Slowing Down--Sorta

I was scheduled to work all this week, but with the weather being whatever it is, the schools have been closed.  This causes me not to have to work, but also to have two VERY bored children in the house.  They have hit the ages of "We don't want to play together", and so now come to me individually to complain that there's nothing to do.  When I suggest that they play together, the suggestion is met with derision.  Forget mentioning things like cleaning out their closets or toyboxes no one plays with anymore.  HA!  So....I give up.  Instead, yesterday I did what any good mom would do--hid in the kitchen and made chicken stock.  Oh, and a cake.  Don't forget the cake.

This, my friends, is the ULTIMATE gingerbread cake.  Dark and chewy and spicy goodness.  Not for the faint of heart.  The house smelled amazing while it was baking.

Yep, it seems my little cherubs have hit the "difficult" stage.  Joy and happiness.  On Sunday we went to cut down our Christmas tree, like we do every year, only to have both children cry about it at one point or another as they could not agree on a tree.  My husband and I finally had to declare that this year my son would choose, as my daughter chose last year, and that we would alternate year to year.  This made my son happy, but not my daughter, who cried and cried and cried.  It made for a difficult day, and I declared more than once I was just going to go down to the Agway next year and pull one off the lot, instead of having everyone upset.

Yep, I handled THAT masterfully.

Oh well.  We brought the tree home, and put it in the stand, and then I proceeded to upset the whole turnip cart, because this year I put on clear lights.

Dum dum daDUM!!

We were a colored lights family, my friends--for years.  And I always liked them.  But a few years ago, I looked at the tree and thought "I betcha I would really like that tree with clear lights".  And then every year thereafter I thought the same thing, but did nothing about it.  This year I finally went for it. 

And the kids complained like it was going out of style.

.....At first.

I asked them to wait and see.  I was thinking if they really hated it, I could just unlight the dang thing and start all over again with the colored lights if necessary.  But then the ornaments started to be put on.  And all of a sudden, it was "Oh! The tree is glowing!" and "I can see all the ornaments!"  and "It's so pretty!" and "I'm glad you changed them, I like the clear lights better".  And mommy-o here did an inner smirk and passed out the glass balls.

And it is, indeed, pretty.

The tree was the last piece to be put on.  The rest of the decorating was done last week, and I have to say this for a small house: it may be very difficult to find places to put things, but it is much easier to decorate.

In our last house, which was considerably larger, decorating was a three day affair.  Here?  Ha!  One day, if that. 

 

A couple of surfaces....

 

Put some things in the open bookshelves....

Done!!

And it looks pretty.  The other nice thing about coming from a larger house is that I have SO many decorations, I can pick and choose what I want to use (heh, that rhymed).  It can be overwhelming, but it means I don't have to add anything, and it looks full nonetheless.  Yeay!!

Other than the decorating and work, things have been pretty slow.  The animals are all on "maintenance" right now, as it's too cold or crappy to do much, so it's been the routine of feeding, watering, milking, putting in, taking out, that sort of thing.  Most of my time is spent indoors, thinking of what to do.  I'll be honest--I'm not good at "slow".  Though I can sit with a cuppa and relax to some music (John Denver and the Muppets, anyone?  We are HUGE fans here), eventually I just want to do SOMETHING.  I'd rather be insanely busy than sitting around, that's the truth of it.  But it's the time of the year when we're meant to slow down--look at any cat, and you'll see this is the time of year to just do nothing.

 

Exhibit A--Phynn.
The incidence of cat "deaths" this time of year is particularly high.  Very sad.  :(

 

Exhibit B--Icky

I wish I could take a leaf from a cat's book and just do what they do, as I need to slow down, if only to recuperate for next year.  But UGH!  I'm not going quietly, that's for dang sure.  This year I am having a tough time.  I am trying to find things to keep myself busy, even if it's only a little busy, but it's not really working.  Last year I got so bored, I painted the kitchen cabinets.  This year there are no cabinets to paint.  This will not be an easy winter, I think.

But enough complaining.  While I've been trying to keep occupied, I have whittled away at my project list.  Coming in at number 5, I have that snowman pillow that you saw the beginning of here.  I admit, this one was a softball, compared to that cross stitch.  I simply sat one day for about an hour and did it.  Here he is, sitting with a friend:

 

This is a pattern from the Better Homes and Gardens magazine that comes out yearly, Holiday Crafts.  This one (I think) was from 2010.  I had seemingly cut out the snowman's head, nose, earmuffs, and part of the scarf, and then put it away, thinking I'd remember what the pieces were for.  Ha!  I gave myself too much credit.  I found the bits last month and had no idea what they were--that'll show me.  Only after digging through the magazines I have did I figure it out.  Since I am not leaving any projects hanging around this year, I put him together and here he is!  I've done a lot of those pillows from that magazine.  They are all designed by Bird Brain Designs, which I really like.  This is the first that she's done that's not on a light blue background, and I just love that.  It really pops the snowman, I think. 

Coming in at project number 6, another cross stitch piece:

And before you think that I'm a really fast cross-stitcher, let me just say that I had half finished this piece before I put it away, which is why it took me so little time to finish it.  I had stopped at the blue Santa line, so I had very little left to do.  When I found this buried in my closet, I wondered why I did not finish it.  But let's just say I remembered very quickly why when I started on it again.  What a pain in the rear this project was!  Not only is the linen very difficult to work on because of the color changes and thread blending in it, but the pattern itself was full of fiddly little bits of colors that were like putting three squares of color here, three squares of color there, and so on.  Super fiddly.  I did get through it, but I also cheated because the last line under the wreaths was supposed to be pine cones, and I just wasn't going to do it.  I put some stars in there instead and called it good.  Enough is enough is enough and I just wasn't enjoying myself. 

How old is that project?  Well.....I looked at the chart and the date on it is 2002.  I don't think that I got it then, I think it was a couple of years later.  Either way, this one has been sitting a while.  Oh...and if you love fiddly cross stitch and would like the chart to this, you can have it.  Just shoot me an email and I'll mail it to you.  It's in very good shape and there's no reason to not pass it along.

And last, but not least, project number 7, which was unplanned, but worked out ok anyway.

This one was not unfinished, so it probably should be 6A or something instead of project 7, but oh well.  The little choir ladies were a pattern from this year's Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Crafts magazine.  I liked their little gnome outfits, but didn't want to make just little random people without a setting.  If the cats ever wake up, they'd steal them for sure.  So I dug through my stash and pulled out all these little wood pieces-the base, the house, the birdhouse, the lights, and put it all together.  I think it's cute, and happily it used up many wood pieces that I have been hanging onto for YEARS.  How many years?  Back before I got my first "adult" job in a bank, I worked retail, and one of those jobs was at a craft store called Creativity (now defunct).  They had the best wood department, hands down--I've never seen any other store have anything even remotely like it.  Just amazing little wooden shapes.  That's where this all came from, I just finally took it out of the box I had it stored in, painted it up, and put it together.  So...I want to say 15+ years or so, that's how long I've had those bits.  Not too bad, right?  HA!

Onto the next!  I hope you are all staying safe and warm and will talk to you all again soon!

Never Leave Kids with the Pastry Bag

So it goes like this.

I bake the gingerbread cookies, and then it's time to ice them.  So I enlist the helpers, who are more than thrilled to decorate them for me.  So I whip up the royal icing, fill two pastry bags, one for each kid, and go outside to put the animals in. When I come back, I get to see what they've made.

My instructions were "Do something simple, and don't go too crazy".  Then I did two example ones.

But then I left, see.  So they did their own thing.

When I came back, I was told my way was "boring", so they made:

A Santa

 

Then they gave one a shirt. 

 

Then they decided to give another one overalls (but they look like leiderhosen to me)

 

They tried pants

 

Then there was the inevitable unfortunate who broke three limbs. 

 

Then that got boring, so they made a robot 

 

And a cyclops.  Actually, there are quite a few of these, and I am told that my husband (the biggest child) egged them on to do it. 

I have no doubt. 

 

And, of course, don't forget, "Underwear Guy". 

 

There was one also called "Buttcheek Guy", where my daughter flipped over the cookie and drew two circles on the back for his butt.  However, I threatened to give that one to her teacher, so she ate him.

 

....I probably shouldn't have told you that.

 

So we have a band of merry misfits for cookies this year, which is completely fabulous.  Can't beat kids with imagination.  Even if it is posterior-related.  And what is this time of year but for the children?  So mission accomplished and cookies decorated.  I know I will enjoy each and every one. 

 

Even if I can't give any to their teachers.

Home Grown

I love this.  Going out to the backyard and picking a meal.  We had a fantastic meal on Sunday, straight out of the backyard.  The only things we didn't have are the milk and cheese.  But next year, that'll be a different story!!

Tomatoes from the garden, cooking down to make sauce

Chicken from the backyard.  OH MY GOSH GOOD!!!



Yellow squash with cheese sauce.

Purple potatoes and fingerlings from the garden

And of course, can I forget?  Other things have been grown here, too.

Thor, the wonder cat



Little girl and her little duck

Nearly a third grader

Ickle Me, Pickle Me

I have to say I am completely enjoying this cucumber bounty I kind of have going.  Bounty, of course, is a relative term.  Many would look at my bounty and say it's not much at all.  And they'd be right, I think.  But compared to the years where I got 3 cucumbers total--IF that-- this is a boon. 

I've already made dill pickles with many of mine (and some supplementary cucs), and now I had enough to pickle again.  This time, Bread and Butters.

All my own cucs this time, and it made 5 pints, which is ok.  There are plenty of cucs and cuclets left on the vines, so I may make some more, or try another recipe.  I haven't decided yet. 

They turned out well, as far as I can tell, but with pickles, you need to let them sit in the jars for a while before you taste them.  All the spices and vinegar need to soak in for a while before they are really pickley. 

And we all want pickley pickles, right?

My daughter was bopping around when I was working on this, and she said that if they were Bread and Butters, then they "smelled right".  "Good for you, mommy", she said.  High praise, indeed.  I think.

Went out to the garden later on yesterday, just to look around.  This is why I shouldn't go into the garden--ever--without my hod.

Luckily, I had a dress on, so I just put it all in there.  But still, I should know better.  It's August, and that's when things tend to explode.

I also found this

in the tomato jungle.  They are mostly guinea hen eggs from Violet, our one guinea hen (believe me, she's plenty), but there are a couple of chicken eggs in there, too.  The girls know a good thing when they see it.  Never mind that there are 12 nest boxes in their coop.  Using them would just be silly.  Luckily, most of these eggs were just fine.  I think they were all laid yesterday, actually, as I evicted several chickens from the garden this afternoon.  Most likely, this is what they were doing there.

And the duck update?  Well, Maple (the stink-eye duck) is still sitting on her nest fit for a queen.  I have to go into the duck house every day to take back all the new eggs, because she adds them to her pile and she'll be setting until 2014 at this rate.  Enough is enough already.  Suzie lost one of her babies, I believe it suffocated, so she's been relocated with her 3 remaining children and 3 remaining eggs to the garage-barn brooder, where she's settled in nicely.  The babies are getting around well, and she's sitting on her eggs, with access to food and water and no one to bother her.  I'll be glad when they all can move out, but she doesn't cause too many problems.

And the girl's duck?

The little one is living in an old laundry basket in my sewing room/office, stinking the place up.  It used to smell like curing soap in here.  Now it smells like curing soap and wet duck shavings.  Ugh.  But he/she's funny as hell.  Watching the little one dash after my daughter and hearing the little feet slap on the ground is priceless, and it's funny to be in here with him/her as he/she talks to him/herself and the little yellow puppy my daughter gave him/her.  It almost makes up for the smell.  Almost.

Yep, that one has got quite the life.

I will be charging my camera and then I'll post some pictures of the tomato jungle and the garden, and many soap pictures--I've been busy.  Until then!

Creating Food

Well, yesterday was their day.  The meatballs, who were large and roundish, were processed.
The total?  82.28 pounds of clean, fresh, chicken.

15 birds in total, gave us an average of 5.49 pounds a bird.  This is higher than our last average of the 13 we did, which were 69.71 pounds, an average of 5.36 pounds a bird.  It doesn't seem like a huge difference until you take into account that there were 2 more birds this time, and that last time we had 7 come out under 5 pounds.  This time we only had 3 come out under 5 pounds.  Yep, 5 pounds is the number I like to see.  Seems like a good one to me.

Pretty damn good.  Wanna see?

Before shrinking the bags.

It was a long day yesterday, but totally worth it.  We got the processing done in 5 1/2 hours, which is much faster than last time--that took about 8 and change and it was 2 fewer birds.  We once again used the Power Plucker on the electric drill, and our biggest challenge was getting the scald water to the right temp and keeping it there.  And the traffic cones?  They were history.  My mother sent me a gift of two beautiful galvanized cones which we used instead.  They were fantastic, and only one bird threatened to flip his way out of them.  They were fighters, these guys.  It's getting interesting what types of gifts I get now.  I got eviscerating knives from my husband at Christmas, and kill cones from my mother.  Hmmm.....  I'm not sure what that says about me.

My husband did try his hand at the processing, but said it was not for him.  And that's ok.  I got pretty fast.  It still is not the most fun I could have, processing birds, but I have to say that more than once I reflected on the fact that I was glad I knew how to--and could--do it.  Honest food created honestly.   It's a good feeling.

All shrunk and ready for the deep freeze.

Overall, this batch was much better than the last.  Even though it was insanely hot, these guys were troopers.  They gained weight like champs and foraged (as was proven by the contents of their gizzards) a lot of grass and greens.  There was very little grain in them, which makes me happy, and I'm wondering if there will be a difference in the taste.  Though meat birds have to be fed to support their insane metabolism, these guys didn't rely on the grain as heavily as the last batch.  That will cause me to order the last batch of birds from the same hatchery.  Birds that can glean from their surroundings are the type of bird I like to see.

And yep, we fed others with this group aside from ourselves.  We are only keeping 6.  9 will be going to new homes to be enjoyed.  Yesterday my husband and I discussed the number for next time.  We'll probably up it to 30 or 35 birds.  We have orders for several already, and since we're done with birds after this batch, we have to make it all the way to May before the next batch would be ready.  That's a long time, so we need to have enough for winter. 

That'll be a two day processing, though.  No way would I do that in a day.  It would be a VERY long one.

Today, because yesterday I created food kind of destructively, I decided to create food constructively.  I canned.

Pickles, peaches, and mock pineapple.

I love that "ting" noise the tops make!!!

Half of the cucumbers came from the garden, the other half from the farmer's market.  The zucchini came out of the garden, too (for the mock pineapple), but the peaches were completely from the farmer's market.  We got no fruit blossoms at all this year--I blame the crappy winter.

It is getting so that I feel like I'm cheating when I go to the farmer's market to buy produce.  All the farms are local, so I feel good about that, but I didn't grow the food, so it feels like I'm cheating.  It's funny how my attitude towards food production has changed so much over the short time.  I never would have batted an eye at buying from the farmer's market before--in fact, I would have patted myself on the back for it.  But now, I feel like a total cheat, even though I'm still doing all the work.  I know, go ahead and roll your eyes.  It's weird.  I can't help it, though.

I wonder if there's farmer therapy somewhere.  Or maybe I should just grow a larger garden.  That might be cheaper in the long run.

Anywho, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.  I hope you all had a fantastic weekend!  Enjoy the rest of your day!

Linking up to Homestead Barn Hop

The Other Side of Life

This last 5 days has been a whirlwind!  I finished the goat house (post coming--I promise!), I made some citronella candles (have you seen the prices on them this year?  HOLY COW!!), did some soap making prep (you'll see--I hope!), watered the gardens because now it never rains here, and watered the animals every 10 minutes--or that's what it felt like.  When did I move to Florida?  I don't remember. 

But my life isn't all building and gardening, though it seems that way a lot of the time.  Sometimes I get to spend the day in the kitchen and do something equally labor intensive, but without the potential for bug bites.  Of which I have gotten MANY this summer.  Ugh.

Anyway, Tuesday I spent in the kitchen, turning these:

and these:

Ok, I didn't use the garlic scapes.  You got me!

Into all of this:

Blueberry jam, Blueberry Lime jam, Blueberry Orange jam, and Blueberry Honey jam. 

Oh baby! 

All will be for sale in our newsletter with the exception of the Blueberry Honey.  If I sell any of that, I believe my children will hunt me down.  It's that good.  My daughter practically eats the stuff out of the jar with a spoon, THAT's how good it is.

It's really, really good. 

Did I say that already?

Anywho, I also had enough blueberries to put aside to make into a pie (today, methinks), some to freeze, and some with which I made a cake that turned out to be a total flop.  I used a new (to me) recipe book that I've been keeping in my cabinet, unused, for years.  I thought I would take her for a spin and make a sour cream coffee cake with blueberries.  Unfortunately, the chimpanzees who wrote the book never tested any of the recipes they wrote, or they never would have had me put buttered brown sugar bits in the bottom of a tube pan, which, of course, has a crack in it around where the center fits into the outside because, duh, it's a tube pan for goodness sakes.  And what happens to butter in the heat?  It melts.  And oozes.  And goes outside the tube pan through the cracks.  To the oven itself.  Which is hot.

See where I'm going with this?

I have one piece of advice for all of you out there.  If you've never heard that baking soda puts out a grease fire, here it is:  Baking soda puts out a grease fire.  You've been advised.

Don't ask me how I know that.

Anyway, after I stopped being a chimpanzee and turned on my brain, I covered the bottom of the leaking tube pan in foil and let the cake finish baking.  After I took it out and let it cool as per the directions, the cake promptly fell down into a heap of blueberry deliciousness.

I recycled said recipe book.

But that was my only failure that day.  The jams are fantastic, and I am pleased.  It was a pleasure canning again, as I haven't since it was strawberry jam making day a few weeks ago.  That is one skill I love to pull out of my brainbox.   I've been canning for years, and it is so nice having all the tools on hand, knowing what I need to do, and just doing it.  Skills are a beautiful thing.

Today, as it's 400 degrees outside yet AGAIN, I will probably make some more citronella candles and work on a couple of batches of soap.  Then I'll weed and water the animals a million times and try not to pass out from the heat.  Joy!

Take care, all of you!  Stay cool!

Mr. Bird Goes to Dinner

Wait, no... that's a lie.  This isn't THE Mr. Bird.  It's one of the other Mr. Birds from processing day Saturday.  We had him on Sunday.

In retrospect, I probably should have put some parsley around him or something to dress him up.  This is how he looked fresh from the oven.

Oh well, live and learn.  Five minutes later he looked like this,

....so I guess it doesn't matter much.

Mr. Bird was served with a honey and orange glaze (which is why he's so dark), and flavored with lavender and sage and some other things I can't remember.

Mr. Bird was delicious. 

Mr. Bird was not mushy or tough--both complaints I have heard from others who have raised Cornish Cross.

Mr. Bird was moist and wonderful.

Mr. Bird tasted like chicken.  It's shocking how you can think other chickens taste like chicken until you eat a real chicken and you realize you've been wrong for ALL these years.

Yep, we'll be doing this again.  The new batch is shipping on Monday.

Home. Made.

Yum.  Homemade pasta filled with homemade ricotta.  Homemade sauce from the past summer and homemade sausage. 

Completely delicious!

PS--I love homemade ricotta, by the way.  The flavor is head and shoulders over store-bought.  I think I've found another thing to add to the list of things made here from now on!