Friday, November 29, 2013

Shoo Flu Potatoes


Well, Halloween is over. Thanksgiving is over. Who has a mountain of leftovers in the frig?

One of the items mocking me from the refrigerator is the mashed potatoes. I love potato pancakes; why not whip up something HEALTHY and TIMELY? (It is almost December with colds and flu lurking on every Santa bell).



Just take whatever amount of potatoes you had left--I had about a cup.
Chop up some onions. Onions contain the chemical compounds phenolic and flavonoids that basic research shows to have potential anti-inflammatory action. I used 2 green onions.

Now comes the horseradish. Chop finely. For many years I had the progeny of horseradish from my grandfathers farm, but during a winter move it got left behind. But, this horseradish is from my own garden and a decendent of the horseradish root I planted in 2002. It has flourished even having been uprooted for a move from the city to the farm.




Horseradish, a member of the mustard family shares lineage with its green cousin, kale, red cousin, radish and white cousin,cauliflower. Brussel sprouts is also in the family tree. Properties of horseradish include: stimulant, diuretic, diaphoretic, rubefacient, antibiotic, carminative, expectorant,laxative (mild), and antiseptic. All that simply means it's very good for you!








See where I'm going with the SHOO FLU theme?

Add one farm fresh free range egg, sea salt and mix together while thinking good thoughts, drop by spoonfuls in about a teaspoon of coconut oil. I used my mother's iron skillet which never lets me down. Fry until golden brown. Ummmmmm....and SHOO FLU!!

Friday, November 15, 2013

Clean The Frig


Today is national Clean Your Refrigerator Day so I took the opportunity to sort out my kefir. I LOVE my little kefir grains.

Aren't they adorable?





Since my alpha-gal allergy to all things mammal I can't drink my beloved goats milk, so I kefir in rice milk and almond milk. It's a little tricky as the kefir grains do not feed on anything but the real deal-MILK. So, every two days I put them in goats milk to feed them, then I rinse them and put them in either rice milk or almond milk. As I understand it, the "faux" milk products do not have as many probiotics as it does in real milk, but I figure it's better than nothing.

I add a couple tablespoons of kefir to my morning smoothie.

I learned how to make non-milk kefir from this wonderful lady who shares her life stories and recipes HERE. She has amazing stories of health restorations.

This is a pint of milk kefir...since I make it every day to keep my grains healthy I have a lot more than I and my husband can drink. So, naturally I share it with my dog, Cassie, my cats--all seven of them--and my chickens. They all just love it and it keeps their tummys working wonderfully.

 

PS  I began drinking kefir about 2012. Since adding more fermented foods to my diet (2020-why did I wait so long!), MY FOOD ALLERGIES ARE GONE !!!!! So, I went back to raw cows and goats milk for making my kefir.  BRAVO LITTLE GUYS IN FERMENTED FOOD!!! I LOVE YOU!!!

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Shivers and Livers


Woo hoo...14 degrees yesterday morning and 16 the morning before.


(I spent all of yesterday trying to get a cute pic of Daisy--the Queen Bee of the Goat Yard--downloaded. Don't know if the problem was sun spots or alien pranks, but I finally got it to work.)

For the first time EVER my goats were shivering during the morning milking. I felt bad for cleaning their udders. The water was warm, but once it hit that cold air...well say no more.

I gave them a vigorous rub down to try and get that circulation going so they would warm up quicker. Once they downed their grain and started on their hay they seemed to warm up. My barn is pretty cozy and warm, but when the temps drop below 20 it's just cold that's all there is to it.



I give my goats dandelion on occasion, they aren't crazy about them but will munch at their leisure. Dandelion is sooo good for animals and people as well. Everyone here gets a regular dose: cats, Cassie (dog), goats, chickens and rabbits.




The rabbits LOVE dandelions and always scurry and scamper to be the first to get a bite. Dandelion, among a host of other things, is good for cleansing the liver. Your liver works hard: over 500 functions, so it needs a boost to keep it in good working order. It's packed with nutrients that help keep my animals in optimal health.

I use dandelion in my FIRST AID SALVE and also make a tincture from it. Spring leaves are good in salads, blossoms in fritattas and pancakes just to name a few culinary uses.

And, let's not forget that all important "making a wish" component.....

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

First Aid on the Farm


I mentioned my herbal first aid last week; here's one of my healing stories.

This spring when my does had their kids, one of my goats, Becky, tore her udder.


It went about 3 inches one direction then turned and went another 3-4 inches. There were 2 flaps hanging open like curtains in a bad play.

It happened on a Saturday morning; I buy feed on Saturdays so I mentioned it to my feed lady. She recommended a product made specifically for animal wounds and one of her customers joined in to tell me how wonderfully the product worked.

I told them about my herbal protocol that had always worked well, although this was by far the worst wound I had used it on. I said that by Monday I would be able to tell which way the wound was going; if I needed to I would come back and buy the OTC product.




I washed the entire area with soap and water.

Step One: spray with hydrogen peroxide. Blot off excess foam with clean tissue, paper towel or cotton ball.





Step Two: Spray wound with echinacea tincture.



Step Three: Slather with dandelion salve. I used a plastic glove to do this. I usually bandage after this step, but this was not an option here so I just put more salve on and around the wound than I usually do.


All done. I was very worried about there being no bandage to keep it clean. She lays in the barn, the barn yard and the pasture opening her up to all sorts of nasties getting into the wound.

By Monday, the wound looked so much better I didn't even consider buying the OTC wound product. I applied the herbal protocol 3 or 4 times a day for about a week, then twice a day at milking time.

The wound healed incredibly fast without a hint of infection.


This is Becky today; all well with just a tiny scar. She is still sharing that sweet sweet milk that our costumers love.

I make the echinacea tincture and the dandelion salve; they are sold separately or in a first aid kit along with hydrogen peroxide and bandages. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE FIRST AID KIT.





On a side note--I noticed Becky's kid's face and ears looked strange. "What now," I thought. Can you see the discoloration on his face? After the 2nd day I decided to take a scraping and look at it under my microscope to see if he had any beasties crawling around under that beautiful angora hair.


That's when I realized he had gotten dandelion salve all over his face and ears when he was nursing!!! Wow, that was a relief.

Friday, November 8, 2013

Briar Patch


Fridays are busy busy here at Rocky Creek. In addition to all the farm stuff that has to be done I have a farmers market in downtown KC. Yes, still. This is an INDOOR fabulous organic market that you will just love. CLICK HERE TO VISIT THEIR WEBSITE.

Tomorrow I have my second craft show of the season at the Montgomery in Excelsior Springs. Come on by--lots of great HERBAL PRODUCTS.

Briar Patch is my rabbit village built by my FarmBoy Gary. Here are the inhabitants:
The Patriarch "Paddy" (white-French Angora) and newest occupant "Pepper" (black-English Angora). They are getting acquainted in the bunny yard separated by fencing. You can see a ramp in the background where Paddy goes up to his hutch.



From left to right: Cherry Blossom(white-French Angora , Nutmeg (brown-French Angora and Thumbelina (white/brown-English Angora) chowing on comfrey.



This is S'mores our only non-Angora bunny. He's a doll.


This is Paddy ON TOP of his hutch in Briar Patch. He's a dare devil.


Thumbelina just hangin' out on her sun porch in front of her apartment. Isn't she a cutie patootie?


Nutmeg grooming Thumbelina. Both Nutmeg and Cherry Blossom baby Thumbelina--it's so stinkin' cute.


Cherry Blossom on her sun porch. She's giving Pepper the evil eye through the cage partition. For some reason she just hates poor little Pepper.


Pepper enjoying yard time without the others. We have to keep her separate for now.


They all love Briar Patch: it has separate apartments for each of them, sun porches and ramps down to the yard. I'll post better pics of the whole complex one day. Not today! Have an herbalicious week end.... :)

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Men Cook Dinner Day


Woohooo, ladies. It's the national day for men to cook today! I am one of the chosen ones in that my FarmBoy Gary loves to cook. HERE IS a recipe from our website that even the culinary challenged men can do. It's right up their alley GRILLING.

Don't make the mistake of thinking grilling is only for warm months. We grill 12 months out of the year. This recipe for Grilled Onions is super easy and super good.

It's a beautiful day here at the farm. We've had several cloudy, windy, rainy, muddy days so the sunshine is soooo appreciated. FarmBoy Gary is working on making goat stalls in our barn. Yay! I wanted them to each have their own space. It's an old barn, but FarmBoy works wonders with his handy dandy hammer and yellow power tools....of which I am banned from touching.

Becky's spot where Daisy gored her is healing quite nicely. One day when I'm not talking about food I'm going to post pics of wounds and expound on my triple whammy herbal first aid protocol. IT"S GREAT. In the meantime you can read about it HERE

Yesterday I did battle with my sewing machine (Asian beetles invaded us during the hot spell last week and apparently they thought they would winter over in the mechanics of my Singer)and my serger (missing screw). However, I persevered and am almost done.

DRATTED BEETLES...THEY WERE EVERYWHERE!!!



We have a what I refer to as a mountain behind our barns. It is goat heaven. They always come when I call. Here is a short clip of their stampede down the mountain and into the barn yard in response to me yelling "GOAT" at the top of my lungs. Cute, huh?!

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Master Tonic and Conquering Machines



I got my Master Tonic made yesterday...let me tell ya THIS IS POTENT!! I'm so glad I used the food processor. That may sound every-day ordinary to you, but the food processor and I have had a running battle ever since it first appeared on my kitchen counter. My husband LOVES it and uses it for everything. I just couldn't get the hang of getting that lid on right--me and mechanical/electronic things don't sync up.

Considering the ingredients in Master Tonic--onions, garlic, horseradish, ginger, peppers (jalapeno and GHOST PEPPERS)--I knew I would be in trouble if I tried MY WAY of chopping by hand. For some reason known only to the kitchen angels everything went perfectly; the food processor decided to be my friend. And, it's a good thing because my eyes, mouth and throat were burning as it was.


My GHOST PEPPER bush hanging in the cottage




So, if you didn't go to the website that tells all about Master Tonic, get yourself on over there now BY CLICKING HERE. The weather is turning; it's cold, windy and rainy in the valley today. This means you will have that telltale tickle in the back of your throat that signals the onset of a cold or worse. This Master Tonic is a NATURAL way to combat the beasties of winter. It takes two weeks to "brew" so don't delay; do it today.

I'm off to my sewing room; I got my granddaughter's dress pattern traced and the pieces cut out so she's all ready to sew. I'm feeling confident since my food processor success so first thing I'm going to get my serger(really? serger isn't in Microsoft's dictionary?!) up and running....remember what I said about my relationship with mechanical/electronic stuff? Well, I use my sewing machine regularly, but haven't used my serger in 5 years!!! So, wish me luck.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Rainy Day


Oh I'm so happy---Daylight Savings Time is OVER. Whewww. Made it through another summer. I'm a lark, you see. Larks love mornings. This lark loves doing chores in the daylight. This lark loves having more time in the a.m. to get things done. When daylight is delayed, chores are delayed, tasks are delayed. And, don't even get me started on evening snaffus because of the extended daylight. Enough on that subject.

So, it's been a while since I've been here. My little fingers have been busy with other farm related stuff; but I'm going to make a valiant effort to journal my journey. After all, I know a lot of you keep checking and checking to see what's new.

Milking is full swing. Customers just love my sweet sweet goat milk. I have four fresh but until this morning I was only milking three and letting my darling little Chloe (4 months old) have all she wanted. She is a twin and was super tiny so I didn't mind her drinking her fill every day. But, she's a fine little future milker now and has to grow up a little bit. I will still let her nurse all day, pen her mom, Polly, up at night, milk Polly in the mornings and let Chloe run with her mom all day. I learned this neat once a day milking procedure from Molly--a delightful lady who shares all she knows on her website.CLICK HERE TO CHECK HER OUT

Chloe-one hour old. Isn't she a beauty?

Yesterday I cleaned the chicken house, goat barn and rabbitry or as I like to call it Briar Patch. I have four gorgeous Angora rabbit does--Cherry Blossom, Nutmeg, Thumbalina and Pepper, one buck, Paddy, and one adorable little male of unkown origin--S'mores. Brair Patch is an ingenious creation of my farmboy husband, Gary. It has apartments, sunporches and ramps down to the yards. The rabbits love it.

So it's raining this morning so I am going to make my grand daughter a birthday dress, make a Master Tonic CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE and do up the rest of the pears a friend of mine gave me. The Master Tonic is similar to the Fire Cider I used to make. I'll let you know how much of this to do today list I actually get done!

Have an herbalicious day.
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...