We got our first picking of green beans and a handful of jalapeno peppers from the garden. We also got some gooseberrys and a few more black raspberries today as well. Our garden isn't doing as well as it usually does, but I suppose it probably has to do with the crazy weather we are having.
Just thought I would give you all a little sneak peak of the throw I'm designing to share with all of you. Like I said, it's simple, but it works up fast, it's summery, and reminds me of my favorite flower!!!
I knew that summer was here, but to me it was official today when my tiger lilies opened up. Mine are hand me downs from my step family. They are planted in front of my porch. Soon I'll need to thin them out, and plant some in other places, but for now, aren't they just lovely?
My father in law loves fresh black raspberry pie. So every year with my first pick of berries I make him a pie. I make everything from scratch, including crust and crumbles.
The crust recipe I use is incredibly easy, and requires no rolling...AND you mix it in the pie plate!!!!
Here is the recipe for that
1&1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 cup oil
2 tbsp. Milk
1 tbsp. Sugar
Measure all ingredients into pie pan and toss together with fork. Press into shape in pan with hands.
If you need the crust for a no bake pie, just bake it at 400 degrees for 10-12 min.
Now the crumbs for the topping are easy, and store well in the freezer for future use. This recipe makes enough for up to 5 pies, so I always have some on hand.
3 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup margarine or butter. (I use butter)
Just mix together until crumbly. Store in a zip lock bag in freezer.
Now, for the pie filling.
4 cups of berries
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of water
1 tsp lemon juice
3 tbsp. Cornstarch
Mix everything in a pan, and cook until thick and bubbly. Stir it constantly so it doesn't stick to bottom.
Pour into crust, sprinkle well with crumbs, and bake at 350 for 25-30 min our until edges of crust is the shade of golden brown you desire.
Enjoy!!!
This has been a long week, with lots of stuff happening. Our family lost a very good friend, and her ceremony was today. Things have started growing. Our egg production has increased.
I love watching my chickens. They are really entertaining to watch. I love the way they just kick the shavings or of their way, or expect scratch when Frank goes up to see them. What's even funnier is how I know they are taunting Sam when he's barking at them. The actually.talk back to him.
Our squash and zucchini plants have tiny squash and zucchini on them. I've started checking them daily, but they aren't growing as quick as I want them too.
I picked some black raspberries today. There is a ton more to get, but Frank is going to have to help me with that. There are too many spiders in the brush for me...I hate those things.
Here are a few pics I took this week. Going to have a new recipe, and hopefully a crochet pattern for you guys this week!!!!
Its been a crazy few days around here, so I've gotten a little behind in my farm work, and house work. Today however has been catch up day. Went to town, paid some bills, and went to the tractor supply store. I picked up some pine shavings. They had the store brand for 5 dollars a bag, which is awesome...so I got 5 bags.
So when I got home, I drug a bag up the hill, and into the chicken run/coop...open the bag, and start with the coops I thought it would take about a half a bag for each coop...nope...half a bag did each coop, and covered the whole front part of the kennel. I still need to get under and behind both coops, but I have a feeling the way the girls were going at it in there it's going to get spread around pretty good. So my plan is to wait until tomorrow evening and take another bag up there and fill in the bare spots. For now though I'm going to let them have their fun pecking through.
Oh, and for anybody who is counting with me, we're up to 13 eggs.
Mondays are notorious for their reputation. Maybe because it means it's time to start the work week...or because it's the end of rest and relaxation...that is if you have a job where you are off on weekends. Sometimes for some reason it's a day where everything can feel like it's going wrong. The list for that go on and on.
I like to think of Mondays as a fresh start. A day to start making my list of things that I want to get done, set my weekly goals...to day this is going to be the best week ever.
So, I take my coffee cup, and go into this day saying it's Monday, and it's going to be a great week!!!!!
There is nothing better in the summer time than a tasty fruit cobbler...not just a fruit cobbler, but one that's fast to put together, and uses minimal ingridients. This is a recipe that comes from our church cookbook. It was put in there by my husbands Aunt Sis.
1/4 lb. Margarine or 1 stick butter
1 c. Sugar
1 c. Flour
1 c. Milk
3. Tsp baking powder
1 tbsp. Vanilla
Salt
1 quart sweetened fruit
Melt butter in deep baking dish. Pour over it a batter made of sugar, flour, milk, baking powder, salt and vanilla. Have ready heated fruit and pour over batter. Bake at 375 for 30 min.
I just heat the fruit up in a bowl in the microwave for about 35 seconds. This is perfect for family reunions, get togethers, company, or just anytime!!!
Enjoy!!!
I went out this morning to check on my chickens, and to give them a bit of scratch. While out there with the sun shining and the sky the perfect shade of blue, I happened to glance over and notice my peach trees have some fruit on them. All I can think about is yummy jams, pies, and cobblers...of course that also means, picking, peeling, pitting, and cutting...but that's ok, in the end that's one less fruit I had to pay for.
No, I'm not growing large amounts...and I'm not doing it outside. When we were at tractor supply picking up the chicken coops the other week, they had those little grow your own coffee bean green house kits, and best of all, they were on clearance. So, I bought two of them, one for each kitchen window. I only just got them planted this past week, but it's going to be interesting to see how long it will take them to sprout, and then how fast they will grow. According to the little instruction thing that came with them, each bush will produce a pound of coffee.
That means providing 1. I don't kill them 2. They sprout and 3 all 6 seeds grow...that's 6 pounds of coffee for about 6 bucks and however much time it takes to actually get the beans...which from what I understand are actually called cherries.
Stay tuned...will keep everybody up on the possible sprouting of my coffee bean plants.
Yes...chickens need to be pinned up at night, even when they are in a run, not just to keep them in a routine but for safety as well.
The first night was a challenge...the second night, I only had to catch 2...tonight, I thought I was going to have to catch one, but I ended up being wrong...she ran up that ramp, and into her coop quite quickly once I opened the door back for her. Tonight they one what I was in there for...it was awesome.
So thankfully we are all settling into a routine, and hopefully I'll get good at this quickly.
Ok, yes...it's just one single egg...not too much to be excited about..but see they have been here for less than 24 hours. We figured the stress of being moved, being around new people, and a new environment..well...we figured it would slow down the two that are already laying. Apparently they are happy in their new home.
Today I'm going to make nest areas for them. I'm just going to get a couple of milk crates, set it on it's side, and add some bedding. I figure I'll start with two, and go from there.
We use milk crates for everything around here. In the kitchen I use one for all the countless lids that you end up with...in the living room, we have some stacked up, using them for a dvd holder....I'm the craft room...well you get the idea...
Oh, and just so you know, Sam and Jasper are sitting at their line starting at the chickens...Jasper calmly...Sam not so much...but eventually...and hopefully they will get bored with that. I figure it will take a few weeks...
We got the chickens home this evening....we got them in their pen...have them food, and water, and watched them cluck around, and pull up grass. They were even talking, and making little singing noises...so they looked and sounded happy. We didn't make them go into their coops...to be honest I think I was a little intimidated by them...I know there was no reason to be...I just have to get used to them is all.
Once we get used to them, and figure our how to pluck them up, we will work in getting them to sleep in their coops.
We are picking up our chickens later on this evening...which is awesome because it feels like it was a year ago that I decided for certain I'm doing this...and that we put everything up...and just everything that goes with it...although, it's been just barely over two weeks.
So, since I know next to nothing about raising animals that aren't dogs, I decided maybe I had better get some reading material...the first book I picked up...at Tractor Supply was Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens...it's written by Gail Damerow...of course it's the new addition, since it was what was on the shelf. Then lady night when I wasback at TCT I picked up another book, called the backyard homestead...out was edited by carleen madigan, so I'm assuming it was written by various people. It had a small section on chickens, but had a whole lot about survival on homesteading.
Both books are well written, and easy to follow. If you are thinking about any of this, or just want a refresher course, I highly recommend these books. If you don't have a Tractor Supply near you, I'm pretty sure you can find them on Amazon.
For a few years now, I've been playing around with the idea of raising chickens. I mean, after all, we do live in an old farmhouse...and we do live in the country...so why not??? Fresh eggs are the tastiest things when you can get them.
I'm picking them up Friday evening. I'm getting already started chickens from a girl I went to school with...she is providing me with a nice variety of them...and yes, I plan in naming them....and unfortunately, I'm corney enough, one of them will be Henny Penny.
We bought the coops from Tractor Supply...and to be honest with you for what we paid for them, I think they were kind of cheaply made...but that's what happens when you don't want to build something yourself. As you can see, the yard that they will be living in, is our old dog kennel...I guess you could say we upcycled as they like to call it. The cover is the one we had when our boys Sam and Jasper were just little pups. I worried non stop that if there want a cover that a hawk would get them. And no, they didn't live in the pen, it was just more or less a play pen for them, for a few hours in the morning, and a few in the evening. Seeing as I have huskies, you can imagine they needed time to play outside for a bit between long walks.
The only thing I need to get before we bring the chickens home on Friday is some food, and some bedding. All of which I will get from tractor supply tomorrow.
I'll post plenty of pictures when we get them home.
Last night, I decided to try something different. I belong to all of these different online pages, and groups. Most of the time, I just scan through, and read whatever catches my eye...well Honeysuckle Jelly caught my eye in a big, fast way...who doesn't remember picking them when they were kids, and carefully pulling out that string...tung ready to catch that little bit of nectar that drops out..oh I know I did.
So last night I set out to pick enough of these flowers to make a batch...I stood at the foot of my driveway with a giant blue bowl picking, and picking, aaaaand picking, until my bowl was full. Somehow I had miraculously managed to pick exactly enough, no more, no less...luck was with me...so now, I will share the recipe with you, along with a couple of pictures.
4 cups honeysuckles, with the green tips carefully cut off.
4 cups of sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 package of liquid pectin
4 cups boiling water.
Directions
Boil your 4 cups of water on stove. As soon as it comes to a rolling boil, turn off heat, but leave pan on the burner. Put your 4 cups of flowers in boiling water, and let steep for 45 minutes.
After this has steeped, strain into a glass bowl. (I just use a coffee filter, inside of the thing the filter sits in to make coffee.) Then in a sauce pan, put 2 cups if the flower liquid, your sugar, and lemon juice. Bring to a boil that will not stir down. Add liquid pectin and boil for 2 minutes. Then quickly pour into clean sterile jars, and lid them as you would for Abby other jelly/jam. As long as you have worked fast enough, you shouldn't have to do a water bath. I never do with any of my other jams or jellies.
Let sit over night and check lids in the morning to make sure they sealed up.
