Just another Day on the Farm

Garden Plans for 2015- Vegetable Marrow

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

These can also be much more yellow.. The strain of them that I have is a Truly old Fashioned Veggie, that is not often grown anymore, other summer squash have become more popular and common. This one tracks back to 1824 , its right around a foot long in a oblong shape. It has a delightful light mellow and buttery flavour when used most do. Its grown as all squashes are ideally in hills, its a hard bush plant, very productive and its a short season squash at 50 days.

This is the squash of my grandmother that was used for making her Mock Pinnapple

This is one of the few Summer Squashes that can hold up to canning with a lovely firmness and that to me at least puts it into a class of its own..

Marrow is particularly important in the diets of certain cultural groups because it provides a high level of nutrients in a low-calorie vegetable. It is a significant source of vitamin A, vitamin C, dietary fiber, calcium, and iron.

This veggies is a good easy choice for seed saving, but it must be done by either hand crossing and then tapping to present cross breeding and or with a breeding cage placed over it.

The interesting part this year will be to figure out where to plant it.. Last year my side squash planting hills were a bust, so while I might be willing to do one hill there to see how it goes this year, I am certainly not willing to put my bigger hopes there.. but my biggest area is going to the butternut landrace growout

and the big squash area in the main garden is going to my new funky Italian hanging summer-winter keeping squash, more on that later..

Which leaves me doing the huh!

Three choices remain

1) make new hills and plant them in a new spot in the yard..

2) Make a new hugelculture and plant them in that.. My big one is on melon duty this year and my smaller ones are booked for other plants.

3) Consider interplanting them with Corn in a area that is already booked, and throw in a few beans and make that whole area a three sister garden.. hmmmm.. we will see what I decide in the end..

I am going to be starting two plants very soon, this week most likely, so that I can transplant and have fresh eating squash in the greenhouse and then into the garden for the end of may..

At 50 days, I will hold off till the end of march to start them..

Posted in gardens | Tagged Vegetable Marrow 2015, Vegetable Marrow Squash | 6 Comments

March 17th- The Canadian Wartime Recipe Challenge 2015

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

Happy St. Paddies Day!

Is it any wonder that I am going to post a Irish Stew Recipe from the wartime.

One pound Mutton, wipe and cut and cover with cold water (remember that back in the day, the meat would have come with much less prep work done then we would expect our meat to have done), The fat on the meat would have been saved and rendered

Cook the mutton for one hour add one fourth cup of carrot, turnip an onion and one cup potato, cook for half a hour, salt to taste and added dumplings, After cooking them 10 to 12 min serve..

A pretty basic and plain lamb stew! but in keeping with the day..

Here is a Farmgal Lamb Stew-Soup, I went though my recipes pretty carefully on this, and made sure that I found one that would be with things that would have been growing even in winter time in England.

Dark Day One Pot Lamb Soup in Broth

1 tsp duck fat (can use whatever oil or fat you want to start your dish)
One Large Onion
6 Large Mushrooms-Diced
2 cups of chopped greens (a mix of spinach, kale, horseradish and Beet Greens, frozen for winter use)
1 tsp of minced garlic
1 tbsp of green onions and leeks (white and green parts), I used a cube of each frozen in water
2 Large Carrots-Peeled and sliced
3 Med Potato’s -Peeled and diced
1 pds of small diced lamb stew meat*
Salt, pepper, Keens Mustard, Turmic, Basil and Ginger to taste
1 quart lamb bone stock, with 1 quart water (this was a very light broth, if you want darker/heavier use a second quart of lamb stock or veggie stock to go with)

I cooked the onions, mushrooms and lamb till onion clear, and meat browned, then I added in the rest and simmered for around 40 to 50 min at a low-med heat, till the veggies were tender and done. Simple, easy and all done in one pot, a good hearty but very healthy winter soup..

* This was young tender spring grass-fed lamb, Its worth noting that this meat was from when I butchered out lamb legs, and that I had made sure to remove all silver skin from the peices(which can make them tough, and is often left on by butchers) as well as cutting off all extra fat bits, which I used to render into tallow, and I cut the peices into about 1/3 of the size typically seen in a store if you are buying beef stew meat.. this means that the meat peices were right around equal to the size of the carrot and potato peices.

If you are using older mutton or yearly lamb, or from the butcher lamb stew meat, I would recommend simmering for about another hour or so, till the meat is tender.

Posted in canadian wartime recipes | Tagged 30 days of wartime recipes, canadian wartime recipes, canadian wartime recipes lamb stew, March challange wartime meals, March challange wartime recipes | 1 Comment

March Photo Challenge 2015-16th

Posted on March 16, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

March Flash Back Monday..

Posted in March Challange | Tagged March Photo Challange 2015 | Leave a comment

We have Running Water!

Posted on March 16, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

Well, it took five days, a new part and some time but we have hot and cold running water again. I can very happy to have that lovely hot and cold running water in the house and in the barn again.

It might be awhile before we use the hose as our well is refilling at around 18 inches or so per day, and it needs another 13 feet to be full, so it will be a number of days yet, we had enough water to turn it on Friday night check but we decided to do it Saturday in the daytime instead and we had a issue, turns out we need to replace a small itty bitty but very needed 3 dollar part and then we were sailing.

I am currently back to my careful summer water use, this means that we are using our rain roof collection systems to fill the 55 gallon drums and the sheep water trough and the big horse trough, taking those water needs off the well, and I will do all my laundry one load per day, somewhere in 3 to 5 days from now the well will ideally back to normal for the year.

Sadly I heard from my mom today that she will not be coming out after all this spring, I understand the reasons and I will see if I can get out late fall after the harvest is done or maybe I will come out for Christmas, Given that Hubby does not care about the season like I do, he will not mind much at all if I am not home.

This weekend was busy and fun filled, I left hubby at home on Friday evening and went to a dear friends for a little farm style house party, did not get home till late for me, and then Saturday had a lovely visit for a couple hours with friends and then did a tiny bit of shopping and back home to do chores and work..

Sunday was a true farm day, but it was also a lazy day, in the sense that while we got the water on line and we puttered and did chores everything was done in a calm quiet easy way.. it was a relaxed sunday..

I did not even make a sunday to do list.. It was just roll with the flow.. we do not have many of those days on the farm and we will have even less of them by the time the weather turns..

We got another 5 inches of the fluffy wet white stuff between Friday to Sunday, but at least the temps are slowly and carefully warming up..

The Chicks are growing fast and they are flyers for sure.. very nimble but I had hoped to get one that was a blue and sadly, I can see that she-he is not blue, certainly a dilute color yes, but blue.. No!

The rest of my chicks are ordered and I am just waiting on hatchings, I should have lambs coming in about 3 to 5 days, we will see if I am right or not.. I am basing my math on when the last girls lambed out and on the average that sheep cycle in the fall time wise.

Hubby is done the current work assignment at the end of March and it is a bit up in the air on what he will be doing and who he will be working when April rolls around but the positive is that it will be somewhere, and he does have a few leads on a couple different areas, so time will tell

My pea seeds are up and on first leaves, as are a few other things, and I will be doing a few more pots but the weather is just holding me off at this point.. I will put up a few pots of tomato soon so that I can move them to the green house for early spring tomatos, those ones will be the little cherry tomatos for our house use.

The hens are laying again and well right now, which is wonderful, its so lovely to have a flush of eggs coming in.

Ps, I am finally caught up on my posts for the March Challenges today, I maybe running late on some days but I am keeping up in the end and that is what matters to me.

Posted in farm | Tagged This and that post! | 2 Comments

March 16th- The Canadian Wartime Recipe Challenge 2015

Posted on March 16, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

Sometimes there had to be treats, near as I can tell Chocolate was a big thing in the day, everyone appears to be allowed a certain limited amount of a Chocolate bar..

But today, we are going to do Cookies, .I am in bake mode on the farm today and I am doing a cross over but we are going to pick the recipes that use less sugar because its rationed remember! I am struggling because most of the sweet recipes are using a new syrup.. yup, they are so excited for white, light or golden CORN syrup.. ekkkkk

So today instead we are going to focus on Molasses instead.

Bran Cookies

One cup of bran, one cup of white flour, one cup of milk, 1 tsp of soda, 2 tbsp. of sugar and half a cup of molasses, one egg an one cup of raisins, drop from spoon and bake. Notes say can egg can be dropped and ground oatmeal can replace Bran.

Thick Molasses Cookies

One an half cup of Molasses, one and half cups of fat, one an half cups of boiling water, 2 tbsp. of soda, half a cup of sugar 2 tbsp. of ginger 1 tsp of salt Barley flour add till you can roll it out as a thick mat. Cut it 1-3rd inch thick and bake

Oatmeal Macroons

2 eggs, 2-3rd Molasses, 2 tbsp. fat, 2 and half cups of rolled oats 1 tsp of salt and 1tsp baking powder, Mix and drop very thin on greased pans, bake for 5 min and cool.

Molasses Cookies

1 cup Molasses, 3 and half cups of barley or oat flour, 2 tsp ginger or pumpkin pie spice, half a cup of fat, 1 tsp of soda and 1 tsp of salt. Warm the Molasses and the fat together, add the other ingredients, roll very thin and cut into squares and bake

Posted in canadian wartime recipes | Tagged 30 days of wartime recipes, canadian wartime recipes, March challange wartime recipes | 5 Comments

March Photo Challenge 2015 -15th

Posted on March 16, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

Posted in March Challange | Tagged March Photo Challange 2015 | 5 Comments

March 15th- The Canadian Wartime Recipe Challenge 2015

Posted on March 16, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

So we are going to offer a number of recipe today that use other grains then Wheat.. All recipes come from recipes books that say they are wartime recipes

Southern Spoon Bread

Scald 1 pint of milk, and pour it over 1 cup of corn meal and half a cup of cooked rice, allow to cool, add 2tsp fat, pinch of salt, 2 tsp of baking powder, 2 eggs beaten add into the baked dish and bake at 350 till brown, serve hot or cold

Corn Toast

2 cups of corn meal, 2 tbsp. of baking powder, 1 tsp of salt, 1 tsp of fat, 2 cups of milk, bake in a shallow pan, split, toast and serve

Potato Corn Muffins

1 cup of corn meal, 1 cup of leftover mash potato, 2 tsp sugar, 1 egg, 1 cup of milk, 1 tbsp. of baking powder, half tsp of salt and you can add 1 tsp of fat or not.. Bake and use quickly

Corn Meal Mush

2 cups corn meal pinch of slat, 2 cups of milk and 1 tbsp. of flour and 4 cups of water. Mix the cold milk, salt and four with the meal and stir slowly and carefully into the boiling water, boil for 30 min, pack the mixture into a dish to cool, then when cold, cut into slice thinly and then fry in fat

Corn Dodgers

2 cups of corn meal, 1 tsp of salt, 1 tsp of fat and 1 and 3-4th cup of boiling water. Pour the water over the other ingredients, beat it well and cool, form into 14 thin cakes and bake for 25 min in a hot oven, serve with bits of meat gravy

The above seem filling and I am sure they did a great job at that but I am also going to provide a really great recipes for corn bread, that use a little more

So lets talk about some southern Johnny Cake recipes, as sourthern cornbread is not typically done up sweet, here are a couple old fashion recipes, these recipes were first published in 1915 in the Five Rose Cookbook

Recipe #1

1 cup sour milk (buttermilk will also work very well)
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
pinch of salt
1/3 cup melted lard
1 cup ground corn meal
2 cups flour
1 tsp of soda

Mix 3 cups of buttermilk with 2 small tsp of soda, 1 cup of sugar, 2 eggs a 1tsp of salt, 3 cups of cornmeal and one and cups of flour with 1 teaspoon of sifted cream of tarter in the flour. 3 melted tbsp of lard, mix very well.

#3-No eggs

2 cups cornmeal
1 cup flour
2 cups sweet fresh milk
2 tbsp melted fat
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp baking powder

Bake them all in a hot oven in a greased cast iron pan, ideally preheated first and then add batter and then bake till golden brown..

Posted in canadian wartime recipes | Tagged 30 days of wartime recipes, Canadian Wartime Cake Recipes, Canadian Wartime cornmeal Recipes, canadian wartime recipes, March challange wartime meals, March challange wartime recipes | 2 Comments

March Photo Challenge 2015- 14th

Posted on March 15, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

Posted in March Challange | Tagged March Photo Challange 2015 | 2 Comments

March 14th- The Canadian Wartime Recipe Challenge 2015

Posted on March 15, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

Every Little bit was used.. a lovely comment came on the blog, thank you for taking the time to write me, I have been loving the comments from all the regulars and from new folk 🙂

as an elderly person and a wartime baby, i am loving your blog, my last meal will hopefully be cow tongue. we ate lots because those were the parts that were given to us free.

So it seemed a good idea to share my favorite way to eat tongue- I like to brine the meat, turning it into corned beef,

But we have also eaten a number of other scrapes that make excellent meals

Chicken heart stew was yum

Chicken Liver with curry stew

Duck Blood Soup recipe, trust me, this is one of the best blood recipes

Any many more organ recipes are listed for sheep heart, duck lung, and so forth are in the recipe page of the blog

What was your favorite way your family did a organ meat, what was your families least liked way they prepared organ meat.. Do you know that for four years one of my most popular posts on the blog is Rabbit Liver Pate