In My Defense

My mother left this comment this morning:

For all those who would like to read of the professional animal spotter that my daughter has become. here is a quick story.

While on the phone, she squeals... there is a rabbit in my garden. Then she squeals..It is a yellow neon rabbit. It must be a rabbit, it has ears.

On further investigation...the rabbit turns out to be something plastic

With the wind blowing, it did too look like a yellow rabbit eating my garden! Of course I couldn't figure out why a rabbit would be yellow, but still...

This Weekend

Today I have to get ready for tomorrow. I need my scythe, a hatchet, boots, long pants and sleeves, measuring tape, pen and paper, lunch, bug spray, camera, and, and. . . mom, what am I missing on this list?

This is another hint on my announcement on Monday. Alrescate, I do this to irritate you, ha!

Saturday we will be doing something that has to do with our future here. It should be fun.

We are officially into the mundane routine of late spring here. Dealing with the garden, bees, trees and other livestock. But last night, tornado season has come late. We here at the 'stead were spared, but it was a long night of watching and waiting. North of us was torn apart, several (4 I believe) hit around one of our lakes. It was rough. This morning is uncomfortably humid, and the severe storms will be going on through out the weekend into next week. News said there was 48 tornadoes last night.

My youngest son his excited about tornado season. Me? well I wasn't sure what to do about the cows. Should I call them in, or leave them out? I choose to leave them out, since they know where shelter is if they feel they need it. I was still stressed with worry about them. Can't fit a cow into my cellar. I think I need a bigger one.

Good Times

image from tombstone generator

Do you remember the game Oregon Trail? If you do you are dating yourself. There is a cute meme going around about who would you take in your covered wagon on the Oregon Trail. (the link will take you to a website that has a free trial version of Orgeon Trail)

Who to choose, who to choose? Just about everyone has some talent that would be useful on the trail. So to make it somewhat fair in my choosing, I am going to pick only those that are appearing on my sidebar as recently updating their blogs.

Cook Think Blog, because they can cook just about anything. And that means I won't have to.

Fast grow the weeds, because if anyone can come up with a mobile greenhouse, and know how to use it, it would be her.

A Posse ad esse, he is the repurposing king! He could figure out a use for all of our trash, anything that was broken that could be repaired for it's original purpose, and anything we found along the way.

Banter, Bones and Breath, because she could figure out how to use the canary in the well, and then tell use the air quality just by how the bird acts (not just if it is alive or dead)

Super Natural Christian, only because she is my mother and if I don't include her I will get a phone call "Why don't you want your mother along?" ~grin~ love ya mom. My mother has many skills that would go along with the trail, one would be catching bees so that we could travel with honey.

So, what 5 are you taking?

My Radishes, Your Radishes, Our Radishes, Their Radishes

My early radishes are popping up all over the place. Yesterday I did a little thinning and ended up with 1 lb 9 1/2 oz of white baby radishes. Today I will peel them, wash them, slice 'em, and quickly stir fry them before freezing them for later use.

I have a lot more coming in and we can never eat them all. My question for you is, how do your preserve your radishes?

Get a Clue

I will start posting later and later as the days progress. I will be doing more morning chores, like gardening, in the cooler temps of the morning. I will post, but in the afternoon, when the heat of the day drives me indoors.

I got to drive the tractor! I was actually able to take it away from my husband. We were beginning to think he was glues to the metal seat. We or ummm, I, cultivated the ditch that runs through our property. This is were all our water loving melons are being planted. One problem with this though. Because of where the cattle fence is, where the garden is, and where this cultivated ditch is, we can not get to the orchard. This is when we decide to put one of those bridge boards to use. We dragged it to the ditch using a lead. It took two of us, and we still struggled with it a bit.

Now we have access.

Of course while we were working,

the boys decided to brave the cows, and take a dip in the trough.

Later that day, I sent my boys to gather some fire wood. I wanted to practice my open flame cooking skills.

I made a simple dish of ham, noodle, cheese and spinach casserole.

I brought the water to a boil for the noodles,

heated the ham, melted the butter and cheese with a little milk

and allowed it to "bake" for a few minutes before serving it up.

The boys loved it, and it had a smoky flavor that can't be beat.

So, why am I practicing my open flame cooking skills? This is your clue to Monday's announcement.

Food to put by

I apologize for not posting yesterday. I seem to be having blogger vs PC issues.

Every spring I end up doing a challenge, this year I chose to participate in;

Back to Basics challenge

A few things in my garden to put by;

Brussel sprouts

Cauliflower

Stowell's Evergreen corn

grapes

We have a lot more coming in, unfortunately some of the photos were not the greatest.

oh and for Lisa. LOOK LOOK! I have flowers!!!!

Of course I didn't grow them, they were here when we moved in. But I didn't kill them either.

I have something that I really want to tell you all. It is something that I hinted at last summer. We at the Neophyte Homestead are thrilled about it. But I am not going to tell you what it is until next Monday.