Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Frost Feathers



Here are a couple more pics of our frost.

So pretty.

In this pic especially they look like frost flowers blooming out of the old dried aster calyxes [calyces?] from the fall.   

Amazing.

Monday, December 30, 2013

Cross Section of the Road Bed

In case you missed the post a couple of days ago about our Big December Flood, here's a pic of part of the washed out road.   It looked like this in a couple of places.  


What was really cool was the cross section of the road layers that were visible after the washout.  Lily climbed down and took the pic.

You can see the very old road bed [pre-culvert] near the bottom.   They poured concrete over the rocks to stabilize them and you were careful as you drove through the water.   Eventually they filled it up and put the big culvert in and topped it with lots and lots and lots of gravel. 

They grade the road and dump new gravel once or twice a year. 

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Raspberry Jam White Chocolate Almond Bars

It's a ridiculously long name for these bar cookies but when you taste them, they will Knock. Your. Socks. Off.  These are my favorite holiday cookie and one of my favorite Things To Do with a Jar of Jam.

This year Lily wanted them for her birthday cake.   Her birthday [which was on the 23rd] is the official kick-off of our holidays.  Our holiday baking starts that day and goes through New Year's Day, which is why I'm posting so many recipes lately.  

I hope you can find a moment to make even a half batch of these.   You'll love them. 

I used some of my own black raspberry jam for these.   You could substitute out a different kind if you like.   I was thinking about how good it would be with cherry jam.  Or apricot jam.  Or a chunky apple jam.   Mmmmm.  [Or marmalade...?]


Raspberry Jam White Chocolate Almond Bars
www.rurification.com

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups butter
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups flour
2 eggs
1 pint red or black raspberry jam [Or cherry jam, or apricot, or chunky apple jam.]
1 cup white chocolate chips [vanilla chips]
4 oz slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine sugar, butter, salt and vanilla.  Cream together.   Add flour one cup at a time and beat until crumbly.   Remove 1 cup of this mixture and set aside.   Add eggs, one at a time to the rest of the mixture and beat well into a dough.   Press the dough evenly into a 13 x 9 pan.   Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly browned.   Remove from oven.

Spread jam evenly over hot crust.  Sprinkle white chocolate chips evenly over the jam.  Sprinkle the almonds evenly on top.    Evenly crumble the rest of the crust mix that you had set aside on top of everything.   Return to oven and bake for another 25 minutes until lightly golden.  Cool completely, then cut into bars. 


Saturday, December 28, 2013

Flood

We had a little rain last weekend.   It was sooo exciting.   Especially because it was dark when we were fighting the worst of it.  We're in the hills and hollows out here and our floods are flash floods.  They happen right after big rains and usually go down within a couple of hours. Since this happened in the dark, we didn't get any big water pics,  but Lily got these pics of the damage the next morning.   You'll probably have to click them to see them in the detail that really shows what all that water did to our road.

These new gullies [pic above] on our big hill are about 12 inches deep.   Nature's way of providing us speed bumps.  You could get over them....sloooowly.  One guy in a big truck with a 4 wheeler in the back gunned it past our place and hit them at 30 miles an hour.   Bang!  The back of his truck went up.  The four wheeler went up and crashed back down.   Dude.  You can't do that out here.   

Eric's very watchful eye during the night prevented a big flood in the basement.   His immediate shovel intervention at a culvert diverted some of the water that had filled half of our back patio.  While he shoveled, I hauled the stepping stones out of the drainage channel behind the patio.   It was just enough to take the pressure off the area and in 15 minutes the water was way down.   Whew.   Only a couple of trickles of water in the basement.    Then we spent an hour enhancing the many drainage ditches we already had and digging new ones around the back and east side of the studio.   We'll widen those way out in the spring and put in some drainage tile and more gravel.

The lower garden was half full of water and there was water over a 30-40 foot section of the road where another culvert goes under the road at the small creek.    Once the water went over the road it covered a large part of our lower pasture on its way to the big creek - you can see the flattened grass in this large area of the lower pasture.  The small creek is at the tree line at the top of the pic.

Up the way from us, the big creek goes under the road a couple of times and it is common to get washouts in big rains.   This was no exception.  I've marked the pic where the edge of the road used to be.   There was another place not too far from this one that looked the same.  The water moves fast enough to dump those big rocks way down the creek on our place.   [Also tree trunks.]

The cross section of the road layers where the road washed out was really cool.   I'll show you that soon.



Friday, December 27, 2013

Lulu's Cookies

I mentioned before that the girls had been working on recipes for the Nancy Drew HER interactive recipe contest.    They had time for just one more entry last week, so they whipped up a small batch of these chocolate wonders.

They are a very nice variation of Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies, with the addition of craisins and pecans.   These were fantastic and they disappeared fast.



The name comes from one of the Nancy Drew games.  Lulu is a rather obnoxious parrot who loves snacks.


Lulu's Cookies
www.rurification.com

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cups sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa
3/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup chopped pecans
2 Tablespoons white chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Mix in the flour, baking soda, and cocoa. Fold in the chocolate chips, cranberries, and nuts.  Using a spoon or melon baller, drop 1-inch balls of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Glass Jugs


A few miles away from us was one of those lovely old barns that had been around forever.  Last year, that poor old barn came down in the heavy snow that took out a few other barns out here.   The owners hauled off the debris, little by little, section by section.   They cleaned up all the wood and a lot of the stuff that had been inside.   They left this small collection of old glass jugs sitting on some sort of old chest.   You can see where some have been on the ground and gotten some of that old black barn mud in them. 

After who knows how many decades hidden away in the dark of the barn, they sit out in the open now and catch the sun.   They glow.  

I love them. 

Eric said that they're probably left over from the manufacturing of some homemade product - probably around the 1920s and 30s - that made people glow, too.     

I wouldn't be surprised. 

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Christmas Poetry 2013

I thought I'd start off with a little bit of cheerleading for those of you reading this Pre-HolidayFestivities:    
Today is going to be a great day.  Whatever you have planned is going to go just swimmingly.   Remember to watch for those little moments that are just for you.
And if you're reading this Post-HolidayFestivities, then: 
Yay!!   You survived the holiday! You can sit down and enjoy the next little while in the quiet, just you, your cup of whatever and a candle.  We'll have a nice little visit.

I'm so glad I know you!  You deserve some poetry.  Last year I wrote you a sonnet for Christmas.

It. Was. Awesome.

Seriously.

As I mentioned then, I am no poet and I don't pretend to be one.  If I ever write a masterpiece it will be accidental.  The only goal I have is that I write an interesting poem.

As in:  That was......interesting. *cough*  

Luckily, that bar is pretty low.

This year I have written a poem a la William Carlos Williams' 'The Red Wheel Barrow', which is a fine, fine poem.

Feel free to leave your own rural redneck poems in the comments.

I hope you have a wonderful day today.  Thanks so much for being here!

Rurification Christmas Poem 2013

So much depends
upon

not running out
of tape

before all the gifts
are wrapped.

If all the tags
are switched

by little hands
who reach

to 'help you please',
then know

that half the fun
will be

in seeing grandma's
surprised face

when she opens her box of
deer scent

and the peals
of glee

as everyone
looks around

to see if what they got
was meant

just for them.
Or not.



The End.  In case you wondered.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Barn and Round Bales

I love these old barns.

And the round bales.    Be still my heart.
 
This one is way out in Owen County on a dead end road.   A lot of old barns are falling down these days.   It makes me wonder if they were all built at around the same time and have lived their lives and now these grande dames are dying, one by one.

Monday, December 23, 2013

No-Bake Kapu Cave Coconut Clusters

My girls love the Nancy Drew video [computer] games.   They've played them all and love them all and love the HER Interactive website and blog.  Earlier this month, HER Interactive hosted a cookie recipe contest.   They came up with a recipe that would go with one of the mysteries, made a batch [yum!], we photo-ed them and then they submitted them to the website for a chance to win some Nancy Drew swag.  [Good luck, Girls!!]

They had a lot of fun coming up with these cookies and they are darn good, too!

No-Bake Kapu Cave Coconut Clusters
www.rurification.com

Ingredients:
1/2 stick butter (1/4 cup)
1 1/4 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
1/2 chopped pistachios

Melt the butter and the chocolate chips in a small sauce pan on low. Stir to try to combine. If the butter and chocolate refuse to combine, don't worry. The cookies will be fine.  Mix in the rest of the ingredients and stir until well combined. (It will look dry and crumbly.) Take off the heat and let cool for a minute while you line a cookie sheet with wax paper. When cookie mixture is cool enough to handle, roll into 1 inch balls. Let them finish cooling and setting up. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Note:  You can use sweetened coconut, but that makes them super sweet.   They were plenty sweet without the extra sugar.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Mantis Egg Sac

Lily noticed this in a cedar tree the last time we went for a walk.   I was lucky to have the camera with me because I am always on the lookout for these.

It's the egg sac of a praying mantis

They look like styrofoam and you can find them on trees, weeds, twigs, brush, etc.  

We have a few different kinds of mantids out here, but I think this sac is from the praying mantis - Mantis religiosa.

In the spring, they'll hatch out by the hundreds [I hope] and eat plenty of other bugs.

Someday I want to see the hatching....maybe next year?

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Tracks

When it snows out here, all those hidden creatures that you know live out here, but never see [or rarely, anyway] leave tracks.  Here is actual evidence of their existence and recent visits.   This is a pretty busy place.

I found these tracks in the snow next to the studio.   I think they're chipmunk or vole tracks.  

They ran along the rock wall where I have some alpine strawberries planted.    Poor thing was probably looking for a snack. 


Later, on a walk, Lily noticed these tracks going down the road.   I was glad I had the camera.

Turkey.

Friday, December 20, 2013

Turkeys

Our turkeys are quiet and shadowy residents of the woods.   They come out to forage or cross the road when no one is looking.  They spook easily.   If you happen to come upon them, you have time only to say, 'Look!  Turkeys!' and then they're gone.   If you really surprise them in a clearing, you might see them fly for a few yards into the woods.  [Which always makes me think of WKRP in Cincinnati  'As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.']

We were lucky to spot these on the road and have the camera at hand.  Claire snapped the pics as this bunch hurried into the trees.  

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Deer


When it gets really cold, we keep Tibby inside overnight.    Then the deer get really brave.   This young buck [I could see very short antlers, maybe a two pointer?] was scrounging under the snow where we feed the ducks in the morning next to the chicken coop.   He was there for a while, then moved on.   I didn't have the heart to send Tibby out in the bitter cold to chase him away. 

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

First Aid Kits

We always keep a small first aid kit in the car.    Last month, I tripped on a curb and banged up both knees.  It was nice to have a kit in the car stocked with antibiotic cream and big band aids.  The lady at the store provided a wet cold paper towel to clean with and the girls patched me up.  The only thing irreparably damaged was my dignity, which apparently one does not need, in order to continue living.  

At any rate, it was a good moment to go through the kit in the car and see what needed to be replaced, updated, etc.

Since we were going to Walmart anyway, I picked up a brand new kit for the car for only $10.  It's a pretty good one, too.  [In the pharmacy section next to the band aids.  Maybe on the shelf near the floor.]

$10.   This means that you can get good first aid kits for cheap stocking stuffers for everyone in your family with a car.   Do. It.   You won't be sorry.

I took the box from the old kit and used it for little stuff in my big Bug Out Bag first aid kit.

I have some wipes, gloves, ibuprofen, a thermometer, antibiotic cream, hand sanitizer, a little first aid guide, some gauze, tape and band aids.   It all fits nicely in the plastic box and keeps that stuff from getting lost in the Big First Aid Kit.


This is the Big First Aid Kit where I keep the ace bandages, triangular bandages, lots more boxes of band aids of different sizes, gauze, tape, hand splints, etc.   The plastic box fits right in there and I know right where to find it if we had to bug out and had an injury to deal with.

You still have plenty of time to put first aid kits on your holiday lists.   Santa would love to see you a little bit more prepared. 

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Lemon Upside-Down Cake

You know I had those Meyer lemons I told you about a few days ago, and I've been looking for something really tasty to make with them so I did a search and found a recipe for Lemon Upside Down Cake.

Hello, Gorgeous!

I tweaked the recipe a bit and my, oh my, was it delicious.   Sweet and sour with some smooth vanilla accents. 

We assembled and baked this in a cast iron pan, but if you don't have one, don't worry, you can use a large round cake pan or pie plate just as well.

Lemon Upside-Down Cake
www.rurification.com 
adapted from the recipe in the L.A. Times 7/16/13

  • 2-3 lemons (I used three and that was quite a lot.]
  • One-half cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) butter, divided
  • 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 vanilla bean, split
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup milk
Cut the ends off the lemons, then slice them into very thin rounds. Remove seeds and set aside. Grate 1 teaspoon lemon peel from the lemon ends. Set aside the grated peel.

Melt four tablespoons of the butter in a 10-inch cast iron skillet. Brush the sides of skillet with a little of the melted butter. Add the brown sugar, stir it into the butter and spread it into an even layer.  It'll look grainy - that's OK.  Put the prettiest lemon slice smack dab in the center.  Arrange the rest of the lemon slices in overlapping circles to cover the bottom of the skillet.  Let the lemons and sugar continue to heat on low while you mix everything else up.   Keep an eye on it so the sugar doesn't start to burn.  [If you're using a regular cake or pie pan, then pre-heat the oven and melt the butter in the pan the oven.  Take it out to put the sugar and lemon slices in, then stick it back in the oven while you make the rest of the batter.]

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.

Cut up the remaining 6 tablespoons of butter into a mixing bowl. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean with the point of a knife onto the butter. I scraped them off the knife right onto the ends of the beaters on my mixer.  Beat the butter, scraping down the sides of the bowl, until creamy. Add the sugar and grated lemon peel and beat until light and fluffy.  This took me at least 5 minutes. When you can't stand it anymore, beat in the eggs, one at a time.

Once you've got the eggs in, things will get very light and fluffy.  Add half the flour mixture and beat until blended.  Add the milk and beat until blended, then add the remaining flour mixture and beat until blended.

Spread the batter by the spoonful over the lemons in the skillet to cover evenly. Then smooth it down neatly.   Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cake is golden and the center tests done. Let the cake stand 5 minutes, then invert the skillet onto a platter. [It took two of us to do this.  We used a very large, flat platter.]  It will be oozy while hot, but will soak up some of the goo as it cools.  I spooned the rest of the goo still in the skillet over the inverted cake.  

Serving this is tricky - it's hard to cut through the lemon slices neatly.  If you want something that serves beautifully, then consider cutting the lemon slices in half moons before you start and arranging them so that they'll be easy to cut along when the cake is finished. 


I served this with a dollop of creme fraiche and was in lemon heaven.   Be warned! -- It's hard to stop with just one piece.  Or two.   Hide it from yourself if you don't want to eat it all at one sitting.



Monday, December 16, 2013

Winter Hives


Just before the big snow, I checked the hives.  The center one is dead already.   The other two [on either end of the row] are doing fine.   I seized the moment during the warm weather we had before the big snow to make some more bee candy and put it on the tops of the frames in each hive.  I figured it would be extra insulation when the temps dropped way down after the storm.  [The shortest darker blue box is just an empty super.  No bees in there.]

I'm thinking that the cause of the deadout was bees weakened by varroa.   I noticed some bees with deformed wings in the summer and fall.  The deformed wings are caused by Deformed Wing Virus [DWV], one of the many ills that varroa mites bring to a hive.   I didn't treat for mites in an effort to be chemical free and the hive was too weak to last very long at all.   Gone by the beginning of December. 

I hate losing a hive this way but I have very mixed feelings about treating with chemicals.   Maybe I should have done more sugar shakes

At any rate, the other two hives seemed good and active [and defensive] and now they have plenty of candy for the next two months.   On warm days I'll see if there's any action up there. 

We left the snow on the hives as extra insulation for the deep freeze that followed the storm. The lower entrances are covered with snow but the bees have a top entrance under the lip of the telescoping lids so they can get out if they really want to.  I doubt they do.  


Sunday, December 15, 2013

Hoop House Collapse

We had some heavy snow last week

You probably heard about that.

We were stuck away from the place for a couple of days and when we got back, we found this.




And this.  The hoop house didn't like the weight of freezing rain and 8 inches of snow.  Since we weren't there to brush it off occasionally during the storm, it came down. 

A few of the pvc supports broke off at the base and then the center top support broke in half when the thing came down. 

It would have been cool to see happen.

We swept the snow off with brooms and Eric climbed inside and reoriented everything while I hauled the pool ladders over so we could put them inside in case it decides to 'rest' again.  [This is why rural people keep all kinds of junk around.   You never know when you'll need that second old pool ladder.]

Notice the plastic over the greens in the beds.  The double protection really paid off. 


It looks like this now.    Eric's planning on replacing the pvc with metal conduit.   And a door on the end, which should give it a bit more stability for the next time we're away from home during a big snow [which I hope is never.]


This is what was under the lower plastic bed covers.   Lots of nice greens, slowly getting bigger and bigger.

January salads!

Saturday, December 14, 2013

The Frost Fairy Came to Visit


We get spectacular frost here because it's a pretty humid place generally.   After a big snow, it clears off, the sun shines and melts off some of the snow, then the air saturates. 


If it stays clear, it'll get very very cold overnight. 
 

And then the frost is amazing.


This is hoarfrost. 


Take a look at these beauties.




I have never seen frost this beautiful before.  


Amazing.

Friday, December 13, 2013

Soup Season

This is the time of year we pull out our favorite soup recipes and I thought you might like them, too.   Here's a quick list of some of our best ones.

Cheesy Chicken Pepper Soup - we had this one with leftover turkey.  Yum!!



Spicy Pumpkin Soup - just a hint of Indian spices and good with any winter squash!



We love this Zuppa Toscana - a great way to cook up those hearty winter greens.






The last soup is one of my favorites!  Bean Soup with Bacon, Chicken and Pesto.  Pesto is guaranteed to perk up cold days and this soup is another great way to use up leftover turkey.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Lemon Fruit and Flowers


One of the things I love about our meyer lemon tree is that it can have fruit in all stages and flowers going at the same time. 

Gorgeous!



We have 6 ripe fruit on it right now [the bungees are to keep the branches upright until we take the fruit off.

The fruit will stay fresher a lot longer if we just leave it on the tree.   It's ripe when it's canary yellow.   They're almost ready....



The flowers smell sooooo good. 

I hand pollinate with a little paint brush every morning when I go out to the studio.




I've got three more green lemons fattening up and the tree is loaded with new buds and flowers.   I'm hoping to get a bunch more fruit next year, too. 

Last year we made these lovely puddings with the fruit.   Eric wants me to make them again this year....and we'll have enough lemons to do something else fun, too.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Old Siding

It's like something out of Redneck Homes and Gardens, isn't it. 

Hopefully it won't look like this very long.  Here's an over simplified description of what we're going to do --

We put the new foundation just outside the old one, so that we'd have more square footage when we're done. 

We're going to build up and around the old house, then cut the old walls out from the inside with a sawzall.   Piece of cake. 

The west side and living room addition of the house were covered with aluminum siding.   Since we didn't want to be sawzalling through aluminum, we decided to take the aluminum off now.  


The oldest part of the house had originally been sided in clapboard [like the east side and north end of the house still have.]

Lots of mud dauber nests and spider webs.

And those damned Asian lady bugs.

The newer parts of the house have plywood and old insulation board  [cellotex insulating sheathing] under the siding.   

It's sooo attractive.

Next:  We're finalizing the floor plan and then we're going to balloon frame the first floor.   I'll explain balloon framing to you later after Eric explains it to me.  Again.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Blue Chimneys


It's a chimney! 

It's blue!

How cool is that?

This house in Owen County, Indiana has not one, but two of them....


They totally beg the questions - Why blue?   and
Where do I get blue tile so I can have one, too?

Monday, December 9, 2013

House Update


The sill plates are on the foundation.   They'll need some sealing up, maybe some extra caulking and then we can build walls.

Walls!

Next:  Remove the old aluminum siding from the west side of the house.  



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