Dirt Freedom

The temperature was mild and we took advantage of it.  There is a stump hiding in our garden out behind the barn.  Everybody got a shovel and started digging.  After we get it exposed we can hack it out or the neighbor offered to pull it out with his tractor.  After only a few minutes of digging, jackets came off and the work went pretty well.  It sure did feel good to be outside working in the dirt.

I have finally figured out how to freeze grated cheese.  I know, many of you are shaking your head at me because you figured it out long ago.  After you grate the cheese, freeze it on cookie sheets and then put it in bags.  We've been having trouble with cheese all melding back together even in the freezer and that makes for frustrating pizza days. Now the cheese stays loose and separate.

Our cream cheese is turning out good every time.  It tastes a little different than the stuff in the store, but as that store memory fades, I'm finding how much I like this cream cheese.  It also makes the best frosting I've ever made. 

Today our twins turn ten years old.  One of them celebrated by doing her first two-handed milking.  She did really good!  Milking takes a lot of coordination and some strength, so it's not small thing that she can do it two-handed.

We are living a subsistence life, the kind of life that I've heard put down my whole life, I've heard called poor. But we don't feel poor.  After years living in a cash economy — making money at a job and spending money for our necessities — this feels like greater freedom and a more secure wealth than I've ever experienced.