Tori Mae - A Life Well Lived

Tori Mae helped pick a winner for my blog ~ 2009

It's so hard for me to post this, but we lost our Tori Mae to stomach cancer almost 2 weeks ago.  Once we found out she had this evil disease (mid-October), our time with her was short.

Tori was a strong force in our house.  She kept Trixie Lou and Ringo in check - yes, believe it or not, she was our alpha dog, and even Ringo paid attention to her!

Tori was the absolute queen when it came to fetch.  We had to put her toys up in a cupboard, because she would not stop bringing them to us, 24/7.

But that girl was a smart cookie and decided that she called the shots.  And so an empty toilet paper roll became a fetch toy.  A stray sock laying on the floor became a fetch toy.  Even bones became a fetch toy! ANYTHING had fetch potential in her book.

Her soft frisbee was her #1 favorite toy.  Tori's frisbee created a spark in her eyes and a focused determination that was unrivaled.

She was determined to play fetch.  In the summertime, we had to make her stop or I honestly think this girl would have fetched herself to a frenzied hot faint!

Our hearts are hurting, and yet, I know that Tori had a spectacularly good life. I adopted her from an Australian Shepherd rescue near Columbus, Ohio, in December 2004.  She was only a year old and I wanted Trixie to have a playmate.  They became fast friends, although Tori did take over supervision of the household from the very beginning.

Tori (left) and Trixie - southern Ohio cabin getaway

The house seems a little less full, and lot more empty, without her keeping everything in check.

On the Friday after Thanksgiving I shot some video of her playing Frisbee with her dad -- Tom was Tori's person.  (As a side note, Tori defected from me shortly after I moved to Kansas.  She liked Tom way better than me!)

Note:  There are actually two videos of Tori playing Frisbee on YouTube. They are both rather long, but I was trying to capture her focus, which shows up better in the 2nd video above.  You'll also see the horses, and a bit of the guineas and the chickens.

Tori ate less and less as the cancer invaded her stomach.  Her last two weeks she refused to eat even a bite of anything - and we tried everything.  You might be able to see in the video how much weight she had lost, and yet, amazingly, she still wanted to fetch her  Frisbee!

Just writing this blog post brings tears to my eyes and a hurt to my heart.

She finally lost the spunk for her beloved Frisbee two weekends ago, and we knew it was time.

As we held her at the vet's office, she turned her head to me for one last kiss, and then we let her go.

I will never forget that last kiss from one of the best dogs in my life ~ she may have been a lucky girl to find a home with us, but I know the truth of the matter is that WE were the lucky ones to have this beautiful and smart girl grace our lives.

Tori Mae,  2003 ~2012
Her memory will live forever in our hearts

Hubster Competes on "Tough Grit" TV Show

Tomorrow night, Monday October 22, at 6:00 p.m. Central Time (7:00 p.m. EST), on RFD TV (231 on Dish satellite), my husband Tom will be a competitor on the TV show "Tough Grit".  This show is a collaboration of Grit magazine and Tractor Supply.

Here's more info about the "Tough Grit" TV show at Tractor Supply's website.

And you can check out the "Tough Grit" crew on Facebook. Give 'em a like, or heck, you can even sign up to be a contestant if you want!

We've waited many months to view this episode.  The original taping was back in May.  Tom had such a fun time doing the filming with everyone, and he really enjoyed meeting Caleb Regan and Hank Will from Grit magazine, along with the guys from Tractor Supply.

Watch the trailer for Tom's episode tomorrow night right here on YouTube.  That's Tom in the blue plaid shirt.

At stake was a $1000 Tractor Supply gift card.  He didn't win that $1000 gift card.  But he did win a $500 Tractor Supply gift card, woohoo!  Each of the two competitors got one, since each competitor won one of the two competitions on the show.

That $500 gift card sure did come in handy, since we buy our senior horse's feed at Tractor Supply.  So Murphy's Purina senior feed was gratis for about 5 months.  That was a huge help to our financial bottom line.

If you have a little time tomorrow night, and can find the show on your cable or satellite channel offering, do watch it.  I guarantee you an informative 30 minutes, or at the very least, a few chuckles.

I know we'll be laughing....

Bottom line, Tom had a GREAT time doing this.  :-)

Homemade Yogurt ~ Simply the Best!

I can't remember the precise reason why or even when I decided I needed to try my hand at making my own yogurt.

I think I may have read something that waxed poetic about the sheer deliciousness of homemade yogurt.

Do you know, once I made my own, I believed every word of what I had read. Quite frankly, I had tired of grocery store yogurt many years ago.  I couldn't even stomach grocery store brands anymore, so I hadn't ate yogurt in a very long time.

The first spoonful of homemade yogurt was deliriously delicious.

My first foray into home yogurt making was with raw milk.  I knew that most yogurt recipes required the milk to be heated to near boiling.  But raw milk has highly beneficial nutrients, such as conjugated linoleic acid and friendly bacteria and enzymes, and I didn't want to destroy any of these nutrients in my yogurt-making process.

My Google search for "how to make yogurt with raw milk" took me to the Nourished Kitchen website, and since that inital search,  I've found many other natural food reasons to like this website.

If you'd like to read more about making yogurt with raw milk, you can read Nourished Kitchen's post.  The farm where I sourced my raw milk is quite a distance from me, so I don't always have raw milk.  But that's another taste sensation for another blog post, another day.

I've also made yogurt with regular ole organic milk from the grocery store.  And I've made it with a combination of milk and heavy whipping cream, which of course means more fat and calories (but yummy!)  And I've made my own greek yogurt too.

Every different combination I've used has produced phenomenal, delicious yogurt.

So what are the benefits of homemade yogurt?  First, the obvious: no preservatives or unnecessary additives!  For the most part, you know exactly what you have put into your own yogurt. Secondly, the probiotics in your homemade yogurt will be fresher than anything you could buy in the grocery store.

Here's some yogurt making basics...

First, I bought a yogurt maker from Amazon. After much research, I decided on the Euro Cuisine YM80 Yogurt Maker.  I liked the fact my yogurt would be in 7 individual jars, and that these jars are glass, not plastic.

Since that initial purchase, I think I might like a 2 quart yogurt maker better, only because lately I've been dumping all 7 jars into a large sieve to strain out the whey and have a greek yogurt consistency.  No sense having 7 separate jars when it all gets lumped together in the end anyway!

Ingredient-wise, all you need is milk and yogurt starter.  Your options for yogurt starter are freeze dried packets you can buy at Amazon (and probably elsewhere), or about 6 oz plain yogurt which you can get at the grocery store.  Be sure the plain yogurt you choose for starter is as organic and simple as possible, with live cultures.  Check out the ingredient label before you buy!

Once you've made your yogurt using the instructions that come with your yogurt maker, you can add all kinds of fruits and/or flavorings.  Personally, I just add a wee bit of vanilla and some stevia or agave nectar sweetener to each individual serving as I eat it.  My goal is to keep it as natural as possible. Sometimes I throw in a few fresh strawberries.  It's so awesomely delicious.

Next, I wanted to try to thicken up my yogurt more, so I bought some cheesecloth and after I made the yogurt, I let it sit for an additional 5 hours or so in a metal sieve lined with the cheesecloth over a bowl.

Basically, what you are doing is straining out most of the whey, so your yogurt will have a very thick, greek-like texture.  This is my new favorite yogurt.  Some people call this "yogurt cheese".

Oh, and all that whey you'll have in your bowl?  It's good for a LOT of different things, and I just happen to have another link to help you out with that.... check out The Prairie Homestead for 16 Ways to Use Your Whey.

I don't have a specific recipe here for yogurt because it's so easy, and quite frankly, you can find recipes all over the world wide web, especially for thermophilic (heated) yogurts.  And if you buy a yogurt maker, you'll get instructions on making yogurt with your yogurt maker.

But perhaps you want even easier yogurt recipes, such as Matsoni or Viili, which are mesophilic (room-temperature) yogurts and do not require a yogurt maker for temperature regulation.  I haven't tried these yet, but I'd like to try the Matsoni yogurt soon.

Still on my yogurt wish list:  Cuisipro Donvier Yogurt Cheese Maker (easier to make Greek yogurt with one of these) and The Book Of Yogurt by Sonia Uvezian.

Any questions?  Fire 'em at me, and I'll do my best to answer.  Or maybe you've already made your own yogurt and have advice for me - tell me!

I'll remember to snap a few photos the next time I have a yogurt making session, which will be soon.  I miss my fresh yogurt!

Good grief... I didn't realize I had this much to say about yogurt!!!