Last night Chris and Maggie wanted to check in on the bees. So they got suited up!
Maggie is smoking the bees…….
Taking a look inside
Lot’s of interesting things going on in the hive
Look at all the bees working hard! Making and storing honey for the winter….can’t wait until we get to eat some more!
I love that Maggie loves to help her daddy with the bees.
I feel so blessed to be her mama. 
I went out a few weeks ago and picked a bunch of it. Dried it and put it away for my winter stash. Unfortunately, Maggie woke up this morning with a headache and just feeling kinda poopy, so she asked for her pillow, her Winnie The Pooh movie and a cup of chamomile tea. I gladly obliged!
Maggie perked up after she thought about the tea and said, “hey mom! The flowers we grew made the tea and our bees made the honey! That’s why this tastes so good!”
So even though I was bummed the first of my winter stash was gone, I was so happy to provide something that I made, something I grew to make my baby feel better!
The flowers you see in the picture above were picked earlier this week and are in the process of drying now. Looking forward to harvesting a lot more to get us through the winter!
I was watching Maggie pick strawberries out of the garden. She sat down on a rock and was enjoying her harvest. It made me think about how wonderful Summer has been. Every evening we go down to the garden as a family, water the garden, harvest veggies, check feed/water for the chickens and goats, enjoy seeing the bees come back to their boxes or hang out in the yard and then we have a sit in our chairs enjoying our surroundings. So, I found this cookbook that I just GOTTA have! The Food Lovers Make it Paleo—200 grain-free recipes for any occasion. I really, really want it! All you have to do is CLICK THIS LINK. Yup, that’s it. Just click on it, it will take you to their site. That’s all. Of course you could take a look around and check out their site while you are there. :)
Did I mention how much I want this cookbook?
And you know, you too could try to win! Check it out, you may want to enter! I would post a picture, but my darn computer is running SLOW tonight. I will try to get a picture of the book up tomorrow.
Thanks for helping me, friends!
Bobbi
The whole reason (well, honestly, one reason) I wanted to do a garden was so that we could have lot’s of healthy, homegrown veggies for the freezer. Nothing like making soups and stews and other foods from your summer garden during the Fall and Winter months.
We have had our fill of summer squash, so I decided I better get some processed before it went bad. We have 2 crookneck squash and 2 goldbar squash that are really pumping out the produce! My zucchini on the other hand…..well, I'm slightly disappointed. I hope to have better luck next year!
When doing this process it’s easiest to do batches. And use just picked produce. What I have showing in this picture made 9 different batches. Had I had more fresh squash available I would have done more. I will be doing this again soon!
First thing I did was wash everything off. No dirt left on it.
Then I sliced it up into about 1/2 inch slices.
It then went into a boiling pot of water. I blanched it for 3 minutes. The reason I blanch it is because all vegetables and fruit have enzymes and bacteria that in time will break down. It will destroy the nutrients, color, flavor and texture while being frozen. Blanching squash destroys the enzymes.
Cover your pot while blanching.
Now here is where I got busy and forgot to take pictures! Once your 3 minutes of blanching is over, remove your squash with a slotted spoon and place it in a bowl of ice water. The ice water stops the squash from cooking more. Leave it in for about 5 minutes or until cold. After doing this with 2-3 batches of squash I had to dump out some water from the bowl and add more ice.
Same with the boiling water. After about 3 batches I needed to add more warm water.
Once the squash was done with it’s ice bath, I removed it from the ice bowl to a smaller bowl that had a strainer over it. This way the water could leak out and it wouldn’t be so wet when I went to place it in baggies.
This is when I wish I had a vacuum sealer! Someday. But for now I just bagged up 1-3 squash, enough for a soup or something in individual baggies, then put 4-5 of those bags into a freezer bag. And, because I'm cheap I like to put a paper label in with the name, date processed and date of “expiration” on it. I say “expiration” because depending on how it’s frozen it can stay good for 5-14 months. It doesn’t go bad, it will just start to lose some of it’s taste.
It was very easy and a pretty clean project. So much easier than canning!
Bobbi
Introducing……….
Gypsy Bell’s Meadow Jewel.
We needed a “fancy” name for her registration papers.
We will call her Meadow.
Figaro. Also known as “Figgy”. I love coming down the hill singing “Figaro, Figaro, Figaro” and Maggie is loving singing “Gettin’ Figgy wit it.” The name fits him to a “t”.
We are enjoying Figgy and Meadow and their mama Gypsy more than we could have imagined!
This is a Friday photo feature that anyone with a blog can join. It opens the door to us sharing our lives through these photos and gives us all a new way to discover each other, and maybe form new friendships. Your photo should show something at home that you're thinking about TODAY.
To take part, all you have to do is post a photo on your own blog, write a short caption explaining it, and link it back to down---to---earth. Please write a new post, don't link to an older one. When your photo is published, go back and add at down---to---earth, with a link to your blog photo so we can all find you. Please visit all the blogs that appeal to you and leave a comment. Slow down, take the time to cruise around and enjoy your cyber visits.
Thank you Rhonda Jean for another On My Mind!
This is a sunflower that Maggie started at school during a gardening project. We brought it home as a little pole with a few small leaves on it. It has grown and just opened up a few days ago! Our sweet honey bees have found it. If you look closely, you can see two of them! What’s On My Mind is the lovely honey they will supply us with next Spring/Summer!
Yes folks, another recipe! I have been doing a bit more baking/cooking again. I get in those moods where I want to do all the cooking. I don’t get to do much cooking because Chris enjoys it so much. He doesn’t like baking, so I score there every time! It is nice to make dinner for your family, sit at the table and enjoy.
I was surfing the internet and happened upon an interesting recipe, which you can find here on My Recession Kitchen. The picture grabbed me and the simplicity of the recipe nailed it. I had to try it. So we asked our friends, James and Laura over for dinner and we sat down at the table outside for a surprise dinner. I am happy to say that we all loved it. And it was so filling!
I added in mushrooms, onion, summer squash, broccoli, carrots and rosemary.
I assumed it was going to be good, so I made a double recipe and have the second in the freezer for another night. One thing that I will do different next time is, put the veggies on top of the frittata like the picture on My Recession Kitchen. It was super yummy how I had it, but the veggies made it a bit softer. I think if they had not been put in the frittata would have had a baked cornmeal consistency. But it was still an awesome, healthy dish!
Laura made some yummy, quick pickled cucumbers (from our garden) and some yummy green beans with lots of garlic and almonds. What a nice dinner. So many healthy vegetables!
If you are looking for a little something different, mild tasting and a major comfort food, this is it!
They arrived at our house this morning about 10:00. I was so excited I couldn’t hardly sit still while waiting for them. I kept looking out the window, pacing back and forth, they weren’t getting here fast enough. I woke up at 2am, again at 4 and then was finally up and out of bed at 7. It was a long morning! lol
They are Nigerian Dwarf goats.
Mama is 2 years old. Babies will be 3 months in a few days. They are gorgeous and sweet! Mama is barely taller than my knee caps! We are in absolute love. Gypsy is so relaxed and gentle, and has a major cookie habit!
Little piggies babies and their mama!
Who would think goats could bring so much pleasure!
And Pam, the woman we bought them from is an amazing woman. Our family has so much in common with her. I am glad that this has brought us a new, amazing friend! We are looking forward to getting to know her better!
I have wanted Nigerian Dwarf goats for.ever! So today feels like Christmas, Birthday and every other holiday rolled into one!
Today was a good day!
Since we finally started getting zucchini’s, I have been dying to make some zucchini bread. Maggie has never tasted it (that I can remember) and Chris doesn’t like it. So I knew once I made it I would have to freeze one bread and eat the other sparingly!
Well, I ended up only getting one piece of the first loaf and the one who refused to eat it (Maggie) ended up eating 2 pieces and then ripping off a big hunk when I wasn’t looking. And the one that doesn’t like zucchini bread (Chris) at his fair share too!
I have to admit, it was pretty tasty. They will be bummed to find out that I froze the second loaf! :)
How did I make this tasty bread you ask? I used the recipe from Southernfood.about.com as my base and changed it to our liking. Here is what I came up with!
2 cups shredded raw organic zucchini
1 3/4 c organic coconut palm sugar
2 cups of flour (I used 1 white, 1 wheat)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 farm fresh eggs
1 cup coconut oil
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup organic dark chocolate chips
Put zucchini in strainer and press or squeeze with hands to get some of the excess liquid outs. In a mixing bowl beat together eggs, sugar and oil together. Stir in the flour, baking powder, soda, cinnamon, salt, vanilla, walnuts and choc. chips, mixing just until all the ingredients are combined. Add drained zucchini. Mix well. Pour into 2 greased and floured 8.5 x 4.5 inch loaf pans. Bake for about 55-60 minutes at 350, until wooden toothpick or cake tester inserted in center comes out with very little or no crumbs clinging to it.
The coconut oil was really nice, but had I had applesauce in the house I would have used that instead. A little cheaper to use!
This turned out really tasty and moist. And for two people who were kinda “poo-poo” about it to begin with, it was a big hit! There is one piece left of the first loaf, and Maggie claimed it as breakfast!
So thankful to our garden for supplying us with yummy veggies and to our chickens for giving us eggs! There certainly is something a bit more fun about eating something you have baked from something you have grown/raised!
Miss Rosa is the “leader of the pack”. She is also the one who will follow you around, (she is such a nosey hen) and just talk to you. She also laid her very first egg last night!
Sunday afternoon while Chris was fixing the goat pen I harvested our onions. I had a couple that I had to toss out, but I am pretty impressed with what we got. I did think they would be a bit bigger, but I'm not complaining!
The goaties got in their first real trouble yesterday. Chris had gone down late afternoon to check on everyone and found Bluebelle and Clover on the other side of their pen eating figs. They had that “busted” look about them and knew they were in trouble. So we had some work to do. A little rearranging, hopefully they don’t escape again.
We really like Bluebelle and Clover, but we are contemplating on not keeping them. Kind of breaks my heart because I am already attached, and I know Maggie will be heartbroken. But we are noticing they are very skittish, not very welcoming (not mean, just offish) and our intentions are to milk them. We can’t even just walk up to pet them, how on earth are we going to milk them? So, we have some heavy thinking to do. I think we would prefer to get babies and raise them ourselves so they know us and trust us. Right now I don’t let Maggie in the pen with them. Which is a problem. She needs to go in and help. But I am not comfortable with it.
I think for an experienced person, they would be great. But for noobs like us, it’s not a win-win. And I want these girls to have a good life! We are still thinking it out. Not an easy decision. <sigh>
This is a Friday photo feature that anyone with a blog can join. Your photo should show something at home that you’re thinking about TODAY.
To take part, all you have to do is post a photo on your own blog, write a short caption explaining it and post a link back to down--to—earth. Please write a new post, don’t use an older one. When your photo is published, go back to down--to—earth add a comment with a link to your blog photo so others can come visit you. Please visit other blogs and leave comments, get to know your fellow bloggers! 
On my mind is our sweet teeny, tiny egg our sweet Strawberry Shortcake gave us. We have been anxiously awaiting it’s arrival!
I love, love, love onions! We already harvested a few a week or so ago and they were wonderful. I’m sure these will be just as good!
