tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65825554668843491992024-02-18T22:15:11.255-05:00Five Wooded AcresSparowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04377645722546884263noreply@blogger.comBlogger191125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582555466884349199.post-57401631489281710252011-02-05T19:28:00.000-05:002011-02-05T19:28:52.819-05:00SnowThe end of January certainly brought us decent snow...
And someone was enjoying herself!
Sparowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04377645722546884263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582555466884349199.post-87238603787758251682010-12-07T17:06:00.000-05:002010-12-07T17:06:00.480-05:00It's that time of the year again...
The apple butter time of the year! Last week we canned 19 pints of apple butter.
Here it is cooking down....
...and after we added the spices...
Doesn't it look delicious?
Sparowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04377645722546884263noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582555466884349199.post-36945622528651236982010-12-04T16:05:00.000-05:002010-12-04T16:05:04.575-05:00Tardy Turkey Day GreetingsDespite my tardiness in posting, we had a nice thanksgiving. Our main course was gumbo & french bread (here's the gumbo cooking)
I made delicious bean dip from Foodie Farm Girl's recipe. (It's not terribly photogenic in this picture, but we ate it before I remembered to get a better picture!
We also had pecan pie, squash pie, and soybean pie (yum).
(I ate squash and soybean for Sparowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04377645722546884263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582555466884349199.post-46965175872237771072010-11-13T15:40:00.000-05:002010-11-13T15:40:10.869-05:00...More Fall ColorsSparowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04377645722546884263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582555466884349199.post-4554260198682286502010-11-11T18:13:00.000-05:002010-11-11T18:13:00.432-05:00What's keeping me busy...I haven't been posting too much over the past few weeks. Why? I've been busy.
This is Shaylee (she doesn't like cameras much). She's the newest member of the family.Sparowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04377645722546884263noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582555466884349199.post-72281667378266241272010-11-09T19:14:00.001-05:002010-11-09T19:14:00.267-05:00Mozzarella
There are quite a few recipes out there for making your own mozzarella. I don't remember which one we used, but I don't think it's terribly critical, since it was wrong. :-)
Basically we added some rennet, (found at grocery store), citric acid (found at health food store), and milk together in a pot, and heated it up. The instructions that I found bookmarked on my phone (best guess as any, but Sparowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04377645722546884263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582555466884349199.post-17250052379562438122010-11-07T19:12:00.001-05:002010-11-07T19:12:00.381-05:00Pizza...with a little something specialSo a few weeks ago, we made our characteristic pizzas (this time one on sunday and one on friday)...but there was something different....
Are those slices of fresh mozzarella? They are. (but that's not the best part...)
You want to know the REALLY special part? (I feel like I have to leak it, since I haven't gotten that post written yet........) We made it. :-) Yummy. Home-made. Mozzarella. (Sparowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04377645722546884263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582555466884349199.post-31246381314984010632010-11-03T18:41:00.000-04:002010-11-03T18:41:06.565-04:00What're you lookin at?Are you looking at me??
Oh. That's ok then. I AM rather proud of my looks..... :-)
Sparowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04377645722546884263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582555466884349199.post-68186540215844031452010-10-31T20:16:00.001-04:002010-10-31T20:17:25.742-04:00Happy HalloweenSparowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04377645722546884263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582555466884349199.post-57472220677986984672010-10-27T17:06:00.000-04:002010-10-27T17:06:00.235-04:00Fall Foliage (III)
It might be time to get the leaf blower out...Sparowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04377645722546884263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582555466884349199.post-80015668837261376392010-10-25T17:04:00.000-04:002010-10-25T17:04:00.330-04:00Fall Foliage (II)Sparowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04377645722546884263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582555466884349199.post-30788601945890037742010-10-23T17:48:00.000-04:002010-10-23T17:48:00.424-04:00FoliageSparowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04377645722546884263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582555466884349199.post-87087389777704101192010-10-21T18:52:00.000-04:002010-10-21T18:52:32.854-04:00FirewoodS. has been busy chopping wood for the past month or so (this is only about a third or less of it...the rest is under a tarp). Doesn't it look warm? :-)
Sparowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04377645722546884263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582555466884349199.post-84054562066247221702010-10-13T18:44:00.000-04:002010-10-13T18:44:03.929-04:00More SedumSparowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04377645722546884263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582555466884349199.post-1192524220155061572010-10-12T19:37:00.000-04:002010-10-12T19:37:58.839-04:00SedumSparowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04377645722546884263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582555466884349199.post-12824455287574228712010-10-08T17:03:00.001-04:002010-10-08T17:03:00.640-04:00Comfort FoodsThe leaves are starting to change color (partially from cold, partially from drought...), and there's a chill in the air. This can mean only one thing: it's time to haul out the comfort foods.
Venison Chili (inspired by two recipes from a game cookbook that was a gift from my parents)Sparowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04377645722546884263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582555466884349199.post-9061531369566610452010-10-05T17:06:00.002-04:002010-10-06T18:55:37.302-04:00Yeast-free PizzaSeveral weeks ago, S. and I had a craving for homemade pizza. We had everything we needed: tomato sauce, toppings, and mozzarella (this is usually the ingredient we forget about...) The only thing we neglected to check....was yeast.
So, what about a flatbread pizza? It's flat. It doesn't use yeast, does it?? Um, yeah. Turns out it does. Leafing through a cookbook, it turns out most "flat" breadsSparowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04377645722546884263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582555466884349199.post-49457674950805268522010-10-03T19:16:00.000-04:002010-10-03T19:16:00.568-04:00Egg Muffin BreakfastsA few weeks ago, we decided to stray from our regular breakfast options (crumpets, bagels, etc.) Instead, we decided to give the many (many) eggs in our refrigerator a try....egg sandwich style.
First we toasted some english muffins, and put a pat of butter on each. Then, we put a fried egg in the middle.
See that cool ring the egg is in? S. unbent a cookie cutter to make that. Brilliant! (andSparowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04377645722546884263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582555466884349199.post-27556113594143133102010-10-03T16:46:00.000-04:002010-10-03T16:46:55.729-04:00One, two, three....oh fudge....I've been doing my best to keep track of how many eggs our hens and ducks have layed in the sidebar of the blog. About half a week ago, S. asked me why the 2010 chicken egg counter said "204". Um. Oops.
I'm not sure what it should be, although I know it was up around 1000. I also know that with about 10 eggs a day, we're probably several hundred off whichever way I look at it. So I've made the Sparowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04377645722546884263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582555466884349199.post-68811854566793288782010-09-22T17:50:00.002-04:002010-09-26T21:10:54.426-04:00MoltingSo, apparently when they're about 18 months old, laying hens have their first molt. According to what I've read, they basically stop laying during the molt, to put energy into feathers, and then ramp back up the spring after their molt. (As counter-intuitive as it seems, most molts apparently take place in fall...you know, when it's starting to get colder...?)
Either way, they look awfully Sparowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04377645722546884263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582555466884349199.post-64514500063777970982010-09-20T18:50:00.001-04:002010-09-20T19:07:31.129-04:00Frozen Mixed Vegetables (one vegetable at a time...)Our pet birds love their mixed veggies, so we decided as part of our frugality efforts to make our own. So we have frozen corn left from last year, and frozen green beans. Peas, we decided, are too expensive if we have to buy them to freeze them, so next on the list was carrots. Despite our successes this year, there's no way there were enough from our garden to freeze....so we hiked off to the Sparowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04377645722546884263noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582555466884349199.post-6598906157021537112010-09-16T16:23:00.001-04:002010-09-16T16:23:00.440-04:00State of the gardenAs of the first weekend in September...
We still had tomatoes setting...
Pepper plants still in flower.Sparowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04377645722546884263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582555466884349199.post-34370201971371405642010-09-14T16:16:00.002-04:002010-09-14T16:16:00.300-04:00Eastern Box TurtleI'm not sure what he's looking at...
He let me get really close to him, though!Sparowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04377645722546884263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582555466884349199.post-1097906296520228532010-09-12T17:30:00.002-04:002010-09-12T17:30:01.056-04:00Acorn Squash
This year we planted two hills of Acorn squash...one of Table Ace and one of...um...something Queen (I know, I know.... I have it written down somewhere). They are doing TONS better than we anticipated. We have at least 3 or 4 lovely green squash set (it's kind of hard to locate them...so the count gets sketchy...), and the plants are still setting. Yes, they're getting a spot of downy mildew Sparowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04377645722546884263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582555466884349199.post-20593921480507185102010-09-11T16:42:00.002-04:002010-09-11T16:42:00.287-04:00CarrotsA few weeks ago (yes, all of my posts this past week started out this way...) we brought in a surprising number of carrots from the garden (ok, S. did). I think they probably took a bit longer to mature than the seed packets said...but better late than never.
We had quite the assortment of sizes and colors...
Quite a few (maybe a third of them) had pest issues...I'm not quite sure what they Sparowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04377645722546884263noreply@blogger.com0