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Even though the weather is NOT cooperating (as in, we’re having fall followed by spring) I am still trying to enjoy all the goodness that winter has to offer.
Cozy handknits, warm fires, hot tea…….citrus fruits.
Yup, citrus fruits are in season now, and we have plenty of my favorites: clementines and Meyer lemons. I’ve never actually been able to find Meyer lemons locally before, so I was surprised to find them at (of all places) our local WalMart. (I know….I am not a WalMart fan. But…..when they carry Concord grapes and Meyer lemons, how can you resist?)
Last week I made a lovely Shaker Lemon Pie, and we’ve been snacking steadily on clementines, but as of this morning I still had plenty of both.
So I rooted around a bit on Pinterest until I found what fit the bill for some lovely citrusy fare: recipes for Chinese Orange Chicken and Meyer Lemon Pudding.
Oh yeah.
Neither one was particularly difficult to make, and the results were outstanding. Seriously.
Paul declared the chicken “The best orange chicken I’ve ever had”. That’s saying something, because we are quite fond of Chinese food and we’ve tried quite a lot of it. It was fresh, bold and bright, with a strong orange flavor. If you like orange chicken, you HAVE to try this recipe. The only change I made was when frying the chicken, I simply coated the raw chicken pieces in cornstarch (I didn’t use the egg or flours at all). This was due to simple laziness. The sauce I made no changes to.
We followed the chicken with the Meyer Lemon pudding served on a slice of pound cake (which Paul picked up from the grocery – I didn’t feel like baking any).
After all of this it is a very good thing that I have been following a workout routine for the last week. SO MANY CALORIES!!!
Yesterday I was treated to being able to get out of the house a bit (Paul is almost fully recovered, aside from restrictions on lifting) and see Susan, who was home for literally ONE day between trips, and also to see my animals, who I’ve been missing terribly.
We’re making headway in our efforts to bring them home, though. Trees are coming down, cleaning up is underway, plans are in process. It’s very exciting! I can’t wait to be able to look out the window again and see my flock.
Sophie and Adelaide’s baby-daddy, Jack – who may or may not be the future baby - daddy of kids that Milkshakes may or may not be already carrying. She’s been sneaking into his pasture to spend some “quality time” with him.
I got to see Coconut, who is 18 kinds of adorable, and I just want to rub those ears! But, aside from nibbling at Susan’s fingers, he’s a bit skittish still.
Mr. Jefferson here gave me lots of nice, wet cow kisses.
Sophie and Adelaide are almost as big as Milkshakes, and they won’t let me near them. On the plus side, unlike Frodo and Finnegan who thought they were lapdogs, these little ladies know they are goats.
Wren! She’s gotten just about too big for me to be picking her up and snorgling her now.
As for Jerry, he likes to make it difficult to get a decent picture. Once he knows your game he’s either INYOURFACE or lurking just behind you.
This way you either get NO pictures, or ones like these:
I miss that crazy llama!
I finished a sweater. Back in November. I actually wore it to Fall Shearing. Where I got baby goat poop all over one newly minted arm of it. But I digress.
It has taken me this long to get it nicely blocked and to photograph it so I can show it off. None of these things have stopped me from wearing it, but I realized I really needed to get it posted here before it didn’t look so nice and new anymore.
The pattern is Fair Enough by Wendy Bernard. The yarn is Fine Cormo wool from Juniper Moon Farm. And the model who was making a weird face that she wouldn’t have loved me posting for the world to see is Maddie.
I love the colors – I picked them out because they all looked so lovely together. I didn’t realize that the blue and pink in the fair isle portion would blend in so well. They were supposed to “pop” a bit more. But now that I’ve worn it and gotten used to ti I quite like the subtlety. It’s actually better this way because the main color has a lot of green and pink hues in it that look almost variegated in spots.
Also I got to use brighter – colored buttons (thank you Susan!) than I otherwise would have done.
Now if it would only stay cold enough for me to wear it!
This weather here is crazy, y’all. Two days ago there was snow and ice (well for us, crappy rain. For people a mile up the road and points north, snow. For all of us, ice overnight). We were shivering in our beds from the cold.
Today it’s been practically t-shirt weather. And since a lot of the eggs Emily has been bringing in from the coop have been dirty, I decided I’d use the warm weather to see how coop winterization was faring.
NOT GOOD.
People take care of their chicken coops a lot of different ways. Some people use hay or straw, some people use pine or hardwood mulch. I’ve even heard of people using grass clippings. Personally, I like to use pine shavings. They’re nice and fluffy and comfortable for the chickens’ feet, and they do a great job at drying out all the many droppings that chickens leave behind them and absorbing extra moisture and odor. I’ve used hay and straw but find that the poop doesn’t get dried out at all and the hay doesn’t break down as easily. If you’re going to use hay or straw, you’ll need to clean it all out more frequently. As for grass clippings….I imagine it would be like the hay but even less absorbent. The last thing you want is a moist coop to harbor bacteria and parasites. You’re going to have those anyway, but you don’t need to put out a welcome mat (and you don’t want to chance introducing any droppings from wild birds that might be on that grass).
Anyway, pine or hardwood shavings. You don’t want to use cedar because the aromatic oils are bad for the birds. I really wish that wasn’t the case, because my coops would smell SO much better.
I do a thorough cleaning out of the coop twice a year, in the spring and the fall. At those times I’ll completely remove all bedding materials and the leave the doors all open for a few hours to air it out well. If you’ve had a bad time with parasites or illness this is the time when you also want to scrub the surfaces a bit with some hot water and dish soap. You can bleach it if you’re so inclined, but be careful to dry it out completely and remove any residue before the chickens go back in.
Personally, I like the method that Zac over at Juniper Moon Farm used this past spring after a bout with mites. He used a propane – fueled weed burning tool (read: flame thrower!) and lightly charred the entire inside of the coop.
Anyway, once the coop is aired and dried out I dust it down with Poultry Dust. This is an insecticide powder to ward off lice and mites. Then I add the pine bedding and let the chickens back in to mess it all up.
Like I said, unless we are having an infestation of some sort or there is some major illness afoot, I only do this twice a year. The bedding and the poop break down together and whenever it’s looking more “muddy” than “piney” in there I’ll throw a layer of more pine on top. The composting of the under layer of poop and pine creates some heat and insulation during the winter that helps keep them warm. In the summer, it breaks down a lot faster with the heat and I replace bedding a lot more often.
But back to today. Today I intended to check the bedding and add some fresh stuff on top. That’s not what happened.
The winter this year has been very mild and very, very, very wet. The chickens are spending more time inside trying to stay dry and therefore pooping a whole lot more inside. It hasn’t been cold enough to keep the waste in any kind of deep freeze, and it’s been just cold and wet enough to keep everything gross and damp. No drying. Not breaking down as fast. Gross.
Today I cleaned out the coop.
The good news is that all the “muddy” compost I shoveled out can be used as……. compost. I chucked it all over the area that will be the garden this spring.
And while I was at it I spent time listening to the chickens, observing their behavior and taking stock of their general health and well – being.
Speckles – our Egyptian Fayoumi – just started laying for us. We’re getting the cutest little cream – colored eggs from her. And it took her long enough – she’ll be a year old in about a month and a half.
Miss Harriett, a pretty black Cochin.
Roobert, the resident jack-ass. He likes to attack boots.
ETA: Emily and I have been calling him “Mad – Eye” because he lost an eye a few years back, and that’s when the bad behavior started. Nothing worse than a grumpy one eyed rooster.
This handsome boy was one of the batch we hatched out in August. He’s called “Tevye” and he’s a bit off a mutt.
One of Speckle’s adorable little eggs next to a normal – sized egg.
And speaking of eggs: last summer our hens were on strike. Nobody was laying. For months we were in an egg drought. I couldn’t figure it out. I treated them for every possible ailment, checked thoroughly for any and all problems.
We’re pretty sure they were all in a slow molt. Nobody looked bald or shabby, but there were a whole lot more airborn feathers than usual. So this fall we installed a light into the back coop so that once the molt was over they wouldn’t go immediately into winter mode. ( chickens stop laying in the winter due to loss of daylight, not the cold temperatures. Increase their light, and they won’t stop laying)
Now it’s January and we are overloaded with eggs.
There are no fewer than 6 dozen eggs in my fridge at this very moment, and we haven’t collected yet today.
Anybody want an omelet?
Okay, I am not very tech – savvy, so I won’t spend time trying to black out my site here. But I would like to express my support of those sites all over the internet that are blacked out today to protest SOPA.
You can read more about current SOPA news here, and you can sign Google’s petition here.
Back later for our regularly scheduled blogging (unless SOPA has its way………)
For those of you who haven’t seen the story on Susan’s blog already, we had quite a fun adventure a few days before Christmas.
Susan called me one evening and I asked if I would like to help her pick up some baby cows. An hour and a half away. In my truck. The thing about this kind of this is that YES. Yes this is the kind of thing I would say YES to. Also, Susan and I haven’t been on a road trip together in ages, and this mini trip promised the kinds of fun we could talk about well into the future.
So we loaded up our “Ram Cram” box into the back of the suburban and headed out after a quick run through the Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru for large iced coffees all around. Did I mention Zac came with us? I think he was picturing a fun and relaxing road trip. I think Susan and I were thinking it would be fun to have along someone else to do all the hard work.
Fortunately we had great weather and the drive was easy. Before we knew it, we were there, staring down the reality of cramming 3 calves into the truck.
One cow in place. At about 2 and a half weeks old, these guys are just under 100 lbs each. In a year’s time they’ll each top out around 1,000 lbs or so.
Cow number 2 in place. These two are called “Madison” and “Monroe”.
And cow number 3! This cute little brown guy is called “Jefferson”.
With some trepidation I closed the hatch and we started our drive back to Juniper Moon Farm. They were a bit anxious and had trouble adjusting to the movement at first, but after a bit they settled down (and thought the lights and hooks in the ceiling were teats).
Susan got to hang out in back and get lots of cow kisses. These little boys are very friendly.
We felt quite smug cruising down the highway with our haul.
Caroline was thrilled to come out and help us get them all situated in the barn and nuzzle their sweet faces.
Once they’re full grown it’ll be hard to believe we ever managed this, but we certainly won’t forget how much fun it was.
I can’t wait to see what she’ll ask me to put in my truck next!
Okay, so Hamantashen aren’t a true Christmas cookie. They’re a traditional Purim cookie. But, hey. They’re yummy!
This recipe comes via my husband’s family.
Ready?
2 bars of butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
4 cups flour
Solo brand fillings of choice ( we like apricot, prune, strawberry & poppy seed)
Start by creaming together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, orange juice and vanilla. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, salt & baking powder. Add this mix slowly to the wet ingredients. Refrigerate the dough for at least one hour – or overnight.
Once chilled, roll out the dough to about 1/8″ thickness. Using a round cookie cutter (or glass) cut round shapes into the dough.
Place a dollop (about 1/2 tsp) of filling in the center of each circle. Next, you’ll need to fold in the edges to form a triangle.
Start with one side.
Fold it over at a jaunty angle. The, fold the oppostire side at a jaunty angle, so they slightly overlap.
Now fold up the bottom.
Now you’re ready to bake them. 375 for 15 minutes.
Voila! Delicious Hamantashen!!!
And with that, I have completed my self – imposed 6 days of baking challenge.
I am exhausted.
But Santa is coming tonight!
Merry Christmas / Happy Hanukkah – and I hope all of your crafty and foodie dreams come true this holiday season!
Let me just say: I just love Susan Branch. I use so many of her recipes at Christmas.
Today I made Florentine Cookies. You can find the recipe online HERE.
To start, I made candied orange peel. This is the step that took the longest. You can certainly buy candied orange peel to save time, but it won’t be quite the same. To candy orange peel you cut it into little strips or squares and boil it in water, drain it, and repeat 2 or 3 times to remove the bitterness. Then you boil the peel again with a small amount of water and some sugar.
Once your orange peel is done, the cookies are a snap to make.
Boil together your milk and sugar, add your orange peel (I didn’t use citron – I doubled up the orange peel), almonds, extract, flour and butter.
Once all of this is boiled together it looks like this:
It’s pretty gooey. You have to use a teaspoon now to drop small little rounds of dough onto your cookie sheet.
While baking they will SPREAD, so you have to be sure to use no more than a teaspoon.
See? You end up needing to reshape them somewhat since they don’t always spread out evenly.
Once cooled, you can spread melted chocolate on the back of your cookies, and, using a fork, make little zig-zag designs in it. This is really just for fun, though.
I like to stick them in the fridge or freezer at this point to speed up the cooling process so the chocolate hardens back up.
These are unbelievably delicious and mouth watering. I like to hide a few of them from the rest of the family for me to enjoy when no one’s around.
Don’t tell.
Tonight’s a short post to let you know I haven’t fallen off my cookie challenge wagon, but I’ve had a long and exciting day picking up 3 cows for Susan and driving them back to the farm.
Three cows in the back in my suburban, yes. There are pictures to come, I promise!
But for now, Linzer Cookies!
First, you’ll need to start out with the same butter cookie dough I used for the frosted cut – outs: Susan Branch’s ‘Annie Hall’s Butter Cookes’.
The dough gets rolled out once more and you’ll need your cookie cutters – or better, linzer cookie cutters. I have a linzer set I use which consists of a star – shaped cookie cutter and several very small cutters of various sizes for the center.
You cut out as many stars as you like, and half of them get the centers cut out (2 stars become 1 cookie).
Then you bake them and let them cool. Once cooled, spoon a small dollop of jam (or whatever sweet filling you prefer) onto a whole star. On a separate plate, dust confectioner’s sugar over the stars with the centers cut out. Then place the sugar stars on top of the jam stars and voila!
Linzer cookies!
These don’t last very long around here, let me tell you!
December has been the kind of month that gives a person whiplash. I’ve had school work to do with the kids, photo shooting to help out with at the farm, 3 days of awful sickness, a cookie party to clean and plan for, and decorating to do.
THIS week, however, all of that is behind me. All of the shopping is done, picture – taking and posing are done, partying with my book club and friends accomplished.
Therefore, starting today – Monday – I am giving myself a completely unnecessary challenge; bake one kind of cookie every day until Christmas. This is the kind of challenge that should result in a wide variety of cookies for us to enjoy all week with a less hectic kitchen. It’s also the kind of plan that, once Paul gets wind of it, will create in him an almost manic glee resulting most likely in an impatient expectancy for each new batch.
Today’s batch is complete: Rugelach!
These are maybe our favorite holiday cookie. Last year I posted the recipe and you can find it here.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s cookie: Gingerbread cut-outs!
