Jimmy and I are officially the proud owners of a rescue puppy. Tea cup chiuaua/ Min Pin. Yea ...I know...... but this one is different. He doesn't yap. When I say he doesn't yap, I mean this is the quietest dog on the planet except when he is giving an alert. He has integrated into the household quickly. He figured out by day 2 that I don't want the chickens on the top side of the house and he herds them into the back. He's working on his relationship with Mickey , the newest cat and has seen fit to avoid Drusilla the 14 year old cat who is about as cranky as cats come. Its a good choice on his part. I once watched her take on a black lab and send it yelping home to its embarrassed owner. He's quiet , affectionate and well trained. So far, no accidents in the house. Jimmy and I had to talk long and hard about it before we took on the commitment. The deciding factor was the food bill. Its gonna cost about $5 a month to feed him!
And now for the next exciting news. My smoker should be here any day now. I've been waiting for over 6 months to get this. I waited until the smoker I wanted went on sale AND I had a %30 off coupon. The timing had to be perfect.
You all know that Jimmy and I have been working towards being more self sufficient. I learned to cook everything from scratch. Then we learned how to grow our own food. When you start growing your own food it becomes necessary to learn how to preserve your own food. I spent time learning how to can, pickle, dry and make preserves. I've done a good job at getting down the fundamentals of each form of food preservation. I only have two left to learn, curing and smoking. (I've left these two for last because they are the scariest and have the greatest potential for disaster.)
Baby Sis loaned me her meat grinder attachment for the kitchen aid so I can try my hand at summer sausages. Yes, I could use my hand grinder but its 2014 ,I have electricity so I'm going to use it.
All my herbs from last season are long dried and sitting in jars so I'll be using my herb drying corner to hang sausages!
I'm so excited to be trying something new.
After curing and smoking..... my next new adventure will be cheese making!
And now for the next exciting news. My smoker should be here any day now. I've been waiting for over 6 months to get this. I waited until the smoker I wanted went on sale AND I had a %30 off coupon. The timing had to be perfect.
You all know that Jimmy and I have been working towards being more self sufficient. I learned to cook everything from scratch. Then we learned how to grow our own food. When you start growing your own food it becomes necessary to learn how to preserve your own food. I spent time learning how to can, pickle, dry and make preserves. I've done a good job at getting down the fundamentals of each form of food preservation. I only have two left to learn, curing and smoking. (I've left these two for last because they are the scariest and have the greatest potential for disaster.)
Baby Sis loaned me her meat grinder attachment for the kitchen aid so I can try my hand at summer sausages. Yes, I could use my hand grinder but its 2014 ,I have electricity so I'm going to use it.
All my herbs from last season are long dried and sitting in jars so I'll be using my herb drying corner to hang sausages!
I'm so excited to be trying something new.
After curing and smoking..... my next new adventure will be cheese making!
