We got another 28 turken chicks from my brother in law.  He incubated our eggs in his ginourmus incubator.  We also got three mallard ducklings.  He's currently running 200 guinea eggs in it, so hopefully he will let me buy some of those when they hatch.  We're still waiting for Luna to kid.  She's been bagged up for over a week, so it could be any time now.  That should wrap up kidding for the spring.

The kids wanted Godzilla trading cards for Easter....as far as I can tell, no one makes such a thing.  But the kids got their nagging gene from their mother so I set out to create something that will make them happy.

BEHOLD - Homemade trading cards!



I made them the same size as their Poke'mon cards so they'd fit into the plastic sleeves of their card binder.




The fronts looked great, but the backs needed something...



Yep.  That'll do! 
I had to fiddle with it a bit so the backs would print when I flipped the page over, but I came up with a template that works pretty good.  A short drying time and a quick coat of clear spray varnish and they were ready to cut apart and bundle up!

I've been doing some gridding of a friend's apartment.  While it's fun and really does seem to make a difference in the atmosphere and I would love to do it for my customers, I didn't see how it was practical for me to drive all over creation, carrying a bunch of stones.
Then I had the idea of fastening a fixed purpose set of stones down to a plate or dish! Hit Michael's for some wooden plaque blanks and museum putty, and voila'!  Made these up as prototypes at the April 1st Dallas Psychic Fair.



Prosperity Growth Grid

Apophyllite, Quartz Crystal, Peridot, and Blue Topaz on pine with museum putty. 
"A grid designed to foster the continuous orderly growth of prosperity rather than prosperity by windfall."

I made this, put it out on the table, and promptly got swamped with customers for the next hour-and-a-half.  Sold the first one,and finally got to sit down for a while.  After finally getting to eat my lunch, I made a Romance Grid (pic below), then a Manifestation Grid (which sold so fast I didn't get a pic of it!), finally made another one of these, and promptly sold that one too!  I want to do up a bunch more of these for the next show.



Like my display isn't busy enough as it is...

I did get to take the Romance Grid home to play with.

The kitties are growing well, and other than an unfortunate tendency of one to suckle at her brother, have no problems.  Here's some gratuitous kitteh pics...





Had to move them to the pen because they were bailing out of their box.  This is their first day.

Our black and white stray cat Baba disappeared this week, leaving behind a litter of week-old kittens.  After listening to them cry all day and looking for their mother, Joe and I fished them out from under the old satellite dish that covers the septic tank.



Two have white on their faces and white socks, two are pretty much solid black with a few stray hairs, and one has a frosted mask of silver and silvery feet.  I attempted to feed them with a homemade milk replacer and an old rennet bottle I'd saved for some reason. 



No fun.  The hard nipple was a struggle for them and me.  Luckily Tractor Supply had KMR and the proper bottles.



See that can?  That's powdered gold.  I'll be buying quite a few of those if I succeed in keeping these little guys alive.



Update:  Day 4 and the kitties are thriving little poop machines.  Looks like we're a go for the next 6 weeks...

Picked up my chicks from my B-I-L this evening. 4 dozen eggs in the incubator netted me 27 puffballs.


I'm guessing about half to two-thirds are naked necks.  Max thought there was something wrong with them when they started hatching.  Poor bald necked things.  Only 4 have the striped down their turken parent sported, the rest are solid buff of the orphingtons...except for one...

I call it "Token".  I'm guessing the lone turken rooster did his best to cover all the orphington hens, plus what the turken hens laid.  It will be interesting to see what these little fuzzballs turn into as they feather out.

There's the one sporting eyeliner as well.  Cute little buggers.

We've had a slew of babies this last few days...


Nilla's ginourmus buck kid, Bull.


Suite Judy Blueeyes' (AKA Little) little doeling.


Stormy's Boy and...


Her girl. Flashy, ain't she?


Shadow's twin bucks, A


And B.



And Pheobie's twin girls - A


And B.

 Last but not least is Sparkle's single doe...


I've been calling her Shine.

Still waiting on Sable and Luna to kid.  Everybody is healthy and growing quickly.

Gardening...something that I've always believed should just come naturally to me.  Heaven knows I can start seeds in little pots like a BAMF, but getting the soil turned over, grass free, and sticking those little seedlings in the ground takes so darn much effort.  Everything always seems to be ten times harder and take three times longer than I think it should.  Well, today the onions went in - 3 weeks late and looking sad and sorrowful. The chickens had great fun pulling them up whenever I turned my back.  I imagine I'll buy another 3 bundles of sets and plant them as well.

I started tomato, eggplant, and pepper seeds in peat pots too.  Too many, but hopefully they will make strong, sturdy plants in a month.  I can always take any extra to the farmer's market.

I still want to start my big pot of carrots.

My sweet potato suspended in a jar of water languishes, rootless in the window with nary a shoot even starting to bud, my lemon tree is leafless but still alive. The chard, rosemary, chives, false tarragon, and mint sit in pots, awaiting their beds to be tilled and sifted of grass clumps. Potatoes need to be planted, and strawberry plants are due to come in this week as well.

The lemongrass shoots from the Vietnamese market will root as the sun warms their jar of water in the window and the Water Spinach is as happy as a vegetable rescued from the cut produce aisle can be - I do love buying veggies from the produce section of the store and making them grow. The four or five stalks I didn't stir-fry are sending out white water roots and new leaves in their glass in the window.

Time to put on my working boots and get to it I guess.  I know once everything is in and established it will be great - if I can beat back the grass, if the weather cooperates, if the chickens behave, if, if, if... it seems like such a sysiphean task right now.

Milking goats, brooding chickens, and processing their various forms is so much easier.

Last summer was such a bust.  11 months in a burn ban.  The driest year on record for this part of Tx, but bringing hail and high wind with every storm we did catch. Watching the radar for developing hooks as the cells moved in but getting precious little water for it.

I hope this year is kinder.

Tonight is Family Night at Welcome Home Farm.  This usually involves the kids' weekly soda binge, a movie that isn't animated, and Dad popping popcorn on the stove.  Tonight I decided to make it Pizza Nite as well.  I prepped the dough and made the crusts this morning on a whim.



This is the un-pretty one.  I'd already topped the pretty crust when I decided to blog all this.  I'll post the recipe at the bottom.



Because I'm cheap, I got out a block of store brand mozzarella and my farm auction prize Salad Master grater and reduced that bad boy to shreds.  The bagged stuff costs the earth and has cornstarch to keep it from sticking together and makes the pizza taste pasty to me.  2lbs in a block is cheaper than a 1lb bag of pre-shredded, so I can sacrifice a little washing up time instead.  I wish I'd made some fresh goat moz, but I haven't had a good block of time to do it lately.
 Benny and Dad like salami, mushrooms, beef, and onion on their pie.  I had 2 out of 4 so they get what I got...



I just layer an 8oz can of tomato sauce down and add the toppings, pop into a 475F oven for 10 minutes and get this!



Senior Picky-Pants only likes alfredo pizza from CiCi's so here is my latest attempt.  He rejected the homemade alfredo sauce, the one that used cream cheese, the butter and garlic sauce...so here he gets a jar of store bought 'fredo sauce.



I may have been too generous with the cheese, but I think it looks pretty passable.

Now to pick a movie...

Pizza Dough
Adapted from ButterYum
makes two  16-inch Medium Crust Pies

5 cups all purpose flour
3 teaspoons dry active yeast
2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 1/2 cups  tepid water, if using a bread machine to make the dough (use 110-115F water if using a stand mixer)
I also add a teaspoon or so of Ready Spaghetti Seasoning from Kitchen Witch Gourmet into the crust for extra flavor

To make dough in a bread machine:
Add the ingredients to your bread machine following your manufacture's instructions. Mine says to add the water first, then olive oil, half of the flour, sugar, salt, remaining flour, and finally the yeast. Set the machine for the Dough cycle (about an hour in my machine).

To make dough in a stand mixer:
Heat water to between 110-115F; add sugar, and yeast. Proof yeast mixture for 5 minutes. Put dry ingredient into mixer fitted with a dough hook; add yeast mixture and olive oil. Mix on low until ingredients are moistened. Increase to speed 2 and knead for 5 -10 minutes. Allow to rise for 30 minutes in oiled, covered bowl.

Divide dough and press it into a 16-inch circle. I do this directly onto my pizza pans. Dock dough with fork. Pre-bake 7-10 minutes. I then loosen crusts from pan with a spatula. Brush edges with oil; add toppings. Return to oven to bake an additional 7-10 minutes. Remove from oven and brush edges with oil again.

My 2-pound bread machine can handle this batch of dough.

Today, on of the finest teachers I ever had the privilege of learning from passed away while having emergency open heart surgery. 
He was one of those rare teachers who thought it more important that his students learn to THINK about why things happened, and that there were two sides to a story rather than just parrot back history facts.  He didn't just teach Civics, he taught us to take pride in and why we must participate in our government.  He encouraged us to learn strategic thinking by teaching us chess. 

He was a Renaissance man.

The world will be a poorer place without him. 

Robert Wayne McDaniel
Teacher, Scholar, Woodworker, Historian, Husband and Father
Requiescat in pace