Christmas Goose

No this is not on how to cook a goose. You want to read this post I wrote if you want a recipe on roast goose.

Yesterday, late afternoon, I went out to check my mail, suddenly I heard a car horn blaring. I look over and my horse neighbors truck is flying toward me, her hands waving frantically and he was honking the horn. Of course I thought something was wrong. She hoped out of the truck, smiling, hey wait she yelled at me. He got out of the truck on the other side, in his hands was an adult goose.

You want me to butcher that for you?

Yes, that was my first thought, and yes I did say it out loud. But no, that isn't what they want. They had found her in a ditch. They say her when they left, and she was still there when they came back. It looks as though she has been attacked, but the few wounds have already began to heal. She has a few broken wings feather, but not enough to keep her from getting about 10 feet into the air. And she is blind in one eye.

I ran around in the cold yesterday, setting up a place for her in a separate pen. The horse neighbor suggested placing her with my chickens, and I told him no. I know nothing about this bird, and geese do tend to kill small chickens. She get her own pen.

Right now she is curled up in fresh hay inside of a doghouse. She walked right in, I didn't have to force her. She behaves as though she has been held before, so I am thinking a domestic goose on the run. She looks like a Graylag, but more than likely a descendant of them, a Toulouse.

I won't be around the next few days. I will post on Saturday over on WNDN. Today we make cookies for Santa, get letters written and burned, and wrap a few presents for my side of the family. The next 3 days will be full of family.

I hope everyone has A Merry Christmas, or have a wonderful Thursday! We all deserve at least one great Thursday in our lives.

MAAAAAHHHHHM!

Yesterday evening I was working in the house and my middle son starts yelling, mom! He wants you! Then I hear MAAAHHHHM! coming through the open window.

"What?" I yell out. I had sent my oldest out to get the goats out of the pasture and close the gate. I need help! I sighed and rolled my eyes just like he does. How difficult is it to close a gate, I wondered. I walked out there and found this,

Turns out gander had decided to go on a rampage. My oldest son tried to scare him off by waving his coat at him and the gander grabbed the coat. Next thing my son does was to sit on him until help arrived. I grabbed hold of the coat and told my son to stand and back away at the count of three. one, two, three! I pulled the coat and my son backed away. My oldest had humiliated him, and he walked away complaining. I stood guard as my son closed the back gate, to make sure that gander wouldn't try assaulting him again.

There just seem to be a new adventure here every day.

You know it is Spring. . .

When the chicks arrive in the mail.

If your remember, my friends over on livejournal sent me a gift certificate to the McMurray Hatchery. My order arrived yesterday morning.

I drove into town an hour before the post office opened. I told my mail carrier that last time I went in this early no one answered, she told me to come around back.

Once there, the package was opened and everyone seemed fine. Until an hour after getting home.

This little one wasn't doing to well, and another had managed to drowned in the waterer. My guess is that it was stood on by the other's. I scooped this little one up and attempted to warm it with my body heat. It took about 2 hours, but it did snap out of it, and was able to open its eyes and chirp as well as stand on its own.

We put the goslings and the turkeys out last week. We will catch who ever is stealing from us.

Speaking of geese, last night I went out to milk. As I was there minding my own business, tugging on some teats, the barn yard erupted in excitement. Foghorn Leghorn jumped down from his perch above my head, crowing in panic. The adult geese where honking, goats and sheep running confused and a 6 year old boy screaming and spinning in circles. I stood up to get a better view of the commotion. Gander had a hold of my son's arm, luckily he had on his coat. The two of them were screaming at each other and spinning. KICK HIM! I yelled. I couldn't help immediately as there was too many gates and passage ways between us. The continued to scream and spin. Gander's wings spread as he tried to claw through the boys jeans. KICK HIM! Mama, who I was milking, looked up, snorted and went back to eating her grain. I ran out of the stanchion, out of the barn, through 3 gates to get to my child. Gander still had hold of him. With a tap of the foot to his bottom, gander let go and ran off with his goose. My son went screaming back to the house. He has bruises and scratches, but nothing was broken, thankfully. And after all of that noise, Mama was done giving me milk.

They plot

Donkey, the sheep, is beginning to scare me. He just stands there at the fence, staring in his sheepish way. I will be working away in the garden, and can't help but glance over, and there he is, watching me. When I go into the pen to feed everyone, he paces me. No longer does he run and leap over invisible obstacles. No, now he creeps closer, you can see the plotting and scheming in his eyes. My father-in-law says, "don't show your fear!"

He stares just like that!

We still have a banny rooster and his very small consort in the house. I am little timid about placing them outside, even though they are long over due. Last night after dinner, my 5 year old left some fish on his plate and neglected to clean up. When I reminded him, the rooster snagged the piece of fish and ran. It reminded me of the kittens and the way they greedily eat. The rooster seems happy to follow me through the house, the consort which is 5x smaller them him, enjoys chirping as loud as she can when he leaves her sight. It gets rather loud in the smaller rooms.

The geese are not as passive as Donkey. My 9 year old can attest to that. We were out working in the barn and the standard rooster has a death wish, so my oldest son must literally watch my back when we are out there. As I was cleaning and my son was standing guard, the gander approached and bit and beat on my son's leg. I heard the screaming and turned. The gander had already let go and my son was in tears. "I told you not to turn your back on them." He now boasts some very large bruises.

We now have a puppy, a pit bull/Husky mix. Otherwise a Pit Bull with blue eyes. There is no mistake in what she is. She is only slightly squarer than are English Pit is, here is hoping the other neighbors don't notice and freak out. Her name is Buttercup, and she is bent on killing all the children with her licks. She finds them in the middle of the night, jumping up on the bed, her little tail beating them in the sides or back, licking and jumping until one of the boys vocally complains and pushes her off the bed. That doesn't persuade her to stop, she just hunts down the next victim. I need to replace the batteries in my camera, will get you pictures soon.

Who is plotting against you?

Eggs and a contest

The Ezine All Foods Natural is having another contest. From the newsletter;

Now we will start collecting recipes using coffee, preferably as flavoring. Send your words by the last day of February 2007 using this form or by email to the postmaster@all-foods-natural.com, and good luck! A copy of the book Fix it and Enjoy it is waiting for the best recipe. Finalists will feature in this newsletter and the web site. The winner will be notified by email, and we will request then the postal address to send the book. Have a look to what you can find in the book. {I think they meant the last day of March}

The chickens I received last summer have begun laying. What a relief! I've had to buy eggs this winter because I could only find eggs from one of my layers. I need to go and clean out the barn, and am fearful that I will find many o' rotten eggs hidden in there. That or something is eating them. I also need to clean out the nursery for the little ones that will be here in two weeks.

My geese should be laying soon. As much as I love baking with goose eggs, I think I will allow at least half of them to hatch out this year.

I need to go accessory shopping for my new donkey. ~glee!~

Holiday Cooking Blogger Style

Click pic for more recipes from other bloggers

Roasted Goose

you will need;
1 whole goose (12 lbs {5.4 Kg}) remove the neck giblets, wing tips, and excess fat, and set aside in the fridge for later use in gravy. Remove the wish bone and prick the skin with a trussing needle, all over

8 cups bread stuffing {apple and sage will go with the goose }

Giblet gravy to serve

To prepare;
Bring a large stock pot that is 2/3 full of water, to a boil.
Using rubber gloves to protect your hands, submerge the goose neck end down into the boiling water for one full minute. Goose bumps should appear on the skin. Remove and repeat, submerging the tail end first. Drain the goose and dry, inside and out. Pat with a paper towel. Place the goose breast side up on a flat rack {one inside of a roasting pan} a refrigerate for 24 hours. {you can chill for 48 hours}

Place your oven rack in the low-center position. Pre-heat to 325 F {162c}. Put your stuffing in the neck opening and sew shut with heavy twine. do the same with the tail end {stuff and sew} Season the goose skin with salt and pepper, liberally.

Using a heavy-duty V rack, place the goose breast down over a roasting pan. Roast for 1 ½ hours. Remove and scoop out most of the fat from the pan. {leave the brown bits} Turn the goose, breast side up, and roast for and additional 1 ½ hours, or until the skin has puffed up around the breast bone and the tops of the thighs. Increase oven temp to 400F {204c}. Move the goose and V rack to a jelly roll pan and bake for 15 more minutes, the skin will now be brown and crisp.

Remove the twine and stuffing. Serve stuffing separate.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~main dish


Skip the gourmet shops when looking for your Holiday goose. Try contacting your County extension office or your area co-op.