On a lighter note for the day..
Its was a bad hair day..
O yes it was…
Ps.. you see that big building behind you, its called a barn. use the barn.. its there for a reason guys!
Miss Piggy and Kermit have left the farm..
Happy digging playing pigs.. Swimming pigs
Happy Sweet Pigs
Such a good pig friend..
Such a good momma pig!
ust
Healthy babies, o how I wish you would have just had more wee ones so I could have kept you..
You did not make it easy.. you walked up from the barn with trust and sweetness, Miss Pig gave me her lean, cuddle, give me a rub, I adore you just before she walked on the trailor, in a way it was as nice of a goodbye as possible but it just made me cry even harder
Its different when you know you are raising them for meat, but the parent, the ones that have been with you for years.. you bond.. you know their good day and their bad, you know what they loves as a treat, or where that special spot is to make them sigh with happiness. You help birth and raise their babies, you know how they like their beds, you see things that show their love and care for each other.. you know they think and feel..
Being a farmer is always a challenge but somedays well somedays, are harder then others..
Posted in Life moves on daily
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Removing skin tags with apple cider vinager
ok, I will admit it, I saw this a few times on facebook, even flipped though once and read it, soak a cooton ball hold and then put a bandied on it.. right.. yup
but I had one skin tag that was driving me crazy and it was a pain in the rear and I got the bad habit of playing with it, then it got sore and I wanted it gone.. now you can get a freeze off thing at the store for a lot of money and a hefty warning list..
or you can say. grab the apple cider vinager, if nothing else we can reduce the redness and possible and so we soaked it, and put the bandied on, it stung for a bit and then it hurt a lot less then it had been, what I was not expecting was that hubby noticed a difference in 12 hours, I noticed a huge reduction in pain, so did it again putting the vinager one twice a day.. and this morning, it just fell off, the head was dryish and intact but the root is flat and healing.
I have a few more that I am going to work on in the same way.. and see if I get as good off results.. huh.. who would have thought it.. but it work and worked well!
Carrot-Butternut Winter Soup
I made a bigger batch as I wanted to freeze some and also because I am craving orange fleshed items, carrots, turnips, squash etc
A butternut Sqaush, lets face it, after trying and successfully growing at least 12 different kinds of winter squash, you are hands down my personal favorite.
Now, this soup used leftover cut up squash, the rest having been made into a lovely fresh mashed side dish..
So yum.. so where was I.. o yes. the recipe.. make its in a big pot, your big soup pot so it will leave a good amount of room for the stick blending.
One med onion, one clove garlic and if you have it, a half inch piece of fresh ginger.. peel all three, finely dice the onion and garlic but grate the ginger, add to two or three tablespoons of good oil at a med heat, in my case it was olive oil.. cook till onions are clear, then add your stock, it needs to be white stock, you can go, veggie, chicken or rabbit.. I went chicken, I added in two quarts.. to that you need three to four large carrots peeled and diced.. Two to three potatoes peeled and diced, and two cups at a min of your butternut cubes, you can also move it around and add less of any of the above and add in up to a cup of small diced winter (not summer) turnip. you should have a very full pot but your broth should cover them
Cook until fork tender, around 25 to 30 min could take upwards of 40 min, if you did not cut the turnip or carrots into finely chopped and did bigger.. no harm. no foul, just changes cooking time.
Once fork tender, take off heat, and after it stops boiling, add 1-4th cup of butter if you want it rich, or not.. its good either way but will have better mouthfeel with some added fat to it.. Salt, start with one tsp, white pepper start with half a tsp, and 1-4th tsp of clove or all spice.. blend well
Can be served colorful and plain, can have a tiny pat of butter and cruitons on top, can be served with a dollop of sour cream with sprinkle of dill for color..
This soup will make a hearty lunch or supper meal.. its not the starter, its the main meal 🙂
Seglinde Potatoes The 2015 year spud..
Yup, we grew this for the first time in 2014 and its a huge winner..
Here is hubbies written report..
FRONT GARDEN ROW: “SIEGLINDE” – White w/ yellow skin
This row was planted in soil, and harvesting began in June to obtain small eating potatoes. Two plants had been left in the ground to see how they matured, and yielded 13 lbs. Potatoes are mostly medium to large with good shapes, and since this row was planted in soil, they were found at the top of the soil. Little damage was noted. One quirk was that this variety did not produce in a single location but rather tended to produce clusters in multiple places around the centre of the hill, making additional digging necessary.
Given that fourteen were originally planted, it can be extrapolated that a full harvest might’ve been on the order of 80 to 90 lbs if left to grow. One online reference indicated they had a yield of 20x. If we planted 5 lbs, then our hypothetical yield would’ve been 16 to 18x, which is very good. As it is, we’re not sure how much we actually ate from the early hills.
We loved this spud, we enjoyed as baby spuds, fresh eating, salads, mashed, and baked or fried, it has stored well to date and is listed as a great storage potato..
It is THE potato of 2015, we will be trying a few in straw but the rest will be going in the ground, we are planning on putting in a min of 15 pounds of seed, which if the same as last year give us.. 250 to 300 pounds of potatoes.. I need plant an extra ten pounds as extras for early eating-summer harvest.
We really need to do a better job hilling them this year.. lots of updates on this spud to follow.
We need to grow and put up 250 to 300 pounds for storage, and we need to plan for planting another 60 to 80 for fresh harvesting and eating in season.
Plans for 2015
1- Go Camping! I want to go camping in a tent at least once this year, ideally after riding in on the horses, but I will take hiking in with a trail pack horse second and going by van third.. its been far to long since we have been out on the land
2- Go to Romance the Capital Writers Con- Do it to the fullest, this includes both cos-play events, the dance and all the different courses, including all things that help or relate to either my blog writing or hubbies in terms of promotion etc
3-Grow potatoes from seed for the first time in my life..
4- Be a test gardener for heritage rare plants to help save them for future Canadian gardeners
5- Go on day trips to the local parks at least once this season, at least two of the three, the hills, the river or voyageur park
6.Attend a four day Rother Clinic with Caleb
7-Go to the Biggest water Park in N.A.. Calypso
8-Cavalia is coming back to monteal, I have been watching and waiting for three years for them to come back..
9-Garden art.. I know that is a different one but I work hard in the gardens but I have not fun, silly or pretty garden art and I want to change that this year
10- Horse agility, add more things to my own home courses..
Ten seems like a good cut off point..
Posted in Life moves on daily
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Happy New Year 2015
May your fire burn bright! May the flames burn away what is not needed and leave you with a tempered will of sweet iron that will allow you to fulfill your dreams
Posted in Life moves on daily
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New Years Eve 2014
I normally write about following your dreams, staying true to your path, and that is very true but as this year of 2014 has taught me, good health can be taken for granted and when you lose it, o my.. o MY, can it shake the very ground you have built your world on.
the effects of my health will be carried over to the new year but I have hopes, plans and dreams of a much better year. None the less I believe that the challenges will be reflected on the blog in a number of ways, how can it not when the blog is a reflection of my life and world..
Hopes for the year,
- New Milking Sheep- Polar Ice
- Shearing, working with wool, felting and hand dye with natural coloring
- Soap Making
- Garden, increase in size, growing out rare beans, growing out a tester for new strains of plants for a girlfriend, continue filling in food forest
- Bird breeding program for the year
- Recipies, food related
- Horse training, riding and 4 day Rother horse training clinic in fall 2015
- My first writer Con
- Many other things I am just forgetting at this time
Posted in Life moves on daily
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Buttermilk Cornbread Recipe
Buttermilk Corn Bread Recipe
This is a super easy recipe to make.
You can make in a number of shape’s in a thin cornbread pan, muffins or as shown above in a cornbread pan
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk ( you can use powdered buttermilk, really buttermilk or whole milk with two tsp of lemon juice in it to turn it)
- 1/3 cup oil
- 1 large egg
- 2 cups yellow cornmeal flour or cornmeal
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1-4th cup of sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 half teaspoon salt
Mix in order give above for the wet in a bowl. to be added to dry. In a bigger bowl add your dry in the order given above. Mix the dry before making a well in the middle, add the wet.
Do not over mix.
Always use a greased pan or spray it
Bake in a 350 oven.
time depends on what you cook in.
Ideally best served warm and fresh.
these are ok the next day, but if you need hold much longer freeze and then softly heat before serving
Posted in Food Production and Recipes
Tagged Buttermilk cornbread recipe, Cornbread recipe
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Some of my different landscape photos in Nunavut
Below was my backyard, the others are just a collection from different areas, some taken on the land, some from the chopper or float plane at times. hope you enjoy the blast from the past
Just another Day on the Farm 
