Just another Day on the Farm

Well good morning dear readers, the old hounds got me up this morning bright and early, and I snuck out with them and let Dh sleep, the days of the hounds sleeping in with us or even having quick up and out bathroom breaks are behind us now.. they are stiff in the morning and they take their time getting up the stairs and outside, they take their time working the kinks out before they find their spots, but they have given us so much over the years, its only right that we give them the time they need now.. so I in a spot of uber-quiet this morning, it was just the hounds, the farm birds and the wild birds with the wind in the tree’s, well until a purrpot started winding around my feet, tail flicking to let me know that, they would very much like their morning feed..

My horse knickered a greeting, and so I pulled a few crabapples fresh off the tree and made my way over to her for a morning greeting, she doesn’t get treats everytime I see her by any means but sometimes its just a nice thing to do.. I have plans later today to work her in saddle and bit but without reins on the ground, we have a kink when I am in saddle, and while I certainly can work it out there, I am also more then willing to take a step back and take it back down to the ground work side on it..

I will be able to see things on the ground that I can’t when I am eight feet in the air and going by feel most of the time, I am planning on getting in a ride later on today, ideally around a hour or so, planning on ring and agility work.

This morning is all about soap making and I will bring you along with me soon enough, then I need to make a relish and ideally, I am getting mulberries today from a friend and I think she said she was bringing me grapes as well.

So I had read on facebook how to make zucchini baked breaded fries, and they used a egg wash to make a heavy breading so that it ended up much closer to the deep fried version at the stores or eating out, I cleaned it up the recipe to reduce the calories but its still darn yummy.. take a smaller zucchini, wash and cut into sticks, I seed it out, the more even they are, the more even they will cook, then I drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil and flip them around in a bowl till they all have a light covering, then two tbsp of spiced bread crumbs mix on top and repeat the swirl and flip in the bowl till all covered and then placed into the pan and baked at 375 for 12 to 15 min (check them for doneness for your own oven) I like mine cooked but still a bit firm. how you cut them in length and width will for sure effect the cooking time, so adjust accordingly. I like them with a dipping sauce but they are good as they are as a side dish as well!

Lovely way to spend time on a sept long weekend..

Yup us girls, we be big! gals, but both of us are getting in better shape..

 but he finally rode long enough to get land legs when he got off 🙂 lov ya babe! dh’s did so good on his loaned gal he even lead the way on the bush trail and trotted for the first time today..

Well, this week has just rolled by and it seems like everytime I sit down and want to write all, I really want to write about these days is the horse, riding the horse or training the horse.. and no really, how many times do my readers want to read on the same subject, its not that other things are not happening, cuz they are.. counters full of squash, tomato’s coming in, elderberry syrup and tonic being made, potato’s ready to be dug..

Everything is growning, rabbits that are at harvesting age, geese that are at harvesting age, lambs getting huge, the calf outgrew her baby collar and is now wearing a yearling colt halter (on the smallest fitting to be sure) she has horns that little angel darling.

My oldest hounds are needing more and more daily care and move slower and slower, there are extra steps and help up and down, there is heated beds and gentle massages and slow, slow yard walks to help them limber up.. the younger hounds on the other hand need and adore their runs, the purrpots are all enjoying the lazy days of summer, but the moles, mice and rats don’t much care for them..

The sad breakout day for the baby bird pen hangs over me like a dark cloud, because they got out and because the parents dragged those poor wee new babies all over the farm, despite me putting out water dishes, and trying to get them back from the tall long grasses from the food forest, with no luck at all.. we lost one out it the wild during the day and then We were able to carefully round them up and get them all into the pens again, within 24 hours, we lost five more despite bringing them in the house and trying to save them.. Seven wee keets gone because the door got open, what a lesson and loss that was.. thankfully the older keets all handled it fine and they are growing, growing..

The four chicks are a interesting mix of colors, black and white speckled or red and white speckled, I am so so hopeful that all or most will be hens, but really the odds are 50% but that never works out on the farm.

The pork went out, and what a big job that was to get it sorted for the buyers, have had three reports back on the pork to date and have heard nothing but that its yummy, so I hope that the rest find it so as well.. That leaves us with Miss Gilt (who is sold to a friend as soon as she is confirmed breed) Kermit the hog and Miss Piggy.. Miss Gilt will move to her new home in late oct or early Nov, Kermit is going to the butcher late fall and of course Miss Piggy is staying on the farm.

Girl the cow is coming in heat but I am missing it and she does need to get breed again ideally on her next heat if possible, she is a very good house cow.. pleased with how that turned out for sure. I will admit that If I could change just one thing, I would want a cow with a little more cream in her milk but the truth is, I don’t know if she is lacking in cream or if she is really, really good at holding cream up for her daughter.. could be either..

The hubby is doing well, he has another short story coming out this fall, and has a amazing story or two in to be considered, I will be shocked if the one story does not get picked up..

Health-wise, we are both doing well, Dh is under 200 pounds and is in overall very good health at this point in his life, to which I am super pleased with, I am mostly recovered in my knee, (well until I push it, and then it remains a weak spot at this time) but I am doing strength training, I am losing weight on my riding, which is the most awesome way ever, you get to ride and you get to go down on the scale.. fab!!

I will be heading to alberta for a while in oct, its my dad’s 65th birthday, and It will be a interesting trip, partly in central alberta, partly in northen B.C. and northern alberta, travel and family.. don’t know how many updates I am going to be able to do while on the trip but Dh has promised to do at least a few for you and when I have net access, I will do the same.

Well now that you are caught up on the past week and bits here and there.. lets get down to this challenge, its a challenge in the sense of
a) I need to get back into the habit of writing again daily, not just looking at the screen and being at a loss of words.
b) a fellow blogger is doing this challenge and it seems a good one, Its dead simple, eat off the farm, of course with the season being what it is, I certainly will not stop prepping for winter and can and will buy things on sale and put them away but won’t eat them in the month..
c) It would not hurt anything to have a no spend month for sept either..
d) Lose weight-called ride my horse.. (see how I snuck that in there.. lol)
e) I will take photos every day of the farm life and share at least one per post!

Between these three, I should have something to write about each and every single day! I have weighted myself today and that weight counts as the start point, I will be reporting on that as well..

Jason snapped this photo of me the other day, I was about to go riding, but its a special one to me, you see that overshirt, that shirt is one of four that are so so special to me, they are Maeve shirts, by that I mean they were the shirts my mom went shopping for after I did the evec flight from Yellowknife to Edmonton for cloths and so that shirts is one of just a few that I worn when I held my daughter while she was in this world with us.. I don’t wear them much but somehow it felt right to bring this one out and start using it now and again while I am riding..  It reminds me of my family, of my roots..

Should be canning, but I’m not.. should be working more in the yard, garden but I’m not.. I did however ride and figure out all kinds of cool things about my new little Nikon digital camera.. the above photo was taken in the “pop” setting, which appears to be make everything deeper, brighter and more bold..

This one was taken with the sports action, and I finally have a clean clear crisp photo of the keets, instead of at least part of them all blurry! love seeing that amazing tones on the feathers in this photo..

This one was done with the micro zoom, and look at that.. instead of just being a clump of elderberries, there is depth and texture to this photo! yes!

You can set it to Black and White, Sepia, or nine different settings where it will pop out only one color in the photo.. so if you have something red or blue or green, only they will show up as color in a otherwise black and white photo.. wild!

This one was a test of the color in soft light, and I think it pasted with flying colors, this was taken inside the hutch and normally the white rabbits wash out on me, but this kept its lovely soft grey an white color with the dark eye..

Last but not least, is this awesome setting for picking the focus point, which in this case was her eye but being able to not have to have it centered in the photo, instead being able to center the photo as you want but still pick the spot in the camera at the same time.. awesome, normally I have to take the photo and play with the cropping and hope for the best..

This little camera even fits in my hard pelican travel case which clips onto the saddle for ease of travel..

Hi folks, just a small hello on the blog at the moment, life is good but very busy, the pork got picked up and its nice to get to meet folks in person from online.

Lots of riding, and a few new training pieces for the horse in the field.. more later, enjoy these fun causals of DH on brandy and the new horse curtain, iceburg horse agilty piece and the hoop!

ps, yes I have just clipped a single round rein to her halter and thrown my man up there bareback, we are in a fenced in area, I would not recommend this with nothing but a well broke, trusted worked horse.. or in the words of the world, don’t try this at home folks..

I got to head out yesterday and spend most of the day off the farm, in the morning we made homemade laundry soap and in the afternoon, I was teach folks how to make basic cold process soap..

This was my loaf that I made to just show the basic process, it cut perfectly this morning.. I like it..