Homestead Spread

It was my turn to feed the folks at coffee hour after services last weekend, and i wanted to share a bit of what we do around here. 

 Most everything on the table came from our or Susan's homestead, or involved some form of our food storage processing.

Except for the veggie pizza, which was there for color, and for one of the church members.
I woudda used home grown bells, but the timing was all wrong.
Just for the record.

The quick breads on either end were made from the muffin mix that i shared with you last week, and one had apples from a friend's tree that we dehydrated (the apples, not the tree.)  The other one had blueberries.  I admit to using store bought blueberries because the only blueberries we acquired this season weren't fit to eat.  Drought, ya know.  But still.  Representative is the idea.  Okay?

Being a firm believer in "Presentation is everything," we did a little farm animal thing...

The Baas gifted me with some ceramic Bob's, so one of those guys graced my mother's Fostoria platter, denoting the smoked duck salad (duck raised by Susan, ducksecution by Susan and I, smoked by Susan.)  The  duck salad was the hands down favorite among the group.

Well, the veggie pizza plate was empty first, and i have made that one for them, before, but the duck salad was a close second.

 Ellie May deviled some quail eggs (also from Susan's)...aren't they cute?

I couldn't find a quail to denote the eggs, but i had a small owl (comin' atcha, ALA, when i get the shirt done) so stuck a wee bit of curling ribbon on his head and called him a wannabe.

A psuedoquail, if you will.
Imagination required.

 And last, but not least, a goatie for the goat cheese. 

I made cherve, the soft goat cheese, and seasoned it three different ways.

And that was our little homestead spread.

Someone's Knocking At The Doo-oor, Somebody's Ringin' The Bell.....

"Whaddaya think?  Should we wait for the others or should we start knocking now?"

Muffins, Man

In honor of the new kitchen, we will have a recipe today.
Not that this is a recipe that can be MADE in the outdoor kitchen, but honoring it just the same.

This is the recipe for a muffin mix.  It makes a huge batch, so don't let it scare ya--you will use it all, and make more.  It has a nice long shelf life, and you can "customize" usage to need.  Plus, you can throw some in a dolled up jar for a quickie giftie.

Muffin Mix

18 c flour (i have used all purpose, self rising, and bread flour--all of them work so use whatcha got)
5 c sugar (or omit and use 1/2 c honey per dozen when you mix them up)
2 1/4 c dry milk or buttermilk
6T baking powder
2T baking soda
2T salt
3t ground nutmeg
3T cinnamon (cinnamon measurements {and vanilla} are merely suggestions at my house, we just dump it in until it looks right, or we start sneezing.  Whichever comes first.)

Mix it all up, and do the airtight container bit. 

When you need a little lovin' from the oven, here's whatcha do for two dozen muffins:

Combine:
4 eggs
3t vanilla (merely a suggestion, but at the very least make them "running over" t's)
2c water
1c veg oil
5 1/2 c muffin mix

18 - 20 minutes at 400*

(When i only need a dozen (rarely) i use 2-3 eggs, 2t vanilla, 1c water, 1/2 c oil, and 3 scoops of mix {my scoop is a bit less than a cup})

Okay, now here is the great part about this recipe. 
Add in's.
You can put anything you like in these muffins when you are mixing the batter...i have used nuts of all variety, dried fruit of all kinds, bran, carrots and raisins, chocolate chips, oats, even zucchini.  Or any combination of the above.

Go nuts. 
Clean out the fridge and make muffins.

Sometimes i get industrious and bake a whole bunch, then wrap each one in cling and freeze them.  30 or 45 seconds in the wave (not that i advocate wholesale usage of microwaves, mind you) will get a "what's for breakfast" out of your hair.

When i make a freezer batch, i divide the batter and do different add in's, so that at least if i am feeding from the freezer, i am giving them a choice.  Just be sure and label them, coz it all looks the same when it is frozen.  Nothing will sour your coffee like biting into a chocolate chip muffin and getting a mouth full of blueberry.

New From Tails Up Homestead Kitchens

No, that is not a typo.

Tails Up has gone Up Town.

We are now sporting TWO, count 'em TWO kitchens!!

Okay, well, not exactly two FULL kitchens...but give me time!

The customary TUH canning practices have been severely curtailed of late, as the current stove top and the canners are not exactly compatible.

I have been wishin' for an outdoor kitchen for quite some time.  Granted, my wishful thoughts included real counter tops, a sink with running water, and a gas grill...but i am perfectly capable of working with a propane ring, a hot plate, a water hose and a sort of sturdy table.

This is the temporary outdoor kitchen (didja hear that, Jed?  Operative word being temporary.)

MY plan is to build a more permanent structure on the other side of the porch, but this will do just fine for now.

 Ran a water bath load first.  Managed to finagle about two pints worth of figs this year, so put those up for the first run.  (Yes, Paul, one of those is yours.  Merry Christmas.)  (For the record, i never run anything less than a full canner load, but i wanted to test run with something that wouldn't risk a whole day's work and had to get the figs out of the freezer...they were next to some corn waiting for the grill, and the silk kept infiltrating the baggie.  I know not how.  Only that every time i pulled out the figs, there was another wad of corn silk.  So Paul, if ya find something in the preserves, it is not a hair.  It is silk.  I promise.)

Then got the pressure canner going with stock i made from some chickens we butchered last week.

 Had to do a little Redneck Engineering to solve the wind problem...fortunately the smoker Jed found at a rummage sale a couple of years ago fit right down over the propane ring i picked up at an auction last spring.  A little spare roof tin, and the wind was no longer an issue.

 And the best part of all...plenty of room for the Mama Chair so i can knit in comfort as i babysit the pressure gauge.

It's not too bad for a starter kitchen...get  me a flood light and a box fan and i will be good to go.

As long as i am wishful thinkin', could i have a mister, as well?

I'm Telling You, Mrs. Tweedy, Those Chickens Are ORGANIZED!!!!

Y'all ever seen Alfred Hitchcock's movie, The Birds?

I feel like i am in that movie.

I got a canner running (tomatoes) on the back porch, and keep walking out there to check the pot.

Every time i do, there is another one of those hens out there. 
First there was one, then two, and just now three of them.

They appear to be gathering for the mass knocking that is bound to commence. 

Haven't gone up on the porch, yet.
Guess they are waiting for everyone to assemble.

This picture was taken after last evening's knocking.
Note the attempted air of nonchalance.

Four For One And One For Four

There are FOUR Rhode Island Red hens that have started coming up and knocking on the back door in the evening.

They are out there right now trying to convince me to let them in or something.

Not quite sure what.

This is the fourth evening in a row that they have made an appearance.

Tried to take pictures of them yesterday, but they fear paparazzi, i guess.

Imagine that.

FOUR Reds to do the job of ONE Earl.


Be with y'all shortly.

I feel a story comin' on.

Deer Me

In answer to the Maka questions, she finally succumbed to the intestinal parasite that she has carried around since before she came to us.  We battled it for two weeks to the day, but it just went too far, too fast, and she never could overcome it. 

Y'all know she was THE dog, and to say she is missed is an understatement. 


So.

On to other news.

Chicksecution took place at The Krew's house a couple of days ago.  We dispatched six roos and a couple of hens.  All went very well, even though i think they were trying to kill me.  Never can tell with the Krew.  They are all so intelligent, and i have seen them perform covert operations with such cunning.

We were out back doing the deed, and all of a sudden, i thought the sky was falling, and the earth was moving.  Actually, it was just a two by four that whacked me in the noggin, and then while i was holding an icepack on the goose egg, my chair tipped backwards into a pile of rubbish that included sheet metal and ragged boards.  I knew the piano was still in the living room, but never could get a bead on the anvil, so i decided to get the heck out of Dodge, just in case.

All's well that ends well, as all injuries were minor, and as a bonus for sustaining said injuries, fate allowed a shirt that i really disliked but couldn't justify getting rid of to be terminally damaged, requiring its prompt relocation to the trash bin, sans guilt.

So there is that.
And of course there was fresh chicken for dinner.  That alone makes it all worth while.

Since i am telling stories on myself, i will go ahead and fess up to this one...
Got an email thing going with a dear old friend today.  We hadn't communicated in a couple of months, and she was at her desk at work, so several notes went back and forth.
She was telling me about her kids, and their summer jobs between semesters. 

I  thought she said that her son was hunting deer for Budweiser.  This didn't make much sense, but i thought perhaps there was some corporate land with special dispensations that had been overrun with the vermin.  I wrote back that that sounded like a neat job, and asked if they got to keep the meat, and went on about how much we like venison, but it has been scarce the last couple of years, and so on.

She wrote back, and corrected me, and when i looked back at the conversation, i had a good belly laugh, because her son is actually hauling beer.

Not a bad job, either.
Guess that speaks to the state of mind, and the 50 year old brain cells.
Glad i could give her a giggle. 
This Laugh's for you!

That one is going into the memory banks alongside the one about a friend of the family who couldn't believe what television was coming to when the nature show said something about deer running up the hill f*rting and p*ssing, and his wife asked what the devil he was talking about, coz the narrator said the deer were barking and hissing.

In other news, i believe i erroneously reported the demise of a Bab.  I did embroider the story a bit and say something about Ellie taking care of the funeral arrangements, when in fact we never had possession of a body*.  Two different neighbors and Jethro saw the dog with a duck in it's jaws.  But after a Bill count, all the Bob's and Bab's are present and accounted for.  Musta been a wood duck or something.

*Please forgive the slight embellishment of the truth...call it poetic license, if you will.  You KNOW it was way more fun to read an obituary rather than "The duck is dead."

In goat news, HRH Gidget is finally starting to meld into the herd.  Have never seen such a princess.

This year's kid crop--HRH Gidget, Persy, and Peaches

Persy was being a bad little buckling, so we had to band his little persimmons.  He thought he was dieing, and would take two steps then lay down.  At browse time, he made it out the gate, and then passed out on top of the compost pile, where he remained for the better part of the afternoon.

Persy has since recovered, and now claims the feed trough as his dominion.

The ducks were fowling the water buckets (pun intended) so Jed installed some really groovy waterers for us.

The fence was the only option for installation in the doe yard, and when it rattles, it drips. Initially, we put down boards, becoz the girlz don't like to get their feet wet, but then solved the problem with a pan to catch the drips for the baby chicks. 

Speaking of which, Mama Hen's second brood is about ready to go out on their own.
This pic is from about two weeks ago, but i never got around to sharing it.

Pearl lost her chick to the heat, and is now flying solo, without Earl.
Banty is a very protective mother, and keeps her 6 in tow.

This afternoon, Ellie May was out doing her thing, and noted an unnamed leghorn with a chick, and kept hearing peeps coming from a storage barn.  It took perseverance, but she finally found the chicks...four of them...in some stored canning jars.  **foreshadowing**  They have been moved into the brooder house, and seem to be adjusting nicely to the new quarters.

A couple of days ago, Jethro and a neighbor boy were tossing a ball while the bucks were out.  Moon got in the middle of them and kept his eye on the ball, head turning back and forth, back and forth.  At one point, the boys dropped the ball, and Moon picked it up, and started to run off with it.
I keep telling y'all these goats are like big ol' dogs!

That's about all i got for today.  Catch up with ya later.

Maka Kilo, Guardian Of The Pearly Gates



? - 2012

Heavenly Hibiscus

This was right outside the sanctuary door.

Made myself late 'coz i had to take the picture right then...

the raindrops would have been dried up if i had waited until after services!

Heavenly Mushroom

Since i seem to be havin' a mushroom thing goin' this summer, here's another.

Spied it right outside the vestry door at my church. 

Hence the title.

Isn't it interesting?

Wonder how poisonous that one is.

Texas Sized Troubles

Looks like our neighbor up the road is experiencing some trouble with gigantic gophers.

Hope they don't head this way.

Alaska...The Final Installment

The weather for almost the entire trip was wonderful.  We really only had one rough afternoon/evening.  It was wet enough that i had to abandon my post...note the absence of tootsies...

It was rough enough that the decks were closed.

Help!!  I am trapped on a cruise ship full of buffets and they won't let me off!!

The final evening, the ship pulled in to Victoria, B.C.  It was only a three hour stop, and didn't commence until 7pm, just enough to satisfy whatever law there is about cruise ships going to foreign countries.  But at that time, i was so relaxed i was nearly a puddle, and opted to admire Canada's beauty from the balcony with my p.j.'s and knitting.

Which means that this was my view...

I did watch the rather elaborate process of tieing up the ship.  It involved a tug boat, several giant ropes, and a couple of longshoremen that cussed like sailors.  Think they were vieing for promotion, but not certain.

ALA disembarked, and said it was a pretty city.  I will take her word for it.

Bright and early, and far too soon, we arrived back in Seattle.

The artwork at the departure gate of the Seattle airport was just as interesting as the artwork at the arrival gate

And then i came back, and my reality slapped me in the face.


But i have such beautiful memories.

They are my favorite part of the trip.

The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show

If you ever make it to Ketchican, don't miss The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show.

It is unabashedly campy tourist fare, and a barrel of fun. 
Probably my favorite part of the entire trip.

While it was a cute little scripted show, these boys had SKILLS!!!! 

They chopped their way through these logs in about thirty seconds.

Can you spot the ax? 
It is in the air, in front of the advertisement over the head of the guy in the silver hardhat.
On it's way to the center of the bulls eye of the target that matches the one under the Canadian flag.

This slice of wood fell in about six strokes.

They did the climbing thing...

and the running thing...

The rolling thing...

and the falling in the water thing.

Saxman Village

Our excursion to Saxman Village was possibly my favorite part of the whole trip.
It was definitely the part where i wish we had been able to spend more time.

This picture of the Beaver Clan house is a miracle shot, because there were a whole buncha people milling around everywhere, and somehow i managed to get one in focus picture with no people!! 

This is the inside stage area of the house.  A sweet young man came out and gave a little talk about the history of the People.  He did a fine job of telling the story and mentally transporting us from our worldliness.  He wasn't exactly wearing a costume, but had an ornate pouch at his waist, beautiful fur lined moccasins, and a vest with stunning bead work.
And Nike  shorts and crew socks.

A clan chief came out and spoke, and then a lady joined him for chanting and drumming as members of the clan danced for us.  She would tell the story of the song, then chant it while the folks danced their slow and slightly hypnotic dance.  When the song was over, everyone would turn their backs to the audience, displaying their family "crest"...an image of the animal representing the family--their sir name, if you will--while the chantress spoke about the next song.

Think what you will of this next tidbit of information. I am merely tellin' it like it was. I took a ton of pictures at Saxman Village. Most of them were taken in this room, where i was stationary, and the flash was on.

Every single one of the pictures was BLURRY, except for the parts where the backs were to us. Not just fuzzy pictures. BLURRY.
They were not moving that fast.
I was sitting still.

Pictures of the indoor and outdoor scenery came out, but not the pictures of the people.

You decide.

The totems were so intriguing.  I would have loved to wander and see more, and hear the stories associated with them. 

We had a really great tour guide, lively and fun.  "Special Ed," as he called himself, was one of those guys that you love to hear tell a story, but aren't too sure how much of it to believe.  So i am not going to share any of the information that he imparted, for fear of spreading misinformation.  Although i don't have trouble believing the bit about how when a totem falls it is not repaired or replaced, merely removed and used to heat the house or cook the food, or the other interesting thing which i was not aware of--while we all know that the function of the totem is to mark a location and tell stories, i was not aware that they were also used to denote shame.

According to Ed, the People are still holding a grudge against Seward, and here you see him depicted atop his totem of shame, wearing his potlatch hat....

Seems he showed up to a party and insulted his hosts by not bringing the prerequisite gifts, and the People are STILL miffed.

Special Ed told us a couple of great ones.  Says that he married into an Tlingit family, and that in the culture, the young show utmost respect the the elders, particularly where food is concerned.  The story goes that when he and his wife first married, he often found himself eating things he had never heard of before, and one day his mother-in-law brought him a combination of fish and plant matter that was unidentifiable and less than appetizing to eat.  Ed was unable to refuse because it was a gift, she was an elder, and, well, his mother-in-law.  He managed to eat whatever it was without gagging, choking, or regurgitating.  But apparently it was vile. 

When he was done, his mother-in-law asked, "How was that?  I've never had it before."

Highway Goats P.S.

It would seem that Paul Adeen is having way better luck spotting wild goaties on "The Road to the Sun," at Glacier National Park in Montana than i did in the Inside Passage of Alaska.

Sure would hate to have to trim THOSE hooves.
Even better...would love to see Susan Dear Susan get after THAT guy with her clippers!

No...Wait...i'll get out the weed whacker and give him a Naked Goatie haircut!!  HA!! 

Nah.  That might put mountain goats on the endangered species list...he would be so scary lookin' it would be months before he could get a date.


Speaking of endangered species and dating trouble, time for a bit of a farm update before we go back to regularly scheduled programming...

The next door neighbor's dog and one of the Bab's were spied wandering off into the sunset together yesterday evening.  Since neither one of them has opposable thumbs, rather than holding hands, the dog was holding Bab by the neck.  Attempts were made to show the dog the error of his wicked ways, but it was too late to convince Bab that a travelin' man ain't no good.

Funeral arrangements provided by Ellie May's Graveside Services, with internment behind the feed barn.  In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Animal Protection League or  Ducks Unlimited.

(for those of you in Latvia {or Kansas,} the Animal Protection League is a regional low-cost spay/neuter clinic)

Highway Goats

Thanks to Paul Adeen for forwarding this picture from his travels in Yankee territory.
(Not exactly sure where he is at this point...Montana...Wyoming...Rhode Island...doesn't much matter since anyone from north of the Red River is a Yankee, anyhow.)

Study the picture closely soashow ya won't be fooled.

At first glance it may appear to be a photo of three Mountain Goats.

But upon closer inspection you will note the subtle tell-tale differences that distinguish these creatures from their distant cousins, several times removed.

Paul was fortunate enough to witness the rare and elusive Highway Goat in it's natural habitat.

Ketchi(meifyou)can

The morning after leaving Juneau, we arrived in Ketchican, the fifth largest city in Alaska with approximately 8,000 inhabitants.

I found the city of Ketchican to be quite picturesque, and most of the homes across the inlet sported docks with boats, and some with pontoon planes.

I loved the scalloped shoreline, it was like each cove was a little neighborhood.

And the best one of all was this....y'all know how i joke about people that drive by our house confusing us with "Jim Ed's Used Car and Appliances?"

Well, i saw my Alaskan counterpart...

Here we have Jim Ed's Used Boats and Appliances.