A Jealous Bull?

When our bull gets out, he often heads over to the septic system. (Our fence wasn't made for a bull in mind, but it will be beefed up soon.) This is where the grass is the greenest right now. The septic drains into the valley where two hills meet, which is naturally greener from extra water runoff from the hills. With the extra septic outflow, however, it is really lush.

Tonight while I was tucking the kids in, I went to close their curtain. Their window faces the septic system, and I happened to notice 9 deer feeding there. It must be a popular spot. I just hope that our bull doesn't get too jealous and think he needs to go protect his spot!

Plowing the Garden

Over the fall and winter we had our pigs where we wanted to put our garden. The back half of their pen we left grass, where we would move them in and out during the growing season. Once winter hit, they got full run of the pen. We had hoped to not have them in there so long, but since we didn't get our perimeter fence up they stayed put. Because of this, the garden spot not only got rooted up nicely, but it also got packed back down.

Last night Ethan started getting it ready to be a garden. As you can see, it plowed up quite nicely. It still has to be tilled, and it is errr . . . well . . . quite ripe smelling.

It was suggested to us to just plant things that are off of the ground in this spot this year since it hasn't had a chance to fully compost yet, putting the crops that come in contact with the ground in a different spot. So the crops I'm thinking of planting here are sweet corn, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, peppers, and also pumpkins and gourds that won't be eaten. I will also put a nice layer of mulch under the plants that are semi close to the ground to prevent "backsplash". Let me know if you have any thoughts about putting these veggies here and if you have any other suggestions of others.

So, now all we have to do is get the garden tilled, and then I can start planting. I am excited to see how it does.

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A Birthday Pig

Today Caleb is 5 years old. It's hard to believe he can be that old! Boy does time fly.

For the last few months Caleb has been talking about wanting a pig for his birthday, or should I say his birthday cake. I have had some time to plan it in my head, and although I wasn't able to get to the store last night to get what I wanted for the ears, I think it turned out alright for throwing it together after a soccer game. The most important thing though is that Caleb thought it turned our alright. :)

Somehow the tradition got started that the kids pick out what they want for their birthday cake, and I try to make it. I think Hannah started it when she saw Caleb's farm cake last year and wanted an "Animal Cake" for her last birthday with a pig, chicken and cow.

I don't mind being creative, but I have had my share of battles with birthday cakes. (One of them resulted in me needing to make a whole new cake, but that is a different story and I will blame it on hormones from having a baby a week and half earlier.) Most of these battles are with the frosting. I think I have a frosting that is the right consistency, but then it either is too thick to spread or looks like it is thick enough but ends up running once it is on the cake.

So for this post I am calling out for help on making the perfect frosting. I do like the flavor of mine. I don't have a recipe, but I blend together powdered sugar, milk, shortening/margarine/butter - depending on my mood and the color of frosting I need - vanilla, and a pinch or two of salt. I learned the salt trick from a cake baker. It actually is quite good as it takes away the sugary bite. What I didn't get is the proportions though. So . . . anyone what to share their favorite cake frosting recipe???

Dessert Jars

Thanks for all of the great information on brown sugar. I was surprised so many people use it and glad to hear others like the dark better too.

To keep with the theme of sugar (and because we received a lot of it this past weekend), here's a little post on what I do with all of the candy that the kids get.

Caleb and Hannah each have their own "dessert jar" which is a wide mouth quart jar. Whenever they get candy it goes into their jar. After lunch and supper they get to pick one thing from their dessert jar. It can be quite a hard decision.

The dessert jar has also turned into a tool for discipline issues. I recently pulled out two lids that fit the jars. When someone has a behavior problem during the day the lid goes on their jar. If there is a lid on a jar at dessert time, no dessert comes out of the jar. They do get to take the lid off though and try again for the next meal.

As you can see, our jars are well stocked right now. They each have a lunch sack half full of candy too! Hopefully these jars will help them with eating candy in moderation. When I was growing up I probably would have scarfed it all down within a week - as you might have guessed from my brown sugar post.

Brown Sugar Confession/Question

This week I went to the store and real brown sugar was on sale. Since I usually buy the generic stuff that is made from beets, I decided I better get some. I also noticed that the dark brown sugar was on sale. I have known about it but never tried it since the generic doesn't carry the dark brown. So I got a package of that too out of curiosity and since it is the same price as the golden.When I got home, I decided to see what the difference was. I opened up the package and tried a pinch. It was REALLY good. I am already very familiar with the taste of regular brown sugar, but I decided to check that too just to compare them side by side. :)

My vote was in. The dark brown sugar won the taste test. I have been continuing to confirm my vote too, so much so that I really need to put the package away.

So now a bunch of brown sugar questions have popped up in my mind. I really like the dark brown sugar (when taken straight) better. It is obvious from the shelf supply that the golden brown is more popular though. Do they bake differently? Also, if you use dark brown, what do you use it for? Are there certain recipes where golden brown is better than dark and where dark is better than golden brown?

I would love to be flooded with your knowledge about the differences. Until then, however, I better go put my package in the cupboard before I get a sugar headache . . .

Pretty Preserves

I haven't been canning long, really only one season. (Last year I didn't get much canning done, but the year before that I canned a fair amount.) Even so, I find it is very rewarding. There is a sense of accomplishment when you pull those jars out of the canner - seeing the produce that you grew and knowing that it will be available to enjoy throughout the year.

Because of this, I like to SEE what is in those jars! Here are two different jars of canned tomatoes. They are both in identical Ball jars with the name facing out. The one on the left, however, has quite a bit of lime deposited on the outside of the jar. The jar on the right is shiny and clear.

The difference? About a tablespoon of vinegar in the canning water to help keep mineral deposits from forming on the outside of the jar during the canning process.

I am anxious to plant my garden this year, but I am also excited to do some canning!

Sweet Potato Update

This is about week 9 for this year's sweet potato sprouting. I am quite happy with how my potato sprouted this year compared to other years I have tried it. This year I looked for a potato in the store that looked like it already had some sprouts on it. (Sometimes there will be sweet potatoes in that are really smooth - most of these are probably treated to keep them from sprouting.)

Although I don't have a grow light on it this year, which does help speed up the growth of the sprouts, the sprouts are growing quite nicely. Hopefully soon I can pinch off some to root and let the potato continue to produce more sprouts.