I woke up this morning to hear the Guineas complaining. They went up in a tree last night instead of going into the chicken coop. Rain was coming down hard and they could not get into the coop so they were a bit upset. Maybe that will teach them to start going in at night.

I worked a bit this morning, writing and doing phone work. I was a bit worried that with the hard rain and lightening I would lose my internet or phone connection but all was fine. When I finished working I decided to head out to see if I could brush Beauty’s tail. No such luck. She was a bit spooky today. I checked on the goats who, as usual, wanted to chew on my coat, my hair or anything else they could get ahold of. Tulip likes to just stand back and watch. I caught her so I could pet her. I want her to become friendlier like the other goats.

When I came back in I checked on the chicken I was thawing. It was one of the ones Jerry butchered the other night. I was thawing but slowly so I put it in the crock pot. While I was waiting for it to thaw I made two pounds of egg noodles and a batch of dinner rolls.

Once the chicken was thawed I drained the water off and added a batch of fiery honey bbq sauce. I made it using organic honey, soy sauce, fiery buffalo sauce, garlic and the last bit of a store bought bbq sauce we had in the fridge. It tastes pretty good. I will let the chicken cook in the slow cooker on high for a while, then turn the heat down to low. I will leave it in there until the meat falls off the bones.

I made the noodles using four duck eggs and two large chicken eggs. I had to have Jerry pick up some wax paper so I could lay the noodles out. When he gets home we will cut the noodles, lay them out and dry them. One batch will be used tonight to make homemade fettucine alfredo. The last time we went to Wild Oats I bought a bit of raw parmigiano reggiano cheese and have been anxious to use it.

I also made homemade dinner rolls using a variety of flours. I chose organic white flour, unbleached, coconut flour, winged bakers bran, flax seed, hemp, amaranth and spelt. Organic honey was added to the rolls as well. I am anxious to see how they turned out.

Finally we will have honey baked brussel sprouts made with the organic honey. We really like them baked with honey and butter. They are so tender and are simply delicious.

I am heading back into the kitchen to see what I can round up for desert, as if we really need any after this meal!

Sheri

I walked about the garden today taking note of all the plants – and dandelions – that were coming up. I pulled a few to feed to Beauty the horse and wondered why I was removing the dandelions from the flower beds in the first place. I personally like dandelions, they attract honey bees and they are edible. Hmm, maybe I will just leave them this year. After all a weed is nothing more than a flower growing where you don’t want it to grow.

Jerry spent the day helping in the barn and re-doing the stalls. I cleaned Beauty’s stall and he took the wheelbarrows full to the compost pile. I also raked out the goats stall but he had to remove the harder stuff. There is still more cleaning in there to do. They sure can make a mess.

In between wheelbarrow loads Jerry built a gate for the front of Beauty’s stall so now it is easier to get in there. He also cut out some of the boards that was blocking the light and the view for the goats. They can easily see Beauty now and get use of the light that comes into her stall when the window and door is open. The goats seemed happier with the new design and so did Beauty.

When he was done with that he built a window box stand for my large window boxes that are filled with container sweet peas. It was time to get them out of the greenhouse and into their summer home. I will enjoy looking out my office window and seeing the pastel colored blooms. The fragrance will also be nice.

I picked lettuce and radish from the garden tonight to go with supper. Jerry is making breaded beef, baked potatoes and sweet corn with dill weed. We will also eat some of the biscuits left from last night and for desert we will eat a slice of the cherry pie I made yesterday. I used home canned cherries, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. I put it in a double crust. It is so good but it had been a while since I had made a pie crust so I got it a little bit thick.

I am ready to eat, get a bath and head to bed. Tomorrow I will be working here doing some writing for various companies I work for and maybe doing some phone work.

Sheri

But don’t forget to come back on another day! I like rain, it is important for proper plant growth, but I don’t like rain twice in the same week, especially when it comes on days that I had plans to do work outside. Oh well, Jerry was called in to work today anyway since Sam’s wife was having her baby so I guess it is just as well.

I did plant some lupine, banana yucca and sacred thistle today in the corner flower bed by the stop sign. Last night we dug one patch of Tulip ‘Scarlet Majesty,’ some narcissus and some grape hyacinth that needed to be divided. We replanted most of them. I saved one bag of mixed tulips and grape hyacinth to sell. Almost four years ago (August) when we moved here I planted five of those tulip bulbs, last night we had over 100 bulbs from those five! Wow!

I need to go to the store later to get more organic flour. I was going to make more noodles to have them on hand and ready to go but I used up the last of the flour earlier in the week. I thought I had another bag but when I looked it was whole wheat flour. So, since I couldn’t make noodles, I am making homemade vanilla ice cream. Yum! I found some organic vanilla and it is delicious.

For dinner I have another one of our chickens roasting. I put some butter, lemon peel, pepper and black artisan salt on it. I put it in the crock pot and will let it cook all day. I am thinking of using the broth to make gravy. If I decide to do that we will have mashed potatoes and spinach to go with the chicken. I found an older recipe that said to put nutmeg on spinach. I am thinking of trying it out.

I really should be getting some writing done today so when the weather does clear up I can be outside. It is almost time for Jerry’s vacation to start and I sure won’t want to be working then!

 Sheri

Lots of seeds are germinating that were planted in 2007. I am suprised everytime I walk through the garden to find new little babies. Of course all of this makes weeding hard. Those tiny seedlings can be difficult to distinguish and pull up quite easily. For now, I am going to let everything grow. I can weed later.

It is still raining here in Indiana. It is cold and wet outside. I really hate when the weather changes like this. I had just put out some of my annuals as well as some of my tropical baskets. They all look fine so I have left them alone. The rain will do them good.

In the greenhouse vines such as Ipomoea tuberosa are growing like there is no tomorrow. My small red geranium is simply loaded with blooms. It has more blooms on it than I have ever seen on a small geranium. I gave it some kelp and I really believe that is why. The blooms are quite large too. The tomatoes, peppers and eggplants are anxiously awaiting being planted. I had quite a few variegated tomatoes germinate this year and am really happy about that. I love variegated foliage.

In the vegetable garden the plants that are up are looking good. The seeds such as corn and green beans have not poked through the soil yet but I do know they are germinating as I accidently got into a row of corn the other day that Jerry had planted. The row was a bit crooked and I forgot so when I sowed the next row I got too close.

I am still writing my next book, 101 English Garden Tips. It is a slow process. I want to be sure each tip is useful and worded so everyone, even a new gardener, can use the tip. I’m not into fluff but know some people do not have heavy hitting horticulture either so I am trying to balance the two.

Watching the birds in the garden is a fascinating task for rainy days. My neighbor said he had seen more birds here in the past couple of years than he had seen in his life. He is in his 70’s so that really says something to me. I have all kinds of woodpeckers, finches, sparrows, chickadees, blackbirds, cardinals, blue jays, bluebirds, hummingbirds, cedar waxwing, orioles, nut hatches, mourning doves and more. Watching them on the feeders is fascinating. I put out my laundry lint, animal fiber that was unusuable for spinning plus people hair and other soft materials such as yarn for them to make nests with. I see them picking through the mesh bag getting what they want and then flying into one of the many various bird houses on the property to make their nests.

The wild animals are fed too. I use a wild animal mix and get bunnies, chipmunks, squirrels, racoons (on occassion) and possiums. I have not seen any deer here but the neighbors have seen deer and fox on their property. I have seen one fox here last year. I have also seen groundhogs here.

It is nice to have a place where you can grow and raise your own food. I do miss milking the goats this year. There is nothing like fresh milk. I miss making the cheese, fudge, ice cream and most of all, butter. I just can’t find anything compariable in the stores. We are considering butchering a few more roosters after last night’s supper. The chicken meat was simply delicious. The best yet. That old recipe really helped me tenderize the meat. I had never tasted a chicken like what we ate – tender, juicy and delicious with a ton of flavor. Just thinking about it makes me want to eat chicken again tonight!

Being able to make money from our farm is great as well. I have some regular egg customers and am beginning to sell some of the animals, fiber and goat milk soap although I do not have any regular customers for those lines yet. We sold two of our year old ducks last night to a young girl wanting them for a 4H project. We still need to get breeding cages built so I can seperate the chickens and ducks for breeding purposes. I have received a lot of calls this year for chickens, ducks, guineas and goats. Next year I hope to be in a position to be able to say that I do have plenty for sale. Right now all we have are our extras, which are older males that we do not want to keep.

I am heading back to work soon. I have some hours scheduled this afternoon for phone work and want to try to get some writing done. I need to get caught up.

Sheri

It has been a really long day here at Exotic Gardening Farms and Wildlife Habitat. We got up early this morning. I went out to feed the animals and Jerry joined me shortly after. Beauty is finally getting used to being brushed while eating but still will not let me get her tail. I can brush her butt though so it is a matter of time.

Jerry thought he had the goat fence fixed today but lo and behold, Darla found a way out, so tomorrow we will fix that. They wanted to snack on the privet hedge we cut down and put in the corner of the bird garden for wildlife to hide in.

Lisa picked me up early this morning. We went with Jackie to dig some flowers. I brought home peonies, a yellow rose, hollyhock, narcissus and naked ladies as well as two bird feeders. When we finished at Jackie’s we went to Shirley’s. Shirley gave us spearmint, bee balm, dill and sedum. After that we met John and Donna who shared some flower essences with us and starts of Oriental poppies and bamboo. It was a fun day. When we arrived back here I gave Lisa some Jerasalem artichokes for her garden.

Jerry had prepared a raised bed for the spearmint and I got busy planting my new treasures. Jerry made two additional raised beds tonight – one for dill and one for chamomile. I have decided to make individual beds for each variety of herb so I can keep them seperated and have more of them. The herbs are being moved out of the herb garden into the vegetable garden and eventually the herb garden will be a second vegetable garden.

The corn and green beans are coming up as are a ton of potatoes. I think this is going to be a really good year for gardening. Tomorow we are going to take the old siding and what is left of the new siding to the back of the house. Jerry is going to fix the goat fence again and then I am hoping he will get a chance to work on the porch. I know he has been wanting too. I would like to work in the walnut garden a bit and the dog area. There is some mowing and weed wacking that needs to be done up there. I am still debating moving everything out of that area. We also have some privacy fence to put up.

Luckily Jerry’s vacation is next week so that will give us lots of time to catch up on projects that really need completed.

Sheri