Beans, beans the musical fruit...

I got a bumper crop of beans from my garden this summer(and by bumper crop I mean more than seven) which was surprising since we've had a terrible summer, weather wise.  It rained most of July and a good part of August.  Between the bloodsucking mosquitoes and the near constant rain I couldn't be bothered to do anything out there so the weeds took over.  Imagine my surprise when things actually grew!  This of course will all come crashing down around me tonight as the forecast is warning of frost.  Frost?  On August 31st!  It's so Alberta-like.  Anyway, the kids and I went out to the garden with our giant colander to collect what beans we could find.  The purple bush beans did the best so we got oodles of those.  So what does a person do with an abundance of purple beans?  Pickle them of course!

With dill heads from our garden

And what happens to purple beans when you cook them?  They turn green and to my surprise, they turn the brine pink!

And while we're on the topic of purple stuff...we have lots of purple carrots and we grew purple potatoes for the first time this year.  We had them with our dinner and they look like they came from Jupiter or something.  They are purple all the way through, the water you boil them in turns a green-blue color and this is what they look like in the end!

 Crazy!  Would make for an interesting potato salad I think!  Needless to say, my son wouldn't touch them with a 10 foot pole.                                                                               

Bacon and Potato Chowder

The kids and I went out to the garden the other day and gathered a bunch of potatoes, onions and beans for this recipe that my neighbor gave to me and I believe he originally got it from 'The Western Producer.'
It's so good and so easy to make! 

Fry six slices bacon.  Crumble and set aside.
Saute in two TBSP bacon fat(I said it was good, not healthy! Ha Ha!) 1 cup chopped onions

In a soup pot place:
3 cups diced potatoes
3 cups water
3 chicken bouillion (I substituted 3 cups organic chicken broth for the water and bouillion)
Cook until potatoes are tender.

In a small bowl stir
3 TBSP flour
1 can evaporated milk(or 1 1/2 cups 2%.  I used skim and it turned out great)

Add flour mixture to soup stirring constantly until it comes to a boil.  Reduce heat, stirring until thickened.  Add bacon and onion (and beans if you like) and heat through.  Serve with a piece of fresh bread and a sprinkle of cheese. YUM!!

Mr. Spangles and his three lovely ladies

When I first saw a picture of a Silver Spangled Hamburg hen I knew I had to find some and add them to my growing flock of chickens.  So I looked them up on Kijiji and discovered someone up in Sherwood Park, AB that breeds them.  I bought six initially but circumstances mostly out of my control left me with one rooster and three lovely little hens.

Who couldn't love a face like that?  Isn't he adorable?  And his crow is the cutest thing you ever heard!

Just call me the chicken lady.  Go ahead.  Do it.

A long overdue chick post

As you may recall, I got myself a Hovabator Egg Incubator back in June.  I collected what I hoped would be fertilized eggs from the girls who were locked up with Uncle the Rooster and after I had 36 eggs, I stuck them in there and hoped for the best!

Not only was July 27th my and my husband's 8th anniversary and our daughter's 7th birthday, it was also chick day!

 28 of the 36 eggs hatched.  One died leaving us with 25 yellow and 2 black.

 And here we are just over three weeks later and they are all growing and thriving with the exception of two that have a curled toe deformity.  They too are growing but are a little behind the others.

So I guess we've seen it all now- the birth of kittens, puppies, calves and chicks!  Just another day on the farm!

Back Bathroom Before and After

It isn't officially finished; there are still the little touches to be done like trim, towel rack, and new faucets in the shower but I just couldn't help blogging about my back bathroom renovation! 

This is what the bathroom has looked like for about the last two years or so.  The green on the wall is glue from the hideous melamine back splash that I ripped off long ago.  The shower is behind the door and has a surround of dark very 80's cedar.

 I painted the walls 'toasted wheat' and white washed the cedar shower surround.

Then I put the new vinyl tile down before installing this lovely low flow toilet.  The toilet turned out to be the biggest challenge due to the fact that whoever installed the flange on the floor did it slightly crooked which in turn made installing the new toilet a huge pain.  I went through two wax seals before discovering the problem which was easily fixed by screwing the new bolts directly into the floor.

New vanity, tile and medicine cabinet. 

I am so happy with the end result!  I am also so glad that it's done!   One down, two more to go!

Smokie and Burger

Henceforth I resume blogging in no particular order...


We decided to head out to the Brazeau Reservoir for a couple nights of camping(post to follow at some point) on the 2nd of this month and I returned home that evening to feed the animals.  I was shocked to discover that Vanilla had dropped her calf!  I had not expected it until at least late Fall.  She hardly even looked like she was carrying a calf!  We named him 'Smokie'(like the kind you eat)  That's him in the foreground with his mama.  T-Bone is behind him and that's Anise in the back.

 A week later on August 9th, Chocolate dropped her bull calf in the protection of the six foot tall thistles and I didn't get to see him until he was three days old.  As you can see from her rear end, neither her nor her little man are available for a photo session at this time.  F decided to name him Burger...like the kind you eat ;)

Sorry, sorry, sorry!

I know, I haven't been blogging!  I'm sorry!  We've been really busy but in being busy I have tons and tons of blogging to catch up on!  So just you wait, it's coming!  Soon.  I promise!