Tuesday, July 21, 2009

My New Love--PLUMS!

So, my wonderful-used to be-painting professor Ms. DeLap, her husband Prof. J, and I had a wonderful visit on Wednesday. They gave me a box of plums and I've made eight loaves of wonderful Plum Quickbread--the recipe I kind of tweeked. This is what I used:

Ingredients:
1 C. Sugar
3/4 C. Packed Brown Sugar
3/4 C. Oil
1 Egg
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
2 C. All-Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 C. Buttermilk
2 C. Pitted, Chopped Plums

Topping:
1-1/2 Teaspoons Sugar
1/4 Teaspoon of Cinnamon
Pecans Chopped

Directions:
In a mixing bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar, oil, egg, and vanilla. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Alternately add parts of the flour mixture and buttermilk to the sugar mixture. Add in Plums. Pour into two greased loaf pans. Sprinkle desired amount of pecans to the top of the batter (I cover the top lightly), then sprinkle the combined sugar and cinnamon on top of the loaves and bake at 350-degrees for about an hour. Cool on wire rack.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Oh My Goodness!

Laurie of Made By SwirlyGirl's Side Lines featured one of my etsy listings on her blog today. In a post entitled Moody Monday--Time Flies: my "Turning Pages" print was one of the artworks listed. How exciting to be noticed. Let's hope for more exposure!!

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Finally got my rabbits.

At Dinky's on Friday I finally got myself a couple of does. This is my new Flemish Giant doe--she's only two months old and huge already. She has a wonderful personality and I'm very pleased with her.
This girl is just a medium sized rabbit, she was very easily handled from crate to cage, but now she's as nervous as could be. I wish she had the Flemish's disposition. If I could find another girl like my Flemish I'll most likely trade this one. We'll have to see--now I'm on the lookout for a suitable buck.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

A look at the livestock.

An abstracted view of Ace, but he's still a very handsome boy. He keeps me company and is a big sweetie--he just turned a year old last month, and is just starting to look like an adult dog instead of a gangly puppy. The chicks are growing up. This was taken two weeks ago, but it's proof that they are beginning to look like real chickens instead of birds with fluff falling off and bald spots...which all chicks have to go through--quite an ugly rite of passage.
Did you know that goats dance? These were our two whether goats--I ended up giving them back to the family we got them from. My husband decided they were too much work for me while I was pregnant--they were severely human dependent when they went out to pasture to graze--so as much as I hated to admit it, he was right. They were really funny though always trying to get to the tree leaves. Don't worry there are more goats in my future--I can feel it.
I am happy that my only real chores involve the chickens, the dogs, and the horses. As little as that is--it wears me out. Next year though there will be a generous increase in all livestock species I hope.


The Garden Up Close.

The garden is only still surviving thanks to my mother-in-law. She's been so good to me and I can't thank her enough--I helped plant and I've plucked some weeds, but my pregnant belly doesn't let me do much else. I can, however, take photographs of the garden. So I'm not completely useless. Lillies.

Pumpkin leaf with a silhouette.

Hairy green tomatoes.

Strawberries.
I'm really excited about what the garden is going to do for us in the coming years. We'll be sitting pretty on all that fresh fruit and veggies!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Pregnancy Makes the Time Fly By.

I swore that I wouldn't let this blog go by the wayside, but alas I did, and I apologize.

Anyway--I listed more items on etsy today--yay! Check them out here. And I'll be putting some printmaking prints on there too. Here are some of the listings:Chicken Frenzy

Turning Pages

The summer has been a blur, our garden is really coming on. I'll post some photos from out in the garden patch tomorrow. My chicks are almost adult looking--now they've just got to grow, but they did make it out of their 'ugly stages' successfully. I'm also really excited that I've gained some new penpals this week! Some great girls over at MaryJanesFarm Farmgirl Connection and I are going to be writing letters back and forth and I'm really excited about it. I wrote two of them yesterday, and I've got two more to write to tonight. There's nothing better than a handwritten note in the mail. I suggest you write a note to somebody, anybody, today--it will brighten their day--I guarantee it.

Until tomorrow--have a wonderful evening!