The Inadvertent Farmer

Moles Beware!

The answer to yesterday's question about the strange things hanging on the garden fence were indeed mole traps.  I will let the little buggers have the yard and the pasture but those hang on the garden fence as a warning not to mess with my vegetable beds!!!  Mess with my veggies and it will be a duel to the death!

Everything looks a little better in...

Everything looks a little better in...

 

SNOW!

Please forgive my obsession...I live in Western Washington and getting this much snow is a once every few decade event!  The above picture is of our little valley during the 'big snow' and my mom's house next door

 

Tomato cages looks better in snow...although they look even lovelier with tomatoes!

 

 

Benches look better...but would be cold on your backside!

 

 

Goats look better...Fluffy could get lost in all that white!

 

 

Even chicken wire fences look better...

 

 

As do chickens!

(This was the only hen willing to leave the hen house, I just couldn't keep her in, silly chicken!)

 

 

An old garden chair used to give cucumbers a place to scramble looks peaceful...

 

 

And an antique welders cart is pretty in the snow...

 

 

but home looks best of all...especially with a little one out front for decoration!

 

 

Almost done with this obsession...almost but not quite...

 

Any guesses as to what this is a picture of?

 

 

Cream of BAKED Potato Soup...recipe

 

I will admit right here and now that I do not like boiled potatoes.  I don't like the process of peeling, boiling, cutting, and I don't really like the taste or texture very much when they are done.  I much prefer baked potatoes, they are easier to prepare, can be made ahead and most of all I like the texture and flavor much better.  So with that in mind I am going to share with you a very easy but heartily delicious recipe for my cream of BAKED potato soup!

You will need:

1 large sweet onion chopped (you could use a regular onion if you prefer, I just happen to love sweet onions!)

6 TBSP Butter(I always use real salted butter, the richness it adds to this cannot be matched by margarine)

4 TBSP White Flour

1 tsp Salt  ( to begin with, salt to taste after that)

White Pepper (you could also use black course ground

6 Cups Milk (non-fat, 1%, 2%, whole...it completely up to you, I used 1% this time because that is what I had on hand)

6 - 8 pounds potatoes baked and cooled

  First melt butter in large pot, add onions and cook until soft

 

While onions are cooking peel and chop potatoes

Note:  if you like peelings in your soup make sure to rub your potatoes with oil before baking, then chop the peeling up along with your potatoes and add up to 1/2 of them...this is the way I like it but have picky children who think peelings in soup are "icky"!

 

Ohhhh I do love potatoes!!!!!!!!!!!

 

After you onions are soft add 4 TBSP White Flour, 1 tsp salt, and pepper to taste, cook and stir over low heat for a couple of minutes to make sure the flour cooks and doesn't have that 'floury' taste...

 

Add your milk and cook over low heat until it becomes thick and bubbly

Then add your potatoes and heat through, salt and pepper to perfection, and...

 

You get a scrumptiously yummy, hearty and delicious soup that your family will praise and adore you for.  They might even volunteer to do the dishes and clean the kitchen after they are done licking their bowls...then again this is just soup, not a miracle in a pot!!!

Now for the kicker...are you ready? 

This was just the master recipe that I just shared with you...you can all get a little wild and crazy with it!   How about...

Mushrooms!!!  Add sliced mushrooms to the onions at the beginning and you get Cream of BAKED Potato and MUSHROOM soup....ohhh I can't even tell you how much I love this one!

Cheese!!! Add 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese to the sauce before adding the potatoes and voila, you have Cream of BAKED potato and cheddar soup...can't you just imagine?  My knees go weak just thinking about it!

Cheesy Cheese!!! Add 1 cup shredded Cheddar and...hold onto your hats...one cup shredded Swiss Cheese to the sauce.  This is for you that like to walk on the wild side!

The ways you can adorn this are also amazing, try these topping on for size...

How about a dollop of sour cream?  Maybe some shredded cheese or chopped green onions?  Ohhh I know, for you carnivores some crumbled bacon might be nice...steamed broccoli would be yummy for us vegetarians...just about anything you can put on a baked potato you can put on the top of a bowl of this soup!

This is seriously good and so easy it is almost cheating...so if you want something hearty for dinner that will cause your family to stand and applaud then this is it...now go on, make yourself some potato soup!!!

 ***

OH, oh...I almost forgot.  I made this last summer with corn freshly off the cob for Potato Corn Chowder.  I'm sure it would be fine also with frozen corn.

BTW, what is the difference between creamed soup and chowder?...I think I'm going to have to look this up.

Carry on...

Farm Kid Fashionista!

   

Hmmmm, snowsuit, mittens, hat, heart boots and...pleated wool skirt??????? 

My sweet girl has always loved dressing up.  After having 3 boys this was quite a new experience in our home.  She has been known to change numerous times daily with each outfit getting shall we say 'more unique' than the last.  She is only 5,  homeschooled, and watches very little TV so her fashion sense it truly her own...no influences here from the glitz and glam of hollywood, just pure farm kid fun!

You must have the proper headress to lick the pan after making rice crispy treats....note the same skirt, only with torquoise tights this time, lol!

 

 

You cannot be a farmkid playing with your toy farm without the proper attire...kelly green cowboy hat and hot pink Hello Kitty shirt fit the bill!

 

 

Off to gradma's...see ya!!!

A Rose In Winter

 

I found this last lonely rose in my garden yesterday, lovely in its mantel of white. Though its companions had faded and gone it remained to bring joy to the heart of winter.

 

 

When summer brings vases full of lovely blooms somehow they are not as precious as one lone bloom in the dead of winter.  Thanks you little rose for this gift, it is indeed treasured for this gardener's heart is already weary of the barreness of winter and longs for the new life of spring.

 

 

A rose in winter is indeed a rare and treasured gift.

Garden Art brought to you by Old Man Winter!

 

All these photos were taken in my mom's garden next door.  She has some great garden art as well as cozy benches.  One of these days I will give you a tour of her wonderful gardens!  But for now enjoy her garden art decorated by Old Man Winter himself!!!

 

Yes that is me in the gazing ball...guess I should have been paying closer attention, lol!

 

Beautiful garden trinket...with yet another photographer reflection, ughh!

 

Bumble bee in the snow!

 

The giant stone cat with his snow mantle on!

 

Bench with seat made of snow waffles!

 

You are always welcome...come back anytime!

Just When You Think There is Nothing Left to See!

Sweet Girl, Baby Boy and I walked the 1/2 mile to our mailbox the other day (before the big snow).  I almost didnt' take my camera because I was sure there was nothing else interesting that I hadn't already seen and photographed... I was so wrong.  It is amazing that when you think you've seen all nature has to offer in this late season you spot something new! 

 

 

 

 

Snow LLAMA...today the beauty!

Well yesterday you endured the beast of Willowbrook Farm...did you all know that that was the name of our farm?  Ughhh I don't think I ever got around to the story of this place.  Well another day I suppose...now where was I?

Oh yeah the beauty of of the farm,  Miss Sophie!  She was last year's baby, she is now almost 2 years old (in Feb.) and has turned out to be just the sweetest and most beautiful of llamas!  She is also the reason that we know the two stray llamas we took in 3 years ago are male and female, lol!

 

Isn't she lovely?  I adore how she always tilts her head just right for photos...unlike her mom who spit on my camera last time I tried to take her picture...cleaning llama spit of a camera is just not fun!

Icy Chains...Winter makes its grand entrance

Icy chains of fear gripped her heart like a noose, tightening as each new detail of her lover's fate revealed itself...

Sorry... not those kind of icy chains...this kind!

 

Here I am, freezing my rear off!  Yes I'm whining...but just a little.  It is cold around here, the coldest its been in 10 years to be exact.  It has actually dropped below 20F which here in Western Washington State is front page headline type weather.

Does this make us wimps?...probably.  Do our temperatures seem balmy to those of you north of the border?...certainly.  Am I still shivering?....oh yeah, I can hear my teeth rattling as I type.  Ok that may be a bit of an exaggeration but you get it.

 

 

I also think I might be a little to obsessed with my rain chain...this is the third post recently that has pictures of it.  Well better than the camel I suppose!

Isn't that wild how the ice formed into little bumps that remind you of a bicycle handle?  Why did it do that?  There is nothing underlying the ice in the middle there.  It just filled the empty space between the upper and lower parts of the circle.  Why bumps?  Why not just a smooth shaft of ice? 

Ohhh the deep questions that haunt me, it is hard to live with this dizzying intellect, snort, sputter, cough!

 

 

At least this time I could stand under the chain and not get rain all over my lens!  I must say ice is totally cool...no pun intended...really! 

 

This is how my picture turned out with the camera flash firing.  Now I'm not a flashy kind of girl, rarely use it actually,  so I almost deleted this picture but then thought.  Hmmm why not be flashy just this once...just don't tell my mom.  She raised me to be a nice conservative, non-flashy kind of girl...sorry mom.

 

The chain seems to be disappearing into the void...

and that is exactly where I'm headed...I'm off to do laundry, wish me luck 

see you all tomorrow!

Pumpkin Pudding...breakfast of champions!

This is something that my kids (ok and me too) love to have for breakfast this time of year, pumpkin pudding...

 

I just make the innards (this is the proper term for the yummy soft middle part) for a pumpkin pie, cut down on the sugar just a tad and up the spices just slightly.  Instead of pouring it into a crust I pour it into little ramekins and bake.

For the topping we use vanilla yogurt with a sprinkling of cinnamon.

You get your shot of vitamin A from the pumpkins and a good dose of protein from the milk, eggs and yogurt.  Most importantly it makes you feel like a rebel  knowing that you are eating pudding for breakfast...which as we  know breaks all the rules!!!

So go ahead, live on the edge...I dare you!

Garden Art...toddler style!

After baby boys had introduced his cat to the chickens, let it inspect the swiss chard, dropped him in the dirt a couple of times,  he then decided to decorate my rooster with him!  Now that is what I call garden art, lol!

A Winter Indulgence...strawberries or rasberries anyone?

 

Yes I couldn't resist...didn't try really!  I was at a local supermarket that has quite a good selection of organic fruits and vegetables and spotted these luscious berries.  Just having arrived these lovely gems hearkened me, calling me by name...really they were!

 

I snuck a little closer, just for a peek.  I smelled them before I got there...ahhh that yummy berry smell, heavenly!  My heart actually leapt at that smell.

 

As I picked up the little packages they read "USDA certified Organic product of the USA"  Well I knew they weren't locally grown but at least they weren't from clear across the world!

Now with the economy the way it is I thought it only right to support something grown right here in country...it is funny what conversations you will have in your head to justify what you want!

 

Of course these little jewels were outrageously priced but darn it, its Christmas time and sometimes you just have to indulge yourself...it wasn't like I was buying myself diamonds or anything!

 

Were they as good as freshly picked from the garden berries?  Of course not, but somehow eating fresh strawberries and rasberries in the middle of December makes for its own a special kind of sweetness!!!

So the question for today is...If you could indulge in something that is out of season what would it be?

How Could Someone? A Cat's Christmas Tale

I must start here by saying I am just not a cat person.  Now don't get me wrong I'm not a cat hater or anything like that, I have farm cats,  I just prefer dogs, that's all.  Seldom do I give cats a second glance.  Now give me a cute dog and I'm all over that.  This is a tale of a cat that is the exception.

Meet Holly, she is the resident farm cat of  'A Summer Place Farm'  she is a beautiful, classy, yet shy lady.  I had always thought her lovely with golden green eyes and silver fur.  This last weekend I learned the tale of how she came to live at the farm.  Now I find her even more beautiful...

One of the dreadful things that comes with living in the country is that people dump their unwanted animals here.  I guess they just figure that the poor creatures can either live wild or that some nice farmer might take them in. Of course farmers like me and others do take in strays... but we can't take them all.  This is what happened to Holly...she was abandoned along the road that runs near the farm.

 

When she was finally discovered she was as wild as any of the animals living in the woods around there.  It took two years of leaving food in the pasture and then the yard, close to the house, and finally on the porch until she was able to be touched.  She eventually let a human touch her again on Christmas Day...a small Christmas miracle, thus her name Holly.  She now happily resides on the back porch of a loving home, she get plenty of food and lots of lovin'....lucky Kitty!

Now my question today is how could someone just dump an animal?  It truly frightens me to think that there are those among us that are truly that cold hearted as to just abandon what is obviously a domesticated animal to let it fend for itself.  These poor creatures have very little chance of survival, between the predators, cars and real chance of starvation they have only a slim chance of making it and if they do chances are it will be a miserable existence for the animal. 

I wish I had some solution for this.  There are shelters everywhere and society urges people to spay and neuter their animals.  But if someone doesn't care enough to be bothered with either of these solutions then I don't know what else can be done for them...they obviously need a heart transplant, and I don't mean of the physical kind.  I guess till there are no more mean, heartless people in this world farmers like Florence and I will just keep taking in these poor creatures and being blessed by them.  This does not make us saints or heroes, it just makes us human....more than I can say for those doing the dumping.

 

Miss Holly...Farm Princess!

Chocolate Butterscotch Oatmeal Chewy Recipe

Since we all need more calories this holiday season...

Here is the recipe for my Chocolate Butterscotch Oatmeal Chewies...very yummy...very fattening.  So if your jeans don't fit after eating a few of these I don't want to hear about it cause I warned you all!

Ingredients...this can be halved if you don't want a huge batch, I have 5 kids so only huge batches are allowed!

• 2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour (so you can pretend these are healthy!)
• 1 1/2 Cups White Flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 Cups packed Brown Sugar
• 1 Cup White Sugar
• 2 Cups Butter softened (yes that is 4 cubes)
• 4 Large Eggs
• 4 TBSP Milk (you can use non fat if it makes you feel better)
• 1 TBSP Vanilla Extract
• 5 Cups Oats (I like old fashioned but if you like the quick its fine by me)
• 2 Cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 1 Cup Butterscotch Chips
• 1 -2 Cups Chopped Nuts (as always these are optional for you nut-haters)
• 1 Cup Raisins (again optional if you own a raisin hater like I do...but they are really better with raisins)

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine dry ingredients...flour baking soda and salt in small bowl

Cream the butter and sugars in large bowl until fluffy, beat in eggs, milk and vanilla.

Gradually add dry ingredients.

Stir in oats

Stir in yummy extras...chocolate chips (hey, no snitching), butterscotch chips, nuts, and raisins.

Now stir it all up into one big yummy mass!

You can either put all this dough into one big humongous pan for bar cookies and bake 'em for 30 - 35 minutes or you can do the more labor intensive drop cookies that depending on their size will take 10 - 15 minutes to bake (I make huge cookies so thus the longer baking time)

Now don't overcook these.  Take the drop cookies out when the centers are barely set, you want them to be chewy when cooled.  The center of the bar cookie pan is the same, barely set not firm and brown.

NOTE:  I was thinking that maybe dried cranberries would be good in these, their sprightly flavor might be a good contrast to all the sweetness, besides they would make for some pretty cookies.  If you try it let me know.

 

 

Muddy Monday...start 'em young!

 

Another idea for something simple to do this season...

Play in the mud!

 

 

Really what is more appealing that fat baby hands covered with sticky mud?

 

 

Start 'em young I tell you and they will want to play in the dirt for their whole lives...the next generation of farmers and gardeners in training!

 

 

Ohhh it feels so squishy!

 

 

Look mama...mud!!!

Now everyone go out and find some mud! (dirt is an acceptable substitute)

If I Were a Bride...

 

If I were a winter bride I would not want a bouquet of roses, lilies, or other common bridal flower...no I would want a bouquet of these  luscious, creamy beauties!

We have many in hot pink, a few in pale baby pink, but this is the one and only creamy winter white cactus we have, it is actually the only one I've ever seen.  I used to think it was the ugly duckling of the bunch but these photos have changed my mind.

 

     

The End of our Misty Tale

Finally the last of the treasures found on our Misty Morning adventure!

Web on the fence

 

 

Lichen on a hedgerow tree

 

 

Yellow Weed

 

 

Wild Rose

 

 

White Weed

and finally since I'm never alone...

 

If you missed part one or part two, here are the links

Fuzzy or Not...playing with kiwi!

Here I go playing with my food again!

Did you know that some kiwi are fuzzy and some are not?  Some are big and some are little?  Some you peel and some you don't?

 

 

A. arguta or Hardy Kiwi likes to live in zones 1-9 and 14-24.  Its growth is similar in vining habit to the better known fuzzy kiwi but has smaller leaves.  We  grow it here in the Northwest (zone 8), in fact it grows with great abandon!

 

 

This kiwi you eat skin and all just like a grape!  It has fruity flavor much akin to its fuzzy friend, with hints of melon, banana, strawberry, and a touch of grape.  It is juicy and delicious!

 

 

A. deliciosa or kiwi or chinese gooseberry, flourishes in the same zones as the hardy kiwi.  It will grow up to 30 feet if not curbed.  Flowers are 1 - 1.5 inches that open creamy and fade to buff.  It is a very handsome vine!  It also grows here with great ease.

 

 

These deciduous vines are native to east Asia.  They prefer rich soil, ample water and to be fed often.  Needed are a male and female plant for pollination. Harvest is October and November. You will need a sturdy support for growing kiwi such as a trellis or arbor.  They can also be trained on a wall or fence.

 

 

I highly recommend growing kiwi, it is a lovely vine that will reward you with sweet and tasty fruit in abundance...not to mention great photos!!!

 

 

 

Into the Mist...part 2

 

More of my misty morning adventure...

 

 

Sweet Girl almost enveloped by the fog (Country fashion 101, you can still be in your pink nightgown and throw on a pair of sweats and a sweater and call it good!)

 

 

Even the electric fencing looks good in the mist

 

 

Daisy (bettcha knew that though didn't you?)

 

 

Dripping crabapple

 

 

Any guesses on this one?...Come on use your imagination...

 

 

String hanging from a maple tree I planted a few years ago that I haven't gotten around to cutting off! 

Sorry if you thought it was some sort of exotic fungus or something...

and finally...

 

Baby boy wondering out of the mist to find his way home...and to find breakfast!

 

 

 

 

Into the Mist...part 1

  

 

I ventured out into the mist of the morning... 

It was not a heavy oppressing fog but one that hung like gossamer in the air, it was breathtakingly crisp and I knew we were to be blessed by a rare and beautiful sunny day here in the Northwest!

Here are some of the treasures I discovered in the mist...

 

  

Dwarf Crabapple Tree

 

 

Viburnum Leaf

 

 

Rose Bud

 

 

Cedar

 

 

Blueberry Bush

 

 

Camel!!!

Dinner at One

This is why I love one...not the time of day,  but the age.  Thanksgiving dinner with a one year old is a riot!  I'm sure the relatives were just so impressed, lol!

 

Ahhhh life is good with drool on your chin and crumbs on your face!!!

 

 

Stuffing my face till my cheeks buldge...no problem!

 

 

Picking at my  food with my fingers...got it down!

 

Singing a song for all the cousins...at the top of my lungs!

 

Warning...icky chewed up food photo

 

 

 

Showing my food to the out of town relatives...after I've chewed it!

 

 

Just being one!

Note:  I think if we all worried less about the seating arrangements, getting the cloth napkins ironed and cooking the perfect meal we might enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with the joy and enthusiasm of a kid! 

Then again he got to take a nap afterwards while mama got to do the dishes!

 

Left Blooming Alone...

 

'Tis the last rose of summer,

Left blooming alone;

All her lovely companions

Are faded and gone.   Thomas Moore