I got invited by the boy scouts Venture Crew to participate in horse back riding at a farm near where i'm staying in Tennessee! For those of you who know me, you are aware at how exciting this is! We were scheduled to meet around 11am but, brimming with anticipation, I walked up the hill to my friends house 40 minutes early. Once at the stables I walked from stall to stall talking to the horses and petting them, trying to control my heart rate so as not to get them all anxious. After the other 4 or so people showed up the farmer took out one of his trustiest mares haha! We learned how to put on a saddle, tighten the saddle, put on the reigns and bit, and also how to properly ride the horse. Most fascinating to me, though, was the bag. He told us a story about how he used to break horses, and how he wanted to learn a new way because the physical problems that come with breaking in a horse. Now, obviously they still need to be broken but one of the best ways to train the horse, according to the farmer, was to use a plastic bag. You tie the plastic bag to the end of a stick and rattle it around the horse - rubbing it on the horse and the ground, up in the air, and in the horses face.
At first the horse is going to go crazy with fear and excitement, but eventually it calms down. He uses this trick for building trust in the horse and rider, as well as building confidence and minimizing fear for the horse. I just found this amazing. Oh yes, and I have decided I love cutting horses. He uses his mare for cutting cattle around Tennessee and she is QUICK. We'd be backing up and i'd drop the reins and she would stop so quick i'd have fallen off if I weren't positioned correctly. She also turns in tight little turns, not wide ones. I know a lot of this is her training and not all cutting horses are alike but I loved the motions associated with cutting. Needless to say we didn't get to ride a lot but what we did learn was invaluable. I wish I could ride and learn these kinds of lessons daily!
So I know it's only half way through the day but I have had such a great time! I have been lake fishing, and I have been ocean fishing, but now I can add river fishing. Which, might I add, is the hardest. Not only do you brave trecherous rocks and cold water but the gear required [ which I suppose ocean boats cost more ] is extensive. I waded in my bathin suit and tennis shoes most of the time but the water was so cold that you could no longer breath once you got deep enough. I never caught a fish but I did break the group leaders fishing pole in TWO PLACES when I fell. To add injury to insult I found out it was the pole he got for his birthday last year and had never used. All that and I never caught a fish! But I did learn about how to fly fish and traveling up the river was so much fun!
Not to mention the new friends I've made. I really had such a wonderful time - next time they said we'd go on a canoe trip or horse back riding! No way!!!
When I got home I saw some of the neigbors cows had come up by the fence so I went to see the little cream colored one - she/he [ I didn't check ] came right up to me and was licking my hand and arm haha! I never new their tongues literally hooked onto things, or that they felt like cats tongues. I ran in to get my camera and when i came back to take a picture the cow licked me right on my face!!! As I walked away he watched me as if he were sad to see me go, I think i've made another new friend :) Hanging out by the pool now - taking in the day. I am so blessed.
This morning I got up bright and early to help Jason build the new fence around the pasture. After making coffee and heading out into the crisp morning air I went to work attaching the fence stretcher to the fence in order to pull it tight with the truck. We moved the fence posts and measured 8' spaces between each fence pole. Standing there, listening as the post driver angrily thudded against the top of the pole, I breathed in the cool air and stared out over the rolling hills as the sun came peeking through the trees and into the pasture. Once we finished up Jason had me go feed the chickens. I fed them out of my hand for a little bit this time! Walking back toward Jason all the sheep came frolicking [correct spelling surprisingly] down through the pasture to investigate the changes we had made. I could do that for the rest of my life. I just love this little farm life. After Sandy and I dropped the kids off at day camp we headed out for a little shopping trip. I bought two pairs of shorts, two dresses, and one strapless jumpsuit thing. I loooove them!! All that for 60 bucks! [70 with TN tax - Heather, you're not in Minnesota anymore] ha! Later on we moseyed over to a barbecue one of the local businesses was throwing for it's customers, delicious. Sandy asked me if they feed everyone in Minnesota like they do here and I told her that they do it a liiiittle differently - in Minnesota, you are given free range to peoples kitchens but don't expect them to cook for you all the time [except Avery's house - they cook for me all the time :) ] Once our tummys were happy as can be we went over to watch the kids play water games at day camp. They had two water slides out and all the kids stood in single file lines to go down them - it was sooo funny!! It brought me back to when we'd put a huge tarp down the hill in our back yard and squirt laundry soap on our stomachs to go flying down the now blue river running down the hill. I miss those days. When we were leaving, Forrest, one of the local guys told me that he saw my post on facebook and that a group of people from the church were going fishing tomorrow!! I guess it's free fishing day in Tennessee, where you can fish without purchasing a lisence - sooo excited!! After we got home the kids got into a huge argument over a PENNY! Sandy gave new meaning to the term "hug it out" when she made them stand in the hallway for ten minutes hugging. I LOVE it. They were giggling with eachother and totally over their fight within 6 minutes - but they still had 4 to go. What a great punishment. I love this little peice of paradise out here. I cannot wait to have my own little farmette/ranchette some day :)
Where The Green Grass Grows - Tim McGraw
Since I have gotten to Tennessee I have become a regular on Pinterest, searching for recipes to make every meal super delicious. So far I have made sweet potato fries, raspberry cheesecake cups, toast cups, and I am taking on doughnuts today - since it's national doughnut day. The sweet potato fries turned out delicious. They were not as crispy as what I had expected but I believe thats due to the amount of oil I mixed them in. Crispy or not they were the perfect amount of soft sweet potato. I don't know about anyone else but my biggest sweet potato fry complaint has to be when I take a bite and all I get is pure crunch, sans sweet potato. I want a good hunk of sweet potato in my fry. I made these only two days ago. I paired them with the dip that the recipe recommends. We didn't have siracha so I used Franks Red Hot and everyone said it was perfect with the sweetness of the sweet potato. Yesterday one of the kids stayed home with me while the other went with Sandy. We decided to surprise them with a dessert for after dinner. We chose raspberry cheesecake - yummmmm!!! During the process we had to improvise a little because I thirded the recipe to only make 12 instead of 38. This meant we had to do math - school time anyone? Looking through the pantry we realized we didn't have graham crackers for the crust, so we improvised and used Animal Crackers - which works just as well!! Once the crusts were done we moved onto the filling, only to find out that we were short one package of cream cheese! Luckily I had a cream cheese mixture from a dessert I made for memorial day. After making the cheesecakes we hid them in the fridge and waited for dinner to pull them out. Success - I thought 12 would be enough but after dinner only 2 remained! I guess we'll have to claw eachothers eyes out for them - just kidding :) This morning for breakfast I made toast cups but substituted sausage for bacon. When I took them out of the oven I was nervous they werent going to be good but after taking them out of the cupcake tins and devouring all but one we all concluded they were also a success. My only complaint would be the fact that the toast on the outside didn't go all the way up the sides so the egg covered the bread, resulting in soft, not crispy, bread. I almost forgot - for Memorial Day we created strawberry bites, fruit kabobs, and fruit cups all in theme for the holiday. Below I have posted a link to all of these recipes - I went onto my pinterest board and went directly to the link. I highly recommend doing each of them - I will post an update later concerning the doughnuts!! :)
Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake
Sweet Potato Fries/Dip
Bacon [Sausage[, Egg, Toast Cups
Patriotic Fruit Kabobs
Patriotic Fruit Cups
Strawberry bites: I cannot find the recipe - of course - but it consists of halving the strawberrys and cutting out the hull. Filling the strawberry with some sort of cream mixture [I used a creamcheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla mixture] then placing a blueberry on top. :) Enjoy!
UPDATE::
Doughnuts turned out amazing!! At first I had the oil too high so a few burned and at the end I had the oil too low so they got really greasy but 75% of them turned out perfect. I made a chocolate glaze, a lemon vanilla glaze, powdered sugar covering, and cinnamon and sugar coating. I also added cinnamon instead of nutmeag and a little vanilla to the original mixture :) Yumm!!
Doughnut Holes :)
After an extremely productive, although slow, day on the farm - I turned to my manager and said "See you next weekend!!" to which she replied "I knoow, your last weekend!" I corrected her, telling her that I had two weekends left. On the drive home I pulled out my calendar [dangerous . . . I know!!] and took a gander. She was right - next weekend is my last weekend on the farm. Not only that but I only have eight days left of my nanny job. I have been so caught up in school, family, moving, and my roadtrip that I failed to notice how fast time flies!!! Not that I didn't jump for joy upon noticing that my last day of class is WEDNESDAY or have a panic attack at the thought of moving in only one week - but for some reason I guess I forgot that work would end. And while I am excited to set out on my grand adventure - I must say that the departure will be bitter sweet for me. Bitter sweet in the fact that I enjoy hearing Evan running through the house calling my name in the mornings. I enjoy shoveling horse poop and stacking hay as high as I possibly can after a hard week. I enjoy the people I work with and the satisfaction I feel of a job well done. I enjoy my friends and my family - but most of all I enjoy having my place here in Minnesota. So, while I am excited to pursue my dreams and set out on the open road, I hope that all of you realize how much you shall be missed!!
I took this picture an hour too late - the sunrise this morning was absolutely gorgeous behind the horses and the white picket fences. Nevertheless, as I came back from unloading a buggy full of manure I noticed how the sun gleamed in down the isles from the outside and I had to snap a picture. Hours later while my fellow field mates and I were raking up the mounds of poop and hay left over in the pastures we commented on how I chose to take the decievingly peaceful picture of the sunshine instead of the sweat, dirt, and stench that characterizes working on a farm! Bottom line, no matter how ugly the work - the setting is breathtaking [no pun intended]!
At first the horse is going to go crazy with fear and excitement, but eventually it calms down. He uses this trick for building trust in the horse and rider, as well as building confidence and minimizing fear for the horse. I just found this amazing. Oh yes, and I have decided I love cutting horses. He uses his mare for cutting cattle around Tennessee and she is QUICK. We'd be backing up and i'd drop the reins and she would stop so quick i'd have fallen off if I weren't positioned correctly. She also turns in tight little turns, not wide ones. I know a lot of this is her training and not all cutting horses are alike but I loved the motions associated with cutting. Needless to say we didn't get to ride a lot but what we did learn was invaluable. I wish I could ride and learn these kinds of lessons daily!
