Egg custard and veggie garden plans

My first task for this morning is to make my men some egg custard.  John LOVES custard.  And since we get 5 eggs a day, custard is NO problem!

The recipe I used is from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook... you know the one.  Page 254.

This is a very simple recipe.  Before you begin mixing the ingredients, set your oven to 325.  You also need a pie pan & 6 custard cups.  I put my pie pan on a baking sheet.  Now, put the custard cups in the pie pan and pour boiling water around them.

Egg Custard (flan)

3 beaten eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
nutmeg and allspice to sprinkle on the top

In a large mixing bowl, blend all ingredients.  Pour into the custard cups, sprinkle with nutmeg and allspice.  Bake for 40 minutes.

Here's the pictures from this morning.

Doesn't that look yummy?

I'm also planning our garden.  John and Josh tilled the garden over a week ago, before the snow.  If the weather cooperates today, it will get another pass and I'll get the "root" veggies" into the ground.  Here's what we're planning to plant this weekend.

Sweet potato

Blue and red potatoes.  Red and yellow onions.

Walking onions.  I've never seen any plants like these so I thought I'd try them.

Carrots, beets and cabbage.

I also want to get some seeds started for transplant later.  Here's the list.

Flowers for the flower beds and around the garden for insect control.

Plants for the herb garden and on the patio.

And of course, lettuce for salad all summer long.

We love big tomatoes.  Okra is a necessity.

Who could live without squash?

Or cucumbers?

And a nice, ripe melon is HEAVEN!

Our garden didn't do as well last year.  It got too hot, too soon.  Our hottest day last year was June 28th when it was 111F!  Holy moly!  We were in "severe" drought all summer, and I believe we're just finally out of it.  It's been a very dry 12 months.

Northeast walkway and garden in background.

This picture was taken last year on March 31st.  The garden is in the background.  Notice that the onions are already in the ground and the soil is DRY?  The peonies were blooming already.  The peaches were DONE blooming.  It was 86 degrees that day.  Simply amazing.

Josh had just come to live with us that month.  My brother-in-law Joey and his wife Lisa were also living here then.  We had a house full. 

Joe tilled the garden and got the onions planted.  Lisa had lots of plants started in pots for a sale were were going to be in at the Hardy Gym.

In 2011, we had floods.  The Spring River didn't flood as long as some of the other local rivers.  The Black River and the White River were still over flood stage when we took a trip to Georgia for the 4th of July.  In fact, the Mississippi was so high that weekend, we were concerned we might not make it back on time!  We have a long growing season here.  This tomato was still blooming in October.  Notice Curly Joe our lavender guinea behind the tomato?




 We had a pretty good garden in 2010, but for some reason I don't have any pictures of it....  Hummmmm.  I think it's because my grand daughter was here all summer.  And I hurt my back that summer.  That was rough.  So I wasn't outside as much, digging in the ground.  But our homestead still looked pretty good that summer, as you can see from this picture.

Tammy and Ariel catching tadpoles in the "pond".

I know we had beets and carrots in the garden that year.  Ariel helped me dig them up and eat them.  I remember she really liked the Bull's Blood beets.  They're very sweet.  She even asked me, "Can I stay up late and eat beets?"  WOW!

Here's the garden in 2009.  That's the hickory tree that fell in the garden (I discussed this in my last post).

John out standing in his garden.

And the veggies we got that year were excellent.

Men's work

I've been a bit focused on "women's work" in my posts lately.  What I've been doing....  So today I thought I'd write about what the men in my life have been doing....

John's not as able has he was 7 years ago when we bought this wonderful place.  Joshua came to live with us last March.  It's been a Godsend having him here.  Really.  He's been so much help to us, it's amazing.

They've been doing a lot of projects together.  Most of it involves working with wood.

John and Josh in 2007

An old dresser out in the barn.

A custom made kitchen island for my bread making.

Here's one of the first projects we worked on together.  We turned this old dresser into our kitchen island.  I've talked about that in a previous post....  but I wanted to show the before and after.  This was done in 2007.

I love the way this island turned out.  It's just the right height for kneading bread.  I use it all the time.




And when I'm not baking bread, it's where we leave out the goodies to snack on.  Very handy.











But, back to the subject of this post...

The first step in making anything from wood is getting the tree down on the ground.  Firewood or lumber, the tree has to come down first.  Sometimes nature does that for us. 

Large hickory that came down on the garden.

Like this big tree that was out by the workshop.  One July day in 2009, it came down.  What a mess!  It damaged the roof of one small storage building and broke the railing of the fence.  But it didn't damage the garden or the house.  And that's a miracle!

Once the tree is down, it has to be cut into pieces.  It it's meant for lumber it's cut into 8 - 12 foot sections.  Firewood is cut into 18 inch sections (or smaller).  Then it has to dry. Most people have an idea of how to cut firewood.  Today, I want to focus on lumber making.   

Making lumber is a family affair.  We're usually all out there, having a good time.  I like to watch & keep them company.  But I don't get involved in actually cutting the lumber.

Brother Joe, John and Nephew Jareb.. with canine supervision.

We have a Hudson one-man saw mill.  John got this mill before we got together.  When we moved to Arkansas, we moved it with us.  He used this mill to make all the lumber he used for thresholds, shelving, windowsills, potato bins, drop spindles and a thousand other wooden items around our house.

Our living room in 2011.  Shelves are home made.  Loom was from commercial 2x4's.

A close up of the sawmill.  The Hudson Oscar 18".  It can handle logs 18 inches wide and 12 feet long.

Once the logs have dried for at least a year, they rolled over near the sawmill.  Using a cant hook, they're rolled up onto the tracks of the mill.  Then they are locked into place with the hooks and the bark is removed with the first pass.

Then the log is rolled 180 degrees.  Now each pass will result in a straight, even board.  This is important, because you want the boards to be of an even thickness to prevent warping as they dry.

The mill uses a long saw blade and is pushed by the operator to advance it through the log.

Nephew Jareb learning to use the sawmill.

Here's what the boards look like once they're off the sawmill.

The sawdust, chips and bark form a pile under and behind the sawmill.  We don't mind because nothing goes to waste.  Sawdust has a million uses.  Chips can go in the chicken cages as mulch under the birds feet.  Bark can be tinder for the fireplace or wood cookstove in the Summer kitchen.  The sawdust and chips can also go in the garden as mulch. 

Once the lumber has been cut, it has to be stacked to dry.  We stack lumber in the barn.

After the lumber is dry it can be made into so many different things, it's amazing.  One thing John likes to make is "whiz jiggers".  The technical name for them is Mayan spindles.  They're used for spinning yarn.  He made them from a variety of woods for a sale we did last spring.  I labeled each as to what wood was used, and wove the basket.

Whiz jiggers

John also likes to make drop spindles.  He made these in 2011 for our Hardy Homesteader's demo.

And he made the loom in this picture, (back in 2005) as a wedding present to me.  Its cherry.

Hardy Homesteaders 2011

He made the tripod in 2011, so I could use the loom at this demo.  It came out very well and I really love it.



Josh has been making some wooden spoons, forks, hair picks and lucets.  They've sold fairly well.  Here's some of his projects this past year.

Home made knife from an old pruner blade.

Wooden forks

Hair fork

Pistol grips

He used the old blade from a pair of pruners I had to make this cool knife.  The handle is plum, I believe.  He put polyurethane on the handle.









Each of these forks is from a different wood.  After each was shaped, it was sanded and finished with olive oil.






I use this hair pic all the time!  It's great.  Before I got my hair cut this past winter, I had almost waist length hair (all 1 length) which is very thick and curly.  It would hold my hair all day long without falling out.

He made a variety of these from different woods and in different styles.  They sold well.

And he fashioned new grips for his pistols.  They came out well.

Spring has resumed

Well, the snow is gone.  Today it's raining and 42 degrees.  But we're supposed to have high winds and possibly more snow tonight!  I guess maybe a few more cold nights to come...  but that's to be expected.

I've got 34 eggs in the incubator.  I told a couple I know that I'd hatch some Rhode Island Red chicks for them.  While I was hatching, I thought I'd hatch some Brahma Cochin also, and a few of the Black Copper Maran.  I love having baby chickens!

Here's a few pictures of chicks in the past.

Rhode Island Red chicks from 2012

Newly hatched RIR chicks from 2011

John built me this incubator.  He's such a great husband!

Young mixed birds from 2010

 I didn't hatch any eggs in 2010... but I did get my birds I have now as adults from a lady we know down the road.  She raised birds for a living.  I raise birds because I like birds.  Not the same, at all.

Most of the chicks I raise I give to other people I know who are trying to get a small flock started at their homestead.  I've lost a LOT of young birds to blacksnakes, opossums, racoons... I've lost a few to cold, mostly banty.  They just don't have the body mass to survive the winter without some kind of windproof shelter.  We did much better this year, because I wrapped all the cages in plastic.  And I put much heavier mulch in all the cages.

Our peach tree is in bloom.  I hope they don't get frozen in the next few nights.  I really love having home grown peaches.

Spring storm

Well, my elbow's on the mend.  I got the bandage off on Wednesday and I can actually bend my elbow!  And straighten my arm.  I can even type today.  Using the up/down arrows isn't fun yet.  Or turning door knobs.  But I'm definately on the mend.

We had a Spring storm yesterday.  Luckily, it didn't start snowing until around 5.  We had an early morning MRI appointment for my husband, John.  He's been suffering with neck pain and migraines for years.  He's been referred to a new doctor who wanted new MRI's.  Hopefully we'll get to meet this new doc soon.

So, back to the snow.  We got 4 inches.  That's not a whopping storm to us Northerners (Yankee's as they call us here).  That would require 36-48 inches, in my humble opinion.  But for March 22 in Arkansas, 4 inches is a respectable amount.

I have a few pictures.

East Entrance

West entrance

Garden and workshop

Patio and water tank (pond)

See, 4 inches

A foggy morning

It's cool and foggy this morning.  We had rain and drizzle all day yesterday.  So, I took some bread dough out of the freezer to thaw and rise.  I added the first addition of flour this morning.

We spent the day yesterday all snug inside.  We found this great app for my touchpad called Twonky.  It allows me to view Youtube videos on our TV using my touchpad and our Roku.  Very cool.  If you're a Youtube fan with a touchpad and a Roku, check it out.  Download the app to your touchpad and add the Twonky channel to your Roku...  Happy viewing!

I took a few spring pictures while I was out feeding the birds this morning.  Spring is on the way!

Peach blossoms

Lilac blossoms

Chicken birdhouse birthday present

Our front walk

Freshly tilled garden after a day of rain

I talked to our friend Erika today, and she's not having a good day.  She hurt her back and is really having difficulty.  I'm so sorry you're hurting Erika.  :(