Donkey Doodle Dandy On Fire Watch Duty
There are many things to love about living on a very remote farm. You can, for instance, go outside and howl at the top of your lungs at the coyotes at midnight, blast the stereo until the speakers threaten to blow, or run around the yard naked because there's no one around to care. (Not that I ever do the naked yard thing.) You also don't have to worry that the neighbors are going to complain about the dogs barking or the donkeys braying or the sheep baaing or the rooster crowing.
On the other hand, there are certain luxuries that I completely took for granted before moving to the middle of nowhere. Like mail delivery. And Chinese food delivery. And garbage pick up. Yes, you might want to take a few seconds to contemplate the enormity of that last one; I'll wait.
We're very fortunate, however, to have a wonderful recycling center only 35 miles away, which is practically down the street by rural Missouri standards. They happily take the feed sacks we've refilled with glass, metal, plastic containers labeled #1 and #2, cardboard, newspaper, and even glossy junk mail.
When you add in the food waste that we toss to the chickens and in the compost bins, plus the bag of stuff earmarked for the thrift store, the magazines headed for the library 'free' box, the empty wine and champagne bottles we leave at the natural foods store for people who make their own wine and beer (we put our homebrewed beer in 12-ounce bottles that we reuse over and over), plus the pile of newspapers we keep for starting fires in the woodstove, we have no fewer than 13 different garbage receptacles. Houseguests are terrified to throw anything away and ask things like, "Do chickens eat avocado skins?" "Can you compost dryer lint?" and "What should I do with this band-aid?"
We also reuse as much stuff as we can around the farm. Styrofoam mushroom containers and plastic food containers become seed starting pots that are labeled with strips I cut from unrecyclable #5 plastic sour cream tubs. Rows of large, clear plastic jugs that once held peanuts now neatly organize metal nuts and bolts and nails in Joe's shop. Plastic seltzer bottles are refilled with water and turned into long lasting ice packs for coolers. And #5 cottage cheese containers hold the homemade dog/cat/chicken food I make up in big batches and freeze.
Paper that's wet or dirty is burned, and anything else is put in what we call the 'trash trash' bag. It usually takes us at least a week to fill up one small plastic grocery sack with trash trash, which I think is pretty neat. You can pay a per-bag fee to dump trash trash at the recycling center, but because we generate so little they usually take ours for free. Plus I bring them cookies.
Burning all of your trash is very common around here, and before I moved in with Joe he routinely burned a little more than he does now, using what he called 'accelerants' to 'help the fire get started.' His motto was Everything burns eventually. He did recycle large glass beer bottles, but I suspect that was only because he couldn't get them to ignite. One day about ten years ago, noticing that some dead batteries had something like 'please call for proper disposal information' printed on them, he decided to call the toll-free number.
As Joe tells it, the guy who answered the phone said that yes, batteries did indeed need to be disposed of properly, "but he wouldn't actually tell me what the proper way to dispose of them was." So they went round and round until finally Joe said, "Well then I'm just going to burn these dead batteries."
"You can't burn batteries!" the guy said.
"Why not?"
"You just can't!"
"Oh yes I can, I just toss them in the burn barrel. I've done it before."
"YOU CAN'T BURN BATTERIES!"
I think this was about the point where Joe hung up the phone. Or maybe it was the battery guy who hung up on him. "He was getting really worked up."
Fortunately even borderline pyromaniacs can be converted into good little recyclers, and we all breathe easier now that my reformed hunky farmguy burns much smaller, more easily ignitable piles of trash. While we do still have the occasional discussion as to whether something is flammable or not (usually as I'm plucking it out of the garbage can saying, "You can't burn this!"), the battery issue was solved several years ago by the purchase of a couple of battery chargers and a bunch of rechargeable batteries.
I highly recommend this Sony Quick Batter Charger, which is the bestselling charger on Amazon.com for good reason. I've been using mine for over two years and love it. It comes with four Sony 2500 mAh AA Rechargeable Ni-MH Batteries and is an absolute steal at around 20 bucks, especially considering the price of disposable batteries these days. I'm still using the original batteries that came with the charger, along with a few four-packs of extra batteries I bought so that I always have four spares charged and ready to go in my digital camera, as well as enough for other things like flashlights. I use my camera several times a day, pretty much every day, and these batteries will last for several weeks. You can also charge AAA Ni-MH batteries with the Sony charger.
So the next time your batteries run out of power, I urge you to consider investing in some rechargeable ones. You'll be easing the strain on your wallet, the environment, and that poor guy answering the battery help hotline. Plus no accelerants required.
And if your own batteries could use a little recharging, I suggest a warm bowl of this deliciously simple broccoli soup. It tastes so good it's easy to forget how good it is for you.
Now if only you could plug in the empty pot and have it automatically refill itself.
Soup's On!
Easy Broccoli Onion Garbanzo Bean Soup
Loaded with onions, garlic, broccoli, and garbanzo beans - which are some of the World's Healthiest Foods - this cozy soup packs a powerhouse of nutrients. It's broccoli season right now, so you should have no trouble finding bunches that are both flavorful and inexpensive. In cooler climates, start looking for freshly harvested, organically grown broccoli at farmers' markets in the coming weeks.
I used to thicken my broccoli soup with a few tablespoons of uncooked rice, but one day I tossed a can of organic garbanzo beans (also called chickpeas, and one of my favorite foods) into the pot instead. I got the thickness I wanted along with more flavor, more fiber, and more protein.
Cans of organic beans are versatile pantry staples and can often be found for the bargain price of about a dollar apiece, or even less when they're on sale. Some stores such as Whole Foods will give you a case discount if you stock up and buy 12 cans at a time.
I like my soups thick and almost sludgy; simply add more chicken stock if you prefer yours thinner. If you're feeling decadent or in need of a calcium boost, you can stir in a cup or two of some nice cream after blending. It'll make your soup taste positively dreamy, but it really isn't necessary.
As with most soups, this one tastes even better after lounging around for a day or two in the fridge. As always, I urge you to seek out local and organic ingredients whenever possible. They really do make a difference - in so many ways.
2 to 3 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 pounds onions, coarsely chopped
6 large cloves of garlic, chopped
1 large bunch broccoli (about 1-1/2 pounds), stems (peeled if tough) and florets, coarsely chopped
1 can garbanzo beans, preferably organic, drained and rinsed
4 to 5 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
Salt & pepper to taste
Heat olive oil in a large pot on medium heat, then add the onions. Stir to coat with oil, cover, and cook until onions are soft and starting to brown, stirring frequently, about 10 to 12 minutes.
Make a space in the center of the pot and add the garlic, stirring so it all touches the bottom of the pot. Cook, stirring, two minutes.
Add the broccoli, garbanzo beans, and chicken stock. The soup will look too thick; it is not. It's okay if the broccoli isn't all submerged in the chicken stock. Bring the soup to a boil, then simmer with the lid barely cracked until broccoli is tender, about 25 minutes.
Purée with an immersion blender (I can't say enough good things about - or imagine life without - my KitchenAid Hand Blender; it's probably the best $50 I've ever spent in the kitchen) or very carefully purée in batches in a countertop blender, then return to the pot and cook a few more minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.
Serve topped with whatever you like: chopped fresh chives, a drizzle of olive oil, some coarsely grated Pecorino Romano, a dollop of sour cream, a slice or two of sharp cheddar or Monterey Jack, some nice blue cheese crumbles, or absolutely nothing at all. Curl up in a cozy spot and devour, making sure to spend a few moments between slurps feeling grateful for the existence of something as wonderful and warming as a bowl of homemade soup.
How about some bread to go with your soup?
Beyond Easy Beer Bread (my most popular recipe)
Whole Wheat Beer Bread
Onion Rye Beer Bread
Savory Feta Cheese & Scallion Scones
Parisian Four Hour Baguettes
No-Knead Crusty Freeform Bread
Oatmeal Toasting Bread (makes great rolls, too)
Fresh Tomato & Basil Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread
Italian Black Olive Cheeks
Carrot Herb Rolls (And A Bargain Bread Book For Beginners)
Three Onion & Three Cheese Pizza
You might also enjoy my other Less Fuss, More Flavor soup recipes:
Susan's Super Spinach Soup
Garlic Lover's White Bean Soup
Hearty Lentil Soup With Smoked Sausage
Use It Or Lose It Lentil & Escarole Soup
Spur Of The Moment Summer Squash Soup
Simple Summer Harvest Soup
Simple Summer Harvest Soup (The Autumn Version)
Still Hungry?
You'll find links to all my sweet & savory Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes in the sidebar of the Farmgirl Fare homepage under PREVIOUS POSTS: FOOD STUFF WITH RECIPES. Enjoy!
© Copyright 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where Farmgirl Susan shares stories & photos of her crazy country life on 240 remote Missouri acres, and "Come on baby light my fire" isn't just part of a song.
Heart As Art
The little stone ledge next to the front door of The Shack is now piled high with over 200 heart shaped rocks, yet I can't stop picking them up. I continue to find a new one at least every day or two, so I've started leaving them tucked in various places around the farm. This one is sitting on the rickety old loading chute by the barn.
© Copyright FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where hearts are everywhere you look - which must be because we're surrounded by love. Or doing what we love. Or living in a place we love. Or something to do with love. No matter what, it's gotta be good, right?
Sometimes Known As Hayhead
This is an actual conversation that took place last November.
My mother: What's that one's name?
Me: Auntie Rose.
My mother: That's kind of a dumb name.
My head turns, my eyes widen in disbelief.
Me: You named her!
My mother: I did?
Me: Yes!
My mother: I don't remember.
Me: It was years ago. For some reason we'd started calling one of The Chippers Uncle Chip, and you said there should be an Auntie Rose to go with Uncle Chip and we needed to name this ewe Auntie Rose.
My mother: I did?
Me: Yes!
My mother: I don't remember that.
Me: I always wanted to change her name to something else, but I was afraid I'd hurt your feelings.
My mother: I really don't remember.
Me: So you mean to tell me that all these years she could have had a better name instead of being called Auntie Rose?
My mother: I don't remember any of this.
Maybe my mother should enter politics.
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Farm Landscape Photos
© Copyright 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the hay covered foodie farm blog where almost everybody gets a name eventually, but it might take a while—and it might not be a good one.
Simple Yet Superb: Onion & Herb Crusted Lamb Spareribs
People often ask me if we eat any of the animals we raise. The answer is yes, and I wouldn't have it any other way. You can read more about my philosphy on raising animals for meat in my previous post, Book Review: Cooking With Shelburne Farms & A Recipe For Grilled Lamb Burgers With Roasted Red Pepper, Parsley, & Kalamata Olive Relish. And look for more of my Less Fuss, More Flavor lamb recipes to be posted soon. Well, maybe not soon, but in the near future.
There are lots of people in this country who do not eat lamb. Some of them had very bad experiences with mutton many decades ago, usually while in the military. Others consider lamb too expensive, preferring to plunk down the same amount of hard earned cash for a couple of juicy T-bone steaks rather than some itty bitty loin chops they aren't completely sure what to do with anyway. And, sadly, a surprisingly large number of people have simply never had the opportunity to taste lamb in any way, shape, or form. According to USDA's Economic Research Service, each American eats less than one pound of lamb a year.
The most well known cuts of lamb are the chops and the leg. Roast leg of lamb, the year round Sunday dinner of choice in England for centuries, is sometimes found on formal holiday tables in this country, as is rack of lamb. Both are suitably impressive looking, which no doubt helps to foster the reputation lamb has of being a very fancy dish. Lamb in America has become the champagne of meats, and serving it is often reserved for special occasions. But this reputation - as anyone who has ever had a cozy dish of slow cooked braised lamb shanks will tell you - is undeserved and needs to be abolished (as does that whole ridiculous 'champagne is only for celebrations' nonsense). And I'm not just saying that because I happen to raise and sell lambs. There is much more to a lamb than a couple of roast legs and some chops.
When I was a child, lamb chops made a regular appearance on our family dinner table. My mother broiled them, and they were always served with mint jelly. I don't recall having any other cuts of lamb, though once I moved to a farm and started raising sheep, I discovered that my mother has a deep and abiding love for lamb. During her 10-day visit last fall we ate lamb at least seven times. When I dropped her off at the airport, she had a lamb sandwich in her carry-on and a small insulated container of leftover roast leg of lamb in her suitcase.
We sell our naturally raised, grass-fed lambs directly to local individuals each year in late spring. We deliver the lambs to a nearby family-owned processor, and a week later the customers pick up their frozen meat which has been cut and packaged to their specifications. This butcher didn't have a whole lot of experience processing lambs before I - totally clueless and not real good at picturing things three dimensionally - showed up with my battered copy of Betty Crocker's Cookbook opened to the page titled 'Lamb Retail Cuts: Where They Come From And How To Cook Them.' The last several years have been a learning experience for all of us.
I ask lots of questions, and they do their best to accommodate me. Can you tell me the exact time to deliver the lambs so they don't have to wait around being nervous and stressed? Yes. Can you hang the dressed meat using this special technique so it ends up even more tender? Yes. Can you hang it for several days longer than you usually do? Yes. Can you make us some lamb salami with seasonings I provide and without any nitrates? Yes. Do you know how to cut a rack of lamb? No, but we'll figure it out.
Easy Summer Supper: Grilled Lamb Leg Steaks & Garden Veggies
Last year, after talking with a new customer who mentioned that he and his wife don't cook roasts ("We're grill people!"), I asked our butcher if he thought it would work to cut the legs into steaks instead of leaving them whole. Yes! Since we probably use our outdoor propane grill 300 nights a year, we decided we would have the legs on one our own lambs sliced into 1-1/4 inch steaks (the same thickness we get our chops). We love roast leg of lamb, and we love having all the leftovers for sandwiches, but we just don't end up cooking them that often, especially during the warmer months.
We grilled two test steaks for six minutes a side and served them up alongside some sauteed veggies from the organic kitchen garden. I took one bite and stared down at my plate as a big grin spread across my face. "It's like eating an enormous boneless lamb chop!" (The legs are actually bone-in, but you barely notice the little piece in each steak.)
When I called the butcher the next day to ask if he could cut up meat that's already frozen, without skipping a beat he said, "You want me to cut up the other legs you have in your freezer, right?" Yes. Leg steaks are now hands-down my favorite cut of lamb.
Nobody's perfect of course, and butchers do make mistakes from time to time. Unfortunately when you're doing custom processing, there isn't a whole lot that can be done once you've messed up somebody's meat. Take, for instance, the time a friend of mine went to pick up her fat hog and found that the two whole hams she'd ordered (and had special plans for) had both been sliced into steaks. It isn't as if they could just be glued back together.
Last year one of our customers was truly distraught when she realized that her two racks of lamb spareribs were nowhere to be found. They'd inadvertantly been turned into stew meat, an understandable oversight since according to the butcher almost nobody ever wants the ribs. Unfortunately they just happened to be this woman's favorite cut, and she'd been looking forward to eating them for months.
It isn't easy to find whole racks of lamb spareribs (which come from the breast) for sale, but this overlooked cut is worth seeking out, and they shouldn't be very expensive when you find them. Check with a good butcher or try searching at Local Harvest for a lamb producer in your area.
As always - and especially during these times of more and more scary recalls - I urge you to pay attention to where your food comes from and under what conditions it was raised. Do you want to eat animals that have been given growth hormones and antibiotics? Or spend their lives crammed into a filthy feedlot eating GMO corn?
Lambs that are allowed to graze freely on pastures, exercising and gaining weight slowly, are happy, healthy animals. Their lean meat is better tasting and better for you than lambs quickly fattened up on grain in commercial feedlots. Studies show that grass-fed meat is lower in fat and higher in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. It also contains as much as 500 times the amount of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a compound substance and essential fatty acid necessary for optimal health, as conventional animals fed grains and feed.
One lamb has two racks of spareribs. Ours weigh between 1-1/2 to 2 pounds each. The ribs don't have a lot of meat on them, but they're very tasty. Two whole racks should serve four people, though after a hard day of working around the farm, my lamb loving mother can polish off nearly an entire rack by herself. I roast the racks whole and then cut them up before serving. Eating lamb ribs is a messy but thoroughly enjoyable experience.
Just A Few Minutes Of Prep & They're Ready For The Oven
Onion & Herb Crusted Lamb Spareribs
This is the same way I prepare a whole leg of lamb for roasting. You simply slather on a thick layer of the onion and herb mixture and pop it in the oven. Both the leg and ribs will taste even better if you allow the meat sit for several hours once you've spread the topping on (set it in the fridge if it's going to be more than two hours). You can cook the ribs for as little as an hour, but two hours makes the topping nice and crisp and the meat more tender. You could probably slow cook them at a lower temperature for even longer.
Onion flakes are marvelous little things that I toss into all sorts of stuff. I see them selling in the bulk herb sections of natural food stores for a ridiculous $15 to $18 per pound, but for years I've been ordering them - along with all kinds of other top quality herbs and spices at wholesale prices -for $3.10 a pound from AmeriHerb in Iowa. The minimum order is just one pound of anything, and they only charge you their actual shipping costs. You can read more about AmeriHerb and why I love them so much in my previous post, Onion Flakes & Things For Cakes.
I never measure out quantities when I make this; I just start with at least a couple of big handfuls of onion flakes and go from there. As long as there's enough olive oil to hold everything together and enough paste to make a thick layer, you really can't go wrong with this combination of ingredients, especially if your herbs are freshly picked. Simply adjust the amounts of everything to suit your tastes.
2 whole racks of lamb spareribs (about 3 to 4 pounds)
Onion flakes
Chopped fresh garlic
Chopped fresh rosemary
Chopped fresh thyme
Chopped fresh basil
Chopped fresh parsley (I use lots)
Dijon mustard (not too much)
Nice salt & pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil
Spread spareribs in a large roasting pan.* Combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl to form a thick paste. Using your fingers, spread it all over the ribs. Cook, uncovered, at 325 degrees for 1 to 2 hours. Using a sharp knife, carefully cut each rack into individual ribs. Pile on a platter and serve with plenty of cloth napkins and a bowl for the bones.
Leftover ribs can be reheated in the oven or toaster/convection oven the next day for lunch. Or if you're pressed for time because your mother, disguised as a starving farm worker, is sure she will pass out from hunger before they're ready, you can gently reheat them in the microwave.
* Our lamb ribs come with a couple of separate end pieces that won't fit in my big new roasting pan (how did I survive so long without one of these?), so on a whim I slathered them with Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki Sauce that I bought at Trader Joe's and cooked them in a separate small dish. Yum. Then I tried marinating two entire racks in the stuff overnight. Double yum. So if you can't get a hold of some nice fresh herbs for this recipe, here's another easy and tasty option.
This is my contribution to Grow Your Own, a wonderful monthly food blogging event hosted at Andrea's Recipes that celebrates the foods we grow or raise ourselves and the dishes we make using our homegrown products. This month's roundup will be posted at Andrea's Recipes in a day or two. Want to join in the Grow Your Own fun? Find out how here.
Still hungry?
You'll find links to all of my Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes in the sidebar of the Farmgirl Fare homepage.
© 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where Farmgirl Susan shares stories and photos of her crazy country life on 240 remote Missouri acres - and we all eat very, very well.
Frozen Water & Flowing Water
It isn't often that our wet weather creek starts running when there's snow on the ground. But one of the recent snow and ice storms we had (they're all becoming one big white blur in my mind) was followed a few days later by a downpour, resulting in a lot of runoff from the surrounding hills and higher water levels underground. For a while the little trickle of overflow at the spring box looked like a miniature Niagra Falls, and the pasture around it was flooded. The creek is one of my favorite things about the farm. I really wish it ran all the time, but after a decade of drought I suppose we're lucky it still runs at all.
One of the other things I love about the farm is that it's located in a migratory flight path, and this morning I was surprised and delighted to hear the unmistakable sound of geese overhead. It took me several seconds to realize they're already heading back north. Most of them were traveling above the clouds and out of sight, but a couple of low-flying flocks went by while I was down at the barn, and of course I stopped to watch. I must have seen two thousand geese in just a couple of minutes. After all these years they never fail to mesmerize me.
I probably could have snapped a couple of good photos - something I've been hoping to do for ages - but it was raining, so this was one of the rare times I didn't have my trusty little camera slung around my neck. Instead I stood with my face to the sky as I listened to their incessant honking, foolishly tried to count them, and soaked up the joyful moment with everything I could.
Winter is flying by.
© 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where rubber boots are all the rage and the only traffic to be found is on the goose expressway high above our heads.
The 'No Accumulation' Just Keeps Piling Up
So the agreed upon plan was that yesterday the snow and ice would start melting off, today it would finish melting off, and by Monday morning vehicles would once again be able to get up and down our driveway. But when I sleepily padded by a window this morning I found myself blinking confusedly. Everything is a whole lot whiter out there than it was when I went to bed.
Phone call to the builder. Phone call to the drywall finisher. Phone call to the sheep shearer. Phone call to the general store in town where they've been holding a package for us since Wednesday.
Now I love Weather Underground as much as the next girl (actually probably more than the next girl), but once in a while you have to step away from the computer, take a look outside, and accept the fact that no matter what everybody in cyberspace is telling you, it most definitely is snowing. And accumulating.
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Snow Photos & Snowstorm Stuff
Other Photos Of My Favorite View
Same Scene, New View Photos
Hayfield Photos
Farm Landscape Photos
© Copyright FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where it doesn't take a meteorologist to predict that someday this really will all melt off and we'll be able to get in and out. In the meantime, it sure is pretty. Kind of a pain in the butt, but pretty.
Dolores & Daphne Check The Temperature
Welcome new visitors!
Click here for a brief introduction to this site.
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Donkey Photos
Dolores Photos
Daphne Photos
Snow Photos
© 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where all the donkeys believe that if the temperature drops below 60 degrees, they won't survive the night without plenty of extra treats. And triple everything if there's snow on the ground.
Just Chillin'
Nobody gets in, and nobody gets out. The half-mile-long, steeply curved part of the driveway is still covered with an impassable layer of snow and ice from Monday's crazy storm, and the rest of the farm hasn't defrosted much either. Yesterday I rescheduled the sheep shearer for the third time.
The sheep are restless, the donkeys are bored, and the chickens are threatening to fly south until spring. Topaz, who had become quite the little outdoorscat, ventured onto the front step this morning and hightailed it right back into The Shack. Robin The Mostly Retired Beagle Dog has been camped out by the woodstove all week and must be forced to go outside and pee.
But the temperature has warmed up slightly, the builders are hoping they'll be able to make it down the driveway on Monday, and we were only without electricity for a couple of hours. There's plenty of firewood, plenty of food, and that pesky little plumbing problem has successfully been fixed.
Thursday I sowed a patch of Swiss chard seeds in the greenhouse. This morning I watched a bright red cardinal bopping around in the snow. The scenery is beautiful, and the animals and farm chores keep us plenty busy. Winter is good.
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Snow Photos & Snowstorm Stuff
Farm Life Tidbits
Sheep Photos
Farm Landscape Photos
© 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where 240 acres of snow and ice is fun for a while, but it's starting to feel like we live in Minnesota.
, 
Farm Boss Patchy Cat Knows How To Get His Point AcrossSo that crazy weather forecast I wrote about the other day? We got it. All of it. And then some. I don't think I've ever seen so much weather happen in one day. We had freezing rain, we had sleet, we had ice, we had ice pellets (which I'd never even heard of before moving to Missouri). We had huge bursts of echoing thunder while it was snowing huge, soppy flakes. And then we got several inches of what I can only figure was 'no accumulation.' Which then froze solid last night.
This morning Joe was watching through the living room window as Bear walked around on the no accumulation. "The ground is so hard Bear isn't making any footprints," he reported. Then we suited up and he walked out the front door ahead of me. "The ground is so hard I'm not making any footprints!"
Every single thing outside is totally encased in ice. We've gone into a sort of hibernation mode. I made a batch of Chocolate Babycakes With Mocha Buttercream. Joe calculated how many feet of oak door casing we'll need in the new building (a lot!). We bottled a bunch of beer.
During times like this, things around the farm are reduced to the bare minimum: making sure everybody has food, water, warmth - and that we say upright while we're slipping around out there on the ice.
It feels very isolated, but in a good way. It's doubtful anyone could get down here unless they hiked - and even that treacherous undertaking probably wouldn't be possible. Meanwhile we have no desire to see if we can get out.
We're thankful that the only damage so far appears to be several broken trees, and we're very glad we still have power, especially after hearing on the radio down at the barn (the only place we can get reception) that thousands of people around us are without it.
A big ice storm like this happens at least once a year here but I usually forget about it - or else I mentally block it out. The landscape actually looks really cool. I took all kinds of photos, but I think this picture of Patchy Cat standing in his water dish pretty much sums things up.
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Snow Photos & Snowstorms
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Cat Photos
© 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where Joe is in the kitchen frying up a big cast iron skillet of wild venison in homemade lard for dinner, and we're really glad we cut all that firewood on Sunday.
Chocolate Babycakes With Mocha Buttercream
Valentine's Day is fast approaching, and while the traditional card and box of candy or bouquet of flowers definitely lets that special someone know you care, a homemade treat from the kitchen truly says I love you. You'll find a wide variety of romantic recipes from around the web - including Chocolate Mousse Tartlettes, Coconut Orange Cake, Homemade Berry Marshmallows, and these Chocolate Babycakes (made using my super easy Emergency Chocolate Cake recipe I wrote about back in 2005) - in my Valentine's Day Treats Recipe Roundup at FoodieView.
FoodieView is a neat site run by some really nice foodies that makes "good food easy to find, whether you're dining in or dining out." Check out the restaurant guides for nine major cities (more will be added) or search through over 1 million recipes from places like Cooking Light, Eating Well, Gourmet/Bon Appetit, Fine Cooking, Food Network, Sunset, and Saveur. The neatest part about the FoodieView search engine is that you can narrow down your search criteria by ingredient, dish, cuisine, special considerations (gluten free, low carb, vegetarian, etc.), sources, and more, including famous chefs.
My last FoodieView Recipe Roundup covered Cozy Breads For Cold Winter Days, and my next one will be all about potatoes. You'll find all of the FoodieView Recipe Roundups here, and you can subscribe to them via e-mail here.
So what's your favorite Valentine's Day treat? If you've written about it on your blog, you're welcome to leave a link to it in the comments section.
Sweet tooth still not satisfied? You might also enjoy some of my other recipes:
Decidedly Different Chocolate Chip Cookies (And How To Correctly Hug A Sheep)
Chocolate Biscotti For Beginners
Toasted Almond Chocolate Chip Biscotti
Crazy Cookies (with chocolate, butterscotch, coconut, nuts, & oats)
Molasses Ginger Spice Snaps
Spicy Pumpkin Pecan Raisin Muffins
Mexican Monkey Cake
Blueberry Breakfast Bars
Apple Blueberry Crumble Bars
Really Raspberry Tartlets
Cranberry Christmas Scones (tasty any time of year)
Lazy Susan's Whole Wheat Scones With Currants & Oats
Don't worry - we eat more than dessert here on the farm. We enjoy lots of homemade bread, too. And you'll find plenty of my Less Fuss, More Flavor savory recipes (let's hear it for vegetables!) in the sidebar of the Farmgirl Fare homepage under Previous Posts: Food Stuff W/ Recipes. May you always eat well.
© Copyright 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where dessert often comes first, and it's never hard to rationalize eating chocolate cake for breakfast.
Yesterday's Sky Looked Fake
Which was especially nice to see since tomorrow the forecast says rain, freezing rain, sleet, ice, thunderstorms, and ice pellets. How can that much weather be squeezed into one little day? Today it was sunny but windy and cold, and we spent much of it enjoying the brisk, fresh air while cutting a big load of firewood to keep us warm.
Some of you will recognize this photo of part of the hayfield as my favorite view on the farm. It also happens to be some of the view I'll see when I'm standing at the big stainless steel triple sink in the little artisan bread bakery we're slowly building (the sheetrock finishers will be here in a week!) - or looking out the window from the bedroom in the new living quarters above the bakery. I can't wait.
You know I love hearing about the weather in other places. What's it like in your neck of the woods?
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Other Photos Of My Favorite View
Same Scene, New View Photos
Hayfield Photos
Farm Landscape Photos
© 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where a day spent cutting firewood brings aching muscles but toasty toes, and we never need to Photoshop the sky.
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We Call Them The Greys
Dinky (who is Dolores' son) has fluffed up for winter and is now definitely two different colors. At just over 7 months old, he's also officially taller than Dan (who's taking this news very well).
Daphne has her winter coat on, too, but all that bulk isn't just fluff. Yep, that's right. If all goes well, around the middle of April Daphne will have a baby - and Dan will become a Donkey Doodle Daddy. I wonder what color it will be.
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Donkey Photos
Daphne Photos
Dinky Photos
Dolores Photos
© Copyright 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where Donkey Doodle Dandy is looking small but walking tall.
And Doris Was Thrilled
A Man & His Supervisor
"Um, honey? The bathtub just puked up the dishwater I poured down the kitchen sink."
So yesterday Joe dug into what we thought was a small plumbing problem.
Way More Exciting Than Watching The Superbowl
Turns out it's more like a medium plumbing problem. But at least it stopped snowing. And hasn't started raining yet. And the ground isn't frozen. Well, not solid anyway.
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Hunky Farmguy Photos
Lucky Buddy Bear Photos
Dog Photos
Snow Photos
Farm Life Tidbits
© Copyright 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where Farmgirl Susan shares more than you probably want to know about life on 240 remote Missouri acres - and the dirty dishes are starting to pile up.
Happy Groundhog Day!
This is our resident woodchuck. Woodchucks are also called groundhogs, and when I woke up this morning for some reason I happened to remember that ,"It's Groundhog Day! And I have groundhog photos!"
We didn't see any sign of our woodchuck today which was perfectly fine with Joe, as he despises them with a passion that borders on obsessive—and hysterical. He has a valid reason for his hatred, which has to do with them building burrows out in the fields and cows falling into the burrow holes and breaking legs, but still.
When a forty-something, mostly sane man is standing at the living room window drinking his morning espresso and yelling, "CHUCKY! I SEE YOU OUT THERE WATCHING ME, YOU FURRY LITTLE BASTARD!" there's nothing you can do but try not to hurt yourself laughing.
There used to be a woodchuck living out in the hayfield. He could often be seen brazenly sunning himself in the grass in full view of The Shack, but never within a clear shot. He did this, according to Joe, for no other reason than to torment him. These staredowns between the two of them went on for years.
Then, thankfully, Chucky disappeared—until last November, which is when I took these photos. We were headed down to the barn to tuck in the sheep one afternoon and both spotted something moving in the small grassy pen adjacent to the barn.
"What the—"
"What was—"
And at the same moment we each realized who it was.
"IT'S CHUCKY!"
Home of the happy groundhog
And boy did Chucky have it good. He'd taken up residence under the stump of a fallen tree at the edge of the south facing hillside, building himself a burrow that included a downstairs residence, a covered porch, and an attached sun deck. It overlooked a beautiful, green, freshly seeded, high dollar expanse of what Joe soon started referring to as "his lawn."
Between his house and the lawn was a conveniently located fence which, while not entirely dog proof, did afford him an extra few seconds to dash into his burrow and escape any oncoming jaws of death. This had to be groundhog heaven on earth.
Chucky would spend each morning on his sunny lawn, rooting around with the squirrels and ignoring us unless I came too close with the camera. Then he would give us an evil stare and scurry into his house. Joe stayed remarkably calm during all this; he didn't even start toting a gun to the barn.
But when the donkey peddling cowboy and his dad were driving through one day and stopped their truck next to the pen then yelled, "Hey, Joe! Do you want us to shoot this woodchuck for you?" I quickly called out "NO! Thank you!" just in case.
Oh, Chucky! Where are you?
The morning sightings went on for about a week, and then Chucky again disappeared, though this time I think it was only into his burrow for winter. As I said, we didn't see any sign of him today, but if he did pop out in honor of Groundhog Day he most likely dashed right back into hiding.
Not only was the sun shining brightly, but there was snow all over his lawn. So I think we should all be safe (and sane) for at least another six weeks.
© FarmgirlFare.com, the furry foodie farm blog where woodland creatures sometimes run our lives and hunky farmguys always crack me up.
I highly recommend this Sony Quick Batter Charger, which is the bestselling charger on Amazon.com for good reason. I've been using mine for over two years and love it. It comes with four Sony 2500 mAh AA Rechargeable Ni-MH Batteries and is an absolute steal at around 20 bucks, especially considering the price of disposable batteries these days. I'm still using the original batteries that came with the charger, along with a few four-packs of extra batteries I bought so that I always have four spares charged and ready to go in my digital camera, as well as enough for other things like flashlights. I use my camera several times a day, pretty much every day, and these batteries will last for several weeks. You can also charge AAA Ni-MH batteries with the Sony charger.
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