What's been happening on our homestead

I haven't written in my blog for a long time.  I have started many posts, they remain drafts that I never completed and all start with that same sentence "I haven't written for a long time".  It's interesting to read over them, everything from my journey of weight loss, deciding to give up farming and gardening (which we have not done and probably won't)....  I have thought about writing often, obviously since I at least started new posts.  Reading back over my posts I'm reminded of the frustrations of the time.  I suppose that's one reason I didn't post them, they appear a bit too negative and full of emotion but I'm sure at the time it was a great way to release those feelings.  Perhaps I should start writing in my journal again.  Writing your thoughts down is a great release, seems to clear the mind and heart of negative and also helps remind you of the positive things.  And it's often sobering to read back over those words to see how far you have come and how things have changed.

I find myself engulfed in Christmas preparations these days.  Shopping, wrapping and baking goodies.  Trying to slow down and enjoy the moment.

We purchased skates for the family to keep us from hibernating this winter.  My husband and I are a bit rusty but impressed that we can still stay on the blades, our Son is just learning.....

We enjoyed a wonderful family holiday outing compliments of my employer.....

Christmas Baking under way.....

We turned our swimming pool platform into a fire pit area.  Bringing one of our favourite parts of camping home.....

We raised 6 pigs this year.  Seeing them "go" is very difficult for me.  I try to be tough and not think about it but the feeling of loss is one major reason I consider giving up farming as I wrote in one of my drafts.  My garden was also a huge flop this year which was very frustrating.....

That's a little update on what's happening on our little homestead.

Mary Mary Quite Contrary How Does Your Garden Grow?........

Well now the answer to that question depends on which plant you're focused on.  My cucumbers had a rough start with the ant population taking too many samples but they pulled through and I've picked enough to make a batch of relish, some for salads and some for our piggies.  The green peppers are doing great, sadly I only got to use 3 of the green peppers in my relish, the others were fed to the piggies by my Son without my consent.

My lettuce and spinach flourished until the pigs got out of their pasture, I may have left the fence turned off, and they ate all the lettuce and spinach.  And that brings me to the tomatoes.  If there is one particular item I look forward to and enjoy the most from my garden that would be my prized tomatoes.  Well, this year my prized tomatoes are in horrible condition.  The plants are dying from the bottom up, the fruit are rotting before they ripen.  I am not going to get one single ripe tomato from my garden this year.  I am very disappointed and discouraged.  I've done some research and the best thing I can come up with is Fusarium Crown Rot.   I try to rotate my crops but my garden is so small I don't have a ton of room to move things around. The plants are not in the exact area I planted last year but perhaps with tilling the soil it moved it around enough to cause problems.  I had the pigs working on an extension for my garden, they didn't quite get it all turned over before I had to fence them out and plant the garden.  Once my garden is finished growing this year I will release the pigs to turn it over again.  I've had a horrible problem with grass this year as well.  I originally blamed the grass for the tomato plants dying from the bottom but it's spreading right to the top, slowly but surely the plants are dying.

As you can see they grew tall and were healthy but something horrible has taken over and it's not good.

On a positive note we have a lovely sunflower growing in the garden......

I also had a nice harvest of garlic this year.  So it's not a total loss but the tomatoes are a big disappointment.  I am considering skipping a veggie garden next year and leave the soil rest.  Or move the garden but that's more time to invest that we really don't have.  I have all winter to figure out what I'm going to do.  

A Healthier Me.....A Work In Progress.... (a post I've worked on for a few months!!!)

It has been a long cold winter here in Nova Scotia.  It's pretty safe to say we're ready for Spring!  And I am sick of being sick.  Our household has been hit by way too many cold viruses.  It seems like we've been sick all winter.  My initial reaction has always been to swing by the pharmacy for some cold medications.  A surprise phone call from a friend who mentioned she could hear it in my voice gave me some advice.  She had done some research on how to boost your immune system to actually avoid getting the cold.  I'm not sure why I hadn't thought of that before.  I guess I sort of had, like adding more exercise and eating more vegetables.  I hadn't thought of adding herbs and juices to my diet to boost my immune system.  She gave me some recommendations from the research she has done.  The next day I headed to the grocery store for Elderberry Juice.  It's not cheap but if it helped me kick the cold virus it's worth every penny.  I can honestly say the next morning I felt better and progressively got better quicker than ever before.

I've spent the past few days searching Pinterest for ideas and advice on how to naturally boost my immune system and fight viruses.  Here's a bit of what I found:

*Mushrooms, even the basic white button kind, help to boost the immune system.
*Elderberry Juice appears to be a miracle elixir helping boost the immune system, fight viruses, fight inflammation, lower cholesterol, thin mucus.......Google it, it really is amazing stuff
*Lemon Balm Tea helps fight viruses
*Garlic helps boost the immune system and make your body an unpleasant environment for viruses
*Ginger helps boost the immune system and fight inflammation
*Carrots boost the immune system, lower cholesterol......  There are many juicing recipes for drinks containing garlic, carrot, ginger and apple

It's easy to do the research, there's lots of advice.  I went with my friends advice and pulled the most common items from the articles.

I recently purchased a juicer.  I've been making lots of carrot juice with various other veggies added to it.  I haven't acquired a taste for it yet, I drink it because I know it's good for me not because I enjoy it.  I think one of my problems with the juice is the same problem I have with eating whole vegetables, the quality of the taste.  I'm hoping when I have my own fresh produce and access to fresh produce from farmers markets the juice will taste way better.  I am not a fan of store bought carrots, I buy organic for eating.  To buy organic produce during the winter for juicing is just too expensive.

I've been trying to get more exercise into my life routine.  We have a chubby Beagle who can also use a walk so she motivates me to get my chub moving too.  The fresh air is so good for the brain too, it's great medicine.

Avoiding take out is still a struggle for us at times.  Crazy work hours make it difficult to prepare home cooked meals but we are working hard at it, trying to avoid take out as much as possible.  I am to the point now that if I eat take out I can feel it attacking my body, the high salt content really affects how I feel the next day.  And it really tastes horrible, a total waste of money.

So, the juicer is packed away on the counter collecting dust for now.  I will try making my own V8 Juice when I have delicious ripe tomatoes from my own garden.  I have, however, decided to give smoothies another try.  Fresh Strawberries will soon be available, they will make some delicious smoothies!  I've been researching some new recipes and ideas on Pinterest ;)

So, that's the update on my quest for healthier living from the past few months.  There will be another update on our Farm happenings soon, we have some new additions that I'm anxious to tell you about!  And there will be some new camping adventures to share!  And of course the weather will soon be warm enough to plant my vegetable garden, I hope!!

'til next time!!

How Far Do I Need To Go??!!

What a beautiful sunny day.  The sun is gaining strength, a sure sign its plan is to melt away the snow and warm the earth again.  With that comes dreams of gardening.  Today I was thinking about what the next season will hold for us.  An addition of new piglets, a pumpkin patch and perhaps an expansion of my existing vegetable garden.  I would like to expand the garden to allow more room between the rows.  Then I wonder if I should just plant less.....but I want to plant carrots, sweet potatoes, various lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, peppers...... and then I watched the "food industry documentaries" on Netflix.  Expanding my garden sounds like a great idea and I may research options for growing some of my own veggies during the winter months, or at least extend into the beginning parts of winter. 

The documentaries have over loaded me with uncertainties about what I am feeding my family.  I will certainly have to watch them a few more times to absorb the information.  It's interesting how they describe a lot of our food as "food like products".  They aren't "real food".  Most of our food is so processed and refined the nutrients are gone.  We're eating calories with no benefit to our body.  I hadn't thought of it that way.  From most of our food all we're gaining is fat!

This is not news to me.  We grow our own meats/eggs so we know what we're eating, we grow our own summer veggies so we know what we're eating....how much further can I take it?  I can't see me milling my own flour....in reality I shouldn't have to mill my own flour.  Would I have to grow my own wheat so I'd know it wasn't sprayed with chemicals????  How far do I need to go????  Do I just search out alternatives to processed bread products?  Are there alternatives to processed bread products?  What is really safe????  My mind is whirling with information overload and uncertainties. 

A lot of it is a no brainer - fast food, sugary snacks, sugary drinks, processed foods are all bad for us.  But what is really good for us?  Tomatoes are sprayed with a gas to ripen them.  Are organic tomatoes sprayed with that same gas?  How many chemicals are in a salad?  If the grass the cow eats is sprayed with pesticide that is in our milk, our cheese, our yogurt.......  It's crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!  It's scary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We trust the food industry to supply us with nourishment but they don't deserve our trust.  They are failing miserably.  It's all about making money.  One documentary suggests sourcing local milk, flour, etc.  Government regulations frown upon sourcing milk from local farmers, they want us to drink only pasteurized.  In the eyes of the government we are no longer capable of knowing if something is safe.  Or that's what they want us to believe, that we need them to make sure our food is safe.  They don't want us to purchase milk, eggs, meat from our fellow neighbours.  They want us to support the processed world of the supermarket. 

We have recently found out government organizations are actually spending time on internet classifieds such as Kijiji watching for local people selling food products such as eggs, turkeys, chickens, pork etc.  Apparently, if you are not a part of the government organization, if you don't fill out their paperwork and abide by their criteria you are not seen fit to supply food to others.  To source unprocessed food you have to go underground.  If you could source whole milk you'd have to sneak it home and tell nobody.  As they crack down on our neighbours who are supplying us with unprocessed, hormone free, pesticide free, natural food it is going to be harder and harder to find someone to take the risk.  Threatening letters are scaring home farmers, making them afraid to share their hard work with others.  There's always the Farmer's Market, from what I understand those people have jumped through the hoops for the government to get permission to sell their goods to us.  It's a crazy world we live in!

Anxiously awaiting SPRING!

It has been a long winter in Nova Scotia....or I feel it has.  I sound like a broken record but I am anxiously awaiting Spring!  We have had a record number of cold and flu bugs hit our household this winter, I am ready for open windows, fresh air and warm sunshine.  And I'm ready for camping.  I have been working on our camping agenda off and on, several short trips planned, some with special events tied into them.

As for the farm, we have added an Eastern Wild Turkey Hen to our family.  She completes a trio and will hopefully supply us with eggs to hatch our own turkeys for the freezer this fall.

I was told by a friend whom I've never met in person but talked to her on the phone many times about farming that I would love raising Turkeys.  She said Turkeys cannot be compared to raising chickens, they are a totally different experience.  She's right.  Heritage turkeys are so beautiful when they display and I love their gobble gobble.  It could be that it's a new sound on our farm but it makes me chuckle every time I hear it.  Our big guy is a bit shabby from being inside all winter but I still think he looks pretty impressive.  The ladies don't seem to be paying much attention though......

We have 3 more little piggies coming to the Farm in June.  We have come to the realization that it will be hard to go back to store bought meat.  We may have to become vegetarians if we cannot raise our own meat!  Our beef arrived a couple of weeks ago and it's perfect.  It's tender and delicious.  There certainly is a risk to forking out the cash for 284lbs of beef because that beef could be as tough as shoe leather and taste like cardboard!  But we were lucky.  We have lots to choose from for our bbq while we're camping this summer!  We're actually having BBQ steak tonight, something we have not had for months.

While we were ill this past month my Son and I spent some time looking at our local seed supplier catalogue, deciding what we're going to plant this year.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to try sweet potatoes.  I can't wait for the time to come to turn the soil!

There you have it, a quick update on our little farm.

'til next time!

Meatless Monday Sauces Wednesday's Chicken.....

Today is a stormy snowy day here in Nova Scotia.  Normally I would be at work but it was such a big storm most businesses are closed.  Today was supposed to be hubby's day to cook.  On the menu - Chicken.  Molto Bene Chicken to be exact. We eat a lot of meat at our house.  Whether it be pork, chicken or beef.  On Monday my son and I had pasta.  No meat, just pasta with a homemade dressing and diced tomatoes.

The homemade dressing is the new Molto Bene seasoning blend from Epicure.  I'm like a kid in a candy store when my Epicure order arrives, especially when it contains newly released products.  Since I was preparing a serving for two I didn't use all the dressing on the pasta and reserved some to make a sauce for my chicken tonight.  It would have been super easy for hubby.  Right now hubby is plowing snow in a blizzard so I am happily preparing supper.  I am going to mix the remaining dressing with a bit of no salt added tomato sauce and brown sugar to make a nice "bbq sauce" for my chicken.  So simple and so delicious.

I am like a "mad scientist" in the kitchen.  I mix up my own sauces and experiment with soups and stews.  That's why I enjoy Epicure.  I can take what they have created and build on it.  I can take a recipe and make it better.  More flavour and less sodium.  Pure deliciousness.

Here it is, the finished product.  Molto Bene Chicken Breast and veggies. Absolutely delicious!  The hint of sweetness from the brown sugar blended perfectly with the rosemary and garlic in the seasoning. This is definitely a flavour combination I will be using again.



My food photography leaves a bit to be desired, especially when it's my dinner I'm photographing and all I want to do is eat it!

Happy Cooking Everyone!

A Comforting Accompaniment......

I love a light and fluffy tea biscuit with a bowl of chili or nice plate of home baked beans.  Here's my recipe.....

Tea Biscuits

2 cups all purpose flour
4 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp butter
1 cup milk

Sift together all dry ingredients.  Cut in the butter, I am impatient so I use an electric mixer with whipper attachment.  Add milk to make a soft dough.  Drop onto buttered cookie sheet.  Bake at 450 deg for 12 to 15 minutes until well risen and lightly browned.

Enjoy your light and fluffy biscuits.

Monday's Supper Recipe - CHILI

Sometime around the end of this month or first bit of February we are expecting a phone call that a side of local beef is ready for us to have prepared for our freezer. In the mean time we are busy trying to make room for it! The only beef we have left is ground beef.  I am not the biggest fan of ground beef so when it came to grabbing something quickly for supper I would avoid it. Now, with my meal planning, it's included in the month so there's no avoiding it. It's in the fridge thawed and ready to use.  Case in point is today's meal, Chili. Here's the recipe:



Chili
2 lbs lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 540ml can white kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 680ml can tomato sauce
1 398ml can tomato sauce
1 156ml can tomato paste
1 tbsp Epicure chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp Epicure smoked paprika
1 tsp Epicure cinco pepper blend

Brown ground beef in a large pot over medium heat, until meat crumbles and is no longer pink.  Drain if necessary, our beef is so lean there is no need to drain.  Add all other ingredients to the pot of cooked ground beef.  Stir to combine well.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 3 hours or until thickened.

Serve with some fresh baked rolls or tea biscuits.  We're also having garlic bread with ours to keep "the boys" happy.

Here's a secret....I hadn't had lunch yet when I was browning the ground beef and onions, it smelled so good I couldn't resist grabbing a sub bun left over from last nights supper and I made myself a yummy loose hamburger "sandwich".  YUM!  That bit of hamburger won't be missed.  ;)

I used to make Chili a lot, my late husband loved it.  For the past 6 years I avoided making it because the males of the house today don't eat veggies.  You will notice my recipe doesn't include many fresh veggies.  Only fresh onion and garlic.  I'm fine with that.  If I wanted I could hide some veggies in the tomato sauce.  For now I am happy everyone is eating my recipe as it is.  You can add any fresh veggies you wish, this recipe is an excellent base.  You could add mushrooms, peppers and tomatoes - YUM!

I am so happy meal planning is bringing me back to those meals I used to love to cook.  It's getting me out of the rut I was in, cooking the same thing too often.  We craved take-out because the menu was more interesting than what I was cooking. My friends always comment on what a good cook I am, these past few years I didn't feel I was deserving of a "good cook" title. But today the house smells of delicious simmering Chili.  My Son is enjoying stirring it and says it smells "deliciouso" a.k.a. "delicious".  As I mentioned Friday, cooking at home is so much more rewarding than ordering take out!  More rewarding for everyone in the house in so many ways.  It's an experience for me and my Son to cook together, though I am trying hard not to be the control freak I normally am in the kitchen.  It's healthier for our family, better food and more variety.  I do hope I'm inspiring you to cook at home more too! Maybe jogging your memory of recipes or meals you've forgotten.  Or giving you the encouragement to try something new......

Happy Cooking Everyone!

Friday's Supper Recipe

I have been trying to think of ways to make my Blog more interesting to you and me.  I feel like I'm discussing the same topics over and over again.  One of the topics I have been discussing is our battle to eat less take out and cook at home more.  This battle has taken me back to my favourite cookbooks.  I happily browsed through a cookbook on a cold winter day like today, looking for new recipes to try.  With a larger family, a larger farm and many small business hats to wear time doesn't always allow me the leisure of browsing through my cookbooks. But I'm working on finding the time.  Pinterest is a great resource for new recipes and it's so simple to find what you're looking for.  If you're cooking with pork, just search pork.  Though I will warn you, you may not only get pork recipes.

If you would like to follow me on Pinterest here is my link: http://www.pinterest.com/luv2cook2/

I am starting a new addition to my Blog I hope you will enjoy.  It ties into my efforts to avoid take out, cook more at home and meal planning.  I will randomly post the recipe for what we are having for supper, starting with today.  Many of the recipes will contain Epicure Selections products as this is a product I use in my kitchen since it contains low/NO sodium and pure ingredients.  I have given up the salt shaker and replaced it with real seasoning.  The ready to use onion, garlic and seasonings make preparing my meals for the slow cooker on mornings I go to work much quicker.  If you have question of what other product you could use as a substitute message me and I will be happy to help you out.

Yesterday we had baked ham so today we are having Split Pea Soup.  Here's my recipe:

Split Pea Soup
1 lb Green Split Peas
6 cups of water
2 tbsp Epicure 3 Onion Dip Mix Seasoning
2 tbsp Epicure Vegetable Bouillon Mix
1 1/2 cups Chopped Carrot
1 1/2 cups Chopped Potato
1 Celery stalk chopped
1 ham bone with meat (left over from previous days ham roast)
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Sort, wash and drain your peas, checking for stones.  Place all ingredients in large soup pot.  Amount of water may vary for your type of split peas, check package directions for proper amount of water for your peas.  You will want to "skim the foam" off the top for a few minutes until it stops forming.

Bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer.  Cover loosely and simmer soup for about 2 hours or until peas are tender.  Be sure to stir occasionally to prevent peas from sticking to the bottom of your pot.

Some people like to puree the soup, I like it just the way it is.  I remove the meat from the ham bone and serve it with the soup.  You can return the meat to the pot if you like or serve it on the side.

A perfect meal for a cold winter blizzard day like today!




Everything into the pot!  Simmering away.....on it's way to homemade deliciousness.....

Right now I am experimenting with organic foods so for this soup I did use organic split peas and organic carrots.  I do notice a difference in flavour of the organic carrots, they are much tastier.  I have had an issue with carrots tasting "soapy" so I will gladly pay for organic carrots if they actually taste like carrots!

I hope my meal planning discussions and my recipe posts encourage you to cook more at home.  You savour the aroma of the food as it cooks, you anticipate the meal.  Cooking a delicious meal at home is so much more rewarding than take out!

Happy Cooking!

As Kids we hated "hand me downs"......

or at least most of us did, as adults we shop at thrift stores and actually purchase someone's hand me downs!

I am amused to say I have become somewhat addicted to shopping at the thrift stores. To many this would be shocking since in the past they have really "creeped me out".  The smell of moth balls and thought of wearing clothing that belonged to a stranger was a bit gross to me.  Especially since a friend pointed out some people don't wear underwear.  :/  But with my weight loss this year I started shopping at thrift stores to save money.  I don't plan to stay the size I am currently so I don't want to spend good money on clothes I won't wear out.  I have found some excellent deals and have come to "enjoy the hunt".  I get very excited when I find something to fit me that still has the tags on it!  A new pair of jeans or dress pants for under $5 "SCORE".  I proudly point out to friends and family that I'm "wearing the jeans (or dress pants) I bought at Frenchy's".  I don't have a lot of success finding tops, mostly jeans and dress pants.

I draw the line at shoes, under garments and swim suits.  They are just a bit too personal to share with a previous owner.  But to each their own.  I wash my purchases in hot water and then in a normal laundry wash.  I'm not saying it still doesn't creep me out a bit but I don't find the places smell like moth balls anymore.  Maybe I'm just used to the smell.  Either way, I have found some really nice pants like the jeans I am wearing right now.

We have saved a ton of money on work shirts for my husband.  He destroys shirts on a regular basis so purchasing good used ones is better than spending $20 on a new shirt.  And of course you can't beat a thrift store for children's clothing.  They grow out of it so quickly and they also destroy home clothes quickly you don't want to spend a lot of money if you don't have to.  I think searching for children's clothing is what really got me into thrift store shopping and then it became an obsession searching for clothing for myself.

I've mentioned searching campsites, well, as crazy as it sounds while searching for campsites I'm also searching for near by thrift stores.  ha ha  Hey, if you're going to travel you gotta do some shopping too!

Do you shop at Thrift Stores?



Photo Source:http://www.guysfrenchys.com/index.html

Though the weather outside is frightful.......

............the warmth inside is soooo delightful!

Happy New Year Everyone!  We enjoyed a New Years Eve Celebration with Family, lots of delicious food and a bit of wine.  We continued our celebration today with some take out Chinese Food and a bit of wine.  As I had mentioned we are cutting back on our take out so when we have it now it tastes much better and we look forward to it as it is a treat.  The restaurant was very very busy so that meant the food was fresh.  We considered going to a Buffet today but, realizing that we don't eat as much as we used to, the high price tag of the buffet meal just isn't worth it, not to mention the tighter clothes for the weeks to follow!

We spent the first day of 2014 working on some fishing lures, doing some repairs around the house and relocating some roosters to make our hens and our "main man" happier in the layer coop.  I may have mentioned before we have 4 rogue Hens, they refused to go into the coop all fall.  Once the colder temperatures fell upon us we caught them and put them in with the Turkeys who also refused to go inside over night.  They all preferred the fir trees outside the coop.  With the snow on the ground they are less enthused about getting outside.  It took them awhile to get used to not having the freedom but they seem okay now.  They are safe and warm inside.  We had the rogue Hens in with the Turkeys until today.  Our "main man" of the coop was unhappy with all the other males trying to take over his domain so it was time to move the extra boys out of that coop so everyone can relax.  The extra boys are now in with the Turkeys who really could care less they are there which is the way we like it.  Less stressful for everyone.  And the rogue Hens are in the Layer coop where they belong, hopefully they will start to lay eggs now!  We also installed the heat lamps as the days and nights are getting very cold.  We have two heat lamps in the Turkey coop and one in the Layer Coop.  Tomorrow I am off to town to invest in one more heat lamp for the Layer Coop.  I can tell you the power company is going to love us but we really have no choice.  The constant frozen water and chilled combs needs to be dealt with, they need warmth.

We have been working feverishly on Shad Darts and Smelt Jigs trying to get everything finished before camping season arrives!  Yes, camping is still on the surface of my mind.  I purchased my husband a Gold Panning Kit for Christmas.  A local campground was once a gold mine where you can still pan for gold.  We got a lot of stuff under our tree this year pertaining to the upcoming camping season.  I am still looking forward to camping in the warm summer even though I am making the most of winter.

I hope you enjoyed my post.  I haven't been writing a lot, life has been happening so quickly if I think of something to write about I'm onto another task and that something gets forgotten.  My blog has been mainly about our farm and a bit about organizing family life both have been quite mellow and uneventful thank goodness, maybe this summer it will be a lot about camping.  Now, speaking of organizing my little family, I am off to finish my January 2014 Meal Calendar!

Wishing you Peace, Love and Happiness in 2014!