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Showing posts from 2016

Of Being Single...

My dream for my entire growing up life was to get married, have about 3 or 4 kids and adopt 3 or 4 kids and live happily ever after with a "normal" life. I didn't want any more crazy adventures in the jungle learning how to trust God for everything, nor did I want any more near death experiences with Malaria or other tropical diseases. Granted, I did still want to live in Brazil for the rest of my life, I just wanted it to be a normal life (whatever that was supposed to mean!) I wanted a nice little house and a husband who had a job and worked hard to provide for me and the kids (cause you know I wanted to have a bunch of them), maybe a little farm with horses and some animals to be able to teach all those kids good work ethics and all the good things that come from homesteading and farm life. I wanted him to come home every evening and spend time with us and be a spiritual leader in the house. I wanted to have enough money to pay all the bills each month without panick

Recipe of the day: Hearty Beef Soup

One of my favorite things to make and eat are soups. I particularly enjoy a hearty beef soup on a cold winter day. Here's how I make mine: Saute your stew meat, beef chunks in a pan with about a tablespoon or so of olive oil till brown. Amount depends on how much you want to make. I usually use about a pound or less. After your meat is browned and cooked add veggies: I like potatoes, carrots, cabbage, onions as staples and again, the amount depends on size of pot and size of family. Add water enough to barely cover the meat and veggies. Add spices: salt, black pepper to taste and here are my special ingredients I like to add: garlic (lots of garlic) about a teaspoon of cumin powder, a few sprinkles of oregano, more garlic, a beef bullion sometimes, a dash of paprika, whatever else inspires me that day. Taste it and make sure you added enough of everything. Now for the part that makes it nice and warm, add about a handful of spaghetti noodles, broken in half. Also at this poi

Missing my hometown!

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It's winter here and although I live in Texas I still very much miss my home town/farm where I lived for most of my life as a missionary kid. The tropical rainforest of Brazil. This picture was taken on one of my trips home for a visit. It is one of my favorite views of a palm tree, specifically known as a Tucuma tree, right before a thunder storm. I can still feel in my imagination the humidity that weighs so heavy you can almost cut it. The warm air surrounds you like a passionate embrace. The monkeys howl early in the morning or at dusk and the big giant butterflies slowly drift and flutter, looking for their next flower to rest on. The birds fly and call and if you're lucky you might get to glimpse a band of macaws or toucans. These are all things that I grew up with and miss almost desperately especially in the wintertime!

Recipe of the Day! Homemade Tomato Soup.

Cooking from scratch is an almost lost art for a lot of folks now days, especially the younger generation.  However, it is very rewarding and satisfying for the maker and the eater. I'm going to share with you one of my favorite recipes that is a big comfort food for me, quick and easy to make. Also want to note that no recipe is set in stone! I don't like to measure or make things exactly the same every time I make them so when I do make this recipe it is generally just a hint. I like to study cookbooks to see what other people like to add together and create my own dishes that way. Most of them turn out great! Here's my version of: Homemade Tomato Soup: Melt 2 Tablespoons of Butter (or olive oil if you don't have butter) in a saucepan. Chop some onion and garlic real fine. How much depends on your taste. I like lots so I'll use a half an onion and several cloves of garlic. (you can also use dried onion or garlic) Saute it in the butter. When it's lightly

Coyotes in the Yard!!

Here at our farm we have a lot of animals and we keep some Great Pyrenees to help protect everyone against the abundant coyote population.  By day the dogs sleep and by night they are barking, patrolling and keeping the general population here at the ranch safe. One morning, the day after the triplet baby goats were born, and the smell of birthing blood was strong, as I was waking up I heard the gate rattle like when the dog jumps over the fence. Then the sound of growling dogs and fighting. In my half asleep groggy state of mind, I remembered that all the inside dogs were still in and there was no logical explanation for growling dogs and gate rattling except for strange dogs to be in the area. I leaped out of bed with a start and threw open the door. Right there practically on my front porch was a smallish coyote, and the Great Pyrenees had his teeth baring down on the coyote's back trying to get him. I'm not sure if the coyote was actually in the yard or just trying to get

Triplet birth

This week was a very exciting one at my farm. I have a large Nubian doe who was pregnant and due this week. On one particular Friday a friend came over to help me draw blood for the goats yearly CAE test. Parfait (the goat) was acting a little strange, reluctant to walk or move out of the shelter in her pen, walking stiff, etc. We got her into the main barn to draw the blood and she was very much in labor and looked like the contractions were coming fairly fast! I put her in a stall and we set to watching her to make sure everything went well. After about a half an hour of pushing she finally got the first baby parts to show. It didn't look like feet in the normal birth presentation so I went in the stall to make sure she didn't need help. Soon I discovered that the tail was coming out first. I wasn't able to get the baby back in to rearrange it, so I helped it come out and he was born a healthy little buck. After another short while another baby started being born. That on