I took an unplanned trip to the grocery store Tuesday, which is rare. Usually I have my menu plan made and the shopping list made from that before I go. We were in need of some fresh vegetables and fruit and I didn't want to wait until the scheduled shopping day.
I have read and heard over and over again, "Never go to the grocery store when you are hungry." Well, I didn't heed this advice. It was bad enough that I didn't have my trusty list.
With Celiac, it's not like I can buy cookies and chips and the regular junk food, but I wasn't hungry for junk food. I discovered many treasures in the produce department. I took time to stop and look because I didn't have my list.
We bought purple cauliflower, leeks, jicama, watercress, and broccosprouts along with the regular produce.
I decided to make pureed cauliflower for the first time, I even thought maybe I could pass it off for mashed potatoes to DH. I thought this wonderful, lavender find would turn white when I cooked it, just like the seeds I told you about in an earlier post from rareseeds.com. This variety became brighter and more purple as it cooked. Wow! How was I going to pull off purple mashed potatoes... I followed a simple recipe I found on http://www.recipezaar.com/ . I don't remember which recipe, but it had some water, chicken bouillon and a garlic clove that you cooked the cauliflower in. Then you puree it with some cream and butter. It looked like purple grits! It was tasty, it had a definite garlic taste, the texture was a bit different. I'm not sure what bright purple, look-like-grits, glop of goo is supposed to taste like but we never imagined garlic! It was all eaten but the white variety would probably work best next time.
I had chopped the jicama into thick matchsticks, so they looked like uncooked french fries. Some went into the salad. I thought it might be a good crouton substitute. We had fun munching on the left over jicama. We love jicama now. Tonight we finished it up, I spiced it up with some lime juice and lime zest and sprinkled it with chili powder and salt. It was yummy! It was a great snack, especially when you want something zesty and crunchy.
We are enjoying the watercress in our salads and on sandwiches. The sprouts are a welcome addition also. These new items have really dressed up our salads and made them more appealing. No more boring salads!
I've never bought/used leeks before, so I guess I'll be making potato and leek soup. These new produce items have really created some excitement. Everyone has been open to trying the new items, no matter what color they are!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
The Spring Garden
Every year for the past nine years, I plan a spring garden. Now just because I plan a garden doesn't mean it always comes to fruition. Some years the earth even gets tilled, but life gets in the way.
Last year, the goats ate the garden THREE times. They squeezed and squirmed their way through three layers of fencing (chain link, bull wire and chicken wire). The garden grew back twice but the third time, there was nothing left to grow. I sold the goats shortly after so they won't be a factor this year.
Several years ago, the kiddos were involved in basketball and cheerleading, when that was finally over we had some out of town visits to make, so no garden that year.
My fondest garden memories are of our first vegetable garden. It was huge. I even grew black beans. We spent an hour or more each evening out in the garden after dear husband came home from work. We would also get the fresh hen eggs from that day. Many evenings I would either make a huge salad for supper or make an omelet and saute' the vegetables. I still have some of the black beans from that garden. I remember the joy I had giving gifts of fresh vegetables to friends and family. We learned a lot that year, like when to pick watermelons. The kiddos and their friends had so much fun sitting on the tailgate of the truck eating watermelons throughout the summer and having watermelon seed spitting contests. At various times, either Little Miss Muffet or Little Boy Blue would have lost a tooth and it was a great place for the seed to exit. I have reaped the rewards of those watermelon seed spitting contests for years. Watermelon vines have shown up all over our property, some from the contests and evidently some from the birds.
Okay, enough reminiscing. I received a seed catalog in the mail from www.rareseeds.com/ .
If I buy all the seeds I want to buy, my entire property will be taken up with all sorts of exotic vegetables. There won't even be a lawn because it will be taken up with red and yellow carrots, purple cauliflower and beans that turn green when you cook them and the blue pumpkins will take up lots of room with their sprawling vines. The best thing of all - they are all heirloom seeds, no GMO, no hybrids, no gene altering. I love it! I am going to have to pace myself, say only order 10 packets of seeds, well maybe 15. Dear husband did tell me to buy whatever I want. What he doesn't know is I want one of everything. Dear me! that could be expensive! LOL
I guess I will begin my annual garden planning, so I can see what what seeds I need (want) to buy and estimate how large of a space it will be this year. With buying some of these wonderfully, neat seeds I have read about, maybe ... hopefully I will have lush vegetable garden with prolific growers and an abundance of wonderful vegetables to share and if there are any left over maybe some to sell at the farmer's market in the neighboring county. Hopefully it's not all wishful thinking.
Every year that we have had a garden, I always buy one exotic item. The first year was black beans. One year was purple bell peppers, they all got fed to the chickens as dear husband thought they were ruined and didn't realize they were supposed to be that color. I on the other hand kept wondering why they kept disappearing off the plant. Mr. Stripey tomatoes have been a favorite more than one year. Yellow pear tomatoes were the exotic choice one year. It all depended on what I could find locally. This year it won't be limited to just one item thanks to my new catalog.
Last year, the goats ate the garden THREE times. They squeezed and squirmed their way through three layers of fencing (chain link, bull wire and chicken wire). The garden grew back twice but the third time, there was nothing left to grow. I sold the goats shortly after so they won't be a factor this year.
Several years ago, the kiddos were involved in basketball and cheerleading, when that was finally over we had some out of town visits to make, so no garden that year.
My fondest garden memories are of our first vegetable garden. It was huge. I even grew black beans. We spent an hour or more each evening out in the garden after dear husband came home from work. We would also get the fresh hen eggs from that day. Many evenings I would either make a huge salad for supper or make an omelet and saute' the vegetables. I still have some of the black beans from that garden. I remember the joy I had giving gifts of fresh vegetables to friends and family. We learned a lot that year, like when to pick watermelons. The kiddos and their friends had so much fun sitting on the tailgate of the truck eating watermelons throughout the summer and having watermelon seed spitting contests. At various times, either Little Miss Muffet or Little Boy Blue would have lost a tooth and it was a great place for the seed to exit. I have reaped the rewards of those watermelon seed spitting contests for years. Watermelon vines have shown up all over our property, some from the contests and evidently some from the birds.
Okay, enough reminiscing. I received a seed catalog in the mail from www.rareseeds.com/ .
If I buy all the seeds I want to buy, my entire property will be taken up with all sorts of exotic vegetables. There won't even be a lawn because it will be taken up with red and yellow carrots, purple cauliflower and beans that turn green when you cook them and the blue pumpkins will take up lots of room with their sprawling vines. The best thing of all - they are all heirloom seeds, no GMO, no hybrids, no gene altering. I love it! I am going to have to pace myself, say only order 10 packets of seeds, well maybe 15. Dear husband did tell me to buy whatever I want. What he doesn't know is I want one of everything. Dear me! that could be expensive! LOL
I guess I will begin my annual garden planning, so I can see what what seeds I need (want) to buy and estimate how large of a space it will be this year. With buying some of these wonderfully, neat seeds I have read about, maybe ... hopefully I will have lush vegetable garden with prolific growers and an abundance of wonderful vegetables to share and if there are any left over maybe some to sell at the farmer's market in the neighboring county. Hopefully it's not all wishful thinking.
Every year that we have had a garden, I always buy one exotic item. The first year was black beans. One year was purple bell peppers, they all got fed to the chickens as dear husband thought they were ruined and didn't realize they were supposed to be that color. I on the other hand kept wondering why they kept disappearing off the plant. Mr. Stripey tomatoes have been a favorite more than one year. Yellow pear tomatoes were the exotic choice one year. It all depended on what I could find locally. This year it won't be limited to just one item thanks to my new catalog.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Stealth Vegetables
In an attempt to provide adequate vegetables and fruits for my family, I added a stealth vegetable to a meal a few nights ago.
I made chili, I knew it was going to be a one dish meal, so I wanted to make sure to pack in some vegetables. I added a large can of organic diced tomatoes, but I do that every time. This time I added shredded carrots. The thick rich sauce of the chili hid the carrots. The carrots cooked and were tender. Mission accomplished.
I did not sit down and write out a list of New Year's Resolutions, but there are things on my mind that I want to accomplish this year. Don't get me wrong, I am definitely a list person. I love making lists, although they always seem so long ... I love marking through a task as it is completed and have the satisfaction of accomplishment, no matter how small or large the task. I hve come across lists that I have made, thankfully I have dated them, a year or two later and have found I have accomplished many things on that list even though I don't remember writing the list.
I didn't want to make "Resolutions", I just have a mental list of things I want to integrate into our daily life. One was start a new blog - well, that is done, you are reading it. I started one about four years ago, but abandoned it three years ago. I wanted a fresh start, so many things are different in my life now so I wanted a new blog to reflect that.
Sometimes we have one dish meals. Before finding out about having Celiac, we had homemade pizza quite often, once a week sometimes. Little Miss Muffet had even memorized the recipe. I would also make a salad to have with the pizza, but the salad was ignored. I don't know if we just got tired or bored with salads but they were ignored quite often, I was tired of wasting the money on salads only to see if the dogs would actually eat it. I decided it is just easier to add the vegetables to the pizza or whatever else might be on the menu. Tonight was stuffed baked potatoes. I seasoned the ground meat with Simply Organic's taco seasoning (it's gluten free). I thought about adding some stealth vegetables to it, but decided against it. There were the usual offerings; cheese, sour cream, onion, ground beef, sliced kalamata olives, but I also put out sundried tomatoes, organic baby leaf lettuces, mini sweet peppers (I love those things) and pepperoni. Okay, pepperoni isn't a vegetable but it was eaten just the same. I'll chronicle my attempts at stealth vegetables to save uneaten salads from the non-existant compost bin. In the middle of winter, there just isn't enough green matter to begin a compost bin.
Okay, all of this talk of food reminds me, I need to make out the menu for the coming week.
I made chili, I knew it was going to be a one dish meal, so I wanted to make sure to pack in some vegetables. I added a large can of organic diced tomatoes, but I do that every time. This time I added shredded carrots. The thick rich sauce of the chili hid the carrots. The carrots cooked and were tender. Mission accomplished.
I did not sit down and write out a list of New Year's Resolutions, but there are things on my mind that I want to accomplish this year. Don't get me wrong, I am definitely a list person. I love making lists, although they always seem so long ... I love marking through a task as it is completed and have the satisfaction of accomplishment, no matter how small or large the task. I hve come across lists that I have made, thankfully I have dated them, a year or two later and have found I have accomplished many things on that list even though I don't remember writing the list.
I didn't want to make "Resolutions", I just have a mental list of things I want to integrate into our daily life. One was start a new blog - well, that is done, you are reading it. I started one about four years ago, but abandoned it three years ago. I wanted a fresh start, so many things are different in my life now so I wanted a new blog to reflect that.
Sometimes we have one dish meals. Before finding out about having Celiac, we had homemade pizza quite often, once a week sometimes. Little Miss Muffet had even memorized the recipe. I would also make a salad to have with the pizza, but the salad was ignored. I don't know if we just got tired or bored with salads but they were ignored quite often, I was tired of wasting the money on salads only to see if the dogs would actually eat it. I decided it is just easier to add the vegetables to the pizza or whatever else might be on the menu. Tonight was stuffed baked potatoes. I seasoned the ground meat with Simply Organic's taco seasoning (it's gluten free). I thought about adding some stealth vegetables to it, but decided against it. There were the usual offerings; cheese, sour cream, onion, ground beef, sliced kalamata olives, but I also put out sundried tomatoes, organic baby leaf lettuces, mini sweet peppers (I love those things) and pepperoni. Okay, pepperoni isn't a vegetable but it was eaten just the same. I'll chronicle my attempts at stealth vegetables to save uneaten salads from the non-existant compost bin. In the middle of winter, there just isn't enough green matter to begin a compost bin.
Okay, all of this talk of food reminds me, I need to make out the menu for the coming week.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Adding to a Family Tradition, Continued
After such a busy, event-filled day, 5:30 AM came a little too early the next morning. Every one of us slept through our alarms. They had to be out the door by 6:30. It was close to 6 AM when I jumped out of bed running. I made the coffee first, then put the bacon on to cook, fried the eggs, set the table, made them cups of coffee, sat at the table, ate breakfast and had them out the door by 6:30. I still don't know how we pulled that off. I'm sure our host was wondering though because as I raced into the kitchen to start everything, I did notice he was already outside waiting (maybe even wondering if we were ever going to get up). I didn't accompany them outside that morning, I was still tired. As they drove off into the early morning darkness lit by the full moon, Little Miss Muffet saw me turn off the lights and head back to the bedroom. She made the announcement in the pickup, "Mom's already finished the dishes and now she is going back to bed." She was really close. I just ran some soapy water in the sink and put the dishes in it and left the bacon grease to solidify some so it would make for an easier cleanup.
I went back and snuggled down in the warm bed. In fact, the whole house was warmer this second morning. I awoke at 8:15, sat straight up and thought, "Oh no! I left the water running!" I hadn't, but it got me off to my second running start of the day. There were no deer that morning to distract and entertain me as they had the previous morning. They may have been there earlier, or maybe they slept in as I had. I had the dishes done in no time then began cleaning the kitchen. I moved the kiddos backpacks and belongings to one of the beds in our bedroom and began cleaning the rest of the house, making beds and vacuuming. They were back by 9 AM. I went out and greeted them and asked if I could bring them coffee or anything else. Mocha Java seemed to be the choice of the day, I'm so glad I brought hot chocolate packets. Little Boy Blue was hungry (aren't all 13 year old boys) so I offered a bacon sandwich. That sounded great to him, so I made him one with the leftover bacon from breakfast.
It was funny to see him with his Mocha Java in one hand, bacon sandwich in the other, and standing back watching Dad and our host skin and quarter his deer for him. We laughed about him taking a snack break. Dear husband then told us about the night before in the deer blind. They were sitting there waiting for a deer when Little Boy Blue reached inside his jacket and brought out a granola bar and began eating it. Dear husband informed him they were deer hunting and not supposed to be eating, and in his nonchalant way, Little Boy Blue then offered his dad one.
Coffee for the kiddos isn't a regular beverage choice at our house, but early mornings seem to bring out the need for something hot and stout even though it is always decaf. The only other time Little Boy Blue has drank coffee was when he and his dad got up really early to help my cousin irrigate at the farm a couple of months before.
They were finished and had the ice chests packed full of the venison that will soon be gracing the shelves of our freezer and be our supply of meat for the coming year. Everyone wanted showers before the trip home. Everything was organized and those that weren't getting ready helped with the final clean up details and loading everything up in the suburban for the trip home. All at the same time, everyone was ready and the house was clean. The kiddos were looking forward to the two hour trip home so they could sleep. We stopped in a little town an hour away and ate at a little cafe. We had to wake the kids up.
The food at the cafe was good. It's almost always a challenge when we go out to eat somewhere and definitely when it is somewhere new due to our food allergies, two of us can't have gluten (wheat, rye, barley, etc. ) and one can't have corn (cornstarch, high fructose corn syrup, etc.). It means we have to study the menu and ask our server questions that we hope they know the answer to. It also means we have to avoid buffets due to the risk of cross contamination. We all made good choices, there was tons of food on each plate and it was reasonably priced. With full tummies, we continued on our journey home.
Forty-five minutes later we made an unscheduled stop. We decided to stop by my sister and brother in-law's and show them the pictures. Dear husband was happy because he got to brag about his children's first deer hunting trip some more. When we got to town, dear husband remembered the meat processor we use was open on Sunday. I gave them a quick call, and someone was there making some repairs and he said he would wait on us. That was really nice, it meant I didn't have to make that thirty-minute drive one way the next day or even the day after and we didn't have to buy more ice to keep the meat iced down.
So much was packed into this day and a half adventure that it seemed longer than what it actually was. I wished though it would have been longer. I would have loved to sit out on the porch swing with dear husband, drink some hot chocolate or coffee, talk and stare at the mountains. I also would have loved to have been able to play some checkers or dominoes with the family, but maybe those memories can be had with the next trip...
Wonderful Gluten-Free Bread
Since Little Miss Muffet was diagnosed with Celiac last February and me just a month later, the journey for a fresh, soft yeasty bread has been long and not the textures we had imagined, until today. Little Miss Muffet made the Bob's Red Mill Homemade Wonderful Bread Mix.
It was easy to make, rose high, and almost tastes like we are cheating. It doesn't have the dense cornbread like consistency of the breads we have tried. After letting it rest for a while, I slathered it with butter and lemon curd. It was light, airy, fluffy, yeasty and tasty. Yum! I'm sure this loaf is going to be eaten pretty quickly! It does have cornstarch in it, so Little Boy Blue can't eat it since he is allergic to corn. I did find Oro Wheat bread, it is made without high fructose corn syrup, Little Boy Blue enjoyed having a grilled cheese sandwich today. We also try to stay soy-free since Little Boy Blue and I both are hypothyroid.
Look how high this rose. You can see the indention where the top of the pan was. I'm thinking sandwiches for supper, french toast for breakfast...Yum! Next bread we will try is a few from scratch, we hope it will be as good as this one is.
Adding to a Family Tradition
This past weekend my dear Husband took the children and I on an adventure we had never embarked on before.
Two years ago, my husband, his dad, and brother began a new family tradition by going deer hunting at a friend's ranch a couple of hours away. They always had lots of fun and came back with full tummies, full ice chests, and full of stories. It was a nice male-bonding time for the guys.
This year (actually I should say this season) it all got changed up a bit as dear husband was out of the country. We were surprised with an opportunity for dh to get his annual hunting trip in, just a few months later and without his usual hunting buddies. The children and I were invited.
Little Miss Muffet and Little Boy Blue were so excited to have this opportunity to go deer hunting with dad. I, on the other hand, wasn't so sure. We loaded up and traveled Friday evening until we got there after sunset. We were welcomed by the bright moonlight, a few random cats and by the cutest farmhouse with all it's lights on that shone like beacon. The little farmhouse was surrounded by a fence with gates on three sides.
We walked in the door and the first thing you saw was a sign that read, "Welcome To The Ranch." With the space heaters and the lights on in each room, it was welcoming and inviting. It was a little like bed and breakfast meets deer camp. The living room was filled with two old rustic army style twin beds with metal frames. The first bedroom had two four-poster antique cherry wood twin beds, along with matching dresser and nightstand. The second bedroom was well equipped with a full size bed and two twin beds, an antique armiore and chest. The bathroom was very modern with fluffy slippers and robes and big white fluffy towels. There was also a kitchen equipped with just the right amount of pans. I checked out the kitchen quickly, aquainted myself with the contents, unloaded the refrigerated items into the fridge and everyone settled into bed, all before 9 pm.
We all tried to go right to sleep, knowing 5:30 was going to come early. As we waited to fall asleep, I heard an odd noise, dear husband heard it too. We listened carefully and he decided it was a turkey. I wanted to see this wild animal that was making this noise and tiptoed through the house, as not to wake the kiddos, and that is when I heard the noise coming from inside the house. The wild turkey ended up being the hot water heater. So much for the wild animals.
We all jumped up when the alarm rang at 5:30 with anticipation of the days events. I made scrambled eggs, sausage, chocolate covered donut-holes for dh and gluten-free, corn-free maple glazed donuts for the rest of us, and a plethora of fresh fruit to choose from. The three of them gobbled up their breakfast and raced out the door decked out in their new camo duds. One great thing about hunting so late in the season is camo is really cheap ($1 short sleeve t-shirts, $5 long-sleeve t-shirts and overalls). I went outside with them to meet their guide and our host. He let me know their plans, asked if I needed anything, and told me about when they would be back. I hugged and kissed the family and made my way back to the warm house.
I was looking forward to the quiet time alone, a luxury I don't have very often - but I don't wish for it very often either. I washed the dishes, vacuumed the floors and then got myself ready for the day. I crocheted a bit while sitting at the kitchen table. I looked out the kitchen window as I reached for the coffee pot to pour me the last cup of the decaf chocolate velvet coffee. It had such a wonderfully aromatic chocolatey perfume, I just knew it would entice the deer to the deer blinds in which my family each had a large cup of the dark, sweet smelling liquid with them.
As I looked out the window, I saw a buck ... oh, and a doe, and another, until I counted twelve deer in all. I hurriedly tiptoed to the camcorder and got it out of the case. I received a text message from dh, saying they hadn't seen any deer yet. I got the camcorder going and filmed them through the window. I replied to dh's text saying I just shot 12 deer... with my camera. In good humor he sent back one, telling me good, I should have them all cleaned by the time they got back. I decided to get a little braver and I stepped out onto a porch that I wish I had been able to spend more time there. I tiptoed closer, being careful not to bump into the wooden porch swing. In the quietness of the morning, I could hear two young bucks fighting. I heard the antlers crashing together and the crunch of the branches breaking around them. I tried to get a clear picture of them but they were in a thicket and it was too dense to get clear pictures of them. It was a moment of awe, standing outside without my coat on in freezing weather and not even noticing because I was watching nature. The deer were grazing, the big buck looked up at me and saw I meant no harm so he went back to eating the corn. Then I heard an odd sound behind me, kind of curious and kind of afraid, I contemplated just going around to the other side of the house to the other door so I wouldn't have to see what kind of animal was behind me. Instead, I let curiosity get the best of me, I turned around to find a big ole fluffly cat pawing at the screen door trying to get in. It's not that I'm a scaredy-cat, but I had been warned that illegals coming up from Mexico cross through there. In my defense, we were out in the middle of nowhere with no tv, radio or cell phone signal (although text messages usually went through).
I went back in the warm house and decided I didn't want to crochet anymore. (I just taught myself how to crochet last Tuesday.) I looked through the lastest Organic Gardening magazine. I was amazed that I was able to read it from cover to cover in one sitting. Every so often I would want to turn on something for noise, but there were no noise makers there. Solitude. It was soothing, healing and peaceful. I decided I would lie down for a bit and maybe get in a quick nap before everyone got back and the excitement began. Before I fell asleep, I thought I should take my blood sugar reading (pre-diabetes). My family came in wondering where I was, then when Little Miss Muffet saw what I was doing, she asked if I was feeling okay. When I told her it was just a routine check, she sighed with relief and said, "Okay, good! Guess what I just did?! I got to drive!" This is a post for a later time.
Little Boy Blue shot a buck, 7 points! We walked over, cameras in tow and the learning process began. Our host was wonderful and was a great teacher. He showed and explained everything they needed to know about cleaning and skinning the deer. The 110 lb. buck was cleaned, skinned and quartered in about 20 minutes. The kiddos really enjoyed hearing the story of the first time their dad and uncle had to do that. It took them three hours, it would of taken longer if the host hadn't of taken pity on them and told them how to do everything.
I took the learning process a little further and turned it into a Biology lesson. Caution: Queasy stomachs may want to jump to the next paragraph. We looked at the brain in wonderment -- that those little squiggles and pockets of fat with interwoven blood vessels are what holds the deer's thought processes, tells it to run, jump, eat, etc. We cut a cross section and studied it. Dh and the host both took a step back during this. We looked at it's teeth, saw the bristles type growths inside the gum and then looked at the eyes. I've always heard how cow's eyes were easy to disect. We saved the deer's eye to disect a little later.
We were taken on a tour of the ranch, saw breath-taking views and had lots of fun. Our host made a hearty venison stew for lunch. I actually went on the next outing to hunt. I loved the deer blind, it was the pickup. We dropped Little Boy Blue and Dear husband off at their deer blind and then we went and checked on a waterer for some of the livestock on the ranch. The host got out of the pickup and told Little Miss Muffet that it was her turn to drive. She was careful and really concentrated hard on her task at hand, so hard that she didn't hear her instructions to turn. It was funny, anyway she got to go in reverse and did finally make her turn. Don't you just love those private country back roads, that's where so many have learned to drive. Anyway, she parked on top of the mountain and we waited. We waited first for the feeder to go off then we waited for the deer to come. Out of nowhere it seemed, a doe appeared. She stared at us for quite a while. Little Miss Muffet waited. The host asked if she knew where to aim, she indicated that she did. She waited and was patient. The doe walked behind the feeder and disappered from view, but LMM was patient. Then the doe turned and gave her the view she needed. She acted like a pro through the whole thing. Our host thought she had hunted before, but no this was her first deer hunt. We waited a few minutes. The doe hadn't even taken a step, which was good. Our host gutted it for us and the Biology lesson continued. I had Little Miss Muffet name all the organs. The deer's stomach was full and LMM was curious to the contents (thanks, CSI). She cut it open and it was full of grasses. This was impressive to her. We picked up Dh and Little Boy Blue, who had just gotten a spike. Wow, looks like the freezer's going to be full.
We returned back to the farmhouse and had a few minutes before we joined our host for supper. I had brought some baby leaf lettuces, I peeled some mandarin oranges and put in to make the salad. I had also brought some honey mustard salad dressing. It made a nice accompaniment to the steaks, mashed potatoes and black-eyed peas our host fixed for us. We enjoyed sitting out by the fire while the steaks cooked on the grill, laughing about events of the day, laughed at stories from past trips that the host shared with us. No one had a problem going to sleep that night. We all had full tummies and were tired from all of the events of the day.
To be continued....
Two years ago, my husband, his dad, and brother began a new family tradition by going deer hunting at a friend's ranch a couple of hours away. They always had lots of fun and came back with full tummies, full ice chests, and full of stories. It was a nice male-bonding time for the guys.
This year (actually I should say this season) it all got changed up a bit as dear husband was out of the country. We were surprised with an opportunity for dh to get his annual hunting trip in, just a few months later and without his usual hunting buddies. The children and I were invited.
Little Miss Muffet and Little Boy Blue were so excited to have this opportunity to go deer hunting with dad. I, on the other hand, wasn't so sure. We loaded up and traveled Friday evening until we got there after sunset. We were welcomed by the bright moonlight, a few random cats and by the cutest farmhouse with all it's lights on that shone like beacon. The little farmhouse was surrounded by a fence with gates on three sides.
We walked in the door and the first thing you saw was a sign that read, "Welcome To The Ranch." With the space heaters and the lights on in each room, it was welcoming and inviting. It was a little like bed and breakfast meets deer camp. The living room was filled with two old rustic army style twin beds with metal frames. The first bedroom had two four-poster antique cherry wood twin beds, along with matching dresser and nightstand. The second bedroom was well equipped with a full size bed and two twin beds, an antique armiore and chest. The bathroom was very modern with fluffy slippers and robes and big white fluffy towels. There was also a kitchen equipped with just the right amount of pans. I checked out the kitchen quickly, aquainted myself with the contents, unloaded the refrigerated items into the fridge and everyone settled into bed, all before 9 pm.
We all tried to go right to sleep, knowing 5:30 was going to come early. As we waited to fall asleep, I heard an odd noise, dear husband heard it too. We listened carefully and he decided it was a turkey. I wanted to see this wild animal that was making this noise and tiptoed through the house, as not to wake the kiddos, and that is when I heard the noise coming from inside the house. The wild turkey ended up being the hot water heater. So much for the wild animals.
We all jumped up when the alarm rang at 5:30 with anticipation of the days events. I made scrambled eggs, sausage, chocolate covered donut-holes for dh and gluten-free, corn-free maple glazed donuts for the rest of us, and a plethora of fresh fruit to choose from. The three of them gobbled up their breakfast and raced out the door decked out in their new camo duds. One great thing about hunting so late in the season is camo is really cheap ($1 short sleeve t-shirts, $5 long-sleeve t-shirts and overalls). I went outside with them to meet their guide and our host. He let me know their plans, asked if I needed anything, and told me about when they would be back. I hugged and kissed the family and made my way back to the warm house.
I was looking forward to the quiet time alone, a luxury I don't have very often - but I don't wish for it very often either. I washed the dishes, vacuumed the floors and then got myself ready for the day. I crocheted a bit while sitting at the kitchen table. I looked out the kitchen window as I reached for the coffee pot to pour me the last cup of the decaf chocolate velvet coffee. It had such a wonderfully aromatic chocolatey perfume, I just knew it would entice the deer to the deer blinds in which my family each had a large cup of the dark, sweet smelling liquid with them.
As I looked out the window, I saw a buck ... oh, and a doe, and another, until I counted twelve deer in all. I hurriedly tiptoed to the camcorder and got it out of the case. I received a text message from dh, saying they hadn't seen any deer yet. I got the camcorder going and filmed them through the window. I replied to dh's text saying I just shot 12 deer... with my camera. In good humor he sent back one, telling me good, I should have them all cleaned by the time they got back. I decided to get a little braver and I stepped out onto a porch that I wish I had been able to spend more time there. I tiptoed closer, being careful not to bump into the wooden porch swing. In the quietness of the morning, I could hear two young bucks fighting. I heard the antlers crashing together and the crunch of the branches breaking around them. I tried to get a clear picture of them but they were in a thicket and it was too dense to get clear pictures of them. It was a moment of awe, standing outside without my coat on in freezing weather and not even noticing because I was watching nature. The deer were grazing, the big buck looked up at me and saw I meant no harm so he went back to eating the corn. Then I heard an odd sound behind me, kind of curious and kind of afraid, I contemplated just going around to the other side of the house to the other door so I wouldn't have to see what kind of animal was behind me. Instead, I let curiosity get the best of me, I turned around to find a big ole fluffly cat pawing at the screen door trying to get in. It's not that I'm a scaredy-cat, but I had been warned that illegals coming up from Mexico cross through there. In my defense, we were out in the middle of nowhere with no tv, radio or cell phone signal (although text messages usually went through).
I went back in the warm house and decided I didn't want to crochet anymore. (I just taught myself how to crochet last Tuesday.) I looked through the lastest Organic Gardening magazine. I was amazed that I was able to read it from cover to cover in one sitting. Every so often I would want to turn on something for noise, but there were no noise makers there. Solitude. It was soothing, healing and peaceful. I decided I would lie down for a bit and maybe get in a quick nap before everyone got back and the excitement began. Before I fell asleep, I thought I should take my blood sugar reading (pre-diabetes). My family came in wondering where I was, then when Little Miss Muffet saw what I was doing, she asked if I was feeling okay. When I told her it was just a routine check, she sighed with relief and said, "Okay, good! Guess what I just did?! I got to drive!" This is a post for a later time.
Little Boy Blue shot a buck, 7 points! We walked over, cameras in tow and the learning process began. Our host was wonderful and was a great teacher. He showed and explained everything they needed to know about cleaning and skinning the deer. The 110 lb. buck was cleaned, skinned and quartered in about 20 minutes. The kiddos really enjoyed hearing the story of the first time their dad and uncle had to do that. It took them three hours, it would of taken longer if the host hadn't of taken pity on them and told them how to do everything.
I took the learning process a little further and turned it into a Biology lesson. Caution: Queasy stomachs may want to jump to the next paragraph. We looked at the brain in wonderment -- that those little squiggles and pockets of fat with interwoven blood vessels are what holds the deer's thought processes, tells it to run, jump, eat, etc. We cut a cross section and studied it. Dh and the host both took a step back during this. We looked at it's teeth, saw the bristles type growths inside the gum and then looked at the eyes. I've always heard how cow's eyes were easy to disect. We saved the deer's eye to disect a little later.
We were taken on a tour of the ranch, saw breath-taking views and had lots of fun. Our host made a hearty venison stew for lunch. I actually went on the next outing to hunt. I loved the deer blind, it was the pickup. We dropped Little Boy Blue and Dear husband off at their deer blind and then we went and checked on a waterer for some of the livestock on the ranch. The host got out of the pickup and told Little Miss Muffet that it was her turn to drive. She was careful and really concentrated hard on her task at hand, so hard that she didn't hear her instructions to turn. It was funny, anyway she got to go in reverse and did finally make her turn. Don't you just love those private country back roads, that's where so many have learned to drive. Anyway, she parked on top of the mountain and we waited. We waited first for the feeder to go off then we waited for the deer to come. Out of nowhere it seemed, a doe appeared. She stared at us for quite a while. Little Miss Muffet waited. The host asked if she knew where to aim, she indicated that she did. She waited and was patient. The doe walked behind the feeder and disappered from view, but LMM was patient. Then the doe turned and gave her the view she needed. She acted like a pro through the whole thing. Our host thought she had hunted before, but no this was her first deer hunt. We waited a few minutes. The doe hadn't even taken a step, which was good. Our host gutted it for us and the Biology lesson continued. I had Little Miss Muffet name all the organs. The deer's stomach was full and LMM was curious to the contents (thanks, CSI). She cut it open and it was full of grasses. This was impressive to her. We picked up Dh and Little Boy Blue, who had just gotten a spike. Wow, looks like the freezer's going to be full.
We returned back to the farmhouse and had a few minutes before we joined our host for supper. I had brought some baby leaf lettuces, I peeled some mandarin oranges and put in to make the salad. I had also brought some honey mustard salad dressing. It made a nice accompaniment to the steaks, mashed potatoes and black-eyed peas our host fixed for us. We enjoyed sitting out by the fire while the steaks cooked on the grill, laughing about events of the day, laughed at stories from past trips that the host shared with us. No one had a problem going to sleep that night. We all had full tummies and were tired from all of the events of the day.
To be continued....
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