Monday, October 25, 2010

Goat Kidding Kit

It's about that time and I just realized yesterday that I hadn't even thought about getting a birthing kit together.  Yogurt is getting huge and we really think she will have two kids.  :D

I'm hoping to be here when she kids, but most likely I won't be.  I'm hoping Dave will do ok by himself.  I'm sure she will kid just fine by herself, we will just need to get her and the kids inside the shed as soon as we can after she gives birth.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

NC State Fair!!!!!

 Big beautiful Elephant Ear.  So pretty.
 One of the featured gardens.
 Love the herbs in this one.
 My favorite of course.  It's got all veggies in it.  :D
 A shot of the whole display.  Sweet potato vine in the back.  It was really pretty with the red veins and green leaves.
 This was a display on growing a row for the hungry.  I need to do that next year.  :)
 In the greenhouse pretties.
 Love the bumpy pumpkin.
 A row of gourds. I had a hay day taking pics in this section.
 This thing was massive, very cool.
 Huge turbans.
 Looks like apple and bottle gourds, they were bigger than I've seen too.
 This was really pretty, but I can't remember what it was and the print on the card next to it is too small. :(  I want to grow it. 
 Chicken painted gourd.  Very cool.
 They're just huge.
 Of course they have a gourd club here in NC.  They even were giving away free seeds in little baggies.  I had to make sure they were all the same before I picked one out.  :)  Heh.
 Love the one on the right with the leaves, so pretty, I love fall.
 Small bumpy gourd.
 Here are the big monsters.  The pumpkin growing contest.  I think the biggest was 800 and something.  Did anyone see the world record pumpkin this year it was like 1800 plus.  Very cool.
 Massive watermelon.
 Tomatoes.  Yum.
 Look at this big guy, but he doesn't look very good anymore, oh well, pretty big though.
 I guess NC grows sweet potatoes, because they had tables of them.  : )
 This is so cool.  They had a lot of big ones.
And me, being a rule breaker, rubbing me some pork belly.  Loved the fair, definitely going back next year!!  I even got me a shirt.  : )

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Homemade Hand Dishwashing Liquid

I'm totally going to try this recipe.  Way cool and cheap!  

  Homemade Hand Dishwashing Liquid

 Ingredients

  • 2 Bars shredded Octagon soap
  • 1 cup baking soda
  • 1/4 cup washing soda
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice

Directions

Put shredded soap in 4 1/2- 5 quarts of water and melt on stove. When melted, turn stove off and add all other ingredients and stir. When cooled down, pour in sealed containers. Use as you would any other dish detergent. The only thing is that it doesn't sud much, but gets dishes really clean. I keep a partial bar of Octagon soap by the sink to use when needed. I also use 1/8 cup of vinegar in the rinse water. Hope this works for you!

Here is where I found this awesome recipe:  http://georgiafarmwoman.blogspot.com/2010/10/homemade-hand-dish-washing-liquid-not.html

Sprouts!

Of course its in the fox farm mix.  I think the compost isn't as fine a mixture as with the fox farms soil.  This is from Sat. Oct. 9th, yes I know, slow to get pictures up, but that is because I worked six days this last week. :P

Monday, October 11, 2010

Meet Our Rooster, Zurg :D

 Isn't he just gorgeous?  Here he is with two of the hens we picked up with him.  On the right is mama hen, she has a baby chick with her, I think a pic below shows the chick.  Of course, they are enjoying their kefir. : ) The rooster is pure Ameraucana, but the new hens are only part Ameraucana (they all lay blue eggs though), I figure the babies we get from them will be at least 75% Ameraucana.  You can tell especially because the hens don't have a rose comb, they have more of a single comb.
 Zurg and his gang of hens.  Our original flock in front, new flock in back.
 Another good profile pic.
 And the cheeks.  Aren't they great?
Here's the baby.  It's funny that the rooster is looking down at her (I'm thinking its a her, I'm hoping, then we could just keep her).  Mama hen is very protective and chases away the original flock from her offspring. What a good mama. : )

Pregnant Mama Yogurt

 Here's the I want to see what you have in your hands photo, but I don't want to get too close.  We really need to spend more time trying to tame her.  Ok, Dave needs to spend more time taming her since he's home more than I am.
 I had to add this one because she is such a cutie.
This is the look my belly is so big.  Babies are on the left side, her right.  I can't wait to meet her kid(s).  :D

Friday, October 8, 2010

Flaxseed Brownies! Yum!!! The New Diabetic Treat!

 Mmmmm.....  Looks like baby poop to me.  LOL!  See, now you really want to eat it huh.  I ate it like cereal, broken up and with whole milk on it.  It didn't spike me at all.  Love it!
So happy to have found some good stuff on the Diabetes Forum.  This is a great recipe from someone who is only taking supplements besides eating well and exercising for his diabetes. 

Here is the recipe:


Flaxseed Brownies

Made up this recipe when first Dxed after reading what my body needed in order to repair the damage that D did for me over those yrs of being unDxed.

When I first started eating them I would get a moderate spike (130-140) but the spike was short lived and then my BG became quite tolerable with them, the spikes became quite mild. I was eating 3-6 of them daily, some times more.

They are good if you over bake them, let them sit out till they become hard, break them up in the morning as cereal, I used low carb Almond milk with them.

Blend in good blender

2 - 7oz packs of unsweetened prunes, (antiox)
3 - large eggs, (protien)
3 - very unripe bananas ( if they peel they are to ripe ) (green hard as a rock) (Resistant Starch)
- enough water to keep blender running

Place the batter in a mixing bowl and add

1 - cup Whole Flax seed (fiber and ligands, fats)
1 - cup Ground Flaxseed (I like the Red bobs organic, it is flour like) (fiber and ligands, fats)
1 - cup of Buckwheat (Inositol)
1 - cup of Sunflower seeds (fats, protien)
1 - 8oz pack of Walnuts crushed (fats, protien)
1 - tsp of baking powder
1 - tsp of Baking soda
1- Vanilla

I spread them out on a large cookie sheet with parchment paper underneath, cook at 350 for 20-30 minutes depending on the thickness of your mix. I brushed some melted butter on the top before I took these out.

Servings 32
Cal - 188
Carbs - 17
Fat - 12
Fiber - 5
K - 303
Protein - 7

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Still Nothing

I just checked our little winter sowing project and no little sprouts yet.  It has gotten really cold my goodness.  Hopefully they are warm enough in those milk jugs and we can get a few plants.

We bought a new flock to add to our hens and a big beautiful rooster.  I will take pictures soon.  So far the hens can hold their own against ours and are doing well.  They lay eggs too. : )  The rooster crows and breeds the hens unlike the other rooster, who we think was sick for a long time, we just didn't know it.  This rooster is huge and very colorful and not aggressive at all to people either.  I'm liking these non-aggressive roosters were getting, its very nice compared to the mean little poophead that we dealt with last.  He even attacked James, and that's a big no no.

Oh, and our Kombucha should be ready this weekend, though Dave wants it fizzy so I need to look into making it fizzy after the making of the scoby process of fermentation.  I can't wait to taste it.  Yum!

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Compost Comparison Experiment for Work :)

I love my job.  LOL!  They want me to test out a brand of compost they can get locally, which I think is great!  Don't have to ask me twice to do an experiment like this.  LOL!
 Here it is!  Harvest in the City Compost.  It comes in a 5 gallon bucket, which the empty bucket can be returned and you save $2 on your next bucket.  It even has tips on how to use it on the website.  Nice. :)
 It really is beautiful.  So lovely to put your hands in.  :D  I love having my hands in the dirt.  My hands feel at home there. 
 It's up against Fox Farms.  I think as long as its comparable, I will suggest we use it.  I'm going to add both to my seed starting mix and see how the seeds grow that I plant in them.
 My necessary tools since I'm going to use the winter sowing method to start these seeds.  Permanent marker to label each milk carton, knife to cut milk carton, scissors also to cut milk carton.
 Duct tape is necessary as well for this project.  For labeling and taping the milk jug back together.
 My favorite winter sowing vessel.  The milk jug.
 Perlite, an additive to my seed starting mix.  Helps aerate the soil and retains water to keep the soil wet longer.
 Worm castings.  Another additive to my seed starting mix.  Also known as worm poop, plants love this stuff.
 First, cut the milk jug like so, leaving one side attached so you can easily tape it back together when your done.  Start by poking the knife where you want to cut and then use the scissors to do the rest.
 Poke holes in the bottom with the knife.  Preferably first before you cut your milk carton around the middle and with a heated knife, I usually don't cut myself, but did this time.  Not good.
 Fox Farm mixture.  1/3rd fox farm soil, 1/3rd perlite, and 1/3rd worm castings.
 Harvest in the City mix.  1/3rd Harvest in the City Compost, 1/3rd perlite, and 1/3rd worm castings.
 One of the seed starting mixtures mixed together.  Yay!  I did each separately, but only shown one, didn't think we needed pictures of each since you probably get the idea.
 In your milk carton like so.  Oh and make sure to label each milk carton at this point by using the duct tape and permanent marker.  Put it on the bottom of the milk carton so the sun won't bleach it.
 Water the soil and let it drain.
 Figure out what you want to plant.  In this case I'm going to use my favorite lettuce seeds.  We eat a lot of lettuce.  :)
 Put seeds in like so.  Depending on the type of seed you use we'll determine the depth of the seed, in this case, lettuce seed needs light to germinate so I just sprinkle them on top.
 Press them down with the back of your hand into the soil so they make contact with the soil and soak up some of the moisture.
 Now, its time to get out that trusty duct tape and tape your milk jug back together.
 You are done, finished Fox Farm milk jug, note there is no lid, they need air, so leave it off and recycle it.
 Harvest in the City milk jug is done.  I also labeled the sides of the milk cartons, sometimes it will still be there when all is said and done, but not always, so make sure to label the bottom with duct tape too.
 Sitting in there spot, hopefully it won't take long before we have some sprouts.  : ) Every few days I will update with pictures on how they are doing.  Water when the surface looks dry, I'm hoping it will rain often enough I won't have to water. ; )