Let the Soaping Begin

Alistair and I are working away on making some new soap for Gael Glen Farm's upcoming Goat Milk Soap Shop's Harvest Sale. 

We started off with what was supposed to be Mango Citrus Circles.  Unfortunately, the soap seized up on us almost immediately making fancy patterns out of the question.  And so, we switched gears and did a simple hanger swirl design instead and changed the name to Mango Mandarin.  It smells amazing and turned out very colourful!

Our second soap was lilac, honey, oat.  This one turned out much more like I initially envisioned it.  It smells wonderful and uses our own honey, lilac water and goat milk. 

Making soap is so fun!  More to come....

Meanwhile Daddy and the big boys are happy campers.

Downpour Blueberry Ice Cream

In honour of today's surprise downpour (nope, the whopping 16.46 mm of rain we received was NOT predicted by the Weather Network), we made an impromptu batch of celebratory ice cream. 

Recipe: Gael Glen Farm's Celebratory Goat Milk Blueberry Ice Cream

2 cups pasteurised goat milk, very cold

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 generous handful whole blueberries

Whisk the sugar, vanilla and milk together.

Add the blueberries.

Pour it all into an ice cream makers and voila!

I am very, very happy about the weather (and the ice cream...but mostly, the weather).

I am also very happy that Ava is turning out to be such a good guardian.  She let the goats (yes, all four of them) take shelter in her dog house while she stood guard outside in the pouring rain.  

She was soaked but made sure all her goats weathered the storm safe and dry.

Good girl! Job well done.

Naughty Carrots

Apparently we are providers of not only fresh vegetables but also belly laughs.  It seems that we unwittingly sent some X rated carrots to one of our CSA families today.  Luckily they have a sense of humour and sent us this photo and a thank you for the chuckle.  Our pleasure. LOL.

A Soap-xtravaganza in the Works

As I watch my garden progress, I am cognizant that autumn and, with it, flu season are fast approaching.  This sounds like the perfect time to host a Fall Soap Sale.  Cold process soap needs time to cure so now is the time to get soaping!  As luck would have it, I have some downtime coming in a few days, so I am planning a soap-xtravaganza!

I have not made soap in forever and I have at least six recipes on my list to try.

#1 Baked Apple Pie
A goat milk soap with hints of vanilla, apple and cinnamon in a cream, golden and brown swirl pattern decorated with a cinnamon stick and using powdering cinnamon in the batter.

#2 Bacon Beetroot
Rounds of goat milk soap made using home rendered pork tallow and dyed with homegrown beetroot for a deep luxurious colour.  I cannot figure out what the scent of this soap should be.  Any suggestions?

#3 Mango Citrus Circles
A tricolour, fancy patterned goat milk soap with a fresh, fruity scent.

#4 Aloe Ocean Swirl
A gentle and moisturizing goat milk soap made using homegrown aloe vera and presented in a beautiful wave design.  I am also stuck on a fragrance for this one.  Thoughts?

#5 Rosy Beeswax
A soothing rose scented soap made with beeswax from our apiary and rose clay for gentle cleansing and moisturizing.

#6 Lilac Honey Oat
A sweet floral scented soap using homemade lilac water, honey from our apiary, and finely ground oatmeal for gentle exfoliation.

Which of these sounds like a winner to you?  Any thoughts on scents for #2 and #4?  Help me!  Comments welcome.

Pork & Beans

At least I am not the only one who is hot!  Gloria Swinem and Ham Solo did not get up to much today in this heat.  They spent most of the day napping like this in the dirt or wallowing together in the mud.  It is nice to have a bestie to commiserate with.

Beans, beans, the magical fruit! Our beans are ripe and abundant. There were lots for our CSA baskets today.

Also in our baskets were: cabbage, swiss chard, onions, cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, eggplant, parsley, spinach, basil, dill, apple mint, kale, sweet peppers, nasturtium flowers, and carrots.

Don’t forget a dozen eggs, a loaf of maple multigrain bread made with red wheat flour from our local mill (Ottawa Valley Grain Products in Carp) and our homemade maple syrup, and a bottle of our home brewed sweet mead made with honey from our apiary.

The summer heat may be getting the best of us down but, on the bright side, there are about a million fresh vegetables ripe and ready for eating at this time of year.  Making healthy meals is as easy as walking the 50 steps from our kitchen gardens to our dinner table. Bon appetit!

Our chicken run garden.  From left to right: zucchini, squash, cucumbers, beans, nasturtium, chard, carrots, beets, potatoes, onions, beans, potatoes.

So much for a rainy day, huh?

All homegrown veggies: roasted cauliflower and broccoli with cheese, beet and feta salad,
mashed turnips with greek yogurt, and boiled yellow beans with lemon.

Yum!

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

When I saw today's forecast was an 80 percent chance of 15-20 mm of rain, I thought that meant that water would fall from the sky.  What it actually meant was a 40 percent chance of less than 1 mm of rain, so 15 seconds of rain.  Twice.  I timed it.  My bad.

I don't know if the "weather man" is an actual person or a computer nowadays but either way, he/she/it needs a reboot.

Liar, liar, pants on fire, Weather Network. Liar, liar, pants on fire. 

A Steamy Sunday Slog

Today's record breaking hot weather derailed my schedule of farm chores.  I was eager for today to come because Ian had offered to take the reigns on Ali care, freeing me up to do some of the more onerous farm chores.

I got off to a nice early start and had the lambs vaccinated, the goat kids medicated, the donkey barn and chicken coop mucked, and all the regular daily farm chores and watering completed by lunch.  Our new farm hand, Emma, stopped by this morning to help weed the chicken run garden.  She almost had it done by quitting time so I decided to finish up the last few bits before lunch.  Well, the midday heat beating down on me almost killed me.  Our weather station said it was 36 C (feels like 41 C).  Ugh.  

After a lunch time cool off, I tried to head back out to finish mucking the pig and goat barns and plant seeds in the now vacant garlic patch before the forecasted rain.  Unfortunately, all I managed to accomplish before being chased back inside by the heat was to tie up some of the tomato cages that were falling over.

So, instead of getting a jump on my weekly farm chores during my Ali-free afternoon, I spent it hiding in the basement with Liam and Seamus watching Winnie the Pool on Disney+.  Enjoyable, yes...productive, no.

And even worse, this undesirable rejigging of my schedule meant that after putting the kids to bed at 7 pm, I had to head back outside in the heat (thankfully it was low 30s by then) to spend another three hours doing the chores I had not yet completed.  Boo.

If nothing else, I am proud of myself that I got all the jobs done.  All my barns are mucked, my seeds are planted, my chicken coop garden is weeded, my tomato cages are tied, my bread for tomorrow's CSA baskets is rising, my kids are alive and asleep, and I too survived the atrocious heat in one piece (albeit barely).

While I am not holding my breath for rain tonight and tomorrow, there is still a tiny spark of hope in my heart that I will wake to a sopping wet world.  Here's to hoping that Monday morning's CSA harvest is a cool and really, really wet one!

H2O Enthusiasts

We are big fans of water here at Gael Glen Farm.

Water for misting the vegetable garden.

Water for walleye fishing.

Water for wallowing.

Really, the more water the better.  Did I mention rain?  We really like rain water too...

Upgraded Accommodations & a Crazed Donkey

With the last remaining trio of meat ducks (two Peking hens and a drake) moved in with the laying hens, our new laying chicks and pair of turkeys were able to move into the now vacant north side of the big chicken coop.  Liam and Seamus helped me clip their flight feathers and carried them over to their new home.

The meat chicks were then free to move from their chick trailer (which they were quickly outgrowing) into the little coop.  These chicks were thrilled to be outside in the fresh air with a bigger feeder and waterer and dirt to scratch around in.  I was not so thrilled when they did not move an inch toward the coop come nightfall resulting in me having to pick each one up and place them inside the coop.  Thankfully the meat chicks are super docile and very, very easy to catch.  Still, I hope that they get with the program tomorrow and start moving in and out of the coop on their own.

The laying chicks and turkeys were not so thrilled to be locked in their side of the coop for the day even though they had ample space.  It will take them a few days to recognise the new coop as home so unfortunately for them they must be restricted to the inside part of their luxury accommodation until Monday at least.  They are not so easy to catch and I refuse to chase them around the chicken run at bedtime - so, temporary chick confinement it is.

Aside from poultry relocation, we had a visit from the farrier this afternoon.  Charlie was not on her best behaviour.  I think the farrier jinxed us by wearing sandals.  When I commented on her unconventional footwear she replied that "small animals like this one don't tend to break toes".  Well, the barn flies are terrible this time of year and they bite!  It was really hard for Charlie to stand still to get her hooves trimmed while the flies bit her legs.  The outcome was that she bucked around like a crazed bronco pretty much the whole time the farrier was here.  She stepped on my toes twice - thank goodness I was not wearing sandals!  The farrier kept her cool and got Charlie done but she definitely earned her fee today.  Damn flies and what a ridiculous donkey.  I had no idea Charlie could stand up completely vertical on her hind legs.  It would have been quite impressive if I hadn't been so worried about her coming down on the farrier's toes!

After nighttime chores, I capped the day off with a twilight raspberry pick.  By this time it was getting pretty dark so I am sure I didn't get all the ripe ones but these should make for a delicious evening snack.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Pesto for People Who Protest Piquancy

On busy days like today, I am so thankful for our bountiful garden and how easy it makes dinner prep.   There is not much better and simpler than cut up garden veggies, pita bread, and homemade roasted garlic hummus for supper.

The only problem with this meal is that it required the food processor.  Which meant that it needed to be cleaned - again!  We had already used it earlier today to make three batches of pesto for the freezer.

Liam helped me with the basil harvest and then both boys made their own signature pesto blend. 

Liam chose to make Cashew Pesto.

Seamus opted for Walnut Pesto.

And I experimented with Pecan Pesto.

We ended up with a dozen meal sized servings of pesto which we froze in ziplock baggies for quick dinners later in the year. 

Ian and I love pesto on pasta and pizza.  The boys will eat pesto (they eat pretty much everything!) but they often complain about it having "too much flavour".  So, this time I experimented by using half basil leaves and half chard greens.  This reduced the flavour factor for the boys while still remaining healthy and delicious...AND it used up of some of our Swiss chard which is growing like gangbusters!

Recipe: Gael Glen Farm's Homemade Pesto

2 cups basil leaves
2 cups chard leaves
5 cloves of roasted garlic
4 tbs lemon juice
2/3 cup of nuts (pine nuts, walnuts, pecans or cashews)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1.5 tsp kosher salt
1 cup extra virgin olive oil

Blend it all up in the food processor and portion it out into four ziplock baggies.  Label and freeze.

In addition to beginning food preservation for winter, we also processed and plucked four more ducks tonight and then transplanted our last set of seedlings into larger pots. 

It is late; I am tired and looking forward to bedtime.  I sure hope the boys sleep in tomorrow!

A Low Key Birthday Celebration

"Happy Birthday to me.  Happy Birthday to me.  It's finally raining!  Happy Birthday to..."  Wait.  What?  Just because rain during a month long drought is a farmer's best gift EVER, it doesn't mean that it's my birthday?  Are you sure?  Okay, if you insist.

So..."Happy to Birthday to you.  Happy Birthday to you.  Happy Birthday to Ian.  Happy Birthday to you!"

We arranged a low key celebration at home for Ian's 39th birthday with BBQ burgers topped with his favourites: blue cheese, bacon and caramelised onions.

As per his request, we made Ian an icing-less brownie cake (boring!). 

Huge cupcakes decorated with heaps of buttercream are my jam so this was a bit of stretch for me but with some ice cream and toffee decorations I made it work. 

Alistair certainly wasn't complaining and Papa liked it too!

The boys gifted Daddy several homemade crafts - including beautiful abstract collages for his office,

a Seamus-made lightweight air plane,

AND a wheelbarrow full of garlic that they harvested entirely by themselves this morning before the rain.  Seamus got bored quickly leaving Liam to do most of the work.  He really is growing up to be an exceptional helper.

From all of us here who love you so incredibly much, we wish you the happiest of birthdays Daddy Bear - even if you are getting to be an old man!