Just another Day on the Farm

Bells – A wee Update

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

Bells :strike a pose, first offical photo shoot lol.. Bells is proud to announce that I have finally cracked the one pound mark on the my daily weigh in on the soaping scale. To say that Bells was and is still a wee thing is fair.. we got the KML milk replacer which is still being used for extra calories

However, I much perfer the special kitten wet food and I like it.. lots, I started out eating a quarter of a can at a time and now I am up to half a can sometimes and I like to eat 6 to 8 times a day.. hungry, growing baby.. FEED ME! meow, meow..

On the back end that has meant more baths then any one kitten should have to take.. first I have a blue dawn bath, then I have to be flea combed over and over, but I purr so its not so bad on the combing. but the bathing.. that I am not so fond of.. but at least I get dried, fluffed and lots of cuddle time.. I am not sure why but the two legged does not like it when I get stuff on me, so many wee baths.. how many times do you have to wash me tail

Which brings me to the next big event in my wee kitten world.. the litter box.. I am pretty good with it, I really am.. and o gosh, then there was the nail trimming, I was informed that my little nails were very sharp indeed and so I had the trim.. and now I can’t cling to things as well as I used to but on the other paw, I don’t get stuck the same either..

The whole house is mine to command, I demand food, milk, laps, cuddles and snuggles.. and I gets its.. purr purr purr.. I helps the two legged at work by making sure he is doin a good job.. write, write, write.. and for the other two legged, she has started wearing a jacket with hood and I ride the hood, sometimes I even fall asleep in there while she workin..

Sometimes I get to play on the “kitty stand” but only when watched because its quite high and sometimes there is cranky other kitty on it and she does not want to share.. but I like to play on it.. I also have a bell ball to attack.. its mine.. whack, whack.. sometimes I get to play on the floor.. but then the two legged puts a COLLAR on me with a bell on it.. its not nice.. but what can you do..

The two legged says is so she can keep a ear out of me cuz I am so wee.. I hope to outgrow the need for a bell but she giggles each time the bell rings on Bells so I don’t know.. it might stick around.. I am warm, I am fat bellied (so much good foods), I am Bells.. Hear me Roar!

Posted in Life moves on daily | 6 Comments

Roasted Sea Salt Grey Ghost Squash Seeds

Posted on October 2, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

roastedpumpkinseeds

Its fall and that means squash and pumpkins are coming in by the wheel barrel and bins full.. such bounty.. we had a low threatened of 4 and we did get just nipped but only in our most frost prone area so far.. still we also noted that we were dry now and had a days of rain coming..

So it was time to bring them in and they are scattered all over the house tucked here and there as they are drying and curing.. I grabbed a Grey Ghost Squash, the top was cut off, the seeds pulled out, the guts to the chickens, the seeds to be washed for future use and the squash itself, had butter, maple syrup and pink sea salt cracked in it and the lid put back on with a heat hole cut into it and put into the oven to roast away till tender. I will personally feast on a bowl of it.. and the leftovers will be used for a dish as a accent for hubby LOL

I then washed the seeds in cool water, just using my hands to get the last of the fresh off the seeds, then I put a touch of good olive oil, seasoning salt and mixed it though, then spread it out.. then cracked larger sea salt over them and roasted till golden brown and the shells have firmed up.

Unlike different pumpkins or even some squash, my grey ghost seeds are either a very slow eat, crack, scrape out edge side, the middle is tasty and I like the flavor very much and its a nice slow snack.. or you need to eat them whole..

If you have any kind of bowl issues where extra fiber can give you issues please do not eat whole shell on pumpkin or squash seeds.. the fiber load on them is massive and they are going to pass right though.

Posted in 100 mile diet, 30 day challanges | Tagged Eat the seeds, Eat what you grow, Fall harvest, Frugal, Garden, Grey Ghost Squash, Squash Seeds, Waste not | Leave a comment

October Unprocessed Challenge 2021

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

october-unprocessed-2021

The “Kitchen Test” Definition

The first question I’m always asked is, “How do you define unprocessed?”
Obviously there’s a wide range of implications in that word, and we will probably each define it slightly differently for ourselves. My definition is this:

Unprocessed food is any food that could be made by a person with reasonable skill in a home kitchen with whole-food ingredients.

I call it “The Kitchen Test.” If you pick up something with a label (if it doesn’t have a label, it’s probably unprocessed), and find an ingredient you’d never use in your kitchen and couldn’t possibly make yourself from the whole form, it’s processed.

It doesn’t mean you actually have to make it yourself, it just means that for it to be considered “unprocessed” that you could, in theory, do so.

I am once again taking on the october unprocessed challenge.. its always good to find out where you have creep.. sometimes you find yourself buying something or using something that you could be making yourself.

Examples of creep that I am aware of.. Salad dressings.. given how many salads we eat, we have taken to having a much wider then normal selection of dressing and they are all bought from the store.. its helpful and useful but at the same time, many of them could be made at home.

My biggest challenge for myself will be my sugar in my coffee.. but I have lots of honey and maple syrup in the house as well as raw brown cane sugar..

I am giving myself a added little push, I will do my best to make sure that as much as possable that most things come from within a 100 km of the farm..

As always I will own up if I fail and why, the first thing I will say is that while my food box does buy ontario/quebec when possable, canada however some of the things that come in it are from the states and even around the world.. they are however cost effective and unprocessed..

So the first switch of the day was my coffee.. I had to move from my favorite instant coffee to my french press with ground.. its much stronger and more bitter..

Anyone want to join me?

Posted in 30 day challanges | Tagged Blog Challange, October Unprocessed, October Unprocessed 2021, recipes, Taking the October Unprocessed challenge 2021, Unprocessed food | 7 Comments

Fall Round Up -Ground Cherry Mincemeat Tart Recipe

Posted on September 30, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

Looking for a way to use your fall apples and your amazing fall ground cherries, I have a lovely tart that can easily be scaled up to a pie if you perfer..

Just another Day on the Farm

Apple-Ground Cherry Mincemeat Recipe

6 cups of peeled, cored and coarsely chopped fresh fall apples (I used Spartan)
2 cups of husk removed Ground Cherries
2 cups of golden raisins
1/8 of a cup of finely diced dried ginger
1 cup of brown sugar
1 tbsp. of Cinnamon
1/4 tsp of nutmeg
1/4 tsp of all spice
2 Tbsp of water (just to start it off so it will not burn)

In a heavy bottomed steel pot, add everything together and on med heat (4) bring to boil, Cook till the apples are soft, give it a mash with your potato masher, you want bits left.. not smooth, so don’t mash too much but enough that it breaks the apples down some. At this point.. lower that heat to a barely there simmer.. Stir often..

Slow and steady will win the race.. cook it down till its thick, o the…

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Posted in Life moves on daily | Leave a comment

Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

Posted on September 28, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

O that irony of duck momma’s.. This spring we came into the year with 4 proven hens, 2 2020 hens and one big old chocolate drake.. Their job this year was to be fly eaters and garden helpers.. Now on a normal year I try for a min of one clutch per hen.. and they average at least 12 ducklings per clutch.. and I normally run 4 duck hens.. so give or take 50 babies..

I took a good hard look at my freezers, my pantry, my lambs and pork from last year and the fact that I have ordered half a beef for late fall from down the road plus the chicken I have raised this year and went.. let have a no duckling year..

Now I have done this once before.. its not hard. the hens lay eggs, we collect the eggs, they lay for a crazy long time, we get a LOT of duck eggs and at least one hen will find some spot to sit a nest and show up with a clutch.. but typically its a smaller clutch maybe 4 to 6 as she had to find a spot that was very much NOT ideally to lay and sit on..

This year has been a shake my head, so first off.. we have two to four duck eggs coming in like clockwork.. this SHOULD mean that we are getting most of the eggs.. right?? RIGHT?

So this spring one of the duck went MIA and that only means two things.. a) fox got it, as there was no blood or body, like there would be if coon or b) she snuck off and is sitting and will show back up with babies in tow.

And sure enough.. 14 babies .. hiya.. I gave them away.. its a no duckling year, I didn’t have the baby feed in, I did not want to run baby duck pens, it was NOT the plan.. so I put them up on facebook.. take them and they are yours.. they were going for 10 dollars a duckling locally is sold so as I expected, they were picked up the very same day..

and I gave the hens the talk.. look, this year just be ducks.. happy happy ducks, no momma requirement needed.. and we doubled down on not letting them out to early, collecting the eggs..

Then as I expected one of the hens had a half hatch of 6 healthy and I went ok.. whatever.. grow them out, 4 big drakes and 2 hens.. lovely birds.. then I had a slow down on eggs, but all the hens were eating and drinking and being head counted.. then one went MIA for a single day, and showed up with 14 babies (how? my best guess is that they were nest sharing) because within 72 hours the second hen showed up with another 14.. yes you read that right.. 28 ducklings..

and so we went hunting and found the next nest and dang if they were not almost ready to hatch.. the thing is that we were still collecting duck eggs, so some of the hens at least where still laying while sitting and that is just not done.. its really not.. I still do not get it.. but they are sneaky things..

13 more ducklings joined the duck flock.. 32 plus 13.. 45.. right on target for a full production year.. till yesterday.. I heard them, that high pitched, I am lost, I am lost, I am lost.. and there was my oldest biggest momma duck.. proudly, o so proudly showing her clutch of 16.. yes 16! healthy new babies.. Largest hatch we have ever had on the farm..

45 plus 16.. 61.. sigh.. lol.. Fall is the worst time to sell duckings, their worth drops 50% or more.. because it cost more to raise them in the fall then in spring an summer.. true.. but these fluffy butts are thriving and growing rapidly.

I had figured I would have all my butcher done by X.. but now I have to plan in duck butchering.. so that changes a few things.. Now to do a full hunt to try and make sure there are no more nests hidden..

How is it possable that on my NO DUCKLING year that I have more babies then the years I plan for them.. and how did they pull of the magic trick of still laying eggs?

I will not be short on duck for 2021/22 that’s for sure.. Did you have some surprise? hatchings, chicks, ducklings or ?

Posted in Life moves on daily | 15 Comments

Lamb Stew Fall Garden

Posted on September 27, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

lambstewgardenfall

We are in zone 5 for our gardens and we are coming on the tall end of a number of things, still this fall garden based soup is lighter overall then what I think of as a cold weather winter stew.

Lamb Fall Garden Stew Recipe

4 slices of Bacon or a small chunk of smoked Bacon end, chopped finely
1 pound of grass fed lamb burger
4 cloves of garlic
2 med onions
2 med Squash (any young squash that needs to be used up, that will not mature in time)
6 med to large diced tomatos
Salt, Pepper, Herbal Blend (no salt herbal blend)
6 cups of veggie broth

In your favorite soup pot at med heat, add your chopped bacon and cook till med done and the fat has started coming out, then add your garlic, onions, cook till they are softened and brown edges and the bacon is getting more crispy, then add your lamb hamburger and chop it up and fry it all together while stirring so it cooks in small bits (not large chunks) once the meat is browned.. Add veggie stock broth, and all prepped veggies..

Cook approx 20 minutues till veggies are tender and serve..

4 Large portions of Soup

Farmgal tip, cut down the stock to two cups and simmer it down and serve over pasta or rice.. would easily serve 6 main meals this way..

If at all possable use smoked bacon, it will add a depth of flavour to the dish in a very nice way!

Posted in Garden harvest, Lamb Recipes, Soups and Stews | Tagged Grass Fed Lamb Recipes, Lamb Stew, Lamb stew made with fall veggies, lamb stew with bacon, Lamb stew with squash, soup, Use what you grow, ways to stretch the meal | 2 Comments

Making Salt Cured Green Olives

Posted on September 26, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

olives

You can imagine my excitement when a girifriend of mine found boxes of fresh raw green olives, yes they came from the states.. Needless to say two boxes were gotten.. one for her, one for me.. a bit of time down the google rabbit den, some reading and poking around my ferment books and a few other really old cookbooks and I have the basic’s

The first thing I did was take out what looked like a perfect smaller fresh raw olive and bit into it.. they said they would be bitter and not eatable.. but they also keep saying, start testing the olives at a certain point to find out when they are not bitter and so on.. how do you know what the starting point is if you don’t try a raw one..

greenolivesalt1

Whoa.. I have a pretty good bitter profile given the wild forage I eat, far more then the average person and that olive had me spitting and mouth puckering and also running split as my body went.. out, out.. get it out lol

Then it was a matter of sorting, tips off, checking for any turning color, any with clear splits or to large skin pits.. thankfully not to many had to be removed and then it was ready for its first salt soak.. 3 tbsp of salt per gallon of fresh water and so each bowl was prepared, salted, water added and lids went on and into a cool dark place.. Water Change and fresh salting twice a week for 4 weeks, then moving over to once a week for 4 to 8 weeks and then the final salt cure and prep for a few different ways..

greenolivessalt2

Like most ferments, its takes a prep, a little bit of work and watch but mainly time 🙂

I really look forward to reporting on this project.. making homemade olives has always been on my bucket list.. I normally much perfer black olives so it will be interesting to see if I like nibbling on big green ones, I think some can be stuffed, I will find different ways to use them I am sure.. and hope to gift some out to a few select friends for christmas gifts (fingers crossed they are ready)

Posted in Fermenting, food, Food Production and Recipes, Food Storage | Tagged Fermented food, Fermenting raw olives, Green Olives, Homemade Green Olives, Making Salt Cured Green olives, Olives | 8 Comments

Filling the Freezers -Lamb or Hoggart 2021

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

I had been told that I would need to wait till next week for the lamb and Hoggart to be ready, I had no issue with this, it meant that they would hang longer and I am always ok with that.. compared to many places, we are far to fast to cut our lamb and package it and I have even been known to ask and pay extra to hang my own longer..

Instead on thursday afternoon, I got the call, they were in fact ahead and it was ready, come friday.. Yes, sir.. I will be there.

Got the bill, price was fine but the amount, had my head doing that auto jerk and my eyes widen a touch on the sheet..

There in Black and White on the bill was 620.5 pounds (not including bones).. The smallest lamb, the one born almost 4 months in difference was 28 pounds, and the rest of my lambs, ranged between 44 to 56 pounds.. (again without organs or bones)

lambloadedup

Milk crate after Milk crate came out for me to move over into packing my little car.. the guys as they brought more out said.. are you sure you are going to get it all in there?? and drive careful on the bumps..

Now I knew that I had picked a medium sheep breed in my choice of hair sheep, the average female is around 110 to 120 pounds and even my big hair ram was around 160.. I have never minded my small lambs sizes..

So when I added in a bigger meat breed ram, I knew it would increase lamb size, then throw in the fact that all my lambs this year were all BIG singles and I knew that I would have bigger lambs, and because I had cut down numbers the year before an with some lucky rains the pastures did not bad, plus my normal feeding out of sqaush/pumpkin/apples as my “no grain” finish..

But call me a bit dumb struck at the return differnce.. I butchered early.. normally I send my lambs end of oct/early nov, they went 4 to 6 weeks early this year and I thought that would reflect downward on the sizes..

I have never been so grateful to have a spare freezer to turn on.. I had space planned in a different freezer but honestly.. without that full empty being turned back on.. there was just no way I would have had enough room..

What I do regret is sending the ram, I know we made the choice we did, but clearly that ram nicked together with my female in a OUTSTANDING way!

And I can’t easily get another one, the folks that sold me the ram, sold out the flock this spring, so I can’t go back for another one either very related or possable even the same breeding..

As for now, I will enjoy all the unexpected bonus that has filled my freezers.. and you can expect lots of new lamb or hoggart based recipes over the winter..

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged Butchering lambs, Butchering Sheep, filling the freezers, lamb meat, sheep | 4 Comments

Barn Kitten -Bells

Posted on September 24, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

Bells

Introducing Bells, a wee barn kitten, I was visiting a friend’s farm when I saw this scooped up wee baby getting some cuddle, this is a very good milk barn, the cats have a clean dry barn and are feed daily with 24 hours fresh water, with two of them also being the front hunters.. One of the semi-ferals must have had Bells.

Bells is thin but once she was found, the barn/farm did start giving her extra feed, I grateful they took me up on my offer to home her.. while I know she would have had her own stall, been feed and gotten cuddles to be made friendly, there are still lots of risks at that age and its hard for a baby on its own to keep warm enough.. no kitten pile

So I loaded her up in a box I had in my car with a shawl and home she came.. introduced her to hubby, got her combed out with the flea comb, got a bath/dry, a number of small meals into her and while she certainly does get held cuddle time, I also set up her sleep box..

Its a insulated food box, so its water proof for easy cleaning, its heat or cold reflective so once I warm it up, it helps hold the warmth, and I got a awesome present from my friend Cate of a huge homemade bean bag and its perfect, its pretty much the average length of a momma cat, so I heat it, put it in the curve and put Bells in the middle/mock belly area.. she rests up on it with her paws and head but she has warmth all around her and as she is mobile she can adjust herself to where she wants to be..

This is critical to help keep Bells body temp stable, to help digest meals, which also means relaxed sleeping.. There is no extra at the moment on Bells, the fluff is hiding pretty much bone thin.. She is just a mear 1 pound 8 oz..

I will be doing lots of little meals and I am very sure that soon enough we will get a little padding on those bones.. I will be in contact with me vet as I need to get kitten wormer, I have the Revolution in the house but I think Bells needs to be bigger and stronger before I even want to consider it.. I do want to make sure Bells is wormed but with the gentlest and correct weight wormer.

Otherwise, Bells looks to be very good health, Lots of barn cats have underlying cat diseases but not this barn, clean eyes, clean noses, no ulcers and so on.. Even though all my cats are altered and vaccinated, its still a very good thing to know that I do not have to worry about those possible issues

At the moment, I am comfortable that despite Bell’s young age, I think things should go well.. I will share regular updates if you all are interested?

Posted in At the kitchen table | Tagged Barn Kitten, Raising kitten, Sleep box for single kitten, Warming kitten box, Young kitten care | 9 Comments

Herbed Meatballs Baked with Peaches in a Chokecherry Sauce

Posted on September 23, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

In my wonderful “Full Bellies” community supported food basket was 4 peaches among lots of other fruit. What to do with this lovely fruit and how to make it part of a meal with protein..

Baked Herbed Meatballs with Peaches in a Chokecherry Sauce

1 pound of grass fed ground beef (would be outstanding with any dark wild game meat, deer, moose or elk)
1 med or large yellow onion, peeled and sliced in thin slivers
2 med or large garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced
4 large peaches, pitted and sliced
2 tsp of herb blend like a no Salt Mrs Dash, 1/2 tsp of salt 1/2 tsp of black pepper
2 tbsp of apple cider vineger
3/4 cup of Chokecherry syrup if you can’t get chokecherry, then consider Black Current syrup or Black Current Jam as a replacement 🙂

In a bowl place your pound of minx or ground meat, your herb blend and your salt and pepper, mix it well together and make 4 to 6 meatballs depending on the size you want.. set to the side and wash up..

In a oven proof dish place your sliced peaches, onion, garlic, vinegar and pour in the syrup (if you are using jam, mix with the apple vineger to thin it down so it will pour more easily.. then tuck the meat balls into the dish. Bake in a 350 oven covered for 30 to 35 min, then uncover and bake another 10 to 15 min at 350 till meat is browned well on the top.

Serve on a bed of rice is ideal, or can be served with a baked potato on the side.. or serve in a bowl with a side salad. The blend of Peaches and Black Chokecherry is delightful and works perfectly with a herbed rich meatball..

This recipe makes a standard 4 servings with side dishes or 2 very large main course.. adjust as needed..