Hens getting ready to roost tonight

Calling it a day!

getting ready to roost on march 1st 2015

Below: First two in for the night.  They like their certain spots.

Cucumber sandwiches

I needed something different, something light… cucumber sandwiches.

Cucumber sandwiches

They really hit the spot!  I was at the grocery store and picked up the cucumber for 1.00, the soft white bread for 1.00, and I had the Philly whipped cream cheese.  The whipped kind works best for the light  weight white bread.  Here’s how I made em:

The celery seed and salt makes these delicious.

Blot dry the cukes after you slice them in a food processor, especially if they’ve been in the fridge a few hours.  It’ll help so the sandwich doesn’t get soggy.  I know some people put dill on them, thats good too, but I like the celery seed with salt.

letting the hens out

I let the hens out today.  Had to wait a month to let them out again on account of putting  out grass seed a month ago.  This is the first Australorp flock I have had, and they are very good layers.   Two years ago from last month they came in the mail and I raised them from chicks.

Real Whip Cream

 

There is so much you can do with real whip cream.  I combined  a few things to make my whip cream be just right. whipping cream heavy whip cream a little soft spread cream cheese unflavored gelatin a little powdered sugar, but not much Last night I made a small strawberry jello and only put in the 1 cup of boiling water, omitting the other 1 cup of cold water.  

Mixed in some big strawberries I picked this last summer, and this morning I made the cream to put on top of it.   Real whip cream is a luxury.  I think that’s why many women like the Starbuck drinks.  The whip cream on top of the drink under the plastic bubble lid is a big treat.  Every morning I put it in my coffee and I’ve been combining whip cream with the heavy whip cream. How do you like your whip cream?

Below is Lucerene brand, but yesterday I made the mistake of buying Darigold brand, which does have the growth hormone in it.    Years ago I remember the cows coming through the parlor to get their Growth hormone shot.   Prior to that particular farm,  we were at a fairy farm  that did not give the shot.   I always look at the box and make sure it sys : no growth hormone.

Good brand for whip cream: Lucerne. No growth hormone in Lucerne whip cream!

neat tea scooper

Such a rainy day today.  Made Frontier’s Irish Breakfast tea and used my neat tea scooper.  It has a clamp that holds the tea bag for steeping.  Works great.  A real nice tea snob gave it to me!

 Coffee hits the spot so often, but the tannin in tea is good for your tummy.   If you are nauseous, drink  black tea for the tannin that helps your tummy.   If you watch PBS movies for any length of time, you will be wanting a pot of tea as well.  In any time period of the PBS videos, they are drinking tea out of good china.

tea scooper

Freezing tomates in muffin tins

Used the 6 cup muffin tin to freeze these tomatoes.  They’ll make great tomato soup.  Notice the many orange tomatoes I have?  My favorites.  I freeze them in a gallon labeled bag.  These were green tomatoes that I picked and brought in  early October.  They turned their colors and were ready for parboiling and freezing recently.

Just the hens again

I love it when they are lined up.  When I see them lined up like this, I like to take their picture!

Call the Midwife

I saw seasons 1, and 2, then I was determined to read the 3 book series that inspired this PBS success.  It took most of the summer to wait for season 3 from the library, but it finally came!  I didn’t want to see anything that came after season 3, since I heard that the main character leaves the show, and all of the the authors stories were used up.

I read the books by Jennifer Worth, the nurse from the mid 40s- 1960’s who was a midwife in England.  My review isn’t  super, but if you got o Amazon; the reviews are many- three thousand, I think!.

I only know about the 3 books in the series- Call the Midwife, Shadows of the Workhouse, and the last one- Farewell to the East End.   I don’t know about these other two books shown above that  she wrote.  There’s so much history in what Jennifer Worth wrote, and she gives a lot of insight into the workhouses of England.

The Workhouses, also called poor houses, started out not so bad, but the turning point that was awful in the workhouse  history, was when they built huge stone regional workhouses, and consolidated the local ones into these massive huge regional ones that took the soul and spirit out of a person, and made it into a prison system for the poor.

I hope you get a chance to read Jennifer Worth’s books.  Some things are very true to the book,  that are in the PBS series, but some I’m not sure about.   I love nursing history, which is why I enjoyed reading Jennifer Worth’s true stories.  The medical field in general is so fascinating.  It has the ability to help people.  Currently I am learning how to take a person’s blood pressure.

Been canning

Did some pickles and I forgot how much sugar goes into sweet pickles!  These might taste real good in months to come.

Hens by grill

They go where the shade is.  I knew there was a purpose for the grill out back.