Keeping Chickens

Not so long ago, and not so far away, we decided to raise chickens to provide us with tasty eggs. So we went for a drive and came home with a box of peeps.

We had 31 adorable balls of fluff.  They learned to peck and scratch and do all sorts of chicken things.



In a blink of our eye, they were full grown and feathered.  The girls were moved out of the garage and into to their coop and run in the yard.  They were fearful at first but their curiosity got the best of them and soon they were exploring their new digs.



They had many things to do throughout the day that kept them busy from dawn until dusk.

Eating

Catching some rays

Eating

Chanting "I'm higher than you . . . "

Eating

Dust bathing

Oh yes, did I mention - EATING!

They did of course start laying eggs and it has been just over a year since we've bought eggs from the store.  :)



Golfing with Sheep

Well the golf season is winding down for the year but I have some pictures to share of our local golf course.  It is a nice little course nestled in the mountains.  Here are a couple of shots of the view.



Now as nice as the view is - that is not the drawing card.  The nine-hole course is on a working sheep ranch with golfers and sheep sharing the pasture.



The fairways may not be as nice as some of the pristine 18-hole manicured courses but the woolly "natural" hazards make up for it.

Don't expect the sheep to stay quiet when you're ready for your shot, especially when the lambs are around and misplace "mom".

Here you see one of the women's tee boxes being groomed by some of the "groundskeepers".

You also may run into one of the llamas who share the pasture with the sheep.  Here are a couple watching while you putt out.

A golfer wondering where to place her ball without hitting any of the "obstacles".



Oh, and by the way, for a shot like this, do you move your ball or the . . . ?  ;)



So if you are in the Lillooet area and you are a golfer, stop by for a unique round of golf.  FORE!

Autumn Leaves

The Leaves

The leaves had a wonderful frolic.
They danced to the wind's loud song.
They whirled, and they floated, and scampered.
They circled and flew along.

 

The moon saw the little leaves dancing.

Each looked like a small brown bird.

The man in the moon smiled and listened.

And this is the song he heard.

 

 

The North Wind is calling, is calling,
And we must whirl round and round,
And then, when our dancing is ended,
We'll make a warm quilt for the ground.

Anonymous

All photos taken in BC, Canada.

Zucchini Candy

Everyone knows that you need to keep an eye on your zucchini patch to prevent it from taking over your yard and producing canoe size zucchini. Okay, okay, I'm exaggerating slightly but zucchini growers know what I'm talking about.

Everyone has their favorite zucchini recipes for loaves, muffins, chocolate cake, etc., etc., etc.

Well I found a recipe on the following link for Zucchini Candy.  http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/harvest/msg090227378092.html?21
Yes, you read correctly - candy.  It is supposed to taste similar to gumdrops or fruit snacks. 

Since I didn't grow any zucchini this year but didn't want to wait until next year to try this recipe out, I placed a request for large zucchini on my local Freecycle Network.  And yes there were a few lurking around out there.

First, I peeled and seeded the zucchini.

 Next, cut into bite-sized cubes or pieces.  Remember that the pieces shrink upon drying.

You can also cut the zucchini into strips or worms.  Remember that they may take longer to dry.

I used my handy french fry cutter with the 1/2" squares instead of 1/4".

It made the job so much easier and quicker.

I made 1/2 batches using 1 1/2 cups water, 1 1/4 cups sugar and one package of Koolaid.  I found a smaller deeper pot worked better than a larger one.  I added between 6 to 8 cups of zucchini making sure all zucchini was covered with liquid.  Below I used Cherry Koolaid.

Simmer for 25 minutes and then drain.  Below is Raspberry-Lemonade Koolaid flavour.

Place on dehydrator trays and dry. I dried mine for longer than the 18 hours but the humidity was high and I know that makes a difference in my drying times. 

I did not turn the pieces but I rotate my trays because I use 8 trays instead of 4.

For this batch I added 2 TBSP of cinnamon and 2 TBSP lemon juice instead of Koolaid.  I decided not to add any food colouring as was suggested in the original recipe.

Here I used 2 TSP of Watkins Anise Flavouring.

This shows how much the pieces dry out so you don't want them too small to start with or they will fall through the holes in the trays.

The recipe suggested shaking them in sugar but I found they sugar did not stick.  I tried some in icing sugar and it worked better.  Looking back at the recipe, it suggests shaking them in sugar before they have finished drying.  I may try that next time.



I used the two large zucchini and made four 1/2 batches.  The flavours were all fairly mild and the candy was nice and chewy.  The Raspberry-Lemonade was my least favourite as it tasted only slightly lemony with no raspberry flavour.  I thought the anise would be very licoricy because of how strong it smelled while cooking and drying but that wasn't so.  Next time I may add more anise because I love licorice.  The cinnamon tasted like apple cinnamon fruit snacks. 

I will make these again but need to check out Koolaid flavours in the summer as they were quite limited now.  I may also check out the baking section of the grocery store or my Watkins dealer for different extracts to try.  I'm thinking a mint may be nice.

Not the Great Pumpkin . . . BUT . . .

Okay so I didn't grow the Great Pumpkin - in fact, I didn't even grow the Zucchini that fed half of LA.  But I did grow a few nice sized veggies. 

I had huge radishes that were crisp and not hollow or woody.

My sister-in-law was picking tomatoes and knocked off this big fellow by accident.  It was 1 1/2 pounds of tomato.  When it finally turned red, two people used it for tomato sandwiches for two days.  One slice of tomato covered a slice of bread.



 

 My cukes were nice and crispy, not at all bitter or dry.  Once they started producing, I always had my crisper full and gave them away by the grocery bag.

This was one day's picking and I usually picked the cukes twice a week.

This was one of my monster turnips from last year.  Some of them were normal and others were mutant giants.

Here is a comparison of a normal-sized and a giant turnip.