Just a Few Photos

I was inspired to take a few photos over the weekend after picking these.

Red raspberries

Some of you may remember my raspberry harvest last year - one raspberry! This year has been much better, and I look forward to even more in the future.

Also happy these days is my little Meyers lemon tree.

Also still blooming

Marigolds and morning glories still blooming.

Still harvesting

Turnips

Two of about six cushaw winter squashes. They weighed about 18# each.

and

Tomatoes

We've been getting fall greens too.

Dan built two more beds in the hoop house. Clockwise from bottom
left: transplanted kale, broccoli, spinach, arugula, cabbage and
celery, & one bed to be filled. The the turnip bed is to the left.

So greens plus tomatoes means

Dinner (with a side of lasagna & French bread).

Parting shot

Meowy in the corn patch

Still no frost but Sunday it started raining again. So what's going on at your place?

Just a Few Photos © November 2015

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Lemons!

My little Meyers lemon tree, currently residing on the back porch

I'm going to have a real lemon harvest this year! I've had my Meyers lemon tree for about five years and barely get but two or three lemons each year, if any.  This year I probably paid the least attention to it, even wondering if it was worth keeping. And look! Nine lemons! That means Lemon Cream Pie for Christmas! What a treat. :)

Lemons! © December 2014 by Leigh
at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Homestead Lemon Cream Pie

Lemon Cream Pie, a Christmas tradition

Lemon cream pie is my best favorite pie. I love pie and can list a lot of others I like, but given a choice, and if it's made with my great-grandmother's recipe, this is the one I'll choose. Very exciting then to be able to grow and harvest my own lemons, even if it's only a few.

My dwarf, potted, Meyers lemon tree first bloomed exactly a year ago, and I've watched the flowers turn to tiny lemons. I started with about 27 teeny little fruits, but the tree self-pruned until in the end I got 5 mature lemons. The first lemon fell off the tree in October, and didn't look so good. The good parts tastily flavored iced tea. One more went for tea on Thanksgiving, and one went for making green tomato jam. I saved the biggest and the best for a lemon cream pie. That along with our homestead eggs and milk, make it very special indeed.

This recipe is a very old one, and I'm giving it to you exactly as I received it. As with many old recipes, it assumes a basic working knowledge of the techniques, and I have to say that watching my grandmother make this pie for many years really helped. No one else in my immediate family cares for lemon pie, so I only make it once a year, usually around Christmastime.

Lemons, eggs, & milk, all homegrown

Ella's Lemon Cream Pie

This makes a small, lemony, tart/sweet pie, not just lemon flavored! If you're a lemon lover, this one's for you.

2 lemons,  grate rind & juice
1 C. sugar (I increased to 1.25 C because the lemons were so large)
1 C. milk
2 tbsp cornstarch or flour
3 egg yolks

Cook in double boiler. Frost with whites of eggs beaten stiff with 1/2 cup sugar. Brown in oven.

Just out of the oven

Cook's Notes:

• Ella was my great-grandmother on my father's side.
• The recipe doesn't mention it, but obviously you need an empty, baked, pie shell.
• I used my no-fail pie crust recipe for that, click here & scroll down a bit
• I used Mama Pea's trick to make it behave while baking 
• I am not an artistic cook and rarely manage aesthetic, picture book creations. Obviously.
• Cooking the filling to thicken takes fairly long, over 30 minutes. I cook it until it traces (like soap) and then some. It needs constant stirring, so I always take this time to read a book!
• It sets completely as it cools.
• The biggest challenge was whipping the egg whites by hand, because my Kitchen Aid is still on the fritz. 
• Dan helped with that.
• I use my smallest pie pan, a 9 incher. Even then it does not make a thick or tall pie.
• This is fine with me because it's not the meringue I'm after, it's the filling. ;)

Homestead Lemon Cream Pie © December 2011 by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Around the Homestead

Updates, followups, and other odds and ends since my last Around The Homestead.

Wood Cookstove Installation.

It's installed up to the kitchen ceiling, except for the heat shield. Also to do, the chimney pipe.

Calico Popcorn. - We've had some lovely weather actually, though they are frequently interspersed with cold rainy days. Those days seem a good time to shell, thresh, and winnow some of our grains. I started with the calico popcorn.

2, gallon jars of the harvest

I planted 1/4 of a pound and weighed out a yield 17 & 3/4 pounds. That's plenty for some Christmas gifts, and at least a dent in a year's supply. How much can we eat? It's a favorite snack, so lots. Of course we had to pop up a bowlful for a sample.

Poppage was fair, with quite a few unpopped kernels in the bottom of the bowl. It was pretty though, and has a very good flavor. I'm going to save at least half a pound to plant next year. How long our harvest lasts will give me a better idea of what I need to plant.

Last of the green tomatoes.

Green tomato jam, albeit an unappealing color

Besides canning green tomatoes for frying, I also made and canned a small batch of green tomato jam. The recipe used no pectin, and at first it didn't thicken up as much as I'd hoped. I extended the cooking time, but it was still pretty soupy by the time I canned it. Processing made the difference, and the jam was set when it cooled. Taste test still to come. Unfortunately it's not a very pretty color.

Chicken panic. My morning routine with the chickens begins by opening the coop door at first light. This is for the safety of the now grown newcomers because our rooster, Lord B, has declared war on all them (even after the hopeful events of the hawk attacks). My hope is that by opening the door, they have a chance to escape the coop if need be. About half an hour later, when it's lighter out, I go throw some scratch around the chicken yard.

The other day it was raining when I headed out for the second time, so I tossed on my rain poncho. As I neared the chicken yard, I heard loud squawking and saw chickens running everywhere. Fearing the worst, I ran toward the yard. As I drew near, about half the flock shrieked and ran for the woods, the other half scattered everywhere in a panic. I ran after them but they ran away faster. Finally it dawned on me that because of my bright red rain poncho, they didn't have a clue as to who or what I was. Apparently even a familiar voice doesn't instill confidence if it's coming from a big red monster. I had to take the poncho off to coax them back to the yard with some chicken scratch. So much for staying dry during morning chores.

Lord B & the Buffs. He chases them to the other
side of the fence, and makes them stay there!

Eggs. I found three eggs in the goat's hay rack the other day.

The two darker browns are from my two Welsummers. I have no chicken that lays like the light one, so could it be from one of the Buff Orpingtons? They're going on 5 months now, so it's about time they should start to lay. This one though, seems too big for a pullet egg. I'm still barely getting an egg a day, which makes me glad for those frozen eggs. There's so much ruckus in the chicken yard though (all due to His Lordship), that I wonder if the hens are either laying elsewhere or not laying at all because of the fuss.

Pecans.  At the suggestion of CaliforniaGrammy, I got one of these....

She mentioned it after she read my "Looks Like A Good Year For Pecans" post. It's a Dukes Easy Pecan and Nut Cracker . It was inexpensive (around $16), is sturdily built, and does a great job. This is the kind of convenience tool I really like!

Meyers Lemon - I've harvested three, and have two more to go....

Plus it's flowering! Next year's lemons are in the making.

Kinder breeding program. Seems to be a bust. Even if the girls will stand for Gruffy, they won't stand in front of the buck assist. And they fight being held there! I'm pretty sure they're still going into heat about every three weeks. Not sure what I'll do if neither of them gets bred.

Parting Shot. I borrowed this phrase from Theresa, who always has the cutest parting shots in her blog posts. Mine was taken shortly after we got the base of the cookstove in. We'd covered it to protect it from dust and debris as we worked on the kitchen. As you see, the lid to the firebox hadn't been put on yet.....

Master Riley claims the wood cookstove.

Around the Homestead © December 2011 by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

1st Lemon

I found a lemon on the ground the other day. It had fallen from my potted Meyers Lemon Tree.

My 1st Meyers lemon. Looks pretty good on this side.

It looked pretty good on one side, but on the other ...

Not so good on this side. :(

It has a big soft, brownish spot. Disappointing. There are 5 more fruits on the tree, all at various stages of ripening.

I blogged about it blooming last December. It was loaded with flowers. Most of the flowers turned to little fruits, but many of these were self-pruned, until I had half a dozen left. Probably the right number for so young and small a tree. They certainly seem to take a long time to ripen. In fact for awhile, Dan was positive I actually had a lime tree instead of lemon.

Dan said this one was delicious in his iced tea. What I'm hoping for, is to be able to make my great-grandmother's lemon cream pie. A lemon lovers to die for! Traditionally I make it once a year for Christmas, though I have been known to make myself a lemon pie for my birthday instead of cake. I just hope the rest of the lemons turn out all right.

1st Lemon © October 2011 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Around The Homestead

Updates, followups, and other odds and ends since my last Around The Homestead.

Life Without Charlie.

Charlie's grave

Besides leaving a llama sized hole in my heart, Charlie's death has affected the goats too. Not emotionally in the human sense, but it definitely upset the balance when it comes to buddy arrangements. On cold nights, everyone would pair up, Charlie and Jasmine, and Surprise and Crybaby. Now that Charlie's gone, the Nubians have become a team and Baby is on the outs.

Crybaby

Initially they chased her away from everything, from the food, from the hay, from the water, from the barn. Of course she then lived up to her name, crying and complaining louder than ever. Things do finally seem to be settling down though, fortunately.

Petey. Anyone remember Petey? I found him a new home quite awhile ago.

Petey, having escaped into the hay mow

Not only was he bullying and pushing everyone around (including Charlie and me), but he had taken to escaping (jumping out?) It was time for him to go. His departure didn't seem to be missed by anyone. Did he do his job? Time will tell.

Jasmine. Remember last December Jasmine had an infected teat? The vet gave me antibiotics but not hope. In fact, he was pretty sure the end of the teat would slough off, making it completely nonfunctional. Well, this photo was rather awkward to get...

Jasmine's udder

... but as you can see, the teat was saved. Whether or not it will be functional in the future remains to be seen though.

Last of the Garden Tomatoes. I still have a few of the ripening green tomatoes I picked last November, after one of our frosts.

Ripening Romas

As they ripen, they shrivel a bit however. I'm guessing this is because they are Romas, which as a paste tomato have a lower water content. When cut open, they look a bit greenish inside, but when chopped up and added to a grilled cheese sandwich or scrambled eggs, they are flavor packed.

Squerry Ben? Setting, lunchtime. We've just sat down to eat, Dan has said the blessing, and we're beginning to help ourselves. As I put mayonnaise on my sandwich, Dan asks, "What's squerry ben?" Squerry ben??? He points to the label on the gallon crock sitting on the table.

Squerry ben?

"That's sauerruben!" I exclaim. Now I ask you, is my handwriting really that bad???

Transplanting. January is a good time of year to transplant things. I can move things we don't care for in one spot, to somewhere they would be more useful.

Loading the wheelbarrow for transplanting

I decided to transplant a bunch of what I think are privet. I dug them up from our future bird garden (see master plan), and replanted along the north property line, where they can better serve as a privacy hedge. The digging up and planting were a breeze, but since the goats love to eat privet, my problem was getting the loaded wheelbarrow across the goat field. That involved pushing the heavy load through the field in a mad dash to outrun three galloping goats, and getting hung up at a gate that insisted on swinging closed every time I tried to push the barrow through. Eventually I made it, but the goats weren't too happy with the outcome.

3 disappointed goats

Dwarf Lemon Tree. I showed you when my Meyers lemon tree bloomed. Now I'm happy to report that I have little lemons!

Lovely baby lemons

I tried hand pollinating, and was obviously successful. I've counted about 27, with another round of flower buds forming. I'm not sure how many we'd need for a full year's supply, but I do know one thing. The first thing I'm going to do is make my great-grandmother's lemon cream pie!

Egg News. I know I just gave you an update on the chickens, but I have news. The Welsummers have started to lay again. On Monday, there was all manner of fuss coming from the hen house. When I went to collect eggs, I found six.

Clockwise from left: Delaware, Ameraucana, Welsummer,
Ameraucana, Barred Holland. Center: Welsummer

It was the first day in a long time that I'd gotten six eggs. Very welcome indeed.

Other than all that, there's my garden project, for which I'll have a plan soon. Unless you can think of something I forgot, I reckon that's it.

Now can we eat?

Around The Homestead © February 2011 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Life Is Gonna Give Me Lemons

Dwarf Meyer lemon blossoms

My dwarf Meyer lemon tree is blooming! I bought it about two years ago, and was beginning to wonder if it ever would.

It and my aloe vera are the only potted plants that I have. I just don't have a green thumb when it comes to potted plants, so these blooms are especially exciting to me.

This little tree lived outside all summer, and fortunately I remembered to water it fairly regularly. Before our first expected frost I moved it into my studio, where it can get plenty of light. It has rewarded me with an abundance of  fragrant, pale pink blossoms.

I know very little about these trees, nor about Meyers lemons themselves. With my track record with potted plants, the fact that its blooming is very hopeful. Maybe there's a greenhouse in my future after all.

Lemon Blossoms and Katy in Basket

Life Is Gonna Give Me Lemons © December 2010 Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com