Monthly Archives: March 2014

Yesterday we got a late-season snow day.  It wasn’t a whole lot: maybe 4 or so inches before it was all said and done, but it was a sloppy, wet snow that mixed in with the already-present mud and was just……..meh.

I am still optimistic, however, that all of the polar-vortexing and snow that we’ve had this winter will make this summer’s bug population less than explosive.

But back to yesterday’s snow.

I spent extra time out with the ewes in the morning, making sure they had enough good hay and a little extra grain.  I wanted to be sure no one was shivering or hunchy-looking from the wet snow.  They continue to look fine, though, and if the weather continues to be dry I may just put them back in with everyone else today or tomorrow.

Once I was back in the house it was clear that everyone’s motivation to do any school work was below zero.  Neve and Oona were playing nicely and quietly by the fire (and that in itself is so unusual I was loathe to interrupt it).  Emily was reading. I just wanted to knit and catch up on The Walking Dead.

In the end, Emily watched some video lectures from The Khan Academy and the younger girls and I made soft pretzels (hooray for home ec!).

Because who doesn’t love a nice, warm soft pretzel on a cold and snowy day?

The recipe we used comes from Sweet Paul Magazine and can be found HERE.

It’s one of the easiest and quickest pretzel recipes I’ve tried.

The dough consists of water, yeast, brown sugar and flour. It sits for 45 minutes after mixing, and then it gets rolled out.

The raw pretzels get bathed in boiling water with baking soda for ten seconds and then sprinkled with salt and baked.

Simple!

This is the third time we’ve made them, and they’re always a hit.

Afterwards I parked myself in the chair by the fire with my knitting (and Gulliver, who insisted on being on top of me all day) and enjoyed the view from inside for a change.