Happenings

A picture post to catch up on the goings on round ch'ere.
Tomatoes are coming in!

That squash (a Galeux de Eysines from Baker Creek... which took me about 2o seeds to get 2 plants because I planted 3 different times until something finally came up...) is getting ginormous. I measured it and it grows about 6 inches in a 24 hr period. I think it will take over the upper garden. I'm so glad only 2 came up! If they all came up I'd be in deep trouble right about now.

This was a few days ago.. it is about twice the size now.

June garden... basil ready for pesto.... mmmmmm. And tomatoes... finally the tomatoes.

Summer is time for .... ice cream. And we've been experimenting with how cold we can get our chill water before we put the ice cream in the actually freezer thingy. Well, you're supposed to chill it in the fridge for 12 hours but who has that kind of patience. Elly May came racing in to tell me she got it down to 0 F and I told her to take a picture but when she tried again it had gone up to 8... still that is pretty darn cold. It takes a lot of salt to get there.

Chocolate macadamia nut .... mmmm. Our own recipe. It is very rich and the best tasting chocolate ice cream EVER and it is made with raw milk so it is healthy. ;-) Only this batch.... well... someone didn't sniff the cream first and it was a little teeny bit on the sour side. So.... well... it just tastes a little ... shall we say... off...

What a beaut!!

Father's Day... we had hamburgers but grilled steak for dad. Was it ever good. Grass fed beef from Chaffin Family Orchards (thanks Chris!!) .

The spread..

Sample plate.

Pesto time.

Somehow it doesn't look as nice all chewed... I mean ground up.

Ever had pesto on a fried green tomato? You are missing out in life .

Yummy.

Makin' garlic braids with oversight from Jesse.

It is kind of fun once you get the hang of it.

Canning season is here! I accidentally deleted the pictures of the squash before it got this far but oh well. This is zucchini. Three kinds actually. A yellow, an Italian and a regular black beauty.. at least I think that is what it was. These are being pickled.

All done. Pickles are surprisingly easy. Well, the vinegar ones anyway. I've done the fermented ones and they take a bit more time and labor. Soon we'll (hopefully ) be canning dilly beans and tomatoes. Thats all for now around the farm.

Random Things...

Field peas make lovely greens for flower arrangements. So if you have some on hand....

This time it is Santa Cruz Lager. A very dark beer.

All the goodness dripping down.

It is almost like molasses.

Chillin the wort. This time I sped up the process by pouring several cups of salt over the ice. It chilled down in no time!

Elly May working wonders in the kitchen. This is a maple/rosemary chicken. You had to be there. Mmmmm.

I think Elly May has had snake on the brain lately. Mom was not pleased.

This one was more to Mom's liking.

It was a dinner party for Passover. We don't eat this much sugar usually... at least I don't think so.

More chocolate!

Stepping outside. The roses are all in full bloom. This is a David Austin rose by the name of Legendary Gold . It is breathtaking and one of my favorites .

Almost there!

He was cold so he wasn't moving around much. When he finally got heated through and through... he took off .

My back would hurt doing this .

Oh look , he is actually smiling for once in his sad , depressed , bored "why do you people do this to me" life .

Just because.

Just thought I'd share our skill and diligence as housekeepers. Actually, it is the latest green technology in moth catching. You should try it sometime.

Fishin'

We decided to head to the hills this past weekend to gather those killer nettles for more tea and go fishin'. There is still snow on those far mountains. We're following that silver truck up ahead. That contains the people who do the fishing. Our truck held the people who did the nettle collecting , fish gutting and cooking . Certain people are too squeamish to touch the fish they catch so they leave that to the girls. Is that right? Actually, we don't care really... the gutting is the fun part. Fishing takes too much patience. You have to wait and wait and wait for the fish to bite. Gutting just requires whacking the fish on the head and going at it with a knife. No patience necessary!!! Always a plus in my book. I don't exactly ooze the virtue of patience. In case you were wondering.

Elly May with the first fish..

Whack it sista!!!

I know you wanted to see what was inside..

My fish... dad caught him.

So I get to gut him. After whacking him of course. But I don't have a picture of that. I have video... but I'm not posting that. So there. I really don't mind the feel of fish so I'm not wearing gloves because of that. Just that water does nasty things to my hands so I try to stay out of it as much as possible.

Look at the slime!!

Ve scale de feeesh

The deer are so bold there...

And the frogs are out!

Now that we are home comes the cooking part. Well, first, we must tease the dogs. Because they go bonkers at everything.

I will bite you!!. Jesse was really curious and seemed to be okay with the thing until he brushed his nose up against the fish's teeth. Then I guess he thought it had bit him and that was that. He knew he didn't like it. Frank licked it at first.... then went ballistic.

Okay, now on to cooking. We rinse the suckers again and put them on tin foil. I hate using tin foil but .... well.. I didn't have any alternatives here . Maybe if I lined it with parchment....next time.

Can't get any fresher than that.

We salted and peppered them inside and out, tucked in lots of butter, onions and parsley. Then buried them in the same.

Then Elly May made a cute little packet for them. It still leaked butter....We baked them for 40 min in a 375-400F oven.

Look at the steam...

Help ! it is hot in here!!

They were fall apart tender.

I am dead.

But I am more dead than you! These suckers have very sharp teeth.

Mmmmm, nothing like a meal that can look you in the eye. It was incredibly tender and flavorful and fresh. Very very very good. And not at all fishy . I've had some very fishy trout before but I think what they eat has a huge effect on what they taste like. Well , that is true with anything. Anyway, it was a fun if not exhausting day full of , nettle stings, mushroom throwing, bug bites, fish slime, fish teeth and good eating.