Busy Day

Even though David is still recovering from getting his wisdom teeth pulled yesterday, we had a busy day today. The farm rests for no one!

First up - moving a shed from David's mom's old house out to our place. They are selling the house and said we can have the shed, so we jumped on it. We need a bigger chicken coop and were trying to figure out if we should build or buy one, but this shed is perfect. It's 8x12 and 10 feet tall so there's plenty of space for all the chickens. We'll just have to add some nesting boxes and roosts and it'll be good to go.

The rest of our day and night has been taken up by hatching guineas!

Much more to come on these guys in tomorrow's Feathered Friend Friday, but just wanted to give you a sneak peek.

It's been pretty magical to witness several of them hatching. I guess we're grandparents now!

~Tammy

Drink Your Greens

I've written before about green juice and why we drink it. I've really been slacking with juicing lately and I'm trying to get back on the bandwagon. Tonight when I got home from work, David and I had a juice break before tackling the evening chores.

It may be hard to believe, but David is the biggest fan of juice around here. I feel like it's an acquired taste that I'm still getting used to, but David loves it. I'm going to just count my blessings on that one.

The chickens love it when we juice, too, because they get all the pulp that is left behind after the juice is extracted. Nothing wasted here.

I don't feel like it's realistic for us to get a glass of juice every single day, so if I've noticed we haven't had a healthy dose of greens in several days, I'll make some juice. I just want to make sure we get plenty of greens, whether in solid or liquid form!

~Tammy

Cutting Garden

Along with our vegetable gardens, I really wanted a cutting garden this year so I could have flowers to bring inside whenever I wanted. We bought a packet of "wildflower mix" at the store for $0.20, David spread the seeds in one of our beds, and we waited to see what happened.

David usually has the watering duties every evening, so I haven't been over to the cutting garden lately to check for new blooms. When I least expected it, he gathered a bouquet and surprised me.

One of my favorite things to do is arrange flowers in different vases and place all around the house. I have my favorite hand-me-down milk glass vases from grandma that I love, but for these flowers I chose my (also hand-me-down from grandma) blue tinted mason jar.

I love how fresh flowers instantly add such a cheery, bright feeling to any space. For $0.20, some water and sunlight, you can't beat fresh flowers cut from your own back yard. Especially when they're hand delivered by your sweet husband.

~Tammy

Best Brownies With Raspberry Jam

A few years back I found a recipe for brownies that has been my go-to ever since. It wasn't from a fancy cookbook or popular blog, but actually on the back of my container of Hershey's cocoa powder. After many batches (for scientific purposes, of course) I tweaked it just a bit to work for me and haven't looked back.

Last weekend I was craving brownies something fierce, so I pulled out my time tested recipe and whipped up a batch. I decided to try something different with these brownies.

I added in some chopped walnuts and brainstormed what else I could do to jazz them up. I remembered that I had a container of raspberries in the fridge that were getting pretty soft, so I knew they would be perfect for jam. I love jam, and I love brownies, so what could be better than a freshly baked brownie with homemade raspberry jam on top?

I really liked the deep raspberry flavor in combination with the rich, intense dark cocoa of the brownie. I'd say this one is a winner.

Best Brownies (slightly adapted from Hershey's Best Brownies recipe found here)

Ingredients:
1 stick butter or margarine, melted
3/4 cup sugar (the recipe calls for 1 cup, but I cut it down and can't tell a difference)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I ran out so didn't add any to this batch and couldn't tell a difference)
2 eggs (I like to use 4 guinea eggs when I have them)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup Hershey's cocoa powder (I use the "Special Dark" version)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional - when I add them I prefer walnuts)

1) Heat oven to 350. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (a great way to grease your pan is to use an empty butter wrapper and wipe all over the pan - there is still butter left on the wrapper so it greases the pan perfectly).

2) Stir together butter, sugar, and vanilla in bowl. Add eggs, beat well with spoon. Stir in flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Stir in nuts if desired. Spread batter evenly in greased baking pan. The batter will be very thick.

3) Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of the pan. Cool completely and cut into squares (I find that a plastic knife works best for clean cuts).

Raspberry Jam
6 oz raspberries
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon chia seeds (optional)

Crush raspberries in a bowl and add sugar (I used an immersion blender to quickly chop up the raspberries). Place in a pan over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer the jam for 5 minutes. Add in the chia seeds if using and continue simmering for about 5 more minutes, or until it has reached desired thickness (the chia seeds help to thicken the jam). Let cool then store in the fridge. Will stay fresh for up to a week.

I have some jam left, so I see a peanut butter and raspberry jam sandwich in my future. I've always wanted to try thumbprint cookies, so I think that would finish off the jam nicely. Having extra jam to use is definitely not a problem for me!

~Tammy