Happy Easter! First try making Onnie's coconut eggs

 The Easter bunny was providentially prepared this year.  He hit Dollar Tree for goodies at the beginning of March so no need to scramble and pay exorbitant online prices for Easter things.  He also brought the usual main course of a book for each child.

 While the kids and I were discussing Easter plans this week I remembered the chocolate coconut eggs that Goomie and Aunt Jill used to make for us.  They were big and had our names on them with pretty frosting designs. I tried to Google them and did not have much luck finding pictures that looked similar to show the kids.  I emailed Aunt Jill for the recipe and we had a nice talk on FaceTime during which I learned that these eggs are part of our family history.  I did not know that the recipe came from my Great Grandma Onnie.
I made a first attempt Saturday night to have them ready for today's Easter dessert. Or at least part of it -- they are rich like fudge. I remember eating mine a slice at a time when I was a kid, over the course of a month.
My first try was a failure though. My coconut filling is too moist and because of quarantine I had to make my own chocolate instead of melting chocolate chips. It's still tasty and rich, but not nearly as thick as I remember the chocolate shell being. I was tempted to try again, but we have too many sweet treats as it is.  Maybe next year I will get it right.  Haha.  I will type up the recipe below.

Onnie's Coconut Easter Eggs

14 oz. thinly shaved coconut flakes
1 stick of butter
1 medium potato
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 lbs powdered sugar

1. Peel, cut-up the potato, and boil until very soft. Drain most of the water, leaving enough to mash it to a pea soup consistency. (I think this is the step I messed up.  I must have left a little too much water in with them).
2. Add butter and vanilla in the pot with the potatoes while still hot.  Allow to cool and shape into eggs of various sizes.
3. Refrigerate overnight.
4. Melt chocolate chips and spoon it or paint it over the eggs.

A single batch of this recipe makes 8 large eggs (palm size)

Farm Fresh: Spring Progress Report

The Silver Appleyard ducklings made the transition out to the old white chicken coop.  We have been tucking them into the coop itself every night to keep them warmer, out of the wind, and extra safe from predators. My neighbor said that he saw a mink in his chicken coop! I didn't know that we had those around here.  Five weeks old and so big already! I took this picture looking out the door of the coop. They have been handled a lot, but are still very skittish. 

 Peas, kale, tennis ball lettuce, sorrel, radishes, and some rogue potatoes are all growing in the main garden.  I will be taking out the potatoes.  I am planning to plant a bunch of sweet corn in those rows this year.  And I don't want to feed another generation of potato beetles.

 Remember the broody mama duck hiding under the trailer? Well, my very smart doggies discovered her nest and wiggled? somehow side ways under there and got one of the eggs before my eyes.  I was mad and wiggled my pregnant self in there far enough to count at least 5 nice warm eggs remaining.  Then I surrounded the whole thing with an improvised barrier of logs and rocks to discourage the dogs... seems to be working so far.

 A friend came by to pick up some plants (at a distance) this week and texted me that our farm should be called "Violet Vale".  They really are beautiful in the Spring.  Who wants a boring lawn of grass when you can have beautiful edibles like violets everywhere?! 

 The hostas seem to be getting over the shock of transplantation and looking happy under the trees.

 I am pretty sure that I have mentioned my plans to gradually terrace the sunny land in front of my front door and fill it with herbs and flowers.  Hubby and the tractor moved some of the big logs into place to make the next level.  It is full of dead nettle and violets currently, but I will keep adding compost and manure until we get the soil built up enough to plant. 

 The buttercrunch lettuces that overwintered are producing in abundance now that the weather has warmed.

 And the Johnny Jumps are blooming happily.

 I sent out an email this week to the church google group about giving away plants. No plant fair this year and can't sell on craigslist so -- I took orders from friends.  Luckily, I had already scaled way back because of being pregnant so the timing is as good as it could be. More than a dozen families reached out to tell me what they could use for their gardens -- elderberry, josta berry, artichokes, rhubarb, asparagus, lemongrass, and tomatoes!  I filled boxes and boxes of them and then lined them all up under the trees along the side of the driveway with the family's names on them so that they could pick them up on Saturday.  I still have several hundred tomatoes left as well as good amounts of elder and artichokes. I think it was a good market test.  I am surprised how many people (almost everyone) wanted artichokes and elderberry plants. Good information for next year's plant fairs.  This picture is of some of what's left. I still have 3 orders to fill for Monday's pick-up. 
Grandpa J might notice that this picture also shows another boxwood succumbing to the blight -- might wait for his next visit for help to rip it out again. Haha!

 It's appropriate to have the next picture be of what replaced the last boxwoods that we ripped out last year.   My saskatoon berry bush came back well. It will eventually become quite large and fill this spot, but in the meantime, I planted a row of zinnias and evening primroses behind it.  Our little rosemary bush is also potentially going to be 5 ft tall? It is still only a few inches tall in that back corner.  I worked on spreading a lot of mulch this weekend.  Hubby spent most of the day chipping and our tree guy brought another load -- perfect timing! There is so much mulching to be done right now.

 I received some carnation seeds from my Frenchies and they grew into healthy plants that I decided to plant along the side of the main garden. While preparing the bed I found one of those evil Tree of Heaven saplings that I somehow missed last year.   This picture is to give a sense of one of the worst aspects of them. 

 I followed the tap root more than two feet down and it was still going.  Neither hubby nor I could pull it.  By three feet down I just gave up, cut it off, and filled in the hole.  I think there's about a 50/50 chance that it will come back.

 On the other end of the row of carnation planting -- I spied a black shiny friend.  She was about 6 inches from my hand. She did not bite me so I decided to let her live.  There seem to be quite a few black widows around here.  I probably disturbed her home when I cleared away all the leaf mulch.

Oh the rat saga!  The war is not won yet. Poisoning device received and put in place mid-week. Hubby inspected it and reported that the poison had not been eaten as of Saturday.  He moved it to the other hut and placed it near a tunnel entrance.  This morning I checked on the 3 remaining baby bunnies and found that their feet had been bitten up. Even the mama had a bloody mark on her back foot. It was one of the many farming moments when I was in tears as I investigated further. One baby's hind foot was almost chewed off. I had to just step away and collect myself to think of a plan.

What to do? put it out of its misery right then, amputate, ignore the problem? I came in and told hubby about the latest attack. As I was talking I decided to move the babies and their mama to the rabbit house on the other side of the backyard.  I switched in a younger (hopefully feistier) single doe rabbit.  The two older kids and I had a first aid session with the 3 babies' feet. After careful examination I decided to amputate the foot that was only holding on by a few tendons. We cleaned the stump and wrapped it with gauze and self adherent gauze wrap. It seems to be holding nicely. Then we cleaned all the other cuts and bites with betadine as well. My farm vet recommended it and I try to always have some on hand for cleaning all types of animal injuries, both bird and mammal. 

Depending on whether the baby rabbit can learn to hobble around to food and water, he might survive.  The kids decided that he should be called "Pirate" because of his peg leg.  I think the other kits will recover well. 

Farm Fresh: Dealing with unwanted farm animals -- first rat problems

We have been pretty lucky since the dogs joined our farm a couple years ago.  No hawks, no raccoon attacks, no possum attacks, just an occasional hit and run from a fox.  Our neighbor has lost several birds due to raccoon attacks despite his Fort Knox type coop.  The dogs also keep the deer away and the groundhogs that they can reach. There are a few groundhogs in the woods and orchard area that they can't reach because of fencing. All-in-all, they seem to earn their keep.
A few months ago I noticed some tunnels under the rabbits' poop trays. It was worrisome, but I thought it could be chipmunks and no damage was evident.

 Last week 3 healthy rabbit kits were mysteriously eaten while still in their cage. So gross and so sad!  I though immediately that it was likely rats.  We had been keeping their hoop house closed at night since the ducks sleep on the floor in there.  After the baby rabbits were eaten I decided to leave the doors open for a week or so and see how things went. No more problems.  With the doors open the dogs and cats could freely roam in there. 

Then on Tuesday evening I was cleaning out the poop trays and found a nest of 11 baby rats under one of the trays.  This is not an actual picture, I was too worried to run in the house and grab a camera, but it is pretty close to what I saw. They are brown Norway rats.  What to do?  We started by pulling rabbit cages out and then tried to get the cats to come in and take care of them. The cats and dogs both had no interest.  uggh. In the end, we had to shovel them out and drown them. Also sad, but necessary for our farm's safety.

I needed to do a spring cleaning on that hoop house anyway (plus a post chicken dig out).  We pulled out all the rabbit cages and I dug down and wheeled out 10 plus wheelbarrows of bedding and good compost. (I dumped all of that in the new raspberry patch). I found a bunch more tunnels, but only 1 additional baby rat that I think must have come from that original nest. That night I left the hoop house empty and open.  The next morning when I went out to finish my excavations. There was a big fat rat. 

 I screamed and it ran around, but couldn't find any tunnels to exit through.  In hindsight, I should have hit it with the shovel, but I just called Shark and Icy.  They came running and chased it. It got out the door of that hoop house and tried to hide in the other one,  but Shark dug it out and killed it! Good girl.  I praised her a lot.  The dogs are quick learners and I think they are on the job now.  I was worried she might try to eat it, but neither the dogs nor the cats seem to have any interest in eating them.
I spread the hoop house floor with diatomaceous earth and left it for 24 hours to make sure we killed most of the bugs that might be in there and then added a thin layer of mulch and put the rabbits back in. That means that I have finished my spring deep clean in 3 of 4 hoop houses. One left!

In the meantime, I ordered this rat poison dispenser that a bunch of people on Youtube recommended. They said that other traps don't work well for them, but this one is good. You can monitor how much of the poison they have eaten and this container makes it so the other farm animals can't get poisoned. Hopefully, it will help get rid of the remaining adult rats.
As I have pondered on the rat problem and what might have brought it on, I think getting rid of the chickens might have something to do with it.  I spotted the first tunnels in February and killed the last chickens around New Year's.  We used to dump all of our compostable food waste near the chickens' house and they would eat most of it. The ducks are not as adept at eating compost (can't peck at it the same way).  Maybe there was too much residual food composting out there?   In any case,  I told my helpers that all food waste needs to go in the old compost bin for now.  It is far enough away from the hoop houses that I hope it will not cause problems. We shall see.

In other farm news, we are making steady progress on the tree clearing.  My helpers are earning lots of money picking up logs and sticks. Here is one cleared section:

 And the second half still to go.

 Careful observers might have noticed that the trees fell right into my little orchard. The tree guy said that he could bring a bucket truck and cut more carefully to avoid the orchard, but it would cost at least 700$ more.  I said that I could replace the little trees for a lot less than that and to just lay them out as best they could. One little apricot tree and one elderberry bush were smashed.  I know the elder will recover easily and I will see if I can help this apricot tree along.

 Another apricot tree was in the midst of the fray and had no damage! Lucky tree.

 All our work moving sticks made a huge pile for the chipper. Hubby worked on that all day yesterday and made a "mountain" of chips according to brother S.  Perfect timing for weed control around my new plantings.

 The kids and I have been stacking all the wood stove size pieces in our woodshed. 

I spent a lot of time transplanting things yesterday and earlier this week. Thyme, lemon balm, horehound, Saint John's wort and a few violas had all come back in this front bed.  I filled in more violas, the rainbow yarrow (Colorado mix), and cilantro. And I did some weeding. 

 The other violas and chervil that I planted are filling in nicely and my comfrey is sprouting in its pots.

 Last Fall's planting of comfrey around the front row of orchard trees is coming back nicely too.

Daffodils and tulips are up along the front walk and the Korean viburnum has bloomed.  It smells incredible. I thought nothing could smell better than lilacs, but these just might. The perfume fills the air all around it. 

 A friend from church recently dug out a huge area of hostas and had them all sitting at the end of her driveway.  I said that I would take whatever was left after others took what they wanted.  I guess the other two gals just took a few.  I filled my entire trunk with them!  Hundreds! I filled in holes in our other landscaped areas (The geese ate a lot of them).  And then I added rings around my daffodils on the front trees.

 Around the back garden, peonies, catmint, and valerian came back from last year.  I added a back row of hollyhocks.

 RH Shumway had a special on black currants, which I loved eating in Russia. The bushes look like they are several years old. I am so very pleased with the quality.  I planted those amid the hollyhocks on the right side of the garden gate. Around the corner is my new line of golden and red raspberries - also on special from RH Shumway.  Since the big  patch of blackberries will be in the front yard the raspberries have to be planted far away, otherwise they give each other diseases.

 Perry, one of our Muscovy ducks, has gone broody.  I think she finally found a place that is safe from the dogs.  She is under the old trailer next to the hoop houses. Close to food, but hard to get at. Maybe she will hatch some ducklings. 

The basement ducklings are getting far too big and smart for their brooder.  I laughed so hard when I saw this scene. They are helping themselves to the bag of special duckling feed.  They have grown to be almost as big as the khakis even though they are only a month old. Silver Appleyard is clearly a much larger breed.  The white coop and run is all cleaned out and ready for them. I just want to make sure that their feathers are filled in enough to handle the night time low temperatures.

Family Fun: Projects and Activities While Social Distancing

With the "social distancing" and cancellation of our extra-curricular activities we are having a lot of fun family time.  Hubby helped the kids work on their staves for Cub Scouts.  They did some hammering and practiced their wood burning skills. 

 Also lots of lego building and general paper crafting is happening, though I haven't taken any pictures of those things. Brother M made a lego "vending machine" that dispenses their gummy vitamins.  Brother S copied a lego rocket from the space book he has been reading aloud.  I printed out this lovely free coloring book from Taproot magazine which we have all enjoyed (good farm family illustrations). They especially liked making the little paper dollhouse.

We have also had some nice virtual visits with family, friends, and cousins.

 Grandma S and Grandpa J taught a little family history class for all the cousins. A and M's piano and guitar lessons are being taught virtually as well.

 We have been doing a lot of baking and cooking practice. Big sister A made dinner by herself last night while I was working outside. She made spaghetti, broccoli, and a pumpkin pie.  Earlier in the week she made chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.  Brother M and I tried to make a recipe for cream puffs with chocolate filling, though they came out a bit flatter than the picture... still delicious. All of the kids have been practicing using the bread maker.  Big sister A used it to make us pizza from scratch one night for dinner with jello for dessert and Brother S made their favorite raisin bread.  Brother M also made a delicious peach "coffee cake" which turned out to be more like a peach cobbler.  We loved that one so much that we had to make it again. When kids don't have any pre-made or packaged snacks available they really like looking at cookbooks for fun things to make. 

We have been careful to avoid going to the store. And we can do that with all of our food storage and our gardens!  It has been so wonderful to feel prepared for sheltering in place.   Our neighboring farmer sells us milk. We have fresh eggs and greens, plus all our meals that were bottled from the summer garden.  Hubby went to our local grocery once "to buy cat food" and satisfy his junk food  cravings.  We had a delivery from the feed store yesterday for all our animals. But really, the last time I went to do a big grocery trip was in mid-February up in Amish country.  I usually measure when I need to go grocery shopping again by our apple stores. We are down to half a bushel or less now.  And we just finished off the potatoes that I stored last fall. Soon I will head up Lancaster way again and restock for the next couple months.
Our lettuces are up and I have been adding fresh spring greens from the yard (some people would call them weeds).  Henbit and dead nettle have braved the cold and are everywhere. I don't love having them in my garden, but knowing that so much of my lawn is edible is amazing.  Dandelions, garlic mustard, and violets are coming up pretty well now too. So cheerful and so healthy for eating.

 With the warmer spring weather hubby has been able to play frisbee in the evenings with the kids as well as a new favorite card game, Uno Flip. We have also been doing our fair share of silly imaginative games and challenges - like trying to see whether you can balance a fidgit spinner on various body parts. 

All these fun things that we are doing come after our schoolwork is finished.  I am grateful for the time to be able to get that done consistently every morning. Normally, we skip Fridays because of co-op school, and other fun things come up as well.   I have been especially focused on getting them each through their reading, writing, and arithmetic courses for this year.  We are still on track to finish before the baby comes mid-May! So glad.  Then we can wrap up American History and some science work over the summer.  Big sister A will start doing some BYU Middle School online courses in the Fall. And maybe a preparatory one over the summer. I can't believe she is already old enough for that!

Sew Special: Another Button Lover and some Quick Change Trousers

Finished off another button lovers sweater. Managed to make it come out smaller this time (6-9 month size).  Used some soft cotton yarn and buttons from my stash. 

  And a gnomey hat.  So quick and easy - done in bits of time over the course of a day. Used the same wool as in his baby blanket.

I first saw these quick change trousers on Amanda Soule's blog in 2010!  I wanted to try them so much, but the book was new and the price was high so I never got around to it.  I ran across a picture of them again a few months ago, checked Thrift Books and sure enough found an inexpensive gently used copy of this lovely book.

Since I have almost no clothes for this new little fellow as yet, I started assembly line sewing a bunch of these from fabrics on hand.  I have about 14 pairs in the works (half are 6 month size and half 12 month size).  My babies have all been born too big for newborn size, wear 3 month size for their first two months or so and then spend awhile in the 6-9 month size range.  I figure this new guy will be in these 6 month pants by about August, especially with his big cloth diaper bum. 

 Each pant is completely reversible which is great for durability and style changes. Only drawback is that making one pair takes two pairs worth of fabric and time. The legs can be rolled down as the baby grows, which is why I skipped the 9 month size and went right to the 12 months.

 Making do with fabrics that I already have in my stash, lots of greens and browns so far.