Winston Update ~ Jam ~ Leftover Chicken

 (Winston, playing under the rug during a snowstorm)

I don't know if you remember or not, but last winter (before last Christmas) we found this cat in one of our barns - declawed, neutered, and the best behaved, loving cat I ever met.

Unfortunately, with 3 indoor cats already, and two that are males, spraying was a huge problem.  Unable to find a home for him myself, he went to a shelter about 1 hour away. I don't think I even blogged about it either.  It was just a sad moment for me.

Homemade Goat's Milk Cream Cheese ~ Whey

(photo of them very young)

Bonnie and Ava are still not sold (the two doelings), but even so, we are getting some goat's milk.  I hopped on the computer and ordered myself some non-gmo vegetable rennet, and waited patiently for it to arrive.

What did I make?

June comes to an end. . .

Here are some new colors in my flower beds this month.

Tea Time in Tanganyika

When tension brews, I brew a cup of Holy Basil tea.  I'm now growing Holy Basil in my garden.  I'm patiently waiting to harvest it.

We are tea and coffee enthusiasts (if you want to call us that), and love to try new varieties.

Time for Teriyaki . . .

With some fresh cut broccoli, and sugar snap peas, I thought it would be a perfect time to make a chicken stir fry (over organic brown rice).  I whipped up a batch of homemade teriyaki sauce for it.  And there really is organic soy sauce.  Check for it in the organic section of your store, or near the regular soy sauce.  Not all stores carry it.  

Also, I use one brand (Wholesome Sweeteners) of light corn syrup that does not contain high fructose corn syrup.  It is organic and non-gmo verified.  I do have to order it online from a healthy living store.  Our stores here do not carry it. 

Raspberry Picking Time ~ Getting Silly with the Thyme

On Wednesday I noticed a few ripe wild black raspberries.  I picked those, and later checked another location.  It took a while to cut down brush to get to them, but I found many more ripe ones.  It was hot, humid and I was picking them in jeans and muck boots.  I wasn't taking a chance this time on getting poison ivy.

Weeds Anyone?

Hubby had this brainy idea a few years to till up this lot, which is south of the largest garden, and north of yet another newly tilled garden lot (which has popcorn and pumpkin). 

As you can see, there is a ton of grass and weeds in there.  We used plastic the last two years to plant our squash and the vegetables did terrible.  This year there is no plastic, so there are tons of weeds.  

In that one garden (photo above) is zucchini, yellow straight-neck squash, spaghetti squash, and cucumbers (at the fence).  Really, they are in there.