This and That

The babies are hatched now, and being fed constantly.  I'm sure they'll be flying out soon.  Doesn't take them long.  Hopefully before my plant dies.

Our neighbors, about 3-4 fields away got solar panels installed.

My zinnias are finally blooming, and they are feeding our hummingbird and the butterflies.

Our dinner one night - crock pot beef stroganoff.  I didn't have homemade noodles, so those were Amish made.  I just haven't had time to restock noodles but dinner was fabulous.

TIP:  To make the beef very tender I learned this from a cooking show.  Although in the show they used soy sauce for their particular sauce recipe, here's what I did - add a bit of baking powder and corn starch and a bit of liquid to meat and let sit 20 minutes.  I used Worcestershire sauce and the beef literally fell apart.

Another night's dinner, but I was not feeling the whole heat up the house at 450°F thing.   Biscuits and sausage gravy, fried organic potatoes, scrambled eggs, and baked apples.  I did it somewhat early.  Once again, daughter used the puppy as an excuse not to learn how to bake them.  Sigh.  I don't think I get any of my kids to learn anything about baking from scratch. 

I am always asked, "how do you get the layers in those?"  I use only organic ingredients, and add the milk last, cold from the fridge (whole, organic).  I also slice the butter in half, flip it once, cut in half again (long way), and then make slices.  I drop the dots of butter, and hand cut them into the dry ingredients.  I also roll the dough the least amount I have to.  The last biscuit is typically the one that doesn't have the layers.

Baked the apples in my crock pot this time, and it was delicious.  I'll have to remember this for a breakfast with the family.

My butterflies now have a water source.  I picked the "chip and dip" dish up at the grocery store, 70% off.  Works perfect.

Good Gravy!

Everywhere I looked, there was a job to get done.  UGH!  It was also intern day, so outdoor time was limited (again).  Puppy duty day.

Dishwasher needed emptied and reloaded.  Laundry needed done, crockpot dinner started, yard picked up, puppy pool emptied and brought up, hose pulled in (mower guy showed up), etc.  

Bathroom needed cleaned.  Kitchen table cleaned off.  Carpets needed vacuumed.  Dog needed brushed.  Beef needed cooked for Jesse.  I needed to mail in a paper for daughter for her intern work.

Trash needed to go out.  Chickens needed tending.  I got more orders for hot pads, but need to make them also.  Library books needed to be returned.  I needed to figure out what to make and take to a cookout this weekend, and the following (when is a girl gonna get time for a motorcycle ride with all this stuff going on?  Just say no?).

Recipes needed written and filed.  Senior pictures needed taken (again, day 2).  My tote that I store my garden starts in, with shelving needed put back in storage.  Boxes needed broke down and stored to use in the garden.  Flower beds and herb garden still need weeded.  Fridge needs cleaned out still.

Cake decorating doo-dads needed put away, the rest of the radishes needed pulled....list is endless right now.

GAH!!!

I just said no after 2pm and took a long break on the porch.  Cold coffee with a splash of goodness did the trick.

Ignore.  Ignore.  Ignore that list for now.

Here is what I did get done, and it wasn't on the list.....

This is where I planted the radishes, sweet potatoes and other potatoes.  Grass is about 4 feet high.  I got half the radishes dug up.  Some are still small, so I'm weeding out the grass now.  Plants look good despite.  I got all the garlic but what I couldn't find dug up, and all the green beans weeded.  One row was a fail.  I just dug up the plants that lived (about 5 sadly) and moved them to the other row.  Hubby has permission to mow it down for me.

I got the radishes trimmed and scrubbed, and garlic in an area to dry.  Bulbs are much smaller.  

I am mowing down the garlic bed and saying goodbye to it.  We will not be using it, and downsizing.  I'll plant the garlic in the other garden.  We have plans to rip up all the raised beds and rebuild and do it differently as well.

A tractor just went to the top of the wish list.  If the pasture isn't mowed down, we have this issue every year, and the spring rain made it worse this year.   We may look to hire someone this year though.