Drought 2021?

So far it all looks lush and green.

Drought?  Oh, Father God, I hope not!  We weathered the dry year of 2012 but it was not fun.  So far we've had timely rains and the crops and gardens look good; but last night's predicted rain ended up in just wind and a sprinkle after midnight.  Looking ahead for the next 10 days, I see only 2 days with 30% chances.  

It'll be good for the hay Farmer is planning on cutting this week; but it'll mean I'll be out every evening watering.  I went out this morning (Sunday) as a few things were looking peaked and wilted.  Everything got a good drink.  Tomorrow evening I will mulch the raised bed.  The soil there is not the best and I've noticed some areas that have washed out under the sides of the bed.  

I also need to mulch the squash & cucumbers.  I should have done that when I first planted those plants but I"m only one woman with little time.

I did get the pumpkins mulched right around the plants and then Farmer tilled between, yesterday morning.  They look happy enough and as their leaves & vines grow, they'll cover the soil and create their own living shade mulch.

As I keep hearing about the devastating heat and drought in the western U.S.  I'm looking at ways to lessen our cost of fresh produce.  Obviously we are growing some of our own, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and summer squash.  But those will not be ready for several more weeks. 

Thankfully we have our local farmer's market in town.  I plan to start looking there this week.  I have enough romaine, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes to keep us in salads this week.  But I will need to find another source of fresh salad ingredients or start buying frozen veg to supplement.

Fruit is another item I need to resource.  Thankfully it's June on the Prairie and strawberries are in season.  Also cherries.  I'll see what is available for those as well.  I have canned fruit and some frozen here as well that I can start using.  Our pear trees have quite a few pears setting on, so I'm hopeful for a nice crop to can.

I've read how some of the Aussie bloggers save their warming-up water and use in their washing machines.  That is a great idea!  I've also been saving the water left in our glasses and dumping it in the watering can.  Liquid from canned vegetables or when I wash store produce also.

Every little bit helps in the end.

Spring & Planting time on the farm with a menu

My gift for Administrative Assistants Day.  I have wonderful bosses.

Another Birthday

 First, a happy 61st birthday to my Blue-eyed Farmer.  I love you bunches, Sweetie.

Farmer with dgs2 (oldest Little)

What I Did This Weekend

Despite snow and below freezing temperatures a few mornings this past week, it is Spring on the Farm.  Farmer started planting corn yesterday (Saturday.)  It was also his birthday.  I gifted him with a card and his favorite meals (tuna sandwiches for lunch and homemade pizza for supper.)  The boys called him and the Big granddaughters all texted him plus he got some cards in the mail.  I also made him chocolate chip cookies for his treat.

We got hay for the cows in the morning.  Then a quick run into town to get some things he needed.  We dropped off a succulent bowl I had gotten for DDiL.  The kids re-homed their big dog and now she can beautify her patio. 

Took the seed up to the field and he was off and going.  I spent the morning cleaning the house & doing laundry.  Made up tuna salad and took him a field lunch.  It was a cool day but sunny.

In the afternoon he sprayed the fields he had planted.  DS2 came out to check/fix pasture fences.  Then Farmer & I went to get more corn seed and he planted until dark.  

New iris is under the far trellis.

I transplanted a iris plant in the new garage flowerbed and prepped the new planter for planting a mandevilla vine when it gets warmer. 

Last week Farmer helped me detangle all the tomato cages and organize that area by the fence.  I also uprighted the compost "bin."  It's something I bought with the idea of making compost without building a bin.  Saturday I finally started a "proper" compost.  I layered sticks in the bottom (which is open to the ground.  It has mesh sides and is open on top); then a layer of "brown or dry."  They suggested leaves but there are few dry leaves around anymore in spring.  I found a bunch of old tomato vines that were brown and dry so I used those.  (Thinking now, I could have gotten some dry straw or hay from the bunk and used that as well.)  Then I layered in some cut grass and the kitchen waste, then a layer of manure/soil.  I watered it all down well and covered it with some cardboard.  I'll give it 2 weeks and stir it with a pitch fork.  And I'll start a new layer.  And hopefully by June, I'll have some new compost to dress the plants.

I bought some moss roses from a local fund-raising plant sale this week. I was going to plant them but it's suppose to get hot Monday and then rain Wed.  I'll plant them Tuesday after work so they won't cook.  And then it's suppose to get cold next Mon-Tues, so I won't be planting my herbs yet.  Not until the 3 Frozen Kings come & go.  https://www.farmersalmanac.com/who-are-the-three-ice-men-11048  

Late afternoon, I went back inside to do more laundry.  I made pizza dough and defrosted the meats, ground beef and some Italian Chicken Sausages.  I had those 2 head of broccoli from the produce sale to use up yet. I decided to blanch them and just put in the freezer.  And then since Farmer warned me he wouldn't be home until at least 8:30, I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies.  It was a bit of a whirlwind of pizza, broccoli and cookies all the while keeping an eye on the clock timing the blanching, and timing the cookies baking and watching for him coming home.

We ate and at 10:30 I was folding the last load from the dryer.  It was a long, busy, but good day.

Today we slept in a little.  I made our weekly blueberry muffins and we listened to church.  I did my devotions with a second cup of coffee, but could not keep my eyes open.  So I gave in and took a 2.5  hour nap!  I guess yesterday wore me out. 

Lunch on Sunday is whatever you can find.  Farmer had more of the tuna salad and I made myself a big salad with greens, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, cheese and egg.  We've rested and relaxed all afternoon and now he's mowing and I'm blogging.  

MENU

This week is suppose to be up & down temperature-wise.  90 tomorrow, 70s Tuesday, then cooler Wed, back to the 70s Thu & Fri.  Colder on Mon & Tues next week.  We still have not had a thunderstorm which is rather strange.  

I try to make out our menu according to the weather and what we are doing.  And as always trying to Find My Fragments.  

Here's this week's:

Sunday (today): Air Fryer meal or Leftovers

Monday (90day-HOT): Chef Salads (FMF) with ham, cheese, eggs and some leftover biscuits and garlic sticks)

Tuesday: Tacos, refried beans (FMF)

Wednesday (Breakfast Night): Pancakes and sausage, fruit (FMF from the fridge & freezer)

Thursday: Sloppy Joes, buns (FMF), baked beans, chips, for him; Sweet Chili Pineapple (or mango) Chicken with broccoli and rice for me.

Friday: Steaks on the grill, baked potatoes, salad

Saturday:  Going to inventory the pantry and freezers and see what we have too much of or what needs to be used.  Stay tuned for details.   

FMF

I've been trying hard to keep the leftovers and extras used up.  I do not want to waste food or our hard-earned resources.  

I found our walking onions are growing well.  I pulled several and shouldn't have to buy spring onions for a long while.  These never get large bulbs but are still good to use as storage onions.  I have 3-4 garlic cloves left and none in the store looked good, so I'll be on the look-out for new garlic soon.

I used the onion in the tuna as well as some celery that was on it's way out.  Wrapping it in foil really does work.  Keeping celery in plastic does not keep it.  I also found that if your tuna salad doesn't seem thick enough for you, 6-8 crumbled crackers will help thicken it and you don't notice the taste or texture.  They seem to "melt" away.

I also used the onions in the pizza topping and also found the packages of Chicken Italian Sausages I had vacuum-sealed.  I used one on my side of the pizza.  The other one I'll use on my salad or in the Chicken meal.

All that Bag-Sale produce has gone to good use.  I did lose one avocado that was too bad to salvage.  The others I was able to cut out the bad spots.  

I cut up the pineapples and packed those in Farmer's lunches all week.  

The mangos I cut up and used some in Mango Salsa for my fish tacos.  So good.  The recipe originally calls for pineapple but I've used peaches & cucumbers in it as well.  

As you read I blanched the broccoli for the freezer.  The peppers are still good in the fridge and I'll either put the pears in Farmer's lunch this week or make a pie or bread out of them with the apples that no-one is eating.  

I cooked up one of the punts of mushrooms and put those in my eggs on Wednesday evening.  The rest should hold this week and I'll use some in my Sweet Chili Chicken and some I'll brown in butter for my steak on Friday.

There is Romaine lettuce to be cleaned and cut up for Monday's salads along with various "extras" like those peppers, carrots, sugar peas (which could also go in my Sweet Chili Chicken), cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, cheeses.  There is ham in the freezer and shrimp and chicken strips (not necessarily Fragments but something that needs to be used.)

I seem to have an abundance of carrots, so I'll need to find something to do with them.  My mind jumps to carrot cake but heaven knows I don't need that!  Farmer does like roasted carrots so perhaps a sheet-pan meal next week sometime. 

My goal is to clean out my fridge.  So much in it right now, condiments and other not used daily items.  I need to discover what it all is and find a way to use it.

I also need to use up more freezer fruit, so zucchini bread or a cobbler or something; or just more smoothies.

Since I started this post, Farmer has finished mowing and we drove over to check on some elderly neighbors.  She gave me 6 potted hostas that she divided out of her plants and offered me some columbine plants (if I come dig them) and promised to keep any small redbud trees that come up volunteer.  This is the sweet neighbor that gave me the rhubarb plants and is always my "farm wife" mentor.  

We are now home and supper is almost done so I'll close for another week.  If anything post-worthy comes up, you'll see it here.

Stay well,

Kay

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt. ~Margaret Atwood

Should I Rebrand?

 So I've been thinking about retitling this blog.  It's rather a laborious title but it is unique.  What do you think?

Also have been thinking about how to be more timely with posting.  I often think of a quick note but it's hard to find the time to type it and sometimes it really is just a sentence or two.  Would that be too short?  Working FT and watching the Littles alot on Saturday mornings doesn't leave me much time to play with this hobby blog of mine.  

So I'm thinking of doing what many others do, compile during the week and post on Sundays.

I'll start that next week, but here is what I have for this week.

MENU

I am in a bit of a slump making menus.  Life is a struggle right now.  Like many others, stuff gets on my mind and it's February and I'm weary.  So we are taking care of ourselves and being kind and easy-going.  So no menu and eating what we found easy to make.

Sunday: 

Homemade Ham & Bean (from a jar) soup.  It was so good.

Monday: 

Neither of us were hungry.  Farmer had Chex Mix and I made Rice with butter and parm.

Tuesday: 

Fat Tuesday!  We had Pancakes and Sausage.  I found if I take our bulk sausage and pat it thin and flat on a rimmed sheet pan and then broil it, it cooks nicely.  No hard pucks like when I slice it into thick rounds.

Wednesday: 

Cheese Quesadillas  

Thursday: 

Air Fryer Night - Corn Dogs & FF for him, Shrimp & FF for me.

Friday:  

Date Night!!  Steakhouse for Ribs (him), Salmon (me).   So, so Very Good!

Saturday (today):  

Littles were here so lunch for us was whatever we could scrounge.  I also made Cinnamon Rolls for Farmer's cousin who was stopping by.  They were a bit under-baked.  I hate when I do that!!  So I am going to make more tomorrow.  I will perfect that recipe.

Supper:  English Roast in IP, mashed potatoes, roasted carrots.  (I popped those in the oven while I was roasting white and sweet potatoes for next week's breakfast bowls.)

FINDING MY FRAGMENTS

Just off the top of my head I know I have the following in the fridge:

1/2 head of cabbage

Green onions

Runza filling

BBQ sauce

Zucchini shreds, 4 bananas

Roast, beef broth

Ham & Bean soup

Grated Parm (and various other cheeses)

Normal veg in crisper (carrots, celery, lettuce, cucumbers)

Red Cabbage

Feta Cheese

Plus all the usual stuff - eggs, condiments, tortillas

Full IP pot of chicken stock

4 bread rolls

So many things to use or put into the freezer.  I know Farmer will eat the soup for lunch one day.  The Runza filling could be put into fried rice with the green onions. Zucchini shreds can go into quick bread.  The leftover roast he will also eat for lunch.  The remainder we can freeze for soup or beef noodles (I think he likes that?)  Feta and onions could go into a frittata.  Cabbage into fried rice or just cooked, or salad or on tacos.   All great ideas except some only I will eat and I was planning to do a big protein salad each night.  I guess I could make that work.  Farmer will have the protein and we'll figure out the sides each night.  

MENU

Breakfast Bowls with scrambled eggs, bacon/ham/sausage, white or sweet potatoes, cheese. 

Big salad topped with:

1. Runza filling

2. Roast

3. Frittata (served along side)

4. Taco meat

5. Hard-cooked or deviled eggs

6. Roast Chicken Thighs. 

WHY THE SALADS?

Because my jeans are begging me to eat more salads!  Ha.  I'm going to cut back on my bread/grain consumption.  Until I can find the time to make some Einkorn bread/rolls.  Also cutting back on the sugar and eating more fruit and veg.  I guess a modified Whole 30.  

I've also been eating breakfast besides just coffee for the past 2 weeks.  It's helped my mood and brain function.  But toast, waffles, Toaster Strudels are not my friends.  I could not see paying over $14 for Breakfast Bowls at Sam's when I can make them myself.  I'll scramble up a bunch of eggs tomorrow, bake/cook the meats and assemble the bowls, freeze into bowl shapes and bag up.  Should just be a quick nuke to reheat. 

That's what I can think of tonight.  I'll post this on Sunday and then keep a written record of the week for next week's posting.  

Be Blessed.  Praying for Texas.

Kay

I will praise the Lord while I live;

I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. Ps 146:2

Another Blizzard

 

My area of the midwest just had a blizzard/winter storm with a lot of snow.

Here on the Prairie Farm we got around 10+ inches of snow.  It blew some last night and this morning Farmer had to dig us out here on the place and then dig out up our hill to the corner.  We drove in together in the big Ram.  There were several places I wasn't sure we'd get through but we did.  Coming home from the highway for the first 2 miles, the plow had been through.  But the last 2 miles were still dicey.  Thankfully they had been on our east-west road and cleared it wider than Farmer was able to do with the John Deere.

As soon as we got home, he went to feed the cows and I went to widen his work on the sidewalk and scoop a path from the walk-out patio door up to the flat.  I also scooped the drift away from the barn door where the feed is and the cats live.  And had to dig around to find the cats' feed pans.  "Someone" (not me!) didn't put them inside before the snow started.
If you like snow, enjoy the following photos.
Talk soon,
Kay

This is the back door of the garage.  The drift is waist deep there and where Farmer broke through the drift further down it has to be hip-deep.

This is the other side of that deep drift.  Easily knee deep or higher. 

That crazy drift on top of the roof.  When it melts it will leak through the door frame into the house.   Also the piles on top of the step and the half-barrel show how deep it was with the wind blowing it away.  This is on the west side of the house and is a bit of a breezeway for the north and south winds.

And I had to show you the great job I did opening up the front steps and walk.  💪

Reading the Anne series

   I've been looking at new (to me) blogs and found Jo of "Through the Keyhole" who lives in Leeds, England.  I don't know what it is about England and the British Isles but I'm smitten.  And recently vlogs about Sweden and living in small communities or off the grid in the forest.  (Maybe I"m subconsciously trying to run away from it all?) 

Anyway, Jo read through all the the Agatha Christie mysteries in 2015 (over 60 books I believe) in order of printing.

Many years ago I read through all of the Grace Livingston Hill books found on our little local library's shelves.  The librarian even let me take them from the storage closet (they wouldn't all fit on the shelf so they swapped them out from time to time.)  I was going to collect them all but I find I really only want my favorites.   I like the ones that have a lot of homemaking descriptions.  Makes me feel all warm inside.

I thought that reading through a series would be a good way to spend part of 2021.  I'm currently reading my way through Miss Read's Thrush Green series and then will start again on Fair Acre.  I've never read them in order and just mixed up the 2 series as I found them.  Lots of characters and I got confused most of the time on who belonged where.  Now I think I'll keep them straight.

After I finish Miss Read, I believe I'll start on the Anne of Green Gables series.  I've only read books 1 and 2 I think.  

And then maybe the Left Behind series.  It's been a long time since I've read them.  

I just finished "The Dean's Watch" by Elizabeth Goudge and absolutely loved it.  Gentle, Christian, just enough mystery to keep my interest.  It was a bit heavy slogging through the building history of the cathedral but the building is as much of a character as are Job, the Dean and Isaac Peabody.  

I love E Goudge and D.E. Stevenson's books.  Ms Goudge's especially fill something in my soul.  I can't explain it but it's almost like God is there in those books, hidden by the prose.  Satisfying, warming, deeply-thoughtful books. 

As always, there is daily Bible reading and cookbook reading.

Talk soon,

Kay

Baby, It's Cold Outside

We've had 2 days of WIND and last night & today we had a blizzard.  Thankfully we had little snow.  Farmer got the cattle a corn stalk bale to keep them warm.  

I had to make a cup of cranberry tea when I got home to warm up.    I left the oven door open when I took the casserole out for supper.  It helped to warm up the kitchen.

I was just plain cold all day.

Matter of fact my feet/toes are still cold.  Usually my woolen knitted slippers will keep them warm but not tonight.   So I nuked my weighted neck warmer and have my toes wrapped in it covered by my fleece blanket and my fleece shawl around my back.  I'm starting to unthaw. 

Is it Spring yet?  **sigh**

Talk soon, 

Kay

The Pink Ornament

Years ago, my mom loved to decorate our (always) live tree.  She would let me and my siblings help which is surprising since we had all those old delicate glass ornaments.  But to her credit, she let us.  But only she could put on the old foil icicle strands.  On every single branch. She kept them organized by length.  It was her thing.  (Meditative if you will because there were 5 of us!  12 yrs and younger.)

Of all the ornaments, there was a smallish brush-stroke painted, bright pink glass ball.  All of us girls LOVED it.  (It was pink after all.)  We had to take turns each year on who got to put it on the tree.  

One year, my mom gifted it to me, as the oldest child.  It went on my tree each  year with a smile, along with other ornaments that remind us of our parents.  

I had found a set of similar ornaments to match my pretty pink ball, but they were duller in colors and so they rarely made the tree.

This year, 2020, I was happy, eager even, to put up our tree and to celebrate the Joy that has been so lacking.  Farmer helped put the tree up and helped find all the plugs to light it and we celebrated our "new" star we had forgotten we got last year. I decorated it with Nativity scenes, red & white/clear balls, stars, snowflakes, red birds and filled in with red poinsettias instead of garland or icicles. 

Somehow in the tweaking of the ornaments, my pretty pink childhood ornament, 

bounced it's way down the tree 

and as I held my breath, 

I watched it 

hit the banister and shatter.  

*sigh*

There was nothing else to do but vacuum it up and mourn it's passing.  It seemed fitting, that it's demise was in 2020.  

I've grown much this year.  My faith has been strengthened and I've held on to God so tightly.  

I feel like I've turned yet another corner in my quest for maturity and wisdom.  

As if I've been breaking through a tough shell. It's been "a year."  

A good year, but hard.

Back to the ornament-

There is a pale pink version of it in the set I bought.  And grey and aqua and gold.  I'm going to print "2020" on the bottom of the pink one and hang it on the tree in remembrance of the other.

Perhaps it's a reminder to remember my childhood but to set aside childish things and look toward my senior years (58 next year).  

Remembering the good, but setting my sights on the future.

Hugs,

Kay

For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called

Wonderful, Counselor, 

Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, 

Prince of Peace.