Thermos Shuttle Chef – Ways to use it!

Posted on March 11, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

I have owned my Thermos Shuttle Chef Unit for coming on eight years now.

See here for my first overview of it when I got it.

See here for my five year overview of it!

One of my favorite was to use it is to make some of the best homemade yogurt ever!

Honestly if you make tons of homemade yogurt, I would recommend getting one of these just for that. It takes less space then the fancy little power run yogurt trays, It would take less energy then running a heat pad or even boiling the water to put in a cooler (all ways I have seen folks trying to keep their yogurt culture at the right temps to make a nice quality thicker yogurt)

Today however I am going to be showing how to make a nice big pot of Beef Barley stew with my Shuttle Chef. If you have never seen one before I have done a little 2-part video for you.. The above video shows you the outer part of the pot, with lid and handle

Into the inner thermal steel pot we go!

Beef Barley Stew Recipe for my Thermos Shuttle Chef Pot (1 Gallon size)

  • 2 pounds Stewing Beef
  • 1/4 of dried diced onion
  • 1/4th a cup of dried minced garlic or garlic powder
  • 1/8th of a cup of montreal steak spice mix
  • 3/4 of a cup of Pearl Barley
  • 6 cups of mushroom broth stock (can easily also be beef broth)

I timed it, it took at med-high heat 2:23 to bring it to a boil and I simmered it with heat on for another 3 min and then extra heat at the simmer for another five minutes and then lid on and into the outer pot. That’s it, there will be no more energy output required to finish cooking the stew (the system should be closed for at least 3 hours now) and it will continue to hold the stew at temp for up to another 5 hours if needed.

I will be serving this over lovely rice with some fresh diced and wilted greens at the very end!

 

Posted in Food Production and Recipes, Sheep Milk, Soups and Stews | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Dogwood Week 10-Hometown

Posted on March 11, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

I will own it, I did try to get down to my favorite spot to take my picture for my home town but the gates were locked and the snow is 4 plus feet deep and you can not get into the park, never mind get the view of the South nation that runs though..

Weather.. what can I say.. Its winter here!

So this is another view of something in your town that amuses me.. I find it funny that the local vet has a rooster weather vane up there on top of their building!

Posted in photography | Tagged | 4 Comments

Lambing Update March 10th 2019

Posted on March 10, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

In regards to the most part lambing has been going really well this year, other than the “tiny twins and their mother” that lambs have all been born healthy and strong.. No stillbirths, no weak starts to the lambs, no help needed in regards to lambing out.  Momma’s all bonding well, lots of milk and active fast growing lambs.

Maude’s lambs are Massive and both ewes and sadly both are non-staying, due to the fact that they have extra teats.. Something I had not seen on her before but she had always thrown me rams before, so I do not know if she throws more often than not. She does not have extra’s herself and perhaps when crossed with a different ram, it will not show itself but I certain will now be aware of it in her line.

Pardon the bit of manure on this little ewe but just so you can see what I am talking about.. Now the issue with these should be clear enough, a ewe only has two milking quarters and regardless of if these two little front teats are giving milk or not (many do not) if a lamb latches on, it will typically get 5 to 10 percent of the milk available and keep trying hard on it, where just behind that teat, is the good teat with lots of milk just sitting there waiting and not being properly used.

While I know there are some folks that are not as picky. I am. I do not hold back or breed from ewe’s or nanny goats that do not have proper bag placement, good teat placement and shape. I will not sell them either, they are freezer camp when they reach the right age.

It’s a ewe lamb year for sure.. we have currently Seven ewe lambs and we had 4 ram lambs. Areo had twins, I was not expecting that, she has twin ewe lambs, both good size, the first-born chocolate lamb with the white head is bigger then her white sister but it’s not because there is anything wrong, it was just the space in momma and she is eating really well and growing well.  Photo of her below.. Her big Sister is A1 and she is A2..

Now in regards to the “tiny twins”

Sadly they are no longer with us, the smallest one H2 had a rapid onset lung infection (which is very common in such a tiny lamb, all it takes is a bit of fluid from birthing or swallowing wrong and the problem just grows from there)

H1 however was a bit different, I was pleased with his strength, his willingness to take the bottle, however hidden under that seeming good news was a very deadly issue. I had noticed that his cord was a touch swollen, it had been dipped and left pretty long. I was concerned that it was the bedding that was a touch to damp that was not helping this, so I moved them over to a soft pad under the puppy pads so that all piddles would be soaked up and they could easily move to a dry spot to rest on and the littles ones cord dried like normal.. Not so H1’s, I treated it again and went, I think infection, so he was given a antibiotic treatment as was H2 in the hopes to help on this.

H1 peed at just right the moment for me while I was checking his cord and I just stared, as he was peeing out his cord area instead of his man part.. well no wonder if was never drying out, showing signs of infection and not healing up despite what I was doing. It was sending the infection and rot up into his wee body though that cord..  Because they are side by side, everything looks right from the topside when he was going.

Its my understanding that they can also have this kind of infection in the cord if birthed poorly or in dirty conditions but I know that this was not the case as they were born in a jug on clean straw.  Part of the reason we clip and dip is to help prevent this type of thing from happening even with everything else being normal.

Poor little wee baby..  I have had sheep for 15 years and I have never had seen this before and hopefully I will not again.. After some more reading, checking in with some of my trusted mentors and vet.. everyone was in agreement that when the full case was laid out that the most humane thing would be to help H2 cross over.

A hard choice to be made but it was the right one for sure.

 

 

Posted in sheep | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

Cooking with Copper Pans

Posted on March 10, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

Last year we got some new Copper wear as a Christmas Present.  A big huge copper cooking square pan and a Copper Crisper with copper tray. I put them up and kind of forgot about them, I decided this week I would bring out the crisper tray to see if I could in fact crisp/cook the veggies with lots of flavour but without the extra fat I normally do.

It works out very well, the herbs added great flavour, the tiny bit of broth I had used as my liquid held up quite well with the veggies used.

This morning Hubby asked me to make Sunday Flapjacks on this snowy (very snowy) day and so I thought hmm.. that big square pan could cook four at a time,  it says its non-stick, lets give it a try..

Pro’s

  • Size -the square really allows you to make four nice size pancakes where I can only get 3 smaller in a very close in size rounded pan
  • Non-stick -for sure, these flipped and slide around perfectly, I did a nice dippy egg with nothing and it will take a touch of work to figure it out perfectly for timing but it was really good!
  • Heat- It was a beautiful even heat on this pan when cooking, I did not feel that there was any cooler spots, when you are making pancakes, you can easily find the spots that are not cooking cool and those cooking fast.
  • Weight- I normally use a cast iron pan and its has to be noted that the copper is by far lighter in weight.

Con’s

  • The pancakes browned but compared to normal, the browning was spotty and it was by far a lighter golden in color.. they were beautifully cooked though but they did not look like my normal Pancakes would.
  • Handles heated up, so the handles have part covering and even they felt warm but the metal part of the handle that led to the covered part, I touched it and wow.. it gets really hot, its not copper either, it looks like a steel part, I would not want to handle this pot without mitts and I consider this a big old Con, honestly the point of having a nice long handle is so you can adjust without needing to always grab the gloves.

I did cook in the oven copper tray this week, I did a mixed veggie and it worked great, they cooked faster by almost 8 minutes over my normal glass pan and I did use a little broth but no fat and just some extra herbs on the veggies.  I was very pleased at being able to enjoy the veggies but being able to reduce the fat in regards to roasting the veggies.

I will keep trying this in regards to different types and will see if its worth its own post in the future.

Do you cook with Copper Pots? Do you use the new Cooper Non-stick? Have you tried the air crisper for the oven?

 

 

 

Posted in Food Production and Recipes, homestead | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Great Pruning Workshop

Posted on March 9, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

Thank you Laura from Fine lines landscape and Design for a very interesting and informative pruning workshop.

I have a little sample video from the workshop, Laura is talking about what happens when you get two main leaders that form a V which is a weak spot on the tree.  You want a U which is very strong.

I will be showing you how to “create” a U in a future post and Video.  I will break down the main points into sections and show one main point as I prune each different kind of tree in my own yard.

We will be starting the plums this coming week, I need to get all the pruning done between now and the end of march and trust me when I say I have a good amount of pruning to do, however the falling down knee or more deeper is not my idea of fun.

I will be working with the hard fruits first and then moving over to the soft fruit bushes and then the canes after that in April and for some things right into may!

Today is the first day that it truly feels like spring, the sun has a amazing warmth to it and its plus 1.. now I know that plus 1 might not seem like much to you.. but trust me.. as cold as it has been, no wind, warm sun and plus 1 feels amazing today!

Posted in Food Forest, gardens | Tagged | 5 Comments

Happy International Women’s Day.

Posted on March 8, 2019 by Just another day on the farm


Happy International Women’s Day..

I always struggle a touch with days like today. I was lucky enough to be born in a 1st world country, I am standing on the shoulders of some truly strong women that made it so that in the country I was born in, I can own land, I can vote, I had the same right to education as my brothers. I can earn a degree or a trade ticket. I have a legal right to drive  I can choose to marry or not, I can choose (if the fates allow) to have children or not.

This was not the case even a hundred years ago and it is NOT the case across the world. Millions of women do not have the same rights I listed above.. It’s not even truly the case in some ways within my own country, I have seen it first hand over the years.  I had a girlfriend that at the age of 16 was introduced by her parents to the man they approved over her marrying, She was not interested in this older male but I watched as she was pushed into it.. I remember her being cold and needing a new winter coat and her mother looking at her from across the kitchen table and say.. well, if you go n a date with him, he will take you shopping and you can get a new winter coat.. she was married to him by 17

I am a true Canadian mutt, my family background brings together, English, German, Scottish, Norwegian, I can track parts of my family to the early 1800’s here in Canada.

I am told over and over again by “the media” that I had the least hard path, I am old enough and seen enough first hand that I know that my skin color and eye color has given me a leg up in some ways.

Having said that, I have lived “across the tracks” and all that goes with living there, I have a learning disability that today is known and understood but not back in my day, in my day, they did a test and told my family, that I would never finish school, that I would never learn to read or write, that I would make a good wife and that I might learn to do the grocery shopping if I could learn how to use a calculator. That I could be a good worker and womb.

I sat though meeting after meeting in school, while my mother fought to keep me in regular classes (sometimes that battle was won and others not) and that I learned different, while the teachers and the principal said, she is slow, she needs to go to the slow room.. she will never graduated.

So today while I give a nod to all the strong women, I am going to send a special thank you out to Mrs. Laden and Mrs. Coop

Mrs. Laden was my grade 6 teacher and when I arrived in her class, I had grade levels testing out in 1 and 2.. and she talked to me, she listened when I tried to explain and she did something that no one else other than my mother at the time did..

She believed in me, she said.. I don’t think you are slow, I think I can help you learn to read if you are willing to work with me..  she arrived to school early every morning to work with me for a X minutes, I worked on things after school with her, shortly there after, she talked the history/math teacher into giving me 15 to 20 minutes during the lunch hour.

She figured out how to teach me and that year was an amazing, I learned how to read and put that information in my head and retain it, I learned how to write things down in a way that I could read my own writing back to myself and I moved 2 to 3 grades worth of learning in that year..  Still behind but no where I like I had been..

Grades 7 to 9 where in many ways bad because I struggled so much, my mom worked at cleaning house for Vicki F a retired teacher to give me lessons, and she was good but she never got me the same way as Mrs. Laden did.. however with what I had learned, I was able to just fail, I would skim by at 51 percent, which tended to be the teachers just pushing me though the system.

The second big Nod and change happened in Grade Ten, they made me take the lower routine of 13’s and they put me in the only lowest grade science class they could and it was all I needed but I begged to get into Biology (I love it) and finally said, if I fail, I fail but at least let me take the first year class..

Mrs Coop asked me to stay behind on the first day to talk to her, I thought for sure, she was going to kick me out of that class.. She asked me to do something things on the board to explain the process and then she smiled at me and asked me if I had ever been tested.

I sighed and explained that yes but that I didn’t feel the official results reflected the truth and she said have you heard of dyslexia and I said no, and she said, my son has it and so do you..

She explained it and I remember thinking.. WOW.. that makes so much sense, so many things just clicked that day and I finally understood so many things and with that she began to teach me after classes on how to find and understand how my own thinks connected and how I fixed things in my head before it came down on paper.

I spent all of high school with a big fat Zero in regards to spelling, grammar and structure. I could read and understand at university level but I still wrote at a grade five or six level.  I finished school the first time with the 33’s and then I went back for a second year to take my 30’s (thank you so much for multiply choice, because those I could get 95 to 100 percent on)

I got a note in my English provincial final test, I had gotten 100 percent on the multiply choice and I had written my essay and then I had gone back and self-circled all my mistakes and then I slowly with the time left, started looking up the words and correcting them.  The note back said, that they had never seen that before and that I had not missed a single mistake when I self-corrected my own work.

It was so kind of them to send me that note back though my teacher, So today I lift my glass to the women who worked with what must have been considered a very difficult child in their class room..  Thank you to the four that saw what I was in the moment, and who saw what I could be.. Bless you!

It was funny both how far I have come and how much it is still very much with me.. So I will lift a second glass to all my readers, I KNOW that there are times where I write it and it makes perfect sense to me at the time it was done.

The next time I read it.. perhaps not so much LOL Bless you all for sticking with me all these years despite my spelling/missing words/structure issues and my love and over use of ….

 

 

Posted in At the kitchen table | 4 Comments

Hazelbert Nut Bush

Posted on March 7, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

Hazelbert Nut Bush

A cross between Hazel – Corylus americana – and Filbert – Corylus avellana – Zone 3
The Hazelbert is a bush hardy to zone 3 producing big hazelnuts double the size of our native Beaked Haze.

As most folks will remember I have put in a number of orders for new fruit tree’s, fruiting bushes and in case I have also ordered in 4 Hazelbert Nut Bushes for the new yard plantings.

I have not decided just where they are going yet but I have two different spots that will work very well for them, full sun, good drainage and still enough in the yard to be regularly watched over by the farm cats as I do not want to lose to many of the nuts to the local wildlife. I am going to adore the fall coloring on this one and I am really looking forward to seeing what likes these bushes in regards to pollination in the spring.

The bush
The bush grows to around 12 feet in height and produces a huge amount of nuts, yielding 9-12 kg of nuts per tree. To produce nuts, this hazel needs cross-pollination and a lot of sun. The more sun, the more nuts!

It means that you must plant at least two Hazelbert or you won’t get any nuts. A Hazelbert will NOT be pollinated by a Beaked Hazel. You must plant two Hazelbert. In optimal conditions, its first nuts will grow after 3 years (the average time to produce nuts is 5 years). Plant them every 2 meters (6 feet) apart.

If you only have space to plant one, you can easily plant two hazel in the same hole. They will make one bush together, it will be the same size as one bush, but you will get the cross-pollination you need to get nuts. In fall, the color of the leaves is red like fire and it is really nice.

Developed in New York State by Fred Ashworth in the 1920’s, the Hazelbert is a cross between Graham and Wrinkler (both Corylus americana orginating from USA) and Skinner (a cross from Corylus americana from Manitoba and Corylus avellana Italian Red Filbert) varieties.

This cross gives the result of a very hardy hazelnut bush (zone 3) but with a bigger size (triple that of the Beaked Hazelnut). It is still not as big as the commercial Filbert we find in grocery stores, but it looks the same and tastes very similar. It is delicious!

Copyright goes to the hardyfruitsite for the above information. its in slant.

Posted in 100 mile diet, Food Forest, Garden | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Farmgal’s Photography March 7th

Posted on March 7, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

I have had weather all over the place, but I have certainly enjoyed the sunshine with the few days we have had it! All the Cats have been soaking in the sun and can be found sitting up on posts and hay or straw basking!

Miss Sofie is cracking me up.. she is so excited about spring that you would totally swear she was in heat.. rolling, talking and total love bug mode..  I keep telling her, she can flirt all she wants.. but I know that you are fixed.. LOL

The Wild Flock of nine hens gave me a challenge as they were just at the edge of my zoom lens but they are looking pretty good to be heading into spring.

This was one bold little guy, smart enough to stay out of the range of the farm cats but close enough to keep them interested in seeing if they could get him. he was using the small branches to his advantages

Patrick my big sweet boy, its that time of year.. where he will be shedding some of his fluffiness and I will be working hard to keep the mats trimmed out while they are tiny.. I wish all long haired cats liked to be brushed, it would make things simple but not all do!

So there is a funny type story that goes with this photo, hubby comes in and says, I thought I heard a little kitten.. and was like were are the baby kittens and I am like O no! (because all our female are fixed other then LeeLoo who will be going to be fixed this month now that she is six months old and can be done) and that means that there is a stray or a drop off with babies on the farm.

He laughs and says.. wait for it, and I look at him, I mean in this cold, we need to find them and get them set up NOW.. and he says so I was am walking around listening trying to find the source and the sounds come again..  and he looks up and sure enough one of these birds was making the sound..

I went out.. he is right.. it sounded just like a very young kitten crying out.. Those birds had us going!

Posted in photography | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments

Red Carrot Slaw Side Salad

Posted on March 6, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

Red Carrot Slaw Salad

I was craving a hearty lunch salad that would fill me up and keep me going! This lovely loaded Red Russian Dressing Carrot Slaw Salad certainly did the trick!

Red Carrot Slaw Recipe

  • Three med carrots, cleaned, peeled and grated
  • 1/4th cup of your choice of dried raisins (dark or golden)
  • 1/4th cup of pumpkin seeds (I used non salted but salted would work also)
  • 1 tbsp. of sesame seeds
  • A tiny bit pinch of dried ginger

Dressing. 1/4th cup of Red Russian Dressing, I did use pre-made, this dressing gives a nice light but full flavour and a hint of sweetness to the salad itself.

It made two soup bowl size lunch salads or would make four smaller supper side salad’s.

Posted in Garden, Recipes from the Root Cellar | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Monday’s was a Lambing Day..

Posted on March 5, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

Four Ewe’s Decided Monday March 4th was a good day to have babies.

Carmel -Ewe1: One large healthy chocolate ewe lamb who just happened to have its cord wrapped around its neck, but it was removed and she is fine. Ton’s of milk on this ewe. This female is currently nicknamed Shady Lady 🙂 * I finally have a single lamb with a mother that lots of milk and so I can start a share milking program with Carmel, she will become my first milking sheep of the 2019.

Spot-Ewe2: older female who I expected one lamb, had two, one normal, one tiny, and she had a rough go and does not currently have milk in. So we held Ewe1 and gotten these two to nurse 4 to 6 times so they have gotten their needed first milk from a mature ewe and now will do a shared milk program and be bottle babies Both White with flecks of brown and color tipped ears.

My mom asked to give name to these two, she asked them to be called Halo (for the biggest of the two and HoneyDew for the littlest) I can’t allow myself to get attached to the point of names yet plus they are both rams. So I will call them H1 and H2. They are now both on the bottle with powdered sheep milk replacer. They are still both alive 24 hours in.

Areo -Ewe3- (as a first timer, I expected a single baby) had a lovely set of twins, great birthing, lots of milk, strong babies. One Chocolate with white head spot and one pure white. Both Ewe lambs, the very dark chocolate with the white head is the strongest of the two and is a very strong nursing baby, the white is a little lighter and not quite as strong, She is in a little jacket to help keep her warmth in and I will be watching, they might need to be moved to a more secure jug as the temps are to dip quite a bit tonight to -27 So far they are both doing good in the big barn.. we will see if I need to move them up to the croft for a few days.

Maude-Ewe4-  she is in pre-labour at the same time Ewe 3 went and so as I was playing moving the ewe’s in the jugs, claimed on the newborns.. not her newborns but Areo’s wee white babe.. so finally got Maude out and into her own birthing jug.. She has two HUGE lambs, the biggest of all lambs born and she had to break the mold LOL she is the first ewe that has both a female and male 🙂 They are both doing good at this time. Both full white just like their momma.

With these girls now lambed out, it means that we have only one ewe left and then the 2019 lambing season will be done and will be all about growing out.. I am just thrilled at how the lambs are looking.

It was a busy day with seven little ones joining the lambs, so to date we have had six sets of twins and one single for a total of 13 lambs born to date.

Posted in sheep, Sheep Milk | 5 Comments