I've been free ranging the ladies and stud muffin Sparta all day after about noon lately. One, they get their grit and dirt baths, two they help me reduce the bug numbers, and three it cuts the organic feed cost down. Oh, and four, they help "till" up the garden too.
I went to put them all in, and I had left the coop door open. The barn was shut, but once I opened the barn door, the hens followed me in.
I had a container of goodies in one hand, and a bucket of water in the other hand. I started to fill the water when all h-e-double hockey sticks broke loose.
At first I thought a raccoon was in the coop with me. It was that dang stray gray tabby that's been hanging around. It took forever to find the door out, and was literally climbing the chicken wire at high rates of speed. Once I realized it was just a cat, I stepped back until it found the door.
Oh my land. The ladies and I had a scare. Oh, and one hennie looks iffy. Not sure she'll be around much. I'm worming, but hmm. She's not looking so perky. Doesn't want to hop up to get in the coop.
If you read yesterday's post, you saw I made homemade chocolate grahams. I used 3 cups of them finely ground to make a pie crust.
I tried the new recipe. Actually two. The first?
Chocolate Mousse Pie. I have wanted to make a chocolate pie for a long time. Hubby raved about his mother's cake, and I didn't want to pie using chocolate pudding (processed) in it.
It's worth the look. My family devoured the pie, and one was moaning as she ate it. I've pretty much stuck to fruit pies lately and this was a sweet treat to try (for taking to holiday gatherings).
I also made my first teriyaki beef jerky. I used the oven first, then transferred it to the dehydrator. Then I realized my dehydrator goes up to 165°F. Duh!
I didn't do too bad for the first time. It tastes great too. It is a teeny tiny bit over-dried, but still good. I'll be making more when meat is on sale. Or Hubby gets a deer this year. Hubby loves it! Much easier to eat than organic (hard as a rock) jerky from the store. I'm seeing a meat cow out here one of these days. I really am.
The recipe for the marinade is from this book.
I borrowed it from the library several times, and finally gave one recipe a whirl. I had the meat guy cut the meat for me too. I will be checking out more jerky books to see which one will land on my "wish" list next. This one has a lot of recipes, but the author spends a lot of time on "cleanliness."
For now, I can't really try new holiday recipes, although one remains to be tried (sigh). It's getting too close to the big day(s) and I need to save up for the supplies.
We had plans to skip Thanksgiving. Yes. Skip it. Hubby's suggestion. We were to call and get reservations at a restaurant known for their very delicious holiday meal. I forgot to call. I'm sure it's too late now. Sigh....I may be cooking it this year. Double sigh. I was sort of looking forward to skipping it (shhh, don't tell the kids).
As for Sunday's entertainment? We all went to the movies. Hubby had 4 free admission tickets and we headed south to the other "big" city. It was storming, and just as we had left, a (what they believe to have been) tornado hit a trailer park not far from where we had left, taking back roads. It was very dark, raining so hard you couldn't see where the road was, and as we passed through another smaller town, several trucks from a fire station were sent out. We were darn lucky.
That's a lot to take in for our Sunday here, and I may still join up with Monday's Happy Homemaker. I kind of need to get back on track after a day off. Sort of a day off. I still had a few minutes on the porch.
...until the bugs attacked me. And before the really bad storms rolled through. See the wet porch floor? Rain was blowing up under the roof.
Oh. We got more rain last night. Like we need it. Flooding everywhere here.
