Drying herbs , a mystery plant, and revamping the house

This year I purchased a spearmint plant from the herb society at their annual Quail Hollow herb festival. The past years I have bought one and made its home in a pot where it would produce for a little while then die. So this year I planted mine in the ground by the driveway wattle fence. I have never had such a tiny mint plant grow so many big fat leaves! I have been able to pick 2 cups fresh leaves each week to dry for the winter tea. I am kicking myself for forgetting to buy lemon balm now. I will call down to another local greenhouse and see if they may have one left I may purchase. The calendula has been very bountiful and I pick anywhere from 6 to 12 flower heads a day this week. Drying those too since my infusion will need one fresh dosing of petals then its salve time. I do not know what else to do with all this calendula I have been getting. I planted my patty pan squash around it since their previous spot stunted their growth. Once moved by the calendula, it took just a few short weeks to spur them on. I have a mystery plant growing in the garden. (clicking on my pics brings them in zoom) I thought it may be a tomatillo vareity, but am second guessing now that I see white flowers. Do you know what it is?Maybe a small pepper? Maybe just a weed? Maybe you are wondering why a weed would even get that big in my garden in the first place? I honestly do not know since it was growing by the black cherry tomato, 2 sunflowers, and a nasturnium looking plant. I had lots of leftover Renee's garden seed packets of flowers (year 2003/2004...) I spread out among the yard which hinders my memory of what is what.
I have been drowning myself in redo books for our home. I need to turn this place around so I can get what we want/need from its sale in the next year or two- better be on the market next summer though! I have to do it creative and inexpensive. I need some great illusionsal work here!!
One book hit me with the inexpensive inspiration. Grand illusions by nick Ronald & dDavid Roberts. I found this realy cool idea to do a "chair rail height" trim with smooth stones/pebbles inlaid with trimming and grout.They called it Pebble Frieze. It would go with the feel of this house for sure. I am putting 12x12 tiles in a tan/cream marble look for the bathroom floor. Doing a trim with the stones would be such a nice look. I am also going the extra mile and doing my coffee table top inlaid with the stones.We started collecting today which gave us a fair head start.
Another great idea is for my kitchen cabinets. Originaly, they had the look of dark and gloomy added with cheapness. I removed the hardware and painted them primer white. That was 2 years ago and they still are primer white and no handles... I knew I wanted something more than new hardware to add but have not been able to settle on anything. Hubby thought we should go with some realy cool and unique rooster pictures to decoupage on the middle section and just "rim trim" an outline with black paint. I found a book all about kitchen cabinets and revamping ideas which had a section on decoupaging old magazine pictures and newspaper on the cabinet doors which was cool looking and way cheaper which affords nicer hardware. The ide from the Grand illusions book was to use a tin sheet punched with a design in place of the middle insert. They had a template for a rooster/hen that would go well for over the stove area in my opinion. (The 2 pictures with glare are taken with my digital since my scanner refuses to cooperate right now. So please excuse the bad pictures.) Do you see the soft green colored walls behind the cabinet? It use to be wall board that had little flowers on it. I filled each crack and smoothed it all up with sand paper then painted the walls so to give it a dry wall look. You cannot even tell except for a few spots where the wall boards were lined up and pressure on the walls from people leaning gave way to the crack. It will of course be fixed since I have to repaint thanks to children and spray bottles of cleaner...
The kitchen and dining room had the same walls and I did the same finsh to both rooms except the dining room has a metal blue color with a sand texture/ finish in it. Plus we added a chair rail trim with a leaf motif carved in it. Both floors are looking very shack like now. I have been pulling up the layers of linoleum and even tried to lay squres down in the kitchen. They keep coming up so now both rooms will be getting wooden floors next spring.
So between the barnyard, the kids, & this house, I am truly on multitasking overload! I would be bored otherwise so I'll stop belly aching.
~Tammie

"Wild foods and wine" challenge- Purslane edition

What is purslane? Its a weed silly. An edible,wonderfully nutritional & useful weed. Common purslane or for you latin seekers "Portulaca Oleracea"-AKA: duckweed, fatweed,pursley.It is packed with a powerful punch of a great many vitamins and minerals.

"It gives you 6 times the vitamin E that spinach does and 7 times the beta carotene a carrot would! It is even high in those infamous Omega -3's! So off the healthy why's to the tasty ones. If eaten raw, it gives a light crunch and a touch of lemon to the palate."

That is a direct quote from Seabreeze organic farm. If you click on it, you will find yourself with an abundance more of information on this subject.
I had alot of fun with this one. It was not hard to make something yummy to put it in. So here are the garden/yard fresh items for the Pursalane summer salad
Flat leaf parsley, Spearamint, Purslane( in the white bowl), Cucumbers of any variety. We used a mix of regular garden variety and a japanese variety the neighbors gave us. You will also need kosher salt, black pepper, a few cloves of garlic, & All Natural yogurt- do not buy the average variety yogurt with all those chemicals. It defeats the purpose of this powerfully nutrtional salad. We buy the Dannon all natural vanilla yogurt. Read your ingredients and compare to mine. You will see why. Hold on, I am getting to the recipe. A story first..
On the site link I gave above, they have a similar recipe to this but a dear Jewish friend, vegetarian/yoga teacher served this to me and I loved it! She is a riot to know and her meals were as interesting as her life. Alot of life changes for me were made aftre meeting & befriending her. My desire of a more earthy life is because of her influence. It was always there but she brought it to the surface, dusted off the cobwebs and gave me a hand up. You know that song by the Beatles and the theme song for the sitcom Providence called "in my life"?
That was the song that was sung by a guy playing the guitar while I walked down the winding staircase of the Victorian home I married my husband in. I chose that song because it reminds me of my life. She was in my wedding and you would think hearing it would bring images of my husband on that day. It does, but it also puts her in my thoughts. She encouraged me so much when i needed a friend the most. She no longer lives close andas most long distance friendships our communication faded over the years. Where I am going with this is everytime i see purslane, I picture her smiling face while she served me this exotic lunch salad.
so this is what you will need exactly:
-2 laverage size cucumbers, peeled, diced into chunks and cleaned of all the seeds
-about half of a small garlic bulb
-a large handful of parsley chopped up good
-a very small handful of mint( I used about 5 big leafs of spearamint- hubby did not like the mint but did like the rest of the salad)
-a large handful of purslane (destemmed if you prefer no crunch) & chopped up tiny
-1 tspn. kosher salt and a few shakes of pepper
about 1 cup vanilla or plain all natural yogurt
Mix it all up and tast to see if you prefer more salt or pepper.
Lil' man ate as much of this as I did. Panda is still in her "picky" stage so not a bite from her.
When we were out picking beans at hilgerts she recognized some plants of purslane from our clipping time in the garden. I love when she retains the information I feed her like this. On another note, We have our calendula infusion on the front porch soaking in the sunshine, moonbeams, and star light. I should have my Calendula salve ready within the month. I read* here * to try adding a comfrey infusion for additional uses. Lots of nice information on that site about Calendula too. I do not have any Comfrey this year and will need to pay a visit to the herb cottage for a replacemant.
Our tomatoes are looking great! Despite Buddy eating the tops off half of my striped cavern tomato plants, I should have enough to feed us and some for giving away. Not as much of them as I wanted, but enough anyway. I dumped all the goat pen rakings in the front garden beds. I can tell a difference in the eggplants. They were so slow untill a week after their first "goat berry" treatment. Now the leaves are big and the flowers are turning into little white marbles.
This will be my first time growing or eating the cloud nine eggplant variety. I recieved the seeds through a swap as well as most of my tomato seeds. I have not sent my swap items for my tomato seeds as of yet. I did send out a package which came back since i put the wrong state on the address. So i thought i would make up a nice package of my goods freshly made to send off in the fall. Some of my salves will be in there along with a bottle of my wine-with a " not to be opened till" date of course. I'm rambling so I best be off now. Big day for the kiddies tommorow. We are going to a park that has permenate rides for 40 cents each. i will share more later. Sweet dreams....
~Tammie

A different way of living

Thank you for your kinds words & support(you know who you are & I thank you so much). I have erased the entry as you can see. Blogging has become an outlet for me. A bit of therapy along with my journaling. It has also opened my eyes to different ways of living in this "crazy world". I am trying to convince my husband on purchasing a Yurt to place on our land untill a house is possible.
Here is the picture of one that inspired my"mad" idea. The image on the left was borrowed from pacific yurts. My link above on Yurts, is of Rainier Yurts. They seem to have the loft option and sturdy frame windows instead of vinyl. Before you think I realy am mad, remember I said untill the house was built. So for 1-2 years, we live in this on the property I speak of. After the house is established, we could do weekend rentals of the yurt to help compensate for its purchase. I guess they last 10-20 years and if we do it as a sorta B&B Chevre dairy farm thing for an adult/parent getaway, it should work out. Of course hubby looked at me like I realy was mad and said "I know you are upset right now, but remember how you swore you would never live in a tent again?".He is refering to my early childhood-pre foster care- that my Bio's had my brothers and I living out of our car & tents. But that was different. I had to explain how it was different too. They also pulled us out of school for 2 years & said they were homescholling us- Kinda funny when you think of how my bio mom was illiterate, yet she was "homeschooling" us. I guess all the time we spent in the library due to the heat was suppose to qualify. I was a bookaholic. I hungered for books and had to teach my older brother how to read. It all stopped when I ran away & exposed their lies & abuse. I finally got away just before my 15th birthday.
But thats off the subject. I have been lurking about this since I knew he would think it ridiculous. It would cost under $23,000 to have a yurt with one addition, a flooring system, and to hook us up to all the electric/plumbing needs. That is how much we would pay in rent or on payments in a house for 2 years. (we currently own our home.) So how would it be a loss? The largest is around 800 square feet plus you add in the loft option to have a sleeping area for the kids. You can make it very nice from what I have read up on. It is weatherproof and a wood burner stove would heat it nicely with yurts optional insulation on the walls. The addition is where I would put our bedroom, so we can have privacy. I would go with the 15 ft diameter for it. I feel this option of living in a yurt on the 7 acres back by the stream would give us privacy,family togetherness without outside interuption and to live feet away for overlooking our new home while it is in the process of being built. Has anyone lived like this before? Anyone know anyone? I would realy like to get some feedback on this but have not a clue how to find people with that experience. I must get away from this place and solitude is just the way I need it to be for awhile. Live close to Mother Nature and rediscover ourselves as a family.
Am I truly mad for this desire?? Should I just go get some crazy people pills or go straight to the white jacket? I use to be such a loving people person. I know that left me when I moved here to Ohio. The society here do not smile kindly on open minded ( & opinionated independent) women.
The locks "hotel style" have been put on the doors. I have kept the children in the house all day playing games and socializing with each other and myself. Those children from both families keep riding their bikes up & down in front of our property from one end to the other all day. Funny thing here is they never- I mean Never- have done that in the few years they lived here. Yesterday the one said to the other outloud- "I best go tell mom she is out feeding her animals". His mom was across the street talking with the mother of the little boy lil man played with. What was that?! Then the little boy came down to our house on his bike (just turned 5 years old) because he saw us out feeding animals in the morn. He said hi to lil man and lil man said hi back. Then the little boy said he was not allowed to play with him anymore because of what he did and he was going to play with those other kids. So I said to him" so why are you down at our house. They live across from you not down here. Goodbye." So as the little rode his bike away he yelled out "thank you for peeing on me" & lil man responded with a yell "your welcome"....
Now that put a smile on my face!

A nest with 1st timer eggs,Goat see-goat do, how is MY garden growing....

Remember my post about the bird nest I found?
Well after drying it out & sealing in a ziploc for 2 weeks, I found it a home. This is an old change bowl of mine from like a decade ago. It fits perfectly! The eggs are from 2 of my chickens. It was their "first". The smaller one is from the much adored but passed "Strawberry", the white silkie. I am placing it on a high shelf for now. Little hands can be devastating on such precious things...

Today, Buddy gave Cleo a lesson in how to obtain those high up apple leaves. She is just too short so I had to pull a bunch off for her. I had to put them under the apple tree to gobble up the falling apples.
I do not understand why they are falling already. I had to spray more Pyola on them too. I really do not see a difference compared to last year. A few apples look better, but not enough to say it is worth the spray!

Weeding in the garden today-mine-, not Panda's, I spotted a few flower buds on the cloud 9 eggplants! Yipeee! I thought they were never going to bud!

And trimming up the tomato plants revealed tons of little surprises....
A. Black cherry tomato
B. Purple Russian tomato (maybe?) C. Striped Cavern tomato
A. B
C.

This is our turken rooster nicknamed "Turken", but hubby named him roadrunner because of his long legs and he reminds him of the roadrunner in cartoons. He seems to be a bit of a loner despite him having a female of his kind in the bunch.We have 11 hens for 2 roosters to share. The only other male is Captain feathersword- which I thought was a silkie but is a silkie mix as you can see. Captain is a sweet and gentle roo to his ladies. If you are "lucky" enough to see him mate (I say lucky because he is rather shy about it), he behaves as though he does not mean to cause them upset & will get off their backs if they seem distressed by him. It truly is sweet. The turken has yet to find his crow and has not shown a single male behavior despite his saddle feathers and head gear being a sure spotter for one. All of the hens seem to be happier since I sent the aggressors off to camp. Of course Captain feathersword will stand outside my bedroom window and crow me awake at 6:45 am everyday if i do not close them up at night. So I am not complaining about having just one rooster crowing. I know I am just rambling here but thought i always talk of goats, gardens, kids, & hens more then i do of the guys. So think of this as an introduction to "the Guys". 2 very sweet and approachable roosters. I have to still catch them to hold, but once i have them they give in to the love. Best part is I do not have to worry about the kids being chased by roosters. If anything, the poor dears get chased by the kids.
~Tammie

She was looking for a midnight snack?

Yes, I have a major problem in the coop with all these darn flies! I have 3! of those bag attracter catchers hanging in the apple tree that are spread apart by 1-2 feet which "fill up" very quickly. I am talking like right now there is 6 inches deep of dead flies in just 3 days! They are suppose to last a month -per bag! Hubby puts them up & takes them down since the rank odor makes me sick to my stomach just walking by one. It is so gross and I do not use chemical sprays since my chickens do free range. Any suggestions? I clean up around the coop and inside, but cannot seem to rid it of these pests.
So I go out to feed the ladies and seen something light blue by the feet of an otherwise buff colored orpington. As I got closer....
Well, a stupid idea to place---fly paper--- real high up in the coop where I thought was impossible for the ladies to get to resulted in this site this morning.I know it was a bad idea now, and after a quick trimming, I promise you she was not harmed other then retaining some sticky goo on her wing tip plus losing some of her pride & side feathers. A lesson learned without any major fatality.
I am looking to buy a few baby turkeys. I would like to find a mating pair so I can have turkey in the freezer too. I think Imay check out the chicken forum to ask around for locals. Anyone raise them that can tell me any difference in their raising from chickens?
I will be tripping back to the Blueberry shack next week with my mother in law. I have a goal of 10 pounds so hopefully going without children means more focused picking. I made some muffins with 2 cups of berries from the other day. So yummy I ate 6 of them in 24 hours! Mine are made with yogurt, oatmeal, flax, & cinnamon added or altered to a recipe from the William Sonoma Blueberry muffin recipe in their Muffin book.
Changing subjects once again, but how do you know if a doe has been mated? I have had Cleo & buddy together now for a month at night due to pricey fencing problems but being I am not a pro on this, I can not even tell if what I think is a heat cycle is one. She gave off all the signs but refused to let Buddy become her "friend" while in my presence. So I do not know if in the nights together they have mated or not. They are both new to it all. He is very nice & sweet to her. Never rough play or anything. I would say the goats actually love & care for each other by their affectionate rubbing and cuddling. Buddy has become so calm towards me its like a whole new goat! No more jumping or trying to rear up on me. Well, I am rambling here and I need to trim some sunflower heads for winter chicken snacks. It looks to be a more weather enjoyable day but prefer to get the outside done before lunch.
~Tammie

The blueberry shack edition of "Wild foods & wine"-its a long one!.

Todays adventure took us to the Stehli blueberry shack in Mantua Ohio. Dont bother looking it up though since it is a well kept secret except from those who live around it. I only found out about it from another farmer who was out of blueberries & referred me to " Stehli blueberry shack ". I looked it up in the yellow pages which still did not list it as a blueberry or U-pick farm.It was listed under the last name and the same road the farmer said it was on. So I called & got the address from the answering machine & paid a visit to mapquest. A hour's drive untill I finally saw this sign.~>This was our first time at picking blueberries, so the excitment was felt by all. Have I mentioned I LOVE blueberries! if you are a blueberry lover and would like to check a site out dedicated to everything blue berry- check this site out: www.theblueberrystore.com
They have tons of blueberry stuff, recipes, and even a free catalog you can sign up for. Yes I did put my name on the list...<~ The blueberry bush's were so pretty to see in person The kids were having so much fun picking these, they never complained once! Well Frog demanded to be fed so I put her in the sling and nursed while I picked those Blueberries- (Now that, my friends, is dedication- or would that be desperation...) It was nice because there was an abundance of ripe berries at their level and lower for them to pick. The clouds were getting a little grey, the air was cooling just abit, and a distant echo of thunder could be heard as we worked our way through the hill top. I made a comment to the kids about "oh, kids, I think she's about to let loose the rain. We best work our way back down now". Panda so sweetly said "Why dont we just ask Mother Nature to hold the rain for just a bit longer Mom"? You had to be in the moment to truly feel the innocence in it. The heat was not real bad since the clouds were overhead & the air had a cool moist feel for another half hour untill She finally did let the rain fall. Panda said it was because she was whispering to her, (Mother Nature), to please let us get our buckets filled more before she "let go". We made our way back to the shack before it started to pound down. We paid the girl for our 4 1/2 pounds which at $1 a pound put a huge smile on my face. We loaded up the Vue and decided to see if it let up in a few so we could go back for another few pounds real quick.
(if clicked on, the shack picture will show the drops of rain in mid "pour".)

We accomplished 1 1/2 pounds before the biting of mosquito's became unbearable so we ran back to pay then loaded one last time into the vehicle. As we drove home we stopped at a park by my dreamland to get the wiggles out of lil' man. One more look at my dreamland then back home to prepare the blueberries for the freezer.Here is a link to show the correct way of freezing blueberries- I even learned something from it... I sent the kids over to one of my neighbors with a pint of blueberries for them. They sent the kids back with some cucumbers & jalepono's. I am using the cucumbers in a certain recipe I hope you will enjoy in the next edition of "wild foods & wine" so stay tuned for that!
As you can tell this edition is about blueberries. If you are so fortunate as to find wild blueberries for this, please let us know! But I am using todays fresh picked ones. I have enough that i will be making the Farmgirl Fare blueberry bars (June 25 entry on her blog) this weekend. so go check her recipe out too!
Here is your Wild food recipes. Something to beat the heat and quench my unsatiable bluberry hunger.***************
Blue Witches brew (sorry, they did not last long enough to get any pictures!)
2 1/2 cups fresh or 12 ounces frozen Blueberries 1 1/4 cup apple juice 1 cup icecream (vanilla) 1/4 cup milk 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon (ground)************ Mix it all up in the blender. Pour into Tall glasses, garnish with spearamint and a straw. Sip slowly to avoid brain freeze and sit & relax on the front porch swing watching wildlife.
And another one I have not tried but sounds so yummy (that i will try making it once the heat backs off this weekend), comes from myFood for friends bookby Sally Pasley Vargas.
Blueberry-Raspberry Jam**********makes 7 half pints
Combine 4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries & 4 cups fresh or frozen raspberries with 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 2 tablespoons water, and 1 pkg.(1.75 ounces & I prefer the no sugar needed kind) of powdered pectin in a 6 quart or larger heavy bottom pot. Place over high heat and bring to a hard boil being sure to stir often. Add 5 1/2 cups sugar (I will use like 3 1/2 cups or less since I use No sugar added type of pectin) and stir constantly until mixture returns to a boil. Boil for exactly one minute.
Ladle into clean hot sterilized jars. Leave about 1/4 inch headspace, seal, and process in hot water bath for 10 minutes. **************************
In her description, she claims friends come back requesting more of this when she gives it out as gifts. I guess I should plan another trip to the blueberry shack soon. My 6 pounds is not going to last me all year....
~Tammie
(*picture removed*)
3 wet & dedicated blueberry pickers waiting for the rain to stop.....

What-no postcards?

Yesterday was the day for chicken camp send off. I drove about 1 hour to their "camp director" (B&P poultry in Paris, Ohio- they have no website). She charged $1.75 per bird and .25 cents extra per bird if you want it cut up into 8 pieces. I had to drive back today between 12 - 5, but being that my children are half my hubbies family gene pool, we were of course late. I was just walking out the door at 5:10pm. I packed the cooler up with ice & packed it along with the kids into the Vue. When we arrived, someone was dropping off some white turkeys and cornish x's. Panda and lil' man could not stand waiting in the car so come running out straight to the turkey's. She had never seen those kind before so was intrigued by their color and size. She has only seen the wild looking turkeys from our friend's family farm. They are the infamous attack turkey's. They will only let our friend's dad get near them. Depending on the day, their mood, and if they are in the driveway, you may get trapped in the car with turkey's staring in at you through your rolled up windows while you wait for someone to come out and save you. Of course the kids just think its great they can see them so close and enjoy putting their hands up to the glass to see a turkey peck at it.
Back to the chicken camp... So all 7 roosters were done. I had her cut up 6 and leave one as a roaster. I have to admit there was not alot of breast meat. That is my favorite part too. Nice drumsticks for the kids though. Once I got them home, I took 1 bag out at a time to clean each piece off before rebagging into freezer double guard ziploc bags. I also-**dont laugh**- suctioned out as much air as I could with a drinking straw and vacum. I do not have a vac sealer yet, so this was as close I am getting to one anytime soon. It was not perfect, but effecient in taking out majority of the air. I made a marinade for one chicken consisting of a can beer, italian seasoning, and a honey dijon mustard dressing with a dash of balsamic vinegar. I split it up into 2 bags so there were 4 pieces per bag to sit in the marinade. Then suctioned out as much air as possible with an unflat beer in there.
Now that I think of it, I may just run back down to the deep freezer and check to make sure I do not have 2 exploding bags of beer chicken in there... oh that was such a duh moment! I seem to be having alot of those lately. Thanks in part to lil' man and his 7 am escapes from the house... more about that later. I'm going to check on that chicken.* picture will be posted in the morning tommorow to replace this sentence:) . updated below.....

What you see consists of :
one whole roaster and 6 cut up into 8 pieces each. 2 bags contain 4 pieces each in marinade, all wings are in another bag, 3 big pieces in a bag for my neighbor to try (single dad) who lets the animals roam there, and a bag with 2 drumsticks and a breast for extra pieces in a meal if needed to add on to another full bag.
Now I am thinking about pheasent since a license is $25 personallicense or $40 for selling to own/raise them in Ohio. The "camp director" would only charge $2.25 per bird on those.
~Tammie

A small break in the heat means a trip to pick!

The last 2 days of heat have been unbearable.Going outside was not going to happen & the kids were getting restless. As you can see from lil' man's face, letting them play later in the day may have kept them cool, but the mosquito's were horrible! Both of these 2 get welts from mosquito bites. They have been to see the doctor due to their eye's swelling almost shut from bites on their faces. I am talking about what you & I may see as a large pimple becomes a massive grape or small golf ball size on them. So far Frog seems to not carry the reaction trait- Thankfully! I do not understand why they get that way & wish I knew what is the cause for a bite to over react.

**Picture removed***
So a 10 degree difference in the heat (down to 84 degrees today), meant we could get those raspberries picked before they are all gone. I of course brought along the trusty "utility" apron I made out of a funky much adored corduroy pants from Tommy Hilfilger. Little purple & red fingers all over my clothes was not going to happen this year! I even had a pocket with the flap lid (from a pair of lil' man's old cords that was also used for the neck & back straps/ties) just to hold my keys. I hate when you bend for that one berry only to get stabbed in the thigh with a key! I'm afraid I will not know if they fall out from my back pocket so never chance it with all that moving around. This is also used for hoof trimming the goats and my carpentry projects.





Since the heat was not that bad when we were through, We went over
to the bean patch. I realy did not want any green beans since we picked sugar snaps this year. I saw Yellow wax beans and had enough picked in 1/2 an hour to fill 6 family meal portion size freezer bags. I will need to go back without the children soon. They were complaining of the heat that seemed to creep up in that short timeframe.



Panda was the only helper. She managed to pick a tiny amount since she was too involved in her discovery of funny shaped beans. She found letter shapes and smiles which also amused her little brother who tried to imitate her "bean faces"(- see first picture-).
I will start my batch of blackberry/raspberry mead tonight. I am following the recipe from the mulberries- since mine was attacked by ants who took their opportunity thanks to nosey children who just had to see what it looked like but did not replace the cover...
~Tammie

In the garden of Panda

A look back at her garden's begining that came from 3 days of labor & love. This was all grass untill it was tilled, dug, raked, trimmed, built, and a final assembly.


And a look at how it looked in the hour of 9 am today.

including a back view from the wattle fence I worked very hard on (including the gate & it's side fences). I had a trellis arch for the top, but quickly discovered that Panda would soon have to bend down to get in (including myself) . So that went into the chicken pen for a "step up" to go in the coop for the chicks. Notice the one limb is sprouting leaves? I wonder if it will continue to grow or if I should move it to safer ground for it to thrive into a tree. I do not know if it would grow into a tree, but that would be so great if it did! Any input from those who know these things would be greatly appreciated.****************
Now a few close-ups in the garden of Panda....

"Wild foods & wine" challenge- Chickweed Bread recipe

This edition of Wild foods & wine brings to you a favorite to a few of my hens. The Chickweed. Yes it is edible!Eating boiled chickweed & drinking its broth has long been an old wive's remedy for obesity. It is a storehouse of many vitamins and minerals. It is a great soource of vitamin c & iron to note a few. Chickweed can be used as a poultice for boils, abcess', swelling from bee stings and so much more. Not only is it's medicinal uses of many, so are it's forms to eat. You can eat them raw chopped into your salads, or steamed/boiled to eat like a spinach.It does not have a strong flavor- kinda bland really. I found adding a dash of salt & pepper or a small bunch of spinach leaves boiled with the chickweed helps in its taste.

Click the picture for a closer peek. I feel so guilty that just 2 years prior I pulled so much of it down & was thrown into the compost pile only to not be utilized in this recipe:
*********Chickweed bread***************
2 cups chopped chickweed stems & leaves cut into tiny pieces
1/4 cup minced onion
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons honey or a fruit juice concentrate
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups wheat flour
3/4 cup warm water
1 packet yeast
Saute' onion & chickweed till tender- Not Brown! dissolve honey and yeast in warm water then the salt. Mix this with the sauted onion & chickweed. Slowly add the wheat flour untill the dough no longer sticks to your fingers. Form into a ball and let rise to twice its size. Form into 2 loaves and let rise and again. Bake at 375 degrees for 40-45 minutes
So get the gardening shears & trim away instead of weeding them out.
Enjoy!
~Tammie

a rhyme for the day

Earlier today when I glanced out my window what did I see? Human trespassers, a total of 3. They paid a visit to the goat house, then stood gawking and pointing at my hens, while my rooster just paced on the other side of the pen. Now I know my henhouse is a site to see, but when did it turn into petting zoo thats free?!
***********************************************************************************

The gall of some people! I do not know who they are & even sent my baby brother out to send them away. ( He in his 6'3 shaved head & army built tank body with a "wife beater" on is much more intimadating then me.) He glared in all his "Army-ness" which did the job. He said the lady grabbed her 2 boys & went walking back down the street. Remember the coop is 60 feet from roadside and recently was moved to behind my apple tree with the pen going straight back into my yard. They never came knocking on my door or anything to ask if it was o.k, they just invited themselves into my yard and poked around! So my original idea for my sign is a go! I will be purchasing my NO TRESPASSING signs & putting them up tomorow. I only wish I could find one like this:
Not like I would shoot- its just to deter. I have considered the sign since my one back neighbor told me NOISY NELLY "Ms. I know everything about animals and you are so cruel with your ways which is animal abuse!" would walk in & up to my pen on MY property to check out my goats whenever she was at his house. She would make comments about how "wrong" I was to everyone else but never to me...That was because I keep my 2 goats in a pen on crappy days /snow days and at night- that is surrounded by about 200 ft length of fencing with a 8x5 animal house. But She has 5 acres fenced in for her blind horse & 2 goats...
I truly wish I could find a sign like that above! One for the backyard facing that womans house and one on a post in clear view of all who come near my front property!
Arghhh! .....counting to 10.........1...2...3...4...5........
update The brown wood board leaning against the coop is my old sign- ignored by the trespassers. It does not show up very well in pictures. This is a from the road shot to show how far back it is. See my car? my house is next to it separated by 10 feet. Way up on the hill is the goat house & pen. I painted 3 sides barn red and have the test garden fenced with wood & 4x4 ag fencing. Off to the one side of the coop is a yard swing on a stand next to a tall window box planter stand. I hope it comes up large enough when clicked on to see what I am describing. Oh, and those 2 black roosters are the escapee's I have trouble with everyday. They get out of everything!

~Tammie

I highly recommend you check this out!

Do you enjoy jams and jellies? Canning- or as I sometimes would refer to it (despite the snickering laugh from others) as "jarring".(after all it is with jars..) Do you like recipe's with a story? Dont stop reading now- this is worth your time, I assure you.
I am not one with time to read books or even to post a review about one, but this one is a much treasured half recipe half memoir book I bought while pregnant with Panda that I feel you would appreciate. I have a ritual every spring. I go through all the recipes deciding which ones I will try this year and make notes on the page after I have tried them for later reference. Oh, you probaly want to know what book I am talking about...* It is titled "Well Preserved: a jam making hymnal" written by Joan Hassol.* My copy is so loved and it shows. On the inside flap I have jotted down the names, numbers and address of all the U-pick farms I visit and other handy local farm markets for quick reference. On the opposite page I jotted down a quick note of my admiration & tradition to any person who would have the privilage of holding my copy. I hope to someday share it with my children. *disclaimer- the author is not a professional writer/book reviewer & does not hold herself accountable for any goofs, ramblings, or typos*

Joan Hassol has written not just a book about jam, she has written a story that draws you in to her life and memories associated with the fruit/vegetable & recipes she shares. This book is of adventure, heartbreak, love, family, friends, & so much more. Imagine as a child when someone would tell you a story so well versed that you sat tranquil hanging on every word seeing the event in your head. That is Joan Hassol. Here is a sample of one story's begining about strawberries from her book:
The swinging sign by the side of the road is a strawberry. All winter I pass it by without a second glance, but come the latter part of June, when peas are not quite ready to pick and the green beans have almost broken through the ground, I start watching that sign. Then it happens. "OPEN FOR PICKING, 8:00am." gets hung on the sign and I know it's time to visit Namskaket farm, a pick-your-own strawberry farm. The sign stays up for just a few short weeks. Then it's all over for another year. An easy to miss, transitory experience; hesitate and the berries are gone in a wink."
I would write the rest which is over a page more before the recipes of strawberry jams, but I have not asked for permission or even know how to ask for it's sharing. If you hop over to amazon.com which the title above is a link to the book's page, you can read more of the book and other reader reviews.
I have found a few recipes such as the Pumpkin bread were a bit bland- It may just be because she explains how she likes it with plain strawberry jam on top. I added extra spice since not everyone in the family likes their slice with jam. Dont let that discourage you from at least checking it out from the local library or asking around from friends if they have a copy that you may pry from their grip to skimm through before you decide on it's purchase. This along with my"Food for Friends by Sally Pasley Vargas" are the most treasured extra books i own. Well next to a few big cookbooks and a goat husbandry one...
~Tammie

Who's that goat in the mirror

ignore "yard sandaled" feet....






I spent the weekend cleaning out the basement rooms/garage for our upcoming yardsale. Of course Miss Cleo had to come in & noise around for the hay stash but become distracted by the mirror on the way. She was so funny sniffing and making little noises. She would try to look behind the mirror for that goat in there, but became cross with it when she was unable to find it and decided she wanted to play like this.........................................









Of course being that the shown mirror is glass and heading for the sale, I brought out a cheap plexi non glass mirror she could butt heads with (not shown) .






Buddy was not to be left out for the sale preperation either. He was rather stinky again, but has been so loving I had to bath him so I could give him the attention he craved. He would rub his head on my legs and place his head under my hands- how could I not love on him. So a bath was in order using a citrus scented dog flea/tick shampoo in hopes the scent would stay on him for awhile.
I use a dog "scrubber mitt" on him which he loves. It is a flexible plastic with little nodules all over it on both sides. One side has little ones closer together where the oppposite is larger nodules and spaced apart. He did smell great afterwards and his coat shined so nice. Cleopatra was given a bath also as to not have her scent rub off onto him while they play.
Buddy has a deep hatred for baths. It is not the scrubbing or massaging. It is the water hose that sets him to fierce circling around my legs while I hold his collar. Now I have always given him baths which he took like a champ. But their lapse during winter must have taken away his acceptance of the routine. I do not wash the animals in winter. I feel it is not worth them possibly getting sick or chilled to keep them smelling fresh. I give them fresh clean bedding and a good brush down often throughout the season. Aww, but that first spring bath is such joy to me. I love to see how shiny they get and the zap of energy the kids get afterwards. Cleopatra (& buddy when he was a kid) runs up the hill kicking and throwing herself around much to the delight of any onlookers (i.e neighbors and children-myself included).
The garden is looking o.k. Nothing to brag about. Some tomato plants are huge where others look rather small despite their description as indeterminate huge tall plants. I think I may go pick up a truckload of horse manure to break down for next year. I have no idea how to rake up the goat berries from the pen or yard. I do not have them on any solid floor-it's all dirt and grass. Maybe I will pen buddy up over a board for the night just so I have fertilizer. I rake their pen but cannot bring myself to pick through the debris for the little pellets of theirs.
we are down to just one rabbit running loose (again). Ghandhi is the floppy eared giant wandering in all the yards now. Daisy is safe and secure in her new home by the house. I put a dog kennel up for her run so she cannot dig through and out. I just hope ghandhi is safe since I saw a bunch of white/grey hair across the street that looks very much like what her & daisy leave behind when they are out together.
I am thinking about Yoga mat carriers for kids. I bought Panda amat long ago but have yet to see the cover/carrier bags in any store. It seems to always be for adult size or non kid prints. Input/opinions please.
My baby brother is in from Korea (Army), so I will most likely not be on here much this week. Lots of rain in the forecast too so I hope it does not spoil our time. Enjoy your day.
~Tammie

A story of Buddy, the D*** goat!

Once upon a time, there lived a women who desired so much to live in the country & have a farm. Now, the woman had a husband who knew of her desire & each time she asked for a farm he would respond "someday soon, honey". So that would satisfy the woman for a few seasons till she asked her husband if she could have just a few chickens to satisfy her farm yearning. The husband, knowing how unusual & determined his wife can be, responded " just a few, no more". So the woman quickly located a seller before her logical husband changed his mind. She picked up 3 hens and 4 chicks. She explained to her husband the chicks were for free and she just could not turn the deal down. Everything was wonderful for awhile. She would go out, collect eggs, converse with the hens and fuss over the chicks. As the chicks grew, it become obvious that 3 of the 4 chicks would be roosters. The woman quickly located homes for the 3 & kept her puffy white silkie chick named by her children "Strawberry"( after strawberry shortcake...). This would soon become a very loved and cherished hen by the womans son.
The hens satisfied the woman for the next few seasons untill spring came. The woman thought to herself "how nice it would be to have fresh milk to make cheese and yogurt". She had read how wonderful goats milk is and how much easier it is to raise a goat compared to a cow. She could raise a goat on her land of just over 1 acre. Now thinking back to how logical her husband can be, the woman armed herself with all the information she could on raising dairy goats. She checked out every book in the library system on the subject, read websites and forums, asked questions of other dairy farmers and finally asked her husband "May I have a goat to provide milk for our family. You know how expensive milk is now and they can give us up to a gallon a day"! The husband, not sure if this would be wise asked more questions of his wife and her unsual request. She had an answer for every question and seemed to know alot on the subject. He asked "how expensive are these goats"?
The woman, knowing he would ask this question said "not much as long as we do not buy registered goats". Satisfied , the husband said "just one, no more". The wife was so happy and made plans to go down to the auction house the following week. Now the wife did not have someone to help in a livestock auction & continued to be outbid by others. Determined, she bid on a pygmy. She soon learned that this was not a breed for her & after "going through" 4 more of this breed, she quickly sold them back at an auction.
One day the woman heard of an Amish market & auction that the locals sell their livestock. The woman traveled with her 2 children and pregnant self 1 1/2 hours south to deep Amish country. Looking around, she was not sure where to go and needed to get out of the heat. She, with her children tagging behind, ducked into a building close by. She had a seat up in the bleachers & noticed she was surounded by men dressed in blue shirts and pants held with suspenders. Wow! She was in a true Amish auction!
As Amish men herded out one animal at a time into the arena, she could hear the auctioneer speaking out numbers so quickly she became confused by who bid what on what. Soon, the men herded out a tiny skinny little goat with long floppy ears. The goat kept bleating and the woman, with pregnancy hormones taking over, bid on this tiny goat without even waiting to hear the auctioneers description. At first the auctioneer did not even see the woman was bidding despite her hand franticaly waving in the air. One of the herding men whistled over to the auctioneer bringing his attention over to the woman. He took her bid, then someone else bid over her. She was getting into the moment and refused to lose the baby goat to this man! She bid again and then...silence. It was like she did something wrong by outbidding this "english man". He did not outbid her this time, so the auctioneer called out "Whats your number?". What? the woman was confused, what did he mean her number? She suddenly remembered she had not registered when she arrived. The auctioneer said aloud " help the English woman up to the office and give them this card". So the woman followed a herdsman to the office, paid for her bid, and left to retreive her new goat. As the men were locating the kid goat, she realized she did not even know if it was a boy or girl. Well the man walked over and put the goat in the woman's waiting arms. It was beautiful! As she & the children walked to her SUV, she nuzzled it close whispering it will be o.k now. She would take care of .... Wait, she still had not checked to see if it was a boy or girl. Now remember the woman is pregnant and had a nice size bump preventing her from turning the kid, so she could check it. She said aloud " What are you anyway? I still do not know if your a boy or girl." A man walking by said " It's a boy!". Oh. oh my. "Well" she said, "you are going to need a name little buddy". Nothing seemed to fit him. As the woman placed the tiny goat on the floorboard of the front
passenger seat- since a red ryder wagon was in the back cargo-, she realized she had already given him the perfect name. Buddy.
I quickly trackled down buddy's former owners to a local Amish family in the Auction's township. It turns out he comes from a much prized family milker and the family could not keep both kids from his mother. They kept Buddy's sister and sent him to auction. The woman I spoke to told me he was Nubian and born June 3 which put him at 5 weeks of age when I bought him. That would be him on the day we brought him home. After showing him to goat connosuiers, they confirmed he is at least half nubian and half swiss?. Notice the ears and tassels? Despite his going through puberty and my having tobe armed with a squirt bottle each time I fed him, he has become a part of our cherished animal family. I had a "wife" for him ordered through a local breeder and she arrived back in January of this year. She is the much spoiled "Cleopatra". She is half alpine and half nubian. She comes very good "stock" as a milker with a mild temperment. She is very much treasured by me. I hope to have a few girls from her resulting of a mating planned for her & Buddy in the Fall.
I am not a very good story teller but thought this may be more exciting then just a normal posting. I tell stories to the children and thankfully they are not critical of my imperfections.
Now I must finish trimming limbs for the goat pen. Goodnight & sweet dreams my friends.
~Tammie