Rainy day... chicken soup, what's growing and other stuff

It is a cold a rainy day but we love these kinds of days.  In such a dry place as we live, rain brings life. 

I began the day putting chicken noodle soup in the crockpot. 

It started with 6 cups of chicken stock, two cups of leftover roasted chicken, two sliced carrots, two sliced celery, a chopped onion, 2 bay leaves, teaspoon of thyme, minced garlic, crushed red pepper,  salt and pepper. 

Add it all to the crockpot. We will come back to it later to add noodles and lemon juice. 

We took a walk in the drizzling rain. The cactus are in bloom! 

The little lambs don't mind the rain. 

Second try at the greenhouse with new seeds and all is growing again... thank goodness. 

The mint is going crazy so I cut a bunch of it this morning. 

And hung it to dry. We use this for teas, the chicken coop, and much more. There will be many more cuttings. 

After a bit of tidying up I popped in a movie and began to crochet.  I needed new dish clothes. 

People give me stuff they find at their moms and grandmas that are no longer used. I love how old this one is. 

 It will be transformed to new dish clothes for me. 

In the end I did get three made.  I love these. All cotton and durable. 

Chocolate... check. 

Hard boil eggs to pickle tomorrow.

Headed back to the crock pot.  Added lemon juice, lemon pepper, homemade noodles and our parsley, heat for 5 minutes more. Dinner is ready.  

Served with toast, Dude loved it.  A slow day needs slow food. 

The rest of the night will be in front of the fireplace with a book. 

peace

Foggy rainy day on the homestead - perfect

Dude took time off the homestead to be with his son today.  It was rainy and after picking up a few things from the store I had the place to myself. 

First I spent some time with our new lamb. She is a Southdown Babydoll ewe. Her name is Prudence. She is so tiny she fits under our new Suffolk lamb. They both will be used for breeding. 

I learned to make these today. I still haven't perfected them but I want to make a garland of them for Flag Day and 4th of July. 

Grin...yes, the red one was the first one.

 I found them HERE if you want to join me in making them.  They are very easy and go quickly. 

We had been given quite a few tomatoes recently and after sharing with many friends and family we still  have a lot. I like the way Dude stored them so they don't touch each other. 

So, I made salsa. 

Tomatoes

Onions

Jalapeños

Cilantro dried from last year

Tomato paste

Garlic - lots

Salt 

Pepper

Vinegar

Cumin Seed

I made it just in time... I opened the last jar from last year today. 

Salsa and chips what better way to build fellowship with others?  *smile*

I cut some willow to plant again since the dog ate the others. (ohNorman, the goal is to leave the world a better place than when we found it... not eat it!)  Thank goodness we put up a fence. 

peace 

Back from the quilt retreat, a leg of lamb and another recycle project.

We've had a lot going on and time to get back to what we do around here. 

I did take a long weekend to attend a quilt retreat.  It is so fun to get away and just sew. Food and beds are made for you .  All you have to do is sew.  Forty-three people came this year.  We were at the base of Pikes Peak with beautiful views of the mountain.  Here are some of my accomplishments for the weekend. 

Finished the other side of the recycled jeans. So I ended up with two aprons.  

My sewing sister (not related really) and I were tired by the end but very happy.  I am on the left. 

Now, back to the homestead. 

Dude made one of our leg of lambs...ohmy.   Just a simple recipe of lemon pepper, plus salt and pepper in a 400* oven for 2 hours.   It turned out tender with  no bite that folks worry about with lamb. Dude wasn't about to have a veggie day - smile. He sure ate a bunch of this leg. 

Remember this ? 

A friend at work brought this to me as a challenge to recycle. We laughed because I didn't know what came in it... anywhooo... I set to recycle it. 

Dude worked on drilling a hole in it.  I ended up having to hold it while he drilled. It took a little while but we got it. 

We made it into a wonderful Steampunk lamp.  The next one I make will have a shade on but I think this looks cool.  What do you think? 

Hopefully tomorrow we will post about what is growing. 

peace