Snowed In

 

We have a lot more snow this year than we have in the recent past.  As you can see, the snow level is quite a ways up the chicken coop.  We can open the door, and do most days.  We only keep it closed when it's sub zero or the wind chills are extreme.  Even with the door open though, the chickens don't like to come out.  I can't say that I blame them.  If I had a choice I don't think I'd go out in the snow either. 

Best Ever Chocolate Cookies

I made a lot of sugar cookies at Christmas time.  I am not ready for more sugar cookies.  What I really wanted was a good chocolate cookie.  Something soft and delicious.  Something I would love and that would make me smile.

As I often do, I started with google.  I searched a few different ways, and then I thought I would try searching for "chocolate peanut butter cookies".  That's when I found it.  But well, not quite it.  It called for peanut butter chips, not peanut butter.  It also called for brown sugar and I didn't have any.  But I wanted to make it anyhow.

So I changed the recipe and made it my own.  I love doing this.  It's fun because I never know if it's going to work out the way I hope.  But sometimes it does.  This time it did.  It was amazing!!  These are my new favorite cookies.  These are the cookies I will be giving to friends for Christmas next year.  It doesn't matter that there is not peanut butter in them.  They are that good. 

First of all, if you don't have brown sugar, you can make your own.  For one cup of sugar I mix in about 1tsp of black strap molasses.  If you use another type of molasses, you might want to add a little more.  Black strap has a stronger flavor.

Now for the best chocolate cookies you will ever make:

2 1/4 cups flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

Beat together butter, sugars, and vanilla until creamy.  Add in eggs and beat until well combined.

Add in flour mixture slowly until well combined. 

Place rounded teaspoons on baking sheet about 1 inch apart.  Bake for about 10 minutes.  Cool and enjoy.

I Love My Ducks

 We raise Muscovy ducks.  I had never planned to raise ducks.  I was OK with chickens being the only poultry on the farm. 

About a year after we started this whole crazy homesteading thing, a lady offered me a some free Muscovy ducks.  No catch, they are just prolific breeders and she was overrun with them. 

So I talked it over with my husband, and shockingly he said yes.

When I went to pick them up, we were suppose to be getting three.  Two females and male (drake).  We ended up with four total, two females and two males. 

The only thing I really knew about ducks was that they like water.  So I had to start researching.  Anyone who knows me will tell you that this was no hardship for me.  I love to research almost anything.  It's the geek in me.

I found out that that Muscovy ducks are native to Central and South America.  That rather surprised me because they are also very cold hardy animals.

If you cross a Muscovy with any other duck, the offspring will be sterile.  These cross bred ducks are called mule ducks.  It's rather like crossing a donkey with a horse.  The really cool thing, is that the sterile females will still lay eggs, but they won't have a yolk.  How many people on a diet would like an egg that was all white?

They also like to roost high off the ground at night.  It's not unusual to find them sleeping on any gate they kind find, the tops of rabbit hutches, or even roofs (including the house!). 

In the winter, they also like to hide under the porch it get out of the wind and snow.  Of course the fact that this is where we put their food in the winter only serves to encourage this behavior.

They are actually pretty wild in behavior, but they will allow us to get fairly close if they think there is something in it for them, such as food or fresh water in their "pond".  Otherwise they prefer we keep a safe distance.  Especially if there is a mother with babies.

Speaking of babies (stop reading if you don't want to hear about how we raise our own food), we raise these ducks for meat.  I really wasn't in a hurry to eat them at first because I had duck in a restaurant once and really did not like it. 

After being assured that Muscovy meat tastes nothing like any other duck, and that it is very much like beef, I decided to try it.  WOW!  I'm so glad I did. 

Since these ducks forage for themselves well in the spring, summer and fall months, they don't cost much to raise to butchering size.  The meat is amazing and yes, it really does taste very much like beef.  It's very red and high in iron. 

The other great bonus with these ducks, is that when they are allowed to free range they are very lean.  There is some fat, but much less than beef.  And even less than turkey.  What fat is there, has an amazing flavor. 

Overall, I'm very glad we decided to give raising these ducks a try.  They are quiet (they don't quack!), the meat is great, and they eat bugs like crazy.  I would have kept them for bug control alone. 

First Babies Of The Year

We have our first babies of the year here on the farm.  Two adorable male Boer goat kids were born around midnight Saturday.  It was cold.  I don't know the exact temperature, but it was cold enough that it was painful to breathe the air walking from the house to the goat house.

When I went to check on the goats, the babies had not been born for long, but they were both very cold.  the ends of both of their ears were frozen solid and the larger of the two's legs were frozen stiff.  Their mother was trying to clean them, but they were freezing faster than she could lick. 

We wrapped them in towels, snuggled them, and even used a hair dryer on them.  In the end, we brought them in the house to warm  up.  We try not to separate babies from their mother's right after birth, but in this case we had to get those babies warm as fast as possible.

Here's one of them all snuggled up getting warm.  We were seriously worried about weather or not this one would recover.

This was pretty much how he stayed for a couple of hours.  Now and then we would get him to raise his head and cry a little, but he couldn't stand.  His brother was up and moving within a half hour and back with mom.  He's still having a little trouble figuring out how to nurse, but otherwise he is fine. 

Just when I had nearly given up, he finally came around and stood up on his own.  At first all he could do is walk backward and he was getting very frustrated.  But he figured it out quickly and went to be with his mom and brother.  He's taken to nursing just fine and looks like he's going to be quite the big, healthy boy.

Here are a few more pictures for you.