This hen is such a beautiful example of a Partridge Penedesenca that I think I should enter her in an agricultural fair. The picture doesn't even do her justice; she has many different colors of feathers in sections, and a beautiful, upright tail. She was hopping back into the fenced area after some free-ranging, so I got a nice photo of her up on the fence rail.
I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time, and now that I’ve got the chickens all sleeping in one coop I finally got my chance.
Below is a video of the morning farm feeding routine. Now there’s a lot of subtle things going on here that you need to look out for. First, there are 3 adolescent chickens that spent the night outside so they’re running around before I even open up the chicken door. I don’t know where they were hiding, but I’m sure glad Mr. Fox didn’t get them. Second, when I open up the door to the chicken coop the same chicken is always the first one out. When I open up the door to Melina and Princess Kate’s stall, Melina comes right out to eat. So do two of the three chickens that insist on sleeping in the goat house every night (one is broody so she stays on her eggs). Princess Kate, who is a Tennessee Fainting goat, sometimes gets so excited at mealtime that she has a fainting spell. This faint seemed to be particularly long though and Melina moves from her bowl over to Kate’s before Kate can even come out. Then you’ll see the goats all wandering back and forth eating from each other’s bowls, and then finally you’ll see Kiki squeeze into the chicken door to go and have a quick bite of chicken food.
Maybe it's the common late afternoon thunderstorms that cause them in the summer, but big, beautiful double rainbows are not uncommon in Wyoming. This one was great because the sun was already coming out from the brief rain.
Today has just been one of those days that’s gone from bad to worse.
And just when I’d finally gotten everybody settled into bed, had finished up some things I needed to do, and was ready to work on a post or two for Crafty Farm Girl, Maia comes downstairs in tears with a stomach ache. I sent her back to bed with a heating pad, only to hear that dreaded retching noise a while later.
India went to bed claiming she felt awful and her stomach hurt too.
And my stomach is a little grumbly now.
Oh no….
If one spent too much time looking at a turkey's snood and dewlap (that's what those fleshy blue and red things are called), they just may never eat turkey again. This turkey at Quaker Village outside of Lexington, KY, was quite spectacular in his ugliness.
I saw this recipe on Pinterest the other day and tried it that same night. It was one of those days where I was running all afternoon to doctor’s and soccer games, and it came together pretty quickly. I used flank steak and cut it diagonally against the grain. I think it’s important to use a good cut of meat for this to not be tough and chewy.
The original recipe only served 2, so I adjusted everything up and while it fed our family of 5, I would say that it would serve 4, since my kids don’t eat much. *Also, she had 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes for spicy. I doubled that and ours was pretty spicy, but my red pepper flakes were very fresh. If you don’t like things very spicy, adjust down to 1/2 teaspoon or less.This was really good and I’ll definitely be making it again.
Original recipe from Pink Bites. Altered by Crafty Farm Girl, November, 2011.
Serves 4
You will need:
Prepare the meat:
Since this was a large steak, I cut it in half horizontally. To ease the slicing, I stuck it in the freezer for about 45 minutes. Slicing slightly frozen meat thinly is so much easier than slicing raw meat. Forty-five minutes to an hour is enough time that it slices well, but any slightly frozen parts will thaw quickly.
First, make sure the steak slices are dry (pat them dry) and mix them with the corn starch. Using your hands or a spoon, move them around to make sure all pieces are coated. Place beef slices in a strainer and shake off excess corn starch.
Make the sauce:
Heat half of the oil in a large wok or large flat-bottomed skillet at medium-high and add the garlic and ginger.
Immediately add the soy sauce, water. Be careful, mine made a terrible sputtering mess when the soy sauce hit the hot pan, so work quickly.
Quickly add the brown sugar and pepper flakes. Cook the sauce for about 2 minutes and transfer to a bowl. Don’t worry if the sauce doesn’t look thick enough at this point. The corn starch in the beef will thicken it up later.
Cook the meat and assemble dish:
Turn the heat up and add the remaining oil to the wok or skillet. You may want to cook the beef in two batches. I probably should have. Add the beef and cook, stirring until it is all browned (this is a quick thing).
Add the green onions to the beef and cook very briefly while stirring, about 30 seconds. Pour the sauce back into the wok and let it cook along with the meat. Now you can choose to cook it down and reduce the sauce or leave it thinner.
Serve it hot with rice.
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I’m trying to find a few good appetizers that I can use for the upcoming holidays. This recipe was in the same magazine that the Asparagus Fries with Smoked Paprika Aïoli were in; The Best of Fine Cooking’s Appetizers, Fall 2011. There’s lots of good stuff in this, so if you see it on the newsstands you might want to pick one up.
I feel the need to point out my fingernails in the close-up photos below. No, that is not dirt or chicken & goat poop under my nails. It is oil-based black ink. I’d been up past midnight the night before printing my linoleum print cards and just couldn’t get all of the ink off of my fingernails. I thought you’d want to know.
I thought these were yummy. They probably would have been even better with the pepper I was supposed to put on the bacon and forgot. I love salty and sweet, and with these you get not only salty and sweet from the bacon and apricot, but crunchy and chewy with the almond and cheese. You can’t get much better than that. Except maybe adding the pepper for some spice…
Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Apricots
Recipe from The Best of Fine Cooking’s Appetizers, Fall 2011
Yields 24.
Apricot sizes can vary; if yours are on the smaller side, just trim the cheese a bit and squish it in. Make sure they are whole and not halved. I used apricots from Turkey and Marcona almonds, which are a little softer than regular almonds. Any apricot and almond will do though.
Heat a gas grill to high or prepare a hot charcoal fire. I chose not to grill, but instead used a nonstick grill pan. I thought that worked just fine.
Pry open the apricots (if you look closely you’ll be able to find the slit where they removed the pit) and put a piece of cheese and an almond into each one.
Wrap a piece of bacon around each apricot, trimming as necessary so it overlaps by 1/2 inch, and secure it with a toothpick. Season the apricots all over with pepper. Somehow I missed that pepper step. They were still delicious without the pepper, but do try to remember it.
If using a grill, reduce the grill heat to medium (scatter the coals a bit or raise the grate if using charcoal). If using a grill pan, use medium-low heat. Use tongs to grill the apricots on all sides with the grill open, propping them between the bars to hold them up on the narrow sides. Move the apricots around often to avoid flare-ups. Cook until the bacon is crisp all over, about 6 minutes total.
Serve immediately and remind guests to remove the toothpicks.
make ahead tips: The apricots can be assembled up to 1 day ahead and refrigerated.
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We had tons of snow last year in Wyoming. I took this photo in Wilson during one of those snowstorms. The snow was falling in such large flakes it makes the photo almost look fake.
Country Living’s website is now featuring their own article on the Blue Ribbon Blogger Award’s ceremony. Be still my heart — my photo is on the same screen as Paula Deen’s. I told my daughter, Amanda, who could possibly be Paula Deen’s #1 fan, to take a screen shot and frame it.
Notice how everybody else has big, beautiful smiles and I’m the one looking like a deer in the headlights? Dang it all; everyone else looks great and I look terrible! I swear I need to take smiling lessons or something. Of course I’m old enough to be most of these girls’ mother. I don’t know what that has to do with me not smiling, but I thought I’d mention it.
I’ve got my amazing award (made by Cathe Holden of Just Something I Made) up on a shelf in our eating area. That seemed like an appropriate place for it, since our dining table is constantly covered in craft or cooking projects.
My Country Living Blue Ribbon Blogger Award.
And I also got this lovely bean pot and book in my goody bag as well. I’ve been wanting a bean pot! I love the shape of it.
My point about talking about winning the Blue Ribbon Blogger Award again is twofold.
First, I forgot to provide links to all of the other amazing category winners. You really should check them out if you haven’t yet.
Collecting: Parsimonia: Secondhand with Style
Crafts: Always a Project
Decorating: The Shabby Nest
Food: Crepes of Wrath
Gardening: Garden Betty
Lifestyle: Oh wait, this is me!
Pets: Tilly’s Nest
But winning an award like this is an honor, and not one that I’ve taken lightly. It’s recognition for something I started on a whim that bloomed out of control. I had so many things to say and do. Blogging was perfect for me. It gave me creative freedom and a voice. I worked my ass off on it, and I know my husband, children, and friends often wondered why. Was anybody really listening?
I guess they were. I still haven’t quite grasped what this award means, but I don’t plan on wasting one minute of the amazing opportunity it has offered me.
I’ve always been a frequent poster on my blog, but since being nominated I feel even more of a need to do so. To prove myself worthy. But posting in Photography, Cooking, Crafts, Farm, and Thoughts means trying to frequently write about 5 different topics. Three of those require significant work to create a post; Cooking, Crafts and Farm. I’m never short of ideas on any of these topics, but I am short of time.
This past week has been filled with broken bones, casts, concussions, multiple doctor visits, vet visits, parent teacher conferences, volleyball and soccer games. In between those events I try to get things done.
I suspect I’ll come up with some sort of a “schedule” over time that allows me more breathing room. I’ve worn myself out to the point of getting a cold.
But there it is, sitting on the shelf, taunting me.
I’ve got to get back to work.
Sheep Wagons were used by sheep farmers all over Wyoming, where they originated, from the 1870's through the mid-1900's. My friend Melinda owned this wonderful sheep wagon for years. It was her guest house. When she was trying to sell it, I wanted desperately to buy it and park it in our yard for guests. It was completely restored and the inside was amazing; double bed, wood stove, pull-out eating table. I'm still kicking myself for not buying it.
