Advent Calendars

Posted on December 1, 2024 by Just another day on the farm

If you go on amazon or shop in any store, you will find a dizzy amount of Advent calendars available, Advent calendars available. As a child/teen we had the simple window ones with the easter type waxy chocolate figures, tiny bites of chocolate leading up.

The tradition began simply enough when families in Germany the 1900 hundreds started counting the days until Christmas by tallying chalk marks on a door or wall. Some families began making homemade Advent calendars to accompany their countdown, and by the early 1900s, a few publishing companies and newspapers had produced simple printed calendars.

The popularity of Advent calendars spread with the help of a German printer named Gerhard Lang. Having grown up with a homemade calendar, Lang began designing cardboard Advent calendars around the turn of the century and, later in the 1920s, came up with the idea of cutting out little doors that could be opened each day. Behind each door, a devotional picture or Bible verse was hidden. With this innovation, Lang is considered the father of the modern Advent calendar.

My own advent calendar is made up of teas from Vahdam India company, (my favorite company to buy my Chia Tea from) each day i will open it up, find the tea listed for the day and make myself a small pot of tea, pick out one of my Tea Cups or Mugs suited in my mind to the type of tea and reflect on life while i take the time to slow down and sip my tea, write in my journal and so forth.

Today’s tea was a lovely spiced turmeric, light with hints of ginger, delightful indeed.

Teapot score solid 4 out of 5 Would buy this to have in my house, perfect for warm both from coming inside but also if you were not feeling well.

Did you put out the advent calendars in your house last night? Do you have a full sized one that gets refilled season to season and year to year, maybe even passed down though the family? Or do you have memories of the cardboard with the tiny chocolates.

Do you still get one as a adult? and if so, what is yours this year? I might do a weekly round up of teas and teapots or teacups with a little review of my favorite teas.

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No Buy November 2024 Final Week

Posted on November 30, 2024 by Just another day on the farm

Nov 25th – Dental but lets face it while we might not like dental, it is a required item.. thankfully a good portion of it will come back with our coverage.

Nov 26th – No spend

Nov 27th – No Spend

Nov 28th – Winter tire switch and oil change spending on the car, again required and routine, winter is here!

Black Friday! – A few more small on sale Christmas gifts (all under 20 dollars) but then came the bigger spends, a new food processer and a new stand alone mixer. My oldest thrifted food processer lasted me years as a workhorse and then died, and i have been limping along with a tiny one but it has finally worn out, it was time to get a new one with a heavy commercial and big capacity again.

Same with the stand alone, i had a very old from the 70’s kitchen aid, loved that machine but finally worn it out and at the time, while i wanted a proper one, ended up finding a very cheap end of sale one at Canadian tire, it was crazy on sale and i said, lets get this one and use it till i burn the motor out, it was a bad choice really as it does a poor job on most things and i i have ended up using my hand held beaters far more due to it but none the less, i was determined to get every single last job out of it before it got replaced. The time has come to replace it, i know its on its very last legs and really its earned its retirement. I was able to pick up a commercial version with a large motor with a 20 year on certain parts at 43% off on a black Friday sale.. I will put it though its paces an do a report on it soon enough.

Special note, a friend found me the most awesome second hand thrifted teapot for my collection, it was a unplanned spend and i love it! I can’t wait to add it to my collection.. something like this can not be gotten after the no spend month, when it comes to thrift store finds, get them now or forever let it go or go for it. I have not got to see it in person yet but i can’t wait to add it to my teapot collection lol

There was a small grocery top up in the week by husband when he went and did our regular feed buying for the critters, if you want the eggs, you must feed the fowl, if you want healthy horses and upkeep your senior old boy, well then he needs his extra ration and feed.

That wraps up our month of No Buy Feb, all the normal stuff was done and bills paid, it did stop any eating out or coffee on the road which i might add was not easy as they finally have the fake baileys back at Timmie’s. It stopped a number of .. oh, that’s cute buys and it stopped me from walking up and down rows and or even going into stores over the past month, while waiting for medical, while waiting for vehicles to be done etc..

I expect it saved my household a couple hundred dollars in impulse buys but overall, the biggest factor was no stopping, no extra stores and very much preplanning to take out lunches and keep on track of making meals and so on.

If you did a no buy with me, how did it go!

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Christmas is coming!

Posted on November 29, 2024 by Just another day on the farm

Miss Fancy is getting ready for her Christmas Modeling debut and the older dogs and kitties all know that lots of little mini sessions are coming! Pet photography is so fun!

I am excited to planning a great deal of Christmas Baking in the month of Dec! I am looking forward to gifting out small boxes of mixed goodies. I will be making some family favorites along with trying some favorites i have grown to love over the years and in the different places i have lived and traveled to.

I am excited to have gotten in 3.3 pounds of dark malt syrup and yes we will be trying our hand at making malt loaf this year. My husband and his family adore dumpsters malt loaf round bread but this year i am going to see about making my own homemade version.

Do you have a favorite Malt bread loaf recipes that you think i should try? or a Favorite way to use Malt syrup that is a must for the holiday season? I am all ears!

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Black Current Bundt Cake Recipe

Posted on November 28, 2024 by Just another day on the farm

Eat what you grow and harvest and in my freezer is so many tubs of Black Currents from the new 8 bush hedgerow i put into the new “Quote” Park Garden and Food Forest.  We planted the two year old Black Current Bushes on the first year of starting the turning of a 3/4 acre of pasture into a food forest/garden.  2024 was their 3rd year in the the ground an they produced heavily for us on year five in age.

The largest Black Currents we have ever grown and they are a delightful flavor with much less bite then normal, perhaps due to all the rain we had? I made a Black Current/Honey jam but the kind most folks in canning would call a fruit butter as it was slow simmered till it was thick enough.. not a syrup but not thick like a proper jam.

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Black Current Cake Recipe

  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup black current jam
  • 1 cup of milk
  • 2 tsp of fresh ginger
  • 1/2 tsp of salt
  • 3 cups of flour
  • 2 tbsp of baking powder

Cream the butter and sugar together, add eggs, mix well, add your jam and milk and grated fresh ginger, mix together, then add the dry, flour, salt and then baking powder. Into your greased Bundt pan, This was baked at 375 for 45 minutes and double checked with a clean knife before removal, let it sit to cool before flipping it, i put the cake plate on top and then turned it out.

Can be topped with your choice of glaze or whip cream, i had a tiny bit of cream cheese and hand blended it with some of the black current jam, ( if you want it smooth, stick blender would would great)  Cool the cake then for icing.

The cake is not sweet and it does have a ginger bite to it, the extra topping and whip cream takes it to a new level at serving time.

30 day challenge!!! WOW, can’t you believe it, today is the day! 30 day challenge of blogging every day!  It felt wonderful in some ways, and on other days i struggled to find something to share, other days it flowed for me. Thank you for joining me on this challenge.

I will finish out the no buy November an then Dec will be here in a blink! I have figured out what my focus will be for Dec and i am looking forward to it.

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Seed Saving for next year -Musquee de Province Pumpkin

Posted on November 27, 2024 by Just another day on the farm

Each year in the gardens there are the seed savers, most are standard, peas, beans, tomatoes and so on.. Squash and pumpkins be it summer or winter keepers get a bit more tricky as they can and will cross pollinate

This means that when i really want to save seeds, i need to grow only one kind on certain years, in 2025 my winter keep pumpkin will be Musquee de Province. I have grown a lot of different kinds of pumpkin and my top favorite flavor wise hands down is this one.

One of the things we have learned about the new park garden is that there are certain areas that collect and hold water, now this past year was a lot of rain but even on the more dry summers, there are certain spots that collect and hold the water, i was already well aware of the main drainage lines leading to what i call the wet zone and its been planted with basket willows, high bush cranberry and three named types of elderberries, all of which do not mind wet feet

However these other smaller wet areas will work just perfect to create mini mound garden beds for heavy feeders that like lots of water for best production.

I am to focus on a growing a lot of these in pumpkin mounds in lower laying areas in the park garden that i know will provide lots of water each time it rains to the roots while keeping the plants themselves high and dry and i will need to block place under each pumpkin.

My focus is on seed saving, as well as some selling of the pumpkins plus winter storage for my own household use. Truly these make the best pumpkin pies! and loafs and cookies and soup..

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What is your favorite pumpkin or squash for your personal pie making? Will you be saving seed from your garden? If you are new to seed saving, then start with the easy ones like peas and beans 🙂

Have your seed catalogs arrived, have you ordered in your 2025 seeds already?

30 Day Challenge – Day 29 of blogging Daily..

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Lasagna – As easy as it gets!

Posted on November 27, 2024 by Just another day on the farm

While most folks make huge pans at a time, you can in fact make smaller portions. This one made four supper portions to be served with a salad on the side and if wanted of course you could do a garlic toast as well.

My biggest largest Single Loaf Pan, oven at 375 for 90 minutes, let it set for five after it comes out.

  • one pound of burger precooked with a two finely minced garlic cloves
  • 1 large can of your choice of pasta sauce, this was four cheese
  • eight noodles 
  • one cup of cottage cheese
  • three cups of melting cheese, this was homemade farmers white but mozza does the trick well
  • Herbs to taste
  • Salt/pepper to taste, if your pasta sauce is good, you are gold. 

Layer of pasta sauce on the bottom, then noodle, meat, cheese, noodle cottage cheese sauce, noodle, meat sauce, noodle, sauce and then cheese.. cover so it does not touch the cheese and bake 55 to 75 depending on how firm you like yours, then take off the cover and finish for 10 to 15 min and then take out of the oven and let it sit for a least five min before cutting and lifting. 

I like mine to be very firm so i tend to cook it a bit longer but if you like yours softer, feel free to do a few minute’s less, the meat, sauce, cottages cheese and the cheese is all pre-cooked, and if you precook the noodles you can cut the time again but i like my noodles to be firm and not mushy so i do not precook them which means they are the one thing that is in fact cooking in the recipe, the rest is melding together into a amazing mouthwatering combo of flavor’s and textures. 

30 Day Challenges – Day 28 of blogging every day.. 

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What do you do with all that Deep Bedding Pack!

Posted on November 25, 2024 by Just another day on the farm

Why Compost it in place and grow food of course!

First the line was mowed down(with a mulching blade, with tall pasture grasses left on both sides for winter, they will be mowed down low and tight and then mulched down next year and will be the walk ways between the big garden grow lines. This year the taller pasture grasses and flowers will act as a snow trap which will be a very good thing.

40, Yes that’s right, 40 loaded of sheep/horse/duck/fowl mixed deep back bedding has been taken out and dumped as the base layer.. and we have some very lovely cleaned stalls right down to the smooth cement. In total these lines are approx 80 feet long and they will be four feet across, so you can reach the two feet on both sides an there are two of them! Each is 320 square feet of producing grow beds..

Now if you just went, huh, that’s won’t work, were is the soil, and that is going to blow away, its not matted enough to keep things from growing though it.. you are right.. we need more on those rows!

Next comes 80 wheel barrel loads per line of cow/sawdust with a bit of extra compost to be put on these rows! It will use some of the 15 tons delivered to the farm late this fall.. I will prestart all the transplants and add dig a small hole mixed with the above and sand/soil and plant each down the row.

This will give a total of 640 new feet of bed to plant into, what o what is that crazy farmgal planning growing in these beds for next year! Next layers of the “park garden/food forest” year three is being worked on!

Are you expanding your garden next year? All work credit goes to Miss R, she is a powerhouse along side Dear Hubby when it comes to getting the farm ready for winter! Thank you!

30 Day Challenge – Day 27 of straight blogging challenge..

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No Buy November 2024 Week 3 Overview

Posted on November 24, 2024 by Just another day on the farm

Nov 15th- No spend, all good

Nov 16th – didn’t spend a dime

Nov 17th- No spend

Nov 18th-No spend..

Nov 19th- Tuesday came and went, Miss R worked hard on the farm to help get us ready for fall and cleaned up with the bin No spend

Nov 20th -Unplanned but required medical spend, farm spend on mats for the horses, wormers but we will need to wait for the first hard freeze/snow before they are given out, also picked up 50 pounds of mixed bird seed. I have not yet gone for my drive (and most likely won’t be able to do so till i am cleared) for my larger order that i tend to get about a hour plus away in bulk for the full winters bird feeding.

Nov 21st – dental costs for a cleaning and found that i need more dental, booked for the coming week but its medical so it will be done. Spent on the asked for new toothpaste. Otherwise.. steady as she goes

Nov 22nd- Hello Friday, quiet day, spend was on a cookbook that finally went on sale at 33% off and its order from EU. Its a Christmas present to be..

Nov 23rd- Picked up a very nice metal gate for use in the garden at about 20 percent the value bought new at a online farm sale, picked it up and paid for it, then weekly grocery shopping.

Nov 24th- No spend!

That’s all folks! I am keeping up on the farm, house hold and food with my eye on sales for gifts but so far its very steady as she goes..

30 Day Challenge – Day 26th of straight blogging!

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Finding time for fun

Posted on November 23, 2024 by Just another day on the farm

Halloween Photography was amazing.. There was so many amazing ideas and gatherings and photography magic made.

Most the session from Halloween were generous on the fake blood side.. very spooky for sure.. Letting their love of 80’s horror camp come out! We had a Mad Doctor, A camp Bloodfest, Spooky Clowns and so much more

I am glad they happened and loved the folks who came and worked with me and other photographer as models.. Thank you, Thank you to those who helped make it happen because without you it would not have done so.

It however time to turn towards winter and or Christmas ideas.. I have not picked up my big camera’s in weeks now.. I have not had the energy or the ability to do screen time due to light reactivity. This week was the very first time where a idea came and interested me, where i thought hmmm, I wonder?? Its a good sign as the truth was the Halloween plans were made before i got sick and while not all came into being, the ones that did, had all their planning and such sorted before i got sick and i had a LOT of help to make them happen.

It will be simple and lowkey and a good amount of them will be with my household members be it two legged or four.. I can’t risk booking folks and then not being able to do things, i need certain weather for looks and so on.. I need to find the energy to at least do some bird photos.

30 Day Challenge – Day 25 of blogging Daily! Time to get the peanuts out!

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Rats.. so many rats

Posted on November 22, 2024 by Just another day on the farm

With all the clean up, shifting of wood piles and major reno’s around and in the croft barn and lacking our normal fall skunk, we have a rat problem that the barn cats are not keeping up on.

They are Norway Rats and they are as bold as brass and they have moved from the big wood pile they were in to the croft barn as it has gotten colder. While the barn cats are killing at least one or more daily, its not enough.

We have placed out the flip bucket lid traps and have started baiting our big square metal multi catch rat traps, that one needs to be left open and feed in for a few days before you set it and then you go back to it being open and not catching anyone etc.

I am not sure why our skunk didn’t come this fall, almost every fall and for the past five years a lovely female skunk has come visit the farm for a few months in the fall/late fall and feasted on our yard grubs, moles, mice and happily hunted the wood piles and barns/outbuildings for the rats.

Once the bigger rat/mice population that grows over the summer season of bounty is take down, the skunk will move on.. but this year maybe due to the warmer weather? we have not gotten our annual six to 12 week skunk visit and boy O boy is it bad news.

We can not and will not use poison bait due to our cats/dogs/local owls/hawks and more. Ah, i mean they are always around but the number should be low enough you never see them.. if you can see them. you have a BIG problem indeed..

Right now, this week are Barn cats – 5, Flip top bucket -3, traps- 0 and way to many rats.

What is your favorite non poison rat trap that works for you?

30 Days Challenge Day 24th of blogging daily..

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