The weird, the crazy and the just plain lazy

I just heard from a friend, and was reminded that their family has an armadillo for a pet.  That’s correct, an armadillo.  Weird and crazy huh?  I think it’s interesting.  So now I don’t consider us “crazy” for having chickens and a baby goat inside earlier this spring.  Of course, they are all outside now, but babies need to be protected from weather and predators.

As for the “lazy” in my post title, my 8^th grade daughter left her 4-H binder out in the rain.  It was totally soaked and she was drying pages with a fan yesterday afternoon.  Although she was upset, we still laughed about it.  She claims it was my fault on hurrying everyone to plant before it rained.  Either way, she found her binder and the garden (most of it) has been planted.

And the rain keeps coming too.  We get spurts of sunshine in between, long enough to dry laundry and dry out the garden, but it keeps coming.  I continue to dream of camping again soon.

Excerpts from a Journal Junkie

from the Garden Journal

May 21 . . . planted 6 petunias and one foxglove, saw the hummingbird again.  Sprinkled chamomile seeds a few days ago, cut 6 bunches of oregano to dry on herb racks. Sunflowers are up.

May 22 . . . had breakfast and coffee early on the front porch, saw a deer.

May 23 . . .  planted in the garden – carrots, beets, last of the potatoes, more cucumbers, bush beans, all peppers and tomatoes, broccoli, and cauliflower.  

from the Homesteading/Self Sufficient Journal

 

May 21 . . .started placing 3 set of pot holders in my on-line store.

May 22 . . . baked 2 lbs. of dry pinto beans, our six hens gave us 6 eggs.

May 23 . . . baked 3 lbs. of dry black beans to freeze, about 2 more weeks and we can butcher the meat chickens.

from the Writer’s Journal

May 20 . . . sold 11 articles, need to find another site or resource to write for

A Little Ham Goes A Long Way ~ Farm Fresh Breakfast

"What smells like heaven?" asked my 11 year-old daughter walking through the kitchen this morning.

A small amount of leftover ham made us a delicious farm fresh breakfast.  Although, the ham was not farm raised pork, it will be in our near future.  We had planned to raise one this year, but the repairs and other work got ahead of us.

Simply take a few home grown potatoes, and fry them in a small amount of oil until browned,

Dice some leftover ham,

Chop fresh green onion from your herb garden,

And scramble some farm fresh, organic eggs from your chickens.

Add them to the fried potatoes, cook until the eggs are firm, and enjoy!

Goat and Chickens Go To School

Today, I took the kid goat, a barred rock rooster, and our tetratint pullet to school.  The 3^rd grade class enjoyed seeing and touching the animals.  They asked lots of questions and appeared to be having a very good visit.  

 

Who knows what will go to school next year.  It was kind of fun.  

More Rain = More Baking

It’s still raining here today.  If I had not run out of sugar, I would be canning apple jelly today.  I don’t want to waste gas driving to town for one bag of sugar.  However, I did bake up 2 dozen organic pumpkin muffins. 

 

I found a quick recipe on-line, but used ½ cup whole wheat flour with 2 cups of white, used sea salt vs. regular salt, used my farm fresh eggs, and only used 1 cup of organic evaporated cane syrup.  And with all other recipes, I swap out oil with organic or homemade apple sauce.  I did not top mine with the suggested sugar mix either, and they taste wonderful.

I have yet taken the time to make my own pumpkin pie spice, so that is on my "to-do" list.

From the Garden Journal

. . .it’s raining again, and has been raining every day for the last week.  We can’t seem to get a break long enough to plant in the gardens.  Even if it stops, the ground is too wet.

. . . our first potatoes are up

. . . our buttercrunch lettuce is up

. . .the heirloom lettuce is up

. . .the heirloom peas are up and a few spinach plants

. . .the solar bird house has not yet been visited by birds. 

The inside actually lights up at night, after a full day of charging in the sun.  I’m not sure the birds will enjoy a night light.

No Flour? No Problem ~ Baking Up Cookies

I baked a new cookie recipe today, and it does not contain flour.  It is not an inexpensive recipe either.  It contains an ingredient we have never tried before – Almond Butter.

Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup Almond Butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. sea salt

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 350°.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.  These cookies will need to be baked on the center rack of your oven.

In medium bowl, stir the first six ingredients together.  Add chocolate chips and almonds.  Drop by rounded teaspoons on parchment paper lined cookies sheets.  Do not press dough down.

Bake 10-12 minutes until lightly browned.  Remove from oven and allow cookies to remain on cookie sheet for a few more minutes to allow the cookies to set.  Remove cookies from cookie sheets, and cool them on cooling racks.  

Yield:  2 1/2 dozen approximately

Now, I asked myself, "could I have made my own almond butter?"

The answer is yes.  There are various recipes on-line, tutorials on YouTube, and recipes in cookbooks. 


I thought I was doing a pretty good job baking a more "organic" chocolate chip cookie, until I found another recipe at Clean Eating.  They swap out the brown sugar for Sucanat, and use dark chocolate.  I will definitely be trying their recipe also.

Today, I also canned another 3 ½ pints of jelly – Candy Apple Jelly.