Spring in 30 days.. hmmm

Posted on February 22, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

What a odd thought that spring is to be here in 30 days..  I am taking my Elderberry and a few other things to help with how I am feeling but I have been hit with the “bug” and I have  been down and out sleeping a lot. I am grateful for both my mom and hubby for covering for me and letting me get that extra rest.

Its made a difference in how hard its effected me so far, I putter, do this and that chore.. rest and repeat.. works well with the extra help..  I also got in a really loved visit with a dear friend a few hours that was wonderful.

I have my breeding pens of birds all done up for the year.. I will look forward to collecting my pure breed eggs and setting them to increase my flock size this year.. Hopefully I will get a few more nice roosters out of the girls.

I looked at my spaces and boy the house is full with my mom moving in and given her lung issues I decided that I would “farm” out my tomato and pepper starts to a local person who has a massive commercial greenhouse and save my much smaller outside seed starting area for other things.. I have ordered a total of 72 plants in a mix of all old heritage tomato’s and peppers. I hope to get side green house built onto the east facing side of the croft this year.

One of the really good things about this year is that we have had lots of deep cold which will help reduce my garden bug population in ways that be a good thing in spring, but the weather has been effecting my worms as well.. they are breeding very slow indeed where as most of the time by end of Feb, they are much more active.

I have the urge to prune, the urge to start seeds and to dig out pots and so forth but its just a touch to early for my Zone 5 area.. the weird weather has me wanting to get started but I am holding myself back.. its winter and I know it yet.

For two days we had a cold steady light rain.. nothing hard, no flooding in my area (but other parts of Ontario were not so lucky, we have had big flooding, we have had homes flooded and people being bused out and most sadly, we had a mom caught in a flood in a car that got her and her toddler out but then lost the toddler to the river.. they are searching for the wee body.. I hope for the parents and family sake that they find him)

We have had very slick roads by the farm, hubby left for work in the 4 by 4 and was not far from us when he found a person slide in the ditch and he stopped and picked him up and took him to his brother in laws to get help.. he said even our truck was slipping and sliding a bit..  he missed his first bus but caught the second.  I love that we live in a area that folks stop for each other and give a hand.

For the farm at least, the rain has melted the ice on the paths but has not been enough to melt the snow pack off the gardens and such. This means that its in fact safer to move around the farm at the moment..

It also uncovered lots of manure.. I swear spring on the farm is mud, more mud and so much poo! Still no new babies to report, just fat expecting momma sheep and goats..  We have had a few rabbit litters that have been used at a young age for raw feeding.

The manure will be dealt with in three ways, some of it will be raked and spread over the pasture, some will be picked up by hand and then put into No Man’s Land where it will compost down and slowly continue to build up that area in height..  and the rest will go into creating the 2018 compost piles for future garden and food forest use.

I think I will use all my rabbit poo from this winter in the food forest this year.. going to bed down around the lines of productive hedge rows.

Are you looking at your compost piles and planning your garden? are you looking at your manure pile growing behind the barn? what you got plans for it this year? If you have rabbit, where are you planning on putting it directly onto.. your flower beds (I did that last year with great results) your climber garden (that was mine two years ago) or ??

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Red Grape Pie

Posted on February 19, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

Red Grape Pie came about because its yummy and those grapes needed to be used up. You see somehow huge awesome seeded grapes came into the house.. and there they sat.. because opps seeded.

So they were not getting eaten and I happened to have “just” enough left over pie dough in the fridge that I wanted to use up.. so Red Grape Pie was calling..

Red Grape Pie

  • 1 bag of grapes (split in half and seeded out if required)
  • half a cup of sugar
  • a quarter cup of flour
  • 1/2 tsp of Salt
  • 1/2 tsp of nutmeg
  • 1 tsp of cinnamon
  • 2 tbsp. of butter into smaller pats

Rinse your grapes and cut in half if big or leave whole if small enough, if you like a wetter pie filling, you can reduce your flour to 2 Table Spoon’s The way its made, the pie holds together but eat grape half bursts with juice as you eat it, this keeps a crispy crust, the wonderful spicy flavour in the thicker filling and the bite of juice in the grape..

Mix your sugar, flour, salt and spices together in a bowl, then pour of the cut grapes and mix together and place in your bottom prepared with pie dough pie plate, add your pats of butter over the top of the pie, then top with crust or make a lattice pattern.

Enough pie dough for top and bottom

Bake at 350 in a pre-heated oven till golden and middle is bubbling.. about 45 min give or take. Can be served warm or cold, plain or with whipped cream or ice cream.

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Sunshine.. then rain and more rain they say!

Posted on February 19, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

First they said that it we were going to get a two day ice storm, then the temps went up and they say they will keep going up and now while this morning and part of the afternoon are warm (so warm for Feb at a plus 6 with bright sunshine) they say the rain is coming!

However Right now! Sunshine is calling us to the deck, ok so we are still wearing our jackets LOL The Hounds enjoyed the time on the deck with us. I did a bit of training with the girls.. The Bot is as smart as a whip.. and game for anything coming her way..

Miss Marie was willing to work for her cookies but then settled down for a nap at my feet, she is my more mature girl now.. funny to think of her that way.. when she was the baby of the house for so many years.

My momma’s little girl is slowly becoming one of the pack.. its taking some time but they are all getting along very well over the past months, it will be easier once spring arrives. The two bigger girls play quite different then the wee peanut does.. Who quite turned her nose up at my sweet potato baked treats that my girls adore.

Well, I will spend the better part of the afternoon prepping in case the rain they say is coming does arrive, as they are warning of flooding.. there is not a lot of extra’s to do in case of overland flooding, the ground is frozen so if it melts the snow pack and as much rain as they say comes, we will have a above ground flood of water, because really where is it going to go.. it can’t soak in and it takes time for it to drain away.

We will See..  its family day in Ontario.. which means not much is open today, poor hubby works across the river on the Quebec side so he still had to go into work but many of his co-workers took the day off and so its very quiet. The roads were super quiet as well and they are not running the regular working bus’s so he had to drive a bit further then normal to get to where the bus’s did run from.

I am loving listening to my roosters crowing today and my hens all singing in this fine mock spring weather 🙂

Have a great day.. what is the weather doing in your neck of the woods?

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Ice Car Race Day and Elderberry Syrup

Posted on February 19, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

Now you might not think those two go together.. but they do..

First, it was Ice Car Race Day, so up this morning to Shake a leg and get the morning chores done before we bundled up to drive over to the local Ice car races!

We were there to Cheer some dear friends of ours on, I raced last year but not this year.. In total we had three folks we knew racing.. two had some pretty bad car trouble and one just rocked it.. first place in his heat, placed Second in the semi-final (only top three go to finals) and even though he drew last place on the pegs for the final, with a full run of eight cars, he still made second place!! WHOOOOOOTTTT! My voice is a bit sore from cheering!

While Nobody flips their cars this year or caught on fire (well a little one in the pit after a race) strangely this year.. so many folks lost tires.. and more then a few folks had did not make it out of the races under their own steam LOL

What was to be a mild day with light wind and sun, turned out to be 90 percent cloudy day, some light snow, a kicking wind.. A cold wind.. a bite you though four layers, pants, hot socks in winter boots, wrapped in a sleeping back kind of wind..  we even had a tarp that one of our group brought that was tied to the metal stands, I do not even want to think how bitter it would have been without it help cut the wind on our back but not our legs as that can under the seats. It was cold enough that we saw our breaths.. Hubby was warm, he was wearing his Canadian Goose Down Jacket (he took the hood down for the photo above) and he wore his skidoo overalls under it and hot socks in his minus 30 boots..  I clearly should have cracked out the Canadian Goose coat as well instead of thinking my four layers of shirt, sweater, flannel fall coat and then regular winter jacket was going to cut it.. but you see I foolishly believe the weather man and wanted to be able to remove layers.. brrrr.. I needed more layers..

And given that one of those we came to cheer went all the way to final’s.. we were there from start to the very end 🙂 and I am glad we did so.. but folks were sick around us, it was cold and no one can spend that many hours without getting a bit of a chill.. it just is..

So that bring me to the Elderberry part.. I am hitting my Elderberry Syrup at preventive rates for the next 24 to 48 hours just to be on the careful side..  I also happen to have a number of trays of sprouts at perfect readiness that I had rinsed this morning and moved into fridge keeping, I will eat 4 to 6 oz of fresh sprouts for the next three days as well.

And I hope it will mean that I do not get sick and if I do get sick, I know it will go a long way towards making it be shorter then it could have been.. we will see.. the biggest bonus, Elderberry Syrup tastes amazing! Its flavour is outstandingly yummy.

 

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Some Days go as planned.. others.. not so much..

Posted on February 17, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

So I had a plan for the day and then it changed..  It happens..

Just starting to soak up the water and open up

I was to have a quiet relaxed day with a big old Chinese meal for supper.. It sounded nice when it was planned..

We did sleep in, that was lovely to be honest. You forget just how many times the older critters get you up in the night when they don’t feel good, they need outside more often, they wake you up needing comfort or you hear them moan a touch when they shift on their bed.  Last night was the first night in months that I slept a solid six hours and it meant that I woke up with more energy then I expected.

I started puttering and puttering turned into a full day of work and chore’s. Suddenly we were cleaning house, loads of laundry, making doggy cookies (Sweet potato treats) shoveling decks, sweeping, baking a cake (Butter Pecan) roasting off lamb chops to have cold meat in the fridge. Hour by Hour slipped by with both of us in work mode. Stopping for drinks, a snack or lunch but then back at it..

Slowly as the day ran down it became clear that while we were getting lots done, we were not in the “mode” for a big dinner.. So be it.

We will have a Modified version of it, with lots of egg rolls, meat and veggies with dipping sauces..  It will be yummy I am sure.

We had our first pullet egg from last years late fall hatch of chicks, we got seven young hens out of the clutch and this is the first one to start laying. Hopefully the other six will start laying very soon as well and we will have lots of pullet eggs coming in to make some outstanding homemade pasta.

The weather today was fine with sunshine and just minus 3 with a cold wind. I am getting the garden urge something bad.. seeds are calling me..

I hope that you had a great day, be it the one you planned or be the one you had 🙂

 

 

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Moose team- Canadian History Bits and Bites

Posted on February 16, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

This moose team belonged to W.R. (Billy/Buffalo Bill) Day. They were found by a Metis near Baptiste Lake in 1910 and were reared by bottle and broken to drive by Mr. Day at Athabasca Landing during the winter of 1910. Mr. Day and the moose team hauled mail and supplies to Wabasca, Edmonton, Pelican Mountains, Calling Lake, Athabasca, Colinton, Rochester, Tawatinaw, Clyde, Legal, Carbondale and St. Albert. Buffalo Bill and his wife also ran a store at Calling Lake.

Photograph J.H. Gano; Mrs. L. Lyons fonds.

When this fun tidbit of info came out to me on my facebook feed, I did some digging an fact checking.. so cool.. some 100 year old Canadian triva for you 🙂

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Happy Chinese New Year

Posted on February 16, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

As I sit here with my red table with my truly beautiful flowers gracing it,  with flowering Violets in the window and we are starting a dino plant that was a gift for Valentines day and works perfectly for the Chinese New Year as it is a symbol for new life.

I have a lovely big cuppa of canned milk and honey tea in memory of my grandmother D on my mothers side. I can’t wait for it to be sheep’s rich milk instead of canned but we are waiting on lambs yet.

We are doing a few things for the first time in regards to Chinese New Year, we are keeping the red flowing in the main part of the house, we having our flowers, we are going to do a small area in memory of our passed loved ones and I will share later on a few other things.

The big one for today that I found interesting in my reading on things that you can do that is that of cleaning or sweeping away the past year, clearing your house of the past year and any negative that was there and opening your home, hearts and the new year in with the idea of it being cleaned, open and inviting good luck and happiness in.

Now that is a such a nice though regardless of culture or time of the year..

It struck a cord for me

As I got up today and my feet hit the side of the bed, a wave of sadness and grief flooded me because my old boy Zander was not sleeping on his bed at the side of my bed, he was a awesome cuddle boy on the bed but when you went to sleep, he would jump off and it didn’t matter where you moved his bed to in the room.. he slept beside the bed so that is where I would put his always and I would have to be so careful as my feet went down to not step on him and then he would jump up and push his head into my lap for his morning hello and pat.

Today.. just bare floor.. no greeting.. no happy smiling face

So yes indeed.. the idea of opening my home, my mind and my heart and giving it a airing out sounds wonderful..  Both my mom and hubby are willing to do so as well. So much loss (of dear friends, I have not posted about it, but there has been three deaths in the past six weeks within my friends circle) At some point I will talk about and show what I am going to plant in my gardens their memory.

The weather is working with me and its plus 4 today so we have windows open, letting in that sweet farm air, as well as the songs of the wild birds and the sounds of my critters who are enjoying this fine weather in their outside pens.

I have all the fixing’s gotten for a lovely feast of a meal that we will take part in, it was very interesting to come up with 8 dishes for the table.

More to follow..  may you stop today for a moment to remember and honor those you love or loved whether they leave you far to soon, pass in old age or in sickness.. you never know from day to day how long you will have with them.. each smile, each memory, each touch into others lives is a blessing..  a moment to give thanks for such blessing to be in your life.

 

 

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Bitter Sweet

Posted on February 15, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

Happy Valentines Day, On the Sweet Side was a lovely day here at the farm, it got above 0 so we had melting and the sun was shining. We had a beautiful table set for the day and I think I will leave it up most likely till the weekend or some version of it at least.

We had a pretty meal, stuffed chicken breasts with baked potato’s, peas, salad.. Mom’s dessert was a great fruit tray with chocolate sauce and I made a lemon heart shaped cake with lemon buttercream icing with dried lavender buds to give it a pop of color.

Mom got a pretty new scarf, roses, chocolates, Hubby got a stuffy(I love you frog) a new board game and the cutest plant yellow lab boot for the garden. I got a scarf, Chocolates and a cute little bear stuffy..

Mom had company over to join us for dinner and it was a nice visit.. all in all as good as could be.. After dinner we got a visit from Farm Helper #3 and as always she is a delight.

That was the sweet.. the bitter.. my oldest hound had a very poor day.. A very poor day indeed..  One of those days that after talking to hubby, the vet and so forth, it was agreed that as soon as we are ready, that its time.

Very Bitter indeed..  Its a sad day today at our farm..  you will be greatly missed..  This has always been my favorite photo of my Z-Boy..  in his prime, he got to come camping with us to friends cottage and we went swimming, boating an such. Old age had slowed him down in many ways but he was always the happiest sweetest cuddle buddy EVER!

 

Posted in Life moves on daily | 4 Comments

Cherry and Almond White Chocolate Bark

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

I am greatly looking forward to Valentines Day tomorrow, I have a pretty new red dress and plan on doing my hair (it’s normally in a pony or up on my head in some way) might even put on a bit of makeup LOL

Today however I have pulled meat and am cleaning house and prepping the cute little piles of gifts for my loved ones in the house and signing cards

White chocolate melting chips were gotten with crushed peppermint canes were gotten at Christmas time but with everything going on and me struggling with illness. nothing got done with is..

It seemed fitting to make a dried Cherry and Almond bark (and maybe a candy cane bark as well, after all it is still red and white with a bit of green in there:)

Simple and easy to make but a great showy little piece at the same time to serve on a tray  or break up and put in a pretty Valentine’s gift bag for after dinner party favours.

I used a serving tray with different sizes, I made the candy cane one long and thin bark and I made the other two loaded with dried cherries and almonds and made it twice as thick. Pick your tray be it a loaf pan, a pie pan or if push come shove, just make a mold out of your tin foil as long as it’s on a pick up board, plate.

The joy of making your own bark is you pick the kind of chocolate, you pick the filling, and you pick the thickness of the end product.. it’s all about what you like..

Melt your chocolate in a pot, bowl over top a pot of water or if you microwave, slow short bursts of heat and then stir till it’s all melted..  Please remember to get melting chocolate for this type of project, it just makes your life so much easier.

Pour over top.. shake your tin to settle the chocolate and then put in the freezer or fridge, in my case I put it out into a snow bank on one of my lawn chairs to freeze up.. Once its cooled and hardened back up, it will peel off the edges and be ready to just turn over.. Then you can cut it.. I like to cut it in half or thirds and then into triangles, it will break off uneven but give your nice looking pieces.

 

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FlapJacks Canadian- Northern Alberta Style.

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

This is a favorite Post of mine on the blog and so when I read that its pancake day on the net today, I wanted to re-share it with you.. Enjoy some high, fluffy golden Flapjacks today 🙂

I was born and raised in albert and one of my foods that I remember from my childhood is Flapjacks, my mom did not just believe in these for a hearty breakfast, they could be used for any meal, they could be used in lunches and they could be used as both a basic or a o my goodness WOW treat..

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My Beloved Mother on one of our mother-Daughter trips, did you laugh, I mean flapjacks, Canada, beaver.. LOL

Our Flapjacks where made on this huge cast iron griddle that hung on a wall and was only brought out for them.. Never do I remember anything else being cooked on that cast iron, I know now it was to preserve that perfect flip, I struggle in my own cast iron to keep the ideal non stick when used for other things, and someday, maybe I will be lucky enough to find or buy a flapjack pan..

Our flapjacks where always thick, if they did not rise at least half a inch, they were considered.. ok, but not near fluffy enough 🙂

They could be topped in so many ways.. a dippy egg, or sugar and cinnamon or hot buttered rum syrup, canned fruit in any pie filling form, or lemon custard.

If it was for breakfast, it tended to be fruit, or syrups, if it was supper, dippy egg was more norm, if it was a snack, buttered and rolled, or peanut butter or jam..

But there was one dessert treat that always sticks out in my mind.. it was a pancake treat from my mothers childhood that was passed down to us..

Fresh hot pancake, brown sugar and fresh thick raw cream drizzled on top.. O my.. it was so good, but it only worked because we had our own cow..

DSCN4536

Our Flapjacks were the truly basic kind.

My current recipe is this..

3 Cups of milk (whole), 2 eggs, 2 tbsp. of melted butter, 3 cups of flour, 2 tbsp. of baking powder, a good pinch of salt.. Mix and cook on a med hot griddle..

My mother says the tradional one is this.

2 cups flour, 2tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt, one and half tbsp. of sugar, mix together in a bowl, then one egg in a well in the middle, large mixing spoonful of oil (approx. quarter cup) and then milk to make correct thickness of batter.

And for holidays, ten times this recipe of the dry and it will make one icecream pail full of batter, I come from a large family..

Grandmas pancake syrups recipe from the farm

Two cups of brown sugar, one cup of water, bring to boil, and simmer for five min, remove from stove and add half a tsp of maple flavour, can be used hot or cold..  (was also be used over top of rice pudding) Very running but good flavour

So what is your pancakes like.. do you like them thin, almost crepe like, or do you like thick fluffy flapjacks, what is your favorite topping. Do you have any favorite memories from your childhood on this food item.

 

 

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