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Tonight for dinner we had Fresh Bacon-Wrapped Quail w/Honey-Balsamic Glaze, Goat Milk-Parmesan Polenta and a side of Tomato Chutney. I know it’s ridiculous for a Tuesday.

Quail w/ Glaze

The first step was processing the quail, which took place last Sunday.

Fresh Raised Quail

Fresh Raised Quail

I then wrapped each quail with 2 slices of bacon.

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For the glaze I just mixed balsamic vinegar and honey. I highly recommend this 18 year aged balsamic that we purchased in Salado. It’s incredible.

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I then put the quail in the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

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Tomato Chutney

The chutney was very easy. I started by cooking 1 large onion and 3 cloves of garlic in some olive oil. I am lucky enough to still have onions/garlic from the garden around, so I just grabbed these from the hanging bag in the closet.

Onions and Garlic in Olive OIl

Onions and Garlic in Olive OIl

After the onions were soft I added chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper. I used a mix of whatever I have grabbed from the garden, but it was the equivalent of about 8 romas.

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Then I just cooked it down over low-medium heat for about 30 minutes.

Cooked Chutney

Cooked Chutney

Polenta

Polenta

Polenta

For the polenta I used the pre-cooked, pre-packaged on the shelf. This is only me second time making polenta, so I wasn’t feeling extremely brave.

The only steps were
1. Heat up the Polenta
2. Mix in Goat Milk and Butter (about 2 Tbsp each)
3. Reheat
4. Add in Parmesan (about 1/3 cup)

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Meet Marshal Dillon.

He is our new Great Pyrenees puppy. I have been strongly against getting a new puppy, even though the family has been begging for the last few months.

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This breed finally made me give in. He is practical and adorable, how can I resist. Great Pyrenees are protectors, and this little guy (who will get MUCH bigger) will eventually guard our entire flock, whatever that may be, chickens, ducks, turkeys, rabbits, lamb — you get the idea.

Collecting Carrot Seeds

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One of my next garden steps is to collect my own seeds. I can do the easy ones, okra/beans/peas, but am trying to branch out to the more difficult ones. When my carrots started flowering this spring it seemed reasonable to let them go and gather the seeds. This week I just read in my seed sowing book and reverified online that it takes 2 seasons for carrots to develop seeds. Are you kidding?

Now I have to decide if I want to forget the whole experiment or take the time to store the carrots until fall and replant them just for seeds. Had I known it was this big of a process I would have planned more carefully on choosing the variety, or at the very least kept track. I’m thinking I may just pull them and be done with it. At least the rabbits and chickens will like them.

I have grown fennel for several years, but have never eaten any. I always leave it in the garden way past it’s prime for the butterflies. It is a host plant for the Eastern Black Swallowtail. Here are the stages I’ve seen in the last few days.

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Unfortunately, another visitor has been the red wasps who seem to like the caterpillars 😦

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I am getting lemon cucs, but not a ton of them yet. I ended up going to the farmers market and buying 7 lbs of cucs. I made 3 quarts of dill pickles and 6 pints of my favorite sweet and salty pickles. The later is my own accidental recipe.