recipes

wanted to post piccies...
but my new laptop
isn't communicating with my pic card.
so no pictures of
Holly
our new Nigerian Dwarf goat.
(who is a pain!)
on Christmas we drove around the block
to find her.
today she figured out how to
open up the chicken coop door
to eat the chicken feed.

The Female Tweedles isn't doing
very well. She has blisters on her webbed
feet. I have been keeping them penned
up due to ice and the goat eating their feed.





Recipe 1

Chocolate Truffle Tart

of course there are modifications....

Crust:
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup ground walnuts
6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1/3 cup NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Baking Cocoa

Filling:
1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 (9-ounce) package NESTLÉ TOLL HOUSE Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
2 oz squares of unsweetened baking choc.
1 t of vanilla
1 cup sweetened whipped cream, (optional)
1 cup fresh raspberries, (optional)

1. For Crust: Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
2. Beat flour, powdered sugar, nuts, butter and cocoa in large mixer bowl until soft dough forms. Press dough onto bottom of a springform pan.
3. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until puffed. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.
4. For Filling: Combine cream and sugar in medium, heavy-duty saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes just to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in morsels and choc; let stand for 5 minutes. Add vanilla and Whisk until smooth . Transfer to small mixer bowl. Cover; refrigerate for 45 to 60 minutes or until mixture is cooled and slightly thickened.
5. Beat for 20 to 30 seconds or just until color lightens slightly. Spoon into crust. Refrigerate until firm. Remove side of pan; garnish with whipped cream and raspberries.

Makes 8 servings.

Estimated Times
Preparation Time: 15 mins
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Cooling Time: 45 mins refrigerating

Wacky Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 5 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup cold coffee

In a 8 x8 square pan, sift together flour, sugar, cocoa, soda and salt. Make three wells in the flour mixture. In one put vanilla; in another the vinegar, and in the third the oil. Pour the cold water over the mixture and stir until moistened. Bake at 350°F. oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until it springs back when touched lightly.

sprinkle with powdered sugar or frost... this last time we cut it in half and filled mascarpone cheese.

Lowbush Moose Project weekly update

Obi has been visiting the last few days.

i took him outside w/me to look
for my cell phone in the car.
whilst i was rummaging around my car
i felt a nose against my leg.
(the car port is dark)

Realize that my phone must be inside after all.
i say to obi "come on then lets go inside".
after walking out of the car port into the lighted
drive, i turn to look- cause the dog is taking awhile.
and out of the car port walks this thing
with a long grey tail and skinny white legs.
i think to my self "how did that happen?"
then quickly realize "wait it is a cat!"
obi was right behind the kitty.
so i bring the kitten inside
to look it over.
soon realize that it is extremely hungry,
and not very old.
somebody dumped the thing and it made it over here.

then realize no wonder the rooster was cackling at 6 pm.
it must have been over by the garden and set the animals off.

so since no body has come looking for it and
nobody has called to say they want it.
i have to drop it off at the shelter in the am.

(here it moved)



and now a better shot w/flash.
all other critters are doing well.
the temps have been warm in the 20's F.
we are getting about 4 eggs a day.
with a light for 14 hrs a day.
houdini keeps dropping eggs onto the floor at night.
think she is having trouble- as her eggs
are the size of a duck egg.
(she is a smaller bird)

Lowbush Moose Project weekly update

Tot and Hugo
first snow
2009

Tweedles -African goose (female)
in the first snow



Winter quarters
for the small livestock.

we have run an extension cord
from the studio to the coop.
the light stays on for 14 hrs
unless the temps are subzero
(which we already have had -15 F)
the light stays on for 24 hrs.
and at that time we had some really confused
chickens. they were laying at 8 pm
Buffy was crowing at 11:30 pm.

going left to right:
small brooder pen,
chicken coop,
Sarge's pens,
lily, eyebrownie and Cinnabun's pens.

Winter quarters for the Tweedles
(will be used in summer as a greenhouse)
double lined visqueen hut with an
igloo dog house for the super cold nights.

Sarge

Lily and Eyebrownie
(these 2 escaped their pen
and ran around the yard
all night! Caught them after
they decided to check out the geese pen)





Cinnabun



and now an update about Thankful:
he was the most delish bird we have ever had.
didn't look pretty but was good.
cooked him in a bag, breast side down,
slathered in olive oil with a herb rub.

Princess was home for Thanksgiving.
DM came over and an early dinner was served.

RAKed with a JSW

RAK
(Random Act of Kindness)

sometime ago Femke a friend over in Ravelry
in the group Monthly Adventures
told me to
watch my mailbox...
cause she was sending
this.....

(from the Netherlands!)

opening box....


wow this is wrapped up really well....

now to log onto flikr to see how
she took it apart.....



after minimal assembly.....

the JSW
(janet's Spinning Wheel)


single treadle very nice.....

oh you need roving to spin with?

lookie what she sent!

the far yellow is yarn labeled Sunflower
the white is Swiffer Sheep (that she washed and drum carded)
Grey Sheep (washed once and drum carded)
Alpaca washed drum carded
Alpaca white hand carded
Alpaca dirty not washed nor carded.


So i sat down to practice treadling....
Tot is fascinated...
(until she decides that the wheel needs to be milked)

this is what i produced...


so i tried more....

have a lot of practice ahead of me
before there is enough to make a
wedding ring shawl.
But my hands are super soft
and smell lovely.
(yes i like the smell of lanolin!)

thank you Femke!
you are the bestest!

serious update was neeeded!

well this is a much needed update.
what almost killed this blog
was the stupid farming games
over on Facebook.
they are major addicting.

so the animals.....
are all quite well
lets see what i've got...

eggs!
Celia laid the blue one (this is one of her first eggs)
Houdini laid the big white one
and unknown who lays what.

sadly no pics of Little Britches are on the comp.
he got mean and became roast chicken.
leaving Buffy the only rooster.

this is BAR the night before he met
with the knife.

we now only have 10 chickens
2 geese and 4 rabbits.
We got snow on November 9 2009
up until then it was nice, frosty.
The horses are gone as well.
Patches could be found over on Craigslist.

The geese are having a bit of trouble
last night it was -7 F.
There is very little info out
on the internet about
raising African Geese through
a winter.




And finally Tot all dressed up for
Halloween trick or treating.
(it was on the chilly side).



thank you all for sticking with me.

busy weekend

Princess rides Mac very well.
Friday afternoon

Princess night feeding one of the baby bunnies.
one of the bunnies died during the night.
it had a broken leg, that punctured the hide.

Princess and i making sourdough bread.
Princess and DH riding horses
Saturday morning.
(yep key to bringing kids home is get a horse).

and if you get queasy don't look at this last pic.
it is kind of nasty looking.
but looks way better than it did 2 days ago.





and now we are off to a football game.
it is only 1 pm.

All this was in 24 hours

Hugo brought this little guy home.
Just as we were supposed to be leaving for the
vet.
(sorry no graphic images of Hugo's
nasty looking snout).
Vet said staph infection due to bug bites.

We went horseback riding.
Tot loved it!

(about the only time i got to sit down all day-
and today i am absolutely sore).

This afternoon this is what the
bunnies looked like.
(yes the one multiplied into 3)
we are feeding them cat replacement milk.

I fed the first one every 2 hours last night (cows milk).
So this morn, i went out to feed Hugo.
As i reached for his dish- i noticed a fuzzy creature
lying on the concrete.
my thoughts: huh? but how? you are in your box.
uh oh.. there are 2 now!

So i took them to work to feed them while on break.
DH called me.... and said Hugo just brought another one home.

Here we have
On a wing and a prayer.
(yeah i know that is only 2 names and there are
3 bunnies).
i am tired.


Princess is home for the night.
and we went riding today also.
(ok i lead the horse w/a lead line
while Princess and Tot rode).
Remember i am still sore from riding yesterday.

Sunday update

Today has been a busy day.....

First the geese are getting bigger.
such noisy creatures.

Sunday sky,
it never did rain though.
cleared up and got into the 60's.

We have Patches and Mac
living in our backyard.
(leasing the back pasture)
but in the meantime we get to enjoy them.
Hugo is going bonkers.
DH and Thing 2 moving the Chicken coop.
wait it is going to fall!

ok this is so much better.
(there is a dolly under the wooden box)

Sadly tonights chicken dinner contained these.
These are eggs.
i killed the wrong bird.
all day i was watching to see which one
was crowing.
but still managed to grab the wrong one.
This was one of my 6 roosters i bought last spring.

Well that is it for today.
think i will take things slow for tomorrow.

Monday update

Sunday was Elizabeth Zimmermann's birthday.
She has encouraged knitters to think for themselves.
which is much appreciated.


And now folks have asked....
this is the killing post.
have hung 4 birds from it.
this is one of the baby Barred Rocks.
was most delish.

Sunday dinners have been fresh chicken
with homemade buttermilk biscuits.
as i was plucking the last chicken,
was thinking about how relaxing it was
to pluck a bird.
then quickly followed that thought
with how warped i am if i thought
plucking was relaxing.

And now Tweedledee and Tweedledum.
DH was surprised that i picked them
both up at once.
(we need to put up baby gates
to prevent these two from entering the house).



and today was another sunny day...
71 F, Tot went into a wading pool out at DM's.
After I helped finish up the staining of the shed.
Am selling the eggs i gathered for $4.00 a dozen.
we are getting about 6 eggs a day.

catch up

I got more chickens....
they were transported home via this means.

there are 10 adult birds in those boxes.


these 3 layers were in one box.
This S.O.G.
(center bird).
he was ok eating.

Meet B.A.R.
(Bad Attitude Rooster).
we are using him to train Hugo.
We are now averaging about 6 eggs a day.
sadly i go on an egg hunt every day.
and Lady B.A.R.'s eggs
are nowhere to be found.
might be because she is
freerange and has access to almost an acre.


this was in our driveway.
yes it is an ice cream truck.
so exciting.

Tot loves her pony rides.
(4th of July)

the weirdest things were at the parade.
(4th of July)

the geese 2 weeks ago.

And the geese now.
almost lost one of the geese yesterday.
it got caught in some net.
and was choking.
very nice geese.


we have had an exceptional summer.
very sunny.
a typical day was 70 F.
it has been raining for almost a week now.
but still some nice moments in there.
like Monday was 58F and raining on my way to work at 8:30.
after work at 330 it was 73 F and sunny.
(very muggy and humid though).

a bad week.

Last week i posted pics of my new hens.
well Sunday the red one died.
It was fine when i put them to bed at 10:30.
and then at 6:15, i went to let them out.
and the red one had a rattle in her chest
and was dripping fluid out of her beak.
By 9:45 i heard a squawking commotion
out in the garden.
the red hen died.
(took it to the dump as we don't eat sick birds).

Wednesday morn, on my way to DM's
i wiped out a whole family of spruce hens.
Mama and 4 babies.
the saddest part was one little guy flew up
and then bounced off of the roof of the car.
Had to leave them as there wasn't time
to process the mamma bird before going to work.

Wednesday Hugo got into the chicken tractor and
created havoc- no death.
then Hugo drug home a bag of fish guts.
EWWW!!!!
but we did have a happy dog
turning somersaults on top of this bag.

The roosters and Thankful were out free ranging
and i thought
i had barricaded them up ok.
guess not.
Because, Hugo mangled Thankful pretty bad.
So bad that i had to put Thankful down.
Hugo had removed the tail, ripped the throat,
and partially removed feathers from the back.
From the feathers scattered about,
Thankful put up one heck of a fight.
None of the other birds showed signs of damage.
DM came in and watched Bumpkins
while i butchered.
Decided that since the bird was already partially skinned
to finish off the skinning.
Skinning is the way to go- so much easier than plucking.
removed the wings, but left legs on.
and then with a great online tutorial
finished the gutting process.
Note: remove crop before removing innards.
was very easy to remove the innards.
easier than i expected.
Guess i have been gutting to many moose.
And the bird weighs at least 8-9lbs.
a small turkey.
might be great for a turducken.

more critters

today got more chickens.

these are layers
and now animal count is 19.



the geese don't like sharing quarters with
the new chickens so i engineered
something for them tonight.
during the day they free range now.
DH about grossed out when he saw
the new chickens rooting around under
the rabbit hutch.
I then closely watched one chicken,
and it had discovered a cornucopia of worms.
guess the soil there is excellent.

weekly pic of Thankful
and roosters
(the hole in the corner is from Hugo).

we got hail.
the ground was white.

Summer Solstice

Our Solstice Sky...
much of the day was spent
with rain showers.
we did have fun.
the first Tomato of the year...
Bumpkins took some convincing to eat it though.
then thought it was delish.

We got some new pets a couple of weeks ago....
here they are just brought home.

African Geese

and here they are today....

Tweedledee and Tweedledum.


and last weeks sky.

sorry forgot to take weekly pics of rabbits and chickens.
planted broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower.
(hoping all goes well as my garden is in 20 days late).

Knitting: started a pair of fingerless gloves for me. was hoping to finish up one tonight. but have a bad headache and no motivation.

DH is busy gigging today and last night. Yesterday his Christian band Savant opened for KDLL radio station annual Solstice Party. Big event, parking and booths were in the pasture (yes step out of car into pile of horse poo). Then last night and tonight his Rock Band Danger Pig played out at a bar called Moosequitos. On top of that this evening there was a gig at St. Elias Brewery, best pizza in town.

so hope everyone is doing well.