Where did it go?!

Where did the summer go?

I'm not sure?

I know the summer usually goes by fast, but this is ridiculous.

I'm still looking for it.

If you find it, can you let me know?

The only vacation we had was a few days in Halifax. It was nice to get away from the farm.

This summer we were lucky to have helpers from HelpX.

All three were from France. So far people from France are super helpers!!! And excellent cooks.

Myriam cooked beef bourguigion. Yum! She did the fast method (it took two days). Then the last few weeks we had Sonia and Agathe. They made us crepes sarazzin aux ble noir and dessert crepes.

Awesome!!

Crepe sarrazin with my own goat cheese

Dessert crepe with caramel and ice cream

Our helpers Agathe and Sonia trying clams

Then we had Open Farm day in September. It was a super busy day.

My soap, apple butter and goat fudge

Yours truly teaching how to make soap

 But the summer has been an adventure and my garden turned out super dooper.

My dill

Onions

An entire meal made with the fruits of our labour

Our carrots kinda freaked me out! I didn't realize how big they were!

So now things are slowing down...well...kinda.

Have a Blessed Day

Lisa

Cranberry Almond Biscotti

I've had many people ask for this recipe, so here it is.

I cannot take credit for it. I found the recipe online a few years ago.

I think I found it on Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 egg whites

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract (or almond extract for a more almond flavour)

3/4 cups sliced almonds

1 cup sweetened dried cranberries

I also sometimes substitute with dried blueberries

++++++++++++++

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit

Combine dry ingredients in a medium size bowl. Whisk together eggs, egg whites and vanilla (almond extract) in a separate bowl.

Add egg mixture to dry ingredients, mixing until just moist using an electric mixture on medium speed. Add dried cranberries and almonds. Mix thoroughly.

On floured surface, divide batter in half and pat each half into a log approx 14 inches long and 1.5 inches thick. Place on cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes or until firm. Cool on wire rack.

Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees F. Cut biscotti into 1/2" slices. Place biscottis on a cookie sheet and bake for an additional 20 minutes. Let cool and store in a loosely covered container.

It's delish! Now I have to get off the computer because we're having a thunder and lightening storm and the power is flickering!

Have a Blessed Evening!

Lisa

Trial Run.

Oh my gosh!!!

Shoot me now!

This new computer is going to be the death of me. You'd think that new things would be easier.

Right!?

Right?!

Wrong.

It just took me 30 minutes to transfer 4 pictures from my camera card to the computer.

Good Grief.

Ok, how have things been here at Spring Peeper Farm?

Busy! Busy! Busy!

Nothing Spectacular, just busy.

The turkeys are doing well. They're in the outside pasture now with the dog and the goats.

But did I tell you before that turkeys are stupid?  I didn't think they were, but guess what?! They are.

I always thought that guinea hens were dumb.  Well like I tell people, when God was giving out brains in the animal kingdom, the guinea hens forgot to get in line. NOW, I think the guinea hens and the turkeys were behind the barn having a party when God was giving out the brains.

I'm not going to bore you with the details of their stupidity, but let's just say they're not the brightest bulbs in the bunch. 

The garden is growing wonderfully. I had beautiful romaine lettuce, the dill almost hit the clouds, the peas were delish and the yellow beans grew in abundance. The picture above is about 3 weeks old.

My garlic was awesome!!! I made dill pickles and dill pickles and more dill pickles. I also pickled some beets today.  I'll be making grape jelly in a few days also.

Jamie has his first job! It's raking low bush blueberries. It's hard, hard backbreaking work, but he wanted a job and he applied for it. But after the first day he didn't want to go again.  We made him go back, It's only for a week and a half and when you make a commitment, you stick to it. He only has two days left. As you can see he gets a bit dirty raking. It looks like he's still got his socks on!

Our plum tree actually produced some plums this year and we were able to pick them before the birds did.

I went to the doctor for my checkup on my arm. It still hurts like the dickens. He looked at the Xray and said, " Well it doesn't look like you have any screws loose." 

Dave thought, " Well maybe not in her arm, but...."

Have a Blessed Evening.

Lisa

I'm still alive and haven't fallen off the face of the earth. It's just that things have been super busy here this summer. We also got a new computer cause our old one was on it's last legs, but not everything has been put on the new one. Including all my pictures. And I hate blogging without pictures. So bear with me for another few weeks and hopefully I'll be back.

Have a Blessed Evening.

p.s. With a new computer comes the issues of WHAT ARE MY PASSWORDS TO EVERYTHING! Ack! I gotta write them down.

Creepy....

It's here and it's creepy. It just showed up in my fairy garden a few days ago.

What makes it even creepier is that I touched it and it's a bobblehead.

Shudder....

I hate gnomes.

Have a Blessed Day.

Lisa

Lemonade out of Lemons

Well hurricane Arthur hit us and had no mercy.

Our property was actually one of the lucky ones.

Only one tree fell. (Well two fell, but the other one fell where it didn't do any damage)

Our area of Nova Scotia, (South West) was the hardest hit.

Arthur hit Saturday and there's still some people with no power. 

We only went a day and a half with none, but we also have a generator for such times.

Of course, the tree that fell was in the goat pasture and broke the fence.

Poplar trees aren't strong, so the three trees that were in the area came down. So next time we won't have this incident.

My dad came and helped with the chainsaw cutting.

 The goats were delirious with all the leaves that came their way.

They made lemonade out of lemons.

The day before the hurricane

The day after the hurricane

Clean up time! Trees gone! Goats full.


For the next little while, blogging will be minimal. My wrist is not healing quickly and it's a pain the type...literally.

Have a Blessed Day.
Lisa

I'm back...finally

Wow! That took a lot longer than what I figured. 

The doctor told me 4-5 weeks in a cast. Well it ended up 7 weeks!! Needless to say it was about time it came off!  But it's not done yet. The cast is off, but my arm is not working like it should. So off to physio therapy I go. Plus I can't lift much either.

I thought that you'd like to see a picture of my arm now. Dead Sexy! I am now the bionic women.

Not.

Well my plans for this summer I had are quickly coming to fruition ( large word of the day).

I got my veggie/egg stand built. I'm doing my Vanna beside it. Pink shirt, pink cast and pink Muck boots. I'm stylin'.

Our turkeys have arrived a few days ago, the meat birds are growing nicely and the cattle have gone up the road to the big pasture.

Now check this out 

Nova Scotia

and this!

Spring Peeper Farm

I have been one busy chickie!

We did the nice guys again and rescued this goose. If anyone can tell me if it's a boy or a girl, I'd be much abliged.  We're calling it Alfred. He's a nice goose. Not mean at all, but he's afraid of people. He's fine with the animals, but humans, he leary. He is coming out of his shell though.

I've been making lots of new soaps and I started making cupcake soaps. It's my first try, but I'm kinda proud of myself.

Well that's about it for now. I just thought that I'd show my face to let ya'll know that I'm still alive.

Have a Blessed Evening.

Lisa