Its no wonder...

Its no wonder there is an obesity epidemic in North America. I had to laugh when I sat down with my oatmeal to flip through the flyers this morning. 'What your family needs every week at unbeatable prices.'

Pizza, chips, pop and toilet paper... yup because after you sit down for a nice family meal of that you'll need to spend the rest of your evening in the bathroom with your big case of toilet paper!

Christmas Fever

I have Christmas Fever. Its a fever that hasn't hit me since I was a kid. I'm usually a bit of the Scrooge-ish type around Christmas. You know ba humbug and the whole bit. Normally when Halloween wraps up and they roll out the Christmas things in the stores it makes me want to run screaming from the place. This year seems to be different. My friend L and I have been messaging back and forth talking about our Christmas traditions (or rather her super awesome ones and my newly forming ones) and she mentioned how she has to have her lights on her tree wrapped in the 'Martha way.' You know the Martha I mean. So I headed over to Martha Stewart's website and was greeted by the most delightful Christmas ideas known to mankind. I scrolled and perused and bookmarked and got excited. But seeing as I'm the Ba humbug type, you would think that seeing all this stuff(especially before Halloween is even here) would make me crazy. So as I was sitting down this afternoon it dawned on me why I am so excited for the Holiday.

My husband will be home.

He has always been home except for one year when he worked on a fish farm off the northern tip of Quadra Island(luckily F and I were able to spend the holiday with him and his crew at the fish farm.) The difference this year is that we know he will be home. Every year we have been told that he can't have Christmas off so every year we plan for him to be working. That way, if he does work we aren't disappointed but if he doesn't then its time to celebrate. This all means that I can't get completely excited for Christmas because there's always a bit of worry we won't be together as a family. Not so this year. This year I am online shopping to avoid the malls, baking more wonderful and delicious goodies to give as gifts, hand making some adorable things for my kids thanks to Martha and spending the entire month of December as a family. I think that that could possibly give any Scrooge Christmas Fever!

If only...

If only they would jump right into my freezer!

Quote of the Day

F: "I wish Daddy was home."

Me: "Me too."

S: "Me too because I love him. And I want to eat him."

Apparently I have been feeding the boy too much red meat. I had better feed him some veggies.

The Farmer's Market

Yesterday, while in Edmonton, the kids and I hit up the Old Strathcona Farmer's Market. We've gone to our own town Farmer's Market a few times but I wanted to try something with a little more variety. I was definitely pleased! We walked up and down the aisles several times taking it all in before stopping to buy a half pound of locally roasted organic coffee as our first purchase.

I bought beets from the man in the yellow apron. He was very nice to talk to.

The kids each asked for a lollipop from this vendor. F chose a lime turkey and S chose a lime/pineapple rooster.
I bought some locally made cheese on this aisle. Its made in Sylvan Lake which is convenient since I go there on a fairly regular basis. We tried a taste of four year old cheddar. It was amazing!

There were so many things to look at in this place! Seasonal vegetables and fruits of every variety, every meat you could possibly want- elk, bison, beef, chicken, duck, pork; all grown without the use of antibiotics or hormones and most certified organic! Sausage, breads, cakes and cookies, honey, jam and other preserves, coffee, artwork and there was even entertainment! It was wonderful and well worth the trip! I think that from now on my trips to the city will be made on Saturdays to allow for a trip to the market!

They just don't make people the way they used to

My friend K and I were chatting one morning, that must have been months ago now, about friends and how the friends we made way back when seem to be more often than not the ones that stick around. Obviously there are exceptions to every rule but I know that for myself, many of the friends I made in elementary, middle and high school are the ones that have stuck with me. I find as an adult it is a lot more difficult to make and keep friends especially being a stay at home mom I don't have work colleagues to call up and meet for coffee or play dates etc. I've had two very close friends in the last five years; one moved away to the city and got busy with life there so we don't talk much. The other lives down the road.

Her and her husband came to me last Fall about pasturing their horses on our property. We had been looking into that very thing already so it came at a very opportune time. They brought seven horses to stay most of the winter and then again during the summer brought six horses to summer graze. We got to be good friends(or so I thought) and it was enjoyable having them over for dinners and birthdays and when my husband was home the men would go and work together on a bit of fencing here and there, drink beer and coffee and have a good time. I believe that there is a saying about not mixing business with pleasure. Its a good saying. I didn't see the problem until it was too late which is very unfortunate for us. Being neighbors and friends I thought that a trade would be the best form of 'payment' for the pasture and we had discussed the trade of one of their bulls. The husband didn't think that was a fair trade for him. So after lots of discussion between myself and 'her' it became apparent that we were going to have to think of something else. So we went and bought our own bull- Sir Loin.

I believe there is another saying that you can't put a price on friendship. Maybe there's not, maybe I made that up but that is exactly what the couple did. They sent us a bill for friendship- a $700 bill to be exact. Every little thing they did during our friendship, they billed us for. Every time he came over for dinner and then a bit of fencing, he billed it. Every little thing. Right down to her saying I owed her for picking my daughter up sick from school when I didn't have a vehicle. I offered her $20 at the time which she refused to take saying, "that's what friends do. I might need you to pick me up one day." Never mind that I gave her all the clothes my kids had outgrown or had them over for dinner on numerous occasions or took my rototiller to their house and did their garden for them. Would I ever dream of sending them a bill for those things? Absolutely not!

So basically, we aren't getting anything for pasturing their horses because our friendship came at too high a cost.

Thank you to my real friends for being made the way people are supposed to be made- loving, caring and honest. And thanks to my friend K for the title of this post!

FYI

Duck eggs, such as the ones I get from my lovely brown khaki campbell, make excellent meringue. I was a little reluctant to use duck egg whites when making my husband's birthday cake this morning because its a lot of work to make something like that only to have to redo it when the ingredients fail. But I was very pleased to find that the egg whites whipped up beautifully probably due to the fact that the consistency of duck eggs is much thicker than that of chicken's eggs.

So thank you to my lovely Jemima Puddleduck for all her glorious eggs!

Quote of the Day

F: "It kind of tastes like chicken."

F: "Can I have more Basil please?"

S: "Can I have more steak please?"

Me: "It's not steak, its rabbit."

I made braised rabbit for dinner tonight. I bought it last week at our town Farmer's Market as part of my plan of eating more locally grown foods. I've never eaten rabbit... that I recall anyway. My parents may have served it when I was a kid as I do remember something about the neighbors rabbit eating one too many of my mom's crocuses. Anyway it was quite tasty and the kids are still in the kitchen fighting over the scraps.

My daughter was the one who said, "can I have more Basil please." You may be wondering what this has to do with eating rabbit. Well we have a pet rabbit named Basil who lives with the chickens. So just to clarify, no we did not eat Basil. I think she'd be too gamey at this point anyway!

Recycled Pallet Cattle Feeder

I had this brilliant idea about a month ago for making a cattle feeder to solve the problem of our cows dragging their hay all over the place in the winter. Make it out of free wood pallets from the hardware store. Even if we have to build it 10 times over the course of our cows' lifetimes it is still cheaper than buying a steel one.

So we picked up six pallets from The Home Depot in Red Deer and today got down to the business of bringing my 'brilliant idea' to life!


Lay two pallets on the ground side by side

Nail a pallet on each end and then two pallets on the back. (Get your man servant to do this if you don't feel like swinging a hammer that day)
You will need something for the front so the hay doesn't get pulled out so I used a piece of plywood I found kicking around and nailed it to the front. Then I nailed an 8 foot 2x4 in front of that for extra strength when the cows lean on it. Yeah everything looks crooked but its really not. The ground is uneven, honest! And there you go, a free recycled pallet cattle feeder that took less than an hour to put together!
And while we are talking about free recycled pallet things, this is my three bin composter that my mom and I put together while she was here in early September. I got the idea from a fabulous book called "The Zero-Mile Diet: A year round guide to growing organic food." (By Carolyn Herriot) This book is absolutely chock full with every thing you could ever need to know about gardening. And the author lives in Victoria BC so she's Canadian as well as full of great ideas!

Hope you are enjoying a lovely sunny day like me!

Walk in the Woods

Just down the hill and across the road from our property is thick forest along the Pembina River. In this forest is about 80 km of trails that are maintained by the Drayton Valley Horse Club. We have been spending a lot of time in these trails this week and wishing the weather had been nicer this summer so we could have walked more.

Turn down the Lease road and follow the blue flagging!

And what better way to end a lovely Fall evening than a marshmallow roast!

Butcher Time!

Its the post you have all been waiting for! I know you've been dying to see the blood and gore from our second time butchering chickens. So here it is in all its glory! *Be forewarned: there is blood and guts in the coming pictures (but at least you can't smell what I had to smell!)



Okay so this is just a posed shot. Its kind of hard to chop the head off a rooster with another rooster! ;)The deed was done and then they have to hang for a few minutes
The first stinky part is dipping them in hot water for ease of plucking. Do you like my coveralls?

Pluck pluck pluck! Get all those pin feathers out
Indi salivating. She liked to stand as close to the chopping block as possible so that she could get any blood spray directly on her face. I know, gross.

The spectator section
After they are dipped and plucked, I like to cut off the feet.
Then you make an incision just below the breast bone and reach in all the way to the neck and pull all the guts out

and that is the second stinky part of cleaning a chicken- the guts. Yup, they stink.

I like to cut all the way around the chicken's bum so that you don't accidentally perforate the bowels and get poop everywhere.

Give it a good rinse out and make sure there are no guts left inside and line them up for a photo!

Pretty simple really, when you get the hang of it. And there is nothing like the taste of home grown chicken! Just ask my kids!

Name that Rooster

Isn't he handsome? He was the sole spared rooster of the bunch that just finished going in the freezer(post still to come!). I decided to keep one and that way I can get myself an incubator and hatch my own chicks in the spring. I hope he is grateful that he was 'The Chosen One' and in return he will service my hens and provide me with the next generation of chickens for the freezer!

So, he needs a name. I can't think of anything so do you have any ideas? I would love to hear all your suggestions. I would like to say this is a contest and you get a prize buuuuuuut... the prize will be the honor of naming the rooster! After we get some responses we'll put it to the kids and let them pick their favorite. Send me your best ideas!

Two Quotes of the Day and a London Fog

We started butchering chickens a couple days ago so we've been pretty busy with that(post to follow on that) and then yesterday had our Thanksgiving celebration so I've been a bit behind with getting my Quotes of the Day posted.

My kids like watching us butcher the chickens, especially our daughter. I'm glad to know that she can see it done and then enjoy the meat on the table later.

I had just dipped the first bird in the hot water and was starting to pluck it. If you've never smelled a freshly dipped bird let me tell you that it stinks! My daughter was totally engrossed in what I was doing and said, "that chicken is going to taste so good!" The fact that she could think that while I stood plucking the stinky, wet steaming bird was beyond me. I just had to laugh.

The second Quote of the Day came that night after the kids were tucked away in their beds. I made London Fogs for the first time and put the mugs on the counter. My husband came over and asked which was which. I pointed to mine and he said, "I'll put yours in my right hand because you're always right." Give the man a gold star!

London Fog(tea latte)

Brew a pot of Earl Grey Tea(or Lady Grey works wonderfully too) double strength. Add sweetener and a dash of pure vanilla extract. Steam your milk or if you don't have a cappuccino machine for steaming, heat your milk in a pot. Pour half a mug of tea and then fill the mug the rest of the way with steamed or heated milk. Wonderful on these crisp Fall evenings! Enjoy!

I am Thankful...

That we are together for Thanksgiving

to share good food
especially turkey legs!

and pie!

I am thankful for a wonderful husband and wonderful children; family and friends that I love and appreciate. I am thankful for where we live and the roof over our heads. I am thankful for this wonderful life.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Cows

Just a few pictures of my pretty cows...


Chocolate

Vanilla and Sir Loin

Sir Loin

Vanilla

I took these pictures a couple weeks ago(as you can probably tell by the fact that there are leaves on the trees in the back ground) and just never got around to doing a post. So better late than never. And who doesn't like seeing pictures of pretty cows, right?

Sourdough Bread

I'm now onto my second try at sourdough bread. The first time went great but I didn't reactivate the starter after making my bread so it went bad and I had to start over. It isn't terribly difficult to make this type of bread, there is just a lot of waiting in between beginning the starter and the finished product. I am lucky enough to not have any fruit flies in my house because this was a problem that a friend had when trying it for herself.

From the Joy of Cooking
The Starter:

1 Package yeast(about a tablespoon)
2 cups lukewarm water
2 cups all purpose flour

Place in a large glass bowl or jar and stir with a wooden spoon until mixed. Leave in a warm place uncovered for 4-7 days until it smells good and sour stirring once a day. Stir down any crust that forms.

It should look something like this:
When the starter is good and fermented after the allotted amount of time you're ready for the next step!

Combine and let stand over night in a warm place:

1 1/2 cups 85 degree water
1 cup sourdough starter
4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp. sugar, honey or molasses
2 tsp. salt

The next day stir down any crust that has formed and add:

1 cup all purpose flour

When thoroughly mixed turn out onto a board covered with 1 cup flour and knead in as much as you need to make a smooth elastic dough. Shape into 2 loaves and place in bread pans to rise until doubled in bulk. Bake at 400 degrees for 45-50 minutes.


Ta Da! The finished product!
Don't forget to reactivate your starter if you want to keep it going.

Take 1 cup of remaining starter and add:

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup lukewarm water

Let stand overnight until fermented and bubbling and then use, refrigerate or freeze. Take out what you need and let stand until bubbling again before using.

A Final Chick Update

I thought I should do one last 'Chick Update' before we... you know... cut off their heads! I certainly had a lot of casualties in these four months of raising my own chickens. I thought I was doing pretty good until the dogs decided that they needed a cut of the goods. I would have preferred to just give them extra kibble but they decided that 14 of my birds was a better deal. Learning experience.

I have definitely learned a lot from this little adventure and hopefully I will remember this new found knowledge when I get my chicks next year!

Remember how cute and fuzzy they were?

Well they are less cute now but more tasty!

Look at all their pretty tail feathers!

In the end there will be about 25 roosters to butcher which we will do over the course of a few days. And there should be about 10 hens to add to my flock. Not quite the numbers I had hoped for but it will have to do for this year!