The Newest Additions at the Farm...

Folks, I'd like to introduce you to Bacon, Sausage and Ham--the newest critters to join life at Grouse Creek Farm. 

Jayme, Ellie and Sydney were able to ride with Grandpa to go pick them up.  They were really excited! The piglets sure can squeal when they're scared.  You really understand the phrase, "Like a stuck pig" when you hear it. 

These will be our first pigs ever raised on grass and dirt.  We are hoping to provide them with an area where they can act like pigs while they gain weight, instead of being in a small concrete pen.  By keeping their stress levels low, and their needs met, we should have some really tasty meat this fall.

Speaking of their needs, since the cows have been back out on pasture, we have an abundance of milk.  I see three little piggies who will enjoy having their grain soaked in it each day.  What a blessing!   

You might be wondering about their names.  Yup--we sure did name them after our favorite cuts of pork.  We teach our kids early on that while we take good care of the animals in our care, they will eventually end up in the freezer.  They know where their food comes from.  Which I think is essential.

When you don't know where your meat comes from, you don't notice if it's been adulterated.  You don't realize that your chicken has been bleached or your beef has pink slime.  I'd much rather explain the process of butchering an animal that we have raised than have them think that meat comes from little packages in the store.

Let's raise up the next generation to realize that food doesn't come from a store.

And as we do that, we'll enjoy some cute pigness. Yup.  They crawled right into their trough of milk-soaked grains and slop.  They won't be small enough to all fit for long. 

Saturday Picture Round Up

Let's start right in with some action, shall we? Simon thinks we should.  Here is a picture of him from Sunday, May 4th, sitting on the workbench in Daddy's shop.  He was pretty proud of himself!  Except we wouldn't actually let him chew on stuff he found.  That bummed him out.

Monday, May 5th

In addition to the stinging nettle soup, I made dandelion burgers.  The kids were much more willing to try these. They reminded me not so much as a veggie burger, but as a fritter.  I think I'll make them again.  If I can stand ripping the petals out of the greens...that took forever!  Good thing I have helpers.  Also have a recipe for dandelion cream soup I want to try...definitely in a weed eating mood!

Tuesday, May 6th

Beautiful weather at our house usually equals water play.  Owen loves it.  His absolute favorite thing in the world is water, and he'd stay out in it until he turned blue and purple if we'd let him.  Here he is working his way across the lawn to the water.

Of course since the whole water play was rather impromptu, this was before we decided to change into swimsuits...

Wednesday, May 7th

Since I shared this photo already this week, I decided to play around with it in Photoshop.  I used the oil paint feature and adjusted some items until I liked the way it looked.  It's Ellie playing with magnet dolls during our special time.  We sure had fun! And she looks cute painted. 

Except I better not actually say that, because knowing Ellie she'd go find some paint and paint herself.  And paint her little sister for good measure.  Getting into mischief is much more fun together you know. 

Thursday, May 8th

Look what my wonderful husband had delivered as an early Mother's Day present!!!  They are beautiful!  The kids love running over and smelling them.  Now to keep them out of Owen's reach.... These are supposed to continuing opening up the blooms until Sunday, at which point they'll be fully opened.  What a fun surprise!

Friday, May 9th

Look Mommy...I got dressed!  All by myself. 

And doesn't she look beautiful?  My little girl is growing up! And loves necklaces. 

Saturday, May 10th

A busy day!  We worked hard in the morning finishing the chicken coop.  All that's needed now is the enclosed run outside.  We'll work on that as time and funds allow. There are some other projects that take priority for now.  

This afternoon, my younger sister Katie and her friend stopped by for a while, and we had a fun dinner at Mom's with them.   My chicken-nettle lasagna will wait for tomorrow.  It was nice to see family. 

After dinner, but before dark, we went in the old chicken coop and caught the rooster and all our ladies.  Then we packed them to the new coop in milk crates.  That would have made an awesome picture!  But...I was busy catching birds.

Jeffrey, Ellie and Sydney all helped outside opening the coop and handing us boards to use as milk crate lids.  Jayme was such a helper inside watching Owen and Simon while we got it done! 

It took a while.  When we came in, it was bedtime.  Sydney and Ellie asked to sleep on the floor of their room.  So we made them a big blanket bed and here they are...Ready to sleep after a long day of farm work.

I hope all of you mother's out there have a wonderful Mother's Day tomorrow!

Buttermilk Bliss: Ranch Dressing

It's been a while since I posted about my love of buttermilk. I still use it frequently and have moved from keeping a quart in the fridge to keeping a half gallon.  It plays a starring role in this recipe.

In our quest to eat more real foods, salad dressing is a topic that has come up repeatedly. Our top choice is ranch. Hands down. 

Hidden Valley ranch to be specific. 

And though I've tried and tried to find a recipe that was simple and real, we just never liked the taste as much of the bottled kind. So I kept buying it. And looking at all the nasty ingredients in disgust, trying to figure it out.

Until now.  

I finally concocted a winner. 

It's husband and kid approved!

And the best part?

There are only 3 ingredients.  So it mixed up really quick!

1. 1 cup mayo

2. 1 cup buttermilk

3. A tablespoon (or so) of the 21 blend organic season salt from Costco. 

Mix well in a jar and serve some over a tasty bowl of salad greens. 

Except you should probably be careful pouring when you mix it in a wide mouthed jar. Otherwise you might drown your greens and need to dump some off on another salad!

It doesn't taste just like Hidden Valley, but it was really good! And I'll be making this one again.  And FINALLY taking ranch off of my shopping list!!!

Are you a ranch lover too? 

Special Time

One of my favorite times of day is called special time. This is a half hour chunk at the end of quiet time dedicated to me spending one on one time with the child who's day it is.

Only a half hour may not seem like much, but we've all really benefitted from it.  It's the refectory amount of time for great fun and conversation.

What do we do at special time? 

That depends.

Each child gets to pick the activity every time it is his or her day.

This week, Ellie selected her magnet girls. These magnetic paper dolls are a lot of fun. But, since Owen and Simon can eat them, they can't make an appearance in the living room very often. 

At quiet time though, Simon is napping in the playroom and Owen is chilling in his room with his iPad. Perfect opportunity for the smaller toys. 

During special time we've walked, snuggled with a short movie, made cookies or played in the water. We've played store, library and baby doll. 

And best of all? No matter the activity it's the perfect time to get a little extra loving in. To have  some special talks about dreams, plans and wishes. And to just enjoy special time. 

It's been one of the best changes  in my day this past year, and a time we will be sure and keep in the future. 

The kids all know what day is theirs, and enjoy planning our time together. What a blessing! 

Now to make it even better and program some choices into the iPad for Owen. That way he can select too instead of just relying on me to pick. 

How do/did you handle special time with your kids? 

Stinging Nettle Soup

It's official. My kids think I'm nuts.

After years of teaching them to steer clear of the nettles that take over our backyard each year, today I was out harvesting some with Jeffrey. We wore gloves and cut off the top leaves with a knife. As our grocery bag got filled, he was brave enough to inquire what I was going to do with them. 

"Make soup" I replied. You should have seen the look on his face. It was priceless! He clutched his hand to his throat and shrieked something about how much it would hurt.

Except it doesn't. I've been reading about harvesting wild foods and learned that a two minute blanch takes the sting out of stinging nettles. 

It worked! After they cooled in ice water, I was able to pick them up and easily strip the tough stems out. Once the nettles were prepared, it was time to make soup.

The nettles in ice water following their blanching.

I used this recipe for inspiration and methodology. But since I didn't have everything it called for, my soup took some unique twists and turns. I used the organic 21 seasoning stuff from Costco in lieu of all of the spices. I added some extra butter.  I didn't use shallots, but dehydrated onion instead. 

After it finished cooking (20 minutes is all), I used my immersion blender to purée it. It turned out rather thin, but absolutely delicious! Jeffrey even liked it. And he was so proud that he helped to harvest the ouchie plants!

Jayme?  She definitely wasn't feeling the soup. She had a hard time getting over the stinging nettle factor. Even though it looked absolutely nothing like nettles by the time it was done. That's okay.  I'll giver her time.  She did take a tiny taste.  And didn't spit it back out. 

The verdict? I will be making it again. I want to expose the kids to more foods, and this one uses a plant we have an abundance of.  The soup is pretty simple as long as I have chicken stock on hand. And the thick cream stirred in at the end? Yum!

                 

Have you ever cooked with nettles or other weeds? I'm thinking if nettle tea next...time to break out the dehydrator for spring! 

Weekly Pic Round Up

Here we go...our week in brief.

Sunday, April 27

Using our awesome noodle maker--I finally figured out how much liquid to use when making whole wheat noodles (a bit more than for all-purpose).  Yeah!

 Monday, April 28

Jeffrey on one of Grouse Creek's bridges.  The creek is getting higher!

 Tuesday, April 29

Ellie painting.  We had a lot of fun painting on paper today.  She decided that black and white newspaper was too boring!

Wednesday, April 30

Jayme just realized how much paint got in her hair while priming the chicken coop.  That MAY have been my fault.  I was holding the paint bucket when she stood up and hit it.  Oops!  Oh well, it's out now!

 Thursday, May 1

Jayme's new swimsuit arrived!  Of course, we had to have some sprinkler play since it was a beautiful day!

 Friday, May 2

Jeffrey holding one of the new baby chicks.  I played with some settings in Photoshop for this one, and turned it grey-scale.  I like it better this way. 

 Saturday, May 3
What's one way you know it's spring or summer here at the farm?  There are building projects going on.  Much to do this year. 

New pig pen.  Check.  New chicken coop...almost check.  Replace our water damaged kitchen floor....scheduled for the end of August when Bryan can (hopefully!) have a week off from work. 

Insulate the shop and add plywood under the metal roof...now check!  Here is some of the family up on the roof.  Ellie enjoyed the height the most, though Jeffrey was the best at the ladder. 

More family fun to come next week.  An adventure to the creek on Friday with a picnic and feet dipping (weather dependent...) and hopefully a marshmallow roast in our fire-pit one weeknight!

How was your week?

The Chicks Are Here!

The fluffy bundles of baby chick goodness have arrived!  Due to some scheduling overload this summer, my parents decided to only go with 100 birds. The plan is to butcher the weekend after July 4th.

I know that they grow up to be really, really ugly.  And by then, I'll be ready to butcher them. But they sure are cute at this age!

Ellie and Jeffrey agree.

So did Sydney.  But she was a little to eager to squeeze the babies.  So she had to settle for just petting them carefully. 

Let the increased farm chores begin....it's chicken time!