Tom Thumb Popcorn

Posted on September 10, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

Tom Thumb Corn – HEIRLOOM

Extra early popcorn succeeds even in cold climates. Dwarf plants each produce 1-2 petite yellow ears for table decorations or wreaths. Pops well with a slightly denser texture than commercial popcorn. Improved by the late Professor E. Meader at the University of New Hampshire. YELLOW • Popcorn • Dwarf 3’ plants • 3-4” ears. Days to maturity: 85 days

I snapped the above from the net..

I got the tom Thumb corn seeds at Seedy Saturday from a local vender, which if they told me true, meant that the past generation was raised locally.

It was planted first so that we could stagger it when we did our sweet corn. It was grown in a hill, we had run out of turned space by the time it got planted..

So it was a 3 by 3 chip of old rotting straw, and a wheel barrel of mixed compost, dirt and sand, we planted out 16 plants, all came up fast and true, but we lost a couple to critters, so we raised 12 plants, all but one had two cobs, the one on the edge only had one and poor pollination.. the rest good to go. you can see the little cob at the edge of the bowl

They grew well, reached 3 feet and a few inches, they appeared to have no issues with pests and their cobs are bigger then I thought, they average 4 inches with the odd at 4 and half an the biggest is 5 inches.

They are currently drying, and the rest went to the pigs for part of a supper, I will do a follow up on popping and taste in round two..

They were a strong growing plant with good results.

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A little Family get together..

Posted on September 10, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

One more post on family and then I will get back to some farm and recipes, I promise.  Had Hubby’s dad’s side of the family come to the farm for two days, it was great hosting them.  It was wonderful for his mother to get to see her inlaws for the first time in a few years.

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There are lots of photos of everyone but we also got a casual at the fire..

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Crazy Drive Day.

Posted on September 4, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

We had a crazy busy drive day to go pick up hubbies mom.. had lunch with Aunt C as well.. got some great family photos taken, and on the way back home, stopped at one of the many local lakes and did a few pictures. The new suv did good, the drive day was hot, roads busy but the construction was bad! Delay, after Delay no a thing you can do about it though

Have a great day.

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The kitchen is starting to come together now..

Posted on September 1, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

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We are about 90 percent done in the kitchen now, the new subfloor and lino is down, the painting is done. The window cover is going up soon, the new hutch gotten second hand is looking fine.. With the new fridge and losing one of the freezers and replacing the dryer, and I  am already down 10 kiliwatts power use per day.. now that will add up fast..

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Plum BBQ Sauce

Posted on August 31, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

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Now comes a very old recipe, I found the “bones” of this recipe in a cookbook from the victora times but have played around with it enough to be able to call it Farmgal Fruit BBQ Sauce and its fabulous on lamb or pork! and pretty tasty on chicken as well (does not work with duck), it does go nice in taco’s or mixed in with ground meat/veggies over rice

  • 4 pds of plums-Pitted and in halfs
  • 4 pds of heavy ripe roma Tomatos (or in a pinch, 1 large can of pasta sauce with two cans of tomato paste)
  • 1 bottle of  red wine (the regular size, and I try and go local if I can)
  • 4 cups of chopped red onion
  • 2 cups of dried black currents
  • 1/2tbsp of ground pepper (might want to start with 1/4tbsp and see if you want more)
  • 2 cup of dark brown sugar (or 1/2 molassies and 2 cup of white sugar), if you want sweeter, add 1/2 cup of brown sugar at a time.
  • 1/2 cup of red wine vinager
  • salt to taste-I put in about 1/4 of a tsp
  • 1 tbsp of cloves (start with 1 tsp and see if you want more)

Ok, so you put your plums, tomato’s and currents in your big jam pot, add your wine, vinager, sugar and spices and simmer boil for 30 to 40 min, then take off heat, allow to cool just slightly and transfer into your blender, blend till smooth, then back into the pot and check your spices, might want to add a touch more pepper, salt etc. Then simmer to till its as thick as you like your BBQ sauce to be, as my tomato’s are for sauce , it only took another 30 min but the more juicy the tomato, the longer this will take, keep your heat low and simmering and dont’ forget to stir fairly often.

This is going to give you a sweet, tangy, fruity and yet a bit zippy BBQ sauce. Processed like normal for a hot water bath process for ten min. Makes 8 pints

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Second Hand Score.

Posted on August 30, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

Just love this new to me second hand hutch I picked up for 15 at the local second hand store, that was one of there higher priced items, I have seen over the years but so worth it.

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it fits with just inches to spare in my pass though space and while I will need to put up a curtain wall on the backside of the living room, I like it..  will get doors made for the open bottom area.

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Throw Away a 100 things challenge..

Posted on August 29, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

You know that challenge, throw away a hundred things and declutter your home..

Well, lets see..  Farmgal has a bad habit of buying 1 or 2 dollar boxes at the farm sales, I only want one thing and I might find a extra or two that can be used, gifted or put away as a repeat of a known to use and will wear it out..

The rest.. well the rest tends to sit, somewhere in the house, Cellar or outbuildings..

And….

Throwing away a hundred things.. I am in fall clean mode.. We are replacing the lino in the kitchen, which lead to replacing the sub floor in the almost 100 year old part of the house, and that meant deep cleaning, and if you are going to deep clean, and paint and put down new lino and new base boards and so forth..

And… you rented a huge (as in the biggest the dude had) garbage bin,, you might as well fill it.. so I am going though every drawer, every cupboard, every book case an so forth.. what can go, what can I give to second hand and what do I want to keep.

Turns out, lots to all three of those.. I am of the firm mind, two is one and one is none, it does not bother me to have six of something I know I need, use and wear out, if the new item costs x and I can pick it up for pennies or less on the dollar, but on the other hand, if its a magazine that I read ten years ago, have not looed at it five.. its time to go..

If its a cookbook that I read, and did not like the reicpes.. does not fit the farm.. it can go..

We are positive that if we do the whole house and outbuildings that we can fill the bin, when I ordered the bin, I thought I would be putting a good amount of scrape metal in it, dryer, fridge, washing machine, freezer but the gentleman that came and payed to haul my old van away.. also came back and took all of that, this opened up a huge! amount of room in the bin, and we are not wanting it to go to waste at all..

This will be the third bin we have rented for the farm in the 11 years we have been here.. this is the first bin that I feel is a clearing of OUR extras, the first two bins was all about cleaning up the farm, and boy did our old farm have lots of things to clean up..

So if you are in town, have you ever taken the 100 item challenge, and if so, was it as easy for you.. if you are on a homestead, are you of the mind that you keep everything, just in case, or are you of my mind set, clear what can not and is not being used, to make room for not just what you do use but many copies for them for when you can get them at farm sales, or on sale or barter and so forth.

I will not count how much is going but it would be safe to say, we have been successful at this challenge 10X over by the time we finish..

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A Little Farm Help..

Posted on August 29, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

I was thrilled to have farm Helper #3 come for the afternoon, she rode over and we hauled, dragged and filled the big rented bin over half full, we bedded down trails, worked in garden and mowed grass. I was so grateful to have a extra set of hands, a quick wit, and a work drive rare to teens but not in her family..

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The lovely older mare she rode over with is very good friends with my Brandy Girl, who was so pleased to have her come visit, caleb has ridden with her as well.. it was lovely to see the herd of three for the afternoon

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we relaxed in the bean Teepee of course.

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Fresh tomato sauce with Beef meatballs

Posted on August 28, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

Yesterday I was picking fresh paste tomatos, these amazing small dark yellow and orange ones and of course a few deep red plum style ones as well.

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I chopped them into large pieces and into a pot, added salt, pepper, a tiny touch of dry keens powdered mustard , and a big old pat of butter and simmer to blend flavour together

I took a quarter pound of beef ground and added salt, pepper, and lots of fresh dill, cooked then in a bit of bacon fat, three min per side med heat, then take the meatballs out, and pour your tomato sauce, chunks in to deglaze the pan.

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Make your pasta as normal and because I had company, I did it in big bowl to serve and then mixed before dishing up, rave reviews, tender little meatballs, the fresh tomatoes were picked ripe five min before making,.. this dish was all about show casing them.

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Tucked away in a old cookbook.. Runt Piglet Milk Recipe

Posted on August 27, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

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I found this in a cold cookbook that I got, not done the research on if its really a good balance, I would add in some live active cultured yogurt to help with tummy but otherwise, its pretty solid to other recipes that I have personally used over the years

I love the warm to blood temps, old recipes just assume you know the basics, that you know to beat the egg, that the whole milk would be fresh from the cow and that clearly everyone would have cod liver oil in the house.

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