Better late than never!

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Late again. It's genetic.

Anyway! I was late posting because yesterday was a super-full day! It's been our fall break for the past 4 days, and, man, I sure got the most out of it yesterday.

The morning was spent moving the chickens to a more portable (and higher up) coop out on *T and *J's property (thanks, again guys for hosting my babies!) *J went on a coop bender and knocked out an AWESOME coop from pretty much scrap materials (I think the roof was the only new thing.) It looks pretty fantastic, though I say so myself. *J is the man.

Gonna check on them tonight when I get off work and see how the first night went. They seemed a little confused about the second storey part... Never said chickens were smart! This gives them extra run space though, and a permanent covered spot (not just ghetto tarp!)

The rest of the day was spent picking pumpkins with a few of my favorite ladies! (real ones, not chicken ones!) Got some pretty ones (although not all these. Some of them just wandered with me while I was deciding.)

A blast was had by all, and the dump dress made it back to a farm!

I liked that little farm so much, I emailed the owner to see if they need volunteers! Fingers crossed that they do!

Other than that, I've just been plotting planting garlic in the large blue Ikea shopping bags, and maybe some kale for a winter garden!

Fall has definitely made it here. Campus is beautiful.

Hope the season's changing is as lovely where you are!

~Sarah

No rest on Labor Day!

Hey y'all!

Sorry for the late post! Promise we're going to get back on schedule.

So yesterday was Labor Day, and for like the FIRST TIME ever, I was actually off work. How weird. What did I do???

I LABORED! All weekend. Well, part of the weekend. Some of the weekend. A little bit of the weekend...

Yesterday I mostly ran around outside in the rain, excited that it was under 80 degrees outside! I've been painting furniture, Day of the Dead skeletons, you name it!

Some things I've made:



Buttermilk pumpkin donuts. Oh my God they were good.

While making these I got this:



My first double-yolk egg!! I'm pretty sure that means that my girls are getting fat, but it's so neat I don't care. You go girls!

One of my little Americauna/Maran girls laid her first egg.



It's in the middle. It's a pretty goose-turd green in real life.

Two words:



Homemade vanilla.

Oh yeah baby. I used a Kentucky distilled vodka, called Pure Blue, I think, the first distiller to come back to the distillery district in Lexington. It actually doesn't taste like rubbing alcohol. Not bad!

In non-culinary goings-on, I made a curtain for two of my friends' office.



Love the hounds tooth!

I also finally made rag balls out of this huge roll of fabric I got at a thrift store for $2. I think I'm going to make a braided rug.




I didn't make these last things, but I'm such a proud momma about this! I have a 30 gallon saltwater tank, and even though I ignore it most of the time like a terrible person, I do get super-excited about it. A couple of months ago, I bought a type of coral called a rhodactis mushroom (fancy name) that was a lovely aqua color. Love it. Paid $10 for one piece I loved it so much. Yesterday, I noticed this:



My little baby coral split in to THREE!! Hurray! I love corals. So neat.

Here's a pretty dirty shot of the whole thing from a few weeks ago.



I've got some cleaning to do!

Hope you all had a good holiday!

-Sarah

What's for dinner when you can't cook?

I love Patricia's ideas for meal planning. Having everything on a set schedule sounds heaven sent, but what happens if YOU aren't on a set schedule? Are you doomed to eating Taco Bell 4 meals a day? My job involves having a weird schedule, hands down. I usually don't get home until 9 or 10 o'clock at night, and I'm lazy and don't wake up until I absolutely HAVE to. So what's a girl to do when she wants to eat like a normal person, but not be banging pots and pans together at midnight?

Meet your best friend:

image from: http://www.psfk.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/freezer.jpg

Unfortunately, my freezer doesn't look like that. Honestly, my freezer is stuffed full of crap, including our chest freezer downstairs. Why? And what does this have to do with being lazy?

So, think back to your post-high school days... if you were anything like me, you probably lived off microwaveable frozen foods. Because they are easy. You know what else they are? They are just foods made and then shoved in the freezer to be reheated later. You know what you can do? Make burritos and shove them in the freezer. It's just that simple. No, they probably won't last until Armageddon like Totinos pizza rolls, but they are also much tastier if made with exactly the ingredients you like.

Personally, I do this with just about everything. Especially if you live on your own, this is a great way to cook without having to quarter recipes. I usually take a day on the weekend and cook a few different types of each meal, for example, I might make breakfast burritos, scones, and pancakes for breakfast, and then a few different types of lunch/dinner meals, like a soup, lasagna, or a chicken dish. This works great for taking your lunch to work, since you just have to pop something out of the freezer and it defrosts by lunch time. It's also great if you're lazy in the morning, because you can pop a homemade waffle in the toaster just as easy as an Eggo, and it's not full of terrible junk.

So last night, I can home and got in a cooking mood and made:

vegetable lentil soup.
Soup always looks terrible, but tastes so good.

Bacon Cheddar Scones



which turned out AMAZING. I'll post the recipe tonight. It was adapted from a metric recipe, so it's definitely a guessing game...

This morning, I paired one of those puppies with some fresh eggs, one of which had the most enormous yolk.

Thanks girls.

So don't be afraid of meal planning, even if you're a crappy planner, or "don't have the time." Cook it up as you get a chance, and pop it in the freezer! It'll save you a world of worry later (and you can choose from multiple things rather than sticking to a plan!)

**UPDATE**

Here's the recipe for the bacon cheddar scones, adapted from this blog.

1 1/3c flour
2 TBSP baking powder
salt & pepper
1/3 c butter, softened
1 egg
1/2 c buttermilk
1/3 grated cheddar cheese
BACON. The recipe calls for 4 slices. I used much, MUCH more. Like 1/2 lb.

In a bowl, stir together flour,baking powder,salt/pepper,cheese and bacon. Now pour in the egg,milk,yogurt and butter. Stir until JUST incorporated. With scones,you want to mix them as little as possible to keep them nice and tender. Over mixing = hard scones which is not good. So incorporate in the wet ingredients,and then turn out onto a floured board and shape into a circle using your hands. Slice the circle into 8 wedges. Brush each wedge with milk and sprinkle pepper on top. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown on top and cooked through.
Makes 8 scones.

You might need to adjust the liquid/dry ingredients depending. I used a LOT more cheese and bacon. Just play with it. It's baking, not rocket science!

Weekend Roundup!

Hello everyone!

It was a busy weekend! Two of my friends celebrated their 22nd birthday Saturday (they're twins!) That called for CUPCAKES! I used this recipe for chocolate cake and fresh strawberry frosting. I have to say, I really enjoyed this recipe! The frosting tasted just like strawberries, and was delightfully pink (I added more puree than the recipe called for, but didn't have any problems with it being too runny.) The cake was nice and soft, although I think next time I'll used dark cocoa, since I like it super chocolatey. And they're lovely.



Mmmmm.

I've been dorking around with making a "princess" dress for my niece. It's been fun so far using the inspiration and patterns in this book. There's a lot of trim involved, because I can't help myself!



It's going to be a fun one. Tracing and drafting out seam allowances, not so much. I really do like the book, but I wish they weren't "European" patterns. It's nice that you can do with them what you wish, but it would be nice to have at least the standard seam allowances worked in.

Since I'm on a normal schedule for the next two weeks, I got to play with the chickens in the yard yesterday afternoon. We don't usually let them roam free anymore, after we had an unfortunate encounter with a fox carrying off one of our Buff Orpingtons. We still have three of our originals, including these girls:



Meet Thelma (the Dominique) and Louise (the Buff Orpington.) They're quite the pair. They do everything together. Our other original hen, Glorious Raptor (a mixed breed) seems to like hanging with the younger ladies, who are a bit wilder. In the background, you can see this lovely lad:



His name was Zha-Zha (he was quite the fancy chick!) However, given that he has DEFINITELY started crowing, he needs a new name. I'm thinking Ghengis Khan. Something fancy and exotic still, but a little more fitting of his masculine nature. In the background of this picture, you can see Bambi and Poofy Cheeks, our two Americauna hens who are starting to REALLY look like chickens now! They should be laying here shortly too! I'm guessing they were born at the end of April, so they should be around 5 months old. I'm really looking forward to some neat-colored eggs! A gentleman stopped by Sunday while I wasn't home and was really interested in the chickens, so hopefully I'll be able to trade off my extra roosters (Khan, and a black one I've now named Michael Jackson) for some new hens! Not pictured is the rooster I actually intend to keep (at least for now), a lovely black-bodied Maran cross like Michael, but with lots of red feathers. He's also very shy, which I like in a rooster (no more spurs please!)

Well, that's all I have for today, folks. Look forward to Patricia's post tomorrow!

Long time, no post!

Hey kiddies! Sorry to be AWOL for so long, but in the Wild Wild West, I had very little wireless reception, and even less free time! Every minute was jam-packed with family, food, and fun (someone likes alliteration!)

So a quick run-down of what went on! GET READY FOR PICTURE MADNESS

First, we romped on Cannon Beach (mum and me.)


Looked at cool kelp colonies.


Found crab legs



Snuggled my niece and made dandelion wreaths.

Played badminton with my brother, against my aunt and uncle (mostly poorly.)



Rode horses. Apollo is a lovely Peruvian Paso Fino stud muffin.



Went to Multnomah Falls (mom, me, niece.)



Saw all the Cooper clan! (Mom, grandpa, me, Ian, dad, and uncle Chris.)



Got tattoos. I give Thom a big thumbs up.



Even mom got one!


Had a nice, relaxing flight back.



Before I left, Boo Boo and I had a date with the scissors.

He's looking a little rough, but feeling a bit cooler I imagine. I put up all the nice bits in a container, but I left a basket of all the dirty or matted bits in a basket and forgot about it. Came home and found that apparently the cats spent the week rolling in it and rubbing it into the carpet. How thoughtful.

The chicken babies that I got in March are pretty much all grown now! They're a little smaller than my big girls, but they're looking like real chickens.

Poofy cheeks is lovely.

The tomatoes and beans had a rolling good time while I was away!

Those are two of only zucchini I got this year. Tomatoes and beans look good though!

AND MOST EXCITING OF ALL!!!


PUMPKIN BABIES! I'm excited about these. I've been waging war against the vine borers, but I'm determined to win! I have two other HUGE ones that are oblong shaped and still green :-)

In crafty news, I made a carrier for my kindle, since I'm irresponsible and break things and/or leave them out where people can see and/or steal them. My supplies:

• Composition book: $0.40
• Mod podge
• X-acto knife
• Velcro tabs

That's it folks. What's it look like, you say?

THE BOMB, THAT'S WHAT!

I'm pretty excited. It needs more coats of mod podge, but it's almost completely done!! Yay!

Stay tuned for Patricia's next post!

Adios!

And Then There Were Two

Hello everyone! I'm Sarah, resident hippie and comedic relief. Like Patricia said, we are long-time friends (holy moly 14 years!) and fellow devotees of the modern hippie movement. Currently, I reside on an acre in a tiny town in Kentucky, but I'm soon to be purchasing a house myself, which should provide plenty of lol's for all. Patricia may have the kids and hubby to make her life a zoo, but I have a REAL zoo in mine! At current count, I have:

• 5 hens, 3 roosters. Oh my.

Guess what? Chicken butt!

• 3 cats
• 1 angora rabbit, clipped last night and looking ridiculous!
• 1 saltwater fishtank, 39 gallons total
• 1 hermit crab, a charity rescue

Whew! Along with all that, I have veggies tucked all around the yard, and enough hobbies to fill an entire book! Hopefully we will enthrall you all with out tales of cookery, crafts, and cats! If nothing else, you can laugh with (or at) us as we slog our way through the lives of modern homesteaders!

Later gators,
Sarah