Today's food adventure was turkey pot pie. I was inspired by a post from Teal Stone Homestead with their delicious looking rabbit pot pie. Since we don't raise rabbits and our last wild one is buried in the deep freeze somewhere, Perky the Christmas turkey had to do. At least it wasn't Pecky Becky. I have no doubt Pecky Becky would have made one heck of a tough old bird pot pie.
 |
| I promise Pecky Becky is alive and well. |
Now that the snow has finally arrived, I felt ready to begin planning my 2024 vegetable garden. I simply love ordering seeds and dreaming about all the wonderful things I will grow this year. My seeds are officially ordered and now we wait for their arrival. Exciting selections include green, white, and purple eggplant; some crazy looking cucumbers; okra; and celeriac root. Oooh...I just love seed ordering day!!
It was a beautiful Saturday in the fresh winter air. We enjoyed a day at the Research Station outside Fort-Coulonge, complete with a fireside boil up, a wild ATV ride, and a visit with good friends. It was the perfect way to spend part of the last weekend of Christmas vacation. Now, if the kids could just stop fighting during the car ride, life would really be good. Sigh.
The boys and I headed up to Fitzroy Harbour for a forest walk. It was Alistair's longest walk on his own two legs at 6.2 km. We hiked the cross country ski trail and had to bushwhack a bit since the trail ran over several streams that seemed frozen but we weren't sure how frozen and didn't want to risk a soaker.
We followed up the hike with a french toast casserole made with a very stale baguette and our many, many farm fresh eggs. If you are looking for eggs ($6/doz) or to begin a Gael Glen Farm egg plan ($50 for 1 doz per week for 10 weeks) now would be a great time. Please get in touch. Farm pick up only.
I ventured out at 5 pm to put the hens to bed for the night and found them standing totally still and silent in the dark. Blackout! The light had burnt out inside their coop making for a very dark evening for our fine feathered friends. A quick replacement and I am happy to report that the lights have been turned back on and the hens are back to contented clucking. Disaster averted.
With this year's strange winter weather, I am keeping an eye on the forecast. We are supposed to dip below freezing tomorrow, so the boys and I opted to muck out the barns today. It is so much easier to do when the poopy straw is not frozen to the floor. All three boys helped to get the farm chores done. Now we are ready in case some more seasonal weather arrives. Hopefully no snow, though. No snow makes all the farm chores so much easier!
In an effort to help Ian prepare for an upcoming 26 km hike in the Adirondack Mountains, we headed to Calabogie this past weekend to hike Manitou Mountain. This is, in my opinion, one of the closest tough hikes we have done. We brought the big boys and they did fantastic. They are certainly growing up and they are strong!
We thawed out and fueled back up after the hike at the Neat Café in Burnstown. Their Weird Al pizza is always a treat so we replicated it tonight for Alistair and Grandma Cora.
 |
| Pesto, sliced pear, brie and arugula on homemade crust. It didn't taste exactly the same but was still very yummy! |
