Butchering a deer

Our neighbor, Jennifer, loves to hunt.  Bow hunting, muzzle loader, or with a modern rifle.  She is part of the River View Farms hunting club, which adjoins our property to the south and west.

She arrived yesterday afternoon and went out to sit in her tree stand soon after arriving.  She  sent me a text at 5:30.  She'd gotten a deer, and would be back at her cabin after dark.  I offered to help her butcher the deer.

Growing up in NE Pennsylvania, the men in our family all went deer hunting.  I was never involve in the butchering.  I remember loving to eat venison, but I don't recall how my mom cooked it...

Our first winter together, John went hunting with his brother Jim.  They both got a deer.  The meat was divided among all the family.  I cooked our portion, but didn't participate in the butchering.

Once we got settled in here, John helped Jennifer butcher a deer.  I learned how to butcher along with her.  It's not difficult work, just messy. The deer we butchered last night took us about 30 minutes...

Our favorite cut, of course, is the back strap.  Any venison is good venison, in my opinion.  Steaks, roasts, stew... We've made deer sausage links in the past.  Yummy, Yummy, Yummy!  Check out my previous post on dutch oven  cooking.

I strongly believe that any animal you kill should be eaten.  Trophy hunting is just wasting good meat!  Rabbit, squirrel, quail, duck, turkey, venison - we've eaten them all.  Waste not, want not is our motto.  Arkansas has a program, Hunters feeding the hungry, the uses donated deer to provided ground meat to local food banks.  They have a website & a Facebook page.  Check them out.

Arkansas hunters feeding the hungry

Quilting

About once a week, I get together with a local group of ladies and work on a quilt. We make 1 quilt a year and raffle it off at our annual Homesteaders event.  I've been involved in the quilt making 3 or 4 years now.

The quilt we raffled off on October 1st was very nice.  The design is called "9 patch".  Here's what it looked like.

2016 raffle quilt

We using the "strip" quilting method.  For those who aren't familiar with quilting, "strip" quilting means all the fabric to be used is first cut into uniform strips (in this case 4 1/2 inches).  Then the strip is cut into squares (again 4 1/2 inches).  These squares are sewn together into "blocks".  The squares in the blocks are now 4 inches wide, the 1/2 inch being the seam allowance. The blocks are then sewn together with another strip, the background color (here it's orange and 6 inches wide). These are then sewn together to make the "field" of the quilt.  Then the border is sewn on (brown in this case and 6 inches wide).  The quilt "top" is now complete.  We sent the top off to a local lady who has a larger sewing machine specifically for quilting large items.  She added a layer of cotton batting, and a "backing" (in this case a king sized sheet), and then sews all 3 layers together - the actual quilting.  The border is folded over and is attached to the backing, giving a nice finished edge.  She did a great job on the quilting.

We used new 100% cotton fabric, washed it and ironed it before we started any cutting.  We used a rotary cutter, ruler and cutting mat to make the strips and blocks.  This makes the cutting much easier.  We take turns doing different tasks, but I normally do the ironing.  I can't cut the strips straight with my wiggly hands...

Last year's quilt was a big more difficult.  We still used the strip method but the sewing was trickier.

2015 raffle quilt

This quilt came out very well, it was also king-sized.

This year's quilt to be raffled off in 2017 will be another 9 patch, in blue/red/yellow.  It will also be king-sized 100% cotton.

Several years ago, I saw that the Parkinson's Disease Foundation was seeking 24 inch quilt blocks from people with Parkinson's, which would be put together and displayed in Scotland.

I was really enthusiastic about this, and make a square to be included.  I used 100% cotton fabric, already dyed using the batik method.  Batik dyeing uses more than 1 color.  The fabric is bunched up, folded or waxed to make the pattern.  I love batik fabric because of the wonderful interplay between the colors.

I used the applique method of quilting.  This is done by cutting all the pieces into the proper shape, and then stitching them fast to the background fabric.  This is done by hand-stitching rather than machine, using the blanket stitch.  I sewed the pieces down the embroidery floss.  The color range on floss is amazing!

Asus Chrome C200

Slowly, but surely, I am entering the cyberworld.

Several years ago, my laptop died.  My husband was kind enough to let me use one of his older taptops.  Now the battery on that laptop had dies.  When I upgraded to a smart phone 2 years ago, I also got a tablet for $10.  Now, that battery won't hold a charge.  And so, my step-son Josh took me to Walmart in Ash Flat to get a new tablet or laptop.

I came home with a Asus Chrome C200. Here's a link on Amazon...
Asus Chromebook with Convertible touchscreen

So, I got myself a glass of wine and started the set-up tutorial.  This laptop doesn't work quite like other's I've had before.  Every file and photo are stored "in the cloud".  Now, this is a challenge for me.  What is the "cloud"?!  Where is the "cloud".  Why do I want to store my stuff there, rather than on an internal hard drive?  Who can see my "cloud"?!  Ahhhhhh!

It's taken me some time to get all my information off the old laptop and tablet.  I've had to get my bookmarks, accounts and passwords organized.  I had to investigate how to get apps and extensions on Google Chrome.

I even challenged myself yesterday.  I took a picture on my phone, saved it to the cloud, opened it on the tablet and posted it to Ravelry.  Wow!  It actually showed up.  Isn't technology amazing?!

Thankfully my phone didn't decide to die along with all my other devices.  I would really have been challenged then!

The weather is still warm.  We had to run the air conditioner yesterday.  We'll probably have to run it again today.  We had over 3 inches of rain Thursday and Friday.  One particular bolt of lightening made all 3 of us jump!  The air conditioner made a snapping sound, and the power went out for half a minute.  Our power continued to flicker for the next few days.  I called the power company yesterday and someone came out.  He found the problem and had it fixed in 15 minutes.  No more blinking lights.

It's been a mild winter

Feburary 25th... Where has the winter gone?

It's been a very mild winter this year.  We had one bout of ice and snow, with total accumulation of 1 inch.  That's pretty mild by my standards.

I saw a honey bee on a dandelion on Tuesday.  In February??  Strange.  Josh saw a snake.  My hens are betting broody.  The frogs have started singing.  Just odd.

I'm still working on my "Christmas" knitting!  My nephew Chris and his wife Jenny told me they wanted socks, a few days before Christmas!  Nothing like a little lead time.  I had 2 baby blankets I needed to get done.  Our friends, Jessica and Logan Bailey were expecting their baby, Silas, the first week of January.  My nephew Jessie and his wife are also expecting.  So, those socks just had to wait until I finished those blankets.  I've got the heel turned on the first sock for Chris.  Hopefully, I'll have both pair in the mail by the end of next week.

I've decided NOT to buy any seeds this year.  I have lots here already.  I may pick up some blueberry bushes though.  We only have 1.  We have TONS of huckleberry bushes scattered through our property.  But the birds and deer get them before we do.

John and Josh have been working on the tractor we got.  Mostly, doing the routine maintenance type things that had not been done.  I know John has a list of projects with it.  I'm not sure what is on that list exactly...

I'm anxious to get back to work on the Hobbit House. Our friend, Chris, has his hands full trying to build his own house AND work.  I know we're in his queue...

Summer has slipped away

Joshua and I made a trip to Ellijay, GA the last week of May to pick up granddaughter Ariel.  She spent the summer with us.

We didn't plan any exciting adventures for this year's visit.  Instead, I focused on teaching her some of the artistic skills I've learned over the years.

I bought several paper crafting and mixed media books at Barnes & Nobel's and Hobby Lobby.  These included:

Coloring Flower Mandalas

Coloring Your Prayers

Coloring Mandalas 2
 
She also got watercolor pencils, felt tip markers, origami paper, and some pastels.

We did our daily walks in the woods with the dogs.

This big oak came down over our lane after one thunderstorm.

We picked mushrooms...

 Chantarelle mushrooms in the woods.

After cleaning.













We did some sun dyeing on silk with our friends Gena Stout and Erika Schindler and Karna McFadden.

Sun dyeing is always so much fun!

I hatched out some chicks (in the incubator) just before we left for Georgia.  And while we were gone, our banty hens hatched out 10 chicks!

 Rhode Island Red chicks and 1 tiny batam chick behind.  We also hatched out 2 Black Copper Maran chicks.

 Bantam chicks are always so cute!

And a mama bird made her nest in the glove compartment of our golf cart.

Ariel and I went to The Pig n' Whistle in Hardy, along with Gena Stout and Erika Schindler, for a tea party.  That was fun.  Julie and Perry Morgan came in while we were there.  It was great to see them.

Sweets to go with our tea.

Erika and Gena

Tadpoles (pollywogs) in our "pond".

The addition that was built last fall is complete now, the cedar siding was put on by our friend Chris Graves in July.

Custom cedar siding on the bedroom/mudroom addition.

Our house, with the addition now complete.  I think it looks great!

Ariel sewed some aprons, and she did a great job on them.


Tammy and Rickie came to pick Ariel up the last Monday in July.  They stayed until Friday morning.  That was a teary day, here at the Teem household.  I really enjoy the summer visits.

I did manage to finish a few projects.  The tunic and sandals were for Tammy.  The alpaca shawl is for sale ($50).

Tammy's cotton tunic.

Cotton crocheted onto flip flops.  Tammy loved them!

Baby alpaca shawl in a nice, summery green.

An interesting visitor

Sometimes you just see something in Nature that makes you laugh.  Look who's been visiting our humming bird feeders...

A large woodpecker/sap sucker!  What a treat.

Mushroom gathering

My granddaughter, Ariel, and I have been learning to identify and harvest mushrooms.  I invested in 3 books:

National Audubon Society American Mushrooms
Good Mushroom Bad Mushroom
Mushrooming without Fear

We also got a great Pocket Naturalist guide, Familiar American Mushrooms folding guide

After taking the field guide into the woods with us, we've discovered we have at least 6 different types of edible mushrooms on our property.  They are:

King Bolete (also spelled Blewit)
Chanterelle
Smooth Chanterelle
Cauliflower (also called Coral)
Giant Puffball
Old Man of the Woods

Wow!  I guess I'll be doing some mushroom eating!  We've  been dining on Chanterelles all week.  We picked another 1 1/4 pounds yesterday!  Happy, Happy!

Here's an update to my posting, one day's mushroom gathering on July 25th.

Chanterelle and smooth coral mushrooms.

We tried the coral mushrooms for the first time.  The Audubon guide stated they were very delicate tasting, and were good with fruit.  We tried them sauteed in butter, and they were bitter.  I don't know if they were past prime... or were cooked too long.

I finished knitting a tunic for my stepdaughter, Tammy.  I think it came out pretty well.