Hey all!

The Azure order came today & so we now have 100 lbs of organic tomatoes to deal with. My plan this year is to make tomato powder so that I can add it to my cooking. SO the dehydrator is on with its first load:

Don’t they look yummy? Once they are dried we will grind them up. This way it saves a LOT of space & also time. I got 20lbs of tomatoes in this first load.

Now I have to admit to a blond moment How many of you use dried Bay Leaves in your cooking to add extra flavor? Well I was nearly out & needed to order some more. Not thinking at all, I ordered 1lb of Bay Leaves. I was ordering pound size of other stuff so never gave it a thought. Imagine the light bulb moment this morning when yes all these smallish packages of other herbs etc arrived along with a rather LARGE bag of bay leaves! (I’m sure you’ve heard of the comparison of a ton of lead to a ton of feathers!) SO I now have more Bay Leaves then I will use in a life time. LOL! In fact I have filled a gallon jar full & still have half a bag left over.

SO if you would like some bay leaves I am going to share them with you The first 20 people to say they would like some on here & then email me their address will find an envelope of Bay Leaves in their mail box in a few days. Please note that due to strict custom laws this offer is available for USA residents only.

How was your weekend? We worked all day on Saturday on stamp business related projects & then collapsed yesterday until the evening. We too a bike ride but it was SO windy on the way back it was really hard to get much speed up. Then we had to load pigs for their trip to Oregon this morning. Richard & I decided that it would be easier to catch the pigs in the evening & load them into our trailer so that the other trailer could just back up this morning to our trailer & the pigs walk out. Roscoe was first & he climbed up without any hesitation. Next were the three gilts (unbred girl pigs). Two climbed in with little persuausion. The third was a completely different story. These gilts are big so you can’t jut slift them up. Finally after about 30mins we finally got her in the trailer. The piglets were still all running around so we took a break & then Michael & his firend turned up. They offered to come help us once it got dusk as the piglets were then all in their pen. With some team work we got all & piglets in the trailer. Did we stink like pigs once finished?! You betcha!

So this morning was going to be a piece of cake loading the pigs from one trailer to another, right?! Wrong! We started with the piglets - they can still be carried although they are heavy. So Richard lifted each one of those, no real problem. Then came the gilts. Were they going to move? No way! BUT finally they did go. Dear ol’ Roscoe just walked right on in - he is such a sweeheart. I will miss him but we need to get some new lines in here. Hopefully we’ll get more boars that are as friendly as he is. So for now we are left with Penny & four piglets.

As for a Tulip update, that stupid cow got mastitis after knocking her udder last week. We treated it last week & it was getting better over the weekend but now her bag is hard again so I went back to the vets today for more “stuff” & that is our next job after posting this. What a pain!

Thanks for listening to my ramblings.
Enjoy your week,

Liz

A reader asked me to share this recipe so here you are We do not use white flour hence the wheat cake in my dessert the other day. Whole wheat flour is SO much healthier for you & tastes so much better. The only downer is that it will not rise like a cake made with white flour - it is much more dense. This recipe will fit in a 11″ x 15″ pan & be about 3/4″ to 1″ high. If you want to make a layered cake then divide the mixture into 3 7-8″ round pans.

1 cup butter/oil

1 cup sugar

4 eggs (if you want a lighter cake use 2 eggs & 4 whites)

2 cups whole wheat flour

3 tsp baking powder

1. Cream the butter & sugar together.
2. Add eggs & beat.
3. Stir in flour & baking powder or pulse if using mixer until just mixed in.
4. Pour into desired tins & cook at 350F for 20-25 mins until golden brown.

This recipe can be halved or doubled depending on who’s coming for tea! I will often double it & put the mixture in 3 - 9″ x 12″ pans. This way I can put one in the freezer & if we ever have unexpected guests, dessert is very quick to make.

To make a chocolate cake use 1/2 cup of cocoa & 1 1/2 cups of flour.  This doesn’t last very long around here.
Top or fill with fresh fruit & cream. Yummy!

For those of you on British soil this is an adaptation of the good ol’ Victoria Sandwich.

Stupid cow! Went down this morning to find Tulip over the other side of the fence with the bull. She has a gash on one side of her udder that is 12″ long! Not to mention one of her teats which was bleeding. The dumb thing is all she did was flirt with him. He is still waiting patiently on the other side of the fence tonight whilst she sways her rear end at him! The gash isn’t bad enough to need stitches but will take some time to heal. We are treating it. The chances of me getting any milk for the next couple days are unlikely but I will try.
Lunch went well yesterday. We all ate our fill These kids are all musicians & can sing well so we then made some noise singing hymns etc. Sounded really good. After that they all went swimming in the river. Charlie (19) jumped in without taking his glasses off so they are now at the bottom of the Milk River somewhere. Maybe one of the fish has gained super vision! LOL!

Had to say goodbye to Andrex, our yellow lab, yesterday. He was going to be 11 in December & we have known that his days were numbered for quite a while now. He has always been a very laid back dog, lazy might be the better word & so in the last couple years his hips have been deteriorating. He always followed us on walks though, just plodding along at his own pace, enjoying life. Yesterday he went with the kids & swam in the river with everyone else. Michelle said they were worried about him at one point as he seemed to be struggling. He got out of the river but only made it halfway home. Although it was hard we were not too sad as we had been expecting it. Certainly the best way for him to go - enjoyed his last swim with the kids, something he loved.

Here’s a pic of him earlier this spring walking in one of the irrigation ditches.

Enjoy the rest of your week,

Liz

After what Michael has put us through these last few months, I really do have to ponder the answer to that question BUT to be fair Michael is changing & is starting to make some very wise decisions so we are very grateful for that.

No the boy I am talking about tonight is Daniel. He came running in the house last night & disappeared for a few minutes. He then came back & stood by my desk & said, “Look at me!”  Of course I obliged but couldn’t see anything drastically wrong. I saw some paint on his ear but nothing else. Well he then said, “Ouch they’re biting me!” pulling a big black ant off his neck! I was up like a shot as he had trailed ants all up the stairs! Richard grabbed him & stripped him off outside the front door & proceeded to hose him off whilst I got the vacuum & vacuumed up the ants! Daniel has a rather nice collection of ant bites all over his back & neck! AND yes he knows not to go near the ants - we have a lot of ant hills around here & they are very active. You’d think the phase “Once bitten, twice shy” would be appropriate but obviously not!
Lunch went well on Tuesday - in fact it was a really nice day. I made Garlic bread & boy was it hot! Rather yummy though. Tomorrow they are all coming back to lunch plus the parents so we will have 14 of us. I have experimented with dessert tonight. Put a thick layer of frozen raspberries in the bottom of a large cake tub. Then I baked a whole wheat cake & cut that up to fit on top of the raspberries. Followed that with sliced bananas & poured hot homemade custard on top. It’s now in the fridge to set. Sound yummy? Well I’ll let you into a secret, I kept some for us for dinner & it was delicious.
The bull has been on “Tulip” watch for the last two days. He is pacing the fence & bellowing. If you remember, Tulip jumped the fence last year & scratched up her udder. The fences are tighter this year so we are hoping she will not do that again. PLUS I really want to wait another month to breed her so hoping he won’t jump this way.

The local telephone company are putting in all new fiber optic cables around here so today was the day for all the big diggers to come down through. Daniel was in his element - spent all morning out there watching them. They broke our existing cable in 4 places so had to fix that!

Hope you have a great weekend,

Take care,

Liz

Richard & I haven’t stopped “running” since we got home! Things have been pretty hectic here but we’re trying to accomplish one thing at a time & so eventually everything will get done.

Michelle didn’t kill any of the animals whist we were gone so that was good. Now I can hear you all saying, “What a horrid thing to say!” Alas Michelle has a little bit of a history of forgetting to feed some (the budgies) but we love her anyway This time they were all fit & healthy. Charlie finally realized that Tulip had milk that he could access so he refused his bottle whilst we were away & grafted himself fully onto Tulip. That poor cow had 4 calves on her! Richard & I sorted that out once we got back. We put Heidi & Charlie down in the pasture. Of course they were NOT happy but they are old enough to just be on grass. Dolly & Barbecue are still with Tulip. I’m giving her teats some intensive creamings as they got a little cracked & dry with all those calves on her. She is settling back into her routine & I’m getting a gallon of milk each morning.

Daniel & Hannah were very happy to be home. Our temps have been unusually cool - just hitting 60, if that & we have had a lot of rain.  In fact it rained so hard on Friday night that when I went to bed I could here the chickens chirping which is unusual. I listened for a couple minutes & then thought I’d better check them. So glad I did. We had already lost six of the little ones & the rest were soaking. They have a shelter out there but it rained so hard that it was useless to protect them. We rescued the live ones & put them inside the aviary under a heat lamp to dry off. They were fine by the next morning.

Yesterday we were invited to lunch with friends who live way north. They are 27 miles up a gravel road & the end of that road (about 5miles) is just compacted earth. It was raining & Richard, who was driving, said it was worse than driving on snow. It was so slick. We were in the pickup, in low 4 wheel drive but only going 5-10 miles per hour. Even then, our back end kept sliding out. Near their house we had to slow to 2 mph - it was quite the ride! Had a good time with them. By them we came to go home, the roads were drier so things were easier.

Missouri was good. We did a lot of miles but got to see some beautiful scenery. On Sunday evening we went to Bennett Spring State Park. For those of you who have never been there, it is beautiful. I believe it is the most visited state park in Missouri with over 1 million visitors each year. The spring gives off 100 million gallons of water each day. Yes that is not a typo. Quite incredible. They stock it with trout so Daniel was fascinated to see all the fish in the water. We’re used to the Milk River which is really muddy  - the fish are there but you can’t see them.I just went to look at all the photos I took & was quite shocked to see that I only took one here! OOPS! This is a little water fall / rapid down stream from the spring.

We stood watching the fishermen for quite a while & were pretty impressed on how fast they filleted a fish. Learned some new “tricks.”

Had to wean the piglets when we got home. Penny is now back down in the pasture with Roscoe. The piglets are starting to get into mischief around the house. They don’t seem to be missing mum at all - quite happy with their own food. Getting real round.

Our refrigerator broke on Saturday evening just to add to everything else. We think the compressor is gone so got someone coming out to hopefully fix it tomorrow morning. This morning as I shut the barn door I caught the sight of smoke to my right. Of course I did a double take & really thought I was seeing things. Then I thought maybe it was a load of flies but no, sure enough our manure pile was smoking. Apparently the neighbor came & moved a couple scoops while we were away & we think that has let the air in. He is now going to take it all this weekend as it is way more than we can cope with. It’s left over from last winter & so is very ripe & needs to be cleaned up before winter hits again. Anyway everyone else thinks it was just steam but I know the smell of smoke! We wet it down & it seems to be OK now but I will be keeping a close eye on it. I tell you there is NEVER a dull moment here.
Tomorrow will be a busy day. We will have 8 teenagers for lunch. Friends of Michelle & Michael’s are in from Kentucky (used to live here) & they are staying with other friends so they are all coming for lunch. Tuesday is Michael’s day for printing the local paper here in Chinook so he is in town & can spare a couple hours at lunchtime. They all eat well so I’d better get cooking first thing in the morning.
Enjoy your week,

Liz

Hey folks!

Busy, busy, busy here getting ready to be out the door first thing tomorrow. The suitcases are all packed, house is clean, just got to finish up some paperwork etc. Richard painted Michael’s room once he moved out so is just finishing up the woodwork so another job will be done.

It’s quite amusing listening to Michael now that he is having to pay the bills. He is very conscientious about turning lights off (never was here!) & because they are living on a tight budget he got really mad when one of the other guys drank a gallon of milk in a day. Of course here milk didn’t cost anything. Michael is the most Americanized of us all but there is one thing he (& us) still cannot stand & that is peanut butter, not even the smell of it. One day last week he walked into the apartment to discover peanut butter all over the kitchen sides, in the bread etc. He almost gagged & was FURIOUS. I don’t think that will be happening again. Like he says, he’s not perfect either so is having to change some of his ways. This is a good experience for him. He started work on Monday & is enjoying that.

80lbs of organic nectarines arrived here on Monday morning. I gave 20lbs to Michael, the little ones have been eating a LOT & I have dehydrated the rest - probably 50lbs. They are SO good.

Signing off now but hope you all have a great week. I’ll be back next week once we have caught up on everything that we missed.

Take care,

Liz