Turkey Tail Mushroom

Posted on November 8, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

turkey Tail Mushroom

The amazing version of the colors that can be found that are all Turkey Tail Mushroom is a delight to our eye and mind..  these ones are so pretty in person.. outstanding..

Most this beauty is to old to harvest and I am just fine with that.. I will know where to find it next year in its prime and I will be back..still I was blessed with a very good harvest of perfect young, fresh as you can see above in the bowl.. 

These were hand picked, then carefully trimmed and into my dryer on the lowest heat setting possible for herb, and I will do just as much as needed, I am drying then allowing to cool and air dry, then another bit of drying as needed.. they will be kept as whole as possible till use.. only once I take my bit off will I grind it to get the biggest possible surface to reach the water as part of a immune boosting tea.

Do you look for and harvest Turkey Tail Mushroom or do you buy it from the health food store? or do you just admire it from afar for its beauty!

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High Bush Cranberry BBQ Sauce Recipe

Posted on November 7, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

Highbushcranberrybbqsauce

High Bush Cranberry BBQ Sauce

  • 8 cups of late fall harvested after at least one or two good frosts softened High Bush Cranberry * (see note)
  • 2 cups sugar or 1 1/2  cups honey
  • 1 cup of vinegar (If you are water bath canning, if pressure canning, the berries are acid enough, leave it out)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp keens hot mustard powder
  • 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
  • 2 TSBP onion powder (not salt)
  • 2 TBSP Garlic powder (not salt)
  • 1/2 tsp all spice 
  • 1/4 tsp or a pinch of ground cloves

High Bush Cranberry Note* Pick the berries, wash the berries, into a pot just covered with water, simmer them 5 to 10 min at med heat and then give them a mash with a potato masher as they are cooking as you want as much of the fiber as well as the juice for this recipe..  cook with some stirring and mash again if needed till all are popped for another 5 min.. 

Strain into a screen or a seed remover, and stir with a clean big spoon until you have the juice and all the pulp in the bottom bowl and the seeds and the few bits of skin that did not soften and get small enough to throw out.. 

Put that back into a clean pot (med heat) add all the rest, stir well, bring to a simmering boil, turn down if needed and cook slow and low to thicken it to your desired thickness.. if you want it more like a HP type BBQ you will want it a bit thinner then I did it, I wanted thick.. so I simmered down till I have lines when I ran the whisk in it..  you can see how thick it settled out after being canned

This is a smaller batch 4 or 5 small jars only.. water bath can for 15 min or pressure can for 12.. your call..  Its clear this will be amazing on a Roast beef or Moose roast sandwich but I can’t wait to try it on chicken.. 

Its got good fruit undertones while clearly being in the BBQ sauce family.. delightful!

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The Last of the Fresh Celery Garden 2021

Posted on November 6, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

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Yes.. Today Nov 6th I headed out to harvest the last 5 celery plants growing in Kitchen Garden Plot 1.. way back in the very early spring..

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we started so many celery seeds..  that grew into a tray with so many celery babies..  they were used small and fresh, they were given in sets of 4 to 6 to fellow gardeners local to me.. those wee celery babies have grown into healthy leafy celery that has added intense flavour to many dishes. 

Got to love with you can share the bounty..  I have never harvest Celery this last in the year before but it was holding and I was just going out and cutting what I needed for cooking fresh.. still even with the extra microzone cover from other plants it was reaching with the harder frost we were getting.. the outer thick leaves were solid heavy frosted in the morning but was still shaking it off and the densely covered tight packed bottoms suffered very little damage and they seemed to just shed a layer like a birch tree would and the rest was perfect under it.. 

Anyone that has grown Celery at home knows that its intense stuff.. that sweet, watery big thick stemmed celery we get at the store is nothing like the brighter rich green insanely intense CELERY you get on home grown.. and I always get at least as much green leaves tops as I do stalk..  

I had done a quick little video or so I thought to show you in the garden.. turns out I didn’t in fact take it.. opps.. I took my pocket instead lol.. 

after a bottom trim, and a dirt off wash.. everything was cut into 3rds and into a cold, cold salt water bath/soak for 10 min for bugs and so on.. then stacked to drain for 5 min before being chopped.. 

Now you can use it for canning at that point if you wanted, you can lay it out flat on trays and freeze it then break it into chunks and double freezer bag it for future soup/stew use.. or you can be like me.. chop, chop, chop.. and into the dryer it goes.. trays worth.. I will dry it down and use the leaves in crumble form and the stalk dried.. sure a space saver and a little goes a long way..

Is there anything you are harvesting really late this year?

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Mustard Mayo Sauce

Posted on November 5, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

mustardmayostirfrysauce

Mustard, be it bright yellow and smooth an creamy, be it course with dark brown or even black mustard seeds, or a blend of the above, be it a tiny bit of keens mixed in there for some extra heat..  its used in many ways but often overlooked as a very good and cost effective in making a stir fry sauce.

Because there are so many different kinds of mustard, certainly you can grow your own seed, (the most frugal way for sure) and there is all kinds of price points on different types.. however I made the point of going to the store and making sure that they still sell the big bottle of just no name type mustard at a really great price (so far)

Mayo is the second part of this sauce and I will admit that its a bit hard to find a good price on these or them on sale but if you watch carefully you might find it, again you can go no name, you do not need to go spendy on your favorite mayo to get a good result.. I make homemade most of the time but I have a favorite store kind as well.. (don’t we all!) 

Make your stir fry, pick you veggies, your meats, it can be used over rice, with pasta and even on potatos in a pinch, or just as its own meal..  I am assuming here that you can make a stir fry, I am just on the sauce on this post.. 

a super easy simple frugal sauce..  (our local small single use jars of stir fry sauce which not that long ago was 99 cents a jar went up to 1.99 a few years ago is current sitting at 2.99 to 3.49 depending on the store) That’s a crazy amount to add to a stir fry given the price of veggies.. thankfully stir fries really do stretch the meat portions as well..

At the most frugal its a simple 2 to 1

2 parts mayo to 1 part prepared mustard sauce, a good pinch of salt and at least 1/2tsp of fresh cracked black pepper.. , put them both in a bowl and blend it together and then drop it over the hot cooked stirfry, stir it though to coat everything, turn off the heat, just let it warm though and serve..  

The price point on this is outstanding and you can funk it up..

  • try adding a bit of steak seasoning to the blend, it can be steak or chicken.. both work really well start with 1 tsp and blend it in before adding
  • chicken cajun spice, you would not think it would work but it so does, gives you a spicier dice, add a bit of fresh hotter peppers in the dish and excellent.. 
  • one tsp of worchestire sauce, taste and see if its enough for you if you like that undertone flavour go a full TBSP
  • 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp of lemon pepper.. this will pop that citrus undertone and keep that pepper hit as well.. 
  • Add 2 tbsp of maple syrup.. with sea salt and cracked black pepper with 1/2tsp of hot pepper flakes.

Now lets play with the mustard itself.. 

Grainy mustard, totally different texture and look to the dish

Honey Mustard- its classic and just yummy

Horseradish Mustard- one of my favorites, If I am adding lots of  darker fuller flavoured greens to the dish, this is my go to.. 

the only one that hubby and I have ever tried that be both went.. nope.. was Dijon.. if you love it, try it, maybe it will work for you but not for us.. 

Do you make a Mustard Mayo sauce? if so.. do you have a new spice blend for me to try? What is your favorite way to spice it up? Is the price of Mustard in your neck of the woods still reasonable?

 

 

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Just Another Day on the Farm Blog Happy 11th Birthday!

Posted on November 4, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

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WHAT!!!.. 11 years! WOW!

Wow! 11 YEARS AGO, I wrote my first post..  

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Creamy Rice Salad

1 cup of uncooked Red Rice (which if you have never had is as close as I have found to wild rice in taste without the very heavy cost to go with, its a good chewy and nutty Rice) Cooked per instructions. Then put in the fridge to get cold
1/4 green pepper diced
10 mushrooms diced
1/8 Large Purple Onion Diced
1 Stock Celery Diced
1 Large Leaf of Purple Cabbage Diced
1 clove of Garlic-Diced

The veggies were fried up till just starting to soften, then spread out and cooled in the fridge till cold.

Dressing
2 Heaping TBS of my homemade mayo
1 Heaping TBS of my homemade Greek Style Yogurt
1 TBS White Wine Vinergar
1 Tsp Raw Honey
1 Tsp of my Dried Basil (the spice one)
1/2 tsp of Dried Ginger, Black Pepper, Salt

Mix together the Rice, Veggies and Dressing, Add 1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds and 8 half whole raw walnuts chopped.

I took a pie pumpkin, Cut it so that the bottom will be 3/4, with top 1/3, cleaned out the insides (don’t forget to keep the pumpkin seeds for later use) and wrapped it up in foil and baked it till just done.

Split apart, drain any extra water inside it and allow to become cold.. Take Salad and fill the inside bowl, then top to be able to serve, just lift the lid and vola..

This salad can be eaten as side for sure but as it was to be a starter, I brought a fresh baked loaf of my sweet, soft and tangy buttermilk bread that I made yesterday. So I will cut up the fresh bread to be served with the topping of the Salad..

There it is and in many ways it perfect.. it is my own photo, I still try and take almost all the photos used on my blog, (its now common for most blogs to use “stock” photos as its so much less work and they are all sized up and ready to go) I was finding my way on how I would write out my recipes and I still do the same to date..  I had already started using farmgal and home made bases, I would later get to the point that I would also put up two recipes, the farmgal farm one and one based more on things gotten from the store.

I still write in personal way, I have always been part journal, part homestead, part garden part photography.. I like to intermix the posts.. I can not see that changing in the future.. 

Thank you to all my readers over the years, the ones that have come and stayed, the ones that have come an gone, the single one time viewer.. Every single one of you helped make this blog!

To my regulars.. you are wonderful! 

Onward we go

 

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Hello November..

Posted on November 3, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

hello-november

What a fall, we got our first killing frost Oct 25th, that is the longest garden fall without the killing frost I have ever had in 17 years on the farm..  Did your killing frosts come early,  on time or late? There is lots in the gardens that is still doing well and can be harvested but overall the main push is done.

October unproccessed went well, to the best of my knowledge the only thing that would not meet the rules was the color dye in the cherries that went on my outstanding yummy ham with pineapple birthday supper.. it was worth it..

I am still amazed that its November, where did the time go? I am getting notices about black friday sales, whoa.. slow down folks.. I am not ready for that yet..  not that I ever do Black Friday sales in person (its not as big of thing in canada, but its getting bigger, but it tends to be “big toys”).. but I have used online Black Friday Sales to get really good sales on things I have watched and waited for sales thought out the year.. but I do not expect that it will be so this year..

November is normally that month I do my garden reviews, finish out my butcher plans, finish out my carry over breeding flocks and herds, check my seeds and figure out what order or at least start working on the list..

Can’t say I am there yet.. so SO! not there yet.. I think in large part because there is so much “other” stuff on my plate at this time.. I just want to enjoy the now, finish things up and move into the Christmas season.

Hubby’s work is already asking for timing on taking time off.. its very strange to be figuring that out when you are already working from home full time. So I recommended that he just be “that” person that works christmas eve and the days between and then we take a four days off after new years and get double weekends and 10 days off for the cost of 4..  looks like that is a go and all the folks that want the days off with little ones at home are happy as well.. win-win

In the month of Nov, we have ferrier, vet, dental (human) and eye doctor..  its the big fancy eye doctor for hubbies follow ups.. which is good because at the moment here in the province we are having a big old fight over money..  how much our province should pay per visit for eye care..

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/ontario-eye-doctors-parents-1.6214818

“As of Sept. 1, 98 per cent of optometrists have been withholding their services from the 2.9 million patients covered for eye care under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP), including kids under 19, people 65 and older and those with certain eye conditions.

Initially, Bishop assumed she could pay for Jack’s eye exam with private insurance, but provincial legislation doesn’t allow that.

At the centre of the dispute is how much optometrists should be reimbursed by the province for OHIP patient care. Right now, the province pays on average $44.65 per exam, which optometrists say has increased by only $5 over the last 30 years and covers about half the actual cost. 

It’s the lowest rate in Canada, says the Ontario Association of Optometrists (OAO). Alberta pays $56.32 for a children’s eye exam and $80.70 for seniors, according to a 2017 Alberta Health Care Insurance”

The last time I called in to book, it was a 9 month wait time to get a spot and then it was bumped and bumped again for covid, the back up lists were long.. now this started Sept 1st and its Nov 3rd..  so that is at a min, a two month backlog and growing. I get why they want the raise and they really did go to the table to try and sort it.. none the less..  I am glad that while our regular eye doctor and clinic (and they are awesome) are on strike that my hubbies Diabetic Eye doctor is not as they are under a different plan with the province..

Wish I could just pay out of pocket and so be it but that is not legal and so it can not be offered in province.. I am starting the process of figuring out how to book far enough in advance to get my eye exam and check up in 2022..  I remember when you could call and get in within 4 to 6 weeks.. boy those days are long gone..  I expect that in the pay for the service province that you have must shorter wait times but I could be wrong? When you called for a eye exam, how long did you need to wait to get a appointment?

Mutter, Mutter, Putter, Putter..  last year today was our first snow fall.. this year green and wet, so wet, lots of rain.. at least the ponds and the well is going into winter full and I will admit that I have been successful in my worst pasture that I put on some push grazing/some mowing, and some gardening spots let it fallow this year.. and it really showed great improvement..  it also showed me by the plants that grew what and were we need improvement, were we are good and where we are gold..   Somethings are.. that needs to be dug out, and then fire wand treated over and over.. that area is ready for some re-seeding and its good.. that area really need a willow tree..  a big old wheeping willow I think..  they grow straight up for about 10 feet then start tipping over and down.. grows 4 to 6 feet a year on average and needs only a pen around it for the first while, then the sheep can graze under it and keep it trimmed..  but it will help dry that area of the pasture as well as provide shade and be a “grandfather tree” size wise in the area..  I could regrade that area to try and help push the water down and fit with it.. or I can just plant a willow tree and work with nature..  I am going to plant the tree 🙂

Point in fact I will be planting lots of trees over the next years.  There is a joy to plantings trees, something to whole to it.. I am planting a lot of native trees but I am also going to plant carefully picked trees from other counties as well..  some from Russia, some from China and Some from other northern climates.. I am not a purest as many are these days..

I grasp and understand the value of native, I do.. but I also know that our country while we do have some work done by ottawa and now our U of Sask is our golden child when it comes to breeding and putting out trees, bushes and so on for our climate.. we need to respect the work done by other counties..  The simple truth is they put more money into it..  (not saying I agree with choices made by the goverments please do not get me wrong) but they put a lot of money, time and space to some amazing projects on creating food producing trees, bushes, canes and plants and I for one will give them that due..

I have my fingers crossed that many of the things I am planting and will be planting will live on well after I am gone.. I truly hope so..

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Check your boots..

Posted on November 1, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

This is something that I have to admit that maybe? other peaple do but I expect that many peaple are like us.. we had a shoe size that we grew up and got.. in our case for years hubby has said Men’s 10 standard size and I used to have a ladies 12 or men’s 10w..

In the past couple years, I really found some 12’s work great but many times I need a ladies 13 and I was like ok.. so my feet grew a size.. and I adjusted, after all I can always tell if the shoes or boots do not fit..

What I did not realize and I think its fair to say that Dear Hubby didn’t grasp was the effect on his feet, its become clear that he had issues with his blood sugars well before it was found and should have started treatment and meds at least a few years before we found out..

Now Dear Hubby has always had “cold feet” since I meet him in mid 20’s, I run hot, he runs cold.. I am in a sheet, feet out, he is in sleep pants and warm socks with two blankets.. we honestly gave up on making up the king size bed the same years ago, we have a king bottom sheet and two sets of twin on top with our own blankets and so on.. its the just the way it needs to be

Now I had gotten him new shoes and boots, I mean high quality with fancy insoles that adjust to your feet and so on.. and I asked about fit and got its good..

Then came the first foot issue, no details but it included ER visit, treatment and care and so on.. which lead us to his first full check up and testing with his diabetic foot nurse.. and again, not going into to details..

Here is the important take away.. trace your feet on a piece of paper (good thicker paper is better then really thin paper) and then cut it out, one for left and right foot, get out your measurement tape and do the measurements and write them down.. then put them in your slippers, shoes, runners, boots and muck boots..

If you get lines, wrinkles in the paper after you do a reasonable amount of adjustments getting it into the shoe or boot, it does not fit your feet.. want to take a guess how many of hubbies foot wear point in fact fit him..

ONE.. his good leather slippers which I had gotten on sale because they are 10.5.. they fit him.. all his older footwear and all the new high end costly footwear I had gotten him.. NOPE>. NONE>> NADDA!

then I took the measurements and had a good hard look at a good amount of shoes, he does not need more width, he needs a 10.5 in most cases and depending on the maker a 11.. how many years has he been wearing the wrong size?

Back in the day and maybe in some higher end shops they still do it, I remember them as a child putting my foot in the sizer but I have not even seen one in years? I certainly have not seen it in any of the stores I normally buy our boots at.. do you have a old fashion shoe store that still checks your foot size? when was the last time you measured your feet? Did you find you needed a w as you aged, have you gone up a whole size in your 40s or 50s?

For now, the house wear is the leather slipper with good rubber soles, and a cheaper but carefully selected pair of light weight hikers will hold us till the first of dec which was the first we could get in to see a Podiatrist and get a full check up and just for him footwear made.

Bottom line.. just like we get used to saying Size X for our jackets, or our pants or dress size.. we can get a little to set in our ways in regards to saying a auto reply and look for our shoe size.. its a small thing to check that can have a massive impact on our overall bodies health..

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Happy Halloween 2021

Posted on October 31, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

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Happy Halloween!!

This weekend on the farm is wet, soppy drippy, still raining (cold rain) high of 6 and all my wonderful plans have needed to be cancelled..  I will fully admit that I am sad about it.. I wanted to see friends and outfits and take photos and share candy/goodies and hear laughing.. 

 

Instead we are slogging in boot sucking mud, the house is doing a battle between smelling like gingerbread and wet dog, my floors are covered yet again in small, med and large foot prints that need another cleaning..

 

Still Sir Bells went to the vets on friday  (who confirmed I was right that Bells is a Sir and a baby boy) and he is almost 3 pounds now, got a perfect bill of health and his first vaccines.  He is very full of himself and then some..   

I wish you all a All souls night or Happy Halloween and so on.. See you all in Nov.. 

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Birthday Weekend Away

Posted on October 25, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

Just some of the fun on the birthday weekend away at a dear friends place..  its been just wonderful..

My main birthday presents was two new backdrops and two new light boxes for taking indoor photos and I have been having a great deal of fun with it..

Lots of time on the Quad and bush time..  pretty view indeed, all taken out by Bon Echo Area

Can you spot the beaver.. its very tricky but I swear to you there is one in there LOL

Ps, it was raining at the time so the rain is what is making the water dance..

Amazing sunrises and sunsets..

Love my birthday flowers.. so pretty..

Hope you had a good weekend as well..

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Homegrown Peanuts -Zone 5

Posted on October 18, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

Late last winter or very early spring depending on how you look at it, Dear Hubby said I would like to grow peanuts again this year..  we have grown them before with moderate success.. its very tricky to give them enough heat and long enough days to full finish the peanut..

So I ordered the seed peanuts from OSC (Ontario Seed Company) these peanuts have been bred for canada, well at least the southern zones..  they need 120 days min and more is better.. and they are space hogs.. they really are, with each peanut plant needing 36 inches each, fat and full and because of how they grow you need to stay on top of weeds and keep a bare soil under the plants themselves, you can mulch on the sides but not under the plants themselves.

Now if you have grown peanuts this is old hat to you but if you have not, its a funky plant.. it grows bushy with leaves that will remind you a bit of clover or at least it does to me and its flowers are lovely yellow, its a pretty plant in the garden, you could get away in the right places using it as a “edge” plant and no one would be any the wiser that you are growing peanuts.. they would just see a three footish high green row with pretty yellow flowers..

Once the flowers bloom, the stamen which is dark purplish color will head out and down.. down, down.. into the ground.. that’s right.. the peanuts are not going to grow on the roots of the plant but are in fact growing to grown on ends of what was once the above grown flower.. how freakin cool is that!.. now the first big push on the early flowers and the best producers are going to the flowers that went in clusters at the base of the plant,

I find these the most productive and the ones most likely to finish.. the secondary blooming which is lovely to look at,  will produce more single peanuts if they reach full size on the lines outward..  the more mature peanuts will have lines on them when they come out of the ground..

Ideally leave them till frost nips them.. we did not do that this year because I needed to make the choice between pulling the plants still green with hints of yellow coming at the end of a extra warm spell just before extreme rain coming and risking rot..  Given the amount of rain we have had, I will take the loss we might have gotten if I had been able to wait for frost, (which is to be coming today)

Once they are pulled out, they must be hung to start curing..  they filled the whole of my living room on laundry cloths dryers.. with a fan on 24 hours and a small heater for just a bit of warmth without to much..  Once they are dry enough, shake off the extra dirt and keep letting them dry down..  on average it takes about 2 weeks but weather does play a factor..

Then take them off and decide your choice, wash, salt boil and then roast them, or dry them, brush the dirt off, then dry oven roast them..  I brushed them, did a slow low dry for 24 at herb setting on the dryer, pulled any thing that did not pass the test after that finally drying out.. which was about 5%, and then into the oven for 45 min they went.. I started take one out and cracking it and testing it for being ready at 40 min and this batch was perfect at 50 min..

I love that we have one more choice to grow “fat” on the farm but in the garden.. Its one of the few perks of the changing weather patterns here on the farm, more heat units, longer falls.. I have to admit that I have given though to growing peanuts and sweet potato’s as the main summer crops in the geodome, the extra days, the extra heat and the warmer soil will just make those crops thrive..

After all I can grow greens, salad fixes and more in the main and food forest gardens very well all spring, summer and fall..

Do you grow peanuts? If so do you grow just a few as a treat feed or do you grow a couple big good rows for your own peanut butter? Do you like salt boiled peanuts? Dry Roast? I love the skins on the fresh peanuts, fresh peanuts are just more.. yum.. double yum!

Posted in 100 mile diet, food, gardens | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments