Go check out the Bestest Blog, all sorts of links to different and interesting blogs. It is your gateway to blogtopia.
The Cedar Chest is written by our dear Elli. A wonderful introspective blog.
Ecostreet blog, I have been neglecting to look at this one, might be because I have dial-up and I get frustrated with the load time. It holds a wealth of stories and links on living green.
The Green Mommy comes to us from Jenny. She is in the process of learning how to live a greener more simple life. Yes, another neophyte.
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Saturday, November 04, 2006
Friday, November 03, 2006
The White Queen has been dethroned
And the pheasants rejoice!
I found my English white silkie roaming the yard yesterday, she has finally come off her nest. I went to see if she left an egg, there was nothing there. Either it was eaten or there never was an egg. If her nesting instincts are this strong, I think I had better leave an egg for her in the spring.
My teens are a brave bunch. I found them out front again. I had fixed two openings that they were escaping from, so now I don't know where they are getting out. That means an early morning stake out for me. Now that sounds like fun! Anyone want to come hang out in 20F {-6c} weather, squatting behind some barn junk, waiting for the chicks to emerge with me? I'll make hot cocoa.
I have been, not neglecting, but simplifying some of my homesteading chores because I have been obsessively cleaning house. This is what happens after I do a marathon writing session. Things should get back to normal as I settle into Nanowrimo and severe weather starts cropping up.
Pork chopsh and appleshaushe
Actually Seared Pork tenderloin in an apple dressing. With noodles and homemade pesto sauce, homegrown mashed sweet potatoes and from scratch croissants.
I told no one of my plans with the pork loin, everyone was caught off guard, but no complaints.
The pork tender loin is seared in a heavy skillet, salt and pepper on both sides of the meat, and olive oil.
Cream, Apples and Sage sauce
1 tbl unsalted butter
1 firm apple, peeled, cored, and cut into 12 slices
½ medium onion, thinly sliced
1/3 cup apple cider
3 tbl applejack or brandy
½ cup low sodium broth
2 tbl minced fresh sage leaves
1/4 cup heavy cream
salt and ground black pepper
Prepare your pork tenderloin and transfer to a plate. Using the same pan, melt the butter over a med-high heat. Swirl to cover pan. Add the apple and onion and saute until the apples start to brown, take about 4 minutes. Add cider and applejack {brandy} bring to a boil, scraping off the bottom of the pan to remove the brown bits. Boil for 2 ½ minutes, or until the liquid reduces to a glaze. Turn the heat up to high add the broth, sage and any pork juice that has accumulated on the plate. Boil until the liquid reminds you of maple syrup, about 3 minutes. And cream and boil for about 2 minutes, or until the liquid is reduced in half.
Reduce the heat to medium and return the pork to the pan. Turning to coat. Simmer for 3 minutes. Add salt and peeper to taste, serve pork on plate, pouring a little of the sauce over top. Serve hot.
I found my English white silkie roaming the yard yesterday, she has finally come off her nest. I went to see if she left an egg, there was nothing there. Either it was eaten or there never was an egg. If her nesting instincts are this strong, I think I had better leave an egg for her in the spring.
My teens are a brave bunch. I found them out front again. I had fixed two openings that they were escaping from, so now I don't know where they are getting out. That means an early morning stake out for me. Now that sounds like fun! Anyone want to come hang out in 20F {-6c} weather, squatting behind some barn junk, waiting for the chicks to emerge with me? I'll make hot cocoa.
I have been, not neglecting, but simplifying some of my homesteading chores because I have been obsessively cleaning house. This is what happens after I do a marathon writing session. Things should get back to normal as I settle into Nanowrimo and severe weather starts cropping up.
Pork chopsh and appleshaushe
Actually Seared Pork tenderloin in an apple dressing. With noodles and homemade pesto sauce, homegrown mashed sweet potatoes and from scratch croissants.
I told no one of my plans with the pork loin, everyone was caught off guard, but no complaints.The pork tender loin is seared in a heavy skillet, salt and pepper on both sides of the meat, and olive oil.
Cream, Apples and Sage sauce
1 tbl unsalted butter
1 firm apple, peeled, cored, and cut into 12 slices
½ medium onion, thinly sliced
1/3 cup apple cider
3 tbl applejack or brandy
½ cup low sodium broth
2 tbl minced fresh sage leaves
1/4 cup heavy cream
salt and ground black pepper
Prepare your pork tenderloin and transfer to a plate. Using the same pan, melt the butter over a med-high heat. Swirl to cover pan. Add the apple and onion and saute until the apples start to brown, take about 4 minutes. Add cider and applejack {brandy} bring to a boil, scraping off the bottom of the pan to remove the brown bits. Boil for 2 ½ minutes, or until the liquid reduces to a glaze. Turn the heat up to high add the broth, sage and any pork juice that has accumulated on the plate. Boil until the liquid reminds you of maple syrup, about 3 minutes. And cream and boil for about 2 minutes, or until the liquid is reduced in half.
Reduce the heat to medium and return the pork to the pan. Turning to coat. Simmer for 3 minutes. Add salt and peeper to taste, serve pork on plate, pouring a little of the sauce over top. Serve hot.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
A smattering of this and that
I woke up this morning ready to tell you about the tornado that came through and destroyed my house last night. Then I realized it was all a vivid dream. Too bad, it would have made a great entry.
The temperature has been dropping down to 25F {-3c} at night, and I have realized that I have not set the timer for the heat lamp in the chicken coop. As soon as it warms up enough where my hands will not stick to the metal gate, I will go do that.
The sweet potatoes are all wrapped up, individually, in newspapers and stored for the winter. I have a few of the smaller ones out to make some sweet potato biscuits. And my husband was badgering me about making sweet potato pie. Seems he is in no mood to wait until Thanksgiving.
Speaking of husbands, mine recently returned from Daytona Beach, Florida {where it was 80F {26c} at night}. He was sent out for Biketoberfest.
While he was gone, I got to spend two weeks doing not only my own chores, but his as well. It got me thinking about pioneer women. They had to do just about everything themselves while their husband were away hunting, or travailing to find work. I don't know how they kept their sanity. Just his few farm chores put me behind on everything. I stumbled through the ones I didn't know very well, and didn't put the animal feed into the bin. Instead I placed the bags in the garage and filled a bucket to throw at them. I will not go back into that pen until that turkey is gone. I don't care how much he likes me {that's why I won't go in there}
My apple project has come to an end. I have done a variety of things with them. I will leave it up to you, if you would like to hear about apples let me know. Until then, I will leave you with this Apple Danish. Enjoy!
The temperature has been dropping down to 25F {-3c} at night, and I have realized that I have not set the timer for the heat lamp in the chicken coop. As soon as it warms up enough where my hands will not stick to the metal gate, I will go do that.
The sweet potatoes are all wrapped up, individually, in newspapers and stored for the winter. I have a few of the smaller ones out to make some sweet potato biscuits. And my husband was badgering me about making sweet potato pie. Seems he is in no mood to wait until Thanksgiving.
Speaking of husbands, mine recently returned from Daytona Beach, Florida {where it was 80F {26c} at night}. He was sent out for Biketoberfest.
While he was gone, I got to spend two weeks doing not only my own chores, but his as well. It got me thinking about pioneer women. They had to do just about everything themselves while their husband were away hunting, or travailing to find work. I don't know how they kept their sanity. Just his few farm chores put me behind on everything. I stumbled through the ones I didn't know very well, and didn't put the animal feed into the bin. Instead I placed the bags in the garage and filled a bucket to throw at them. I will not go back into that pen until that turkey is gone. I don't care how much he likes me {that's why I won't go in there}My apple project has come to an end. I have done a variety of things with them. I will leave it up to you, if you would like to hear about apples let me know. Until then, I will leave you with this Apple Danish. Enjoy!
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
A spooky night
Last night I went into town with the son of death, a dead pilot and a hyper football player. {We think the football player was on something, we are waiting for the UA results}
The boys had a grand time, running along the side walk, the 2-year-old tripping on things. The sad part of it was that there wasn't very many other trick or treaters out, and most of the porch lights seemed off. The up side {for my boys} was this meant they got handfuls of candy instead of just one piece. Growing up in the suburbs this was an eventful day. Just about everyone had a porch light on and the kids roamed the streets in herds dressed as fancy princesses and ghosts. Now they seem to have a separate day set aside for local stores to hand out candy in a civilized manner. Oh, and let's no forget about the churches that organize the anti-Halloween parties. That confuses me. I thought that's what they did when they declared the eve of "Hallowtide," {All Saints' Day} on Samhain? oh but children out on the streets begging for candy has nothing to do with religion, and that' how I spent the better part of my evening.
My husband is teaching at the Tech summit, and was late getting home. It was a made dash of putting on homemade customs and painting on store bought make-up. We hit the streets around 7 pm. We were greeted at strangers doors with spooky moaning decor or a well dressed parents. {I was crying blood, while my husband looked like a biker, no he didn't dress up} A couple of teenage vampires gave us a heads up about dead doors. Our 2-yr-old neck broken football player couldn't contain his joy. He was great to watch, so much happiness. "Look mama!" We got him saying trick-or-treat and thank you. He also had to spend a minute at each house telling the adult all about what was going on. Our impossible shy 5-year-old pilot who died in a spectacular plane crash in the 1950's, emerged from his shell enough to whisper thank you to people he never met before. He is so shy, and it was hard for him to do. But he always walked away from the door with a smile. Our 9-yr-old Malboro hoodie wearing grim reaper was as out going as he always is, and would just laugh whenever someone EEEKKKKed at him.
All in all it was great night for our boys. And we have chatted up some neighbors about doing a neighborhood spook fest next year.
The boys had a grand time, running along the side walk, the 2-year-old tripping on things. The sad part of it was that there wasn't very many other trick or treaters out, and most of the porch lights seemed off. The up side {for my boys} was this meant they got handfuls of candy instead of just one piece. Growing up in the suburbs this was an eventful day. Just about everyone had a porch light on and the kids roamed the streets in herds dressed as fancy princesses and ghosts. Now they seem to have a separate day set aside for local stores to hand out candy in a civilized manner. Oh, and let's no forget about the churches that organize the anti-Halloween parties. That confuses me. I thought that's what they did when they declared the eve of "Hallowtide," {All Saints' Day} on Samhain? oh but children out on the streets begging for candy has nothing to do with religion, and that' how I spent the better part of my evening.
My husband is teaching at the Tech summit, and was late getting home. It was a made dash of putting on homemade customs and painting on store bought make-up. We hit the streets around 7 pm. We were greeted at strangers doors with spooky moaning decor or a well dressed parents. {I was crying blood, while my husband looked like a biker, no he didn't dress up} A couple of teenage vampires gave us a heads up about dead doors. Our 2-yr-old neck broken football player couldn't contain his joy. He was great to watch, so much happiness. "Look mama!" We got him saying trick-or-treat and thank you. He also had to spend a minute at each house telling the adult all about what was going on. Our impossible shy 5-year-old pilot who died in a spectacular plane crash in the 1950's, emerged from his shell enough to whisper thank you to people he never met before. He is so shy, and it was hard for him to do. But he always walked away from the door with a smile. Our 9-yr-old Malboro hoodie wearing grim reaper was as out going as he always is, and would just laugh whenever someone EEEKKKKed at him.
All in all it was great night for our boys. And we have chatted up some neighbors about doing a neighborhood spook fest next year.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Happy Halloversary!
Now that I have made a complete fool of myself. . . There were 48 writers that took PBW's e-book challenge. Not all horror, looks like there is a little something for everyone. You can find the list and links here at Free e-books by the challengers. I really wish I had more time to edit, I was up until 3 am the night before, editing until the screen was blurry and still missed some obvious problems. ~sigh~ But now I can rest for a day before NaNoWriMo starts. Why do these things always fall during harvest time?
As you are all aware, today is Halloween, one of my favorite Holidays. So it if very fitting that today is also our 5th anniversary here on our homestead.
5 years ago today, we moved into the house. I remember thinking it looked so big. we moved from a house that was 900 sq ft {1,000 if you included a porch} to a whopping 1,200 sq ft home! Then we got all our stuff in. Not so big.
This is the first home we had ever bought together, my husband and I. We spent 5 years renting before he decided it was time to actually buy something of our own. I just had my 3rd child, and living on a busy road just wasn't working for us.
We are very happy with our decision to move out here, even if I hated the place at first.
Hope you all have a Happy Halloween! I am off to scare some kids.
As you are all aware, today is Halloween, one of my favorite Holidays. So it if very fitting that today is also our 5th anniversary here on our homestead.
5 years ago today, we moved into the house. I remember thinking it looked so big. we moved from a house that was 900 sq ft {1,000 if you included a porch} to a whopping 1,200 sq ft home! Then we got all our stuff in. Not so big.
This is the first home we had ever bought together, my husband and I. We spent 5 years renting before he decided it was time to actually buy something of our own. I just had my 3rd child, and living on a busy road just wasn't working for us.
We are very happy with our decision to move out here, even if I hated the place at first.
Hope you all have a Happy Halloween! I am off to scare some kids.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Free downloadable e-book {genre horror}
edited, 2-5-10
the company that was hosting this is gone. without warning. I no longer have a personal copy of it myself as the pc it was on crashed. sorry.
I have placed a permanent link in the side bar.
Enjoy!
FYI, Some people have informed me of not being able to download. Clicking the book cover above will take you off site {blogger doesn't allow you to post pdf downloads directly.} Once off site you will have to scroll down past the ads and there will be a banner that says download now.
the company that was hosting this is gone. without warning. I no longer have a personal copy of it myself as the pc it was on crashed. sorry.
I have placed a permanent link in the side bar.
Enjoy!
FYI, Some people have informed me of not being able to download. Clicking the book cover above will take you off site {blogger doesn't allow you to post pdf downloads directly.} Once off site you will have to scroll down past the ads and there will be a banner that says download now.
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Sunday Guest Blogger
I have been neglecting the Sunday posts. Mainly it is my one day that I have more time and I have been using that time to work on that e-book Challenge that I talk about before. I am now finishing it up, and will edit tonight. I should have it posted tomorrow.
I am worried about it. I don't feel it is my best work, but it does show some of what I can do.
The genre is horror, and not that boring suspense horror either. Lots of gore, because that's how a good horror book should be, HA!
After I have it up for everyone to download free, I will post an announcement about it. Though that scares me. But this is one of the non-homesteading things that I had coward from before homesteading. It's the next part of stepping away from my old life. I know people will hate it, I know people will tell me so, none the less, I ask that you bookmark tomorrow's post and if you do read the e-book, please tell me what you thought as a reply to that post. Good or bad.
Forewarn my fellow homesteaders, it's about our dark side ~Insert evil laugh here~
I do hope there is some redeeming quality to this e-book. I never thought I would have an e-book, mainly because I am addicted to paper. So this very will might be the last one I have.
To my bookcrossing friends. If you like it, feel free to bookray it. I don't have plans to do so, but I know you people and how you work. {And I know you don't have to like it to pass it on}
I guess that is everything I have to say about tomorrow’s e-book. I have to get over my fears, step out of this warm safety of not showing everyone another side of my life. One that I have dreamt about, strived {in my scared little way} to have. When I was nine years old, I wanted nothing more than to win the E. A. Poe award. It would still be nice.
I will see you tomorrow, with the presentation of Stories from the Back Forty.
I am worried about it. I don't feel it is my best work, but it does show some of what I can do.
The genre is horror, and not that boring suspense horror either. Lots of gore, because that's how a good horror book should be, HA!
After I have it up for everyone to download free, I will post an announcement about it. Though that scares me. But this is one of the non-homesteading things that I had coward from before homesteading. It's the next part of stepping away from my old life. I know people will hate it, I know people will tell me so, none the less, I ask that you bookmark tomorrow's post and if you do read the e-book, please tell me what you thought as a reply to that post. Good or bad.
Forewarn my fellow homesteaders, it's about our dark side ~Insert evil laugh here~
I do hope there is some redeeming quality to this e-book. I never thought I would have an e-book, mainly because I am addicted to paper. So this very will might be the last one I have.
To my bookcrossing friends. If you like it, feel free to bookray it. I don't have plans to do so, but I know you people and how you work. {And I know you don't have to like it to pass it on}
I guess that is everything I have to say about tomorrow’s e-book. I have to get over my fears, step out of this warm safety of not showing everyone another side of my life. One that I have dreamt about, strived {in my scared little way} to have. When I was nine years old, I wanted nothing more than to win the E. A. Poe award. It would still be nice.
I will see you tomorrow, with the presentation of Stories from the Back Forty.
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