My first tomato was the very beautiful and tasty heirloom, Violet Jasper. This is my first year growing it, and from the package it is a great producer. I have gotten 8 in the last week.
Archive for May, 2012
First Tomato
Posted in tomato, Vegetables on May 17, 2012| 3 Comments »
Cuteness Meter at 11
Posted in Animals, ducks on May 17, 2012| 1 Comment »
Between the ducklings and chicks there is just way to much cuteness going on!
Paddling Away
Looking for Fish?
The ducklings are getting big so fast. They are already bigger than the chicks, who are a week older. This past weekend we let them go for their first swim in the bathtub. They took to it immediately.
Grabbing a quick drink
Just like humans, the baby chicks are the first ones up in the morning. I’m sure the mommas are wishing they could sleep for just 15 more minutes 🙂
Two of Fancy’s chicks, and one of Priscilla’s
All the mommas working together to find food for the babies
All three mommas work together to take care of the chicks. It’s so cute to watch the group of them. I can’t see ever having less than two hens hatch chicks at a time.
Momma got a little over zealous with the digging
Quick & Easy Frittata
Posted in recipes on May 11, 2012| 2 Comments »
This has become one of my go-to recipes. The family just loves it. I found it on allrecipes.com and it’s really easy and versatile. This time I used swiss chard instead of spinach, yellow onions instead of green onions, cottage cheese instead of ricotta, fresh herbs instead of dried, and a mix of chicken and duck eggs. Yum!
Ingredients
- 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed thoroughly to remove liquid
- 4 eggs or equivalent egg substitute
- 1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
- 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 3/4 cup chopped portobello mushrooms
- 1/2 cup finely chopped scallions with some green tops
- 1/4 teaspoon dried Italian seasonings
- 1 pinch Salt and pepper, to taste
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- In a large bowl, whisk together all ingredients until well mixed. Spray a 9-inch pie plate with cooking spray and fill with the spinach mixture.
- Bake for 30 minutes, or until browned and set. Let cool for 20 minutes, cut in wedges and serve.
Here’s the original link…
Pickling Peppers
Posted in pickles on May 11, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Tonight I did my first canning on the season.
One of my daughter’s favorite things in the world is pepperoncinis. This year I planted 4 pepperoncini plants, and so far they are producing really well. I had enough to make my first batch of pickled peppers. I also used chinese 5-color peppers as well.
I probably should have done half-pint instead of pint jars. Oh well, I’m sure the flavor won’t taste any different. I plan on giving it about 2 weeks before letting her try them.
I also have some lemon cucs that are awaiting pickling, hopefully tomorrow night.
My recipe was …
3 cups of white vinegar
1 cup of water
1.5 tsp salt
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 bay leaf (split in two)
peppercorns and mustard seed
I’ll update once I know if this one is a keeper
One Week Chick Update
Posted in chickens on May 7, 2012| 3 Comments »
The chicks are a week old today, so it’s a good time for an update.
Cutest picture ever. I told my daughter she should enter this in the TCYS contest next year.
The chicks now go out with their mommas every day foraging.
Shirley with chick
We were worried at first, but the mommas are so protective. One of them actually attacked one of the ducks that got too close to her chicks yesterday.
Fancy with chicks
They can’t get back up the ramp, so we help the chicks back into the coop at night.
Priscilla’s chicks
Originally Fancy had 3 chicks and Priscilla had 2, but maybe Fancy realized that 3 were just too many to handle. She gave one of the chicks to Priscilla. The chick she gave away also looked very similar to Priscilla’s chick, so maybe it was easier than trying to figure out whose was whose.
Look at the fuzzy feet on this pure bred brahma
I added in this photo, just because I have no idea how my daughter managed to get our rooster to look like a lobster.
Lobster Chicken
Many of the photos were taken by my daughter, Aspen.
willsfamilyacres 