Recipe for a Hot Summer Day

Making life a little easier. Sounds good doesn't it. Seems like there is always a million things to do & not enough time to do them. I was just finishing up making almond milk after working outside most of the day and started thinking of the coffee smoothie I made yesterday when it was so darn hot. By the way, it has been 58 degrees all day today. A forty degree drop....yes. Feels so good. Anyway, I thought came to me on how to make the smoothie a little easier to make. I will still be making the almond milk the regular way (click here for the recipe) but I will now add chocolate syrup and freeze it in ice cube trays. You see I usually crave this coffee smoothie on the hottest days of summer. The colder the smoothie, the better. Here is what's in it...

Coffee Smoothie
Your favorite coffee. Amount is up to you. (My favorite right now is Organic Kickapoo Coffee Mocha Java)
 Throw in the chocolate almond milk ice cubes. Or just add chocolate syrup & unfrozen almond milk.
Add some plain ice cubes
Add a banana or two (or any fruit you like...frozen makes it even better)
Blend away.
There are many substitutes for the coffee. Try coconut milk for a really creamy treat.
Experiment until you get the thickness and slushyness you want.

This morning, guess who woke me up? Bubbles the rooster, crowing at 6am. So funny! He is in the workshop room next to our living area. He has been crowing (in his juvenile voice) for a week or so but always at night around 8. Today I heard him at 6am, 8am & when I came back inside at 5:30. Guess I won't have to think about setting an alarm with him around :-)

Handsome, isn't he?

I picked the first strawberries of the season today.

Don't they look tasty in that purple bamboo bowl?

I also noticed when mowing in the orchard that there are Pixwell Gooseberries on the bushes. This is the first time I've grown them & can't wait to taste them. We planted them last spring. Nice to have instant fruit (unlike the apples, cherries & pears we have :-)

Love the color & the stripes

I think it is early to bed tonight. It is supposed to rain tonight & tomorrow. In that case it will be a much needed inside cleaning day. Have a great weekend!

Make Hay While the Sun Shines

That's part of the garlic growing in the foreground.

The temps were still in the 90's today.  I was outside working for all but about an hour of it. So many things to do. The garden being the main focus. I am almost done planting. Just a couple climbing beans left.  I would have finished but storm clouds started to move in tonight & I decided that putting up bamboo tee pees for the beans & peas on a metal ladder, wasn't such a good idea.

This is Johnny & Raman (?). I'm sorry, with 12 kids it's hard to remember all the names :-). They were filling the water cart before walking up the driveway for supper. I talked to Eli this morning about making sure the horses have enough water while they are in our pasture. He kind of talked over me & disagreed about the amount of water horses need.  I told him to make sure they always have water available. Not sure if he will do it, but if not, they won't be in our pasture any longer. We don't understand why they do this. Their horses are a part of their livelihood. Besides it is inhumane.
Last night while planting squash, I found huge foot prints in the garden. I actually called the neighbors to see if they could come over & see what they thought.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but that is a ruler & the print was 3 inches deep.

 Do you know how many hits come up about Bigfoot when you look up "huge animal print" :-)?
Well, Jim said it was a draft horse print. They put both hooves in the same print. So that brought up the fact that Eli hasn't finished the fence or gate yet. That has been going on for over a month. Well, actually it has been going on for four years as far as the animals (sheep, cows, horses & chickens) being where they aren't supposed to be (all over the property & mainly in the garden). We share our driveway with them. We bought from his brother & her sister & decided not to make them get their own driveway. So the only way to keep the animals on their property, is to put a gate up on the property line across the driveway. Eli says he needs one taller post for the gate & I offered to buy it today. He said someone he knows has one & he'll get it. Ugh! We'll see how fast he gets it.
(re-reading this ...I sound like a bi***. I'm really not. Really! Just been going on for so long with their promises of not letting the animals on our property, that it is frustrating.)
Okay. Rant done.

 I leave you with pics of bringing in the hay...

Raking the hay.

Picking it up to bring to the barn.

Can It Get Any Hotter?

Well, I guess it can. Today's high 93...tomorrow 95. This isn't the desert type of hot. This is the Midwestern humid type of hot. What's a little hot weather, though. Did it stop a gardener from getting her work done? No, even though I would have liked to be out of the sun. I feel a NEED to get the garden in. I feel as if it is late already. Most every thing is in except....climbing beans & peas (three kinds of each), all the squash (winter & summer) the cucumbers & the pumpkins & melons. I hope to get up early tomorrow & get most of it done in the cooler temps (if you call 73 degrees at 5am cool :-).
Besides gardening today, I had a unexpected visitor. Here he is.....

This is Bandit, the neighbor's new puppy. No, not the Amish. This is the people that live behind us.
They had to go to a funeral today,so I got to puppy sit. He was a good puppy all day. He slept in his cage when I wasn't playing with him. Mia (the cat) wasn't sure what to make of him. He is only 6 weeks old but he is already huge. He's a  St. Bernard.
The Amish neighbors started to cut the hay today. I do like to see the horses being used so much more that regular tractors. We have a conventional farm across the road from us & I swear they have plowed, limed, raked and sprayed the same field over & over again in the past two weeks. Of course today, the wind was coming from that direction, so I went inside and closed the windows until they were done spraying :-(
Coyotes have been around lately & I hear them again tonight. One was pretty close last night. The chicken coop is being built like Fort Knox & I hope it keeps them safe. Shep barks when he hears them. If we could just get him to stay nearby...
Hope you have a great day...stay cool where ever you are.

More Projects Complete & a Surprise

Last week was a busy one at the farm. I didn't get much gardening done, but that is because there were people here working for two of the days. I wrote about the roof ridge cap being done but I didn't write about the other thing that was done that day. And that was because it was a surprise for Steve. If you have been reading the blog for a while, you know that Steve & I have put in all the windows so far (and there are a lot of them). Well, there were three windows left to do on the upper west end of the barn. After balancing on scaffolding too high in the air too many times, I didn't want Steve up there again. So I arranged for the company that did the ridge cap to also do the windows. I kept this a secret for at least a month or more. So Friday afternoon when Steve got here, I told him I wanted him to see something. So we walked to the side yard & I told him to turn around. He was so surprised & happy! It was so worth it! I didn't even know how much he was dreading doing those windows until then.

This is the "easy " way to do it.

All the windows are done now. Someday there will be a deck out that door too.

On Thursday, we had and inch of soy insulation blown on the under side of the roof & knee walls. That was an all day project. What a difference it makes though. It is a light green color so it really brightens up the place. We will eventually be finishing off the rest of the insulation ourselves, but at least this seals everything up tight. Between the insulation & the ridge cap, we shouldn't have any more rain coming in or bats (like our one last year).

Wouldn't want this job.

 We worked on the coop all weekend and are getting a little closer. Right now, the base is set up and leveled & the walls are built. Next weekend, windows, doors, ladder & hardware cloth work. They should be in there soon.

One More Project Done!

We have such a long list of projects at the farm. One of them is to get a guest area done sometime on the third floor. Right now, guests can stay in the room we used to stay in. We call that the "cabin room.". Someday it will probably be part of the shop area though, so we are making half of the third floor a livable area. Future plans are to put in a full bath (already roughed in for that), and have an open space which we can put dividers (screens) to separate bed areas. I will also use that space for my crafting projects and of course we can watch the beautiful sunsets up there too. So today, we had the ridge cap on the roof repaired. It wasn't as bad as we thought, but it was leaking into the attic when we had a blowing rain. Turns out that there wasn't foam under the ridge cap all the way across like there was supposed to be & that is why it leaked. So we didn't need a brand new cap after all, just a repair of the existing one.

What a great way to handle roofing projects.

At least it was in the 70's not the 90's today. This is the kind of project that you actually want to pay someone to do :-).
While we had that great piece of machinery around, I asked if they could get the big branch down that broke off the top of one of trees last August when the tornado came through. It has been hanging there right outside the picture window bugging me all this time :-). Well, now it's down.

Before and out of our reach to get it down.

On the way up to pull it loose.

Tomorrow, the work continues. We are having one inch of insulation blown onto the underside of the roof and knee walls. This will seal all the nooks & crannies (no more bat flying in) and give us a good base for finishing the insulation at a later time.
I really need to get some planting done. The potatoes, tomatoes, peppers & sunflowers are in but that's it. I thought I would get something done this morning , but I needed to rearrange everything stored up on the third floor before the insulation tomorrow morning. All of the boxes, etc. had to be moved to the center of the room. I had every intention of planting corn tonight but ended up weeding the garlic instead. Then, since the sun was setting and I was running out of daylight,  I went to buy eggs from Lizzie & talked to her & Eli for a while. The baby is doing great. Gaining weight & shows no effects from the pneumonia.
Tomorrow there is a chance storms all day so I'm not sure what I'll get done in the garden. It is lightening off to the southwest right now but not supposed to rain tonight :-(.
Chicken update...today there was some squawking going on in the workshop. Wilma had flown the coop & was walking around on the floor. They are all taking turns perching on the edge of the brooder now. She is the first (that I've seen) on the floor. They are so goofy. I have been feeding them oatmeal every day in a pie tin and they go crazy! They hear my voice & they all come running over to see what I have in my hand for them. Okay, I will probably be called the "crazy chicken lady" and will try not to talk about them too much :-).
Hopefully, next time I blog, I 'll have more done in the garden...

Phoebe, & Cassie (on the edge of the brooder)

Problem Solved!

We have been talking about the flooring for the house/barn since day one of planning the living area. While searching Craigslist, we came upon an ad for pine flooring from a 1920's barn. It is 7" and 9" widths & perfect! There is enough to do the whole house. We wanted a floor with "character". One that wasn't too shiny or new. One that I could just sweep up & it would look fine. The wood came out of an old Iowa barn hay loft. The man that was selling it is in the business of taking down old barns. His business is Iowa Barn Savers out of Guttenberg. So we brought it home.

Good thing we had the extended van with us this weekend. It was quite a load (especially to unload at home with just Steve & I). So the next step is washing all the boards one by one & letting them dry outside. Then we will stack them in the workshop area until it is time to install. I am thinking maybe this fall or winter. We have so many projects to do outside until then. Once we get the floor down, we'll sand it, then put on the finish. I am so excited about this! I can picture it all done (and I wish it was :-).
The chicks are doing great. They are growing so fast! Bubbles (the rooster) and Cassie (the smallest chick) have both flown up & perched on the side of the brooder. I couldn't believe Cassie did it. She is the youngest. I think I will have to start using a screen on the top at night. I did that the first couple nights but then stopped. Steve started building the coop today.

He is standing on the bottom & the front wall frame is laying on top of that.

It will have two windows and a chicken door in the front that they can walk out into a screened area.  As we get more done, I will explain more of the plan. The chicks will be very happy in their new home.
Since it finally decided to warm up (almost 90) we decided to let them outside in the shade today in old dog cages that our son Shane gave us.

One larger cage with four chicks & the rooster & the smaller with two chicks.

They seemed to like it out there in the grass. Steve was close by & I was in the garden. On the way into the barn I realized that Cassie had squeezed her way out of the bigger cage. So I put her in the smaller one & she escaped from that one too. Not only that, the other chicks decided to follow her lead & do the same! Our neighbor's dog Brutus was sitting nearby but he didn't even care. So we grabbed them all up & put them back inside in the brooder. Guess outdoor time will have to wait until they are a little bigger. :-) Bubbles the rooster will still get his time outside, though.
Our neighbor's Scottish Highlander cow had a calf last week. I got to see it at a couple days old. So cute!

Mom keeping an eye on her baby.

We now know it's a boy.  Eli & Lizzie's cow had her calf last night. Another boy. They are glad she finally had it because they have been buying three gallons of milk day for quite a while from another Amish family. I don't agree with taking the calf away from the mother right away like they do, but they do a lot of things I don't agree with :-). We have been having an issue with their horses not having any water lately. I just don't understand. I am going to have a talk with them again about it though. The horses are in our pasture and the water trough they have in there has a leak. It has had this leak all spring. The horses go the whole day without water. Last night they woke us up kicking in the trough. I don't blame them. My neighbor who teaches natural horse training has talked to them about it too. I'll let you know the outcome of the situation...
It is 8 pm and still 83 degrees. I am not complaining though. It has been a cool spring here in the Midwest. An hour ago I went out and picked more Stinging Nettles for tea. I just can't get enough of it. I believe that a craving like that means your body is lacking what it provides (unlike chocolate cravings :-). Nettles are rich in iron, calcium, and tons of other vitamins and minerals. Most important to me is it is a detoxifier for radiation (really, do you think that just because Japan's problems disappeared from the main stream news, that it just went away?) Also can be used for treating for UTIs, and balancing  women's hormones. Nettle is also recommended to anyone with allergies or hay fever. This year allergies seem to be more severe, so drink your tea :-)
"How do I make it?" you say . Well, I'm going to be lazy & link you with a fellow blogger named Rachel who lives here in town. You might of heard of Lusa Organics? I bought some products for Jaelyn. They are wonderful. Check out her blog Clean. She does a great job of explaining how to find, harvest & consume nettles and always has inspiring posts.
I have also been making yogurt cheese lately. I react to dairy in that yucky way with mucous the day after I eat it .(In other posts, I have explained how I kicked my asthma by changing my diet.) Yogurt doesn't seem bother me though. Also making Kefir with raw milk didn't bother me but whole milk definitely did. So my handy dandy yogurt cheese maker has been getting a workout lately.
It is really simple. Buy or make your yogurt. I like the kind I get at the coop from Seven Stars Farm. I also prefer plain so I can add my own herbs or spices.

Simple. Just a container, lid & screen.

Spoon in the yogurt. Put the lid on & put in the fridge.

This is whey. This is what drains out of the yogurt. It is a great protein source that I use in making smoothies.

 So I just realized I don't have a picture of the finished yogurt cheese. It  looks like yogurt, only a thicker consistancy. What flavorings do you like in a dip that you might usually make from cream cheese? Really, anything goes. A simple recipe is to add salsa or maybe your favorite salad dressing or favorite herbs. Make some Cheesy Chips to go with it and you have a healthy snack or appetizer.
Well, I am tired from gardening in the heat today. I have a full day tomorrow of planting, too. We also are expecting the guy to come & install a roof cap on the barn. It didn't have a great one to begin with & the storm last year seems to have bent it too. We have minor leaking in the attic but will take care of that this week (I hope).
I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend!

A New Addition to the Farm

I made this video for my great-nieces, Addy & Noelle. We went to Garfield Farm in Geneva, IL on Sunday for the Heritage Breed Show. Trisha (who you can find blogging here) brought them to see all the rare breeds of farm animals at the show. Of course, we couldn't go home empty handed. So we have seven new chickens! Hopefully, six are hens & we know one (the month or so older one) is a rooster. If you watch the video, you'll know the names we picked out are as follows....Bob (or Bubbles, his nickname) is the rooster. Then there is Henrietta, Hannah, Callie, Phoebe, Wilma & Betty. They are all Javas and were hatched at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Here is a little more about the breeding program. It is a possibility that I will need to get more hens if we have a more than one rooster and have to give them away.  I just love watching them. Bubbles & Phoebe are eating out of my hand now & I am picking them all up to get them used to being handled. Steve mentioned getting some ducks so I need to research that, too. And of course, alpacas are still in the future (maybe this summer). I guess you could call us farmers now that we have poultry.
A far as the garden goes, it has been a cool spring, so not much is planted. I did get most of the potatoes in. Today I mowed, which takes a long time, and it is very cool & windy tonight. Rain is coming for tomorrow, but Thursday & Friday look like nice days.We did plant six grapes last week that the neighbors gave us. Love that we have lots of fruiting bushes & trees growing. We are hoping for some apples, cherries & pears from the orchard this year too.
Well, enough for now. It is 8pm and I haven't ate dinner yet.
Have a great week!