Salmon Faverolles Move In

Introducing Gabby and Cherry, 2 Salmon Favorelle Hens we got at auction a couple weeks ago. One is obviously more red then she should be, so DD calls her the "CHERRY ONE!". They had their beaks clipped and have a hard time eating... but they are royally spoiled with deep dishes and lots of treats. They are skittish of people so were probably never handled much, but I cuddle them when I catch them so eventually they'll accept us.

For anyone looking to introduce more birds to their flock, its important you keep new birds quarentined for at least 30 days. You don't want disease spreading, or mites or anything that may cause stress of an uproar in your flocks health and sanity. Also give new birds a good look over. I found these guys had ticks and mites. I washed them, picked the ticks, dusted with DE(Diatomaceous Earth) and added used vaseline on their legs since they looks dried and scaly. I didn't see mites on their legs, but you can never be too careful. They are in their own coop, and though they can see my other birds... no one is touching and getting aggressive. Just the way we like it around here. :)
 

Getting to work - Spring is coming!

Well, reality is the work is never done... you really just get 'caught up' and then you eventually fall behind. There is no in-between. You get a winter break which is only a few weeks here. However, you're fidgety the entire time you're supposed to be relaxing, so what does it matter, right?

So with a gorgeous day, felt like 80 out with a cool breeze (if you call 20 mph winds a breeze) I took a few hours to plan a plant rescue and finish up the garden that was tilled up to be prepared when the corn can go in. (That still almost 2 months away, but I'm just so darn fidgety!)

First the rescue of the rose-

My mother bought this rose many years ago, Jackson Perkins I do believe. I think its a Henry Fonda Tea rose?! It was never in a proper bed and it was at the top of a hill in front of their house so daddy just couldn't manage to steer the riding mower around it. Several years ago he gave up and just mowed right over it. After awhile we just forgot it was ever there. Last year the yard became a weed jungle when the mower died, low and behold the roses emerged and dainty yellow buds graced the front yard scene. I decided to swoop in and get it transplanted here and give it a garden bed of its own. It will never have to fear the blades of a mower again.

First nightmare... get the crown and as much of the root ball out of the ground as I could. Found out the roses was originally mulched with ROCK! Can you say my wrist is killing me right now. So after 30-45 minutes of fighting with the tangled mess of root, grass, weeds and rock I finally got it free. It was about 3 ft tall with some diseased growth, so I immediately pruned it down as much as I could without destroying the new growth. I was a little late getting to it because of this mild winter we've had. 

From here I dusted the root ball with rooting hormone which will help root growth. I've add some bone meal to the potting soil and decided to pot it up for not. The front bed isn't ready and I'd really like to baby it and make sure she'll survive before I give her the place of honor in my new expanded front yard garden bed. I'm sure it was well worth the afternoon struggles. 

And when I thought I had no energy left in my body, I finished raking out the rows for the corn getting 2 more done today. So we now have 7 finished rows for the sweet corn. The one I bought over 200 seeds for! YIKES! We also decided after some time on 'pinterest' I would create 2 bamboo teepees for my daughter to use as play space in the garden. Those will go where you see the round mounds.

And just when I thought I had done more then my fair share for the day, I checked my brussel sprouts which are as done as they are going to be. I planted these last March, even though I took some for the holiday meal I took the last of them today. I only had 6 plants, when 2 never produced any, so I'm satisfied. 

These are now in the oven roasting with some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and garlic. Come on dinner!

Regrowing Celery

If you're a pinterest.com addict like I am, you've seen this project pop up a lot lately! Cutting the base of your store bought celery off and growing a whole new bunch of stocks from it. So I gave it and decided to give it a go.

Right now its day one! I've cut the base of the stock and have put it in a shallow cake pan full of warm water in front of an east facing window.

Here's day one picture. We'll check back on it within 7 days.

Great Gardening Class

I had a fabulous group of ladies this weekend over for a beginner's gardening class. (Thank you ladies!) I really hope I covered enough to get them really excited and get them out in their yards! Definitely didn't want to over whelm anyone into quitting such a wonderful hobby. I think I gained a lot from the class as well, in fact I learned just how far I've come over the years and how I started from nothing, with lots of questions and anxiety!

So I just wanted to share a little flashback of what was, and what is.... for one day you will see, what will be!

Now all that green you see is covered with productive gardens and lots of flowers and trees. Makes a woman smile about how far her own 2 hands can get her. (With a little help from a really handy husband! Hehehe)

Prepping the new beds - Flowers & Corn!

I decided its best we get the ground tilled in when I want to plant the corn this year. My neighbor was kind enough to let us borrow the tiller and my husband decided to till everything in sight (I'm pretty literal on that one!).

So we have a 20'+ by 12' bed tilled in the backyard for the corn, then he decided to till around the raised beds so I could create paths there but then the bed in the front yard I keep my shrubs and flowers in looked awful small. So he added a 32' x 6' bed addition to the front of the house. Now I have my work cut out filling those beds.

I'll be spending the next month deciding on new plants for the front, and which plants and bulbs from around the house can be moved to the front. I've already got my sweet corn choice for this year, so that's good to go!

Lavender Vanilla French Eclairs

Ingredients:

  Pastry Shell:
  1 Cup + 1 Tbsp Water
  1/4 tsp salt
  7 Tbsp Butter cut up
  1 Cup (minus 1 Tbsp) Sifted flour
  4 Beaten Eggs

  Chocolate Cream Filling:
  2 Cups + 2 Tbsp Milk
  1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp Sugar
  4 Egg Yolks
  1 Tsp Cocoa powder
  1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
  2 Tbsp Flour Sifted

  Fondant/ Chocolate Glaze:
  6 oz Melted Chocolate chips
  2 Tbsp Melted Butter
  1/4 cup powdered sugar
  2 Tbsp Water

Preheat oven 410 degrees

Shell Pastry:
* In a saucepan boil water & salt. Add butter in cubed pieces. When melted pour all flour in at one time, reduce heat to med.
*Combine with wooden spoon until all flour is absorbed and remove from heat.
*Allow to cool and slowly add eggs (these should be prebeaten and at room temp). Adding 1/2 the eggs at a time helps. When adding the second half of the eggs, I switched to a whisk, it helped a lot.
*Add pastry mix to pastry bag or zip lock bag with the end cut off. Pipe onto a baking sheet that's been greased or parchment paper. (I use a silicone baking sheet.) Should make between 8-12 medium to small eclairs.
*Place in oven and bake 30 minutes without opening door.
*Remove and poke holes on both end of the eclairs with a toothpick. This allows the steam to escape so they don't get mushy inside.

Pastry Cream Filling:
*Mix Yolks, sugar, vanilla and flour in a medium bowl.
*Warm the milk and cocoa in a small sauce pan until you see some steam come off the milk. Do this on med-low heat slowly.
*pour milk over yolk mixture, stir to combine and the pour back into sauce pan.
*Bring to a soft bowl where you'll see bubbles popping up the side of your sauce pan. After a few pops give it an easy stir and remove from heat. It will thicken more as it cools.
*When cool, cut tops off of eclairs and fill with the cream and place the tops back on them.

Chocolate Glaze:
*Combine water and powdered sugar to dissolve and set aside.
*In another bowl combine chocolate chips and butter. Put in microwave for 1 minute, stopping every 15 second to stir until melted.
*Add the dissolved sugar to the chocolate and mix until combined.
*Use to frost the top of the eclairs and allow to cool on counter or in fridge before serving.

Planning the west side

Well, the west side of my home's yard is nearly bare. My challanges have been that this side of the house gets only late day light, as well as all the home's wiring and pipes come into the house here. This leave it near impossible to know how deep is safe to dig. So I haven't touched it. I can't get close to the house either for fear of hitting the obvious wires coming out of the ground. Today, I played with some photos and came up with a plan for privacy, won't have to touch along side the house and will give the west side of the house its very own special touches. I know its rough looking, but it was a quick play around in photoshop.

I'm going to see what my husband thinks, chose the varieties of shrubs and flowers and price everything before its a decision. Fencing is just NOT an affordable or attractive option to me. Just thought I'd share the rough draft. The only for sure will be a Hydrangea I rooted last year that I needed to find a spot for. Its small now, but in a few years it will be a great size, and needs a place of honor!

Before/Now: