1/29/2017

This and that from the farm

I do like winter but now I'm thinking spring...checked out the squash seeds at the store the other day.   One of my favorite things about winter is the spectacular sunrises when I'm up and about.  We do  have spectacular sunrises in the summer but they are at 4 in the morning.


I've been on a roll with great new recipes lately... a  pork fried noodle recipe, a blueberry/orange scone recipe and today it was this stollen recipe from Dresden.  DH has the fondest memories of the stollen his Gma Krueger used to bake in the 40s for him. - "cristbrod"  I tried several recipes this winter and wasn't really happy with any even though they all rapidly disappeared.  But my quest for the definitive stollen recipe has ended as  this is the best ever... And it used a technique new to me.  After you combine the flour, eggs, yeast milk as usual for a yeast dough, you cream 1 cup of butter with 2/3 c. flour and incorporate it.  It made incorporation of the rum soaked fruits much easier and the texture was divine..

On another note altogether my crappy neighbor continues to be a thorn in my side... We have had so much snow for so long that when he runs low on hay he turns his animals loose to forage... and of course the closest food source for hungry animals is my farm.  His place is piled high with garbage so I expect they go through that first.

Below my living room window  are his six pigs scarfing up all the sunflower seed for the quail and doves  and eating anything and everything. I tried chasing them home with a broom but they turn on me...
Eventually they moved to the back of the house to root under the walnut tree and left it looking like this...  I did have a drip system in place here covered with black plastic and mulch to conserve water for the honeysuckle and pyracantha bushes.
And the poor cows just munch down on all the shrubs....

 It does no good to complain and over the years  everyone has reported him to no avail. I can't be angry with hungry animals but I do harbor evil thoughts about the neighbor daily. Luckily my veggie and perennial patches are protected or they would be destroyed also.

Below  is a plum tree that has the spring buds starting to swell and  emerge.  They will eat all the low more tender branches. I have enough plum trees that will survive this munching...

4 comments:

Marilyn said...

You've been busy posting and I've been too busy to look at my computer much. It really is a pain to have to wait for karma to kick in for your neighbour - it would be much more satisfying if it would come soon. But I do feel sorry for the animals that he neglects. Sounds like your trip home was pretty scary but you made it and now you are posting again :)

margaret said...

you have certainly been busy in the bakery, the scone sounds very mouth watering. Lovely sunrise, we have been having great ones too but have houses opposite and lots of telephone wires that spoil any photos I try to take. It must be so annoying re yor four legged visitors but as you say not their fault and they must be entertaining to watch though they are distructive. Where I lived before we had trouble with roaming sheep and one day had a few peeering in at the conservative window, the police said to keep them in the garden whilst they tracked down the farmer but as had no gate they did not stay! We would often see sheep on the pavements etc that had escaped their fields wish I still lived there happy memories

gocrazywithme said...

I just spent a fine 45 minutes catching up with your blog. On my way to work this morning, I thought of you and promised myself I'd visit you after work today. Wish it could have been face to face, but this will have to do. Much love to you, Janet

Magpie's Mumblings said...

It's too bad the local animal rights (SPCA?) couldn't do something about his not supplying his animals with proper food. I agree that it's hard to be angry with the animals because it's not their fault. On another subject - your bread looks delicious!

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