Wednesday Door Day 12/18/19

My front wall and door have been in bad shape for some time. 
Water runs in when it rains, the bottom of the wall next to the door was rotten. 

I’d been dreading tackling this project for awhile because I knew it was going to be ugly in there. 

And it was. But not quite as bad as I’d feared. The bottom of the post and 2x4s had rotted out but the sill under the wall itself was in good shaped. 

And my friend Clyde came to help. Actually he did most of the work today. 

Getting closer. 

Almost done. Clyde tacked some scrap over a couple cracks for the night. Tomorrow we’ll cut and hang a piece of plywood. 

#100daysofappreciation

Once again I am appreciating kind and generous friends. Thank you so much!

Tuesday 12/17/19

Today was a work day and it was too cold and dark to go out early so I snuggled in until the sun came over the hill. Did chores and broke down a pallet for firewood. 

#100daysofappreciation

Day 20

Today I appreciate my Ryobi 18 volt tools. I have the reciprocating, jig and skil saws, a drill, weed eater and little vacuum cleaner. With them I built the big chicken house which is 300 feet from an electric outlet. I’ve also used them to build other things, trim brush, break down pallets.  I’m sooo glad I bought them.  

Laid Back Sunday 12/15/19

Everybody was pretty laid back today. 

There was a cold wind and ominous looking clouds in the morning. 

I collected some rosemary and oregano. 

And prepped a leg of lamb. 

I stabbed it all over and poked it full of garlic slivers. 

Since I didn’t have a nice pork belly and a larding needle I poked holes and stuffed in some butter. 

I slathered more butter on top and laid it on half the herbs. 

I laid the rest of the herbs on top and sealed the pan with foil because I can’t find the lid right now. 

My oven isn’t working at the moment but this little smoker works for slow cooking. I don’t add any smoke wood when I use it like an oven. 

I finished breaking down the lamb and put the rest in the freezer. I did some household chores like dishes and laundry.  Then.....

The lamb was done, melt in your mouth delicious.  I’m in heaven. 

#100daysofappreciation

Today I am appreciating that I have yummy good food, a roof over my head, a fire in the stove, a comfy bed to sleep in. I am content. 

Lazy Saturday 12/14/19

First I turned some steamy compost. 

This pen doesn’t have any ammonia odor even though it’s still pretty wet. That’s because I put down a lot of bedding   So I just turned it to help break up where it was packed down and to help get it drying out.  Now the big chicken house was a different story. I cleaned out some stinky bits off the top but the sawdust underneath smelled like clean earth. So I turned it to help dry it out. 

In the meantime....

Bianca cracked me up. 

Mamma hen has resumed laying eggs and is getting a bit tired of her brood. 

I did some errands and got groceries. Then I got one of the lambs broken down into sort of recognizable cuts of meat. 

My little lamb chops are not cut perfectly and they are barely bite sized. I sprinkled some Herbes de Provence over them and fried them in butter. 

They were totally crazy delicious. I ate them with a little arugula and chopped apple.  Yum yum. 

#100daysofappreciation 

Today I am appreciating the internet and having access to it. Some people refuse to learn computers or to have anything to do with it. But I think it is a wonderful blessing to have almost all the knowledge of the world at my fingertips. I have learned so much the last couple of years just about soil science and plant nutrition, much of which was unknown 30 years ago and even today has only been published in peer reviewed journals. 

Farmer Friday 22/13/19

Digging sun roots aka Jerusalem artichokes. 

Mmmmmm. Somebody joined the New Layers Club. Was it you?

Picking arugula and giant red mustard. 

Wow. This bed has really taken off. 

The same bed on November 13. 

The chard I planted last week is starting to take off. 

All set up for Superior Farmers Market. Had a nice visit at the Wild Cow Art Gallery afterwards. There was a beautiful full moon shining   on the way home. And then....

Oops. Luck was with me though and I made it all the way to town and the gas station. 

#100daysofapreciation

So tonight I’m appreciating my good fortune.  While it was a close call, I didn’t run out of gas. (BTW I’m not in the habit of taking silly risks like that. It was just today’s circumstances). I’m also appreciating how at least some of the garden beds are doing better than they have been. 

Thursday 12/12/19

I spent the morning cleaning up wet coops again.  Still some groundwater seepage coming up making the litter too wet and smelling of ammonia. But no rain in the forecast for awhile so hopefully things will dry out some. 

I went to work at noon, came home to eat and do chores then went back until closing.  

Giotto doesn’t know that he could get out if he really tried. 

#100daysofappreciation

Today I really appreciate biology. Knowing how to combine different ingredients and give them the right temperature and humidity gives you everything from compost, to pickles, to ham, cheese, bread, beer, wine and many other wonderful things. 

Wednesday Lamb Day 12/11/19

Lovely new egg colors

Pretty sure that mint green one is a new girl laying. 

Giotto was not too sure about today. I got two lambs to butcher from a friend.  Giotto could see them in the back of the truck and was barking at them while I finished getting ready. Then I put him in the house. He was not too happy about that and barked all the time. I finally let him out when I was almost done   He was looking for the lambs in the truck. He seemed a bit concerned when he came around back and smelled the blood.  He spent the rest of the evening laying where he could watch the truck. 

I am super tired and sore. The lambs are cooling in the fridge. There’s a fire in the stove and dinner was delicious. I had potatoes and fresh lamb liver. I didn’t have any milk so I dipped the liver peices in beaten egg then dredged them in flour with salt, pepper and garlic powder. I fried the potatoes in bacon drippings and cooked the liver in the leftover bit. The liver was delicious, not strong flavored at all.  

#100daysofappreciation  Day 15

Today I am appreciating my kind and generous friends, you know who you are!

Monday 12/9/19

I worked half a day today.  It rain all night and this morning, clearing out after lunch. I spent the afternoon sorting through the Black Copper Marans cockerels. This guy is a cull. He has a comb sprig (a part of the comb growing sideways) which is a disqualification. 

This one is a cull because his pelvis is too narrow (meaning his daughters won’t be good layers) and he is tending toward “vulture hocks” (long hard feathers at the hock joint instead of just fluff)  another disqualification. 

This guy is a maybe. I don’t like that long tail feather and he may have a roach back (where the back jumps up instead of being flat), another disqualification. I’ll let him grow a little longer and check again. 

Another maybe to grow a little longer. 

#100daysofappreciation   Today I appreciate my chickens. They give me eggs and meat and terrific compost for the garden. Because of them I have people from all over the country, both online and in person. I’ve always been interested in genetics and chicken breeding gives me a chance to test out theories and make interesting combinations. 

Rainy Sunday 12/18/19

A grey rainy day here. The cats napped all day except when they were underfoot. 

I mostly worked on cleaning the kitchen. I made some purple cabbage krout. 

And some fermented red radish. 

#100daysofappreciation  Day 12: Today I appreciate being able to have, grow, make or buy good food. Most of what I eat is homegrown or local. With much less chemical exposure than average. I rarely eat out as I don’t care for most restaurant food, much of which is highly processed and prepackaged. I much prefer homemade from scratch with fresh raw ingredients. 

Shopping Saturday 12/7/19

A pleasant surprise this morning to find one of the olive egger hens has laid an egg after a long break. 

And then another surprise, one of the Orpington girls laid her first egg.  

I spent some time turning compost, spreading fresh bedding and cutting up an old pallet for fire wood. 

And then I went shopping. Special employee discount weekend so I stocked up on feed and bedding. I needed to replace a gas hose on my burner but we didn’t have the right size. But there was another burner on clearance that was actually cheaper than a new gas line. (Isn’t that crazy?). And yup, I got a meat grinder with the sausage attachment. Got a new shirt too. 

Maremma on guard. 

#100daysofappreciation I just love this dog. He’s funny. He is not a super hyper dog, tho he is excited to have company, especially kids that will pet him. He’s not food  motivated. No prey drive so no fetch or chase the ball or anything like that. I’ve owned a dog almost my whole life, starting when I was 5 years old. Giotto is so totally different than any dog I’ve ever owned before, it’s like he’s a totally different animal. Oh for sure he can be exasperating. He can dig 110 pound dog size holes probably as fast as a bulldozer but he’s never done it to go under the fence. Don’t get in his way if he’s after something, he’s liable to knock you down just brushing up against you as he runs. Yet he’s never tried to jump or climb over the fence   He knows the only way through a fence is through the gate, so he waits for the naive visitor to come along, the one that doesn’t know his tricks. The one that doesn’t carefully open the gate just enough to squeeze through, while carefully blocking the gap with their body and never turning loose of the gate, never letting it swing all the way open. Yep that’s when he rushes up, sniffs the person then takes off like a flash. Oh he comes home in an hour or so, after he’s checked out all the coyote trails, tired and thirsty and ready for a nap. 

He’s so funny when I have jerky or bacon, the only things that might motivate him to doing something he doesn’t really want to do. He has a funny little smiley face he makes as he sits at my feet waiting for his bite. 

If he thinks dinner is late he pokes me with a big paw. I get that big paw when he just wants his ears scratched too. 

And I do totally appreciate the work he does. He barks off hawks, owls,coyotes, bobcats, javalina, raccoons, skunks, deer and other things that go bump in the night. 

I just love that big ol dog.