Friday Rambles, grab a cuppa and join me

Posted on March 27, 2026 by Just another day on the farm

The hot gossip locally is all about the Moose! There are two adults and yearling and they have been keeping everyone hands on 2 and 10 and eyes peeled as they are loving the new growth that has taken place in the local forest that has selective cutting done a few years ago and all kinds of new undergrowth has come into being which means that with the snow melt, they are enjoying the area very much, the issues is its on both sides of a very busy local road!

On the flip side, i am looking forward to doing some herbal things this spring with some birch trees, anyone making Birch syrup this spring? I mean i know locally everyone is focused on maple, and we have had a good run, then to cold, and now a good run again, i get the weekly updates for the numbers in my mail box from the province data collecting etc.

Still for huge swaths of northern climate small farm and homesteaders, you are far more likely to have lots of birch available to you then maple, and while the taste is quite different, it can be very worth your time. Where maple syrup is sweet and mellow, Birch is deep, dark, rich with so many layers, it can go in so many ways in terms of use! While most folks think of syrup produced in Canada and they think maple but there are some very nice small Canadian business that produce and sell Birch as well.

I have offered up truly renewable resource from the farm! Horse turds lol These big old boys of mine produce a lot of manure per year! I figure share the bounty, maybe someone who does not have large livestock needs or wants some horse manure for their compost pile.

I need to poo pick all my pastures and i need my own finished compost for my own uses but this winters/spring/fresh turds, o those are up for grabs for sure! So far i have had a few folks take me up on the offer!

What offer is that, trade based of course.. come help pick the poo is a good one lol, or perhaps plant splitting’s, or perhaps well really the sky’s the limit but my favorite so far is 15 to 18 fertile quail eggs for a couple feed bags of horse piles! Win, Win, Win for all! I had already planned on looking for some new quail to add to the farm from the easter bird sale and i still will but at the same time, i am thrilled to get some fertile eggs to hatch as well!

While a small land, small homesteaders, we are not going to be able to help in terms of global chemical based fertilizer but if we have large stock, we can help our local community and offer up some healthy good old fashioned cow or horse manure to be added into their compost piles and bins be it small gardener and or community garden or maybe your local CSA gardener this spring, so it will be ready for use either late fall (if they are turning it well) and or by next spring when they need it.

Small stock winter bedding/manure blend works well but it means you are giving away a higher impute resource and it might be better to do your own compost piles and offer finished compost next year then lose that kind of volume by offering it now.

I think there are some of us, that are well aware of what it means in terms of the reduction and or stopped production in terms of the fertilizer and crops and their yields this year, many here in Canada already had it in stock and so its delayed till next planting season, others are not as lucky and for whole counties world wide, the planting times, the rain seasons and more are coming and they wait for nothing, you either get it in time or you miss it, and i think it will be a bit of a shock to many on what it means over the next year or longer what missing it will mean in terms of both food prices and availability and all the ripple effects that happen with it.

If it was me and i needed to add one thing that almost anyone could do that will give you garden gold, well that is simple, get thy a big rabbit! Not to bred, but to eat from your yard/garden and kitchen scraps all warm season, pellets and hay and ideally straw bedding yes but in return, large amount of cold ready to use and or lightly compost rabbit manure for your gardens, your fruit trees, if it grows you food, fruit, herb or medical, it will all welcome rabbit compost and thrive for it! Four times more nutrient-potent than horse or cow manure and twice as rich as poultry manure, rabbit manure is a the answer indeed for small space and they can live and thrive as “pets” that livestock can not go!

Are you getting ready for the weekend? We are actively looking forward to it, no people plans per say but a good to do list for on the farm things, the biggest one being to get things pruned and dormant oil sprayed, I can see some bud swelling starting to happen and that means our window is closing fast, so as much i dislike the snow and cold over the past few days, the last night day was tuesday it has kept things slow.

Its time to take Elderberry cuttings, i currently have three types of elderberries here on the farm, and i am about to add 6 more types this year and 6 plus next year. I want to be able to not only have the flower type for teas and syrups but want different types for medical, space and juice. I want to grow and offer cuttings for sale as part of a regular item here on the farm

I will be looking forward to working on cross breeding my Farmgal Elderberry with some new names ones that have come in and seeing what the results mix will be, i love so many things about my Farmgal Elderberry and have shared it will so many who have had amazing results with it in their own garden.

I think it will be a very good thing to have such a powerful immune boosting plant and its end products available locally, far to many are importing their dried elderberry’s and right now buying the products made out of country, when the truth is there is no reason we should have a thriving and productive Canadian grown and produced supply.

What is something you know you want to expand on in your garden or help in your forage area? What is your personal favorite elderberry? Do you use it mostly for the flower or for the fruit, do you like elderberry wine or vinegar, juice, syrup, jelly or mixed for jam and so on

I look forward to what you have planned for the weekend, slow and restful, busy with the grandkids, a driving trip? Perhaps a movie out, we did that last weekend, went to the movies and saw Ready or Not 2 i am glad we got that date afternoon time out. I love my farm and my world but there are times its nice to get out, didn’t like the price of gas, there will a whole lot of less driving day trips this year and a lot more stay close by

I will keep working on finding vendors and starting and growing plants to offer at my local Community garden club, while we have a focus on garden and native plants, i was so honored that they liked my idea that our ‘focus” for this year spring plant sale is on companion plants and trap crop education. I look forward to sharing knowledge and plants with my community at the sale.

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Willow Crafted Bird Nest Materials

Posted on March 26, 2026 by Just another day on the farm

This is one of the few years we will not have hair sheep shedding out on the farm and for the past 20 years i have watched the birds carefully pick and use the bits of wool in their nests. If you check the nests in the trees, you will also see that winter horse hair (Caleb’s the favorite, as its longer) is also a clear winner!

I decided i needed a fun project that would help the birds, maybe give me some very interesting bird photography and ideally would cost very little! I sent hubby out to get some willow trimmings and make in the best way a wonky creation indeed.. I weaved in bird perches of different types, one small straight, one big curved and one small flat but curved.

Its not nearly as pretty as some of the perfectly round willow balls i have seen online but i needed it for function more then form, i am not selling it lol, i just need it to do its job and i weaved in enough extra crossing and the middle so i could have sections and made both the top and bottom narrow to help hold things and that worked perfect!

In the bottom, i put a layer of pulled wool and then because this is a narrow point, i cut up untreated organic wheat straw into finer smaller piece and layered it in with tiny fine nest building twig tips, this has a small bird landing on that round red perch!

The middle is stuffed with loads of hand pulled and fluffed brown sheep’s raw wool its the perfect finish for the cup of the nest for softer finishing for reduced egg breakage and extra warmth for the chicks, it also has the biggest sideways landing perch and the one that is most likely to give me the best chance at a great photo or two with the birds with a mouth full of nesting fluff.. The next layer above has the longer grasses and straw for the bigger edge building

The top inside narrows into a perfect wool holder space and i decided why not and pulled and weaved the wool between the five big main willow stems.

The main things that will be used and added to this over the next days and weeks

  • Long narrow dried grasses
  • Chopped Dried Non-sprayed straw
  • Cattail fluff
  • Winter horse hair (please not that the horses have not needed any medical treatments)
  • dropped small feathers from the bird flock pens
  • Raw sheep’s wool
  • moss
  • lichen
  • loads of tiny tips of wee branches weaved in 

Is there anything else you think you would find on a small farm or in a garden zone 5a in northern climate that should be on that list, i can’t use my dog or cat hair as they are treated, ticks are out already! I might still have some milk weed fluff collected from last fall but i think i have used it all up.

I need to get more crushed hair boiled egg shells out this week and set up a mudding spot by next week for the birds and the bees, but that is a another post.

Remember to never use dryer lint or human hair or treated pet hair!

What do you see your birds using in their nests? I always see sheep’s wool and horse hair in mine 🙂

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Farmgals Lasagna Recipe

Posted on March 25, 2026 by Just another day on the farm

Farmgal’s Lasagna Recipe #3

Green Filling layer one

  • 3 cups of finely chopped fresh spinach or two cups thawed and drained frozen 
  • 2 eggs, farm fresh if you got them! 
  • 1 cup of cottage cheese 
  • 2 tsp of your favorite seasoning salt blend

Blend together in a bowl

Meat Filling

  • 1  pound of lean beef, grass fed if possible and local is always better, support your local farmers if you can
  • 1 larger purple onion finely diced
  • 2 garlic finely diced
  • 1 quart tomato pasta sauce
  • 1 quart garlic and herb pasta sauce 
  • 1 tbsp Montreal Steak spice

Precook your burger when almost done, add your onion and garlic cook till tender and then add your sauce to heat it though with spices. 

Cheese layers, one block of mozzarella shredded, or approx. six to eight cups

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, in a 9 by 13 pan, add a small layer of meat sauce on bottom, layer of dry ready to cook Lasagna noodles, it will take a full box, four across and one broken and layered on the bottom sideways.  

Then add the full green layer, with a fine covering of cheese , then more noodles, then full meat layer, then noodles, then meat again and a heavy covering of cheese, sprinkle the cheese with some extra Montreal steak spice blend

Bake covered in tinfoil for a hour, remove the tinfoil, bake another 15 min till golden brown and bubbly, allow five minutes to cool and set up before cutting and serving. 

Leftovers keep beautiful in the fridge, and while they can be reheated in the microwave, ideally reheat your leftovers in the oven if possible. 

While i don’t make it to often, it is a requested by the D&D Kiddo pack along with others, when its a pot luck event, its asked in a hopeful voice, want to bring a pan of your Lasagna 🙂 I am not sure there is a higher recommend then that really!

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Time to Prune! Garden Zone 5a

Posted on March 24, 2026 by Just another day on the farm

Each cut was chosen with care, thank you to the Fine Line’s Landscape company that came out to do our over 50 plus hard fruit trees this year for us! With so many young trees, it was just awesome to get such a pro in to make sure they get off to the right start and shaping.

I am pleased to report that all the fruit trees that made it though the winter and are live are thriving and have good fruiting spurs on them at this time, so we are looking good that way, only had a tiny bit of winter die back on one tree noted and it was very minor indeed. We had very minor losses to report so far on anything planted five, four and three years ago in the Fruity Boogaloo, Walk on the wild side food forest, Park garden including the dog park..

We did lose the king hawthorn, and one cherry and one peach tree in the park garden, the peach was not one of my Sib C but i got took again being promised i had a peach that would produce in my zone but once again within two years it died.. I am staying with my cold hardy sib c until they better a much better one then they have on the market at this time. The cherries died from wet two years ago and drought last year, so those spots will need drainage, build up before they get replanted.

My oldest sour cherry tree with is 25 years is reaching its end life, this year will be its final one and this fall, we will cut it down and put the wood to dry for smoking and spoon making i think as well. It seems highly fitting that a tree that has made so many amazing pie fillings, tart fillings, juice and more should live on as a hand carved beautiful wooden spoon in my kitchen.. Cherry wood is a excellent smoking wood, not only for its flavor but also for its rich color finish on a low and slow smoke

Thankfully we have a lovely med aged sour cherry tree that is coming into its productive years and i will order in a new Montmorency Cherry tree to plant in 2027. It is one of the perks of the farm is that you can plan years ahead for keeping a steady productive food forest or fruit production.

The weather is perfect for pruning this week, as well as getting the dormant oil spaying done, today there is little to no wind to speak off, it was overcast but sunny at the same time. Are you pruning this week or next? Have you already finished your pruning? We still need more snow melt out in order to have access to fruit bushes in a many places, but the haskaps and josta berry bushes in the one pear guild is clear and accessible, so they will be pruned and cleaned up first and foremost.

The best fruit will get bagged this year during the right time in the growing stage, and i am hoping that a skunk will come soon and start digging for grubs, but if not, i will soon be raking under and around the plums and be setting up a mobile cover to scatter seed and get my chicken at the job, they love to dig, and they like grubs and i need to get as many eaten as i can.

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Potting Up Tomato Plants, Next Pot Please

Posted on March 22, 2026 by Just another day on the farm

I got in a specially breed type of tomato that is for growing in pots for small spaces, i started six seeds, and i have six plants, five big ones and one wee one that is still growing but no where near the same as the others, and i will for sure be saving seed on these.

They needed their last pot up to hold them over till planting time in the spring garden and i am growing out one in a five gallon pot to see how it does in that way as well, to compare inground vs pot only. They were in flower, and to be honest i should have gotten them split out and potted up a few weeks ago but hey life get busy.

They were started in 1 inch cells, and transplanted into sets of two into gallon pot, but it was time to move them up, one went into a 5 gallon pot, one went into a three gallon and the rest went into 2 gallon. The one in the 5 is my trail pot and will stay in it all summer, the 3 gallon will go to the kitchen garden, one or two of the two gallon will be at the plant sale and the rest will go into the soil directly.

They were very ready to be moved! Look at those stunning roots,

These are recycled pots, they were washed out and given a slight soak with a dilute vinegar blend, and trust me by reusing pots from year to year, it saves you a lot of money, i might not like plastic pots but i will use them over and over again. I have not yet tried the fabric grow bags? Have you used them, do you like them? what do you like, what don’t you like, what kind of life span do you get on them, i have larger pots that i have been able to use for the past 5 to 10 plus years and i have been known to stop and collect garden pots out of the recycling after may long weekend plantings

Frugal Tip, at least here in my part of the country and in many places in Canada, May long weekend is one of the biggest planting weekends, the garden centers overflow with folks buying their pre-starts and the very same week, or the next depending on what your county does weekly or biweekly, a quick drive in town (not so much country) will show you stacks of pots in the blue bins. This is a perfect way to stock up on 2, 3, 4 inch pots, and if the person was careful, flats, sadly most of the thinner flat often get cracked, broken when they are getting the plants out so there are always less of them.. Then you might hit the jackpot and find a stack of larger pots, those tend to be found in the newer build areas as they are the ones more likely to be planting trees and bushes

But as you can see the one drain hole has a bit of damage on this big one and those are some very big drain holes that will let soil out in my plant area, not something i am keen on.. I just used some clean dry straw in the bottom of my pot, do not use hay, you can get creative here or you could be potting up in a greenhouse and just don’t care if a bit of soil spills out, it will get cleaned up and added back to the soil bin etc.

Yes, i stuffed it down a bit more before planting, now it was time to prep the plants, which meant taking off the flower clusters, i want the plant focused on settling in and it will be back in bloom soon enough, i wanted to deep pot the plant even more solid rooting and that means pinching off the bottom stems

This how the plant came out of the pot, leaves to the soil line, if you look up the stem to the left you can find the V split, that is what i was looking for, i then pinches off all the leaves/side stems

and then potted it up to that very top line, that whole stem will soon enough push out more roots and add to the strength of the plant in the pot and help it be more productive though this coming garden season.

My trimming pile continued to grow as i did each plant but it will be well worth it. All of them are happily settled into their new pots, watered in and back under their grow lights, i am looking forward to lots of yummy cherry tomato’s in our future.

For small scale gardeners, with limited space or who are extending their gardens by planting in pots, have your bought and grown the different commercially available breed seed for pots and if so was it worth it compared to using regular types..

So far, i am very impressed with the compact growth on these, they are thriving, now we will see how they compare to hold up for a full growth season and of course, do the tomato’s taste good! I mean can they compare with a sweet one million, which is one of my favorite cherry tomato’s but it can grow well over 6 feet plus and its massive

While these were costly seeds and they only had ten in the pack, their germination rate was outstanding, and for someone needing two of them per year, that pack would give at least a three year supply plus after the first year, you could seed save and never need to buy these again, peas, beans and tomato’s are some of the best seed saving things to start with

Its important to remember that despite what the tic toc says or all the fancy stuff you see, growing some of your own food can be done frugal, does it look better in a fancy pot with organic soil on a wheeling stunning wooden stool, maybe with a fancy glass self watering bulb part art part function.. if you can and want to go for it. but you don’t need to.. a found pot, dirt mixed with compost, heck dirt with homemade found compost tea will get the job done and done well!

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Spring Equinox is here!

Posted on March 20, 2026 by Just another day on the farm

Today is the day here in the north hemisphere that we will have equal amounts of sunlight vs darkness and tomorrow there will be even more light! We have already been getting more light since the darkest day in Jan, and as always the light hits different for warmth and angles in feburary, it helps warm the house living room for solar heating, but it is not till now that we will really see and feel the difference.

My Planter Tomato plants need to be sized up into the bigger pots that will be carried out for deck time soon enough and i will have cherry tomatoes for fresh eating by no later then early april This will take place this weekend, it can wait no longer, they need to get split as there are two per pot at the moment, and they need to be moved up in size till they go out for their spring placement in the kitchen gardens. The cucumber plants are much smaller, so they will hold in their current pots till transplant time

The instant straw bed, spring extender will be built at the front of the house this weekend so we can get the rhubarb seedlings potted up and moved out, they are more then ready! I am very hopeful that they can be moved out within the next few weeks, with each tree pot having three starts, they need more space and very soon! Each one of these will give me a amazing multi rooted new rhubarb plant that will add a lovely new row of rhubarb to the farm.

If you live in a climate that can grow rhubarb, it is the spring/early spring fruit stretcher, as apple is for the fall offerings. I have a good amount of rhubarb but i want to grow even more and start offering it for sale regular at the farm stand. As i don’t want to split and set back my main plants, young starter plants are idea as i have a goutweed issue in my main patch area in the old garden area and i don’t want to risk even a little bringing that over to the park garden so i wanted to start with full new plants there, i had ordered in new ones for last year but they were very poor shape when they arrived and with the high drought, poor soil turned and so on, i am quite sure they died, maybe they will surprise me and come back this spring but its highly unlikely.. These will get potted up and be grown bigger in the nursery garden and transplanted out for a early fall planting and then bedded down for winter 26/27, and first picking will be light in 27 and full on 28.

Once they get shifted that space needs to get the heat mat in place and time to get those peppers seeded into starting trays! My injury has set me back about a two weeks on this but i am now able to start doing smaller things like this again..

Don’t laugh to much but i was just excited to fold laundry yesterday, i am happy that the doctor says that another 4 weeks (total 6 weeks) is the average time to heal my type, i got to see the doctor late this week, and got more information, and thankfully the ER doctor was a bit wrong, he thought more was wrong then there was but he only had the x-rays where the bone doc had the CT scan as well so he could see more of what was and was not damaged!

The local bird and small animal sale is coming up first weekend of april and i am on the hunt for a few things to add back to the farm, the first is quail, i am on the look out for some nice breeding trio’s but i will also look at breeding pairs or sets of boxes of four or six females as i know i can get the males easy enough in a different box. I am also looking for Keets but might have to settle for a breeding adult set or trio there as well. maybe i will get really lucky and there will be some high qaulity hatching eggs which would be awesome.

Boy do i miss having rabbits! I am giving a hard think to adding one or two rabbits back onto the farm, not for breeding per say but for manure.. I am not sure i want grow out pens and breeding does year round and so on.. but to get back to having instant “cold” manure for use is truly under rated, certainly plants in my gardens just love the rabbit compost! Might come home with a bunny or two from the sale as well, we will see!

They say compost is compost but its not true, fowl is different from horse, horse is very different from cow which is night and day different from sheep/goat and same for rabbit!

Are you looking to add small stock to your homestead, backyard or in the case of the quail, anywhere you want really!

So the only thing i plan to add to the gardens this year other then free foraged wild fruits bushes and such is to get a hold of a friend and see if i can get some Sea buckthorn starts from them, i have held off getting them as they are not a favorite of mine but my research on oils and them liking salty edges has made me rethink them.

What do you on your farm, not including livestock, that is a fat producer? If you have a hidden forage spot, i will count it but its not near as easy as folks think, we are so used to “cutting fat” out, that we don’t have a grasp how little fat is produced when you remove the livestock, i mean yes you have nut and seed fats but to get them, oh, not near as easy as you think that’s for sure

I will be adding more Asparagus, this time in to the guilds in the park garden but i am also going to start my own for cost savings and to get back to the point of having male and female plants on the farm.. I was like i should start some and then realized i had fallen into a “WTF’ marketing trap.. i only have planted two year old bare roots, ALL MALES! productive yes, in terms of the plants giving me healthy beautiful seed to save and start new babies.. NOPE, that changes this year!

My Dear Hubby and my awesome boys!

Onward in these troubled times, may you lean into the beauty of the world around you, while also working on layers of ways to help yourself, your family, your community!

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A glimpse into my day

Posted on March 17, 2026 by Just another day on the farm

While i work away on a new post on tinned fish, I though you might like to see some photos from my day.

Fancy just turned two this year and we had her happy gotcha day this month, she is growing up into a lovely combo of house/farm dog. She is also a very alert little dog that barks to get the big boy’s backup

The weather has been all over the place, we have had rain, freezing rain, sleet, high wind up to 100 km a hour, fog, and snow. The ice crystals certainly added some lovely effect on plant stems as they have been melting out

Below, i am not sure why this big old sage plant didn’t get fully harvested late last fall but it did not, and it came though the winter remarkably intact, it just seemed so pretty to me with the ice edges with the grey overcast sky and the fresh snow cover

So many birds, everyone know where the BOSS meal is locally and they are coming in droves with this wild storms and weather

There are 30 to 50 plus red wing black birds that arrived two days ago and have stayed for the storms but i expect they will move on very soon, i hope i will be able to get some good photos before they do but i have already done my once a day down the stairs and back up so perhaps tomorrow, fingers crossed!

I am very much enjoying my flowers from DH and Miss R, so pretty, the roses will not last long but i will enjoy them while i have them, the much older bunch of pretties from hubby is still holding on well, such a lovely color!

Are you on true spring, or false spring or what spring lol!?

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Canning Up : Hibiscus Tea Concentrate

Posted on March 16, 2026 by Just another day on the farm

I love a good canned Tea Concentrate Hibiscus has so many traditional health benefits that it was the clear winner for me to make up a batch for the fridge first and then for the canning pantry!

Hibiscus Tea Concentrate Recipe

Hibiscus Tea Syrup Recipe- 38th edition Blue Book Guide to Preserving 

Makes approx 4 cups

½ cup dried hibiscus flowers

2 cups sugar

3 cups water

Combine dried hibiscus flowers and water at med heat, bring to a boil, drop down to a simmer for 5 min, then remove from heat and let steep for 30 min, strain, you will need to gently press the flowers to get them to release their liquid

Return the tea to the clean med size pot, add the sugar and extras if using them  bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer, simmer for 5 min, Into a clean pint jar, at which point you can either water bath can it for 15 for shelf stable or cool to room temp and store in the fridge for up to 4 weeks.

 

I have a high tea pot luck coming in april and taking premade shelf stable hibiscus syrup is very much on my list, along with a number of fancy fixings for use as a iced tea. The fact that this lovely ruby red floral with a sour lemonade style bit to it can be served hot or cold or added to other drinks or recipes makes it so useful!

Yes, I added in some dried ginger root to my batch, I find fresh or candied or dried ginger root adds a lovely balance to the tea personally.

So what Is Hibiscus Tea?

Hibiscus tea is an herbal infusion made from the dried calyces (sepals) of the Hibiscus sabdariffa flower, commonly known as roselle. Native to tropical regions of Africa, this vibrant flower produces fruit-like structures surrounded by fleshy, crimson calyces that are harvested, dried, and used to prepare the tea.

It has been used in traditional medicine across various cultures for centuries. In Egypt, it’s known as “karkade” In Mexico and Central America, it’s called “agua de Jamaica” In West Africa, hibiscus tea or “bissap” is considered the national drink in countries like Senegal.

Let dig into it a bit more in detail

Nutritional Profile of Hibiscus Tea

Here’s a look at the nutritional composition of 240ml (8 oz) of unsweetened hibiscus tea:

NutrientAmount per 240ml
Calories5-10 kcal
Carbohydrates0-2 g
Protein0 g
Fat0 g
Sugar0 g
Fiber0 g
Vitamin ATrace amounts
Vitamin C12-20 mg
Calcium7-10 mg
Iron0.1-0.2 mg
Magnesium3-5 mg
Phosphorus3-5 mg
Potassium10-15 mg
AnthocyaninsSignificant amounts
Organic AcidsPresent (citric, malic, tartaric)

I think most of you know that i collect teapots and teacups, and maybe some cookie jars and bean pots and rolling pins among other things 🙂 I just adore this teapot found by DH at a second store this past winter, it has all the flowers from different Canadian Provinces on both the plate and around the cup itself with a Canadian flag inside. I did a little research on it and here is what i found

Royal Albert “Our Emblems Dear” Cup and Saucer, Canada’s Provincial Flowers Gainsborough Shape Made in England, Released in 1980’s

What is your province or states flower, I have always loved my Alberta wild rose and i still grow Alberta wild rose in my Ontario gardens but i do adore a number of the other provinces flowers as well Do you have a favorite tea cup or mug with flowers on it? if so what are yours?

How Much Hibiscus Tea Can You Drink in a Day?

  • For Adults: 2-3 cups (480-720 ml) daily is considered safe and potentially beneficial for most healthy adults.
  • Maximum Safe Amount: Limiting consumption to no more than 4 cups daily is advisable to avoid potential side effects.

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Frugal Meal Helpers -Roasting Leftover Bones

Posted on March 15, 2026 by Just another day on the farm
Frugal PorkChops Bone Soup Recipe

When we can’t be as picky on certain cuts in the store due to prices or if we are buying bulk quarters or half’s of whole animals, we are going to end up with a lot more bone in cuts. So many recipes call or we just prefer boneless meat for certain dishes.

This recipe above uses the left over bones and meat bits to make a lovely soup with, the key take aways are simple, don’t long simmer your bones with the meat on.. instead deep roast them till lots of lovely brown bits on the bone, then remove that tender roasted meat for adding at the last moments of the dish to reheat, then use the bones, and that pan deglaze to add depth of flavor and mouth feel to the end soup dish itself.

Ideally you want to plan your bone roasting to go with something else so you are not heating your oven just for this or do remember that a smaller Toaster Oven is a excellent choice to save power costs as you are heating a much smaller oven while still having all the benefits of using a oven.

Last but not least, while this style does work better with med to larger bones, it can be done with smaller as well, When was the last time you roasted bones, waste not, want not!

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Happy Friday the 13th -Chores still need to be done!

Posted on March 13, 2026 by Just another day on the farm

Dear Hubby’s name is in fact Jason

when he decided that he needed a spoof on Jason from Friday the 13th, having a regular day on the farm, tongue in cheek, who was i to say no. He did the photos as selfies and i did the backend work on them.

The horses need their hay!

Its maple season, the sap is running!

Oh, did you bring us mealworms and cuddles

Lets top up the wood box

Relaxing on the deck with a coffee after chores are done

There is a joy in being creative, be it whatever floats your boat! Its been a limiting week on some things but it was so fun to watch him get excited about the idea, create his outfit, storyboard it and then make it happen over a course of a couple days, I enjoyed my end of the project, and remember, farmers, homesteaders, and to a point gardeners and more, we never get days off so we might as well play when we can 🙂

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