Yeller

Well that is not his name, we do need more opinion's on names. (for those of you who are not getting this I am talking about the horse)
He is doing well. I will post pictures later, but for now you can just imagine it .
For those of you who are like Ruth and want to know exactly how everything is going, here is the rundown.
He is doing well on backing and circling on the right. I am not patient enough to help him figure it out on the left. He seems so confused. I have tried all I know, but it is just not working , and since he can't go to the left I cant get him to do the figure eights. He is doing pretty well on walking beside me. (For those of you are getting board you can just skip this part) (:
OK, where was I, oh yeah, he also can't figure out the fence post thing. He will just try to run you over or trample the fence.
Well I guess that is good enough for now like I said I will post pictures later.

peanut in the nose

Well, we were eating lunch when Matthew said , "Patty can you get my peanut out of my nose." So we said, "Uh Matthew, why do you have a peanut in your nose ?" " Because I put it there ." "Matthew, blow your nose ." " But Patty, I don't want to. " " Matthew, if you want to get the peanut out of your nose you have to blow your nose ." " OK ." So he blew his nose and out came this huge peanut covered with snot. He was about to eat it when Annie said, " Matthew, do not eat that."
After that we had Michael and Jimmie putting peanuts in there noses ,blowing them out of there noses and than eating them.EWWWW!!!!!!!!!
Just another day at the Zesch's house.(:
Well, that is all for now, I will post about Yeller (I think that is what I am going to name the horse ) later.
Patty

Skippy

This is Skippy.Well that's the name he had when he got here.
We have not officially named him yet he is 3 and he is a gelding in case you haven't noticed .
We would like for you to post what you think a good name is. We just can't decide (Possibly too many suggestions from our family?!?!?!)
Stella has suggested: Horsey, Doo da, toes, and puppy. I don't think those are very good names. No offense Stella.

Dad has suggested Buttless Wonder. You can't tell in the pics but he doesn't have much butt.
Sorry I don't know why the picture did that I reloaded it several times, It still does that. BUT this is one of our favorite pics so...

Chewy Flax Seed Squares

A couple days ago, we made Chewy Flax Seed Squares , you mix them up and then put them in the dehydrator, as they start to get harder, you turn them over and let them sit until they are to the crunchiness you like them, when ours start getting crunchy, they start mysteriously disappearing, due to some unknown cause :) like kids.
Here are some pics of them.

Notice the mysterious holes.

Here is one of the culprits.





Here is the recipe

1. Soak 2 cups flax seed in 4 cups of freshly juiced apple juice in a very large bowl. Soak for about 4 hours or over night. If you do not have a juicer, you could use purified water sweetened with raw honey to taste.
2. Soak 2 cups oat groats over night (or they can be soaked for up to three days, changing the water each day). You can also substitute the oat groats with a combination of soaked buckwheat , quinoa, whole barley or seeds.
3. Drain water from soaked grains and put in Vita-Mix or blender with 2 cups water. Blend well until it is a smooth thick mixture. You could do one cup of groats and water at a time so it is not too hard on t he blender. Add this mixture to the bowl of soaked flax seeds. You can add more liquid if necessary.
4. Now start adding all the goodies you desire. Add to the bowl 1-2 cups chopped dates, If you use the squished dates, blend them up with the groats in the blender.
5. Add 1-2 cups raisins, depending on how generous you are feeling.
6. Add nuts of your choice, e.g. chopped almonds and walnuts- at least 1 cup but 2 would be better.
7. Add anything else that you have on hand, e.g. sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, tibetan goji berries. If you don't have these goodies, leave them out. You can make these squares as simple or as extravagant as you are able.
8. Mix it all together and spread out smoothly about 1/8" thick on teflex sheets. It usually fills about 4 teflex sheets.
9. Dehydrate on teflex sheets for about four hours. Than flip them over on to the mesh trays and continue dehydrating over night or for about 12-24 hours, depending on whether you like them chewy or very crisp.
10.When ready , cut into squares and store.

Our dehydrator does not have teflex sheets, so we use plastic wrap or wax paper so it does not go throught the holes.
This recipe is from Rejuvenate your Life, by Serene Allison.

Friday's Fun

This Friday we had a lot of stuff happen. Daddy got a new toy ( I mean tool) a pear burner. Since there wasn't much wind, and he NEEDED to try it out he did some controlled burning, around the house, it helped the decision that we have had rain recently, and fires in our area. He would get to play and make a fire break if one came close all at the same time.


Watching it closely.



Poof, burst of flames.



Daddy also picked up some baby turkey's at Palmer's to feed out and butcher, the kids love them and watch over them, They love to hold them, or just sit and watch them. Stella is so funny because she doesn't want to hold or touch them, but loves to watch them, and if one of the kids brings one near her she starts laughing hysterically.


Awwwww, so cute.




We also got produce , here is part of our two weeks worth of produce.






Stella playing in the sand.





When I was giving the kids all a bath Michael said"Annie, take me a bath" meaning give me, :)
So cute

Jimmie's new Talents

Jimmie has learned some new talents.
Last week he learned to ride his bike, ( with little to no help from anyone older than 8 )



He is very proud




On Tuesday I got him new shoes, and we told him that if he could ride his bike then he should be able to tie his shoes.
A couple hours later he could tie his shoes all by himself.





Now he wants to tell or show everyone his new skills.

Patty's Muddy Mistake!!!

Yesterday Patty drove up to our cattlegaurd with me(Jenny) so she could time me while a ran for track practice. When we were finished she pulled out into the road and when she turned around she went off the side of the road instead of staying on the pavement. Not a very good idea when we recently had a couple inches of rain. Needless to say she got stuck. We should have got pictures yesterday when the van was actually stuck, but, we didn't so here are some pics.


Patty checking out the deep ruts she made .


Patty pretending she doesn't know what the ruts are from

The ruts were nearly a foot deep!!!

The vans muddy tires

More muddy tires

Homemade Peanut Butter

Yesterday we made some homemade peanut butter!! It all started when we realized how much peanut butter we eat. (A Whole LOT) We ordered from United Co-op what we thought was 30 lbs. of peanut butter But it turned out to be 30 lbs. of roasted peanuts. So we made the best of it and made peanut butter in the Vita-mix. It turned out pretty good. We did 12 oz. of peanuts at a time(which by the way doesn't put a very big dent in a 30 lb. bag) We just put it in the Vita-mix on level 3 ( our Vita mix is really old but I assume you would do it the same way in a newer one) and mixed it until it was all a powdery substance. Then we added salt(the peanuts weren't salted) a little palm oil and some Raw Agave nectar. Then blended for a while pressing the peanut powder through the blades with the tamper it very soon became smoother. The longer you blend it the smoother and runnier it becomes. So in essence you can do your peanut butter however you like. As you can see in the pic ours is pretty runny. Oh well better luck next time.

We have a blog

I just started our blog today.YAY!!!

Annie