also go skating.

It is SO much fun. We might go there on monday too. Uncle Parker also is a snow sculptor. he does not plan on doing a sculpture this year though.

Well, you know what? It is late once again. Actually, it is late enough that I can say tomorrow is my birthday! So, I want to wish you all sweet dreams and good night!

A post by any other name

I did not realize I would be posting a picture of this, but I am and you will have to read through the post until you get to the story of this.

I am sorry I had to start out this post in such an awful yet hilarious way but I thought this would be the best way to start it!

Mama and I went to Market today. I think alot of people were buying gifts to give to others, so we did really well. I am not saying this is a boastful way at all. I think God is blessing Mama's efforts very much so. She had made up some little felting kits and some felt canvas's. Those sold out and now she is busily making more! I think this is such a nice winter pastime for us to do together.

This here is only a section of the massive building the market is in. I don't have a picture of the whole building... I don't know how I could get the whole thing! Anyways, this building is very old and it used to be used for people who needed special care. There are barns on the property so that way the people could do hands on things. The would milk cows and the milk they got was the milk they drank. Same with chickens- they raised their own eggs. Of coarse there were other people who ran the place too. Well after awhile the state shut them down. The buildings were not kept up and the windows were broken in the buildings. Basically, the building were in really bad shape. Now, about five years ago some Italian people invested in the whole thing and they are fixing it up. They are doing an amazing job! Alot of the buildings are fixed but some of them are still needing repair. They have businesses within The Village (as it is called). There is alot of very nice businesses. They also have residents living within the village. And everyone there is supporting sustainable agriculture, local, and organic. I don't mean organic like what most Americans think of organic. No, organic means from the earth (or ground). So it means that the food, and whatever else is directly from the earth without any chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, and all that terrible stuff to hinder it's growth and go right into it and hinder your growth and systems when you eat the stuff! I don't want to go on and on about this although I think I very well could! So I think you may get an idea of the place we are in. They are encouraging us small farmers in what we are doing in sustainable agriculture. And they have hosted a year round farmer's market which is very nice.

This is one of the peeks...

Here is the market from the view of our table. If you were to look to the left there would be another hall which leads to more venders. If you also keep walking strait to the end of the hall pictured below and hang a right, you will find even more venders!

Mama's table...

Among the venders we don't have names. We are known by our products! There is the emu lady, the wool lady, Gerard's stand, Anna the soap lady, the pie man... there are many more!!

This here is "The peanut butter lady" This is the lady who started "Naturally Nutty gourmet nut butters". I believe she ships to 40 states so some you may have tried her delectable nut butters!

Does her nut butters sound familiar to you at all? If you have tried her butters, let me know! And also if you have tried her butters, and have never met her, this is a picture of her and her display...

This here is Pleasanton Brick Oven Bakery. They are serving hot natural leavened pizzas! They looked SO yummy, bit we did not get any today. Their bread similar to ours but their method is different than what we do and of corse every baker has their own unique bread with the exception of Aunt Millies and the bread that is that strain because those don't really fall with in he category of "a baker" they should be considered a factory. To see their bakery in progress on a video click HERE. I don't care for the music in the background, so you can turn your sound off as there is not really anyone talking about what they are doing.

This is a lady who really liked the wool headband. You can see it under her hat. It is gray tones.

This is about how much snow we have at this point. It was snowing beautifully all day today!

This is part of the big hill that goes up into the Marilla Heights where we live. It is SO lovely. Don't you think?

The pie story:

Remember I said I made a vanilla cream pie yesterday? Well, I made meringue to go on top and I put it in the oven to brown. After it baked for 15 min. I thought I'd but it under the broiler to darken the tips of the meringue a little. When it was in there, I ran into the back room to grab some potholders and the camera as I ran back I called Grace who was upstairs to come down and take a picture of me holding the pie. I ran in the kitchen opened the oven and said "never mind, Grace I don't need a picture of me holding it, it burned" But I took a picture anyways... for you and I to laugh over so go ahead and laugh all you want! :)

"HA! HA! HA! HA!" (that's me)

I peeled of the burnt meringue which tasted terrible and what my brothers and Daddy thought...

...was good, until they had a few licks and then pronounced it disgusting with a bad burnt flavor!

I made more meringue... yes! I did! I did, even though my brother said "Hannah let's just have it with no meringue!"

Nope! I made it over again! No broiler, no nothin' other than what the recipe said!

Our neighbor unexpectedly stopped by and we all enjoyed the pie (which everyone said turned out very well :) with lemongrass tea!

Ta Da!

By the way, I'd like to know your thoughts on organic and sustainable agriculture!

We have to focus on Jesus and not get caught up in it all and let it be our life though!

Jesus is our LIFE! Hallelujah!