Im Seeing Red

Mostly in our garden we grow weeds.  I am an incredibly good weed grower.  It just comes naturally.  There happen to be some plants that are coexisting with the weeds- we have tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers to name a few.  In one garden bed last year we added in a bunch of rabbit poop to compost. This year we planted a tomato plant and pumpkin plant in it.  We lovingly refer to the tomato plant as our tomato on crack.  I am not sure if this plant just got lucky, or if the poop really helped but this sucker is huge!  For the longest time we had huge green tomatoes and now they are ripening to red.  I am freezing what we dont eat fresh to be used in sauce later when I have enough. 

 This one tomato weight 1 pound 1 ounce!

One day's garden haul.  Eggs, Goat milk, tomatoes and peppers.

Pickled Eggs

Has anyone ever tried pickled eggs?  I for one have not.  Maybe because I grew up in California and not the south, pickled food was not a big staple in our diet.  That said, it is one of the most basic ways of preserving food so I am trying new experiments.  Last week we had a surplus of eggs (before we knew we were getting pigs). I turned to the internet (man, what would I do without the internet?) to get ideas on how to use the eggs.  I love the idea that pickled eggs will still be there in the winter when the hens slow down, or stop laying all together.  Not knowing if I like pickled eggs I only made two quarts.  I am thinking I will slice some to top off a salad?  If you like pickled eggs, how do you eat them? At least they look pretty in the jars for now!

Apple Cider Press

We found this apple cider press on craigslist and snatched it up!  It needed a mesh bag and everywhere I looked online was sold out.  I ended up buying a mesh laundry bag from Target and it worked perfectly.  And it was only $3.  So hubby and I bought some 2nd grade apples from the orchard nearby to test out the press.

We ended up getting carried away and pressed 1.5 bushels of apples.  That turned into 11 quarts of canned apple juice. 

Now that we know the press works we will try and make cider this fall when there is more of a variety of apples available.  I am not sure if our trees will produce this year but if so we will definitely be pressing or canning them!

Bunnies

During my no-blogging-because-i-chopped-off-my-finger (not really) break, we did manage to bring home 3 bunnies.  Two are American Blue and one is a Silver Fox New Zealand cross.  We will be breeding them come November.  I am trying to play with them on a daily basis so that they will be used to being handled and have a better temperament.   J (the 3 year old I nanny) really wants to play with them but I want to ensure they will be friendly with him before he is allowed to do so. 

 Beans (the cat) is checking out the new rabbit in the carrier

 This is our Silver Fox cross doe

Our American blue buns.  The boy is on the right and the girl on the top left

Sister Sister

One of my beautiful sisters is visiting this weekend.  She is on the East Coast for a business trip and I am so glad she was able to fit time in to visit us.  She will be here for a few days so I will not be blogging until she leaves.  I am sure you can understand. 

Its a Duck Egg

We got our first duck egg this week.  Unlike the chickens who lay in the nest boxes, the duck just lays where ever she feels like it on the ground.  Every day is like an Easter egg hunt trying to find where she laid an egg.  Her eggs are typically smaller than the jumbo chicken eggs.  Yesterday however, hubby found the mother egg.  This sucker is huge!  My suspicions were confirmed when I cracked it open.  Its a double yoke!  Double yokes are a not so unusual occurrence in both duck and chicken eggs.  This is the first that we have personally found.

Can you see how HUGE the double yoke egg is compared to the first?

New Farm Additions

Meet Buddie the Buck

On Sunday I drove down to a farm to pick up a new LaMancha buck (Mocha is a LaMancha and Latte is 50% LaMancha).  I ended up coming home with the buck as well as two piglets!  We have been wanting to get pigs, American Guinea Hogs to be precise, to help with our surplus of milk.  In doing research a lot of people have recommended growing pigs on milk (and feed). You can also feed pig eggs as long as they are cooked.  We are now up to 5-6 eggs a day.  Whatever eggs we don't sell we will boil and give to the pigs.  I am hoping to raise them extremely frugally since we are already paying for chicken and goat feed. They are already gobbling up the milk from this mornings milking!

They need names...One castrated boy and one girl

I have a good excuse...

Sorry I have been MIA for so long.  I had a small accident while slicing squash which involved also slicing my finger and taking a trip to the ER.  I have learned now to be extremely careful in the kitchen...The finger is healing quite well and I am back to being super busy. 

Thanks for sticking with me even though I haven't been on much.  Stay tuned this week to see our new additions and kitchen creations.