Last winter we hatched quail in my classroom and had surprising success. They grew quickly and began laying eggs in about 2 months. Every step with the quail was a learning experience for me. They are ground nesting so their housing and egg laying is different than chickens. They don’t roost together and have almost … Continue reading Learning with Quail
Recipes
Making Duck Sausage
When we did the meat bird harvest last month, we also thinned out our duck flock a little, putting some nice big duck breasts in the freezer. I have cooked duck breasts like a grass fed steak (seared then finished at a low temp in the oven) but I was looking for something else to … Continue reading Making Duck Sausage
First Pickles of the Season
We went to Michigan for a week and came back to a garden beginning to produce and flower beds that had turned suddenly into a jungle. It is nice to get away, of course, but takes a lot of prep before we leave and produces a long to do list upon return. I felt a … Continue reading First Pickles of the Season
Waste Not, Want Not: Leeks
Winter 2018 I started leeks from seed to plant in my garden. They grew well and I ended up setting them out in the early spring. These leeks spent all of last summer, fall, winter and this spring in the garden. I kept waiting for them to get bigger but they mostly stayed smallish. Now … Continue reading Waste Not, Want Not: Leeks
Strawberries for Every Meal
Strawberry season is officially upon us again. Two years ago I planted 40 strawberry plants in my perennial garden and they multiplied and multiplied. I probably have 1000 of them now. They are in the whole middle of my berry garden as well as lining the edges of most of my flower beds. I figured … Continue reading Strawberries for Every Meal
Tepache: a Fermented Pineapple Drink
It’s been a while since I’ve been on here to share with you. Boy hasn’t life gone a little crazy in the last couple months?! My neighbor Lisa sent me a video a couple days ago that got me inspired to try a new fermenting project. I wanted to share it with you because it … Continue reading Tepache: a Fermented Pineapple Drink
Beer Bottling and Instapot Beef Stew
I checked the potential alcohol on our beer today and found it to be at 1%. To find the alcohol by volume you subtract your final reading from your initial so ours is at 5% ABV. Witbier should fall between 4.5 and 5.5% so it's ready to bottle! First I needed to skim off some … Continue reading Beer Bottling and Instapot Beef Stew
Instapot Pumpkin Bundt Cake
Walking through Kroger today, I spied a whole wall of Instapot accessories. I've never seen cake pans for the Instapot before. I quickly looked up some recipes and decided I had to have the tiny bundt pan. The first recipe I decided to try was this Pumpkin Bundt Cake. I adapted the recipe some with … Continue reading Instapot Pumpkin Bundt Cake
Sourdough Pancakes
I awoke this morning to a happy sourdough starter overflowing its jar. Look how bubbly and active it is! It inspired me to look for a breakfast recipe to use it in. Many of the breakfast recipes I found required prep the night before but then I found Quick Sourdough Pancakes on food.com. They were … Continue reading Sourdough Pancakes
Sourdough Skillet
I've been playing around with all kinds of sourdough recipes since my starter needs to be fed every day or two. If you know me at all, you know I hate to let food go to waste. There's only so much sourdough we can eat though so I've been seeking more creative ways to use … Continue reading Sourdough Skillet
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