The Leaning Shed

This is the shed that we keep the lawn equipment in.  For some time, it has appeared to be leaning further and further forward.  At first, I thought it was an optical illusion because the ground around it is uneven.  The chickens like to take their dust baths in there and they're always tossing the dirt here and there.  It became increasingly obvious that it was, indeed, leaning.  So, I brought it Tom's attention and he went to investigate.  (This picture is of the shed after it was already lifted part of the way.  It was leaning much more than this.)

He rigged up this jack to lift the front of the shed.

The pole is wedged up against the beam that goes across the shed ceiling.  As he pumped the jack, it lifted the whole front of the shed up.

 

Then we could see that the poles that support the shed had either completely rotted away or been eaten by termites. 

As a temporary fix (which will probably be until the shed topples over), Tom shoved bricks up under the poles to hold it up until we can figure out a better way.

A shaky foundation.

It still leans a little.  At some point, we'll probably have to lift it out of the way and pour a concrete foundation to set it on.  That'll be better anyway because the chickens keep the floor torn up all the time.

Eggplant Focaccia

After trying two or three eggplant recipes in the past couple of weeks, I had about decided I don't really care for eggplant.  But, I made this recipe last night and it was actually quite good.  I got the recipe off of Martha Steward's website, but had to tweak it to make it gluten free.

1 medium eggplant (1/2 pound), cut into 1/4 inch thick slices

Coarse salt

One pkg. All-Purpose Chebe bread* (or your dough of choice)

2 T. fine cornmeal

4 T. olive oil

6-7 slices of swiss cheese (or 4-6 ounces grated swiss or Emmentaler cheese)

1 T. chopped oregano (if you have fresh oregano, use 2 T.)

In colander, toss eggplant with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt.  Let stand 30 minutes.  (The eggplant will ooze, so make sure you put something under it to catch the mess).  After 30 minutes, press slices between paper towels to dry and set aside.

Meanwhile, make the Chebe bread following the pkg. instructions.  Instead of using a full cup of cheese that the Chebe calls for, I used 1/2 cup peccorino roma, and I added one clove of garlic squeezed in a garlic press.  

Preheat oven to 400 degrees; place a rimless baking sheet, or inverted rimmed baking sheet, or pizza stone (which is what I used) in oven while it's preheating.  Roll out the Chebe dough (or other bread dough) to 1/2 inch thickness.  Sprinkle cornmeal on a lightweight wooden board or other rimless surface and top with dough.  You'll have to slide the focaccia off of this and onto your preheated pizza stone, hence the need for rimlessness.  The cornmeal keeps the dough from sticking to the surface and allows it to slide easily, so don't leave out this step.  Pierce the dough all over with a fork.

Brush dough with 2 T. olive oil and lay swiss cheese out to cover dough, leaving edges uncovered.  Layer on eggplant; brush with 2 T. olive oil; top with shredded cheese (I just cut mine into julienne-like strips) and oregano.  Let stand about 15 minutes, make sure the dough isn't sticking.  

Remove pizza stone from preheated oven and carefully slide focaccia onto it.  Return to oven and bake until bottom of focaccia is crispy and edges are golden, about 20 minutes.  Serve hot.

So tasty!  And very easy.  

I served it with fresh cucumbers and this tomato recipe (also adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe) using tomatoes and jalapeños from my garden.

Ginger, Jalapeño Tomatoes

(serves 2, easily doubled)

2 ripe tomatoes, cut into 1/2 inch wedges

1 small jalapeño or serrano chile, seeded and minced

1 T. peeled fresh ginger, minced

1 T. lemon juice (and zest from the lemon if you'd like)

1 T. olive oil

sea salt and ground pepper

In a small bowl, place tomatoes, jalapeño (if you don't like a lot of heat, only use as much of the pepper as you like), ginger and lemon zest if you're using it.  Mix together the lemon juice, oil, salt and pepper, then toss all ingredients together gently.  Serve at room temperature (because fresh tomatoes should never, ever, ever be refrigerated).

Farm Life is Like a Box of Chocolates

You never know what you're gonna get.  Truly.

We woke up this morning to the dogs making an awful ruckus in the front yard.  Tom jumped out of bed and looked out the window exclaiming, "A piglet!"

Now, it's one thing if the dogs go off and catch themselves a piglet in the woods...and kill it...and eat it.  Whatever.  It's an entirely different matter altogether if they are killing it in our yard, right in front of me.  I just can't let that happen.  It's a baby.  I know it grows up to be big, mean, ugly, and destructive.  But, right now...it's a baby.  And I can't take the cruelty of it all.  And the squealing.  Oh, the squealing.

So, yes, I threw on some shorts, grabbed the camera, some gloves and a towel and ran out there.  I intended to take pics of the dogs trying to get the pig, but I had taken the battery out of my camera to charge.  Bummer.  Anyway, I made Harry put it down and I threw my towel over it and snatched it up.

I stuck it in a dog kennel for lack of a better idea.  It's a feisty little thing.  In the picture above, it is in the process of ramming the sides of the cage.  I've seen an adult feral hog do that and it's pretty scary.

Still trying to find a way out.

I've given it some things to eat - tomatoes that were about to go bad, a piece of grilled chicken (what?! I don't know what piglets eat!), and some applesauce.  I put that bottle of water up there, but wasn't sure if it had figured out how to drink from it, so later I put a big bowl of water in there.  It charges at me whenever I open the door, so I have to be careful about that.  It charged me when I set the water bowl in there and got a face full of water.

I don't know what we're going to do with it.  "Fatten it up and eat it" is what we're being told.  Tom is just rolling his eyes at me for saving it.  Sorry.  It's what I do.

Tea Therapy

I try to take a break every afternoon around two or three o'clock to sit with a cup of coffee or tea and a light snack; to just relax and regroup.  It's "tea time" for this east Texan.

This is my tea cabinet, stocked full of various teas mostly supplied by my ex-barista daughter.  

This was my tea of choice each afternoon this past week.  I think I hadn't ever tried this particular tea because I usually go for the Twinings English or Irish Breakfast.

I sweetened it with a couple of teaspoons of agave nectar and a generous swirl of heavy cream...

very nice.

Eggplant

Whoa, I'm fixin' to have a bumper crop of eggplant.  I don't have any experience with cooking eggplant, either.  Well, I had one experience trying to make baba ganoush years ago and it was a complete failure.

I've done my recipe search and am armed with several recipes.  Hopefully, there will be some successes.  I'll post the good ones.

Let the eggplant experiments commence!

Family Business

We're very excited that my brother (father of Nephew) has bought property close to us and will be moving here soon.  Meanwhile, Nephew is working on the place trying to get things in order.

His current project is the old pole and tin barn.  He has taken down the old decrepit stall walls in preparation for building new ones.  Last week, Tom went over to help him when it was time to pour concrete.  I took Liam over to watch the process and to see a real 'mint mixer in action.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera when I took Liam.  But, I went back later after they were done to get pics of the finished product.

This is where the milking station will be.  There's a drain in the middle for ease of cleaning. 

Across from that will be a large work room.

Guinea Run

I got the guineas for the purpose of keeping squash bugs out of the garden.  The problem is, I can't say that I ever actually see them in the garden.  I put their coop right next to the garden, so even though they never stay in it anymore, it is their home base.  The came back to it throughout the day for water or for a little chicken scratch that I put in there occasionally.  They also roost in the trees above the coop.  But, if they go into the garden, I don't see it.

They, along with the chickens, keep the rest of the property bug free.  I wonder, though, if we will somehow suffer for lack of beneficial bugs.

The guineas often chase each, at top speed.  These three decided to do a little chase around the garden pasture.

They ran here.

And there.

And 'round and 'round.

A fourth one decided to join in on one of the rounds.  I think it's the males chasing the males to prove their manliness to the ladies.  I suspect the ladies were just thinking, "What are those idiots doing?"

Anyway, the good news is that even though I have not seen the guineas in the garden very much, they must be making a regular pass through there.  I haven't seen one squash bug yet this season.  I suppose it could be that it's just too soon, but I'm hoping it's because the guineas are doing their job.  I've found plenty of potato beetles on the eggplant bushes, but not one little orange potato beetle larva.  I'm guessing that they like the larva, but not the adult beetle.

Saving a Birdlet

Tom brought it to my attention that there was a baby bird on our back porch.  Of course, I had to save it.

It's in the cute fuzzy head stage.

After I took picks, I got a stool and put it back in the nest it had fallen out of.

I hope it stayed put.  I've checked several times to make sure it hasn't fallen out again.

Gardening 2014

I feel like I've planted everything late this year, but things are looking good.

I have high hopes for my boutique pumpkins this year.  If they make enough, I'm going to try selling them at our local farmer's market.  I reserved about half the garden space for the pumpkin plants to spread and only planted two of each variety.  Although, I just now remember that I forgot to plant my Jack-O-Lantern sugar pumpkins.  Uh-oh.

Look at the hay in the background.  It's growing like crazy and it's time to bale, although we don't usually bale that pasture.

To make room for the extra pumpkins, I'm trying a little vertical gardening with the butternut.  I'm using the trellises that Nephew built last year for the beans.  I had way to many beans last year and they went to waste, especially because I didn't like the string variety.  This year, I found a stringless vine and planted half the amount.

I have to check the vines each day to redirect them onto the trellis because they tend to want to snake along the ground.  They're already putting on squash, though.

The watermelon from last year reseeded itself, so I just let it grow and didn't plant any.  I did stick a cantaloup in there, though. 

The strawberries are filling up the boat.  The ones I planted in the front were from a different source than the ones in the back and they didn't grow at all.  But, the rest of them have had three waves of production and with each one, they are producing more and more and sending out more vines.  At the rate they're growing, I won't be surprised if the whole boat is filled up by the end of summer.  I love this idea of growing in a boat.  It's so easy to keep it weeded.  Now, every time I see a derelict boat somewhere, I want to bring it home with me.

Arugula and Asparagus Salad

I grew arugula in the garden this year and was searching for a way to use it when I came across this recipe for arugula and asparagus in a salad.  How perfect is that?  I have loads of arugula and loads of asparagus in the garden.  I happened to have the rest of the ingredients on hand (or reasonable facsimiles thereof), so I made it for dinner a few nights ago and it was delicious.

I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, but you can click on the link to see what it looked like.

Also, I didn't measure my ingredients and it turned out just fine.

10-14 asparagus spears

2 slices of bacon

fresh arugula

1 shallot, sliced

1 orange, peeled and segmented*

1 orange, juiced*

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1/4 cup freely grated pecorino roma (or parmesan)

Snap the ends off of the asparagus and discard or save for later use.  Using a vegetable peeler, carefully peel the asparagus spears into long ribbons, starting from bottom to top.  Set aside.

Heat a skillet to medium heat.  Chop bacon and add it to the skillet, browning until crisp.  Remove bacon and drain on a paper towel, leaving the drippings in the pan.  Add asparagus and shallot to the skillet and stir to coat.  Cook for 5-6 minutes or until asparagus softens and shallot is translucent.

Put arugula in a large salad bowl.  Add orange slices, vinegar and orange juice and mix thoroughly.  Add asparagus and bacon, tossing to coat and mix the entire salad.  Season with salt and pepper if desired (I forgot to do this).  After serving onto plates, sprinkle with cheese to taste.

*I didn't have an orange, so I used mandarin oranges in place of the orange segments and a little under a half a cup of prepared orange juice in place of the fresh squeezed.

And, I wasn't sure how to harvest the arugula or if it would continue to grow after I harvested it.  So, I just used scissors to cut the whole clump off a couple of inches from the ground.

And, I'm pleasantly surprised to see that it is growing back.  This is something that will definitely be in my garden plan next year.

Who knew arugula was so yummy?

Avocado Toast

This is delicious!  I got the recipe from Martha Stewart's website and changed it a little to suit me.

1 slice Udi's gluten free bread*

1/4 large avocado, sliced

Coconut oil

Lime juice

 (bottled or just squeeze a fresh lime directly onto the avocado toast)

Salt

Red pepper flakes

Lightly toast bread and cut in half.  Arrange avocado slices on bread.  Drizzle with coconut oil and lime juice.  Sprinkle with salt and red pepper flakes.

*The loaves of Udi's available at regular grocery stores are dinky little loaves with dinky slices.  I buy my Udi's at Costco because they sell the extra large loaves with decent sized slices for nearly the same price as a grocery store sells the little loaves.  If you only have access to the little loaves, you'll need to toast two pieces of bread.

Peach Season

It's peach season.  Liam and I ate our entire peach harvest in one sitting today.

God's Colors

You can't get any prettier than God's colors.

This is a cactus that grows along our fence line.

And the blackberries were beginning to ripen at the same time so the contrast of the lime green cactus, the yellow cactus flower, and the red berry was just stunning.

The Birthing Center

Momma guinea has been sitting on her eggs, about 22 of them if I counted correctly, for a long time now.  She started at the beginning of May and the normal incubation time is 26-28 days.  I've been taking a peek at her every day to see if there's any action.  Today is the day!

Dad is in the waiting room pacing back and forth.  I'm not making this up, people.

There's a cracked egg and the little puff next to it is the keat that just came out of it.

The tiny little puff next to the mom is one of the fully hatched keats.  Cute little puff.

She's sitting in this alley between pastures where the goats want to graze.  If they get too near, she yells at them, so they keep a wide berth (pun intended).  See how they are all lined up against the fence.  They're trying to pass her and get to me at the end of the alley.  The goat on the right is having a look at whatever is in the grass screaming at her.

Momma guinea must be pretty intimidating for those goats to plaster themselves up against the fence as they go by her.  I don't think I'll have to worry about the keats getting trampled.

What I will have to worry about is Harry and Ginger eating them like chicken nuggets when the momma decides it's time to move them.  I'll have to be pretty vigilant so that when she's on the move, I can get the babies to a safe place.

Who wants some guineas?

Baked Pasta with Spinach, Ricotta, and Prosciutto, Gluten Free

I found a recipe on Martha Stewart's website that calls for ricotta so that I could use my homemade ricotta in something rather than the standard lasagna.  I tweaked it a little, so here's my version of the recipe:

1 pound Tinkyada elbow macaroni (or other gluten free pasta)

6 ounces sliced prosciutto

20 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess moisture

2 cups raw goat milk

2 cups homemade ricotta cheese

2 garlic cloves, minced

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste*

1/2 cup grated peccorino romano

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Cook pasta a few minutes less than package instructions suggest.  Cut prosciutto into thin strips.

In a casserole dish (about 9 x 13 inch), toss pasta with spinach, half of the prosciutto, milk, ricotta, and garlic.  Season with salt and pepper.  Top with remaining prosciutto and peccorino.  Bake until golden and bubbly, 30-40 minutes.

* I used 1 tsp. of salt, but it was a little on the bland side.  The next time I make it, I'll use 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons.  Other than needing more salt, this recipe was quite good.  I'll definitely make it again.

Making Chèvre

Today was my last attempt with making cheese with my fresh goat's milk.  I may experiment later in the year with frozen milk.  I've read lots of advice from different internet sites on using frozen milk.  They directly conflict each other on several points.  "Don't use frozen milk, it won't work.  Frozen milk works just fine for cheese making.  You can make cheese with frozen milk if you thaw it slowly. You can make cheese with frozen milk if you thaw it quickly. etc."  My book says to only use milk less than 48 hours old.  So, who knows?

Anyway, I chose chèvre for today's cheese. It is a french-style soft cheese.

Once again, I started out with fresh whole milk in the vat, five quarts this time, and warmed it to 80 degrees.  I sprinkled DVI Chèvre Culture over the warmed milk and stirred.  Then I added diluted rennet and stirred again.  Then, as per the instructions, I put the lid on and left it undisturbed for eight hours.

It was pretty quick and simple.

This is what it looked like after eight hours.  I didn't dare even lift the lid or jostle it during that time period for fear of messing something up.  So, I was excited to see if it had done anything, and it had!  I was happy to see that it was a large solid mass.  I tilted the pan for the picture to show how it pulls away from the edge en masse.  There was a film of whey over the top.

Then I poured it into a cheesecloth lined colander to let it drain.  After a large portion of whey had drained out...

I pulled up the edges of the cheesecloth and tied them so that I could hang it to drain more.  My banana hanger worked pretty good for this part.  I had to empty the blue bowl several times.

After about six hours of draining, the cheese had taken on the contours of the cheesecloth.  It looked sort of like a pumpkin.  I divided it into containers and put it in the refrigerator.  I'll do an internet search for a good recipe to season it.

I was very happy with how it turned out.  Hopefully, it will taste as good as it looks.

Broody Guinea

The guineas are laying their eggs in all kinds of random places.  Sometimes I'll come upon one single egg just laying out in the field, but usually they have a nest with at least 20 eggs in it.  Up until a few weeks ago, we were raiding the nests when we found them.  They had a stash in their coop, but when I removed some of them (for reasons that made sense, but didn't work out), they abandoned that location and the same six eggs have been sitting there ever since.

We found one nest in the tall grass of an unmown alley between pastures and decided to leave it undisturbed to see what would happen.  Eventually, one of the hens stopped coming to the coop to eat in the evening, so I figured she had probably decided to sit on the collection of eggs.

I went to check the nest and, sure enough, she was snuggled all down on the eggs.  She's in the picture, but you might have to double click on it to see her.  She sits still as death.  For several days, one of the males would sit on the fence for most of the day screaming at anyone or anything that ventured near.  But, I guess he got tired of that and he no longer hangs around.

Here she is from a different angle.  Really, if you didn't know where to look, it's likely you'd never know she was there.  Thankfully, the dogs haven't been interested enough to have a look.  

I've been wondering what she'll do if she successfully hatches any; how she'll get the little keets out of there, or if she'll even try.  I've heard that guinea hens are careless mothers.  I'll have to gather them up and get rid of them because I do not want any more guineas.  I guess I'll sell them or give them away, so if any of y'all want some, let me know.