Lamb and a recipe book

Lil' man in September 2003-sheep in field
*recipe revised on onion amount* (my apologies for the mistake)*

I have been collecting my revised or self created recipes for years. I had always hoped to make them into a book to add to my kitchen shelf collection. well the opportunity came knocking just the other day. Yahoo photos is shutting down and focusing on Flickr. since I had pics with them they sent me an alert and offered to transfer my pictures to any of the 4 companies they had listed. I went with Shutterfly. Why? because if i transferred my pics to them, i in return get a free 20 page pic/journal book. There are choices for what kind of book you want such as a scrapbook style, a journal, or even a recipe book. You can download you own pictures and choose the page layouts- plus add your own title, entry page, recipes, stories, what ever you want. So i am currently working on that. In doing so, i am searching through our old pictures that would go with/compliment the recipes. i am also making the foods and snapping pictures for the book if I do not have any for the recipe.
I am in the hopes to do it in the style of "Well preserved: a jam making hymnal". Stories to go along with the recipes. Small paragraphs to describe the taste of the food and what to accompany it. I treasure cook books in that style. So personal and inviting.
I thought i would share with you one of the recipes I am putting in my book. Try it out and i would love to hear your input. There are many others i have shared with you that will be going into this book too. I have until January to have it complete and ordered. I will keep everyone updated on its progress and the finished product. I wonder if I could use it to send copies for book publishers- if it turns out fantastic. I will be asking my (school teacher) mother in law to proof read it before finalizing. Who knows. Maybe it will turn out great.
Anyway, here is the recipe for a mild yet flavorful Lamb chili. Simple ingredients which are easier to find then you think. We found the ground lamb at the local Butcher store- NOT at a regular grocer. Look under "butchers" and ask for ground lamb to use in this recipe.
Lamb Chili (with *sour cream tomato topping see below*)
1.75 pounds of ground lamb
1 &1/2 to 1&3/4 cups diced small onion
3 (15 ounce) cans Cannelini beans
2 (8 ounce) cans plain tomato sauce
1 tablespoon diced rosemary ~or~5 of 1/2 inch sprigs
1 tablespoon garlic powder or 1 whole clove finely diced
1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice
1 tablespoon sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
In stock pot , put in diced onion, Garlic powder/clove and Olive oil. On low-medium heat, mix well and let onions caramelize/soften. Add ground lamb to onion mix. Brown the meat being sure to mix onions into it. Add rosemary once meat is browned. Wait a few minutes then mix in well the lemon juice or vinegar and the sugar. Let simmer about 5 minutes.Add the Cannelini beans, mixing well into meat. Add tomato sauce, mixing in well. Let this simmer 30 minutes before serving.
*Sour cream tomato topping*
1 cup sour cream
1 large tomato diced into small chunks
1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper
Mix all of the above in bowl.Stir until thoroughly blended. Use a dollop for topping the above chili and add a small snip of rosemary to garnish.
Serve with garlic corn biscuits and a tall glass of very cold milk.

Please do let me know if you make this recipe. Do you have any improvements you would recommend? How is the taste? texture? What did you serve with it? What would you do differently?

Next weekend we start the Goat cabin extension for the poultry. I need to finish up my measurements.
Sweet dreams,
~Tammie

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Online Furniture Store in a Fight

Luxury furniture makers and their affiliated sellers are taking aim at Europe by Net, an Internet company based in London. It is run by Julie Edwards and is offering $11,000 Italian sofas for $8,000. Why the controversy? Read the full story on this online furniture store fight.

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Mid week update

The chickens were sent to camp yesterday. They came back small and not very meaty.I stopped letting them gorge all day on food since they were dying off- one every week. We started with 16 and by yesterday we had 9 left.
Being just 3 weeks younger then the delaware hens, did not leave me impressed with their growth. They should have been at least the same size since they are bred to gain so much weight 3 times the average chickens rate..
So another lesson learned. It was not cost efficient for us. they went through a bag of feed every 2 weeks at $14 a bag. Which puts them at 4 1/2 bags. plus the fee for camp being almost $20. add it up and it comes to $83 to put meat in the freezer from 9 small chickens. Divide that up and it comes to $9 a bird. (don't bother correcting me- I hate math) A waste of money. I do not count the birds who passed on since they did not provide anything but added to the feed bill. Buying big like farmers is not an option. So cross breed experimenting we go....
Its been very hectic around here. The Captain is on vacation from work. He gets 3 weeks but we split it up so he gets 1 week every 4 months. My dearest and closest friend is flying in tonight all the way from Kansas city. "Angel" and I have been the best of friends since we were teens living in southern Florida. we spent our days lounging on the beach or by the pools and the nights... well- just say we had a great times. Lots of freedom and no worries.
We try to switch every other visit with me there, her here, and so on. But having children puts a dent on trips for me. She is lucky enough to have all her children in school so no worry on babysitters. I owe her a visit, but she decided to come to me. Now I owe her 2 in a row....
I hope to take her down to Hocking Hills for a great hike through the rocks and a delectable picnic of a Ploughman's lunch.
A visit to Old man's cave is a must. My Father in law grew up down in the area and tells us of his childhood memories which include many of Hocking Hill's sites. It would be nice to hike those trails and share the landmarks he has spoken of. She's not a country girl. But willing to hike for beauty.
We have no other plans but to sit back and reminisce with a good ol' bottle of Jose'.
Sunny dreams,
~Tammie

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"Holy crap!"

I screamed as I flew out of the tomato patch. Of course all goats, chickens, & ducks ran for the hills, leaving me in their dust. What happened, you may ask.
Well, I was working my way through all the tomato plants, gingerly lifting all stems & branches in search of any ripe fruit. I noticed 2 purple Russian orbs laying at a plants base ( I think it is a mixer since it appears to grow red & purple fruit- more on that later). As I stepped closer and deeper in the plants, I see something slither inches from my hand as I reach for the two purple tomatoes. A freaking snake! From the half I did see, it had a thin upper body. But I wasted no time sticking around to see more.
I have issues. Who doesn't. But today the one about snakes came out. I never had a problem in my youth hanging lizards from my ear lobes ( they open their mouths when you catch them & then you put your lobe in their mouth- hey- I was a kid...). I did not mind snakes but did not have a desire to handle them. Now as an adult I find I cant stand them out in the wild. To see them slithering gets my heart racing and my feet jumping.
After going through a few scenarios of what to do about my situation, I came to the conclusion the snake had to go. Evicted from my garden immediately. After all, my flops and garden basket could not stay out with all the baby poultry around. They like to hop into the basket gobbling all that I have harvested then run off only after I dump them out of it.
So I go back up to see where it was. This time, I see its back half slithering towards the Zinnia's. A fat middle section which indicates to me, our toad habitat became a snake buffet and most likely the one lone feeder fish in the little pond is no longer likely swimming.
Well I lost the snake but did find this near where I came in contact with it:I wear a size 9 (US) in womans shoes which would be a size 7 (US) in mens. I would guess this snake to be a full yard (3 feet) long.
Go ahead and laugh. Thats fine. Everyone has their issues and their things that scare them. But its not that i am afraid of them. No. They just creep me out the way they slide along the ground weaving in S's and the way they stand up with their tongue all hissss. sigh...
Just creepy.....

SSSweeet dreams,
~Tammie

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A weekend of discoveries, growth, and firsts...

*I had to delete this post from yesterday 8/13/07, due to problems with the slideshow. This is the exact post, but I have listed links to the picture slideshows instead. my apologies to dial- up users.*

This has been a beautiful weekend. The weather was tolerable to stay outside all day and run barefoot through the freshly mown grass. Play hide and seek with the kids, and spend lots of time with the The Captain as a family. He spent the better part of the morning climbing the magic tree with the kids. Lil' man is not long enough to climb over to where the 2 swings are attached so daddy helped them all up. Poor frog wanted to climb too, but had to settle cradled in the lower arm of the magic tree. lots of new insect discoveries too. An inch worm (I think), a tomato horn worm, plus crickets and bees in the front sunflower garden.
The Muscovy babies are growing fast and the meat birds are not growing fast enough. they were to be sent off to "camp" next Monday, but i think we will hold enough till the end of the month. That should put them at 10 weeks which gives them 2 weeks from today for more growth. The Captain wants to keep 15 birds for their own date with camp in October. So no auction for them. We are still planning to keep 1 female out of the bunch- which will be easier to tell the difference at that age.
Slide show 1 link
Sugar pie pumpkins are up to 15 total. Some stems are still producing babies so there may be more. I had to pull 2 cherry tomato plants. I did not want to, but am now glad I did it. They were smothering an entire row of Roma's- hindering their growth considerably. Besides, I prefer the black cherry tomatoes and only planted these due to poor offerings in the garden nursery. Good thing my direct seeding in early June worked out. You can not tell they were started 4 weeks after I planted the store bought plants.
All Baby chicks are stand offish to us while the Muscovy babies have warmed up considerably. Why can't it be the other way around? We are keeping most of the baby chicks and eating the baby muscovies- once they are about 4 months old... Hmmm." I think I will cook up Speckles tonight with a brandy herb marinade and glazed carrots. Do you prefer rolls or bread sticks?"
Kinda makes me feel bad. But I continue to look at it from the perspective that the meat we raise has had a wonderful life in comparison to what is stocked on the store shelves.
Fernie is feeling much better. She has more strength- she actually pushed me out of the doorway, trying to get to the duck food. I thought it was Chia! So - YAY! I'm so glad she is pulling through. If Roseanna had not come up and helped her out,...Well i will continue to look at the positive
Slide show 2 link
Sweet dreams,
~Tammie

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Meteor show, Fernie Bottle jaw pic, transplanting peppermint

If you have not heard yet, here ya go.Perseid Meteor shower peaks this weekend. Here is the link to Yahoo's news post and here is one for Sky& telescope magazine.

"The Perseids are one of the two strongest and most reliable annual meteor showers. (The other is December's Geminids.) And while some showers produce brief bursts lasting just a few hours, the Perseids have a broad peak. So don't despair if clouds are forecast for Sunday night — or if work obligations prevent you from staying up until dawn on Monday. Even now, a week before the peak, you can see up to a dozen Perseids per hour if conditions are perfect. That's stronger than some meteor showers at their best!

The meteor rate increases to roughly 30 per hour in the predawn hours on Saturday, 45 per hour on Sunday morning, and 80 per hour before the sky starts to get light on Monday morning. That's for a single observer at a dark-sky site in the north temperate latitudes."

Mainly clear skies here with a low of 62 tonight. I do believe we will have to stay up and watch the show. Cuddle up by the bonfire in the blanket (I get cold easily). Sipping some homemade Mulberry mead. Watching the Meteor shower. Slathered in bug spray to fend off the blood thirsty beasts-thanks to all the rain we begged for.
I thought I would share a picture to show what bottle jaw looks like to those who do not know. This is Fernie from a few days back- notice the swlling under her chin/jaw line going towards her neck :
Yesterday was the worst with it being twice as swollen. poor thing. Every morning it has gone down, but by the afternoon she is all swollen. As i reported before, she has been medically attended to. now is just the waiting game.
On a lighter note, i am transplanting peppermint from the garden to the side of the goat cabin. It gets morning sun but thats it. So I thought invasive peppermint would be good. Also the scent may be nice by the animal lodging. Not hard to do. Right about now, the mint is overtaking its spot and has little "suckers" growing. Perfect timing for tranplanting. Look close and you can see where it started to root from the stems laying across the ground. Just cut the stem as close to the main root crown and lay in tilled soil. Keep moist & there ya go.
Pliny tells us that the Greeks and Romans crowned themselves with Peppermint at their feasts and adorned their tables with its sprays, and that their cooks flavoured both their sauces and their wines with its essence.
Click the quote above and it will take you to more history& interesting facts on peppermint. I've got plenty this year and the spearamint is doing well too. I have a clipping of apple mint I snipped at the local herb garden and it has succesfully rooted for me. I have not found any in the nurseries close by so a 4 inch snip to grow my own was less then their weekly caretakers trimming. i am hoping to have mint growing along with lots of Zinnias around the animal barn. I can't help but think I read somewhere that fly's do not like the smell of mint. Anyone know if that is accurate?
Sun is poking her beautiful face out today and The birds are singing extra loud. We are off to play in the garden and swing on the magic tree.
Summer dreams,
~Tammie

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floorplan post- playing with Flickr blog feature

Williamstown floorplan-my changes
Originally uploaded by The farmchick

This is the floor plan idealistic for what works for us. A false wall which would hide the pantry door entrance coming from the kitchen is desired. The door to the1/2 bathroom would be on the blue side and add a shower stall. This prevents dirty bodies from traipsing through the house. There is plenty of space to do it, since i removed the washer dryer closet in that space. it is now located in the sewing/laundry room where the study was. And the study (now called a home office) has been moved and so on.The dining room space is pretty much the same but this layout is better use of space to accommodate everyone in the family. An entry door to the garage will be put in on the outer side so the front door is mostly used by visitors. No carpeting will be used except upstairs in bedrooms. We are going with wood flooring or the like along with tile in the kitchen/bathroom. No vinyl flooring- anywhere. Pricing will be difficult and hopefully we can get some great deals on them. Area rugs will be used in some places. We can lay flooring ourselves and with experience friends- cuts the cost down-again. by the time we are done with what we can do, this place will be $25,000 less then what they gave me the other day. now if everything would just fall in place please.
I am doing this entry through the blog feature on flickr to the picture i uploaded. Not sure if i like it, but thats why i am trying it...and posting twice in one day...
Sweet dreams
~Tammie

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Fernie's condition, tomato bragging, and a house

Fernie has Bottle jaw. She has had it for awhile with nothing effecting it with what I have done. Roseanna, the woman I bought Cleopatra from, generously gave her time and own supplies to come help out. She came up after driving the 2 hours north here and administered the much needed medicines I could not afford to buy. The Cydectin is $70 a bottle-OUCH! Plus she got a BoSe injection, an iron injection and some Vitamin A&D injection. I have the b complex and have been giving her Red Cell supplement along with a few other little things. So hopefully she is now on the road to full recovery. Poor girl.
Chia had her run with the Cydectin just to be safe. She made it very clear she was not happy about receiving it. She is a strong goat and I am embarrassed to say, still overweight. She weighed in at 125 lbs. Fernie is at 100lbs. Be assured, Chia is still on a strict no grain diet and has to be forced into her daily walks.

The captain & I have agreed, we will not get anymore goats and just let these 2 live out their days with us. I am still determined to get a daughter out of Chia- that is if we are lucky and she settles to a chosen buck. Fernie will most likely not be bred again or if we do, it will be a year or two so she will be at her strongest as to not relapse due to a weak system. But no more outside goats! Thats it. No more.
The tomatoes are ripening! We have been getting a few a day on the black cherry tomatoes and the orange bigger ones- which I cant remember the name.. This is lil' mans collection basket for the day. I picked it up for 29 cents at thrift store.

But the striped cavern gave us it's first yesterday, the grape cherry are pumping them out at least 2 1/2 cups a day, plus a good 3 cups of Roma's a day. I thought I planted a larger purple Russian, but they are coming out as medium red balls. Hmmm...wonder how that happened. The plants are so over grown, its a big tangled jungle up there. The cherry tomatoes were tagged wrong- there is no way these are bush- the vines are extending past my height at 5'8 and I do not have any larger trellis is place. They have climbed over to the Roma side and they do not like the company. I will try to rig something up here soon.
We have decided on a house to build. We get the square footage at an unbelievable price. Beats any builder I have spoken to with an honorable history. At the price we are getting, anywhere else would give us a very small home or a modular- I just don't like them. Plus we would have to go with a 3 bedroom and not a 4. I need space since winters are long. I get very antsy in small spaces with small children for long periods of time. So yes, it is a big home, and yes it is selfish. I am allowed some indulgence for my mental health. The study would be switched to a laundry/sewing room. The dining room extended in the living room area and the leftover space made into a home office.
here is a link to view the floorplans:Nothing fancy. It will be built on a cement slab. They are very cooperative on including as much reusable resources we can on the interior. They even let you do some of the work to lower the price. I.e, painting, weekly cleanup, etc. They just deduct it from the homes price at the end. we will be buying old solid wood doors from the Habitat ReStore. (Thanks Cheryl for the link. I hope the word gets out and more people incorporate it into their building process).
There are lots of other ways we will be saving money such as having a very dear and close friend do the landscaping and holding our own "Barn raising" party. The captain laughed about that idea, but I think it would go over well. Have everyone down for the weekend and get it made Amish style! Its not a very big barn. Kinda like the small dutch barns at this site and pictured here on the left. Not exact, but it gives you the idea. (I snipped from the link Stella gave). It's location is just an hour away from us for the barn dealer. I would like to hold the family thanksgiving get together once we are settled. Having the extra room in the house will accommodate our small extended family.
The Barden homes company builds all over the northeast United states. Check it out. They even have a few parcels of land in our desire of size- one has a stream bed! Also at a very good & negotiable price. No restrictions on the deed except no modular or mobile homes on the properties.
We may go looking after the first to view the property. It has views of all the farms around it, beautiful hills and one has grape vineyards down in the valley which is viewed from where the house would sit. An interesting fact for you- The road the property sits on has our last name. with creek after it. The captains legal first name is the first half of the house model name. Some things just make you go hmmmm.....
Sweet dreams,
~Tammie

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Looking for your opinion on these pictures....

Remember the curbside find of the old 8 pane windows? I am finally collaging pictures to display in the panes. One of the windows is missing 2 panes from the end, so I will arrange the panes so when laying sideways- 4 on top & 4 on bottom, there will be one missing pane on each end of the top row. So below, imagine 2 pictures on the top row and 4 for the bottom row.
This picture has been updated/edited august 7, 2007 8:11 pm

***8I have removed/replaced 2 of the pictures. The green of the frog was too bright for this collage & the bee too fuzzy on super close-up. This is just a quick throw together for you to see it with the 2 cast iron bird pieces. Any suggestions with the new set up?***

I have 2 weathered cast iron pieces meant to be bird feeders, I picked up from the craft store years ago. They will go in the glass-less panes with votive red /white color candles sitting in the feeder portion.
These are sitting on the the step-way up to the hill from our back yard. The picture is not crooked- the hill is...
I am unsure on the arrangement of my chosen pictures above. I would really like to hear from my blog readers, on what, in their opinion, would look best. What order would you arrange the above pictures to go in the window pane? Remember- 2 photos for the top row and 4 for the bottom row. I have not chosen a photo mat to frame them, but was thinking white or black.
So what do you think?

These will be on display in the living room. The walls have been painted white and there are old wooden floors.
Today we will sign on with a realtor to sell our house. Of course, they always tell you to take down family pictures so any potential buyer can "picture themselves" at home instead of feeling as though they are visiting a strangers home. In order to add color and display life in the house, I have chosen the above pictures for just one of the 2 window curb finds. The other 8 pane will be done in the same fashion and choosing the pictures for it is in action. Going through years of digital photos can be very time consuming.
I look forward to all suggestions and appreciate you taking the time to help my decision.
Sweetest dreams,
~Tammie
p.s. I am having second thoughts on the bee picture- bee is blurry up close- and the frog picture- a lot of green.I have a great close up of a black & blue butterfly on a peach xinnia flower with greenery surrounding it. i also thought I may put panda's "a child's mother nature" picture in the above set too. It can be viewed in my flickr photos. The one she made of mother nature out of hosta leaves and a rock. It is not vibrant but the white streaks in the leaves make it not so mellow. Just a thought.
~The Unusually Unusual Farmchick- Tuesday morn 7:30 am

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A weekend of mourning....

The Captain's "Nan" has passed away. I was so fortunate to have met her and share in our lives. Panda was her first "great grand child" and held a special place in her heart. She loved all her "babies", but Panda being the oldest and was the only one for 4 years and the twinkle of her eye. She was a true Lady. I have not met many, but being that she was to turn 90 this year, should help give the idea of her ways. The Captain's mother was the only "child" she had. She was like a serogant mother to his mom who had met Nan while in college. She met her through a family she (my mum in law) nannied for- which happened to live next to Nan. A woman who desired but never had children of her own, welcomed my mother- in- law into her life and the two loved each other as any mother and child do. A wonderful woman who gave generously not just in her love for all of us but to many charities. Especially the local zoo and hospital, both which had special meaning to her. The zoo was a place she would visit with her father as a little girl when the few animals they did have included a Bear. Which was a treat to see each time they would visit with much excitement. She enjoyed so much the many visits we would make with her and the children to visit & share in her childhood joy.
She has been all over the world, seen so many things in her lifetime. A treasure of adventure that I would sit and listen to every word when she would reminisce (and when the children were not running crazy to prevent me from sitting).
She will be greatly missed but never will her life be forgotten. I do not know when a memorial service is to be done as of yet. Her wishes were to be cremated immediately after death, so most likely it will be anytime next week. I am not sure I will be blogging before the service since I seem unable to see or focus on inspiration lately...

Sweet memories,
~Tammie

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