Update On Barn Swallow Babies

Checked in on the baby barn swallows today and was delighted to find three of the babies out of their nest, perched on a beam in the barn. One of the babies was still in the nest, so a total of four. They were learning to fly, flying from beam to beam and sometimes back to their nest, which was about ten feet away. Mom and Dad still coming in to feed them and make sure they were safe. I have learned something new today, if you get to close to the babies and they feel you are a threat, they will come after you, they will circle around your head and make clicking sounds and loud chirps, all the while, coming closer and closer. They do not in any way seem intimidated by the size differences, in fact they even call for back up, help. Before I knew it there where three of them. Was the third one grandpa? I don't know and I didn't hang around to ask. I have a new appreciation for barn swallows. This has happened to me twice. Yes, I have learned my lesson. Maybe! I still love them.
                                 

Growing up

                                 

Looking down at my miniature horse

Mom and Dad feeding

Lots Of Baby Birds Around The Farm!

Around here we feed the birds year round, for me that means lots of babies, lots of bug eaters and hopefully less bugs in my garden. We love watching them at the feeders. We have babies in bushes near my front porch, babies in two bird houses and babies in both barns. One bird house has blue birds, the other has barn swallows. Both barns have barn swallows.

Is that you mommy?

Barn swallow "Dad" checking in

Mom and Dad busy feeding babies

One of  the barn swallow nest in the barn

                     Soft Beef Tacos

Dinner tonight is soft beef tacos. The beef mixture is simple to make and I'm making enough for taco salads tomorrow night.

                               Beef Taco Mixture

         3 pounds of ground beef, cooked and drained
         1 tablespoon ground cumin
         3 teaspoon chili powder
         3 tablespoons beef broth or water
         1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
         1/2 teaspoon salt

Add all of the ingredients to the cooked ground beef, mix well. Serve with your favorite taco shells. Top with shredded lettuce, shredded cheese and diced tomatoes.

Tacos

Taco Salad

                   

                       Fish Tacos
For dinner tonight, made fish tacos. One of my favorite local restaurants serve these, this is my take on them. My husband and I both thought they were delicious. I used store bought fish that I baked. Then made a simple homemade corn slaw, and to top them off, a homemade sauce. The only thing that could have made them better, would have been to roast the corn on the grill. This I will do next time. Either way, Winner!! 

                                     
                                Fish Taco Sauce
                                

                   1/2 cup mayonnaise

                   4 tablespoons ketchup

                   5 Sweet Gherkins pickle, chopped 

                   1 tablespoon, chopped sweet onion

                   pinch of cayenne pepper, optional

Mix ingredient together well, serve on fish tacos.

I Really Was Not Looking For A Rooster, But This One Spoke To Me. Not Really, He Didn't Make A Sound On The Ride Home. 

We went to a chicken swap this past weekend, I was looking for a couple of more Silkie Chickens. They had lots of chicken breeds, rabbits and pot belly pigs. Like I said not looking for a rooster, but this one caught my eye. He was beautiful. He belonged to a very nice Amish women, she seemed sincerely concerned that he go to a good home. When my husband ask her how much he was, her first response was, you want him? She ask my husband are you sure you want him? We provided her a cage to put him in, so that she did not have to hold him while we were finishing up, but instead she opted to hold him for about thirty minutes while we got change and a couple of supplies that we needed. That rooster seemed perfectly fine being held, he showed no aggression at all. When we past by her with our supplies, she said again "your not ready for him yet are you?" We told her we had to put our things in the car and would be right back. She did finally turn him over to us, again asking that he go to a good home. We put him in the car in his cage and he laid down for the ride home. He did not make a sound. When we got him home and all settled in, he let out his first crow. That made me feel better, he had been so quite on the way home. He had a great first night. Got some great pictures of him. Told you he was beautiful. He is a Golden Phoenix, more of an ornamental chicken, for show, as you can see in the pictures below.

His name is Cluck Norris

New Flowers For My Flowers Pots and                           Containers

Got one blackie sweet potato vine, a Tri-Color sweet potato vine (pink and green), several Begonia in different colors. One Vinca plant (vine), one False Spirea, this plant has beautiful white flowers and is also deer resistant, two Artemisia, soft beautiful silvery green and is suppose to be deer resistant. I also got three variaty of blueberry bushes, more about them later.

Begonia

Begonia

Begonia

Marguerite Sweet Potato

Blackie Sweet Potato

Begonia

                More Baby Chicks
I have gotten more baby chicks to add to my new flock. Six Brown Leghorn (white egg layer) and six Buff Orpington (brown egg layer). I am so excited about all of these breeds. So glad I get to watch them change from baby chicks to adult chickens, fun to see the changes at different stages of development. I just love my chickens. My hope for this flock is to incorporate them into my garden (through a chicken tunnel system) to help me with bug control as well as good fertilizer, not to mention conditioning the soil, how could you not love them? Eggs and help in the garden, BONUS!!!

All settled in

My soon to be garden buddies

Resting

     Starting A New Flock, Getting                         Some Baby Chickens



Did you get my good side?

It's that time of year again. Our local farm supply stores are having there "Chick Days" and for us that means new babies. We are adding a new flock to our farm this year, with some new breeds that we are very excited about. This is something the whole family enjoys. We have already picked up six Amber Link (the yellow babies) six Cuckoo Marans (black and yellow babies) and six Black Australorps ( also black and yellow babies) in a week or so I will be picking up six Brown Leghorns, six Buff Orpington, six Silver-Laced Wyandottes and six Gold Wyandottes, that will complete our new flock. Most of the new chickens are brown egg layers, with the Cuckoo Marans laying the darkest chocolate brown eggs, and the Brown Leghorns laying white eggs. In the past we have had the Pearl White Leghorns, Buff Orpington, Rhode Island Red, and Barred Rock, I loved them all.This year I wanted to try some new breeds.



Amber Link



Black Australorp



        Having Fun In The Kitchen!!!
We are having a lot of fun this morning making pancakes for breakfast. The pancakes for my daughter spell out "FUN". The ones for my husband are heart shaped. I'm serving them with bacon. The recipe comes from an old cookbook, in fact is was my very first cookbook, though worn from use, it is still my go to cookbook for many recipes.

Pancakes

3/4 cup whole milk

1 egg

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

In a medium mixing bowl, add first four ingredients, mix well. In a small mixing bowl add dry ingredients, whisk together. Then add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, gently mix until well blended. Heat a lightly oiled non-stick skillet on medium heat. Pour small amount of batter into hot pan, cook until you see air bubbles in the batter, gently flip, cooking other side, being careful not to over cook. Enjoy with your favorite syrup. Slightly adapted from original recipe.

            Happy Valentine's Day!!!
For me Valentine's Day meant alot of cooking, but that's O.K. First I started a pot roast (husbands request) in my crockpot, later I'll add carrots, then potatoes to finish that off. Then I made red velvet brownies with cream cheese frosting. For breakfast the next day, I made breakfast that consist of heart shaded fried eggs, homemade pofk sausage, homemade angel biscuits with a glass of orange juice. Yum, this all made for a wonderful Valentine's weekend. Plus it is snowing here today and we are having a wonderful time watching all of the beautiful birds come to our bird feeders. Putting out extra food for them. We feed the birds here all year long, but always put out extra treats during the winter months.



Egg molds worked perfectly

 

Angel Biscuits, light and fluffy

Friend made the bird feeder, using old records, we love it and so do the birds

                    Salmon Cakes
Made salmon cakes for dinner tonight. I also made a homemade sauce to top them off, served on a buttered toasted bun with leaf lettuce. I made them with a new salmon that I found. I had been buying salmon in 14 3/4 oz. cans. This salmon was of a better quality (no bones to remove) than what I have been using. I bought this at a local club store and it came in a four pack of 7 oz. cans. I used all four cans and it made eight good sized salmon cakes, some for the freezer for later. I will not use the other brand again.

Salmon Cakes

4 - 7oz. cans salmon (comes fully cooked and ready to eat)

1 sweet onion, chopped

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup bread crumbs

salt and pepper to taste

cooking oil for frying

Drain liquid from salmon. Place drained salmon into a medium mixing bowl. Add beaten eggs, mixing well. Then add bread crumbs, again mixing well. Mix in chopped onions. Add salt and pepper to taste, mixing well. Press mixture together gently shaping into seven patties. Place into a heated frying pan with 4 Tablespoons of cooking oil. Fry each patty on both sides until golden brown. Serve with your favorite topping.

Zesty Sauce

1/4 cup mayo

1/2 cup ketchup

3 Tablespoons chopped sweet pickle

1 Tablespoon creamy horseradish

Link for salmon: http://www.samsclub.com/sams/daily-chef-atlantic-salmon-4-pk/prod6790281.ip?navAction=