Dis-L-Do update 6-5

It is finally sunny and warm.  Springtime for us has finally arrived. 

The eggs were washed up just after breakfast .

I did get some vegetable plants in near the house. The big planting will be out by the greenhouse. 

The lambs were happy for the recent rains and the tall grass it brought. 

Strawberries were on sale (I ate all the ones we grew.  It is our first year growing them).  I decided to make strawberry jalapeno jam.  We make it every year. 

Very simple , just  7 cups sugar, 4 cups strawberries, and 1 cup jalapeno with 1 pectin package. Process like you would jam.

Lovely

Lunch was a big salad with everything we grow (minus the tomatoes, those are store bought)

Lettuce, radishes, onion, and beets I canned last year. 

We added meat from one of our homegrown chickens.

Dressing was homemade chipotle sauce. 

Mix all in a food processor or blender. I just poured everything in, so this is the recipe...more or less, sorry. 

2 chipotle peppers (I like the onions too, so I added them)

Like this...

Plus 1/2-3/4 cup oil

1/4 cup real maple syrup

5 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

salt 

pepper

oregano (dried)

and a dash of garlic powder

The dressing was so good I will use it on sandwiches later. 

The afternoon was filled with time in the greenhouse... tis the season!

peace

Wooly Day, Canning Jam and What is Dude up to?

I headed toward the mountains early this morning to see my sister. She is a weaver.  We were meeting for breakfast in her garden and spinning wool. 

I loved that she had the coffee pot humming among the bees. 

Inside her tiny studio is her work. 

The painting was done by my grandfather and is sandwich by her weavings. 

She is a master at container growing. Yes, you can grow anywhere. 

I got my wheel out of the car. 

Breakfast was finished and very tasty. She has been a vegetarian most of her life and really knows how to create a great meal. 

My sister began to show me how to "felt" a landscape mini. 

She brought out her wheel. 

And carded some wool. 

I brought some of Romeldale CVM wool I had carded from Wilbur who was one of our rams. I love the variegation in it. 

That's me spinning. 

Heehee, not perfect or much but it's my first. 

I came home. It was so hot at 98*.  I took a nap and then filled a cup of coffee to get started on canning strawberry jalapeño jam.  Strawberries are at their peak of the season and very inexpensive right now. 

The recipe is pretty simple if you know how to make jam. I have posted it before but here it is again.

4 cups chopped strawberries (I use a food processor, it makes the job quick)

1 cup chopped and deveined jalapeño

7 cups of sugar 

1 pouch of liquid pectin. 

That's it. 

Getting ready for the bath. 

Coming out of the bath and pinging lids. 

  I always make a small jar for testing and tasting. 

I put a quick meal in the mini crockpot.  Meatballs and sauce for Dude's pasta night. I have leftover Greek salad, my favorite. 

The meatballs and sauce is quick, easy, and ready when he is. 

I will spend the evening cutting out chef hats for my grandsons. 

So where was Dude all day?  He was planning on going fishing and canoeing with kids today but barely got out of town before he turned around. He was tired. Homesteading does that to you sometimes. The ride was over 2 hours possibly 3 hours away with just him and the dog.  His elbows hurt from nonstop working on the homestead this week.  He came home, and for once, relaxed watching a movie.  He napped and then, true to form, he went out in the hot weather to work on the wood splitter. We are planning on getting our wood pile ready for the winter this week. (We work good together with the log splitter, one loads the splitter, the other splits.)  After puttering around he did manger to get it fixed and headed out to get gas to get it running. It works well.  Great job. 

Oh, and he did feed the dog(as he does every day).  He has a cup in the large bag of dogfood to scoop out the food. Today, when he scooped and went to put the food in the dog's bowl, there was a small gray field mouse perched inside the cup, with it's little paws holding on to the rim.  It startled Dude more than mouse and it escaped on the way to the dog's bowl.  The cats, who stay out during the summer, where invited back in. Everyone has a job to do. 

Time to cut out fabric and sip on ginger lavender tea.

peace

A stow-a-way, the greenhouse and jelly making

No fire in the stove this morning.  I heard a tapping on the front glass and found a starling trapped in it. I love birds and actually was glad there were no embers burning.  

It quickly flew to the window when I opened the stove. 

Someone from the outside was trying to help when he said it at the window. 

I did get the chores done this morning while Dude made breakfast. No camera since I am on my own and I kept dropping it yesterday in manure!  I rearranged the feeding bins to fit my needs.  The goats and ram usually try to barrel me over while I try to feed the horses.  Horses are huge so they get fed first but the others will still try to steal food from me causing a ruckus.  Today I put the boys out, closed the gate and put their tubs on the other side of the fence so  I can just dump their feed over the fence and not get bowled over. 

The geese were next plus everything needed water today.  I went to clean out the geese's pool and tried to do it quickly, dumping their water.  That caused a wave the dirty poopy water came back and hit me smackdab in the face!  Note to self ....close your mouth when outside. 

Also I need to remember to wear a hat... wind causes it to blow in my face and I can't see what I am doing or it gets caught in things. ... like spider webs.

Next up ... a bath(remember, I got goose slop all in my face!) and a nap. I can tell when my body is stressing out , everything gets stiff and doesn't want to move.  Time to rest. 

Later the greenhouse was watered -Dude did that.  Salad for dinner along with our cheeseburger impossible pie. 

 I see green tomato salsa in my future! 

Strawberry pepper jelly was made. I decided the pepper jelly I made yesterday wasn't hot enough, so today I left the seeds in this jelly.  OHman, it's hot now but very good!.

4 cups of crushed strawberry, a cup of crushed jalapeños with seeds left in, 1/4 cup lemon juice and 7cups of sugar.  I used package of powdered pectin today but the same procedure as yesterday's recipe. 

Cooked to a rolling boil.

Water bath for 12 minutes.

It is very good but very hot. 

Time for another nap...what, they are only 15 minutes...smile, then out for a walk.  Later finish my Halloween cards to mail tomorrow. 

peace