Land of horses and sunsets.

My husband and I took a trip to visit his dad and stepmother last week. I love going there it is so peaceful and beautiful. The back yard and pasture  are surrounded by potatoes fields . Every year at hunting season we bring back about 100 pounds of potatoes. Wish I could say we bring back an Elk or Moose every year. We are just not that lucky. 

 You can see the potato fields from the back deck.

 Their little vegetable and herb garden . Some things were planted late and haven't come up yet.

 Another shot of the fields.

The horse pasture is right off the back yard. We hope to have our house up and  running on the property  in the next two years. We will be close to where you see the trees. 

The other 4 horses were off on a camping trip with family. But I was glad to be able to get a shot of these three.

Best place to sit and just enjoy the horses and the sunset.

I can't forget Buttons. He loves it when he is able to get off his leash and roam.

 I truly can't wait to get moved out there and get our own little homestead set up.

Can't sleep

I am sitting here trolling the blogs. I am so tired ,but the silver lining is that I am playing catch up on my blog family.
 Eyes are getting blurry, head is starting to bob. Sleep, sleep, my minds is shouting. If only I could get my body to listen.

Garden tour

 I thought I would show  my garden today. I am so happy with how it's doing this year. The green beans  were growing so high that we had to add more netting. We got our first harvest last night. The flavor was so good. It's still early, but I can see a lot of caning green beans in my future.

 These are my spaghetti squash plants. I still have 3 squashes from last year in my garage. These thing keep a long time. This year I will be dehydrating a lot  of it. At the end of the row those spiky things are my rosemary plants.

 My corn is doing wonderful. It's a lot taller then it looks in the picture. I am 5 "6 and It reaches just above my head.

 My nectarine tree has fruit on it for the first time this year.  I don't eat them so hopefully my husband will know when they are ripe.

 My peach tree was a surprise this year. The tree is only 2 years old and it's first bloom, but it's loaded. YA!!!!

                                                                                                           

My poor apple tree is losing the fight with the birds. It's to big to get netting around it. Hope they save us some.

I see plum jam in my future. I can't wait for them to get ripe.

The raised beds are doing great. Those two bush looking plants on the right and left are my tomato plants. Under them I planted onions in one and carrots in the other. The big plant in the middle is my zucchini. I am getting three to four a day.  I also have strawberries, cucumbers,  cantaloup, and purple beans. The pea plants(  front left of the picture ) still need to be pulled up.Their season is over. That will get done tomorrow. Haven't decided what to replace them with yet.

Pulled up my potatoes plants a couple of days ago. We figured all together we got about 45 pounds out of our 4x4 bed.  I found a bowl in the corner of the garage with potatoes that had spouts growing out of them. I figured why not plant them and see what happens. So we now have an experiment  in the works. Will keep you up dated. 

Thank you for touring my little garden with me. Have a great week.

Starting Christmas gifts early this year

This year I decided to give  gifts from the heart for Christmas. We spend so much money on store bought gifts that get thrown in a closet or forgotten. Think back over your past Christmases,how many gifts can you remember? Now think about gifts that were made with love for you. Those are the ones that stay with us thru the years.
Today I started my gift giving  task with dehydrating lemons and oranges for my Simmering Potpourri . While they dehydrate I am cutting strips for rugs.  I am hoping to have several different gifts to give . The big test will be to  get every thing done in time for Christmas.


This is a list of a few of the gifts I am planning to make.

1. Simmering Potpourri
2. Fabric rug
3. Homemade goats milk soap
4. Aprons
5. Needle work sheet set.
6. Homemade Christmas ornaments with kids names on them.
7. Bath Salts
8. Matching towels and pot holders.
9. Homemade Jams and jellies.

Wish me luck.

A Vegetarian's Nightmare or A Dissertation on Plants Rights

Zucchini and Corn Saute

 I served this at my women's church luncheon. They all loved it. I made 35 service for 28 people and had none left. I came up with this recipe as a way to use up the zucchini and corn from my garden.
I adjusted the recipe from 35 to 4 servings.
Please feel free to change any of the amounts or ingredients to your taste.

Here are the ingredients.

  1/4cup and 2 tablespoons of butter

1 small sweet onion finely chopped

  1/2 of a red pepper and 1/2 of a yellow pepper finely chopped

  Put your onion and peppers in a food processor .It will finely chop them for you , making this process a lot easier.

Two teaspoons of garlic

Five ears of corn cut off the cob or 2 cans of corn.

4 to 5 small zucchini cut bite size

salt and pepper to taste

Put your butter in your pan or electric skillet on low to medium heat. Cook until the butter is a light to medium brown.

Add your onions and peppers and saute till the onion are translucent.About 5 minutes.

Add your garlic and cook for 2 minutes 

Add your corn and zucchini to the pan cook till the zucchini is just tender. I like mine with just a little hint of texture to it.

Be careful not to overcook. You don't want the zucchini to become soggy. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot


This recipe doesn't make for good left overs. The frig tends to make the zucchini soggy.

Sourdough pancakes and bread .

Decides to make sourdough pancakes for breakfast this morning . Since I had it out I thought I would also make bread. They both freeze up every nicely. The pancakes are really great right out of the freezer. Just pop then in a toaster and they are ready to go.

SOURDOUGH PANCAKES:
In a large bowl or 8 cup measuring cup mix together:
 1 cup starter,
1 cup warm water,
1/2 cup sugar
 1 and 1/2 cup flour
Stir every thing together . Place plastic over the top and put in back corner of oven with the light on over night.

Next morning add the other ingredient:
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp salt
Mix together . ( you don't need to add flour. You did that part last  night.)
 add 2 tsp of baking soda to 1 tbs of water then add to batter.Stir. Let rest 10 mins.  Cook your pancakes just like you would normal ones.

Here is the link to my post for the sourdough bread and starter. http://michelleslittlepieceofheaven.blogspot.com/2014/03/sourdough-bread-and-starter-recipe.html

I love both of these recipes.

Homemade chicken broth

We finished processing our chickens today.  Six of the twelve birds were cut up into pieces which gave me backs to use for broth.  I placed the backs into the crock pot along with carrots, onion, and celery. I added rosemary, thyme , parsley and Sage from my garden. Hopefully this will turn into a great tasting broth. This is my first time making my own. Crossing my fingers here.

Processed meat birds today.

My friend Debbie , Amy, My husband Rick and I processed 31 birds in 3 and half hours. Which was really good since I had only done a couple of birds before and This was Rick's first time.
 we call the Debbie the chicken lady. She is a great chicken doctor as well as a great teacher. I learned so much from her today. We brought home 11 of the birds to finish up the detail work and get into Vacuum Seal bags. We only got three done before my husband had to go to work. So I now have 8 birds in bread bags sitting in my frig till tomorrow. To tired to finish then up to night . Between chickens , weeding and running errands I am pooped.
I learned so much today and all thou it was bloody and still managed to enjoy spending time together. One draw back is the fact that after two showers and repeated hand washing I can still smell the birds on my hands. I think it soaked into my pores. Hopefully it will be gone by tomorrow.

Just to catch up.

Hi everyone.
These pass two months have been busy ones for me, so I haven't posted as much as I should. The garden has keep me pretty busy as well as animals this year. Add into that two small trips and one big one and I seem to run out of time.

Here is just a small list of things going on. I won't bore you with everything ,but you will get the idea.

I made two wonderful trips to Heidi's ( need to go back, MISS HER and her babies.)

Drove 10 hours to tour a Bio-intensity farm (with Debbie and Rich )

Went to my sister-in-laws wedding in Idaho.( Will be going back in July.)

Made laundry soap, dish soap, and goats milk soap.

Learned how to made dehydrated meals.
Dehydrated onions, garlic, spices, Zucchini, and oranges so far.

Picked cherries ( 14 pounds) and made pie fillings for the freezer and cherry syrup.

Harvested some of my garden.
weeded both side and raise bed garden. Had to put up deer fencing around both.
Made a rug, quilt, and needle work for friends.
Remodeling and painting.
Then there is the every day stuff, cooking, cleaning, wash, and a course entertaining the husband .

How to give your mom a hear attack.

Rick and I had be out getting a new flag pole and doing other errands. Tiff called to say she was on her way to our house. I hadn't seem the girls for a week due to work. So I was real happy to see her car in the drive. I walk in to see her purse and phone on the table. No child ? I looked up stairs to see if she was laying down in the guest room. Nope no child . I yelled for her thru the house, no answer. Looked out front and in the garden no child. I then started to get a little worried. She always takes her shoes off in the house, but they won't there. Plus she would never go anywhere without her purse or phone.  I went back outside to look again. Just behind our huge oak tree I found this.

No wonder she didn't hear me yelling at her. She was sound a sleep .  A bomb wouldn't wake that child. I learned two things that day. One, no matter how old they get you still worry about them. Two when it comes to our kids ,we worry about them at a drop of a hat.  I just smiled  down at her and walked away  letting her sleep. Thankful she was safe.

Got our new pigs today

 Jim ,Debbie and I are raising pig together this year. We got to pick them up today. We were greeted with this cute sign.

 I was really impressed with how clean everything was. There was very little small at all especially with how any pigs he had. The picture shows how clean everything was.

 Poor Rick got the job of carrying them out.

 We transported them in dog carriers with hay.

 He had castrated them two hours before we picking them up. We sprayed them with Blu Kote hoping to ease their pain and stop the bleeding. Debbie volunteered to spray them since I had a wedding to go to and the spray tends to stain your hands blue for about a week. Blue hands at a wedding doesn't sound at all appealing.

They are now in their new home in Jim's barn with plenty room to run around. We are keeping them in  till they heal a little bit. We don't want to take a chance of them getting a infection.  So starts my new adventure in raising pigs. Wish me luck.

PS: I know they won't stay this way,but right now they are so cute.

I got to play with Daddy's toys.

 

 Ever year Rick tills my garden for me. He enjoys tilling and getting the garden ready for me.

This year he even let me do some of the tilling. I was so excited to be able to play with his toy. I tilled about three rows and decided it wasn't that exciting playing with his toys. He won't have to worry about me wanting him to share his toys with me any more. There all his.

Now his truck is another thing ! I wonder what I have to do to get him to share that toy with me?

Tea Towel Crafts ( So much fun )

This is the tea towel I made for our Farm Girl Chit Chat group, we did a tea rowel swap. The picture was put on with fabric markers. I added prairie points to the bottom of it. with a red ribbon. I am really happy with the way it turned out.

This is the tea towel apron I did for Diane's birthday. I used a green and yellow stripped vintage tea towel.  I added the ribbon and prairie points at the bottom. I also added a pocket and a crochet flower at the top.  Diane likes to tie her aprons in the front so I made the straps nice and long.  I had so much fun making these That I am planning to make one for a future give away.

Apple Fritters

Ingredients

Vegetable oil,
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon cardamon
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 teaspoons homemade vanilla extract
2 apples, cored and cut into small dice ( I use granny smiths )
Powdered sugar, for dusting

Directions

Heat 3 inches of  oil in  Dutch oven or deep fryer  until  thermometer inserted in the oil registers 340 degrees F.

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, cardamon  and salt. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with a fork, then add the milk, melted butter and vanilla. Gently fold the dry and wet ingredients together until just combined (don't over mix). Fold in the apples

Drop heaping tablespoons of batter into the hot oil, 6  at a time. ( Don't make them to thick or they will not cook all the way thru ) Fry until golden brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Remove and drain on paper towels. Dust with powdered sugar.

Cardamon is optional. These are still really good with out it,but the spice really puts them over the top.

Foaming Soap Recipe.

I found a foaming hand soap I really like. It's so easy. Add 2 to three tablespoon of liquid Castile soap.Depending on the amount of foam you want to a foaming hand soap bottle(I use Lemon liquid Castile soap) then I added 20 drops of jasmine essential oils. This is optional but the lemon and jasmine smell so good together. Add distilled water to the bottle just till it reaches the bottom of the mechanism . Shake and that's it. I did add a few drop of my soap coloring which gave it a pretty color.

Note : This recipe is for a foaming soap container. Not sure how it will work in a plain hand soap container. You will probably have to add more Castile soap.