Friday Rambles around the table “Cold”

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

Quick, Quick come in.. I hope you put your cold weather kit in car.. its -34 out there today so your winter gear and kits should be topped up before you even think about heading out on the roads at the moment.

Here lets get your layers off.. did you know that Ottawa is the coldest capital in the world today?  I know right.. that’s just crazy but its on the news..

Ya, I know I have lights on. its cold enough that I am keeping the heavy drapes pulled on all the windows to help keep that deep cold out.. I do have double paneled windows and while they are getting on twenty years now so I know at some point they will need to be updated right now they are doing their job well..

The wind chill is brutal, time to break out the full ski-doo suits just to do chores..

I will get the kettle on and I have banana bread today as well as some lovely navel oranges.. they had 8 pound boxes on sale this week.

Opps, sorry about the cone on Marie.. she runs it into everything still.. hopefully she will get better at wearing it over the next while.

Speaking of the cold.. its that time of year again.. last week there were two more barn fires any time there is deep hard cold. It seems like we will hear of a barn fire.  Its a good thing to run over your winter fire prevention check list..

How are you? Did you overload yourself in these first few weeks of new year, I did.. I am blocking in time to get everything done, all I have to say is thank goodness the farm is in the slower down time right now.. I will get the month done but then I am going to slow down on a few things online.

I have to admit that I am really loving taking my photos and can see that this will be a very fun thing to do over the year.. I am enjoying my workouts and getting ready for spring hiking trips. I have not started carrying the gear yet, I am still just carrying me so far.

I am going to get some help with my knee so that ideally I can get it to be stronger, this will be awesome for garden/farm, hiking and riding for 2019.

I am still working on a few posts, who knew that it would take that long to write a post on seeds to buy.. I keep getting one or two more seeds added to the list at a time before I break and go do other things.

Its been a good week in many ways, its also been a week where my edge might be showing a touch.. maybe it is.. its hard to find the right balance at times. Sometimes I want to push harder on things on the blog then are others and I will admit that I am working on balance, I want to keep some things positive.. I do firmly believe that we can do things that will help us in short term and possible long term in regards to dealing with challenges that I feel everyone but the 1 percent will feel.

I am booked for events to learn at, I am booked at events to teach, I am expanding sharing my knowledge and I am seeking those to learn from.

The flip side is that if you are paying attention the news coming out is being backed by data in a clearer and clearer way and none of it is looking good.. This makes me want to “shout” yo! you reading this.. you listening! and… and…

Life at the moment moves on..  and I take my camera out and remember to find joy in the small things..

I am working on finding balance between sharing on the net and doing in real life.. I believe both have great value but I think I am coming down on the 70 percent doing and 30 percent sharing mode. At least that is where I am right now.. adjustments could be made as the year goes on.. Spring and Harvest.. I am sure we will spill over into 80 to 90 percent doing and 10 percent sharing.. it happens every year.

I am putting on looking for a second vehicle for just a little while.. we really do not need it for most of the hard winter and so I will just sock away that extra that we are not spending on having two towards buying the next one. I will need it by spring and later in the year to be able to make my “jobs” off the farm come together in a nice way.

How are you doing on finding your balance at the moment? Just rocking it? Needs tweeking? Not working for you?

 

Posted in At the kitchen table | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Sad Eyes..

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

Well, I am both relieved and feel a bit silly all rolled into one.. sort of

What I knew was the Marie has bump that turned into a lump that she chewed on and turned it into a messy wound.. I booked her to see the vet, assuming that the lump needed to be removed and checked so that we could ideally get the wound cleaned up.

I was very worried about the big C.. she is getting up there in age..

Turns out it’s a lick granuloma

Which means that bump itched and bugged Marie so she started chewing it and licking it and she made the wound and it means she keeps the wound open and raw..

I have never had a dog do that before so I did feel a bit silly having jumped to the big baddies but the last couple times I had an issue it was cancer and so I just moved there a bit to fast in my head I guess.

It didn’t help that I have never seen this before.. Lily girl had hot spots and she had allergies with itchy feet but she never ever licked them and chewed them into open, weeping wounds.

So we had to go though her history and what if anything had changed.. but the truth is.. nothing has changed, no new dog, no dog loss, no company, no major changes. So I really do not believe that is an added stress” kind of thing.

Today we are going with a cone and meds and cream for two weeks and then we will see where we are at.. I have ordered in a different kind of cone and a special leg cover that will give me some flexibility in what is used so Marie can have different things at different times for what works best for her.

So there we go at the moment.. on one hand, great news.. On the other hand, this can be a real issue.. if you can not break the habit, sometimes they need to go on longer term antibiotics for 3 to 6 months, plus creams and at times they even need short-term meds to mellow them out.

We are starting with the most basic and we will see what the next two weeks results are. Thanks you folks for all your kind thoughts earlier this week.

Ps. boy was the roads bad today.. there was a blowing, drifting snow and its was so cold.. everything took 2 to 3x the normal amount of time to get anywhere due to the road conditions.

Posted in Life moves on daily | 12 Comments

Farmgal’s Photography 2019 Jan 10th

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

How is Thursday.. this week is just flying by.  This week.. we are focused on the orange kitties 🙂

LeeLoo was playing in the basket with a sunlit back drop by the window..  I did mess around with the coloring of this photo but the rest is pure.. I just liked this version better

I had planned on getting closer to the bird feeding tree but as four cats and two hounds all came with me.. no bird photos.. but lots of kitty photos..  It had snowed the night with a good wind that helped create the drift in the front and it was a overcast day.. I did not change the coloring on this one.  She was looking up and chittering at the birds in the tree

As she moved out of the heavier grassed area in the photo above she moved into this area and she looked back and it was framed so nicely, I did play with this one.. softening some areas and adding a deeper color to other areas..

Hubby called me and said, there are dark birds way high up in the tree and I barely snapped a photo before they were gone.. this one is the best, I love the curling tips of my hop vine that grows up and around this big tree in my food forest..  The start of the misting was already there due to the time of day, I allowed it to stay as it worked with it..  I did clean it up but decided in the end that I liked the “frosting” that the shading gave more.

I know that this is not a great photo of this wee little red tree rat but I so rarely get these on the farm that even though it was hanging out in the bush pile and was almost impossible to get a clean photo without something in the way.. I had to grab it and share..  The farm cats will give it a run for its money..  Give the purr pride a couple days and either it will cross back over to the forest over the road or they will get it..

While that seems harsh to a point, as much as I like them, I am glad they are not having free run in my gardens..

I also am including a funny photo for you.. If I had not seen this HUGE big boy do this, I would never have thought it possible.. BAD Patrick! LOL

Got a favorite this week? I had fun with the camera and I do have my backup rule of thirds and movement photo.. but I am hoping to try again and will see what happens.

Posted in photography | Tagged | 10 Comments

Lets talk about Homesteaders and Health.

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

So many of the “idea’s and dreams about homesteading says that we will have better health for it.. Working our bodies, working with our hands, growing our own food, harvesting 0 mile eggs/milk/meat. Hunting and Fishing, hiking and horseback riding..

It all leads to amazing health! Right..

Right?

I mean, google homesteading and you are going to find site after site selling you the idea, Gardening, the way to live to a 100 years old. Grow your own medical plants? Got the flu.. Elderberries are the key!

I am starting to lose track of the amount of “do this and you will get X or Y or Z”.. I get it, it’s the net, it’s a way to bring in the eyes.. I have read the “top ten ways to write this or that” to bring in the viewers and so a lot of the time, I work my way past the “click bait” and get to the meat of the posts and let tell you there are some truly amazing homesteaders out there that know what they are doing, they know what they are talking about and the walk the walk!

There are also some newer folks that are just amazing writers, amazing at their studies. they have knowledge to share.. some of its is outstanding, and some of is what I call book regurg.

It’s a running joke for those that come to my speaking events because I always talk about this.. someone wrote it in a book and its been read and it gets shared like the its the truth.. never mind that dozens of us or hundreds of us can’t make it happen in real life..

It still gets spit up in other books, on blogs and websites.. its one of those.. but I read it.. and Mr. KNOWIT said it.. it’s a direct quote and we all know he can’t be wrong.. he has books, video’s and travels all over speaking..

(careful there.. find out if they make more money talking about how to do it, then they do doing it.. its a very telling thing)

So with all the good stuff that gets talk about.. what does the stats show? Is shows that most of us that are homesteading, those of us that live in rural areas and those that live on the land point in fact have worst health rates overall then those that live in cities.

 

Some of it’s just common sense, we wear out our bodies faster than most city folks tend to, we worked longer hours, we work in all kinds of weather. (please note that I know there are city folks that work just as hard! I said.. on average) We work with large powerful animals and if we ride.. then we also hit the ground at times..

We tend to get broken and we do not have an easy time letting things heal.. I have watched this over and over.. a friend in town or city gets something damaged or broken and they take the time off work, they do have time at work and then they do their physio and hire private trainers to get them back up on their feet.

Farmers, homesteaders.. we are like.. How can I find a work around, because it does not stop.. the water still needs to be there.. the hay still needs to go out, the poop still needs to be cleaned and the harvest taken, we work by the weather and the critter/farm and gardens don’t give a rat behind if you are feeling well, sick with the flu or are broken.

We all start back sooner than we should and we will pay for it in our later years when those older bones start to show their war wounds more and more.

This one to me is a mixed bag.. Per the stats we do not look after our health in the same way, we put off getting that tooth fixed, we know we should go see our doctor but we stick it out, we are more prone to “try home fix it” rather than go access help..

IF you can access help.. which the stats show is harder and harder to come by in regards to us being able to get health care when you live rural.

See this one I have a little more issue with.. because I think a lot of folks that choose this lifestyle also choose to opt out of many main stream things including Vaccines and certain kinds of main stream medical.. more likely to do a home birth then a hospital one. More likely to consider and or use other forms of medical.

I would love if people focused on their health in regards to having living soil that feeds the plants that produces food that has better value that feeds your body so that it can work at its best! A gal can dream right 🙂

So even if we agree that the stats are off because of that factor.. how off are they? I think that in many cases it’s about time, distance and money.  All three of those do mean that it’s harder to get proper care.

Its something that hubby and I are looking at, as we age, we need to start taking better care of.. So lets use a few cases

We needed to get new glasses.. I phone to book us in.. just over 3 months to see our doctor..  THREE Months to get in to be seen..

We needed dental care.. some is covered and other things are not.. boy did we get an eye popping surprise when we figured out that something that hubby needs is not covered and would at a min start at 3 grand to get done..

We both are starting physio and I have been talking to my health care provider for a couple of years about my knees and I get the run around..  Hubby had his back give him an issue due to a heavy lift the wrong way..

We had to take the bull by the horns.. because it’s a choice.. do we go back and fight to get it written up and get part coverage or do we tighten up our belt a touch and pay it out-of-pocket.. we are paying out-of-pocket.

We are also driving to get to these places.. the closest is 20 minutes away one way and the longer is more like 40 or so.. for someone without wheels, or someone who had their gas budget done to within the penny.. these trips would be very hard indeed to make happen.

Its one of the things that is touched on but far to often shoved to the side.. when you hear someone say they only make the trip to town once a month.. you have to give it the eye.. works great if you are healthy.. but boy can it add up in a brutal way if and WHEN extra care is needed.

I hope that as a homesteader, as a farmer, as a person who lives rural that you remember that only you are in charge of your health and that if you are not careful, you can slip though the cracks and become just one more stat being talked about by the government  and how much difference there is health wise between city/rural.

I am only going to very lightly touch on this one.. but our mental health needs looking after as well.. the suicide rates of farmers increases year after year.. we live by the land and the weather can make and break the year in many cases.. as farmers where told.. go big or go home.. they put more and more eggs in one basket and when that basket tips.. bad.. very bad things happen.

Often on the smaller farms/homesteads, lots of new folks think these pressures seen for the larger farms will not come into play.. but honestly they do.. and as the weather extreme’s start to hit home.. these pressures will get harder and deeper..

Make 2019 a year where you find the way to make sure you put your own health up there on par with your garden, your family and your critters..  you are important too!

Please do check out the other homesteaders posts in the challenge.. you can find a link on the side of the main website that will take you to a full page of everyone’s listings..

 

 

Posted in 31 Day Self Reliance Challange, Health, homestead, homestead frugal pay yourself first | Tagged , , , | 25 Comments

Stop Under Valuing Your Garden Returns

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


I snapped this photo when we went to our local Farm Boy to see what they had in terms of better quality Citrus fruits.  It like so many other things in that store make me stop.. pause and go WOW!

Clearly I am massively under valuing my horseradish roots. Those roots above are grown out of country, shipped across goodness knows how many miles and trust me when I say I should have grabbed a photo of the root itself.  They were 3 years at least in age.. if not 4 years. I know how much of that root would not be useable. The way it was taken and for sale at least 30 to 35% would be lost in the clean up.

It would be fair to say that a locally produced Horseradish root that grown on land that has no spray etc for 15 years now with such a smaller eco-foot print should be worth the same or even a touch more.

Dandelion greens are 6.99 a small bunch,  Burdock roots are ten dollars a pound..  3 oz of dried elderberries are 11.99. I have not been able to find sunchokes yet but the last time I did, I found them at 12.99 a pound locally.

We under value what we produce on our land and I think the longer we grow, the worse we are with this.. we can have plants that yield to us in volumes that are so given so freely that we forget their value..

Rhubarb is a outstanding example of this.. its is such a easy plant to grow and tuck away in a corner and enjoy so much. However locally, its also running between 8 to 10 dollars a pound for a little bunch.

The one year my rhubarb patch grew and I harvested over 3,000 dollars worth.. to me, it was just.. o my gosh.. am I ever going to be done canning rhubarb, rhubarb fruit and making rhubarb this or that and freezing bags of it..

Did I think I have put up lots of rhubarb of course.. did I have a value to it.. sure..  was it even close, nope.. I was way! WAY off..

We tend to have other “producing” friends and so we get a bit of a feedback loop on what our produce is worth.. most of the time, its always under what it would be at the farmers market or at the local stores.

While its fine to bring our prices under if we are selling, its NOT ok to under value them when we are figuring out what we produced on our land and by our own hands. I hear so many folks talk about how one of the biggest reason’s they started gardens and raising their own animals or having dairy animals is that they can control their own food.

The thing is.. very soon we stop putting the same value that we had that first time.. Sure we love that first sun warm ripe tomato.. but by our 300th tomato.. we are like, just pick it and throw it to the chickens..

I am in the middle of that right now with eggs, I mean I am pretty much bringing in 7 to 8 dozen eggs weekly and I am not willing to cull my hens so.. in a household of 2 adults.. THERE is no way to eat that many eggs..

I am cooking eggs and feeding them to dogs, cats and the pig..  They are reducing feed costs in that way but it still “de-values” those eggs when I am cooking up a dozen at time into scramble just to move them on.. because I know tomorrow another dozen will be coming in.

I am going to say the same thing in regards to extra baby plants.. we forget their value as well.. if we had to buy them, suddenly our “extra’s that we are like.. hmm.. I can move 5 or 10 here and the rest can be pulled out and put in the compost pile.

I have never thrown babies in the compost pile.. it makes me shiver at the idea.. I love my plant groups.. I can honestly say that I have given away thousands of dollars worth of plants and I am not going to change that..  I do think a percent of the bounty our yards and gardens produce should be gifted freely.

Having said that.. I stand by the fact that coming into year 15 here on the farm..

I will not under value what I produce.. I will not compare my produce to the “on sale” items in season in flyers.. we eat this amazing food year round..

Yes, we picked our Raspberries in the summer but if you had to buy them right now.. 5 oz for 3.99.. we are eating 12 to 16 dollars worth of raspberries when we have our little fruit bowl..

I will own it! I will start to understand that value.. the pantry value of our garden/farm returns!

This post is part of the Self Reliance Challenge 2019. To check out what the other bloggers are doing, there is a full time link on the side bar of the main website that will take you to a page with everyone’s listing, also check out my facebook page as I will be sharing them there and same on twitter..

 

Posted in Garden | Tagged | 21 Comments

Turning a Sock into a legging for “no chew”

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

Miss Marie had a bump that became a growth.. at first it was so tiny, maybe the size of pinkie nail and then suddenly it got more rapid growth to the size of thumb nail and it made Marie start to worry on it and within a matter of 72 hours it changed size, shape with her working on it.. that was Friday that we really saw the change, she is booked in for surgery this coming week. I am hoping because it was caught fast and while it is still really quite small..

I am treating it, I have cut all her feathers around the area off so it can not stick, I have and will continue to treat it with wound spray and wrap it up.. but she was taking her wraps off and then chewing again..

I know, I know cone’s are made for a reason but cones are not easy to use at times.. and because of where it is on the leg, she was being able to take off her wrap if not watched..

So we had to make a pair of these..

She says if she has to wear one, she can use my foot as her pillow.. she has that sad look down pat.. poor girl..

if you pray and you are willing send a positive though that its minor and that its not that dreaded C word.. please.

Posted in Life moves on daily | 17 Comments

Dogwood Photography Week 1

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

Dogwood Photography Challenge Week 1

This is the official Photo..

I had worked this scene out on paper, explained it to hubby and off to the forest we went, I had hoped for a more open wider road but what we got was a trail with two walkable tire spacings and the tree’s closed in on the road in a very different way.. I had my balance but it was not the openness I had thought to bring to it.. the tree’s closed in the top in a way that I was not expecting, I thought I would have more sky..

then was the fact that my what was to be a “pop” of hunter orange did not show up from the back, so suddenly I was the odd thing out in the colored photo.. this big black person in a sea of white/green and with red hair and red dog.. Thankfully I could see in my eye how I could take the bones I had gotten and with a little back-end magic in the coloring and sharing and with a tiny bit of cropping..

I got the photo.. a bit darker, a bit more intense than I had thought it would be..

My runner-up is very different from the well thought out and planned photo above.. it was more.. wow a grandfather tree.. lets throw a few shots at it and see what we get..  I can see that if I had backup up and planned it out more it could have been much better.. Still I will share it with you none the less 🙂

” Self portrait”  Find a way to express who you are without showing your face.

I had a few photos in “stock” that meet this challenge..

I love this photo so much because it was the first time that baby girl Dezbot was old enough, trained enough to go free without a leash in the bush with us..  I exciting day for all of us.. FREEDOM! and so what does she do.. spend most of it in heal position LOL

This photo certainly tells the story.. I went to mount up.. Brandy moved on, I didn’t get over in time and off I came, right into the wet, cold slushy mud..  Knocked the wind right out of me..

Posted in photography | Tagged | 4 Comments

Creamy Crab Pasta with Horseradish Greens

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

Creamy sauce, Seafood and pasta is a mixed delight.. add in the wonderful flavours of Horseradish greens and bit of good parmesan cheese.. It just steps it up a notch!

This is a bit of a loose recipe in the fact that you can be quite flexible and it will still come out lovely. If you want more sauce, add more butter and cream.. if you want it a little more zing to it.. add a bit of chili flakes (but I think that would take away from the light sweet crab taste myself)

If you don’t have horseradish greens, spinach will work but it will not have the same flavour profile.. they are not the same greens and they DO not taste the same.

Make your pasta like normal

In a fry pan add

  • 1 tbsp. of butter
  • 1/4th cup of heavy cream
  • 1 small can of the best quality crab that you can afford
  • Salt, Fresh Cracked Black Pepper to taste, start with half a tsp of both and adjust upward if needed.

Melt your butter over low-med heat, add your cream to warm it and add in your canned crab..

Now you can added up to a cup of very finely shredded fresh horse-radish greens or you can add 2 big tbsp. of dried crumbled horseradish greens. Add them to the sauce but if dried beware they can thicken it, and if fresh, they will thin it just a touch!

Pour this over your strained noodles and touch it well together, It made 4 side servings or 2 big bowl servings and was topped with a bit more freshly cracked pepper and good parmesan cheese.

Rich, creamy with hints of green in winter.. and that sweet bite of crab with the seafood saltyness..

SO GOOD

 

Posted in food, Food Storage | 1 Comment

Friday Rambles around the table.. Vanilla Beans

Posted on January 4, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

Well, hello.. Come in.. knock that snow off your boots and grab a pair of slippers from the basket or did you remember to bring a pair..  I have the water on for a nice big pot of tea and I have made a my favorite lemon loaf.  Would you like a fresh slice of lemon in your tea.. now is one of the few times of the year you will get that on the farm.

Its citrus season and I have been busy making all kinds of marmalade and syrups and dried fruit for future use. As well as lemon cleaner with the scraps

Sorry we missed our chat last week but with the holiday’s it just made sense to spend that extra time with family.  It’s a new year and everyone is all..  I am making all these lists and going to learn this and that.

Me.. o no.. not me.. no extra’s this year.. nope this is a “depth” year for me.. I am going to be working my current skills, increasing my depth on subjects that I already use.  While you can make the point that working those skills in-depth will create new, I can see that.. but it’s not the same as saying..

I am learning a new language or a brand new skill like knitting..  instead, I am saying.. I already shear my own sheep, this year I want to work on being a better Shearer and I want to make sure that every single thing from that shearing is used in the most productive way possible.

I don’t want more stuff or more toys for 2019… no indeed, what I want is to focus on doing things better and exploring idea’s on getting better returns on what I already have.. I think it will be a grand adventure..

2019 is my year of “adding depth” to me and my skills 🙂

Speaking of doing things at home, I had a shock this week, I got caught on something that quite surprised me sort of.. you see I am down to my last Vanilla beans. I have just started my last pint of homemade vanilla.

I could tell you that I didn’t KNOW I was low on whole vanilla beans but that would not be true, I knew that I was getting low and I had been looking for good quality beans at a reasonable price.

And I just got my hand slapped..

I should have gotten those replacement beans when I KNEW I was low.. but instead I went, I have lots and I don’t use that much vanilla in different things, and I can wait it out. and I kept using my beans, making my vanilla and watching and waiting to re-stock

Now look where I am.. down to making my last pint with the beans I have and giving the eye to the future.. wondering if and when the price will come down to the point that I can afford more..

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/vanilla-bean-shortage-madagascar-drives-up-us-prices/

Seventy-nine percent of the world’s vanilla fields are in Madagascar. A shortage there has helped drive up the cost of vanilla beans from about $11 per pound in 2011 to $193 by the end of 2016.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/06/16/527576487/our-love-of-all-natural-is-causing-a-vanilla-shortage

See I had been tracking this issue since 2017 and been keeping an eye on it.. yes I have. I  have watched those little tiny bottles of real vanilla go from 6 to 10 dollars in the store go up.. last shopping trip that tiny bottle was 63 dollars..

I can honestly say that my homemade is way.. way.. cheaper than buying it in store..

But it’s not looking any better in 2018..

2018 has seen a considerable decline in the availability of high quality vanilla beans. This is mostly due to the fact that the natural home of the vanilla bean for generations, Madagascar, the island in the Indian Ocean just off the African coastline, has suffered a succession of natural disasters since 2015.

This, in turn, has seen their production and largest export drop considerably. Formerly Madagascar exported 12,000 tonnes and 80% of the total world trade in vanilla, but with this current shortage, the bean has now rocketed to around U.S. $ 600 per kg from a normal price of U.S. $ 100-150/ kg

https://www.fft.ie/the-2018-vanilla-bean-shortage/22481

and I am Leary on what we will be getting in 2019.. because lets face it, the weather has not gotten more stable since 2016! It takes three years for the newly planted plants to start produce and its going to take a whole lot of successful crops before you are going to see the price coming down.. maybe there will be lower prices by 2021.. maybe..

I will not be paying the current prices.. it’s just not going to happen.. At the age of 46, I am honestly looking at those whole vanilla beans in my jar of good vodka and it crossing my mind that this might be last “real” vanilla that I make or will use.

I hope I am wrong.. but at what price point does that whole vanilla bean need to come down to before I am willing to spend my hard-earned money on a pound of it to stock up into the pantry..

And what am I going to use to replace it with.. I do not want “fake” in the house.. so where does that leave me..

How about you? Got a stock pile.. going to just buy in little bottles because “you” can afford 63 dollars for 3 oz of the real stuff..  or got a stock pile in your pantry and got your eye on it.. or are you waiting for it to come down.. and if so to what to stock pile a pound or a kilo of it..

How many more of these will be coming.. o we have been so spoiled with our global trading.. we have forgotten that spices and flavourings had such value that they were kept under lock and key.

I think I am going to find this happening more and more in 2019 to be honest, I am watching my pantry stock ups and watching prices on other things in the stores and I am not sure if all of them will be restocked or I will need to find a work around.

hmm, what could be used as a work around?

Well, for chocolate items or spice cakes that vanilla is not a taste but a depth to the item, it can be replaced 1 to 1 with maple syrup.

But what about when you want that vanilla scent and flavour? Thank goodness for sweet woodruff, while it’s not the same.. its close enough and going to be my work around for the near future and its off-market because its grown here on the farm.

https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/sweet-woodruff-herb-garden-zmaz84zloeck

Be that as it may, this charming little herb can be a vanilla substitute in various sauces and beverages.

Marilyn Hampstead, whose Fox Hill Farm is one source of Asperula plants, reports that sweet woodruff can be steeped in milk — overnight or for several days — to make a refreshing drink that’s especially enjoyed by children … or, to impart a vanilla taste, soaked in whatever liquid is required in a given recipe … or, to make a delicious glaze for tarts and turnovers, steeped in currant juice and strained out before the juice is thickened by cooking with sugar.

I have this plant on the farm and I will need to increase the amount grown and learn to work with it in the coming year, figuring out the challenge of how much to grow and how much to put up for storage.

Ah, climate change, you are going to take that which we think is common in many ways and turn it on its head! Not always because something is truly gone but because it will just be out of the reach of the common person.

We will need to look back to history before global trade became the norm and we will need to adapt or go without.

I never would have guessed that vanilla would be my first “out priced” item due to climate issues..

So be it.. so be it…

 

Posted in At the kitchen table | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Farmgal’s Photography 2019 Jan 3rd

Posted on January 3, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

With my new camera I am trying to both learn it and stretch myself this year.. I am not going to open up a new blog for photography. I will put up more photos on Twitter and on the facebook page on a more daily base if you want to see more of them.

However for the blog, I am limiting myself to two days a week for extra posts that are photography related.

Monday’s will have a quick post with a bit of a write up related to the Dogwood 52 photo challenge for 2019.  We get a “ask” each week that over the year pushes us in different ways to explore beyond our normal..  As each week ends on the Saturday and a new one starts on Sunday, I am making Monday the day I post that single chosen photo.

I might add in a couple of others at times to talk about what went right, what went wrong and or the runner-up..

However I am both looking forward and just trying to make sure I get out there and take more photos, it’s a good thing to get outside more, walk more, move more..  and while there are times I can work the photos into different posts.

There are many more times I can’t.. So Thursday’s are going to become the “farmgal’s photo share day.. the odds are good that most time it will be a double post day, with a second post more homestead related.

If there is any interest, I am thinking of opening one of those shops site that would allow me to upload a favorite photo and have my readers order things with it one it?

or perhaps the readers can vote at the end of the month on their favorite photo and I will put together a Farmgal Calender that can be ordered as a gift.

We will see..

On with the show 🙂

Faith Kitty, she is not as perfect as a split face as her momma was.. but she is sure fluffy in her winter coat.

Dezbot is coming three and she is finally starting to fill out that long lean body of hers, we had fresh snow overnight creating these perfect clean backgrounds, its was lightly snowing, I had to have the camera in a baggy which really messed some shots up.. its hard to see but I love the sugar snow dusting on her face.

Marie came running up on a recall and did this smiling pose of me..  love the depth of color in her blacks with the mix of her white/snow white..

While this one was taken over the Christmas holiday’s I am still including it in this first weeks round-up.. it’s also taken just after a fresh snowfall and while I like a number of things about it, I do love the bird but I loved the gentle arc of the branch as her perch 🙂

Last but not least is my Dalmatian fish, I know that it seems like a simple photo but between trying to take a good photo of something that moves all the time, with a sheet of glass between us.. trust me when I say, there were a lot of photos taken to get this one.. still it was a interesting challenge for me.

So which one of the five is your favorite and why? Honorable mention?

Posted in photography | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments