Zucchini Pancakes and Overnight Blueberry French Toast

In the craziness of last summer, and experimenting with recipes, I lost my zucchini pancake recipe.  However, I searched the recipes on my blog and found it.

Here is the link to my blog page: Lots of Zucchini Recipes

Here is the link to the recipe directly:  Vegan Zucchini Pancakes

My family is so spoiled - homemade blueberry jelly, blueberry pie, blueberry syrup, blueberry overnight fresh toast......

Blueberry French Toast before it was put into the oven this morning.

And now, my zucchini pancakes.  Yum.

The Toad is Back........Again

This toad does not give up. I happened to look outside and see our barn cat, Joey, creeping onto something and then he suddenly moved backwards.

He's back on the side porch......again.  But why?  He's so too far from water.  Well we took him back to the woods again, but we'll see how many days it will take for him to return again.

We had another "break out" this evening.  While looking out at the goats, we saw Orion (our billy) ripping at the fence with his longer horn (another reason to not buy goats that have not been de-horned).  He pulled the fencing loose, and out went Misty, our female.  We do not want these to to breed, but hope to have another female this fall.  He's been a very ornery goat for sure.  Now we have barn doors and fencing to replace. That little stinker continued to rip away the fencing as we chased down Misty.  

These are some farmgirl days, and then some.

I got my pie baked and it was sooooooo good.  Don't look too close at my lattice work, ha ha! The kids were the ones to point out my faults today.

We dug up a fraction of our potatoes today, and mashed some with 4 kohlrabi.  They made a nice makeover for "cheesy potatoes."  I boiled and mashed them together, added minced garlic, and spread it in a 9 x 13" pan.  I sprinkled a bit of mozzarella cheese and teensy bit of mild cheddar.  I baked it until the cheese melted and they were delicious. 

Business Card Idea

I purchased 3 boxes of these CD holders.  I think there are 24 or more in each box, and I only paid $.50 a box for them. For the Farmer's Market next year, I am tossing around the idea of crocheting cup coasters and inserting them in place of a CD.  On the other side, is a business card slot.  I could give these out to customers at the first market next year. 

Why I Do It

I have been asked more often "why" in regards to living off the land, making household items myself, and canning from the garden.  Basically, people who rely on convenience, feel I am making our life here, way too hard.  However, we don't feel that way.


I can rest easy, knowing that our pancake syrup is all natural, and is not packed with high fructose corn syrup.  I can rest easy that our pickles are home grown and many pints are without sugar.  Growing everything without chemicals, and knowing that we are eating safe and healthy, and on a wonderful budget, is all worth it.

I think it's the hard work that scares people off.  If I worked a full-time job outside my home, I would definitely not be able to eat this healthy, and raise our own meat.  However, by making sacrifices of "conveniences" and spending money on things we really can do ourselves, I can stay home.  


I get funny looks when I tell people that I am a stay-at-home Mom.  Especially, in this day and age where the economy is so bad.  I explain to them that I am continuously finding ways to save us money, keep plastic out of our landfills, and live a life without chemicals (even on our farm animals, pets, and home).


I not saying that vacations are never allowed in our budget, as my husband and I took a recent "disconnect to reconnect" weekend last spring.  I think a getaway is refreshing when it doesn't include stress in the planning and preparing process.   So, yes we do take a few days to reclaim ourselves, but it involves a lot less spending and more relaxation.  And no stress returning home, and wondering if we spent too much.

Today, I am making blueberry syrup, using up about 10 more cups of blueberries.  After that I will bake a pie.  My husband is working another full day today, and will be happy to see a homemade pie when he gets home.  It's the first time for me to bake a blueberry pie.

In between it all, I pulled more cucumbers for another quart of fridge pickles, and pulled a bunch of potatoes.  I think I will make a kohlrabi/potato bake to go along with leftover chicken, and use 3 kohlrabi that I pulled this morning. My oldest daughter just brought in another bucket full of potatoes.  


I think I will use some of the potatoes for tomorrow's breakfast.  My husband makes wonderful omelets with farm fresh eggs, garden green pepper, and onion, a bit of cheese, and some organic bacon.  


As soon as this humidity lifts, I would love to make more homemade bread.

Blueberry Update

12 full pints of my first canned blueberry jelly. 
We snacked on some of the blueberries, and froze the last 16 cups from the first 10 lb. box.

 

 

I never flash freeze my blueberries.  I wash them, drain them, and dry them before freezing.  It's worked well for me.

After that I headed out to weed out the spaghetti squash and the pumpkin.  When I came in, I completely forgot to put my chickens in the roaster.  So............back out to the garden I went, despite getting attacked by an army of mosquitoes, dug up carrots and potatoes (I already had a few onions dug up), and set it all to roast.  It won't be done until late, but it will make a nice lunch tomorrow.  

Blueberry Bonanza!

Our 20 pounds of Michigan grown blueberries are in.  I have already started the first batch of Blueberry Jelly - my first ever.

The plan is to can about 12 pints of jelly vs. jam today, but we will see.  I have a list of other things to make with the blueberries, as well as freeze some of them for future muffins, breakfast bars, breads, and pancakes/waffles.

Tatting A Hankie

This is definitely not a project that I will be taking along to appointments.  This is by far the thinnest thread I have worked with so far.  After two stores, I finally found #80 thread for this project.  

I crocheted the edge with vintage thread I had on hand, and it is thicker than the #80 thread.

My 14 year-old daughter took a look and said, "is that all you got done?"

Yep.  That's all I got done today.

And I have a feeling I will need to make a few more hankies to get them exactly right.

After that, I want to make a pair or turtle earrings for another daughter's birthday present.  This is very tedious work, working with #80 thread.