Farm Diary #2

Good Evening my friends.. 

Another little farm diary post for you.. 

I have decided to post these farm ones this way and then you will know whether you want to bother reading it or not.. smile.. 

We went up to the farm again this morning...

Terry had several more things that he wanted to finish before the weekend... 

It is the garbage gathering day and he had some junk to take out to the end of the driveway... 

I am happy because he basically has my raised herb bed made except for filling it with earth.. 

We hope to get that tomorrow... 

I foraged our first cash crop today.. grin.. 

Lots of dandelions... 

This job took an hour or so.. 

Cutting the stems off of the flower so I could make the dandelion tea to make the jelly... 

It is a delicious jelly and full of Vitamin C... 

It actually tastes like honey as I have told you all before... 

Sorry ... 

It has to sit overnight so I will make it in the morning.. 

While we were there we had a lovely guest who came bearing presents.. 

A case full of maple syrups, butters, cream and even a jar of candy.. 

We do a little farm bartering and this is part of the barter.. 

A very sweet part, eh? 

When I finished the dandelion tea I made up a little cream cheese spread as we still had some French Bread left over and we had not had much to eat thus far and thought he needed a snack... 

I know I have posted this before but just chop up some fresh chives, hot pepper flakes a dash of pepper and garlic and mash it all up together.. 

Very good on baked potatoes which we had for supper.. 

He is out there putting up our 911 signs as we will be staying for the summer and he thought we might need them.. 

Hope not.. smile.. 

I spent an hour or two changing the living room around .. 

Changed all the furniture and hoping it will make it more open ... 

Brought this plant from home that will go outside as soon as the danger of frost is over.. 

Love my lemon geranium... 

This old couch and chair are old and out of date but still in great shape and comfy... 

There is a book shelf or two plus lots of  reading material in this old trunk.. 

I want to get several curtain rods this weekend and get the curtains right.. I dislike the ones I made before just from some old fabric I had.. 

Hopefully this job will be finished next week... 

For supper I made a new recipe to me but it is as old as the hills and came out of a very old cookbook.. 

It goes with pork and as we were having pork chops I thought I would give it a try.. 

Rhubarb Dressing.. 

I didn't have much hope for it but it was simply delicious !! 

So lovely to serve with pork with just enough of the piquant rhubarb in it to make it tasty.. 

Here is the recipe.. 

2 cups of chopped fresh rhubarb 

4 cups of fresh soft breadcrumbs ( I used a whole wheat and seed bread)  

1/3 cups of packed brown sugar 

1/4 cup of soft butter 1/2 tsp. salt 

1/2 tsp. of cardamom or 1/4 tsp. nutmeg.. 

I used cardamom as I did not have any nutmeg for some reason.. 

Place in a greased 4 quart casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees F. for 45 minutes.. 

Serve with pork... 

We had baked potato, a chop and some pickled chow ... 

When supper was cleaned up we packed up and headed home.. 

We took the back way as we wanted to check out where there is going to be an estate yard sale on Saturday.. (glee !!) 

I thought you might like to see a couple of rural scenes.. 

See the windmills there at the top of the mountain.. 

And there were carpets of these dear wee things.. 

I so love them.. 

They remind me of when I was a little girl and was always out picking flowers and still do.. 

Mom called them Adder's Tongue but some call them Dogtooth Violet, etc. .. 

Check it out Here..

A little village we drove through where the sale will be on Saturday.. 

Beautiful little village of Elgin.. 

Well, dear hearts this is all for now ... 

Hope you are all doing well and thanks so much for your visits and sweet comments.. 

Here are some answers for you from the last post on the farm.. 

1.. My secret for a moist ham is quite simple.. 

I just pepper it well and add about 1/2 cup of water and bake it at 350 degrees F. in a covered cast iron pot for a couple of hours or less.... 

Sometimes at the end I will pour maple syrup over it or make a clove sauce or pineapple ..... Nothing special.. smile.. 

Thanks for your question, dear.. 

2... I promise to show you the little vintage valances just as soon as I pick up some curtain rods this weekend.. OK?  

Sorry I am so slow... 

3.. The recipe for the cinnamon bun bread ... 

Just use the no knead bread recipe Here..

Then leave out the rosemary and salt..

Mix up and let rise.. 

 Then prepare the Topping.. 

In a glass bread pan melt 2 T. butter in the microwave.. 

Then mix in a small bowl:

3/4 cup of brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 T. honey (I used maple syrup)

2 T. water.. 

Mix well and add to the glass bread pan.. 

Then when the dough has doubled in size.. 

Turn oven to 350 degrees F. 

Use at least 1/2 of the dough for the bun bread .. 

Then on a nice floury space roll out into a 15 x 10 inch rectangle.. 

Spread with this mixture.. 

3 T. butter 

1/2 cup of white flour

1/2 cup of packed brown sugar..1/2 tsp. cinnamon.. 

Mix together in a small bowl ...

Now spread this over top of the dough and roll like a jelly roll from the short side .  

Cut into 3 equal size buns and lay them into the prepared pan..

Press down with your fingers to even them out.. 

Cover with plastic wrap or a towel and let rise again until doubled in size..  

Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes.. 

Remove to rack to cool.... 

Hope you girls who wanted the info reads this post.. smile.. 

God bless you all.. xo