Ameraucana Hen, Green Eggs!

We have one Ameraucana hen and she has finally started giving us eggs, blueish green ones!

Meet Buckley, Our New Goat

We have high hopes for this handsome young buck! 

Rabbits Busy Growing

The baby rabbits have opened their eyes and are growing fast. We still don't have a final count, this was the first time one was picked up. They are so adorable! Gonna be the hardest animal to butcher, I think. I keep telling myself they will be loved and live a good life. They are the sustainable meat. I am having a hard time calling them rabbits instead of bunnies.

Twelve

 This girl of mine celebrated her 12th Birthday this week. Here she is holding a photo of the two of us back in '99. I love this photo. Just look at her now! 12 seems such a step up from 11.

...Thank you, Kaziah, for blessing my life with your beautiful self...

Garlic

The garlic has been planted, twice as much as last year.

Our Busy Fall Weekend, Butchering Roosters

 

We butchered 7 young roosters this past weekend. We follow Joel Salatin's Killing Cone method. An old bleach bottle works well for this. Dipping the chicken in hot water makes for easy plucking.

Roxie helping pluck with my mother, Mimi. Roxie did much better with the butchering that she did last time. And this may seem silly, but I was proud to have plucked 2 completely by myself! The meat will be a bit tough, but these roosters were sealed with a Food Saver and placed in the freezer for future broth making.

Walk about the Farm on a Cold November Evening...

Finn loves to collect eggs!

 

And mooooo at the cows! 

 

Stop in the barn and you'll find: 2 goats and a handful of chickens we call "The Misfits". These hens, and one rooster, Big Red, never did seem comfortable in the larger group. 

Chickens are funny like that.

 

  

Also in the barn: what do you get when you put 2 bunnies together? 9 bunnies, of course!!! 

Awww wabbit...the sustainable meat! Enchiladas anyone? 

 

They're hidden quite well, but there are at least 7 baby bunnies here. 

What a surprise for the girls Sunday afternoon! 

 Finn approves of this year's pumpkin harvest.
Looking for a great pumpkin seed recipe? Look no further - click here!

PW's (Bacon!) Corn Cheese Chowder

Pioneer Woman's photo of her Corn Cheese Chowder

I made Pioneer Woman's Corn Cheese Chowder for Halloween dinner last night. It was simple and Fabulous!!!! Of course it was, it is Pioneer Woman after all!

It should be titled, 'Bacon Corn Cheese Chowder' and I say: double the bacon and add a bit more heat (if you're into that sort of thing) in form of peppers sauteed with the onion.

I have a habit of listing ingredients and deciding if a meal is farm sustainable -and this one is! (if we were actually at that point anyhow)

A new cold weather favorite...to be made again and again throughout the season.

Halloween 2011

From the Sugar Mountain Pumpkin Patch! 

 

An adorable Mr. Finn who doesn't know what all the fuss is about, but loves the candy...

so that will do, thank you very much!

Zombie UpRising!!!

Halloween brought out the zombie girls. They participated in the 'Thrill the World' event, which was pretty dang cool. I really didn't like seeing the blood and oozing cuts -no mama wants to see that on her babes, but it was a memorable experience.  

This was the first year the girls did their pumpkins completely by themselves. They cut them open, ripped out the guts and carved the design. Even Roxie was hip to the challenge, and I think they did a great job! Happy Halloween!!!

What's Fall Without Pumpkins?

Headed out to the garden yesterday with three of the four kiddos in tow. I wondered to myself if I missed going to a local pumpkin patch instead of simply skipping out to the garden. Nope, I really like having my own. And next year, I plan it to look more like Charlie Brown's and invite friends over to help pick the many pumpkins. Yes, that will be nice.

365 Photo Challenge...

 Getting back in the habit...365 photo challenge!

...sharing a few favorites from the month of October...

{Dec 2012: although I really enjoyed this photo challenge, I no longer keep my 365 account open}
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For the Love of Canning!

Oh I have fallen in Love...with canning! Its an old love, renewed and grown into something I can trust. No fear, which is something I think many people must overcome when learning to process food.

And to help me on my quest to process our garden (and lets be honest here -whatever else I can get my hands on!) is the book Canning for a New Generation: Bold, Fresh Flavors for the Modern Pantry, by Liana Krissoff. I have read/studied many cooking-canning books, but this book is the one that it all finally "clicked" for me. I highly recommend picking it up and giving it a go -you won't regret it! 

Old Farm, Old Pipes...

 We finds ourselves replacing the barn/animal corral water pipes. At least its not the middle of winter.

And Finn is Lance's right hand man...in training!

Food Crafting!

Picking, canning, blanching, freezing, drying, testing, tasting and making notes for future batches. That is what I've been up to. I also squeezed in a bit of sewing with two identical harvest aprons for me and a good friend. We wore them picking apples for our annual apple pressing gathering. It also happened to be my birthday. What a great party!