Rev Up, Crash & Burn

Liam, Seamus and I were up very early this morning.  Our desire to sleep until 6:30 am seems to have evaporated when "sleep" began to mean laying propped up in bed unable to breathe.  Luckily with last night's snow there was lots for us to do once it got light out.  

After waking Daddy (who for whatever reason is not nearly as sick as the rest of us and is having no problems sleeping), we headed outside to do some shovelling.  I was also hoping that the cooler air might help clear out our sinuses.  

The boys and Daddy shovelled the pathways, gates, steps and deck.  I worked on clearing the snow off of my covered box gardens.  I had an extra burst of energy after putting on my dad's blue snow suit and finding that it fit very comfortably over my stomach.  It is so much easier to do chores when you are dressed comfortably.

On the garden front, I am happy to report that my greens are fresh and crisp under their plastic covers.  During the next nice day, when I am feeling better, we are going to be rolling in fresh greens, kale and carrots.

Unfortunately, it seems that the excitement of our morning shovelling did me in.  Seamus and I found ourselves at the doctor's office mid-morning being told that the throbbing pain in my sinuses, teeth and jaw and the pressure in my ears means that I will likely not be getting better without antibiotics.

And so, for the next ten days, I have a date with a giant horse-sized pill at lunch time in hopes of one day soon being able to breathe again.  Seamus was just happy that they let him out of the doctor's office without giving him a shot and he still got a sticker!

This afternoon involved me laying in bed miserably next to my humidifier while Seamus watched YouTube videos.  The boys almost never get IPad so that is saying something.  Not my finest hour.

Soup for Sick People

On days like today I am grateful for our hard work in the garden throughout the spring, summer and fall.  It took me less than 15 minutes to put together a hearty beef noodle soup from the contents of our freezer/pantry.  The soup had onions, garlic, ginger, brussels sprouts, celery, carrots, zucchini, beef chunks, beef broth and rice noodles.  Most of these ingredients were from our garden.  It was a super simple lunch that beats canned soup any day.  What more can you ask for when you refuse to take off your pyjamas or leave the house?

Under the Mild Weather

It was finally a mild day on the farm; unfortunately, we could not really appreciate it as we are all preoccupied with battling a bad head cold.  Ian is faring the best thanks to his regime of Advil Cold and Flu medication.

I am faring the worst both because I have been sick the longest and thanks to my inability to take any real medication.  As a result, I have not slept in a week because I cannot breathe.  I am using a combination of pregnancy friendly remedies (a neti pot, nasal saline spray, a humidifier with Vicks vapour oil, hot tea, etc.) but honestly, I feel like I have been run over by a very, very large truck.  I have also lost my voice completely which my family thinks is either funny (Liam and Seamus) or that I am faking (Ian).  Liam and Seamus are somewhere in the middle with Liam feeling slightly better today and Seamus feeling slightly worse.

But life goes on, so we continued our Christmas viewing with the original Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman.  We tried to take it easy (why do sick kids still have so much energy?) so we (mostly me) are able to face the week ahead without having a mental/emotional breakdown.  I am exaggerating but seriously, if I do not get some sleep soon things are going to get very bad.  Here's to hoping that our immune systems kick it up a notch so that tomorrow we can breathe (and sleep and breathe and stop coughing and breathe).

Ever the trusty companions, Charlotte and Emily are the only ones
not worried about catching whatever horrible bug we humans all have.

I Think My Kombucha Hates Me

I have previously discussed my love-apathy relationship with my kombucha - well, I think it was offended.  After a five month "break", we are not in a good place.  I had a year of making kombucha with absolutely no issues. Maybe this was our “honeymoon phase”?  This is my second post-break attempt that has been overtaken by blue mould.  Ew.

After the first mouldy result, I threw out all my own scobies, sanitized all the jars and cover cloths and sourced a new scoby from a kindly neighbourhood kombucha maker. 

Result: mouldy batch number two.  Sigh.

Is this a sign that we are not destined to get back together?  Or maybe I need to work harder to make this relationship work?  I fear that it might be time for "the talk".  Where the heck is Dear Abby for kombucha brewers when you need her?!

Bringing a Little TBay to the Farm

In addition to lugging home a dozen Persians (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_(roll) ) for Ian and the boys, I have also been making Finnish pancakes since returning from my visit to Thunder Bay.

Persians in Thunder Bay.

Inspired by the Hoito restaurant, I have whipped up these thin, eggy pancakes a few times.  They are a hit with the boys!

The Hoito's Finnish breakfast (half eaten...sorry)

INGREDIENTS

1 teaspoon vanilla
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 cups milk
1 cup flour

DIRECTIONS

Combine and whisk all ingredients until smooth.

Let the batter rest for 30 minutes (or sit in fridge overnight).

Heat non-stick or lightly greased pan to medium.

Pour in a thin layer of the batter just so it covers the bottom.

Once it is golden brown on one side, flip and cook the other.

Serve with maple syrup.

My version.

Despite being super simple, these pancakes are seriously yummy.  They are a great alternative to our go-to fluffy buttermilk pancakes.  Thank you Thunder Bay for expanding our breakfast horizons, though I am not sure that I will be attempting to make homemade Persians any time soon!

Sausage Mania

I went to put my Christmas date squares in the garage deep freeze the other day, opened it up and got a substantial whiff of hot Italian sausage.  Why does my freezer smell like sausage, you ask?

Well, once a year, Ian and his retired Scouting buddies get a hankering for sausages.  I don't mean that they BBQ up a few sausages to quell their craving - that would be too easy.  Instead they buy boxes and boxes of pork (not to mention Ian's goose meat) and make close to a thousand homemade sausages.  Thank goodness, these are split among seven families and even then they last us the entire year.

Goose leg bones.

A hunting season's worth of goose meat.

Ground goose mixed with pork, making its way into sausages.

Sausage making men hard at work. 
It is around this time that the inappropriate sausage jokes abound and I make myself scarce.

 Liam and Seamus love sausage nights.  There is nothing more fun for them than getting to hang with the men, stuffing meat into intestines.  Must be a guy thing.

A Taste of Winter

The calendar may say that it is not officially winter yet, but you could have fooled me!  With all the snow and cold weather, it feels like the Christmas season has started extra early this year.

As per tradition, we kicked off the holiday cheer at the Help Santa Toy Parade on Saturday.  It was not the same without Dad but we did our best to get as excited about the Garlic King, the Grinch behind bars and, of course, Santa as he always did.  This was the first year in a long time that we had snow for the parade.

The boys have also made their Christmas lists and mailed them off to Santa.  They are eagerly awaiting a reply.

We have also been busy in the kitchen whipping up some Christmas goodies.  Grandma and the boys have made fancy pecan turtle brownies and Seamus and I have made date squares and chewy ginger cookies.  They have all been packaged up and stored safely in the freezer for the holidays.

In addition, we have already watched the 1966 classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas, have been practising our Christmas tunes with Papa in the morning before school, have our advent calendars ready and waiting for December first,  and have begun Christmas crafting.  

We should be good and ready for the big day once it finally arrives!

Brussels Sprouts Taste Like Feet

Ian and I are alike in that we both hate to see produce go to waste.  Even though the kitchen garden in now thoroughly frozen, today we harvested the last of our Brussels sprouts.  If enduring a frost is supposed to make the sprouts sweeter, then these are going to be like candy because they were frozen solid.

Ian cut down the plants with our Christmas tree saw and I dragged them back to the kitchen on Seamus' sled.

Liam and Grandma Cora assisted with plucking off the leaves and readying the sprouts for cooking and storage.

Liam was thrilled with how long the stalks were but was less enthused when Ian roasted up a bunch for tonight's supper and he realized that Brussels sprouts taste like stinky feet - even when you glaze them with wildflower honey.  I am not sure Liam and Seamus will be as on board with growing them next year after we work through the many, many bags of Brussels sprouts that are now in our freezer.  They were not what you would call a crowd-pleaser.

Bundled Bees and Bursting Bellies

Despite pushing toward mid-November, it has not really been cold here yet.  We have been hovering around zero degrees Celsius with a usual warm up in the afternoon.  With today's anticipated snowstorm and tomorrow night's forecast of -8 C, I figured that it might be time to finally wrap my honey bee hives up for winter. 

Bundling them up was really no sweat at all.  I took off the feeder buckets which have been empty for a few weeks, added a spacer on top of the top super, placed a pillow case full of pine shavings in the empty space to absorb excess moisture, added a Styrofoam square to insulate above the inner cover, bundled the hive up in a black plastic insulated bee cosy and tilted each hive forward half an inch. 

 

The biggest challenge a hive faces, aside from mites, is moisture from the bees' breathing condensing on the cold ceiling of the hive and then dripping back onto the cluster.  Hopefully my prophylactic measures will work together to prevent this from happening.  It will also help if the weather cooperates by getting cold and staying cold.

I must say that I am relieved that my beekeeping duties are now done until the new year.  Even though I have upgraded to my largest bee suit, I admit that I was a bit worried about fitting into it today.  Luckily I did, but I am not sure how much longer this would have been possible.

My bee suit was stretched to the max.

My worries are well founded.  Yesterday I literally burst out of my barn jacket.  Not only did my belly explode the zipper but I was then unable to extract myself from the jacket as it remained attached above and below my stomach.  In what I would not classify as my finest moment, I first had to do all my evening farm chores with my belly exposed to the wind.  I then had to wear my jacket in the house until Ian got home and was able to help me free myself from jacket jail.  Thankfully he did so without any smart remarks seeing as I was sweating profusely and my ego was already quite bruised from the whole affair.

Luckily I have a forward thinking Grandma (GG) who is exceptional at finding end of season deals on discount winter coats.  Convenient, I know.  After a quick search of my coat closet I easily found two replacement coats that actually fit my enormous tummy and so both my too small fall jacket and now defective barn coat have been placed out of sight for the time being.

So, in the end, I managed to bundle up both my bees and my belly and not a moment too soon; after our afternoon blizzard it looks like the North Pole out there!

A Lasagne Extravaganza

Lasagne is a crowd-pleaser in our house.  The problem with store bought lasagne is that it is almost always disappointing - all pasta and sauce with very little meat or cheese and very rarely vegetables of any kind.  The problem with homemade lasagne is that it is so time consuming to make.  It involves so many ingredients that all need to be cooked and layered and then cooked again...ugh.

So, today Seamus and I undertook a lasagne extravaganza in which our goal was to make several lasagnes for the freezer.  We would do all the work upfront for benefits spread out through the winter.

We began by pre-cooking our onions/celery mix, eggplant/sweet peppers/carrot mix, garlic/kale mix, sauteed mushrooms, homemade sausage, and goose/pork combo.  We boiled our canned tomatoes to reduce them down to a thicker sauce and got out our cheeses (mozzarella, marble, cottage), noodles, and spices (basil, oregano, salt and pepper).

We were on track until I talked myself into buying the "jumbo extra deep" lasagne trays from the store.  It seemed like a good idea at the time but, in hindsight, who needs that much lasagne at once?!  Smaller trays would have made much more sense.

Seamus and I ended up making three absolutely gigantic lasagnes - two for the freezer and one for the oven.  There will be leftovers for the next week or so, at least, from the one I cooked today.

On the bright side, the boys devoured their dinner with absolutely no fuss and this is one more job done that will make life a bit easier once baby #3 makes his appearance.

The Sun Will Set, Not Long to Go...

It is crazy that we are putting the animals to bed at 4:30 pm.

What is even crazier is how long the days feel even though they are so short.  These kids are wearing me down!

Oh Deer...

*Warning: Hunting photos included.  Please feel free to skip this post if the "forest to table" process is not your thing.*

Ian came through once again with a freezer full of venison for the winter of 2018.  He is proud to have successfully hunted a doe on the opening morning of deer season.  The boys named her Sally.  As always, it was a family affair.

 Both Seamus and Liam helped with deer hunting preparations leading up to opening day.  They hiked with Daddy out to the tree stand (Seamus even climbed halfway up behind Ian before Ian noticed and freaked out).  They spread out apples for the deer (and rogue cows).  And Seamus even allowed Daddy to coat his winter boots in deer pee to "spread the scent" - ew (Mama was not too pleased about that one).

The actual hunting was all Ian.

Seamus and I once again helped with moral support during the field dressing, relocation and hanging stages of processing the meat.  Last year Seamus was happy sitting in a stroller watching the forest while Ian and I gutted the deer and sang to him.  This year he desperately wanted to see and help.  So, he watched the field dressing process from 10 feet away strapped into his stroller asking all the while if he could "come closer" to "see better".  Thankfully he was appeased with us counting down the minutes until he could come closer without ever actually delivering on our promises to move his stroller right up to the action.

Seamus did, however, get to help Daddy drag the deer out of the corn/winter wheat field and load her up. 

I am not sure we could have managed without him seeing as I was absolutely no help at all.  Seriously, moral support was the name of the game for me this year.  Oh, and I held Sally's leg during the gutting, helped flip her over to drain and rolled her Dexter-style in the blue tarp.  We'll call it deluxe moral support.

I am happy to report that Sally is now hanging in our garage and I did not have to hug her carcass to help lift her up this year.  Thank goodness for small miracles (like Ian's new winch system).

A couple of days like this and then she'll be off to the butcher before Grandma Cora shows up next weekend and has a coronary.  We just need to keep the garage door closed so we don't offend any sensitive neighbours or give the non-country kids on Liam's school bus nightmares.

Two Birds in the Hand

This morning's goose hunting expedition resulted in two birds in the hand and many more in the sky that managed to elude us.  While Ian does quite a lot of hunting, I am usually on kid duty in the mornings.  It is a special day when we have Grandma sleep over on a hunting day so I am able to go out with him.  Thanks Grandma for making the boys chocolate chip pancakes at 5:15 am so I could go sit in the bush with my hubby and fail miserably at trying to catch his successful shots on video.  I still had fun!

Before the hunt.
Thanks to the time change everyone was awake before we left.

Decoys out and ready to go.

Our set up.  Ian is laying in the ditch ready to shoot.

My spot.  Nice and comfy in a camp chair hidden in the birches.

The Holiday that Just Won't Quit

Enticed into the grocery store today to purchase avocados to make Ms. Kerry's avocado chickpea sandwiches, Seamus and I could not resist the half-price gingerbread haunted houses.  The hardest part of constructing these houses is always gluing the walls together so that the roof does not cave in.  You have to wait so long for the icing glue to dry that everybody just ends up getting impatient, trying to decorate too soon, and disaster subsequently ensues.  The cool thing about the houses we found today are that they came pre-glued.  It was decoration ready.  Perfect!

The only problem with this activity is that it is hard to monitor how many candies get glued to the houses and how many go down the hatch.

Seamus: "Me eat the disgusting black icing?  How did you know?"

After yesterday's epic candy haul

another toddler sugar high was really not on my agenda but...who can resist these adorable faces?

Liam as a spooky ghost in a homemade costume from the 80s.

Seamus as Pokey the dragon.

Okay...the adorable factor on this one might be up for debate.
He is adorable to me but the tongue stamp is still super gross.

Happy Halloween (Round 2) from all of us here at Gael Glen Farm.