How was your Easter?

How was your Easter Sunday?  I am so thankful that God sent His only Son to pay for our sins and raised him up from the dead. 

We had a nice dinner with our family.  We had ham, potato salad, rolls, beets, asparagus and green salad and cranberry sauce.  For dessert we had blackberry shortcake.  Dinner was good, and the company was great.

We had a total of 15 at the table.  I should say tables, as we had a small table for the 4 older girls. 

My baby sister and my nephew are here for a visit.  They drove down from Bellingham Washington on Saturday.  I haven't had a chance to visit much with them yet.  We have so many here at once it is rather noisy and several conversations going on at once.......that is just the way it is when so many of us are gathered in one place.  : )  Kristy and Patrick will be here for several more days, so I am sure we will get a chance to visit in that time.

On Saturday I was doing some prep cooking for Easter dinner.  Those of you who read this blog know that we get a lot of eggs each day from our poultry.  Most of the time it is right at 3.5 dozen a day.  Gathered in a nice bucket, set in the fridge until I have time to clean them and put them in the cartons.  Well this is what happened on Saturday.......(see photo below.)

Yep!  I was rearranging the fridge and pushed the entire bucket of eggs out on the floor.  It hit with such force that raw egg splashed up the side of my leg and I had to change pants as I was dripping with egg!  The only eggs out of the entire bucket that didn't break were a couple of duck eggs.  Do you know how much fun that was to clean up?  LOL!  I used the dust pan to scoop up the most of it.  Then had to use rags to clean the rest. 

Ed brought that same bucket in last night full of eggs and said to me, "there ya go, another bucket of eggs!"  I managed to get them into the fridge without breaking any. 

More big news is Sally has lost two teeth now.  Here is a  couple of photos of her proudly displaying the empty spots.

We can already see the new teeth coming in.

These are cookies we made from a recipe in my old cookbook.  The name of the book is Farm Journal's Homemade Pies, Cookies and Breads.

They called them dishpan cookies, as it makes such a large batch they used their dishpans to mix them up.  They are actually made with molasses and rolled oats.  I baked 4 dozen and still had this much in the bowl.  (I have very large stainless steel bowls, so I didn't need to use a dishpan.)  : )

I ended up forming the left over dough into two logs, wrapping them in foil and putting in the fridge.  A few days later I sliced them and baked a batch.  I did this on two different days.  I am thinking of mixing up a bunch of this dough and putting the logs in the freezer for baking a batch of cookies when the mood strikes without making the mess of mixing all the dough.  Besides then we aren't tempted to eat too many at once. 

Here is the recipe if you would like to give it a try.  I have made changes to the recipe to adapt to our way of eating.  I put those in ( ).

 OATMEAL/MOLASSES COOKIES

8 1/2 cups sifted flour (I used fresh ground soft white wheat flour)

1 TBSP salt

2 TBSP baking soda

8 cups quick oats (I used old fashioned oats)

2 1/2 cup sugar (I used 1 cup honey)

1 TBSP ground ginger

2 cups melted shortening (I used melted coconut oil)

2 cups light molasses (I used old fashioned molasses)

4 eggs beaten

1/4 cup hot water (I omitted the water to make up for the liquid of the honey)

3 cups raisins (I didn't have any so I used chopped dates)

2 cups ground black or English walnuts (I used almonds as I didn't have any walnuts cracked)

sugar for tops (I omitted this)

Reserve 1/2 cup flour.  Sift together 8 c. flour, salt and baking soda.  In a very large bowl or dishpan, mix rolled oats, sugar and ginger.  (If using honey instead mix the honey with the beaten eggs.) Stir in shortening, molasses, eggs, hot water (remember to omit water if using honey), sifted dry ingredients, raisin and nuts.  Work dough with hands until well mixed.  (Too messy for me, I used a wooden spoon.)  Add the reserved 1/2 c. flour is needed to make dough workable.  (I found I needed to use it because of the honey.) 

Roll dough to 1/4" thick and cut with 3 1/2" cutter.  (I just scooped about a tablespoon into my hands and shaped into a disc.  Kind of like making a hamburger patty.)  Place 2" apart on a greesed cookie sheet.  Brush with water and sprinkle with sugar.  (I omitted this step)

Bake in a moderate oven (375degrees) 8-10 minutes.  Remove cookies to a rack to cool.  Makes 6 dozen.  (They must have made huge cookies to only get 6 dozen.  I made more like 8 dozen from this recipe.)

I am thinking of making up another recipe kind of like this using maybe some applesauce instead of molasses.  Maybe another batch with cocoa powder and peanut butter for part of the shortening.  The possibilities are endless..............  I don't like making cookies, as I am too impatient to bake them.  I want to make something put it in the oven and be done with it.  Not keep fooling around putting them in and out of the oven every ten minutes.  : )  So if I had this all mixed up and in the logs/rolls I wouldn't mind baking a batch or two at a time.  My family would be so pleased with this idea.  : )

Check back for updates and new photos of our vegetable starts and green house news.

Huge turkey egg

Just the other day Mrs. Mike and I were talking about the size of turkey eggs.  How we both thought they would be bigger than they are.  Well one of my turkeys must have heard us talking!  Look at this whopper!  It was easily twice the size of the other turkey eggs.

And this is the reason it was sooo huge!  "Double yolker" as my girls like to say.

This is what else I did today.  Baked a batch of bread.  Well this is the left overs.  I actually did another small loaf for my Mom and Dad and also baked a pan of rolls.  But the small loaf is at Mom's and we ate the rolls for lunch!

More March news

This is another photo of the greenhouse in the making.  Both ends are done and the rafters are laid on top.

Another angle.

And yet another view.

You can see the bees coming home from a hard days work if you look closely.

These are some Blue Andalusian hens we are putting up for sale.  Aren't they so pretty?

Some exciting news we have on the farm today is we have two different turkey hens wanting to sit!  We are so happy we might have baby turkeys this Spring.  This will be the first time we have had turkeys that hatched out their own offspring.

The Lord is good! 

Happy first day of Spring!

Today is the last day of Winter.  Thank the good Lord!  Tomorrow is the first day of Spring.  It is very welcomed here.  The daffodils have already about bloomed themselves out.  Now our orchard is coming alive with some pretty blossoms.  The white blossoms above are of our green gage plum tree.

Today was a very pretty day.  It was actually hot!  So I took some photos of the place.

The above photo is of Ed's new beehive.  I painted it for him yesterday.  He mixed up some left over paints and this is the color it turned out.  Sky blue, isn't it pretty?  He will be getting another pkg of bees next month.  So he has to have their new home all ready for them.  He was given a free hive of bees last month.   Those need to be moved into a new hive, but we aren't sure how to accomplish that.  As they have made comb in a hive box without foundations.  Anyway, after getting the next pkg. of bees that will make 3 hives we have.  Hopefully we will be putting up a "local honey for sale" sign next to the eggs for sale sign.  : )

This is a photo of my seed starting in my kitchen.  There will be lots of  peppers, tomatoes and onions, leeks, eggplant and squash, cucumbers, and cole crops in our garden this year.  I can't wait until that green house is finished!  Speaking of which, here are some photos of the progress being made on it.

This is how the greenhouse looked early this afternoon.  Then I went back in the house to vacuum and dust.  When I came back outside .......

This is what I found!  My dear husband is making great progress in getting this built.  It is going to be quite large.  The measurements will be 12' X 32'.  I think I should have plenty of room for growing veggies year round and for starting them for the garden each year.  He would have made it another 4 ft. wider, but we are right up against the orchard on the left and the berry rows on the right.

Below are a few more shots of it. 

I was standing on the turkey porch and took this shot.  You can see beehive number 1 in the lower right hand corner of this photo.

This is Ed (in the hat) and Dad at the end of the day.

This is the hardworking man himself.  It is amazing what he can accomplish!  I am sorry ladies, but I do believe I have the very best husband in the world.  : )

These windows will become the walls of the greenhouse.  Ed has been collecting them for some time to have enough.  Can you not wait until it is finished?  I sure can't !

This is a shot of our little peach tree in bloom.

The two Tom turkeys strutting thier stuff.

A close up of one of them.  They are pretty big now.

The rooster here is one of our Dark Cornish/Speckled Sussex crosses.  He has the broadbreast of his mother the Dark Cornish, and the bigger size of his Sussex father.  We had 3 hatched out and all three turned out to be roosters.  They will be added to the freezer as soon as Ed had time to do that chore.  Along with 4 more roosters in the other yard.

I was standing on the pallet walkway in the laying hen area looking toward the turkey, dark cornish barn/pen.  The rooster in this photo is our Aracana the girls have named Rainbow.  Under the white tarp in the back ground is the building materials to make the cow barn out of.  That is next on Ed's list of things to do this year.

And here are the girls taking their first swim of the season.  It was hot outside, but that water was very cold and they didn't last but about 20 minutes "swimming"  LOL!

There you have another fine day on the farm at Bountiful Acres.  Make sure to check back and watch the progress of the greenhouse.  You never know what else we might be doing here.

May the Lord bless you!

New news at Bountiful Acres

Remember when I showed you photos of our citrus orchard?  The trees have been living in my window box in our living room this winter.  Guess what?  We have been eating our first mandarin oranges!  They are so good and we are just thrilled with having successfully grown our own citrus fruit.  : )

Here is a photo of three of them.  I know I forgot to take photos of picking them off the tree.   Actually we were so excited to be eating them, that I barely remembered to take a photo of them before we scarfed them down!

Here is a photo of Audrey and Sally about to eat their mandarin orange.  Notice Sally's haircut?

Next photo is of our egg production today.  We got a total of 38 eggs.  Two of them were turkey and one duck, with the remaining being chicken eggs.

This is the photo of the first ducklings of the year.  Only 3 survived and went to live at their new home, along with thier mama duck and a daddy duck.

This is our sweet little grandson Avery.  We got this photo when they came up for a visit last month.

This is a photo of Audrey and Sally with Mesah our granddaughter.  She is Avery's big sister.  Yes, it is strange we have daughters younger than our granddaughter! 

Here is the entire family.  Jared, my youngest son, his wife Christa and you have already met the grandkids.  : )  The only one missing from the photo is Bryce, the big brother.  He lives in Alaska and comes for visits during Christmas, Summer and Spring break.

What in the world is this you may ask?  Well it is called my winter salad.  I canned jars and jars of beets this past year along with green beans.  So I dreamed up this salad for our dinner today.  I opened a qt. of beets and green beans, boiled them for the recommended 15 minutes.  Then cooled them, added some chopped red onion, a couple of handfuls of frozen thawed peas, and some shredded carrots.  I made up a dressing and added some salt and pepper.  This went along with the pork steaks I cooked and cottage cheese for dinner.

When it stops raining and Ed is working on the greenhouse again, I will be posting photos of the progress on that.  Stay tuned, I promise to do better on updating more frequently from now on.  God bless!

February and March updates

Ed put up a tire swing for the girls.  They have lots of fun on that.

This is a pillow I made for Sally one evening.  She found this piece of fabric and had to have something made from it.

Here is Audrey modeling her new apron I sewed up for her the same evening that I made Sally a pillow.  Audrey chose the fabric from my stash.

Here are Toby (on the right) and Hercules (on the left) taking a cat nap.  The blanket is Duke's bed, it i near the woodstove.  They just thought that was a good place to snuggle up and take a nap.

And the big news for the week is...................we got our first turkey egg yesterday!  Isn't it lovely?  Turkey eggs are just like a chicken egg, only they have a much bigger yolk.  mmmmm!

Now that we have turkey hens laying eggs we know they are mature enough to be breeding.  We have two toms who are not doing their job.  They are more worried about strutting their stuff and trying to prove who is top turkey.  So one of the will be dinner soon.  We have several roosters that need to go in the freezer also.  Good thing, because we don't have any poultry in the freezer, just beef and pork.

I have photos of my grandchildren to post too.  Just have to get them off the camera and onto the computer.  More to follow this post.  Just need to get to bed for now.

We are still here!

My my how time flies!  I bet everyone thought we had fell off the planet on the last rotation right?  LOL!  No, just been really busy.  Had lots of house guests, the children got the crud going around.  Not much interesting going on here.  But I do have some things and photos to share and will get to that tonight I hope.  Just wanted to pop in and say hi and let you all know there is still life at Bountiful Acres.  : )

Stay tuned for a great update!