Just another Day on the Farm

Sometimes being a pack rat is a very good thing

Posted on December 15, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

Back in my day, I would be called a packrat, today, the term folks like to say is prepper, I don’t mind either, I like to be prepared by having stuff that is available when I need it.

I would rather buy things on sale thoughout the year and I am a firm believer in two is one and one is none.. I don’t buy two extra cans of that thing on sale, I buy a extra flat or two, that way I have enough till the next sale cycle that will happen in two or three months.

If I know that we are going to want to fence that section or do this repair at some point in the future, I will watch for the sales, picking up this at one time of the year and that at a another time, so that when it gets moved up the ladder, its just a matter of getting the stuff out of storage..

So I guess ,I am cheap packrat LOL

Its works for me, and I have NO issue at all with second hand belongings, I love farm sales, second hand shops, trading and the church basement. I see no reason to pay full price for many things when they can be gotten for meer pennies on the dollar, just because someone else used them once.

So last night we had a wild storm and the winds blew from a rarely seen direction, and it found a weakness in my old house cellar and froze up our cold water pipes, thankfully not the hot water pipes, and nothing broke, just no cold water, but if not found quickly, if not tended to quickly and fixed, the issue could have easily gotten worse.

So from a quick 1:30am pee break, it turned into a up till 5am burn the midnight oil, thankfully each thing that was need for the job to repair the issue was on the farm, and even better most of it was either in the house, or in tool box’s that could be grabbed quickly.

By the time we went to bed, it was just a matter of let time and heat do their jobs and voila when we woke up, we had running water (cold) in both the bathroom and kitchen again.

There is a pride in being able to do things yourself, there is a pride in being able to have the required stores on hand.. It might have been a pain in the rear but at least we were able to fix it ourselves, we had the required tools, material and knowledge to do so!

Hope you made it though the storm with no ill effects if you were in its path.. Now to figure out if we really can shovel out the drive so hubby can go to work or if we need to call in help and get the tractor down (if and when they can find the time for us) to get it cleared, wish we had thought to move the car to the end of the driveway last night, but we didn’t.

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged pack rat, winter storm | 3 Comments

Its cold out there baby!

Posted on December 14, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

We are in the middle of a really nasty little cold snap, its that kind of weather when you put on the long johns, then the wool socks, thick pants, a shirt, a sweater, a inner jacket and a outer, two pairs of gloves, a balaclava, scarf and a hood to boot! Winter boots good to -40 are in order and thankful for the beard.

Your breath catches and if you don’t have it going though the scarf, it does not take many breath for your lungs to hurt, if anything is still showing, it stings and then quickly becomes numb, moving quickly helps but still warm up breaks are required, hot drinks are a given when you get in.

Increase in protein and fats for pretty much everyone, the rabbits need sunflower seeds on their regular feed as well as the hay, they need the extra calories and the extra fats.. the chickens needed extra protein, in weather like this, I up it by 1 to 2 percent and for the cats, I dribble a bit of extra oil on their dry feed and make dishes up with the dry with hot water and serve up two warm meals per day ideally.

The outer critters get warm water to drink hauled out for them, they will drink more warm water then they will if its cold, and while a little bit of extra grain is good for them, the big thing for this cold weather is Hay! lots an lots of hay! its what will increase that internal output of heat.

Below minus 30 on the farm at the moment, is it any wonder that the pasture and everyone else is hunkered down, deep pack bedding is the best as it creates a warm bed for them to lay down on.. I know, I know, its not pretty, folk would rather see a super clean stall, where its got a little layer of bedding, like those pretty pictures on the net or those places that have heated barns..

Mine is heated alright, heated by critter body heat, heated by composting deep bedding in the stalls.. the pigs loved their extra big chips of straw, they are dug into their bedding and snuggled up, and when they get up, their whole body steam’s in the cold air.

These temps will for sure drop my egg production even more then its been but that’s ok, I totally understand why the girls would prefer to put it all into staying warm..

I will not be out riding today, and the horses will thank me for it..

What’s the weather doing in your neck of the woods?

Posted in Life moves on daily | 3 Comments

First Weight loss goal reached! So awesome~ Happy, Happy Farmgal

Posted on December 13, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

While I have slowed down on the daily food journel on the other blog, that does not mean in any way that I have fallen off the wagon! I just have gotten so busy trying to get what needs to be done at this time of the year, that I am finding it hard, I will do my best to get back at it, but the truth is that I have fallen into a routine, which is just what I needed to do.

The first and big goal was to lose 24 pounds, in order to jump start my chances of getting and staying expecting!

Let me tell ya, my new lifestyle has NOT been easy and yet in other ways its been so easy! Its like I said to my momma, its pretty easy to know what you can’t eat, that would be pretty much everything you get at store LOL

No fast carbs, very limited slow carbs, no white sugar, no other sweeter but raw local honey, No cafffine in any way, no coffee, no regular tea, no green tea, no chocolate, no low fat anything, no cold foods.

This leaves me with a very simple menu..

My homeraised organic meats plus some wild game and fish, Whole farm fresh eggs, whole milk products, veggies and limited fruits, nuts, rooboo and a limited amount of herbal tea’s and honey..

See simple.. now comes the fun of figuring out meals.

I am the first to admit that if I had just made the diet changes, osing all sugar, pretty much all grain carbs and going pretty close to paleo in ways, that I can see that it would be having a effect..

Throw in the gentle stretch workouts, the walking, the herbs and the acupressure treatments, and it was all bound to have a effect.

So I am thrilled to say that I have reached that first weight loss goal! It took ten weeks, which is a average of 2.4 pounds per week, but some weeks I lost more and others less.. still nothing lost that I should not be able to keep off.

It had the added side effects of making me just more level in terms of hunger, sugar levels, blood work and it seems to have helped a bit with my low blood pressure! I will take it.

Now on to the next goal! I think I will work towards another 20 pounds next and will aim for 2 pounds of weight loss per week, so we will see where I am at in another month.

Posted in Life moves on daily | 6 Comments

Rabbit Veggie Stirfry Recipe

Posted on December 12, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

Ok, so this uses leftover cooked rabbit in it, but you could also take your large rabbit saddles, thinly slice them and cook them with the onion, garlic and ginger before adding the rest of the veggies and then the sauce.

Sauce (so easy) Two choices

1 tsp to tbsp. of honey (depending on how sweet you want it)

3 tbsp. of soy sauce,

2 tbsp. of white wine vingar (but any kind will do)

Your second choice is even easier, mix half a cup of mayo with 1/4 a cup of your favorite mustard, be it smooth, course or flavoured and mix together and then use as a stirfry dressing, (ps, learned this one from Farmer T)

Stirfry

One cup of rabbit meat or two saddles, thinly sliced into rounds

One large onion

3 cloves of garlic

a small thumb size piece of fresh grated ginger

A spoon of duck fat (or any kind of fat you want)

Fry up the above on a med heat till meat is done and onions are clear and getting just a hint of brown edges.

3 cups of bean sprouts,

4 cups of mixed stirfry veggies, – can be peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, cabbage, pea pods etc etc

Add your veggies and sprouts and quick cook on a higher heat till just cooked enough for your taste buds, should have lots of crunch to them.. add the sauce, heat thought out, stir and serve!

If you are wanting to stretch this meal, this can be served over a lovely bed of rice, as I am currently on limited carbs, I didn’t do so, but it would be very good that way.

Posted in Food Production and Recipes | Tagged Cooking with rabbit meat, Rabbit Stirfry, Rabbit Veggie Stirfry Recipe | Leave a comment

Slaw Salad with extra’s

Posted on December 11, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

You have seen it in the stores, the one that is a broccoli and carrot slaw, its a nice change from cabbage slaw or carrot salad or a nice winter beet salad..

I snagged a bag the other day, I rarely buy Premade but I am under order to eat so many fresh stuff daily and I do need to mix it up a bit.

But that salad itself is so boring! so I added in dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, a diced apple, and for the dressing, I did a basic cream dressing with fresh grated ginger, black pepper, dill and dried orange rind (ground fine) with a touch of lemon juice..

Delightful!

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged Slaw salads | 5 Comments

Rabbit Barley Veggie Soup Recipe

Posted on December 10, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

Rabbit Barley Veggie Soup Recipe

1 Quart of white meat bone broth, ideally rabbit if you can do so (but chicken will work)

1 large Onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic -Finely diced

2 sticks of celery, diced

4 cups of mix frozen veggies

1 cup of either finely sliced cabbage

1 cup to cup and half of leftover cooked and cut up bits of rabbit (or the amount you can pull off the front legs, neck and rib cage area on a average 4 pound rabbit)

1/2 a cup of pearl barley

1 tsp of oil, your choice.

Salt, pepper, basil

cook the onion, garlic and celery together in the oil, till the onion is clear, then add your broth, veggies, spices and leftover cooked meat and barley, cook at medium heat till the barley is done, serve hot, chills well but it will be thick! and will need to add more broth when reheating. This is a thick soup, add more broth if you like a thinner soup.

Posted in Food Production and Recipes | Tagged Rabbit Barley Veggie Soup Recipe, Ways to use up leftover rabbit meat | Leave a comment

Roasted Rabbit.. The basic’s

Posted on December 9, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

This is a perfect little roaster size rabbit, a nice young 12 to 14 week old fryer as they call it but you can do pretty much anything with it, I put it on a bed of onion, water, a splash of vinager to help pull the good stuff out of the bones, a few cloves of garlic and then I covered it with my favorite season’s and more dried garlic..

Look at that over a quart of amazing white broth, its full of flavour, and all the goodness that a slow, slow roast bones and meat can give you.. Below, I pulled it apart into this most useful parts, front legs and cage, loins/back meat and the two full legs.

Now you can do so many different things with the parts but Dh does not like to be reminded that this is rabbit and so, it must be deboned in my house!

So the meat on the far right, is all the stew/soup meat and bits, its the front legs and the bits from the neck, back etc, the perfect white meat at the bottom will go in a stirfry or a salad sandwich or as the white meat for a salad etc, and the top left leg/thigh, will work its way into some kind of dish that will allow it to stay those bigger pieces, it could just be crisped up and served as is or it could be used a couple different ways.

So for tonight, I took the broth, mashed the onions and the garlic into it, added back the bits, sliced a big tub of mushrooms into it, a handful of barley and six cups or so of frozen mixed veggies, its going to be a thick and flavourful rabbit stew!

Posted in Food Production and Recipes | Tagged Crock pot roasted rabbit, Debone the rabbit meat, Rabbit barley veggie stew, Rabbit Broth, Roasted Rabbit | 5 Comments

Snow Day, lots of snow coming down today!

Posted on December 9, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

Posted in Critters | Tagged Snow Day on the farm | 1 Comment

Eggs and Light..

Posted on December 9, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

Well, I am at the crossroads..

I have young layers, who are not laying yet, and I have older layers who are either molting or slowing down, we have gone from a nine to twelve eggs per day to one to three per day, I had really hoped that the young layers would have started and kicked in by now, but no luck..

So that means a few things, either I have to a) not have us eat as many eggs, and as eggs are one of the number one stable proteins that my very allergic, very old fragile hound can still eat without reactions, I need her eggs.

b) I am to eat eggs to make healthy eggs, as most of you know by now, we are focusing time, energy and effort on trying for a baby and I am to be eating fresh, healthy non-gmo, farm eggs five times a week.. so I need those eggs

c) If Dh can’t make his egg breakfast, then he is going to be eating more carbs with suger breakfasts, like muffins, loaf or toast and I prefer him to eat his protein breakfasts, so much better for him.. so that is another two to three eggs needed daily.

Which leave me either having to source out eggs locally, and paying though the nose, or sucking it up and turning on the light..

I guess I had better plug in the timer, and hook up the heat lamp and turn on the light in the inside laying area and give those old hens a bit more light but more importantly, give the young hens the light they need to step up to the plate and start making me eggs, I don’t have any issue with the older hens getting their rest, it was planned for, but I have a dozen young hens that need to start earning their keep!

How are the hens at your places doing, are they still laying well, have they slowed down, stopped but for the odd egg.. what are you doing for eggs in the house?