It was a great Spring visit to Mercy Hill Farms in Wolfeboro, NH. We got to meet our future roasters.

They are so cute and fuzzy now, aren’t they? We also got a chance to collect eggs from the older gals.

Griff had such a good time collecting the eggs. I think there were only two that were broken in the process.

My Aunt Karen got to get a quick cuddle from her favorite hen, Crooked Beak!

It was a busy day of farm chores, followed by a nice nap by the warm fire.

Always a wonderful trip. Thank you Mercy Hill for the wonderful visit!

There’s always something beautiful out there, isn’t there? I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

The site is old fort ruins with vast grassy areas, a beach and pier at the mouth of the  Piscataqua River. It has amazing views of the ocean, the original lighthouse and house (Whaleback Light), and the working lighthouse (Portsmouth Harbor Light).

We hit the beach at high tide, but that didn’t matter to the boys. They played in the rocks all the same!

We couldn’t have asked for better weather. I knew it would be good weather, because I brought the cowl…

We had to put the kite in the air one last time before we went to explore the forts.

It was a good thing we did. While Griff was in the forts, he took a pretty bad fall onto his head. He scraped his whole face and nose. We knew it was nothing a little ice cream wouldn’t fix (a little GMO won’t hurt!)

A great start to the weekend, even with a few bumps and bruises! I hope you all had a great weekend as well. I can’t wait to hear about them!

This is the Twisted Rib Neckwarmer by Michelle Johnson.  I am using a beautiful Cascade Heather 100% wool.

It’s a nice easy knit, I just keep loosing my mojo. I better get going, for warmer weather and all our sake!

Happy Knitting!

A tip for Earth Day:
Don’t throw away your batteries in your regular trash, besides being really bad for the environment, 90% of most batteries can be recycled. Instead, keep a Ziploc bag where you keep the new batteries (we keep them in our junk draw). As you reach in for new batteries, discard the old batteries in the bag.  You can then drop them in the recycle bin at the entrance of any Lowe’s Department store for proper disposal. I make it a yearly drop on Earth Day.

Happy Earth Day 2013!

Mediterranean Chicken

Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

Beef Soba Salad

As you can see, it was a fantastic menu. The Chimichurri is AMAZING. I even used the leftovers on my salad the next day. I will be making that again soon. I was also very pleased with the carrot and ginger dressing for the soba salad. All good things. You must try it!

On the hook: Granny squares galore. I am about half way through my afghan. It should be finished just in time for warm weather! OH well, such as projects these days. I’ve been struggling to find my mojo. I’d really like to get back to knitting, I am just awaiting some inspiration. I know it will find me again. Until then, more granny squares, please!

Reading: I have just started the second book in the Hunger Games series, Catching Fire. My husband and I are trying to find books in common to read, he downloaded the hunger games series when it first came out. I figure, since we have it, I should read it. We don’t really come together on many other books. I am hoping it’s a quick read and I can move onto my second classic of the year. I am debating on reading The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. Has anyone read that? Is it worth the read?

Joining up with Ginny today!

Creamy Chicken and Dumplings
1 lb organic chicken breast (cubed)
2 Tbs butter
1 ¾ cup chicken broth (fresh is the best)
1 cup whole milk
2 tsp fresh marjoram leaves (3/4 tsp dried)
½ tsp sea salt
1 bag mixed veggies (I prefer Cascadian Farms, but fresh would be even better! Approx. 18 oz or to taste)

Yogurt Drop Dumplings
2 cups all-purpose flour (plus more if needed)
1 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
5 Tbs butter
7/8 cup plain whole fat yogurt (I use homemade)

1. In Dutch oven (4 quart+) melt 2 Tbs butter, add chicken, and sauté over medium heat until chicken is golden brown.
2. Add broth and deglaze bottom of the pot.
3. Once broth is warm, add milk, marjoram, salt and frozen veggies.
4. Heat mixture until just boiling, and then reduce to bubble gently. (*If mixture is not as thick as you would like, pinch 1 Tbs of butter with 2 Tbs of flour, slowly whisk mixture into the broth and mix well)
5. Prepare dumplings. In a mixer add dry ingredients, cut in butter. Add yogurt and mix until it forms a ball.
6. Be sure bubbles are just breaking the surface of the chicken mixture, drop dumpling mix by spoon into 12 biscuits on top.
7. Cook uncovered for 10 mins, then covered for 10 mins.
8. Scoop out and enjoy!

Happy Cooking!

This weekend we started our preparations for Easter. It started with the second year of coloring our eggs with old ties. I just love this method. Here’s the link to last years adventures. This year Griff was a huge help in the process. It really was fun!

Here are some great links to Easter fun…

Sweet Centerpieces - A sweet take on flowers.

Blown Eggs – Remember, from 4-H?

Basket of Bunnies – An adorable and quick sewing project.

**I noticed that the wordpress bug I fixed at the end of last year seems to be back. This means that if you copy any of my links and place them into facebook, you will need to disable the preview. For some reason, I have been hit again, and if you use the preview, it will still be a link to my website, but will say it’s for a male enhancement pill (I’ll let you figure out which one!) I am truly sorry for this issue, but like I said, if you just hide the preview, it will just use the link to my website. *sigh* Sometimes I just don’t understand why they would hack like this. I am thinking my readers are not in their target market. Oh well, I plan to have a fix soon. Please bear with me. Happy Easter All!