I don’t know about you, but Mondays are actually one of my very favorite days! I love a good ‘Home Day’ and Mondays need a lot of catching up usually. This particular Monday was the last day of our spring break and we filled it up with busy bee goodness. Note: I like to use the term busy bee when I am doing a good sort of busy… otherwise… I don’t like that word as a rule.

The bread on the above photo was my first sourdough bread since starting my starter again! On my birthday, I chatted with a lady and got excited again about sourdough. Last year when I went to fresh milling all of our grains, I put the sourdough on hold. Now, I feel ready to pick it back up again!

On Sunday night right before bed, I put a mix of split peas and lentils in a bowl (with a dash of ACV) to soak. It made a yummy lentil chili for Mondays’ supper (adding a few spices, tomato juice, and broth!).

Often Mondays are the days I make a whole chicken, but not always. After being gone on a trip south, however, I needed some chicken as well as broth. So, I threw the meat stock goodies into the slow cooker along with the chicken, added 1/2 a gallon of water and let it go!

Before we left for Tennessee, I had purchased our next bag of wheat berries- hard white this time. This morning was a good time to put the berries into our food grade buckets with tightly snapping lids. About 25 pounds fits in each bucket. And… since I needed some flour post haste, I ground some as well! My 12-year-old made some cookies right away (see photo below).

One of the crops we grow for storage is butternut squash (we have grown the Waltham variety). If you cure them, they store super well and can be used for months. I still have at least ten left that we are marching through. This morning, my daughter and I got the seeds out of 2-3 medium sized ones, baked them (cut side down), and then put the cooled pulp into the blender. As you can see, it came out to almost 4 cups of puree! This yummy veggie can be used in so many ways- and it replaces pumpkin puree to perfection! We used it for dessert, bread, soup, and casserole this go-round.

This is what the empty shells look like. The chickens enjoyed them!

One thing I did when we were leaving for Tennessee was to leave a gallon of raw milk on the counter to clabber while we were away. When we got home, it was lovely!! I tried this haven’t tried this before, but I used it to make a clabber cottage cheese. I should have let it drain a bit longer (hindsight note), but it made for a good lasagna cheese.

Dishes… always more dishes but did you notice my new cottage gingham curtains? Can I just tell you how long I’ve wanted some like this and either couldn’t find them or didn’t desire to make any at that time… these are lovely and just my style. Note: my coral geranium has kept living over the winter!

My 12-year-old son brought in eggs after lunch and couldn’t wait to show me this size difference. We do not have any new layers and so the most reasonable explanation for the tiny egg is a hen that is nearing the end of her laying days. The middle size was laid by one of our Silkies- Jemima or Carol.

After the kids had their show time, we enjoyed some popcorn and apple slices. I love a drizzle of melted butter and salt on mine.

The chicken got finished cooking and the meat stock was ready to drain. This is what a deboned chicken looks like- it actually doesn’t take that long (I’ve had a lot of practice- ha) if it is cool enough to handle.

The meat stock was drained through a colander and flour sack towel. It makes more than the half gallon of water because the slow cooker doesn’t let off the steam a cook pot does.

The kids and I wanted to take a walk in the warm sunshine that afternoon. Since our dog, Meg, doesn’t go on the road, we decided to walk at the back of our property. The kids wanted to cut through the evergreens and show me their hand dug hole…

Finally for the day, I made some signs and laminated them. These go in my flower beds so the exterminator doesn’t spray on my edibles! I have herbs and flowers I don’t want any yucky stuff on. I had them put a note in their system (we have a terrible problem with ants… especially flying and ghost ants) but I wanted to be extra sure.

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