Rolled Stuffed Roast

Posted on October 14, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

 

Rolled Stuffed Roast with Garlic Mashed and Gravy.. Its one of those “I love you babe” meals to my hubby..  This photo is of his plate.. No veggies required, just extra gravy please.

I have a few different things thawing out in the fridge in regards to our farms meat, one of them was a very small uneven roast.. Those pretty roasts you get at the store are all neatly trimmed, this cut of meat would have most likely ended up stew meat or thin quick cook steaks if gotten at the store.

I was trying to decide what to make with it, I already had a massive pot of potato ready to go, I wanted to put lots of cold cooked spuds in the fridge for later use. Saturday was a cooler day, it was a hunt for the goat morning, a supply run around in town and then a working afternoon with saws, hammers, ladders and screwdrivers.  I wanted to be able to put dinner in the oven and forget about it while I got a bit of late fall mowing in.  The plants had dropped their seeds and I could finally give that area a trim without effecting next years crop.

I went.. hmm stuffed rolled roast! out came the knife to slice it open, the meat whacker (I used the line side) and flattened it out as much as possible.. it gave me a very uneven piece of meat but I just kept working it till I knew it could come together if it was tightly wrapped in a piece of tinfoil for the baking.. This was not a pretty one that tieing off was going to get the job done.

Made the stuffing and rolled it up and into the tinfoil it went.. rolled tightly, and end side down and into a 375 oven..  It smelled awesome filling the house with this yummy scents. I took some of the potato’s and whipped them into a creamy garlic mashed and made a pot of beef gravy with a mix of the beef drippings/potato water with some bone broth.

Honestly, I should have added veggies to this, but it was late, I was tired and we were having fresh fruit for dessert.. sometimes you need to look at the whole day’s menu’s for balance.

Stuffed rolled roast is a easy way to create a meal that is going to make your meat eaters happy for a moist flavourful dish. Do give it a try!

 

Posted in Life moves on daily | 7 Comments

Jack.. JACK!.. hmmm

Posted on October 13, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

We had a break out of the big barn.. Jack our very stinky in rut buck got out of his area in the big barn (trust me.. you do not want a in rut buck stinking up, well where ever he is..

The female goats are in the little barn, far from his stink..  None the less, he got out and then …

HE WENT WALK ABOUT..

Now I  have always said if a critter is not happy with their farm.. they CAN always find a way out.. if they are happy with you, their herd, their home.. they will not try and leave.. they will “choose” to not find those weak spots lol

Well Jack said.. HORMONES RULE and off he went..

We found him missing when it was already dark and so we walked in the dark with flashlights and then we drove around.. nothing.. so we put a female out in with the sheep flock and we set the alarm for the breaking of dawn to see if he came home..

NOTHING! back to driving, back to walking, back to calling..

NOTHING.. we are now about six plus hours into looking for him.. Jason is still out looking for him.. I have headed into the house to make coffee..

When what do I spot.. a wee little white car whipping in my driveway.. out the door I go.. Hi, any change you are here because you have my GOAT?

Why yes.. he is X up the road at the barn.. Thank you, Thank you.. Call hubby back, grab feed bucket, grab lead ropes and off we go.

We get there and nothing.. (they did not try and catch him, just took his picture and came to see if we were missing him) so we make the “call” Hey Sheepieeeee and rattle the bucket.. out of the woods he comes..

Right up for a treat and a horn grab, lead on.. into the back of the truck we go as I pray.. DO NOT PEE IN THE BACK OF THE TRUCK!

He was so happy to be home.. you could just see the ah.. I don’t think he liked getting lost anymore then we liked having a missing goat!

Back home again, Home Again!

Thank you for farming folks that don’t panic when a critter shows up, they just go, who is closest that has X critters and come to see if you are missing one LOL

Posted in goat | 2 Comments

Friday’s Around the kitchen table.

Posted on October 12, 2018 by Just another day on the farm


Grab a coffee. make a tea, come sit down and join me at the kitchen table today.

There was a saying that my mom told me for many years, heck she still does..

Mrs. Panco used say.. “Come in.. Come in, Lots of coffee, not much bread..” Mrs Panco was my grandmothers friend, who owned farm down the way from theirs.

As I have listened to the news this week, listened as the scientists say changes must be made now and over the next 12 years or else. As I hear about the storm that has hit down low in the states, in an area that had not had any chance of recovery since the last storm three weeks ago.  As I hear about the weather related issues world wide..

As I listen to the local news talk about the fact that at 3 weeks, the folks that are giving their time to the recover effort due to our (six, the information and damage grew since my last post) of tornado’s that came down in that big storm in my own area of the Ottawa Valley.

As I dealt with a reader(and I use that term loosely) who decided to “spam” my comment section about my lifestyle choice, mainly eating meat.. but who went right off the deep end as they went from the more standard writing in regards to animals have feelings to death threats and some really creative ones for me and my loved ones.  Sorry dear readers, that is why my comment section is still moderated..   I was never so glad that none of that mess made it to the blog comment section, delete/mark as spam.. Repeat.

I picked pinecones with hubbies help for the cutest little fall project to share with you, I worked and created new recipes to share, I am excited about working with fellow bloggers to give a “collective” blog post next week. I have moved though my days in a normal way..

But deep in my mind its been mulling, its been stirring.. and I am breaking the rules for a blog (stay on topic, haha, when do I ever follows rules perfectly).. I am getting personal, I am getting a bit political. All things that will no doubt see my reader numbers go down just like posting C5’s did.

None the less.. it’s going to be a F-it Friday post..

“Come in, Come in.. Lots of Coffee.. Not much Bread”

What did that mean.. well it meant, we welcome you to our home, our farm as we understand its important to be part of the community, we offer you a hot drink but we have little food.. we can give you a little but don’t ask for more, please.. it would hurt us if we gave you more as we have little.

See.. I know that is what it really meant.. but it means more to me these days..

What are “we” as a group of people who are living right now! and those that will be working together, living together, while dealing with the coming future that is staring us right in the face..

Are we going to say.. Come in, Come In..

As a country? As a province? As a political party? As a community? As a person?

Are we going to say..  Lots of Coffee

Will we be there, offering a hot drink? A warm Blanket? or a shelter?  or are we going to be circle the wagon’s? Build the walls?

Can we find a way to meet in the middle, can we do what is right while still holding the line? and just how will we be judged for it? in the future.

Lots of coffee.. in a time and place where we sell our water to company’s that sell it back to us at hundreds of times more in plastic bottles, that tell us “water is not a human right”

Lots of coffee… in a time and place where algae blooms are covering massive amounts of our great lakes at times in our year.

Lots of Coffee.. in a time and place where there are places where collecting “rain” water is being made illegal as its owned by the government.

Lots of Coffee.. in a time and place where my local county is watching to see what will happen up the way county on if they are going to be able to place water usage trackers on private farm wells.. so they can send you a bill for the water you use on a private owned and run well.

Not much Bread..

Not Much Bread.. Such a lie.. and Such a truth all in one..

Not Much Bread if you don’t have the money to buy it, to store it..  Trust me for the 1 percent.. It’s not a matter of let them eat cake.. they are far more aware of thing now. They know what they are doing.. I know that is a hard one to swallow.  Stick in our throats, I know it does in mine but say it again.. THEY KNOW what they are doing!

Not much bread… because we throw it away at the end of the day.. its starting to change, France has made it illegal to throw out useable food from stores, they must direct it to either people in need or livestock. But in my country.. so much waste, so much food thrown out.

Not much bread… Do you even want to eat the bread? Don’t snarl at me on this one.. I know, I know.. I had someone I love sit at my table and look me straight in the eye and say, I will buy the X food because its cheaper..  The needs for now out way what the future will bring.

Not much bread.. Flip bread to Meat/milk/eggs.. they say we must lower what we eat by 90 percent, we must eat more beans/pea/lentil’s  As a gardener and a farmer this makes me growl.. I grow these beans, pea’s and lentil’s. I know how much land, care and water they require. I also raise backyard hens and I know what they need to give me the eggs, the very eggs they tell me that I should not have anymore.

Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water..  No one wants to admit that small farming, small holding, mixed farming has a place in this.. but that is a different post on a different F-it Friday.

Not much bread.. not true on our farm, in my home, or on my table at this time..  however I know that is not true already for millions in the world, 38,000 in my closest local city and by the hundreds in my small local towns. They already struggle..

Not much bread.. Will there be a time when that is a truth here?

Its possible, I can’t grow wheat on the farm very easily..  perhaps someday, I will say..

“Come in, Come in.. Lots of Hot Tea and not much Bean/Potato/Apple/Rhubarb/Squash.”

My coffee cup is empty and I am just a little bit sad but also feel better for having let it out, for having the will to share.. and now the urge to get up and do fills me.. So that is what must happen.. time for me to do..

Bless you all that made it to the end of this post 🙂

 

 

Posted in At the kitchen table | Tagged | 12 Comments

Garden Review 2018 -Willow Creek Farm

Posted on October 11, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

We had an AMAZING garden experience this year! More bountiful by far than previous years, which we had felt were very bountiful themselves. Gardening is one of my favorite parts of homesteading. It is very satisfying to grow your own food. You put in all the hard work and hope in the spring, tend it through the summer, and then more hard work of harvesting and putting it up and seeing your dreams come to fruition. Then all winter you get to enjoy the fruits of your labors! It is a beautiful cycle.

via Garden Review 2018

How lovely to read this great overview on the garden year at Willow Creek Farms Blog! I love sharing blog posts from folks that I have been reading for years 🙂  I am so pleased that they had a wonderful garden year.  Her post started with such joy and yes.. it is a beautiful cycle.

So pop on over on the link and have a read on how their garden year did?

Posted in Life moves on daily | 1 Comment

Fresh Creamy Horseradish Sauce

Posted on October 11, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

It the perfect time of year to head out and dig out some fresh new horseradish root.  The first year root is still so young, smaller flexible, and much less heat than second year roots will be.

 

Do you grow horseradish in your garden? While it is a bad spreader and once its in an area, it’s there for life.. its such a great plant to have.  Forget about the roots LOL, it’s the greens that are going to be the whole gardening eating plant.

I adore my horse-radish greens, eating them fresh for around seven months of the year and using them in my cooking for the winter time as a dried green (it replaces Basil perfectly in recipes)

However today in the light rain, I headed out to a compost pile and dug out a lovely this year’s root that was came out close to two feet long but narrow.. a quick scrub, a little bit of end trimming and a touch of the peeler as required and cut into smaller pieces and into the grinder it went..

I wanted to clean out my nose LOL

Helpful Hint, Watch your hands well after working with horseradish and do not touch your eyes 🙂

I got a lovely pile of fresh grated horseradish, it was a little baby root so it only made half a cup.

Creamy  Horseradish Sauce

  • half a cup of freshly grated horseradish
  • half a cup of prepared Mayo
  • 1/4 tsp of salt, pepper
  • 1 tbsp. of sugar (this is something we like but you can skip it if you want)

That’s it folks.. mix it up and put it into jars with lids and into the fridge to meld.. best after it has at least a few hours to a day to meld. In this case, I want it to make a dish that is coming to the blog.

However it works for side relish for meats, including darker meats like beef or wild game. It also works really nicely on sandwiches as a thin spread in replacement of mustard.

Also can mix this in a bit of salad dressing for a added zip to your fall cabbage salad

 

Posted in food, Food in jars, Garden | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

Ground Cherry Apple Pie Recipe

Posted on October 10, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

 

This pie is so simple to make and it got rave reviews, everyone says that the ground cherries tasted like little hit of peach in this apple pie..

I am comfortable saying that is pretty to serve, easy to make (really easy) and that the flavour combo worked very well. Want to know more about Ground Cherries?

Growing Ground Cherries in the garden

Ground Cherry Apple Pie Recipe

  • 6 cups of peeled, sliced cored apples
  • 2 cups of ground cherries (husk’s removed)
  • 2 tbsp. of flour
  • 1/4th cup of brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp. of chopped finely diced candied dried ginger
  • 1 tbsp. of cinnamon
  • 1 tsp. of ginger
  • 1 pinch of nutmeg or all spice.

Ok, you will need enough pie dough to make either a top and bottom or a like in this one, a bottom shell with an open lattice top.

In a bowl mix everything listed above, then pour into your bottom shell. Add you top of choice, if solid. don’t forget to cut a couple of air holes into the top of the pie crust 🙂

Bake at 350 for 50 min.

(normally my pies are ready at 45 min but this one took the extra five min) Can be served warm or cold..  It got tried both ways but while apple pie get the voice for warm.. this pie got the vote for cold better..  Tried it both ways and tell me what you think?

 

 

 

Posted in Baking, Life moves on daily | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

A little C5 Update

Posted on October 10, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

C5 got a new post up on his site  Dark Green Mountain Survival Research Center. For those that have not gone to his site before. C5 is a fellow Canadian homesteader, blogger and prepper/survival… sort off.. really he is a work it, get it done.. doing is more important then talking kind of guy.. (he also has a wild sense of writing, he is not PC and most of the time he is a PG13 at a min).  just read when the littles are not around..  🙂

C5 Rule Of Survival- Any essential project will cost twice as much and take three times as long

This rule is the truth and then some.. I know it well, we work with it the same on this farm.. I have to admit that I laughed out loud on this line..

If I was going to be conscripted into this job, I had a few requirements of what the end result would be. #1- It needed to be able to be raised by one person alone, without a tractor or mechanical assistance. #2- It needed to be able to survive a Hurricane or Bomb Cyclone. #3- It needed to be able to be taken down for maintenance or repair and most importantly, It needed to be able to be taken down right in the middle of a storm if things get too much and it had to be able to be done by one person without mechanical assistance. No biggy. I can pull that off….. cough.

I mean it, I laughed so loud the dogs looked at me.. then I got up and made a coffee and sat back down to read his post.. one of the things about C5’s post is that they are long, and they always need a couple readings, spaced apart by days or weeks.. he sends you down rabbit holes on reading.. he makes you snarl, he makes you go.. WHAT?? and then I am off on google digging to track the info and see if I can go.. well that source is totally slanted.

Or I read the link and go.. yup.. I read up on that last week or last month..  Its a rare day that he does not have a fresh take or a fresh way of looking at something that I am already mulling.

I had to admit that I did have a moment of.. hmm on the mechanical assistance, because we have hired more” machine” help this year then we have in the past ten and I will be getting at least a few more in this year and next..  Its a trade off of money vs time.

There are things on the farm that are bigger projects and I need them done in a timely manner and the big machines can do in a matter of hours what would take us 100’s of man hours in some cases.  I am feeling a push to get a few bigger things done and I am bring in the big machines to help make it happen.

Having said that, its quite different then what he means on his own project. my projects will finish up needing only our own hands in the end.. its just saves us man hours.

On a side note, I was talking to someone who has off-grid power and they had been somewhere that had off-grid power based on water power.. a long term way to power things.. its so steady when built right compared to solar power.  I know my hubby really wants solar, and I am open to a point.. but only to a point..  we are still talking..

Anyway, enjoy the video of how he figured out how to make a wind tower that can be safely moved up and down for extreme weather events and if you want to read more about the process in detail, head on over to his very long, detailed and lots of photos write up

 

 

 

 

Posted in At the kitchen table, Blogging | Tagged , | 12 Comments

Aunt Molly Ground Cherries

Posted on October 9, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

Lets Talk about Ground Cherries, also called Huck Berries or Cape Gooseberries.  This is a plant that you should be growing if you have room to do so.

positives, it grows very well in a permaculture type garden, it is an easy to start early plant to get the best results. Native Bee’s like it, it very tasty and its seed are easy to collect and save. From Seed to producing in 65 to 70 days and goes till frost.

Extra bonus: keep up to three months in its husk! This means that its a excellent fresh keeping fruit for those that are looking to grow 0 mile fruits.  There are very few fruits that can be held at a basic room temp for weeks to months with no preserving required.

So my average garden growth year is approx. 120 days, that means that started early this plant is producing the first fruits on day 70 of that season.. and it continues to produce fruit for 50 days or till last frost..  we are still bringing in bowls full of them in mid oct.. and with the weather depending, we will pick the rest in the next two weeks..

Given they will keep three months that means we will have them as fresh fruit available to us till the end of jan! This is up there with storage apples..

This is ONE OF THEM! and that makes it a gold star fruit in my garden.

What do they taste like.. they sweeten as they age but its like a hit of sweet peach/pineapple with under hints of citrus. I have never seen anyone not go back for more once they try these fresh, put a bowl out of them and soon enough, folks will have little piles of husks as they enjoy them.

Downside : they are space hogs, they easily will take a 4 by 4 spot in the garden per plant, they require regular picking at least weekly at a min. For anyone that does like to have their stuff touch the ground, this can be a issue as when its ready the slightest touch on the plant or wind will cause the plant to drop the fruit to the ground (which I figure is how it got the name ground cherry to be honest)

If you want them seedless you can strain the seeds out for jelly, juice or syrup. I like to leave the skin and the seeds in when I make jam..  Its truly a amazing jam. It can be used as a relish on the side for meats or in a sandwich for a dressing.  The above is the jam, its was cooked and then hit with the stick blender.. I love the color of this jam.. so bright, so fresh.

 

Posted in Food Storage, Garden | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

October Unprocessed 2018

Posted on October 8, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

 

Once again we are taking place in the October Unprocessed challenge this year in 2018.  Its honestly not that hard to do on the farm and with our lifestyle.

https://eatingrules.com/october-unprocessed/

The “Kitchen Test” Definition

The first question I’m always asked is, “How do you define unprocessed?”
Obviously there’s a wide range of implications in that word, and we will probably each define it slightly differently for ourselves. My definition is this:

Unprocessed food is any food that could be made by a person with reasonable skill in a home kitchen with whole-food ingredients.

I call it “The Kitchen Test.” If you pick up something with a label (if it doesn’t have a label, it’s probably unprocessed), and find an ingredient you’d never use in your kitchen and couldn’t possibly make yourself from the whole form, it’s processed.

It doesn’t mean you actually have to make it yourself, it just means that for it to be considered “unprocessed” that you could, in theory, do so.

It does limit us on a few things in terms of eating out.. Its very hard to eat out and truly stay to the unprocessed meal plan. Something little will slip in on what seems like a dish that would meet the requirements.

We are currently on day 8 and other then our cold meds we have both taken, we are firmly on yes! we are being successful! I will update weekly only on the challenge, we are going to be focused more on fall idea’s.  I will try and do one unprocessed meal recipe per week for oct.

And I am already one week behind lol..

Posted in October Unprocessed | Tagged | 3 Comments

Fall Green Harvesting

Posted on October 8, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

The part of the yard that was exposed after all the tree’s came out has had a total regrowth..  there was clearly a spot where birds where sitting after snacking in the garden,

as we had a number of tomato, ground cherry plants come up. We have no idea at all on what kind of tomato they are, but they are starting to bloom, We are going to put a moveable hoop house over them to keep out the frost till I can at least figure out what kind of tomato’s they are ideally. as for the ground cherries, not sure what I can do about them.. they are such a large plant.

we also had wild mustard, wild violets that are growing like spring and are in bloom. Baby horse radish greens and burdocks are coming up in droves. So as strange as it seems, at the start of oct, I am harvesting and drying greens in the house like its spring.

Given we had such a poor spring (it went from cold to high heat) its lovely to get a longer extended fall here on the farm! I just wish I had been able to plant more things at the regular timing in aug (but the ground was dry dust at the time LOL) so that didn’t happen.

Topping up jars of dried greens is a very good thing.

So how is your fall this year? are you like my dear friends and family in the west.. early hard cold winter has arrived (in many cases before the crops have been taken off) or are you living in a more moderate climate and your fall garden is going well?

Did you get your typical fall rains? We did not..

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