Saddled up and ready to go!

From the country... So my mail order turkey saddles have arrived and after an evening of wrestling turkey hens, most of the ladies have canvas adorning their well protected backs. While dressing the ladies, one hen in particular fly up and me, wings a flappin' and with a swift flap to the face, I could have sworn she broke my nose (not the case... my nose is just fine). All the turkeys are separated into various breeding pens and now it is up to nature to take it's course. Call me off kilter, but we have been watching the mating of turkeys lately and it is quite an impressive feat. I can see why the big breasted commercial turkeys cannot mate naturally, it is a pretty involved process. All Mark and I talk about these days is the sex lives of our turkeys (farmer foreplay I guess...). I have a spent some quality time in the greenhouse transplanting lettuce seedlings and seeding down the cold frames with various salad greens. After a long winter of root vegetables I am looking forward to chowing down on some fresh green things. So all said and done, I have been officially bit in the rubber boots by spring. Every day a new farm project is started and I feel the excitement of starting a new season.

"The Best Scrambled Eggs" The Egg Series.

From the country...

On the search for alternative egg recipes for my second edition to the egg series, I came across this recipe for "The Best Scrambled Eggs". I decided to try to prepare something we cook up all the time, but in a slightly different way. Around here we whisk the eggs with milk, fire up the pan with butter and add the scramble eggs to an already heated pan. This method usually produces a nice fluffy, voluminous scrambled egg.

This recipe does things a little backwards. You basically add the eggs, butter, salt and pepper into the skillet and scrambled them together while the pan is coming to temperature. As the butter melts into the eggs a creamy texture happens.

Rating 7.5 outta 10

Comments: Super creamy and a completely different texture then what we are used to. Really velvety, dense and buttery. Different mouth feel for sure! Not your typical fluffy scrambies. I did not have the caviar or smoked salmon that the recipe suggested as a garnish. Drats! (not too many jars of caviar around here...) Because of the texture, the yield was less then what we would normally get from 5 scrambled eggs. Will make again from time to time.

Next up: Eggs Benedict

Here's to you, Theodore!

From the country...

To my cousin Lil' Theo Tree,

Blowin' some kisses your way

Lots of love,

Miss Millie Mae

Castor Oil Smoothie Success!!

From the City...

Well that stuff really worked! After a quick seven hour labor at home, Theodore Tree was born into my arms. A nice little 7 lb 11 0z package of perfection if I do say so myself. Needless to say I'm ecstatic. He really is an incredible addition to our family.

If anyone needs us, we'll be spending the next week in bed cuddling, nursing and getting to know each other.

xoxamelia

41 weeks and 2 days.

From the City...

I visited my midwife today and she gave me a recipe for a very delicious concotion that should, hopefully, kick start this labor. The goal is to not be induced this weekend so Simon and I are trying pretty much anything, including this castor oil, almond butter, apricot juice smoothie. I can just feel your envy right now.

Here's a shot of my belly, hopefully it'll be the last one. It's huge right? Simon is for sure that it's a boy, I'm just sure that it needs to vacate, asap.

amelia

Thinning out the flock: chicken killing with city kids.

From the country...

March break for me means a house full of kids. My kids are here of course, my step son Eli is a March break regular and this year my niece Paige has decided to visit for her spring break. Both Paige and Eli are from the city of Windsor. Both have never tried their hands at chicken killing and upon inspecting their small nimble fingers (perfect for plucking) we decide to "thin out" the last of the roosters in the barn.

I was impressed, I must admit. They took to it like regular farm hands and Eli stayed to the bitter end as the last feather was plucked and the last rooster eviscerated (Paige had long since bailed on the operation but was watching lil' Millie in the house for me...). I think it was a great experience for them, to come to the farm and see first hand the humane process of killing a chicken for the table. To be able to bring food a little closer then the aisles of the grocery store and to get their hands a little dirty in the process. Maybe gain some perspective on farm living. So far we have had them help out with cleaning the turkey pens, "thinning out" the roosters and seeding the bed in the green house. Not bad for a week away from the city.

The list of spring jobs are piling up. We have the chicken coop to clean out, the turkey pens to be set up for breeding, the greenhouses to re-plastic, seeding to be done and on and on...

The warm days and extra daylight have been encouraging and although the task list is daunting I am finding the motivation to start getting things done around here.

Chicken for dinner tonight.

Freedom!

From the country...



...Spring at last?

40 weeks + 4 days but who's counting?

From the City...

Well baby's due date has come and passed and we're all still waiting (Simon, Ruby and I). Simon's on march break this week so together we've been doing lots of walking, movie watching and reading. Luckily the weather has been quite nice in Toronto so we're taking the opportunity to enjoy the sun. Tonight at the Art Gallery of Ontario it's free from 6:30-8:00 so we're also thinking about swinging by for a little tour around.

Anyway, here's a really good recipe for banana bread that I made yesterday in anticipation that midwives would be coming over to birth baby but instead it's just me eating it.

It's from the Joy of Cooking, so you know it's good.

*Note: it will not induce labor, doesn't matter how much of it you eat, trust me.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk together:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Beat in a large bowl at medium speed until creamy:

1/3 cup sugar

6 tbsp. (3/4 stick) butter

Beat in:

1 to 2 large eggs, beaten

4 ripe bananas

Add the dry ingredients in about 3 parts, beating until smooth after each addition. Fold in, if desired:

1/2 cup chopped nuts

1/4 dried apricots

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Scrape the batter into a greased pan. Bake the bread about 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool slightly then unmold. Cool completely before slicing.

Sewing for Baby

From the City...

Last week was my first week home on maternity leave and I would have much rather had a baby to cuddle and get to know all week but s/he decided to stay put and cook for a while longer. So therefore I have had to find other things to do to occupy my time. Last week in Toronto was rainy and cold so much of the week was spent nesting and crafting.

I knew I wanted to craft some sort of doll because I have been consumed with thoughts of baby girls lately. If a boy decides to appear though, we'll just have to consider this new doll a gift from one baby cousin to another (here's looking at you Millie Girl).

So here was my inspiration:


This woman's dolls are incredible. They are also super reasonably priced, so if you don't feel like spending the entire day swearing at your sewing machine (the route which I decided to take) support her and buy one.

She's over on etsy, here's her link: Her pics are also much better than mine so if you do decide to make your own, check 'em out.

What you'll need:

• Fun Fabric
• Sewing Machine
• Paper/Marker (for template)
• Cotton Batting
• Sewing Notions

Here are my steps:

1. First I cut out templates in paper.

2. I then cut out the fabric.

3. I then stitched and stuffed the arms and legs.

4. Then I hand stitched the face and then sewed the face to the head and sewed the ears to the back of the head. I initially sewed lips but then decided I didn't like them so I took them off and just hand stitched super simple eyes and a v-shaped mouth.

5. From the left corner, sew the body attaching the arm and then the head and then other arm.

6. Stuff the body.

7. Sew the bottom of the dolls body attaching his or her legs along the way.


I'm pretty happy with how she turned out. Her heads a wee wonky but that's the good thing about hand made stuff. I might even attempt to make another, more gender neutral, doll this week. I also made a really simple rose to put in her hair which was just two different colored four leaf flowers cut out with circles in the middle. This is entirely optional.

Note: the incredible owl stuffed animal that my sister in law Rosey made for me. Isn't he the cutest???

Something Different. An egg series.

From the country...

We have ALOT of eggs being laid here. The hens are worth their weight in gold, laying the Best Eggs Ever. I love eggs and could have them every morn but we switch from egg morning to oat/yogurt morning with pancakes/waffles on Sunday. I get slightly irritated on oat morning, it just isn't as satisfying as good ol' eggs. We are lucky here at the farm to be able to go out to the coop and scoop up some warm eggs under the bottoms of some hard working ladies.I could never buy eggs at the grocery store again.

Once you go fresh, you can never go back to mundane.

I digress...

Anyway we grow slightly tired of the standard poached, scrambled, and fried with the odd omelet the we often prepare. I am on a mission to try different way to cook eggs, so the egg series is born! Today I tried soft boiled eggs.

Rating: 6 (out of 10)

I followed the directions cooking them for only 4 minutes but the kids found them a little too runny. The presentation in the egg cups reminded me of Royalty- like getting out the fancy tea cups. Our fresh eggs stuck to the shells a little bit , so next time I will try to use slightly older eggs. You can serve them with toast soldiers so that the kids can dunk them in the yolk.

In conclusion, soft boiled eggs are fun to eat and are kinda fancy. I will cook the eggs longer next time and use older eggs for ease in eating.

Next up coddled eggs.

Sunday Food

From the country...



...Buckwheat pancakes for breakfast with stewed sour cherries and maple syrup. Leek, ham, and oyster mushroom quiche with a whole wheat crust, topped with aged cheddar for lunch....

Farm life = good eatin'

Quiche recipe

For the pastry recipe, mosey on over to here.

For the filling:

saute garlic, leek, ham and mushrooms in a skillet until just tender.

cool mixture.

pre bake pastry for about 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven, cool.

add half of the cooled leek mixture to the bottom of the pastry.

add egg mixture -3 eggs 2/3 cups milk or cream whisked together ( I doubled this for my quiche)

add remaining leek mixture to top

sprinkle heavily with shredded cheddar cheese

pop into a 350 degree oven until center of quiche is set (about 45ish minutes)

cool slightly before tearing into it.

enjoy!

Making Ravioli

From the country...

squash ricotta filling

the first step in noodle making

I tried my hand at pasta making the other night (whole wheat ravioli stuffed with squash and ricotta cheese with a gorgonzola sauce, to be exact.) which turned out pretty good. I have made ravioli before only to have it blow up once it hits the boiling water but this time it went off without a hitch. Next time I will switch up the filling to something even more savoury like oyster mushrooms, as I found the squash too sweet for my taste. The pasta recipe on the other hand I will make again. If you have some time on your hands try making ravioli, you won't regret it. Click here for the pasta recipe.