Crackers - finally!

I've been wanting to make crackers for years but somehow have never gotten around to it.

We had a snowy day and our road was icy so we all spent the day at home - a perfect day for trying a fun and simple recipe. Cut with cute little cutters they seemed so intriguing that I simply could not wait to try them.

Such success!

2 cups (about 8.5 oz by weight) of shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup whole wheat flour
a dash of garlic powder, paprika, and oregano

Blend the whole thing well in the food processor.

Add: 6 tablespoons of cold butter cut up.

Blend in the food processor until it forms a ball. You might need a tablespoon or two of cold water.

Chill (if you have the patience to wait).

Roll out on a lightly floured board to about 1/8" thick. Cut with tiny cookie cutters and place on parchment paper.

Cook in a pre-heated 350 degree F oven for about 10 to 12 minutes.

They puff up and are delicious.

You may want to experiment with the seasonings (more salt, perhaps, or some onion powder).

The first batch that came out of the oven disappeared in just a few minutes. The children had a great time and we all had fun eating.

Silly Pants

We raise Shetland sheep here at our farm. They are small and give lovely wool in lots of different natural colors. The climate of the Shetland islands is similar enough to our Pacific NW climate that the sheep don't need much in the way of special care.

Recently a relative visited the Shetland islands and brought me back a small bag of DK weight yarn. This is the real deal - Shetland yarn from Shetland sheep from the actual Shetland islands - not the Pacific NW. There were five balls of yarn, each 25g, and each a different color.

I wasn't sure what I could do with 125g of yarn in five different colors other than hats. Then I thought of Charlotte.

Charlotte is our friends not-quite-two-year-old and she is a hoot. She loves to wear outrageous outfits (her mom likes to dress her in them, too) and she is quite a ham. I've been wanting to make a pair of Elizabeth Zimmermann longies again (I've made one pair for my own daughter when she was a not-quite-two-year-old), and thought that I could make a silly pair with lots of fair-isle type patterns.

Off I went - changing colors and patterns at a whim. What fun! I did knit both legs simultaneously (using both ends of the balls - a bit of a challenge) as I do have a tendency to be a single-sock-knitter and I was afraid that if I didn't knit both legs at the same time then I'd get one done and put the project aside.

I started it around December 26th and finished them today, January 6th. I didn't work too much on them this week, just finished the cuffs. Charlotte's mom helped by weaving in the loose ends (I told her honestly that, faced with all of those loose ends, if I had to do them all then Charlotte might well be too big for them by the time they were all done). I offered to split the job, but she did them all (I wove in about four of them - not even a drop in the bucket).

After weaving the crotch the only part left is blocking. I'll do that tomorrow so that they will be dry by Monday.

The Ravelry link is here: Silly Pants

Rustina, the guard cow

Much moo-ing was taking place and we just knew something was up. A quick check outside and we found that "something" (probably one of our kitties) was attempting to get on top of our "outside" refrigerator (in the woodshed) to check out our cooling pates.

Thanks, Rustina!

Seven pounds, four ounces

We thought that this was the biggest chicken that we'd ever seen. It was chicken slaughter day and we were sure that we'd get the "big bird" trophy.

Our chicken co-op competitors, I mean friends, are the real winners. Their biggest chicken...

seven pounds, thirteen ounces :-0

I didn't even know that chickens got that big...

Successful meal planned week!

While meal planning is a great theory, the execution requires somewhat more self discipline than can usually be found in groups (at least in our group). This week, though, we've been pretty successful.

Monday - busy day with work/school followed by music lessons in nearby city until 6 pm. Well planned with a crock pot chili (meat browned Sunday night and beans soaked from Sunday afternoon).

Tuesday - school/work, home briefly, then two of us stayed home while the other two went off to soccer practice. Originally I had a meeting scheduled for later that evening and so planned a quick meal. Pork chops, brown rice and veggies (Rice made on Sunday night, added to the veggie dish right before serving).

Wednesday (today) - school/work and then an evening at home. Chicken pot pie (chicken and stock prepared on the unexpected Tuesday night off) with biscuit crust. Four small pies left over for the four of us to have for lunch at school tomorrow.

Thursday (tomorrow) - already put on the crock pot with the pork hocks (cured from Sunday night until tonight) to cook overnight. Tomorrow add sauteed onions and dried split peas for a pea soup and let it cook all day. Tomorrow is another soccer practice, but this time I have a meeting directly after school and the other three, plus two more, will be home briefly and then meet us (parent of the other two) at soccer practice after the meeting. No time to cook - will just get home and have dinner.

No school on Friday (in-service for the teachers, but the other two have play-dates scheduled). There are lots of leftovers - we'll probably finish them off that night.

From the farm:
Monday - ground pork
Tuesday - pork chops, broccoli, peas
Wednesday - chicken, peas, as well as butter, lard and milk in biscuit crust
Thursday - pork hocks, onions, butter for saute

A little heavy on the pork this week, but we're going to have one and a half *more* pigs in the freezer before the end of the month so we needed to make some room. We need to have more people over for dinner...

Some thoughts on cream...

These are some thoughts that you have when you have a cow and get three to four gallons of milk a day. The milk is strained into one gallon glass jars and put into the "milk 'fridge'" (yes, we have a refrigerator which is designated for the overabundance of dairy products). After a day or two the cream has risen to the top. The milk is skimmed and the cream is put into one of two categories in which the terminology and the science is contradictory.

The "heavy" cream is as the top. It is very thick on real, actual milk right from a cow. In contrast to its name it is actually "lighter" than the rest of the milk. That is why it floats on top.

The "light" cream is the next layer. There is no clearly defined demarcation, you just go by feel and experience. It is actually heavier than "heavy" cream, which is why it sinks below the "heavy" cream.

See the contradictions?

After all of the cream has been skimmed off you have skim milk. I have heard that there are people who actually prefer to drink skim milk above all other kinds of milk. Interesting.

We give it to the pigs (living at a friend's house - they swing by after work and pick up five gallon buckets of it) or we make "curds and whey" (yes, just like Little Miss Muffet ate) and give it to the chickens.

I was surprised at how many people jumped right off of the "healthy" soy milk wagon when we recently brought a quart of heavy cream to work. Don't think we didn't notice how quickly that quart disappeared...

A waddling of ducks

There is a very large list of collective nouns for ducks, but the one that best describes what we have here on Haldan Farm is a waddling.

About a year and a half ago we bought several duckling from the local farm store. After spending some time in a confined space under lights getting adjusted we let them have their freedom around the farm. They did their job (eating slugs) and proved to be so funny and cute that we were shocked that we hadn't thought to get ducks years before.

Haldan Farm is, though, in a place which features many predator birds (owls, bald eagles, hawks and more) and we had some losses and got down to one clever female. We bought a few more ducklings from the farm store and the adult female literally took them under her wing and we had a new waddling. They always travel together and are such a joy when returning home from a late-night meeting. No matter the hour, they wake right up and come and greet at the driveway. No one can sneak onto our property at night! They are immediately assaulted with a cacophony of "quack, quack!"

Recently we acquired five more ducklings. These, like all of the others, were kept in a confined space for the first two weeks so that they could adjust to our place, but the adult ducks had access to view them and visited regularly.

Today is the ducklings first day out and about and those four ducks are taking them for a tour - really! They are waddling around and showing the littles the place, pausing when necessary so that everyone can catch up. I never knew ducks could be so wonderful, and now I can't imagine a farm without them!