It was this kind of day. The sunny and warm throw open the door and slide up the screen type of day. Love these wonderful spring days when you can air out musty old winter and welcome fresh new spring. Though we actually weren't indoors most of the day as we were outside doing yardwork. It finally stopped raining and we (er, hubby) was able to mow the grass, while I continued my never-ending task of removing stones in the yard along the driveway. Everything looks so green and beautiful after the rain. It was amazing to see how much had grown within the last several rain-filled days. The buds on the trees are beginning to emerge and soon their branches too will be nice and full. Even inside my greenhouse the first sprout of life made an appearance. My boy was pretty darn excited to see life in his sunflower pots. It was just too beautiful a day not to share it with everyone, so we brought Odette outside for a little outdoor fun. It was her first outing and she loved exploring the backyard and feeling the touch of grass beneath her feet. I wanted to bring the chicks out but thought they were still too young. But they were able to enjoy a bit of sunshine. I had moved the brooder to the front room tucked within the bay window and by midday sun shone warmly inside the brooder. They all vied for a spot under the warm sunshine even though I kept the brooder lamp going. A little vitamin D will do us all some good.
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Once I bought 3 I knew I wanted more. So we went out today and brought home 5 more baby chicks. This time we bought a variety of breeds. Including a Barnevelder who we are naming Lulu. A sweet little Silkie that may or may not be a bantam. And may or may not be a female. But, we are calling her Minnie Mae nevertheless because she is so tiny and the smallest of the bunch. A timid but beautiful maran with a lovely white chest. We are naming her Pearl. And two Rhode Island Reds, though they look anything but red. We have yet to name them. They look like twins so we're thinking of rhyming names. They are the oldest of the lot and have their feathers already growing in. They are the "mothers" of the group as they helped to comfort and keep the smaller chickens warm on the long drive home. Here they are keeping Minnie Mae warm. Wasn't sure what the etiquette or protocol was in introducing new baby chicks to an already existing flock of baby chicks, so just went ahead and threw them into the coop together. They all went a little crazy but not sure if that was because we had no source of heat waiting for them. When we arrived home, the power had gone out after a day of thunderstorms and lightening. Obviously, I was in a panic and didn't know what to do. I held the two smallest sandwiched between the palms of my hands until the power returned trying to keep them warm. It must have worked as they fell right to sleep. In the end, the blending of the flocks went well. And they are all happy little campers now. We pulled out a larger tub and made a bigger brooder as the one we had set up before was much too small. Especially for 8 chicks. I worried that there was too much heat in the previous brooder and the chicks had no where to go to get out of the heat, especially as they are getting bigger and need less warmth. Here is the new setup. I think the girls are liking it. Aren't they just the sweetest thing?? Love the bum shot. It's almost Friday and I'm linking up to Farm Friend Friday and Farm Girl Friday, and looky here, I figured out how to add one of those fancy buttons!! But only for FFF cauze I couldn't find the html code for Farm Girl Friday.
While we were over at my in-laws for Easter, I expresed my interest in planting potatoes but couldn't find any seeds. They informed me of a technique that both they and their mothers used. Not sure how or if it will work and hopefully I understood the directions correctly, but here it is. Cut the eyes off a potato. Then plant them 3-4 inches into the ground. It needs to be that deep to get a nice and strong root. I did forget to ask how far apart to plant them but I spread them out about 3 inches apart with the eyes facing up. Apparently, the new potato will take growth from the eye. Not sure if it's going to work, but I'll keep my fingers crossed.
In other news, one of our chickens has been named. I am guessing she is a female because she is the whitest of the three and I understand that the coloured birds are the males. I know it's too early to tell, but we went ahead and named her since we are able to identify her from the other two. We could also tell her apart from the others because out of the three she does not kick or get excited when being lifted. She likes to be held and petted. Obviously, she will become a favourite. I decided to give all my chickens hillbilly names (sounds very country) and so I'd like to introduce you to Daisy May. Ok, here's another recipe from our Easter dinner. This recipe I found a few years back and have shared it many times, it is that dang good. Dutch Apple Pie is my favorite pie but for years I had a hard time finding the perfect pie. Store bought pies are just a joke, they taste luck rubber. My mother-in-law's isn't bad, but I wasn't over the head in love with it. I found a popular mennonite bakery that sold homemade dutch applie pie and thought at that time I had found the best dang apple pie. Until one year I attempted my own. I scowered the internet and recipe books until finally I concocted up my own recipe. It's very simple, what I like, and takes all my favourite ingredients. Mix 1 cup of brown sugar, 3 tbsp all-purpose flower, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 cup melted margarine or butter, and 3-4 tbsp milk in a large bowl. Creme until you get a nice a carmel blend. Cut and peel 5 to 6 good size apples. I use macintosh because they are nice and sweet, but feel free to use any favourite apple of your choice. And I always have an extra apple handy because for some reason slices seem to mysteriously disappear. Next, add the sliced apples to the mixture. Once apples are completely coated, place them in a pie shell. In a separate bowl, mix the topping. Be sure it has a crumbling consistency and then layer on top of pie. Place in pre-heated 375 degrees oven. I place a baking pan under it as it will bubble over and make a mess of your oven if you don't. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour and viola, there you have it. The best dang apple pie you'll ever have tasted. Here's the full recipe.
The Best Dang Dutch Apple Pie 1 cup of brown sugar 3 tbsp flour 1 tsp cinnamon 1/4 cup melted margarine or butter 3-4 tbsp milk or rich cream (I use milk, but the rich cream sounds devine.) Mix all above ingredients in a large bowl. Cut and peel 5 to 6 good size apples. Add sliced apples to bowl. Stir and completely cover apples in mix. Using store bought pie crust (though you're welcome to make your own) pour contents of bowl into pie crust. Topping 1 cup brown sugar 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 cup butter or margarine Mix all above ingredients until the mixture is the consistency of coarse breadcrumbs. Layer contents over apples as topping. Cook pie in oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes to an hour. Then enjoy! I don't claim to know anything about cooking. As a matter of fact I would consider myself uneducated in the art of culinary skills. The main reason for this is because I take absolute no interest in it. Probably because I'm not very good at it. Vicious circle, really. But I will get excited and want to share when I discover something new, find a good tip, or come across a really good recipe that turns out well, particularly under the uncultivated ministration of yours truly. For Thanksgiving we have turkey, Christmas it's ham and for Easter I wanted something different. One Christmas Eve we treated ourselves and had dinner at a very swank upper class restaurant in a resort near our home. We ordered lamb and couldn't get over the tender delicious meat. So for this Easter we thought we'd give it a try. Now I've attempted lamb once before since that Christmas Eve and it turned out dry and tasteless. Now as I said, I don't know much, but I do know in order to produce a tender meat you must cook it very slow at low heat. So I pulled out the crockpot. My hubby worried about my choice of cookware, but I assured him this was the route to go. His biggest concern was flavour. Where would it come from? When roasting a meat, the flavour obviously comes from absorbing the seasoning you administer to the surface. In the crockpot it absorbs it from a broth or it's own juices. And as we discovered in our first attempt at cooking lamb, it doesn't have much flavour. That left us with concocting up a broth. So I hit the internet. And found just what I was looking for. I thought it was pretty straight forward until I realized I really didn't know anything about cooking. Or cooking terms. For instance the "zest of a lemon" is the outer yellow part of the lemon. And when referring to garlic cloves, they mean the small individual pieces inside the garlic, not the entire head of garlic. Really, I was that niave. I must have been because when I excitedly went to inform my hubby of my new found knowledge, he looked at me oddly as he already knew those terms and what they stood for. Oh well. I guess I learned something knew. And did you know that Rosemary is the best kept seasoning secret of all time? Oye! Just scrumptious. Can't believe I've never used it before. So anyhow, the above photo shows my seasoned leg of lamb sitting in my crockpot. I asked my butcher, aka hubby, to cut off some of the shank so that it would sit flat in the pan but he went off to work forgetting to do so. Again, I'm about to reveal something of myself that is pretty embarrassing. I've been a butcher's wife for nearly 24 years and I still can't tell my meat cuts apart. Or my knives. He keeps a special set of butcher knives locked away and when I pulled them out and looked at all the blades, I didn't have a clue which knife was which. Guessing the largest, meanest one was the meat boning knife, I began to hack away at my leg of lamb. It wasn't pretty. Shards of bone flew everywhere. (And, by the way, if you haven't already figured it out, here's another term for you...the boning knife does not cut thru bone it removes the meat from the bone. The knife above is called the cleaver and is the you want to cut thru bone...which is the knife I grabbed. I just gave it the wrong name.) Anyway, I cut off enough bone so that the lamb rested on an angle and not flattly in the pot. Which might have been a good thing, or else all my wonderful seasoning would have washed away in the broth below. And it was wonderful. The seasoning that is. The lamb came out of the crockpot eight hours later, tender and oh so yummy. It was a hit with the family. Here is the finished product. And for those who are interested, here is the recipe. There are many different ways of cooking leg of lamb on the internet and probably far better and more sophisticated ways than mine, but I thought this was pretty simple and straightforward.
Leg of Lamb 1 leg of lamb 1 lemon 4-5 garlic cloves 1 Tbsp chopped rosemary 1 Tbsp olive oil 1 tsp salt 1 tsp pepper Wine, chicken or beef broth, tomato juice or water Grate about half the zest off your lemon and mix with the rosemary, olive oil, salt and pepper. Rub this mixture all over your lamb. Let it sit to marinade. (I let sit all night.) After marinading, place in crockpot with half can of broth, wine, tomato juice or water. Squeeze lemon juice over lamb. Cover and cook for 6-8 hours. Our baby chicks made it through the night. Phew. And our house is still standing. I'm overly cautious of our house burning down. Some may say I'm paranoid. The heat lamp in the brooder makes me nervous. It will make me nervous until we are finally able to remove it or lower the wattage. Anyway, I think the chicks are beginning to warm to us. We had a good laugh this morning when one pooped on my daughter's hand. And while I was laughing at her, the one in my hand went right ahead and pooped in mine. The boy woke nice and early for his easter hunt. On cue he shook his head in reproach at the mess the bunny left behind again this year. We leave a path of leaves and grass clippings across the entrance and then always exclaim, "Why couldn't the Easter Bunny wipe his feet before entering the house?" The boy gets a kick out of it. Here are some photos from this morning to share. Happy Easter everyone!
We have chickens! And this time they are real! We picked them up from the same breeder where we got our rabbit, Odette. They are just so cute! It's amazing to see them in person after reading and seeing them in books, months after months. I have to tell you though, that I am terrified of killing them. I thought I had done enough research, but now that they are in my kitchen, I keep checking on them every five minutes to make sure they are okay. Not sure if it's normal, but when they get under the heat lamp, they fall into a comatose state. At first it scared the heck out of me, and even though I know we are suppose to let them be and not disturb them, I couldn't help but nudge the cage, causing them to stir and reassuring me that they were still alive. I think I'm getting use to their sleeping pattern, but I still can't help feeling a sense of relief when they finally move. They are taking to the feed and water nicely which admittedly, has me giddy with excitement. I really want these chicks to do well. I'm so looking forward to watching them grow. My boy fell in love with them at first sight. I'm glad because they will become his little chore around the farm. We had to take away te mini's stall cleaning, because it turned out it was a bigger project than he could deal with. So we'll see how the chickens go. Someday, I'm hoping he will show them in a 4-H club. That's just as long as I can keep them alive. And if all works out, this is what my boy and I want next. Linking up to Farm Friend Friday and Farm Girl Friday again. http://www.verdefarm.com/
I finally got to work planting in the greenhouse. But first, I pulled down the oversized dead viney things hanging in there. When I did, I discovered the windows behind them were filthy, so I power-washed them first. Now, I've only ever had a vegetable garden once before. Many many years ago I inherited a huge vegetable garden with the purchase of a home. So not wanting it to go to waste, I threw a punch of seeds in the ground and waited for them to grow. They did. As well as weeds after weeds. And then the bugs came and ate all my vegetables. Discouraged I never had a garden again. However since moving into this new place with it's lovely little bug-free greenhouse, I thought I'd give it another shot. And, really, I would love to have vegetables handy whenever I want them. So with the beds and windows now cleaned, I started planting. With a little bit of help of course. Wouldn't be the same without my trusty little companion watching over me. My boy snapped photos while I worked, so all photo credit goes to him. The first thing we did was plant the watermelons. When it gets warmer, the plan is to transplant them into the fruit garden, but for now give them a good start here in the greenhouse. I decided to divide the greenhouse in half with a walking aisle down the center and a work table at the end of the aisle. Each plant I created a miniature "pasture" surrounding them, and marked exactly where the seeds were placed. Entirely for my own convenience as I always forget where I planted the seeds until they begin to grow. My boy measured all the "pasture" measurements and divided them with popsicle sticks. On larger popsicle sticks, he wrote the name of each plant and stuck them at the end of the pastures. On the one side we planted carrots, beets, turnip and cucumber. And on the opposite side, romaine lettuce and green beans. I'm hoping to include potatoes as well but haven't found any seeds for those, and some tomato plants too. I guess I could have planted those earlier in the greenhouse instead of now having to buy plants. Oh well, lesson learned. The idea of planting while it is still winter out, is foreign to me.
I'm looking forward to watching things grow in there and with the seeds marked, I should be able to keep weeds under control. Fingers crossed. And since the garden is completely enclosed, I don't have to worry about bugs, rain, cold or wind. It's nice and toasty warm in there. I could spend hours in there. Our cats have finally gotten to the point where all four now get along well. I think we can thank September for that, he is the worldest friendliest cat. He loves every living creature. Well, except tomcats. Those he despises. We have had several around the property ever since we moved in. September went to war with each one. He didn't always come out the victor and would spend days in the barn recuperating. However, the girls always chose him. Which, considering his loving personality, wasn't too hard to see why. Anyway, as I had mentioned in a previous post, June has really begun to warm up to us humans as well. She really enjoys being petted and will get eexcited when she sees us. Her trust level had increased, so we thought it time to finally lure her and May to the barn. They had been living in the wood shed and coming up to the back porch for meals but the bag of cat food had finally run out in the house. All pet food is kept in the barn but we had kept the one behind for the strays, but we decided they were ready to be introduced to the barn. The trick would be to catch them. Though June allowed us to pet her, she didn't like us trying to pick her up, but I knew luring her into the cat carrier wouldn't be a problem. Sure enough, after placing some food inside, she walked freely into the carrier. She panicked only for a bit, but we rushed over to the barn and set her free. And September was there to greet her and welcome her to his abode. He helped her to relax, showed her there was nothing to fear from those great big new creatures in the stalls, and introduced her to his other girlfriend, Odette. This morning when I went into the barn I found June curled up in Duke's stall along with September. Warm and content as could be. She's loving her new digs and will even willingly pose for a photo for me now. May, on the other hand is still acting extremely nervous and shy. We were able to lure her into the carrier, but she took a hissy fit once locked inside. When we got her to the barn, she immediately fled to find a hiding place. I did see her this morning while I spent time with September and June, but I was only able to snap one photo of her before she realized I was there. This is September perched on my shoulders. He goes up there all on his own without any coaxing. He just loves being that close to us. (Please excuse my first-thing-in-the-morning appearance.) The weather has been very nasty the last several days. We've had high winds, low temperatures, and lots of rain. On the upside, my grass is turning a lovely green. On the downside, I now have mowing on my already long list of things to do.
So awhile back we thought that Duke, our mini, might have lice. So we dusted him and the rest of the animals as well as dewormed them for good measure. Well, Duke continued to itch himself. So bad that he itched the hair right off his face. His neck, chest and beneath his mane got the worse of it. The rest of his body was untouched. I have no idea what lice look like, but when I looked closer beneath his coat, I recognized a case of very dry, flaky skin. We began to monitor how much water intake he was consuming and noticed it hardly moved if at all. Doing some research, I read that adding corn oil to his feed would help. We also removed his halter to give his face breathing air and threw a salt block in his stall to encourage him to drink. Finally we are beginning to see some results. The hair around his face is beginning to grow in. It looks even worse because he is also shedding his winter coat. The patch under his mane has still not filled in, and if the corn oil does not work, then it will be time to call in the vet. I like to try all that I can do first before calling in the vet, because nothing is worse than being told something as simple as that my horse is dehydrated and I was too ignorant to notice. The other two horses are only having the usual hair loss do to the change of season, so whatever the problem, I believe it is Duke's alone. The stall divider's have only aided him in rubbing his itchy neck. Just the right tool to get the job done in Duke's opinion. And just another reason for me to be rid of those dividers.
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