Birthdays, Chicks & Brownies

Last night, I made winter squash & chocolate brownies, which Elspeth shared on her blog. They were moist & delicious, and just have to be good for you, with the squash and all. Don't you think? The chicks are chirping away this morning, a pleasant sound to have in the house. Helps to make up for all the chicken dust.

I've been thinking some more about kazoos. When my siblings and I were still at home, my Mom would wake us up on our birthday playing Happy Birthday on a kazoo. I'm having the family out this Saturday to celebrate my Mom's and J's birthdays. I'm thinking we just may have to break out the kazoos again!

Old and New

J & I had lots of fun at the wedding Saturday. Not only did we do the tarantella, but followed that up with playing kazoos to "When the Saints Go Marching In". Well... now you may have a good idea where I get some of my silliness from. J agreed it was unlike any other wedding he'd been to. It was an absolutely gorgeous day; a picture perfect first day of spring.

Soon after snapping those first photos of the chicks, I reacquainted myself with chick care by reading the awesome Carla Emory's Encyclopedia of Country Living. I replaced the straw with burlap, which helps to prevent spraddle legs. And gathered my oats, wheat berries & corn to grind. I've started incorporating the grains, along with finely chopped chickweed and plantain into their starter feed. The storebought feed is laced with antibiotics, and I like to transition them to a more natural diet as soon as possible.

The daffodils are from an old homestead that borders my land. There's not much left of the homestead, other than what appears to be parts of some animal housing, and a swath of these daffodils. After getting permission, I dug up a few to relocate here. I believe you would call these doubles, with all the extra petals. Correct me if I'm mistaken on that. I've been watching, and over the past few days, my pulmonaria has come up, and even has what looks like little flower buds forming! I celebrated by feeding it with a good dollop of compost yesterday. It's pretty tiny, but I'm hoping I can encourage it into a beautiful plant. Wishing you happy plant surprises this Monday morning!

Tarentella

I arrived home last night to the sound of cheeping. Yup, Joseph got 6 chicks to add to our family. We're off to a family wedding... on the Italian side. Tarentella, here we come!

Apricots and Rolls

I worked my last scheduled nursing day yesterday. It's still unclear whether the merger has done away with my position, or if it's a temporary thing. There are plenty of other things to fill my days, so I am trusting all will work out for the best.

We did enjoy the sandwich rolls the other night. They were a little bit on the dense side, but I'm attributing that to the fact that I used more than half whole wheat flour in them, as I ran out of the unbleached white. I'll try them again with less whole wheat. I let the bread machine do all the initial work. This was a larger than usual recipe for the machine, but it managed with an additional couple sprinklings of water.

2c water

1 tbs sugar

1 tbs or packet active dry yeast

6c all-purpose flour

(cornmeal to sprinkle on baking sheet)

After first rise in the bread machine, I rolled out the dough to 3/4" thickness, and used a glass to cut out rolls. Sprinkle cornmeal on cookie sheet and place rolls on sheet. Let rise for a minimum of 20 mins, 1 hour if you can. Preheat oven to 475. Just before you pop them in the oven, brush rolls with cold water or beaten egg, and top with sesame or poppy seeds. Bake 15 mins.

Signs of spring continue to show themselves. The apricot has begun blooming. As of yet, there has never been any fruit, which has me doubting the self-fertile claim. But, it is a pretty sight, just the same.

Top o' the Mornin'

Top o' the Mornin' to you! I found this festive apron at a thrift store recently. Being half Irish, I decided I needed it. Wishing you a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Some New Things

It seemed it was going to be a low-energy day this morning, so instead of hitting the ground running, I decided to piddle today, and try some new things. One of the things I've been wanting to try is making my own laundry detergent, using some of my homemade soap. I got a batch mixed up, though haven't tried it yet. I also decided recently I wanted to try making buns. Though I've been making bread off & on for years, I don't recall making any buns. We don't use them all that often, but for the occasional Morningstar Griller or Chik Pattie, they're nice. And for vegi Sloppy Joes, which is what I wanted to make tonight. I haven't tried them yet either, but I'll let you know if either of these worked out well today, and share recipes.

Brooms

My friend, Teresa, shared some of this shrub with me. She wasn't sure of the name. That's her looking at the sunset. I love the orangey-red buds, opening into bright yellow blooms. J moved it for me last year. It was languishing where I had it. It's rewarded us with its first blooms, which greet us out at the road when we drive up.

In researching it, I'm thinking it's likely a broom. Apparently, some brooms are invasive. I'm hoping this isn't one of those, and didn't seem to be very aggressive at Teresa's. Some can be used for a yellow dye. That excites me, as I'd love to cultivate more plants that I can use in my soaps and other products. Can anyone enlighten me as to what this is?

J is putting the finishing touches on the first piece of our renewable energy system. I'll write more once I've taken pics. I hope you're having a lovely weekend!