Wordless Wednesday Night Dose of Cute

More wordless cute? Here and here.

More chickens? Here.

More hunky farmguy? Here.

© FarmgirlFare.com, where we're mowing the grass for the first time since early spring—and no hens were harmed in the process.

Tuesday Dose of Random Critter Cute

Now that the months of devastating heat and drought have finally come to an end (and I'm not quite as under the weather as I was all summer), I've started carrying around my camera and seeing pictures again.

I'm hoping to get back to posting the weekly Friday Farm Fix soon so I can better share what's been happening around here (and better keep track for us of what happens when). This is my favorite time of year on the farm. And the photos, along with the leaves, are thankfully starting to pile up.

More photos below. . .

Sunday Dose of Cute: Ready for Monday?

Almost.

And the whole picture. . .

Have a great week!

More beagle Bert? Here.

More of the whole picture series? Here.

© FarmgirlFare.com, always above the fray, but not always completely sure what day of the week it actually is.

Recipe: 100% Whole Wheat Coconut Zucchini Bread

A healthy zucchini bread recipe that still tastes like a treat.

Another zucchini bread recipe? Yep. It's not all pumpkins and apples and pears out there yet, because How To Freeze Zucchini and My One Claim to Fame is still one of the most popular posts on Farmgirl Fare this week. (You'll find the rest of the top ten posts listed in the left sidebar.)

So if the Lemon Rosemary Zucchini Bread didn't tickle your fancy, maybe this recipe will. Made with 100% whole wheat flour, plus coconut oil, unsweetened coconut, less sugar than many zucchini bread recipes, and of course, zucchini, it's a healthy indulgence that still tastes like a treat. I can't seem to stop eating it.

If you've never tasted natural, unsweetened shredded coconut, you're in for a pleasant surprise. The coconut flavor really comes through, and unlike the highly processed sweetened stuff, it doesn't contain preservatives like propylene glycol and sodium metabisulfite. Look for unsweetened coconut at the supermarket or natural foods store (check the bulk section); I really like Bob's Red Mill brand.

Unsweetened coconut tastes great in baked goods, like this scrumptious Lemon Coconut Quick Bread and these Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Coconut Cookies. You can also soak it in warm water and use it in place of fresh coconut. It keeps best in the refrigerator or freezer.

Coconut oil can be used for all kinds of things, including as a moisturizing lotion and hair conditioner. It's antimicrobial, antifungal, antiviral, is an excellent anti-inflammatory, and has even shown promising results as a treatment for Alzheimer's. We started putting several tablespoons of coconut oil in our morning smoothies last January while doing a detox cleanse, but it's also great for cooking, frying, and baking.

Coconut oil is solid below 76°F and doesn't need to be refrigerated. It melts at 76°F (set the jar in hot water to liquefy), so the trick when baking with coconut oil is to let your refrigerated ingredients warm up to room temperature before adding in the melted coconut oil so it doesn't solidify.

For this recipe, I combined the sugars, yogurt, egg, and vanilla together, let the mixture sit on the counter to warm up, and then stirred in the melted coconut oil. Too much hassle? Just use your favorite neutral oil (I like safflower) or melted organic butter instead.

Recipe below. . .

Thursday Farm Photo: Found Love

More heart rocks? Here and here.

More Lucky Buddy Bear? Here.

© FarmgirlFare.com, where I still keep finding heart rocks, and the love still keeps on pumping.

Wednesday Dose of Cute: Check It Out

Sheep breeding season started on September this year and will last for 37 days. This is a month earlier than we started last year, which was earlier than we started the year before. It means, of course, that lambing season will also begin a lot earlier than usual, in (yikes) late January. It's an experiment.

We currently have two rams, Da Big Guy (born in the 'D' name year) and The Kid (aka Hey Kid; yep, that's his 'H' name). For 328 days a year these two guys live together, separate from the rest of the flock, and get along just fine. When it's cold they even snuggle. Add in some girls to fight over, though, and things would get really ugly. So when we're breeding, the rams are each locked up with their own ewes, and the two mini flocks are kept apart from each other, never even sharing a fence.

This set up keeps the peace and makes everybody happy. But it can't hurt to have a little look every once in a while, can it? After all, you know what they say—the sheep are always cuter on the other side of the fence.

More photos below. . .

Sunday Dose of Cute: Beagle Bert, Chicken Catcher?

Do you see any thumbs on these paws?

For 11 years we used an old, short-handled fishing net to catch wayward chickens. It worked great, so when we saw this big, bright, seemingly better version in one of our favorite livestock supply catalogs, we couldn't resist. We splurged.

And what did we quickly discover? That it is impossible to sneak up on an unsuspecting chicken while holding an enormous red net. The thing is like six feet long.

Trying to use it reminded me of the high dollar, halter-trained llama I bought to guard my newly purchased flock of sheep back in 1995. Oh yes, he was defiinitely halter trained. Every time he saw the halter, he immediately took off running in the other direction.

Fortunately we kept the old fishing net—much to the delight of the three little kids who were visiting yesterday.

As for Bert, if he wanted to catch a chicken (and he doesn't), I doubt he'd need the net. All the young chickens love him, and he loves to sit in the farmyard and watch his chicken TV. They even let him steal their treats.

More photos below. . .

Wednesday Dose of Cute: Big Itch, Little Donkey

More photos below. . .

Recipe: No-Cook Fresh Tomato Pasta Sauce with Basil, Capers, and Kalamata Olives

My version of the simple, flavorful pasta sauce made with chopped raw tomatoes and uncooked seasonings that is eaten in country houses all over Italy.

A hint of autumn may be in the air, and apple, pear, and pumpkin recipes are popping up all over place, but some of us gardeners are still hoping for a little more summer and a lot more vine-ripened tomatoes (and peppers and eggplant).

Did you know that tomato plants won't set fruit if the daytime high temperatures are above 90 degrees? The heat makes the pollen inside the blossoms tacky and non-viable, preventing pollination. I didn't learn that until last year (thanks, Cynthia!). Fog, smog, high humidity, dusty conditions, and nighttime temperatures below 55 degrees can also make tomato blossoms drop off instead of turn into fruit. It's a wonder some of us harvest any tomatoes at all.

But now that the months of devastating heat and drought have thankfully come to an end (we're actually getting some rain!), the poor tomato plants in my kitchen garden are heaving a big sigh of relief and finally loading themselves up with green fruit.

The same thing happened last year with six late-planted Romas, from which I harvested about 60 pounds of fat green tomatoes in October. Thankfully it's easy to ripen green tomatoes indoors, and of course there's always my popular Super Simple, No Sugar, Salsa-Like Green Tomato Relish, but nothing tastes as good as vine-ripened.

One of my favorite ways to celebrate the amazing flavor of homegrown tomatoes is in a simple, raw tomato pasta sauce. For those of us still waiting for the bulk of our summer bounty, here's to a ripe and juicy start to fall!

Recipe below. . .

Recipe: Greek Salad Pita Bread Sandwiches with Baby Spinach and Quick Kalamata Olive Tapenade

Pita breads are stuffed with crunchy Greek salad, baby spinach, and a quick and easy kalamata olive tapenade for a healthy light supper or lunch.

Once upon a time, before I moved from Calfornia to Missouri and became a clueless farmgirl, I worked as a freelance graphic designer. Many of my clients were restaurants, so I created a lot of logos, menus, and various promotional materials. The work was challenging and mostly pretty fun, and it's always nice working for businesses that serve food, especially if you're not actually working at them, which is something I also spent a lot of time doing.

One of my long time clients was a cavernous micro brewery that offered an extensive menu of homemade pub fare, including some of the best beer-battered fish and chips I've ever tasted. The menus were handwritten in fairly small letters by yours truly (because the owner liked my writing) and printed on 11"x17" sheets of very bright yellow paper (because the owner also liked bright yellow, and sometimes there's no arguing with the client). I still have a laminated copy of one around here somewhere.

The owner, who ended up becoming a good friend (which meant I got to drink a lot of free beer while perfecting my dart game) used to joke that they really only served a couple of items; they just rearranged ingredients and turned them into lots of different dishes.

That's not necessarily a bad thing—and the other day I realized it's pretty much how I operate in summer. You take cucumbers and tomatoes, add various other ingredients, and serve them up all season long.

For instance, if you add feta cheese, kalamata olives, red onion, oregano, and pan-fried croutons to your cucumbers and tomatoes, you have Greek Style Panzanella Salad, which I love so much I even eat it for breakfast.

Swap out the oregano and red onion for some fresh basil, mint, parsley and scallions, then toss in some garbanzo beans and pita bread, and you've got Middle Eastern Vegetable Salad (Fattoush), which is really good even without the pita.

Whiz your tomatoes and cucumber in a blender with some sweet red peppers, onion, and garlic and you've turned them into Quick & Easy Gazpacho, a healthy and refreshing chilled vegetable soup.

Or you can stuff some Greek salad into pita bread and have a delicious light supper or lunch.

Recipe below. . .

Sunday Dose of Cute: A Look Back at Lokey and Her Little Chicks

Lokey and her 10 chicks on July 12th (one is hiding behind her).

For the last several years we've kept our flock of laying hens steady at about 12 to 14, along with a couple of roosters. They're split into two groups (that are never let out of their coops together because the two roosters will fight) plus a few hens who live on the loose, including one who hung out for a while with the sheep.

The hens provide us with more than enough wonderfully flavorful eggs, and every year at least two or three of the hens usually hatch out a couple of baby chicks (many of whom turn out to be roosters). I don't know if it's the new feed we switched to a while back or what, but this year four hens hatched out 40 live chicks.

And half of those were Lokey's.

Lots more photos below. . .

Wordless Wednesday Dose of Cute

More wordless cute? Here and here.
More beagle Bert? Here.
More Tuffy? Here.
More Mr. Midnight? Here.

© FarmgirlFare.com

Got Green Tomatoes? Try My Super Simple, No Sugar, Salsa-Like, Green Tomato Relish Recipe

Going green is good—even when it comes to tomatoes.

2012 Update: I'm hoping to still be picking ripe tomatoes in my kitchen garden for at least another month, but re-posting this shout out each September 3rd has become an annual Farmgirl Fare tradition. In the sales pitch below are reviews from fans of my super popular No Sugar, Salsa-Like Green Tomato Relish Recipe, which is a tasty, easy way to use up all those green tomatoes still out on the vine. Enjoy!

If you'd rather have your tomatoes red, check out How To Ripen Green Tomatoes Indoors the Really Easy Way on my kitchen garden blog. And if your ripe tomatoes are still plentiful, learn How To Make Homemade Pizza Sauce Using Fresh Tomatoes or How To Freeze Tomatoes the Really Easy Way (and Why I Don't Do Much Canning Anymore), which includes links to all my tomato growing posts.

When the first frost threatens in fall, I pick all the remaining green tomatoes in the garden that I can. Green tomatoes will eventually ripen when stored indoors at room temperature (don't put them in the refrigerator!), although the flavor won't be nearly as nice as vine ripened (learn more about ripening tomatoes indoors here). Of course any homegrown tomato eaten on Thanksgiving or Christmas tastes fantastic, but why not celebrate their greenness instead?

I created this no sugar green tomato relish recipe years ago for Kitchen Gardener magazine. It doesn't call for the usual raisins or spices and is really more like a thick salsa. It's easily adaptable to what you have on hand, and there's no blanching or peeling required—you just chop everything up and toss it into a pot. And since it'll keep for several weeks in the refrigerator, canning is optional.

But don't just take my word regarding this recipe. Here's what others have said about it over the years:

More below. . .

Recipe: Lemon Rosemary Zucchini Bread

Lemon zest and fresh rosemary add a flavorful twist to zucchini bread.

Up to your ears in zucchini? Bored with the same old cinnamon zucchini bread? Have I got the perfect recipe for you.

This is not a savory bread, but with less sugar than many zucchini bread recipes, it doesn't feel like you're eating cake for breakfast. (Not that there's anything wrong with eating cake for breakfast.) It also makes a delicious afternoon snack.

The flavors of the rosemary and lemon are pleasantly subtle, but you can bump them up if you like. This quick bread tastes even better the next day, will stay moist for several days, and freezes well. I like it best sliced, toasted, and slathered with butter.

The most popular recipe on Farmgirl Fare right now is How To Freeze Zucchini & Summer Squash and My One Claim to Fame (which is that I'm a complete failure at growing something everybody else spends half the summer desperately trying to give away).

To enjoy freshly baked zucchini bread all year round, simply grate your zucchini (I use a stainless steel box grater), squeeze out some of the liquid if it's really moist (you can use a flour sack towel—these are so handy in the kitchen—or cheesecloth, but I usually just stand over the sink and use my hands), portion it out into the amount you'll need, and pack it into zipper freezer bags or containers. Defrost before using. For more on using frozen shredded zucchini in baked goods, see this thread on the Farmgirl Fare Facebook page.

Recipe below. . .

Thursday Dose of Cute: Hay Bert (and The Whole Picture)

More photos below. . .

Farmhouse White: An Easy Sandwich Bread Recipe for the Perfect BLT (or PBJ)

Does anything taste better than a BLT on old-fashioned, homemade bread?

The beginning of BLT season is something we eagerly and impatiently anticipate all summer long. For us, it's a momentous occasion that ranks right up there with birthdays and Thanksgiving.

The sandwiches, which we have for dinner, are always made the same way, with juicy and flavorful heirloom tomatoes from the organic kitchen garden, meaty smoked bacon from a locally raised hog we had butchered to our specifications, crunchy iceberg lettuce (hey, it's August in the Midwest), plenty of Hellman's mayonnaise, and perfectly toasted slices of freshly baked Farmhouse White.

We've eaten more BLTs this summer than we have in years, and neither of us is tired of them yet.

If you've been longing to learn how to bake your own sandwich bread, my easy Farmhouse White is the perfect place to start, and the recipe includes detailed instructions for beginners. I also offer lots of bread baking tips here and here.

Made with milk instead of water, this is a simple, traditional loaf that's nice and soft, but not too soft. It's great for just about any kind of sandwich and brings peanut butter and jam—a staple around here—to a whole new level. It's wonderful toasted, smells heavenly while toasting, and makes an awesome BLT.

The best part is that once you're comfortable with the basic recipe, you can go on to experiment by adding other ingredients to the dough. This can be a lot of fun, as even a slight change will often give you a completely different loaf. The bread in the BLT photo above was made using several cups of white whole wheat flour in place of some of the all-purpose flour.

I've been baking this bread for 12 years and have watched plenty of people who claim they never eat white bread gobble slices up. It's one of my most popular recipes, and I've heard from so many former nervous novices who are now confident bread bakers thanks to Farmhouse White. Maybe you'll be the next one!

Have you been enjoying BLTs this summer? How do you like yours?

More bread posts on Farmgirl Fare:

Ten Tips on How To Bake Better Artisan Breads at Home

How To Shape Bread Dough into Sandwich Loaves and Some Simple Bread Baking Tips

My Favorite Easy Pizza Dough Recipe

Oatmeal Toasting Bread

Italian Rosemary Raisin Bread

Fresh Tomato and Basil Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread

Carrot Herb Rolls (and a wonderful bread baking book for beginners)

Easy Homemade Pita Bread in an Hour

© FarmgirlFare.com, where it's not just a sandwich, it's a freshly baked, bacon-filled adventure.

Recipe: Big Bite of Fresh Basil Herb Dip or Salad Dressing

This simple, healthy dip is packed with fresh basil, parsley, chives, and garlic.

This has been a pretty challenging year in my kitchen garden, but despite the heat, drought, Japanese beetles, blister beetles, flea beetles, cabbage worms, the brazen herd of deer that isn't afraid of dogs, and probably some other things I've already blocked out of my mind, I've still managed to harvest a fair amount of bounty.

The tomatoes and sweet peppers are finally ripening, and before that there were three kinds of kale, several varieties of Swiss chard, three types of bush beans, four kinds of onions, along with garlic, potatoes, and fresh herbs galore, including Greek oregano, basil, parsley, chives, lemon thyme and English thyme, rosemary, and lemon balm.

Sometimes there's more than we can eat in the garden, but of course that doesn't stop me from buying extra bounty from other gardeners. The first day our Amish friends opened up their little front porch farm stand, I loaded up with bags of green beans, new red potatoes, Japanese cucumbers, several big zucchini, and 13 ears of just picked sweet corn.

My kitchen is usually overflowing—in a good way.

Recipe below. . .

Recipe: Easy and Healthy Roasted Eggplant with (or without) Red Onion and Sweet Red Peppers

My favorite way to cook eggplant is great tasting and great for you (recipe here).

I still haven't harvested any eggplants from the eight sorry looking little plants in my kitchen garden (two words: flea beetles), but I haven't given up hope. I also haven't stopped thinking about this Easy Roasted Eggplant with Red Onion and Sweet Peppers I made over and over last summer.

You can't go wrong with roasting, and this has to be one of the least complicated—and the healthiest—ways to eat eggplant. Forget the cumbersome peeling, salting, and draining that so many eggplant recipes call for. Want to know how to roast eggplant? Just dice it up, toss it with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, and stick it in the oven. Additional vegetables are optional.

So simple, yet so flavorful. Exactly what summer eating should be.

No eggplants yet either? You'll find links to all my sweet and savory Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes in the Farmgirl Fare Recipe Index.

© FarmgirlFare.com, roastin' to the mostin'.

Tail End of the Week: Get Your Friday/Sunday Farm Fix #23

Welcome to the Friday Farm Fix, where I share a random sampling of what's been happening around the farm during the past week (mostly on Fridays). Just joining us? You'll find all the Friday Farm Fix posts here and here.

This past week we had some blissfully cool nights and not nearly as hot days. It feels like we've finally turned a corner. And after nearly two weeks without any rain (and hardly any before that), a big storm blew through Thursday night and gave us two whole inches. We haven't had that much rain at one time in at least a year.

We also finally got the biopsy results back, and everything looks fine (yay!). It's not cancer, and there is nothing else left to test for. Unfortunately the doctors still have no idea what is causing all this debilitating female pain. Thank goodness for homeopathy and Chinese medicine and beautiful healing meditations.

I haven't forgotten the lemon rosemary zucchini bread recipe I promised you last week (it is so good toasted), and I have a few more new summer recipes I'm hoping to share soon too. I may still be spending a lot of time lying down, but we also still have to eat! I guess I'd better get snapping; fall will be here before we know it.

Thank you so much for all your kind words and prayers and support. I'm slowly catching up with e-mail.

Things are moving in the right direction.

14 more farm photos below. Hover over each image for a description. . .

Wordless Wednesday Dose of Cute

More wordless cute? Here and here.

More sheep? Here.

More hunky farmguy? Here.

© FarmgirlFare.com

Monday Dose of Cute: Snackbert on Alert

7 more photos below. . .

Tail End of the Week: Get Your Friday Farm Fix #22

Welcome to the Friday Farm Fix, where I share a random sampling of what's been happening around the farm during the past week (mostly on Fridays). Just joining us? You'll find all the Friday Farm Fix posts here and here.

Not much to report this week, except to say that you all are the best. Thank you so much for your outpouring of kind words, encouraging thoughts, and heartfelt prayers after last week's Friday Farm Fix. Your e-mails and comments brought tears to my eyes. I can't begin to tell you how much your support means to us. Thank you.

We had a half inch of rain last Saturday, which was better than nothing. It's like Mother Nature keeps teasing us with just enough rain so that the fields don't completely die and we don't completely give up hope.

If it cools down and starts to rain on a regular basis, there's still a chance we might be able to cut at least a little hay in September (we have no hay for winter right now). But we need a lot more rain than we've been getting for the grass in the hayfield to green up and grow enough.

Yesterday I realized it had been nearly two weeks (!) since I'd seen the donkeys (I'm still spending a lot of time in bed), so this afternoon I tagged along with Joe on his daily treat run out to Donkeyland. Actually we drove and the dogs ran. Evie, who always loves to snuggle, seemed especially glad to see me. (Snuggling donkeys isn't in Joe's job description.)

On the way back to the house I said something about how depressing it is seeing the fields so burned up, and Joe said they actually look better than they did. Today, for the first time in I don't know how long, it was only in the 80s, with the humidity down and a nice big breeze. We turned off the a/c upstairs and opened all the windows. The temperature is headed right back up—it is August after all—but this little taste of relief felt heavenly.

Next summer I bet we'll be looking through these photos saying, "Wow, remember when there was nothing for the sheep and donkeys to eat last year? Look how tall and lush the grass in the fields is now." And then we'll stroll through the farmyard and admire the overflowing barn full of hay.

Hope.

14 more farm photos below. Hover over each image for a description. . .

Wordless Wednesday Dose of Cute: Follow that Beagle

More photos below. . .

Recipe: Greek Style Panzanella Salad with Kalamata Olives, Feta Cheese, and Homemade Pan-Fried Croutons

This traditional Italian tomato and bread salad is given a Greek twist with feta cheese and kalamata olives. Olive oil croutons are hard to resist (recipe here).

Do you ever wonder why I don't post more recipes on Farmgirl Fare? Sometimes I do too. It's partly because I'm really picky about the recipes I share with you, partly a time factor thing, and partly because I'm often still making the same (already shared) favorites over and over again. Like this Greek Style Panzanella Salad.

It's cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers, kalamata olives, feta cheese, red onion, and crunchy, pan-fried olive oil croutons, tossed with a flavorful red wine vinaigrette. For an extra boost of protein and fiber, you can stir in some organic garbanzo beans.

I pretty much lived on this salad for several weeks last summer and am ready to do it again. It makes a great side dish for grilled meats and a perfect light supper or lunch. I've even eaten the leftovers for breakfast. You'll find the recipe here. Enjoy!

Hungry for more than salad? There are links to all my sweet and savory Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes in the Farmgirl Fare Recipe Index.

© FarmgirlFare.com, where we'll eat pretty much pan-fried anything.

Tail End of the Week: Get Your Friday Farm Fix #21

Welcome to the Friday Farm Fix, a new series on Farmgirl Fare where I share a random sampling of what's been happening around the farm during the past week (mostly on Fridays). Just joining us? You'll find all the Friday Farm Fix posts here.

A little rain and a big rainbow in the hayfield late Sunday afternoon.

Same old song, different week. Still too hot, too dry, too much mystery female pain keeping me mostly in bed. I'm starting to sound like a broken record, and not the kind that's messed up because it's your favorite and you played it over and over again.

Part of me thinks I should stop mentioning this terrible heat and drought that has been holding us (and so many others) hostage for months and instead act like nothing is wrong, because everybody has problems and nobody wants to read a depressing blog. But life on the farm isn't always about cute animals and delicious homegrown food, and right now we can think of nothing else. And there isn't much to photograph.

I also know many of you follow Farmgirl Fare because you want to know what it's really like living out here in the country—the good, the bad, and the ugly. This would be the bad and the ugly (though we still have plenty of good food and cute).

I think six of the last seven days have been over 100 degrees, though I stopped checking the thermometer (and the weather forecast) weeks ago. When we drove to yet another doctor's office on Wednesday (we got the CT results and are now waiting two weeks for biopsy results), I couldn't believe how few cattle and how many dried up ponds we passed. Joe counted over 30 big dead trees just along our driveway and a little ways down the road as we headed out.

Most farmers around here water their grazing livestock using ponds, which are kept filled by rain. If your ponds are dry, your animals have nothing to drink. If you have relentless heat and no rain, your pastures burn up and your animals have nothing to eat.

More farm talk and 7 farm photos below. Hover over each photo for a description. . .