My Saturday

It was a farm morning.  I did the animal chores while Tom worked on fixing the fence that was hit by the falling spruce tree this winter.  It is where the grapes are planted, and we were given two grape plants by Tom’s daughter so quickly needed to get this fixed and the new grapes planted.  Here it is before he fixed it.

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There was a lot of the spruce tree behind the fence.  The sheep and goats are helping clean that up.

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We found two more hidden chicken nests this morning.  This one has at least 20 eggs,

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and this one has 5.  So we are expecting a lot more chicks than we thought.  Plus we have an order of chick coming later this month.  

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Here is some of the progress from the back of the fence.  He was able to fix it and get the grapes planted.

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I saw this idea on facebook the other day so grabbed an old rake head we had laying around and made a BBQ utensil rack for our back porch.  I think it is pretty cool.

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After animal chores, my attention went to the garden and greenhouse.  I am not sure you can see them, but our tomatoes are actually sprouting. I had given up hope.  I had plantted them all and put them on a seed warming pad in mid March.  But the mat caught fire.  So the seeds were left in the greenhouse which was too cold at night for them.  But Tom bought me new warming pads for my birthday, and I set them up the next day.  So I am so happy to see these seeds survived the ordeal.

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I planted peas, sweet peas, radish, spinach and turnips in the garden.  The beagle was not helpful so Tom put up the garden fence.  

After lunch I dyed some hard boiled eggs.  It will be a quiet pandemic Easter for us, but at least I will have colorful eggs to eat still.  

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I also made Kombucha.  It had been a while, and my SCOBY went crazy!

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Tom was running out of cookies in the jar so I made these butterscotch cookies.  They are really good!

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Then I started Prue Leith’s Sussex Pond Pudding.  Here it is in my bamboo steamer where it will steam for 2 hours.

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The sauce requires Double Cream which is hard to find but we did.

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While this was steaming I made some bath bombs as we are out and they are critical to our back care.  

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I have a chicken roasting in the oven and am now sitting in front of the Final Four UCLA versus Gonzaga game.

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Go Zags!!!!!!

Now the obligatory Ryeleigh photos.  This one Tom took the other day.  

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This is the scene in the kitchen when I came home from work yesterday morning.

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And this morning the arm is tore off.  Poor Mr. Bill!

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Posted in Farm, Historic recipes, Recipes- farm | 4 Comments

Out Like a Lamb

The last day of March was gorgeous here. It felt like Spring had sprung. And the garden was dry enough so Tom tilled it. I love the dark soil we have. 

There are lots of seeds starting in our greenhouse.  A friend Denise brought up the idea of having a black barrel of water in her hoop house to help moderate the nighttime temperatures.  So I brought a black barrel in and filled it.  Plus this can be an easier source of water for the seeds, rather than hauling it every few days which we have been doing.

Ryeleigh does enjoy the loose soil for digging.

Unfortunately we had an eagle flying low over Ryeleigh, making us nervous.

But he did fly away.  We were able to bottle the last of my wine.  Then Tom was able to enjoy the rest of the afternoon watching the dogs play in the backyard.  I did a spring cleaning in the house.

Posted in Farm | 4 Comments

56th Birthday

Obligatory beagle images start first this post. One of my indoor boots went missing (I wear boots indoors now due to a teething beagle) but I found it under my computer chair leg smothering Mr. Bill I thought it profound.

Ryeleigh and Steve learn to share a rawhide (after I scissored it into two pieces).

A cute Tom holding Ryeleigh photo.

And here is Ryeleigh digging up a storm in our front yard.

So we already had sheep shearing and Shetland Sunday Tea treats so plenty for a birthday. And I got a tour of Denise’s high tunnel. Plus I received some of her husband’s banana chocolate cookies (which are excellent). Afterwards we went to Revival Cocktail Bar in Mount Vernon. I had a lemon drop flight and Tom had a French 75.

But to cap it off we went out to dinner. I had wanted to go to a favorite restaurant (where I had a birthday discount) but they are now closed on Mondays, so I found a new restaurant to try. Carnal in Bellingham. For starts I had the salmon tartare and Tom had chicken fat potatoes. We were both thrilled.

The fire in the fireplace was roaring. Tom does not remember it from the Up and Up days, but it looks old enough to have been there

For the main course Tom had pork shoulder, and I had short ribs. Both were excellent, but I was enthralled by my ribs.

For dessert we shared a chocolate mousse with chili.

We took Chuckanut home after a visit to Fairhaven Park for the beagle. I did remember my grandmother with her calf again. At home we were greeted by Steve and Izzy. What could be better?

Then I opened my birthday cards from my husband, my father and a good friend. I also have 42 happy birthday wishes on Facebook.

While I was in Bellingham I bought some liqueur for myself for my birthday.

Plus I got some seed warming pads from my husband. So a great and hopefully memorable 56th birthday.

Posted in Farm, Trips | 8 Comments