Monday, November 29, 2010

Random Animal Pictures

We will be having a belated Thanksgiving here at our house this coming Sunday. The boys and I did spend a very nice Thanksgiving with my parents in Arizona, but Dave had to stay home due (mostly), to illness. In the mean time, I would like to share some pictures that were taken this summer when Dave and the boys took a road trip up to Oregon and Washington.

At one point, they stopped at a wild animal park and got to interact with many different animals. When they were feeding and playing with the lion cubs, one of the cubs lunged up at our youngest son and very gently bit him on the jaw. When I posted it on Facebook, I got a lesson on how things don't always translate over the internet. I thought I had posted a funny, tongue-in-cheek post about it, but it ended up making many people concerned and we did get a few phone calls from family members. I know better than to post something like that on Facebook again!

Here they are petting the cub as it is being given a bottle.

Photobucket


It had a favorite stuffed toy, but it liked our kid a little better!

Photobucket

We think it's kind of cool. How many other kids can say that they've been bitten by a lion? He didn't hold any grudges anyway and spent some more time playing with the cubs.

Photobucket

Photobucket



All in all, everyone had a fun time.

Photobucket


Some other random pictures of animals at the park. I really love some of the peacock pictures.

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Thursday, November 18, 2010

The Farm on the News

The farm where our steer and turkey was/is being raised and where our milk cow lives was on the news this morning. They talk a little bit about the meat/cow shares that are available and you can see our cow Guinevere (we are one of the 14 families mentioned, though I think there are really only 13 of us). Anyone who lives in the Southern California (Inland Empire) area, I highly suggest going to Amy's Farm and taking a tour or checking out their herd share programs if you have an interest in getting locally, humanely raised meat. We will be picking up our 1/3 of a steer any day now and I am helping to process turkeys on Monday.

The news spots are all similar but fairly short if you want to watch all of them. You have to be willing to put up with inane chatter from the news people though. It reminded me why I don't watch the news anymore...


The 5am spot

The 6am spot

The 7am spot



Hurray for local farms!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Apples Galore!

I did manage to put up most of the apples we picked a couple weeks ago. Some went as apple butter, some as applesauce, some in butternut squash soup, and the rest were just great eating apples.

Some apples washed and ready to be made into apple butter.

Photobucket


My wonderful apple peeler, corer, slicer. Without this, I don't know if I would have been willing to make all this apple stuff.

Photobucket


In action!

Photobucket


All the resulting slices in the crockpot with sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and a bit of salt.

Photobucket


I loved making this in the crockpot since I could let it cook overnight and then get up in the morning to a great smell. All I needed to do at this point was mash it a bit with my potato masher, put it in jars, and waterbath the jars. I was done with plenty of time to get to Disneyland just after opening.

Photobucket


Finished jars.

Photobucket


I do like how the apple butter turned out, but I think I will cut down on the sugar next time. It is a little too sweet for my taste. I also made some applesauce, but that is basically the same thing, only with almost no sugar (I used a quarter cup with about 4lbs of apples), and some cinnamon. I love applesauce, so I didn't bother to jar it. I just put individual amounts in freezer containers and froze them. That way, I can pull one out and pop it in the fridge in the morning and have applesauce with lunch. I do still have some apples left and should use them within the next couple days. I think tonight will feature apple crumble for dessert!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

New Chickens

After the disaster that happened with the chickens while we were out of town, my chicken run was feeling lonely. My solution... more chickens! I found someone locally who had a couple of the breeds I was interested in and went to check them out. They were kept nicely and were a good size. They are big enough to take care of themselves and get out of the way of the big girls, but small enough that the big hens don't bother them too much.

Photobucket

Photobucket


Two of them are Anconas which are black with white spots when they are grown and will lay white eggs. It's been some time since we had any white egg layers so that will be a change.

Photobucket

Photobucket



The other two are Silver Laced Wyandottes which will lay brown eggs and have white feathers edged in black once their adult plumage comes in.

Photobucket



They aren't entirely sure about hanging out with the big hens yet, but everyone is getting along as well as can be expected.

Photobucket