Egg on the Porch ~ Fun Happenings

Despite being the weekend I was up pretty early.  It's hard to sleep in when a cat is demanding food by sitting backwards in my bed, and flapping his tail on my face.  He's not even my cat per-say.  His master is Youngest, but he spends most of his time with me. And of course, barn kitty Timmy was at the door pawing to me for food too.  I just love that cat.  He is so loving.

The sun was shining when I let the chickens run free yesterday, but clouds quickly took over.  I'm not ready to see less and less of the sun, but I enjoyed what we did get yesterday.

I let the chickens out of their run yesterday, to have free roam of the homestead.  They typically huddle in their favorite mud bath dirt hole, or under their favorite tree.  Not yesterday.  They were everywhere, and it was quite nice to see them from every window of the house.  

I had to laugh at this.  I walked past the side door and saw few hens run off the side porch.  When one lady got up, there was an egg under her.  HA!  It was warm, so she must have been sitting there for a while and I didn't know it.  Just something funny to share.  Oh, and they didn't just leave me an egg, you can see they left chicken poo on the porch too.

Garden ~ Random Friday Tidbits

My home grown kale is still producing.  This is has been the most impressive year for kale, despite the rest of the garden.

 I brought in a large pot of kale and had enough to blanch and freeze for one meal, and fill the dehydrator with the rest.

Campfire Enchilladas

We made these the other day, and that is not my homemade tortilla in the photo (sadly).  I had purchased food supplies to go camping, so we ended up making "camper" meals this week instead (minus the camping).

Freezing Mashed Sweet Potatoes

The grocer had organic sweet potatoes in stock, so I took advantage and brought some home.  I'm freezing them for winter meals.

Yesterday, I baked several, then allowed them to cool completely.   I added a bit of water and organic broth to the pan.  I pierced each sweet potato a few times before placing in the covered pan.

Random Monday

I spent a day reading and completely writing exercises on Sunday, and realize that every book that was recommended is not available at the library.   Although, I started reading two books that I've had on my shelf, I felt I had wasted away the day. 

I was already in a sour mood by Sunday morning.  We should have never cancelled our camping trip.  The rain and wind was nothing like the forecast stated.  And Sunday, the only thing to deal with was the cooler temperature.  Three of us badly wanted a retreat to get away from everything.  One was our college daughter, who was sad we cancelled it in the first place.

Dehydrator Dog Treats

I shared this recipe once before, and since I was dehydrating more of our home grown kale, I'm sharing again.

First, you will need to cook the rice, and dehydrate kale and Parmesan cheese (see note) to make them.  Once you have these dried, you will then have them on hand to make the treats.

Cancelled Trip ~ Rain ~ Barn Wood Shelf ~ Tidbits

We booked our last camping trip for this weekend, but had to cancel it yesterday.  Why?  Rain and wind.  We've camped in rain before, but this time the weatherman predicts we'll get over 2 inches of rain on Saturday alone.

It is to start raining tonight, and it rained yesterday.  The temperature is nice, but cooking would be an issue.  We don't have an RV, with a full kitchen inside.  We cook all meals outside the camper (which I prefer).  When the wind is in bad, we can't put our awning out to cover the gas stove either.