Affirmations

Today's post isn't really about "farm" stuff, but rather a way to get the farm in the first place.  Yes I know, it takes money to buy a farm, unless you were one of the lucky ones who inherited the family farm from your parents, who inherited it from their parents, and so on.  I didn't inherit my farm.  And I'm glad for that actually, because I can only imagine that having a farm handed down to you from your parents creates a whole other set of expectations and issues that I'm not certain I would want to contend with. Or maybe not.  I can't really say, I suppose.  Anyway, back to "getting" your farm...

Aside from money, it also takes desire, and a plan. I am a true believer in affirmations and goal setting, or as another way to put it, "write the shit down and make it happen."  When I was looking for a farm, I had a firm list of criteria for the kind of house and property I wanted.  So I made a list that looked something like the following one, and my search began.

• Newer house that didn't require any upfront repairs, with in-law suite, or something that would suffice as an in-law suite
• A good-sized house - 2300 sq. feet or more
• A water feature on the property (creek, river or pond)
• Fenced in pasture - ready to put horses on
• A nice barn with at least 6 stalls
• A minimum of a three car garage
• Relatively flat pastures
• Some woods
• A nice, big covered porch
• A walk-out basement
• A fireplace
• A huge eat-in kitchen with room for an island
• Commute distance from my job of an hour or less

So what happened?  I found the property with all those things and more, and I got it!  But it also took one year and forty-eight days to close on the property!  It was a "short sale" and banks are slow. And there was a lot of negotiating. But I wanted that farm damn it; so every day I would take out a picture of it, visualize myself owning it, what animals I would have running around on it, and what vegetables I would grow in my garden. And I believe that much of getting my farm was due to the constant daily affirmations and visualizations (and a TON of paperwork and patience).  Two good books on this subject are "It Works" by RHJ, and "Write it Down, Make it Happen" by Henriette Klauser.  I own these books myself,  and refer back to them often to reinforce my belief in their theories.  Now get going and get yourself a farm!

Weekends on the Farm

Saturday morning on the farm greets me with a beautiful sunrise and a filling breakfast...

Deer Doe...

The husband surprised me and had dinner waiting when I came home from the office.  A nice stew, along with some garlic mashed potatoes.  Can you guess what the stew meat was? (Forgive the iPhone photography...)

Okay, here's the answer... (Sorry, a bit graphic if you don't appreciate hunting)

Sunrise

This was yesterday morning's sunrise...

 

And this was last night's dinner...

 

This was sunrise this very morning!

 

 



And I have no idea what I'm having for dinner tonight...

Weasels !

Total murder and mayhem on the farm this morning!

When I woke up, everything was snow-dusted and frozen. And it was eerily quiet.  As we headed out to the barn around 7:00 a.m. to feed the animals, we discovered two ducks and one "franken-chicken" along the way.  Unfortunately, their heads were missing.  And they were dead, of course.

What kind of demonic cult weirdo would do such a thing, you might ask?  Halloween is over people!

I can't say for sure, but through a little deductive "predator logic," and some reading (here) my guess is that it may have been a Weasel.   

I'm hoping this was a one-hit-wonder, and that it won't be back.  Or that Louie just might wake up next time and protect something (guard dog, he is clearly not). 

Some signs of a weasel attack: "In poultry houses, weasels often kill many birds, eating only the heads..." 

"Birds bitten around the rear end with their intestines pulled out indicate a weasel or one of its relatives..." 

Classy little animals, aren't they?

Easy Apple Butter

 

Ignore the crumbs on the table : )

 

Yield: Makes about 6 pint jars

INGREDIENTS

5 pounds (about 10 large) apples, peeled, cored, and cut into medium-size pieces (notice in the photos that you can use crappy, scavenged apples here, the end results will be the same!)
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups water
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

DIRECTIONS

STEP 1

Turn a slow cooker on high and add all ingredients. Cover and cook for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. Mixture should be bubbling vigorously. Reduce heat to low and cook for 1 hour more.

STEP 2

With the lid set slightly ajar, continue cooking until apple butter is dark brown and thick, 7 to 9 hours more.  Attack it with an immersion blender if necessary, to remove any lumps.

STEP 3

Place six clean 1-pint jars right side up on a rack in a boiling water canner. Fill canner and jars with hot water, about 1 inch above tops of jars. Bring jars to a boil over high heat; boil for 10 minutes. Using a jar lifter, remove and drain hot sterilized jars one at a time, reserving hot water for processing filled jars. Place jars on a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet.

STEP 4

In another large pot filled with water, bring to a boil over high heat and reduce to a simmer, then add clean lids and lid rings. Simmer lids for 10 minutes; do not boil, as this may cause problems in sealing jars. Drain lids and set aside.

STEP 5

Divide apple butter evenly among sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch of space at top of each jar. Using tongs, place lids on jars. Using your hands, place rings on jars and tighten (but do not over tighten). Reheat water in the canner until it reaches at least 180 degrees, within 10 minutes of filling the jars. Place filled jars into the canner, one at a time, using a jar lifter securely positioned below neck of jar. Keep jars upright at all times.

STEP 6

Add more boiling water, if needed, so that water covers jars by at least 1 inch. Increase heat to high and cover. Once water begins boiling, heat jars for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and gently transfer jars to a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet, taking care not to tilt jars and spacing each jar at least 1 inch apart. Avoid placing jars on a cold surface or near a cold draft.

STEP 7

Let jars sit undisturbed until fully cooled, 12 to 24 hours. Do not tighten ring bands on the lids or push down on the center of the flat metal lid until jars have cooled completely.

STEP 8

Once jars have cooled completely, test to make sure each jar is completely sealed: Press down on the middle of the lid with a finger. If lid springs up when finger is released, jar is unsealed. Store sealed jars in a cool place. If any of the jars are unsealed, store in refrigerator and use within several days.

Homemade Egg Noodles

You can do this, and then you may never want to go back to store-bought pasta again.  I swear!  It's easy, and fun. You can also use this recipe to make homemade raviolis, which will be my next adventure.  (Note: I passed my pasta through the #5 mark on the pasta machine.  I didn't find that it needed to be any thinner than that.)

You will need:

• 2 to 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 egg yolks and 1 whole egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• All-purpose flour (I used high gluten flour, not sure if this matters?)

Directions 

Eggs, Flour, Water, Olive Oil and Salt - that's it!

 

Make your dough ball

 

 

Cut and Dry your pasta


 

 



Serve it up with some chicken and garlic mashers!

Planting Garlic

This past weekend was nice, but wet.  I couldn't let the weather get in my way of planting garlic.  I planted it the first week of November last year, and decided to give it shot again this year.  Only this year I planted a lot more. Ninety cloves to be exact.  I’m even contemplating planting two more rows this coming weekend.  Why not?  Garlic rocks!

Aside from only one head of elephant garlic (experimenting here!), don’t ask me what the other variety was.  I bought it from a local farmer’s market and decided it tasted fabulous, so that's what I planted!  I don’t know if it is hard neck or soft neck variety, but I’ll know come spring!  Aside from the garlic, the garden has officially been "put to bed" for the winter.

Forgive the horrid photography.  The time change threw me off and I didn’t get to planting until the sun was setting. 

 

 

My Goat Stinks

My little baby Boer Goat is in "rut." He's become somewhat of a demon, spawned from the pit of hell itself.  Okay, not really. But it makes him sound like a bad-ass, right? This is his first rut; he's nine months old. "Rut" means the little guy is desperately seeking to test out his "buckiness" on any willing nearby doe goat.  Or log, or chicken...

You can't blame a guy for tryin"?

Not so much a "baby" anymore, I'm told he will become even more "fragrant" (downright nasty!) and aggressive next year, and the years to come. Personally I don't find him that offending.  Or aggressive. Although he did knock me down once, and he would absolutely love it if I could butt heads with him.

I'm also told that soon he will start peeing on himself (goat cologne?). Apparently lady goats find that sort of thing attractive.  And I won't dare mention what else he does to himself...But he's still my little man, and I love him so... So far.

Just because...

Pizza with Mushroom, Feta, Olives, Onion and Tomato

This past Friday evening, I decided, was a night that deserved time for relaxing (after barn chores of course). Not to mention that fact that I also felt like utter crap while dealing with a nasty sinus bug.

So the dinner menu was kept simple: pizza, accompanied by a salad of romaine, walnuts, blue cheese and balsamic vinaigrette.  A favorite dinner of mine. Only tonight I decided to try a little different technique with the pizza and make it in a pre-heated cast iron pan, rather than on the pizza stone.  Smaller pizzas, but easier to handle. Why not? 

I made the pizza crust the night before:

1 1/3 cups of warm water
1 tbsp. yeast
1 tbsp. sugar
3/4 tbsp. sea salt
1/4 cup of olive oil
3 1/4 cup flour

Pour your water into a bowl, whisk in the sugar.  Pour yeast on top, let proof ten minutes.  Add salt and olive oil, mix well.  Add the yeast mixture to the flour in a large mixing bowl.  Mix well until thoroughly combined.  If you have a mixer with a dough hook, this would be ideal.  Simply turn the mixer on and walk away for ten minutes, maybe uncork some wine? 

When dough has come together, cover the bowl with plastic and let it rise for two hours or overnight.  It is then ready to roll out (thick or thin?) and add you pizza toppings.  Bake your pizza at 425 degrees until done to your liking.  I prefer my cheese slightly browned, personally.

A Quote for November

“November comes and November goes,

With the last red berries and the first white snows.

With night coming early, and dawn coming late,

And ice in the bucket, and frost by the gate.

The fires burn and the kettles sing,

And earth sinks to rest, until next spring.”

― Clyde Watson

Happy Halloween

Sandra’s seen a leprechaun, Eddie touched a troll,

Laurie danced with faeries once,

and Charlie found some  goblin’s gold.

Danny heard a mermaid sing, Susie spied an elf,

But all the magic I have known, I've had to make myself.”

 

Happy Halloween!

 

 

 

 

Farm Weekends

I finally had a weekend without visitors, all to myself pretty much, sort of. Friday started it all off with a quick stop at the local pub for some fried clams, and too much wine. Apparently country folk and Amish do not cherish the magnificence of a plateful of lightly fried calamari in the same way that I do.  Pity. And you can't find it anywhere near my town, so I'm forced to depress my tastes and accept the simple fried clams, with cocktail sauce.  How bland. But hell, who am I kidding, I absolutely love fried clams.

Saturday I actually slept in... all the way until 7:30 am!  Then I made a loaf of sourdough bread and went work cleaning the house and trying to get caught up on laundry.  I really hate doing laundry.  And I hated scrubbing the entire kitchen floor by hand also. But some things must be done, right?

Sourdough Bread. (P.S. My house isn't crooked - just my photography ...)

Later that day I made a huge pan of baked penne with mushrooms and hot Italian sausage, of which I took no photos because it was that good and it went that fast. Next time...

I greeted Sunday morning sitting at the kitchen table drinking my coffee, and noticing five young roosters sparring in the backyard.  I headed out with the gun, and shot one immediately.  I wanted two of them, but after the first one all the rest were privy to my plan.

I also learned something.  I found that I was able to pluck most of the body feathers quite easily from this young roo, before submerging it into scalding water. It made the job much faster and less messy.  I decided to quarter this bird instead of roasting him whole.  Please don't judge my "quartering a chicken" skills - still learning!

Quartered (sort of)

I said good bye to Sunday with a nice walk through the fields with the goats.  I tried to end the evening by staying awake for an episode of "The Walking Dead," but of course that never happened...

 

 

 

Hello Snow?

This morning I woke up to the first snow of the season.  I was not expecting it at all.  I still have to plant garlic!  We’ve had some rain lately, and the ground has just been too wet to use the tiller.  Honestly, where I live, we have been so spoiled this October up until this morning.  The weather has been warm, though damp, and little old naive me believed that just maybe we’d get through Halloween with nice temperatures, and after that I didn’t care what happened. 

Well folks, obviously this is my "wake up call."  This morning's weather set my mind racing, thinking about all the things that need to be done or put into place for the winter, soon.  Like, right now soon.

Time to dust off the electric water buckets, make sure the heat lamps are in place, figure out what to do with the 3-week old chicks that are camping out in my kitchen at the moment; order the
last load of hay, stock up on enough bedding to last 3-4 months, etc.  The list goes on, believe me.  It all seems too daunting really.

On another note, this colder weather has caused me to put the wood stove into action, and I must say, it is working fabulously!  The house is so warm and cozy.  Wood only has to be thrown in once before bedtime, once in the morning, and then once (or not) during the day.  I can actually walk around the house in shorts, comfortably.  Amazing.  I just hope I have enough wood to get through the winter.  And, there is still a lot more left to cut and stack, which needs to happen soon before anymore of the white stuff falls.  Gloves... OMG I need new gloves!  And flannel sheets!  I better go grab my list.

Meat Rabbits

I haven't written a post since Friday, due to a death in the family, which required time away for a funeral. The weekend was uneventful anyway, aside from butchering two of the last four "franken-chickens," and adding rabbits to the list of Mon Abri Farm residents. 

 

I'm not the kind of person who finds "bunnies" cute, or even cuddly. Just tasty! We swapped a few dozen eggs for a doe and her three young kits.  Bartering at its best... Although I know nothing on how to sex a rabbit (yet), I'm told two of the kits are male, and one is female.  I'm also told four rabbits should be plenty to produce a small and steady supply of rabbit meat in the near future. We'll see. For a interesting source of information on rabbits you might start here, at CrossRoads Rabbitry.

 

"Momma Bunny"

 

"The Kits"