Crockpot Yogurt

Put a half gallon of milk into a 2-quart crockpot. It's best to use one with a removable stoneware liner, but I think most of them have that now, anyway.



Heat on low for 2 1/2 hours. Turn off crockpot and let sit for 3 more hours. Although the cover is off in this picture, the crockpot should be covered for the entire 5 1/2 hours. You don't need to stand over your crockpot; I was out shopping one day while it was heating, and just ran in to switch it off after 2 1/2 hours. Then I headed back out and was home before the 3 hour time period was finished.



At the end of this time, take 1-2 cups of warm milk out of the crockpot. Whisk in 1/2 cup yogurt. I use Greek yogurt, because I like the flavors of those cultures.



Remove the liner from the crockpot. Leaving the lid on, wrap the whole thing in a bath towel. Let it sit for 8 hours. I put mine in a cold oven, because we have a cat. She's never gone near food on the counter, but I don't want to take any chances.




At the end of 8 hours, put the yogurt into the refrigerator.



UPDATE; Let sit in frig for about 10 hours.This will give the best flavor and texture. Sadly, I forgot about our yogurt, and it sat in the oven 8 hours, then overnight. It's a little thicker than I'd like, and the whey was beginning to separate. It will probably have a more tangy taste than I like.

I use raw, whole milk, straight from the dairy bulk tank. I have also used pasteurized, homogenized milk straight from the store. Both work equally well. If you're interested in such information, 1/2 cup of this yogurt has 84 calories, 7 grams of carbohydrate, and 5 grams each of fat and protein.

Enjoy!

Thinking About Rebellion

Some online friends and I were talking this weekend about what we want to do to rebel. It was a good conversation, which led me to some interesting thoughts.

I've always felt so boring. Never edgy. But then I got to thinking...

I've been rebelling since I was 20-something. When I graduated from college in 1980, women (especially in geology) went on to a Masters', headed off to a career, and maybe got married in their 30s. I got married right after my Bachelors', at 22, and gasp had a child at 23. I settled into momhood. I did not work out of the home (full-time) after my kids were born, (although I earned my teaching certificate at 25) never sent them to day care (I ran a daycare in my home) and Oh, Good Lord (ironic that those who use that phrase don't honor the Lord) got active in my church. When the time was right, we bought a hobby farm and started growing our own food. Then I decided to homeschool. 'Nuff said, there. Now that my kids are older and almost launched, I am resisting the idea of heading off to work. I want to sew and grow food for other people and maybe be a nanny, because I can't get over loving little people.

We've raised a lot of eyebrows over the years, and lost many friends with the decisions we've made, but I wouldn't change a thing. Well, maybe I'd find a way to live closer to some of my really good friends. But not without land, a horse and some chickens in my backyard, and a view.

I do think I'd like to be the grandma that takes her grandchildren off on great adventures. I want to live in Hawaii, England and Tuscany for a year each. Maybe even Seattle, if I can handle the Left Coast for that long.

And, most rebellious of all, I don't want to settle in the South or Southwest when we retire. Too hot, no seasons. I'll hire a farm boy to shovel snow.

Saturday Farm Report

Still can't get that song out of my head....Walkin' in Memphis....

Anyway, Saturday farm report...

Still snow-covered. Still cold. We haven't been as cold as other parts of the country, but it's cold enough, thank you. I learned yesterday that we probably had more like 20" of snow. The snowfall statistics I quoted the other day were not final reports, as I thought they were. The towns around us reported 20+ inches, so I'm sticking with 20. 4" may not seem like much, but, when it falls on bare ground, you sure do notice it!

I've been house-bound, therefore, and have been getting lots of little things done inside that will make life easier, long-term. The guest bedroom/sewing room, in which Matthew and Keri lived this summer/fall, had never really been reclaimed when they left. I've been doing that, little by little, this past week. I have tables set up for sorting things like pictures (I am making albums of my mom and grandmother; we have so many images and documents of them, and I don't want them to deteriorate) projects (some sewing things, some wooden things, all decorative things) and toys (I'd like to keep some toys available for visiting kids, but not in our living room. A small stash in the guest bedroom should work.) I also had, believe it or not, a small semblance of order and organization to this house before last year, and I want to regain it. So that is on my mind as February rolls on.

Today there's some shopping to be done; mundane things like bread and chicken. We'll be making pizza tonight, and, God willing, the three of us will agree on a movie to watch while we eat it. Tomorrow will be church, then office work. One area where organization has been thrown to the wolves is our office, and that will hopefully begin to end tomorrow. I'll lock Mary and John in the office with me, and I won't let them out until it's really usable again. Don't worry about this blog post warning them; they don't read my blog, anyway!

Just something to look forward to;

Walking in Memphis

Just liking this song today.

Facebook Fun

I really hate playing Facebook games; in fact,I won't, at least as far as things like Farmville are concerned. Last night, however, a friend posted this game;

I want all my Facebook friends to comment on this status about how you met me. But... I want you to lie. That's right. Just make stuff up. After you comment, copy this to your status so I can do the same (if you like).

Well, that just woke up my inner creative writer, and I had to respond;

There I was, stranded in the Libyan desert, when, over the hill came a camel riding Bedouin. It came closer and closer, and I broke out in a cold sweat, having realized I was out of ammunition. I looked around for something to throw, and found a scorpion. As I raised my arm to throw it, Jenny got down off of her camel, took off her kaffiya and said, "Are you a confessional Lutheran?"

Then I posted to my Facebook page, and got responses like these;

Something about a camel.... It's rather fuzzy since I think we were both drunk.

Wow - your memory stinks - remember that mission we were never to speak of again around Roswell... %^$#*&HG&*$#JNS*&%(

Met you in the bathroom of the cowboy bar in Jackson hole..my stall was out of tp..you handed me some.

Phooey, I can't remember... it was either that swanky Hollywood cocktail party or the woman's correctional facility... ah, the curse of living a full and varied life. :)

I met you during the Time Warp dance at a midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture show. We both dressed up as Transylvanians.
Note; You know, hard as it may be to believe, I've never seen this film.

I found you on my patio drinking the last of my RED WINE . Then you pretended like we totally knew each other and left with an entire case of Three Buck Chuck. It was really strange.

I have such creative friends. Can you imagine how tired I'd be if I really had lived that life? I'll have to get to work, to be able to live up to their expectations of me.

The White Death

So now we've been hit by The Big One. And it really was. The road we live on, a county highway, is down to one lane. One lane that shifts and meanders as the high winds blow snow over it. We haven't seen a plow yet; some private ones, but nothing from the county. Our isn't just drifted over; it is a drift. I'll share some pictures, if you'll indulge me.

Last night, as a drift formed on our deck, Skye begged to go outside. I indulged her, and took a video. I'm placing it here so you can see that she is walking where the big drift on our deck formed. That "rushing water" noise you hear in the background is the wind howling in the line of pines at the back of our property. It was louder and scarier in person.



The next three pictures are of the drift; two taken about an hour apart last night, and one this morning. That black pile is our deck furniture, stacked to the side for the winter.

8:40pm



12:11am



10:16am




How much did we get? This flashlight was left standing out on the grill.



It is 10 inches long, as you can see on this ruler. (Which, for whatever looney reason, is 10" long, not the standard 12")



And snow was piled on top of it for 6 more inches.




Now, there is drifting involved on the deck. But John's guess, after walking through it to feed horses, and shoveling some of it, is that 16" isn't an unreasonable estimate. Woodstock, about 9 miles east of us, reported 18.8 inches, and the Rockford newspapers (Rockford is to the west of us) are reporting about 14 inches. That's a lot of snow.

And it's going to melt sometime. If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know what that means. But for now, we're just going to enjoy the fun.

Snow

Snowmageddon.
Snowpocalypse.
Snowlocaust.
The White Death.

We are expecting a storm of Biblical proportions here in the Midwest today. Predictions of up to 24" of snow have been heard; 18" seems to be the most popular number, although that has been downgraded to 10" this morning. But that's because some warmer air pushing up from the south may make the snowfall wetter and heavier. So it won't be less snow, just more compacted.

So far, we have about 2 new inches of snow on the ground. Winds are picking up, and mini-drifts are beginning to form. Horses are snuggled into their stalls, although we may let them out for a couple of hours today. The big snowfall is due this evening and into tomorrow.

It's hilarious. This is, after all, the Midwest. It's January. And people are clearing out the stores' shelves, piling milk and bread into their homes, filling gas tanks, buying new shovels and worrying themselves into a frenzy.

I repeat. It's January. In the Midwest. Snow is going to happen, folks. Most likely the most horrific event of the next few days will be you having to stay home from work and play with your kids.

Might want to pick up some whiskey while you're getting milk and bread.

PS I just re-checked NOAA The current prediction is for 13 to 24 inches. In case you're counting.