Dallas, TX

We just got back from visiting my best friend and her family in Dallas, TX. Actually, they live in Lantana but unless you are from that area you'd have no idea where Lantana is. The trip was much needed for many reasons.

First, Jana has been my best friend for the past 30 years. We met when her parents were looking at buying the house next to ours and Jana was sitting in the front yard checking out a spider's web (if I remember correctly). Many ups and downs latter, she is my longest lasting friend. Sadly we only get to see each other once or twice a year.

Second, I haven't been on a vacation of any kind for almost a year. We use to got to Vegas every spring, but not for the last three years. The recession has prevented a Mexico trip for five years. But that's OK. I don't need a big vacation, just a small break to get away from work. Anywhere with sunshine - I'm there!

And that brings me to the third reasons. It has been raining here for months and months. There is a small chance I've complained about the rain on this blog :-). We are suffering from vitamin D deficiency and seasonal depression. While we were gone it never got over 65 F here in the Pacific Northwest. In Dallas it was was 90+ every day. The third day a small, puffy cloud moved across the sun and all of us looked up wondering what was going on. Thankfully it only last a few seconds and then back to full sun. We soaked it up. I have a few hard-to-reach spots that got burned to prove it.

But in order to take a mini vacation we have to organize farm sitters. Back when it was just the cats and sheep, we could get away for four to five days and just leave extra food and water out. Pigs and chickens are different animals entirely. Pigs go through the food so quickly. It's amazing how much food they put down. A couple of days and the feeder needs to be filled again. Surprisingly the chickens can't gather their own eggs. So, a farm sitter it is. We had three family members all lined up to do the chores Thursday through Sunday. We were coming home Monday afternoon and would take care of that day. The best laid plans ...

We arrived at Dallas/Fort Worth to fly out and started checking in at the electronic podium. It couldn't find us. We asked the attendant for help and she let us know that we needed to check in at United not Continental. Red-faced we went over one counter and started again. But that computer couldn't find us either. Again, we asked the attendant and he informed us that we were at the wrong airport. My red face got redder, if that's possible. Thank goodness we had lots of time to get a taxi and make our way to Dallas Love Field. Success - the computer found us! And with a hour to spare!

Just after we boarded the plane and it pulled away from the gate, the pilot came on and informed us that some hydraulic-thinging just broke and we'd have to deplane. The next hour was spent waiting to be told that we would have to wait another next six before we'd be able to leave. That meant missing our connecting flight and having to reschedule for much, much later. Guess we wouldn't be arriving at PDX until 12:30am. Crap - the animals!

Do you have any idea how hard it is to reach anyone, at all, on Memorial Day? Apparently everyone was out enjoying the day off, not sitting at home by the phone. I left voice mail messages and text messages with just about everyone in Clark County. Ok, not really, but I did leave six messages. No one got back to me during our multi-hour wait at Dallas Love Field. As we got off the plane in Houston, I checked and no return calls. Feeling a little worried and knowing that it was near 5pm at home, I started back into calling. So did Jeremy and he was able to reach his mom, who could to head over to the farm. Whew!

At 1:30am, when we finally arrived home, we did not go check on the animals. We did not unpack. We went straight to bed. (And it was 52 F and raining when we arrived. Of course it was!) This morning I went down to the barn and everyone was doing great. The pigs even seemed happy to see me.

Missing Chicken

This morning we drove down to the barn to conduct our normal morning chores. I fed the sheep oats while Jordan tossed scratch to the chickens and pigs (yes, the pigs like chicken scratch). Then Jordan opened up the chicken run to let them out and I counted, as I always do to make sure that we are starting out the day with the correct number of animals. But this morning I only counted seven chickens - one was missing. And worse, upon closer examination, it was Pearl!

Pearl is the nicest chicken of all time. She follows us around and likes to be pet and held. She is the perfect animal to introduce "city kids" to farm animals.

A coyote or opossum better not have eaten my Pearl!

Sometimes a chicken will get broody and decide not to leave the nest boxes, so that was my first check and no one was in there. Next I checked to see if Pearl was being lazy and sleeping in. Nope, the coop was completely empty. Jordan and I looked around for signs of a struggle. Nothing. Last I decided to try the barn. The chickens like to go in there and scratch around the hay bails. As I opened the barn door Pearl can walking out.

She looked like she didn't get any sleep. Sort of ragged and blurry-eyed. Kind of pale, if that's possible. She chirped a quiet "thanks" as she made her way back to the run, right up the ramp and into the coop. I can only imagine that she flopped down on the roost the way I do on my bed when coming home after a late night of wine and friends.

What probably happened was that when Jeremy opened the barn the night before to get alfalfa for the sheep, the chickens went in. He always shoos them back out, but it would be easy enough for one to be behind the tractor or stack of pallets and not be seen. He must have closed the door with Pearl still inside pecking away.

This evening Pearl is back with the group and looking much more rested. Since we have a farm-sitter coming for the long weekend, we'll have to double-triple check that no one gets locked in the barn before we leave.

Computer and Crappy Weather

My laptop has become like a cat. I sit down on the couch and it's on my lap. No matter what I'm planning on doing while on the couch - watching TV, reading a magazine, knitting - the laptop is always there to keep me company. And the actual cats hate that the laptop gets priority. Sometimes Rosa tries to take over and run the show - as you can see from the picture.

Last week, my laptop started blinking on and off and the battery wouldn't charge up. Finally on Wednesday it wouldn't turn on. I was really worried and rushed it to the computer doctor. Thankfully it was just a loose plug in thinging and could easily be fixed, but I would have to be without my laptop for four whole days. Four days!

Not blogging was hard. I kept thinking, "I should by writing something." But there was no laptop to write on. And putting a real pen to a sheet of paper, seemed so old-school. Then again, there is nothing going on here anyway. Surprise, surprise - it's raining and cold. The seeds are in the ground but I'm nervous they'll just mold and rot without sprouting. The starts we put in are already getting munched by the slugs. The only plant looking good are the strawberries. As long as we get the nets over the fruit before the birds get them, we should have a bumper crop.

There is nothing much going on with the animals either. The sheep are pregnant but weeks from giving birth. They are just eating and getting wider. The chickens are laying. The pigs are growing. I think each is about 20 pounds heavier than the day we bought them. The bees are buzzing. Just same ol', same ol' with the animals.

And, as you can tell, I have my laptop back on my lap where it belongs. My lap is very happy. The cats have mixed emotions.

Granola Bars

It takes so much time to make food from scratch. I mean, a whole lotta time! Between work, swim class, homework and family time, when exactly are we to cook? It's really no surprise that no one takes the time to make things like crackers that you can just pick up at the store. There are so many options for convenience food to choose from - flavors, textures, colors. However, I do choose to make some things, like bread, from scratch.

Jordan is a huge fan of granola bars. She eats 2-3 a day. At that rate, I want to make sure she's not eating a candy bar disguised as something "healthy". By disguised, I mean when the box says "Multi-Grain", or something like that, and the bar is coated in chocolate. So, when my Mom brought over a recipe from Sunset Magazine for no-bake granola bars, I was delighted. Jordan and I made some the next day - WOW, so good and easy!

No-Bake Granola Bars

Servings = 12 bars

Ingredients

1/3 c roasted, unsalted almonds

1/3 c roasted, unsalted sunflower seeds

2 c rolled oats

1 c chopped dates

1/2 t cinnamon

dash salt

1/2 c raisins, currants, dried cranberries or any other dried fruit

2/3 c honey

Directions

In a food processor, pulse the nuts and seeds until broken up. In a large bowl, mix nuts, seeds, oats, dates, cinnamon, salt and dried fruit. Heat honey in the microwave for 30 seconds. Pour honey over oats and mix. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper or foil. Dampen your fingers with water. Scoop oat mixture onto cookie sheet. Press into an 8 by 12 inch rectangle, dampening your fingers if the mix starts to stick. Put in freezer for 20 minutes. Cut into 12 bars. Individually wrap with plastic wrap. Store in fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Notes: You can substitute any roasted, unsalted nuts and seeds. Try pecans and pumpkin seeds.

Late Garden

There are two rules of thumb around here when it comes to the optimal time to plant the garden:

1. Get the garden planted no later than Mother's Day.

2. Don't plant until the snow is gone off the foothills.

The first rule is based on our short-ish growing season; mid May to mid September. Vegetables that take a long while to mature - corn, pumpkin, carrots, butternut squash - need to be started as soon as is possible or they won't have time to ripen in the fall. The second rule is simply based on temperature. If the foothills still have snow, then the soil in the garden is probably not warm enough for seeds to germinate. Of course, having a soil thermometer is a more precise way to go.

Most years, these rules can easily be followed because by Mother's Day the snow in the foothills has all melted away. Our tradition has been to have my parents and Jeremy's parents over for Mother's Day brunch and then my mom and I toil in the garden. But this year on Mothe

r's Day there was still snow in them-there-hills. On top of that, it was a cold and rainy day. We opted for brunch at my parent's condo instead.

All last week I watched the weather report hoping for a couple warm days to melt the snow and for one weekend day without rain. We got it! Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of last week were partly sunny with temperatures in the mid to upper 60's. Saturday was suppose to be cloudy but the rain was to hold off until the late afternoon. So I called my mom and said "Let's do this!"

Planting the garden takes 2 people roughly 4-5 hours of solid work. Mom and I have done it many times and have a system. The night before or morning of I draw a diagram of the garden deciding where to put things so that no variety is in the same spot as the year before (it's best for soil). When we get down to the garden and have all our equipment, seeds and starts out, we use the diagram to make walking trails around the different planting areas. Then we each choose a location and start planting. Mom usually starts with the tomatoes and I start with the pole beans. We just work our way through until it's all in.

Yesterday we got a late start because my parents had bridge lessons in the morning. Around 1pm we were ready to go and the clouds were moving in. As we planted the air kept getting colder and the clouds darker. We moved extra quick. At 4pm I felt a few raindrops. We hadn't gotten it all in. More than 3/4's was finished but the beets, carrots, onion sets and bush beans were still in their packets. But we could tell by the color of the clouds and the wind that the rain was going to really come down. So we packed up all the equipment and called it a day. If we get a break in the rain next week, I'll try to get some stuff in. Or maybe next weekend.

It should be noted that there is still snow in the foothills. Oh well, rules are meant to be broken.

A Little Success

I'm holed-up with the flu. I came down with it yesterday at work. The day started OK, but my throat was scratchy and annoying. I should have known something was wrong, but I ignored it and kept working. On the walk from my office to car to go home the fever hit, followed by shakes that made driving in rush-hour traffic a bit nerve wracking. By the time I got Jordan from after-school-care the aches had set in. Once we got home, I changed into my most comfortable jammies and I laid on the couch all evening letting Jeremy and Jordan take care of me.

This morning I was better, but not by much. So I called in sick to work, slowly gathered a blanket, tea and the book I'm reading and settled back into the couch. I napped most of the day. Then around 3:30pm there was a knock on the door. My parents had come over to check on the bees. Last Sunday, on Mother's Day, they had said they were going to come to check on the bees, but my flu-stupor made me forget. They, in turn, were not expecting me to be home and were surprised to see my Pacifica in the driveway. After learning I was sick, Mom decided not to come into the house - smart, the air was probably thick with flu bugs. Dad ventured in but only long enough to make some sugar water and I think he held is breath. Since the sun had come out, I decided I could use some fresh air and headed down to the hive with them.

The first step to checking on the bees, is to get all the equipment out and ready. It took some serious effort to get the smoker started because the newspaper and kindling that we keep in the barn were damp-ish due to the persistent, misty rain that only cleared today. I sat on the old railroad beams, covered in moss because my legs felt weak and was of no help at all. Finally the fire took and we walked over to the hive.

Dad pumped a little smoke in through the entrance and then propped up one edge of the top and pumped in a bit more. Then he removed the top and took out the frame feeder. We have been keeping the frame feeder full of sugar water since bringing the bees home. In a normal year, we probably could have stopped supplementing their food by now, but it has been so cold and rainy that all the flowers, and our orchard, are at least one month behind. We have also put a pollen cake in the hive every other week. There was no sign of the last pollen cake and the frame feeder was nearly empty. As Dad filled it I peaked in between the frames. The bees had drawn out comb on all by the most-outer-edge frames.

For those who are not bee keepers -- The frames are a sheet of grooved plastic in a wooden frame. The bees build comb off the plastic; this is called "drawing out" comb. In the middle most drawn out frames, the queen starts to lay eggs. In the outer most drawn out frames, the bees make honey. We decided to pull one of the frames to see how it looks. Honey! They are already making honey! I can almost taste it!

Since all looked great we put the frame and full frame feeder back in. Mom laid a new pollen cake on the top of the frames and we shut up the hive.

So if not for the flu, I would have been at work and missed the hive opening.

Oh What a Relief It Is

George, our hen, has been escaping every day. When we open the gate to the run, all the hens head out. George runs down to the orchard, which is where the gap in the fence is (or I should say, where the gaps in the fence are). Problem is that once she is out, she can’t figure how to get back in and therefore can’t get back to the coop where the nest boxes are.

Tonight Jordan and Jeremy went down to do the night time chores. Naturally, George was out, presumably for most of the day. They let her back in, via the driveway gate, and she made a bee-line for the run. She went right into the coop. Jordan was gathering eggs and George was sitting on them. As Jordan reached in to get the eggs, George pecked her so hard she left a blood blister. Then George ran out of the coop. Next she did this strange chicken-dance - prancing about with wings raised a bit and feathers on the back of her neck standing up. She headed back up the ramp to the coop and an egg popped right out of her - bloop. She couldn’t even hold it to the nest box. Must have been a huge relief to get that out. The egg broke as it rolled down the ramp.

Homemade Pizza

My most recent posts have all been about cooking. Not gardening, not farming - cooking. But that doesn't surprise me much. I love to eat. And this spring has been the wettest and coldest in a long, long time. There is no point in putting seeds in the ground - they'll mold instead of germinate. And the animals are suffering from neglect since we don't want to spend lots of time standing in the 55 F drizzle petting them. So cooking is just about all I have to report on.

I'm a bit of a perfectionist. Bit might be putting it lightly. But I say bit because I only want things to be perfect to a point, then I don't care. For example, tomorrow I'm co-leading a tour of West Hayden Island - explaining all the flora and fauna. We have spent countless hours preparing for the tour. Getting maps printed on write-in-the-rain paper (yes, it will be raining tomorrow), putting together lists of birds, renting vans/port-o-potties, gathering RSVPs, etc. It's planned out perfectly. But come tomorrow, my attitude will be that we have done all we can and the rest will just go how it goes. I have this same belief about everything, because no matter how well you plan, something not-planned-for will happen. I maintain this is why I not only remember, but enjoyed my own wedding.

Applying that philosophy to cooking. I get the best ingredients, find the best recipe, chop, mix, pour and then leave it up to the universe to finish the product. The universe, for as long as I can remember, doesn't seem to be helpful when it comes to breads including pizza crust. That is until tonight. Finally, the perfect pizza crust!

2 3/4 to 3 c all-purpose flour

1 t sugar

1 t salt

1 1/2 t active yeast

3 T oil

1 c very warm water

Mix 1 c flour, sugar, salt and yeast together. Add oil and very warm water. Beat for 3 minutes. Add remaining flour. Knead on a lightly floured surface for 8 minutes until dough is smooth and springing. Wrap in plastic and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat 450 F. Divide dough in two. Roll out on to two greased pizza stones (or cookie sheets) - roll to very thin and then turn up the edges. Add toppings - whatever you like. Bake 10-15 minutes or until golden and bubbly.

My toppings included: red pizza sauce, fresh basil leaves (lots and lots), fresh mozzarella cut into 1/4 inch rounds, sliced mushrooms and feta cheese. It was delicious! I mean really, really delicious! It is worth using fresh basil and fresh mozzarella - the taste and consistency is unmatched. Even if you are making a traditional pepperoni pizza, I would recommend toping with fresh mozzarella, not that pre-shredded, dried-out stuff in a bag. You will notice the difference.

I did manage burn my forearm in the exact spot where I burned my forearm on a previous pizza-making advemtrie. It's already blistered. Thankfully, lots of wine will dull the pain ;-)

Whole Wheat Dilema

Why, oh why is it so hard to make good whole wheat bread?! I make a killer half-whole-wheat, half-white bread. No that's not every other slice :-) it's 1 1/2 cups of each flour. The result is a light textured, moist bread. I can add currants, nuts, throw in a banana and it still comes out great. But when I try to go with all whole wheat flour, my loaf always collapses and turns out crumbly; it won't hold up in a sandwich.

I've tried variations on the theme. Adding rolled oats, using milk instead of water, using oil instead of butter, eggs, no eggs - but nothing seems to work. The most recent attempt included 1 cup milk, 3 tablespoons oil, 2 tablespoons honey, 1 teaspoon salt, 3 cups whole wheat flour, 2 teaspoons yeast and 1/2 tablespoon vital gluten. On the second rise the loaf looked promising and smelled wonderful. In to the oven it went. About 15 minutes before it was done cooking it fell. The bread is still delicious and great as toast (with a fried egg on top of course).

So, I am on the search for the perfect whole wheat bread recipe. Here are the rules: 1) no white flour, 2) must not fall during baking, and 3) make a mean ham and cheese sandwich. Bonus points if the recipe uses honey instead of sugar and includes nuts or seeds. Anyone out there up for the challenge? Anyone?

Lamb Burger

For the second time this spring the weather got up to 70 and the sun blessed us all day! Time to BBQ hamburgers! Big question: What meat to use? We have ground beef, lamb and elk; all three of which make delicious burgers. My favorite is elk burger, mixed with Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, salt and pepper, and topped with the traditional tomato, lettuce, dill pickles, mayo and ketchup. But the rest of the family feels that lamb burgers are the best.

We butcher our lamb at one year old, meaning that it is lean, not "mutton-y" and tender. It has a lamb-taste but it's not overwhelming. I add salt, pepper and garlic powder to the ground before forming the patties. Toppings include fresh basil leaves, instead of lettuce, tomato, cheese and mayo. That's what we are making tonight. Since the lamb and elk is a fan-favorite, the beef ground usually get's relegated to pasta and casserole dishes.

As a side dish I'm starting to crave potato salad, but I'm going to wait to make that. Potato salad is a summertime dish (in my opinion) and therefore we should wait until summer to make it. Just like pumpkin pie is only to be eaten in the fall. So since potato salad is out, we'll make Jo-Jo's - potato wedges tossed with olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt and roasted at 425 until soft and a little golden.

Delicious!