Plugs

Recently, i wrote an on-line review for a local business (the best barbecue ever), and today when my husband went there to buy dinner, they gave us some of it for free as thanks for the great review!  I was so pleased and happy that i had just gotten paid for my writing for the first time ever, and i imagined, for a moment, being a professional critic.  Then i remembered Anton Ego's words, and his monologue about the worthlessness of his profession (yes, i realize this is a cartoon character), and i thought maybe that's not the road for me.  And plus, i don't think it counts if the businesses you review PAY you.  Haha.  Just so we're clear, these people weren't paying me.  I didn't write the review because i expected something.  I just wrote the review because it was true.  Just so we're clear.

Anyway, with completely unrelated motivations, i remembered a magazine i would like to plug.  A dear friend of mine from college, Joy Moore, is Copy Editor for this little known, but wonderful, Christian Women's Magazine, called Shine.  I'm pretty picky about magazines.  To be more truthful, i just don't read magazines because i find it so hard to find one that doesn't try to drag my spirit down, so this plug doesn't come nonchalantly.  When i recently was blessed to read an issue, i was uplifted by so many inspired articles, and i was surprised at the lack of ridiculous advertisements.  This magazine is THICK, and it's almost entirely articles.  What's more, every page is really beautiful.  I think they've only published 5 issues, so far, and they have done a beautiful and professional job of it.  This is a very quality, uplifting, inspiring Christian Women's magazine.  Check it out.  And if you live near me, i'll let you read one of mine when i'm done scouring every page.  But they're so thick and wonderful, that you might better go get your own.  Shine Magazine.

a righteous head

Today was a momentous occasion for me. 

I'm not sure i realized it was going to be.  Initially, i just wanted to get my house cleaned.

I wanted to get my house cleaned because my aunts were coming over......all of them.  

O.k., there are just three.

These are the aunts to whom i am blood related - my dad's sisters.

Two live here in Texas, and one lives far away in Michigan.   So they are rarely ever all together in one place.  One of the sisters (i'm not telling which one, and i betcha can't guess) is having her 70th birthday.  So the northern one came to celebrate with her.  The last time she was in Texas was for another sister's 60th.

When i realized that they were together for someone's SEVENTIETH birthday, i thought, "you know, this is kind of a big deal," and i got out my camera.  

See all that white hair?  I dig that.  I'm hoping i get to have that when i'm old and beautiful like them.  There's a scripture that says that white hair is attained by living a righteous life (Proverbs 16:31).  Something i know about my aunts is that they have lived their lives (which are not nearly over) to the full, not by jumping out of airplanes or climbing tall mountains - but by caring for others.  

I get a little sobby when i think about their beautiful lives.  I get a little weepy, too, when i remember when these beautiful women were a little closer to my age, and the generation before them was closer to theirs.  That older generation is all in Heaven now.  And all that just makes me break down and cry.  

It's really hard for me to put into words the feeling of awe i have.  I'm honored to be part of the next generation, and i feel a little pressure.  I hope i live my life as well.  I hope i earn my righteous head.

I don't really have anything specific to say here, except that today was important.  I am blessed with a beautiful heritage.  Women who have lived, and made mistakes, and keep on living and blessing others are some of those who have shaped me.  Today i listened and watched while they giggled together over things that were mostly funny to just them - some things that were funny to me too.  I enjoyed how they melted over cute and cuddly animals, how they appreciated my little tiny home like it was something special.  I was amazed at their enduring beauty and lack of age.  There's no way any of these women is anywhere near 70.  They're just way too young for that.

I wish i had taken more pictures.

My New Farmer's Scar - and other unflattering photographs

This first picture was taken directly after the chicken incident.  For some reason, i thought i should go give the chickens some more food right before bedtime.  It was late enough in the day that they had already started roosting in the coop.  My oldest chickens roost way up in the rafters of the little coop, and when they saw me with food, they started coming down.  Chickens are not graceful, but usually they avoid me - or maybe they just coincidentally miss my head - but today.  Today, one of my hens came out of the rafters, slammed full force plus gravity into the side of my head, and then scraped a stripe down the side of my face while she plummeted to the ground.  And she left this reminder on my face.  Honestly, i'm surprised it's this nice.  When i walked, dazed, out of the coop, i was pretty sure i was bleeding.

Earlier, in the day, i took my new lawnmower on its maiden voyage around a tiny piece of the yard.  James was trying to get a picture but wasn't satisfied because i kept moving.  It ended up looking like a little movie to me, so i'm going to share.  Farmer pants, fuzzy pink socks, and everything.  (Haha!  I was contacted today about being part of an "online fashion group."  Clearly, these people haven't seen my farmer pants!)

If you scroll through these pictures fairly quickly, you can watch me make the circle.

As you can see, we really need to mow.  And now, my mower is gassed and ready for an early morning work-out.  I'm very excited.

As Desired Beef and Cabbage

Let me start by saying that cabbage, boiled, has never seemed like a good idea to me, unless perhaps it was for the purposes of punishment.  I'd eat it raw, in a stir fry, in an egg roll with lots of soy sauce, but boiled doesn't do it for me....................until now.

Some months ago, while it was still chilly here in the soupy south, my sister-in-law (the one who takes most of the gorgeous pictures that end up decorating my blog) served this simple but amazing dish at a small family get-together.  She told me how she did it, but i was afraid i had missed something important, so i didn't want to try it.

Finally, a couple of weeks ago, i tried it, and it worked.  It's like some kind of weird cabbage and beef miracle.  There's no way those few ingredients should taste so good together with so little effort.

Before i get started, please let me say that my sister-in-law, i believe, found this recipe - or one something like it - somewhere on the internet.  I have been completely unsuccessful in trying to find it myself so as to give credit where credit is due.  If i ever find the originator of this culinary marvel, i will let you know.

O.k., let's get started.

First, you need the beef.  I used a 3 pound boneless chuck roast.  Use whatever cut you desire.

Cut it into something like 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch bite size pieces, or as desired.

This is the plate of fat that i cut away from the meat.  Don't throw this stuff away yet.

Instead, put it in here.  We don't want all that fat and gristle in our dish, but we do want its flavor.  I cooked it on low in this little sauce pan and then after it was all brown, i cooked it in small amounts of water to drain all the good flavor out of it.  When i'm done getting all the flavor out of it, i'll give it to the dogs, who will be very thankful....or at least eager to eat it.

I put the meat in here and browned it but didn't cook it through.

When it was all browned, i put it in this 9x13 pan - and then into the oven, covered, at 300 degrees, for some amount of time.  As long as desired, or to cook through.

Meanwhile, i deglazed the cast iron skillet (again to redeem flavor), added as many bouillon cubes as desired, and then poured the broth into this 6 quart stock pot.  On top of that, goes a whole head of cabbage, cut into bite-size pieces.

Cook on medium-ish until it's as soft as you desire.

Then add the beef when it's finished cooking through in the oven.  Season as desired before adding to the pot.  I used only salt.  When you cook it down a little more after all the ingredients are finally in the pot, some kind of wonderful buttery cabbage beefy broth thing happens.  It's really good.  Cook as long as desired.

Sadly, i don't have DeAnna and her camera at my daily disposal, so this picture doesn't bring out the beauty of the deliciousness.  I guess you're just going to have to try it out for yourself.  

All together, i ended up using 8 bouillon cubes for this batch.  The last time, i think i used only 5.  These are the basics of how to prepare this dish.  Personalize as desired.

List of ingredients:

3 pounds of beef

one head of cabbage

beef bouillon or broth

seasoning

Enjoy!

The Reduction of Smilax (and other attempts at food sovereignty)

I'm trying out that term, food sovereignty.  What do you think?  I saw it on someone else's blog, referring to self-sufficiency, or what i have called vendor independence.

But that's not what this post is about.

Yesterday, i wishfully predicted that we might have a fully hunted and foraged dinner last night.  

Not so much.

We did go fishing, and while we were there, we ate store-bought fried chicken and cheese flavored Munchies.  I'm a little embarrassed, honestly.  But it all worked out for the best because neither of us caught anything all night, AND i lost my tackle (lures, weights, hooks) twice to some giant monster under the sea (tire, log, really big sedentary fish).  And then, after i had given up - because we were out of things for me to attach to my line - James' line somehow mysteriously got all turned into a bird's nest on his reel, and we gave up and went home....fishless.  Then we just went to bed.

Today, i knew i had to fix my smilax before it became wilted and unappetizing.  So, i took this beautiful bunch of smilax...

I cut off the largest leaves, cut the shoots into smaller pieces, cooked it very briefly in butter.....

And it turned into this very disappointing-looking pile of greens.  So we didn't exactly have it with lunch - we more nibbled at it before lunch.  The good news is that the skeptical hubby says the grass isn't too bad, so if i can manage to harvest enough to make it worthwhile, we can have it with dinner sometime.  Groovy.

But before we had lunch, we had a minor triumph in rabbit rearing.  A helpful (this time, at least) friend called this morning and said that someone was selling rabbits at the feed store in town.  I've told you of our slow-seated movement toward getting a buck to get these rabbits to work fulfilling their destiny.

So we lit a small but mildly effective fire under our seats and went to town to check it out.  

And we came home with Oliver.

Isn't he darling?  I know it looks a little like he's glaring at the camera, but he's actually a very lovable fella.  He lets me pick him up and carry him around, and he doesn't try to scratch my guts out or anything.  This, along with the seller's obvious comfort with handling her rabbits, gave me new courage with my does, Dolly, Polly, and Molly, and after i got home, i picked up each one of them and held them whether they liked it or not.  AND none of them made me bleed!  

Oliver's not quite ready to help the ollies fulfill their destiny.  He's a little young.  The seller also showed us exactly how to tell when he's ready.  Very interesting (insert surprised eyes here).  So it will still be a little while before we're on the road to baby bunnies, but at least we're on the inlet to the road.  This morning, we were just sitting in the ditch, watching the traffic pass us by.

For those of you who are interested - if any of you are interested in the breeds of the rabbits on my picnic table - while we had planned to get a Californian buck, Oliver is a Californian/Flemish Giant cross.  This might indicate that his babies will get bigger faster.  We shall see.  But he's cute either way.

Those were my small triumphs in rabbit rearing.

First Summer Fruits and the Shortest Recipe Ever

First Summer Fruits

On Wednesday, my delighted husband rushed in the house with treasures!  Peppers!  These two little green cayenne peppers are the first fruits of our summer garden.  Woohoo!

The one on top is abbreviated because said delighted husband BIT it to see how hot it would be.  It was pretty hot.  Haha!

FYI, i don't think cayenne peppers are ripe at this point.  I think they're supposed to be red.  Not sure.  He was eager.

The Shortest Recipe Ever!

Garden man took the in-tact pepper to his dad, so i was left with this lone 2/3 of a pepper on my counter - and not sure what to do with it.  Until yesterday, when i was crock potting a chicken.  This, by the way, is the best way to cook a chicken, unless you're frying it.  Just stick the whole thing in the crock pot and turn it on.  Trust me.  I stuck a piece of an onion and several garlic cloves inside the bird.  I also put a small amount of orange juice in the bottom of the pot.

Then about half way through cooking, i asked my honey what he thought about sticking that piece of a pepper in there.  "Sure, why not?"  So i did.

So here's my recipe.

If you're gonna crock pot a chicken, stick a cayenne pepper in it.

That's was it.  That's the whole recipe.

It was so good!  All that good flavorful cayenne pepperness saturated the meat of the chicken, and it was delicious, but it wasn't spicy hot.  It was just good.  Everyone should do this all the time.  Seriously.

P.S.

This is smilax.  You probably have it in your yard.  I strongly recommend the tips in salad.  I'm hoping to prepare them steamed in butter for dinner tonight.  If we catch some fish, we'll have an entirely hunted and foraged dinner.  What fun!

Oh, one more thing, this stuff is similar to some other stuff that's poisonous, so if you're dying to get out there and eat some smilax (like i was), please watch this very helpful and somewhat entertaining video first.  

Apple Cider Vinegar and its Mother

Apple Cider Vinegar.

In the last year or so, while beginning this homesteading life, i have heard (or more likely read) the words "organic apple cider vinegar with the mother in it," as the answer to more questions than i can expound to you.  Seriously.

You've seen apple cider vinegar, right?  It's the brown vinegar that's sold next to the clear stuff.  You might actually buy the clear stuff, but not everyone buys the brown stuff.

But that's o.k., see, 'cause the brown stuff in the store, that you can get for a couple of bucks.....has been pasteurized.  They cooked the good stuff right out of it.

It turns out that apple cider vinegar - or ACV - when in its natural state, has a whole lot of "good bacteria" in it.  I know that's an oxymoron for some people.  But it's true.  It's kind of like yogurt, in that it's got the good stuff God made, for what ails ya.

Anyway, i frequent a couple of message boards, and one of them got to talking about making your own ACV.  This is good because i was probably never going to buy the stuff with the mother in it.  That stuff can be like $10 or something per gallon.  Yikes.

Oh yeah, you want to know about all this "mother" business, don't you?

When ACV is made without the pasteurization business - or organically - it grows a mother.  I haven't actually seen ACV's mother in person.  I've only heard her be described.  Here's what i gather.  ACV's mother is a globule of bacteria that has grown in the vinegar.  And if you have a mother, you can more easily start a new batch of ACV by transferring some of the mother into the baby-wanna-be-ACV.

That may or may not make sense.  If it doesn't make sense, you might get better information by googling it.  That's what i would do.

Now, that you're fully educated on the matter, i'll tell you the point of this post.  

I'm making my own Apple Cider Vinegar.

I've read two different methods that appeal to me, and i'm trying them both.

And i took pictures.  Don't worry, it doesn't have a mother yet.

I started with a bag of grocery store apples, and i washed them.

Then i cored them and set the cores aside.

I cut the apples into smaller pieces and put them in the blender with a smallish amount of water - enough to make the blender run properly.

And then i pressed "liquefy," and let her run.

It took a couple of go-rounds in the blender to get all of the apples liquefied.  Then i put the liquefied apples through a strainer (i forgot to take a picture of that part).  Then i took the part that made it through the strainer and put it through a cloth.  The picture below shows how i did it at first.  It turns out that this method, with the cloth below the funnel, doesn't really work.  I ended up putting the cloth over the funnel, and when the goo stopped allowing juice to flow through the cloth, i picked it up and squeezed it with my hands until i got all the juice out of the apples.  The juiceless apple bits were set aside with the apple cores.

Here is what i ended up with.  About 6 cups of juice and one quart of cores and apple pulp (that might not be the correct term).  The idea with the third jar is to fill it with water over the other stuff, and this is also supposed to make more ACV.

I evened out the first two jars and then placed a piece of cloth over the top of the jars.  I made the cloth pieces a little large as to kind of shroud the jars and keep them in near darkness.  Aren't they cute?

I'm told you're supposed to try to keep your jars in a warmish, darkish area while they ferment.  So mine are in the top of my closet, behind a box.

This process will take several months, while the apple juice ferments, becomes alcoholic, and then goes beyond alcoholic, and becomes vinegar.

Thus, i warned my loving man about the science experiments in the closet.  They're not sealed, so warning is definitely necessary.  Also, i'm afraid that if he sees a mother in something, he'll assume it must have gone bad, and throw it away.

~Interesting fact.  ACV is possible because a naturally occurring yeast is found in the skin of the apple.  Amazing!~

It's kind of sad that i can't show you my finished product yet.  Stay tuned.  In September or something, i'll probably be busting with excitement to show you my ACV's mother.

write a letter, get a letter

I was looking through the various blogs to which i am subscribed, looking for something interesting to read this morning, while having a little breakfast.  The pickin's have been slim lately.  It seems like there is little writing happening, and thus, little reading.

Then i remembered, "if you wanna get a letter, write a letter."

So this is me, writing a letter, sort of.

I had planned to share the beef and cabbage recipe with you, sans pictures.  But my husband bought the makings for it again (apparently he liked it), so i'm going to wait and take pictures while i prepare - and then share.  Good enough?  Hint:  it's just cabbage and beef.  It's not really even a recipe.  But it's really good.

Instead i can share with you some updates in the world of hunting and gathering and farming.

We picked something like 5 quarts of wild black berries (a.k.a. dewberries) on Thursday.  Last night, i made a cobbler with some of them, but i won't share the recipe because it seems rather un-cobblerish.  I will have to try again.

We were going to dig free potatoes yesterday, but then it stormed.....mightily, and potatoes were unavailable because of all the hail in the way.  Hopefully, we will be able to remedy that situation in the very near future.

My baby chicks did not try to drown in this latest storm.  This time their little mama did her job.  She was very wet, but the babies were dry.  Way to go, mama hen.

We've tried to go fishing - well, we have gone fishing, but the fish we caught were a bit small for our fileting skill level (and probably in the eyes of the game warden) to keep.  On Sunday, i bought a lure that looks very much like something i used to use out of my dad's tackle box, so i am hoping for better results next time.  I might even to get a little fishing in today before Bible Study.  The place where we fish is in the same neighborhood as where we have Bible Study, so that makes it easy.

After the storm yesterday, there was a concern that all the nice blossoms on our garden plants might be damaged, but upon inspection, there are even new blossoms we hadn't noticed before.  Yippee!

I did put down my injured hen at the end of last week, and she will be dinner later this week.

Disturbingly, my chickens have all but stopped laying eggs.  I am praying over them and assuming that they are having a hard time adjusting to the sudden onset of summer.

One of those hens is sitting on 13 eggs (which took me four days to collect).  Her hatch is already sold to a co-worker of my husband's, who will buy whatever she hatches, to raise for food.  That will help pay for feed.

If anyone who lives near me is reading this, i have chicks and laying hens for sale, and i would like to sell them sooner than later.

Our bunnies are still sitting on the picnic table, eating.  They are still not fulfilling their purpose (making babies).  That's our fault, not theirs.  We still haven't managed to get a buck for them to breed with.  All this time, they've been here, they could have had two litters each by now.  We have a neighbor who offered to let us use his buck to breed our does, but sadly, we don't know his last name, his phone number, or where he lives.  I'm really hoping he'll stop by again soon.  Maybe we should stay home for a few minutes, so we'll know he stopped by, and we'll be able to talk to him.  Maybe.

Also, i have learned how to identify a plant called smilax, which is good for eating.  I'm hoping to collect enough to serve for dinner one evening.  Won't my darling be surprised.

That's it for the current hunting, gathering, farming report.

Now y'all start writing, so i can read something too.

on baby chicks and lawn mowers....separately, of course!

Let's see, i wrote last on Tuesday.

This is Saturday.

Is it Saturday?  Yes, i think that's right.

Somehow, someone pushed the fast forward button on this week, and it was suddenly over.

I'm sure a lot more stuff happened, and i wrote a lot of it to you in my head.  Since you missed out on all those bits, i'll share one of the highlights in a form you can read.

Yesterday (i think it was yesterday), my darling and i spent most of the day in Houston with family.  We arrived home very late at night after it had been storming for several hours.

On days like that (days when we're gone until after dark), i come home and make sure all the chickens are in their assigned positions and lock them up for safety and go to bed.

That's when i found my 3 youngest chicks, without their mother hen, completely unsheltered, and apparently drowned.

These chicks are only about 3 weeks old, and they were completely soaked to the bone, cold, and unresponsive.  One, i was sure, was already dead.

~~Educational note:  As chickens grow older and get all of their feathers, they are able to stay nice and warm and toasty even though they generally lack the sense to go in out of the rain.  But before they get all their feathers, wetness is a major enemy of a young chick since they don't have the water repellent feathers to protect their skin.~~

I scooped the limp baby chick bodies up, tucked them in my shirt, and rushed them in the house.  My husband got the heat lamp down for me, and we rigged a very impromptu baby chick hospital in the living room.  I sat with them, dipping their tiny beaks in vitamin water every couple of minutes while they dried under the heat lamp.

Slowly, even the weakest of the three started to stand on her own and drink and eat and poop.

I am very happy to report that the little scoundrels happily roamed my yard today like they hadn't had any recent run-ins with death ever in their short little lives.  Happy and healthy as little chicks should be.

It was like a little miracle.  Even though i'm exhausted, i'm very relieved and happy to have them safe and sound.

~After re-reading this story, i can tell that i'm still too tired to do a very good job expounding on the drama of this harrowing life and death tale.  I hope you'll help me by reading between the lines and catching your breath a lot.  Thanks.~

In other news, today, after living on this property for one year, eight months and maybe 3 or so days, we finally bought our own lawn mower.  I'm not sure what the hold up was, but we finally did it.  I'm kind of pleased.  It's like i'm a real home owner now.  I can mow my own yard with my own mower.  You'll notice i called it a yard.  We don't have a lawn.  We do have a yard with overgrown vegetation.  Maybe that's why my lawnmower has the words "weed eater" printed on it.

Glimmers of Progress and the Truly Sad and Dark Side of Farming

Glimmers of Progress

I think over there in the side bar somewhere, i've mentioned our desire to be less dependent on the grocery store for our daily sustenance.  Other people call that "self-sufficiency."  That's the fun word that has been passed around a lot lately.  But i am keenly aware that i am fully dependent on God, so i don't like to make goals or labels for myself that exclude Him.  I call it "vendor independence."

One of the elements of vendor independence, we feel, is to become good fishermen.  We live a very short drive from a very large lake, and after you pay quite a bit of money for a license to fish, the fish are something like free food.

At Christmas, we were given very nice matching rods and reels that have gotten very little use until now.  But this evening, we went fishing, brought home two decent sized catfish, and ate them for dinner.

This was very satisfying.

It wasn't a whole lot of fish, but it was very satisfying to truly fish for our supper.

We plan to fish again on Thursday.

And i'm sorry.  No, i don't have pictures.

The Truly Sad and Dark Side of Farming

If you've been reading my blog, you know that slaughtering chickens is a part of our routine around here.  Part of the vendor independence thing.  We raise them and from time to time, we eat them.  That part is somewhat unpleasant, but not dark and sad - if you are butchering what you raised specifically to be butchered.

Yesterday, morning, i discovered one of my laying hens behind the coop, injured in a manner i'm not sure i can explain.  I had hopes that she would recover, but in spite of my attempts to nurse her back to health, she does not seem to be improving.

Thus i have come to the conclusion that i will have to end her suffering.  That's the sad side.

Here's the dark side.

We raise animals for food.  Therefore, we will butcher her and have her for dinner.

But it's the harsh practicality of the whole thing.  Because i grieve her death, i want to simply bury her.  But because her purpose is to feed us, and there is nothing wrong with her body (like disease or something), it is the farmer's responsibility to not waste her.

I understand it.  It was even my decision.  But i will cry tomorrow morning when i put her down and prepare her for the table.  Her life wasn't supposed to end this way, not this soon at least.  The whole thing makes me sad.

Trust in God and...

What has been keeping me from you lately?

Sometimes it's just general absentmindedness.  

But most recently, it was ..... well, i don't have a word for it, so lemme splain.

We live in the woods.

But our particular place in the woods happens to be open (and i mean wide open) to the entrance road to our little neighborhood.  In fact, we're the very first house in the neighborhood.  This means that every single person who comes into our neighborhood passes by our house.

Normally, this is fine.  It makes nice opportunities to meet our neighbors, to talk about chickens and rabbits, to hear people's thoughts on our yard upkeep, etc.

Pretty much, if we're outside for very long during the day, someone will stop and say hello.

We like that, by the way.  Our neighbors, all in all, are very kind friendly, and haven't actually made any direct comments about our yard upkeep.

~~Rabbit trail~~  When we first moved in, we were pulling stuff out of the house and moving things around and trying to figure out what to do with some things, and so we had some stuff on our front porch.  Kind of in a holding pattern.  Our very first visitor was a nice near-retirement-age lady, who stopped by and told us how brave she thought we were for keeping so many of our personal belongings outside like that.  That still makes me laugh.  I laught heartily.  Brave.  My husband cleaned up the porch the next day.~~Rabbit trail ended.~~

However, every once in a while someone suspicious will stop by when i'm home by myself, and their actions will make me think that maybe it would be good if i had some means of convincing strangers that i'm in charge around here.

So, after quite a bit of planning and saving, yesterday my hubby and i rode into the big city and purchased firearms.  Firearms that we hope we will never use for their intended purpose.  I mean, let's face it, hand guns were invented for the purpose of shooting people.  We don't want to shoot people.

At the most, i hope that if i ever use my gun, it will be simply to confuse a trespasser who doesn't expect the plump, gentle looking woman, in her yard with her chickens and puppies, picking flowers and watering vegetables, to draw a gun.  I hope that confusion is all that will ever be necessary to send trespassers looking for home.

I have read stories about sweet little old ladies in back offices who surprise robbers by shooting out a window or such.  That sort of thing.

I really don't ever want to shoot a person.  But if the occasion ever arises in which i would find it necessary to shoot a person, i also do not want to find myself without the means.

All that said, i trust in God.  And i know that His angels surround me.  I'm not scared.

And now i also have a gun.

That's one safe chick!  Lol!

~~In the making of the preceding photos, extreme gun safety was exercised.  Featured gun is unloaded and on safety.  This chick was in no danger; neither was she threatened by said gun to pose so adorably.~~

-insert title here-

I have recently been made aware that my public is concerned that i may never write again.

Well, actually, it was my dad.

But just in case you share his concern, please let me reassure you.

It's all about cycles.

Not those kind of cycles.

I'm talking about cycles of inspiration for writing.

Sometimes i write 3 times in one day.

Other times, i don't.

Other other times, i write in a journal that i just don't share with you.

But it always remains that i will write.

It's in me.

Since i started recording my meals in my second grade diary, i have always had a need or a desire to write things down.

So you may rest assured.

I will write.  And i will probably write here.

But i'll try to refrain from recording my daily meals for you.

Unless they're really good meals requiring i share the recipe.

Like yesterday i had beef and cabbage.

That probably doesn't sound very good, but you have to try it.

I'll share the recipe later.

YUM.

As you can see, i don't have anything very interesting to say exactly right now.

But i didn't want to keep my dad public waiting any longer.

I'll try to do better.

Please stay tuned for tales of crazy beautiful chickens and boring bunnies and wiggly puppies and possibly of firearms and of good food.

More good blogging to come.

And thank you for the encouragement.

I love my daddy.  <3

I'm famous!

Just kidding.  I'm not famous.

However, when i shared my recipe for the best eggs in the world with you, back in March, or something, i was invited by the writers of a blog called House of Annie, to submit my recipe to their "Grow Your Own Round-Up," in which they showcase recipes made from home grown, foraged, or hunted, ingredients.  More information on this is here.

Anyway, those submissions, including my upside down mushroom eggs, more succinctly named "liquid gold" by the organizers of this display, have now been published at the link above.

It's not really a contest, from what i can tell.  It's just a chance to share your recipe with a much larger audience.  There are 37 other submissions on that site right now.  You might enjoy checking it out.  I skimmed over it earlier, and i saw a couple of recipes i think i will have to check out also.

I'm thinking of coming up with a more impressive recipe to share later in the summer.

Maybe rabbit quiche or something.

That makes me laugh out loud.  Haha!

I'll let you know what i come up with.

We have lots of peppers and tomatoes and okra and squash and cucumbers growing in our little garden, so i should have lots of ingredients to pull from.

In other news, don't forget MOTHER'S DAY IS THIS SUNDAY, MAY 9.  So, buy your card and get it in the mail, or organize your family get together, or start writing a truly inspired song for your dear mother.  If your mother is as awesome as mine is (this is unlikely, as my mom is extremely wonderful!), you'll need time to have a good cry while browsing the greeting card isle to pick out the perfect card.

In other other news, later this week, i might show you ANOTHER map of my developing property.  Stay tuned!