January Gardening

I haven't showed you my ET tree yet.  Can you see the pointing finger? I just love this thing!  As you can see, it's part of my clothesline.   Mars cut the top part of the tree off for a couple of fence posts and left me with a natural clothesline! Nothing like a re-purposed tree with some character.

We've been taking full advantage of the nice weather here in Oklahoma the past few days.  Who ever said that winter is a slow time of the year sure hasn't been around here this week! 
We just about have the main garden ready to till in the fertilizer and let it sit and "work" until next month.  There's one more 100 ft row that needs to raked out but its just about ready for the next step. 

   I'm not sure if I've mentioned it, but our neighbors have several horses.  And where there are horses there is horse poop!  Lots and lots of horse poop. We've been told to "help ourselves" to however much we want which is great.  There's a bunch of it that's over a year old and that's the pile we will be loading up from.  You just can't beat "free" manure. It's probably going to take several loads.   

    I know that we'll have to deal with the weeds that will come from it but it's just going to have to be that way.  We still haven't worked out the mulch situation, but we'll figure something out.  As this is the first year we have planted here I'm not sure what the outcome will be but hey, you have to start somewhere!  With a garden this large though we should get  something out of it!  In a couple of years we should have some really nice dirt.  I'm just happy that we have good stuff to start with. 

 The neighbor's chickens are laying again.  They gave us these . 
Sweet huh?? 

 You can sure tell which ones are the store bought ones. 
   Our own little chicken saga is continuing as well.  Mars is working on a smallish enclosed outdoor run for them and the posts are set.  We just need to pick up a few treated 2x4's to secure the chicken wire to.  That's  going to have to wait till the next check though as it's just not in our budget this month.  We've got the wire and he's cut down the old telephone pole for the posts.  We have the material here for the nesting boxes and have figured out what we'll use for the roosts too.  So all we'll be "out" of  pocket for are the 2x4's.  It seems that this project has taken a lot longer than I ever thought it would.  All in good time though I suppose. 

   On another note, we met another neighbor who lives a couple miles up the road.  He stopped by this weekend while he was out on his 4-wheeler and introduced himself.  They have a deer processing business!  He let us know that sometimes folks don't come pick up their deer for one reason or another and that we could get a good deal on some venison or hog occasionally.  WOOT!!  Right now he's got 70 lbs of venison he's asking $50 for.  Sure do wish I had the money to move on THAT deal!  Anyway....

   I should have known that I was worrying for nothing about having no place to start our indoor seeds.  Mar's made us a shelf out of some scrap metal and old wood he had laying around. He mounted it on the one big window we have that gets good light most of the day. Sorry about the picture quality but its cloudy and rainy out today.

    It's not very big but using the egg carton's we should be able to at least get some tomato and pepper plants started.  A good friend of mine sent us several varieties of heirloom tomato seeds last year and I've got 5 varieties started so far. (Thanks Kronic!) Using the egg cartons we should have room for 120 plants in the window.  Well, until they get bigger anyway!  I guess we'll worry about that when we get there....  first we have to get them sprouted!
                               ~~~~~~  Hey ... I'm Just Sayin' ...  ~~~~~~

Cop or Soldier

Don't laugh.... This wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. If you want to see how you do HERE is the link.

Cop or Soldier? » online quiz


If you decide to take the quiz leave me a comment and let me know how YOU did. It's kind of scary to think how much the lines have started to blur.  Don't worry if you score low, I've got a feeling many will.

Thanks to WireCutter for the link.

Peruvian Coffee and Other Stuff

A while back a friend sent us some Peruvian Coffee Beans to try.  I hate to admit it but we have only just now gotten around to roasting some and trying it.  I followed the directions he'd given me a few months ago. Turned on the fan above the stove and put some of the beans in the skillet and got them good and hot. They kind of "crack" when they are roasting and do put off some smoke.  Then I ground the beans and put on a pot of some of the best coffee I've had the privilege to drink!  OH SO GOOD!  I can't believe I hadn't tried it until now.  I could get really spoiled with this stuff.  Of course I can't afford it but dang.... Yummy!  

I had to venture out and off the property this week.  Twice even!  It seems these days I really don't like even going to town, much less Little Big Town.  It has to be done though.  I took my grocery list and bit the bullet.  Mars chickened out and wouldn't go with me.  Said he had work to do on the garden... yeah...  I'm sure it didn't have anything to do with the fact that I go to no less than four grocery stores.  Garden indeed!  lol  Is it my fault that things are on sale or cheaper at one store over another?  I have to admit I was in shock at the way prices are going up.  Even from last month to this one there were increases.  Meat, especially beef, is becoming darn near a luxury these days.  Shopping the sales is the only way to be able to afford it lately.


And speaking of meat, I'm beginning to worry about the rabbits.  We still haven't had any luck with them.  They are all around  9-10 months now and still no babies.  I've even re- checked them all to make sure I really do have does and bucks.  I was talking with MMPaints about it and have decided that maybe they are getting fat.  Does don't breed well if they are fat.  So I've cut back on rations the past few days and will see if that helps.  Something's got to give soon though.  I'm not really fond of feeding rabbits that aren't going to be productive to our little homestead.  


Another thing I'm not especially fond of is going to a new doctor.  It always feels like I'm starting all over again. And the one thing I don't want to have to do is start over.  But this time around it just couldn't be helped.  It is no longer feasible to have to make a 100 mile round trip every month, especially with the way I detest going to "The Big City" anyway.  Which is kind of funny really because you could probably put 3 towns of the same size inside the Austin area!  So anyway, now I've met my new Doctor and am in the process of getting all my records to him.  From the first visit I would have to say I think I'm going to like him.  I've been going to a clinic for the past year or so and its a real rushed situation.  The doctors don't have time to spend with you or even to listen to you.  This man is different and I already appreciate the difference.  We'll see how it goes.  


Wow! I just re-read what I have written here and it struck me.... Boy do I NOT lead an exciting life!  I'll admit it though, I kind of like the slower pace these days.  That will change come spring but for now...   I'll take it!

                              ~~~~~~  Hey ... I'm Just Sayin' ...  ~~~~~~



 

Tastey Tuesday

 Now I know what you are probably thinking.  That's one ugly cake.  Sometimes though, you can find the most amazing things underneath the surface, if only you can look past the outer appearance. This holds true in all of life's experience.  This sure holds true with this cake.  Pudding cakes were really popular back in the 80's.  I'm not sure what happened but they kind of just faded out of the "foodie" crowd.  It's a shame too because man oh man this is one good slice of chocolate heaven.  


Chocolate Fudge Pudding Cake

Ingredients
   1 cup all-purpose flour
    2 teaspoons baking powder
    2/3 cup white sugar
   5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
   1/2 teaspoon salt
    1/2 cup milk
    2 tablespoons vegetable oil
    1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
    1 cup brown sugar
    1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
    1 1/2 cups boiling water
Directions
    Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x9 pan.
    Whisk the flour, baking powder, white sugar, 5 tablespoons cocoa powder, and the salt together in a large bowl. Mix in the milk, oil, and vanilla extract. Stir in nuts if you want and pour the batter into your prepared baking dish.
    Mix brown sugar and remaining 1/4 cup cocoa powder together; and sprinkle over the batter in your baking dish. Pour the boiling water slowly over the top of the batter and topping.
    Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. The top of the cake will be set and the bottom will be soft. Spoon into individual serving bowls.  To send this one over the edge top it with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream.

I doubled the recipe and made it in a 9x13 pan.  I'm sure glad I did too because even with just the two of us here it was gone in under 3 days!  
I was a bit nervous when I first made this.  The final step of pouring the water over the top of the mix made it look like a soupy mess and I kept thinking.... I'm not really sure I did this right.  Don't worry though.  It all comes out great after it's time in the oven.  A nice brownie-type layer  on top hides a rich gooey sauce with the consistency of a kind of pudding underneath it.


Now this cake isn't served the ordinary way.  You can't just slice it and serve it up.  You have to scoop it out of the pan and flip it over on its "back" so to speak. (kind of like a cobbler)  It's great like it is, but to really make this one a standout hit, serve it hot with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream or a good dollop of whipped cream. 

Sunday Ramblings

I had this big ol' post all written this morning and thought I had saved it.  Yeah, that didn't work!  So here we go again.  The weather here has been all over the place this past week.  We had snow, temps down to 18 and up to 70. Sunshine and clouds, and even winds that blew gusts over 40mph.  So we did what anyone would do.... Roll with it! 
Mars has been working on the fence off and on and it's really looking good. 

He and the neighbor have decided to rebuild our adjoining fence line as his wire needs to be re-stretched and some reinforcements done on it.

I'll take pictures as that gets done.  They have decided to put in a gate between our properties as well.  It will make it so much easier for everyone if we don't have to walk down the hill and around to his property.  I'm just glad we have some good neighbors as they are the only ones within a quarter mile or so and are pretty much in our back yard!  

Mars needs some more fence posts and so we spent a couple of days clearing brush and he cut down two of the dead cedar trees.  They make awesome corner posts!  It's also nice to have the area clear of (well almost) all that brush. 

  We burned a huge pile of brush and branches one day when the wind had stopped blowing.   

It's amazing how much more area it opened up. It looks totally different now. 

OH!!  I never told you about our amazing Christmas present from my Mom and Step-dad.  Mainly because we weren't sure what the plan was.  Check this out! Pretty cool, yes?

They didn't know that we had bought a niceTroy-Bilt  tiller last year. No worries though.  We now have a plan!  We are keeping this Bad Boy and will sell the Troy-Bilt in a couple of months. Spring is always a good time to put one out there on Craigslist.  We are going to use the $$ from the sale to purchase the parts and materials necessary for installing a drip line irrigation system for the gardens.  So in a way Mom got us a new tiller AND an irrigation system.  Pretty cool.

 This is what we have been up to this weekend.  Trying to water a garden area as large as this one by hand would take all day every day to do. 

The picture at the top of this post is the same area. I'm SO excited.  
And of course there is the other garden area up the hill.
We will be tilling this up too. I don't know if you can see it here but there are three large rows that were done last spring.  The bit of green still there are turnips. 

 So how was your weekend?