Cherry Slurp

So a little bit ago we had an official cherry slurp day. This is a day where we celebrate the thing that Michigan is known for, the cherry, and it was organized because it was the first state cherry day. We not only watched cherry-related videos, but we also made cherry-themed food, such as cherry slurpies and cherry salsa. Yes, cherry salsa. I have to admit, I was apprehensive at first, but it actually tastes really good, and if we have mango salsa, why not cherry? So, without further ado, our cherry salsa recipe:



2 cans of tomatoes
1 cup of cherries, pitted and defrosted
1/2 cup of chopped onions (you can use any kind, including green onions)
3/4 cup chopped jalapenos (you can add more or less than this, depending on your taste)
1/2 cup of parsley 
1 teaspoon salt

1.cook in saucepan for about 20-30 minutes and then wait for salsa to cool.

2. enjoy!

And here is the simple recipe for the cherry slurpies

1 cup of water
1 cup of frozen cherries
some ice

put water, cherries, and however much ice you want in the blender and blend until desired texture is achieved.

Kettunin Camping

Over midwinter break, I went to a 2-day veterinary class at a place called the Kettunin center. This was a 4-H class for people who are considering veterinary as a career choice and want to know more about it. The classes took a hands-on approach by not only giving information about common animal ailments, but giving an example case, some symptoms and information on the farm and animals, and letting us try to figure out what was wrong. The classes were very fun and taught me a lot about animals and how to handle them better. We also got to sleep and eat at the center, too. the rooms were very nice and the food was just amazing! Overall, it was an awesome experience.

Now, some pictures:

                                           a presentation I went to

                                                     dat view tho

                                                  the center

                                        (couldn't help taking a selfie😜)

crafts meet

Hi guys, I'm not dead! Life has been busy and I have not had to post in a while, but I'm back now with the tale of last Sunday's craft meet. The craft meet was where the older kids taught some of the younger kids their skills, like woodburning and painting. I taught crocheting, and other kids taught woodburning, acrylics, and seed art. It was quite fun, seeing all the different colored yarns, smelling the wood being burned by the wood burning tool, and looking at all the multicolored seeds and beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, white beans, and some beans that probably came from ethnic stores, because I had never seen anything like them before. It was fun teaching people to crochet, and everyone left with a new skill they could use in life.

                                 demonstrating how to crochet (I'm the one in the white shirt)

Cookies for Chickens

  Have you ever baked cookies for chickens? probably not, but that is exactly what we have started doing at 4-H. This is a thing called Flock Block, and it is meant to not only help them get the nutrients they need, but we hope that it will also discourage them from pecking each other and peck it instead.

this is store bought Flock block from tractor supply.

The ingredients of Flock Block vary from recipe to recipe, but these are the things that are found in most recipes:

• oats
• some sort of grain mix. the grains are for nutrients but also for chicken scratch
• wheat germ
• molasses
• cornmeal
• raisins or cranberries
• cayenne pepper

  These are basically the "foundation" ingredients of Flock Block, but things can be added to this for different chickens, where they are kept, and other things like that. Also, you may be wondering why cayenne pepper is in the recipe, well its because the chickens just enjoy a little kick in their food! OK, that was a joke, but there is a good reason for the cayenne pepper. Even though there haven't been any scientific studies it, many farmers swear that adding a little cayenne pepper to chicken food makes them lay more eggs, and cayenne pepper is also a natural warmer, which is  good if it is winter and you need to keep the chickens warm.

 So I hope this has taught you a little about how to take care of chickens, and if you own chickens or know someone who does, you can try this cool little DIY for yourself. And remember, if you want to see more like this, make sure to click that follow button. So bye for now!

Goat milk soap

Would you like to wash your hands with some goat milk? no? didn't think so. But little do most people know there are many benefits of using goat milk soap.

1. it is good for your skin.

goat milk is quite good for your skin and can moisturize it, and the soap keeps your hands clean, so goat milk soap is like soap and lotion in one. Awesome!

2. it is often natural
goat milk soap is often( not always) made from natural ingredients, like essential oils,  coconut oil and of course, fresh goat milk soap. This is especially the case if you buy locally made goat milk soap.

3. it may help skin inflammation and acne
goat milk has many skin healing properties that can help not only soothe inflamed, dry skin, but in the long run, could decrease the amount of acne you have, which is always awesome.

MAKING THE SOAP 

At 4-H, we make our own goat milk soap to sell at our farmstands and events. We use extremely fresh goat milk, in fact it is made from the milk that we got from the goats only a few days prior! We then add the other ingredients, like essential oils and other things. We used to use lye in the soap making process, but we use more natural substances now. We mix the ingredients, we let the soap cool and harden, and then we cut it and put the labels on, and it's ready to sell. (The labels are made by kids, so it is not uncommon to find a "help I'm stuck in a soap factory" on the backs of the labels from time to time) So my main point with all this is the next time you see goat milk soap at a store, pick some up. You won't regret it.

the awagoning

Besides taking care of the animals, gardening, and running around the vegetable patches, us farm kids do have some other ways of entertaining ourselves. Quite possibly the most dangerous and most entertaining of these was messing around with the wagons. We had several large child wagons at tollgate that were used to move things that were too heavy to carry, like boxes of glass bottles and things like that. At least, that's what they were supposed to be used for. When we were really little, me and my friends regularly took these wagons out of the barn and played around with them. Do you think that we just rolled them on the grass, maybe pushed some toys around in them ? NOPE.

 Those are things that normal, sane children would do, but were NOT normal sane children. We were 

4-H'ers.  Stupid ones at that. We wanted adventure, and so we took these wagons, climbed into them (as much as 3- 4 children per wagon at the same time) found the steepest hills on the entire farm, and launched ourselves down them. So imagine 3 or 4 small children rolling down a hill at high speeds in a wagon that looks like this:

(these are meant for 1 to two children of our size, so we were basically piled on top of one another.)
And if you thought this couldn't get any worse, the hill that we chose as first was in an arboretum that was right next to a large pond (I call it the peewee lake)  and we were going down the hill that was headed right into the lake, and we didn't care because we figured that since the hill wasn't really steep that we would stop before we hit the lake, and for once we were actually right. But then we realized something terrible about that hill. It was too safe.😞😤😥 We were not falling out and tumbling down the hill, and that is a major problem. Since this was actually the 2nd steepest hill, we decided to try the
steepest one, a hill near the horse pasture. We rolled our wagon to the top of the hill, climbed inside, and pushed the wagon down. After going faster than we ever went before and almost slamming into the nearby fence, we decided that this hill was worthy. We did have a few minor accidents, including the  wagon flipping over, launching us out, and landing on top of us.What did we do when this happened? scream? cry? reconsider our incredibly stupid behavior and stop? nope. we flipped the wagon over and went down the hill again. Looking back on this now, I can only think one thought: totally worth it.

Happy holidays!

Hi people, I'm sorry about not posting for so long, but I've been quite busy and really did not have the opportunity to. Anyhow, since the holidays are coming up, (yay!) so is an event in our club called Light Up The Night.

yaaaay holidaaays!

so gather round and I shall tell the epic tale of this awesome event.

Light Up The Night is a holiday themed event taking place at the Novi Civic Center. This is an event to celebrate the winter months and the holidays that happen in them. Just like the name implies, there will be a giant Christmas tree in the middle of the event that is quite breathtaking. However, that is by far not the only thing that is there. there is also:

• food vendors selling goodies like pies, restaurant food, and fresh, still hot kettle corn. (trust me, it's awesome)
• other kinds of stands selling things besides food. Some examples include jewelry, sock monkeys, knitted and crocheted things, and vegetables, soap and dried products (from 4-H, MY farm club)
• A concert stage with various songs and even karaoke
• an ice sculpture display
• marshmallow roasting pits
• a miniature train taking people from the civic center to the nearby Novi Public Library
• events at said library ranging from magic shows to decorating your own plate
• and a petting zoo with ACTUAL REINDEER. why? because Christmas, thats why.

So here is the address:45175 W 10 Mile Rd, Novi, MI 48375

 

That is all for this for this post, and please come to this event.  you would make this goat happy.

please make this goat happy.