You Hear Them Before You See Them

I don't think anyone will every accuse guinea fowl of being superior flyers, but they do get around.

Do you see them? They're in the pecan tree that shades the goat shed

My guinea fowl in the pecan tree.

Neither will anyone ever accuse them of being beautiful birds.

What they are very good at, is making their presence known. I can see why folks say they are good watch "dogs", but the real scoop is that they carry on about everything including, but not limited to, anything strange in the yard, or the neighbor's yard, or the neighbor's neighbor's yard.

When it's time to eat, they let me know! One thing I've learned is that they love chicken scratch as much as they love their millet. Any time I call the chickens, the guineas come running too. In fact, they love hanging out in the chicken yard.

At evening chore time, they're ready to go back to the buck barn. They fuss at me to get going, until I grab the feed can and a scoop of scratch. Then it's a guinea race back to their barn.

Heading home for the evening.

As long as I stick to the routine and the rules, everything is all right.

You Hear Them Before You See Them © November 2013 

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

Bedroom Closets Phase 2

Last time, I showed you phase 1, which was the making of a storage compartment in our new bedroom closets. This time, I'll show you the rest.

We did a lot of discussing, measuring, and calculating in designing our closets.

We wanted lots of shelving. Before we decided to build them, we researched and priced every kind of system out there. Even the "cheap" pressboard types were outrageously expensive. Dan ended up buying plywood for these, plus used odds and ends he had.

My side is on the left. A clothing rod and another shelf over the top of that will complete it. 

Dan didn't need a lot of hanging space and will put upper and lower rods on his side.

There's a story behind that paint. Usually, I'm extremely fussy about color matching, but since this was going to be hidden behind closet doors, I remembered that I had some white trim paint somewhere. I thought I might use that so I didn't have to buy another gallon of paint.

I found not only the white, but also an almost full gallon that I didn't remember buying. It was a gallon of ColorPlace interior semi-gloss. ColorPlace is the old Walmart brand. I couldn't even remember the last time I bought paint at Walmart, at least three residences ago. Had we really toted this all over the country? It had been a custom color, but I wasn't even sure what color it was. The color spot on the top of the can had long since gotten dusty and dirty.

Of course I was curious so I opened the can. I was surprised that it hadn't dried out and that there was no film on the top. The colors had long since separated, but the paint still looked good. I started to stir. It appeared to be a pea green color that I know I never would have gotten. I kept stirring and eventually it became a very nice off-white. It was then I remembered when I'd purchased it; about 8 years ago for a bathroom when we lived in Florida. I couldn't believe we'd carried it around all these years. It covered very well!

Lastly, here's a sneak peek at one of the closet doors.

Dan is woodburning a scene which will span all four bypass doors. I love it.

Our countdown check list has been slowly whittled down to three more steps:

1. ceiling
2. floor
3. draperies

Is it possible we might be moved in by Christmas?????

Bedroom Closets Phase 2 © November 2013 

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

Not-Pumpkin Soup(s)

Remember this photo from my "Not Pumpkins" post?

    These are actually mature Tatume summer squash rather than pumpkins.

Once I figured out they were Tatume summer squash that I'd accidently let mature, I didn't know what to do with them (besides regret that I hadn't picked and eaten them earlier). But because they looked like pumpkins, it occurred to me to try them in a "pumpkin" pie.

That pie was only so-so, not a repeatable experiment. What I did learn, is that even mature, the squash remained mild-flavored, even sweet. Still very edible. Being summer squash, however, they were not keeping well. So I spent a good part of last week de-seeding, steaming, scooping, and making soup. The squash mashes very well and makes the soup thicker and heartier. That's how we like it.

Scooping out the steamed squashes

The rinds were very tough, I had to saw through them! The seeds were scooped out first and fed to the goats and chickens, The halves were steamed until the flesh was tender.

Since I was making soup to can, I figured it was a good time to clear the freezer of all the bones I'd been saving to make bone stock. That became the liquid base for those soups. The rest of it was just a matter of adding whatever I could find, Scrap Soup in a jar!

Squash and kale soup based on a recipe from Farmer John's Cookbook.
 I added sausage for my meat loving husband. I was a little heavy handed
on the garlic (good harvest this year), so I named it "Tatume Garlic Soup"

I had cooked a chevon shoulder roast in a quart of my home canned tomato
juice. This became the base for the next soup. I added more garlic (but less),
the last of the roast, more canned tomatoes, and the squash ,of course.

Tatume chicken soup. I had the remains of 3 chicken carcasses in the freezer
which became the stock for this soup. Besides adding mashed squash, I added
more chicken, dehydrated onions, and chopped carrots for a little color. 

Barbecued Chevon Soup. Awhile back we had BBQ chevon ribs and I put
all the leftovers in the freezer. For the acid to make the stock, I used sweet
wine pickled beet brine.  I also added recently harvested sweet potatoes.

Besides the soups I also froze half a dozen or so quarts of mashed squash. It's a real treat with butter, salt, and pepper.

Parting shot.

Katy begged and begged for some squash while I was scooping it out.
She was less than impressed, however, when she actually got some.

It's so nice to have all these convenient homegrown soups on my pantry shelves. I won't have to worry about what to have for lunch for a long time.

Not-Pumpkin Soup(s) © November 2013 

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