FOOD!

Just a couple of quick food notes -
A banana, gone a day past when I would eat it, was entirely perfect for satisfying a serious sweet tooth.  Mash it with about 1/2 cup sugar, a spoon of molasses, a half teaspoon of salt and vanilla plus an egg.  Add in about 3/4 cup fresh goat milk, 1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts, one dash (really - just a dash) of cinnamon powder and just enough self rising flour to create a stiff batter.

Pour it into a greased and floured loaf pan and bake at 375 until golden and a toothpick comes out clean, and you have deliciousness of epic proportions!

That preceded my favorite soup of all time!

Make a trip to your local Asian grocery store and buy a package of Pho Ga.  Bring it home.

Or Faux Pho with curry J 

This only took about 15 minutes to prepare.  Ingredient list:  Pho Ga powder, rice noodles, water, curry powder, coconut milk, onion, chili paste, shrimp, crab, carrots, sweet potatoes, fresh cilantro leaves, bean sprouts, jalapeno. 

(If Pho Ga powder isn’t available, you can use 6 cups of chicken broth to which has been added ½ tsp fish sauce and 1 tsp. soy sauce)

Make a trip to your local Asian grocery store and buy a package of Pho Ga. 

Cook and cool flat rice noodles (pho noodles or pad thai noodles) per package directions.  (usually simmer for 4-5 minutes, then drain in a colander and rinse with cool water)  Set aside.

In one pan, simmer salted water then add peeled carrots and sweet potato, peeled and cut into similar sized chunks.  Simmer only until just tender, then drain and set aside.

Boil 6 cups of water and add
2 tablespoons of the Pho Ga powder. Then shred in
1/2 of an onion - I use the tiny little hand mandolin for fine slices.  Then add about
1 and 1/2 tablespoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon chili paste (depending on level of heat desired)
1/2 can of coconut milk. 

(Save the cream to whip for a dessert topping, just use maybe 2 tablespoons of the cream, and the coconut water in the bottom of the can)  Simmer lightly then add

1/2 cup fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined and
1/2 cup crab meat, sliced.  (It's ok to use fake Krab for this since it's soup)

Cook until the shrimp is about done, and serve over cooked Rice Noodles with some of the carrots and sweet potatoes added in, and thinly sliced jalapeno and fresh cilantro leaves and fresh bean sprouts.  The shrimp will finish cooking in the hot liquid. 

Oh MY Goodness!! 

What a Sight!

I came home the other day to find all of the animals laid flat out in the pasture.  It looked like a sudden case of narcolepsy had taken over in the field... but no, they were all just enjoying basking in the sunshine of a warm spring day!

Lulu was perhaps less than thrilled that I had disturbed her

 peaceful afternoon amid the early grasses

Yep. Definitely annoyed.  

Goat Breeding

We are indeed late in breeding the girls, but the job is being done.  We brought home their new love (Ha!) a few weeks ago, and poor Neville is being shunned by the girls.

So what that he's a little smaller and a little younger, he's more than happy to do his job!  Gerie was a downright pill, actively preferring the useless wonder that is Chester the Molester.  Through much ado, Ms. Gerie was finally convinced that Neville was a perfectly good male and now her due date (provided all "took") is July 19th. 

All of those hormones, though, through no fault of their own have infected Balvenie and brought her into heat a week early.  It's another randy few days in the barnyard while Neville works hard to win over this blue eyed beauty.  Neville and Balvenie will get to spend some quality time alone together in the small separate pen, so if all goes well she should be due about a week after Gerie. 

Adventures in goat breeding - never a dull moment!

It's All A Choice

I have been extremely remiss in writing lately.  I started writing this blog for me, and if anyone else happened upon it and enjoyed it or learned something from it that's a bonus.  It has been very therapeutic and lately the lack of writing is evident in my daily life.

There are no excuses - just a fast "catch-up" on what's been going on.  In December I had bronchitis for the holidays, and recovered just in time to have sinus surgery on January 9th.  My activity is still somewhat limited and recovery is slower than usual, but recovery so it is.  The chicks moved from the closet to the barn in a mini-coop, and then into the back coop with their mini-coop inside of it.  They are gorgeous girls and we are sure they will be a fantastic addition to our pastures.  A week ago we bought and brought home a mini-lamancha buck named Neville.  He's perfect for Balvenie and Gerie, but he is working on earning his place in the herd. 

The real reason I logged in to write today though is a bit more introspective. 

We raise our goats and sell our soaps. We raise our own chickens for eggs and meat. We bake our own bread and cook from scratch.  We make our own beer and wine.  We set our own fences and are building our own garden. We make our own cheeses, and we even make our own laundry detergent.  We work hard at our day jobs and on our farm that we consider our real job.  And we are often asked "Why?" from folks who work at the same type of day jobs and go home only to regenerate enough to do it again the next day.  We often hear "How do you have the energy for all of that?" 

The answer to the question of "Why?" has so many layers. More and more often as I go to my day job and work to the best of my ability I find myself asking what sort of way is this to live? We spend our time working in jobs we do not love to go home exhausted and try to cobble together what we do want because it is all a step in the direction of achieving our goal.  That goal is to some day be off the grid and sustain ourselves from our own land. We want to reduce our negative impact on mother earth. We want to feel that what we do makes a difference in our own lives and in the lives of others.

We choose a simpler life. That means in the meantime is that we work toward the goal of having no debts, and building a means of supporting our desired lifestyle.  My favorite work is always with the animals and the land, even when it's blistering hot or freezing cold. It matters. 

That is a worthwhile choice.

It's A Muddy Morning

Muddy as all get out, and all Chester wants to know is if I brought him cookies!

 

 

 And my young ass has to show me her ass every time I bring a camera out.

Chickies

The babies are thriving!

Slacking!

I admit that I have been extremely lax in posting anything the past month or more.  Between some trauma and much illness, this is my first update since the death of the baby chickens in early December.

On December 19^th we received a shipment of live baby chickens!  Fifteen hens and one rooster were happily cheeping away in our big corner closet, with a heat lamp on them and some electrolyte enhanced water along with a chick feeder full of chick starter!  I, however, had one outrageous fever and a cough that wouldn’t go away.  The day before, Tuesday that is, I had gone to work with a fever and come home with a fever of 103.  Due to the high stress period at work, I had to go in on Wednesday.  I finally conceded to popular concerns and went to the doctor.  I had developed bronchitis.

A round of antibiotics, and a week of rest, and I was getting back on my feet.  That made me really glad that the university I work at was closed for that entire week! 

So I’m back on my feet, and just in time to have surgery in a week.  I’ll be out of commission for about 10 days, then once healed expect me to see some posts!  This is north Texas, and planting comes early for us.  We are building new raised beds for gardening, so February and March should be full of new updates from ZentopiaAcres!

The most exciting news of the week is that the chicks are growing in their primary feathers and have been moved to a temporary coop in the barn, with their heat lamp to make sure they stay toasty warm.  No more stinky chicks in my closet!!!  We are washing all scraps of fabric that had been in that closet, and scrubbing it top to bottom to rid it of the funk. They have a good start, and the weather is supposed to be pretty decent for the next week or so giving them even more time to grow new feathers. 

Thanks for the patience while we tended to personal business.