This is the blog for our little farm in Skagit county. Here we have Shetland sheep and Nigerian Dwarf goats. In addition we have donkeys, llamas, cattle, pigs, chickens, geese, and peafowl. The blog describes the weekly activities here.
The grandkids visited this afternoon which was wonderful. We went out to lunch at Bob’s, and William got to ride his electric motorcycle all over. The weather was atrocious though. We both held Piper for a while and had a chance to catch up
The only photo I took was of William and Tom going to check on the animals. I thought it was incredibly sweet.
For dinner I decided to make Souvlaki and fresh pita. I have been wanting to make this recipe for 2 1/2 years and finally had a good opportunity. I started the pita dough and marinated the pork and onions in the afternoon.
And then in the evening I grilled the pita,
and the skewers.
And here is the dinner all ready.
The dinner was really good. My pita wouldn’t bend but Tom’s did. The pork was tender and flavorful. The onions were good, and the feta was a nice compliment. I did not make the other condiments as I figured Tom wouldn’t like them. But they probably would have been nice accompaniments. This recipe is definitely a keeper.
She was born 5/1/04 in Hamilton, WA to Mystic Knoll Corinne and our ram Bitterroot Ansel (AKA Jocko). She moved to our farm on 8/18/04
Heidi 2005
Heidi Fleece 2005
Her 2005 fleece was sold and sent to Chestertown, Maryland.
Heidi 2006
Heidi fleece 2006
Her 2006 fleeces sold and went to Atlanta, Georgia.
Heidi with lambs Hemlock and Hazelnut 2007
We still have Hazelnut as a wether.
Hemlock became a ram. In August of 2007 he won best Shetland ram lamb. In September at the Puyallup Fair he also won best Shetland ram lamb but he also got reserve champion Shetland ram. In 2008 at the Skagit Fair he won best Shetland ram and was sold and moved to Enumclaw. In 2013 he moved to Soap Lake.
Heidi’s 2007 fleece was made into roving and sold as far away as Lawrenceburg, Tennessee.
Her 2008 fleece went to Fortuna, California.
Heidi’s profile 2009
Heidi fleece 2009
Her 2009 fleece went to Lucas, Iowa.
Heidi 2009 Heidi’s lock 2009
Heidi’s fleece 2010
Her 2010, 2011 and 2012 fleeces went to Norfolk, VA.
Heidi with lambs Homer and Bart. 2010
They were sold to Denise who lives down the road and renamed Edgar and Griff. Griff died in 2016 but as far as I know Edgar is doing well.
Heidi with lambs Hodor and Harlen 2015. We still have them.
Her 2015 fleece went to Fresno, CA.
Heidi’s locks 2016
This fleece was combined with two other moorit Shetland fleeces to make yarn which I have been selling.
Heidi and Madonna 2016
Heidi locks 2017
Her 2017 was combined with two other moorit Shetland fleeces to make roving which I have been selling.
Heidi being sheared 2018
Heidi 2019
Her health has been declining this last year. This winter she has been in a pen with her son Hazelnut, getting spoiled with grain, wetted alfalfa pellets and bread. Just yesterday she ate great and I thought she made it through the cold spell. But this morning she was down and struggling to stand up. And she would not eat or drink. So it was time to say goodbye
She hadn’t been a friendly sheep but as she got older she became nicer. She produced a legacy of lovely wool and sheep enjoyed far and wide. She will be missed.
The theme of today’s post is white stuff. Yesterday I started rendering lard, since we had run out. I decided I wanted to use my Instant Pot if possible so found this site which was helpful. I grabbed one of the 2 bags of lard that the butchered had given us from our pigs.
I chopped the lard into 1/2 – 1 inch chunks and put them in the Instant Pot.
It turned out that it seemed like I needed 1/2 cup of water rather than 1/4 cup to get it up to pressure. I used the manual pressure cooker setting for ~2.5 hours. Then I got my first batch of lard. I then sautéed the cracklings. Here is the results of the first batch.
I then did a second batch to finish this bag. Last night we got 2 more inches of snow and this morning we were at freezing temperatures again. From the 40 degree weather we had yesterday, the snow on the roof on the garage is starting to sag down.
Thanks to Tom’s tractor work and some melting the driveway is not as deep as it was, but there is still compact snow and ice on it as well as on the road. This morning all I saw on our usually busy road was a smattering of 4WD vehicles moving slowly.
This is my car. There is much less snow on it today compared to 2 days ago.
Today the sun came out, and it made the snow on the trees look pretty.
I waited until noon to see if I could get my car out of our driveway. This is because I was supposed to join my mother to see the Seattle Symphony this evening. But my car got stuck in the driveway and just spun its tires there. So I sadly had to cancel. Plus the prediction is for lots of 36 degree rain tonight. Since the forecasts have been underestimating our snow here all week, I am skeptical that this will be snow instead of rain.
I did finish making the last bag of lard today. The fat from frying the cracklings from yesterday is on the left, the most recent and warm two jars of lard are next, then the three jars of chilled lard I did yesteryear. Finally the cracklings from both days are on the right..
Although I did a much better job of frying the cracklings this time to the point that they are crisp, I am still not a fan. So I will freeze them and slowly dole them out to Steve who will love them as treats. Here is a close-up of the lards.
This evening I did try to console myself with a Downton Abbey cocktail. This one was a Boulevardier which is equal parts of bourbon, sweet vermouth and Campari with an orange twist.
This is the opposite of white. The Campari still has an odd and bitter flavor which I am not sure I like. But it is festive which is nice when it is dark and cold outside.
For dinner I decided to make Souvlaki and fresh pita. I have been wanting to make this recipe for 2 1/2 years and finally had a good opportunity. I started the pita dough and marinated the pork and onions in the afternoon.
