Just another Day on the Farm

Canning Deboned Rabbit

Posted on December 1, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

In the photo its the lovely Rabbit Tenderloins, but I also deboned out the big thighs and legs and cut them into smaller bits and canned them up as well.

Canned Rabbit is good but Its different then chicken canned up, this was aged in lightly salted water for three days before being cut up and prepared.. it was raw packed into half pint jars stuffed right full.. As anyone knows raising rabbits, these are amazing pieces of meat and so they will be used in smaller portions for more meals. plus there is nothing wrong with what starts out as 8oz of meat for two people.. Portion control of 4 oz per works just fine for me 🙂

So the first thing to note is that the color of jelly-water will be more dark and yellow then you are used to.. and if you had included bones in this, it would be a nice jelly but because I deboned, its more liquid.. so on the deboned meat, its got some flavour but nothing like the boned in does.

The second is that canned rabbit has a canned smell when first openned. I know, all canned meats do but rabbit is even more.. so do air your meat for a just a min or two if you are going to use it as a cold meat..

The second one is that tenderloin from the rabbit cans up into a firm meat.. its not fall apart tender like the beef will be.. its more like canned pork in that way.. it will hold pretty good.. but push down on it with a fork and it will shred out nicely! It will NOT mash out like a ground or a store canned meat will.. it will shred.. keep that in mind for your plans in regards to recipe etc.

Now I find rabbit meat quite flavourful in its own way and if used cold, mixed with pickles, sweet, dill, garlic or even hot just rock with it.. as a cooked meat, soups, stews, stir fries and so much more.

While I do love to use rabbit as a fresh meat but if you are doing a number at a time, this is a great way to put them up.

Black Friday-Cyber Monday

Posted on November 30, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

Well, the flyers came, the stores sent e-messages, facebook went crazy with ads and everywhere I turned on the news and the radio, it was black Friday sale, it was cyber Monday sales..

The Canadian news had a big report that no one was crossing the border for the big shop in the states because of our low dollar..

Then there was the Big sales and pushes in the local stores that again appeared to fall flat this year, no line ups, stores no more busy then a average Saturday after payday..

Even at my local grocery store which did have some amazing sales on in regards to local grown food, ten pounds of carrots, beets or potatoes for a dollar.. needless to say, I looked at my pantry and topped up.. amazing buys on massive pinapples as well, I got a extra 50 pounds of carrots and as they had bags of apples at a 1 a bag, five bags of apples for caleb.

However other then the cart full of local produce, there was nothing folks wanted, I was saddened to see so few taking so little of the fresh but I also watched as they looked at the others and walked by, so many with lists and so little in their carts, with a look about them.. and even sadder to me was so many that said at the till.. I would be getting more but you no longer (the stores) take a visa..

Store after Store shows the truth of where we live and what is happening, folks are being so careful, they are pulling in, they are looking at things from a different light..

Now I guess I had better own up on my own black Friday buys.. because I did use the sales, I got a top up on horse carrots-apples, I got extra turnips, winter ones for extra canning, I got pineapple at the local grocery

I got cat and dog food at sale prices and cat litter as well.. cat litter at half price.. good deal..

But they are pretty normal overall, I would have got the feed on-sale regardless of black Friday.. but I did get one thing that I did not need, one upgrade.. I got a 400 dollar Nikon camera for 99 plus tax, free shipping.

My older digital was ok, but I love my Nikons and I am glad to have it back.. the quality of photos is so much better.. Did I need it.. no.. do I regret buying it.. no.. it will earn its keep.

o yes, I like my new camera very much.. but I like it even more that we spent so little over the black Friday-cyber Monday madness..

So how did you do? what was it like in your town? your local neck of the woods?

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged Black Friday Sales, camera | 4 Comments

Venison stew with dumplings recipe

Posted on November 29, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

The joy of this dish is it had all the tenderness an flavour of a long slow cooked stew with all the speed of just cooking the carrots and turnips took.. if you did not used pressure canned meat, you would need a slow simmer for hours to get the same effect.

1 large onion, peeled and diced
3 cloves garlic or 1 tsp minced garlic
3 stalk of celery trimmed and finely diced
1 small winter turnip
2 large carrots diced
4 average potatoes, peeled an diced
1 pint of canned meat and juice
12 cups of dark broth, I did a mix of mushrooms an beef
1 tsp of Montreal steak spice
1tsp of seasoning salt

Cook the onion-garlic in a tiny bit of fat or oil, if using fresh meat, brown it at this time then add all veggies and broth an spices and bring to a steady simmer and stir now an again till everything is tender, if added the canned meat and juices and heat though, if using fresh, simmer at low for at least another hour till meat is more tender

Make my standard dumplings recipe, step by step with photos on the link.

They will be dense but fluffy, moist and gravy on the bottom half but dry and o so good on the inside..

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged canning deer meat, dumplngs, Fall Venison Stew Recipe, using canned meat, Venison Stew, venison stew with dumplings | 3 Comments

Winter Duck House

Posted on November 27, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

Now if any of you have ever tried to house your ducks with your chickens over winter you know the issues.. 1) they make everything wet 2) they will mess with your water if given a chance 3) they do not need to be eating that costly higher protein and laying feed while they are having a winter rest..

and to top it off, they don’t even stay in.. on the coldest day of winter, they will still be fluffed up and laying on the snow.. honestly unless its like snow blizzard, they are some of the most stubborn fowl about being outside that I have ever seen.

Having said that, they do! need warm and dry house and bedding for when they do go in.. so while I do not mind running ducks in the summer quarters when it comes to winter, I much prefer to give them outside runs with their very own quick, easy and o so warm straw bale winter house.

The back of the pen has a solid wall, I built on these, the pens have builds for wind block on two sides and the front has a half wall as well.. so this is not a out in the open pen, which already gives it a great leg up..

then we take full 60 pounds straw bales and we layer an stack them to deep, the small door is here on the right corner, we take more straw and stuff any gaps between the bales, and then we put down a full 4 by 4 6 inch thick straw chip on the bottom and loose straw on top of that, if cleaning it, I will pull the loose out and leave the chip to compost in place as a small form of a deep pack, over top this goes a full sheet of plywood, and when this is covered with a layer of snow.. its as snug as a bug..

My poor hens you can tell they are coming off a season of sitting and hatching eggs, they are all in the process of moulting as well.. look at those blood filled feathers growing back in.. they get the winter off, three hens, one big drake and they will get fresh sprouted grains, fermented grains and then come late winter, they will go onto layer rations, they will be first egg layers and if all goes well, they will help fill up my incubator with fertile duck eggs for my first hatching of 2017.. and I will be able to put a passel of ducklings out in spring to fatten up on all that spring goodness.

When I see photos of a flock and the hens look ever so pretty, and its the time of year for steady laying or for sitting birds to have been sitting and hatching, and I think.. Slacker! Working momma fowl are like all working mothers, they show it LOL

They were so happy to have a big outdoor water bathing area and they checked out their indoor digs and wagged their tails.. all is good..

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged Breeding ducks, Ducks, ducks in moult, meat ducks, straw house for ducks winter, straw house for fowl, winter straw house for small fowl, Wintering ducks | 15 Comments

Bush Hike (now that the main hunting season is done)

Posted on November 26, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

Stew simmering away, and we are spending the daylight finishing off prepping the big barn for winter.. time to get those extra’s we do between summer and winter done before the snow flies even more..

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged bush walking, hiking, local photo, mushrooms | 1 Comment

Sophia aka Sofie

Posted on November 26, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

There is a story behind the kitten, but its the blog so we are not going into to much detail.. raised a house kitten, then rehomed to a farm to be a barn kitten, really wants to be a house kitten.. winter coming.. not adjusting and can you please help..

Ok, then.. so meet Sophia aka Sofie, a Short Hair very plush coated Blue Tortie female kitten around 12 to 16 weeks give or take. I am not saying that she is staying for sure on the farm.. or if she will be found a new home but she sure is settling in like she is planning on making it home.

What matters is that she is safe, warm and with a full tummy, she is a hoot and I have to admit that her outgoing loving temperament is winning both myself and hubby over, as I write this, she is has come over, purred, snuggled and is now napping on my left arm..

Now say it with me folks.. NO more kittens or drop off cats on the farm.. Enough! no more..

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged farm kittens | 1 Comment

Sweet Potato Slips..

Posted on November 25, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

So these Sweet Potato’s were harvested in the fall of 2014 and I did the recommended high heat cure and then I put them into storage, not all of course, we eat lots of them, but I put the right size in good shape for slipping and I watched and waited. I had read that they could last two years in storage and I would have to agree..

However this fall, the temps hit the right point that they decided to start buds which of course is how you get sweet potato slips.. now the timing kinda sucked as its fall in a cool house but I was not going to waste these..

So into the water they went..

A few weeks later an some are still in holding form, some are really starting now and the Georgia Jets are rocking it.. both in bottom root growth for the sweet itself and for the green growths.

It will not be that long before I will take the biggest of these slips and start water rooting them, and then after they have tons of roots, I will pot them up to go under my grow lights for the winter.. now these would clearly outgrow my space quickly so I intend to snip and add fresh sweet potato greens to the winter menu and then I will water root nice big slips off in the spring and get them ready for spring planting out after the last danger of frost is past..

This one interests me, it not a pretty sweet but man, its put out so many buds and its starting to root nicely in the water (I raised the water level into its area) and its starting to get some leaves now.. the purple is growing very differently then the orange one above..

Did you pot up and bring in some sweet vines, will you be overwintering any? Have you had yours stay for two plus years in storage as well?

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged canada sweet potato, growing sweet potato in ottawa valley, overwintering sweet potatos, slipping sweet potatos | 2 Comments

Early Christmas Present came today

Posted on November 22, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

I just adore this photo that DH took of Brandy and I and I had it turned into a keepsake photo.. The keepsake above the original below. work done by Lucy Ritz

Posted in Life moves on daily | 2 Comments

Winter is here..

Posted on November 21, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

We spent the weekend prepping for what we knew was coming! Snow..

The hoop area is prepped an ready to the plastic in feb to start winter sowing and then early spring greens, compost added, ash added, , cleaned up, and double dug.

Area’s around the gardens that needed to be bedded down for winter, done an done..

Some of the last of the, when did I plant that there things came in from gardens, in this case big turnips

Horseradish are dug up from the extra area’s they are not to be in anyway, but you know what they are like.. they love to spread.. some are tiny and thin for just a scrub and fresh cooking and some are nice and thick for peel and homemade horse radish to be canned up for winter use.

More meat canned up, More Jerky made!

Running all 8 trays for sprouting now, so we have a tray a day to use, sometimes I just eat mine as is, fresh and green and yummy, sometimes its in soup or in a sandwich but its good as a salad as well..

Super easy, fresh green sprouts, diced celery and carrots and a bit of dressing..

Caleb is settling down to being the only horse and is closer then ever with his sheep.. he loves to photo bomb me when he can.

Sunny cat says, I don’t care that it snowed, I am still going to follow you around and support you while you do chores.. the purr pride of 2016 were quite in shock to meet snow for the first time LOL

The hounds had fun playing in it.. and I moved from the wheel barrel to the sled today.. Hubby just pulled in, so my writing time is done.. supper needs to be served!

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged canada, Farmgal, Homestead in winter, just another day on the farm, living my dream life, Snow, sprouts, Winter on the farm | 1 Comment

One Bowl Chocolate Cake Recipe

Posted on November 16, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

This is a very old recipe, that I remember from my childhood..

In a large bowl put one cup of butter and two cups of sugar, cream together well

Then beat in two eggs till well mixed

Add in one cup of milk, mix together with the above..

In a bowl mix together

1 tsp of salt

2 tbsp. of baking Powder

3 cups of flour

1 cup of coco powder

Mix this together, then add to the wet above and mix together, it will be a thick, thick batter.

Add one and half cups of just under boiling water (very hot) and mix like crazy, fast.. or you can use hot coffee Mix well, it will turn a lighter color with beat well

Into a greased 9 by 13 pan, bake at 350 till wooden toothpick come out clean. Cracks are normal on the top. Do not overbake it..