Newborn calf

Our short horn cow, Bella, just had her calf 3:00 a.m. this morning.  We specifically bred her to have a Hereford calf, a good meat breed.  While he's adorable now, we know that he will be big, excellent for food, having had a life with his mama and green grass, sunshine.  To know the source of your is a gift, in this day where huge farms are popular and livestock spend their life indoors and factories are abundant, for processing meat.  We have bmeen having an Amish man do our beef butchering.  Rob has done smaller animals, like the lambs himself. And we will have fresh raw milk again!  We'll let the calf have as much as he wants, too. 

Our apple tree is full of tiny pink buds and flowers right now, here's a wee video clip of the boys enjoying the tree. Another video of Elijah in the jumper!

There are four baby bunnies, although I thought just three!  They were born on Pascha, May 5th + they just opened their eyes this past week.  We've been holding them now and they are mostly in the nest, but come out to nibble on the mint, clover, and dandelion greens we give the adult bunnies. And below, here, you'll see photos of our recent rhubarb harvest.

All the kulich and cheese Pascha has been eaten now.  Paul lost his 10th tooth while eating some just like this!  We still greet one another with "Christ is Risen!"

Baby bunnies

Look how pink + tiny these bunnies are!  The mother made a furry warm nest for them and we fed her dandelion greens on the side, so we could get a good look at the babies.

We celebrated Pascha this past weekend and yesterday was St. George day! Everything was exhausting, yet so beautiful!

Holy Saturday we went to Liturgy in the morning, came home, we decorated our kulich and cheese Pascha, took baths and went to bed to sleep a few hours before the midnight service.

Paul did the letters XB with raisins for Христос Воскресе, which means "Christ is Risen" in Russian.

Holy Friday we were at Dormition chapel in the cemetery for the evening Lamentations.

There are now 15 lambs, as one more was just born this morning! These are Jacob's sheep.

We brought 1 inside for a little, just to take photos, otherwise they are with their mothers, all are nursing well.

The cheese Pascha is now half gone. It was 2 pounds in all.  I will make another batch this week.

Lambs

New lambs are sweet!  Here's a video if you want to see inside our barn.  6 ewes have given birth (several sets of twins), 4 more to go!

I put this sticker on my water bottle as we drove home from Ohio to New York yesterday.  It took 10 and a half hours, with just 3 short stops for gas, lunch at Long John Silver's, nursing, diaper changes, walk around a bit and to use the restroom.  Really good, compared to the drive there last week.  I thought it would be a good idea to leave our house at 9pm, but we were SO tired and although the kids slept a good chunk, we had to pull over and sleep some, too.  In all, that took 13 hours. Olivia has earned her RN and next she has to take the NCLEX exam.  Hannah is moving from Oregon to Texas, right now.  She was in California yesterday and in Arizona today.  It was wonderful to have our family together. 

This photo of the 7 of us was taken after her RN pinning ceremony Thursday. My mom, sister, her kids and a friend came, also.

Both grandmothers were there to congratulate Olivia on her graduation, which was Friday.

We spent Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday at our old parish. Both big boys served in the altar.

A friend gave Elijah this icon of Christ as the Good Shepherd. I thought that was lovely as we have sheep! 

Together

 

All our children! They are ages 22, 20, 8, 5 years and 7 months. The past few days have been catching up, eating, talking, going for walks.  We're together for Liv's graduation from nursing school later today.  There was a pinning (the actal pin is attached to the red ribbon around her neck) yesterday. 

Olivia, Hannah and I went shopping for dresses and it was especially nice for me.  I often feel like a mom caring for the little ones, but got to spend time with my older girls.

Elijah tried a pickle with Olivia.  He liked it!

Before we left for Ohio, one of the ewes had twin lambs!  They're so cute.  Our Amish neighbors are feeding the animals while we're gone.

Cookies

These chocolate chip cookies are this recipe for peanut butter cookies, but i made them with gluten-free flour and added chocolate chips to the dough.  We had guests stay in our cottage over the weekend.  Friends from church. This recipe is simple, vegan + did I mention made in  just 1 bowl?

Did you see the solar eclipse last week?  We went to the Syracuse area to visit my cousin and his wife.  She made these eclipse cookies!

Thankfully, we got to see the 1st part of it pretty well because after it got dark as night, the clouds moved in.

Last Tuesday Paul's Godfather was at the monastery for a clergy conference.  It was nice to see him!  The weather was perfect for spring.  The grass is really growing well!

Look who can sit up unassisted now!

Elijah's little friend came over yesterday!