Merry Christmas

Cows Go Quack

So I just ate the best steak I’ve had in a while. Mmmm steak. Thick, juicy homegrown steak. Homegrown you say? Um… didn’t I read that you think you may only have an acre total land that’s not woods?

Yep. No cows for us. Not unless the Lord blesses us with a big piece of land someday. But we’ve found the next best thing. Muscovy Duck. Okay it’s a toss up between deer and muscovy. Deer is free and boy you get a lot of meat. But it is a bit gamey. AND well... we haven't gotten one this year. Our tiny piece of property doesn't make for the best hunting. Anyone in Middle TN have a large piece of land they want to let Clay hunt on? Please? But muscovies cost feed all year, but man, no gamey flavor and taste like beef. It’s almost crazy how much they taste like beef.

This is how I cooked these couple ducks. I take the breast off. You cook those just like a nice steak. I sear them in a pan and stick the pan in the oven for a handful of minutes. We like ours nice and rare. Then I parted out the rest of the duck. I put in a roasting pan and slow roast em at a low temp for a number of hours until tender. I picked all the meat off. I had Clay taste the meat and he thought it was beef roast. I swear it tastes just like roast. It’s unbelievable.

And oh duck fat. Muscovies have a lot of nice fat. I’m stoked to be able to put a big tub of it in the fridge. Good stuff. Right now I’m cooking all the bones down to make “beef” stock. I’m going to use that yummy shredded meat I picked off to make “beef” stew tomorrow.

Hmm I wonder how many ducks we’ll need to raise next year? Beef twice a month? Two ducks each time? So 50 ducks or so to raise for butcher next year? We have about 12 more to butcher in the next few weeks so that’s 6 meat meals + 6 soup meals.

Why didn't I take pictures of our beautiful steak and stew? Food is the one thing I forget to take pictures of. I want to start doing some cook alongs. We'll see if I can remember to do it before the food is totally cooked and half eaten?

Soon (and it will be soon as we'll be killing most of these guys in the next month!) I’ll show you my handsome flock of muscovies and talk about raising them. Had to talk about eating them while yummy flavor was still lingering in my mind.

Building a pond...

We have always wanted a pond. Clay especially wants one. Here are our detailed instructions:

First build up sides with feet.



In case of emergency and sections fail, use hands.



Pour water from random Rubbermaid in yard filled with rainwater.



Then of course slowly drizzle rainwater from random milkjug in yard so it's got the perfect amount.



Stop for a minute and look 15 instead of 7 and freak your Mom out.



And laugh at Mom for acting like she's a REAL photographer. Remind me why that's funny again? Sigh.



Finally deem pond finished.



Just so your younger brother can jump over it, risking the life of the entire pond.



And get annoyed at mom for taking so many pictures.



Fabulous pond finished. Now go make one for yourself. Every good homestead needs one.

Adding to the LIST

That dreaded list. I've gotten some emails from people saying my list looks just like theirs and some from others afraid that I was freaking myself out over the list. When in fact the list leaves me feeling the opposite. I feel better knowing what I can work on checking off the list. It's like having a super crazy messy room to clean up. It seems like it will take you hours but if you just start ticking off parts of it before you know it you're halfway done and wonder where the time went. I think maybe I might put the first handful of things on the top of my list in the sidebar and start crossing them off as I go. BUT I need to add something to the list. And it's something I want done in the Spring!

Vermicomposting. There's something magical to me about a tub o' worms making me high quality compost as fast as they can. So adding to the list:

Vermicomposting

• Figure out the Oscar Jr. plans
• Get Rubbermaid tubs
• Get worms!
  
• Get Clay to shred paper for me at work
• Convince Frankie of the wonders of worms and how this is HIS new job

Added.

Boys and Bread

So with Jack Frost nipping at all of our noses, I needed a little comfy cozy post. One that warms the heart and soul. So we'll just pretend it's Fall. Make some spiced tea, light a fire, look at cute pictures and plan all that warm whole wheat bread you want to make.

First, a cute boy. A cute boy sitting in leaves. That always makes a person smile right? Who doesn't love little boys sitting in piles of leaves? Well Garrison doesn't I guess! He looks so unhappy.
Ahh but it's short lived. There's the sweetheart boy.


Now onto bread. I've made our own bread for a long time. Okay I make it on and off. I've gone through periods where I used a breadmaker, I've gone through periods where I felt like I had to do all sourdough, I've gone through periods of all store bought bread *gasp*I've decided lately to really learn to make GREAT whole wheat bread. Now don't get me wrong, Clay would say that I have always made great bread, and Uh Um... I have of course :) But I want perfect bread, light sliceable sandwich worthy whole wheat bread. Once I get there, it's back to learning to get great at sourdough again. And I want to learn to make great sourdough too. None of the super sense slightly off whole wheat sourdough so many are making (me included!) After reading online there are some people rockin some fluffy perfect all sourdough no yeast type whole wheat sourdough. It just isn't me. SO....

Get THIS book!

Click on the picture to go to buy this great book. Honestly it's the best whole wheat book out there. It goes into great detail about everything you need to know about making bread, kneading, all the troubleshooting you could ever want, it's ALL whole grains, NO white flour in any of the recipes and so far every recipe is perfect. It also does gluten free breads, quick breads, using alternative flours, sweet breads, and just a number of great plain ole whole wheat breads. Everything I've made out of there so far has been amazing, sliceable sandwich worthy bread. Pictures? Pictures you ask? Of course I have pictures of the last bread I made out of that book. It was whole wheat challah. It was awesome.

One recipe made both the biggest braided loaf ever and a pan loaf. Looks great right?

Anyways, off to bed.

The Simple Woman's Daybook - Dec 15th

Outside my window... it's dark and cold and wet. I like the precipitation and all but I'd like a little break right now. It's too icky to do any outside work and there's lots to do.

I am thinking... about why I forgot to wash Clay's jeans today and how I have to stay up late and wash them. I hate being behind on laundry. Hate.

I am thankful for... this little baby I'm nursing right now. I love when they're old enough to appreciate nursing and young enough to still do it. I remember back when Cassie was little, she would hum the ABCs while she nursed. It's one of my favorite memories of all time. Garrison now has his own little word for nursing "Nonnie". Sweet.

From the learning rooms...(if this applies) Just getting it done right now. Nothing special, nothing fun, just doing it.

From the kitchen... Yum. Corn cakes with black beans and cream cheese salsa mix on top. Yum.

I am wearing... Clogs, jean skirt and an olive green shirt.

I am creating... a dishcloth at the moment. I need some more. I don't like only having a couple clean at a time. I like having a whole basket full whenever I need one.

I am going... to Goodwill tomorrow or Wednesday to take lots of kids toys. We have WAY too many.

I am reading... my Bible. That's my reading focus for right now. And seed starting info online. Aside from that.

I am hoping... that my teeth don't hurt tomorrow. Sigh.

I am hearing... children that should be asleep running around upstairs. Naughty children.

Around the house... the smell of Christmas cookie Yankee Candle that a friend sent me in the mail. Yay!

One of my favorite things... a mug of warm Wassail. I think that's how it's spelled. We had our church Christmas party last night. I got to take home a container of it. Wassail is apple cider with spices in it. This one had orange, cloves, and cinnamon I think. Yummy.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Take toys to Goodwill, break up another part of the garden and bring in another wheelbarrow of the fabulous black soil we found, split some wood of course, celebrate Clay's birthday.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

I love to split wood.

One of my all-time favorite homestead activities is splitting wood. I LOVE splitting wood. There’s just something about it that quiets my mind. It’s just me vs. the wood. Sometimes the woods win but most of the time I do. I’d rather sit and split wood than anything else. I suppose it’s the same reason that people like golf or baseball. Just you and the ball. Even with littles running around, chaos, there’s a silence in swinging that maul hoping for that feeling. That homerun crack of the bat when the maul goes right through and hits the chopping block. Who needs meditation?

We didn’t havea woodstove yet during the Summer. We had one for years then not for a few years and I'm so glad to have one again. And so without a stove, we didn't think to cut wood all Spring and Summer. So now we’re playing catch up. And with it getting dark long before Clay gets home it’s my job to split wood. On Saturday Clay cuts all the rounds (we have dead seasoned trees everywhere due to the Tornado last year) and then splits the big rounds in half for me. Yeah he splits the big rounds. I’m strong but man sometimes it takes me over 20 minutes, hitting those big rounds 50 times, to split them in two. Of course once they’re done the rest is cake. He does that cause he loves me. Here's my pile for the week. Smaller than normal. Maybe we'll cut a few rounds tomorrow before the Christmas party.
Frankie’s my wood stacker. He’s a rockin wood stacker. He goes out with me everyday and stacks. We compete to see who can get ahead. If he works hard, he wins and he gets to sit around while slow splitter Mom splits wood. If he’s in a lazy mood, he ends up with a big stack at the end to stack. He hates that. I think he’s finally starting to SEE that relationship for himself. Nice. Clay bought him a boy’s axe not too long ago and is teaching him to split wood. Me? I don’t let him do it. Only when Clay’s supervising. I’m a big chicken.

This is Frankie's "by the house stack". Looks good eh? Yeah he's my partner.

Okay off to load the stove and go to bed.