Will I Make It To One Hundred?

 Yesterday was "farrier day" - and each time (every eight weeks) this day comes around I can scarcely believe that another 8 weeks has passed!  

It's a necessary evil as far as the horses are concerned...but a holiday in the minds of the dogs.  Typically, Chester and Forrest steal the hoof trimmings and chew them up faster than we can sweep them up and dispose of them. 

 Which means, unfortunately, that both dogs will vomit them back up at some point later in the day.  Though quite tasty (stinky), these keratinous pieces of hoof are not digestible.   Oh, but how the dogs love them! (Yuck!)  I tried keeping the dogs in the house for the first half of the farrier's visit - Hubbs mans the first half, I do the second half - but Forrest whined until he wore me down... and out we all went to the barn.

It was funny to see this gal, standing above the farrier on the aisle wall.  She'll have so much gossip to share with the girls when she gets back to the coop!

I always handle the donkey trimming, because -well, to put it in Hubbs' words :  "The donkeys hate me."  For some reason, I am the donkeys' person and Jack has never been able to establish any permanent inroads with them.  (this means, I will have to live to be at least 100 years old so that I don't precede my donkeys!)

Everyone stood nicely for the farrier - despite Forrest's barking,

and generally disruptive behavior, trying to snatch any and all trimmings.

While I had them in their halters, I also gave the donkeys their worming medicine.  Whew... two tasks marked off the spring list!

Now, about that living to 100 thing.  It's probably highly unlikely due to certain aspects of my lifestyle - mainly this...

What you see in the above photo is my daily guilty pleasure.  The glass bottles contain my own brewed-from-scratch Chai tea, which I make each week in a big batch, bottle it, and put it in the fridge for the week.  That way, each morning I simply heat it up in the microwave and add one last ingredient (the one that may eventually cause my demise).   Yes, you guessed it... whipped cream.

About a year and a half ago, I indulged myself by buying a whipped cream canister.  Now, each morning, I look forward to my happy squirt of fancy whipped cream on the top of my piping hot cup of spicy tea.  It has become a mindful practice of slowing down and enjoying every single sip... and it is not just a routine, but is elevated to something greater - an act done with intention, almost ceremonial in one of my fungi mugs.  To me it is a reminder of our intimate relationship with all that is around us.  As for the whipped cream... well that just makes it decadent and delicious!

How do I make my chai tea?  In a large kettle of water, I add about a half cup of organic black whole leaf tea, several cinnamon sticks, cardamom (powdered if I don't have whole pods), 2 anise stars, 1 tbsp whole peppercorns,1 tbsp whole cloves, a few slices of peeled fresh ginger root, and several shakes of cayenne pepper (for some extra zip).  I simmer this on top of the stove for a good half hour and then allow it to sit in the pot until it is room temperature.   Then I pour it through a fine sieve and bottle it (topping each bottle with a little maple syrup for sweetening) and store it in the refrigerator. It's not for everyone, but I love it!  

I have never been a coffee drinker, so if I go to a café, I order a hot chai latté - but honestly, find them to be too sweet and not spicy enough.  Making my own homemade works out perfectly!

Something else that I have done for the past several years is to make my own extract of vanilla.  Vanilla extract became so expensive years ago that I figured this would be more economical.  And it really is!  Every winter, Costco has whole vanilla beans on sale - much cheaper than I can find in a spice shop.  I simply slice the beans several times to expose the interior and drop them in a jug of vodka.  And it can be cheap vodka (Hubbs bought me this bottle years ago because the bottle was reusable.  Now, I buy the cheapest vodka for each subsequent batch.  One large bottle like this lasts me almost two years. ( I bake a fair amount and add vanilla to each batch of whipped cream.)

I allow the beans to just soak for several months before using, and the liquid changes from clear to a rich brown.

I've also been dabbling with my paints a little, lately... adding some entries to my farm foraging journal.  Morel season is just around the corner!

And here we find ourselves at another weekend.  I am going to do a little baking for my family and hope to spend some time in the garden.  Hopefully we can get a new tunnel trellis constructed in preparation for some vining plants.  Have a lovely weekend and we'll chat again on Monday.