Annoucing the Winner!

Posted on January 26, 2019 by Just another day on the farm


Tracy V! You have won the Canadian Draw!

I have sent you a email at the address provided and I look forward to hearing back from you in the next 72 hours to clam your prize package!

However I have another announcement, I have decided to also give a second smaller surprise gift package to the reader that entered the most times 🙂

By the way this was a close run, as I have some regular wonderful commenters!

Congrats to Craftytadpole! Please email me at farmgal1800 @ yahoo ca  with your mailing address and I will get your gifts sent your way..

THANK You for entering and a BIG thank you to Lisa for all her hard work on putting together the challenge! I look forward to finding out who the USA winner is!

Posted in 31 Day Self Reliance Challange | 4 Comments

Naturally Pink Sugar Scrub to be Gifted

Posted on January 25, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner.

A lovely homemade gift means so much coming from a loved one.  This is one of those easy to make gifts to give away.  Its also perfect for a little gift for yourself!?

Its winter and its a nice treat to give our skin a little extra care and this will not only help scrub away any dry winter skin but it will as leave your skin feeling so soft.

I have a all natural way to add some very pretty red flecks and pink hue to your Sugar Scrub without using any red dyes or red type food colorings. I could have decided to use the coffee grinder to make a fine powder which would have blended in more evenly. However I choose to finish the grind by hand to give me a bit rougher texture so that I can also have the cleaning power of the tiny bits of High Bush Cranberries seeds.

Ground Dried High Bush Cranberries the color on these are outstanding, I grow them here on the farm, make sure they go though there frost to sweeten them, then I use my steam juicer for getting that amazing healthy juice out of them. I save the skins/seeds and dry them and store them for making tea with them.

When I wanted to make Pink for Valentine’s Day Scrubs, it just made total sense to reach for them to color the sugar.

Pretty in Pink High Bush Cranberry Sugar Scrub

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup of light oil (Almond oil or grapeseed oil but any lighter oil will work) *
  • 1 tsp of Dried Ground High Bush Cranberry Powder or finely ground crumbles

Mix it up and into a wide mouthed jar or any other tub or pretty box of your choice as long as you can easily get it to come out in scoops for use.

This can easily be placed into a wide mouth small canning jar and you can add a ribbon or use a paper muffin liner under the ring as a added cuteness!

I made up this post, I tried the scrub and just love that the color does not bleed, and my poor hands that have been dealing with cold and wind feel so soft and lovely after their scrub and then I got to thinking that most folks are not going to have dried powdered High Bush Cranberries in their pantry like I do.

This would also work to color a salt Scrub the same way!

Looking for more great idea’s for homemade Valentine Days gifts, Check out this great post on how to make a heart shaped hard lotion Bar

Available for sale for a limited time

Farmgal’s Dried High Bush Cranberries Crumbles  – 1 oz – 4 dollars plus shipping

or

Farmgal’s Dried Ground Powdered High Bush Cranberries – 1 oz- 6 dollars plus shipping

These High Bush Cranberries have been grown on my own land (which has not been sprayed for the 15 years we have owned it) harvested by hand, dried for my own use.

I use them in my own homemade tea’s, they add a lovely flavour and color.

In very limited amounts, available only to a shipping address in Canada. Payment is required before shipping by Paypal or by E-transfer.

You can drop me a note using the comments (I will not publish it)

Posted in Health, Homemade Gifts | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Friday Rambles around the Table – Storms

Posted on January 25, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

Come in, Come in.. shake off the snow and I will hang your coat up by the extra heater so it will be nice and dry by the time you head back out.

I can put the kettle on if you want tea but I have hot coffee ready for you, it’s a bit strong today, I need it to help wake up today..

Ya, I am moving a little slow today, I am sore, between the extra work by the storm, the extra work on the physio and then yesterday, the storm and bitter cold lifted but we ended up with an ice blockage and the rain found a way in and I spent way to much time removing water..

Its fine, the hubby stopped at the hardware store and got the patch for it, and the gentleman said, we are not the only one, I had friends on Facebook that had the same thing happen.

I am looking at it this way, while It made for a long day and I am sore today, better to find out now and fix it on this coming cold snap, then find out about it in the spring melt and have days or weeks of the issue before we can do the required repair work.

I am just glad that they have the right product for the job, it makes things so much easier when you can buy the right item brand new and carefully follow the directions, rather than winging it and then having to deal with it a year or two later when the “fix” breaks down.

Been there, Done that.. learned the hard way.. don’t trust it! Just pay the money to get it done right with the right product!

There was so much happening this week that went on my little note to talk about this week on the rambles around the table. I have the new Canadian food guide, a number of things happening world-wide, including prepping happening in UK due to worries, The China/Canadian brouhaha that is happening at the moment, the insane heat wave happening in AUS at the moment (I am so sorry that you are in the middle of this very hard heat wave!)

But the truth is… my mind is just not there..  out of all the posts I write each week, Friday Rambles around the table is one of my favorites to write but it also takes the most of out me.. Both of those are positives..

I am just tired today.. So I am going to keep today’s really simple and soft..  Hubby update, he is finished his physio for this time, I am so proud of him, he is doing his routine faithfully at least five or more days a week, and it really shows. His back has healed up really well and I am truly amazed to say that he has no knee pain.

There is a part of me that wants to just go “WHAT” I mean he has been talking about knee pain for years and I mean since I meet him. So the fact that a matter of weeks of care and the correct treatment has removed his knee pain is both a “WOW!” and at the same time, it makes me a little sad that we never got treatment for him soon..

I am starting my treatment now, I am not sure I will have as easy of a time as J, one because we are dealing with more damage done over many years in different ways than him but I am game to try.  So far, it just hurts lol.  It hurts to do it, it hurts afterwards and I wake up hurting..  I feel like I “woke” something up if that makes sense and its going.. dude.. Hey.. DUDE!!!!!  LOL..

The second thing that changed a bit is that I have stopped waiting for sales at the store and I am just setting $100 per pay-day to the side to stock up the pantry. I normally wait for good sales and then buy things by the case..

Its been months and in some case’s year plus since some of the things that were on sale have been and while my storage pantry has been doing its job, it’s not been getting restocked at the same rate as normal.

So I am switching gears.. I am adapting to the new norm and I am going back to what we tend to tell people to do when they are stocking up with limited funds.. if you use it, always buy the one for use and buy one or two more at the same time for the pantry.

I added to this, I also am starting to add in things that have great storage ability when done right but that I can see as open to issues to climate change issues in coming 4 years.

Examples of this is dried Coco.. It’s not been on sale in forever and I normally keep a couple tins of it in the house however my reading seems to show that this crop will be effected, it’s also one of the GMO gene changing plants coming down the pipeline and as you know in Canada, they do not need to tell you if they have made the switch..

Given this information, I have taken to adding in one more tub per shopping trip.. it add’s in ten dollars but it gives me two to three months worth of baking chocolate, I can use it for cooking, I can use it to make chocolate ice cream for hubby, I can make a sauce to be used for hot chocolate and more.  I want to keep working on this one till I have X years put away.

Like everything, if you don’t use it.. don’t stock it.. there is just no point.. if you do use it and its something that will store well.. why not..

Nuts are on my mind as well but they are not as easy to store.. peanuts can be grown here but they don’t produce much.. I think I will need to plant out a few new nut tree’s here on the farm, hazel nuts and heart nuts are the ones of choice for our zone and for our preferred tastes.

Anyone put the smaller Hazelnut tree’s into permaculture guilds on berms before? and if so, how did they do? I think I will do some in more traditional style but I also into the new hedge rows.

Its funny that they talk about eating nuts as a replacement for different kinds of meat protein (including egg) without seeming to be aware of the crazy amount of water required in some of the world biggest nut producing areas.

One more thing to work on bringing the production of into a local way and ideally a 0 mile backyard way..

Well that’s it for me today folks..  Here is a kitten playing with plants to lift your spirits 🙂

 

Posted in At the kitchen table | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

The Duck Plan of 2019

Posted on January 24, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

I raised Muscovy Ducks, they are not like other duck breeds. They hiss and wag their feathers like a dog would. They do not quack like the “other duck” breeds do. They are their own line..

If you breed a donkey to horse, you get a mule.. If you breed a Muscovy to “any Mallard duck breed” you get the same thing.. this will cross over on the first gen but they are mules.. none breeding second gens.

That’s how far apart Muscovy Ducks are from “Mallard Ducks” and I find the taste of their meat to be just as far apart. While if cooked with some skin on and collecting duck fat in this regards, its still fine eating.

But where the Muscovy Ducks truly shines is as a “beef” replacement. Once you breast out those big(much bigger on the males then the females) breast, you can consider each one to be the finest steak that can be used in all the same ways a high quality beef steak can be.

or  can be breaded like a cowboy steak.. O my so good!

but don’t stop there, it can be cubed to for use in stews, it can be corned to make Duck breast Corned Beef, it can be sliced for stir fry’s, it can be cubed and made into Salt/Pepper Chinese steak. It can be ground up and used in burgers.. which would be a total waste in my mind for the breasts but it can be done. (if you want burgers, use the other good meaty parts for your minx blends)  It can be made into the most outstanding jerky.

And that brings me back to 2019.. we have a limited amount of beef left in the freezer and we are not planning on adding a new beef calf to the farm until after our farm sitter does her gig.. its not far to ask her to try and raise a bottle calf into her daily chores.

Honestly, it might just be off the list all together for 2019.. we will see on that one..

What is on the list is the gathering up the duck eggs and filling at least two, maybe three batches into the incubator to raise at least 48 to 60 ducklings that will be raised in moveable pens, this will greatly reduce their feed bills. I have a few other tricks for cutting their feed costs down that will be shared in detail as we go though the growing season.

While a few female’s will be held back for breeding, most of them will be the first butchered for fresh eating, smaller whole duck or will be portioned out.. at around 10 to 12 weeks of age

The males will be allowed to grow a extra 2 to 6 weeks for the large sizes to be reflected in the end sizes of the “breast meat”

The very best grow-outs males will be held back for breeding as well. I will be watching for a outstanding sized male at the fall bird sale for new genes but I have what I need for this years breeding season.. we have three male’s and 8 hens.. pretty close to perfect numbers and as we have two male lines, most will be outcrossed but I will also do two females/one male on a in-breeding line.

I am not planning on letting my duck girls sit their own eggs much this year, I will be collecting the eggs and hatching in larger batches. I want to control the timing of the ducklings to match up with the best time of the year for forage and feed rates savings.

I also want to be able to time out butcher days in a more controlled fashion. The past three years, two of them, I had issues with flooding springs effecting hatch rates and last year we have high heat and drought effecting hatch rates.

This year, I am taking those factors away and doing it myself to control the process better ideally!

I will be sharing setting rates, hatching rates, grow out rates and final cost per pound as well as many new recipes.

While I am very sure that I can bring my “ducky” beef in on a very good price per pound, we will see if I am right or wrong. I have great detailed cost outs on all the beef I have raised over the years so I will be able to directly compare them.

However I will not be able to compare as easily today’s current prices but I should be able to do a rough guess.

Posted in Duck | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Farmgal’s photography Jan 24th

Posted on January 24, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

I was zooming in to try and get those ears that were glowing with the sunlight coming though late afternoon, after I snapped the first picture, I realized that with a little bit of adjustment I could get a reflect.. it was just a fun time taking this.

Its been so cold and so much snow that I had to seek out indoor things to take and I was wanting to find creative views, I really like this one.

 

Before the worst of the storm came this pretty girl showed up and used the bird feeder for two days, sadly I have not seen her since the big storm has hit.

Bojangles is my grey ghost in the snow!

 

Posted in photography | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

Food In Jars Challange 2019 -Jan Citrus

Posted on January 24, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

Food in Jars is once again hosting an awesome canning/preserving challenge for 2019.

The idea for January is Citrus. I have been busy already this past month, I made a number of syrups, I had a enough marmalade that I just wanted simple syrups made at this time for different dishes.

I have put up six pints of lemon, 5 and pints of Lime,  5 pints of Lemon Crown Royal Syrup, I have made Salt Cured Lemons and I have two gallons of lemon Vinegar curing in jars as well as dried orange peel, dried lemon peel and dried lime peel.

Orange Marmalade is a tricky thing to make and you must use your temps correctly to learn more check out this full post on it.

kumquat are an interesting little fruit that’s for sure, such a different flavour. This recipe worked very well and this recipe has been made three times now to great success.

This was an outstanding mix of flavours with lime in the lead, I did have issues getting this to be as thick as I like. Its worth the working with it, and do consider using this one as a salad dressing on cabbage Slaw salad.. JUST YUM

This delightful blend of lemon and rose petals was a hit with everyone that tried it, so light, with just hints of floral undertones. I would like to make this next time with freshly done rose petals.. even though the lemon would be out of season I think it would be perfect, I also will try this with wild violets this year.

I do have one little more plan for one more marmalade, I am working on finding the right balance in the flavours so I am currently doing itty bitty test batches. I will have it figured out soon and up before the end of the month.

Are you joining the Food in Jars canning Challenge? I know at least one of my readers is, because I missed that this was happening until she posted about it 🙂

 

Posted in Canning, Food in jars | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

How to make a Carrot Based Soup

Posted on January 23, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

Creamed Carrot Soup Recipe

  • One med onion- Peeled and diced
  • Two garlic clove- Peeled and finely diced
  • 1/2 tsp of fresh grated ginger (or ginger powder)
  • 3 large carrots, peeled, and cut into cubes
  • 2 medium Potato’s- Peel and diced
  • 6 cups of white broth, be it white meat bone broth or be it veggie broth
  • Salt and White pepper.

Add a touch of oil to your pot, cook your onion and garlic till clear and soft  at that point you can add your grated peeled fresh ginger and just let it brown a tiny bit

Add your broth, carrot and potato’s, spices and cooked on a med heat till tender and falling apart when tested with a fork..

Take off heat..

Allow to cool just a touch, it should not longer be boiling, very carefully then either mash very well or hit it with a stick blender for a very smooth soup.

  • if you want add a swirl of cream or a dollop of sour cream in the middle of the soup, if you want it thinner, add another cup of broth. If you want it thicker next time, remove a cup of broth to adjust to your own families personal taste.

This soup can be made with leftover roasted carrots and potato’s/onions/galic, if the veggies have been roasted it will add a lovely smokey/richness to the soup itself.

Carrots are one of those great winter veggies that are still reasonable priced in the larger bags in the store. This is a nice filling soup that healthy for you, easily made using only veggies and a frugal cost as well.

 

 

 

Posted in Soups and Stews | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Coldest Winter Snowstorm in 100 years

Posted on January 22, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

Well, the local news is filled with information on Cold, Snow and Wind Chill Factors in regards to this storm.  We have not had this cold of a snow storm recorded in a 100 years.

I am not going to brush this to the side.. Ottawa was the coldest capital in the world, Friend of ours in the arctic teased that they were warmer then we were, the snow, o the snow.. so much snow..

Little Wee Paris was in an out in her Jacket as fast as possible.. and even in that time, she would start doing the cold foot dance.  While the farm dogs hated it, they were not allowed to follow us around doing farm chores and where kept in the house.  While they are used to going out for a couple hours a day and so they do have a reasonable amount of “built in cold weather toughness” this was beyond that..

this was bare skin freezes in mear minutes..

Last year we wondered if we would like that snow blower.. the answer is yes!! While there is still shoveling to do and I am waiting for the cold to break before I do the extra’s..

Let me tell you in this deep bitter cold, you do what must be done and you wait for the rest, we are to have a break in the cold tomorrow on weds. That means we have been in the Deep Freeze now for four days.

The cats are in the house (other then two that will not come in, who are in the croft with lots of warm bedding to snuggle in) and they are going stir crazy.. thank goodness for catnip to keep everyone calm..  They are not used to being “cooped” up for this long but they also do not want to go out in this cold and I don’t blame them.

The horse’s hear us and meet us at the gate and follow us around no matter how cold and bitter it is.. but thankfully the poo piles in the big barn lets me know that they are using it most of the time to be out of the weather for eating and resting.

Its very important to keep everyone drinking but really important for the horse’s..  so while they have access to their regular water, we are also hauling room temp water out twice a day to encourage them and the sheep to drink extra.

Colic in cold is something to be careful of in this deep cold, they must eat more hay in order to stay warm but that means they need more water as well to keep that moving though smoothly 🙂

I will need to start worrying about ice balls forming in hoofs during the warm up and then cool down, but that I think will be its own post because snow balls can effect different critters and its worth talking about in a bit more detail on ways to deal with it depending on the critter.

Yesterday everyone was good in their checks.. so it looks like one cold duck was the worst of what we got and she made a full recovery.

The house has held up well, the repair work has held and we have had no frozen pipes this year and I expect that this will be the coldest we get so that is outstanding news indeed.  The sun came out today and its pouring in the living room, only those curtains are open to allow the solar heat in while all the other curtain closed to keep out the cold.

Its that blue sky, sunny bitter cold day today..  its different then the snow storm/wind/cold..  One more day, one more day they say!

I hope everyone stayed safe if they have been hit by this storm.

 

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Fried Cornbread for Breakfast

Posted on January 22, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

Are you looking for a filling hot breakfast? Wanting something different then pancakes or waffles? Have you considered Fried Cornbread, crisp brown bits with melted butter and a drizzle of real maple syrup! or your favorite jam..

 

This lovely recipe will make you a nice big batch of cornbread and if you make it in a pan, the odds are good there will leftovers.

  • 1 1/2 cups  buttermilk ( you can use powdered buttermilk, really buttermilk or whole milk with two tsp of lemon juice in it to turn it)
  • 1/3 cup oil
  • 1  large egg
  • 2 cups yellow cornmeal flour or cornmeal
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1-4th cup of sugar *
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 half teaspoon salt

Mix in order, wet to be added to dry, Do not over mix, grease pan or spray it, 350 time, if you are in a loaf pan, start checking at 30 min or until a knife comes out clean.

PS * if you want a more tradional southern cornbread, no sugar is used.. the sweeter cornbread is a northern add in.

Allow to cool and then slice to serve, fresh and warm, its outstanding with a bowl of hot soup or stew.  However for the leftovers, do consider making Fried Cornbread for Breakfast the next day!

Its as easy as taking your cornbread an slice it Texas toast thick, med-heat in your fry pan and a good amount of butter in the pan, grill until golden brown and serve hot. Two slices of Fried cornbread will fill you up quickly.

They can be served as part of a plate or on their own as the full dish, perhaps with a bit of fresh fruit on the side.

Posted in Baking, Food Production and Recipes, frugal | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Treating Mild Hypothermia in Ducks

Posted on January 21, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

Its bone chilling cold, we have been sitting between -35 to -38 for close to 24 hours, and we had a solid dump of snow of around a foot at the “warmest haha” part of the afternoon in full deep cold winter gear hubby cleared the lane. We were certainly happy to have the snow blower for this storm.

Here I was all worried about the larger livestock, the smaller rabbits and of course the purr pots, most of which are safely tucked in the house being lazy warm things on beds but there are two “farm” outside only so keeping a close eye on them in the croft.

The birds had been put in a lock down and they have a heat lamp in their main pen, the ducks main water had been made so they can drink but not bath in it.

One of the hens got herself into a pickle by sneaking in between the layers on the doorway and let herself get nice and chilled.. Why she didn’t move out of there is anyone’s guess.  She is a young hen, and its true that its her first bad spot of winter and like most of the ducks, they never seem to mind the cold, they are out in the snow, snow resting, snow bathing and enjoying the winter, she normally is one that sleeps in the outside hut but I wanted them all moved in due to the extreme cold.. but she clearly tried to get to close to going back outside.

Needless to say she was found on a check and now is currently in a big crate in my living room, she is being slowly warmed up.

Here are some Key points to raise the rates that this will be successful!

  • Use a damp luke warm towel to wipe the back /wings.
  • Wrap the duck in a warmed towel if possible, just put a number of your “livestock” towels that are clean into the dryer, so that way you can pull a warm one out as needed
  • You want to melt any ice/snow off their feet/legs and dry them up.
  • Once you have her dried but damp wiped down if needed
  • Put her in a box/crate with a soft warm ideally wool Blanket by indirect heat
  • You must warm the duck up slowly..
  • After the duck has had a 20 minute rest, bring out and start its movements if it can hold its head up.. if the head is still not held up.. wrap again in warmed towels, switch them out as they cool and back to the box.  If its head is up.. carefully and gently move its feet, toes and legs, don’t fight it.. if they are still stiff and can’t move things yet.. go slow.
  • Do not offer water or food at this stage, when bodies are this cool, digesting is hard work.
  • Help adjust the ducks legs so that they can sit properly under them..
  • Once you see them start to shift and tuck their feet/leg under themselves and tucking their head into their feathers on their own. Then you can offer them a small warm water drink. Better to have small drinks every hour and then two hours then big drinks.
  • Do not leave water in with the duck.. offer for a few minutes only at a time.
  • Please keep the duck in for at least 12 to 24 hours.
  • Ideally within 12 hours you will have a warmed happy ready to go duck on your hands.
  • Please check its feet/toes and legs carefully to see if you have any white spots, blisters and or how its movement is.

Update: Its the next day and our little hen is up, all looking good and ready to head back out to the hen house later this afternoon.  I am glad we caught her very early in her chill stage.  It could have been much worse if she had not been found as soon as she was.

Today is just as cold.. – 41 was our coldest and they say our “high” of the afternoon will be -28..  warm water will be hauled out for all the critters and multi checks will be done, I am hoping very much that we will have no issues today but I know that as the deep bitter cold extends day after day that it gets more and more likely that will have something crop up..

 

Posted in Critters | Tagged , , | 9 Comments