Goodies

     People who know me personally know that throughout the year I love to rummage my way through thrift shops and don't mind a garage sale or two when the opportunity arises. And, like the "found meat" I use for making dog food (see blog, November 17, Gourmet Doggy Cuisine), "found gifts" make there way into my Christmas bags.  I did, for awhile, have a wee store of my own featuring "found treasures".  Although packing goods in and out was a bit of a chore, I still enjoyed having the store and might still be doing it but my available space closed down. Nevertheless I gained the habit of thinking "I'll bet so-and-so would like that!", and shopping year round with gift giving in mind. Beyond that, it's goodies. I bake up a storm at Christmas time and fill pretty bags with yummy treats. I love doing it, don't think of it as a "have to" or a chore, I guess it's just my way.

     I just finished a batch of caramel corn, thought maybe you would like to try some day too. So here's my recipe with tips that most recipes leave out, causing you to fail or become frustrated.

     First, make approximately 3 quarts of popping corn in a air popper. I use Mr. Redenbacher's popping corn (but any popping corn will do) and 1/4 cup makes 1 quart.
     Before you start, spray both your baking pan (a roaster is good) and your largest mixing bowl (I have a big bread bowl) with vegetable spray.  Put your popped corn in the large bowl.  Be sure to remove the old maids.

     In a heavy pot with room for ingredients to expand put:
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup margarine (1 square)
1/2 teaspoon salt
(optional - 1 cup of peanuts)

     Cook and stir till the margarine is melted, then just as it begins to froth around the edges turn the heat down to medium and let it bubble and froth for 5 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds or so. (Note: if the mixture begins to smoke at all, remove from the heat immediately and next time you make it lower the heat a bit. You can still use it but it may have a slightly burnt taste to it.)
     Remove from the heat and immediately add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, stir in quickly, (the goop will turn a lighter colour) then pour over your popped corn.
     Using two large spoons or spatulas, pull the corn in from the sides of the bowl and stir until the caramel is well mixed with the corn. (Watch out for globs of caramel forming with very little popping corn mixed in. They will become little candy briquettes if not separated.)
     Pour mixed caramel corn into your baking pan. Bake in the oven at 200 degrees for 1 hour. Remove, cool, break apart, bag. (Try to leave the smaller pieces behind. They tend to sink.) Caramel corn keeps very well so don't be afraid to make it up a week or two ahead of use.
     I always make two recipes when I make caramel corn, so the oven is full, but don't try to double the caramel mixture up, make two individual batches. I think it's a bit like making jam, they say you should never try to double the batch.

     For me the Christmas season is a very busy time, shared with family and good friends. If I don't find time to blog again before it arrives, I hope you and yours have a very
                         Merry Christmas!

 

Rant

     Never have I seen so much hate, so much fear and distrust, such a lack of "Christian" charity. I'm buried in negative media - TV, FaceBook, Twitter, e-mails. Even positive messages get torn to shreds by negative comments. It's starting to get me down.

     Thank goodness for 
       baby animal pics!

     What's causing all this? - intentional and unintentional misinformation, ignorance, biased media, propaganda, international affairs, insular national characteristics...?

     Many are seeing Syrian refugees as terrorists, dressed like Muslim women in burkas with machine guns tucked under their "skirts", or as jihadists with suicide bombs strapped under their jackets. Why are we so afraid? Why can't we see a family, traumatized by war, seeking asylum?

     Some view our own governments, Provincial and Federal, as crooks, out to get our money in one form of tax or another to line their own pockets, make the rich richer. Others see police forces as sinister covert agencies further restricting our freedoms. Many blame our economy on our governments, ignoring international influences beyond our borders. And there may be partial truths in all of these views.

     It seems to me that our disgruntled natures are fed by our own ignorance and/or refusal (laziness) to ferret out the truth, jumping to conclusions before all the facts are on the table. Ignorance can be taught (things like racism). It can be perpetuated by traditions, by religions, by xenophobia. If we see a video clip, an article, a meme, anything that supports our view of the world, it's easy to hit "like" and/or pass it on without fact checking, spreading fear and hate while thinking we have ours and our family's best interests at heart.

     Knowledge can alleviate fear. Knowledge can provide understanding. Knowledge can combat gossip and misinformation.

     Everyone does have a right to their opinion. Anyone who reads my blog knows I'm opinionated, and admittedly I have been guilty of hitting that "like" button on FB without checking facts, and I appreciate feedback when I do. We all have a desire to sway others to agree with us, but before we perpetuate outright falsehoods, it might be a good idea to check facts, educate ourselves, and make an attempt to broaden our viewpoint.

     Otherwise, those baby animals are really nice, and toddlers dancing, and music videos, and wildlife pics, and jokes, and good cop stories, and...











   

Gourmet Doggy Cuisine

 
    There's a gigantic pot of moose meat boiling on my stove. I've just finished cutting a 5 gallon pail of moose meat scraps (not suitable for human consumption, bloodshot, sinewy, harbouring a few pieces of grass - residue from hunting) into cubes so I can process quart jars of it in my pressure canner or freeze packets outdoors. It's been a 2 day project. By the time I neared the bottom of the pail, filled with blood as well as meat, my knife was getting dull, my feet were beginning to hurt, and I was beginning to question my resolve to preserve "found meat"* for making dog food for our 6 dogs.
      I was also thinking about hungry people - how this bonanza of "waste" meat would be sufficient to provide meals for a small village - that is if it were clean. Sadly, desperate people might not care.
      I was concentrating so hard on my cube cutting I let the wood stove go out. 90 minutes in a pressure canner, hmm, I wonder, should I really be using propane to cook this meat when the wood stove should be going to keep us warm? Better get on it! Then again, my poor back, should I be carrying a full canner of meat across the room from one stove to another to save a bit of gas?
     All of this brings me to a realization, well not really a realization because I have always known - economizing, conserving, avoiding waste - it can become an obsession, and it's hard work!
     So here I am, in the 21st century in a fully modern western country where I could easily avoid much of this work, but I do it anyway, for an ideal... Maybe I need to give my head a shake, maybe I've gone OCD over all this subsistence, off the grid life-style. Ahh well, nice to know what you can do I guess, especially when you know you don't have to. And I'm sure the dogs appreciate the effort, the oldest Border Collie especially. She hardly eats at all unless her store bought kibbles are mixed with the specialty of the house.
     Some dogs eat better than people. Some people eat dog food.

My dog food recipe:
      Amounts of all ingredients listed are approximate and quite jiggle-able. Also the size of your dog(s) play(s) a role along with available fridge/freezer space. Amount of water used is dependant on need. Try for a very thick stew when done.

1 quart of meat boiled until tender - do not trim off the fat**
      Add:
 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon salt
 a handful of dried parsley (1 Tablespoon)
 a couple good shakes of granulated or powdered garlic
 1 quart potatoes (skins too), cubed
 1 quart carrots, cleaned not peeled, cut in pieces
 1 quart zucchini or any type of squash, cubed, not peeled
 1 cup dried beans (black, pinto, soy, lentils, white, peas, etc...not pre-soaked)
 may add a few green beans, and/or peas
      Boil until nearly tender then add:
 2 cups uncooked rice
 1 cup oatmeal, optional
     Boil until the rice is soft.

     The dried beans should be just tender enough to provide a bit of crunch to the finished dog food. Store in appropriate sized containers to facilitate the way you feed your dogs. Keep cold, freeze if kept more than a few days.

 Notes:
     I have never had this dog food analyzed so I cannot make any nutritional claims for it. I use this food along with a portion of good quality kibbles, not as a complete substitute for commercial feed.
    This dog food is not a money saver unless you use "found meat" and have a surplus of garden vegetables available.
 
*My definition of "found meat":
     Meat for dogs (who have excellent garbage eating abilities and stomachs of iron if they are treated more or less naturally and not treated like citizens of the realm) which has for one reason or another been deemed unfit for human consumption. Examples are wild or domestic butchering scraps, freezer burnt or stale dated meat, fresh road kill, animals trapped for their fur, fish heads, old farm animals, restaurant or catering leftovers. Some of these are more pleasant to deal with than others.
 ** Dogs require a fair amount of fat (especially if they live outside). Feed should contain about 18% fat.

November 9th, Winter's Here!

Lamb's in the freezer, last "Other" necessity.

North of 54 there's 2 seasons,

Winter & Other. 

In Other prepare for Winter, 

(gardening/preserving-hay-wood-wine-meat)

In Winter enjoy the fruits of Other.

Today Other is complete

Winter begins...

The Not-So-Humble Rag

     Once again I clamp my lips shut to stifle my desire to comment. I'm watching a friend react to a spill at the table by grabbing a handful of paper napkins to blot it up when the kitchen sink and a dishrag are 3 steps away. I've also seen people using large quantities of paper towels to scoop bacon grease from their fry pan when they could easily pour it into a can, then use just one piece to mop up the remaining bit. I watch TV ads showing the use of supposedly "sponge" like paper towels to clean up messes the kids make, and more ads promoting the use of disposable, scented, antibacterial cloths to wipe counters. Many folks pay lip service to our society's overuse of disposable products; shake their heads and talk about all the trees being cut down. But purchase and use of these convenient products has not followed the environmentally conscious public's idealistic thought processes.

     People are surprised when I use cloth napkins at my table. They're almost afraid to use them because they might get them dirty!  At my house we use napkin rings to identify our own napkin and toss it in the wash when we decide it's time. And, to quote a cliche, they wash like a rag.

    When most people think "rags" they think about old clothes torn up, usually cotton for better absorbency (synthetics make lousy rags). Rags like that are useful, especially in workshops and garages. If you have no cotton garments ready to toss you can often purchase rags from non-profit agencies that make money on the sale of rags. Good for these agencies to recognize "use" where waste was before and good for those who support their cause.

    Rags, in the 21st century, have come a long way! You would be amazed at some of the unbelievably absorbent, washable, reusable, super efficient wiper-uppers there are out there. One that comes to mind is advertised on TV, that shammy like rag that works pretty darn good. But my son recently introduced me to an even better, more absorbent rag, one that wrings out almost dry and picks up liquids better than any paper product on the market. (I was resistant to buy them despite his praises. He had to buy some for me.) They are so good that I use them to remove all the hard water drops from my stainless steel sink and my cooking pots, making them look clean instead of spotty. I can soak up a spill like a super vacuum cleaner! And, unlike kitchen towels which break water droplets into smaller water droplets but don't really dry, these rags actually dry things! Their only drawback is their colour (bright yellow) - they do stain easily. So I keep some for floor rags and others for counters, tables or dishes, not because they don't wash well, but because a stained rag is not pleasing to the eye.

     Why not join the yellow revolution and put a not-so-humble rag within easy reach? It'll save space in your trash bin, it'll wash like a rag, and you can, as is commonly said, be the change you want to see.

Boneyard

A pictorial history of our farming past.

seeder, swather

horse drawn manure spreader, cultivator

small round (cord wood) baler, disk

Animal Control

  
     It's 3:00 a.m. There's a nose nudging my arm from the bedside, an insistent push, then another. It's our 14 year old Border Collie, Baby - looking for love, reassurance? Did I remember to let her out last night before bed? I drop my arm over the bedside, rub her chest, scratch her ears, wind up with a 4 tap bounce on the top of her head, our established signal that her massage session is over, and curl my arm back under the covers.

     5:45 a.m. Chip, our 8 year old Border Collie, begins his morning "Come on you guys, are you ever gonna get up?" vocalizations. I limp out of bed, flashlight in hand, and head for the front door. Chip flies through the living room at breakneck speed, nearly knocking over the coffee table, spinning his wheels so he can be first out the door. Baby drops off the lazy boy, her back legs giving out on landing but making a quick recovery. My little pet dog, Teddy, jumps off our bed and not so patiently waits his turn. I open the door and they scramble outside. I crawl back into bed.

     6:00 a.m. Ted scratches at the front door. I let him in, go to the kitchen door, ask Doc (he's an 11 year old retired guardian dog who has wormed his way into the house due to a series of events that nearly killed him) to move aside, let Baby in, ask Chip if he wants in. "No thanks," he says with his eyes. "I'll wait for the boss to get up and out." Again I go back to bed.

     7:00-7:30 a.m. The real boss, me, gets up, I grind the coffee, put on the kettle, start the fire, and settle down with my iPad. Chip's boss gets up, lets Ted out again and encourages Baby out the door with hand signals (she's quite deaf), lets Doc out, then head's out with dog cookies in hand for the 2 guardian dogs waiting for him outside. At this time of year he feeds a grain supplement to the sheep, then he heads down the driveway or across the field for a morning walk with our household dog family. The 2 active guardians, Josie and Thor, stay with the sheep. They like people, but the sheep are their family.

Josie and Thor

     The day moves on, the dogs go in and out, go crazy if left in while the "boss" is outside doing something no doubt interesting. I am tasked with making sure Ted doesn't go out when Chip is working. (Sometimes I think we keep the sheep in our "retirement years" just so Chip has something to play with. If you've ever owned a Border Collie you know, he must have a job to keep him busy!) Ted tries to help but often interferes. He's tough though  and can run amazingly fast for a tiny dog, is willing to stand nose to nose with an obstinate ewe. But he tends to counteract Chip's good work with the sheep.

     I start the should-be-daily task of preparing one room or another for Roomba to vacuum, sweep the dried sand from the breakfast nook, shake the mats and rugs, and brush the dog hair from the entry mat. Every few days, when meat is available (right now deer scraps from a friend), I set a big pot on the stove to make dog food (meat, carrots, potatoes, zucchini or squash, dried beans, rice) to supplement the store bought stuff which keeps climbing in price.

     It may be obvious, we love our dogs! Chip, Ted and Baby go with us on many excursions, always when we go south to visit our southern family. They do cause a lot of work and a certain amount of expense but... question is, who is in control? The workers do their job, the retirees do what retirees do, the pet does the pet thing, and we are the willing staff! We have accepted the fact that there's places we cannot go because the dogs can't come with us (music festivals, travel), and lament this a bit, but... they are family!  I'm sure we are not alone in this, many people are controlled by love for their pets, not really a bad thing, not everyone's thing, but it is our thing.