Just another Day on the Farm

We are in the 30 coldest days of the year..

Posted on January 15, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Brrrrr, and I can tell it, its bitter bone chilling cold out there, its the wind and the damp that makes the cold seem so much more, I was raised in cold country but it was a dry cold, with many days of bright blue sky’s, now I live where it is in fact mostly milder but its a damp cold and the wind blows daily..

Thank goodness for layers but even so, I find myself doing the chores in sets and warming up in between, today it was cold enough to make my nose run and my eyelash’s freeze..yuk

So if I can’t have blue sky in real life, I can at least remember what it looks like on the blog.. ahhh, blue sky, you make even the coldest day seem better.. come back soon..

Posted in farm | Tagged Farm Life | 1 Comment

Oil pulling for your mouth/teeth health

Posted on January 14, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

http://www.oilpulling.org/oil-pulling/

Please note that I am not recommending this, I just read about it, and wanted to give it a try, and I was asked for a little more info on what it is.. but I can’t see any reason that it would be harmful, and so it fell in line for me as a “why not”

Here is the idea-

The practitioner rinses their mouth with approximately one tablespoon of oil (sesame and coconut oil are the most recommended) for 15–20 minutes on an empty stomach (before eating/drinking) then spits it out.^[5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_pulling

This process makes oil thoroughly mixed with saliva. As the process continues, the oil gets thinner and white. The oil is put in the mouth, with chin tilted up, and slowly swished, sucked, chomped and pulled through the teeth. The oil changes from yellow and oily consistency to a thick viscous consistency. One must ensure that the oil is spit out before the purported toxins get re-absorbed by the body. If the oil viscosity starts thinning while swishing, it should be a sign that toxins are getting re-absorbed. A second round of oil pulling may be done with fresh oil for further cleansing. The oral cavity is then thoroughly rinsed and washed with normal tap water and fingers or tooth brush. This procedure is typically performed daily.^[6]

There is some scientific literature on the use of oil pulling therapy, like one study that reports on the effect of oil pulling therapy with sesame oil on the oral health status. In this study there was a definitive reduction in the S. mutans count in plaque and saliva after oil pulling therapy. The mechanism by which oil pulling therapy causes plaque inhibition and reduction in S. mutans is not known. The viscosity of the oil could probably inhibit bacterial adhesion and plaque coaggregation. Other possible mechanism might be the saponification or the ‘soap-making’ process that occurs as a result of alkali hydrolysis of fat. [21] Sesame oil is a vegetable fat and when acted upon by salivary alkalis like bicarbonate, the soap making process is initiated. Soaps are good cleansing agents because they are effective emulsifiers. Emulsification is the process by which insoluble fats like sesame oil can be broken down into minute droplets and dispersed in water. Emulsification greatly enhances the surface area of the oil, thereby increasing its cleansing action. [21] But more studies have to be done to prove the antibacterial effect of the components of the sesame oil. Cited from Asokan S. Rathan J. Muthu MS. Rathna PV. Emmadi P. Raghuraman. Chamundeswari.

Posted in Personal Care | Tagged personal care | 1 Comment

Wild Salmon in Whole Form

Posted on January 14, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

They had whole wild B.C. Salmon on sale, well, mostly whole, it was de-headed and cleaned, (which is to bad, the head has a surprising amount of meat on it, and the hounds adore the guts if they can get them) but I would think for most folks, that they perfer it the way it came.

There was a limit of two fish per customer, so I got my two salmon, each one came in at about eight pds or so, its a nice two foot or so fish, for 6 dollars. Now you can see why they only allowed two per person.

So how do you start with this?

and end up with this? So simple, Bake it in a glass pan at 350, then pull the meat off the bones, Just remember that you do need to take out the bones, If you push your meat peice on an angle, the bones should just pop up and you can pull them out with ease.

Which can now be used in so many different ways.. How about in Salmon Soup or ChowderIts good as a Salmon Sandwhich filling with a little Mayo and Spicy Carrot Salsa on whole wheat crackers.

Now for my second Salmon, I went a little bit differnet and made them into Salmon Steaks to be used at a later date, most likely in this way or maybe this way for more of a dinner meal..

Posted in Food Production and Recipes, frugal | Tagged Food Production and Recipes, Frugal | 1 Comment

Baby Oxen Update

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Well, the main update is that Girl is doing well, but she is really missing her outside time and while I have had time to do her tie ups and brush downs, with a bit of body touching, overall the holidays and the cold weather, I have not had the time or the willingness to get out as much as I would like, She has been on lead and we are practicing her commands in the barn but she has not been harness or hitched since late Dec.. Need to get my act together..

So DH’s ma got me Storey’s Working Animals Oxen a Teamster’s Guide by Dre Conroy as one of my presents, but it took a little long to get here, arriving this week, and I have devoured it, and it put working Girl at least twice on my goal list.

There is very limited info in the book on having your cow be a oxen but they do say right up front that for a very small farm, that for hundred’s of years the family milk cow can be pressed into service in regards to being a draft animal and that’s just what I have planned, I want a Girl to be a triple threat, Milk, Calvies for freezer camp, and draft animal.

The book is very clear, the more and younger you work them, the better off you are going to be, and I can see that have already set one bad habit in here, that made sense to me as it works with horses but its not a good thing for oxen or so says the book.. but it has a step by step guide on how to retrain this so , I will give it a go.

Turns out my cross-breed calf is not commen, her daddy’s side is not even in the book but her momma’s side is listed as the most common and even tempermented cross out there, and considering that my own research shows that her daddy’s breed has been breed for thousand years plus in france as a triple working breed, I think I have as good a shot for a winner as possable.

Girl says -I’m off-duty and just going for a walk with my farmer ma.

Posted in oxen | Tagged Oxen | 2 Comments

Ever wonder how you thaw ground for a pipeline in winter?

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

So my Dad is working a winter camp job up in the northern Mountains, he can run all kinds of different peices of equipement and has worked in more places then I can think of, he gets to see some amazing sites, I can remember going to visit him in the summers, that was before the safety rules came in so tight, and families could still come and stay at the camps for a week or two with their kids to see their dad’s.

I also remember getting shipped off to “have” a holiday by cleaning/cooking for dad when I was a bratty what is now called pre-teen, poor dad, I could tidy up well enough but I assure you that at that age, he was on a limited recipe base, but he would eat what I made, and bless him, he didn’t say much to me at least about the qaulity of the food 🙂

So here a couple of photos of him working the burning slough, So the right though needs to be cleared and the ground is frozen solid, so the slough is filled with the wood from the cut right and burned to heat the ground under which is the very size the ditch needs to be for the pipe to go though.

Getting started and showing the slough

Now its going good, and what a photo!

Posted in Family, photography | 2 Comments

Weigh In Week 2/11

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

This was taken by N Roy on our Girls trip by my Dad’s farm in the badlands.

Its a new day, Its a new day.. And I am down another pd this week, for a total of 44 pds to date..had to laugh DH says, its ok hon, you gained muscle this week as well, he might be right, certainly had excellent workouts all week long, and I am so pleased that I am successfully moving from my 15 min to full 30 min workouts this year, I am still doing some days into two 15 but at least twice this past week, I did full 30 min workouts at a time. This has been a work in process to get to the point of being able to do so on dry land, I can do the full hour class if I am in the water doing Aqau fitness.

So goals for last week..

Dr. Oz’s Green Drink each Day -Yup, and still feel like I have more energy.

Weights 4x – Yes and mixed it up between the three different weights.

Core Body workout 2x -O yes, and do my ab’s HURT.

Cardio in whatever form 2x -Yes, got my walk’s in.

Food Journel Daily -Yup

More Fish/Seafood this week -Did good, eat it three times this week.

Don’t eat any junk food on game night-only fresh veggies/trail mix -Still having trouble with this one, didn’t have chips, but did have some candy, but mainly had my carrots and trail mix.. this is going to be a hard one.

sleep seven hours daily- Yes, but some days needed naps to get it done.

Do one new thing this week -Yup, did Oil Pulling in regards to cleaning your teeth and mouth health, this was a new thing for me, and I am not even sure I believe all the info on it, but I can’t see how it could hurt, so willing to give it a try.

Create and make one new canning recipe this week-Made Zesty Carrot Salsa and its so yummy.

Goals for this coming week.

Food Journal and try and keep the food count down a 100 calories per day from last weeks general amount.
Walk 3 X this week, weather permitting
Train the baby Oxen 2x this week (trust me this is a workout)
Worm and trim feet on the sheep in advance of their lambing (this is a workout an half, and it takes even more time now, as you have to be extra careful with them all waddling now)
Do Wii Fitness trainer 3x this week
Use the home Body massage for sore muscles at least 3x
Do one fun but active off the farm thing this week

Posted in Goals | 2 Comments

It sure is quiet at this time of the year..

Posted on January 12, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Interesting little follow up in regards to the annual bird count was on the local radio, they said that we are having a low bird count year, now I could have told you that this was the case on the farm, I am down to my regular crows, about 6 blue Jays’, my regular wood peckers , a couple pairs of wild doves, my flock of wild Pigeons and maybe a dozen small birds max, normally I have 5 to 8 x more birds then this.

What I did find interesting is that this is a whole area wide trend, last year’s bird count was the second lowest on record, and this year while being twice as many as last year was also very low.

Now they did talk about the reason, and if you thought “globe warming” when you read the above, that is the not the answer, it turns out its a natural cycle of the tree’s in that some years they produce tons of seeds/fruit and the birds stay and some years they are lean and some, or in this case most of the birds decided to head south for the past two years.

Thank goodness for my turkey’s and their singing in the barns.. its such a lovely sound and they are always so happy to see you..

Posted in Life moves on daily, turkeys | 1 Comment

Rabbit Tenderloins -DD’s Meal # 5

Posted on January 11, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Well, I am thrilled to say that we are getting just a little bit more light daily now, but its is still very much Dark Days in terms of how it feels with the cold and snow.

Here is the menu for our Winter Meals Challange # 5

Rabbit Tenderloins* -pan-seared with a local Red Wine Cream Reduction
Local Mushrooms/Garlic/Onion
Oven Baked Mix of Yellow, Orange Carrots and Turnips
Smashed Butternut Sqaush with Butter

Starter

Rabbit Liver Pate
Homemade Rye Naan

Dessert

Stewed Rubarb with Ginger

This weeks offical farm food is Rabbit. If you are unfamilar with Rabbit, here is a link on information about its values. Each Tenderloin was right around 4.5 oz of meat, perfect portion control, one for DH and One for me.

Farm grown or raised is in Italics , everything else was gotten locally, other then spices and the wine, I know that there are local wines but after looking for close to a month, I broke down and got a close to a local wine having been grown and made 5 hours drive away raither then in the 100 mile.. Clearly if I want to buy local wine for cooking or drinking I need to do so in the fall when the very limited five winery’s have their gate sales because there is none to be had at this time of year, even if I called them directly they were closed for the season.

* If I was not doing this for DD’s and if my homemade bacon would have worked, I would have made this Rabbit Tenderloins covered bacon, Seared and then finished in the oven in the cast iron pan, Rabbit is so lean that you need to use a little fat to cook it with. or I could have sliced them, pounded them out, put a layer of stuffing, rolled them back up and wrapped in bacon.. ok that is a recipe I will have to make an share at a later date for you.

Posted in food, Food Production and Recipes, rabbits, Winter Eating Challange | Tagged 100 mile food challange, Food Production and Recipes, Rabbits | 3 Comments

Corn Bread for someone who won’t eat Corn Bread

Posted on January 11, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

DH has a thing about textures in his food and compared to when Farm Gal (that’s me) meet him, his taste buds have grown by leaps and bounds but some texture’s are still tricky, and Corn meal with that wonderful “grit” feel happen to be one that he just can’t get over, so sometimes, I make Johnny Corn Bread (the recipe from my childhood) for myself but its not a big batch 8 by 8 pan, still that’s alot of corn bread in one go and I tend to give it away to friends, don’t you just love that you can give extra’s away, sometimes if I really want something that is bad, I will make, have one peice and send it to DH’s work, a good way to spend those calories around LOL

So back to the Corn Bread, I have finally found a way that DH will eat corn bread, so here is the best I have to date

Corn Bread without the Grit Recipe

1/4 cup oil
1 egg
1/2 a cup of sugar
3/4 cup of buttermilk (if you don’t have buttermilk, just use regular milk and add a TSP of Vineger to it)
1 cup of cream corn (in our case -made fresh and frozen by me in the summer)
1/2 a cup of corn flour
1 cup of AP Flour
1 TBSP of Baking Powder
1/2 tsp of Salt

Mix the first five wet together, then add the dry on top, and mix in till just stirred, and place in a greased pan.

Makes a small loaf or a 12 small muffins, Bake at 350 till knife comes out clean. It’s a soft loaf, and good with a meal or on its own or with cheese.

Ps, only have Cornmeal in the house, no problem, just pop into your coffee grinder or blender and give it a whirl and it will become a much finer texture, keep grinding if you want and soon enough you will have corn flour.

Posted in Food Production and Recipes | Tagged Food Production and Recipes | 2 Comments

An Appple A Day

Posted on January 11, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Here are just a few of the apples we grow on our little farm, we currently have four kinds of apples, plus crabapples. We also wild pick Apples and Crabapples locally, but we get most of our apples still from a local U -Pick up the road from us about ten min, they have over 30 kinds of apples, 5 pears, 4 Cherries, Rasberries and Grapes.

We are hoping to add in at least four more kinds of apples over the next while, I am amazed at the amount of kinds of apple’s that are now becoming more available for home use, so many different kinds compared to the stores, and even in the local farm stores, the different apples are becoming more available or at least they are locally, on average in Farm Boy, they have between ten to fifteen different ones to choose from year round.

So if you are trying to lose weight, you have most likely read in almost all books and on the websites etc, that you should eat whole apples, but I read something interesting in a book last year when it came to apples, and that was go to the store or U-Pick and buy or try every different kind of apple they have, and find the one’s you like.

Now I know that for me this seemed a hmmm, as a cook I know the difference between different types of apples and how they cook up and I personally like to have my apple sauce be 1/4 crab to 3/4 of apples, and I do like to mix up different apples types when making my homemade apple sauce, which we eat alot of over the winter.

But for eating apples, I figured that most? of the eating apples are mostly the same, boy was I wrong.. I can honestly say that it surprised me at how much diffence there was in mouth feel and taste among the different kinds of fresh eating apples.

If you get me the “wrong” apple, I will eat one or two and then not want to have apple, and will look at it and pass on it over an over again, till I cook it and use it up that way, but if I have the right apples in the house, I will seek them out, and have them for a mid-morning or afternoon snack..

So here is my question for you, have you tried out some of those different apples available to see if you like them better then the basic bag of apples? Give it a try, next time pick up four or five different apples and compare them to each other to figure out which ones really appeal to you.. my favorites are Honeycrisp and Gala