Monday, April 19, 2010

So What Have You Done Lately?

Yes, I know it has been a long time since my last post. Big slap on the wrist for me.

I've been pretty busy. I've been helping Hubby with the garden. We've got a lot of things planted: a few kinds of shell peas and sugar snap peas, broad beans, scarlet runner beans, leeks, beets, carrots, turnips, shallots, garlic (planted last fall), broccoli rabe, chard... I'm sure I'm missing stuff.

The apricot tree is in full blossom and the plum trees are just starting to blossom. They smell so fantastic. I'm so excited about those!

The windows of the house are full of tomato seedlings - romas, brandywines.

We are also getting ducks - 10 Swedish Blues. We've got a lot of fencing, posts, and a small yard pond liner. We plan on putting up the fence around the orchard - thus having the ducks help with pest control. Also, it is close the pole barn - so we can easily refill the pond with the run-off.

We also rented a sod cutter and removed a whole lotta sod next to the existing garden. Hubby had the grandiose idea of doing some 600-700 square feet. I talked him into half. We ended up doing even less than that. That was some long, hard work. We still have a field of sod rolls to deal with - but are slowly making headway. (I should say, HUBBY is slowly making headway.) The hope is to plant corn (popcorn, meal), squash, tomatoes, and potatoes. We did buy a tiller - a nice big rear-tine. There was NO WAY we could work that up with just the shovel and fork. Also, Hubby still hopes to clear out MORE land (in future years) - so buying a tiller seemed to be the smart thing to do.

We are nearly overrun with eggs. I made two batches of vanilla egg custard (non-baked). I have to say - DO NOT BUY VANILLA CUSTARD OR MAKE IT FROM AN INSTANT PACKAGE! The recipe is SOOOOO simple and a million times better than anything else. I also made a large batch of rhubarb compote. These two together make for a very happy tummy.

Well, that is the low down from here. Hope your spring plantings are going well.

5 comments:

  1. You should post a link to the custard recipe. It really was quite delicious.

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  2. You could also make frozen custard with your eggs. Yummy yummy.

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  3. I would love to see your custard recipe! And by the way, my pork farmer just shared the following rhubarb recipe - probably not good to pair with your custard but it sounds really tasty anyway.
    RHUBARB, BACON AND ONION COMPOTE.
    8 oz. of Amor Pork bacon
    2 cps. Sweet Onion thinly sliced
    2 cps Red Rhubarb diced
    3 TBSP apple cider vinegar
    1/2 cp light brown sugar (packed)
    pinch of ground cinnamon
    pinch of ground cardamom

    COOKING DIRECTIONS:
    Heat large skillet over med high heat. Add bacon, cook until brown and crisp. Drain all but 2 -3 Tbsp of bacon fat off, add onion stirring to pick up browned bits on bottom of pan. reduce heat to med-low cook 8-10 min. until onion is soft and caramelized.. Stir in Rhubarb. add vinegar, brown sugar cinnamon ad cardamom. continue to cook over med-low for 5-8 min or until rhubarb is soft. If rhubarb is very tart, add 1-2 tbsp brown sugar. Spoon compote into container and refrigerate.

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  4. Thanks for the recipe, Kris! Anything with bacon in it has to be good. I will be sure to post the custard recipe. It is very simple and very good.

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  5. Jess - I ran across this recipe today, which although it looks tasty I haven't tried. Anyway, it uses lots of eggs and I thought of you. http://duckfatandpolitics.blogspot.com/2010/02/pannukakku.html

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